《Secret Wardrobe Of The Duchess》 Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

¡°Arman.¡± Rubica looked up at the man who was trying to protect her from the falling bombs without caring about his own safety. ¡°Arman.¡± ¡°Please... don¡¯t say anything more.¡± She couldn¡¯t feel her body already. She knew the end was near, but she wasn¡¯t sad about her death. Although her life had been dramatic, it had been normal. ¡°There¡¯s no hope for me.¡± ¡°Rubica, no.¡± She tried to use what was left of her strength to at least put on a pale smile. If anyone had seen her, they would have felt pain in their heart. Her smile was that sad. She just tried to memorize Arman¡¯s white hair and kind wrinkled eyes using her fading sight. ¡°I want to tell you something.¡± Arman shook his head, knowing it would be herst words. He didn¡¯t want to hear herst words. He wanted her to believe that she could survive. He couldn¡¯t imagine living without her. ¡°Ar... man,¡± Rubica said. She was already seventy years old and she had been enduring well. She had suffered so much, working at a small abbey in and razed by the war. Still, she felt she had led a quite decent life. She had found happiness in healing the wounded and helping the people suffering from the war like herself. Before the war, she had had no ce to go to. Ironically, it gave her a ce to stay. However, she still had one regret remaining in her heart. It was that she hadn¡¯t told Arman that she loved him. He had shown up about a decade ago at Hue¡¯s Abbey where Rubica was staying at. He was another victim of the war. He was blind. However, Rubica had never seen anyone as capable as him. He knew manynguages, enough tomunicate with everyone at the abbey where people from many countries lived mixed together and knew much more. Oh, if Rubica hadn¡¯t had his help, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to save and heal so many people. Moreover, he was so kind to Rubica. When she overworked even a little, he cooked food to help her recover sooner, and he always volunteered to do the hard work. Rubica fell in love with him. However, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to say that out loud. She was an old woman, withering more and more every day. Her confessing love would have been something tough at. She was ashamed of the spring that came to her at an old age. So, she couldn¡¯t tell that to Arman. Now, she was regretting it when the time to face death hade. Human beings are so foolish, regardless of age. She raised her weak hand to touch Arman¡¯s cheek. His skin was just as wrinkled as her own. Although he was quite handsome, he was old just like herself. Why had she fallen for him? Nevertheless, she enjoyed looking at him more than looking at young and good-looking men. The thought made her smile. Why had she hesitated? Why had she given up, thinking others would think it was wrong? She had experienced more than enough that life never waited. ¡°Arman, I...¡± ¡°Rubica, I...¡± They spoke at the same moment. Rubica¡¯s old heart started beating fast. She wanted to tell him thest remaining feeling to him. ¡®Ah...¡¯ But maybe, it was toote. Her fussy sight turned ck, and she couldn¡¯t hear the sound of the bombs anymore. She could only hear a faint buzzing. She wanted to say herst words, but she could no longer move her lips. ¡®I am just like him now.¡¯ That¡¯s what she thought when she couldn¡¯t see anymore. Then, she didn¡¯t feel as bad for not being able to see. However, not being able to say to Arman what she had to say for the first andst time made her sad. And that sadness became a small drop of dew in her eyes. Soon, she felt something cold on her breast. Then, she felt the sound of warm breathing on her ear, as if someone was whispering to her. ¡®Is Arman talking to me?¡¯ Sadly, she couldn¡¯t hear the sound. However, she didn¡¯t want Arman to know that. She wanted herst seconds to look beautiful and happy for Arman, even though she was an old woman. Even though he couldn¡¯t see... Rubica felt Arman stroking her face with his hand. When his fingers reached her lips, she smiled as if she had heard everything Arman had said. Did he notice her smile? His hand stopped. Then it trembled as if he was holding back the tears. He moved his hand to take her hand tightly and started to pat her shoulder. You shouldn¡¯t give up yet. You should live. It was as if he was whispering through that gesture. However, despite his efforts, Rubica¡¯s consciousness just went further and further away. Arman¡¯s hand patting her shoulder, his scent, and his breath. They all got smaller and smaller. Eventually, she couldn¡¯t feel anything. Rubica¡¯s life had been unfortunate and dramatic, but also long enough, happy, and meaningful. Her life was about toe to an end, leaving just the regret of not telling her beloved that she loved him. *** Rubica suddenly woke up in front of a mirror. Her eyes were full of tears. ¡°Hup!¡± She checked her reflection and shock appeared on her face. ¡®... no wrinkles? No streaks of white hair, it¡¯s just all brown.¡¯ Is this really my face? She touched her face and looked down at her milky-white hands. She still couldn¡¯t get used to it as too much time had passed, but what she was seeing in the mirror was her younger self. ¡®What is going on?¡¯ Before she could look around to figure out what was happening, someone knocked on the door and opened it. ¡°Miss!¡± The maid was familiar to Rubica. However, she couldn¡¯t recall her name immediately as it had been fifty years since she lived with her. ¡°You must prepare for the morning!¡± ¡°What?¡± Rubica asked confusedly. ¡°Hurry!¡± The maid didn¡¯t wait for Rubica. She seized her thin wrist with her own rough and powerful hand and ran down the stairs. Rubica, who had just been in the attic on the second floor, arrived at the dressing room on the first floor in no time. ¡°Rubica! You¡¯re way toote.¡± A littledy sitting in front of a dressing table stomped her feet in anger. She wasn¡¯t acting like a noblewoman at all. Then, the maid handed ab to Rubica as if it was only natural. ¡°Ang.¡± Rubica¡¯s voice shook, but this time, she said the name right away. How could she ever forget the girl? Rubica¡¯s mother had died in the year she turned 16. Ever since then, she had been under the protection of her uncle and his wife who had paid her family¡¯s debt. However, that protection was more like exploitation. Ang was Rubica¡¯s uncle¡¯s daughter, her cousin. She didn¡¯t like Rubica calling her by name. She pouted and turned around while saying, ¡°Comb!¡± She spoke as if she was talking to her maid. Rubica¡¯s tears disappeared in no time. Instead, she frowned hard to Ang in the mirror. ¡®You shouldn¡¯t speak like that!¡¯ Their gazes met, and Ang looked away instead of yelling again. Rubica sighed. It was so strange. Had she had a bad dream? She hid herplicated feelings andbed Ang¡¯s flowing red hair. Oh, Ang. Her red hair always had a pretty glow. It felt quite soft to Rubica¡¯s fingers, she had probably been raised with good food. Rubica had missed that soft texture. She barely stopped something hoting up her throat and asked, ¡°Which style do you want?¡± ¡°Same as yesterday. I liked it. It was pretty.¡± Same as yesterday? Rubica blinked her deep reddish-brown eyes. Then she tried to remember the yesterday Ang meant. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn¡¯t recall the style Ang had worn yesterday. When she thought of the word yesterday, the memory that came to her mind was... *** ¡°Rubica, Amanun will strike nearby tomorrow.¡± Rubica has just returned after taking care of the patients. Arman gave her warm water and biscuits. She then drank the water and sat down next to her to look at the fishing he was making. They had nned to go fishing to theke with the children the next day after finishing the. ¡°Would they even strike this abbey, anyway?¡± ¡°You see...¡± Arman¡¯s hands stopped, and Rubica widened her eyes in surprise. Even during the violent war, no country nor any monster had invaded Hue¡¯s Abbey. That was why so many refugees hade there, following Hue god¡¯s teaching of ¡®Love your foe as if he were your neighbor¡¯. Rubica and Arman had been one of those as well. Arman hesitated for a long time, wondering if he should tell Rubica what he knew, but he eventually started speaking. ¡°Dragon Iber, that used to sleep, has woken up.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°Rubica, I¡¯ve prepared a hideout under the zelkova. If anything happens...¡± ¡°Arman.¡± Rubica took his shaking hand. She thought it was good that he couldn¡¯t see her eyes shaking in fear just like his hand, ¡°If anything happens, save the children first.¡± ¡°... Rubica.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve lived long enough.¡± She wasn¡¯t wrong. She had lived for seventy years. The children were much younger, so they were more likely to find happiness at the end of this pain. They had to survive. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

¡°Rubica?¡± Ang called Rubica who had stoppedbing and was in a daze. ¡°Oh, sorry, sorry. I must be a little tired.¡± Ang¡¯s calling brought Rubica to her senses. Thinking about it again, it felt so strange. She wasbing Ang¡¯s hair here, without a single wrinkle on her face... However, the Rubica of the present didn¡¯t even have the luxury of doing nothing and being lost in thoughts. For now, she started tob Ang¡¯s hair. ¡®I cannot remember yesterday¡¯s hairstyle...¡¯ Nevertheless, the moment she touched Ang¡¯s soft hair, her anxiety and confusion melted away. That softness calmed her down. Oh, when she sometimes thought about her, she would recall Ang¡¯s hair rather than her eyes and nose. She startedbing the hair and sprinkled rose water on it to enhance its softness and sticity. Soon its scent filled the air. ¡®I¡¯m happy.¡¯ Rubica enjoyed working on Ang¡¯s hair. Her hair was fancy top-grade that was worth taking care of. Rubica could even endure her uncle and aunt using her as a housekeeper as long as she could do Ang¡¯s hair. Her hands started to move busily. Although she couldn¡¯t remember, her hands knew what to do. All the Berners had soft but thick hair. So, the style had to show its richness. Rubica started to use theb to skillfully pump up the hair and braid it. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I think it isn¡¯t yesterday¡¯s...¡± ¡°Shhh!¡± The maids on both sides were about to point out the style wasn¡¯t yesterday¡¯s, but Ang stopped them. The style was definitely not yesterday¡¯s. ¡®... pretty. I like it.¡¯ Ang was once again impressed by Rubica¡¯s skill. She wasn¡¯t just braiding the hair. She was making Ang¡¯s somewhat round face look cuter and more attractive. Not anyone could do that. While Ang was satisfied with her new hair, Rubica was going back on her memory as she did her hair. ¡®Was it a dream?¡¯ She could still remember every part of it as if it had been only yesterday. The wounded recovering with Rubica¡¯s warm, caring aid, and the priest who insisted they couldn¡¯t forget the god¡¯s teachings in any suffering. And Arman, who was always there when Rubica looked. She felt pain in her heart at recalling him. She was most certainly standing there, doing Ang¡¯s hair, but that reality felt far away just like a dream. It was so strange that her fingers, doing Ang¡¯s hair, didn¡¯t have any wrinkle. What had happened? She might have lost her senses while looking at her mirror and had a long trip of daydreaming, but what she had felt was so real. Arman... Arman... was just dream? No way. Rubica finished doing Ang¡¯s hair. She then opened the essory box to give it the final touch. Her head was full of thoughts about Arman and her new reality, so she couldn¡¯t decide on a pin for a long time. No hairpin in the box caught her eyes. ¡®They aren¡¯t right.¡¯ In the Kingdom of Seritos, Rubica¡¯s homnd, frugality was a virtue. However, as the Berner Family had been in the trading business for generations, the essory box was full of hairpins that were way too fancy for Ang¡¯s status. ¡®They all look expensive, but they are not for the color of Ang¡¯s hair.¡¯ Then, she spotted a silk ribbon next to the box that was tied around ab and an iron. It was pale gold, and it fitted Ang¡¯s hair. Ang had the lively energy of spring. Silk knots that dance with the breeze would be better than a pin made of cold gem... When her thought reached that point, her hands moved first. Half in a daze, she made a knot with the ribbon. It was different from the normal knots used to decorate sofas and curtains. She tied four, five times, made the end dance with the wind, and put it on Ang¡¯s hair using a pin. ¡°What is this?¡± Ang frowned at first to see an unfamiliar knot on her hair. Then, she shook her head from side to side. The gold ribbon started to y hide-and-seek behind her red hair as if it was shy. ¡°Hmm...¡± It was witty and pretty. The gold light that remained after the ribbon moved made her hair look brighter and livelier. ¡°I think it¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Yes, Ms. Ang. It fits you very well.¡± ¡°It is so pretty.¡± Unlike Ang and her maids, who were in joy, Rubica was shocked to see the knot she had made. ¡®That¡¯s...¡¯ *** A sailor without legs who had been recovering at the abbey had taught her how to make that knot. He was from Phanas Ind and had made all kinds of knots since he was young. He got his ideas from the knots used to tie furniture and hair. Then, he invented a knot that did nothing but just looked luxurious. -Oh, Mr. Chris. That is? -Ah, I used to tie the anchor like this sometimes, just for fun. The sailor smiled shyly and tried to cover the knot he had made as a pastime. However, Rubica was fascinated by that knot. Her eyes sparkled. -I want to tie like that, too. Please teach me. -... but this knot isn¡¯t even strong. -But it¡¯s pretty. Pretty. The sailor got apliment he thought he would never hear. He scratched his face in embarrassment, but he willingly taught Rubica how to tie that knot. ¡®That happened when I was... about forty.¡¯ In reality, the Rubica of her present age didn¡¯t know that knot. The maids and Ang didn¡¯t know it, either. They were so impressed, wondering how Rubica had thought of tying silk like that and looked at the ribbon gently moving on Ang¡¯s hair. ¡®It isn¡¯t something like a dream you briefly dreamt. It all really happened.¡¯ Rubica¡¯s hands started to shake. The knot on Ang¡¯s head was saying so. However, she didn¡¯t want to admit it. If all that really had happened... everyone in the room... The girl, poor Ang will... ¡°Rubica?¡± Rubica wasn¡¯t applying the soft cream on Ang¡¯s neck and hands. So, she looked back with wide eyes. Then, her big green eyes spotted something shining on Rubica¡¯s chest. It was a ring with a stone that looked like a piece of blue sky. It was linked to a golden chain and was hanging on her chest. Ang stretched out her hand to snatch that beautiful ring. ¡°Give it to me!¡± When she failed to get what she wanted, she lost her temper and stomped her feet on the console table. The little tyrant of Berner Family. Although Rubica sometimes told her she couldn¡¯t behave like that when she threw a tantrum, she always gave in to what she wanted. She had just backed off because she was surprised to see Ang suddenly reaching out to her. She tried to soothe her and looked down to see what she wanted. She was going to give it to Ang, as usual. However, when she saw the ring hanging above her chest, her eyes shook hard. Oh... this is... ¡°No!¡± The moment she checked what it was, she tightly grabbed it to not have it taken away from her. It was the blue ring Arman had always worn. ¡®Why is Arman¡¯s ring...¡¯ She couldn¡¯t believe it. She couldn¡¯t think straight because too much information was swirling in her head, but she knew one thing. She couldn¡¯t give up that ring, ever. Ang was the one who was shocked. Rubica had always given her anything she wanted, no matter what it was. But now, she was ring at her, her lips tightly shut and her eyes full of tears! She was so shocked that she forgot to stomp her feet and stared at Rubica. Then, her maids started to get nervous. Ang would nag at them for the whole day whenever she got angry. Pleading to their master and their mistress about the little girl¡¯s behavior was no good. They just smiled and thought it was their cute daughter¡¯s charm. However, Rubica was the Cindere of the Berner Family. The maid who was holding the essory box nced at Ang and started speaking. ¡°Ms. Ang just wanted to take a look at the ring. Did you really have to speak like that?¡± ¡°You could have expressed yourself in a nicer way...¡± ¡°Yes, it is not elegant to express your anger to your younger cousin.¡± They were both speaking for Ang. She looked at them and then turned to Rubica. Today¡¯s Rubica was different from the usual. She had willingly given Ang anything, even when she wanted what her mother had left to her, saying ¡®If you want it...¡¯ but now, she was holding that ring tightly as if the persuasion and usation of the maids could not make her change her mind. Ang got mad. It was just a stone ring, Rubica doesn¡¯t know what I am thinking! ¡°Fine! I don¡¯t even want to look at you.¡± She looked away and told Rubica to leave. Rubica was rather relieved to see she was giving up on her ring. One of the maids rubbed Ang¡¯s neck and hands with cream and nced at Rubica. It meant she had to leave before something bigger happened. Rubica was about to obey the little tyrant and leave the room. But things were extremely strange, so she asked one of the maids, ¡°Where¡¯s my aunt?¡± ¡°She is at the drawing room with her husband. They are meeting a guest.¡± A guest, so early in the morning? And they hadn¡¯t politely pointed out how rude that visit was but met that guest in the drawing room. What was going on? Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Rubica¡¯s aunt considered dressing up as extremely important. When thedies of the neighborhood kindly pointed out her excessive dressing code, she just dismissed it as jealousy of the poor people. Therefore, she only met guests when she was perfectly dressed up. Additionally, she would only let Rubica do her hair, saying she was good at it. But now, she skipped the morning dressing up session to meet a guest... Rubica couldn¡¯t understand. She stopped and blinked her eyes. But then, the maids looked ufortable for Rubica still lingering around after Ang told her to leave. She had no choice but to give up asking and left the room. She wanted to know who the guest was, but she was the Cindere of the Berner Family. She didn¡¯t belong in that meeting. She used the back stairs for the servants to go up to her room in the attic. Then, she asked something to a servant she ran into. ¡°What year is it in the kingdom¡¯s calendar? I suddenly can¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°It¡¯s year 473.¡± The servant, who was carrying food, answered without giving much thought to it. Rubica could now feel the goosebumps appearing on her skin, and she held the ring even tighter. The ring was the only thing that told her she wasn¡¯t crazy, that what had happened in the past wasn¡¯t fake. ¡®Oh my!¡¯ Rubica had died at the age of seventy ande back to herself at 22. *** ¡®Am I crazy? Am I not crazy?¡¯ Rubica asked herself, lying with her face down on the old bed in the small attic. What had suddenly happened to her was enough to make her lose her mind in shock. It wasn¡¯t like she had died and resurrected. She had gone back in time, it should have been impossible. Still, she couldn¡¯t think that the life she lived until reaching 70 years old had been fake, and it was all a brief dream. She could clearly remember what had happened just before her death and the famine she had suffered when she 69. However, everything that had happened this year, at the age of 22, was foggy and faint, and the memories were jumbled up together as if she was trying to recall things that had happened 40 years ago. Most of all, she had a reason to believe she hade back in time because... She looked at the ring on her chest with sad eyes. The blue stone that decorated it was beautiful, but it was neither sapphire nor blue topaz. It was just stone. However, Arman had never parted from it as if it was something precious. The ring had been one of the reasons Rubica hadn¡¯t been able to tell him she loved him. She thought he still couldn¡¯t move on from his former lover. ¡®This is Arman¡¯s, it has to be.¡¯ She had a good reason to be so sure like that. On the day of her birth, her mother had been very delighted to see that her child¡¯s eyes had a red hue. -Hue will bless you. People with red eyes were blessed by Hue, the god of love. They will always meet good lovers and live happily. The mother hadn¡¯t known that those red eyes would just be normal reddish-brown eyes as the girl grew up. Therefore, she named her Rubica. Ever since then, ruby had been the only type of jewel Rubica wore. Although her aunt had taken all of it from her because of debt, there was a time when her essory box was full of red gems. Even after that, she never wore any essory that wasn¡¯t red. The color fitted her the best and herte mother had liked it. ¡®Arman...¡¯ She had felt something cold being dropped on her breast as she died. Was it this ring? The ring hade to the past with Rubica. So, she held it tight. Arman had always been there for her. It was as if he had sent the ring with her so that she wouldn¡¯t go crazy. Everything was taken from me, but I will never lose this! Rubica had never been obsessed with things, but Arman¡¯s ring was different. It was the one object that let her stay sane and was a clue at the same time. She suddenly got worried. What if her aunt tries to take it away like the other things? For now, she carefully wrapped it in a cloth and hid it deep in her dress. Then she sat down on her bed, wiped the tears, and decided to try to make sense of everything one by one. First of all, year 473 of the kingdom. Rubica was 22 years old, already way too old to get married. She bit her lips hard at that point. ¡®If it only has been 6 years earlier...¡¯ Then, she would have been able to see her mother, although she was sick. At the time, she hadn¡¯t known her mother would leave her so soon. She had been so young. She had even slightly protested about how her friends went to balls, and she had to take care of her mother all day within the smell of medicine. That time had been precious. Everything she had enjoyed was only been possible under her mother¡¯s kindness. She realized that only much, muchter. -Sister Rubica, thinking of what cannot be undone and ming yourself will only make you miserable. Now, let¡¯s use our time to think about the present that we can change, the time Hue gave to us. Rubica recalled what the priest had told her when she had just arrived at the abbey and was just despairing at the reality. The world is like a fine-meshed. There are things you cannot fix, no matter how much you regret it. The priest had told her she had to focus on what was in front of her, the things she could do and fix. Only then a new will be knitted. He just said that tofort her, but it had changed Rubica ever since. She decided to think of the things she could do now in this new reality. ¡®The war will break out after four years.¡¯ Rubica¡¯snd, the Kingdom of Seritos, was in the harsh Seris Mountains. It had no decent specialty and thend wasn¡¯t good for farming. It was a poornd. However, that changed the moment the founder of Seritos found a mana stone mine deep in the mountains. Mana stones had great energy. At the time, few knew how to use that energy. However, there was a great inventor next to the founder king. The inventor, whoter started the ymore Family, made weapons using the energy in the mana stones. His weapons were very powerful. Everyone started buying weapons from Seritos to get rid of the monsters that infested the continent. Seritos bought wheat with the money it earned from the weapons and it started flourishing. For more than 400 years, the Family of ymore kept inventing, and kings used the messy situation of the world to sell mana stones and weapons. Apart from the kingdoms, dragons¡¯ territories were the only other ces where such pure mana stones could be mined. However, after 4 years from now, in the year 477 of the kingdom¡¯s calendar, the same thing that had made Seritos flourish destroyed it, as if collecting the debt people owed to it. *** ¡°Have you heard that? Duke ymore has invented a weapon that flies up in the sky!¡± ¡°Weapon that flies? Well, is it as big as a baby¡¯s finger?¡± ¡°No, of course not. I heard it is almost as huge as a ship.¡± ¡°Something that big cannot fly!¡± ¡°Hey! You know ymore turns the impossible into possible!¡± At the age of 26, Rubica had been working in the Berner¡¯s house without getting married as she had no dowry. She diligently picked up grains to be sowed while listening to the servants. ¡°Now it¡¯s the time to fight the dragon.¡± ¡°Why should we mess up with the sleeping dragon?¡± ¡°If it weren¡¯t for that dragon, we would be eating meat instead of potatoes!¡± Rubica had to restrain herugh at this and continued carrying out the bucket full of grains. Actually, there was arge in right next to the Kingdom of Seritos, and that in belonged to the greedy dragon Ios. ¡®Will they really attack the dragon?¡¯ Nonsense. Rubica muttered so as she sowed the field. Then, a huge and ck shadow went over her. At first, she thought it was the dark clouds that were about to rain. However, when she looked up, there was something ck floating there, huge enough to block all the sunlight. She learned its name onlyter. ¡®Ste¡¯. The only thing she had seen that flew had been birds, so she opened her mouth in surprise and so did the others. -What is it? -I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a bird. -Wait, something¡¯sing out. Its smooth surface seemed to be made of ck iron. A hatch opened, and something came out. Rubica thought it looked like cannon, and soon an ominous feeling overwhelmed her. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Chapter 4

-Everyone... get out! She didn¡¯t think. She just ran to the nearest underground grocery storage. And then, that strange Ste started to rain fire on the ground. It was the first day that she learned bombs could fall from the sky. Ste only left debris. The Berner Mansion, the ce that Rubica¡¯s grandfather had erected and where she had grown up and which had been taken by her uncle and his wife after her parent¡¯s death, met that fate as well. Her uncle always traveled abroad as he was a merchant, but he was at home that day. Rubica wailed in front of his ck body. And oh, how was Ang¡¯s dead body, who had grown up enough by then and would tell her mother not to be too harsh on Rubica? Her heart ached just thinking about that horrible moment. ¡®What should I do, what should I do to save everyone? Should I ask Ang to go on a stroll with me and take her to the storage? Oh, but her mother won¡¯t approve it... what should I tell my uncle?¡¯ No matter how hard she thought, she couldn¡¯t think of a way to save the others. She didn¡¯t know how the war had broken out and how that day¡¯s air raid had proceeded. How did Seritos¡¯ invention end up destroying Seritos? She bit her lips anxiously. ¡®No, I should think about itter.¡¯ The taste of blood made her realize she was going too much ahead. She took a deep breath and decided to focus on the present instead of the distant future and past to calm herself down. ¡®Has anyone visited so early in the morning some time this year?¡¯ Rubica frowned. Such a thing hadn¡¯t happened, no matter how hard she thought. However, she couldn¡¯t be sure. To her, the things that had happened when she was 22 were memories more than 40 years old. It is hard to remember even things that took ce a decade ago, so she wasn¡¯t confident about 40 years ago. ¡°Rubica! Rubica!¡± Then, she heard a voice calling her urgently. She got up in a hurry and went outside. She looked down from the stairs. Her uncle, Mr. Martin Berner, was calling her from the stairs on the first floor. ¡°Uncle?¡± Rubica called him, quite confused. He looked up at her. Then he smiled broadly while saying, ¡°My child, don¡¯t be surprised. No, I will understand if you pass out in shock. Duke ymore has proposed to you!¡± Rubica felt dizzy on the stairs, and she staggered for a moment. In her previous life, she had lived as a single woman until she died. Fate was changing. What hadn¡¯t happened in her former life was now happening. *** Duke ymore? That Duke ymore? Compared to Rubica, he was too great. She had never gone past him, much less talked to him. However, Mr. Martin Berner, Rubica¡¯s uncle, wasn¡¯t smart enough to see her anxiety. He thought Rubica was hesitating just because she was very happy. He smiled widely and opened his arms. Normally, Rubica would have yed along, but she didn¡¯t feel like it now. ¡°Why would he propose to me?¡± The voice was small and weak like ark¡¯s cry. Rubica was blinking with her small eyes and was noting down the stairs. Mr. Berner looked at her. Why wasn¡¯t she delighted about such a great offer? ¡°How do I know that? If anyone knows that, it should be you.¡± He spoke as if the duke had seen her before and had fallen in love with her. It was the only exnation he could think of. However, Rubica had never run into Duke ymore. Her youth had all been about the huge debt her father had left her and her mother¡¯s illness. She had no memory of going to the neighboring baron¡¯s ball, much less going to a ball held at the capital in a decent dress. She really didn¡¯t know why. ¡°Why are you frowning like that?¡± Then, she heard Mrs. Berner¡¯s voice. She was wearing a dress too splendid for a woman from Seritos, just as usual. However, she didn¡¯t have the time to have her hair done by Rubica this morning, so she just tied her pretty blonde hair with a ribbon. It made her look less splendid than usual, but she continued to mercilessly move her red and smooth lips. ¡°Rubica, it is a great marriage that you can¡¯t even dream of. The duke even offered to pay your marriage expenses instead.¡± She had finished calcting already. Although it was Rubica¡¯s wedding, everything had been decided without her. She looked into Mrs. Berner¡¯s cold eyes and realized she would never let her say no to the duke. ¡°But I¡¯ve never seen him ever before. There¡¯s no way he would just suddenly propose to me like this. What if he mistook me for anotherdy?¡± Rubica gathered her courage, even under that cold gaze, and mentioned her doubts. She smiled faintly to Mr. Berner, praying that her question would sound reasonable. It had to be a mistake. Although the name Rubica wasn¡¯tmon, it wasn¡¯t that rare either. The duke would have never asked ady who had a bar¡¯s title and nothing else. However, her doubt was shattered by Mr. Berner¡¯s reply. ¡°Oh, it isn¡¯t a mistake at all. The duke knew what I, your patron, did, and he exactly knew our address and yourte father¡¯s name! Haha, he checked everything and returned.¡± ¡°Our address?¡± Ominous feelings started to take over Rubica. Had the duke really proposed to Rubica Berner instead of any other Rubica? However, she was the only person there who was in fear. Mr. Berner smiled brightly and gestured to Rubica, urging her toe down. She had no choice but to fight the dizziness and go down the stairs. As soon as she arrived at the first floor, her aunt smiled warmly and took her hands to congratte her. ¡°I envy you. This marriage has been possible only because your name is on the aristocrats¡¯ list as a bar thanks to your father.¡± Rubica had never seen her smile like that, and it made her shiver. ¡®Bar...¡¯ Yes, bar. That stupid title. In her previous life, she had been busy just trying to survive. So, she didn¡¯t even think about her dark and sad past. But today, she wondered. ¡®Maybe uncle and aunt didn¡¯t have me get married on purpose.¡¯ Rubica¡¯s father had gone through great danger to bring ships full of grain during the great famine. He was given the title of bar for that. He had been that kind, but after he died at sea, Rubica and her mother found themselves in great debt. Because of it, Rubica¡¯s mother had to die without even receiving proper medicine. After that, Rubica had no one. Then, herte father¡¯s brother showed up. -We will be your patrons. At the time, she had just been happy. She thought her uncle was just like her kind father and was doing what was best for her. He even bought the Berner Mansion to take care of her debts. She was happy to go to the city hall and report. [Martin Berner, Rubica Berner¡¯s patron, heiress of the bar title] That certificate meant Martin Berner could use the bar¡¯s privileges instead of Rubica who was still a minor. As he also worked in the trading business just like Rubica¡¯s father had, it was something extremely precious that he couldn¡¯t buy with money. He and his wife changed their attitude toward Rubica the day that certificate arrived. ¡®That certificate loses its power the moment I get married.¡¯ At the time, she couldn¡¯t understand what was going on. She was too young to know how things worked. She couldn¡¯t get married so that her uncle could enjoy the privileges of a bar as her patron, and she had to die without leaving an heir so that her title would go to Martin Berner, her closest kin, or his son Isaac Berner. Even if she had known that, she wouldn¡¯t have demanded a dowry to her uncle as he had paid her father¡¯s debt. She was just not like that. However, this was wrong. He had decided on her marriage on his own and was acting as if he was doing her a great favor! They must have considered the tradition of leaving the title to one¡¯s family when getting married to a man of a much higher rank when they took the duke¡¯s proposal. The Rubica of the past wouldn¡¯t have opposed her uncle and her aunt, but now, she had changed. ¡°Uncle, what do you mean by Duke ymore¡¯s messenger had returned? Are you saying you have epted his proposal?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡°How could you!¡± Rubica was so angry that she couldn¡¯t breathe. She couldn¡¯t understand how her uncle could make such a huge mistake. However, Mr. Berner was the person who couldn¡¯t understand her the most at that moment. He really didn¡¯t know why she was acting so angrily. He just blinked his eyes. Rubica wanted to yell at him for a long time, but her aunt, who was still smiling, would p her. She took a deep breath and started speaking slowly. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

¡°You should have asked for my opinion.¡± Rubica¡¯s usation was just. Mr. Berner realized what he had missed only then. However, he was naturally positive and soon made sense of things, in his point of view, and smiled. ¡°I was going to surprise you.¡± He sounded as if he never thought about Rubica refusing the proposal. Rubica couldn¡¯t take it anymore and yelled, ¡°I don¡¯t want to get married to the duke!¡± Everyone was shocked to hear that. Mrs. Berner, Mr. Berner, and even the servants in the mansion who had been listening to the conversation quietly. Duke ymore. He had be a duke at a young age in his 20s, three years ago when his parents died in a chariot ident. He was literally the most eligible bachelor in the kingdom. He was so capable that he was now the most trusted subject of the king, and everyone praised his handsome looks. Rubica was from a bar family that lived by with the trading business. She couldn¡¯t even dream of marrying such a man. Nevertheless, she hated him. Edgar Taylor yd Windmore. How could she ever forget that name? He was the man who invented ¡®Ste¡¯, the bomb dropped from the sky. The ymore Family had always been full of great inventors. The family had greatly helped the kingdom in bing the ce where the most advanced weapons were produced. The kingdom¡¯s budget of the year depended on what kind of inventions the family made in that year. Edgar Taylor yd Windmore, the 24th Duke ymore, was thought to be the most brilliant Duke ymore ever. Eventually, he used that brilliant mind to create the terrible monster, Ste. That Ste was going to kill most of the people with Rubica in 4 years. Because of the war it caused, Arman lost his eyes, and many people lost their parents, children, and friends. And what about Rubica¡¯s end? That merciless weapon didn¡¯t discern the innocents and enemies. Bombs were dropped even at Hue¡¯s Abbey, where priests took care of sick people and orphans, and Rubica eventually died at the age of 70. To her, Duke ymore was like her greatest enemy. If it had been another man, she would have handled it, even if it had been an old duke with white hair, but she couldn¡¯t marry Duke ymore. Ever. She bit her lips tight and stared at her uncle, protesting. She had never done that before, and the atmosphere seemed to be freezing. She had always been obedient and kind. Mr. Berner hadn¡¯t expected her to protest like that, so he just froze there and started to sweat hard. ¡°Hahaha!¡± Mrs. Berner¡¯sugh broke the silence. Everybody was frozen and couldn¡¯t say anything, but she threw a rock calledughter to that mood. ¡°Rubica, you¡¯re not a young teenager. Are you acting like this because the duke didn¡¯t kneel down in front of you and present flowers to you? Oh, Rubica, think of your age! And think of the duke¡¯s high status. It wouldn¡¯t have been right for him toe to you and ask for your hand in marriage like a silly boy from the neighborhood. He asked your uncle, your patron, to ept his proposal instead, from family to family! He has done everything he was supposed to do. It is only right for you to ask your patron¡¯s opinion about whether you are a woman good enough for him.¡± Mrs. Berner dismissed Rubica¡¯s anger as childish foolishness, and she was right. There was nothing wrong with how the duke was taking care of the process, but Rubica didn¡¯t want to step back now. ¡°Nevertheless, you should have asked for my opinion. Was the guest messenger sent by the duke? You should have let me meet him.¡± That was a euphemistic and earnest plea. Mr. Berner nodded. However, his wife stared at Rubica with cold eyes. She wouldn¡¯t have Rubica join the meeting, even if Mr. Berner had wanted it. Duke ymore was the richest person in the kingdom, and he was willing to open his wallet for Rubica, the poor woman without a dowry who was going to be his wife. He was going to pay for her dowry with his private money, and he had promised to pay a huge sum of money to the Berners as expenses to maintain their dignity. And he was the duke. It was normal for the wife to give her own title to a rtive when marrying such a man with high status. Instead of weing the unexpected fortune with open arms, she hid her true thoughts like the wife of a merchant and quarreled all morning with the duke¡¯s messenger to sell Rubica at the highest price possible. Additionally, she had seeded on who will get the money from the ymore Family and where it will be entrusted to as she had wanted. At least her son, Isaac Berner, who was studying at the Academy now, would not have to worry about money until graduation. In the end, the messenger surrendered and wrote down everything Mrs. Berner wanted. He said the duke wanted that marriage done, no matter the cost. Mr. and Mrs. Berner were about to get everything they wanted. Moreover, Mrs. Berner was going to do even more. She was going to keep most of the money the duke would send for the things needed for marriage and give Rubica the not-too-bad cheap stuff. Thinking about it, Rubica, who she had hated since the first time they met, now looked quite lovely to her. ¡°Rubica, we thought it wouldn¡¯t be right for us to have you present at such a meeting. As you must know, it is a little... ungraceful for a bride to talk about expenses and such things herself.¡± ¡°Irene is right.¡± Mr. Berner wasn¡¯t used to getting med. He soon got rid of his frown and agreed with his wife. Rubica had no choice but to make it clear again that she didn¡¯t want to marry Duke ymore. Then, Mrs. Berner¡¯s blue eyes started to be filled with tears. ¡°Think of your age. You will never get such a husband again. You are way too old to talk about romance. To be honest, this marriage has only been possible because your mother was the daughter of a count. Ang... Ang isn¡¯t even on the bar¡¯s list, much less on the list of the counts¡¯ rtives. She cannot marry such a man, even if he proposes to her.¡± She took out her handkerchief to wipe the tears, and she really meant what she said forst. Tears kept streaming down from her blue eyes. Then Mr. Berner, who loved peace in the family and hated to see it broken, patted her shoulder and usingly looked at Rubica. Rubica had to admit she had been defeated. Nevertheless, she didn¡¯t want to marry the duke. ¡®I¡¯m in love with someone else.¡¯ She wanted to yell so. Her heart belonged with a man she hadn¡¯t even met in this life. However, Rubica couldn¡¯t say that. There were too many servants and maids watching. She decided to take a step back. She looked down and asked the question she didn¡¯t want to ask. ¡°... then, when can I see the duke who has proposed to such a lowly woman like me?¡± ¡°Rubica!¡± Mrs. Berner yelled in shock as Rubica was clearly scolding her. Rubica was acting strange today. Normally, she was just like her father, who had been way too kind, and her mother, who had been way too innocent. She was a girl who loved peace. She would obey Mrs. Berner and act like a puppet at one sharp word and short cold re. However, she had been expressing herself way too clearly and now she was even scolding her. However, unlike Mrs. Berner, who noticed her change, Mr. Berner acted like his usual optimistic self. He smiled brightly as if he had never used Rubica. ¡°He wille tomorrow evening with a special permission certificate. Yes, we should be preparing. Butler! Prepare a feast now. Irene, do we have enough turkey?¡± Mrs. Berner decided it wouldn¡¯t do her any good to point out Rubica¡¯s change now. So, she immediately spoke in a kind tone. ¡°I¡¯ll tell the cook to prepare the best feast ever. Rubica, you should pick a dress for tomorrow! Now that you are to be a duchess, you should stop wearing such a shabby dress. I will tell Ang right now and have her pick a good dress for you. You know how kindhearted she is, right?¡± Rubica smiled bitterly. However, she didn¡¯t have more strength to fight with her aunt now. ¡°There¡¯s no need to pick a dress. I will wear anything you give me. I¡¯m also feeling dizzy, I¡¯ll go to my room to rest,¡± Rubica spoke coldly and mmed the old wooden door in front of the confused people. ¡°Okay, Rubica. Lie on your bed and get some rest, then you will get to realize what is truly good for you.¡± Mr. Berner¡¯s generous voice was heard through the old door. Soon, Rubica heard theughter of the servants agreeing with him. They talked about how the foolish Rubica will soon realize the great fortune in front of her and be surprised while they started to prepare for the duke¡¯s visit. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Chapter 6

The attic¡¯s door was too thin and old to block that noise. Rubicaid down on her bed and covered her ears with the nket. Her anger didn¡¯t go away. ¡®Shit, shit!¡¯ She punched her pillow. If her mother had been alive, even on her sickbed, such a thing would have never happened. The current Mrs. Berner was right. She had been the daughter of a graceful and noble count¡¯s family. It was actually a little hard for a bar¡¯s daughter to get married to a duke, but it wasn¡¯t that impossible as Rubica had the blood of a count¡¯s family that was a branch of the imperial family. However, if her mother had been alive, she would have never ignored Rubica¡¯s opinion and gone on with such senseless wedding... ¡®The duke wille tomorrow evening with a special permission certificate.¡¯ She suddenly recalled what her uncle had said. She abruptly got up. ¡°... special permission.¡± It had been such a long time that she hadn¡¯t been able to remember what it was right away. For her, it was like recalling the memories from 60 years ago. It had nothing to do with the Berner Family that had only a bar title, but Rubica¡¯s mother had sometimes told her about it. When a man of the rank viscount or higher who had a domain, or his heir was getting married, he had to get permission from the king. Aristocrats normally called this ¡®special permission¡¯. Rubica¡¯s mother would stroke her hair with affection and say so. ¡°Special permission means His Majesty is permitting and ordering the marriage. If you break up the marriage after being given the permission without a good reason, it would be defying the king.¡± There would be nothing she could do after getting the permission certificate. She would have to get married. Rubicaughed at the duke¡¯s scheme. Had he thought every woman in the world would, of course, say yes to his proposal. As Mrs. Berner had said, Rubica had never dreamt of a maning to her with flowers and kneeling down in front of her to propose. But she thought a man who wanted to get married had to at least ask the woman¡¯s opinion. However, Duke ymore hadn¡¯t asked her opinion. If he had asked, Rubica would still have refused him in an instant. ¡®Why me? What can he get by marrying a poor woman without any dowry?¡¯ Did he want something else other than money? However, no matter how hard she thought, she couldn¡¯t think of anything. She wasn¡¯t extremely beautiful, and it wasn¡¯t like she had some kind of special skill. On the other hand, Duke ymore was one of the richest people in the continent and was smart enough to graduate from Aron¡¯s Academy at the top of the ss. Moreover, rumors said he was extremely handsome, too. Rubica didn¡¯t know why he had proposed to her. What was important was that she would rather die than to get married to him. No, she couldn¡¯t die. ¡®Arman, I want to meet you.¡¯ Rubica recalled the man who had always helped her by her side with a smile. In her memories, he was an old man, but her heart started beating fast just by thinking about him. Even though she hadn¡¯t married him and hadn¡¯t even told him about her feelings, she was his woman. To get married to another man when she had Arman in her heart... and that man was going to make Arman lose his eyes. Rubica made up her mind and took out an old leather bag out of her closet. ¡°I must run away.¡± The obedient Rubica of the past would have walked to the aisle like a cow being dragged to the ughterhouse. However, even though the war hadn¡¯t been able to damage her kind heart, it had given her all kinds of sufferings instead. It had taught her that she could run away when she encountered something she couldn¡¯t handle. The Berners¡¯ reputation would fall down if she ran, but.... ¡®Everyone will forget about this when the war breaks out after 4 years.¡¯ The count¡¯s family, the family of herte mother, would care to some extent, but the Berner Family was a merchants¡¯ family anyway. Rubica didn¡¯t want to give up her life for dignity and reputation. However, she didn¡¯t want to die, either. She had a goal. ¡®I should hide at a good ce and go to the abbey when the war breaks out.¡¯ And she was going to help people there and wait for Arman. If she could meet Arman again, she was ready to dly embrace any kind of pain and grief. She was not going to hesitate and feel ashamed again. She was going to tell Arman that she loved him. She felt the ring hidden in her clothes and promised herself. She found things worth some money in her closet and drawers then put them in the bag. However, there were not many decent things as her aunt had taken most of the good things. ¡®But these will be enough to travel for about two weeks.¡¯ She even made her mind to take an expensive pair of gloves that her mother had left her and put them in the bag. ¡°Knock, knock.¡± Someone suddenly knocked on the door. She stopped packing. It was lunchtime. Was it a maid calling her? However, she wasn¡¯t in a good mood at all and didn¡¯t want to eat anything. ¡°No,¡± she answered shortly. Then, it got silent for a second. However, the person soon started to pound on the door so loudly that Rubica couldn¡¯t finish packing. ¡°Rubica! Rubica!¡± The voice was Ang¡¯s. She was breathing heavily. Rubica quickly hid the bag under the bed and slightly opened the door. She was going to calm Ang down and make her leave, but she came in before Rubica could say anything. ¡°I heard a man proposed to you!¡± Ang¡¯s dress was crumpled here and there, but she didn¡¯t care. Her face was red, and she was huffing. Rubica wasn¡¯t going to marry the duke, but it was true. He had proposed to her. She nodded, and Ang¡¯s eyes got even bigger. She had heard the fact, but she really didn¡¯t want to ept it. She went around Rubica¡¯s room anxiously and yelled, ¡°But you don¡¯t have any dowry! You said you spent all the money to heal that sick woman you called your mother!¡± Actually, Mrs. Berner wasn¡¯t from Seritos. She was from the faraway Sarman. Ladies of the neighborhood would scold her when she acted as if she was still in Sarman. She would protest about it to her husband, but he was always way too optimistic. He said it would get fine in time. However, it didn¡¯t. So, she branded them as ¡®mean women¡¯ and gave up trying to get along with them. That was all fine, but the problem was that she didn¡¯t educate her daughter properly, saying there was no need to follow Seritos¡¯ rules. Ang, the princess who acted as she liked. Rubica didn¡¯t mind her being hard on herself, but she couldn¡¯t let her talk about herte mother like that. She frowned hard to Ang. ¡°Ang, stop talking like that about my mother.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to!¡± Ang stomped her feet and yelled again, ¡°She spent all your dowry! I can never speak good of her.¡± ¡°Ang! I wanted to spend all my dowry for my mother! And please, call her aunt!¡± ¡°No! My family is the one who is with you and protecting you! How long are you going to keep missing your dead mother? I am your family! I am your sister!¡± Tears started to swell up in her eyes. Blue eyes just like her mothers. She was upset at hearing Rubica¡¯s usation. Rubica was dumbfounded at such an attitude, but at the same time, she felt like she was looking into something she hadn¡¯t realized before. ¡®How long are you going to miss your dead mother?¡¯ ... had I? She certainly hadn¡¯t been on the right mind after her mother¡¯s death. That was why she trusted her uncle and his wife so easily. And when she realized she had been betrayed, she stared at her mother¡¯s portrait and shed tears in grief every night. Ironically, she came to her senses only after everything had been destroyed, when the bad protector, Mr. Berner, was better than nothing. ¡®How could I not miss myte mother? No one in this mansion was kind to me.¡¯ Rubica looked at Ang, her face wet with tears. However, Rubica wasn¡¯t angry at her. She pitied her. Ang was like a cute girl. Her parents were fond of her, but they never had her get an education. On the other hand, they didn¡¯t hesitate to send money to Isaac who was at the academy. They were always delighted to see Isaac¡¯s good grades every year and sent him more money. -Isaac will get at least the baron title, even if he fails to get a degree at the academy. -Then, Ang, men will line up to propose you. However, unfortunately, Isaac was going to die in two years in a quarrel at a gambling house. His body was dark purple because of the illegal drugs he had enjoyed until then. ¡®... all his grades were fake. The money he had said he needed for experiments and books were lies to get money to hang out.¡¯ Rubica couldn¡¯t be harsh, it was just not her nature. To think how much her aunt and Ang despaired at the news they were about to receive, she couldn¡¯t be harsh on Ang. She smiled kindly instead. ¡°When did I say you were not my sister? Ang, are you going to do nothing if someone says bad things about your mother?¡± ¡°Um, no.¡± ¡°And would you not save money to heal your mother if she gets sick? Wouldn¡¯t you sell the stockings you are wearing now to get her medicine?¡± Ang thought about this for some time. Then, she sheepishly whispered, ¡°... I would.¡± ¡°That is what I did, Ang.¡± Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Ang dropped her head down. Then, Rubica saw the gold ribbon she had tied for her this morning. As Ang liked to run around, the ribbon fixed lightly with the pin would have gotten loose. But today, the ribbon was still hanging onto her hair quite well. ¡®She really likes it. She is even restraining herself from running...¡¯ Suddenly, Rubica thought about how lovely Ang was. She was rude, but it wasn¡¯t her fault. Rubica lightly patted on her bed, on the empty spot right next to herself. Ang smiled and sat down next to her. She was a cute girl, anyway. Rubica changed the subject as kindly as possible. ¡°It is Duke ymore.¡± ¡°I know, mama was angry about it, saying I couldn¡¯t even dream of marrying such a man. But she said I would be able to get introduced to a marquis after you be a duchess.¡± Mrs. Berner had told this to Ang? Rubica tried to stop her nce from getting cold and looked at Ang as warmly as possible. ¡°But why has such great man asked your hand in marriage? You don¡¯t even have dowry!¡± ¡°Yes, Ang. I wish I knew why. He is even using his private money,¡± Rubica answered remotely. Ang¡¯s lips quivered, and she was about to cry at any moment, then the child asked Rubica, ¡°Are you going to marry him? Are you going to get married and leave this mansion?¡± Rubica was not going to marry at all, but she was nning to leave in secret. Rubica decided to speak vaguely to Ang instead of being honest. ¡°I will probably leave.¡± Then, the blue eyes started to shake. Ang quickly looked down to hide her tears. Rubica looked at her trembling shoulders with surprise. She couldn¡¯t understand why Ang was acting in such a way. ¡°These, these are yours.¡± Ang calmed down and took out something wrapped in a handkerchief from her pocket. When Rubica unfolded it, she found pretty ruby earrings, ring, and nes. Those were her mother¡¯s essories that she had given to Ang a long time ago. ¡°... these are...¡± She couldn¡¯t finish the sentence. Her mother¡¯s essories which she hadn¡¯t seen in the past decade. Rubica could recall her mother wearing them as if it had been only yesterday. ¡°I was keeping them to give them to you when you get married.¡± Rubica recalled the days where Ang would cry as if there was no end until she gave them to her. Therefore, she looked at Ang confusedly. ¡°Mama is always taking your things and selling them.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t hold it anymore and hugged Ang tightly. Indescribable emotions swelled up. ¡°Ang, you are a really good girl.¡± Because of her parents, who loved her like a doll but didn¡¯t teach her properly, she was a little rude and impatient, but at least her heart was warmer than anyone else¡¯s in the mansion. ¡°Of, of course.¡± Ang didn¡¯t know what to do at Rubica¡¯spliment, so she pouted, ¡°I was going to keep that ring for you this morning so that mother wouldn¡¯t take it away.¡± Then, she hesitated and handed a small silver brooch to Rubica. ¡°Congrattions, Rubica.¡± Rubica wondered if she should tell her that she wasn¡¯t going to marry the duke. However, she decided there was no need to make the child handle such worries. ¡°Thank you, Ang.¡± Rubica smiled bitterly at Ang who brightened up at this. She thought for a moment and asked with a little stammer, ¡°Rubica, you will...e visit me sometimes, right?¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Rubica,¡± Ang took Rubica¡¯s sleeve and hesitated for a long time. Then she exhaled shortly, ¡°Who is going to scold me after you¡¯re gone?¡± ¡°... Ang.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s going to read me books?¡± Rubica had to hold back her tears. This rude but kindhearted cousin knew who truly cared about her, after all. *** Now, the night, which Rubica had been waiting for, had arrived. She put on a shabby grey dress instead of her pajamas. Next, she wore Arman¡¯s ring under the dress and hid her dark brown hair under a grey hat. She was going to put on a ck veil to cover her face after daybreak. She had put only some clothes and things to sell in her bag. She hadn¡¯t forgotten to pack her mother¡¯s things. However, she didn¡¯t pack the silver brooch Ang had given her. She couldn¡¯t bring herself to sell it, so she just left a short letter to Ang on the desk. She ripped the bed sheet and made a rope long enough to get her down to the ground. Then, she tied it to a pole and threw it out the window. ¡°Okay, as there is grass on the ground, I won¡¯t get hurt if I fall lightly.¡± She took a deep breath. This was nothing. She had survived worse situations. She had even jumped from the third floor without anything in order to run away from the bombs. As she now had a strong rope to rely on, this was easy. She lightly tapped her feet to check if her shoes were fine and picked up the bag. As she was still young and hadn¡¯t done much hardbor yet, her hands were not that strong. However, it seemed like they would hold long enough for her to reach the ground. She put the bag on her left arm and slowly went down the rope. Thankfully, everyone in the mansion, including the servants, was making merry and drinking to celebrate Rubica¡¯s engagement, so no one realized Rubica was running away in secret. ¡®I will most certainly get busted if I leave through the front gate, and they will be receiving things for the feast right now from the back door.¡¯ Rubica had no choice but to decide to go over the wall, even though it was a little, no, very unbefitting for ady. As the walls that surrounded the mansion were not tall, it wasn¡¯t that hard. Rubica, fortunately, knew the ce of a wooden crate that would make for a good foothold. She threw her bag over the wall first. Then, it was Rubica¡¯s turn. She used the crate for the potatoes and went over the wall. She didn¡¯tnd well and fell. Fortunately, shended on the grass, so only her knees were a little scratched. She wiped off the dust on her dress and got up. The fresh air of the night went past her cheeks, and excitement came over her. She had spent less than a day at the Berner Mansion as a 22 years old, but she was already sick of everything. ¡®Where should I go? Should I go to the capital to make money? I should work as a maid to get money for about three years and then run to the south. There are many monsters there, but... I will be able to get a protection device if I save enough money. I should write to Ang to tell her to run away in the meanwhile.¡¯ She worked on a short n and turned to the road that led to the capital. And as she was about to run, someone tightly grabbed her wrist. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Ahhh! Who are you?¡± Rubica instinctively yelled at seeing the man holding her wrist. Then, she covered her mouth in surprise as her shriek could have reached the mansion. She looked around herself and that looked suspicious enough to the man. ¡°Let me go.¡± ¡°First, give me a good reason why you came over the wall at this hour.¡± Rubica looked troubled for a second, and the man didn¡¯t miss that change. He quickly looked at Rubica up and down. A shabby dress fit for a maid. It was fine. The problem was that she was holding a leather bag that was old but made for a noble. Soon, he started to drag Rubica as if there was no need to ask more questions. ¡°Ak! Let me, let me go. I can exin,¡± Rubica yelled in fear while looking at the sword shining under the moonlight. Why was there an armed man near the Berner Mansion at night? She didn¡¯t know why. As she didn¡¯t know who he was, she feared she was being dragged to the den of a gang. ¡°I am Rubica living at the Berner Mansion...¡± However, the man angrily stopped her before she could finish speaking while saying, ¡°Now you dare to call yourself thedy who will be the duchess?¡± That made Rubica¡¯s mind go nk. Although she couldn¡¯t be sure, if she was right, she had never seen this man in the neighborhood. Then, how did he know about the duke¡¯s proposal? However, she didn¡¯t have the time to find an answer to her question. The man dragged her to the main gate of the Berner Mansion in no time. It was still silent there as if they hadn¡¯t found out that Rubica was gone. ¡°Please, let me go.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t afford to be heard from the people in the mansion, so she pleaded quietly. However, the man didn¡¯t even flinch. He was so strong that although he was only holding Rubica¡¯s wrist, she couldn¡¯t get away from him. Eventually, she decided to do what was against her usual belief. ¡°I was leaving in a hurry because I heard my brother was sick.¡± Lying was a huge sin, but now she had no other option. She used the most usible excuse she could think of. ¡°By climbing over the wall?¡± However, the man just scolded her as if he wasn¡¯t going to buy Rubica¡¯s excuse. ¡°Everyone is working hard to prepare for Duke ymore¡¯s visit, so they were not going to let me go. But if I don¡¯t go now... I don¡¯t know what will happen to my brother.¡± Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Rubica was quite surprised to hear herself lying like that. The man then stared at her with his bright brown eyes. She thought it was herst chance to convince him and didn¡¯t avoid his gaze. So, Rubica looked back at him as well. ¡®... oh, I see.¡¯ Even though the man was wearing a mask, his nose was quite sharp and high. His two eyes looked deep with double eyelids. Moreover, his bright brown irises had a blue hue at the center, so they felt strange. And what about the shadows created by the long and thick eyshes? ¡®You¡¯re handsome.¡¯ Rubica forgot that she needed to fool him and stared into his eyes in a daze. The man eventually burst intoughter at that nk expression. ¡°You should have not lowered your guard and tried harder to fool me.¡± Then, he forcefully took Rubica¡¯s leather bag and said, ¡°This bag is too good to belong to a maid.¡± He mercilessly opened it and had the things inside fall to the ground. Some old clothes fell down, but he didn¡¯t miss what he had to find among them. He carefully grabbed a wrapped cloth and quickly opened it. Then, ruby essories and a few silver coins fell into his hand. ¡°You even stole, how shameless. Whose essories are these? Do they belong to the future duchess?¡± The man was right. However, the problem was that the future duchess was Rubica. But would the man believe her if she said so? Her dress was way too shabby. He had gotten mad when Rubica had tried to tell him who she was earlier. So, Rubica couldn¡¯t do anything. Then, a light came to their direction. As it got closer, the man got slightly nervous and stood up straight. He acted like a soldier waiting for his general. Rubica was surprised and looked at where he was looking at. ¡®... a carriage? No horse. Does it work with mana stones?¡¯ There were some splendid carriages, with brightmps on both sides,ing to the Berner Mansion without making any clopping sound of hooves and the neighing of horses. A carriage that worked with mana stones was expensive, most nobles couldn¡¯t even dream of owning one. And now, there were at least three mana stone carriagesing. It had to be at least a marquis for it to be that rich, and a bad feeling rushed over Rubica. She was hoping her feeling was wrong, but then the man sealed her fate. ¡°The duke will decide what to do with you.¡± There was a ck eagle holding an ax drawn on one of the carriages¡¯ door. If Rubica¡¯s memory was right, it was from the ymore Family. Before Rubica could blink twice in surprise, the carriage quietly arrived at the door. The man grabbed Rubica¡¯s hand tight so that she would not be able to run away and took a step back. ¡°Your Grace, it¡¯s Stephen. I was going around the mansion to see if there was anyone suspicious before your arrival and caught a maid running away with the Berners¡¯ treasures.¡± Then, he put enough pressure on Rubica¡¯s shoulder to make her kneel. ¡°Please decide on her punishment.¡± Nobles, who were counts or at a higher rank, had the rights to punishmoners. Rubica wasn¡¯t amoner but ady. However, her dress was too shabby. ¡®Punishment for a maid running away with the master¡¯s objects is... yes, cutting one of her wrists.¡¯ The kingdom of Seritos had strict rules. Rubica sadly looked down at her wrists as she didn¡¯t think the duke would mercifully listen to a maid and decide. He was going to give the order in his carriage, and Stephen was going to immediately cut her wrist with his sword. She couldn¡¯t help but think negatively. ¡®If he cuts my wrist, he would not be able to have me marry him, as long as he has a heart.¡¯ Rubica was so overwhelmed by the situation that she couldn¡¯t think of a scenario where the duke would promise to take care of her for all eternity for cutting her hand. She felt like she could happily give up an arm to get away from the horrible duke. She tightly closed her eyes to endure the pain. Creak. However, what she heard wasn¡¯t the duke¡¯s cold voice ordering her punishment. It was the sound of the carriage¡¯s door opening. Soon, a man came out and walked to Rubica. Then, Stephen showed him the essories and started to exin the details. Rubica¡¯s fear grew. She cringed and looked down. ¡®Is he going to watch my arm get cut right at my side?¡¯ Sadist! Rubica¡¯s opinion of the duke went down even more. She was shaking in fear, but then she heard an unexpected question. ¡°For what reasons were you trying to run away?¡± Rubica¡¯s closed eyes snapped open. The voice wasn¡¯t kind at all, it was cold. His tone was also extremely formal. ¡°Tell me a good reason why you were stealing from your masters.¡± Even courts tended to take care of such cases without listening to the criminal¡¯s story. However, the duke asked Rubica why. She was relieved to know he was not as bad as she had expected. ¡®Erne, god of honesty, please forgive me for lying, but this is the only chance I have to run away. Kirne, god of lies, please help me.¡¯ Rubica wet her lips and looked up at Duke ymore. Then, her eyes widened at seeing the man in front of her. ck silky hair that looked like a piece of the night sky, skin as white as marble, and two blue eyes that contrasted with the ck hair were shining like two jewels underneath it. Tightly shut lips over a sharp chin made his face bear a little impulsiveness but sensitive energy. His tall body was thin just to the right extent with the right amount of muscles. It looked masculine enough even under the clothing. Stephen, who Rubica had found handsome earlier, now looked like an ugly fishmonly seen in the river next to the duke. Rubica was sure. She had never seen such a handsome man before, and she wasn¡¯t going to see another again. ¡°Ah!¡± Rubica felt her heart beat fast. It was her nasty habit again. She prayed in her heart that would stop and bit her lips hard. Rubica, the reserved woman who was kind, calm, and always did what she was supposed to do. That was how people spoke of her from her birth to her death. However, she had a secret that didn¡¯t match thatpliment at all... she greatly liked beauty. No, the word like wasn¡¯t enough to describe her passion about beauty. She would forget all the pain the moment she touched Ang¡¯s beautiful hair, no matter how hard she was on her. She loved beauty that much. She didn¡¯t just go after the beauty that could be inly seen. She could even see the beauty within the ugliness and could see how a in and thin girl could be a beautifuldy in the future. That passion and habit didn¡¯t leave her till the year she turned seventy. Rubica¡¯s heart would always beat faster at seeing beautiful people, especially young and handsome men. That was why Arman had been so special to Rubica. He had been an old man who had lost his beauty of the past long ago, but her heart still beat fast when looking at him. That beating of the heart was slightly different from when she saw beautiful people. She realized that only about a year after she started to like him. Till then, she thought she just tended to fall in love easily, but after she started to love Arman, she understood that it had only been an instinctive reaction to beauty. And that instinct was now working. She quickly looked down to hide her reddening face. ¡®Stop, please stop! He will misunderstand me.¡¯ Rubica was worried that the duke would think she liked him. Stephen¡¯s gaze was getting strange at seeing her change. The two bright mana stonemps on both sides of the carriage were not like ordinary candles, they were bright like the sunlight. So, the darkness couldn¡¯t hide Rubica¡¯s face. ¡°I guess you don¡¯t even have any excuses.¡± Rubica heard the duke¡¯s cold voice. She was relieved to know the duke wasn¡¯t interested in her attitude. No, it wasn¡¯t the time to be relieved. She realized she had missed her chance to make excuses while dealing with her beating heart. She looked up again. Then... ¡°Rubica! Rubica!¡± ¡°Ms. Rubica, where are you?¡± They had found out that Rubica was missing only then. Voices looking for her were heard from the mansion. The duke thought for a moment and then lowered his head to look at Rubica. His clear blue eyes looked at her from up and down. Those eyes were beautiful, just looking into them made her heart feel like stopping. ¡°Brown hair, auburn eyes. Rubica Berner, is that you?¡± The voice was cold, without any affection to the woman he had proposed to. However, Rubica couldn¡¯t deny it anymore. ¡°... yes.¡± Stephen¡¯s face turned pale in an instant. He immediately knelt down next to Rubica and said, ¡°Your Grace, please punish me for failing to recognize your fianc¨¦!¡± ¡°You should apologize to her, not me.¡± The duke didn¡¯t even look at Stephen and fixed his gaze on Rubica while giving his cold answer. ¡®Her¡¯. Rubica bit her lips to hear him call her so coldly. He was a beautiful man, but his expression was as cold and hard as that of a marble sculpture. She couldn¡¯t find any emotion in his face as he stared at her. ¡°I apologize, mydy.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t look at the duke anymore. She turned to Stephen who was dropping his head low enough to touch the ground. ¡°I don¡¯t have any intention of bing the duchess, so there¡¯s no need to apologize to...¡± Before she could finish her sentence, the duke grabbed her chin and lifted it. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Rubica wanted to get her head out of the duke¡¯s hand, but his white and long fingers were stronger than they looked, so she couldn¡¯t. Unlike before, the duke looked down at Rubica with his eyes full of anger. She thought that expression looked better as it was livelier than the early face which resembled a marble sculpture. ¡°You don¡¯t have any intentions of bing the duchess. What does that mean? You don¡¯t want to marry me?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Rubica answered inly, trying to soothe her inner anxiety. Soon, the anger grew bigger. Duke ymore wasn¡¯t used to getting rejected. He trembled in anger and lifted his hand. Was he going to hit her? Rubica instinctively closed her eyes and raised her hands to cover her face. However, she didn¡¯t feel the pain. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the duke through her fingers. He was looking down at her, dumbfounded. He had lifted his hand not to hit her but to call his servant. He came to his senses when his gaze met Rubica¡¯s. He muttered, ¡°Carl.¡± The voice was low, but it was enough. An old man, who seemed to be his butler, immediately came to his side. ¡°Where¡¯s the messenger?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Your Grace. He is not here right now.¡± ¡°I thought he said Ms. Rubica Berner has agreed to this marriage.¡± ¡°... it must have been a misunderstanding.¡± Butler Carl bowed his head, and the atmosphere felt like freezing. Nevertheless, Rubica found hope in the situation. Judging from their conversation, the duke seemed to think she had epted his proposal. Wouldn¡¯t he cancel it if she told him her story? Even though the man¡¯s face seemed merciless, apart from its beauty, Rubica found the courage and was about to speak. ¡°Oh my, Rubica!¡± Unfortunately, Mrs. Berner found her before that. She wasing out of the main gate herself with the servants to find the missing Rubica. The moment she spotted her, she ran to her to grab her hair. However, her merciless hand couldn¡¯t find its target. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Stephen, who had been kneeling next to Rubica, quickly stood up to grab that hand. Mrs. Berner saw the splendid mana stone carriage only then. She thought she had seen that emblem before, but she couldn¡¯t recall to whom it belonged to. And although the man who was tightly holding her hand was wearing a mask, he seemed to be noble. She immediately realized that things were going wrong. Was it a nobleman of a high rank who had happened to be passing by the mansion? She feared that Duke ymore would get to hear the rumor of her grabbing Rubica¡¯s hair. ¡°Oh, um, it¡¯s, I was just so surprised and worried.¡± ¡°I guess it is a merchant¡¯s manner to grab a person¡¯s hair when surprised and worried.¡± The man was most certainly scolding her, and Mrs. Berner could feel her face heating up. She then turned her head to see the face of the man who spoke so rudely. First, she could see that he was extremely handsome. But differently from Rubica, it didn¡¯t give her any thrill at all. What moved her heart were the clothes he was wearing. The Berners were not rich enough to live on the revenue theirnd gave them, so as the wife of a merchant, she had seen all kinds of precious goods. His clothes were made of invaluable fabric. Additionally, the buttons on his sleeves were clearly diamonds. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to grab her hair, good sir.¡± Edgar coldly looked at the woman who bowed down as soon as she checked his clothes. He was neither disappointed nor disgusted. To him, that kind of attitude was one of the things he experienced every day. He thought about scolding her more, but he stopped when seeing Rubica¡¯s fierce re. She had been ring at him, clearly using him, from when he started to mock the woman¡¯s action. ¡®... it was rude of me to mock her upation.¡¯ However, it was interesting. Everyone he had met till now never pointed out even if he acted rudely. They always smiled at him as if Duke ymore was right to act so. But Rubica was different, and she even said she didn¡¯t want to marry him. That was truly unexpected. He had only met women who were eager to get married to him. Additionally, there was something that he had to know. The messenger he had sent to the Berner Mansion had told him Rubica had ¡®epted¡¯ his proposal and her patrons, her uncle and his wife, had ¡®given their permission¡¯. However, the Rubica in front of him didn¡¯t want the marriage. ¡®The consequence would have been the same, anyway.¡¯ Edgar coldly stared at the woman bowing at him. ording to the information about Rubica he had received, she had to be Mrs. Berner. However, he decided it wouldn¡¯t do him any good to show Rubica that he knew everything about her. ¡°Tell me who you are.¡± ¡°I am Irene Berner, sir. This is my husband¡¯s niece who we are raising. The child got wrong thoughts for a while and ran away, so we were looking for her... I was, I was too worried that I lost my reason.¡± She was going to use her unique way of talking, which she sometimes used to convince customers, to get away with this. If it had been any other asion, Edgar would have let her be, even if he could inly see what she wanted. However, he had just heard his fianc¨¦ say she didn¡¯t want the marriage. Edgar didn¡¯t like it. He had already gotten the special permission from the king. He didn¡¯t want to get humiliated. He didn¡¯t want to look at Mrs. Berner who couldn¡¯t even convince Rubica properly. ¡°My fianc¨¦ is way too old, both to be raised and to be punished like that for running away.¡± Mrs. Berner¡¯s eyes shook. Only then, she realized who the nobleman was. ¡°Sir, no, Your Grace!¡± She quickly bent down to grab the duke¡¯s foot. However, he didn¡¯t want any contact with her and moved his foot back. Stephen wasn¡¯t going to let her take the duke¡¯s foot, either. He held her hand even tighter. ¡°I, I can exin.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need your exnation.¡± Rubica looked at the man who didn¡¯t even look at her aunt and came to her to offer his hand. ¡°The only person who has the privilege to exin now is my fianc¨¦.¡± ¡®Oh, his eyes are like a cold ocean,¡¯ Rubica thought so as she looked up at the man with the cold smile. She was enchanted by his beautiful blue eyes and put her hand on his hand. Then, the cold smile turned slightly warmer. Before Rubica could realize what she had done, he grabbed her hand tightly and escorted her into the carriage. The interior was literally a nobleman¡¯s room. Unlike stagecoaches driven by horses, a carriage that moved through the mana stone¡¯s power didn¡¯t shake. Because of that, there was a carpet on the floor instead of fluffy wool. There were even a table and chairs. On the table, there were documents the duke had been looking at only a while ago. The butler quickly removed them and had Rubica sit down on the opposite chair of the duke. ¡°Your Grace, I will go out and take care of things.¡± ¡°... do it quietly, so that it won¡¯t be heard here.¡± The voice was so cold that it woke Rubica up. She wondered what they meant by taking care of things, but at the same time, she didn¡¯t want to know. The butler lightly bowed and went out, closing the door behind him. Even the carriage was bigger and better than a stagecoach, but it was still a carriage. Rubica felt ufortable at being left alone with the beautiful man in there alone. She couldn¡¯t dare to look into his eyes and looked down. Then, she saw the duke¡¯s long fingers. ¡®They¡¯re long, about 1.5 times longer than normal people¡¯s fingers. Oh, and his fingernails are neat. Does he have them trimmed? And his skin is also clear and smooth like marble.¡¯ What kind of gem would look good on those fingers? Warm rings like gold wouldn¡¯t fit his fingers. Differently from what suited Rubica, warm jewels were not for him. Cold jewels were going to match his hands. Like sapphire... no, such beautiful hands would be better without any splendid rings. She had thoughts like these, from time to time, about pretty girls, but never about a man. She suddenly thought she wanted to feel his hands, but her face turned red because of that. Then, one of the hands suddenly moved to grab and lift Rubica¡¯s chin. ¡°You don¡¯t even want to look at my face?¡± He didn¡¯t know that Rubica had been imagining about his hands, so his voice was quite ruff. However, he was surprised to see her red cheeks. He let go of her chin. ¡°I was just feeling awkward, Your Grace.¡± ¡°... call me Edgar.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t deserve to call you by your name, Your Grace.¡± ¡°Yes, you do.¡± He took out an envelope from one of the table¡¯s drawers and offered it to Rubica. The envelope had the king¡¯s symbol. Rubica¡¯s hand shook while taking it. She didn¡¯t even have to open it. The special permission issued by the king had to be inside. She just threw it on the desk without opening it. Then, they could tell the king that there had been a misunderstanding and cancel the marriage. Of course, the king could be angry and have her name erased from the aristocrats¡¯ list, but she didn¡¯t care. Her title was nothing more than a useless name to her. ¡°Your Grace, I have something to tell you.¡± Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Chapter 10

