I made a mistake. What do I do? I can’t let them find a flaw. I have to be perfect.
Kaella gripped her hands together, following quietly behind Peon. The back of her neck prickled, and a cold sweat broke out along her hairline. To think she would make such a blunder in Lyussenford—a place where a single trivial error or a moment of carelessness was enough to invite ruin. She had been too cautious, and in her anxiety, she had only made things worse. *What do I do? How do I hide the fact that I’m suspected of being the Emperor’s spy?*
I never get anything right. If I’m not smart, if I’m slow, and if I’m ugly, I should at least be quick-witted. But I lack common sense and I’m clumsy, ruining things again. Just like this time…
“Isn’t it better now that it’s gone?”
Kaella snapped her head up. The man who had been marching ahead with long, indifferent strides was no longer in front of her. She turned, startled, to find Peon standing right beside her, looking down. When had he come back?
“Yes?”
“That curtain from earlier.”
“Ah, yes.”
In truth, she hadn’t registered a word he said. Her own voice sounded small and foolish to her ears.
“It looked much more open once it was ripped down… was it a curtain you liked?”
The hideous dark pink one? I liked it?
“No!”
Kaella answered, perhaps a bit too sharply. Her voice echoed through the vast, empty hallway. When Peon offered a flicker of surprise, her face burned crimson, and she lowered her head again. How pathetic. Really pathetic. Unrefined, tacky, and nothing more than a clumsy mistake.
“I’m glad I tore it all down. Please, do hang up a new one in whatever color you desire.”
The time she spent with Peon was always fleeting and hard-won. Their conversations usually ended in seconds, and he would always stride right past her. It was fascinating—and deeply awkward—that he was still standing there, waiting for her to respond. Part of her wished he would just leave, but he remained anchored to her side.
“I will take care of it within today. Truly.”
“Take your time. We have plenty of it.”
But as long as she stayed in Peon’s bedroom, Kaella felt the clock ticking. She needed to move to the suite across the hall as soon as possible. It was a problem that the Grand Duchess, recovered enough to attend ladies’ events, was still sequestered in the Grand Duke’s bedroom. The staff would whisper about how she had driven her husband out to the cold rooms while claiming the most comfortable, secure one for herself.
It was an exhausting place. She decided to retreat to the room where the hideous curtains had been torn away and look for a way to quietly send the maids back to Ostain. To do that, she had to hang new curtains first. That, at least, was easy. Since she had just sourced the dark blue fabric now in Peon’s room, she could replicate the process quickly.
Kaella hurriedly placed the order. The butler, having witnessed Peon tear the previous curtains down with a single hand, didn’t utter a word of dissent; he ensured the request was processed immediately.
“Your Highness, I have placed the order for the curtains.”
“Well done. However, My Lady. It seems to me that this chair does not match the color of the new curtains.”
Peon looked intently at an old chair in the Grand Duke’s bedroom, as if noticing it for the first time.
“Don’t you think, with your eye for detail, that this should also be replaced?”
The butler would usually insist that the chair was perfectly functional. After all, one could sit on it. Even if the lining was faded and worn, it served its purpose. But before Kaella could offer a diplomatic response, a sharp *snap* rang out as Peon’s hand brushed the armrest.
“…Your Highness?”
The chair split cleanly in half, collapsing to the floor with a dull thud. The remaining fragment dangled uselessly in Peon’s hand.
“Oh dear.”
He muttered the words with chilling indifference, letting the wood drop to the floor. The chair, sturdy enough that an average adult would have struggled to break it, had been bisected.
“I’ll have to use this for firewood. By the way, what shall we do since there is no chair to sit on?”
Good heavens. Kaella was speechless, and the butler’s jaw went slack. The Grand Duke simply smiled.
“I would be grateful if you could choose a replacement for this as well. Since I am careless and often break furniture, I ask for your continued assistance.”
From that day on, the Grand Duke began to diligently prove just how careless he truly was.
