***
Her first week on the estate passed like that.
Victor came back in the middle of the night and left at dawn, and while she was worried about him, she got used to the castle little by little.
After she became more familiar with it, Morte Castle was a very good place to live.
First off, the food was very good. It felt like the chefs cast some kind of magic on their dishes. The ingredients they used were native to her hometown, so it suited her taste even more.
Drinking honey alcohol, a northern specialty, she was happy during every meal.
She also became closer with her maids. Realizing that she wouldn’t hurt them, they now laughed and talked to each other somewhat freely.
Mary even started nagging.
Today it was because she had distributed all the cookies she had been served to the maids.
“Madame, are you giving away all those precious sweets?”
“But have I already eaten?”
She made an awkward excuse.
“I ate one and it was delicious, so I thought it would be good to eat them all together. Yes?”
The young maid nodded eagerly at her question. She had cookie crumbs on her lips.
Amarion smiled and wiped her lips. The maids were startled, but they did not move. She felt like she was taking care of children in an Amarian orphanage.
Mary suddenly asked.
“Did Madame do this in the Capital?”
“Huh? Kind of.”
Of course, the maids in the Capital were older than the maids here, but sharing snacks and chatting with them was the same.
After all, she was always given way too much.
It was not difficult to distribute food and gifts, or to raise the salaries of the servants.
She was grateful that they always worked hard for her. Mary looked at her with a complicated expression.
Sir Raoul, standing next to her, smiled and shook his head.
“Give it up, Miss Mary. She is such a person.”
“What?”
“You are like the incarnation of chivalry.”
Raoul stroked his chin seriously.
“You practice the spirit of honor, mercy and sacrifice. You give it your all and fight on the front lines. No noble knight commander anywhere could live up to Madame.”
She blushed and bowed her head.
It wasn’t something he should say very loudly.
Any decent knight would act like her.
For example, Victor.
“Victor would have done the same in my situation.”
“Master?”
Raoul snorted.
“Our master is merciless, Madame. If I acted foolishly like you, he would have cut off my head.”
She tilted her head.
Even though he treated them comfortably, all of Morte’s knights regarded Victor as a very scary person.
Of course, they’d known Victor for a long time, so they knew some of his secrets she didn’t, but Victor was always friendly to her.
She turned away and was surprised by the appearances of her maids. They were deathly pale, as if they had seen a ghost.
Mary spoke with difficulty.
“T-the tea is cold, so I’ll warm it up, Madame.”
She had no choice but to nod. She was very confused.
***
After drinking tea, she decided to visit Victor. There were many things that bothered her, but above all, she was wondering if there was anything she could do to help.
She thought that her maids would be scared again, so she ordered them to stay back.
But Mary was stubborn.
“A maid can’t help but follow her lady.”
“It’s okay, take a break.”
She shook her head gently and gestured to Raoul. Raoul, like before, left a few knights to guard her door and followed her.
A warm breeze blew through the hallway.
No matter how far north they were, they were still in the warm Empire.
She asked Raoul abruptly, fiddling with the hem of her thin coat.
“Why are they so afraid?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The maids. Why are they so afraid of Victor?”
Raoul’s expression hardened. Of course, Raoul must have felt it too. There’s no way that a knight, who honed their senses, wouldn’t be aware that the servants were unusually withdrawn.
Raoul asked seriously.
“Do you have any guesses?”
“Not at all. They were scared of me the first time I saw them. They don’t behave like that in front of other knights, but whenever they hear about Victor, they tremble…”
‘Did something bad happen?’
Her words died in her throat. She didn’t want to doubt Victor.
After being silent for a moment, Raoul spoke quietly.
“Madame, the lord is cruel sometimes. But he would never harm his own people.”
“I know.”
“He’s actually very generous.”
She nodded.
She knew it with all her heart.
It reminded her of the knights who treated Victor like a friend throughout the trip (even though they always said he was scary), and the servants of the Capital mansion who looked after him in a friendly manner.