¡°It¡¯s Edgar.¡± The duke pressed his temple and looked at her, clearly irritated. Rubica looked straight back at him while her heart pounded in fear. She couldn¡¯t believe she was openly opposing such a great man with a high rank. ¡®... Arman.¡¯ However, thinking of the name of her loved one gave her strength. She could feel her heart beating differently when thinking about him. No matter how beautiful and great the man in front of her was, she loved Arman. Yes, it would be better to exin it properly to the duke. How unfortunate it would be for him to marry a woman who loved another man? She clenched her two hands tightly and spoke firmly to Edgar. ¡°I am in love with someone else.¡± Silence. Edgar stared at her without any change of expression. She felt like her face was melting at his hard gaze, but she had already thrown the dice. She couldn¡¯t say anything else. She silently prayed Edgar wouldn¡¯t think she had just said that to avoid the marriage. After a long time, his eyes twinkled for a second and soon turned back to normal. He sighed and put his head on his hand. Then, he asked, ¡°Who is he?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°I hope you would at least tell me who he is to make me understand, ch¨¦ri.¡± Ch¨¦ri. That word was used for lovers. Rubica realized he was gracefully criticizing her and bit her lips hard. Duke ymore had great power and wealth. She did fear that anything could happen if she told him about Arman, but she was sure that he wasn¡¯t that kind of man who would harm her or Arman in any way, even after finding out the truth. Even when she had been caught as a maid who was running away after stealing from the Berners, he had first tried to listen to her before deciding on her punishment. She still hated him, in spite of his beauty, but he didn¡¯t appear to be a man without principles. ¡°His name is Arman.¡± ¡°That name is quitemon. Where does he live?¡± Edgar calmly asked another question, but Rubica was dumbfounded. Arman, where did he live before the war? She had never asked that. As Hue¡¯s Abbey had been full of people from many different countries, that kind of question was practically forbidden. However, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to lie to the duke. For some reason, Rubica had this feeling that he would immediately know if she lied. In fact, Rubica was not good at lying. Because of that, Stephen hadn¡¯t believed a single word she spoke even when she was telling the truth. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°How old he is?¡± ¡°... about 25 years old.¡± ¡°So, he is my peer. Good, and what is his status?¡± ¡°He is a nobleman, probably.¡± Edgar¡¯s lips trembled. Rubica could barely stop herself from avoiding his gaze. As Arman had clearly been highly educated, she couldn¡¯t think of him as an ordinarymoner. Even if he had been amoner, a man with such knowledge would have been given at least a bar title. Rubica wasn¡¯t lying, so she thought she had nothing to be afraid of. ¡°Probably, probably, probably. You¡¯ve been guessing since the beginning. Very well. My fianc¨¦ who is in love with someone else, how tall is he? What is the color of his hair? And of his eyes? Does he have a domain? Does he have any degree? What is his family name?¡± Rubica opened her mouth and closed it again at Edgar¡¯s series of questions. Then, she nkly stared at the duke. She didn¡¯t know. She didn¡¯t have the answer to any of those questions. What was the color of Arman¡¯s hair before it turned white, and how his eyes had sparkled before they dimmed, where he had grown up before the war, where he had studied, Rubica didn¡¯t know. She had loved him without knowing any of it. Edgar asked thest question. ¡°Do you have any means to contact him now?¡± Eventually, tears started to fall from Rubica¡¯s auburn eyes. ¡°... no.¡± ¡°Rubica.¡± She just shed tears, not even thinking of covering her face. Edgar reached out to her. And instead of wiping her tears, he grabbed her face with both hands to stop her shaking eyes from running away from him. ¡®... cold.¡¯ Rubica thought so, without any way to run from his cold eyes. Cold. The fingers on her cheeks, his gaze looking down at her, and the piercing questions. They were all extremely cold. She didn¡¯t know much about him, but she was sure of one thing. ¡®He doesn¡¯t love me!¡¯ ¡°Does he love you?¡± And his next question was more than enough to stab her heart. ¡°...¡± Arman. Oh, Arman. Did he love me? Rubica couldn¡¯t be sure. Arman had always been at her side. He used to quietly stroke her hair and pat her shoulder whenever she was tired, lonely, or troubled. Even though he couldn¡¯t see, he always knew what kind of help she needed. His kind hands made her heart beat from time to time and made her have some kind of expectation. Oh, but he had been way too kind. Rubica would tell her heart to stop getting useless hopes. Arman, she would look at the blue ring on his neck and swore to not misunderstand kindness as love. But had it all been mere kindness? The kindness Arman had given Rubica had been more than the simple kindness toward a colleague. And the ring, which she guessed to belong to his lover, was now on her chest. Yes, Rubica couldn¡¯t be sure. Had Arman loved her or not, she couldn¡¯t know. However, there was one thing she could tell him. With her head in his hands, she looked straight at him and spoke firmly. ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. I love him, and that¡¯s what matters.¡± ¡°Get rid of that nonsense!¡± For a second, Rubica thought he was about to drag her to him and kiss her. His two eyes showed that much passion, but he didn¡¯t. Instead, he red at Rubica as if he was going to devour her. ¡°Rubica Berner, you should try harder if you want to fool me.¡± Edgar scolded, but Rubica didn¡¯t act like a person whose lie had been busted. She didn¡¯t look away nor her cheeks reddened. She had nothing to be ashamed of. ¡°I am not lying.¡± ¡°You want to me to believe that? You don¡¯t know his exact appearance, height, and status. You don¡¯t know where he is. And you cannot marry me for someone who has themon name Arman?¡± ¡°Has Your Grace never loved someone like that?¡± The moment she saw the anger in his blue eyes, she realized she had touched what she shouldn¡¯t have. Edgar pushed her face away. He then put his hand on his forehead, clearly distressed. ¡°What you just spoke about was the most disgusting thing I¡¯ve ever heard.¡± ¡°Your Grace, it¡¯s my turn to ask questions. Why did you propose to me even though I had nothing? It doesn¡¯t have to be me,¡± Rubica breathed hard and asked. She couldn¡¯t understand how her timid self could say such a thing to the duke. However, what she said didn¡¯t reach Edgar¡¯s ears. He thought for a long time. Then, he was in control of his emotions again. He recovered his sculpture-like expression and looked at Rubica. ¡°I will tell you your favorite words. I love you.¡± ¡°Ha.¡± The sound ofughter, which she couldn¡¯t hold back, came out. However, Edgar had now seeded in pressing every emotion under his consciousness. His expression didn¡¯t change. ¡°Your Grace, you don¡¯t believe in love. No, you find it disgusting.¡± ¡°No, I love you. Enough to marry you even if you say you love someone else.¡± ¡°Are you... mocking me? Why are you lying to me?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been lying to me, why shouldn¡¯t why?¡± Rubica wanted to say no, that there was not a single lie about her feelings toward Arman. But at the same time, she realized Edgar would never believe it. Their very first meeting was wrong. Even though Rubica had no intentions to lie, Edgar had plenty of reasons to think of her as a liar. Moreover, any sane person would have chosen to believe that Rubica was lying instead of telling the truth about Arman. ¡°We cannot get married if we don¡¯t trust each other.¡± ¡°So, you are finally ready to marry me.¡± Rubica red at the mean but beautiful lips and said, ¡°Is it your habit to mock people? Or is it your specialty?¡± Edgar¡¯s lips opened a little at this. His teeth behind his stubborn lips were straight and white. They matched his red lips. ¡®Please,e to your senses!¡¯ Rubica stopped herself from being enchanted by his beauty again and looked at him with hostility. ¡°You¡¯re the first person to speak to me like that...¡± ¡°I guess saying that is a habit of yours.¡± It was strange, but Edgar¡¯s lips slightly moved in a good mood. ¡°It is a husband and wife¡¯s virtue to equally discuss aboutints.¡± ¡°Husband and wife who mock each other and quarrel will only meet their doom.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to marry me that much?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Edgar straightened his back and looked straight at Rubica. When he had seen her in front of the Berner Mansion shaking in Stephen¡¯s hand, he had thought she looked quite weak. Even if she didn¡¯t want to marry him, she had no choice. He had thought such a weak woman would weigh her family¡¯s safety and her own misery and eventually ept the marriage. However, after 10 minutes of talking with her in the carriage, he admitted he had been wrong about her. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Chapter 11

She wasn¡¯t the type of person he could bend to his will. Moreover, judging from how Mrs. Berner treated her, it appeared to be impossible to use the family¡¯s safety as a threat and convince Rubica. Edgar decided to use his experience of running his estate and numerous businesses to deal with Rubica as a negotiator. He was going to marry her, anyway. ¡°I have already gotten the special permission from the king. If I don¡¯t marry you, I will get punished along with you for defying him.¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes slightly shook, and he could see his method was working. ¡°I never epted your proposal, so if you tell Your Majesty there has been a misunderstanding, he will not punish you.¡± ¡°But your uncle, his family and my messenger will be punished for lying. The messenger will have to be executed.¡± Rubica¡¯s uncle and his family were not enough to convince her, but the guilt of dragging an innocent man was. ¡°That¡¯s, that¡¯s too cruel. He was just fooled by my uncle.¡± ¡°He is guilty of not seeing you and asking your opinion. He cannot get away from that.¡± ¡°But... then why didn¡¯t you follow the manners of proposing and came yourself? You could have avoided this...¡± ¡°I was busy,¡± Edgar firmly cut Rubica¡¯s question and continued, ¡°I was busy yesterday, I am busy today, and I will be busy tomorrow. I even have an emergency conference tomorrow. That is why the king quickly issued me the permission and I came to bring you to my mansion quicker than the promised date. Do you know how much it would cost the kingdom if my work is dyed just for a day?¡± His forehead frowned because anger made him sensitive but when he showed his temper, he would look even better. Rubica couldn¡¯t help but stare at him in a daze. He looked so handsome, even when he was mad! If there was a god who created humans, he must have made Rubica carelessly with his feet and made Edgar with all the power he had. ¡°I don¡¯t want to waste my time on writing a report to the king to exin, defending myself, and waiting for the trials.¡± ¡°... but.¡± ¡°Rubica, listen to me first.¡± Edgar called her name without using words like ch¨¦ri or fianc¨¦ to mock her. Unlike before, she could feel he was respecting her, although his attitude was businesslike. She closed her mouth and listened to him. ¡°Marry me for now. It will let both of us avoid troublesome matters, and we can get divorced after things get quiet.¡± ¡°... get divorced?¡± ¡°Yes, divorced.¡± Even though he had said the word ¡®divorce¡¯ first, he raised one of his eyebrows as if he didn¡¯t like it. Rubica couldn¡¯t understand why he was trying so hard to marry her. Nevertheless, she thought it was a pretty good idea. In fact, the offer was quite good for Rubica. She would be able to avoid the punishment of the king as long as they had a good reason for their divorce, and she could even get away from her uncle and aunt. She didn¡¯t know why he was giving her such a good offer, but she had to grab that chance. ¡°Okay then, how long should the marriagest? Would a year be enough?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°A duke getting divorced a year after marrying a poor and lowly woman, what would the people think of me?¡± A poor and lowly woman. Edgar¡¯s sharp words made Rubica frown. Gods were so fair. They had given such a rude way of talking to such a beautiful man. However, it was all true, so she couldn¡¯t talk back. Edgar saw she was trying hard to hold back her anger and realized he had made yet another mistake. She was such a strange woman. Edgar could name at least 10 women eager to marry Duke ymore. There were also a number of middle-aged aristocrats who bothered him even without trying to hide their intention of arranging a marriage. He also knew he was good-looking enough to charm most women. Ladies who snorted after hearing praises about his beauty would eventually redden their cheeks when standing in front of him. However, Rubica was different. She did stare at him in a daze with red cheeks from time to time like other women, but she wasn¡¯t in love with him. She looked at him like a child looking at a cake with a huge amount of cream on top of it on her birthday. However, there was something clearer than such vague emotions in her eyes. ¡®Hatred¡¯. Just a few minutes of talking let him know that Rubica hated him and wasn¡¯t trying to hide it. It was an unfamiliar feeling. Did most people like him? Well, no. Even if they liked him, businesses and schemes changed people. However, they hid this in front of him, as he had great power, and looked at him with fear. Sometimes, women would emit simr emotions like Rubica in front of him, but it had just been a scheme to win him. However, Rubica genuinely hated him. Moreover, she didn¡¯t try to endure his rudeness. ¡®If she had been someone else, she couldn¡¯t have agreed with me more.¡¯ Edgar had grown up amongst people who always wore masks in front of him. He felt a thrill hard to exin toward Rubica who acted as her true self. Nevertheless, he didn¡¯t apologize for calling her ¡®poor and lowly woman¡¯. His rank and pride were too high to apologize for such a mistake. ¡°Then how long should itst, Your Grace?¡± Rubica also knew that hoping for Edgar¡¯s apology was like hoping for the sun to rise in the west. So, she sighed and changed the subject. ¡°I don¡¯t know, about a decade?¡± ¡°That is nonsense!¡± ¡°Is it too long?¡± ¡°If a year is too short to avoid mes, how about 2 years?¡± ¡°Two years is too short. An apple sap cannot grow and bear fruits in 2 years.¡± ¡°Two years is long enough for a crawling child to run.¡± Now the long negotiation about the duration of their marriage started. Edgar had thought he would be able to easily bend her to his will, so he was quietly impressed by her good negotiation skills. They were too good to be an ordinarydy¡¯s. They were like the skills of an old woman who had run the house for a long time and knew how to react to all kinds of schemes from the merchants. What kind of life had she led at the Berner Mansion for ady at the age of 22 to be like that? Edgar frowned. Anyway, the two agreed to stay married for a little less than 4 years. Edgar had thought Rubica would get tired and give up then. However, Rubica had worked at the poor abbey and learned how to endure a long fight with the merchants to buy food for hundreds with a small sum of money. She knew that there was at least a 90% probability of the fruits at the bottom of the crate to be rotten if she bought only because the ones at the top were good. ¡°No kids, and I will not sleep with you, of course.¡± How interesting. Edgar raised a corner of his lips. A virgin talking of sleeping together. Rubica stubbornly stared at the duke but, on the inside, she was so embarrassed. She had been clenching one fist under her dress to endure it. However, thinking ¡®he will respect me¡¯ and believing a guy was never good was one of the few principles she believed in. ¡°I hope you are not passionate enough to sleep with a woman who doesn¡¯t love you?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think of me as such garbage.¡± Edgar clenched his teeth and growled as if he didn¡¯t want to hear more of this. His blue eyes glowed even brighter like fire, and Rubica instinctively looked for something that matched those eyes and soon came to her senses. ¡°Good, then we have reached an agreement.¡± Rubica¡¯s voice showed she was relieved. Suddenly, Edgar wanted to pull a prank on her. She had been trying to put him on her hand and toy with him. He wanted her to know she could do that only because he was letting her do it. Edgar smiled. Most women were captivated by his smile, but Rubica straightened her back, tensed. However, he didn¡¯t miss the emotion that floated up in her eyes for a second. That emotion was like that of a child seeing delicious candy. He abruptly grabbed Rubica¡¯s chin and put his head close to hers, close enough to feel each other¡¯s breath. Her auburn eyes were so deep that he couldn¡¯t see the pupils well, but he could see the eyes shaking. ¡°But what if you want?¡± Edgar asked. ¡°What...¡± ¡°I will not disappoint you if you want me to sleep with you.¡± ¡°You beast!¡± Oh, but he shouldn¡¯t have said that. Rubica immediately woke up from the charm of his beauty and pushed away the duke in rage. p- A sound pierced the air. Edgar couldn¡¯t understand what had just happened to him. He grabbed his red cheek and nkly stared at Rubica. ¡°You cannot do it if you¡¯re not in love with each other, even if the woman wants it! You, you...¡± Rubica¡¯s face was now as red as fire. She tried to hold it back. Really, she tried her best to stop herself from saying that, but her anger didn¡¯t let her. ¡°You bastard!¡± She immediately went out and mmed the door behind her. Edgar was left alone in the carriage. For some time, he sat there and stared at the chair on which Rubica had just sat. Soon a sound came out of his mouth. He should have let out a sound of anger about Rubica, who had greatly dishonored him, but... ¡°Hahahahahaha!¡± What came out of his mouth wasughter. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Edgarughed so hard that he fell from the chair. It was the answer he had been waiting for more than anything. ¡®You cannot do it even if the woman wants it unless you are in love with each other.¡¯ If his father had learned that earlier, such tragedy would have never happened. There was a small drop of tear hanging at the corner of his eye as heughed. *** In the meantime, Rubica, who huffed in anger outside for some time, realized what she had done and started to tremble in fear. She had pped the duke¡¯s cheek and called him a bastard! She couldn¡¯t believe she let herself lose her temper at the duke¡¯s provocation and spoke such rude words. It was the word she hated the most in the world. However, she wasn¡¯t brave enough to go back inside the carriage and apologize. She could only quietly curse at her foolishness. ¡°Oh, Ms. Berner, have you had a good conversation with His Grace?¡± Butler Carl, who had finished taking care of the people of the Berner Mansion, found her and spoke to her. However, his warm voice only put her down into even deeper sorrow. She just shook her head. ¡°Did he smile at you warmly?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Hmm, then did he praise your beauty?¡± ¡°What? Of course not.¡± Rubica answered, quite puzzled. Carl smiled warmly and said, ¡°Then it must have been a very good conversation.¡± ¡°Yes, it was a very good one.¡± It wasn¡¯t Rubica who said that. Edgar opened his carriage¡¯s door wide and came down. There wasn¡¯t any trace of Rubica¡¯s p on his smooth cheek. He smiled warmly and offered her his hand as if she had never hit him. ¡°As we have finished talking alone, let us go to finish talking with your family.¡± ¡°Oh my, I see Your Grace is extremely angry.¡± Carl was about to give Rubica a piece of advice, but he had to shut his mouth and quickly back off at Edgar¡¯s sharp gaze. Rubica had to let him take her hand and take her into the mansion. It was deadly quiet inside. It had been very noisy when Rubica had snuck out, but now, they didn¡¯t even see a maid on their way to the drawing room. Carl led them with ease as if he had been working there for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Berner were sitting in the room with their daughter. Mr. Berner was pale. When he saw Rubica, he jumped to his feet and smiled widely. ¡°Rubica! We¡¯ve been waiting for you. You must listen to me...¡± Mr. Berner still hadn¡¯t realized his situation and called Rubica by her name, and it made Edgar feel ufortable. Carl read his expression and immediately warned Mr. Berner. ¡°Please do not call the duke¡¯s fianc¨¦ by her name.¡± ¡°What, what the... I am Rubica¡¯s uncle. I took her in when she had nowhere to go!¡± Mrs. Berner had met the duke at the main gate and had experienced how cold he was. She pulled her slow-witted husband¡¯s pants, but the optimistic Mr. Berner didn¡¯t care. He didn¡¯t know how great the duke and his men were, but the person who was going to be the duchess was the Rubica who he had raised. She had to at least know how big what he had graciously given her was. Moreover, the duke also had to clearly learn that without him, he couldn¡¯t have even dreamt of taking Rubica. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t paid Rubica¡¯s parents¡¯ debt, she would have been taken away by the creditors to be a prostitute or...¡± However, Mr. Berner couldn¡¯t continue talking about the kindness he had shown to Rubica. He, instead, had fallen on the floor, grabbing his bleeding, broken nose. ¡°Father!¡± ¡°Matin! How, how could you act like a savage?¡± Rubica covered her mouth with her hands in surprise and looked at Carl. The butler, who looked like he would keep smiling even when stabbed by a needle, had punched Mr. Berner¡¯s nose. ¡°If it had been someone else, it would have costed your neck, but as you are Lady Rubica¡¯s uncle, I punished you lightly.¡± ¡°How... how, was what my husband said wrong? He was just trying to exin what he had done for Rubica.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know what is wrong? Then I will send someone to teach you how aristocrats should keep thedies¡¯ honor here. At least your daughter should learn proper manners.¡± Mrs. Berner couldn¡¯t speak anymore, and her jaw dropped. Damn ymore! Mrs. Berner quickly changed her target and looked at Rubica, silently ordering her to scold the butler who was so rude to her and her husband. She couldn¡¯t dare to oppose the duke, but Rubica was easy prey. The Rubica she remembered was supposed to be scared by her re and stop Carl. However, Rubica didn¡¯t say anything at her gaze and Ang¡¯s silent plea to save her father. She was rather ashamed by the word ¡®prostitute¡¯ Martin Berner let out of his mouth so easily. Carl wasn¡¯t wrong at all. Mr. Berner didn¡¯t speak like a nobleman. Edgar didn¡¯t want to waste more energy on that useless talk, so he sat down on the sofa and immediately began to talk. ¡°Sir Berner, I¡¯ve thought about what you requested for giving permission to our marriage.¡± Mr. and Mrs. Berners¡¯ gaze immediately turned to that of a merchant¡¯s. They were about to fool Duke ymore and get paid well for raising Rubica. ¡°Rubica¡¯s mother was sick for a long time. When she passed away six years ago, this family¡¯s financial status was in a mess. They had loaned such a huge sum of money with this mansion as coteral. My wife and I paid all that debt and barely managed to keep this mansion and bar title. We have been feeding and raising Rubica ever since. To her, we are like her parents. No, we consider ourselves better patrons than her father who had a bad sense of economy.¡± After Mr. Berner finished talking, silence filled the room. Edgar just coldly stared at him. Rubica didn¡¯t want to humiliate the family by arguing with Mr. Berner about what he had done to her in front of Edgar, so she kept her mouth shut. Eventually, Mrs. Berner couldn¡¯t handle the silence and spoke first. ¡°Compared to everything we¡¯ve done for her, 100 thousand Gold is quite cheap.¡± Rubica¡¯s jaw dropped to hear the amount of money. ording to her memories, her debt had been about 5000 Gold. They couldn¡¯t have spent more than a hundred Gold on Rubica¡¯s food and clothing during the 6 years. No, they had practically used her as a maid. ¡°¡®Cheap¡¯... so you think of your niece as a good.¡± Rubica¡¯s face turned red at Edgar¡¯s low muttering. Mrs. Berner realized her mistake of speech and smiled awkwardly. However, she made it clear that they were not going to lower their price. Edgar could not afford to not marry Rubica just because he didn¡¯t like her price. The king had already issued the special permission and they had realized it. They were determined to get at least 10 times the right amount of money from him. Edgar quietly listened to them, not inching a bit, and then stretched out his hand to Carl who put the document he had prepared on his hand. Mr. and Mrs. Berner brightened up. They believed the document had to be the draft worth 100 thousand Gold or something simr to it. However, the document Edgar threw on the table was what they hadn¡¯t seening at all. ¡°I looked into the debts of Rubica¡¯s father. All of those creditors were linked to you, Martin Berner.¡± Rubica picked it up with shaking hands. Ever since they had taken Rubica under their wing, they had been talking about how much they had sacrificed to keep the mansion and the title. They always said Rubica couldn¡¯t pay back that debt even if she worked till she died. ¡°Your Grace, Mr. Martin Berner was the person who introduced the private moneylenders to Cedric Berner, Ms. Rubica Berner¡¯s father. Also, I¡¯ve checked that the rate of interest written on the original contract was different from the contract that was delivered to Ms. Rubica¡¯s mother after her husband¡¯s death. It was kind of... fraud.¡± ¡°Because of that, Martin Berner, you cannot im to be Rubica Berner¡¯s patron.¡± Then, he took Rubica¡¯s hand that was still shaking as she looked at the document. He smiled warmly as he looked at her. ¡°What do you want me to do with this?¡± However, his eyes were cold, and those cold eyes woke her up. It wasn¡¯t the time to tremble in shock. ¡°Uncle, aunt, leave this mansion.¡± Rubica read the document and made up her mind. Thest little bit of love for her kin she had toward them was now gone. That debt... if there hadn¡¯t been that debt, she could have let her mother try various treatments. She had even fallen ill at first because of the worries she got from the huge debt. ¡°What do you mean? Rubica! Do you think your food and clothes have been free?¡± ¡°The jewels and dresses you took from me were more than enough for it. And as I have worked for you for six years, I¡¯m the one who should be paid.¡± Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Chapter 13

¡°Wretched girl! How could you say such thing to Irene who took you in when you had no ce to go?¡± ¡°Boohoo, oh my. How can you do this to us? This is all misunderstanding. This is all wrong. Boohoo, you know your uncle is not that kind of man. Martin just introduced people to your father out of good will. Those moneylenders fooled your father, not us. We are, we are victims.¡± Rubica wanted to cover her ears. She thought it was so strange that how her kind father and shameless uncle could have been brothers. Mr. and Mrs. Berner were acting like they were being greatly oppressed. She could barely stop her body trembling hard. ¡°Then let us go to the city hall with this document.¡± It made Mrs. Berner¡¯s moaning stop. ¡°A trial will clear up everything....¡± ¡°A trial, among family!¡± Martin Berner turned pale and yelled. Most people would have given up at that point. But Mr. and Mrs. Berner were way too much shameless. They were thinking of Rubica as someone they could control by yelling. However, Rubica didn¡¯t look down at Mr. Berner¡¯s yell. She didn¡¯t get afraid. She just stood there with thin smile. It was like she had experienced much greater chaos. Actually, Edgar had worried that she might be weakened because of her kind heart and hesitate, but she didn¡¯t. She didn¡¯t yell and she didn¡¯t lose temper. She just spoke what she had to point out in low voice. The problem was them. Edgar had seen plenty of people like those Berners. They didn¡¯t give up even when the opposite person was right, as long as they were sure they are of higher rank. And they immediately listened when someone like Edgar spoke a word. He wanted to get rid of those noises now. ¡°I absolutely agree with Rubica. Sir Berner, I am not using you for the crime of deceiving your niece only because you are Rubica¡¯s rtive. Know that I am being merciful here.¡± Rubica was so disappointed to see her uncle, who hadn¡¯t let her even speak a word without interrupting, was not even speaking a word to Edgar. But unlike the perfect duke who had everything, Rubica had been living at the mansion without having anything. It was the truth. And the dirty scheme Mr. and Mrs. Berner hadmitted would have stayed buried if it hadn¡¯t been for Edgar. ¡°Anyway, as it has been proved the contract you signed with Rubica¡¯s parents was false, Rubica is the owner of this mansion. Then, Rubica, what do you want to do with your bar title?¡± Rubica had no choice but to admit that her own rights that had been taken away from her for long time had been given back to her by the arrogant man next to her. That fact made her feel bitter. But she decided to focus on informing her uncle and his wife who had taken the rights that should have been her long time ago that she wasn¡¯t that weak girl anymore. ¡°When a woman of title marries a man of higher title, her own title is normally returned to her family.¡± ¡°Yes, Rubica. Your father worked so hard to get that bar title. Let me and Isaac inherit it. You know Isaac is studying hard at the academy. He will be able to be a baron.¡± Mr. Berner spoke hopefully, but Rubica looked at him coldly. It wasn¡¯t going to happen. Isaac didn¡¯t study hard with the money his parent sent him. He just yed hard and died in a quarrel at gambling house one day. What he did was enough to confiscate bar title from Berners. It didn¡¯t happen only because the kingdom appreciated the deed of Rubica¡¯s father. Mrs. Berner trusted the fake academic records her son sent, until she heard the news of his death. But Rubica decided not to break her dream now. Mrs. Berner wasn¡¯t going to believe her anyway, even if she told the truth. But she was right about one thing. That title was precious. Before, Rubica had thought of them as her family, but not anymore. ¡°Your Grace, would bar title of Berner Family be bad for the name of ymore Family?¡± ¡°NO.¡± Duke ymore read her intention and made it clear. The smile on her lips appeared to be kind, but Rubica could feel his eyes were busily grading her every word and action. But Rubica didn¡¯t care. She had to announce her will first. ¡°Then I will have my bar title belong to my husband¡¯s family.¡± Silence fell again. Mr. and Mrs. Berner doubted their ears for a moment. They just couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°You, you cannot dare to do this to us!¡± Mr. Berner was now about to get foam in his mouth any moment. Many things changed depending on the title. However, Rubica kept coldly staring at him. ¡®I haven¡¯t even started yet.¡¯ She decided to get back everything they had taken away from her. ¡°I can.¡± She replied firmly. She knew talking long would only let them gain control again. The Kingdom of Seritos acknowledged women¡¯s right of inheritance, even in limited form. Rubica was the owner of the title. As the king had issued special permission that ordered her marriage, Martin Berner couldn¡¯t im its ownership. ¡°Your Grace, as I have many good memories about this mansion, I would like toe here from time to time.¡± ¡°Then it will be our vi. In just a few minutes, Mr. and Mrs. Berner lost all the privileges bar title had given them and the mansion. They had never belonged to them, but they acted like they had lost what were rightfully theirs. Rubica wasn¡¯t going to care about them anymore, whether or not her aunt wailed aloud and her uncle protested. Their words and tears could shake her heart anymore. She held Edgar¡¯s hand tightly. His blue eyes swayed, puzzled. Rubica ignored Mr. and Mrs. Berner and looked at Edgar¡¯s eyes straight. Compared to Duke ymore, her title was so lowly, but as her uncle had said, her father hadbored hard to earn it. She wasn¡¯t going to present it to him like that. Even though it was nothing to the duke, it meant a lot to her. ¡°Could you give me the 100 thousand Gold you promised them as my dowry?¡± That was bold. Carl the Butler cleared his throat. He thought he had been right to make all servants live the room. He worried that Rubica¡¯s mind had be ill after being exploited by her uncle and his wife for too long. But Rubica was not crazy. She knew how miserable life of a woman without dowry was, and she also knew how important money would be to run to safety after the war break out. But for now, she smiled sweetly toward Edgar. ¡°Of course, you don¡¯t have to give it to me if you grudge money.¡± Grudge money.... She said that in small voice so that only Edgar could hear her. That offended Edgar¡¯s pride. That was what Rubica was after for. In her previous life, she would sometimes speak like that when she borrowed books and things from proud priests. Most of them would get mad and give her what she wanted. Edgar was no different. Plus, he was willing to buy heart with money if he could. To someone, that money was bigger than a decade¡¯s wage, but to Edgar, it was cheap price for marriage without trouble. ¡°I would be d to give it to you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Rubica let out a sigh of relief. She rxed a little only then and turn to Mr. and Mrs. Berner. Now that she had 100 thousand Gold, they immediately changed their attitude. Mrs. Berner even smiled kindly at Rubica. She hadn¡¯t seen that smile ever since she let her uncle be her patron. ¡°Rubica, about that 100 thousand Gold.....¡± But Rubica ignored her. Instead, she called Ang who had been nervously standing there. ¡°Ang, I will ce 50 thousand Gold in trust fund in your name.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t believe it. She thought Rubica had more than enough right to kick her parents out of the mansion, both naked. And she had also been so mean to Rubica, even though it had been to stop her mother abusing Rubica. But there was calm but kind smile on Rubica¡¯s lips now. ¡°I will put it in Jackal Bank. You cannot touch the money, but I will let you use the interest.¡± Ang¡¯s parents brightened up immediately. Interest of 50 thousand Gold. It would be enough for the four of them to live properly to pay for one person¡¯s tuition for the academy. Mr. Berner rubbed his hands in content. The best way would be to use 50 thousand Gold immediately, but getting such pension didn¡¯t sound bad. However, Rubica wasn¡¯t done. ¡°But there is one condition.¡± ¡°A condition?¡± ¡°Ang, you must go to the academy and study.¡± Ang¡¯s jaw dropped. She couldn¡¯t believe what Rubica was saying. ¡®You want ME to learn?¡¯ And her parents were shocked for different reasons. They had naturally thought to pay for Isaac¡¯s tuition with Ang¡¯s trust. The tuition of Aron¡¯s Academy was very expensive. Interest of 50 thousand Gold wasn¡¯t enough to pay for two people¡¯s tuitions. ¡°But.... Rubica, the academy is for smart people...¡± ¡°She¡¯s right. Rubica, Ang cannot study at the academy. She is not that smart.¡± Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Chapter 14

¡°Just make the trust fund in Isaac¡¯s name. He will certainly graduate from the academy with good grades, be official member of it, and get at least baron title....¡± ¡°Ang, you are smart.¡± Rubica decided not to reply to Mrs. Berner. She was neither going to listen nor believe. ¡°The interest of 50 thousand Gold can only be used for you to study and live at the academy. That is the condition.¡± And Rubica was going to let Ang use the 50 thousand Gold freely after graduation. But she didn¡¯t want to let her parents know that. ¡°Rubica, but the academy is for men....¡± ¡°And women, although there are few of them. Aron¡¯s Academy would never refuse a student just because she happens to be a woman. Evenmoners are allowed to study there, as long they are smart enough. Right?¡± Edgar nodded to agree with her. ¡°If someone else messes up with that money, I will not tolerate it.¡± Rubica looks straight at her aunt. She had most certainly changed. Mrs. Berner felt chill behind her back. When she epted the duke¡¯s proposal, she had thought she was going to strike it rich. As Rubica was weak and easily fooled, she was going to stick to her like a leech and suck out money. But now, Rubica had kicked them out of the mansion without anything. Now she was about to be a beggar on street. ¡°Then Rubica.... What are you going to do with the other 50 thousand Gold?¡± Mrs. Berner¡¯s muttering made lightening strike in Martin Berner¡¯s mind. He realized. Then he smiled with content at Rubica. ¡°Yes, you decided to put the money in trust as Ang is way too young. Yes, as it is such huge money, you must put it in bank. But as we are, haha, adults, you can give us the money itself.¡± Even his wife was dumbfounded at his optimistic way of thinking. ¡°Hmm, I think 40 thousand Gold would be enough, for Isaac and us to live and buy a new mansion.¡± ¡°I am not giving any money to you and Isaac.¡± Martin Berner blinked his eyes. Rubica thought that expression made him look lie a toad. ¡°What? Could you say that again?¡± ¡°I am not giving even a single penny to you two and Isaac.¡± It took long time for Martin Berner to understand that. ¡°Oh, my!¡± Sweat ran down his forehead. He started to beg to Rubica. ¡°Rubica! I am your father¡¯s brother. Think how we have lived as family.¡± But he didn¡¯t dare to get close to her or grab the end of her dress. Carl the butler was ring at him behind her. His wife made sense of the situation faster than him. They couldn¡¯t get anything by convincing Rubica. She decided to work on the duke. He was willing to give 100 thousand Gold to a girl like Rubica, so there was still hope for her. ¡°Your Grace, are you going to let your wife¡¯s family live in poverty? Everyone will talk behind you about it. Doesn¡¯t your family keep expenses for maintaining dignity? We¡¯re Rubica¡¯s family.¡± What she said made sense. Edgar thought about it for a while. They were bothering. Should he just give them some money and tell them to shove off? But people like them were more likely to stick even harder the moment they got what they wanted. ¡°I don¡¯t have any family!¡± Her yell made even the duke¡¯s hard shoulders flinch. It sounded like a shriek. ¡°Uncle, aunt, you lied to my parents. My mother died because of worries and fear about the debt. To make things clear, you are my enemies, not my family. I am not holding you responsible not because I still care about you. It¡¯s just because you are still myte father¡¯s brother..... That¡¯s just it.¡± Rubica turned to look at Edgar. ¡°I¡¯m an orphan. If you give them any money, I will take it as you are ignoring me.¡± Edgar looked at the woman in front of him. Hurt, but strong. She appeared not to mind manners, but she knew who she should punish and who she should reward. He felt there was extraordinary soul residing inside the woman who had looked to be ordinary. And that soul endlessly aroused his curiosity. ¡°I will not pay them.¡± He had been wondering how he should take care of those leeches. He rather thanked Rubica¡¯s such attitude. Martin Berner was shocked. He wanted to yell at Rubica and make her change his mind. But he dropped that idea after seeing the butler showing him his fist. How on earth had Rubica won the duke and his butler? He just couldn¡¯t understand. He shouldn¡¯t have been drunk with joy and dreams about the fortune in front of him and leave Rubica alone. That had been his mistake. How had she thought of running away when her room was up in the attic? He couldn¡¯t know. What a shame, what a shame. After his brother passed away, his wife, who was from a count¡¯s family and had no sense of money, so Martin had juste up with an idea. Considering her innocence, someone else would have taken the mansion if he hadn¡¯t. He had just thought it would be better for him to take it as he was a Berner, so he changed the contracts just a little... Martin Berner really couldn¡¯t understand why Rubica was looking at her with rage and such huge hatred. ¡°...You are so awful, Rubica. But we will be present at your wedding, as we are rted.¡± Martin Berner was acting like he was being so merciful. Rubica stared at him. But she wasn¡¯t going to back off now. She knew what kind of man her uncle was. People like him interpreted every situation in their own favor. I cannot let him see even the smallest weak point of mine. Rubica scolded her kind heart. ¡°Do note.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? Who will fill your guests¡¯ seats if even we don¡¯t go?¡± Martin Berner trembled in rage. He was really mad. He had acted generously and offered to be present at Rubica¡¯s wedding, in spite of her cruelty, but she was rejecting even that..... ¡°Good, I happen to be an orphan, too.¡± But even his great rage faded in front of Edgar¡¯s cold blue eyes. His selective rage made Rubica lose thest bit of love she had had for him. ¡°Your Grace, as Miss Berner doesn¡¯t want any guest, why don¡¯t you make the ceremony simple?¡± Carl the butler read Edgar¡¯s mind and spoke. People were clearly going to spread rumors if they did the wedding without a single guest present on Rubica¡¯s behalf. It would be better to do it without any guest and only with witnesses. ¡°It would be good. I don¡¯t want to waste time on making preparation. Rubica, as I have conference to attend at the capital tomorrow, why don¡¯t we get married tomorrow?¡± The wedding is the most important event of life. Most brides want to do the ceremony in the most splendid dress, with fear and hope. However, Rubica didn¡¯t want to marry Edgar. Their marriage was only an ident that had urred because of misunderstanding. She didn¡¯t care about how the wedding with a man she didn¡¯t love would be done. There was another wedding she really wanted. ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°What nonsense..... You will get married in two days?¡± ¡°What would people of the world say about it?¡± ¡°Rubica!¡± Ang, who had kept her mouth shut till now, eagerly looked at Rubica. Rubica could see she was telling her not to rush with her wedding like that. ¡®But it is not the marriage I want.¡¯ Rubica quietly looked away. She didn¡¯t care about her uncle and her aunt¡¯s speeches, not even a bit, but for some reasons, the way Ang looked at her made her feel hurt. Ang was the only person there who truly wanted Rubica to be happy. ¡°Carl, is there a ce we can get married right away?¡± ¡°There is Hue¡¯s temple at Cord Hill, near your mansion.¡± ¡°....¡± Dark shadow passed on Edgar¡¯s face. Rubica felt strange about the short silence. Why was Edgar looking so troubled? Was he being hesitant about getting married near his mansion? Rubica thought he had right reasons to be. Title, wealth, and even beauty. Hers were all lesser than his. Why was he so eager to marry her? Even she couldn¡¯t understand. Then how could the people of the duke¡¯s domain can understand? They could refuse to be present at the abbey because of her. ¡°There is a Hue¡¯s temple near here. We can just go there and swear the oath now.....¡± ¡°No, no, Rubica. It would be better to prepare for the wedding, even for a day. And I would like to marry you at the temple in my domain and hold banquet at my mansion. This ce isn¡¯t good enough for you.¡± It was like he could see her anxiety. He lightly lifted up her hand and kissed it. That gesture was picturesque. The back of her hand, where his lips touched, felt strangely hot. Rubica could barely stop her face from turning red. Such gesture was more than enough to make most women get the wrong idea. Even Rubica, who knew he didn¡¯t love her, felt thrill in her heat because of his beauty. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Chapter 15