･ ｡ﾟ✧: *. ꕥ .* :✧ﾟ. ･
“Your Highness, the Grand Duke has, yet again…!”
Ah. Kaella did not like the butler, Viscount Rolf Anderson, who had rushed in looking absolutely horrified. Like the head maid, he was an insolent man who treated Peon like a wayward son, and to him, Kaella was an unwanted interloper or a poor spy sent by the Emperor.
Furthermore, he was a miserable stingy man; even if the furnishings of Lyussenford Castle were tattered, he never considered upgrades. He had played a major role in the misery of Kaella’s initial imprisonment.
“Yet again, a perfectly fine sofa… he actually, and I mean really, ripped apart a sofa…!”
However, these days, since the Grand Duke seemed intent on showing off his strength, the butler was the only one with whom she could share the burden of the ongoing furniture-smashing spree.
“Which sofa are you talking about?”
“The sofa in the office!”
“Calm down. Surely there are parts that can be repaired and used.”
“No, Your Highness, he just grabbed the armrests and ripped them off with his bare hands!”
The butler, a man who viewed frugality and repair as the highest virtues, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Every day was torture for him.
“Was the Grand Duke injured?”
“Only the sofa was injured quite severely…”
Two days ago, while they were discussing the curtains, the Grand Duke had “accidentally let his hand slip” and snapped the post of the four-poster bed. The canopy had collapsed, and he had shattered a decorative cabinet in the process.
Kaella, who had rushed in at the sound of the crash, had been left speechless, and the butler had nearly fainted. Naturally, with the bed destroyed, Kaella could not return to her desired bedroom. Since then, the list of furniture requiring replacement had grown exponentially.
Kaella rubbed her forehead as she watched the butler hovering on the edge of hysteria.
“Just use it for firewood.”
“Yes.”
The only reason the butler reported these things to Kaella was that the Grand Duke had ordered her to select and purchase all new furniture.
Surprisingly, the butler had grown fond of her. He appreciated that she didn’t just splurge; she was thrifty, suggesting that torn curtains be repurposed into blankets. He liked that she understood the value of things.
“I will meet with the furniture craftsman. Isn’t there much work to be done? You may go.”
Normally, the butler would have haggled for the cheapest possible options. But the list provided by the Grand Duchess was already too extensive for his fraying nerves to manage.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Gratitude came naturally to him now. He wanted to wash his hands of the cursed list that grew every time the Grand Duke had a mood swing.
Things were happening in the castle at a dizzying pace. It was the first time Kaella had seen the butler flee in such a state, so she turned her gaze toward the furniture manifest.
They really had broken a wide variety of things. Was the Grand Duke unable to control his strength, or were the furnishings just so rotten they crumbled at a touch? Probably both.
‘Should I say it’s a blessing in disguise?’
The castle, embarrassing to even look at, clearly needed a total overhaul. But while it might be a blessing for the staff, it was only more labor for Kaella. She had an eye for quality, but honestly, she didn’t want to lift a finger in this place.
‘…I just don’t want to do anything.’
She wanted to lie there listlessly and wait for the days to pass, but the Grand Duke had destroyed the sofa she could have lounged on and smashed the bed she could have slept in.
‘It was old, wasn’t it.’
It was old, tacky, dated, and lacked even a hint of antique elegance; it was a sofa that was quintessentially “Lyussenford.” In every room, there was always some eyesore, and the office sofa was the worst of them. It was refreshing to think of it becoming firewood, but what now?
Kaella sighed, then rose from her seat. Either way, she had to go to the office to place the new order. As she wrapped herself in furs and made her way down the stairs, she found Peon waiting for her at the bottom.
“Your Highness.”
“Where are you headed?”
He asked naturally, offering his arm.
“I heard the office sofa was broken…”
Though she didn’t know if it had broken or if it had been dismantled by his menacing hands. Kaella took his arm and carefully descended. When had checking the “crime scenes” of broken furniture become her daily routine?
“I’m ashamed to say that the furniture throughout the entire castle is quite old, so its durability is weak.”