If Victor wasn’t kind and generous, they wouldn’t have been so nice.
Raoul reminisced.
“He was the same on the battlefield. To the enemy he may have seemed like the God of death, but the lord did anything and everything to protect us. Even as a newcomer, I could feel it.”
He sighed.
“That was the kind of character I saw in him.”
‘Then why?’
They were both lost in thought. This was Amarion and Raoul’s first time on the estate, so they didn’t know anything about the territory. Therefore, they had no choice but to speculate.
Victor was still the perfect gentleman.
He was tired, but he still whispered every night that he was sorry for how little time they spent together.
He even talked about what they would do after he finished work. He talked about reading books, dancing, exploring the gardens and eating her favorite sweets.
Of course, he treated his employees here as kindly as he did in the Capital.
However, their reaction was completely different.
And there was always a reason for fear.
‘Is he hiding something?’
After she broke off her train of thought, she found herself in front of the Grand Duke’s office.
Serious voices leaked out through the crack in the door. Through it, she could see papers piled up like mountains on the table.
She paused for a moment.
“Looks like he is still busy.”
“Yes. In fact, I ran away from this to escort you.”
Raoul chuckled.
She approached the door cautiously.
As if sensing her presence, Victor raised his head. When their eyes met, his face brightened.
“Marion! What brings you here?”
“I’m sorry if I interrupted you, Victor.”
“What are you talking about? This is good.”
As he beckoned, Carlz and Leonard, who were hunched in their chairs, groaned and got up with a pained sound. Diederick put down his monocle and rubbed his temples.
Everyone looked very tired, bags under their eyes.
‘I don’t know about Diederick, but the knights must be unfamiliar with this kind of work.’
They greeted her with worried eyes, and filtered out of the office one by one.
She glanced down at the scattered papers. There were names and terms written on them that she didn’t understand.
“Marion.”
Victor took her hand. When she raised her head, Victor smiled brightly at her.
“What’s really going on? You came to my office.”
“There is no particular reason…”
She was suddenly embarrassed and trailed off. The various reasons she had come up with before coming suddenly felt like lies.
It was to smell his alluring musk, she admitted.
She just wanted to see Victor.
“I was just wondering what you were doing. I don’t see you often these days. We don’t even eat breakfast together…”
“So I was wondering if you are still very busy and if there is anything I can do to help.”
Victor’s eyes curved into kind half-moons.
He leaned over and kissed each of her cheeks. Her face turned bright red and she screwed her eyes shut.
He laughed and explained kindly.
“The most urgent matter is almost settled. The review is over, and there is nothing for you to worry about.”
“Good.”
“Soon, I will be able to have breakfast with you again.”
She opened her eyes wide in surprise.
Victor was also very busy in the Capital, so they didn’t have much time alone. She was happy that she could spend a relaxing afternoon with him soon.
Victor smiled as if he was thinking the same thing.
“I look forward to it.”
“Yes. It will be fun.”
“How many books have you read?”
“I’m almost on book two now.”
Volume 1 of was nearing its end.
As Victor said, Dordophin, who was wandering the continent, proposed to Duchess Flamberge, who was imprisoned in a tower in the middle of Book 1.
She was beautiful but she was cruel. She was imprisoned by her equally cruel father, the Grand Duke.
Flamberge asked him to grant her three wishes in exchange for accepting his proposal.
Her first request was snake poison from a Gorgon, a monster who had snake-like hair.
Victor’s eyes were engulfed by memories of the past.
“I liked that book when I was young and I read it often.”
“What did you like about it?”
“I can’t tell you. It’ll spoil the ending. You’re not going to be mean to me again, are you?”
A sly smirk spread across his lips.
The sunlight shining through the window made Victor’s black hair sparkle.
Her beautiful husband raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it.
“Let’s have dinner together tonight. My work is almost done.”
***