However, Rubica didn¡¯t believe the sound of her heart. She knew well that she was worshipper of beauty whose heart fluttered even at grace of flying bird. Edgar looked straight into the auburn eyes frozen because of nervousness. Her situation had been much more terrible than what he had expected after reading documents. He was cold man. Even if they were rtives of her future wife, he didn¡¯t want to go home with such troublesome burden. That is why he had revealed their schemes right on the spot, without considering Rubica. However, she was not shocked by the despairing truth. She didn¡¯t even cry. She put down her anger and calmly did what had to be done. Even men couldn¡¯t have had gut to demand 100 thousand Gold that had been promised to Mr. and Mrs. Berner as dowry. Even though she had quietly endured pain and unfair treatment, she clearly knew about her rights. Even though Rubica¡¯s cheeks were red, Edgar could see she had no desire toward him. It made him feelfortable. He had grown up surrounded by people who feared them but wanted to have him under their control at the same time. ¡®Beauty¡¯, ¡®wealth¡¯, ¡®honor¡¯, and ¡®rank¡¯. Those things were like polluted air. It surrounded Edgar and polluted the people around him. Most people were not strong to resist it. The polluted air eventually polluted them. They wanted to own him. They believed they could own his beauty, rank, wealth, and honor by owning him. And when those filthy people were met by one cold word from Edgar and the high walls he had built around him, they spoke so easily. -So you know how to use that handsome face. -You think you are the highest man in the world? -Is this how you pay back my good will? -Don¡¯t you think your beauty and rank will be eternal. But being kind to them brought even more horrible consequences. Even those who thought they had gotten somewhat close to Edgar eventually said the same things when blocked by his walls. They pretended to be his friends to say all kinds of things that hurt him and called them ¡®advices¡¯ for him. They boasted like they could control Edgar with one word. None of them every wondered about Edgar¡¯s true feelings. They just wanted to ¡®own¡¯ Edgar who had wealth, honor, and beauty to get rid of the sense of inferiority they had. Rubica was most certainly different from them. No, she was more a little weird. She was clearly charmed by his beauty, just like everyone else. But strangely, he couldn¡¯t feel any desire to own him in her words and actions. There had been so many people who denounced the previous love the moment they so him. At the same time, he felt that Rubica was studying him closely. He hated it when others looked at him like that, but he really didn¡¯t hate it when Rubica looked at him like that. ¡°This mansion belongs to Rubica now. I will give you a week of time, so leave immediately. Rubica, you should go to my mansion with me.¡± ¡°But, Your Grace, we cannot leave in a week!¡± ¡°You¡¯d better leave on your own before I have my people remove you.¡± Edgar smiled his unique cold smile and got up from the sofa. Rubica looked at the beautiful line his thin body drew. His each action was as graceful as picture and caught her eyes. ¡®Why am I so weak to beauty?¡¯ Rubica cursed her habit that even getting old couldn¡¯t cure and also stood up. ¡°Um, may I take time to pack my things?¡± ¡°Do not pack anything. There is not a single thing here that is good enough for you.¡± ¡°But those ruby....¡± Edgar realized she was talking about the essories Stephen had found in her old leather bag and frowned. ¡°Those are for daughter of baron, at very best. You are now about to be my duchess, and they are too lowly for them. If you want them that much, order new essories in same design to jeweler. I will have them made with rubies befitting my duchess.¡± Excitement about beauty almost never left Rubica. When a pretty woman behaved rudely, she liked it because of the unique chic of arrogant woman, and when there was a pretty woman who was also kind, she was impressed to see she was beautiful and kind at the same time. However, what Edgar said made even that excitement vanish. The duke was surely beautiful, but he was arrogant and cold. Had he said those essories were for a daughter of baron knowing her mother had been daughter of count? But she tried to think he couldn¡¯t have known those essories had been left by herte mother and put down her rising anger. Also, she thought she had no right to use him. She had nned to sell them to pawn shop without any remorse to get money enough to run away. ¡®...I¡¯m d that I¡¯ve hidden the ring underneath my dress.¡¯ A ring made of blue stone that wasn¡¯t enough sapphire. What would he have said if he saw it? He would have immediately told her to throw it away, that it was shameful for duchess to carry such thing. Rubica thought it was rather good that he spoke like that. Otherwise she would have stupidly let it taken away from her. She stopped exining about her ruby essories. ¡°There is no need to order new essories. Ang, those ruby essories you gave back to me earlier, I will let you keep them.¡± ¡°But Rubica, those are your....¡± Rubica shook her head, asking her cousin to stop. Ang soon realized it and stopped. Ang could understand. She was capable of doing anything to protect her pride. If Ang revealed that those essories had belonged to Rubica¡¯s mother, she would immediately be a count¡¯s daughter who wore essories only good for a baron¡¯s daughter. Rubica was asking her not to make her even more miserable. ¡®Although the duke is great man, he doesn¡¯t seem to be in love with Rubica. And.....I think she doesn¡¯t love him, either.¡¯ It was strange marriage. The two didn¡¯t love each other, but they were rushing their wedding. Ang couldn¡¯t even guess what the duke wanted, but she could vaguely see what Rubica was thinking. ¡®.....She¡¯s trying to escape from this house.¡¯ Damn it! Ang wanted to kick the table and curse Edgar. She could only barely restrain herself. She wanted Rubica to get happily married. Her cousin had suffered way too much. She had tried on her own to protect Rubica, but she had nothing as well. She had to depend on her parents¡¯ love and mercy. She had med Rubica loudly on purpose in front of her mother. The duke was cold man, but he was more powerful than Ang. He could protect her. He had given back Rubica her lost rights and had given her huge sum of money in less than an hour. Ang couldn¡¯t tell Rubica not to get married to someone who she didn¡¯t love. Instead, she decided to protect her pride. ¡°I will cherish them. Rubica, send me a letter anytime if you want to see them.¡± ¡°Thank you, Ang. You¡¯ve always been kind to me.¡± ¡°No. I, I... To you, I....¡± Ang couldn¡¯t speak more. She threw herself in Rubica¡¯s arms. She felt sorrow when there was nothing to be sad about. when Rubica sadly looked at herter mother¡¯s picture, Ang would get mad. She hadn¡¯t known why she was so mad and would vent her anger on Rubica. She always regretted it as soon as she turned around. However, she never got the courage to apologize to Rubica first. I should have spoken more warmly to her... I should have smiled to her more.... Rubica patted Ang. Actually, she hadn¡¯t wanted to demand that 100 thousand Gold to Edgar. It really hurt her pride. But she needed money to save Ang. That gave her the courage she needed. Ang would be able to avoid the war¡¯s danger at Aron¡¯s Academy. The academy was full of schrs and scientists. It was never attacked, not by dragons or soldiers of many kingdoms. ¡®But they abducted the scientists instead.....¡¯ Rubica prayed Ang wouldn¡¯t choose major like chemistry, physics, and engineering. She stroked her soft hair. That hair always felt good. Suddenly she recalled when she had first met Ang. Till then, her hair hadn¡¯t been cared properly and was so stiff that it couldn¡¯t even bebed. Would this hair return to that condition after I live.... The times she had worked and tried to make Ang¡¯s hair beautiful ran throw her mind. All the other memories were fuzzy, but funnily, she could recall those memories so clearly. ¡°Ang.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°When you get up in the morning, wash your hair and add a little rosewater to water when you rinse it. And sprinkle just a little rosewater when youb it after drying it.¡± Ang nkly stared at Rubica. What was she talking about at that important moment? However, Rubica was looking at her so earnestly. ¡°And in the evening, add one or two drops of rosehip oil to olive oil and apply it lightly at the end of your hair. Never use the rosehip oil alone, you must mix it with olive oil. And don¡¯t apply it in the morning.¡± Ang was overwhelmed by her earnest voice and nodded without even realizing it. ¡°Camelia oil is good for hair, but it makes you get pimples on forehead, so never use it even if someone rmends it to you.¡± Although now people who saw Ang praised her red and smooth hair, but years ago, even Irene Berner would say, -Ang, you are so beautiful, but your hair is always in such a mess. Oh, please do something about your hair. Her maids would use force tob the thick and stiff hair. It hurt her scalp and made her hair be even worse. There had been even kids who called her Ang the Curly Hair in the vige. Then, Rubica, who had been cleaning the room with gloomy expression just like always, asked. -May I trybing your hair....? Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Ang let Rubica handle her hair, half in doubt. The smallest smile appeared on Rubica¡¯s face. Ang hadn¡¯t seen her smile like that ever since her mother¡¯s death. And Rubica did Ang¡¯s hair with surprisingly good skills. -You¡¯re not that bad at it, Rubica. Ang found a little courage topliment Rubica. It wouldn¡¯t have been apliment to anyone else, but to her it was. Then Rubica smiled, just as she had done often in the days when she had been happy. -No, Ang. It is because your hair is originally pretty. -...Are you mocking me? Everyone days my hair is stiff and in a mess. They call me Ang the Curly Hair! It was the first time Ang heard someone praise her hair. She couldn¡¯t help feeling embarrassed and yelled. Rubica was surprised. She looked back and forth nervously, but she didn¡¯t stay quiet. -No. I just...found the beauty you always had. -.....Always had? -Yes, your hair is beautiful. It¡¯s just that.....people have failed to find a way to use that beauty. It was probably since then. Ang started to quietly care about her timid and sorrowful cousin.... ¡®Are you worrying that I might get called Ang the Curly Hair again?¡¯ Ang could fill something hoting up her throat. After Rubica started to do her hair, she hadn¡¯t been called Ang the Curly Hair. People ratherplimented her smooth hair. ¡°.....Rubica.¡± Ang was about to say something to Rubica who was stroking her hair. ¡°I think that¡¯s enough.¡± But Edgar interrupted. He didn¡¯t want to give Ang more chances to make Rubica change her mind with tears. Contrary to Carl¡¯s report, they seemed to be quite close to each other. He couldn¡¯t let Rubica worry about that little girl and announce she wouldn¡¯t leave. He held Rubica¡¯s arm tightly and looked down at Ang for a second. She could feel that she was getting goosebumps at those cold eyes looking down on her. She felt overwhelmed. Was it because of his excessive beauty? Ang felt like a mouse in front of cat. Edgar looked at Ang and thought for some time. Then he sighed. ¡°You cane to visit to our mansion during the academy¡¯s vacations, so there is no need to act like this is the end.¡± That was unexpected. Rubica widened her eyes. However, there were people who were delighted even before her. Mr. and Mrs. Berner. Edgar looked at them with a smile and spoke. ¡°But, keep in mind that the doorkeeper will pour hot water on them if you bring them along.¡± That didn¡¯t match his warm smile. Mr. and Mrs. Berner could see that they would only get hot water poured on them and be beaten hard if they used Ang to go to the duke¡¯s mansion and shuddered. ¡®So he slightly frowns when smiling falsely.¡¯ When everyone else was trembling with fear, Rubica studied Edgar and thought so. Maybe excessive beauty was toxic. If it had been other uglier man, Rubica would have just given him a nce and moved on, but she was enchanted by his beauty. She had memorized his every move and the delicate movements of his facial muscles in just a few hours. She could already discern his ¡®real¡¯ expressions from ¡®fake¡¯ expressions, which even Carl failed to do sometimes. Anyway, she had thought she would not get to never see Ang again as she was going to trust money in her name, but she was still grateful to be able to see her from time to time in future. ¡°Ang, write me a letter when you get admitted to the academy.¡± ¡°Okay, I promise you, I will study hard.¡± Unlike earlier, Ang smiled brightly. Rubica didn¡¯t know she was silently promising herself to learn chemistry or engineering that would let her earn a lot of money so that she would be able to rescue Rubica from the duke as she smiled. *** Edgar led her to a carriage behind his own carriage, one that was much bigger and luxuriously decorated. Rubica got on the carriage first and waited for him, but he didn¡¯t join her. ¡°Your Grace.¡± ¡°I still have things left to do. Rest in this carriage.¡± For a moment, Rubica imagined Edgar sitting on a chair and reading documents. He would drown, lift up a pen to make changes, and think again. Then sudden impulse took hold of her. Her lips moved first before she could realize it. ¡°..... Then I will help you by your side.¡± Rubica was shocked. She realized she had even grabbed leaving Edgar¡¯s hand. Oh, gods.... She did love beauty, but this was.... However, despite her hatred about him, she did want to see him working. Edgar rxed to feel Rubica¡¯s warmth with his cold hand. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. You will get bored byplicated documents at my side.¡± ¡°...Okay.¡± Rubica wanted to exin that her mouth had moved first before her brain gave orders, but she thought it would be only embarrassing herself even more, so she just pretended to agree with him. ¡°I am pleased to see you are trying to do your duties as my wife, but we are not married yet.¡± Edgar¡¯s teasing made Rubica¡¯s face turn red. She hastily tried to let go of his hand, but she couldn¡¯t as he held on to her hand tight. ¡°That, that¡¯s....¡± ¡°Rude?¡± Edgar let go of her hand before her red face turned blue. It made her fall on the floor. It didn¡¯t hurt because of the fluffy carpet, but her pride was hurt to think she had embarrassed herself in front of him yet again. ¡°Hahahahahha!¡± But Edgar¡¯sughter made her forget all about it. He didn¡¯t frown this time. That was innocentughter like that of a child. Rubica was thrilled to know such cold man was capable ofughing like that. ¡°Then rest, Rubica. You will be busy starting tomorrow, enough to make you think working as a maid was better.¡± Edgar could barely restrain hisughter and closed the carriage¡¯s door. It immediately started to move. When Rubica opened the curtains to see Berner Mansion for thest time, everything looked like small dot far away. *** The energy of mana stone cannot bepared to anything. One mana stone as big as an adult¡¯s head is worth a kingdom¡¯s budget for a year. ording to Rubica¡¯s knowledge, mana stone needed to make a carriage go for a year only had to be about the size of little finger. Mana stone that small was enough to make a carriage go without shaking at speed 20 times faster than that of a horse. But what surprised Rubica even more was ymore Family¡¯s wealth that was capable of owning three high-speed carriages, which were the fastest among mana stone carriages, at the same time. ¡®One carriage designed like study for the duke to work, and one carriage with bedroom and wardrobe I am in right now.....and one carriage for servants?¡¯ Rubica was lying on the fluffy bed made with swans¡¯ feathers. She stared at the beautiful patterns of the ceiling. A maid had helped her change into good linen nightdress, but she couldn¡¯t sleep. She couldn¡¯t know what to think about the sudden change of her fate. She wanted to jump to her feet and yell, but as the maid was dozing at a corner of the carriage, she couldn¡¯t. That maid had made a fuss when Rubica tossed and turned, about if her nightdress wasn¡¯tfortable enough, or if the bed wasn¡¯t right, or if she should have prepared a ss of wine for her before finally falling asleep. Rubica couldn¡¯t even move on the bed because she didn¡¯t want to wake up the maid. She justy there and tried to make sense of everything one by one. But she couldn¡¯t understand even one of them. The duke whocked nothing proposing her, not taking back that proposal even when she told him she loved someone else, not backing off when she even pped his face and cursed him. But the thing she couldn¡¯t understand the most was..... ¡®I¡¯ve traveled back in time.....¡¯ She couldn¡¯t dismiss it as mere illusion. The ring on her breast proved everything had happened to her had been real. ¡®Why.....¡¯ There was always reason why a god did something, and everything was in cause-and-effect rtionship. She had had no reason to go back to the past. Even though her life had been hard and full of sufferings, she had been content and grateful enough. Not everyone of the world could live happily and in abundance. She had found happy and beauty in poverty by working at the abbey and had learned how to be content with little things. She had never thought of her life as trivial or wanted another chance. But, if she had one regret.... ¡®It is that I never told Arman I loved him.¡¯ That regret was small, like a grain of sand of beach. Nevertheless, Rubica was willing to give up anything if gods would help her solve that one regret. However, if the gods really had meant to grant her wish, they shouldn¡¯t have let Duke ymore propose to her. But Rubica couldn¡¯t even run to Arman right now. She didn¡¯t even know where he lived now. She had nothing. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Chapter 17

epting the duke¡¯s proposal had enabled her to get away from her uncle and aunt right away, and it had also given her 50 thousand Gold. She lost nothing from that deal. The duke had been rather strange to want such ridiculous marriage. He wasn¡¯t going to get anything at all from that marriage. Rubica had heard men who have a lot wants to get beautiful wife, even it costs a lot, but she couldn¡¯t think she was worth that much. Auburn hair that was thick but not unique and deep auburn eyes. Her skin was smooth, but it wasn¡¯t transparent like marble. It was just healthy milky white. She had pride in being good on judging beauty, so she could judge her own quite objectively. ¡®It cannot be more normal.¡¯ There were countless womedn like Rubica. When she demanded 100 thousand Gold, she had silently hoped the duke to be disgusted by her. She only needed 50 thousand Gold to save Ang, but she asked for 100 thousand Gold to look arrogant. Men try to buy women with money, but they hate it when those women want money. ¡®But he strangely brightened up when I said that.¡¯ The duke hadn¡¯t even blinked an eye when she repudiated her uncle and aunt. He rather encouraged her. Most people she knew would have thought she had taken it too far, even though Mr. and Mrs. Berner had wronged her. Especially when that woman is about to be one¡¯s wife. In such case, the man wants her fianc¨¦ to cry and don¡¯t know what to do. And then they say ¡®I don¡¯t need you who harass my wife. We will not see you again!¡¯ and expect her to pretend to be heartbroken but follow his will. They want their wives to have weak heart, so that they wouldn¡¯t be able to abandon them even if them get huge debt, or be to weak to earn money, no matter how much they had tormented their wives in younger days. When Rubica worked at the abbey, she met many kind people, but she also met a number of devils. People who didn¡¯t regret the wrongs they hadmitted in youth and cursed their families who abandoned them when they got weak. Rubica followed the teachings of Hue. She took care of them with love, but she never believed those families would go to hell as they cursed. ¡®Is it because he is Duke ymore who will never fall to such situation?¡¯ Rubica bit her lips hard. The ce that got destroyed the first as soon as the war broke out had been ymore¡¯s domain. At ymore Mansion, a lot of schrs and scientists who had studied at the academy were gathered. They worked for the duke to develop various weapons. The other kingdoms never forgot it. As soon as the war broke out, ymore Family¡¯s extreme wealth turned to ashes in no time. And the duke was made prisoner to one of the enemy kingdoms. However, there was no way Duke ymore of now knew it. He had been born surrounded by gold and probably believed he would die that way. Rubica snorted on the bed. Mistake of calction. Edgar probably never expected he would have to rely on others¡¯ help. As most important families did, ymore Family must have had rtives. Rtives who used their bloodline and tried to convince the duke to invest in their business or give them job. Many important families suffered because of such rtives. Some weak-minded nobles were often fooled by such talking and schemes and lost huge money. How cold Lamina Family had been when Rubica¡¯s mother was ill? The count said he couldn¡¯t give a single penny for healing his aunt who was even younger than himself. Virtue of the rich and that of the poor were different. To someone poor, his wife¡¯s cold attitude would worry him, but Edgar was rich. To him, Rubica¡¯s firm attitude must have been what he had wanted. ¡®He gave me 100 thousand Gold immediately to my provocation. I know he had meant to give it to uncle, but still....¡¯ Edgar didn¡¯t appear to be a man who would spend to boast about his wealth. Rather, he didn¡¯t give even a penny to unworthy people. That is why he had willingly given 100 thousand Gold to Rubica. He didn¡¯t even love her, but he paid her only because she was going to be his wife.... ¡®How rich he is?¡¯ And he hadn¡¯t acted spontaneously. He had paid 100 thousand Gold from the money he could use privately. If she had asked for more than the amount of money he could privately use, he wouldn¡¯t have said yes. ¡®Well, all the better. I should have the money transferred to Jackal Bank.; Jackal Bank ran by southern goblins was one of the few banks that wasn¡¯t going to be destroyed by the war. Anyway, the marriage had given Rubica the luxury of not suffering a lot like she had had in her previous life, even after the war. ¡®With that money, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about money for at least 40 years, even if I put chunks of meat in soup at the abbey.¡¯ This time, she wouldn¡¯t have to go through the pain of letting children die of malnutrition. She smiled to think about it. ¡®But will the duke really divorce me willingly...¡¯ The question she¡¯d been trying to avoid popped up. Rubica was nervous. She felt nervous because she didn¡¯t know why Edgar wanted to marry her, and she felt even more nervous because he was saying yes to her demands. Plus, although he had tried his best to hide, she had been able to see he had been worried that she would refuse his proposal to the end. That ¡®divorce¡¯ could have been only a method to make her walk the aisle winningly. She had been fooled a lot during the war. It was inevitable. People all had to fool each other or their wives, husbands, and children could be dead body by the next day. Human beings can easily dispose conscience when the lives of their loved ones depend on it. It had taught Rubica that it is hard to keep conscience and kind heart when ites down to the matter of surviving, even for the most kind-hearted men. Duke ymore didn¡¯t look to be kind. And he was a businessman who owned hugend andpanies that made weapons. She couldn¡¯t expect such man to have conscience. ¡®...I must make him want to divorce me.¡¯ She couldn¡¯t think he would divorce her when the promised timees and wait. Then she would be like her mother who was fooled by her uncle. Because her mother had believed the document Martin Berner had shown her, saying ¡®It is contract between members of one family, there can¡¯t be any scheme.¡¯, her life and Rubica¡¯s had been ruined after that. That isn¡¯t a thing more foolish than betting one¡¯s life on someone else¡¯s conscience. Rubica decided to make the duke beg her to get divorced in a year, much less than the promised 4 year. ¡®What can I do?¡¯ The most famous and the most frequently used method was having an affair. However, Rubica was already in love with a man. That love was firm enough not to be shaken by the fact she couldn¡¯t meet him and didn¡¯t know where he was. However, the duke hadn¡¯t even blinked on eye and proceeded with their marriage when she told him about it. Having an affair didn¡¯t seem to be a method to make him want a divorce. Of course, Rubica didn¡¯t want to have love with someone who wasn¡¯t Arman, not even a little. The second method was to abuse servants or nonpaying lodgers who depended on ymores¡¯ mercy. However, she wasn¡¯t capable of hitting or starving others. And there were so many nobles who wouldn¡¯t even blink an eye about abusing servants. ¡®Isn¡¯t there any other way?¡¯ Rubica thought hard. The carriage¡¯s wallpaper was quite expensive. Its hue was soft, but the pattern wasplicated very much and wasn¡¯t repeated, so an artisan must have drawn it. Anyone without discerning eye would have thought ymore Family hadn¡¯t lost frugality that was the virtue of Seritos Kingdom, in spite of its great wealth, but Rubica thought differently. She was impressed by the luxury of spending huge money on ces that couldn¡¯t be noticed easily. ¡®Wait, to think about it..... Yes, the mostmon and critical reason that makes most couple break up! Yes, it¡¯s money! Why have I forgotten all about it?¡¯ Rubica wanted to get up and kiss the beautiful wallpaper that had enlightened her. Yes, extravagance. The answer was extravagance. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Chapter 18

There is no end to extravagance as you can never have enough money. No matter how much Edgar wanted to keep Rubica, he would have to change his mind if she was extravagant enough to make his family go bankrupt. She decided to use all expenses she would get as a duchess and even get loans. ¡®The national bank will be destroyed 4 yearster because of the war, anyway.¡¯ Duke ymore¡¯s inventions and every weapon produced based on them were the basis of the Seritos Kingdom. The duke¡¯s wealth was the kingdom¡¯s wealth. Most of his official property, except for the money he used for private purposes, had been entrusted to a national bank. Moreover, the war was going to destroy the kingdom and turn all the money kept in the bank into useless pieces of paper. Money that was about to be destroyed, and wealth that would vanish eventually. Rubica didn¡¯t even have to feel bad about it, so she decided to enjoy spending money. ¡®What shall I do?¡¯ A smile appeared on her face since she had always been saving as soon as she matured enough. She had no memory of living without worrying about money after her mother¡¯s death and till her own death at the age of 70. She had always eaten simply and had had clothes just enough to cover herself. Rubica had tried to find beauty in that life, nevertheless, she wanted to dress in silk from across the desert and put jewels, as shining as stars of the night sky, on her neck. ¡®Let¡¯s spend as much as I want.¡¯ People would criticize her, saying she wasn¡¯t behaving like a duchess. Extravagance was a great sin in Seritos. If nobles imported luxurious goods, there wouldn¡¯t be enough money to buy agricultural products for themoners. However, in this life, Rubica wasn¡¯t going to care about that. She decided to buy, dress, and enjoy all kinds of expensive stuff. That wealth was about to be gone soon. What could possibly go wrong if she spent some of it? It wasn¡¯t like anyone was going to get killed because of it. ¡®They can¡¯t criticize me for more than 4 years.¡¯ That decision made her feel relieved, and soon she fell asleep. She couldn¡¯t even remember when was thest time she had slept in afy bed. She slept so well for the first time since forever that the maid didn¡¯t wake her up, and she barely managed to open her eyes when the sunlighting through the windows was bright enough to pierce her eyes. ¡°Ms. Rubica, are you awake?¡± ¡°What time... is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s noon.¡± Rubica immediately sat up on the bed at hearing this. ¡°No! I must go and do Ang¡¯s hair!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I cannot bete...¡± Then, she saw the interior of the carriage and the maid looking at her with worried eyes. She realized her new reality only then. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. I guess I was still sleepy.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, Ms. Rubica.¡± Fortunately, the maid smiled as if she could understand Rubica. As soon as she got out of the bed, the maid brought a basin full of warm water for washing the face. It was a white porcin vase. Next to it, there were soft towels and two kinds of soap. ¡°I didn¡¯t know which scent you liked, so I prepared two kinds. They are rose and olive.¡± They were both high-quality soaps made of oil and natural soda. Rubica lightly put her hands in the basin and made foams with olive soap that had a not-so-strong scent. Seeing soap made her think of Arman again. *** Soap was used to wash away dirtiness and defeat diseases. It was only for the nobles. As there had been many patients at the abbey, Rubica had had no choice but to reuse dirty bandages. ¡°I wish we had clean bandages...¡± Rubica sometimes sighed as she wrapped dirty bandages around the patients¡¯ bodies. She always applied medicine to the wounds, but she didn¡¯t know if it would work because of the dirty bandages. However, leaving the wound unwrapped made it attract flies, and it was an even bigger problem. Moreover, there weren¡¯t enough bandages. ¡°Bandages won¡¯t be clean, no matter how much we wash them with lye.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you use soap?¡± Arman asked back as he heard about the patient¡¯s condition and chose the medicines next to Rubica. It hadn¡¯t yet been a year since he started to work at the abbey, and Rubica burst intoughter at that innocent remark. ¡°Arman, you used to be a nobleman, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Why do you think so?¡± ¡°... soap is extremely expensive. Only nobles can use such a thing.¡± ¡°Real... ly?¡± ¡°Wow, you really don¡¯t know. I was right, you must have been a nobleman of high rank, so high that someone like me wouldn¡¯t have dared to talk to you.¡± ¡°No, no, Rubica. I just don¡¯t know much about that kind of things, that¡¯s all...¡± ¡°I was joking, Arman.¡± Rubica smiled at seeing Arman¡¯s ears turn red. At the time, making fun of Arman was her greatest pleasure. ¡°Oh, I hope soaps would rain from the sky.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t most people wish for money to rain?¡± ¡°But money won¡¯t make soap. Things are often not for sale on the market, the whole world is short on supplies.¡± Rubica finished wrapping the bandage around the patient and finished it with a pretty knot. Then, she stood up to move on to the next patient. Arman felt it and quickly stood up as well. He could realize things as if he could see. Sometimes Rubica wondered if he was just pretending to be blind. ¡°It¡¯s so strange, Arman. My homnd. They could make weapons that could fly, but why did they never invent cheap soap?¡± ¡°... cheap soap?¡± Rubica took Arman¡¯s hand so that he wouldn¡¯t be lost. The hand was dry, but it warmed her heart. ¡°Yes, there are both expensive and cheap things in the world. I wish we had cheap soap for washing bandages, it doesn¡¯t need to have a luxurious scent.¡± ¡°... cheap soap.¡± Arman repeated after her, and he was nowhere to be seen on the next day. At first, Rubica thought he had temporarily left the abbey to run errands for the priests. ¡°Um, Father, where is Arman?¡± On the third day, she eventually found the courage and asked a priest who was close to Arman. Arman was blind, so Rubica was worried if he was eating properly. ¡°He is at Lefena¡¯s reference room, he said he needed to work on something.¡± ¡°... Priestess Lefena? She let him use her reference room?¡± ¡°Yes, she even said Arman could use herb.¡± Rubica¡¯s jaw dropped at this. Lefena was like the right-hand woman of the abbot. She was the most ill-tempered woman in the abbey. She would often nag to Rubica, saying she wrapped the bandages in wrong way and used the wrong herbs. She extremely hated it when someone went into her reference room where she kept the rare books and herbs she had collected. She would say fools could disturb the room¡¯s order. And she had let Arman use both her reference room and herb? ¡°And, what about his meals?¡± ¡°Do not worry about it, sister. Priestess Lefena is bringing him his meals.¡± Rubica opened her mouth even wider at this. She imagined the bad-tempered priestess carrying a tray with food on it. She couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°Thank you for letting me know.¡± ¡°I will tell him you were worried about him.¡± ¡°No! I don¡¯t know what this is about, but I don¡¯t want him to be disturbed because of me.¡± The priest smiled warmly at this, and Rubica liked that smile. Always smile to people around you. That was Hue¡¯s teaching. Because of it, the priests in the abbey smiled a lot. Rubica hadn¡¯t gotten such a smile before she entered the abbey. Rubica thought she would be able to see Arman again at least a weekter. However, she couldn¡¯t meet him even after a month. ¡®Is he eating properly?¡¯ She was even more worried as it was none other than Lefena who was bringing him the meals. She was the kind of person who would give only clear soup every day and think she had done her duty. She didn¡¯t want Arman to faint because of malnutrition. She was more and more worried. ¡®What is he doing? Why is he noting out of theb?¡¯ Before she realized it, she started to think about Arman every day. Waiting, fear, and sighs were added to her worries. She even med Arman for leaving without telling her. She worked even harder to get rid of the gloomy mood. She voluntarily took care of the patients with infectious diseases who even priests didn¡¯t like to get near to. She did every hard work at the abbey. It was time to start worrying more about her than Arman. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Chapter 19

¡°Rubica! Rubica!¡± As usual, Rubica was going to the river with a bunch of dirty bandages to wash in her arms. She then heard the voice of the man she had been trying to forget but had been thinking of at the same time. ¡°Ar... man.¡± The resentment she¡¯d been piling up quietly melted away at the voice eagerly calling out to her. She called him back only once in a small voice, but Arman could hear her. He ran toward her from afar. He ran into others on his way, but Rubica couldn¡¯t go to him as she was carrying too much. ¡°Careful! Why are you in such a hurry?¡± Rubica scolded Arman as he breathed heavily in front of her. His pants and shirt had stains as if he had just run out of theb. Even though he was being scolded by Rubica, he couldn¡¯t help but smile. That smile made Rubica¡¯s resentment surface again. She had been so worried about him for thest two months... ¡°Rubica, take this.¡± Before Rubica could say anything, Arman put something on her hand. Rubica¡¯s heart started to beat fast. Now she wondered that maybe she wanted Arman to present her a ring or something. But at the time, what was put on her hand was something round and grey. ¡°What is this?¡± Rubica tried to hide her disappointment and asked kindly. ¡°It¡¯s soap.¡± ¡°... soap?¡± Most soaps Rubica had known had been beautiful and white, but what was on her hand was in a crude shape. ¡°It¡¯s cheap soap.¡± ¡°... cheap soap?¡± Her disappointment gradually turned into joy. ¡°After hearing what you said, I thought cheap soap would be good too, so...¡± ¡°Then what you¡¯ve been doing during thest two months...¡± ¡°Yes, I didn¡¯t know much about chemistry, so it took me some time to study. It would have been impossible if Priest Lefena hadn¡¯t read the books to me. This is the first soap I made, so... I don¡¯t know if it will make foam.¡± The smile slowly disappeared from his face, and he spoke nervously. Had Armane looking for her the moment he seeded, even without thinking of testing it? Rubica couldn¡¯t hold back her excitement and took his hand. ¡°Let¡¯s test it, now!¡± Then, the two headed straight to the river. Rubica dipped the bandages in the water. Arman, meanwhile, started to sweat, worrying that his invention might not work. Rubica put the small soap on the bandages and started to rub. ¡°Look, it¡¯s making foam.¡± ¡°Really? Really, Rubica?¡± ¡°Yes, a lot of foam.¡± Arman, who had been nervous, started to smile. Bum! Rubica still couldn¡¯t forget the heartbeat she heard then. She couldn¡¯t forget Arman¡¯s smile which she saw back then. She was probably going to remember it for the rest of her life. The expression beautiful wasn¡¯t enough to describe that smile. If the gods smiled, they would smile like that. Rubica wanted to call that smile sacred. Wouldn¡¯t the gods dly let her? Without Arman¡¯s soap, countless patients would have lost their lives because of dirty bedsheets and bandages. *** ¡°Ms. Rubica, you don¡¯t like the scent?¡± ¡°Oh...¡± The maid carefully asked when Rubica stopped making foam with the soap and nkly stared at the water. ¡°No, the scent is very good.¡± Rubica realized she had been in a daze for a moment and smiled. The maid rxed and said, ¡°That¡¯s good. I was so worried, that you might not like both scents... oh, and my name is Jenny.¡± Unlike other maids¡¯ hands, Jenny¡¯s hands were neither thick nor rough. She appeared to specialize in weing guests and helpingdies to dress up. While Rubica washed her face and hand, Jenny brought about eight luxurious-looking containers. ¡°These are?¡± ¡°Creams. We don¡¯t know what kind of cream you normally use, so the housekeeper told me to bring all the creams we had...¡± Jenny asked Rubica to tell her which cream she normally used. Of course, in her childhood, Rubica had used creams simr to those in front of her now. The problem was that it was so far in the past, so she couldn¡¯t even remember. In addition to that, all the creams Jenny brought had been made in the best workshops. Even Mr. and Mrs. Berner had never let Ang use such cream. ¡°Is the cream you use not among these?¡± When Rubica kept staring at the creams without saying anything, Jenny asked nervously. Some people would pretend to have used the creams they have never seen before to keep their pride. However, Rubica¡¯s curiosity was bigger than her pride. She wanted to find out what kind of texture and scents the creams of famous shops, which she had only heard of, had. ¡°Can I use them all?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never used any of these... would it be okay to just test them all?¡± Jenny was rather surprised to hear this. She had been told Rubica Berner was from a bar¡¯s family, but she didn¡¯t know what kind of life she had led. Then, she spotted Rubica¡¯s hands. They looked even rougher than her own and that gave her the answer. ¡°Then, would you like me to apply them one by one?¡± ¡°Yes, thank you.¡± Still a bit surprised, Jenny first opened the closest container and applied the cream on Rubica¡¯s hands. Rubica¡¯s hands were warm, and they absorbed the cream. ¡°This scent is...¡± ¡°It is argan added with rose.¡± ¡°Argan? Oh, are you talking about the fruits of argania tree?¡± ¡°Yes, to be specific, the seed of the fruit.¡± Argania trees only grew in some parts of warm regions in the south, so it was an ingredient very hard to get. Rubica¡¯s curiosity started to grow even bigger. ¡°Does it just smell good? Or does it do something else?¡± Jenny started to talk faster. ¡°It is good for the skin. The skin will be moist if you use this cream for some time. I sometimes lightly apply argan oil to the tip of my hair.¡± ¡°You apply argan oil on your hair?¡± ¡°Yes, just a little bit.¡± Jenny nced at Rubica. She would sometimes use the leftover ingredients on her hair and hands, and she was worried that Rubica might realize it and not like it. ¡°Oh, it must be why your hair is so smooth,¡± but her mistress, who was about to be the duchess, said something quite unexpected, ¡°But isn¡¯t this too expensive to be used often?¡± ¡°... I normally use olive oil as it has simr effects.¡± ¡°Which of them do you think is better, argan or olive?¡± No one had asked such a question to Jenny before. At first, she exined calmly. ¡°It depends on the person¡¯s skin, but my favorite is baobab cream. Argan is more expensive, but baobab is much moister.¡± However, her voice started to grow as she started to talk about baobab cream. Then, she picked up the container and started to apply the cream on Rubica¡¯s hand, even though she hadn¡¯t been told to do so. ¡°Look. It¡¯s been much easier to absorb and it¡¯s moister. The most expensive items are not always the best.¡± Then she started to massage Rubica¡¯s hands in a unique way. Rubica tried to observe and memorize how she did it. ¡°Doing this makes it absorb even better,¡± Jenny exined. ¡°... yes, it does.¡± Rubica¡¯s hands started to turn smooth thanks to the baobab cream. Plus, its scent was fresh and not heavy at all. ¡°Should I choose this for my face?¡± Jenny started to really enjoy it when Rubica liked the cream she rmended. ¡°Yes, I think it fits your skin type, too.¡± The two went on talking about various ingredients of creams, their effects, and prices. Jenny softly rubbed Rubica¡¯s face to make sure the cream was absorbed. She was right, baobab cream was for Rubica¡¯s skin type, and she was surprised to see her skin was brighter and smoother than before. ¡°It¡¯s really impressive.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that much.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re really good at it. How could you choose the right cream for the skin of someone you just met? It¡¯s amazing!¡± Compliments delight people. Jenny was proud of herself, and her hands felt itchy. ¡®I cannot finish it just here.¡¯ Was it because Rubica hadn¡¯t used cream for a long time? Her skin changing with just one cream touched some kind of desire inside Jenny. She wanted to do more. She wanted to make Rubica be even more beautiful. ¡°Um, miss?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you let me massage you?¡± ¡°... massage? Oh, but I¡¯m not tired now.¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t mean a massage meant for rxing. I meant a massage to apply the cream on the entire body to improve the skin.¡± Rubica had been wondering what she was supposed to do on their way to the duke¡¯s mansion. As she wasn¡¯t sure she could endure doing nothing for such a long time, she dly nodded. ¡°Good!¡± Using cream on the entire body, that was an extravagance she had never imagined, and she started to feel good already. ¡°As there is no bathtub in this carriage, you cannot take a bath, but if I wipe your body with a wet towel and use tea tree cream, it will be fine as tea tree has an antimicrobial effect.¡± Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Jenny was now happy. Usually, helping ady take a bath was a tiring and tricky job. She had decided to work for the ymores because the family paid much more than other families to its maids, but actually, she also liked that there was no duchess. She had never enjoyed her work, and she had always been afraid. When she rmended cosmetics, her previous mistresses would say something like, ¡°You think I should use such cheap stuff on my skin? No way. Just bring me the most expensive cream in Shop Canary.¡± They would scold her, tell her not to forget that she was only a maid, and they always med her when their skin got worse. She thought it was unfair. She was sure that she knew more than anyone else about cosmetics, but there had been no one who acknowledged that. People just scolded her, saying knowing a lot about cosmetics wasn¡¯t anything special. However, Rubica was different. Sheplimented Jenny¡¯s skills, listened to her, andplimented her knowledge. ¡®Has this been always so enjoyable?¡¯ Rubbing on cream so that it would be absorbed well into the skin was a job harder than you might think. It doesn¡¯t require a lot of strength, but you must use the right amount of strength with your fingers and often use your wrists. But for some reason, Jenny found massaging Rubica not hard at all. ¡°It feels so good.¡± Rubica rxed as Jenny rubbed the cream on her body, and she almost fell asleep. The only reason she didn¡¯t fall asleep was because of a sound she heard. ¡°Oh, right. You haven¡¯t eaten anything yet.¡± Rubica felt ashamed while her face turned red and said, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s fine. I will eat when others eat.¡± ¡°But you look very hungry, miss.¡± ¡°No, I can¡¯t make them stop the carriage because of me...¡± The maid looked a little confused at this for a while. But soon, she nodded and exined, ¡°It is impossible to eat inside a normal carriage as it shakes, but mana carriages are different. His Grace must have eaten a simple breakfast prepared in his carriage, too. He extremely hates it when someonees in when he is working.¡± She added thest sentence because she didn¡¯t want Rubica to think the duke didn¡¯t like to be with her. However, Rubica was d that he wasn¡¯t summoning her. ¡°Okay, it would be better than stopping the carriages to eat together. It would be a waste of time.¡± ¡°Then I will prepare a simple meal.¡± Rubica nodded. Jenny soon removed the basin of water and set food on a small table. Soft and white bread, fruits from the south, milk, and fresh juice. They were dishes that pretended to be frugal. While she ate, Jenny went to the next room and brought about a dozen of pretty dresses. Rubica was surprised to see them as she hadn¡¯t known that even clothes had been prepared for her. ¡®Well, I guess my usual dresses wouldn¡¯t be good enough for the noble duke.¡¯ Rubica smiled bitterly. She was trying to interpret Edgar¡¯s action in the worst possible way, and she found herself funny. ¡°As we had to prepare quickly, we had no choice but to fix and bring dresses left by the duke¡¯s grandmother. They¡¯re out of fashion, aren¡¯t they? The housekeeper has asked me to apologize to you instead.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t say anything to that. Such luxurious and pretty dresses were out of fashion? Oh, but she had never been near society and had only watcheddies in dresses from afar. ¡°Please choose the one you like.¡± The ten dresses each had a unique charm, all different from one another. Rubica gulped hard. They were all pretty, and she wanted to wear them all. Rubica tried to calm her pounding heart and finally managed to speak, ¡°Can I try them all?¡± ¡°... excuse me, miss?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s too much work, isn¡¯t it? No, no, it¡¯s not necessary.¡± Wearing such a dress required many pairs of hands, so Jenny alone wasn¡¯t enough. Rubica regretted losing to her desire and saying that aloud, therefore she just shook her hands. Then, Jenny remembered what the housekeeper had told her just before she left ymore Mansion. -No matter what happens, Miss Berner must be your top priority. You must give her anything she wants, anything she eats and anything she wants to do. If any of you behaves disrespectfully to her... I will make you regret it. Cold sweat ran down her back. The housekeeper, Ann, was a nicedy, but she always kept her words, for better or worse. Jenny didn¡¯t want to lose her nice job. ¡°Stop, stop the carriage!¡± ¡°Oh, but there¡¯s no need to!¡± Before Rubica could stop her, Jenny ran to the driver. When the carriage stopped, the carriage for the servants, that had been following from behind, also stopped. Jenny immediately ran to it and came back with three other maids. Then the carriage started moving again. ¡°Miss Berner wants to try all of these dresses.¡± ¡°All of... these ten dresses?¡± The maids looked confused at first. ¡°But there wouldn¡¯t be enough time to try ten dresses...¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s fine. Please don¡¯t overdo yourselves,¡± Rubica said while shaking her hands once again. However, as the maids didn¡¯t know her personality yet, they thought there had to be a reason for Jenny summoning them like that. ¡®Are we being tested now?¡¯ Now they were in trouble. Although Rubica was saying it was fine, they couldn¡¯t believe that. ¡°We can do it, miss!¡± ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be a problem, miss.¡± The maids immediately started to move. One of them brought a huge mirror and essory box with Jenny, and the other two started to dress Rubica. Unlike a maid¡¯s dress that can simply be put on and off, ady¡¯s dress isplicated. Although vertugadin (triangr petticoat) was now the trend, as the dresses had originally belonged to the duke¡¯s grandmother, the maids made Rubica wear farthingale (petticoat in the shape of a barrel) first. Then, they used pins to fix the stomacher decorated with jewels and embroidery on Rubica¡¯s chest and helped her put on the skirt and overdress. It was finished much faster with the extra hands. ¡°What do you think, miss?¡± Jenny asked nervously after putting therge mirror in front of Rubica. ¡°It¡¯s really pretty.¡± ¡°Yes, it is. Also, the stomacher¡¯s embroidery has been recently redone.¡± ¡°It was done with great skill... um, what is this pattern?¡± ¡°Oh...¡± Jenny could feel her mouth turning dry at the question. She knew everything about cosmetics, but she wasn¡¯t that confident about clothes. ¡°It¡¯s pomegranate flower! The pattern...¡± The maid who spoke hid behind the mirror after saying that. She was afraid because she thought Rubica might punish her. ¡°Pomegranate flower? How did you recognize it?¡± But to her surprise, Rubica didn¡¯t get mad at her for yelling. Instead, she simply asked kindly. The maid poked her head out a little from behind the mirror. ¡°The tip of its stamens. They¡¯re from pomegranate flowers... pomegranate means fecundity. I embroidered pomegranate flower patterns when I made things for my sister¡¯s marriage. That pattern is... popr in the Desert Kingdom. I was told so.¡± ¡°The Desert Kingdom? How do you know such a thing?¡± ¡°... my mother is from there.¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s how you recognized it immediately. I had no idea. Could you exin more?¡± Rubica kept asking questions in awe, and the maids nced at each other. They were all thinking their new mistress wasn¡¯t that scary. ¡°But this pink doesn¡¯t fit me.¡± However, Rubica judged the dress objectively. The pink dress with the blue tint was clearly beautiful, but it didn¡¯t suit Rubica. ¡°Then how about this sky-blue dress?¡± ¡°Please try it on, miss.¡± The maids whispered among themselves, and they felt like they were tailors. They then helped Rubica change into the next dress. ¡°... umm.¡± Rubica thought as she looked herself in the mirror. Next, another maidmented, ¡°Actually, it doesn¡¯t look good...¡± Then she covered her mouth in shock. She had spoken such a thing to thedy who was about to be the duchess! She trembled, fearing punishment. ¡°You think so too? That was what I was thinking as well.¡± But then, she heard something unexpected. The maids locked eyes, quite confused. What kind of person was thisdy? How they were supposed to serve her? They didn¡¯t know what to do, but then, the newest maid who had just spoken about pomegranate flower patterns spoke again. Newbies are usually the most courageous as they cannot predict the oues of their actions. ¡°How about this one, miss?¡± It was a yellow dress with just a little bit of orange tint. ¡°I think it would match your skin color and brown hair.¡± The veteran maid silently warned her, that venturing could make her get punished. However, Rubica pped. ¡°Yes, you are right. I think it would look good on me.¡± The maids were confused once again, but they quickly helped her get changed again. She was right, it did look good on her. ¡°Which essory would match this dress?¡± They were all puzzled at the question that demanded an answer. Jenny found some courage and took out a brooch from the essory box. ¡°How about this one?¡± It was a golden rose brooch with a ruby at the center. Rubica then put it on her chest and said, ¡°It¡¯s good... but I think it can be better.¡± ¡°How about this one?¡± Then, the veteran maid who had given a warning earlier couldn¡¯t restrain herself and pointed at another brooch. Rubica reacted before she could regret what she had done and said, ¡°Yes! It would be perfect.¡± The brooch was in a hydrangea shape with small topazes, and it matched the dress quite nicely. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Chapter 21

¡°Miss, how about this hairpin? I think it would match your hair¡¯s color.¡± ¡°And I think these gloves would be good.¡± ¡°I think these earrings would be perfect for you.¡± Once they started, they spoke aloud their opinions. The maids discussed among themselves even when Rubica didn¡¯t ask first. ¡°I think we should not tie the hair as miss is not married yet.¡± ¡°But we don¡¯t have the iron now, so we cannot trim the tip of her hair. I think we should braid it, that would be better.¡± ¡°But I think we should cut her front hair just a little...¡± They couldn¡¯t reach a conclusion for some time. So, they turned to Rubica and asked her at the same time. ¡°What should we do, miss?¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to braid my hair in two and let them fall on both sides? You know, like this.¡± Rubica took theb from one of the maids and did one braid herself. ¡°That would be nice.¡± The maids started to work on Rubica¡¯s hair without being told to. They kept chatting about which essories and style matched her better. Without realizing it, they all started to smile. Had helping ady dress up always been this enjoyable? ¡°You have a good sense of color!¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know this color and this would get along so well.¡± The more Rubicaplimented, the happier they became. They had never beenplimented like that, so they started to feel like as if they were experts. ¡°You cannot wear just any shoes even though they will be under your dress and not be seen.¡± Lastly, one of them brought many pairs of shoes. For a short moment, Rubica wondered when on earth they had prepared that. ymore Family hadn¡¯t had anydy for a long time. After thete duchess¡¯ death, all the maids went home. Only the housekeeper remained to take care of the household. ¡®They¡¯re not ordinary maids.¡¯ However, the maids were all kind, and they had prepared everything with great care. So, Rubica decided not to be worried too much. ¡°Now, it¡¯s finished.¡± After deciding on the shoes, Rubica stood in front of the mirror. In it, there was herself who appeared like a rich man¡¯s daughter since birth. She felt something surging deep in her chest and overflowing. She had always thought of herself as the incarnation of normality, but now, she looked quite pretty, even to herself. ¡°Thank you, everyone.¡± ¡°We just did what you wanted, miss.¡± ¡°But you all chose the things for me.¡± The maids were also as happy as Rubica. The work they had been doing just because they had been ordered to now felt so different. They couldn¡¯t believe they had helped thedy, who was going to be their mistress, be so beautiful. They felt like they were artisans who had just finished a work of art... Jenny stopped that thought there and smiled. ¡®Artisan, what nonsense. I can never be such a thing. I¡¯m just a maid who¡¯s a little good at doing makeups.¡¯ ¡°We will arrive at the mansion soon,¡± the driver suddenly said. Everyone had lost track of time while massaging, dressing, and decorating Rubica. They had worked so long, but strangely, they weren¡¯t tired at all. They were rather delighted. *** The maid escorted Rubica as she carefully came out of the carriage. ymore Mansion was even bigger than she had expected. It seemed to belong to a king, so she widened her eyes in surprise. What surprised her even more were the servants standing in rows in front of it. Even the stableman was there, wearing clean new clothes. He had even used pomade on his hair. ¡°Would you give me the honor to introduce the housekeeper to you?¡± Rubica was dumbfounded. She stared at Carl who had just spoken to her, and she suddenly realized something was wrong. The duke¡¯s carriage was nowhere to be seen. ¡°Where is the duke?¡± ¡°His Grace has a meeting with the king this evening, so he had to go. He will return before sunset tomorrow.¡± Carl looked sorry, and he had every reason to be sorry for Rubica. Most women would have been angry at arriving at her new home without the husband. However, Rubica let out a sigh of relief. Although Edgar was handsome, she couldn¡¯t stand it whenever he spoke. He was that cruel. Now, she didn¡¯t have to worry about getting humiliated in front of the servants, so she just smiled kindly. ¡°He exined to me how busy he is. It¡¯s alright.¡± Although that exnation had been given not out of kindness but to threaten Rubica, he had said he would always be busy. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But at the same time, Rubica was a little disappointed at not being able to see Edgar¡¯s beautiful face. How do his night sky-like hair glow under the shining sun? Her curiosity came up again. ¡®I guess I will get to see that often from now on.¡¯ However, she wanted to see that from afar, without having to hear what his arrogant mouth would say. ¡°I am Ann, the housekeeper.¡± Rubica looked at the middle-aged woman who was smiling kindly. She was a little plump. She was wearing a neat maid¡¯s uniform and her maroon hair had been tied neatly. Curiosity and goodwill for Rubica were in her grey eyes. ¡°Ann, this is Ms. Rubica Berner, the duke¡¯s fianc¨¦.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, Ms. Berner. It is my honor.¡± Ann was deeply impressed at seeing Rubica in one of the dresses she had chosen and sent. Thedy clearly knew what matched her and what didn¡¯t. Moreover, her hair was in the perfect style for the dress. Ann really wanted to know who had thought up that idea. Rubica replied kindly to her, ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± Ann¡¯s hands moved. She wanted to grab Rubica¡¯s hands, but it would be rude for a maid to do such a thing. As Rubica still had memories of being old, she could immediately realize what she wanted. Then, she took her hands without hesitation. ¡°You must help me a lot from now.¡± Ann smiled happily and kept saying how honored she was. Rubica rxed for now as she appeared to be nice. Ann was one of the people Rubica had to win over to use the family¡¯s expenses and be extravagant. Without the housekeeper¡¯s cooperation, she would have no way to buy good things. ¡°Oh, and this is Rosa. She is in charge of the needlewomen. These girls will serve you in the morning.¡± Ann was about to exin about all servants when Carl cleared his throat. ¡°Oh my! His Grace told me to introduce them properly after the wedding.¡± It took less than five minutes for Rubica to realize that Ann was very talkative. ¡°Well, I am so happy that I am a little out of my mind now. Eddie finally brought a nicedy like you...¡± ¡°Ann!¡± Carl scolded Ann for using Edgar¡¯s childhood nickname. ¡°Oh, oh, Ms. Berner, please forgive me.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s okay.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t even know why Ann was apologizing to her, but she epted her apology first. ¡°You are really kind.¡± Although Rubica was quite confused, she could feel that she was smiling. It was so strange. How could there be such kind servants under such a cold duke? Had they developed their kind hearts because they had tofort each other because of the duke¡¯s cruelty? ¡°Everyone, please pay attention.¡± Ann took a deep breath and started speaking. Her voice was loud enough to ring through the entire mansion. ¡°Ms. Rubica Berner who arrived today will be Duchess ymore. As you must know, the duchess is the owner of this household. From now on, Ms. Berner should be your priority in everything.¡± It was the first time Rubica was hearing it, but the servants had heard it countless times during thest week. After Ann was done, the maids and servants all bowed to Rubica. They all moved like one person as if they had prepared the move in advance. Rubica was overwhelmed at seeing so many people bow to her. ¡°We are at your service, Ms. Berner.¡± ¡°... thank you.¡± Rubica managed to reply, although she was still a bit confused. In spite of the housekeeper¡¯s warning, the servants had quietly prepared to look down on the new duchess after hearing she was from a bar¡¯s family. ¡®She must be so old-fashioned.¡¯ It had been one of the reasons why they had appeared in their best outfits. Although Rubica was from a port city, she was still just a baress. The maids and servants had thought they had to be much more sophisticated than her. After they found out she would be wearing one of the duke¡¯s grandmother¡¯s dresses, they had started to mock Rubica among themselves, wondering how dowdy she would look, even before the carriage arrived. However, when Rubica emerged from the carriage, they were all lost in words. They all just stared at her. The yellow dress that had a slight tint of orange matched Rubica¡¯s skin color so well. Under the sunlight, the dress looked like it was made of gold. Although the dress itself was in an old style, when added with embroidery, brooch, ne, and gloves in thetest fashion, it created the most unexpected sensation. In addition to that, the unique style of the hair that was neither rolled down nor rolled up but braided down gave an overall bnce to all of that. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Chapter 22

¡®So stylish.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯ve never seen that style before.¡¯ Did that style be popr in the capital without them knowing about it? They forgot about all their ego and stared at Rubica in a daze. Some of them who were much older recalled the former duchess, Edgar¡¯s grandmother, who had resided in that mansion so long ago. It made them feel strange. ¡°Then, Ms. Berner, you must be tired after riding the carriage all night. Let me take you to your room. You can rest there.¡± Now Ann had nothing to be worried about. Therefore, she took Rubica¡¯s arm and started to walk away. When they reached the front door, the doorman opened it and the servants all returned to their posts. ¡°Your hairstyle is so lovely. How did you think of braiding it like that? You must tell me how to do itter.¡± Ann kept twittering like a bird, so Rubica let her talk while looking at the interior of the ymore Mansion. The overwhelming wealth dumbfounded her. Overall calm colors had been used to shun the luxury, but money had been spent without hesitation in the details that only those with discerning eyes could recognize. Rubica was so impressed at seeing that each door had unique doorknobs that matched together well, and the reliefs on the walls in the shape of baby nymphs were all in different poses. Who had decorated the house like this? Whoever it had been, that person must have had a great sense of beauty. Duke ymore? Carl the butler? Or Ann the housekeeper? However, judging from the clothes they wore, it was hard to think they had such a taste. ¡®And the curtains seem to be silk... they must be hard to take care of, but they have no wrinkles.¡¯ On their way, Ann told her about each part of the mansion. ¡°That room is the working ce of the seamstresses. They will make and embroider your clothes. They have all been working as seamstresses for at least 20 years.¡± ¡°20 years? How many of them are there?¡± Rubica wanted to run into the room immediately, but she restrained herself and asked a simple question. ¡°Currently, there are five. I am nning to hire about 4 more as you are here now.¡± Seamstresses good at sewing were hard to find. Those with a long career sometimes get paid even more than the housekeeper. Ann already had 5 of them, but she was saying she would get 4 more, but Rubica wasn¡¯t delighted at this. She started to worry. ¡®... will I be able to make this family go bankrupt even if I spend all the money?¡¯ Rubica had always led a simple life, so her confidence started to fade. ¡®No! Nevertheless, the ymore Family must have followed the virtue of the Seritos Kingdom. Look, although this carpet on the floor is expensive, its pattern and colors are modest. There must be some things to spend money on if I try hard to find them.¡¯ Ann didn¡¯t know what Rubica was thinking. Instead, she was just delighted to see Rubica look around with wide eyes like a country girl. ¡®Eddie needs someone so warm and innocent.¡¯ Edgar was the smartest and the coldest Duke ymore ever. That¡¯s what the world knew. However, Ann remembered how he had been when his parents had been alive. He had been excessively smart and a little cold, but he had been a bright young man. After his parents¡¯ death, he lostughter and became a cold, cold man. *** Everyone in the mansion had been shocked when Edgar suddenly announced he was going to propose to a baress a week ago. Rubica Berner. They had never heard of that name before. A woman who didn¡¯t have enough to belong to the society in the capital. In addition to that, she was too old. After a series of objections and discussions, the ymore Family had to hold a meeting with rtives. Ann had also been present at the meeting as herte husband had been a Taylor and therefore a member of ymore Family. It was an important matter. The mansions¡¯ hall was already full of people around noon. However, Edgar, the topic of this meeting, didn¡¯t show up. ¡°Where is His Grace?¡± ¡°He is on his way from the king¡¯s castle.¡± ¡°How long does he think he can have us waiting?¡± They started to get angry, and the servants and Ann had to do their best to calm them down. Edgar only came when the sun went down and darkness started to fall. He sat on the ymore¡¯s Chair, closed his eyes, and savored his rtives¡¯ rough protests and objections. After that fuss, he just spoke one sentence in a low voice. ¡°I will not get married to any other woman.¡± At that moment, Ann could see a few people who couldn¡¯t hold back their joy. Foolish men who believed they would be able to seed Edgar if he died without leaving an heir. Ann pitied Edgar. A lot. Edgar had a huge burden, his title, and duties, on his shoulder at such a young age. Moreover, he didn¡¯t even have parents to help him and guide him. His adult rtives only spoke for their own good, they were never going to help him. ¡°If you object this marriage to the end, I will remain unmarried for the rest of my life. I will also choose Joseph as my heir.¡± Silence fell in the hall. Even Ann was so shocked that she almost dropped her handkerchief. ¡°Your Grace! He does not have the blood of the ymore family.¡± ¡°Have you gotten senile at such a young age?¡± Edgar listened to his rtives¡¯ protests without blinking an eye. ¡°Has any of you-¡± Edgar started to slowly speak. The tone of his voice was low, but it was heard rather well in the uproarious room. The people from the ymore Family started to listen when he started to talk. Edgar was a young duke at the age of 25, but he had already conquered the family. ¡°... graduated from the academy summa cumude?¡± In an instant, everyone became silent. Edgar was the only person in the ymore Family who had graduated from the academy early as the top student and had been called ¡®the genius of our times¡¯ by the professors. ¡°The ymore Family didn¡¯t get its honor because its bloodline was great!¡± Edgar stared at his rtives one by one with his cold blue eyes. His eyes had an overwhelming power that made others look away. They felt like that gaze could even look into their cells. ¡°We invented great weapons that work with mana stones. We brought abundance to the Seritos Kingdom. We saved its people. The people¡¯s food depends on what the ymores invent in that year. This family is enjoying great privileges not because of its bloodline. Not at all. If I don¡¯t get any heir, it would be right for Joseph, the best scientist and inventor next to me, to seed me as the duke.¡± That was a shocking decision that made no sense. However, the people of the ymore Family knew the king was going to be more than happy to grant it if the duke made that request. It wasn¡¯t entirely impossible, either. Joseph could be Edgar¡¯s adoptive son and get a nymph¡¯s blessing. ¡°Okay, Rubica Berner. Um, she is most certainly not good enough for this family. She grew up in a merchant¡¯s home. She is way too old and doesn¡¯t even have a dowry.¡± Zilehan, who had been listening quietly, suddenly spoke. You could see his beard moving while he continued to say, ¡°But Edgar, why would it matter if you love her? Is Duke ymore going to be stingy and bother about his wife¡¯s dowry?¡± With a heavy heart, Edgar realized Zilehan had finished thinking before speaking. It would be better for Edgar¡¯s child to seed him than to have Joseph be the heir. It was much more likely for them to get what they wanted. ¡°Now now, let¡¯s not be so narrow-minded.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°And, ording to this report, Rubica Berner¡¯ste mother was the second daughter of Count Lamina. You must know how distinguished the Lamina Family is. I¡¯m sure she didn¡¯t neglect her daughter¡¯s education.¡± Edgar didn¡¯t like what Zilehan was doing but, as it was helpful to him, he let him. Those who had objected at first decided it would be better to care more about what they would get than worry about the family¡¯s reputation. Plus, it would be better for them to have a woman from a tenuous family to be the duchess. They thought it would let them have more control over the family¡¯s many businesses. ¡°I do worry about the gap of the rank, but as Ms. Berner is the daughter of a bar, she is clearly ady. ¡°If His Grace loves her so much... ¡°What kind of tragedy would it be if he cannot marry the woman he loves just because he is Duke ymore? ¡°Let us all support His Grace¡¯s love.¡± Now, Edgar had been turned into a romantic guy who had given his heart to Rubica Berner. In their perspective, there couldn¡¯t be another reason for the duke to marry such a lowly woman. Edgar looked at them coldly. ¡®What a nice excuse.¡¯ When the word ¡®love¡¯ was added to such an irrational business, it all became so probable. Edgar decided to use that misunderstanding when he went to the king to get the special permission. ¡°I love her.¡± That short sentence was enough to fool everyone except for one person, Rubica herself. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Edgar wasn¡¯t going to tell the truth to anyone. To tell the truth, he would have to reveal the dirty truth of his parents¡¯ death. And that he had been cursed by a nymph. Nymphs were immortal beings who lived on their own ind on the other side of the wide ocean. They woulde to the continent from time to time and teach people the teaching of the gods. The nymph of fire taught how to use iron, the nymph of love taught wedding rituals, and the nymph of water taught how to purify water for drinking. They also delivered the holy books of the gods and that allowed humans to be different from monsters. All the kingdoms in the continent, including Seritos, thought of them as sacred. However, what if the world got to find out that Edgar had been cursed by a nymph? Everything his family had achieved would be turned to ashes. It wasn¡¯t just about him falling down. His domain, businesses, and all the lives of the researchers and workers who worked for him would be destroyed. Edgar didn¡¯t want to risk that. He also knew well enough that he had many enemies. He had been trying so hard to find a clue to break the curse of the nymph for thest three years. Unfortunately, his progress had been too slow. Then, the lead ¡®Rubica Berner¡¯ emerged from a gift histe nurse had left him. At first, he thought about asking Rubica Berner to be one of the maids in the mansion. However, he was a single nobleman, and currently, there wasn¡¯t anyone else to be served by a maid in the family. Mr. and Mrs. Berner were, of course, capable of sending Rubica to be his maid for money, but then she would have gotten into a scandal. So, he decided to choose a way to bring her to his side officially and justly. ¡®Marriage.¡¯ It was the easiest way to bring a woman, who lived far away and didn¡¯t know him, closer without making any scandal. Of course, he could have temporarily moved near the Berner Mansion, but because of his curse, he couldn¡¯t pretend to run into her under the bright sunlight and get to know her. Edgar thought it would be easier to actively make use of the misunderstanding created by his rtives than to reveal the truth and handle the risks. Moreover, there was someone who misunderstood Edgar¡¯s love the most, the love that even Zilehan, who spoke the word ¡®love¡¯ first but didn¡¯t believe it. It was Ann. ¡®My Eddie is in love?¡¯ Ann was so touched that she almost cried. Eddie, who had been crawling on the floor, had already grown up and was old enough to take a wife. How much would histe mother and nurse be delighted to know that? Eddie¡¯s child would certainly be smart and cute like him. ¡®Would Eddie be able to smile again like before?¡¯ Edgar had lost his smile after the sudden deaths of his father, mother, and nurse. It was only natural. He had lost the three people who had been the most important to him in a single ident... Ann looked at Edgar who kept working as if he didn¡¯t want to waste time thinking about his worries. She hoped he would rx again. Then he decided to get married to a woman from such a lowly family. Love was the only thing that could exin that, and love was capable of making even the coldest man smile. ¡°If any of you behaves disrespectfully in front of Lady Berner, who will be the duchess, I will kick you out of this mansion.¡± After the rtives¡¯ meeting, she summoned the maids and made the announcement. Ann was a sweetdy, but she was always hard on the maids whomitted something wrong, and she never took back what she said. The ymore Family paid more than any other noble family and the work wasparatively easy. Therefore, the maids took Ann¡¯s warning to their heart. For a week, Ann looked forward to meeting Rubica as if she was the one about to get married. Moreover, when she finally got to meet her, she could see thedy was even better than she had expected. ¡®Eddie has found himself a gooddy.¡¯ Housekeepers of high ranked noble families as old as Ann got to see many noblemen, maids, and servants. They could read the person¡¯s character, life, and virtues on his or her one action and sentence. Ann could quickly tell that Rubica was kind and always thought of others first. She was puzzled by Ann¡¯s endless speaking, but she didn¡¯t lose her smile and tried to listen carefully. Ann was sure Rubica would bring the warm sunlight to the cold mansion and fill it withughter. ¡°This is your room, Lady Berner. We have prepared water here, and you can take a nap on the bed if you are tired.¡± Ann took Rubica to the room that had been upied by the duchesses for generations. Rubica¡¯s eyes widened at seeing the feminine room that waspletely different from the ones she had just passed by. It was cute, and it made Ann smile. ¡°This room is so beautiful.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know the room was the duchess¡¯ chamber. Instead, she was just surprised to be given such arge room. ¡°Yes, this is the room you will use from now.¡± ¡°From now?¡± ¡°This is the duchess¡¯ room.¡± ¡°What? This is the duchess¡¯ room?¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what to think of it. When she arrived at the mansion, she thought they would mock her foring from a bar¡¯s family. However, both the maid, who had served her inside the carriage, and the housekeeper were so kind to her. Rubica wanted to say she couldn¡¯t stay at the duchess¡¯ room and request a room for a guest, but Ann didn¡¯t give her the time to do that. She immediately took Rubica to the dressing room adjacent to the chamber and told her where her dresses, shoes, and hats were. ¡°As we only had a week¡¯s time, we couldn¡¯t prepare a lot of clothes. Inside this drawer are your nightdresses. This drawer contains your dressing gowns, this drawer is full of dresses for meals and feasts, and this drawer contains dresses for strolls.¡± Had she said they had prepared only a few clothes just out of manner? However, as Ann really looked troubled and sorry, Rubica couldn¡¯t even joke about it. ¡°As these dresses were originally the duke¡¯s grandmother¡¯s, none of them are from thetest fashion. If you tell your size to the seamstresses, they will be able to make a few dressing gowns quickly. As for dresses for going out and feasts, I¡¯ve asked Carl to prepare a list of famous tailors nearby.¡± Ann was right, the nightdresses were all new, but the dresses were old. However, they had been stored well and the silk still glittered. ¡®... so strange. The dress I am wearing and every dress in the closet, they all once belonged to the duke¡¯s grandmother. What happened to his mother¡¯s dresses?¡¯ However, Rubica couldn¡¯t bring herself to ask that question. The sudden death of Edgar¡¯s parents had been less than 3 years ago. Everyone at the mansion had to be still recovering from it. ¡°Thank you for everything, Mrs. Taylor.¡± Rubica thanked. Then, Ann bent her knee to bow. ¡°Please call me Ann, Lady Berner.¡± ¡°But you are much older than me... and I am only a guest here, I¡¯m not the duchess yet.¡± Ann smiled again at this as Edgar had chosen the right woman. She didn¡¯t look down on people even though her social status had soared up high. Edgar didn¡¯t care about her rank, he just wanted her as his wife. Lovers are truly like each other... Ann¡¯s misunderstanding only got bigger. ¡°It is fine now, but it would be a problem for me if you officially be the duchess.¡± Rubica felt troubled as well. The maid in the carriage had been of her age, but Ann appeared to be much, much older. She had never called anyone so older than herself by his or her name. Even though she still remembered the old days of her previous life, she was now 22 years old. In addition to that, one had to be at least the daughter of a count to be the housekeeper of a duke¡¯s family. Nevertheless, even to Rubica¡¯s knowledge, a duchess using the honorific to a housekeeper was strange. ¡°I will try... Ann.¡± Ann smiled brightly at this. After that, she told Rubica where the essories that could be put on simply were and locations of the cream for the face and eyebrow paint. Everything was there. It was hard to believe that it had all been prepared in only a week. ¡®She is good at her job.¡¯ Rubica looked at Ann with admiration. How much had she worked to be the housekeeper of such a great family? As she had made the mistake of calling Edgar¡¯s childhood nickname, she must have worked there for a long time. She had worked so long without making any mistakes at such a great family. It showed how good she was at her job. ¡°You must be tired. I will leave now so that you will be able to rest. Please pull the rope attached to the bell if you need anything. If you want to take a stroll or eat something, please don¡¯t hesitate to tell me.¡± Rubica doubted traveling in the mana stone carriage could be called tiring. She had rather slept and rested well thanks to the fluffy bed inside the carriage for the first time in decades. But now, Ann seemed so worried about her. Plus, she wanted to be alone in the room. Rubica nodded and Ann left, only after repeatedly telling her to call her if she needed anything for three times. As soon as she left, Rubica, who had been sitting quietly and calmly, jumped to her feet. ¡°Oh my! So pretty! The pattern in this wallpaper, who has drawn it? I¡¯ve never seen such a pretty color. And this glittering detail, what kind of pigment is this?¡± Now, she could exim and praise the beautiful things around her without any disturbance. ¡°Who has knitted theces in these curtains? How can anyone knit so evenly and thinces? I would only believe it if they stole them from the nymph who made them.¡± Rubica studied everything that decorated the room one by one and tried to memorize their beauty. She didn¡¯t have enough time, staying up the whole night wasn¡¯t going to be enough. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Chapter 24

