The new head maid, after introducing all of her children to the Grand Ducal couple, meticulously inspected every room that required “attention”—the Grand Duchess’s office and bedroom, and the Grand Duke’s own chambers—before finally linking her arm through her husband’s and taking her leave.
“Vi.”
At the call, Kaella looked up at Peon. He was so much taller than her that she had to crane her neck to meet his gaze.
“Do not pay any mind to what the new head maid said.”
“Which remark are you referring to?”
“The talk about children.”
Ah. That ‘good news.’ Kaella hadn’t paid any attention to it from the start, knowing full well that such matters were irrelevant to her. But it seemed that comment had bothered Peon deeply.
“Though it is a typical thing for them to say, what matters most right now is your recovery. And…”
He scanned his surroundings, and after confirming that everyone was standing at a respectful distance, he lowered his voice to a whisper.
“Matters concerning our marriage will be strictly according to the contract.”
Ah, the contract. The prenuptial agreement that Kaella had long since forgotten, knowing it held no real power.
“As for my successor issue…”
“As for His Highness’s successor issue.”
Kaella cut him off. Peon shut his mouth immediately, holding his breath to listen to her soft voice.
“That is a matter for Your Highness to decide, not for me.”
What would you say to this, you who have grown so much more affectionate lately? Would you let it slide with a shrug? Or would you think I’ve finally learned my place?
Standing still for a moment, Kaella pushed the thought away. It didn’t matter, so long as it brought temporary peace to their precarious marital relationship.
“Then, if I were to say that I intend to see a successor through you, would you follow that decision, Vi?”
His voice, usually so composed, sounded strangely volatile. It was as if he were holding back a surge of raw emotion.
Kaella couldn’t understand. Peon was speaking in a tone he shouldn’t have, saying things he had no business saying. The two lords stood in the vast, crude, and desolate hall of Lyussenford Castle, locked in each other’s gaze.
Suppressed emotions swirled in Peon’s violet eyes, but Kaella couldn’t tell if it was anger or annoyance. A multitude of feelings, impossible to define as one, were being poured entirely onto her. Before she could instinctively step back to defend herself, Peon spoke quickly, as if grabbing hold of her.
“Do not say things like that when you don’t even want them. My successor issue is not something I decide alone; it is a matter that must be decided together by you and me.”
“Then, would you have a successor through me?”
This time, it was Peon who looked at her as if he couldn’t understand. He seemed startled by the unexpected words.
Kaella felt a certain pleasure in having silenced him. She, the powerless Kaella, the obstacle who had hindered his marriage to his lover and was merely an object of indifference to him, had caught him off guard. He must never have imagined that the quiet, calm, and ever-pliant “emotional subordinate” would say something like this.
It was a topic far removed from their reality, but she just wanted to try it once. She wanted to shake him, even though she knew exactly how he would react.
“It is only natural in the eyes of others that I should bear Your Highness’s heir, which is why Lord Cirenster and his wife say such things.”
Having died and come back to life, it was honestly fascinating to hear such things. These were words that had nothing to do with Kaella. Before she died, everyone knew that the Grand Duke treated the Grand Duchess with coldness and never stepped foot in her bedroom. No one expected the Grand Duchess to bear the successor to the Grand Duke of Lyussenford.
“But just because others think it natural does not mean that things between Your Highness and me are natural. I do not care about remarks regarding ‘good news.’ I have no interest in what people are babbling about.”
She had heard those whispers so often she was numb to them. She could maintain an expressionless face even through the most insulting remarks. Does he know that, he who looks like a sinner even though he hasn’t committed the crime—not yet, anyway?
Kaella smiled. She smiled, clutching the pocket of her dress that held the poison bottle.
“So, as for the successor, I suggest you take care of it yourself. If you have one outside, bring the child when they are born. Your Highness’s heir ought to grow up in Lyussenford. I will raise them as best as I can.”
Though she didn’t know how long she would be able to raise them, given she would be dead soon anyway.
Was the wine she drank today too much? Or had death burned away a portion of her fear? Seeing Peon’s flustered face, the words that had been stuck in her throat before she died—words she had swallowed because she couldn’t even say them properly—kept popping out. It felt refreshing.
“If that, too, is not to your liking, then do not worry, for I shall not interfere.”
The child. In the four years that were still vivid in Kaella’s memory—but did not yet exist at this point in time—Kaella had lived in dread, waiting to hear the news that Beatrice was pregnant.
