Let’s Make Saving a Habit - Chapter 52

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 52
Aiden, like me, had noticed the Duchess and came to an abrupt halt, his leisurely pace abandoning him entirely.
A gentle breeze brushed across my face.
How long had we been gazing at each other?
Aiden quietly set me down on the ground and bowed respectfully to the Duchess.
“My apologies. I momentarily forgot myself in the presence of nobility.”
The Duchess blinked, as though only now returning to her senses after hearing Aiden’s voice.
“I believe there’s been a misunderstanding. Tania clearly enjoys it—why would I object?”
“…Is that truly acceptable?”
“Of course. In fact, I often find myself wanting to ask Tania for a piggyback ride myself.”
The Duchess explained why she had been standing motionless, watching us like a statue.
“The sight of you two walking together seemed unreal—like a painting come to life. I found myself entranced without realizing it.”
What?
Surely he had been carrying me like luggage across his shoulders, with me dangling limply from his grasp.
How could that possibly resemble a picturesque composition…?
I questioned whether the Duchess’s eyes had deceived her.
“You mean… him and me?”
“Yes. Watching the two of you, I felt a tender warmth, yet at the same time…”
She hesitated, her lips trembling slightly, before finally releasing the honest feelings she had been harboring.
“I felt strangely jealous.”
My breath caught.
I clapped my hand over my mouth, witnessing the Duchess express her feelings so candidly.
Oh my, oh my…! Jealousy, you say!
To witness this moment—what fortune!
My heart trembling, I held my breath, waiting to hear how Aiden would respond.
Aiden answered her declaration of jealousy with an expression of utmost seriousness.
“I harbor no intention of monopolizing the Duchess’s affection. I merely wish for the child to be safe and happy.”
The Duchess furrowed her brow as if confused by his words, then added an explanation.
“No, it seems you keep misunderstanding. I don’t wish to separate you and Tania.”
“Then, what did you mean by jealousy…?”
“I simply found myself wanting to walk alongside you and Tania, to be part of your path.”
“I… see.”
And then came a suffocating silence.
I glanced at Aiden, then at the Duchess.
My head swiveled back and forth as I tried to comprehend what was happening.
What? Is that it?
The Duchess had made her affection so obvious—surely there was more?
Was he truly so oblivious? Or had he subtly rejected her?
I couldn’t fathom Aiden’s intentions at all.
Whichever it was, I found myself thinking that this romance was doomed.
Aiden extended his hand toward the Duchess Papiope slowly, yet with utmost courtesy, his voice soft and measured.
“…Then, would the Duchess Papiope not care to walk with us as well?”
My stocks, which had been torn to shreds, soared vertically like penny stocks.

✦ ✦ ✦
In the end, my stocks were indeed penny stocks.
Having expected the Old Gentleman and the Duchess Papiope to hold hands, I found myself wedged awkwardly between them instead.
I strolled through the Garden with Aiden’s hand in one of mine and the Duchess Papiope’s hand in the other.
No matter how I thought about it, this didn’t feel right.
I felt like I had become an unwelcome interloper disrupting the two of them, and cold sweat kept trickling down my skin.
Then, I spotted a perfect excuse to release their hands.
“Oh? Clover!”
My eyes lit up as I spotted clover in a corner of the Garden, apparently overlooked by the gardener.
I naturally released both their hands and dashed toward the clover.
I had always loved clover.
I loved that clover grew from four-leaf clovers, and I loved that I could craft rings and bracelets from them.
Those childhood days, now faded from memory.
Waiting for the Old Gentleman to return from work, I would sit in front of Tania’s House and watch people pass by endlessly.
One day, I saw a young girl walking past, hand in hand with her parents.
She seemed to have just returned from a family outing.
On the girl’s hands were delicate flower rings and flower bracelets, and how I envied her as she laughed and boasted about them to me.
That night, and the night after.
Every time I closed my eyes, that scene returned to me, and unable to forget it, I eventually sought out the girl.
