* * *
“Honestly, Your Grace, this is too much. How can you leave a bride who just spent her first night all alone?”
Lina, who was brushing Blair’s hair after her bath, sounded indignant. Her voice carried a sharp edge of resentment, as if she were the one who had suffered the slight.
Despite the jab, the person in question merely smiled as she listened, appearing as though nothing were the matter.
“I’m fine. It’s actually more comfortable to sleep separately.”
Regardless, nobles used separate rooms unless it was a scheduled night for conception. Her situation was no different.
But Lina’s frustration would not be quelled.
“Even so! Yesterday wasn’t just any day; it was your wedding night.”
“……Lina, you’re pulling too hard. It hurts.”
“Oh! I’m sorry. I got carried away.”
Lina, who had been gripping the brush as if she were trying to snap it in half, softened her touch, but she couldn’t suppress her fury.
“Anyway! You shouldn’t do that to a beautiful lady who married into this strange mansion, surrounded by strangers, relying solely on her husband. This is a disqualification of husbandly duties, plain and simple.”
“How do you know so much about that when you haven’t even been married?”
“It’s all knowledge gained from books—the treasure troves of wisdom and food for the soul.”
Blair laughed, remembering the books with the red stickers that Lina used to read all night long, blushing and squealing.
“Well, His Grace is certainly the spitting image of a male protagonist… but I think we’ll have to wait and see about his character.”
Listening to Lina’s chatter helped lift her dampened mood.
As she looked at her reflection in the mirror, which was slowly becoming more composed, she saw something shimmering between her neck and collarbone.
‘……A magic circle?’
Blair quickly opened her collar to check the spot. But all she saw were the red marks he had left on her the night before.
Seeing them brought back memories of the night, and heat rushed to her face.
Blair hurriedly covered her collar. She must have misseen it.
Lina tilted her head in confusion.
“Your Grace? Is your clothing uncomfortable?”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing.”
As Blair shook her head in embarrassment, she suddenly noticed a thin bandage wrapped around Lina’s finger.
It hadn’t been there when she was helping with her bath last night.
Blair asked, “Did you hurt your hand?”
“Ah…….”
A look of sudden panic flashed across Lina’s face as she brushed her hair.
“I’ll call a doctor. Let’s get that treated.”
At the mention of calling a doctor, Lina jumped and waved her hands to stop her.
“N-no! I’m fine. It’s just a small cut.”
“How did you get hurt?”
“Oh, just… well, I did it while working this morning. As you know, I’m quite clumsy.”
Even though Lina insisted she was fine, Blair’s worried gaze did not waver.
Lina had just said that she was a bride who had come to this strange place relying only on her husband, but that was true for Lina as well.
It pained her that the girl who had left her familiar surroundings and dear companions to follow her had gotten hurt. Especially since the memories of her past life had resurfaced.
‘In my past life, I was so buried in my own situation that I barely paid any attention to Lina.’
Reading Blair’s expression, Lina added in a deliberately light tone.
“It’s not anything to worry about. I only wrapped it in a bandage so I wouldn’t get blood on your hair, Your Highness—or rather, Your Grace.”
“……Are you sure?”
“Look, there’s no blood seeping through the bandage, is there?”
Just as she said, it didn’t seem to be a deep wound.
“You only need to worry about how to live well in this mansion and how to make that Duke with the pretty face cry.”
Lina’s playful words put her mind at ease, but at the same time, a question arose.
‘If it was a cut, it must have been a knife. Lina isn’t in charge of the kitchen, so she shouldn’t be handling knives often. Could she be… getting bullied?’
But Blair’s doubts could not last long.
“Ta-da! All done. Let me guide you to the dining hall.”
Lina, having finished grooming Blair’s hair, helped her up.
As she was led to the dining hall, the waiting servant opened the doors for her.
It was customary for newlyweds to have their first luncheon with the groom’s family. In any other household, the first meal would be bustling with direct family members, but in the vast dining hall, only Headrin was seated.
He had no family.
Having lost his parents early and without any siblings, Headrin had grown up alone. The person who was essentially his parent was Empress Esmeralda.
Seeing the empty dining hall, she felt she could finally understand why he hated her so much—separate from her own feelings of resentment.
The butler who had pulled out Blair’s chair skillfully poured the aperitif into her glass before exiting the dining hall.
Once the two of them were left alone, Headrin raised his glass and asked,
“Did you sleep peacefully?”