¡°What are you talking about? Carl!¡± Ann met Carl after she left Rubica and yelled in surprise. She wanted to grab her neck and faint, but she couldn¡¯t afford to do that now. ¡°His Grace has ordered so.¡± ¡°No way, no way.¡± Ann had been surprised by Edgar countless times, but this time was extremely different. She had never experienced such a strong and shocking surprise. ¡°He wants to do the wedding tomorrow...¡± Normally, at least a year was spent to prepare the wedding for someone like Duke ymore. Even the wedding that was done with the shortest preparation time in history in the family had taken four months to prepare. A month was needed to decide on which people to invite and on which seat they each would sit. Making the wedding dress also took long. So did preparing food and decorating the wedding hall. ¡°His Grace has decided to not invite any guests. The wedding will be done with two witnesses present at the nearest Hue¡¯s abbey. There will also be a simple feast here at the mansion after the wedding.¡± Carl didn¡¯t tell Ann about Mr. and Mrs. Berner because of Rubica. ¡°What kind of shit is all that?¡± Carl was shocked to hear such a harsh terme out from Ann¡¯s mouth. Her face turned red as she protested to Carl. ¡°You get married only once in your lifetime. Lady Berner has her rights to get married in the best wedding dress in the world with the blessings of many people!¡± ¡°... Lady Berner has already agreed to it.¡± Ann started to feel dizzy and put one hand on her forehead. She couldn¡¯t understand. Why had Rubica agreed on such nonsense instead of getting mad at it? She was kind and nice, but she had no reason to do the wedding so quickly. A reason to do the wedding so quickly... Ann then suddenly realized something. ¡°Ann?¡± Ann¡¯s face had been pale just a second ago, but now she was smiling brightly. Carl called her, clearly worried. ¡°Okay. Hmm, I see.¡± A couple who loved each other had to get married quickly. There could be only one reason. Ann was sure of it. Rubica was pregnant. Lady Berner was a grown up, and so was Edgar. A couple deeply in love losing self-control for a short time was very likely to happen. Also, a fruit of that love could be unintendedly conceived during that short time. Nevertheless, they were both nobles. Having a child before getting married could be something to be proud of for Edgar, but not to Rubica. ¡®Yes, it has to be about the baby. That is why His Grace is rushing with the wedding. Oh my, and I didn¡¯t notice it sooner...¡¯ Ann thought she had been too slow-witted. Carl had to already know about this, but he was probably pretending to be ignorant. The less everyone knew, the better. Now Ann liked Rubica even more. A child¡¯sughter is about to fill the cold mansion! Even imagining it was so exciting. So, she couldn¡¯t stay still. Even though the wedding was tomorrow, Ann wanted to let Rubica wear some pretty dress. It was going to be a simple wedding with only two witnesses plus a simple wedding feast where only people from the mansion would be present, but Ann wanted the two events to be remembered as beautiful to Rubica. ¡°Carl! We don¡¯t have much time. No, I should point that out first. If the wedding is tomorrow, you should have told me I had much to prepare and little time as soon as I escorted Lady Berner to her room!¡± ¡°What? Umm...¡± ¡°Quick, call the cook and tell him to prepare the wedding feast. Oh, and can¡¯t we at least invitedies and gentlemen of the neighborhood?¡± ¡°Well, His Grace said it would only bring protests from the other high noblemen.¡± ¡°Well, I see. They wouldn¡¯t care about our situation and ask why he invited some barons and didn¡¯t invite them. It would be certainly better to invite only people from the mansion.¡± ¡°Yes, His Grace said he wanted a quiet wedding with the minimum amount of people. Only the witnesses would be present. Ann, just choose a nice dress among the ones we already have and prepare a simple feast....¡± Ann frowned hard and couldn¡¯t listen to Carl anymore. ¡°Carl, quiet isn¡¯t a synonym of simple.¡± Ann firmly cut short Carl¡¯s instruction. He couldn¡¯t understand what she was saying and blinked. Ann sighed at the butler who only cared about his master. ¡°You always cared about Eddie that you never look at anything else.¡± ¡°Ann, it is only right for me to have His Grace as my priority and please stop calling him Eddie. You did that earlier in front of Lady Berner...¡± ¡°Oh, okay. I won¡¯t do it again. But Carl, His Grace is not getting married alone. He and Lady Berner are getting married to each other. And right now she is...¡± Ann almost said pregnant, but she barely managed to stop herself. No. Speaking of that happy miracle now could be bad to Rubica. ¡°She had no choice but to ept His Grace¡¯s nonsense, but I don¡¯t know. At his age, he must be misunderstanding being cold as being cool, so he may think such small and simple wedding as something cool...¡± ¡°Ann, could you please stop thinking of him as a child? He is a great man.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say he wasn¡¯t. Even if he is the duke, no, even if he bes the emperor, Eddie will always be Eddie whom I have taken care of since he was born.¡± Carl realized protesting about that to this talkative Ann would only push the conversation further in the wrong direction. He wanted to get back to the point and put an end to this long conversation. ¡°Okay. Ann, so what should we do about the feast?¡± ¡°Oh, my! I rambled along again. We must do anything to make sure Lady Berner doesn¡¯t feel like she is being neglected. Having a simple wedding to make it quick... okay, the bride will ept it for now, saying there isn¡¯t much choice. But as you must know, Carl, a duchess gets invited to many weddings. She will get to see weddings of counts and marquises on which great money and effort have been put into. And then, one day! She will get to recall her own wedding that was much less than weddings of her inferiors, and... Carl! Do you want to see His Grace be nagged by his wife because of their poor wedding for decades? Do you really think that is what we should do for him?¡± Ann finished her speech and panted. However, Carl thought Lady Berner wasn¡¯t the kind of person who would do such a thing. Plus, Ann hadn¡¯t even started on the wedding feast, but Carl didn¡¯t bother to point that out. Instead, he agreed with Ann in a soft voice. ¡°You are right, Ann. Yes, we must decorate the wedding hall as best as possible and prepare a nice feast. What should I do?¡± ¡°First, summon all the cooks in the neighborhood and have them prepare nice dishes. Also, a pie from which doves will fly out when lightly touched.¡± ¡°A dove-pie? But I don¡¯t think we have enough time for...¡± ¡°Carl! Don¡¯t say that and take out all the silk in storage. Take them all out and have the maids make curtains and decorate the tables.¡± ¡°I will tell the seamstresses...¡± ¡°They won¡¯t have time for that!¡± Ann couldn¡¯t take it all and hit Carl¡¯s shoulder. Her immense power almost made him fall back. ¡°They must do the most important work!¡± ¡°Important work? What can possibly be more important than decorating the hall and preparing the feast?¡± ¡°You are so dumb! It is making the wedding dress, of course?¡± Carl was shocked as he looked at Ann¡¯s sparkling grey eyes. A wedding dress... could be made in a day? *** After Ann finished talking to Carl, she immediately stormed into the seamstresses¡¯ room. In there, they were already embroidering the new duchess¡¯s dress. ¡°You don¡¯t have time for this!¡± They just calmly looked at Ann while she wailed as the housekeeper always made a fuss. That was only normal. So, they just sat there and continued to work. Their head, Rosa, who had been working at the mansion the longest, replied out of courtesy. Her small but clear voice had the power of calming people. ¡°What is it, Ann?¡± ¡°Oh, Rosa. His Grace has decided to get married tomorrow!¡± ¡°What?¡± The seamstresses¡¯ hands all stopped as they were all confused. They looked at Ann and Rosa calmly asked thest question. ¡°... my, then what about the wedding dress? Has he ordered it to a shop? Or has thedy prepared it herself?¡± She was a seamstress indeed. She skipped the part about wedding feast and decorations, instead asked about the wedding dress first. Ann looked at Rosa satisfied. She was really a great head seamstress with 30 years of career. ¡°The duke has instructed me to choose the best dress among the ones we already have.¡± ¡°Oh, no!¡± ¡°What nonsense!¡± ¡°We should at least change the decorations!¡± ¡°Who has made that decision?¡± Ann wanted to say it had been their duke, but she closed her mouth. The seamstresses were ready to poke that man¡¯s eyes with the needles in their hands. Ann didn¡¯t want Edgar¡¯s eyes pierced by the needles. ¡°That is why I came to you. Now, stop whatever you were doing, and make a wedding dress for the duchess!¡± Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Chapter 25

Ann¡¯s eyes sparkled while the seamstresses nodded. They immediately put away what they had been working on and found gold and silver threads to make the wedding dress. They all moved diligently, and Ann felt proud when looking at them. Usually, seamstresses work the hardest at the nobles¡¯ mansion. They usually work as seamstresses for a couple of years and get scouted by designers to get hired at their boutiques. However, all the seamstresses in the ymore mansion were veterans with at least 20 years of careers. They were all good enough to be head seamstresses in any other noble family. They finished preparing in just a few minutes. Then, they turned to Ann as one and yelled, ¡°What should we make?¡± ¡°What? A dress, of course. A wedding dress.¡± ¡°Ann, of course, we will make a wedding dress. We were asking about the style. Which style added with which gems and what kind of embroidery?¡± ¡°That¡¯s...¡± Ann couldn¡¯t say more. Yes. The five seamstresses in front of her were all extremely good at their job. It wouldn¡¯t be impossible for them to make a great wedding dress if they sewed all night. However, they were seamstresses. They could do their job only when someone else told them what to make. ¡®Designer! We need a designer!¡¯ However, it had already been three years since thete duchess passed away. A tailor at the capital who specialized in men¡¯s suits had been making Edgar¡¯s suits, and the ymore Family hadn¡¯t had any asion to make a fancydy¡¯s dress. There were a fewdies whom the family supported, but they each ordered their own dresses. It had been three years since thest time a dress was ordered by the family. Therefore, they didn¡¯t even know the contacts of designers who lived nearby. Even these excellent seamstresses had mainly been embroidering cushions, furniture, curtains, and handkerchiefs for thest three years. ¡°Um... what should we do. The duke didn¡¯t care to find out, and...¡± Ann got into a panic and started to ramble while the seamstresses started to panic with her. However, Rosa didn¡¯t panic. She held Ann¡¯s hands tightly while her brown eyes firmly held the shaking grey eyes. ¡°Let us go to the duchess, no, to Lady Berner.¡± ¡°To Lady Berner? But we cannot let her know that we are this unprepared...¡± ¡°Ann! Every woman in this world dreams of her wedding dress!¡± Rosa yelled at the top of her voice which echoed through the room. Ann had never seen her yell like that before. She had a habit of speaking calmly that fit her job a little too much. ¡°Even my ten-year-old who says she will never get married goes on for at least an hour when asked what kind of wedding dress she wants. That day is... that day is...¡± She was yelling for the first time. She then took a deep breath, only to yell even louder. ¡°... is the day you can put on the prettiest dress in the world and be even more beautiful than the princess!¡± The Kingdom of Seritos despised extravagance and loved frugality. But for one day, on the wedding day, no one was bound by any rules. The bride could put a tiara befitting only of a princess on her head and tell the guests not to be dressed in the same color with her dress like princesses do without getting criticized. When princesses did that for balls, they were called arrogant, but when brides did that, all the guests followed that order as if they were obliged to do so. ¡°Yes, yes. How could I forget that? Yes, Lady Berner must have her own dream about a wedding dress.¡± ¡°If she tells us about it, we will do our best to make it. We are not as creative as professional designers, but we are good enough to say there is nothing in this world we cannot make.¡± The other seamstresses nodded determinedly. It was the wedding dress of the woman who was about to be the duchess. Moreover, it would be made by seamstresses of the ymore family, without the help of any salon... their very pride depended on it. ¡°Then let us go to her immediately, Rosa.¡± ¡°Give us just a minute.¡± A few seamstresses brought a few sample fabrics, threads,ces, and embroidery patterns even before Rosa gave orders. As they were all skilled at their jobs, designers who used to work with them would often do the design and let them do the actual making. Additionally, they didn¡¯t fail to notice which things were needed when discussing the design. Rosa put them in a basket and added a few pieces of white papers and a pen. ¡°Well, let us go now.¡± ¡°You are really thorough. Lady Berner will be delighted too!¡± Ann was sure Rubica would leap up in joy. They then hurried to the duchess¡¯s room where Rubica was staying at. At that time, Rubica was- ¡°And how was this embroidery done?¡± ... sitting on a small stool next to the dressing table and looking closely at a cushion that had been on the bed. Things at the mansion were most certainly upgrading her sense of beauty to a new level. She had already studied every dress in the dressing room. Characteristics and patterns of embroideries on stomachers, jewels, wrinkles of the skirts,ces used on dresses, silhouette of gowns, and sleeves. She saw them all, stroked them all to check how they felt, and memorized how they changed to the blowing breeze. Her father¡¯s business had shown her all kinds of goods from all around the world, Hue¡¯s abbey in which people from various kingdoms had lived, and now ymore Family that had the greatest wealth in Seritos. The beauty inside her was ripening with the new experience. ¡°Lady Berner! It¡¯s Ann. May Ie in?¡± Rubica was still admiring the simple but decorative embroidery on the cushion. Then, she was woken up by the voice calling her. She was surprised and thought about getting up and opening the door, but she soon dismissed the idea. ¡®Most nobles don¡¯t sit up and call instead.¡¯ Ann would rather pity her for having the habit of a maid if she opened the door herself. She put down the cushion on herps and spoke quietly. ¡°You cane in.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± The door was opened carefully. Then, Ann saw Rubica protecting her belly with the cushion. ¡®Ohh, that¡¯s!¡¯ It had to be an unconscious and instinctive action to protect the baby. Her misunderstanding was now confirmed. She was so happy that she couldn¡¯t look straight at Rubica. How had she melted Eddie¡¯s cold heart? Anyway, to Ann, Rubica was now someone who will present the ymore Family with the warmughter of a child. Ann swore to herself on the spot to have Rubica as her priority just like Carl had Edgar as his. ¡°What is it?¡± Rubica carefully asked Ann who appeared to be deeply moved. The woman with grey eyes seemed to often be caught in emotions, regardless of the rumors about her being cold. Rubica knew nothing about what ran through her imagination. She was just worried at seeing Ann suddenly stand still without saying anything. ¡°Oh! Ah, oh.¡± Ann hadn¡¯t freed herself from the imagination about the joy Rubica¡¯s child would bring that she couldn¡¯t answer the question properly. Rosa sighed and spoke instead. ¡°Nice to meet you, mydy. I am Rosa, head of the seamstresses.¡± ¡°Oh! Nice to meet you.¡± Rubica brightened up. Was it Rosa who had done that simple but beautiful pattern in the cushion? Rubica really admired her. However, Ann and Rosa misinterpreted her change of expression. ¡®... yes, she does want a pretty wedding dress after all.¡¯ However, she hadn¡¯t been able to get what she wanted as Edgar, the Duke ymore, was too powerful. Ann and Rosa secretly swore to make her put on a great wedding dress. ¡°I heard that you and His Grace will get married tomorrow. Um, so, about your wedding dress...¡± ¡°I am just going to wear something nice. His Grace also said it would be better.¡± Rubica smiled as she had noint. The dress she was wearing right now was the most expensive dress she had ever worn, and the ones in her closet were even better. Really, she was fine to wear any of them. Oh, but the more brightly she smiled, the bigger the pain within Ann and Rosa grew. To Ann¡¯s eyes, that smile became pitiful, and to Rosa¡¯s eyes, it was the kind smile of ady. ¡°Lady Berner, we seamstresses will make a beautiful wedding dress for you!¡± ¡°... excuse me?¡± ¡°Let us handle it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand...¡± Ann quickly drew a small table closer to Rubica, and Rosa didn¡¯t waste time. She put the basket on the table and spread the fabrics, small embroidery samples, and designs. Then, she put the white paper in front of Rubica and put a pen in her hand. ¡°I swear upon the honor of seamstresses in the ymore family. We will finish the wedding dress you wish to have.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what to think of it. She just looked at the determined Rosa with the pen in her hand. Why on earth was she doing this? ¡°But how can you possibly make a wedding dress in a day...¡± Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Chapter 26

¡°We can do it. There are five skilled seamstresses including me in this mansion. If we work all night, we can do it. Please let us make the wedding dress you¡¯ve always dreamed of.¡± All of a sudden, Rubica realized why Rosa was doing it. ¡®She is pitying me.¡¯ Preparation time of only a day and only two witnesses. It was way too simple for a duke¡¯s wedding. Ann and Rosa wanted her to at least be dressed in the wedding dress she wanted, and Rubica could see that. ¡°Thank you... so much.¡± Rubica smiled to them, and that smile was warm enough to melt any frozen heart. ¡°Then please, draw the wedding dress of your dream.¡± Ann believed she had gotten Rubica¡¯s permission, so she pointed at the nk paper and asked. Rubica stared at the white paper for some time. ¡®... the wedding dress of my dream.¡¯ In herst life, she hadn¡¯t had any dowry at the age of 22. She had realized that she would never get to marry. Nevertheless, she sometimes imagined herself in a wedding dress. A wedding dress made with the most expensive silk and decorated with flowers that were so beautiful that even nymphs from across the ocean would envy her. However, after she came back in time and became 22 again, all her dreams about wedding dresses had vanished. ¡®I don¡¯t mind getting married in rags as long as it is Arman.¡¯ However, she wasn¡¯t getting married to Arman. Instead, she was about to marry Duke ymore. As it was a wedding with someone she didn¡¯t want, she didn¡¯t care about it at all. Whether it was simple or luxurious, it was none of her concern. ¡®But...¡¯ Looking at Ann and Rosa waiting with sparkling eyes, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to say she was fine to wear anything. She didn¡¯t want to throw away their kindness. ¡®What should I do?¡¯ Then, she recalled a dress. One that hadn¡¯t had the chance to show its true beauty. She had felt sorry for it when she found it in the closet. It had a beautiful silhouette, but it had been ruined by some decoration that was in fashion but wasn¡¯t right for it. Rubica looked down at the cushion on herp. The symbol of the ymore that had been embroidered on its corners had been done by the family¡¯s seamstresses. That skill level would be more than enough to find the dress¡¯ beauty. Yes, if a dress had to be made, I should find its lost beauty. ¡°Um, how about fixing a dress we already have...¡± ¡°Fixing?¡± ¡°But wouldn¡¯t it be better to make a new one?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t worry about us. We will work all night if needed.¡± Rubica found Ann and Rosa willing to do anything for her very strange. It was weird indeed. She had thought people of such a prestigious family would be as cold as ice. Duke ymore was cold as ice, but Ann and Rosa were different. ¡°However, it would be a problem if you fail to finish it on time. Also, people tend to make mistakes when working all night. Um, Rosa, we don¡¯t have any... professional designer now, do we?¡± Rosa¡¯s face turned red. ¡°It is fine, we have some basic patterns. We won¡¯t be able to do any experimental design, but we would be able to make the dress you want.¡± ¡°Oh, I wasn¡¯t trying to be rude...¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t say that. It is our joy to make the dress you want.¡± Rosa was begging now, and Rubica knew how she was feeling. She had been so proud of herself when she did Ang¡¯s hair. It was a different joy from making yourself pretty. ¡®... how should I convince them?¡¯ Rubica decided it would not be easy to convince them with words since they were really afraid that she might not get to wear the dress she wanted. Beauty might look extremely subjective, but it is objective at the same time. If Rosa saw the dress Rubica had found and heard her exnation, she was going to realize its hidden beauty. So, Rubica stood up. ¡°Let me show you the dress I want to wear.¡± Ann and Rosa were surprised. Rubica then led them to the dressing room and opened the drawer full of formal dresses and took out the red dress she had found. It had a unique elegant hue of the well-kept silk. ¡®New silk cannot have this hue.¡¯ But sadly, itsces didn¡¯t match it and its sleeves were way too long. The seamstress who had made it must have addedces of thetest fashion to the old dress to prepare it quickly. ¡°Lady Berner, it is of good fabric, but...¡± ¡°It is not good enough to be your wedding dress. Wouldn¡¯t this one be better?¡± Ann chose a pale sky-blue dress with countless Retusa fringetree embroidered on it. It was beautiful indeed, but Rubica had excluded that dress in the beginning. The wedding was supposed to take ce at dusk. The color sky-blue wouldn¡¯t match the light. In addition to that, Rubica¡¯s milky white skin tended to turn to dirt-like color when met with that kind of pale sky-blue dress. ¡°I am not saying I will wear this unfixed... how about getting rid of theseces and ruffles, cut the sleeves short, make the front part as luxurious as possible with gold embroidery from the chest down to the knee, and leave the back nk to show the smoothness of the silk?¡± Rubica excitedly exined, but she then paltered and nced at Ann and Rosa. The seamstress studied the dress carefully. Then she closed her eyes and tried to imagine the dress after the changes Rubica had just suggested. ¡®It would be better to embroider big things than small things. Yes, the flower design in fashion now wouldn¡¯t be right. The bold eagle pattern in that book from eastern kingdom we just got from desert merchants. Yes, it would do. If we embroider the center part, do her hair in a bouffant style, and make her wear the duchess¡¯s tiara that is simr in color with the embroidery...¡¯ ¡°It would be beautiful.¡± Rosa eximed before she even opened her eyes. Rubica was d to see she was sharing her imagination. She was the head of the seamstresses who had worked for the ymores for decades. Just being good at doing embroidery couldn¡¯t have been enough to get that job. She had to have the ability of finding beauty better than anyone else¡¯s. ¡°Yes, isn¡¯t it beautiful Rosa?¡± ¡°Yes, just imagining it makes me happy. My, how could you think of such a design?¡± ¡°As for the pattern...¡± ¡°Wait, wait? Allow me to draw it first.¡± Rosa hurriedly ran to the table on which the pen and paper were waiting. Rubica just smiled at seeing her run. Ann asked, quite confusedly, ¡°Rosa closed her eyes... and then she suddenly yelled it was beautiful. What on earth did she see?¡± ¡°The real self of this dress.¡± ¡°The real self?¡± Ann closed her eyes as well. Then, she tried to imagine. As Rosa had done, she embroidered the red dress in front of her with a golden thread. Small and detailed strawberry flower patterns that were in fashion now... ¡°But it¡¯s not pretty.¡± It might surprise you, but there are only a few people who can recognize real beauty. So, Rubica just dragged her hand. ¡°Now, now, Mrs. Taylor. Please don¡¯t be like that. Let us go to see what Rosa is drawing.¡± ¡°Lady Berner! You shouldn¡¯t call me that!¡± ¡°Oh, right. Ann.¡± This time, Ann didn¡¯t miss Rubica¡¯s mistake. However, as Rubica warmly took her hand and dragged her along, she lost the will to get mad at her. ¡®She is such a charmingdy.¡¯ She had ordinary brown hair and auburn eyes. Her skin wasn¡¯t pale white that was one of the requirements of a beautifuldy nowadays but just white as milk. But when Rubica smiled brightly, it was like the sunlight wasing through the shadowed window and a new bud wasing up in the cold frost. It had the power of melting the watchers¡¯ hearts and making them smile together. Ann was drunk on her smile and forgot to be mad. She just followed Rubica and soon arrived at the table. ¡°Lady Berner, please look at this? How is it?¡± In the meantime, Rosa had finished roughly sketching the embroidery design. Rubica smiled brightly at seeing it. The sketch was even bolder and more beautiful than she had imagined. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s so pretty. Ann, look at this.¡± ¡°... oh.¡± Ann blinked with her two eyes and looked at the sketch again. Then, she looked at it yet again. Soon, joy started to appear in her grey eyes as well. ¡°Oh, my!¡± Luckily, she wasn¡¯tpletely ignorant in fashion. Given the right lead, she could see the dress¡¯ real beauty. ¡°Oh my... Lady Berner, I think the antique dress¡¯ luster and this embroidery will match well.¡± ¡°Yes, Ann. You are right, new silk doesn¡¯t have that elegance. I am sure of that, it would be better to repair the dress than to make a new one. It will be much more beautiful.¡± ¡°... then you will not have to work all night, right?¡± Ann and Rosaughed at this. ¡°Of course. A few hours of work will be enough.¡± ¡°A few hours?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have time to waste here!¡± Rosa was already excited. She took the dress and ran to her colleagues, leaving her basket behind. Rubica was a little surprised while Ann warmly took her hand. ¡°Well, now that we have decided on the dress, shall we go to see the jewels?¡± Rubica¡¯s surprise vanished at that offer. Instead, she brightened up. Now she had the chance to see the treasures of the ymore Family. Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Chapter 27

The sun was almost gone now when two luxurious mana stone carriages glided to a stop in front of the king¡¯s castle. Carl got out from the smaller one first and opened the door of Edgar¡¯s carriage. Carl would never let servants from the castle serve the duke. ¡°Your Grace, are you alright?¡± Without replying, Edgar moved his long and strong legs to step out from the carriage. ¡°What about the meeting?¡± ¡°It is dinnertime, so they are taking a one-hour break.¡± ¡°I arrived early.¡± ¡°Will you join the feast as well?¡± Edgar shook his head at the servants¡¯ offer. Going to such a crowded asion only made him more tired. ¡°Then let me escort you to the resting room.¡± He led Edgar to the resting room that had simple refreshments and sofas. As the feast would take about an hour, he would probably be able to use the room alone during that time. ¡°Your Grace, should I bring you some food?¡± ¡°No.¡± Edgar sat down on the sofa and stretched his long legs. Then, he tilted his head to look up at the ceiling. His head was full of thoughts because of the meeting that would soon take ce. ¡°Then please, rest.¡± Carl left the room so that the duke could be alone. Edgar just stared at the stars through the windows and tried to clear his mind. ¡®When the cannon I invented this year will be tested by the adventurers and sold...¡¯ Creak- The sound of a door opening broke the silence. It wasn¡¯t the direction of the main door through which Carl had left. Edgar looked toward the sound and found a woman in a pretty dress, but he couldn¡¯t see any door near her. ¡®Secret door.¡¯ The pce was ancient, so having a secret passage was nothing weird. ¡°Edgar.¡± Before he could ask who she was, she leaped forward and hugged him. He didn¡¯t like the sudden contact. ¡°Let me go!¡± He brutally pushed the woman away who went back. Tears ran down from her green eyes. She was beautiful and knew how to cry pitifully, but it couldn¡¯t rouse any feeling on Edgar. ¡°It¡¯s nighttime and you are a maturedy. It would be bad for your honor to be alone with a man, so leave.¡± Edgar thought about calling someone, but he decided to take care of it quietly for the both of them. Then, her crying eyes red dangerously at him. ¡°Then will you marry me?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You must take responsibility for dishonoring me.¡± Edgar started to now get a headache. ¡°I have done nothing to you, and I don¡¯t even know your name...¡± The woman was disappointed, but she soon boldly raised her head. ¡°It¡¯s Helena Leofold.¡± Marquis Leofold. He was the reason why she was so confident. But Helena? I¡¯ve never heard of her. Edgar looked confused. So, Helena continued to speak, ¡°We danced together in this year¡¯s New Year¡¯s Eve ball.¡± Still, it didn¡¯t ring any bell. ¡®I dance with so manydies at balls.¡¯ The king was kind. He insisted Edgar had to dance with thedies as the poor maidens were about to die of love, so Edgar always danced with manydies when he went to balls. Edgar had enough power to refuse to go to balls and do as he wanted but, as the king held his secret, he had no choice. ¡°Do you rememberplimenting my beauty?¡± ¡°No.¡± He didn¡¯t. He had been in a bad mood at the ball. All thepliments he had said back then must have probably been sarcastic. ¡°You took my heart, and now you are getting married? You can¡¯t do this!¡± It had been only a few days since Edgar got permission to marry from the king. Had the word already gotten out? Well, Marquis Leofold was, of course, capable of getting that kind of news. ¡°I never took your heart. Stop making things up.¡± However, no matter what he said, Helena continued to say what she had to say. ¡°And she is only a baroness? It is the king¡¯s scheme to stop you from getting more power, isn¡¯t it? Such an uneducated girl from such a lowly family will not be able to assist you well. She will be made aughingstock by her peers.¡± She was impossible to convince. Edgar sighed, ¡°It is my business. Don¡¯t mind it.¡± However, Helena grabbed his pants and said, ¡°I can do well. I also have a huge dowry.¡± Edgar almost said he already had more than enough money. ¡°I am good at embroidering and bookkeeping. I am very healthy, so I will be able to bear you healthy children. I will not bother you. I will not care even if you sleep with other women, I promise.¡± She hade to him at night and was holding his pants, and thought that promise meant anything? Edgar pressed his temple hard. There was no need to cause trouble. ¡°Miss Leofold, pleasee to your senses.¡± ¡°If you are hesitating because of the king¡¯s special permission, it will not be a problem. If rumors get out about how you dishonored me...¡± ¡°I can¡¯t hear it anymore. You want me to be such a bastard for you when I don¡¯t even remember your name?¡± Edgar finally exploded. Then, Helena, who had been wearing that sad and pitiful expression, got rid of it and stood up. Then, she found the hidden ribbon in her dress. The dress she was wearing had been made by Christopher, a famous designer in the capital. It looked like an ordinary dress, but it was for secretive meetings between lovers. It fell down when the hidden ribbon on the wrist was pulled. ¡°What are you doing?¡± She had been sick because of love for three months. She wanted to scream and call people, but unlike what she had told Edgar, she wasn¡¯t ready to discard her honor like that. ¡°Please give me a memory.¡± However, she was ready to discard her morals. It just had to be done without others knowing about it. ¡°A memory?¡± ¡°Your Grace, I will marry an old count in a month. Just once, just once will be enough. I will keep that memory for the rest of my life. I love you.¡± Love? It was disgusting. If this was a nightmare, he couldn¡¯t wait to wake up. He could barely manage to restrain his anger. He really wanted to avoid someoneing and seeing the situation. Then, Helena¡¯s life would be destroyed if he refused to take that ¡®responsibility¡¯. ¡°Stephen.¡± He called a name, and a man appeared from the dark. ¡°Ah!¡± Helena¡¯s shriek was soon muffled. Stephen soon brought a nket and tied her. He also covered her mouth. ¡°Marquis Leofold,e out.¡± A bookshelf in the corner moved at this, and Marquis Leofold came out with a sheepish smile. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but my daughter said it was herst wish.¡± And, it would be even better if things went well and your daughter became the duchess, right? Edgar wanted to say that, but he restrained himself once again. Instead, he red at the sly marquis. ¡°Leave with her.¡± Helena had finally given up and was crying. So, the marquis embarrassedly took her. ¡°I apologize once again for my daughter¡¯s rudeness. But... she does like you. Um, actually, I am not that d to make my precious daughter marry that count.¡± If she was really precious to him, he wouldn¡¯t have epted such a marriage proposal. Edgar snorted. ¡°Duke ymore, I know this isn¡¯t right, but I must ask. Can¡¯t you at least kiss my daughter once?¡± ¡°If you know it isn¡¯t right, why are you asking?¡± The marquis¡¯ face turned red. He med Edgar for coldly refusing his plea. ¡°I asked even though I knew it would be embarrassing, but they are right, you really are a cold-blooded man without any kindness. Just one kiss would cost you nothing! No, no. Helena, look. I told you, you shouldn¡¯t fall in love with such a bad man.¡± Edgar looked at him without any emotion. He had been insulted too many times to get hurt by that. Of course, the marquis didn¡¯t even think of that as an insult. ¡°Get out of my sight.¡± He just wanted to provoke Edgar. His daughter was afraid of peopleing in, but he wasn¡¯t. As soon as Edgar said that, Stephen dragged both of them into the secret passage. Stephen would take care of them on his own. Edgar was finally left alone again and sighed deeply. He was really tired. The fatigue of the travel, that he hadn¡¯t felt when he had just gotten out of his carriage, now hit him. ¡®How would that daughter think of her father?¡¯ As a kind father who threw away his pride to give her a chance? A father who truly loved his daughter would not have done such a mad thing. Even old men in the market wouldn¡¯t have done what the marquis had done. ¡®Can¡¯t you at least give her one kiss?¡¯ Edgar scolded. That kiss would have never ended as one kiss. Marquis Leofold had tried not to give up on his n until thest moment. ¡®That kind of forced marriage would have never made his daughter happy.¡¯ He recalled Helena begging to marry him, saying she didn¡¯t mind him having an affair with other women. Now he felt even worse. How could she shamelessly say she loved him when she could also say that? Was love, no, were people in love that irrational? He was tormented. He had done the right thing, nevertheless, he felt tormented. He was furious, but at the same time, he pitied Helena. The woman who could ept her husband having an affair. Who had taught her that as a virtue? He couldn¡¯t forget the way she had looked at him as she returned with her father. Such great sorrow and resentment. When people looked at him that way, he felt tormented even though he had done nothing wrong. Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Chapter 28

Was I wrong? Should I have given her one kiss? -You filthy man! Then, a woman¡¯s voice pped him. -You cannot do it even if the woman wants it as long as you are not in love! ¡°Ha, ha, ha.¡± Thinking of that moment made him burst intoughter again. The woman had appeared to be so reserved and obedient, so he had been rather surprised to see her get mad like that. She had been the first person to not give in to his temptation and yell instead. In addition to it, she had also been the first to say that it was right to refuse when there was no love. A fresh breeze blew in his mind. She had pped him, but for some reason, he felt like that strange woman had cured him. ¡®Tomorrow is the wedding.¡¯ He closed his eyes and recalled her face. Her kind brown eyes had a stubborn red hue. He had a feeling that their future together wouldn¡¯t be bad. He liked that feeling. He would have that feeling when he found a good math form or finished an outstanding research project, but never on a person. ¡®I miss her.¡¯ He was surprised to find himself thinking so. Me, missing somebody? It was unfamiliar. ¡®I probably want to ask her about what just happened.¡¯ Yes, that was probably it. Everybody else would say he was cold, but she would probably say he had done well, and he wasn¡¯t bad. He tried too hard to act cold, but at the same time, he felt tormented. He just wanted to be consoled by her. That was all. Edgar dismissed those sudden feeling like that and med the sudden thoughts for surprising him and making his heart beat fast. *** Each jewel must be taken care of differently. Some must be cleaned with oil and water regrly. Others lose their luster as soon as they meet water. The right temperature and humidity were crucial for preserving the jewels¡¯ beauty for a long time. Along with its long history, the ymore Family owned jewels and essories with various stories. There were so many of them that they couldn¡¯t be kept in a locked box. Rubica followed Ann and went past through the entrance where guards were standing watch. She was so impressed at seeing the treasury. ¡®... it¡¯s just like a museum.¡¯ Rubica had never seen anything like that before. So, she was overwhelmed by the enormous quantity of jewels. At the same time, she recalled Edgar saying, ¡°essories not good enough for a duchess¡± and smiled bitterly. She thought as he had grown up seeing those jewels, he could have said that without the purpose of being rude. ¡°Lady Berner, the tiaras are this way.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Rubica followed Ann and looked at the beautiful nes, bracelets, and brooches. As the family was a ruling family, it had tiaras unlike other noble families. They were used only on very special official events. The wedding was the only private event in which those tiaras could be used. ¡°This tiara was acquired when the 12th ymore, Marquis ymore, seized the king of Berna with the cannon he invented.¡± ¡°The teardrop diamond in its center, that¡¯s the Mermaid¡¯s Tear, right?¡± ¡°Oh, yes!¡± The tiara Ann was pointing at had a famous jewel that had been in a book about jewels which Rubica had read in herte father¡¯s study. ¡®It¡¯s already been 60 years since I read that book.¡¯ Nevertheless, she could recall it immediately as it had been a book about beauty. Her father had been delighted to see that she liked beauty like the proper daughter of a merchant. Maybe that family background had enabled her to get such a sense of beauty. ¡®She must have studied the family¡¯s history beforeing here.¡¯ Ann didn¡¯t know Rubica¡¯s passion for beauty. Instead, she thought she had studied the ymore Family¡¯s history before marrying Edgar. She immediately evaluated Rubica even higher. Of course, she had been thinking highly of her even before that. ¡°How about this tiara?¡± ¡°... okay.¡± Rubica nced at the luxurious golden tiara Ann was pointing at. She thought Ann had quickly found the tiara that matched the dress the most, but she couldn¡¯t help looking at the tiara at the very end. The other tiaras were all made of gold, but that one was silver white. It had pearls and transparent diamonds that matched its color and was showing a delicate beauty. ¡°... what about that one?¡± ¡°That is the tiara thete duchess brought when she married.¡± Ann¡¯s good mood faded away quickly. Thete duchess, she had been a princess from a faraway country across the ocean. Rubica felt like she had messed up with a painful past, so she quickly changed the subject. ¡°I think the tiara you chose will do, but which ne and earrings would match it?¡± ¡°Oh, there is a set that would be perfect for this tiara. Let me show you.¡± Ann smiled brightly and took Rubica where she wanted. The two of them talked like that for a long time and picked essories to wear with the wedding dress. By the time they had finished picking all they needed, they could see the sun was setting through the basement windows. The soldier who stood guard at the entrance even brought them a lighted candle and warned them to be careful. ¡°Now that we have decided on everything, should we go back?¡± Ann took ast look at the list and asked Rubica. As she was getting hungry, she dly nodded. They linked arms and were about to leave. ¡®... someone is watching me.¡¯ Rubica felt someone was staring hard at her and stopped. ¡°Lady Rubica?¡± Rubica turned to look. There was a man in a blue uniform. He was very tall with broad shoulders and a sharp chin. He didn¡¯t look away when their eyes met. He looked both familiar and unfamiliar to Rubica. ¡®Brown eyes that are bluer near the pupils.¡¯ Rubica realized he was Stephen who she had met at the Berner Mansion. ¡°He is Lord Stephen, captain of the guards.¡± Ann didn¡¯t know they had already met, so she introduced him to Rubica. ¡°We have already met at the Berner Mansion, Mrs. Taylor.¡± While Rubica hesitated, Stephen smiled to Ann first and spoke. In spite of his smile, his eyes were staring at Rubica like those of a predator. So, Rubica felt tense and she could feel her body stiffening. ¡°Don¡¯t you always guard His Grace as his side? Why have you remained today?¡± ¡°I am carrying out his order.¡± ¡°His order?¡± ¡°... I cannot tell you what it is.¡± Rubica got the goosebumps, and she could read a warning in his brown eyes. ¡®Don¡¯t even think about running away.¡¯ For some reason, she felt like he was telling her that. Had he been watching her all this time in the shadows? Rubica tried tofort herself, telling herself she was getting too far ahead, but it wasn¡¯t easy. ¡®Of course, he can¡¯t trust me...¡¯ She had packed her things to run away. Maybe Edgar was right to make to take measures to be sure. Nevertheless, she couldn¡¯t help thinking it was creepy. They had reached an agreement in that carriage anyway, and she had agreed to his offer. However, he still didn¡¯t trust her. ¡®My opinion is like the dust of the night sky to him. Then that must be how he thinks of the promise we made. I cannot trust him.¡¯ Rubica decided to be an extravagant person once again. She said hello to Stephen and the guard then left the treasury. The moment she entered the living room, she spoke to Ann. ¡°Ann.¡± ¡°Yes, Lady Berner.¡± ¡°I want to ask you a favor...¡± ¡°Please, ask me anything.¡± Rubica smiled and looked at her passionate follower Ann, although she didn¡¯t know why Ann liked her so much. ¡°How is the preparation of the wedding hall going?¡± ¡°Oh, I heard Hue¡¯s abbey will be emptied without visitors for that day.¡± Rubica was surprised at the unexpected news. ¡°They¡¯re going to empty an abbey?¡± ¡°Yes, His Grace wanted a quiet wedding, so... he probably worried watchers from nearby might disturb you. The abbey dly said yes thanks to the right amount of donation.¡± Rubica slightly tilted her head to the right. She thought Edgar seemed to extremely hate the attention of people. She didn¡¯t know why he was like that, but regardless of it, she decided to put forth her n. ¡°I want to decorate the ce beautifully...¡± ¡°Oh, that is a great idea.¡± ¡°But there will only be four or five people there... so I don¡¯t know if it would not be wrong...¡± She looked down and tried to look disappointed. She despised herself for putting up an act like that, but there wasn¡¯t a better way to convince Ann. And indeed, Ann reacted as if Rubica¡¯s sad expression hurt her as well. ¡°Lady Berner, please don¡¯t say that. We will make sure the wedding is just as you want.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m not sure if His Grace will like it...¡± That made Ann¡¯s eyes turn bloodshot. ¡°Eddie, no, His Grace said so?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± ¡°There is no need to marry a man who is reluctant to spend money on his own wedding.¡¯ Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Chapter 29

¡°There is no need to marry a man who is reluctant to spend money on his own wedding.¡± Rubica was rather surprised by Ann¡¯s determined deration. So, she blinked while staring at the vicious looking Ann. If Edgar had been there, she would have scolded him and make him break the engagement. ¡°Such stingy men always protest even after the wedding, even when the wife is buying the necessary goods. However, they want their own suits to be nice. And what about the carriage? They all say they can¡¯t use leased carriages and try to buy one way too expensive. They don¡¯t hesitate to spend gold on the horses¡¯ hay but want to save a penny from their wives¡¯ food! They should be caring about their fat belly...¡± Ann faltered, realizing she was getting too angry. Then, she nced at Rubica who just smiled awkwardly. It wasn¡¯t that new to her. Speaking ill of useless husbands was one of the married women¡¯s joy. ¡°Hmm, anyway, if His Grace says even one offending sentence to you, just let me know. I will speak to him myself.¡± Ann was so angry that Rubica rather wanted Edgar to make a mistake and say something wrong. Edgar being scolded by this kind housewife, she really wanted to see that scene. ¡°I want to decorate the ce with pretty flowers and candles. As the wedding will take ce at dusk, the dim lights of candles will make embroideries look even more beautiful.¡± Ann smiled brightly. As it was almost warm April, spring flowers were in full bloom. ¡°Considering the dress, white flowers would be better than red flowers, right? It would be good to have small candles floating on wide basins full of water. The embroideries will sparkle beautifully in the light of the setting sun and dim candles.¡± As Ann was an aged housewife, she had prepared many events. She quickly realized what Rubica wanted and came up with some ideas right on the spot. As it was going to be a wedding without any guests, that much of decoration was an extravagance. However, in Ann¡¯s perspective, spending that much money for the duke¡¯s wedding wasn¡¯t even a problem. ¡°And I want to give the flowers and candles used as decoration to the townspeople after the wedding.¡± That was what Rubica was really after. ¡°... to the townspeople?¡± ¡°The Petra Kingdom has a custom of giving flowers used as decorations to the guests after the wedding. They must be disappointed for not being able to witness the wedding. So how about giving them some presents instead? There was indeed a custom about giving flowers, but that custom didn¡¯t include giving away expensive wax candles. Nevertheless, Rubica wanted to spend more money. She would be able to spend more of the duke¡¯s money and the people will get expensive wax candles, so it was going to be good for all of them. ¡°There is such a custom? You really know everything, Lady Berner!¡± Ann was touched. In fact, the duke¡¯s wedding was supposed to be a good spectacle to the people. Pennies and delights nobles threw to them at weddings was a huge joy they didn¡¯t want to lose. Such a secretive wedding was going to bring someints. Ann had been worried it might diminish the duke¡¯s reputation. But now, Rubica was offering to openly share the joy with them instead of giving them a donation. Even though the Setiros Kingdom had no such customs, it didn¡¯t seem impossible as it was in the Petra Kingdom far in the north. What Rubica was proposing was going to make the dukes receive praise, not criticized. Ann got excited and came up with her own idea. ¡°Why don¡¯t we also bake some celebration cookies and give them too?¡± ¡°Oh, that is a great idea!¡± Rubica had no reason to say no to that. No, she was d to hear that and smiled brightly. Ann could barely stop herself from crying. ¡®She is so kind...¡¯ There was no way she could know that Rubica was trying to spend all the money of the duke. She just thought Rubica was doing what was needed to be done instead of Edgar who didn¡¯t care at all about his and his family¡¯s reputation. ¡®But then we will be spending as much as a wedding prepared for a year...¡¯ Money spent little by little will eventually be big. Ann realized giving enough bread and cookies to nearby townspeople will cost as much as inviting noble guests and making expensive dishes. ¡®Well, as it is for a good purpose, it should be fine. We still have enough budget left...¡¯ She was caught up in the mood, but she hade up with the idea. She was a little worried, but soon dismissed it and decided to wonder if the cookies should be in the shape of a happy bride and groom or in the shape of the ymore Mansion. *** Next morning. The wedding dress Rosa brought was even more than what Rubica had expected. Even the maids, including Ann, pped in delight. Rubica had never seen such a detailed and delicate embroidery. Moreover, Rosa had done even more. She had also made a veil that matched the dress. When Rubica wore the veil made with thin golden threads, it looked like a golden mist was surrounding her face. ¡°We have prepared a matching suit for His Grace.¡± ¡°... but this red color will not be right for him.¡± Rosa immediately replied as if she had known Rubica would say that. ¡°The suit is red but a little darker and paler. You don¡¯t have to worry too much about it.¡± Rubica nodded. She hated Edgar, but he was annoyingly handsome. She didn¡¯t want to see such a man¡¯s beauty ruined by an unmatching suit. ¡®Although he will look good because of his face, no matter what he wears.¡¯ Nevertheless, she wanted to see him in a matching suit. She wanted to praise him for his beauty, regardless of his personality. She wished she could freeze that beauty and pass it down to future generations. ¡°Hehe.¡± One of the maids who helped Rubica to dress couldn¡¯t hold it anymore andughed. Then, the other maids, Rosa and even Ann started tough simrly. Only Rubica couldn¡¯t see what it was about. ¡®She really loves him.¡¯ Everyone except Rubica met eyes. They exchanged nces and nodded. To them, Rubica was a woman in love who cared everything about Edgar, including his suit. ¡°Well, there is no time for this. We should hurry.¡± When they finished preparing and put the tiara on the veil, the sun was going down in the west. ¡°I think we were right to make the makeup a little deep.¡± ¡°Yes, the veil will make it look paler than it is.¡± Again, Jennie quietly thanked Rubica for trusting her. She had used a slightly strong red for the lips, but after the veil was put on, everything seemed surrounded by beauty as if it was nned like that. ¡°Then let us go to the abbey now. The guests will arrive in about an hour, and...¡± ¡°Ann, Carl has prepared everything, so don¡¯t worry.¡± However, what Rosa said couldn¡¯t rx Ann. She then pouted while saying, ¡°But I really can¡¯t rx.¡± To others, Carl the butler appeared to be smart and without mistakes, but Ann felt like he was a child. She especially worried about the unenthusiastic attitude he had shown at the beginning of the wedding preparations. ¡°Oh, I can¡¯t stop worrying. I must go and check the list of dishes for the feast again...¡± ¡°Then we will bete, Ann. Who will take care of Lady Berner if you¡¯re gone?¡± ¡°Yes, I forgot that. Oh, my.¡± Ann was even more nervous than Rubica and started babbling. Rubica had to stop herself fromughing. ¡°We cannot introduce you to others without His Grace, the master of this mansion. Although you will depart alone, when you arrive, many guests will sprinkle flowers for you.¡± Ann didn¡¯t tell Rubica that Carl had worked hard like a general in charge of an army to get the flowers. She just smiled warmly and took Rubica to the mana stone carriage. ¡°If you leave now, you will arrive at dusk. You will being back in a carriage decorated with flowers led by horses. Don¡¯t forget to wave your hand when the townspeople on the way cheer.¡± It wasn¡¯t the first duke¡¯s wedding Ann was going through. She had watched preparations of thete duke¡¯s wedding as a young maid. Now was the time to use that experience. On their way to the abbey, Ann didn¡¯t stop and kept talking to Rubica about things she had to keep right, and she had been right, the carriage arrived at the destination when the sun was touching the horizon. The abbey was so beautiful in the sunset. Rubica wanted to check if the hall had been decorated as she had asked, but unfortunately, Edgar¡¯s carriage didn¡¯t arrive yet. ¡°Let us wait for him in the waiting room.¡± Ann didn¡¯t want the small wedding to make Rubica sad. So, she kept eximing at the small things to cheer Rubica up. ¡°Oh, the carriage for the witness has arrived, and the priest has changed into a robe for the wedding.¡± ¡°Ann, I want to know about the hall.¡± ¡°Should I go and see?¡± Rubica nodded. Ann didn¡¯t hesitate to run to the hall, take a quick look, and return. ¡°It¡¯s perfect. It¡¯s been decorated as we nned. The flowers are much more beautiful with the light of the setting sun.¡± Yes, everything was ready, except for one: the bridegroom. Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Chapter 30