If she heard news of a pregnancy, she would have thought, ‘It has finally arrived.’ If she heard news of the birth, she, pitifully, would have wondered what the child was like. Knowing full well what kind of person Beatrice Lavalle was, she would have worried needlessly whether the child would receive proper care.
She would have wanted to see how much the child resembled Peon, and even if she had ended up taking the child in to raise, she surely would have felt a small spark of joy. She would have searched for Peon in the child’s face. She would have been happy just to be able to raise the child. She would have been happy to do at least that much for Peon.
If she, a worthless person in his life, could occupy even the smallest positive part of his world, she could have done anything. Truly. There were days like that. As for Kaella’s own child…
No, that was not it.
“Then, I will head in firs—”
“I have no interest in any woman but you, Kaella.”
The words Kaella was about to use to cut off her flowing thoughts were abruptly severed. The smile vanished from her small, pale face. On the contrary, she flinched in shock.
“And I detest bastards.”
The voice rushing toward her swayed violently, harsh and ragged.
“But if you want to have a child, I intend to cooperate with my utmost effort.”
In eyes that were always indifferent and heartless toward Kaella, all sorts of emotions were swirling. They were not eyes that were empty and unreadable; they were eyes that held so much that, rather than reading them, one would find themselves swept away and drowning in them before they knew it.
“It is fortunate that you say you do not care about what people say.”
He bowed his head, swallowing a great many words. A pitch-black cloak covered and veiled her white fur. In an instant, the small Grand Duchess was swallowed into the Grand Duke’s embrace, hidden from sight.
“Then you must hurry and recover. Only then can we make a successor, Kaella, right?”
･ ｡ﾟ✧: *. ꕥ .* :✧ﾟ. ･
Sometimes there are things you think about too much, only for them to become irreversible. Or perhaps, they are matters where no answer can be found no matter how much you reflect. Since it was all futile, she had to cover them up in the distance of forgotten memories and never pull them out again.
But Peon forced her to face that very thing.
“Please change the furniture as you wish, Your Grace. I apologize, but it is truly a mess. How could you use such cheap—how could…”
The new head maid, Fabiola Cirenster, was appalled, saying that even commoners in Lyussenford wouldn’t use things like these nowadays.
“This is wrong from the wallpaper on up, Your Grace. It all must be changed. It is far too shameful and embarrassing.”
Kaella smiled.
“I will hand over the furniture I had ordered to you.”
The time had finally come for her to step back. The opportunity had arrived for her to delegate most tasks to the head maid and focus solely on sending away the maids she had brought. This was the chance Kaella had been waiting for. The chance to reach a state where she could do nothing, handle only one problem, and face her death in solitude. She wanted to be in a lighthearted state, ready to die without regrets whenever a crisis struck.
“Yes, Your Grace. I will prepare them with all my heart, but I will proceed with everything only after receiving your approval. I am a person of Lyussenford, so I am quite lacking when it comes to entertaining envoys from Krain.”
But that path felt far too distant. If anything, it felt further away. The new head maid was, to put it politely, sturdy and reliable; to put it another way, she was a person who doubted not that the Grand Duchess would fulfill her duties as Grand Duchess.
Because of this, Kaella had to prepare directly to welcome the Emperor’s investigator who would soon arrive, and she had no choice but to look into the kitchen, which Peon had begun to gut after the banquet.
And one more thing.
“Your Highness was out here as well.”
Because the kitchen construction was linked to the castle’s sewage and water system, and receiving the investigator was a matter the Grand Duke also had to oversee, Kaella had to cross paths with Peon several times a day.
Starting with the new head maid who bowed with a smile, Kaella’s maids also lowered their heads toward Peon.
“You must not overexert yourself, Vi.”
Peon, having checked to make sure Kaella’s attire wasn’t too thin, spoke bluntly to the head maid.
“Of course. The most important thing is Her Grace’s health.”
Fabiola replied, looking at the Grand Ducal couple with great satisfaction. It was evident from her expression alone that she thought the couple was a happy, loving pair. In reality, they were nothing of the sort.
Since the Emperor’s investigator was coming, Kaella had to look even healthier for the sake of Lyussenford’s safety. As for Kaella’s safety after the investigator left—well, couldn’t one say that no one could guarantee that? Moreover, since she had said things to Peon that she shouldn’t have, it was certain that he was currently suppressing his anger.
“The construction is too extensive. If it goes on like this, we will have to touch the sewage pipes as well.”