It was a rather ridiculous question coming from the person who had kept her up crying and tormenting her until dawn, but Blair answered honestly.
“Yes.”
With that short greeting, the meal began.
A silence too desolate for newlyweds who had held their wedding and first night just yesterday stretched between them.
It was Headrin who broke the silence first.
“After the meal, the butler will introduce the servants to you.”
He continued as he skillfully sliced his steak with a knife.
“After the servants’ greetings are finished, he will give you a tour of the mansion. There are no other scheduled plans, so you may rest afterward.”
“Thank you.”
“If you have any other questions or anything you wish to discuss, feel free to speak.”
“How do you intend to investigate the fire incident from ten years ago?”
His knife, which had been cutting the steak, stopped.
His blue eyes, which had been dry the entire time, turned toward Blair.
Even though it was a contract marriage arranged for that very purpose, he hadn’t expected her to bring it up today. Especially when they had just finished their wedding and first night, a time when both body and mind should be exhausted.
“Since you claim to have no memory of the time, I am first looking for a hypnotist.”
Blair’s body shuddered at the word ‘hypnotism.’ It was because the memories of the past were rising to the surface.
“Hypnotism…… I’ve tried it a few times before, but it had no effect.”
“Well, perhaps this time will be different.”
Headrin replied calmly, but his words had a sharp edge. He was suspicious that Blair hadn’t truly lost her memory, but was only pretending.
“……You suspect me.”
“How could I possibly trust you?”
His tone was as if asking why she would even bother to ask something so obvious. Most would try to hide their true feelings if caught, but he seemed to have no intention of concealing his, answering her flatly.
“Only you would know whether you truly lost your memories or are pretending to have lost them for some other reason.”
A daughter of the Imperial family, a political enemy.
That was reason enough for him not to trust her.
Blair realized this well enough from her past life and kept it in mind. However, thinking about it vaguely and actually facing the raw, unfiltered hostility of the other person were two different things.
“Just because I accepted the contract does not mean I trust you.”
He was right.
This was a contract. A marriage not based on love and trust, but one based on weighing gains and losses. Hadn’t she been the one to propose it that way in the first place?
Since they had contracted, she needed to address his suspicions.
Blair calmly conceded.
“……I understand. Then, as you say, let’s try hypnotism first.”
On the first day of their marriage, the couple’s first intimate meal ended just like that.
* * *
After the introductions to the servants were over, Mason, the butler, took charge of the mansion tour.
As someone who had served the Del Marc Duchy for generations, he held deep loyalty and pride for the ducal house, and he knew the history of the duchy better than the current head, Headrin.
The tour of the mansion continued until well after dinner.
Having lived in this mansion before her regression, Blair already knew all the information, but she listened to Mason intently. It was a new experience, seeing it again after returning from death.
On the way to Blair’s bedroom after the tour ended, Mason apologized as if he had just remembered.
“You must be tired after the ceremony just yesterday; I think I was too eager and became greedy.”
“These are things a mistress of the house ought to know. Thanks to you, I was able to grasp the ins and outs of the mansion quickly.”
Mason was not particularly friendly toward Blair, as were most people in the ducal residence, but he never displayed his personal feelings in front of her.
Even if she was an unwelcome mistress, she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable, as he had treated her with the respect due to her position. And in truth, the tour of the mansion had been quite interesting.
Before long, they arrived in front of Blair’s bedroom.
“If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask at any time.”
“I would like to see the list of servants and the household inventory ledger.”
Mason was surprised by Blair’s request.
Issues related to the family’s finances, such as how much was paid in wages to servants or the remaining stock of supplies, were indeed the duties of the mistress.
However, in reality, it was rare for the mistress of a noble family to handle such things herself. Since managing and checking the numbers was a headache, it was usually left to the underlings.
Yet she wanted to do it herself.
“Are you saying you intend to handle those tasks yourself?”
“I am a member of the Del Marc family now, after all. It is only right that I do my part.”
In her past life, Blair had delegated all internal ducal affairs to Mason, like most noblewomen.
Part of the reason was that the work was difficult, but the biggest reason was that the people of the ducal house did not look kindly upon her meddling in household affairs.
But now, she didn’t care what anyone thought. Even if she was only to be the Duchess for one year, she wanted to do her part.
Not to gain anyone’s approval, but because she no longer wanted to feel pathetic in her own eyes.