The short time of the sunset passed and darkness started to fall, but Edgar didn¡¯te. As it got darker outside, Ann¡¯s face started to turn dark as well. ¡°... the meeting must have been extended.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°He must have no choice, the king must be insisting that he stays.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, Ann.¡± ¡°... Lady Berner.¡± Unlike Ann, who was anxious, Rubica just thought it was fine. If the wedding couldn¡¯t be done properly because of the king¡¯s fault, wouldn¡¯t he feel guilty and dere the marriage as invalid? ¡®That would be nice, I wish he doesn¡¯te....¡¯ But regardless of her wishes, the arrival of Edgar¡¯s carriage was announced when the moon was up in the sky. ¡®Oh well, I guess it was worth hoping for.¡¯ *** As soon as Edgar arrived at the abbey, a servant helped him get dressed. It had taken Rubica hours to wear her wedding dress, but it took him only about 10 minutes. He had practically lived in his carriage for three days, but his skin was still as smooth as marble. He had sprinkled just a few drops of water on his hair, but it looked like as if it had beenbed with expensive oil. The servant was quietly impressed at this. ¡°Where is Carl?¡± ¡°He is back at the mansion, preparing for the wedding feast.¡± Edgar slightly frowned. The servant flinched, wondering if he had made any mistake. ¡°And the bride?¡± ¡°She finished preparing a long time ago. The priest is waiting as well.¡± He tried not to sound as if he was ming his master and carefully put the circlet on Edgar¡¯s head. His blue eyes didn¡¯t lose their beauty underneath the luxurious circlet. They rather had a strange brilliance. Edgar lightly nodded, checked his cuff buttons for thest time and walked to the hall. A priest, who had been waiting for him, smiled and opened the door for him. What he saw next was enough to surprise even him. ¡®... they did this in a day?¡¯ He had known Carl and Ann were an excellent butler and housewife for a very long time, but he hadn¡¯t thought they would prepare everything so perfectly. The hall was lighted with candles floating on the water which glowed in the dim light along the aisle. The white flowers under the candles created a fantastic mood, it was as if the hall was in another world. Rubica soon entered the hall. On the dress¡¯ silhouette hiding in the dark, golden embroidery gleamed with the candles¡¯ light. With each of her step, an afterimage like a beautiful bird soaring up to the sky lingered with the embroidery¡¯s movement. A breeze came from somewhere and lightly stroked the mysterious golden mist before going away. Over the scattered mist, the red and full lips showed themselves for a short moment. The only red, splendid flower blooming amongst white flowers. It was as if everything in that space was existing for her. Toote, Edgar realized his mouth was dry. Some kind of liquid floated up under his chest and filled up his head. He hadn¡¯t felt such a feeling since when he saw splendid fireworks on his father¡¯s shoulder. People called that feeling thrill, but he saw a face beautiful enough to thrill others in the mirror every day. He scarcely felt thrilled at the beauty of something else. He just froze there and tried to find out how to define that unfamiliar feeling for a long time. Cold sweat ran down his back and his face was getting hot. Yes, it must be that. ¡®I must have caught a cold.¡¯ During thest three days, he had gone to the Berner Mansion, to the king¡¯s pce, and then to Hue¡¯s abbey. It must have been tiring enough to catch a cold. ¡®I must tell Carl to bring me some medicine as soon as the wedding is over.¡¯ He simply diagnosed his symptoms and took a step closer to Rubica to escort her. From a close distance, what had looked like a mysterious golden fog turned out to be a fine golden veil. Rubica¡¯s auburn eyes looked up at him behind the thince. He suddenly started to hear a strange sound. Boom, boom, boom. He had sometimes heard that sound when he took medications prescribed by doctors to work after not sleeping for three days. ¡®It¡¯s strange, I can¡¯t be this tired.¡¯ His body felt light. But strangely, when he stretched out his hand to escort Rubica, he felt like his body wasn¡¯t his. He froze stiff. ¡®It¡¯s strange. The sun is gone. It can¡¯t be.¡¯ Then, Rubica¡¯s warm hand found his hand. Warm spring-like feeling coursed through his veins and spread to his entire body. He could feel his stiff body rxing. He took Rubica¡¯s hand and started to walk to the priest. ¡°Um, it¡¯s too fast.¡± Rubica quickly grabbed her dress and whispered. Edgar realized she almost fell and was embarrassed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Now it was Rubica¡¯s turn to break in a cold sweat. Has this man just said he was sorry? She tried to nce at him, but she couldn¡¯t see well because of the veil. On their way to the priest, Edgar barely managed to speak in spite of his burning mouth. ¡°You are...¡± ¡°Are?¡± ¡°Not that bad.¡± Now, what was that about? Rubica wondered, but she soon decided to dismiss it as nothing. She was more bothered by the fact they were getting closer and closer to the priest. ¡®I am about to swear falsely in front of Hue.¡¯ Hue, the god of love, was special to her. He had given her a ce to live and the will to live a new life. Could she have met Arman if there had been no Hue¡¯s abbey? And now she was about to say the marriage vow in front of Hue with a man she didn¡¯t love. She felt guilty. ¡°What a nice-looking couple.¡± The high priest, who oversaw the ritual, smiled and congratted them. Among the many rituals he led, high priest Andre liked weddings the most. One of the reasons he chose to be Hue¡¯s priest was, in fact, for the weddings. Because of the belief that an oath of true love in front of Hue was always fulfilled, some creatures sometimes knocked on his doorte at night. Sometimes they were small goblins who came up to under his knees, sometimes they were beings who were heard but not seen. Most people would have shuddered in fear, but Andre didn¡¯t. Love was the thing that made even mighty dragons tremble. Not lightening, not gold, not intense me, but love. This unseen feeling seemed to be nothing but had great power. Hue¡¯s priests oversaw it, and they were weed everywhere. Andre dly blessed everyone who came to him to swear an oath of love, even when they were monsters. ¡®Love your enemies as your neighbors.¡¯ That was Hue¡¯s teaching. There could be no discrimination in love. Plus, this wedding was for Duke ymore and the woman who had seized his heart. When he was asked to officiate the wedding, he seriously nodded, closed the door, and thought, ¡®Thank you, Hue! Getting to officiate such an important wedding, that is why I am a high priest.¡¯ Then, he danced for some time. ¡°ording to the teachings of Hue, protector of beauty and true love...¡± His deep and thick voice filled the hall. As soon as he started to speak the words of oath written in the Hue¡¯s holy book, Rubica quickly crossed the index and middle finger under her bouquet. That was the gesture of confessing in advance when forced to swear falsely in front of a god. ¡®Please, forgive me for swearing falsely.¡¯ Neither Andre nor the witnesses got to see that gesture, but Edgar, who was right next to her, saw it. Rubica didn¡¯t realize it and went on with her own prayer as the high priest spoke. ¡°Even when misfortune or suffering tears you apart... to believe and rely on each other...¡± ¡®Even if I cannot meet Arman now, my love is too big to be crushed by this ordeal. Even if the wheel of fortune turns wrong and we never get to meet again, I will keep this love forever.¡¯ But thinking about it again, never getting to meet again was too much. ¡®No, please let me meet Arman again. You are the god of love, and I was taught you protect true love more than anything. Although my love hasn¡¯t beenpleted yet, please let me tell Arman that I love him. I will dly go through any hardship if I can do that. Please, don¡¯t test your daughter and help her instead.¡¯ ¡°Then, I ask Miss Rubica Berner. Do you swear true love in front of Hue?¡± The high priest finished speaking and asked the bride. Rubica, who had been praying, opened her eyes. Then, she answered confidently. ¡°Yes.¡± She said that without hesitating, but she didn¡¯t say that about the marriage with Duke ymore. She was swearing that her love for Arman was true in front of Hue. Andre didn¡¯t know that. He smiled at Rubica¡¯s answer and looked at the bridegroom. Then, he looked down at the document to call his official name. ¡®... it is really long.¡¯ Edgar Taylor yd Windmore, the name he was known by to most people, was actually a short version of his long name. The high priest wished he could get a sip of water as he went on to recite Edgar¡¯s name. ¡°... do you swear true love in front of Hue?¡± Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Chapter 31

For a split second, Edgar wondered if he was supposed to cross his fingers. However, unlike Rubica who could cover her hand with the bouquet, he had nothing. Besides, he really had nothing to feel guilty about in front of god. It wasn¡¯t like he was in love with another woman. Furthermore, as he was marrying Rubica, his pride wasn¡¯t going to permit him to neglect his duty as her husband. ¡®Why does he have to say true love instead of swearing marriage.¡¯ Edgar didn¡¯t like it, but nevertheless, he replied. ¡°I do.¡± Rubica was surprised to hear this. He said ¡®I do¡¯ instead of ¡®yes¡¯ in front of Hue? What kind of man was he? However, that thought didn¡¯tst for long as what the priest said next made her mind go nk. ¡°It is time to kiss to prove it in front of Hue.¡± Kiss? Why should we kiss? How on earth could I have forgotten that? Rubica wanted to cry out loud about her own foolishness. She had been distracted by the pretty wedding dress and decoration of the wedding hall and forgotten what mattered the most. ording to Hue¡¯s holy book that was given to mankind by nymphs one day, a wedding vow done in front of a god had to be finished with a kiss. That had to be done no matter what, whether the wedding was small or big. ¡°Then...¡± The priest gave them the signal, so Edgar turned first to look at Rubica. Rubica realized she was supposed to do the same, but she couldn¡¯t as her body was frozen. Her head said it was necessary and she had to get over with it, but her body didn¡¯t agree. ¡°The bride is shy.¡± The high priest misinterpreted Rubica¡¯s hesitation and spoke to encourage her. Hesitating more was going to make others suspicious, but she couldn¡¯t be brave. Then, Edgar abruptly grabbed her waist. He made her look at him. It was like his hand around her waist was on fire. His hand had always been cold, but not this time. Soon the golden veil was removed, and she could see his face clearly. ¡®... it¡¯s okay. His face is beautiful, but I¡¯ve seen it many times now. I must have gotten used to it.¡¯ However, her heart ignored her opinion and started to beat fast again. It had no choice as this time was different from thest encounter. ¡®So close!¡¯ Their faces were so close that she could hear him breathing, but his face was perfect even in such a close distance. His blue eyes that reflected the lights from his circlet were like a clear ocean reflecting sunlight. No word would be good enough to describe those blue eyes, and they were looking straight at Rubica. And that beautiful face was leaning close to her. ¡®Oh no!¡¯ Rubica was not immune to such things. What she liked was to watch beautiful couple whispering love from far away. What can be more beautiful than a couple kissing without caring about others looking at them? When she got to see that, her heart fluttered, and she felt warm. However, she didn¡¯t wish to be kissed by a charming man that much. The kiss between a charming man and a beautiful woman, she preferred watching it. Getting to see two beautiful people at once was like catching two birds with one stone. But now that it was happening to her, it felt totally different than what she had vaguely imagined. The breathing out under Edgar¡¯s sharp nose tickled her face, and his scent warmly shrouded her. She could see herself in those clear blue eyes. ¡®Ahhh!¡¯ In the end, she couldn¡¯t ovee the uing reality and closed her eyes. Soon something soft touched her lips. She thought Edgar¡¯s lips were very much soft and warm. As his hand had been cold whenever she held it, she expected his lips to be like that as well, but they weren¡¯t. She even wondered how inside those soft lips would feel like. ¡®... he will go away now.¡¯ Rubica thought Edgar would pull back as their lips had met. There were many beautiful noblewomen in the capital, and Edgar was a duke. There must have been manydies, actresses, and singers who wanted him. He could date any woman. So, he probably would want to kiss that kind of beautiful woman instead of an ordinary woman like Rubica... ¡®Huh?¡¯ His lips didn¡¯t go away. Rather, he started to rub them on Rubica¡¯s lips, and she could feel her face getting hot. It didn¡¯t have to be done this properly! Rubica tried to take a step back to get away from him, but his hand was faster than her. He dragged her even closer. Rubica¡¯s waist touched Edgar¡¯s body. Thrilling sensations spread to her entire body and dominated her. She leaned slightly backward at the sudden gesture and her lips were opened. Something soft came in through that crack. It carefully felt her teeth and soon rubbed itself against the roof of her mouth. Then, it moved around on the inside quite freely. Rubica thought it was time to push him away, but she was drunk with the good feeling the tongue made her feel and his scent. Most followers of beauty think beauty is only in what is seen. However, those people don¡¯t know anything. Beauty is in everything, things that are heard, eaten, smelled, and felt. Among them, touching is the most primitive beauty that humans feel first. Newborn babies cannot see well as their eyes are thinyers. They feelfortable when something soft they can grab nurtures them and pats them. Babies love that feeling of beauty. Even after they get to feel something clearly, when they find something interesting, they put it in their mouths to add more information to what they heard and seen. Yes. The tongue is a delicate and sensitive organ that lets us ¡®feel¡¯ beauty the most clearly. Plus, when you cannot see, you have no choice but to rely on what you can feel. Toote, Rubica regretted closing her eyes. However, she couldn¡¯t find the courage to open them again. Edgar¡¯s hand holding her waist tightly and his soft tongue that moved in her mouth controlled her every sensation. ¡®... ah.¡¯ There wasn¡¯t any scent of booze or sweat that most men had. Instead, a fresh scent like that of the deep forest tickled the end of her nose. Why was he so beautiful in every way? Rubica couldn¡¯t control her body, drunken by the feeling she had never felt before. Her lower body lost strength. If Edgar¡¯s strong hand had not been there holding her, she would have fallen right away. She couldn¡¯t do anything at the surging feeling. She just endured Edgar as he passionately kissed her. ¡°Haa.¡± His lips went away only when she was out of her breath. Rubica breathed hard and inhaled the air. Then, she red at Edgar. There was something strange but hot in the blue eyes that had been so cold. And as he looked back at her, he looked so surprised. ¡®What is that expression? I am the one who should be surprised.¡¯ ¡°Hmm, hmm.¡± Andre, who had been shocked by the passionate kiss, barely came to his senses and cleared his throat. ¡°The wedding vow has been finished. I give both of you the blessing of Hue.¡± Andre drew the sign of blessing on their foreheads. He was moved by their kiss, so he did his best to say every blessing he knew. Because of the serious high priest and as the wedding was taking ce, Rubica missed her chance to use Edgar right on the spot. Because of their passionate kiss, even the witnesses were looking at them with joy. ¡®Was he after this effect? Or was he just being mean?¡¯ Many thoughts crossed her mind as she tried to find an answer to Edgar¡¯s sudden kissing. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn¡¯t find the answer. If he had been after any purpose or just been mean, he shouldn¡¯t have looked so surprised. ¡°And forst, please sign the written oath. The abbey will keep one copy and the other belongs to the new couple.¡± The two witnesses signed the document first. Rubica¡¯s witness was a famous schr who lived near the Berner Mansion, but she had never seen him before. ¡®It¡¯s not like I knew anyone for them to be my witness, so...¡¯ After they finished signing, Rubica looked at the document that was now in front of her without any change of expression. After the first page that was almost the same with the wedding pledge the high priest had recited, she saw the witnesses¡¯ signatures, so she signed on the next page under her printed name. Then, she tried to hand it to Edgar, but Andre stopped her. ¡°Your new name is under here. You must sign under that as well, but only write your name.¡± Rubica was shocked to see where he was pointing at. The extremely long title and name went on an on. The high priest looked as if he could understand how Rubica was feeling. He flipped it and showed her where she was supposed to sign. The title of the Berner Bar, that she had agreed to give to the ymore Family as she married, was written there atst. ¡®I made all that fuss over such an unimportant title that can onlye at the end...¡¯ She smiled bitterly, but she liked the Bar Berner title more than any other title that came after the name ymore. It was not just because it was her father¡¯s title. Other titles were earned by killing or discing someone, but that title had been earned by saving lives. ¡®It¡¯s good that the name Berner will still officially be mine even after the marriage.¡¯ Rubica signed and gave Edgar the document. Then, she signed on the copy for the abbey as well. ¡°The ritual is now finished. May you be a happy couple till the end of your life.¡± Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Andre blessed the Duke and Duchess ymore till the very end and saw them off as they left the abbey. ¡°The original n was to parade in a carriage with the townspeople¡¯s cheer... but it would make the guests at the mansion wait too long. Your Grace, you must use the mana stone carriage.¡± Carl carefully spoke as he led Edgar and Rubica to the mana stone carriage. Stars were already shining up in the sky. Using a horse-carriage would, instead, make them arrive on the next day. ¡°But the people will not be happy. Carl, give them the properpensations...¡± Ann replied quickly at this. ¡°Lady... no, Her Grace has already given orders to give flowers, candles, and cookies to the people. ording to the children who went running the errand, they were delighted to go home with good gifts without waiting for long.¡± Edgar¡¯s stiff lips rxed and warmly took Rubica¡¯s hand. ¡°When did you prepare such a thing?¡± ¡°What? Oh, haha, I just...¡± Rubica wanted to be an extravagant duchess who didn¡¯t care about the family¡¯s economic situation and gave away expensive goods. So, she was surprised to see the others, including Edgar, look at her warmly. Without realizing it, she had be a ¡®wise¡¯, ¡®kind¡¯, and ¡®generous¡¯ duchess. ¡®But this is not what I was after...¡¯ *** The interior of the carriage had been changed for the newly wedding couple. Edgar looked at Rubica over the table with refreshments and champagne. ¡®My face is bing feverish, the cold must be getting even worse.¡¯ Edgar didn¡¯t want Rubica to misunderstand about his face turning red, so he poured out the champagne in a ss. Trying his best to look as natural as possible, he took a ss of champagne that was still cold thanks to the ice. ¡°Hey, why on earth did you do that during the wedding?¡± He almost spewed out the champagne when hearing Rubica¡¯s sudden question. ¡°What?¡± He knew what Rubica was talking about, but he pretended to not know and put the ss on the table. Then, he quickly hid his shaking hands under the table. Thanks to the duties he had as a duke, he knew how to control his facial muscles to his will to some extent. He looked as if he really didn¡¯t know what Rubica was talking about. ¡°That, that kiss during the pledge. Our lips just had to meet. You didn¡¯t really have to...¡± That made Edgar recall the moment he had been trying to forget. He didn¡¯t know why he had done that. He just thought Rubica¡¯s lips were soft and, at a close distance, she smelled so sweet. He wished to stay that way forever. Then, Rubica tried to get away from him. -I am in love with someone else. Suddenly, he recalled what she had said two days ago. Then, he only thought ¡®It would make thingsplicated.¡¯ However, at that moment, a surge of emotion came up to his pounding chest. And by the time he came to his senses, he had been kissing Rubica for a long time. His head ordered him to stop that disgusting deed immediately, but his body refused to follow that order. Her waist was soft, and her breath was sweet. Him giving in to the pleasure, it couldn¡¯t be happening. ¡°Oh, you must be talking about the kiss during the pledge.¡± He felt his face getting hot beyond his control and quickly drank more champagne. Rubica, who was still ring at him, nodded. That using re made Edgar feel constrained again. Did she hate it so much? ¡°Was it unpleasant?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Rubica replied firmly at the question. Actually, it hadn¡¯t been 100% unpleasant. Edgar¡¯s kiss was as charming as his beauty. However, she decided to choose the unpleasantness over the thrill she had felt. Even if it had been thrilling, that had been only a momentary passion and impulse. Love is not impulsive. Love must stand on faith to be firm. Rubica wasn¡¯t an idiot who couldn¡¯t tell impulse and love apart. ¡°... but I liked it.¡± ¡°What?¡± Oh no, was it the champagne? Edgar abruptly said his true feelings without realizing it. He was surprised to hear himself say that and looked at Rubica. For better or worse, she looked like she was wondering what kind of joke it was. Edgar didn¡¯t like it. ¡°Oh, okay, fine. Then apologize for kissing me like that.¡± Rubica thought Edgar was being sarcastic as usual. She decided to have him apologize and finish it there. ¡°Rubica, ording to the Hue¡¯s holy book, when making a pledge of marriage in front of god, it must be finished with a kiss. That is exactly what I did. Surely you must know about Hue¡¯s holy book...¡± ¡°But it just had to be a contact between lips. You didn¡¯t have to...¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t bring herself to say the word tongue, and her face reddened. Edgar thought her red cheeks looked good with her splendid dress and red-brown hair. The golden veil lightly trembled as she spoke. Most beautiful things didn¡¯t impress him, but he had to acknowledge that beauty. ¡°But a peck and a kiss are different. The holy book says the pledge must be finished with a kiss, not a peck.¡± Edgar was so impressed for actually saying that. He had just responded instantly, but it sounded reasonable enough. Rubica looked like she couldn¡¯t think of anything to counter that. So, she just red at him and trembled. Victory. He won perfectly. He didn¡¯t give this strange woman the time to refute his im, but it felt so weird. He was victorious, but he didn¡¯t feel good about it at all. Rather, cold sweat ran down his back. Rubica was usingly staring at him, and he felt like screaming, ¡®Don¡¯t look at me like that!¡¯ Was it because he had arrived at the pcete at night yesterday and had a meeting till early in the morning? He had slept enough in his carriage, but he really was not feeling well today. ¡®... is he drunk, after just one ss of champagne?¡¯ At the same time, Rubica was having a totally different guess as she looked at Edgar. His cheeks had turned slightly red. It could be because of the champagne he had drunk. The champagne didn¡¯t seem to contain much alcohol, but there were people who got easily drunk in the world, and Edgar could be one of them. Moreover, having a serious conversation with a drunk person was never good. He could forget or pretend to have forgotten by the next morning, and Rubica would be able to do nothing. Rubica decided to discuss it again when Edgar was in his right mind. ¡°Hu. Okay, fine. Let us say we had a different interpretation of the holy book.¡± Rubica looked away while Edgar silently sighed in relief. Next, he gulped hard and said, ¡°Then can I do it again from time to time?¡± Rubica was now sure. He was absolutely drunk. ¡°Are you crazy? Of course not.¡± Edgar¡¯s face turned dark at her firm refusal. Actually, he regretted saying that as soon as he said it. He couldn¡¯t understand why on earth he was saying such a thing... He had drunk a ss or two of champagne to make his red face look natural, but normally, he could stay sober even after four bottles of wine. ¡®It must be the flu.¡¯ He must have gotten drunk fast after drinking champagne in the bad situation. He thought what he had said was rather absurd. He had barely managed to make the usation go away from Rubica¡¯s eyes, and he couldn¡¯t undo that now. He decided to apologize for being rude. ¡°I think it would be better for you to show others that we are close.¡± However, what he said was contrary to what he was thinking. He was just as surprised as the shocked Rubica. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Her hands shook. She probably wanted to p him again but seemed to be barely restraining herself. As things had gone this far, Edgar decided to convince her with this chance. ¡°My rtives... to be honest, I cannot really say they are nice. They will certainly despise you because of your family. But if we show them that we are in love, they will not be able to ignore you as they fear me.¡± Edgar started to nce at Rubica. She clenched her shaking fists and took a deep breath while closing her eyes. ¡®Good. What I said wasn¡¯tpletely wrong. If she thinks thoroughly, she will reach the conclusion that doing so would be better.¡¯ That was what Edgar was hoping for. However, the first thought Rubica had as soon as she closed her eyes was ¡®what is this bullshit now?¡¯ She was taking a deep breath to recall what had happened in her past to get courage before she had a proper fight with Edgar. Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Not long after she started to work at the abbey, she often ended up crying. What made her cry was neither the strict priests nor the hunger. It was the patients. ¡°Sister, I am so lonely. Can youfort me?¡± When she heard that the first time from a mercenary patient on the bed, she took the word fort¡¯ for its usual meaning. ¡°Can I sing for you? Or do you want me to read something?¡± However, this made the rest of the patientsugh. ¡°Oh, sister. You are so na?ve.¡± ¡°Not that kind offort.¡± ¡°There, there.¡± ¡°... there?¡± The mercenary pointed between his legs, and Rubica realized what he had meant by fort¡¯. Her face then turned as red as a tomato. She couldn¡¯t say anything and left the room while breaking in tears. ¡°Oh, but you are old enough to know everything. Why are you taking it so seriously?¡± ¡°I was just joking. Oh, you take jokes really seriously.¡± When Rubica went back and told them to not do that after thinking about the problem for days, thosements were what she got in return. What was even worse was that after words got out that she broke in tears at the mercenary¡¯s mocking, they teased her even more. ¡°You cried at that? Are you a virgin? Haha.¡± A patient, from the next room, even said that to her. Theyughed and liked it when she looked hurt or pleaded them not to do that. Rubica seriously wondered if she should leave the abbey, that was rather safe in the war, and go to the mountains or something. Then one day, Priestess Lefena summoned her. Rubica went to her study in fear. The priestess was strict, so she thought she would scold her for failing to take care of the problem. ¡°Sister Rubica, I think you know why I summoned you.¡± ¡°... yes.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t even find the courage to look at her face and just stared at the tip of her feet. She was so scared that she couldn¡¯t take even a single step from the door. ¡°Look at me. Why are you looking down when you have done nothing wrong?¡± Rubica was surprised at this and looked up. Lefena made her sit next to her and gave her a cup of warm honey tea that was only distributed to the priests. ¡°I¡¯ve heard all about it, but there¡¯s no need to exin.¡± ¡°Priestess Lefena.¡± Rubica thought Lefena was a woman of steel, so she burst into tears when the priestess spoke warmly to her. Lefena was, however, disgusted as she handed Rubica a handkerchief. ¡°Don¡¯t cry. I hate it when people cry in front of me. I called you to solve this matter, not to see you cry.¡± ¡°... hup. Yes, Sister Lefena... I even asked them in private not to say things like that to me... but they are teasing me even more. I don¡¯t know what to do. Can you please speak to them?¡± Rubica begged, but Lefena only sighed. ¡°Of course I can, but it will only make them tease you even more.¡± ¡°Even more?¡± ¡°They might call you a coward hiding behind me. They might even hold a grudge against you and try to get revenge.¡± Rubica¡¯s hands trembled. They had ignored her serious begging and were teasing her even more. What Lefena said was highly likely to happen. ¡°Then what should I do?¡± ¡°Rubica, can you find courage?¡± ¡°Courage?¡± ¡°To be specific, courage to raise your middle finger to the patients who mock you.¡± Rubica forgot her shaky hands while nkly staring at Lefena. However, the priestess¡¯s eyes were serious. ¡°They were mercenaries. They find their ce in rtion to strength. How strong I am, how many people I give order to, who obeys me. And they have fallen to the bottom of the mercenaries¡¯ world, losing a hand or a leg. They are finding their lost self-esteem when teasing you. ¡®I can still mock and humiliate someone, so I am not at the bottom.¡¯¡± ¡°... so you¡¯re telling me to understand that and just suffer?¡± ¡°No.¡± Lefena shook her head and held Rubica¡¯s hands. ¡°That self-esteem is all false. Fake self-esteem. It will eventually cken their real self-esteem and make it ill. You cannot understand that. It will only worsen the disease.¡± ¡°Then what should I do...¡± ¡°Beat and break the nose that has gone up to the sky with that fake self-esteem.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I know, you would wonder why you should do such a thing. It will not be easy as you have a kind nature, but this is part of the procedure to heal the patients. Next time they tease you, lift up your middle finger and say you won¡¯t take such old and ugly men.¡± Rubica was surprised to hear such a thinge out from a priestess¡¯ mouth. ¡°Will I be able to do it?¡± ¡°It is a necessary step in their treatment.¡± Rubica was puzzled, but Lefena took her hands and spoke firmly. ... necessary step for the treatment. Rubica nodded at that, and she found courage. When one of the patients said the word fort¡¯ again, she raised her middle finger just as Lefena told her. ¡°I will never take an ugly and old man like you!¡± Silence filled the room for a short second. The patient who had kept teasing her looked awfully surprised. For a moment, Rubica feared that she might get used for saying such a thing. ¡°Hahahahaha!¡± ¡°Ha! She got you, she got you!¡± ¡°Why did you say such a thing to her? You did go too far this time.¡± ¡°Well, you are very ugly and old indeed.¡± To her surprise, the others spoke for Rubica and started to tease the patient who had been mocking her. His face turned tomato red and grumbled, ¡°Can¡¯t I even tell a joke?¡±. From that day onward, he never teased Rubica ever again. When his wounds were all healed and was ready to leave the abbey, he called her in secret and even apologized to her. That day, she learned a valuable lesson. When she learned about the manners of ady as a little girl, her books would teach her not to speak indecent things as it would only dishonor oneself. But in this case, saying curse words wasn¡¯t dishonoring oneself. It was only speaking in a way the listener can easily understand. There is no need to be sorry about speaking harshly and hurting his or her pride, or he will continue to live with a distorted pride and do the wrong things... *** And now, Rubica decided to hit Edgar¡¯s nose, the arrogant man who only knew himself and kept speaking without respecting her. She opened her eyes. They were about to arrive at the mansion soon. There was a need to make sure of everything before it was toote. She looked straight at him and spoke boldly. ¡°Then why do you keep talking down to me?¡± Edgar¡¯s long eyshes flinched at this. ¡°What?¡± ¡°To have respect between a husband and a wife they must speak respectfully to each other. If you really care about my situation, I think it would be better to do that, Your Grace, instead of showing ourselves kissing in front of the others.¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t decide how to define the surprise he was feeling. Whether he would get to kiss her from time to time didn¡¯t matter now. However, he couldn¡¯t think of anything to counter that usation. Still, there was something he couldn¡¯t let go without pointing it out. ¡°Can¡¯t you please stop calling me Your Grace? I have my own name, Edgar.¡± They were now married, after all. He didn¡¯t like Rubica continuing to call him Your Grace. ¡°But Your Grace is not respecting me and is speaking to me as if I were your inferior. How could I dare to call you Edgar?¡± This woman was really tough. Edgar pressed his temple at the sudden headache. Nevertheless, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to speak ¡®politely¡¯ to Rubica. Just thinking about it gave him the goosebumps. ¡°I speak freely even to the crown prince.¡± ¡°What about the king?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Husband and wife must know how to respect each other.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t like this arrogant man treating her as his inferior. Even though it was only as a disguise, they were a married couple. She had always disliked men who mistreated their wives. Even her uncle had been kind at least to his wife. ¡°... is talking in a certain way necessary to respect each other?¡± Edgar wasn¡¯t going to be convinced. Rubica looked at him and decided to punch this arrogant duke¡¯s nose. ¡°Fine, Edgar. Then I will talk freely to you from now, too.¡± ¡°... what?¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t have been more surprised as only royals could talk freely to him. Even the crown prince couldn¡¯t speak freely to him. The king did bother Edgar, nagging him to make inventions that would make his kingdom even wealthier. But at the same time, he worried that he might offend Edgar and get an empty report in return. He had always been superior to everyone for all his life. No one was equal to him. No, there had been a few, but they were long gone now. ¡°Husband and wife are equals. And you just said it yourself, a certain way of talking isn¡¯t important to respect each other!¡± Edgar could feel pain in the back of his head. It felt like needles were stabbing his head. He had never encountered any difficult problem. However, this time he had no choice but to admit he was facing the most difficult problem he would ever face. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn¡¯t think of anything to say to refute. Shit, she was using what he had just said. Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Chapter 34

¡°The newly wedded Duke and Duchess ymore have arrived!¡± Then the carriage stopped as they had reached the pce. ¡°... I guess we will have no choice but to discuss this matterter.¡± Mentally, Rubica stuck her tongue out at him. Edgar¡¯s beauty had been so hard to get used to, but she had now gotten used to it. She wasn¡¯t going to let him go, no matter how sweet his words were. Moreover, this wasn¡¯t the end of the event she had prepared. She was a woman who truly knew how to provoke people. When the carriage¡¯s door was opened, people cheered at seeing the beautiful couple. They had waited for such a long time and must have been tired, but they smiled broadly and threw white flowers and grains dyed in white as the blessing. Edgar got off the carriage first and escorted Rubica. Soon her dress was shown, and people eximed. At least the dress she had designed was beautiful, so beautiful that even Edgar¡¯s beauty couldn¡¯t diminish it. With each step she took, the golden embroidery flutteringly moved. Rosa was happier than anyone else at seeing it. She wanted to grab the people near her and yell that beautiful dress had been the duchess¡¯ idea. They continued to sprinkle flowers and grains until the two arrived at the front door. Then they arrived at the opened door where Ann quickly reced the circlets and veil that pressed their heads with gands. ¡°Thank you, Ann.¡± Rubica had promised to call her by her first name after the wedding, and Ann smiled in return. Then, Rubica spoke extremely naturally to Edgar who had just taken off his circlet. ¡°Let us go, Edgar.¡± The next moment, people around them including Ann doubted their ears. Some couldn¡¯t shut their mouths and some opened their eyes so widely that they were about to get out. However, Rubica naturally linked her arm with Edgar¡¯s as if there was nothing wrong. ¡°What?¡± Edgar was just as much surprised as them. However, he instinctively knew that if he scolded Rubica now, there would be no going back on that. He was arrogant, but even he didn¡¯t have the guts to scold the bride who was entering the hall where the wedding feast would take ce in front of the crowd. Then, her cute smile would fade, and she could mercilessly remove her arm. ¡°... okay.¡± Okay. That single word had lots of meanings. It meant he was going to go into the hall together without making a problem, but also meant Edgar knew what Rubica was intending and they should talkter. Rubica smiled as widely as she could at this. ¡®Oh my... he is...¡¯ ¡®I¡¯ve never seen him like that before.¡¯ ¡®... I think he is really in love with her!¡¯ ¡®It looks like mistreating the duchess would be a bad idea.¡¯ Rubica had nothing to lose. She just wanted to press that pride of the duke. However, regardless of her intention, the crowd was surprised to know Duke ymore was letting her talk to him like that. In the end, they concluded this impossible situation was only possible because Edgar¡¯s love was so deep. They couldn¡¯t think of any other way to understand that crazy situation. As Rubica was escorted to the splendidly decorated hall, she replied kindly to all the guests and servants who congratted her. As she was the duchess now, she could have behaved arrogantly, but she didn¡¯t. But there was one person she spoke extremely arrogantly to... ¡°Hey, pass me the pepper.¡± It was Edgar. Although he was steaming, he handed her the pepper container. On her dish was a roasted snipe that had been cooked with too many spices to boast about the wealth of the special day. There was no need to add pepper to it. She had to be speaking like that only to get on his nerves. Just as he thought, Rubica didn¡¯t bother to sprinkle the pepper. The crowd muttered among themselves at seeing that. The schrs who were inventing weapons under Edgar mostly thought the newly wedded couple seemed so in love. However, a fewments were more than enough to disturb Edgar. ¡°She¡¯s got him, she¡¯s got him.¡± ¡°He has finally been conquered by love.¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t take it anymore and decided to speak to Rubica who was happily enjoying the feast. ¡°This is way too much.¡± ¡°Huh? Too much pepper?¡± Rubica replied innocently with wide eyes. Edgar wanted to grab her wrist, drag her away, and tell her to stop ignoring him. He was Duke ymore. He knew how to handle those who dared to challenge his power and honor. But strangely, this time, he didn¡¯t feel like jumping on his feet or take Rubica¡¯s wrist forcefully. No, he wanted to, but he couldn¡¯t. He was going to realize that inexinable feeling had been ¡®fear¡¯ onlyter. ¡°... we will talk in privateter.¡± That was clearly a warning, but Rubica didn¡¯t care. She just tasted the dishes that filled the table as the servants from the kitchen had worked hard preparing food from yesterday morning to this evening. Of course, they couldn¡¯t make the pie Ann had requested, one filled with live pigeons that would fly away when the crust was cut, instead, there was every possible delicacy, including cream cake in the shape of a castle and chocte with rum filling. Edgar was looking less beautiful than usual because he was annoyed, but Rubica decided not to care about him anymore. She then started to examine the guests one by one. Even though the wedding had taken ce quickly, as it was a wedding feast of the duke and the duchess, all of them were wearing fancy clothes. ¡®Hmm, he is dressed like a schr indeed. He is wearing such a huge hat to... cover his bald head? But it looks nice, it matches his face.¡¯ After she looked at the schrs of ymore, she examined the knights. ¡®... that man, he is certainly handsome.¡¯ Stephen was dressed in much nicer clothes than the ones he had been wearing when Rubica identally ran into him in the mansion¡¯s treasury. He was the personal guard of the duke. He appeared to be in a higher rank than the other knights. Moreover, the knights around him were most certainly good to look at. The energy of the warriors¡¯ muscles is so... energetic. ¡°You are watching them too openly.¡± Edgar realized where she was looking at and frowned. Rubica wasn¡¯t even surprised at hearing him use her. ¡°They are the ymore Family¡¯s retainers. I¡¯m just trying to memorize their faces.¡± No, you¡¯re not. You looked them up and down and you just stared at that knight¡¯s chest. Edgar really wanted to say that, but he managed not to. He didn¡¯t like that she was looking somewhere else. However, he didn¡¯t want her to know that. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt like it would let her take advantage of his weakness. ¡°People might get the wrong idea about you.¡± ¡°Ann, can I have more champagne, please?¡± Rubica openly ignored him and talked to Ann. ¡°But wouldn¡¯t a ss of champagne be enough for you?¡± Ann was worried about the baby and tried to stop Rubica. She didn¡¯t know what Ann was thinking, but she hadn¡¯t asked because she really wanted champagne. Therefore, she nodded and drank the water that Ann poured out for her instead of champagne. ¡°Would you like to drink water as well?¡± Ann asked, but Edgar shook his head. Then, he was surprised to see her look at him so happily. ¡®You must be jealous.¡¯ No. Jealous? No, not at all. Edgar thought it was unfair. However, suddenly announcing he wasn¡¯t jealous would only let people know he was jealous. And his pride was ordering him to shut up for now. ¡°I don¡¯t want water.¡± Edgar drank champagne again. He could feel his face heating up quickly. He probably should take the medicine for the cold quickly. ¡°Where is Carl?¡± ¡°He is right over there, Your Grace. I will bring him.¡± Ann left in a hurry to call Carl who was giving orders to the servants. Rubica thought examining the knights again would only make Edgar blow up, so she started to look at the rtives who lived within the mansion. They were wearing clothes and essories much better than those of the other guests. Some of them red at Rubica, but she just ignored them and went on. Rubica examined people for some time, but then someone caught her eyes. The girl sitting at the very end of the table. Unlike the people around them who were dressed in splendid silk, her dress was shabby. She seemed afraid as she kept looking around and eating quietly. The green hat on her head looked quite funny and was exploiting the beauty of her blonde hair. Her skin was rough, and she was crouching. People would never call her beautiful. Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Chapter 35

However, Rubica was different. ¡®Oh my, such a beautiful fairy!¡¯ She was instantly fascinated by the beauty hidden within the girl. She had not budded yet, but she had an enormous beauty inside. When provided with the right food and skincare, she was going to be more than praised. She would be the flower of the society. Rubica was eager to run to her, do her hair, and make her put on a pretty dress that matched her. However, she was the bride of this wedding feast and she was the duchess now. That fawn-like fairy would freak out if she approached her like that. ¡®I must be careful.¡¯ The girl appeared to be timid. Rubica couldn¡¯t just go to her and be kind to her. It would only make her run away. Rubica tried to call Ann to find out who she was first, but Ann had left to bring Carl. ¡®Hmm, thinking about it, asking Ann wouldn¡¯t be a good idea.¡¯ Judging from the housekeeper¡¯s character, she wasn¡¯t the right person to lure in the fairy. If Rubica asked her about the fairy, she would lunge in without caring about the cute fairy¡¯s feelings and capture her with her mighty weapon: gossip. Then that timid fairy would tightly close the door of her heart. ¡®What should I do?¡¯ Then, Rubica gazed at Edgar who was right next to her. There was no one who knew his own rtives better than him. He didn¡¯t know Rubica was looking at him and was gracefully cutting a well-roasted wing of a swan. How could a hand slicing meat with a knife appear that seductive? The elegant gesture of bringing the piece of meat to the mouth and the lips opening temptingly as if they were eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. It was like he had been created to seduce people. Who would be able to resist if he tried to tempt them? Wouldn¡¯t even fairies be tempted by him? ¡®Should I ask him?¡¯ However, considering how he had handled the process that led from the proposal to the wedding, he would probably have Carl bring the fairy to her as soon as she asked. Well, that much would be okay. It would not be the best way, but it would get things done quickly. However, recalling the things he had said to her, she immediately got the goosebumps on her arms. Oh no! She could imagine her cute fairy being offended by Edgar¡¯s words and running away from the mansion while shedding tears. ¡®No, he won¡¯t do.¡¯ Rubica took her eyes off Edgar and looked down at her dish. Then, she took a piece of white bread. ¡°Butter? Or jam?¡± That¡¯s weird. He wasn¡¯t looking at me, so how did he know I was looking for something to eat with my bread? ¡°Honey, I see.¡± He pushed a little dish of honey to her side. She instinctively dipped her piece of bread in the honey. Edgar smiled at seeing that and soon looked toward a rtive who congratted him. ¡®I hate him.¡¯ He could have just passed her the dish without scolding her. She silentlyined as she munched the bread that was now sweet enough. That was what was wrong with Edgar. He was elegant, but he always scolded others. He would be like poison to her small and delicate fairy. She was never going to let him get near her. ¡®... the people in the mansion wille to meet me starting from tomorrow, so I will get a chance to see her again.¡¯ Normally, when the new mistress came to a noble family, the rtives who lived nearby came to introduce themselves. They would use the chance to use all kinds of schemes to turn thedy¡¯s keys in the direction they wanted. Rubica¡¯s little fairy didn¡¯t appear to be one of them, but judging from where she was sitting, she wasn¡¯t a rtive who lived nearby. She was one of the lodgers who lived in the mansion¡¯s outbuildings. The lodgers woulde to meet the new duchess to win her favor and continue to livefortably as members of the family. ¡®Naturally, don¡¯t get impatient. Slowly.¡¯ The timid fairy could fly away if Rubica was even slightly eager about her. So, Rubica decided to wait for the fairy toe to her first. *** When the feast was about toe to an end, Rubica was taken to the duchess¡¯s chamber. She had slept therest night, so she didn¡¯t find the room that unfamiliar. However, unlike yesterday, one of the walls had vanished. On the other side of the missing wall, there was a firece, a sofa, a desk and bookshelves. Rubica hoped her bad feelings were wrong as she asked Ann, ¡°That side is?¡± ¡°That is His Grace¡¯s room.¡± Oh no, she had been right. She could barely stop her hand from sweating hard. ¡°But if my memory is correct, there was a wall between the two rooms.¡± ¡°Oh, right. I forgot to exin.¡± Ann went to the side of the wall and pointed at the cupid curved on it. ¡°The wall will close when you press the left eye. Pressing the right eye will make the wall disappear.¡± It was good. Rubica decided to tell Edgar to press the cupid¡¯s left eye, bring back the wall, and sleep in their separate rooms as soon as he came in. ¡°Thank you for letting me know, Ann.¡± ¡°... um, madam.¡± Ann couldn¡¯t hold it anymore. She said what she had to say. ¡°Why do you talk like that to His Grace? I am sorry for saying this, but it might make the rtives look down on him. says you should speak respectfully to your husband to show your respect. It is for his honor.¡± Rubica had seen that questioning. She had known both Edgar and the others would question her for that. ¡°Ann, if there¡¯s such a thing as honor that can only exist if the husband talks down to the wife and the wife talks respectfully to the husband, it would only be fragile. It is written in the holy book of Hue that husband and wife are equals. It does not say the wife should speak politely to the husband and the husband should speak impolitely to the wife. Hue¡¯s priest also said husband and wife have the right to call each other as they want.¡± It was something Rubica had learned during her time at the abbey. Mentioning the gods made most people shut their mouths. Moreover, the Kingdom of Seritos had an especially deep faith, probably because of its bad natural environment. And she was right, Ann seemed she had a lot to say, but when Rubica talked about god, she nodded. ¡°When did you have such a deep conversation?¡± Ann was even deeply impressed as she thought the both of them had agreed on that. She knew Edgar. He would never let Rubica talk like that to him without reaching an agreement together. It was as if the sun wasing up from the west. Edgar dly letting Rubica talk to him like that? He was deeply in love with her. It was an undeniable truth. ¡°Yes, husband and wife should be close more than anything...¡± Just when Ann was about to say more, they heard Jennie¡¯s voice. ¡°The bath is ready.¡± ¡°Oh, yes. Madam, you should prepare to take a bath.¡± The maids hurried to help her take the clothes off. When the ribbon that had been tying her red hair was finally gone, she felt so happy. She went into the tub filled with warm water right away. ¡°Madam, is the water at the right temperature?¡± ¡°It is perfect.¡± ¡°Oh, you must be very tired. We¡¯ve added grinded grapefruit peel to the water. It will make you feel fresh. We also added a little bit of lotus flower incense that can only be made at Ansen Abbey and fig tree oil.¡± ¡°Uh-huh.¡± Rubica was drunk on the pleasant scent and almost fell asleep. Jennie thought exining more would be no good, so she started to quietly massage Rubica¡¯s shoulders. Her shoulders had been suffering all day under the weight of the heavy essories. ¡®Oh, I almost dozed off.¡¯ None of the things added to the water would make someone sleepy, but Jennie almost dozed off while massaging Rubica. ¡®Well, there has been many things today, from the wedding to the feast. Both she and I have good reasons to be tired.¡¯ Jennie massaged Rubica¡¯s head, thought for a second, and lightly dipped a bit of musk to the water. Musk was an excitant, but when used too much, it gave its own damp smell. It had to be used in the smallest quantity to bring the right mood without letting the two know what it was about. ¡°Well, all done.¡± Jennie and the other maids brought huge towels to dry Rubica. Next, Ann gave to Jennie Rubica¡¯s nightdress, but Jennie was confused when seeing it. ¡°Mrs. Taylor, this is...¡± It wasn¡¯t a small or thin dress right for the honeymoon. Instead, it was an ordinary linen dress. ¡°It¡¯s still March, the night is cold.¡± ¡°But...¡± Ann had concluded that wearing a dress that would expose too much of Rubica¡¯s body wouldn¡¯t be good for her health as she was pregnant. However, she couldn¡¯t say that to Jennie. She had no choice but to put on the most serious and strict expression she could make. ¡°Just help her wear it.¡± ¡°Yes, Mrs. Taylor.¡± Rubica dly weed the linen nightdress. She was worried that she might be given a see-through dress for her honeymoon. Therefore, she happily wore the soft linen dress that made her feel good. Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Chapter 36

¡°Then please, have a good time.¡± Soon the maids, including Ann and Jennie, left the chamber at once. When they were all gone and Rubica was alone, she quickly opened the second drawer of the chest next to the bed. ¡®Thank the gods, it¡¯s here.¡¯ She put her hand between the gloves piled up inside the drawer, and she could feel Arman¡¯s blue ring. Touching the cold stone made her finally rx. ¡®It would be better to get a box or something to put it in. Should I try to find a candy box?¡¯ She suddenly yawned. She closed the drawer and rubbed her eyes. The bed covered with soft silk tempted her, but she didn¡¯t lie on it and headed to the duke¡¯s chamber instead. ¡®This will be the first and thest time the wall will be opened, so I should look around here now.¡¯ She fought her own eyelids that kepting down against her will and looked around the duke¡¯s chamber. Unlike the duchess¡¯ chamber that was decorated splendidly, the duke¡¯s chamber was too simple. ¡®Is this the duke¡¯s private study? I think his bedchamber is not directly linked to here. That¡¯s good. Hmm, should I take a look at the study first?¡¯ She took a quick tour around the room and headed to the mahogany desk. He probably worked even when he rested there, as there were ruler, ink, and pen on it. He probably had mysophobia or something. Everything was in the right order, including the white paper. Rubica was about to move on when she spotted a word written on it. ¡®Ste.¡¯ One small word was written on the corner of the paper. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Hup!¡± Rubica was startled at hearing Edgar¡¯s voice so suddenly. He was leaning against the wall and was looking at her. She hadn¡¯t known he woulde so quickly. Most bridegrooms drank on and on with the guests till it waste at night. Her hair hadn¡¯t fully dried yet and he was here already? ¡°Just looking around.¡± ¡°Looking around?¡± ¡°I was a little curious...¡± A corner of Edgar¡¯s lips curled up. ¡°You¡¯re curious about me?¡± ¡°No, of course not!¡± The corner of his lips went down, a little below its usual ce. ¡°I was just wondering at which shop this mahogany desk was made.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Edgar shrugged as if saying he could understand that. ¡°Your father was a merchant, I see.¡± He said that without giving much thought to it. However, Rubica¡¯s face turned red. Only then did he realize how what he just said must have sounded to her. ¡®You¡¯re wondering the price of a piece of furniture the second you arrive here? Typical daughter of a merchant.¡¯ He really didn¡¯t mean that. However, even he himself had to acknowledge that he had no right to think it was unfair because of the words he had said and the things he had done. ¡®... I should just not say anything.¡¯ He couldn¡¯t think of a way to escape from the awkward mood, but he knew how not to make it even worse. It was to shut his mouth that blurted out things without much consideration. With a firm expression, he took off his jacket and vest. Then, he started to undo the buttons of his sleeves. ¡°Ugh! What are you doing!¡± It was the first time he learned there was a way to make things even worse without saying anything. Rubica pressed herself on the wall and shrieked. It could have made the servants and maids waiting outsidee in. ¡°What am I doing? Preparing to take a bath.¡± ¡°Take, take a bath?¡± Rubica calmed her startled heart and looked at Edgar up and down. He was still wearing the suit he had worn during the wedding, unlike Rubica who had taken a bath and was now in her nightdress. ¡°Then just go to the bathroom and do it there!¡± ¡°You want me to take off my clothes in the bathroom?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°But there¡¯s no ce to put my clothes there.¡± Edgar innocently replied to her. Rubica was so shocked that she had to take a deep breath. How could heck so muchmon sense? But it had to be hismon sense. ¡®Young master who has been served by others for all his life.¡¯ To think about it, he had taken off his jacket and vest quite awkwardly. His fingers slipped off often as he undid the buttons. Rubicaughed at seeing Edgar, the cold man without blood, behave so awkwardly. ¡°Did you justugh?¡± Edgar recovered his coldness and asked her, but Rubica didn¡¯t care. She went up to the bed and grabbed Edgar¡¯s nightwear on it. Then, she started to exin nicely as if she was talking to a new patient who had juste to the abbey. ¡°Take this to the bathroom, hang it on the hook next to the door, and leave the door slightly open. Take off the clothes you are wearing now and leave them outside the door. It would be even better if you put them neatly on one side after the bath.¡± ¡°What are you...¡± ¡°Oh, and do you know how to turn on the water?¡± Edgar frowned his beautiful eyebrows. He was mad with Rubica for treating him like an idiot. ¡°... I know that much. I know where the soap is and where my usual perfume is as well.¡± ¡°Oh, good.¡± Edgar replied angrily, took his nightwear, and went to the bathroom. His shirt and pants were dropped through the slightly open door. Soon, Rubica could hear the sound of the water. ¡®At least he is notpletely hopeless.¡¯ She shrugged and sat down on the bed. The bed was wide enough for five people to lie on it. Whatever it was filled with, it made it so fluffy. She was tired, and she felt sleepy again while yawning. ¡®Well, I guess I¡¯ll look around the duke¡¯s chamberter.¡¯ It looked like there was no reason to see it now. Edgar was a busy man. He would probably leave the mansion for meetings and things, so Rubica would be able to use such an opportunity to take her time to look around the chamber. ¡®Oh, I must tell him we should sleep separately.¡¯ However, Edgar¡¯s bath was not going to be finished for some time and she was getting sleepier and sleepier. She eventuallyid down in the middle of the bed. Then she fell fast asleep without even thinking of covering herself with the duvet. She did worry about Edgar still taking the bath, but well, he must have so many women around him, why would he mess up with me? She just thought like that and went to sleep. *** Rubica spotted her shabby dress and quickly checked her wrinkled hands. She hade back to reality. ¡°That was the strangest dream I¡¯ve ever had.¡¯ It had been a strange dream about getting proposed by Duke ymore who practically controlled the continent. How could she have had such a ridiculous dream? ¡°Oh, right. I don¡¯t have time to waste.¡± She picked up her basket and went to the nearby strawberry bush. Then, she picked strawberries and put them in the basket. She had found that bush a little while ago. She hade here for Arman who loved strawberries even though she had almost no time to spare. He would be delighted if she returned with a basket full of strawberries. ¡°Rubica.¡± Then, she heard Arman¡¯s voice who was panting and sweating hard. Rubica was surprised to see him like that. ¡°Arman, has something happened? What...¡± ¡°I had a bad dream.¡± Arman came to her and hugged her. She dropped her basket and the strawberries scattered on the ground. However, she didn¡¯t want to pick them up again. She just leaned against Arman¡¯s chest. ¡°I also had a strange dream, Arman.¡± She rubbed her face on his chest. It felt so good. It felt so soft. She had dreamed to be in his arms like that for such a long time. ¡°Listen to me.¡± Rubica looked up and met Arman¡¯s foggy eyes. He then hugged her even tighter. The sound of the beating heart reached her ears. She decided to be brave. The thing she had wanted to say so much but hadn¡¯t, she had to say it before it was toote. Maybe she had had that dream because she needed to realize that. ¡°You see.¡± Rubica was about to continue but then flinched. The position of Arman¡¯s hand was a little strange. It was on part of Rubica¡¯s body that wasn¡¯t her butt but was almost at the start of it. Arman was a careful man. As he couldn¡¯t see, he had a habit of checking more than once when holding hands lest he touched the wrong part of the other person¡¯s body. ¡®Huh?¡¯ It was the first time Rubica was in his arms, but his scent wasn¡¯t unfamiliar. Thinking about it, the hands were thicker and stronger than Arman¡¯s hands which she had known for a long time. Yes, this fresh scent like that of the forest. This scent belongs to... ¡®Duke ymore!¡¯ At that moment, her closed eyes snapped open. Then she saw the expensive linen nightwear right in front of her while her head felt heavy. Someone had his nose in her hair. Yes, the man holding her tightly now wasn¡¯t the Arman of her dream but Edgar from her real life. And where his hands had reached was... Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Chapter 37

¡°Ugh!¡± Her feet moved faster than her hands. Rubica instinctively kicked Edgar¡¯s stomach. He had been sleepingfortably next to her, so he was off guard when he was kicked. The smooth silk duvet made him fall even faster. When he opened his eyes, he had already fallen out of the bed. He held back a shriek of pain only because of thest bit of his pride. He grabbed his aching stomach and stood up. ¡°You took things way too far.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the one who should say that!¡± Rubica also jumped to her feet and yelled. She huffed and puffed while ring at him. He had hugged her while she was sleeping without asking for permission. In addition to that, his hands had been in the wrong ce. ¡°... you could have talked about it. Was kicking me necessary?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who hugged me without asking for my opinion!¡± Rubica pointed a finger at him and his anger faded a little as he indeed had felt a little guilty about it. ¡°I couldn¡¯t ask because you were sleeping.¡± ¡°But this bed is huge! Why did you have to lie right next to me?¡± Why? Edgar frowned. He had his own reason, although he didn¡¯t know if that would be enough to convince Rubica. *** When Edgar came out of the bathroom after taking a bath and using the perfume he normally used for sleeping well, he wanted to talk with Rubica and take care of the misunderstandings she had about him. However, he found her sleeping soundly on the bed. He was disappointed, but he didn¡¯t feel like waking her up. Moreover, he couldn¡¯t keep standing there either. He was just as much tired as her. So, heid down on the corner of the bed far from her. However, although he was tired, he couldn¡¯t close his eyes. He couldn¡¯t fall asleep. ¡®Why is it so hard to refuse her?¡¯ That question dominated him. She wasn¡¯t that much special. Still, she bothered him. Was it about his curse? Edgar turned to look at her. ¡®Has a trace of magic or curse remained?¡¯ There were very few sorcerers and they were all frauds. Most rational people didn¡¯t believe in magic. However, Edgar wasn¡¯t one of them. He had been truly cursed, and she was the key to break the curse. There could be some kind of lead, so he decided to study her. ¡®Pretty, but ordinary.¡¯ Her eyshes were not long nor slightly lifted like those of a cat. They were just at the right length and her eyes were mild. She didn¡¯t have the white and pale skin like marble that was praised these days. Her skin was in the color of milk. She had rich hair, but it was just ordinary auburn hair. In short, she had no distinctive feature. ¡®Why on earth did I do that during the wedding?¡¯ Edgar didn¡¯t like society. It was because of the people who lunged at him like a horde of bulls. They invited him to balls without asking for his opinion, and when he didn¡¯t go, they were disappointed. They wanted to dance with him and even tried to kiss him. There were so many people who came after him even after he made it clear he didn¡¯t want that. No matter how much he said he didn¡¯t like it, they said it couldn¡¯t be what he really meant and that he actually liked it. Love? Affection? He couldn¡¯t hate them more. ¡®Then why did I do the same thing to her...¡¯ Rubica clearly wasn¡¯t beautiful like him. He looked at her and chanted. This woman is only an ordinary woman. Women like her are everywhere. There¡¯s nothing special about her. There is no need to babble that he wanted to kiss her. He then started to examine her to give validity to that. ¡®Her milky skin is better than the pale, white skin. It looks healthier.¡¯ The mild eyes that were closed now were very cute when she smiled. Moreover, her rich hair smelled quite pleasant. Her waist he had touched briefly during the wedding was soft. Her hands were warm enough to melt even his frozen heart. ¡®Those hands... do they remain warm even when she sleeps?¡¯ By the time he wondered that, he had already moved to take one of her hands. He was right, it was warm. He gently touched it then put it on his cheek. Bum, bum, bum. He had spoken to Carl and had taken medication. But strangely, he could hear his heart beating hard so clearly. Why was it doing it? He didn¡¯t know why, and it tormented him. ¡®She smells sweet.¡¯ He had felt that scent when they kissed. ¡°Umm.¡± Then, Rubica moved. Edgar was startled as he thought she was waking up. She probably didn¡¯t feelfortable and turned to Edgar. ¡°Hup!¡± Then she found her way to his arms and rubbed her cheek on his chest. His heart sank. He couldn¡¯t think straight and sweat ran down his back. If Rubica hade to assassinate him, she was using the right method. He almost got a heart attack... ¡°Huu...¡± He took a deep breath and managed to calm down his heart beating hard and fast. He wondered for a moment if he should push her away and sleep in the far corner of the bed. He looked down to see how she was. Then, he saw her wearing a small and soft smile she had never shown before. At that moment, he spontaneously pressed his lips on her forehead. He didn¡¯t know why he did that, but when her smile remained after he kissed her forehead, he felt pretty good. The muscles around his lips rxed. ¡°Umm.¡± Was it because he had backed off a little to look at her face? Rubica muttered something again and snuggled into his arms. He froze like a stone and stayed like that for a moment. Why, why on earth is she doing this? Is she really sleeping? Is she pretending to be asleep? What if she is actually awake? More than a hundred thoughts crossed his mind. Edgar had never had a math problem he couldn¡¯t solve, but this time, he couldn¡¯t find the answer. But... he smiled as Rubica rubbed her cheek on his chest. Her hair moved as she moved, and he could smell that sweet scent he had enjoyed when they kissed. ¡°Is it ufortable?¡± He thought she might be awake and carefully asked. Actually, he hoped her to be awake, but no answer came. Sadly, she appeared to be really sleeping. Edgar asked again with thest bit of hope. ¡°Are you cold?¡± ¡°Umm.¡± She muttered something in return. ¡°Yes, you must be cold. It must be why you are doing this?¡± He was sure now. He stretched out his long arms and hugged her tightly. Then, he tightly pressed their bodies together. He could feel her warmth and the beat of her heart. Bum bum, unlike his heart that seemed to be malfunctioning, her heart was so calm... Edgar buried his face in her hair. He found Rubica¡¯s unique scent even within the scent of the oil that had been applied to her hair. The sweet smell that matched her milky skin. Edgar was drunk with that pleasant smell and the beat of her heart. He fell asleep before the weak but strange smell could go through his nose and reach his brain. *** And when he woke up, he was already on the floor. The woman who had been smiling in his arms was gone. There remained a woman with a red face who was yelling, ¡°Why! This bed is huge, why on earth were you sleeping right next to me?¡±. ¡®You came to me first. You buried your face in my chest, rubbed your face on it, and answered my question with a smile!¡¯ Edgar really wanted to say that, but even he had to admit that it wasn¡¯t convincing at all. Counting what she muttered while sleeping as an answer... well, it was not right. ¡°... it was cold.¡± ¡°Then wear more clothes!¡± Rubica was now shaking her finger at him. He realized going on and on with that fight would do him no good, so he gave up on convincing her. ¡°Ha, okay. I apologize for doing that without your permission.¡± He appeared to be regretting it which weakened Rubica¡¯s anger. She sat on the bed again while Edgar sat on the corner. Then, Rubica red at him. ¡°Why did you sit down? Go to your room over there and sleep.¡± ¡°Go to my room and sleep?¡± Rubica had nned to discuss this after Edgar finished taking his bath, but she had fallen asleep. Therefore, she decided to make it clear now. ¡°This is the duchess¡¯s chamber, my chamber, and that is the duke¡¯s chamber, your chamber. It is only a paper marriage, so there¡¯s no need to share a bed. I¡¯ll sleep here, so you go and sleep on your bed.¡± Edgar sighed, and he wished he could grant her request. ¡°There is no bed in my chamber.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Really.¡± Rubica jumped to her feet and ran to Edgar¡¯s room. Then, she opened every door it had. Bathroom, toilet, conference room with a small table and chairs, dressing room. There was even a room for prayers, but there wasn¡¯t a room with afy bed. The only ce he could rest was the study linked to Rubica¡¯s chamber that had a desk, a firece, and a sofa. The duke¡¯s chamber was only half the size of the duchess¡¯s chamber? Rubica was more than shocked. She didn¡¯t know how to ept her new reality. Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Chapter 38