Kaella looked up at Peon, her jaw dropping.
Was this man truly so shameless? His smooth face remained utterly unchanged. Kaella, stunned, felt her body tilt as she missed a step.
“The stairs are just as old.”
The arm draped around her waist lifted her slightly before she could topple over. If she had fallen, it would have been a disaster. After the butler had gone to report to her, Peon had been waiting, calculating the exact moment she would emerge; he felt a chill at how light she felt. Since remarrying Kaella, he had become afraid of too many things.
“My Lady, are you eating well?”
Food. Kaella’s lashes trembled. She suffered from a gnawing hunger, but because she had mistakenly ingested Tur Berry, her digestion was poor.
“I am eating as the doctor prescribed.”
Liquid diets, soft egg dishes, and well-boiled vegetables. She wanted to eat more, but her body would reject it if she went over the limit. Darinka strictly controlled her portions. Eating was a torment in Lyussenford.
“…Please eat well.”
The hand resting on his shoulder, the waist that could be fully enclosed by one arm, and her terrifying lightness—it all suffocated Peon, tightening around his throat.
“Please eat well and become healthy.”
He descended the stairs in an instant with a light step and set Kaella down. There was no time to tell him to put her down.
“Thank you.”
She hadn’t expected him to carry her so easily, so she thanked him, her eyes wide.
“Are you not busy?”
“I am always fine. Please, come in.”
The office door was wide open, and the tattered sofa was being hauled away. The right armrest was barely clinging to the frame, dangling miserably. That is to say, a piece of furniture that had endured for many long years had finally met its match in its owner.
“How exactly do you go about your work so that a sofa ends up like that…?”
“I merely pushed it lightly with my hand, and it ended up like that, so I am quite embarrassed as well. I am just ashamed to show the poor durability of the furniture to you, My Lady.”
The sofa, its original color long forgotten, had been covered with a throw to hide the fraying. Thanks to the Grand Duke, the stains and tears were now fully exposed to the light of day. It was the reality of Lyussenford Castle—barely pretending to be a residence while hiding its rot.
Relying on the Emperor’s aid money, which trickled down like alms for a beggar, while everything else was diverted to military expenses. And to that, a penniless Grand Duchess had been added, burdening them with the cost of her meals.
The air pricked at her skin. Hostility toward her was lingering in every corner of this castle. Kaella concealed her emotions with a composed expression.
“I will ensure that I pay attention to durability when ordering new furniture.”
Her calm, polite attitude and the efficiency with which she assessed the office were impeccable. Lezen, who had been lingering in the office, watched the Grand Duchess with clear surprise.
“It would be best to replace everything. The sofa that was broken in my bedroom is still serviceable, so I will have it sent down temporarily. Please use it until the new one arrives.”
Was it the sofa that matched those hideous curtains? By the time the office furniture was replaced, that dark pink monstrosity wouldn’t return to her room; it would be hauled away just like the one that had left. The master of the office would see to that.
“I will do that.”
Peon turned his head toward Lezen, who had been waiting for an opening to address the Grand Duchess.
“Uh, greetings, Your Highness. I am Lezen Nerkel, the aide serving the Grand Duke. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Kaella nodded.
“Nice to meet you.”
“I look forward to working with you. Actually, a notice has arrived from Krain.”
Lately, the Grand Duke had been acting like a cornered bear, ripping apart the castle furniture with terrifying vigor. Lezen, who was far more fragile than the woodwork, seemed eager to state his business and leave.
Peon received an envelope, its seal mixed with gold and red, and opened it. The contents were brief.
“…The Emperor is sending an investigator.”
Violet eyes met hers—clear and cold as blue ice.
“It seems the incident where you were injured during the banquet has been reported.”
Kaella lowered her gaze. Now, the air wasn’t just pricking at her; it had become so dense and heavy that it was painfully pressing down.
She was the first to realize how they saw her. She would be the troublesome woman who had invited the Emperor’s investigator into their home. The catalyst for a new nightmare.