I learned how to make flower rings and bracelets, then found a place where clover bloomed abundantly and adorned both my hands with rings and bracelets.
Yet even after I had made the flower rings and bracelets I so desired, my heart remained hollow, and I wept bitterly.
Back then, even as tears streamed down my face, I didn’t understand why I was crying.
Now I understand.
I hadn’t envied the flower rings and bracelets at all—I had envied the parents standing steadfastly on both sides of that girl.
What I had truly desired was family.
Emerging from my reverie, I plucked a three-leaf clover from among the surrounding clovers and showed it to both of them.
“Actually, I prefer three-leaf clovers to four-leaf clovers.”
The Duchess Papiope chuckled softly and asked why.
“Is that so? Most people prefer the rare four-leaf clover. I’m curious why you feel differently.”
“The flower language of the four-leaf clover is ‘good fortune,’ isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
It was a fact most people knew—the very reason people sought out four-leaf clovers.
Hoping that fortune would come their way.
“But the flower language of the three-leaf clover is ‘happiness.'”
Fortune is fleeting, but happiness endures.
“I don’t want to be a fortunate person—I want to be a happy one.”
Obtaining the Save and Load ability was tremendous fortune, but I had never truly experienced happiness since then.
Meeting the Old Gentleman was the greatest stroke of luck in my life, yet I often found myself wondering what it would have been like to have ordinary parents.
I wanted to be happy.
To me, happiness meant living an ordinary life with family.
Like that little girl who laughed brightly while wearing flower rings and flower bracelets.
“Will I ever be able to find happiness?”
The Old Gentleman and Duchess Papiope were gazing at me with expressions that defied description.
They seemed both shocked and filled with compassion for me.
I smiled brightly, as if to assure them not to worry.
“Still, I feel like I’m drawing closer to happiness now.”
Before rewinding those twelve years, I had perfectly aligned every first step of my plan.
The most difficult part of my plan had been facing that unhappy seven-year-old version of myself again.
The second most difficult part was confronting the Old Gentleman and Elysion, who had lost all memories of me.
Having overcome the hardest obstacles, if I simply built upon the remaining steps of my plan carefully, the happiness I desired would surely come to pass.
I fidgeted with my hands as I confessed my true feelings.
“Actually, I’m truly grateful. That Duchess Papiope became my mother, and that the Old Gentleman became my escort knight.”
I plucked a clover and split its stem in half.
Then I stood before the Old Gentleman and extended my hand with a soft clap.
“Old Gentleman, your hand, please.”
Though he looked bewildered, he extended his hand to me.
As if I’d been waiting for this moment, I wove the clover around the Old Gentleman’s left pinky finger, then snipped off the remaining stem cleanly.
In an instant, a flower ring materialized on his finger.
“…What is this?”
“Hehe, it’s a ring. A flower ring!”
Having made it perfectly clear what it was, I cleared my throat grandly and spoke as if making a proposal.
“Old Gentleman, will you become my escort knight?”
In that moment, the Old Gentleman’s eyes wavered. He carefully touched the ring that fit his finger perfectly.
It didn’t take him long to accept my confession.
“…Of course.”
“I look forward to working with you from now on!”
Smiling brightly, I quickly plucked another clover, worried that Duchess Papiope might feel left out.
Then I placed an identical flower ring on the Duchess’s hand.
“Duchess Papiope, thank you for becoming my mother.”
“…Tania.”
The Duchess pulled me into her embrace and spoke with a voice slightly thick with emotion.
“I’m the one who’s grateful that you’ve become my daughter. I’ll always be your happiness.”
After a while, from within her embrace, I gazed with satisfaction at how both of them wore the rings I had made side by side.
Their faces were so perfect that even these crude flower rings looked like luxury items.
…Wait.
Now that I think about it, doesn’t this make them matching rings?
It wasn’t intentional, but it doesn’t seem like a bad outcome either.
I decided that good results were good results, and after matching them with couple flower rings, I smiled as though I knew nothing about it.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————