¡°Where¡¯s your bedroom?¡± ¡°The duke¡¯s chamber has no bedroom.¡± ¡°No way. You must have slept here before I came. Where did the bed go?¡± Edgar was offended for Rubica treating him like a trickster. Really, it had nothing to do with him. ¡°There has never been a bed in that chamber ever since this mansion was built.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Then where did you sleep till now?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been sleeping here ever since I became the duke. The duchess¡¯ chamber is the duke¡¯s bedroom.¡± Rubica put her hand on her forehead. Most mansions of the aristocrats had separate quarters for the master and the mistress, and they could live without having to see each other. Thedy¡¯s quarters included the bedroom and sitting room to invite close friends, and the man¡¯s quarters normally included the bedroom, small study, and reception room. Moreover, Rubica had checked the duchess¡¯ quarters had indeed been made following that rule. However, Duke ymore¡¯s quarters had no bedroom, and the duchess¡¯ chamber was the duke¡¯s bedroom. She really couldn¡¯t understand that. ¡°Okay. Then as we have no other option today, I¡¯ll sleep here right at the end of the bed. You sleep at the left end. Let¡¯s sleep apart. I will also ask Ann to put a bed in your chamber in the morning.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t do that.¡± As Edgar replied, he was worried that Rubica¡¯s eyes might pop out because of her anger and shock. ¡°Why? Why we can¡¯t do that?¡± ¡°Duke ymore the first said husband and wife should sleep together. Never put a bed in the duke¡¯s chamber. This is my will and it should never be broken. This mansion was built ording to his will and I cannot break a tradition that is centuries old.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t hold back her anger and punched the pillow. ¡°Stupid ymore!¡± ¡°You¡¯re a ymore too now.¡± What he said to make her calm down only made her face turn even redder. He had provoked her, but he didn¡¯t know what he was supposed to do to calm her down. ¡°I am not happy about that will either. But rx, I will keep the promise we made...¡± ¡°You hugged me while I was sleeping, how can I ever trust you?¡± ¡®You came into my arms first!¡¯ Edgar wanted to yell that, but he didn¡¯t. It looked like Rubica would immediately smash the bed in two if he said that. Also, he had taken what she had muttered in her sleep as the consent to hug her. Even he had to acknowledge it had been wrong. Why on earth had he done that... he didn¡¯t know. He even wanted to ask Rubica what she had done to him. ¡°This is our honeymoon, so I have no choice but to stay here. However, starting from tomorrow, I will stay here only till midnight and then go to the resting room next to my office. It has a sofarge enough for me to lie on.¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯s a good idea.¡± It made Rubica instantly brighten up. He had seeded in raising her mood, but now, he wasn¡¯t feeling that good. Is this something to be that delighted about? Is sleeping next to me that unpleasant? ¡°But do you have to stay here till midnight? Can¡¯t you go there straight and sleep there?¡± Rubica even took a step further and made him feel even worse. It was clearly shown on his face, but as the light in the room left long ago, Rubica didn¡¯t notice it. ¡°If I do that on the next day of our wedding, what would people think?¡± ¡°They would think we had a fight.¡± Rubica answered innocently. Edgar wanted to punch his own heart. How could this woman be so carefree? ¡°Six months, I will do that only for six months. After that, I will do as you want.¡± ¡°...¡± Rubica thought about it. She wanted to break the rtionship with Edgar immediately, but it looked like he would not let her do that. If the duke started to sleep in his office right on the next day of the wedding, it could drag too much attention. Rtives who woulde to meet her would want to know why. They would keep questioning her. Just thinking about it made her tired. It would be better to look like they naturally fell apart after six months. ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll do that only for six months.¡± ¡°But are you going to keep talking to me like that?¡± Rubica nodded while yawning, and Edgar immediately brought her a cup of water. How did he realize she was thirsty? Rubica was confused, but she still drank the water. ¡°Rubica, what would people think if you keep talking like that to me?¡± ¡°They would think it is good, that is what people said at the feast...¡± ¡°Of course, they said so to you!¡± Edgar red at her with anger. Rubica pretended not to notice it and covered herself with the duvet. Was it because she had woken up while having a good sleep? She was still too sleepy. ¡°Then do you want me to call you Your Grace and speak politely to you?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then I will not change anything. If you really want me to speak politely to you but call you by your name, I suggest you go to the king and ask to change your title from Your Grace to Edgar.¡¯ Edgar was so shocked that he stared at her. It was almost as if she was sleep talking as she could barely keep her eyes opened. He sighed. ¡°... just call me Edgar.¡± ¡°Okay, Edgar.¡± He surrendered while Rubica smiled. Edgar¡¯s heart fluttered. She was clearly going to continue ignoring him, so why wasn¡¯t he offended? He rather feltfortable as if he was taking a nap on a sunny hill. ¡°But Rubica, why do you speak so politely to Ann, Carl, and even the maids when you speak like that to me?¡± ¡°Because they speak politely to me.¡± Rubica rubbed her eyes as she replied. ¡°But they are your inferiors.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care about that. They speak politely to me anyway. I just treat people in the way they treat me. I speak politely to those who speak to me politely and respect me. And as you scold me and mock me, I will treat you in the way you deserve.¡± ¡°But you also...¡± ¡°Have I ever kissed you without asking your opinion? Have I ever hugged you while you were sleeping without your permission?¡± Edgar shut his mouth as he could say nothing. He wasn¡¯t that bad at fighting with words. He even convinced Rubica perfectly when they first met. However, he couldn¡¯t ignore what she said. It might sound like she was being stubborn, but it made sense. It was even fair. Of course, he could have used the authority he had as the husband and the duke to force her into doing as he wanted. However, she wasn¡¯t the kind of person who would submit to that. And more than anything, Edgar feared to see her hurt expression. ¡®... fear? I fear?¡¯ Edgar looked at Rubica. It was so strange. This woman was nothing, why am I so scared? ¡°Rubica, as we have started discussing this, let¡¯s talk about physical contact now.¡± And why is my mouth talking on its own? ¡°No, no contact. No.¡± Rubica shook her head under the duvet. ¡°But we held hands together in front of the people. You even linked your arm with mine first.¡± ¡°That much is...¡± Rubica thought about it, fighting her own closing eyelids. ¡°Okay.¡± Without realizing it, Edgar clenched his right fist. He had passed one. ¡°And about kissing...¡± ¡°No! Never!¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking about the kiss we had during the wedding. We kiss each other¡¯s forehead or cheek to share blessings given by the priests on New Year¡¯s Day or on Harvest Day. You cannot prohibit even that. Even married couples on a bad rtionship sometimes kiss on the forehead to announce there¡¯s nothing wrong with the family. And...¡± What Edgar said made its way to Rubica¡¯s ears. It made sense. Families kissed each other¡¯s forehead to share the joy on Harvest Day. Even she had done that from time to time. Even Martin Berner kissed her forehead, as they were family, and Rubica had kissed Ang¡¯s forehead to share the blessing with her. ¡°Fine, then on the forehead or cheek...¡± Her voice got smaller and smaller. Edgar quickly added, ¡°And on your hand!¡± ¡°... okay, but not on my lips.¡± He had convinced her this far. He wetted his lips to proceed to the next step. Please let her buy my words. He spoke as naturally as possible to hide that he was nervous. ¡°And about embracing.¡± ¡°No... yawn...¡± ¡°But even a man and woman who are not lovers embrace each other if they are friends.¡± ¡°... yes, they do.¡± ¡°We are married, so we are family now. I think we can embrace each other when Ie home after a long trip...¡± Rubica was already half asleep. She then muttered, ¡°We got married because we had no choice. Yes, I forgot... to ask you that. Why did you... propose to me?¡± ¡°... I will tell you thatter.¡± ¡°Hmm, then no embracing.¡± Edgar gulped hard. In that short moment, many words and emotions swirled in his mind and heart. Truth and lie, pride and eagerness, reason and desire. Desire was the strongest among them. ¡°Rubica, this all has happened because of my messenger¡¯s mistake, but when I proposed to you first, I wanted to be family with you.¡± Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Family. That word changed Rubica¡¯s expression just a little. Although they hadn¡¯t spent much time together, Edgar was sure of one thing. She had pped him, cursed him, and even kicked him, but she wasn¡¯t harsh. In the end, he secretly gave up on the pride he had believed he would never abandon for the sake of desire. ¡°I wish to have at least one person to give me a weing embrace when Ie home.¡± Rubica frowned. Actually, she didn¡¯t want to have such a loving family with Edgar. She wanted to get divorced, anyway. Nevertheless, Edgar was right about her not being harsh. She recalled that Edgar had lost his parents and his nurse on the same day three years ago in a carriage ident. And that Ann showed pity within love, calling him ¡®Eddie¡¯... Maybe this man is pretending to be cold but is actually lonely. Thinking so, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to say no. Edgar read that hesitation and his lips started to move busily. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be a wife¡¯s embrace. Just embrace me as you would embrace a friend.¡± Friend... well, they were going to stay together for 3~4 years. Rubica thought it wouldn¡¯t be bad to embrace him from time to time as friends do. ¡°Umm... okay, you can... um, do that...¡± However, before she could speak of the detailed terms that hugging while sleeping and putting a hand on the wrong part of her body was not okay, she eventually surrendered to tiredness and fell asleep. ¡°Rubica, and, um... Rubica?¡± Edgar repeatedly called her name, but he could only hear the sound of her breathing. He sighed andid on one end of the bed to sleep. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn¡¯t close his eyes. He had fallen asleep so easily when he had Rubica in his arms... ¡°Rubica.¡± He called her again, and no answer came in return. Instead, Rubica¡¯s sweet scent found him. It reminded him of her warm hands. As his body was rtively cold, grabbing Rubica¡¯s hand warmed him up. ¡°... she said holding hands was fine.¡± Edgar justified himself again and inched to Rubica like a butterfly bewitched by the scent of a flower. Then, he took her hand. Just as he had thought, it was warm. He grabbed her hand with one hand and stroked her hair with the other. She was sound asleep and didn¡¯t even move. The sweet scent was now even stronger, probably because he was closer now. The hair, it smells so sweet and warm. Was it because of her milky-white skin? She smelled just like warm milk. I want to hug her. I want to bury my face in her soft hair again, but he hesitated for a moment. She had just punished him with a kick for hugging her without permission. But... ¡°But she just gave me permission, she said hugging was fine.¡± Yes, she had gotten mad because he had hugged her without getting her permission, and she had just given him the permission, so it was okay now. He reached the conclusion he wanted, took a deep breath, and quietly pulled Rubica to his side. Again, she didn¡¯t react. He carefully lifted her shoulder to put her face on his chest. When the breath she exhaled was felt on his chest, his reason left him. In the end, he held her tight, buried his face in her hair and was left drunken in her scent. She felt so soft that he feared he might break her. Her breath tickled his chest. Even though they had been apart for a short while, he desperately missed that scent. Edgar felt the scent he wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy after dawn. And at the end of that sweet scent, a strange smell attached itself to it, went through his nose and reached his brain. Seductive, so seductive. It felt like the tip of a soft brush was tickling him. The next moment, he was startled and detached Rubica away from himself. He didn¡¯t push her only because hisst rational thought warned him that it might wake her up. He just couldn¡¯t believe it, so he wriggled his hair. His body, that should have stirred, had stirred. He had metdies who leaned on him or rubbed one¡¯s body on his from time to time during balls, but he had never stirred at that. But this time, it was different. Rubica hadn¡¯t even done anything to him. She was just sleeping... just sleeping, but he stirred. He even willingly went to her, hugged her, and enjoyed her smell. ¡®I must be crazy.¡¯ Yes, he had to be crazy. He jumped to his feet and took ap around the duke¡¯s chamber and the duchess¡¯ chamber. Luckily, the cold air slowly calmed his body down. He took a small console chair and sat down next to the bed. Then, he stared at the sleeping Rubica. Ordinary. She looked nice but ordinary. She was a very ordinary woman. There were manydies more elegant and fashionable than her. Yes, it all had to be a coincidence. There couldn¡¯t be any rtion between the physical change that had just happened to him and Rubica. ¡®Is it because I took the flu medicine with champagne instead of water?¡¯ He hadn¡¯t drunk water at the wedding and the feast as he had talked about it with Carl in advance. He drank champagne instead when he felt thirsty. He decided to ask the schrs of the academy to study the wrong symptoms for taking the flu medicine and champagne together. It might look quite foolish to others, but it was important to him. Concluding it was all because of the medicine and champagne made him feel much morefortable. He lightly stroked Rubica¡¯s face. It must have felt good as her lips curled up, and his lips moved along with them. He couldn¡¯t be a beast feeling that kind of desire for such a cute woman. ¡®It¡¯s cold.¡¯ The night was still cold. His thin nightgown wasn¡¯t made for such cold air, and he started to feel sleepy. He couldn¡¯t keep sitting next to the bed. Eventually, he went back under the duvet. The duvet made of fluffy swan feather and goose feather felt so pleasant. However, he felt something was missing. When he had fallen asleep earlier, something had filled him entirely, and now that important something, that would make him sleep well, was missing. ¡®... strange. I am under the duvet now, so why do I still feel hollow? Is it because I¡¯m cold?¡¯ Suddenly, he was worried about Rubica. If he was feeling such hollowness, she must be feeling worse. Maybe she had found her way into his arms earlier because of the cold. When he thought of that, he decided there was no reason to hesitate more. Again, he pulled Rubica to his side to hug her. When her pleasant scent tickled his nose... his sleep went away. His body reacted again. ¡®It¡¯s a side effect of the flu medicine and champagne. It has nothing to do with her. If I push her away, the cold might make her have a nightmare.¡¯ He muttered to himself. When she moved, he was startled and checked if she was feeling ufortable. He rubbed her fingers and kissed her forehead. It made the lower part of his body react every time, but he med the flu medicine for all that and kept holding her tightly. He didn¡¯t sleep a wink all night. *** Faint light started toe in through the windows. Edgar looked at Rubica¡¯s face illuminated by the blue light of dusk with sleepy eyes. He had failed to sleep at all. On the other hand, the woman next to him was sleeping so soundly. He knew it could only be that way, but it still felt somehow unfair. Then, he heard something rolling up to the chamber. ¡®Carl.¡¯ He knew what that sound was and smiled bitterly. It was time to leave Rubica. He felt so bad to think that it could have been thest night they spent together. He forced his stiff body to get up and used his arms to reach the end of the bed. When he put his feet on the floor, he heard three knocks on the door. It was definitely Carl. His butler didn¡¯t wait to take out his bundle of keys to open the door as if he knew everything. At the same time, he tried putting weight on his feet to stand up. Nevertheless, he helplessly fell on the floor. He didn¡¯t panic as it was only normal. However, the sliver of hope flew away like a leaking balloon. ¡°Your Grace!¡± Carl urgently called him and was about to push the wheelchair into the room. ¡°Don¡¯t bring that hideous thing here!¡± Edgar, who was pitifully on the floor, looked up and exploded in anger that he had been holding back. Carl quietly left the wheelchair near the door and came to Edgar as he was desperately trying to stand up. Then, he quickly helped him to get up. ¡°The paralysis hase up to your knees.¡± Edgar didn¡¯t say anything to that. He breathed hard and started to take each step. Carl felt endless pity at seeing that. His master hadn¡¯t always been like this. He had been a man who could freely walk and run. Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Chapter 40

¡°Apparently the marriage wasn¡¯t enough to break the curse, Your Grace.¡± ¡°... I never expected it would be broken so easily.¡± Edgar reached the door and got in the wheelchair with Carl¡¯s help. The servant, who had been guarding the door, was now on the floor, drooling. Normally, such a thing would have never happened. ¡°I added sleeping drought to the water given out at the feast, so everyone is sleeping soundly. You don¡¯t have to worry.¡± ¡°You always handle things perfectly.¡± Carl tidied where Edgar had been lying on and closed the door. Edgar bitterly watched Rubica as the door was closed. How would she react if she found out her husband was a cursed monster? ¡°Then we should go, Your Grace. I¡¯ve checked already, no one is awake.¡± Edgar nodded, and Carl started to pull the wheelchair. From the duke¡¯s chamber to his office where no one could get in while he was working. He smiled bitterly as he looked at the faint lights of the early morninging through the windows of the corridor. How long had it been since he had passed through that corridor in bright daylight... He enjoyed the fresh air of dusk and closed his eyes. Then, he could hear the curse that had made him what he was now. It was so clear as if it had happened only yesterday. -You will never walk again under the sunlight. The nymph whom he used to call mother had cursed him so. ¡°Your Grace, I¡¯ve given out strict orders not toe in here while you are working, as usual.¡± ¡°And don¡¯t forget you should bring my meal yourself.¡± ¡°Okay, as the dinner is after the sunset, it would be better to go to the dining hall. Or Her Grace will think it is strange.¡± ¡°Yes. They will all start doubting if I avoid her too much.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t worry, I will take care of it.¡± There were only two people who knew his secret. The emperor and Edgar¡¯s butler Carl. The two tried their best to help Edgar meet people only after sunset. ¡°What about the documents I have to take care of today?¡± ¡°They are all on the desk.¡± ¡°Good. Carl, then tell the other servants I came to the office early because I had lots to do.¡± ¡°Yes, I will bring your breakfast.¡± Carl bowed and left the room. Soon Edgar could hear him locking the door with the key from outside. It was to prevent others froming in. Edgar scolded himself who looked so perfect in every way but was so miserable. He went to therge desk in the middle of the room that let out the light smell of rose. It was fortunate for him that the ymore Family wasn¡¯t either a knight family nor a ruling family. All he had to do was to stay in his office and do research. Edgar looked at the documents he had to read for some time and shook his head. Then he opened the first drawer of the desk and took out a small jewelry box. He felt its edge with his long, white fingers. He had opened it and touched it so many times that its edges were so smooth. He thought about it for a moment and flipped the lid open. Inside was a piece of paper with a woman¡¯s name on it. It had been a week ago. The blue ring suddenly vanished and was reced by that piece of paper... he had wondered if it had been robbed for a short time, but it couldn¡¯t have been what had happened as he had kept it by his side all the time. And the note¡¯s handwriting... surprisingly, it was his own. ¡°Rubica Berner.¡± Edgar called the name on that piece of paper and recalled the past. It had been three years and three days ago when he had been 22 years old. *** Perfect, could there be a better adjective to describe Edgar Taylor yd Windmore? He had been born perfect. Perfect looks, perfect brain, and perfect parents. The only thing hecked wascking in something. Abundance was full around him, and it was as if brilliant sunlight was always on him. Moreover, Edgar loved and looked up to his parents the most. He left the Kingdom of Seritos at the age of 12 and studied hard at Aron¡¯s Academy to live up to his father¡¯s reputation. ¡°You are a ymore indeed.¡± Professors would say that when they got his wless answer sheets. He never failed to be the top of his ss and kept skipping grades. He graduated from the Academy in histe teenage years. By the age of 20, he became the Academy¡¯s official member and was preparing his thesis. He aplished what others aplished at around 30 the fastest when he was only 20. ¡°Eddie.¡± A few days before the examination of hisst thesis, Duchess ymore came from the far-away Seritos Kingdom. Her blond hair and jewel-like blue eyes were beautiful enough to draw everyone¡¯s attention. Moreover, her skin was so smooth in spite of her age. She was dressed as inly as possible to not disturb the studying mood of the academy, but her beauty was enough to make it look like a party dress. ¡°Mother, why have youe?¡± Edgar, who had been nervous about the examination, was happy to see his mother but tried his best not to show it. The duchess knew her own son and smiled warmly. ¡°I couldn¡¯t wait anymore when thinking you wereing home soon.¡± ¡°But mother, my thesis hasn¡¯t been approved yet.¡± ¡°But, of course, it will get approved, it is your thesis! Right, Caren?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace. I will rather get disappointed if they don¡¯t give him the New Perspective Award given to the best of the new thesis writers.¡± Nurse Caren, who had served Edgar at the Academy, even took a step farther. The duchess trusted Caren more than any other servant in the family. Caren was the only servant she had brought from her homnd far away across the ocean to the ymore Family. ¡°Please, do not celebrate too early.¡± However, even Edgar was smiling as he said that. It was a warm smile that was nothing like the cold smile he wore now. Even then, there had been a swarm of bees who were after him. Girls of the society he sometimes saw during vacations, professors who wanted him to stay at the Academy forever, and job-hunters who wanted to work as ymore Family¡¯s schrs. Edgar had not lost his mind only thanks to his parents. This beautiful Duchess ymore always calmly dealt with her own swarm of bees that was even worse than Edgar¡¯s. ¡°But what about father? Is he busy again?¡± ¡°Oh, Eddie. You did wait for us, even though you pretended you didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°No, no.¡± Duchess ymore poked Edgar¡¯s red cheek. He was already 20cm taller than her, but still, she treated him like a baby. ¡°Your father is working hard at the mansion on thest check of the cannon the king asked him to make.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Edgar was a little disappointed, and the duchess smiled brightly. Although her son was trying to look cold and hiding his feelings because of the Academy and its schrs, he was actually a warm young man. ¡°But instead, he said we should visit the Kingdom of Sharman on our way back. You will work hard next to your father starting next year, right? This will be thest time, so let us have fun. We should watch Sharman¡¯s famous y and go shopping... I heard they recently got some marvelous things there. There is even a thing that let out a mysterious scent when put in warm water.¡± ¡°I heard the desert trading route that was blocked for some time is open again now, so the merchants are busily trading.¡± ¡°Yes. It was because of that dragon...¡± A trace of a shadow passed on the duchess¡¯ face, but she soon came back to her normal lively self. ¡°If we don¡¯t go shopping to our heart¡¯s content now, when will we get to do that? I can¡¯t do that in Seritos, its people hate extravagance too much.¡± ¡°So that is what you are really after, mother.¡± ¡°Oh, but you are going to spend more money than anyone else at the stores! Who bought another drawing ruler when he already had a hundred at home?¡± ¡°But that ruler was a new product! Its gradations are more urate than any other ruler¡¯s!¡± ¡°Well, well. Look at you!¡± In the end, Edgarughed like a child in front of his mother. Duchess ymore had that strange power. Everyone got to love her after talking with her for only ten minutes. Her warm eyes were like spring sunshine, and her smile was like a drop of dew on a fresh leaf of the summer day. From time to time, Edgar couldn¡¯t believe he resembled his beautiful mother. Was it because he was with her? During the examination, Edgar didn¡¯t get nervous at the professor¡¯s additional questions and replied clearly. He used all the knowledge he had learned during thest decade or so. When it was all over, he was chosen as the winner of the New Perspective Award and his thesis was selected to be the candidate of This Year¡¯s Thesis. ¡°Oh!¡± Duchess ymore rejoiced more than anyone else at hearing the news. ¡°Even your father hasn¡¯t won This Year¡¯s Thesis yet. He always said that he would win that award one day, but you will win it before him.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t he be sad about it?¡± ¡°Of course not. He takes pride in having a son better than himself, you know it.¡± The Duchess couldn¡¯t restrain her overflowing joy. She went around in Edgar¡¯s small room. Of course, it was small only for a ymore. It was the biggest student¡¯s room in the Academy¡¯s dorm. ¡°We must cancel our trip to Sharman. I want to deliver this news to your father before anyone else does.¡± When she finally said that, Edgar nodded as if he had seen iting. His mother always shared the joy with her husband. They were literally the ideal couple. *** Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Chapter 41

¡°My Lady, you are so beautiful. I don¡¯t believe in your age.¡± ¡°Thank you for yourpliment, sir. But I am busy now.¡± When Edgar went to the mana stone carriage after having a long goodbye with his professor, he saw a knight trying to flirt with his beautiful mother. The duchess repeatedly made it clear that she wasn¡¯t interested, but the knight didn¡¯t go away. He was even holding her hand. Therefore, Edgar didn¡¯t hesitate to take care of it. ¡°Sir Cedric, what business do you have with my mother?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Cedric hastily stood up only when he saw Edgar. ¡°I was just addressing the duchess.¡± ¡°Then you should have left after that, why did you take her hand?¡± He didn¡¯t know what to do at Edgar¡¯s cold reply. ¡°I was just...¡± ¡°Three minutes.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Three minutes is enough to take and kiss ady¡¯s hand. Taking more time is rude.¡± Cedric could almost hear him say ¡®And I will cut your wrist for that.¡¯ He quickly took a step back and bowed to Edgar who was ring at him. ¡°I apologize for that.¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t apologize to me, apologize to Duchess ymore.¡± ¡°... my apologies, madam.¡± Then, he ran away before the duchess could say anything in return. ¡°That vermin.¡± Edgar was mad, but the duchess grabbed his arm. She smiled as if it was okay, but she took off her glove that Cedric had touched and gave it to Caren. ¡°Caren, throw this away, will you?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± ¡°Men like hime up endlessly like cockroaches, I¡¯m sick of them.¡± ¡°Edgar.¡± The duchess soothingly rubbed Edgar¡¯s cheek. Her fingers were as long and cold as his own. He looked at his mother. Blond hair that glittered in the sunlight and eyes that had the whole world within them, skin that was pale but bright. She hadn¡¯t been affected by the passing years and still looked young. ¡°Just understand. You and I are creatures that are too beautiful.¡± Edgar smiled faintly at this. ¡°It may have sounded arroganting from someone else¡¯s mouth, but it is just the truth to you.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± The duchess smiled. Then she took Edgar¡¯s wrist looking worried. ¡°Too much beauty can sometimes be poison. Some try to use it as a means of showing off, and some demand us to take their love, ignoring our own feelings. In this world, there are many people who cannot tell desire apart from love. Edgar, I am truly worried. Will you be able to find someone who truly loves you?¡± She had said that from time to time before. Edgar patted her hand on his wrist with affection. ¡°Do not worry, mother. I will find such love, just like you found father.¡± The duchess smiled brightly. ¡°Yes. As I met him, surely Hue will bless you too to find true love soon.¡± ¡°Then let us go to meet father.¡± Edgar escorted his mother to get on the carriage. It was about a month¡¯s trip from Aron¡¯s Academy to the ymores¡¯nd, even with the mana stone carriage. It was because they had to take a ship at the port on the way. The territory of the greedy dragon Ias blocked thend route to the Seritos Kingdom, and Iber¡¯s territory was in the Seris Mountains in the east. Because of the two dragons, the Kingdom of Seritos was practically an ind. *** ¡°Your Grace, My Lord, we were not expecting you so soon! Oh, Eddie, you have be so thin! How bad are the Academy¡¯s meals that you have lost so much weight?¡± As soon as they arrived at the mansion, Ann, the housekeeper, exaggeratedly weed them. Edgar and Caren had to try hard not tough at that. ¡°Ann, Edgar¡¯s thesis has been nominated for This Year¡¯s Thesis Award.¡± Ann¡¯s grey eyes got so big at this. She soon abandoned the manners she had to keep as the housekeeper and hugged Edgar tightly. ¡°Oh, my! I knew it! Just as I thought, Eddie is the treasure of this family.¡± Edgar¡¯s face turned red, but he didn¡¯t push away the housekeeper. There were many people who lunged at him like a bull, but Ann lunged at him a little differently. ¡°But Ann, where is my husband?¡± The duchess worriedly asked when the duke, who was supposed to wee them more than anyone, was nowhere to be seen. ¡°Oh, right. His Grace has gone to the vi at Cord Hill. He was stuck on the research he was doing.¡± ¡°To the vi?¡± ¡°Yes. He left about a month ago. He said the ce was quiet and good for concentration. He didn¡¯t want to be disturbed by noises, so he left only with Carl. He sometimes does that.¡± The duchess was confused. The duke had been stuck on his research from time to time when he had been with her. However, even if he stayed in his study for days, he had never gone to the vi. ¡°That¡¯s strange. He never went to the vi in Cord when I was here...¡± ¡°He probably didn¡¯t want to leave you when you were here at the mansion. He sometimes says so, that he gets to forget every hardship in the world the moment he sees you.¡± Ann always knew how to please the duchess to just the right extent. The duchess reddened her face like a little girl and called the maid who was about to take away her cloak and gloves. ¡°Help me put them on again. Eddie, let us go to the vi instead of waiting.¡± Edgar had put on his gloves back as if he had seen iting. He opened the carriage¡¯s door and offered his hand to his mother. ¡°Let us surprise father.¡± Both of them smiled like children. They were sure the duke will be so happy to see them. They gave strict orders to Ann to not to inform the duke in advance. Then they went to the vi with Caren. At the time, Edgar didn¡¯t know that trip was going to change their happy lives and bring destruction to all of them. *** ¡°Your Grace, My Lord. Why are you...¡± When they arrived at the vi early in the morning, they were greeted by a surprised Carl. Edgar instinctively realized something was wrong. ¡°Where is my husband?¡± ¡°He has gone out to take a walk. You can wait for him.¡± Carl tried to take her to the reception room. However, the duchess didn¡¯t move and stood still. ¡°Carl, if he is taking a walk, you should take me there.¡± ¡°What? Oh, it¡¯s...¡± ¡°The reception room is for meeting guests. You should not take me there.¡± The duchess looked confused. She couldn¡¯t believe Carl was being so rude to her as he had served her better than anyone else. He couldn¡¯t have forgotten the most basic manner of serving the duke and the duchess. Then, Edgar found a cloak on a coat hook near the front door. The cloak made of white ferret fur wasn¡¯t a man¡¯s. He realized her mother was looking at it as well. He didn¡¯t miss the moment that chaos, confusion, and doubt came to her. He grabbed Carl, and the nurse immediately found a rope to bound him. ¡°Mother, go to father¡¯s room!¡± Was he doubting his father? No, not at all. He thought it couldn¡¯t be what it was. His father loved his mother more than anyone. She hade to Seritos from hernd far across the wide ocean for him. She had brought a precious crown that was hard to believe belonged to this world to prove she was a princess of a faraway kingdom. She eventually married the duke. Furthermore, the duchess was more beautiful than anyone else in this world. Cheating on her? It had to be impossible. It had to be a guest visiting for business. Edgar was holding Carl only because he didn¡¯t want to get that seed called doubt. He was living in a perfect beautifulnd. He didn¡¯t want to see the poisonous seed grow in that world. He didn¡¯t lose faith even when he was binding the resisting butler with his nurse. He thought Carl was resisting only because the guest was so important that his father had to meet him in secret. Maybe the meeting was for only the good of the ymore Family, so he couldn¡¯t let the king know about it. ¡°Aaaaaah!¡± Soon a shriek shook the vi, but it wasn¡¯t his mother¡¯s. Then Carl gave up and stopped fighting back. Edgar felt things were going strange. He ran to the direction of the sound with Caren. Then he saw it. His father and a woman on the bed. And her mother was watching that, frozen. It felt so unreal. Even now it felt like a dream when he recalled that time. The naked woman next to his father wasn¡¯t beautiful at allpared to his mother. Even now he couldn¡¯t understand why such a woman had been lying next to his father. What had made him do that? ¡°My love, what is going on here?¡± The moment was brief but felt like an eternity passed as the duchess asked in a cold voice. The duke didn¡¯t answer that. Instead, he looked around. ¡°Carl? Where¡¯s Carl?¡± ¡°Stop ignoring me!¡± The duchess yelled while the duke bit his lips. The duchess slowly looked at the woman next to him. She was holding the duke¡¯s arm tightly in fear. ¡°Do you love her?¡± ¡°No, no. Not at all. I have no feelings toward Sophie. It was just, she said she loved me... she begged that she would die if I didn¡¯t sleep with her. So, I gave her what she wanted out of pity.¡± Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Chapter 42

Edgar wanted to grab his father¡¯s neck and tell him to stop with that nonsense. Judging from the condition of the room, it wasn¡¯t their first meeting. Ann had said he had been staying at the vi for more than a month... a cold smile appeared on the duchess¡¯ face. ¡°You don¡¯t love her?¡± ¡°Yes, it was just... she said she was suffering so much that she wanted to die if I didn¡¯t meet her. So, I met her out of pity. You are the only one I truly love.¡± The duke got up from the bed and was about to reach his wife. ¡°Filthy!¡± The duchess yelled. That yell became a shriek and shook the building. However, it didn¡¯t fade after that, and it pierced everybody¡¯s ears. It wasn¡¯t just a feeling. Blood truly came out of their ears. Soon the duchess shed her skin. Then, a brilliantly beautiful creature came out. Her white hair that reached the floor glowed and her white skin was like air itself. Moreover, her back had two brilliant wings. ¡®... nymph.¡¯ Edgar had heard about nymphs. Immortal creatures that lived on their own inds on the other side of the ocean. However, they hadn¡¯t shown themselves on the continent for more than a century. Edgar couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. On the other hand, the duke and the nurse were so calm with the unrealistic situation. ¡°My love, this was only a mistake...¡± The duke couldn¡¯t say more, and he was not going to say anything again. The second the nymph raised her finger to point at him, his soul left his body. His mistress met the same fate. There was no mercy in a nymph¡¯s rage. The nymph made the souls of the man she once called husband and the woman who had seduced him leave their bodies and looked at Edgar. Her eyes were cold, there was no emotion in them. Then, her finger was pointed at him. ¡°You shall never walk again under the sunlight.¡± As soon as she finished saying that, Edgar felt a severe pain under his ankles and fell. His feet started to feel numb slowly. At the time, his knees were not paralyzed. However, the numbness in his feet was enough. He couldn¡¯t walk normally. So, he limped as he tried to reach the nymph. ¡°... mother.¡± Edgar didn¡¯t know what he wanted to say. Anyway, the nymph didn¡¯t get to hear it. She turned into foam and disappeared right on the spot. ¡°Oh, my princess. I told you not to fall in love with a man many times...¡± Then Caren took out a pendulum and put the foam in it. She hade with Edgar¡¯s mother from their homnd. So, Edgar desperately grabbed her. ¡°Caren, where is my mother? Where did she go? She is alive, right?¡± Instead of replying to that, Caren lightly pushed him away. Normally that much of force would have done nothing to him, but now his feet were numb. He immediately fell. Caren was about to leave without regrets with the pendulum, but then she looked back by the door. ¡°Do you me her?¡± Edgar shook his head. ¡°If I should me someone, I will me father.¡± He really meant it. Even though his mother had cursed him, he didn¡¯t want to me her. The anger, betrayal, and solitude she had felt. Edgar had felt something like that when he witnessed his father¡¯s shame. How despaired she must have been that she cursed her own son? He wanted to deny the fact that half of his body hade from that dirty man. ¡°... Eddie.¡± Caren went back to Edgar. If he had med her princess, she would have left without hesitation. However, he didn¡¯t. She pointed at his feet. ¡°If you don¡¯t break the curse, the numbness will grow and go up to your body in time. You will lose your life when it reaches your heart.¡± ¡°I might lose it before that.¡± Edgar smiled bitterly. He had been cursed by a nymph, he didn¡¯t think the world would let him live. ¡°Half of your blood is a nymph¡¯s blood. If the princess¡¯...¡± Caren shut her mouth. Then, she shook her head as if she was regretting saying that. ¡°You could have gotten eternal life. However, because of your father¡¯s sin, your fate is now in grave danger.¡± Caren took out a jewelry box from her pocket and opened it. Inside was a ring with a blue stone that looked like a piece of blue sky. ¡°You will not get to live for eternity, but I will give you one chance. When your life is about toe to an end, put this ring on your chest and say the name. Then you will return to this moment.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you send me back to before father started having an affair?¡± ¡°That is beyond my power.¡± Caren looked bitter while she stroked Edgar¡¯s cheek with affection. ¡°Eddie, break the curse. It is also for the princess.¡± Edgar looked at the pendulum that now contained his mother. ¡°How can I break the curse?¡± ¡°You must find the way yourself. Getting others¡¯ help is... Eddie, I can tell you only one thing. Do not forget the difference between a curse and a blessing is very small.¡± Those were herst words. Then, she fell, and the human warmth left her body. Soon the pendulum soared up to the sky slowly. What kind of creature was she? A nymph, or protector of a nymph? Or... Edgar looked at the ring Caren had left. It had the power of letting him live his life again. However, why would he live again if he couldn¡¯t stop today¡¯s tragedy? *** ¡°My Lord!¡± Toote, Carl undid the rope that bound him and came to Edgar, but he didn¡¯t let Carl touch him. ¡°How long have you been helping this dirty scheme of father?¡± His voice was icy cold, and Carl hesitated for a moment. However, he decided lying now wouldn¡¯t be right. Moreover, Duke ymore was dead. Now Edgar was the one he was supposed to serve. ¡°... a decade.¡± ¡°Ha.¡± Edgar let out a hollowugh. Ten years ago. He had entered the Academy then. The duchess was worried about her son and would sometimese to Aron¡¯s Academy in spite of the long trip. The duke always apologized, saying he couldn¡¯t go together as he had much to do. He would give more than enough money instead. He said she should have a good time during the trip. Everybody called him generous. They said no other man did that to his wife. However, the duchess would look lonely sometimes when she was with Edgar. -I should take this to your father, he would like it. She said that every time when she found a strange thing from the farawaynds. She always dropped by at shops to see if there was a new fountain pen or better ink during her trip. She always thought of her husband even when they were apart. But he was using work as an excuse toe to this vi and... Edgar didn¡¯t even want to think about it. ¡°If you couldn¡¯t bring yourself to tell it to mother, you should have at least asked my help or Ann¡¯s to stop this.¡± ¡°He begged for my help. He said he really loved her.¡± The pain Edgar felt back then couldn¡¯t be described in words. Now he didn¡¯t know what was true and what wasn¡¯t. ¡°ymore Family is doomed. I have been cursed by a nymph.¡± ¡°No, Your Grace. I heard what Caren said. We can break the curse. She has left the ring to give you another chance to break the curse.¡± ¡°Carl! Look around the room. How are you going to exin this to the people?¡± ¡°We can make it look like an ident. We¡¯ll tell them there has been a carriage ident on our way back. You and I are the only witnesses, anyway.¡± The butler¡¯s eyes sparkled strangely. Edgar saw a kind of madness in this loyal butler. ¡°My Lord, my family has been serving Duke ymore for generations. Now you are the duke. I will never let you fall in danger.¡± Edgar could barely stop himself from spitting on Carl¡¯s face, but he had been raised as the next Duke ymore since he learned how to walk. Researches conducted in the ymore¡¯s name, money and businesses that depended on them. How big were they? It wasn¡¯t just about money. The jobs of so many people depended on them... if the researches were not done sessfully, they were all going to be thrown out on the streets. The Kingdom of Seritos was exporting war weapons to buy the food itcked. Edgar was facing the responsibility of everything he had enjoyed until now. He wanted to kill Carl who had helped his father and end his own as well. However, death wasn¡¯t something that would be easily granted to him. *** Edgar¡¯s feet miraculously became normal after sunset. He silently cursed as he dressed his father. Carl hacked his mistress¡¯ face so that it wouldn¡¯t be recognizable and dressed her in the duchess¡¯s dress. Then, they put the three bodies -the duke¡¯s, the fake duchess¡¯, and Caren¡¯s- in the carriage. Edgar could feel something warm deep in his heart fading away. Carl silently helped him with it. Edgar felt endless disgust and hatred toward him. Nevertheless, he got Carl¡¯s help. Although he hated Carl, his judgment had been right. That is what Edgar¡¯s rationale said. In the chaos, Edgar pushed the carriage at a cliff near the vi. It hit the bulged rocks of the cliff many times and soon fell to the far bottom. ¡®Bam!¡¯ The sound of the carriage being broken to pieces hit the cliff again and again and reached Edgar as an echo. Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Chapter 43

On that day, the small faith in love Edgar had was shattered with that carriage. ¡°The difference between a curse and a blessing is very small.¡± That was how his life was. Everyone said he was blessed. High rank, immense wealth, perfect brain and beautiful appearance. However, those things were a curse to Edgar. He was always surrounded by people attracted to the sweet smell of what he had. They wanted him. They craved him. However, he couldn¡¯t find himself in their greedy eyes. What they truly wanted was what he had. They were not interested in Edgar himself. They just wanted themselves with Edgar in hand. -You are my proud son. Your very existence gives me joy. Oh, Edgar had been relieved so much by that promise of his father. He even said Edgar didn¡¯t have to be perfect. He said he loved him for who he was. -Eddie, do not hate those who temporarily lose reason because of your excessive beauty too much. Moreover, his mother with unworldly beauty was the only one who could understand his suffering. Who else could understand that he was in pain and troubled because of people who loved him? Until now, Edgar¡¯s mother, father, and a few servants who had served him since his childhood had supported him through the greed that surrounded him. At least he had believed in their affection and love. But today, everything was being destroyed like a tower made of sand. He wanted to turn back time and ask his father if he had truly loved his mother. He couldn¡¯t find any difference in his father and that knight who had ignored his mother¡¯s opinion and tried to flirt with her. Now the only person left to him was the butler with a mad love toward the ymore Family. No, could it be called love? Edgar wanted to ask that to Carl. If he had truly cared about his father, he should have stopped him and asked for others¡¯ help. Carl was just drunk with himself putting the ymore Family in front of everything else. Edgar was sick of it. So twisted. Only twisted affection now remained around him. His mother had been right, too much beauty was poison. The world was full of people who couldn¡¯t tell love apart from desire. They pouted out unwanted affection and med him when it was not rewarded. ¡®You are too harsh. Don¡¯t you know Ellie likes you? You can at least smile to her once.¡¯ ¡®You are way too cold.¡¯ ¡®Felix was just trying to be friends with you, did you have to treat him that way?¡¯ They all said he was wrong. They said he was cold for not giving any affection in return. That was what men would say when he dropped by shortly at a coffee house or cigar storage afterte night¡¯s conferences. How hard it is to reward a woman¡¯s love? Just put down your morals for a short time, give pleasure to each other and part ways. They advised he would lose nothing. Each time that happened, Edgar recalled his father. The man who said he had no choice because the woman begged. ording to their logic, his father was more generous and more humane than him. Was it love? Was it affection? Affection literally surrounded him, but his heart was hollow. His outside shined like sweet honey, but his inside was like a vast desert. ¡®Too much beauty is poison.¡¯ The difference between curse and beauty was very small. Edgar hated his own face that others couldn¡¯t praise more. He couldn¡¯t stand all the affection imposed on him in the name of love. He wanted to yell stop, stop liking me. He didn¡¯t me his mother. No, thinking about the affection she had given to him, he was rather hurt while thinking about her emotionless eyes that had looked at him for thest time. How hurt she must have been, how painful she must have been that she put such a curse on him? He prayed for the numbness to reach his heart soon and end this miserable life. However, at the same time, he couldn¡¯t give up life and couldn¡¯t throw away the ring. He kept staring at it so many times. -Break the curse. It is for the princess. It was because of the nurse¡¯sst words. Edgar wasn¡¯t giving up everything and throwing himself to the joy called death only because of those words. What did she mean by that? Why she hadn¡¯t answered when he asked if his mother was dead as she put the foam that once had been her in that pendulum? Also, Caren had stopped in the midst of talking and shook her head. It troubled him. She had said he could have had eternal life. What on earth could have made that possible for her to say that? And maybe... maybe his mother will be brought back to life if he broke the curse. It was a hope he couldn¡¯t bring himself to give up. He used his spare time to find records and researches about nymphs. Some of them were meaningful, unfortunately, nymphs scarcely came to the continent and most stories had been altered in time. What kind of nymph his mother had been? He was half-nymph but had no power except for his too beautiful looks. He was now floating alone in the vast ocean. Three years passed like that. The numbness came up to his knees. It looked like it would take less than a decade for it to reach his heart. The king was worried it might be the end of the ymore Family. Then, the ring disappeared and a piece of paper with ¡®Rubica Berner¡¯ written on it appeared in the box. Edgar started to find out about her right away. He thought she might have some kind of connection with the nymphs. However, there was nothing like that in the reports he got. But she was 22 years old, just like he had been when that tragedy urred. He thought maybe. Maybe, maybe... But he shook his head. No matter how hard he thought, it was hard to assume he loved someone and gave her the chance to live again instead of taking it himself. I am going to love someone? It was impossible even in the distant future. He despised even thinking of words like love and affection. She had to be a lead sent by the himself of the far future. Edgar proposed to Rubica even though he had no affection toward her. And on his way to meet her, he hoped she would talk about his future-self first. However, she didn¡¯t want to marry him. More than that, she tried to run away. There was no longing in her eyes as she looked at him. He could read an emotion called ¡®hatred¡¯, but those were not at all the eyes looking at someone she knew. Moreover, she said she was in love with a man called ¡®Arman¡¯, and the blue ring wasn¡¯t among the few things she had. Why on earth had the himself from the future left a note with ¡®Rubica Berner¡¯ to him? Was she even the lead? But Edgar couldn¡¯t let her go. Rubica was the only straw he could grab in that vast ocean, and that straw was refusing him even when her face reddened at his beauty. Everyone he knew, even those who had lovers, would often abandon that love when they got to know him, but Rubica wasn¡¯t like that. He felt envy for the first time in his life. On the other hand, he wondered how long she was going to resist him. So, he tried to tempt her. -I will not ignore your wish if you ever want me to sleep with you. He was confident. No one had been able to resist his beauty until now. He expected Rubica to redden her face and be shaken. There had been plenty of people who abandoned love at a single smile of his. But Rubica wasn¡¯t tempted. Rather... -You cannot do it even if the woman wants it as long as you are not in love with each other! She yelled that and pped him. Edgar was shocked. It wasn¡¯t just because he had been pped nor she was refusing his temptation. Until now, people around him had called him cold for refusing love. They said he had to be just a little kinder. The hollow wind blew in his heart each time he heard that. They knew nothing, but he wanted to yell if what his father had done had been right. But Rubica scolded him, saying he couldn¡¯t do that even if the woman wanted it as long as they were not in love with each other. A ray of light finally reached him through the long darkness. *** ¡°Oh my, everybody overslept at the same time?¡± ¡°Even the servant on guard duty dozed off. It would have been a huge problem if it hadn¡¯t been for Carl.¡± ¡°We have no time to waste! Let us go to Her Grace quickly. We cannot let her down on the first day!¡± The maids nodded to Ann and started to move around busily. They were worried Rubica might be already up and waiting for them. However, they couldn¡¯t neglect the preparation. ¡°Jennie, she used olive soap in the carriage, right?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve prepared it.¡± ¡°And the water?¡± ¡°It is just a little hot, I think it will reach the right temperature when we arrive at her chamber.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Five maids with Ann in the front went to the duchess¡¯s chamber. Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Chapter 44

On their way, they kept worrying they might be toote. But fortunately for them, Rubica barely got up from the bed only after they arrived. ¡°I guess I overslept.¡± Rubica thought they had waited for her to wake up and brought the water, so she smiled embarrassingly. She then dipped her hands in the basin in her nightdress. Every time she moved, the maids could smell the scent they were so familiar with but only one person used in the entire mansion. ¡®It is the perfume His Grace uses when he sleeps.¡¯ How long had they stayed tightly together for Rubica to smell of his perfume? The maids all blushed and so did Ann. They had been somewhat worried about the duke who hadn¡¯t been interested in women before Rubica came. But maybe he was even more passionate than their imagination. ¡°Are you not tired?¡± ¡°A little.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t realize the implications behind the question and answered as she rinsed her hands. ¡°Are you going to... take a bath?¡± Ann spoke first. She thought it was right for her to ask first as she was older and had been married. ¡°Bath?¡± ¡°Uh, um. His Grace¡¯s scent is so strong on you, so...¡± Rubica realized the scent only then, and her face turned red in no time. ¡°Nothing happened!¡± She regretted saying it as soon as the words came out of her mouth. Who on earth would believe her? It only made the mood even more awkward. ¡°Oh... okay.¡± Ann and Jennie looked away. They were clearly thinking something had happened. Her body felt just the same as before. Edgar had probably kept his promise, but the scent of his perfume was so strong that even she could smell it. Even an idiot would have realized he had slept with her in his arms all night. ¡®I fell asleep before I could say he couldn¡¯t hug me while I was sleeping.¡¯ He knew how to evade restrictions to get what he wanted. Was she supposed to apud and say he was indeed Duke ymore? In the end, Rubica had to take another bath in the morning. *** ¡°Carl!¡± Rubica called the butler after she was dressed in a good dress to meet guests. Her hair and face had been done perfectly. She now wanted to find Edgar and grab him by the cor, but Ann and the maids had refused to let her go till they were done with her. ¡°Your Grace, what is it?¡± ¡°Where is Edgar?¡± ¡°You mean His Grace! He is at his office.¡± ¡°Take me there, now!¡± Carl had seen iting, but he hadn¡¯t known it would happen right away on the next day of the wedding. He determinedly looked at Rubica. ¡°I¡¯m afraid you can¡¯t. His Grace is very sensitive while he works. He has given strict orders, only I can go into his office.¡± Rubica was surprised to hear that, and Carl was making it clear. ¡°And I cannot go in either?¡± ¡°No. He is even more sensitive nowadays.¡± It looked like she was not going to get what she wanted. Rubica stared at Carl and realized he was carrying a tray. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It is a drink which His Grace drinks often.¡± ¡°Oh, you mean coffee. I know how to make coffee. It would be okay for me to bring it to him, right?¡± Carl could see what she was after and smiled. ¡°It is not coffee, madam. His Grace cannot drink coffee. These are dried leaves of a rare nt from a farnd across the desert.¡± ¡°Leaves?¡± The thing inside the small dish on the tray was way too small and ck to be dried leaves. ¡°How can you make a drink with leaves?¡± ¡°It is just like making coffee, you add water to it.¡± ¡°Then I should be able to make it, too.¡± Indeed, there were utensils that were almost the same with the ones used to make coffee, like a small cup, a pot, and a spoon on the tray. ¡°No. This ¡®tea¡¯ is extremely delicate. It gives an entirely different taste ording to the water¡¯s temperature and the air¡¯s humidity.¡± ¡°Tea?¡± ¡°Yes, it is called so because the leaves are from tea trees. It is used to rx and improve the memory. More than that, it is not stimting like coffee.¡± Then Carl started to give a speech about the good effects of that ¡®tea¡¯. He started with when it was first made and how it was traded and how he had gotten that rare stuff, not missing out even a single detail. ¡°Hamm.¡± Rubica yawned in front of him, but Carl didn¡¯t care and went on. It looked like he was the person who loved tea, not Edgar. ¡°I think it is a shame that such a great drink hasn¡¯t been made popr on the continent. Actually, even better tools are needed to bring out the tea¡¯s true vor, but His Grace said these are enough to remove his headache...¡± Rubica seized the chance to distract him. ¡°He has a headache?¡± ¡°... yes, he suffers a lot sometimes.¡± Carl managed to wake up when Edgar¡¯s health became the topic. Rubica sighed. It wasn¡¯t like Edgar was ying. It looked like it wouldn¡¯t be right to go after him to use him when he was so busy with work. Plus, he had a headache. She didn¡¯t want to use her time to ease his pain from him. ¡°When will he be done working?¡± ¡°He will be there at dinner. He is very sorry that he couldn¡¯t have breakfast with you. Please don¡¯t forget, he is a very busy man.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. But Carl, it wouldn¡¯t be good to stay at the office if he has a headache. Please tell him it would be better to take a stroll sometimes.¡± Carl smiled bitterly at this. Taking a stroll under the bright sky, the duke probably wanted that more than anyone else. However, he decided to tell what Rubica just said to Edgar. He had a feeling it would make him feel better. ¡°I will tell him that. And Your Grace...¡± Carl hesitated before speaking. ¡°I heard you are scheduled to meet visitors today.¡± ¡°Yes, I was told rtives from nearby havee to meet me.¡± ¡°I know it is rude for me to ask this, but could you please call the duke His Grace at least in front of them?¡± Rubica¡¯s auburn eyes met Carl¡¯s. He knew better than anyone else what was going on between her and Edgar. And he was pleading to her. ¡°I know you are very angry with him. I also think you and him should together decide how you call and talk to each other. But madam, you are Duchess ymore before you are his wife. If you talk like that to him in front of us servants or your inferior rtives, they might misunderstand it.¡± ¡°I cannot deny I did that because I was angry.¡± ¡°Yes, although His Grace is not saying anything, he must be very sorry as well.¡± Rubica thought about it for a moment. She was from a lowly family anyway. She wasn¡¯t a princess whose any behavior could be epted by others. Now she was surrounded by servants who liked her, but the rtives were different. They must have a huge pride in being members of the ymore Family. Now a woman from a bar family had be their superior, and she wasn¡¯t talking politely to the duke. There was no rule regarding the way of talking between married couples in Hue¡¯s Holy Book, but people¡¯smon sense was different. There had been people who didn¡¯t try to hide their hostility toward her even at the wedding feast. In the end, Rubica nodded. ¡°Okay, Carl.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Carl smiled happily at Rubica¡¯s reply. He believed she would do her duty as Duchess ymore very well because of the attitude she had shown at the Berner Mansion, and he wasn¡¯t wrong. *** When Rubica arrived at the duchess¡¯ reception room upstairs in the ymore Mansion¡¯s main building and took the list from Ann, she realized talking to Edgar wasn¡¯t the problem she was facing now. ¡°There are about 20 people in total you will talk in private today.¡± ¡°20 people? But I just met about 30 people at the reception room downstairs...¡± ¡°Yes, you had a small talk with them. The people you will meet from now on are close rtives and those who want to talk to you about the management of the household.¡± Now, this was more than just saying hello to people. It was a kind of work. ¡®Yes, I used to help Lefena hear stories of people who hade for her help at the abbey. This must not be that different.¡¯ And as soon as she met the first visitor, she realized she couldn¡¯t have been more wrong. ¡°Your Grace, the hoes now used by the peasants in the ymore Manor are very bad. Iron from the Seros Mountains contains a lot of impurities. They will rust soon. The food production rate of the manor will soon drop significantly.¡± Rubica was surprised to hear that from Mrs. Huzburn. She quickly asked for books to Ann and checked the purchase of hoes. ¡°But we bought hoes only two weeks ago...¡± Before she could point out that purchase had also been done under Mrs. Huzburn¡¯s rmendation, she cut her short. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter when they were bought. They are going to rust soon. But! The hoe I invented recently is made from high-quality iron from the Enan Mountains. Using this hoe will greatly increase the food production in the manor.¡± ¡°It will be good for ymore to buy the hoe my husband invented.¡± Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Chapter 45