Meanwhile, the butler approached and reported.
“Are the sewage pipes in good condition?”
“That is not the case.”
“Then tear it all out and redo the sewage pipe construction as well. I don’t know much about it, but at least I know a kitchen must be clean.”
Peon said firmly. Kaella, who had been listening quietly, opened her mouth.
“Then the construction will still be ongoing when the investigator arrives.”
It would look chaotic.
“Still, it cannot be helped. Water facilities are the very foundation of the castle. And…”
Tall as he was, he muttered while watching the workers sweep the dark kitchen. The kitchen was dark overall and poorly ventilated.
“If we do the construction well this time, it will be comfortable for generations to come.”
But the kitchen construction was becoming too massive. Since the head chef had been executed, the cooks who had moved to a temporary kitchen were having a truly difficult time. While there were no plans to hold any more banquets until the investigator arrived, as the hostess of the castle, Kaella was bothered by the fact that the construction was extending even to the sewage pipes.
Did Lyussenford have the funds for that? Even if they did, all the money was poured into military funds, and the lord himself had been using shabby furniture for decades.
Would he use the Kervan series differently this time? Kaella’s thoughts naturally drifted to the diamond ring she had received. What was Peon thinking? Despite her having said things she shouldn’t have, he remained the same as always.
“Shall we go up? The air here is heavy and stagnant.”
He still held her hand when walking up the stairs, and there wasn’t a hint of anger in his voice.
No, in truth, what Kaella was looking for wasn’t a hint of anger, but a hint of indifference and coldness. An averted gaze, a turned back, the silence of someone who wouldn’t answer her provocations—those were the things she wanted.
“The stairs are steep, so please be careful.”
But Peon never, not once, did such a thing. Instead, he remained affectionate and tender toward Kaella, who didn’t speak back. At this point, Kaella couldn’t help but think about the words she had hurled at him.
Everything she said after sending the Cirensters away had been an insult. She had told Peon, a bastard, that it was fine to bring back a bastard, so it was only natural he responded with a harsh voice. Is it alright for the “current Peon” to hear such things?
“How is your walking? Is it manageable?”
“It is not that difficult, Your Highness. I am fine.”
Kaella replied quietly, chewing over once more the things Peon had done since she had died and returned to the past.
Before she died, he had helped the Duke of Ostain die. According to Beatrice, that was true. But the man she met after she died had prevented the Duke of Ostain’s death. Kaella had seen that with her own eyes.
Before she died, Peon had ignored her as if she were a non-entity, causing all of Lyussenford to ignore her. Now, he was wary of her, but not that.
Before she died, even though she had been falsely accused, he had confined her and cut off her food until she starved to death. Perhaps he had even fabricated the false charge himself back then. But now…
“Then shall we walk a little? A stroll will be good for your health.”
“Are you not busy?”
“I always have enough time for a stroll with you, Vi.”
Is it right to blame him for crimes he hasn’t committed, when he still wears a smile despite having been clearly offended and angered? Is that just?
As someone who had died so unfairly, Kaella’s heart was heavy and uncomfortable. She didn’t know how on earth she came to live this moment again, but because she felt so vividly that she was alive, she was left with this dilemma.
Stepping outside, she was slightly dazzled by the light, but it felt a bit better when Peon approached and blocked the sun.
“You may slowly begin to ride horses again. Let us walk slowly, without galloping.”
“I know how to ride as well.”
“Yes. That is why I suggested we walk together without galloping.”
Should she apologize? She really ought to, right? Even if she was in a position where she had been married off to a man who had a famous romance, telling him in advance that he could have a bastard child must have been a wound to Peon. So she should apologize. If she walked a little further and the maids dropped back and the knights withdrew, she would apologize then. If she apologized now, it might be a little less awkward when she went to check the silverware later tonight.
Kaella resolved as much and stepped into the sunlight.
“Vi, step back.”
However, Peon suddenly blocked her path in a hurry. A large arm wrapped around her. Kaella looked at him, not knowing why, and then looked where he was looking. Golden lights were gathering. That was the power of the magic artifact the Emperor possessed.
“Peon!”
And as the light faded, Beatrice Lavalle appeared, carrying a mountain of trunks with a lively voice.
“Oh my, it’s still cold here. I’m glad I wore my fur coat. Long time no see, Peon! I missed you!”
Watching Beatrice, who ran toward them with arms spread to embrace Peon, Kaella shelved her thoughts.
I shouldn’t apologize.