Mrs. Hurzurn spoke firmly while her husband next to her also arrogantly crossed his arms. They were making Rubica look like she wasn¡¯t paying attention to the well-being of the ymore family if she didn¡¯t buy their hoes. Rubica soon realized what was going on. These people hadn¡¯te to plead for justice or get close to Rubica. They were merchants eager to use an innocent idiot to strike it rich. And unfortunately, Rubica wasn¡¯t such an idiot. She had met plenty of these kind of merchants at the abbey. She knew what to say to them. ¡°ording to the books I got from Ann, I decided the hoes we already have will be enough.¡± No, I won¡¯t buy. ¡°But Your Grace, this hoe is different from the other hoes. Food production will increase greatly in the fall.¡± ¡°It looks like the price of purchasing hoes will be bigger than the increase in food production. I will not buy them.¡± No, still no. ¡°But...¡± ¡°I will think of buying them if the hoes rust by next year.¡± Her smile made it clear: she was saying she would think about it, but she wasn¡¯t saying she would buy them. In the end, Mrs. and Mr. Huzburn had to leave without getting what they wanted. They only got to find out the duchess wasn¡¯t an easy opponent. Of course, Rubica wanted to enjoy spending a lot of money to bankrupt the ymore Family. However, what she wanted was to spend money on fun, not to be used by some greedy merchants. Granting a wish of such people couldn¡¯t be good. They would thank her but spread words on how Duchess ymore is so stupid and easy to fool the moment they stepped out of the room. Why should I be called a fool even when I¡¯m spending money? ¡°Your Grace, you are doing so well.¡± When Rubica got rid of the 19th visitor-salesperson, Ann offered her hot coffee. Good, she had been having a headache. No wonder Edgar had a headache. Rubica silently muttered to herself as she drank coffee. ¡°Haa.¡± The coffee had a pleasant scent that Rubica had never felt before. The smell of fruits and almond? It had to be an expensive coffee that she had never drunk before. She enjoyed the smell and got rid of her worries. ¡°Now you have only one visitor left. Lord Sesar.¡± ¡°Who is she?¡± Rubica hoped it might be the fairy she had seen at the feast, but that bubble of hope popped when she saw the document Ann gave her. It said Sesar was an old man. ¡°He is a rtive, second cousin of His Grace... he is a little weird. But it shouldn¡¯t be a problem as you have been doing well.¡± Ann wasn¡¯t trying to hide that she wanted Rubica to say ¡®no¡¯ to Sesar. Rubica smelled her coffee again and read the rest of the document. Sesar was a botanist. He spent almost all he had on writing a book on the nts of the Seros Mountains to be a member of the Aron¡¯s Academy. That was unusual as most ymores worked in the munitions industry. Moreover, he had spent all he had on a nt book? Yes, he was a bit weird. ¡°Will I get visitors tomorrow as well?¡± ¡°Yes, you will have to meet visitors for about three more days.¡± Rubica was relieved to hear that. Most of the visitors she had met were close rtives or rtives involved in important businesses. There was no way Ann had scheduled meetings randomly. Unfortunately, dependent lodgers like Rubica¡¯s fairy had to be far behind in the line. She decided to be patient and wait for the fairy. ¡°Then Ann, bring refreshments and tell Lord Sesar that I am ready.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± The maids cleared up the table and brought a ss of cool water, a cup of coffee, and some cookies. Rubica decided to go through thest visitor and end this boring time. ¡°Your Grace!¡± Soon the door was opened and botanist Sesar came in with his beard that reached his shoulder. He must have worn the best clothes he had for the asion, but there was still dirt on the tip of his white beard. One of the servants brought the heavy documents and left them on the side table. The servant looked at Rubica as if he pitied her for wasting time on that weirdo. He shook his head and left. Sesar was certainly different from the rtives she had met till now. Rubica smiled at the red and white roses he abruptly offered to her. She immediately called a maid and gave them to her. ¡°Please put it in a vase.¡± ¡°No, no Your Grace. It is a very important material of what I am about to tell you.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Edgar, he... no, His Grace won¡¯t just listen to me.¡± Rubica stared at Sesar confusedly. He got rid of the beginning and the middle part to directly go to the ending. ¡°Please invest in the improvement of roses!¡± ¡°What!¡± ¡°Trust me, it will work!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know...¡± ¡°I am going to make a new rose using these red roses and white roses. Here, this is a sketch I made myself. I am going to make a rose that is red in the center and white at the edge or white roses with red spots. Oh, and of course I can make red roses with white spots if you want.¡± Rubica nkly stared at him. He said what he wanted and started to exin how it was possible using hard terms. He used so many difficult words that it was rather hard to understand him. ¡°And this much money will be needed. The expense for making a garden and greenhouse, expense for buying seeds needed for the experiment, expense for hiring assistants, expense for buying tools, I wrote the minimum expenses. Your Grace, I assure you, I will make really beautiful flowers.¡± Sesar spoke of the money that could be used to develop a new weapon. Ann took a step away and shook her head as if she was stressed. She was thinking Rubica would say no as she had done till now. But to her surprise, Rubica read Sesar¡¯s documents and started to study his sketch of the new rose. ¡®... beautiful.¡¯ It was pretty. She didn¡¯t know how it was possible, but she wanted to see a rose that had both red and white colors and every color between the two. She raised her head and looked at Sesar. It was hard to believe he had just abruptly said what he wanted. He was sweating hard. He already looked disappointed, so he must have been rejected more than once or twice. Rubica had said no to all the investment suggestions of the visitors till now. She wanted to have fun spending money, but she didn¡¯t want to waste money. ¡°I will invest.¡± However, she had to buy this. Everyone in the room except for her was surprised at hearing that. Sesar clenched his fists. During thest two years, he had met every wealthy rtive he knew including Duke ymore to get funded. However, they all had said no to him. Today he hade to Duchess ymore only because he had been desperate, and now she was granting his wish. ¡°Your Grace! Please, no.¡± However, there was no way things went the way he wanted as Ann immediately protested. She couldn¡¯t understand why Rubica was offering to help with such a ridiculous business when she had been refusing just fine. Buying Huzburns¡¯ hoes would have been better than this. Roses were pretty but pretty much useless. ¡°I think it would not be right to invest on just roses.¡± ¡°Mrs. Taylor, please do not call my roses just roses. These roses will bring a sensation as soon as they bloom. I will also name one of them after Your Grace so that your name will be known to the people for generations.¡± Sesar didn¡¯t want to lose the funding he required and countered Ann. Rubica had to stop herself from sighing at Sesar¡¯s way of convincing others. She could see why he had failed to get funded until now. Suddenly offering a rose and saying it would work and you should invest without any exnation. He said that without considering even a bit how to convince people. Ann wasn¡¯t worrying about how much the roses¡¯ value was. She had managed the household for three years till now in the absence of the duchess. Moreover, they had spent a huge sum of money because of the duke¡¯s sudden wedding. Investing in Sesar¡¯s experiment would not be a huge problem, but they would be somewhat short in money. Ann wanted to reduce all these useless spendings. She, instead, wanted to spend money on Rubica as much as possible. She wanted to buy enough housedresses and maternity dresses for Rubica and clothes, diapers, and toys for the uing baby. She didn¡¯t want that money being spent on some roses. ¡°But Lord Sesar, you went to His Grace at first, right? This is an investment in experiments. This isn¡¯t about the management of household which Her Grace handles. This belongs to the budget His Grace manages.¡± Ann was a veteran and quickly found a good excuse. Rubica had just started managing the household, so she just couldn¡¯t say no to her. It made sense. Sesar¡¯s face turned dark immediately. This nt-loving schr didn¡¯t know how to convince people. However, Rubica was different. She knew well how to convince Ann. Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Chapter 46

¡°Ann, what if we say Lord Sesar is creating flowers to decorate the garden? It should be part of the household management then.¡± ¡°Oh! I never thought of it that way. Your Grace, when I seed in making the roses, I will fill the mansion¡¯s garden with them. Please don¡¯t worry.¡± Sesar brightened up and agreed with Rubica. For a moment, Ann didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°... but it will cost too much, Your Grace.¡± ¡°Even if it is an investment? Ann, could you give me a document on how much budget we have left?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± Rubica took the document from Ann and checked how much money she could use. Sesar was asking for a lot of money. Investing on him was going to leave the household short in money for about a year. Most noble mistresses would have stopped there, but Rubica was different. She was an unstoppable train running toward bankruptcy. ¡®I must spend the entire budget by autumn.¡¯ The society in the capital was going to be busy with balls during winter. Rubica was nning to go to the capital at any cost. Then, the ymore Family would have to think of her reputation as the duchess and spend money on dresses even if she had already spent the entire budget. She would need to spend diligently if she wanted to use up the budget before then. ¡°I think it will be fine. If you are worried, why don¡¯t we get a portion of the revenue through selling roses? Lord Sesar, will you be able to seed in making them before this summer?¡± ¡°Yes, you don¡¯t have to worry about it!¡± Ann looked embarrassed when Rubica talked about money. Terms like investment and collection of investment costs were considered inappropriate for nobledies. ¡°But who would buy such flowers?¡± ¡°People of this kingdom won¡¯t, of course. They say flowers are luxurious but like to decorate their gardens with much more expensive rocks.¡± ¡°Yes, you are right, Your Grace. So please, reconsider this.¡± Rubica was the daughter of a merchant, so she wasn¡¯t ashamed of talking about money. Moreover, her time at the abbey had taught her nothing mattered more than money when convincing people. Most of the visitors she had met today hade to get that from her. Rubica then recalled a method her father had often used to persuade investors and busily moved her small lips. ¡°However, people in the other kingdoms like to nt flowers in their gardens. Roses are trees. They can be exported without a problem. I think such unique and beautiful roses would certainly have value as luxurious goods.¡± ¡°Huh, I never thought of that.¡± Sesar realized his work could be much more productive than he expected and blinked. He was driven by his passion for his work. He couldn¡¯t be content with studying nts and writing books about them, he had to follow his desire to make a new nt himself. He had never thought of the pretty flowers¡¯ economic value. But actually, Rubica was just rambling. Although rare flowers were sold at a high price, there wasn¡¯t such a huge market. She wasn¡¯t expecting Sesar to earn her more than she was investing. No, it was going to be a problem if he did earn more. Rubica just wanted to waste some money and see some pretty flowers newly created at the same time. ¡°It will be valuable if such beautiful flowers get introduced to the world in the name of the ymore Family.¡± ¡°Mrs. Taylor, I will give 80% of the whole revenue to the ymore Family!¡± Ann¡¯s head was shaking hard. Although she had been managing the household with a given budget, things like investment and trade were out of her expertise. She eventually took a step back. ¡°Yes, Your Grace. If that is what you want. But you must tell His Grace as this is an important decision.¡± She agreed in the end. Rubica and Sesar both smiled. So, Rubica immediately looked at the sketch Sesar had brought and asked, ¡°Can you make different flowers other than these as well?¡± ¡°Is there a flower you want, Your Grace? I have organized information about every flower in the kingdom while I wrote my book. Do you know the flower¡¯s color and shape differ depending on the soil and temperature? All you have to do is to give me an idea and the funding.¡± ¡°Then, how about light purple flowers...¡± Ann shook her head, but she couldn¡¯t help smiling. The garden full of flowers... imagining the baby ying there, she decided it wouldn¡¯t be that bad. She had asked Rubica to politely refuse Sesar. She knew his passion. Thinking the weird researcher¡¯s dream was about toe true atst, her heart felt warm and tears filled her eyes. ¡®Yes, she has refused all the ridiculous request till now. There has to be a reason. Herte father was a merchant. Maybe she is right, the roses might really be valuable.¡± However, her guess was wrong. Rubica wasn¡¯t trying to earn money at all. She had decided so only because she wanted to see the beautiful flowers, but she was soon going to realize she had been wrong. That decision of hers was about to bring a huge turmoil to the entire continent. All of that was going to happen because of a person¡¯s passion for beauty. *** The time with Sesar after the long and boring meetings rather tired Rubica. Ann and the maids led her to the duchess¡¯ chamber so that she could get some rest and left. Sheid down on the sofa. ¡®I must hire new maids and new seamstresses and decide which designer of the neighborhood I will mainly give work to. Oh, and I must prepare for that wedding portrait starting next week.¡¯ A sound came out of her mouth. She didn¡¯t know if it was a yawn or a sigh. Who said a nobledy only had to spend money the husband earned? Managing a household was much more tiring than she had thought. Moreover, her household was huge, managing it wasn¡¯t easy. Being short on money was a problem but having too much money was as well. It was good that she had helped with the abbey¡¯s management. She imagined the real 22-year-old herself who knew nothing managing the ymore household and shuddered. She probably would have been shocked to see the books with endless lines of numbers and get scared by people like Mrs. and Lord Huzburn and would have bought those useless hoes in the end. She soon started to feel bad when thinking about all the things she had to do. There was just too much to do. Moreover, managing the household was something she, of course, had to do well. If she did it well everything would be fine but, at the same time, it was going to get her scolded if she didn¡¯t do it well. ¡®Diversion, I need a diversion!¡¯ Just like Edgar found console in that rare drink when he got a headache, Rubica needed time to recharge her soul. She got up from the sofa and walked to where her soul led her. It led her to the kitchen. *** ¡°You want me to make ice cream and cake, Your Grace?¡± Steven, who had worked as the ymore Family¡¯s cook for a long time, asked back. It was surprising enough that the duchess had personallye to the kitchen, and her request surprised him even more. ¡°But Your Grace, aren¡¯t they for special asions like birthdays? Today is just a normal day with nothing special.¡± To tell you again, the Kingdom of Seritos despised luxury. Cake and ice cream made from expensive sugar could be eaten only on special days. It wasn¡¯t like someone had made such a rule, but everybody believed it had to be that way. ¡®But I heard people of other kingdoms had them even on normal days.¡¯ Rubica had met various people at the abbey. At that time, she had been so shocked to hear that. There were people who ate ice cream just to feel good in this world. More than that, in other kingdoms, sweet things like cake called dessert were always brought to the table after meals in nobles¡¯ houses. ¡®I wish I could do that one day.¡¯ She had had that dream as she heard people boast about their great past. And now, she was going to make that dreame true tofort her tired and gloomy soul. There was nothing that charges the soul like a sweet cake. Just seeing it with clotty cloud-like cream made her feel generous and its sweet taste filled her heart with happiness. However, the problem was that the cook was a loyal citizen of the Seritos Kingdom. He kept asking why he had to make a cake when it wasn¡¯t a special day. Of course, Rubica could use her power as the duchess and tell him to shut up and make a cake. ¡®... but then it will be one tasteless cake.¡¯ People tend not to do their best when they are not given a proper motive. To get a delicious cake, Rubica had to give the cook the right motive. ¡°Today is a very special day. It is the first day of my marriage with His Grace and the day I started working as the duchess.¡± If it wasn¡¯t a special day, she could make it special. The cook blinked his two eyes at this. ¡°The first day?¡± ¡°I think the first day is enough to celebrate. I want to celebrate my first day as Duchess ymore...¡± Steven looked unconvinced. Although he could see what Rubica was saying, he was hesitating. Rubica had no choice but to use god¡¯s name again. Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Chapter 47

¡°On the first day the god made the continent, he told us to eat bread made with honey and milk to celebrate it. So, the god also thought the first day was something worth celebrating. That is why we have cakes on birthdays. As it is the first day we met the world, we do as the god told us and have a cake that is a kind of bread made with honey and milk.¡± ¡°Oh... I see. I didn¡¯t know that. So, we have cakes on birthdays because it is the first day we met the world. My god, celebrating a birthday was to celebrate and remember what the god gave to us.¡± And like most other people in the Seritos Kingdom, the cook was a very pious man. Steven was deeply moved by Rubica teaching him the god¡¯s will which he had not known. ¡°The god most certainly said so. Yes, the first day is worth celebrating. Celebrating the first day you lived as Duchess ymore is the same as the god said. Why couldn¡¯t I think of it earlier? I know so little. Following the god¡¯s will requires a lot of studying and efforts.¡± Rubica had been waiting for that and smiled. ¡°Then could you bring me ice cream made with honey and strawberry cake at the end of the dinner?¡± ¡°Of course, Your Grace!¡± Of course, Rubica was going to make the next day and its next day into very special days as well. She left the kitchen and found Ann and told her to order extra sugar, almond powder, and chocte. ¡°But Your Grace, why do you want me to order them so suddenly?¡± ¡°I think they will be needed very much from now on...¡± Ann was confused. Then, she asked carefully, ¡°Do you crave for sweet things?¡± ¡°Huh? Um, I suppose I do.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want anything like sour fruits?¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t see why Ann was asking that. Why was she asking if she wanted to eat sour fruits so suddenly? ¡®Is she just trying to know my taste?¡¯ Rubica had always liked sweet and sour fruits. She thought it would be nice to have fresh fruit while eating a sweet cake. ¡°I like plums, but they are not in season yet.¡± ¡°But I should be able to get preserved plums. I see, so you want to eat plums and sweet things.¡± Ann looked at Rubica¡¯s belly and smiled happily. Rubica wondered for a moment if the housekeeper was silently implying that she had to keep her body in shape, but she was smiling way too broadly for that. ¡°Please don¡¯t worry. I will order them immediately.¡± Rubica had been worried that Ann might tell her she was spending money on useless things again after what had happened with Sesar, but she was saying okay way too easily. She thought it was a little odd, but she decided to think about itter. *** Same day as always. The sunshine that came through his office¡¯s windows was the same and even the air felt the same. The desk, the papers, the ink, and the pen. They were all pretty much the same. But for some reason, Edgar¡¯s heart wasn¡¯t the same. He kept looking out the window to see the garden as he worked. A strange impatience made his eyes move. He didn¡¯t even know what he was looking for as he skimmed through the moss under the trees. ¡°Your Grace.¡± When he was taking a break looking out the window after finishing signing the papers, Carl came with some fruits and water. Carl always knew what Edgar needed as if he had been born to work as a butler. Moreover, Edgar realized what the unpleasant feeling had been floating around his mind was the moment he saw him. It was curiosity. ¡°How is Rubica doing?¡± And that curiosity was about Rubica. Could that woman who knew nothing survive among the greedy ymores? Edgar was worried. But what was he worried about? He frowned. ¡®It would be a problem if she fails to get their respect as the duchess.¡¯ How could it be a problem for him if Rubica failed to get their respect? ¡®When the wife is not respected, so is the husband.¡¯ He stopped frowning only when he reached such a conclusion. Rubica failing to get used to her new position and its duties was about Edgar¡¯s honor, so he could worry about her as much as he wanted. ¡°ording to Ann, she has refused requests of the visitors with appropriate words.¡± ¡°Requests? What kind of requests?¡± ¡°Some asked her to buy the things they invented in great quantity. Some asked her to let them handle the purchase of fertilizers for the winter. Some wanted to tutor her to adjust her in the high society. Things like that.¡± Edgar frowned again. They hadn¡¯t made such requests when he was making decisions on the overall budget and Ann was managing the household. His rtives were practically bandits without knives. They avoided Edgar because they knew they couldn¡¯t win him and went after Rubica as she had just be the duchess and didn¡¯t know much. ¡°How dare they...!¡± ¡°But Her Grace has refused them, so there won¡¯t be much of such requests from now. Oh!¡± Carl tried to make Edgar calm down. Then, he was reminded of something but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s nothing worth your attention.¡± Bam! Edgar hit the desk. Carl had started talking but shut his mouth. It made him angry as Edgar hated being fooled more than anything. He had a trauma about it, and Carl regretted his mistake. ¡°Tell me.¡± ¡°But Her Grace will tell you herself. It would be better for your rtionship to hear it directly from...¡± ¡°Carl!¡± Carl wondered if he should run out of the door for a moment. But his priority was the duke, not the duchess. He knew Edgar wouldn¡¯t be able to focus on his work if he ran. No, that was actually an excuse. Carl just didn¡¯t want to be a bad man to him anymore. ¡°His Grace has decided to invest in the rose development of Lord Sesar.¡± ¡°Rose?¡± Edgar asked back. He well knew about his rtive¡¯s passion for flowers. He hade to Edgar and tried to make him invest for hours. Most other rtives tended to run away when Edgar spoke just one word of refusal, but Sesar was different. He didn¡¯t give up for so long that Edgar almost said yes because he panicked at seeing the light of dawning through the windows. ¡°Has she decided so because he bothered her too much?¡± ¡°No. She decided on it the moment Lord Sesar spoke of it.¡± ¡°And the reason is?¡± ¡°... she said she wanted to decorate the garden with roses.¡± ¡°The garden?¡± Edgar twirled his pen. Did she really wanted to decorate the garden with roses? After twirling the pen for about a dozen times, he threw it on the desk and swept his hair up. ¡°I really don¡¯t know.¡± It was strange. She had refused all the requests of the other rtives and said yes on roses? Lord Sesar¡¯s insistence was famous but, ording to Carl, she hadn¡¯t surrendered to that passion. ¡°... although Ann wasn¡¯t happy about Her Grace¡¯s decision, I think it isn¡¯t a bad choice.¡± Edgar frowned even harder at that. ¡°Ann?¡± ¡°Her Grace has agreed to export the new roses and share the revenue with Lord Sesar. To add my opinion, I think it will be profitable. It will not be a loss as long as Lord Sesar seeds in making the flowers.¡± Carl started to sweat hard when Edgar frowned even harder at hearing him defend Rubica. What had offended the duke? To be honest, Carl had been surprised when he heard what Rubica had said from Ann. She had found profitability in the ridiculous experiment of a passionate botanist. ¡°You...¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace?¡± ¡°You are confessing way too much after hesitating.¡± Carl¡¯s face turned pale and immediately bowed. ¡°I am sorry, Your Grace.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°Um...¡± Carl gulped hard. He wondered if he had to say it, but he had already spoken too much. As it had already happened, he thought it would be better to say everything he knew. It was going to do good to the duke¡¯s rtionship with his wife. ¡°Ann has asked Her Grace to mention it to you, so she will speak of it first if you wait.¡± Edgar¡¯s face darkened even more at this. He had not been happy with Ann¡¯s actions that had been popping up in Carl¡¯s report. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Carl fell in panic for a moment because he didn¡¯t know why Edgar was angry. When it was about the new mistress, he couldn¡¯t guess his master¡¯s feelings. ¡°Why should she tell me that?¡± ¡°Because it will cost too much... and Ann thought it was a research that wasn¡¯t part of household management, so she asked Her Grace that it would be right to tell you at least.¡± Edgar sighed as he could see what Ann was worried about. Rubica had just be the duchess. Who on earth could excel at the given job right from the beginning? Moreover, the ymore Family¡¯s budget differed greatly in size and use from other noble families¡¯ budgets. Even Edgar had been confused when he started to work as Duke ymore. It had been hard for him even though he had been educated as the heir, so it must have been worse for Rubica. However, this was too much. Rubica was the one who had the right to manage the household¡¯s budget. How could shefortably live if she had to get his permission for everything? Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Chapter 48

¡°Ann is crossing the line.¡± Carl immediately realized what Edgar meant. ¡°I will tell her. She is smart, so she will soon realize what you mean.¡± Carl deeply bowed and was about to leave the room. ¡°Wait.¡± Then, he looked back when hearing Edgar call him. There was a mean smile on his lips. That was... the smile he had worn from time to time when he prepared for fun pranks as a boy. Carl¡¯s heart beat fast at seeing that smile after so long. ¡°Do not tell her now. I will talk to herter.¡± What on earth was he thinking? Carl didn¡¯t know, but the loyal butler replied, ¡°Yes.¡± *** ¡°Hmm...¡± After finishing the first day¡¯s duties as the duchess, Rubica was going through a pile of pamphlets on the table. They had been sent by designers who wanted to be in business with the ymore Family. There were even some designers who mainly worked at the faraway capital but were offering to close all businesses ande if Rubica wanted their service. ¡°It¡¯s hard to know only with pictures.¡± Rubica studied the dresses drawn on the pamphlets. The description said some of them had been drawn with a famous opera singer as the model. But still, they were pictures. Rubica doubted they were the same as the actual dresses. ¡°Yes, it is. We should see the real dresses. They will immediatelye if you call them.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t want to give them the sad news after they havee all the way here.¡± ¡°Madam, you don¡¯t have to worry about the merchants. Even if you take just one quick look at their dresses, they will tell other nobledies that Duchess ymore loved them and sell them.¡± Rubica had to try hard not tough. What was it called? Yes, her father had called it ¡®cute fraud¡¯ used to pull thest trigger of any hesitating customers. Rubica read the pamphlets again. Designers in the capital were certainly different. Pamphlets from designers in the ymore¡¯s domain wereparatively simple, but those from the capital¡¯s designers were different even in the covers. They were decorated with gold and silver ink and looked splendid. Moreover, the designs drawn in them were luxurious out of the neighborhood designers¡¯ reach. Rubica¡¯s heart had already flown to the capital and ordered at least a dozen different dresses from every designer. ¡®But it will be hard to order new dresses afterward if I order them from the capital¡¯s dress shops now.¡¯ People might say it would be too much to order new dresses after already ordering dresses in thetest style from the capital. Rubica decided to be patient for now to spend moreter. She concluded it would be better to order dresses in the styles she liked regardless of the trend from the designers within the ymore¡¯s domain. ¡°But summoning designers from the capital would be too much. I will choose among the nearby designers.¡± Ann quickly started to find and pick pamphlets from designers within the ymore domain. ¡°You are so thoughtful and wise.¡± ¡°Hum?¡± Why was she saying Rubica was thoughtful? Rubica was confused to hear apliment she didn¡¯t deserve. Ann misinterpreted that confused expression and smiled as if to say she knew it all. ¡°You can summon designers from the capital and order luxurious and expensive dresses in thetest style if you want, but you decided to hire designers within the domain instead.¡± No. It wasn¡¯t like that at all. Rubica was just being smart to get both simple and elegant but beautiful dresses and luxurious and expensive dresses in thetest style. ¡°Ha, haha.¡± But she didn¡¯t exin it to Ann. She justughed instead while feeling guilty. Ann was thinking she was so great, but what would she think if she ordered dozens of dresses from the capital¡¯s dress shops in winter? ¡®No, I cannot hesitate now...¡¯ I¡¯ve made my mind to spend as much as I want no matter what anyone says. Rubica reminded herself again. Spending money without caring about others¡¯ thoughts wasn¡¯t easy as she had thought. Why was she judged every time she decided to buy something or invest in someone? More than half of the year was left, and she hadn¡¯t spent much to bring trouble to the household yet. However, she was told it was wrong when she decided to invest in Sesar¡¯s research and was praised for being wise when she said she would order dresses from designers within the domain. Although she was beingplimented, she didn¡¯t feel good about it. ¡°Your Grace, Mrs. Taylor. It¡¯s dinnertime.¡± Rubica was trying to figure out what kind of expression she should wear when a maid knocked on the door. Ann quickly put down the pamphlets she¡¯d been organizing. ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t know it was already thiste.¡± ¡°It is normal to lose track of time when looking at things like these.¡± Rubica handed the pamphlet she was holding to the maid who was clearing the table. Then let¡¯s go to eat that cake I¡¯ve ordered in advance. She was happily thinking so, but... ¡°His Grace will be at dinner, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Jennie, please do Her Grace¡¯s hair and makeup again.¡± Then Ann made a fuss on if Rubica should use the new perfume or if it would be inappropriate for dinner. ¡°Is it necessary to prepare this much?¡± ¡°His Grace used to have a simple dinner in his office on most days.¡± Ann said so as she put new pins on Rubica¡¯s hair. She couldn¡¯t be more serious-looking. ¡°But...¡± Rubica was feeling like she was getting a stomachache again when thinking about the breakfast. She sat alone on the table in the middle of a huge dining hall for the duke and the duchess. Every servants and maid there reacted to her every move. They became nervous even if she frowned just a little thinking that the food might not be to her taste. To see all of them being anxious about every expression of hers, Rubica understood why Edgar looked so cold without having any change of expression. It would be better to have some bread at the office than to dine alone while being watched by a dozen people who cared about his every movement. ¡°It must have been ufortable to dine alone in such a huge dining hall.¡± ¡°Yes, but we couldn¡¯t eat with him... Carl did his best, but he didn¡¯t even have a light dinner when he was busy.¡± Ann grabbed Rubica¡¯s hands and earnestly begged. ¡°He ising out to the dining hall at least during dinnertime thanks to you. Thank you so much.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what to say to that. Ann looked so earnest. ¡®But he will just be putting on a show as well for my reputation as it is the first day...¡¯ More urately, he was worried that people may judge him as someone who neglects his wife. However, Rubica couldn¡¯t bring herself to be that cynical in front of Ann. ¡°Ann, there is no need to thank me. I will tell him toe down and dine more often.¡± Of course, saying such a thing could anger Edgar. But having such unhealthy and simple meals in the office could be badter. Now, he was holding on as he was still young, but he would have to pay for it after he got old. Rubica had learned that through experience. ¡°Thank you so much, Your Grace.¡± ¡°It is what I should do.¡± Ann smiled brightly. ¡°Yes, you care and worry about His Grace more than anyone else.¡± Rubica smiled vaguely at that. ¡®I, worrying about him? It can¡¯t be.¡¯ Rubica barely stopped herself from blurting that out. *** When Rubica went down to the dining hall, surprisingly, Edgar was already there. She hadn¡¯t been able to see him all day long. Rubica held back a breath at seeing him infortable clothes. He had buttoned up his cor and worn a cravat, but now, he was wearing afortable shirt. His corbone seen between a couple of undone buttons looked sexy. Of course, Rubica had seen him in his nightwear, but it had been dark then and she hadn¡¯t been able to see him properly. She felt somewhat embarrassed at seeing his corbone under the bright light of the mana stonemps. ¡°... you¡¯rete.¡± Edgar spoke so as he drank some wine. His transparent blue eyes that glowed under his long, ck eyshes matched the mood. His silky ck hair and eyes looked sexy, but his pupils were clear like those of an innocent boy¡¯s. Thatbination felt so strange. He was so beautiful. Rubica couldn¡¯t get used to that beauty no matter how long she looked at him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Your Grace. It is my fault...¡± Ann apologized instead. Edgar nodded, and a servant took out a chair and politely gestured to it. Edgar was sitting at the end of the long table and Rubica¡¯s seat was right next to it. ¡®You could have led me to the opposite end.¡¯ It was a different awkwardness from what she had felt when eating alone in therge hall while being served by so many maids. She found Edgar ufortable. Just being with him made her feel ufortable. Moreover, she didn¡¯t like that she had to be on guard all the time because she didn¡¯t know what he would say next. However, her eyes betrayed her heart and were diligently looking at Edgar. Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Chapter 49

A servant brought Rubica¡¯s aperitif as soon as she sat down. It was sparkling wine that was just a little bit sour, perfect for arousing the appetite. The appetizer came out immediately after she took a sip of wine. It was a fruit she had never seen before. ¡°These are?¡± ¡°They are dragon¡¯s eyes, Your Grace.¡± The servant replied with a kind smile. Rubica was surprised and looked back at the dish. There were about four, five round and small purple fruits on it. Dragon¡¯s eyes. She had never known she would ever get to see that fruit, much less eat it. Tasty fruit that could be harvested only in a dragons¡¯ territory. It was known to contain a dragon¡¯s energy and liked by dragons, so they severely punished humans if they ever found them harvesting it. In short, they had to be harvested by risking lives. Rubica touched the round fruit with her fork. She didn¡¯t like it. ¡®If it is on a duke¡¯s dinner, His Majesty at the capital must have it even more often.¡¯ Aristocrats in this kingdom said extravagance had to be banned, people were short on money, import of wheat must be increased, and nobles shouldn¡¯t hold balls except in winter when it was agricultural off-season, but in the end, they just did what they wanted. Nobody objected when it was said it was to show off power and authority and solidify social order. Dragon¡¯s eye was one of such things. It was proof that they had enough military power and money to fight dragons and get it. Rubica made a dragon¡¯s eye roll on the dish with her fork. ¡®How many people have shed blood to get this one small fruit?¡¯ Thinking about it, she didn¡¯t want to put it in her mouth no matter how expensive it was. She removed the dragon¡¯s eyes decorated on the piece of bread and ate it with just steamed pumpkin and oil. ¡°... you don¡¯t like it?¡± Edgar looked at Rubica and asked. He was looking at the dragon¡¯s eyes on her dish. ¡°Yes.¡± He raised an eyebrow to hear that. However, before he could say anything, the servant took away the dishes and brought the next ones. ¡°Freshly roasted buntings hunted by the knights today.¡± Looking at the roasted bird with beans made Rubica feelfortable. She nced at Edgar as she cut a leg with her knife. To her surprise, her eyes met Edgar¡¯s. ¡°Say it if you have something to say.¡± Rubica was so surprised that she almost dropped the knife. Edgar had finished cutting and was elegantly putting a piece of meat in his mouth. Looking at that, Rubica wondered for a moment if he had learned how to read minds at the Academy. Anyway, as Edgar had asked first, she decided there was no need to hesitate and got to her point. ¡°I met your rtives today. I had a pleasant talk with one of them, Lord Sesar, and... my lord?¡± Rubica was startled at seeing Edgar get mad so quickly. The man was fit for sitting on a desk and writing beautiful lines with a quill, but at least for now, he looked like a warrior whose destiny was to wield a sword. ¡°What kind of scheme is this?¡± Scheme? What is he saying? Rubica didn¡¯t know what was going on and gulped hard. She wasn¡¯t the only one surprised by Edgar¡¯s abrupt anger. All the servants and maids who were waiting froze on the spot. They couldn¡¯t say anything lest they might light the bomb. Am I the one who must take the burden... Rubica wished she could hide herself in ordinariness again and spoke, ¡°A scheme, my lord?¡± Edgar got even angrier at this. He put down his fork and knife. Rubica wished she could know what this was about. She had done nothing wrong. It had been a normal conversation and she had even taken in Carl¡¯s opinion and spoken politely to him. Really, Edgar had no reason to be mad. Rather, this is what he had wanted. ¡°It¡¯s creepy.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Has someone instructed you to speak like that to me?¡± ¡°Edgar.¡± Rubica called his name to calm him down. She didn¡¯t want to quarrel with him at the dining hall, but Edgar ignored her and continued, ¡°Or did you want to make that deal with Lord Sesar happen so much that you used that pathetic way of speaking?¡± Only then Rubica realized why Edgar was so mad at her. ¡°But Edgar, you said you didn¡¯t like me talking down to you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°So, I am going to talk politely to you as you want from now...¡± ¡°It¡¯s creepy.¡± Rubia decided to shut up as there really were goosebumps on Edgar¡¯s wrist. He didn¡¯t like her talking impolitely to him, but he felt her talking politely to him was creepy. What was she supposed to do? ¡°Why are you suddenly doing this?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t care even a bit when I mentioned it to you, but now you have suddenly changed your attitude. I don¡¯t like it. Ann, have you told her to change her way of speaking today?¡± ¡°Your Grace, how could I dare to say such a thing to Her Grace?¡± Ann bowed, but it only made Edgar frown even harder. ¡°Then you are using that creepy way of speaking only because of some roses?¡± ¡°Your Grace!¡± In the end, Carl spoke. He meant to exin it once Edgar cooled down, but now he had no choice. ¡°It was me. I asked Her Grace.¡± Carl shook with fear. Edgar stared at him with eyes that couldn¡¯t have been colder, and Carl immediately knelt down. ¡°It was wrong of me, Your Grace. I will dly take any punishment.¡± What was going on? They had been having dinner just a moment ago. And why was the butler kneeling down for such a thing? It made Rubica think eating alone while everyone staring at her as she had done in the morning would have been better. ¡°Carl, you!¡± When Edgar stood up and pointed at Carl, Rubica couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She grabbed his wrist. ¡°Edgar, stop. Please.¡± His wrist was shaking. Was it something to be that mad about? Rubica was surprised to find his body so icy cold. Her warmth stopped his tremble. He breathed hard and looked at her. ¡°He was rude to you and me.¡± Oh, but how could that be called rude? Rubica didn¡¯t know what he was thinking. ¡°Carl was just doing what he should do as your butler: giving advice. I also epted that advice because I thought it was right.¡± ¡°And what about me?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t listen when I spoke about it, but you listened to Carl. Why was that?¡± Rubica let go of his wrist dumbfounded. Edgar was so mad because she had ignored him when he spoke about it and epted someone else¡¯s advice, even if the two had requested the same thing! ¡®I¡¯m the one who should be mad. Then you should have convinced me nicely instead of being so arrogant.¡¯ Rubica couldn¡¯t decide if she should call that immature behavior orck of flexibility. Either way, she didn¡¯t want to go on with that childish quarrel. It would have been different at the chambers, but now they were at the dining hall with so many watching eyes. ¡°My lord, I will speak politely to you if that is what you want.¡± ¡°It¡¯s creepy. Don¡¯t do it.¡± Rubica held back a sigh. She had called him Your Grace and spoken politely to him till two days ago. Moreover, Edgar had heard that without any problem with his neck held high as if there had been a buttress supporting it. And now he thought it was so creepy. Had something really happened duringst night? Rubica had lots to talk about including herself smelling of his perfume when she got up. It wouldn¡¯t be easy for him at all to find an excuse for that one. She told herself she had to get patient for now forter. ¡°Then do you want me to talk to you as usual?¡± ¡°No.¡± Ugh, then what do you want? Rubica could barely restrain herself from yelling so and looked at Edgar. ¡®Huh?¡¯ Then she spotted Edgar¡¯s red ears. His face hadn¡¯t changed color even a little even though he was mad, but his ears were strangely red. Rubica had been examining him, his ears didn¡¯t change color even when his face did in anger. ¡®... is he embarrassed?¡¯ Rubica silently stared at him. His ears got even redder. It reminded her of the time they had had champagne at the carriage. His eyes and ears had been a little red back then. Had he been embarrassed, not drunk? Was he really mad about her epting someone else¡¯s opinion instead of his own? ¡®Why on earth is he doing this?¡¯ However, she could calm down when thinking he was just embarrassed. It was better than not knowing why he was so mad at all. She decided using him of it would make things even worse and spoke softly. ¡°But I don¡¯t know what you want.¡± ¡°... are you going to do what I want?¡± Edgar calmed down just a little bit. Rubica resisted the urge to give him a p and smiled. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then...¡± Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Chapter 50

Edgar closed his eyes to think. His eyshes fluttered like starlight. Looking at his beauty made Rubica forget her anger sometimes. Beauty was indeed the best. ¡°Do as you want.¡± So, you made all this fuss only to let me do as I want? Rubica could barely restrain her agitation. ¡°I like talking to you as I do now.¡± ¡°Then do so. But, do not call me ¡®my lord¡¯ ever again no matter how angry you get.¡± Edgar then held her hand tightly. His manly hand was strong, and Rubica had to tell her heart not to leap up again. Edgar looked at the servants, still holding her hand. ¡°How my wife talks to me, it is between her and me. I will not tolerate if any of you speaks of it again.¡± The servants had to be very angry about the fuss he was making for something so small. Rubica recalled Ann begging her to make hime down to the dining hall to eat. This was why Edgar couldn¡¯t even get near the hall, much less eat there. ¡®I¡¯m sorry, Ann.¡¯ Rubica apologetically looked at Ann. But to her surprise, Ann looked so happy to see her and Edgar. Rubica looked at the other servants. Although they clearly looked a little confused and irritated, they were not offended. Yes, she would also make that expression from time to time before. It was... ¡®The expression of watching a couple fighting!¡¯ More urately, it was the face of someone saying, ¡®of course, you will end it soon¡¯ when watching a couple that was holding each other tightly after they had been quarreling. ¡°Carl, your wage will be cut for three months.¡± Rubica was surprised to hear Edgar say that to the still kneeling Carl. She grabbed his arm as he let go of her hand and was about to sit down. ¡°Edgar, but Carl just... made a mistake. We all make mistakes sometimes.¡± Edgar hesitated for a moment at that. ¡°Then I take back what I said.¡± Rubica rxed a little and sat down again. In the meantime, the food had gone cold. ¡°Your Grace, what do you want me to do? The roasted bunting had been very delicious. Rubica was sad that she only got to have one bite because of Edgar. She felt sorry for making them do things twice again, but she spoke in a tiny voice. ¡°Could you heat it again?¡± ¡°I will tell the kitchen.¡± The servant smiled as if there was no need to even ask for it. He picked up the dish, but Edgar stopped him. ¡°No, just bring new ones.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± Another servant removed Edgar¡¯s dish as if he had been waiting for it. It looked like being served also required experience. Rubica hadn¡¯t even thought of having them cook it again. In fact, the food had gone cold not because of the servant¡¯s fault. It had been all because of their fight. She had felt somewhat sorry at asking them to heat it up again. ¡®... but I don¡¯t think it was a good idea to tell them to bring new dishes.¡¯ The roasted buntings they just had hadn¡¯t been simple dishes. She had been able to enjoy the scent of wine and marinated lemon when she took a bite. Cooking again was going to take some time. Of course, Edgar wasn¡¯t a man who would tolerate it if they didn¡¯t cook it properly to speed up. Some boring time passed. Edgar realized his decision hadn¡¯t been that good onlyter and couldn¡¯t bring himself to look at Rubica. It was just too awkward. He crossed his legs and stared at the splendid flowers in a vase in the middle of that table. ¡°But Edgar.¡± Rubica broke the silence and spoke first. Edgar stopped the corner of his lips from curling up and looked at her. However, even if she was looking at him with a smile, that smile was somewhat cold. ¡°Why did you talk about roses?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°And what was that about ¡®to make the deal with Lord Sesar happen¡¯?¡± The sharp question made even Edgar break in a cold sweat. He wondered how he should exin that. Then Carl spoke, without hesitation this time. ¡°Your Grace, it is all my fault.¡± ¡°You told him.¡± ¡°Yes...¡± ¡°Take back what you said about cutting his wage for three months.¡± Rubica looked firm, and Edgar had to nod without even saying a decent excuse. ¡°It will never happen again.¡± ¡°Your Grace, it was me. I told it to him in the wrong way, and...¡± Ann realized how it had all happened and turned pale. Rubica didn¡¯t try to hide her sigh. She didn¡¯t hate Ann¡¯s attention and gossip, but she hadn¡¯t known this would cause such consequences. ¡°Just be careful from now on.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± After that fuss, an even more awkward time came. Silence filled the room as they ate roasted buntings and sea bass dishes that came out one after the after. In the end, Rubica couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and talked first. ¡°I was going to tell you this earlier, but... Edgar.¡± ¡°Do you mean Lord Sesar¡¯s roses improvement?¡± ¡°Yes, I saw his sketches. They were pretty roses. To be honest, what he said was so difficult that I couldn¡¯t understand most of it, but he has been studying for a long time and he loves flowers. I don¡¯t think he spoke of an entirely impossible experiment. I want to decorate the garden with the flowers he will make. As it wouldn¡¯t cost that much, I am going to invest in him. Would it be okay?¡± Of course, it was okay. No, more than that, she had no reason to ask for his approval. It was her right as the duchess to decide how to use the budget that had been given to her. Edgar could advise her about it, but he had no power to undo her decisions. But instead of exining that to her, Edgar just smiled. Rubica immediately got tense. She seemed to be preparing for whatever bomb he was about to throw at her. Strangely, he liked that. ¡°Will you let me kiss you if I say it is okay?¡± ¡°What?¡± However, Rubica¡¯s shocked shriek was covered by Steven¡¯s loud voice who came into the hall at that moment. ¡°To celebrate the first day of your marriage!¡± Steven had been deeply moved by what Rubica had told him and had done his best to make a cake. The twoyer cake was decorated with fruits preserved in honey and fresh spring flowers. There was even a 1 made of sugar on top of it. When the servants quickly removed the sea bass dishes, the cookughed heartily and put the strawberry sorbet in front of Edgar and Rubica himself. ¡°What is this about?¡± ¡°Oh, I prepared it because Her Grace said she wanted to celebrate the first day of your marriage.¡± Steven was rather surprised to hear Edgar¡¯s cold question and exined, and Rubica could only blush hard. All she had wanted was a cake small enough to fill one te and a small cup of ice cream. ¡°Oh, so you prepared this huge cake to celebrate your first day with me.¡¯ ¡°... yes.¡± Edgar¡¯s lips curled up while Rubica barely nodded. She had convinced Steven way too well because of her greed to have a tasty cake, and now she was paying for it. Of course, the cake looked more than beautiful. Steven had put in his entire passion about cakes in it. He stayed standing there with a smile instead of going back to the kitchen even after he put the cake on the table. He was going to exin he had made it with eggs freshlyid by chickens today and high-quality sugar he got a week ago and milk that had been just milked if the duke wanted it. No, he wanted him to request an exnation. That cake was the masterpiece of his lifetime. However, no matter how long he waited, he didn¡¯t ask that question. Moreover, Rubica was even looking down with a red face. Steven thought he had chosen the wrong timing toe in and whispered to a servant next to him. ¡°What were they talking abou...¡± ¡°We have been talking about kissing.¡± Edgar replied to that question instead with a devil-like smile on his lips. ¡°Oh!¡± Steven realized he had disturbed the couple¡¯s romantic talk. They were close enough to celebrate the first day of their marriage. He was drunk on his perfect cake that he missed the ufortable expression Rubica showed the moment Edgar spoke the word ¡®kiss¡¯. Even if he had seen it, he would have just thought she was being shy. ¡°Nothing is better than a kiss as a celebration¡¯s finale.¡± ¡°You think so too?¡± Rubica immediately looked up at hearing Edgar say so withughter. She red at him, but he didn¡¯t feel sorry. Rather, he enjoyed it. Rubica had no choice but to look at Ann to silently ask her to stop him. ¡®Hup!¡¯ However, Ann¡¯s eyes were shining with excitement as she looked at Rubica. They said she wanted her to kiss him. Even the servants and maids behind her reddened their faces and smiled. ¡°What do you think?¡± Edgar got up from his chair and came to Rubica. She could feel cold sweat running down her back. He cupped and lifted her chin with his long, white fingers. Rubica felt like he had been born just to tease her. ¡°I think it would be appropriate for your dedication to prepare a cake to celebrate the first day of our marriage.¡± Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Chapter 51

Rubica wished she could tell him to stop it immediately or to get away from her. However, thinking about the many people watching them, she couldn¡¯t find the courage to do that. What about Edgar¡¯s feelings after she turned him down t? Plus, he seemed to have some kind of obsession with his honor and pride even before their wedding. Anyway, this was his mansion and those maids and servants were all his people. She hade and could leave like the passing breeze, but Edgar couldn¡¯t. More than that, she had been educated that she had to be careful with what she said in front of people with an inferior rank since her childhood. Show your true thoughts and feelings only to the maid closest to you, the fights of married couples should be done in private without people watching, and you should not scold your children when the servants are watching. That was how she had been taught. Was it because of that education? Saying no to Edgar in front of so many people wasn¡¯t easy even for her. It was going to embarrass him, but she was going to get embarrassed as well. She couldn¡¯t do anything. She just blushed even harder and stared at Edgar. Edgar couldn¡¯t wait any longer and lowered his head. Rubica was surprised to see his facee closer, so she closed her eyes. She just couldn¡¯t look at him and determinedly told herself, ¡®But I am not going to let him get what he wants this time.¡¯ I will not let him take more than my lips, even if that incubus tempts me with his soft lips. This is an ordeal given by the gods. I couldn¡¯t fight back at the wedding because I was surprised, but this time, he won¡¯t get past my lips. For that short second, she made many promises and med Hue for giving her such a harsh hardship and asked for his forgiveness at the same time. ¡®Huh?¡¯ However, those soft lipsnded on her forehead, not her lips. When she opened her eyes in surprise, she couldn¡¯t see his face. His silky hair was shaking in front of her eyes instead. He was trying not tough with his face buried between Rubica¡¯s neck and shoulder. His breath kept tickling her corbones, and Rubica¡¯s face turned red like fire. ¡°Get away from me!¡± Now, she couldn¡¯t even think of her dignity and the watching eyes. Her yelling let Edgar know she had reached the end of her patience and quickly went away. He regained his coldness as if he had neverughed and shrugged. ¡®I didn¡¯t kiss your lips as promised. You told me it was okay to kiss your forehead.¡¯ His gesture was saying so. Rubica thought it was unfair, but it didn¡¯t look like it would be right tosh out her anger there. She just trembled with an anger that she couldn¡¯t urately define. Edgar ignored her rage and looked at Steven. He cut the cake with a cake knife and started to exin as if he had been waiting for it. ¡°The fruits here were preserved in honeyst winter, and...¡± However, when Edgar looked annoyed, he shut his mouth and cut a slice with Edgar¡¯s favorite fruit on it. Then he put it on a dessert te. He put a slice with sour fruits like plums and cherries for Rubica as he had been instructed by Ann. ¡°The fruits should be eaten with ice cream for a better taste.¡± He added one sentence of exnation out of disappointment. Edgar coldly ate a spoon of ice cream and pushed it away to the side. On the other hand, Rubica diligently did as the cook said. ¡°Oh, you are right. It tastes even better this way. The ice cream has a unique scent.¡± When Rubica looked at Steven to ask for more exnation after having a bite, he smiled broadly. It was the moment he had been waiting for. ¡°It is because of honey.¡± ¡°Honey?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace. Lighter but fragrant honey is better than heavy honey for making ice cream. Honey gathered in this time of the year smells like spring flowers.¡± ¡°Oh, I knew each kind of honey had different features, but I didn¡¯t know it could be used this way.¡± Rubica was genuinely impressed, and a warm feeling filled up Steven¡¯s heart at seeing it. This was it. This was what he had been waiting for. Exmation and question with every bite eaten. He had chosen ingredients, stayed in front of the hot oven for the whole time, and put his hands in icy cold water to make cream just to get that feeling. ¡°Yes, yes. Milk and eggs have differences, too. The eggs used for this cake were...¡± ¡°Steven.¡± But Steven¡¯s exnation had to end before it was even started. Edgar had just called his name, and he had been working at the mansion for a long time. He immediately realized what his master meant. ¡®It¡¯s annoying.¡¯ ¡°... are very fresh.¡± Steven had to end the long exnation he had prepared there. ¡°Then I must go to prepare for tomorrow¡¯s breakfast...¡± ¡°Oh, I made a busy man linger here because of me.¡± ¡®No, Your Grace!¡¯ Steven yelled so in his heat as he hastily left the hall. Rubica was sorry to see the man who could teach her how to enjoy the dessert properly and how special it was. She stopped using her fork and stared at Steven¡¯s back as he left. Then Edgar¡¯s sharp voice reached her. ¡°Do you like him?¡± Rubica tilted her head, confused. Then she put a small piece of cake in her mouth. The soft cream melted on her tongue. How could she not like the man who had made such a delicious cake? ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°But he¡¯s fat.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°He¡¯s small and bald.¡± Before Rubica could ask what he was talking about, Carl cleared his throat. ¡°Your Grace.¡± ¡°This cake is terrible.¡± Edgar put down his fork. The piece of cake on his te looked like it had never been touched. Rubica looked at her own te that was clean and empty now. ¡®I wish I could have more.¡¯ The cake tasted so good that one piece wasn¡¯t enough. She couldn¡¯t understand how Edgar could not eat such a delicious cake. The rest of the cake was going to be eaten by the servants afterward, but they probably couldn¡¯t eat that piece of cake on Edgar¡¯s te that he had touched. That was the rule. Food touched by the master even once couldn¡¯t be given to the servants. ¡°Edgar, your cake... are you not going to eat it?¡± Edgar nodded. Rubica then looked at the piece of cake that was about to be thrown in the garbage bin. It was too delicious to be thrown away like that. ¡°Then can I have it?¡± ¡°Your Grace, why don¡¯t you have me cut you a new slice?¡± Before Rubica could reply to that, Edgar pushed his te to her without saying anything. He still looked greatly offended about something, but as Rubica didn¡¯t know what he was thinking, she decided not to care about it and grabbed her fork. The slice of cake was surprisingly intact. Edgar had used his fork on it, but there was no sign of it on the cake¡¯s cream. What had he eaten? ¡®... only the strawberries are gone.¡¯ The slice had had a few huge and delicious-looking strawberries. Edgar had eaten only those. ¡®Picky eater.¡¯ Rubica silently protested about losing the delicious strawberries and ate the cake. As it was decorated with different fruits, it tasted a little different from the piece she had had first. It would have tasted even better with the missing strawberries. ¡®Yes, Arman used to like strawberries, too.¡¯ However, he hadn¡¯t done such a thing like eating only strawberries. Of course, they never had enough supplies for someone to do such a thing... Rubica now felt a little lonely and sad. *** After dinner, Edgar asked Rubica to go on a walk with him. At first, Rubica asked how they could take a walk in the night, but when Edgarughed and spoke of mana quartz, she immediately agreed to go. ¡°Wow.¡± They passed through low bushes and roads in the garden. Then Rubica¡¯s jaw dropped at seeing the statue that glowed within the beautiful light. Mana quartz was some kind of stone that had a small bit of mana stoneponent. It couldn¡¯t be used as a mana stone as it had too many impurities, but they glowed like the moon in the darkness. Its color differed ording to theponent mixed with the mana stone. In addition to that, the mana quartz in the ymore Mansion¡¯s garden had been carved into a beautiful statue. Rubica almost cried. She had heard about mana quartz and always wanted to see it someday. However, the stone was extremely rare. Not any stone glowed just because it had a little mana stoneponent. Only some rare mana quartz glowed like the moon and they were priceless. Now her wish was being fulfilled. It made her even think that getting married to Edgar wasn¡¯t all that bad. ¡°Oh, how can it be so beautiful?¡± Edgarughed at seeing her exim. He gestured to his guards to make them wait there. Then he looked at Steven. He immediately took the order to stand guard unseen and left. ¡°There is something more beautiful in there.¡± ¡°More beautiful? There is something more beautiful than this?¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t hide her excitement. ¡°Do you want to see it?¡± Rubica nodded without hesitation. Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Edgar narrowed his eyes at seeing Rubica¡¯s eyes shine like that. It was simr to the expression she had made when she saw him for the first time. At the time, Edgar had been unimpressed to see her. He just thought, ¡®It¡¯s happening again¡¯. Someone falling with his beauty wasn¡¯t even something to be surprised about. He had been just slightly interested in her for not being able to hide her excitement. But very much annoyingly, it turned out Rubica didn¡¯t look only at him that way. She sometimes, no, often made that expression. She had even looked at the cake at dinner that way. It made him feel just a little bad. ¡°Edgar?¡± Edgar kept looking down at Rubica, so she hesitated for a second and called his name. Edgar smiled at his own childishness for getting annoyed at such a trivial thing and took her hand. ¡°Let me show you.¡± Deep darkness filled their way to where the mana quartz statues were. On their way, Edgar started to feel better and better. He thought he had made the right decision when making the guards go away. ¡°Ugh!¡± His good mood reached its height when Rubica held him tightly because of something that leaped out of the darkness. He didn¡¯t have a habit of feeling happy when seeing others suffer. But the tighter Rubica held him while shaking in fear, the higher his lips curled up. ¡°Shh, it¡¯s just a squirrel.¡± ¡°A squirrel?¡± Because of the war she had suffered, Rubica reacted sensitively to the darkness and to things that abruptly leaped out. She had never seen something good leap out of the darkness. She thought that round thing jumping out of bushes was a bomb. So, she then let out a sigh of relief. The ce was peaceful, at least for now. ¡°You are more faint-hearted than I thought.¡± Edgar said withughter which angered Rubica. She wanted to get away from him, but she couldn¡¯t calm down just yet. Instead, she pinched his arm with all her might. ¡°How much do we have to go? You¡¯re not doing this to me on purpose, right?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Edgar had to fight the urge to take a detour to see Rubica get surprised again as he showed her the way. Rubica¡¯s eyes soon widened when seeing the spectacle in front of her. ¡°Wow.¡± Mana quartz statues were decorated around the glowing fountain. Rubica could put her fear away thanks to the statues¡¯ light. She let go of Edgar¡¯s hand and started to look around. Each mana quartz statues let out a different color of light ording to its mineralponent and content of mana. Most let out a moon-like blue light, but a few glowed in red and yellow. Rubica was impressed to see the craftsmen¡¯s skills of carving them in ordance with each mana quartz¡¯s color. ¡°... but this one is barely glowing.¡± She said so when seeing a baby angel statue. Its light was so faint that she had almost passed by it thinking it was just an ordinary statue. ¡°Mana quartz exposed to the air loses its light after about a decade.¡± ¡°It loses its light?¡± Rubica hadn¡¯t known that. It was a rare stone only those with both wealth and power could get. It was so rare that only huge tradingpanies sold it, and only the nobles of high ranks put it in their gardens, so most people knew almost nothing about it. ¡°That is why it is even rarer. No matter how much they mine it, its light eventually fades away, so the supply cannot fulfill the demand... the mana quartz of the Seritos Mountains has all already been consumed. In a way, it is even more precious than mana stones.¡± Listening to Edgar¡¯s exnation, Rubica looked at the bright smile of the angel again. This mana quartz will eventually lose light and look like ordinary marble. Thinking so made her feel somewhat sad. The transience of beauty that disappeared in time was making it even more beautiful. If it wasn¡¯t going to be an ordinary stone eventually, it wouldn¡¯t have been that rare. To such a stone, rarity and value were inseparable. ¡°How is that fountain glowing?¡± ¡°It has mana quartz in it.¡± Before Edgar could say more, Rubica ran to the fountain and tried to look in it. She couldn¡¯t see well because of the spraying water, but Edgar was right. There was a shining stone in the shape of a person inside. ¡°That is...¡± ¡°That was made in the form of my mother.¡± Edgar spat it out instantly. He could barely stop himself from clenching his teeth and, instead, he smiled. ¡°My fathermissioned it.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s amazing. Your father must have been a great man.¡± ¡°Yes. He was great, yes...¡± Rubica could read bitterness in his reply. She just thought that bitterness came from the pain of losing his entire family in one day. She thought she had touched a wound without meaning to, so she took a step to look somewhere else. ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar grabbed her wrist. In spite of the dim and beautiful lights of mana quartz, his face looked dreary and ominous. ¡°That statue actually had a pair.¡± ¡°A pair?¡± ¡°Yes, a statue of my father.¡± Rubica¡¯s heart beat fast. She had a bad feeling about it. However, she had no choice but to ask the next question. It looked like Edgar would never let her go if she didn¡¯t ask that. ¡°... where is it now?¡± ¡°I smashed it.¡± ¡°You smashed it?¡± ¡°Yes, I smashed it with a hammer.¡± Normally, Rubica would have scolded him for smashing such an expensive statue, but now she wouldn¡¯t dare. Edgar¡¯s expression looked scary as if he could easily kill a person now, but at the same time, it looked so sad. ¡°I burned all of my mother¡¯s belongings and my father¡¯s.¡± Rubica realized why there had been his grandmother¡¯s dresses among the dresses Ann had prepared for her but not his mother¡¯s dresses. ¡°I warned you in advance. You may talk about my mother in front of me. But as for my father... don¡¯t even say a word about him.¡± Rubica silently nodded at that warning. At the same time, she got questions. She could understand him burning his parents¡¯ things and smashing one of their statues and drowning the other in the fountain. Even thinking about them must be painful. It had been such a sudden death of a couple who loved and cared about each other so much. But then, only grief and longing should be on Edgar¡¯s face. That was how he looked like as he looked at his mother¡¯s statue, but he had an anger and will to kill as he spoke of his father. She had been unable to feel his grief and longing. It looked like... he hated his dead father. *** Rubica got dressed in her nightdress andy on the bed. Then, she realized she hadn¡¯t talked to Edgar about what happened in the morning. Edgar came out of the bathroom. Good timing. White steam was around him. He still had the hotness of the bathroom. His wet hair fell a little below their usual ce. Normally he was beautiful but hard to approach, but now he looked so soft and rxed. Rubica found her heart beating fast again at this new aspect of him. Even the most beautiful person tends to get boring when seen every day, but Edgar was different. He looked like the incarnation of beauty. How can a human be like that? ¡°Your Grace, we have brought what you wanted.¡± Edgar sat down on an ottoman next to the bed and waved his hand. It made the maids leave the room. Being alone with him was notfortable, but now Rubica had a chance to talk more freely. What had happened in the morning wasn¡¯t something she couldn¡¯t talk about in front of others. ¡°Edgar, I want to ask you something...¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Edgar wasn¡¯t listening to her. He poured water from a kettle in a pot. Was he making coffee? At this hour of the night? Rubica narrowed her eyes but continued. ¡°When I woke up this morning, all of my maids including Ann said I smelled of your perfume.¡± Edgar almost dropped the pot. He looked away and turned the sandss on the table. ¡°What did you do to mest night?¡± ¡°What did I do? You¡¯re asking a strange question. You seem to think of me as a shameless man.¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes got even narrower. He was getting mad too easily. It was suspicious. The guilty man¡¯s voice is always the loudest. ¡°Then why on earth did I smell of your perfume? I slept at that end of the bed and you slept at this end.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Edgar tapped the sandss with his finger and desperately tried to find a way to change the subject. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t think of anything good. ¡°It¡¯s suspicious.¡± ¡°No... I didn¡¯t break the promise we made.¡± Edgar felt a little guilty and quickly added. The sandss¡¯ sand was now in the bottom half of it. He poured out the water in the cups. Rubica muttered to herself when seeing that. ¡°Strange.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say much, but you said you didn¡¯t break our promise first. It¡¯s very strange and suspicious.¡± Edgar ended up spilling the water from the cup. He then quickly offered Rubica a fine cup of the drink to change the subject. Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Chapter 53

¡°I can¡¯t sleep after drinking coffee at night.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t coffee.¡± He was right. There was a brown and clear liquid in the cup instead of coffee. However, Rubica was still suspicious, so he added, ¡°I drink it from time to time when I get a headache. It¡¯s good to drink it before sleeping.¡± Was it the drink Carl had proudly introduced to her in front of Edgar¡¯s office this morning? ¡°Tea?¡± ¡°Yes, you know it?¡± Edgar¡¯s lips curled up again as few people knew well about tea in Seritos. ¡°Carl told me about it, that¡¯s how I know.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Rubica thought about it for a moment and carefully took a sip. Then, she frowned and said, ¡°It smells weird, and it¡¯s bitter.¡± ¡°No way.¡± Had he made a mistake when making it? He quickly drank from his own cup. ¡°But it smells good and it¡¯s delicious.¡± ¡°Not to me.¡± Rubica gave him back the cup of tea, and Edgar put it on the table. He was a little sad that Rubica didn¡¯t like his favorite drink. ¡°You will get used to it if you keep drinking it. Coffee is even bitter than this, but you enjoy it even without sugar. Plus, tea is even more expensive and rarer because it came across the desert.¡± Rubica sat down on a chair next to the bed and stared at him with her twinkling eyes. His voice started to get smaller and smaller as she kept staring at him. It was strange. Her irises were dark. However, the more Edgar looked at them, the more he got to think they shined brightly like two gems. Bum, Bum. His heart started to beat hard again. He hadn¡¯t had any champagne today. Moreover, his doctor had announced he had no cold at all before he went downstairs for dinner. But then, what was wrong with him? Why was his heart beating so fast? He couldn¡¯t even guess what kind of disease he had. ¡°Edgar.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°It¡¯s one o¡¯clock.¡± Edgar had been tense and sighed at hearing what Rubica said. He had promised to leave the bedroom at one o¡¯clock and sleep in the resting room adjacent to his office. Actually, that wasn¡¯t strange to him. He had always slept in his office alone to avoid any ident. But today, for some reason, he couldn¡¯t just make himself stand up and walk away. ¡°I will leave after seeing you fall asleep.¡± Rubica was shocked to hear that. ¡°I am not sleeping before you go.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have a conscience? Do you think I can sleep defenselessly in front of you?¡± Edgar didn¡¯t even have to drag his conscience before admitting he was guilty. Thinking about it again, he wasn¡¯t sure he would be able to leave Rubica alone when she was sleeping. Yesterday he had experienced something he had never felt before. As he still didn¡¯t know what had caused it, he couldn¡¯t let himself face a simr situation again. ¡°Okay. As it is the promised time, I will go. But instead...¡± ¡°Instead?¡± Edgar sat on the sofa and didn¡¯t talk for some time, and Rubica could feel that he was nervous. What on earth was he trying to say that he was feeling that nervous? Soon, he rubbed his knee a few times with his big hands and determinedly opened his mouth. ¡°Let me give you a goodnight kiss.¡± ¡°What?¡± Edgar realized Rubica was about to yell, ¡®Get out, now!¡¯ Therefore, he quickly waved his hand. ¡°Not on your lips, on your forehead.¡± It made Rubica calm down a little. ¡°Is that really necessary?¡± Edgar suddenly started to think that it was unfair. This woman wasn¡¯t special. Why was he almost begging to her? However, his mouth betrayed his mind and started to move on its own. ¡°It¡¯s a tradition.¡± ¡°Tradition?¡± ¡°Giving a goodnight kiss is a tradition that has been in the ymore Family for generations.¡± Rubica was confused. Mrs. Shaynie, who had visited Rubica this morning to give her a speech about why she had to learn the manners of the ymore Family, had given her a list of manners. Moreover, what Edgar just said hadn¡¯t been among them. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of it, and it wasn¡¯t on the list Mrs. Shaynie brought...¡± ¡°Of course she doesn¡¯t know about it. Only lineal family members of the ymore know about this.¡± Of course, there wasn¡¯t such a tradition. Edgar wanted to scold his mouth which kept saying lies, but he couldn¡¯t afford to. Taking a step back now would only make Rubica doubt him even more. ¡°But Edgar, we... got married because we had no choice after things went wrong because of my aunt and your messenger. There¡¯s no need to do that when we are alone.¡± Rubica exined to Edgar and studied his expression. With each word she said, Edgar got more disappointed. Rubica was saying what was only right, nevertheless, she started to feel sorry for him. Why was the man who had everything making such a request to her? There were many women who would dly kiss him and give even more if he wanted. She recalled how he had looked when watching that statue drowned under the fountain. He had been full of longing and sadness. Moreover, there was that moment of rage he had been suppressing for so long... Maybe being perfect and cold was just part of his mask. Rubica had seen at least a little part of his loneliness and pain of pushing others away. That much must have taken lots of courage for him. ¡®Love your enemies as your neighbors.¡¯ Rubica recalled Hue¡¯s teaching. Why did he ask her hand in marriage? Why was he trying to have her next to him even when it cost him so much? She didn¡¯t know. But apart from their deal, agreement, whatever it was, she was the person who was now closest to him and who he could at least show his pain. Why on earth had the gods sent her back in time and let her meet Edgar, she didn¡¯t know. However, if this was the gods¡¯ will, she wanted to do what she could do. ¡°... well, I guess I have no choice if it¡¯s a tradition. You may do it.¡± She had been taught to willingly heal those in pain at the abbey. Moreover, that pain didn¡¯t only mean physical pain. Maybe Edgar had pain in his heart. Maybe he was in so much pain that he was pretending to be so cold to hide that. Then, there was a need for Rubica to push aside her own bad feelings for him and care about him and his pain. She was Hue¡¯s diligent follower, after all. ¡°I... really can?¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t believe that he was suddenly getting her permission that he asked again to make sure. Rubica had barely found the courage to say yes and blushed in embarrassment. ¡°Then don¡¯t do it.¡± He hadn¡¯t heard wrong. Edgar couldn¡¯t stop himself fromughing out loud. It had been so cold like mid-winter, but now it felt as if the warm sunshine of spring was on him. He gently put his two huge hands on her face. Her skin always felt so soft, but her cheeks were even softer. ¡°Uh, um.¡± Rubica hadn¡¯t known he would wrap her face with his hands. She was puzzled. Edgar was worried she might change her mind and quickly kissed her forehead. Her warm breath reached his neck and tickled it. It was just a kiss on the forehead, but it felt so good that he wished he could stay that way forever. The sound of his beating heart got even louder. Moreover, he felt some kind of excitement wrap his body. That was the feeling he had had when he walked up the dais to give a presentation about the thesis he had prepared for more than a year in front of the many professors and students at the Academy. Actually, it felt a bit more pleasant. ¡°Edgar?¡± Edgar didn¡¯t move away his lips from Rubica¡¯s forehead for a long time. She then found the courage to call him. He managed to get to his senses, went away from her forehead, and looked at her. The moment he looked into her clear eyes, he jumped to his feet and ran out of the room. His ears were fiery red as he left. ¡°What was that about? He said he wanted to give me a goodnight kiss and left without saying goodnight...¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what had just happened and nkly stared at the door Edgar closed behind him. He said he wanted to give her a goodnight kiss and then suddenly ran out? Really, she didn¡¯t know why he was doing all that. ¡®Is my reaction funny to him? No, there must be several people around him who show him an even funnier reaction.¡¯ Rubica put her chin on her hand and thought about it for a moment. However, she couldn¡¯t find an answer. Just like she was a strange woman to Edgar, he was a strange man to her as well. Rubica had never met a guy who reacted so strangely to her. ¡®And it¡¯s not like he is the kind of man who will give me answers if I ask...¡¯ Rubica knew the solution to all the questions she couldn¡¯t find answers to. ¡®Let¡¯s sleep for now.¡¯ Getting a good night¡¯s sleep will either get me an answer or let me forget everything and feel better. Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Chapter 54

Rubica got up early in the morning, got ready for the battle, and headed to the reception room. Today she had fewer rtives to meetpared to yesterday. Words had got out during the night that she wasn¡¯t a na?ve idiot at all. Instead, more people came to persuade her to buy strange rocks and trees to decorate the garden. They were not pretty at all, and Rubica didn¡¯t even talk to them for long. She worked with Ann to drive them away. ¡°Your Grace, in my opinion, you should hear more advice from me about the culture of the upper ss before you are presented to the capital¡¯s society.¡± Mrs. Shaynie, who taught manners in the ymore Family and its retainers, was among those Rubica had driven off using her ¡®I¡¯m not buying¡¯ technique yesterday. However, she wasn¡¯t tired and came to convince Rubica again. For now, Rubica listened to the woman, who had a bent back and blonde hair that had almost entirely lost its color, with a smile. But she really didn¡¯t want to meet her every day to learn about manners. ¡°Mrs. Shaynie, the capital¡¯s society will not be avable for a long time. I n to focus on the household¡¯s businesses for now.¡± Shaynie pretended to not hear Rubica¡¯s polite refusal and continued to speak. ¡°How you spoke to His Grace at the wedding feast was wrong as well. In most noble families...¡± ¡°Mrs. Shaynie, His Grace has ordered no one should care about how Her Grace speaks to him as it is a matter of their rtionship. He also said whoever dares to advise Her Grace about the matter will be punished severely.¡± Ann couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and warned Shaynie, but the woman just nced at Ann and continued, ¡°Even if His Grace has said so, a wise woman must...¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t take it anymore and put a hand on her forehead. Ann immediately realized what she meant by that and spoke politely to Mrs. Shaynie. ¡°Mrs. Shaynie, Her Grace is very tired after working hard for two days. It is now time to meet the doctor.¡± Of course, they hadn¡¯t made any doctor¡¯s appointment. However, it looked like Shaynie wouldn¡¯t go away without that kind of good reason. She was an olddy who had worked as the family¡¯s teacher for many years. She could spread rumors if Rubica drove her away as she had done with the other rtives. ¡°I apologize for taking your precious time. Then, we will discuss this again tomorrow.¡± Mrs. Shaynie stood up and bowed politely. Rubica said goodbye by following the manners, but she couldn¡¯t help sighing as soon as the door was closed. Ann looked rather sorry for her. ¡°She isn¡¯t that bad... she is just, a little weird.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t try to deny that and nodded. She didn¡¯t know why Mrs. Shaynie was trying to teach her, but it couldn¡¯t be out of good intentions. ¡°And she wille again tomorrow.¡± ¡°Should I cancel your afternoon schedule if you are tired?¡± ¡°No, no, there¡¯s no need to.¡± She was going to meet designers from the neighborhood this afternoon. It was one of the reasons she had endured the morning¡¯s boring meetings. So, she shook her head. ¡°I will be fine if I take a little rest after having a cup of coffee.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Ann immediately brought warm coffee and some refreshments. Rubica then had some sugar-sprinkled madeleine with coffee. ¡®Oh, it smells so good.¡¯ The coffee was beyondparison with that strange drink Edgar had given her the night before, and it made her feel much better. Drinking bitter coffee after eating the sweet madeleine felt just right. Before she knew it, half of the madeleines on the dish were gone, and she had finished a cup of coffee. But because of the stress Mrs. Shaynie had given her, she didn¡¯t want to stop there. She raised the pot to have more coffee. ¡°Madam, wouldn¡¯t a cup of coffee be enough?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I have more?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not good for your health.¡± Rubica wanted to convince Ann and get another cup of coffee, but she was surprised at seeing her look at her as if she were a patient and put down the pot. ¡®What is this about?¡¯ Ann had also stopped her from having more champagne at the wedding feast. It looked like she was the type of person who cared too much about health. Rubica was about to say she was still young and could handle a couple of cups of coffee, but then someone knocked on the door. ¡°But Mrs. Shaynie was today¡¯sst visitor.¡± ¡°I will see who it is.¡± Ann opened the door and Carl came in. He hesitated for a moment when seeing Rubica, but then he delivered the duke¡¯s message. ¡°Your Grace, your husband said it would be good to take a walk in the garden for your health.¡± ¡°What?¡± Was everyone in this household obsessed with health? Rubica was confused, but Ann brightened up at hearing that. ¡°Oh, that is an excellent idea! Taking a walk is good for a preg...¡± ...nant woman. Ann managed to not say that. ¡°Preg?¡± Rubica asked back. Ann, however, answered with an expression that said Rubica knew what she was talking about. ¡°It will make you feel better. Your Grace, you should take a walk.¡± Ann brought a hat, gloves, and a parasol. Therefore, Rubica had no choice but to go outside. *** Rubica didn¡¯t hate taking strolls. She rather understood its importance. You cannot get fresh air if you stay inside. Also, it was almost the only activity nobledies could do. However, she didn¡¯t like the fact that she was taking a stroll because of someone¡¯s rmendation that was practically an order. She went across the garden so fast that the maids were surprised to see her. Then, she abruptly stopped and looked back. She could see someone hastily moving away behind the curtains upstairs. ¡®That¡¯s the office.¡¯ Now, Rubica wasn¡¯t the one who should take a walk. It was Edgar who stayed in his office and slept and ate there. Plus, ording to what she had felt under his nightgown, he... ¡®... has no need to exercise.¡¯ His chest was solid. She had never seen him naked, but it was clear that his chest was made of muscles. She felt it with her cheek. She couldn¡¯t help but get embarrassed when thinking of his chest and kicked a pebble on the road. Why was she remembering that? ¡°Your Grace, the road is ufortable, isn¡¯t it? The gardeners are doing maintenance, so they couldn¡¯t clear the road.¡± ¡°Maintenance?¡± ¡°Yes, one of the mana quartz statues lost its lights so they are preparing for rearrangements. I was going to tell you tomorrow as it was nothing urgent.¡± Ann seemed to be talking about the angel sculpture Rubica had seenst night. Rubica felt pity for that statue that had lost its beauty in time. If it had been left buried underground, it wouldn¡¯t have lost its light. However, was beauty buried underground without anyone appreciating it really meaningful? Asking such questions to herself made her feel pain in the heart and feel like everything in the world and life was meaningless. Beauty gives joy to people, but it also gives bitterness and sadness sometimes. *** Being rich is pleasant. There is happiness that can¡¯t be bought with money, but there is happiness that can be bought with money as well. Rubica couldn¡¯t hide her smile at seeing the beautiful fabrics in front of her. ¡°Mr. Wilkins, the most famous designer in the neighborhood.¡± Mr. Wilkins bowed in his splendid suit. He had used more than enough wax on his blond hair, and his almond-shaped green eyes made him look somewhat like a young boy. He elegantly said, ¡°It is my honor to be summoned by such a beautifuldy.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°No, I truly mean it. Your thick brown hair especially highlights your beauty. How about this fabric? It will make your hair stand out even more.¡± Rubica could see why he was such a sessful designer. He knew how to make his clients feel good, even though what he said was clearly a lie. He smiled showing off his teeth that shined like porcin. That smile, which made women¡¯s hearts flutter, had to be part of his well-made n. ¡®He will probably look like a squid next to Edgar.¡¯ The maids thought so too as they had seen their excessively beautiful master for a long time. Mr. Wilkins was puzzled when no one smiled back to him. However, he soon started to show Rubica various fabrics and sample dresses like a professional. As a sessful designer, he had more varied fabrics than his rivals and his dresses were in the capital¡¯stest styles. ¡°I think silver buttons will be good on this dress.¡± ¡°Your Grace, you can¡¯t really mean it. Silver buttons are not good enough for a noble duchess like you. How about diamond buttons?¡± However, Rubica thought silver buttons were perfect for that sample dress, and her face turned dark. Wilkins soon gestured to his apprentice to have him bring a different dress. ¡°Or how about this one? Its made of fabric imported from the faraway Sharman Kingdom. As it was made by goblins, it is very thin and has a beautiful glow.¡± ¡°It is pretty.¡± ¡°Yes, I n to embroider it and put rubies on it.¡± ¡°But this fabric is so thin, I think it would be better left untouched...¡± Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Chapter 55

Mr. Wilkins poked his apprentice again. He then brought a dress with numerous rubies and emeralds attached to it. ¡°Haha, Your Grace, you really do have a discerning eye. You eventually made me bring out this dress!¡± The dress was indeed beautiful. Its emeralds shined so brightly in the sunlight that it almost blinded Rubica¡¯s eyes. However, her smile left a long time ago. ¡®... it¡¯s not right for me.¡¯ When carefully thinking about it, everything Mr. Wilkins had rmended to her was expensive. But none of them really matched Rubica. He even pretended not to hear her when she tried to add the right decorations to the dresses he showed and tried to make her chose even more expensive things. Was she supposed to tell him to leave now? She was overwhelmed by his confident attitude of showing her this and that with a smile. She hesitated. He had brought so much, but she really didn¡¯t... want to buy. Being confident wasn¡¯t bad for a merchant selling his goods, but he was doing too much. ¡°How about ordering all of them if you find it hard to decide on one of them?¡± That brought Rubica to her senses. She couldn¡¯t let him take advantage of her like that. ¡°No, I¡¯m not ordering.¡± The next second, the smile vanished on Mr. Wilkin¡¯s face. Rubica recalled how she had paltered with merchants in the market. Human nature had to remain the same even though he sold luxurious goods. She reminded herself of the fact that Mr. Wilkins was just another merchant and tried to remain calm. There was no reason to be sorry. The dresses she didn¡¯t want to buy because of their prices had been brought from far away. However, as she was the duchess now, she couldn¡¯t say, ¡®it¡¯s too expensive¡¯, ¡®it¡¯s a fraud¡¯, or ¡®do I look like a fool?¡¯ Therefore, she tried to mimic Edgar¡¯s arrogant attitude. ¡°I will make my decision after seeing the other designers¡¯ dresses. I must give fair chances to all of you.¡± ¡°Of course, Your Grace. Please summon me again anytime.¡± Mr. Wilkins thought Rubica would end up calling him again and left for now. He sold the most expensive dresses in the ymore¡¯s domain and he also knew the capital¡¯s fashion trend. To nobles, clothes were one way of showing their wealth. However, Rubica promised to herself something as she saw the elegant man leave. ¡®I will never call him again.¡¯ The next designers were a married couple, and Rubica didn¡¯t like the husband¡¯s attitude. He tried to win Rubica¡¯s favor and agreed with everything she said, but he ignored his wife way too much. ¡®He¡¯s saying I¡¯m right, but he will immediately show his true face once I give him some trust.¡¯ Rubica bought a pair of gloves the wife rmended and sent them away. Next was a middle-aged designer, Mr. Milet. Rubica got her hopes up at hearing he had been working as a designer in one shop for a long time. He had to have great experiences and skills. ¡°That fabric you just showed me, I think it¡¯s good. May I see it again?¡± ¡°Your Grace, most people think fabric made with wool of southern sheep is the best. Well, yes, its luster is fine. However, I do not think it is good enough for its high price. On the other hand, fabric from the east is cheap and...¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes widened at hearing that. Mr. Wilkins had rmended only expensive things, but this man was rmending cheap stuff. At first, she thought he was a designer with a conscience. ¡°You must not know much about fabrics...¡± ¡°Your Grace, you don¡¯t seem to know well about embroideries. Such embroidery is...¡± ¡°But Your Grace, you are wrong. The fact is...¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know how to choose good buttons.¡± ¡°That is not good enoughpared to its price...¡± Rubica started to feel offended. He was certainly better than the previous designers, but he pretended to know everything and treated Rubica like a fool. She couldn¡¯t take it anymore. Moreover, she didn¡¯t like the fact that he keptparing the price and rmending things slightly cheaper than the best ones. Of course, such rmendation would have been right for other ordinary nobledies. ¡®But I... am not short on money anymore! I must spend it as best as I can!¡¯ Rubica could barely resist the urge to summon Mr. Wilkins again and order the most expensive dresses he had, add embroideries and gems to it, and order matching gloves and hats too in front of Mr. Milet. ¡°Stop, my head hurts.¡± ¡°Mr. Milet, Her Grace wants to take rest. Please stop here for today.¡± ¡°Your Grace, you must have a headache. I would rmend the medication I take. It is much better than the doctors¡¯ medications.¡± Mr. Milet even pretended to know about medicine and fished out a bag of round pills from his bag. Those dirty-ck pills looked suspicious, and Ann immediately freaked out. ¡°Her Grace has her own doctor.¡± However, Mr. Milet misinterpreted Ann¡¯s polite refusal and showed off his confident smile. ¡°Doctors, they prescribe you uselessly expensive drugs to earn money. If it is just a simple headache, there is no need to take expensive medications. These pills will be enough, I guarantee. The other nobledies I rmended it also said it worked much better than the doctor¡¯s medications.¡± Now Rubica really got a headache. Why was he pretending to know everything? It sounded like he had gotten a doctor¡¯s degree in medicine at the Academy. ¡°What is it made of that everyone says it works so well?¡± Rubica was half curious and half sarcastic, but that question made Mr. Milet be sure that Rubica was starting to believe him. So, he answered way too honestly. ¡°Well-dried horse dung with...¡± ¡°Horse dung?¡± Ann¡¯s patience snapped before Rubica¡¯s did. She pushed Mr. Milet out through the window without listening to his mumbles at all. ¡°You dared to make Her Grace eat horse dung!¡± ¡°But it works very well on...¡± ¡°Get out with your horse dung!¡± ¡°I only rmended it for Her Grace¡¯s health.¡± He looked at Rubica as if asking for her help. Was he stupid or bold? Rubica shook her head. Mr. Milet realized he was not selling anything today and mumbled he should be given time to pack the dresses and things he had brought. ¡°I will have servants bring everything to your shop so leave!¡± Ann huffed for a long time even after he left. Then, she apologetically looked at Rubica. ¡°Your Grace, I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know he was such a man.¡± ¡°No, Ann. It¡¯s not your fault... plus, he did have a good reputation.¡± Actually, Mr. Milet was a good designer. He even had a conscience, unlike Mr. Wilkins. The problem was his mouth. Maybe the otherdies had bought from him while feeling the urge to make him shut his mouth. ¡°Would you like to take some rest now?¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t there another designer waiting?¡± ¡°Yes, but you look very tired...¡± ¡°But she hase from far away. I cannot make her go back without seeing me just because of my mood.¡± That was the only reason Rubica decided to meet thatst designer. She had been tormented by the previous designers and she had been very disappointed. Rubica waited for thest designer without even a bit of hope. ¡°This is madam Khanna.¡± ¡°It is my honor to meet you, Your Grace.¡± Thest designer had brought much fewer samples and fabricspared to the other designers, and the woman¡¯s hands trembled as sheid out the fabrics in front of her. Rubica felt pity for the smalldy and talked to her to make her rx a little. ¡°So, your husband makes dresses and you meet the customers.¡± Khanna¡¯s blue eyes nervously shook. She thought for a moment and carefully said, ¡°My husband... went back to the godsst year.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Rubica covered her mouth in surprise. As the previous designers had been all men or couples, she hadn¡¯t thought that there could be a female designer. The designer was one of the few upations that a widow or the daughter of a poor nobleman could take without shaming herself. ¡°I spoke without thinking. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. People ask sometimes... and it¡¯s not like it¡¯s something to hide.¡± Khanna¡¯s smile was the smile of people who had been through countless hardships and had found a way to be peaceful. Rubica feltfortable with her. At the same time, she wondered about Khanna¡¯s life. Rubica would also have to make a living alone after divorcing Edgar. Of course, she had been alone before that, but there had to be a difference between a maiden¡¯s life and a divorceddy¡¯s life. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I may ask you this, but...¡± ¡°Please, ask me anything. I may be a designer but, before that, I am a person who lives under the protection of the ymore. There¡¯s nothing you may not ask me.¡± ¡°... did you run your shop with your husband?¡± ¡°No, he managed it alone. He was a very good designer, and manydies wore his dresses.¡± Khanna¡¯s eyes showed longing. Rubica felt guilty for making her drag out her painful memories only to give an answer to her curiosity. ¡°Oh, but I used to study at the shop before I got married. So, I helped my husband with sewing and embroidering from time to time when he was busy.¡± Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Chapter 56

Khanna sounded worried that Rubica might doubt her skills. Rubica then simply nodded and took a look at Khanna¡¯s samples. They were neither trendy nor splendid. However, judging from the sleeves and decorations that had been strongly sewed, Khanna didn¡¯tck in skills at all. ¡°... do you have children?¡± ¡°Yes, four children. They are all such cute angels.¡± Rubica felt something hote up to her chest at hearing that. Although Khanna had learned cloth making, she had not done that for a long time. She must have decided taking care of her family was much more important than helping at the shop. However, she now had no choice but to work to support her children after her husband¡¯s death. Of course, her hands trembled. Had she slept at all the night she sent the pamphlet to the ymore Mansion? Rubica decided to order at least a dress and a nightdress from her, regardless of how good she was. She had bought only a pair of gloves from the previous designers, so that much would at least give her a few chances in the future. ¡°I need a simple dress for taking walks...¡± ¡°Then it would be better to use fabric colored with dye that doesn¡¯t get discolored under the sunlight.¡± Khanna soon showed Rubica about six kinds of different fabrics. Rubica chose a light salmon-colored fabric, and Khanna agreed to her choice without anyints even though it wasn¡¯t the most expensive one. ¡°And how about the design? As it is for taking walks, I¡¯d rmend a simple style.¡± Khanna put a sketch of the most basic design in front of Rubica. Then, she slowly exined the pros and cons of what Rubica showed interest in. Rubica started to like her more and more. ¡®... she¡¯s different from the other designers.¡¯ She didn¡¯t rmend excessively expensive stuff, but she also didn¡¯t rmend cheap ones saying they were good for their price. ¡°I want the stomacher to be splendid, how about attaching rubies to it?¡± Rubica thought about the design, and Ann came and sat next to her. She hadn¡¯t said a word while Rubica met the other designers. However, even Ann was driven by thefortable mood and added her opinions. ¡°I think it would look pretty, the rubies will shine in the sunlight.¡± Khanna, who had followed Rubica¡¯s opinions till now, looked a little troubled this time. ¡°Of course rubied are pretty, but I don¡¯t think they are right for this salmon-colored fabric.¡± Then, she put a small ruby on top of the fabric to prove it. She was right, it didn¡¯t look right as the ruby sparkled less and the fabric¡¯s warm color faded under it. ¡°If you want to attach rubies to the stomacher, I can show you other fabrics...¡± ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t have to be decorated with rubies, and I like this fabric.¡± It was strange. Rubica had been offended when the other designers disagreed with her, but she didn¡¯t feel that way with Khanna. Rubica could trust her. She was sure that Khanna would stop her if she ever made a strange decision. ¡°Then what should we do instead of attaching rubies?¡± ¡°I rmend colorful embroidery and pearls.¡± Khanna showed Rubica samples of her embroidery, but Rubica couldn¡¯t find anything she liked this time. Unfortunately, Khanna hadn¡¯t worked on the designs for a long time. Her embroidery samples were all behind fashion. ¡®I wish Rosa was here...¡¯ Rubica was thinking that when Khanna carefully asked, ¡°Is there nothing you¡¯d like to have?¡± Should I tell her honestly? Rubica had decided to order a dress regardless of Khanna¡¯s skills, so she wondered if she should choose among the samples. Then Ann started to speak. ¡°Um, madam Khanna, will it be alright to have the ymore¡¯s seamstresses do the embroidery?¡± Rubica was surprised at hearing that and nced at Khanna. Some proud designers acted like they were being insulted when they heard such a thing. Seamstresses only helped with the designer¡¯s work when he or she was short on hand because there were so many dresses ordered at the same time, or the crest of each noble family, that could only be embroidered by the family¡¯s seamstresses, was needed to be embroidered. However, Khanna wasn¡¯t offended at all: she was rather delighted to hear that. ¡°Oh, I would be grateful if the ymore¡¯s seamstresses do it. I was just wondering how I should do the embroidery.¡± That made Rubica look at the dress Khanna was wearing. She hadn¡¯t noticed it sooner as the designer was wearing it fashionably, but theces and adornment of the sleeves looked quite old. She was probably short on money. Rubica thought the shop she had inherited from herte husband could be in a bad financial condition. ¡°... Khanna, are you short on workers to do embroideries?¡± Khanna looked rather ashamed as she was just not experienced in meeting and selling to clients. So, she didn¡¯t know what she should say to win Rubica¡¯s favor. She just decided to be honest instead. It had to be at least better than lying crudely, and for some reason, she thought it would be okay to be honest with Rubica. ¡°We lost most of the work after my husband¡¯s death, so many tailors and workers left the shop. Our best embroiderer moved to a different shop four months ago.¡± ¡°... oh.¡± An awkward silence filled the room. So, Ann stood up and said to a maid rather cheerfully, ¡°Bring Rosa. Tell her to bring as many embroidery designs as she can. It would be even better if she can bring carbon paper for copying. And you, go to the kitchen and ask if they have some candies or jelly.¡± Ann had realized Khanna¡¯s situation just like Rubica had, and it seemed she had decided to help her. The candies had to be for her children, but Khanna didn¡¯t know what to do and bowed to Rubica. ¡°Your Grace, I was excited when you said you will order dresses from me instead of the better designers you met first. But... if it¡¯s only because you pity me, I must say it isn¡¯t necessary.¡± ¡°We were not...¡± Ann hadn¡¯t thought Khanna would say that and was rather surprised. Rubica could see Khanna had the pride of a designer ingrained deep in her heart. Although she had not worked for a long time as she had to raise her children, she was a designer who had learned how to make clothes at a shop. ¡°I did feel pity for you, but that isn¡¯t the only reason I decided to order from you.¡± Khanna was grim. Rubica wondered how she should convince her for a moment but being honest seemed like the best way now. ¡°Those other designers, yes, to be honest, they were better than you and they brought better things than yours. But... they didn¡¯t listen to me at all. Those who did listen to me only wanted to win my favor. None of them cared about what was right for me.¡± Mr. Wilkins who had tried to sell the most expensive things and Mr. Milet who had rmended cheap stuff without considering Rubica¡¯s situation at all. Just thinking of them made her mouth taste bitter. ¡°Khanna, you are the only one who listened to what I wanted to wear. You also saw what was really right for me and rmended it to me.¡± As she talked, Rubica realized clearly why she liked Khanna. Her head that had hurt so much was now fine. She felt sure, she had never been so sure about something before. Rubica then looked into Khanna¡¯s eyes and announced, ¡°From now on, I will order all my dresses from you. Khanna, please be my designer.¡± It wasn¡¯t a mere impulse. It was a conclusion she had reached after thinking logically. Khanna couldn¡¯t believe what she was hearing, so Rubica warmly took her hands. ¡°I was going to order a dress from you at first out of pity. But my decision to order all my dresses from you, Khanna, you made me make that decision. It would only be right to share the embroidery designs from this family with my designer and lend you my people, right?¡± Khanna could barely hold back her tears. She had taken over the shop so suddenly after her husband¡¯s death, and she had been so lost after raising her children at home. She was good with her hand, but on what kind of design was in fashion these days, what she was supposed to say to win the customers¡¯ favor, she really didn¡¯t know. She lost the shop¡¯s regrs one by one, and the good tailors left her and moved to different shops as she couldn¡¯t pay them well. Moreover, the shop would make fewer dresses after they left, so the few customers had stoppeding. However, she couldn¡¯t dare to do something else, either. Clothmaking was what she had learned since childhood and what she had seen from the side while raising her children. She had been able to meet the duchess only because of herte husband¡¯s reputation. It wasn¡¯t her own skills. So, she gambled. She used all the money she had left and came, hoping onepliment of the duchess would bring back her customers... She was saying she didn¡¯t want to be pitied, but actually, she desperately needed help. Duchess ymore was giving her a great opportunity today, and she was saying it wasn¡¯t out of pity but because of her skills. Chapter 57

Chapter 57: Chapter 57

Khanna recalled all those customers who had left her only because she rmended styles that were right for them instead of styles in thetest fashion. Her head ordered she couldn¡¯t do that, that she had to rmend expensive and luxurious things in fashion instead of what fits her customers, but her mouth just couldn¡¯t do it. She had regretted her stupidity so much, but Rubica was saying she wanted to hire her as her personal designer just because of that. It was like she was saying Khanna¡¯s hardship hadn¡¯t been in vain. ¡°Thank you, Your Grace. I will do my best.¡± ¡°Really? Then you will be my designer, right?¡± ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t know what to say, you are giving me such a huge opportunity.¡± ¡°Then take Ann¡¯s goodwill as well. She is not giving you candies because she pities you. She is kind and likes to give things to people.¡± Ann wasn¡¯t a careful person as she had shown Rubica way too much affection when they first met. Moreover, Rubica had met so many people, she had been able to immediately realize her actions were out of pure goodwill, but her personality was easy to get misunderstood. ¡°Mrs. Taylor, I misunderstood your goodwill...¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m the one who should apologize. I wasn¡¯t trying to be rude, but it would be okay to give you candies, right? Our cook makes delicious candies, your children will love it.¡± ¡°Yes, I would be happy to ept it.¡± Now they understood each other, and soon Rosa showed up. She had brought many embroidery designs just as Ann had asked. She found a peach flower pattern that was right for the salmon-colored fabric as soon as she took a look at the dress¡¯s design and the fabric. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to order a few more dresses? Most of your dresses used to belong to His Grace¡¯s grandmother... we need to order new ones.¡± ¡°But these are all the silks I had, and the other colors are not right for Her Grace.¡± ¡°Then we can use the fabric we have.¡± Khanna didn¡¯t know what to say to that. ¡°But you are already helping me with embroidery, and...¡± ¡°It¡¯s all for Her Grace. There is no need to call it helping. I and the other seamstresses all work to decorate her dresses with the most beautiful and skillful embroideries.¡± The maid brought good silks from the storage in no time. Sadly, they were all better than Khanna¡¯s, and she even decided to make the first dress with the salmon-colored silk the maids brought instead of using her own. ¡°I think it would be good to make a housedress with this grass green fabric.¡± Khanna hesitated at first, but then she started to find courage. The four of them worked together to decide on the designs of two dresses for walks and three housedresses. Rubica loved them all and couldn¡¯t wait to see them. Most of all, she liked that Khanna was open to her ideas. ¡°Now, I think it¡¯s the right time to order it.¡± ¡°It?¡± Rosa nced at the maids and gestured at the three. Rubica got nervous and leaned toward her. So did Ann and Khanna. When Rosa got the attention she wanted, she put her hand on her mouth and spoke in a low voice. ¡°Your nightdresses.¡± ¡°Oh, but I have enough nightdresses.¡± ¡°No, no. Not those nightdresses. Sexy nightdresses.¡± It was then. ¡°What have you been talking about?¡± The four women freaked out at hearing Edgar¡¯s voice so suddenly. It¡¯s not like they had anything to hide, but they were in such a haste that it looked suspicious. Although Rosa had spoken in a very low voice, Rubica was worried that Edgar might have heard it. ¡°It wasn¡¯t anything important, Your Grace.¡± Ann put a hand on her chest and replied. Edgar then came closer and looked at the fabrics and pieces of papers on the table. He had been told Rubica was supposed to meet with the designers in the afternoon, but he hadn¡¯t known it wouldst long enough for the sun to go down. ¡°Why were you so surprised when it was nothing important?¡± ¡°Of course we are surprised, you came in abruptly without knocking on the door,¡± Rubica said coldly. Being bold was better than getting afraid in such a situation. ¡°Does the husband need to knock when visiting his wife?¡± As she had expected, Edgar¡¯s interested moved on to something else from what Rubica had been talking about. Rosa, Ann, and even Khanna nced at him with fear, but Rubica was confident. ¡°Yes. Husband and wife must respect each other¡¯s privacy.¡± Edgar didn¡¯t like that answer as she always drew a line between them. ¡®You cane this much, but no further.¡¯ What made him angry was that others could easily cross that line. Even the designer who had just met her for the first time had. Even she was in a conversation he didn¡¯t know about. ¡°People who have something to hide tend to talk of privacy.¡± Now the conversation¡¯s topic was strange, and Rubica thought it was unfair. They had just talked about nightdresses and she just didn¡¯t want to tell that to Edgar. And now, she was being used of hiding something. She bit her lips and red at him. She was about to get rid of the privacy thing like he wanted and snap at him that they had been talking about sexy nightdresses. ¡°I¡¯ll knock next time,¡± Edgar said with a sigh and continued, ¡°So don¡¯t re at me.¡± Rubica was confused at hearing that. Edgar then sat down on the sofa and picked up one of the sketches on the table. ¡°What have you ordered? I was told you bought only a pair of gloves in the afternoon.¡± ¡°We were deciding on designs for housedresses and dresses for strolls, Your Grace.¡± Edgar studied the simple sketch drawn on the paper. The dresses Rubica had worn now had been stylish but too old-fashioned. Even imagining her wearing new dresses was fun. Plus, it was all his money going to be spent on making them. He had worked and studied out of habit but, for the first time, he felt his work was worthwhile. He enjoyed the designs with satisfaction, but then he frowned hard at seeing thest dress. Then he used thedy who was probably the designer. ¡°What kind of design is this? What is this low-cut dress?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s, um.¡± Khanna started to freak out. Rubica nced at the design Edgar was talking about as she hadn¡¯t seen those sketches before. Khanna probably had brought them as reserve and Edgar found them. ¡°You tried to make my wife wear this?¡± Rubica saw the dress Edgar was pointing at and could understand why he was so angry. ¡®Oh, it is too revealing on the breasts.¡¯ Edgar looked like he was about to have Khanna dragged out. However, before Rubica could say that was not among the designs she had shown her, she found courage. Making the duchess¡¯ dresses was an opportunity she would never get again. She was probably not going to get another chance. She looked down and quickly exined. ¡°That is the design for a nightdress, Your Grace.¡± Edgar¡¯s anger stopped. Khanna rxed a little and added, ¡°How would I dare to rmend such a thing to Her Grace? It is just one of my reserve designs. I didn¡¯t even show it to her.¡± Thest bit was a lie. She had been delighted when Rosa spoke of nightdresses and had meant to rmend that. However, it looked like Duke ymore wanted his wife to wear modestly. ¡°You were not going to rmend it?¡± ¡°... yes.¡± ¡°Then why did you bring it?¡± Khanna couldn¡¯t speak anymore, she trembled and nced at the duke. But to her surprise, he was smiling. ¡°Which fabric were you going to make this dress with?¡± Khanna quickly took out a fabric that was at the bottom of the pile of fabrics. The flimsy fabric was almost transparent. The nightdress made with it was going to look very sexy, so the duke smiled with satisfaction. ¡°I want ten of that.¡± ¡°What? Oh, yes, Your Grace!¡± Khanna was shocked, but she quickly wrote ten nightdresses on the order bill. Even imagining Rubica in that dress excited Edgar. He was drunken with satisfaction about the fabric and the design that he forgot what kind of situation he was in. ¡°You.¡± Rubica¡¯s face was fiery red as she pointed at Edgar with her trembling hand. ¡°Get out, now!¡± And, of course, she canceled Edgar¡¯s order. *** Rubica had forgotten to meet Steven because she was ordering dresses. She then dropped by at the kitchen before dinner and found Steven making a meringue. He spoke before Rubica even started convincing him. ¡°The second day was when the sky and thend were made, so it should be celebrated as well. I am going to make a soft cheesecake, would it be okay for Your Grace?¡± Edgar had kicked out Steven at dinner yesterday. However, thepliments of the maids and servants he got afterward delighted him very much. He had cold hands. So, his bread was not tastypared to his skills, but cold hands were great for making the cream for cakes. He had had opportunities to make cakes before, but those opportunities mostly came with huge events, so he had been busy making main dishes. He was now very happy to realize how to use his cold hands as his strong point. Rubica looked at his hands as he diligently worked with a broad smile. ¡®It looks like he will find excuses to make cakes on the third and the fifth day on his own.¡¯ All the better. She smiled and asked one more thing. ¡°But please make the cake a little smaller this time.¡± ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Chapter 58

It wasn¡¯t like he could make a huge cake every time, so Steven said yes to Rubica¡¯s order. Actually, he had been instructed in private by Ann. She had said the duchess would probably look for sweet things for some time so he should make them without asking back. He should also not make dishes that smell too fishy, never use ay and coffee should be reduced. He also had to get sour fruits. Those orders were enough. Steven could easily see what Ann was worried about and why she wasn¡¯t speaking clearly. ¡°Is there anything else you¡¯d like to eat?¡± ¡°Anything else? I can¡¯t think of anything right now.¡± ¡°Then please, tell me anytime if you need anything.¡± Did cooks of noble families always try to win the mistress¡¯ favor that much? Rubica¡¯s title had been the only thing she had had as a noblewoman, so she didn¡¯t know. Anyway, today¡¯s dinner was satisfactory as well. Dragon¡¯s eyes, that were expensive but somehow made Rubica feel sad, didn¡¯te up today, and Edgar didn¡¯t try to pick a fight with her after what he had done in the afternoon. Rubica kept ncing at him as she ate, and Edgar pretended to focus on his food while enjoying her gaze. ¡®You will be attracted to me eventually.¡¯ Edgar normally found it so hideous when others confessed they liked him. However, Rubica was different. He was silently happy that Rubica was studying his face. He hated his handsome face so much that he sometimes looked into the mirror and cursed at it, but he couldn¡¯t feel any better when Rubica was fascinated enough to look at him. He started to like his face for the first time. ¡®But why? Why do I feel like this?¡¯ Why was he so happy when Rubica stared at him in a daze? He was even whishing that she liked him. Edgar soon found the answer. He had been defeated by Rubica all along. What he would have ignored, if it came out of someone else¡¯s mouth, pierced his heart when she said it. It was pathetic, but he was desperately trying to find a meaning behind each word of hers. It was really pathetic. Moreover, he didn¡¯t even know why he was doing that. It was driving him crazy. If she liked him, he might be able to free himself from that stupid rtionship. Then, Rubica would be the one to be so careful. And Edgar was confident since, until now, there hadn¡¯t been a single woman not attracted to him. ¡®... but I really don¡¯t know.¡¯ However, even if Edgar had seduced people, he didn¡¯t know what to do exactly. Most women loved it when he just spoke to them, even when he scolded and told them to get out of his sight. On the other hand, Rubica often frowned or got mad at him even when he spoke to her out of goodwill. He had ordered ten nightdresses this afternoon because he couldn¡¯t resist the excitement and was kicked out by her. He decided to be careful and not speak for now. He wanted to seduce Rubica, but he didn¡¯t know how to do that. He did have information about certain actions women liked, but there was no guarantee that they would work on Rubica. He made up his mind to focus on eating with his cold and indifferent but elegant attitude that people admired so much, and Rubica¡¯s eyes shook hard each time he moved. ¡®... is it working?¡¯ Edgar could feel his lips curling up. He couldn¡¯t feel the knife¡¯s weight, and all those troubles that had given him a headache in the afternoon were now gone. How long had it been since he felt that sensation thest time? It was the first time after he graduated from the Academy. He realized he was now very much in joy. ¡°Um, Edgar.¡± His mood then reached its height when Rubica came to him first after the meal. He tried to not smile like a fool and looked at her as coldly as he could. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°A button of your shirt... has been undone.¡± Edgar looked down in surprise. The fourth button of his shirt had undone itself. He didn¡¯t know when it had happened. Rubica didn¡¯t keep ncing at him because of his beauty, it had been because of that button. Realizing that made Edgar wish he could run out of the hall immediately. ¡°Wait.¡± Rubica hadn¡¯t been able to focus on her meal because of that button. She stretched out her hands and fastened it. She also straightened his sleeves and cor. Untidy Edgar looked cool, but he looked best in a neat style. As Edgar had often touched her cheek and held her hands, it looked like she could do that much without getting his permission. She did all she wanted to do and proudly looked up. ¡®Huh?¡¯ The tips of Edgar¡¯s ears had turned fiery red again, and Rubica felt as if a yellow me was burning under his blue eyes. She quickly went away, and Edgar let out a short sigh. She didn¡¯t know why, but she blushed. ¡°I, I should go first.¡± She got to her feet. Her cheek that his breath had touched felt somewhat tickly. However, his ears had turned red first... why was she feeling so nervous? She didn¡¯t know. ¡°Okay, go first and take some rest. I will be thereter.¡± Unlike her, Edgar replied calmly. Rubica immediately left and missed that his fingers hidden under the table were trembling hard. How she hade up to the bedroom, she didn¡¯t know. When she finally came back to her senses, she found herself lying on the bed wearing a soft linen nightdress that came down to her ankles. She had now gotten used to getting help with bathing. Her hair smelled of her favorite lily perfume, but one of the maids had asked her a strange question today. ¡°Your Grace, are you going to take a bath in His Grace¡¯s bathroom?¡± ¡°Hum? Why would I do that when I have my own bathroom?¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be good for you to take a bath together?¡± It had made Rubica freak out. She wanted to ask how she could ask such a thing, but the blushing maid didn¡¯t seem to know what was wrong with her question. ¡®Well yes, we are married.¡¯ They had agreed to only look like a couple, but strangely, people seemed to think they were deeply in love. As they were actually cold to each other, Rubica wondered how people could be so wrong. ¡°I will always take a bath in my bathroom.¡± The maids looked disappointed at hearing that. What had they been anticipating? Rubica wanted to ask. Why on earth were they thinking so wrongly? It probably had to do with Edgar¡¯s attitude. He asked for permission to kiss her and often took her hand and pulled her close when others were watching. He probably wanted them to believe they were in love. Moreover, there could be only one reason for him to do that. To screw her over. In fact, his abrupt actions did make her blush sometimes and heughed at seeing her like that. ¡®I must tell him to stop teasing me.¡¯ However, her determination was shattered the moment the wall was opened and Edgar came from the duke¡¯s chamber. His hair was wet, and his face looked so hot. It made her forget what she had to say for a second. She could tolerate his arrogance for as long as she could keep looking at his beautiful face. Edgar made the maids go away. Then he plopped down on a chair opposite the bed and looked at Rubica. Although she was wearing a long and in nightdress, he strangely felt restless. Was it because she had touched his body to tidy his clothes at dinner? Or was it because of the dress design he had seen this afternoon? Imagining Rubica wearing that dress made of diaphanous fabric made his heart beat fast again. It was driving his crazy. He wished that research he had entrusted to the schrs at the Academy to be done fast. However, could the heart beat so fast even when he wasn¡¯t in a special situation? Maybe he had a disease even worse than his curse. ¡°Rubica.¡± ¡°Hum?¡± He called her name and she replied. She looked so beautiful in the dim candlelight. Edgar felt like he was walking on clouds. ¡°Rubica.¡± He called her name again and suddenly stood up. He sat down on a console right next to Rubica. ¡°Why?¡± Rubica yelled. It was too close. How could hee so close without any warning in advance? Plus, water was still dripping down from his hair. He was still wet. Too many sensations. What was this man trying to do to her? She got mad. ¡°I was just trying to talk,¡± he replied stiffly. Rubica barely managed to calm down. ¡°It¡¯s too close.¡± Edgar smiled. At the same time, he liked it that she was aware of him. He didn¡¯t argue and pushed his chair a step behind. Then he studied her. She was cooling her red cheeks with her cold hands. ¡°Rubica...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You¡¯re blushing.¡± It had been bothering Rubica, and her cheeks became even hotter when Edgar mentioned it. Edgar said withughter, ¡°Now your face is on fire.¡± ¡°Stop teasing me!¡± Rubica nced at the clock. Sadly, it wasn¡¯t midnight yet. She, therefore, decided to use the time to say what she wanted to say. Chapter 59

Chapter 59: Chapter 59

¡°I want you to stop teasing me now. Especially, demanding kisses, holding my hand and dragging me near in front of others. Please.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Edgar wasn¡¯tughing now. He asked again, ¡°Why should I stop?¡± ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s not good. People get the wrong idea.¡± ¡°Rubica, you and I are married. We are not single. It¡¯s not bad to have others think we are close.¡± Well, Rubica had nothing to say to that. She narrowed her eyes and looked at the man who was staring at her and her heart started to beat fast again. Sexy ck hair and ascetic blue eyes underneath it. She didn¡¯t know if he was doing it on purpose or he was just born that way, but he looked so drowsy now. Thatbination was just too much. It was wrong. Edgar could sense Rubica was staring at him in a daze again. He liked it when she looked at him like that as it somehow gave him confidence. ¡®... but thinking about it...¡¯ It hurt his pride, but Rubica sometimes looked that way at other things as well. Moreover, those things were all called beautiful. Edgar soon reached a logical conclusion. ¡°Do you like pretty things?¡± ¡°What? What?¡± Rubica barely managed not to jump to her feet. No one had realized she had a great love for beauty. Actually, she was quite childish for her age, but she knew how to act calm and people were fooled by that. And now, Edgar was seeing through her true nature. Rubica stammered for being revealed so suddenly which made Edgar feel good. That reaction was practically an acknowledgment. ¡°No?¡± ¡°... yes.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be good.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Rubica stared at Edgar. He shrugged, he didn¡¯t mind her gaze and smiled. That smile was unearthly beautiful under the dim candlelight. ¡°I¡¯m beautiful.¡± Huh. There was a man who could actually say that with his own mouth? But as that man was Edgar, it had a point. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll fall in love with you.¡± ¡°How can you be so sure?¡± Edgar sounded sure Rubica would fall in love with him, and she wondered if he was indeed the smartest man in the Seritos Kingdom. ¡°Of course, you are beautiful. I admit that, but it doesn¡¯t mean I must love you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Most women in the kingdom want my love, and those who don¡¯t, either have an extremely strange taste or have no sense of beauty.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t have a strange taste and had a good sense of beauty. Edgar thought it was only a matter of time. She was going to love him, and when that happened, he was going to tease this cute woman just as much as she had tormented him. ¡°Edgar, look at the flower in that vase. Pretty, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try to change the topic.¡± ¡°But will you willingly suffer to see that flower bloom? For example, if you were in a desert and had only one bottle of water, would you give it to the flower instead of drinking it yourself?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are trying to say.¡± Rubica smiled awkwardly. ¡°That¡¯s what loving someone means. I am happy when he smiles even if I am in great pain. The world seems so miserable when he is sad even if I am so happy andfortable. I can do anything for him but, at the same time, I worry it might be too much for him... that¡¯s love.¡± Edgar raised an eyebrow, but Rubica continued. ¡°Of course, the flower is beautiful. I want to be near it, watch it, and have it. However, I cannot sacrifice everything I have for it. Look. It has been picked and put in a vase. Edgar, that isn¡¯t love. That is the desire to own. Liking pretty things and love are two different things.¡± Each word she said created a wave in Edgar¡¯s heart, and his smile disappeared. He then looked at the flower. ¡°... really?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± They wanted to be near him, watch him, and have him. But they didn¡¯t care about how much he would be hurt because of it. They didn¡¯t care about his mood. They got mad at him because he didn¡¯t like them and didn¡¯t want to be with them. They didn¡¯t care if he was busy or bothered. They followed him and demanded to be given his attention. ¡°Then I...¡± He smiled coldly. ¡°Have never been loved.¡± He sounded so sad and lonely. He had been always confident, therefore Rubica was surprised to see him look so bitter. Had never been loved... it couldn¡¯t be true, at least for Edgar. There were always people who wanted him around him. There had to be at least ten who truly loved him among them. ¡°Edgar, that¡¯s not...¡± However, Edgar got up and left the room before she could say more. *** It had been a week since Rubica started living as the Duchess in the ymore Mansion. She didn¡¯t know everything about the household yet. There were so many things she had to know and memorize, like the budgets, anniversaries to be celebrated, and traditions that had been in the family for generations. Fortunately, she had gotten used to her routine as the duchess. She wasn¡¯t afraid of morning meetings anymore. Now there were no rtives who came to bother her about money anymore. She met some rtives who hade a long way to greet the new duchess in the reception room, and they didn¡¯te empty-handed. One even brought preserved plums that Rubica liked very much. ¡°We are d to see His Grace married such a kinddy. We are relieved. Soon this mansion will be filled withughter.¡± The family was thest visitors of the day. They smiled happily and spoke kindly, but Rubica was disappointed at seeing the red-haired girl standing next to Mrs. Cornwell. ¡®When will my fairye?¡¯ She could only smile brightly to hide her disappointment. ¡°Thank you. As I am still not good enough, please give me lots of advice from now on.¡± Mr. and Mrs. Cornwell were delighted to hear Rubica speak modestly. They advised her about the living of the family and specialties that were produced in the domain in the season. Rubica listened to all that very carefully and didn¡¯t forget to offer them presents for the journey and good wine when they left. ¡°Then may peace be in your family...¡± And the moment they left the porch, her smiled vanished. She had been smiling all morning that her face muscles were now trembling. Some said the duchess¡¯s life was sofortable as the only thing to be done was to meet people, but actually, it was filled with hardbor. There were so many things to care about, like if there was anything that could be pointed out, if the food was enough, and if the gifts were right. The most difficult part was that she had to greet strangers, but she was good enough to be their close rtive even though she had juste to the mansion and was unfamiliar with the ce and her duties. ¡®Ugh, I wish I could scream.¡¯ She had not avoided morning meetings because she was eagerly waiting for someone. However, that fairy she had seen at the wedding feast didn¡¯te. Had it been only a mirage that she saw on that day? ¡®Judging from where she was seated, she has to be a rtive living in one of the annexes. But she hasn¡¯te to meet me even today, there must be something wrong...¡¯ There were some dependent lodgers among rtives who lived in the annexes, but others handled important things like the family¡¯s businesses, education, and religious events. They hade to meet Rubica faster than anyone else. Even children who had no ymore blood but were being sponsored by the family because of their talents and potentials had visited her. ¡°Madam, Mrs. Shaynie is here.¡± Her again? The fairy she was desperately waiting for wasn¡¯ting, but the unwanted guest was here again. Mrs. Shaynie came to visit Rubica every day as if it were one of her main duties. Moreover, she gave a speech on the family¡¯s traditions and manners. Rubica really wanted to kick her out, but even the duchess couldn¡¯t kick a visitor out without good reason. Rubica had no choice to but have Mrs. Shaynie brought to her. ¡°Your Grace, I must talk about the manners you should keep when you have an audience with the king.¡± And she started to give a speech as soon as she sat down... Rubica had to hold back a sigh. Why was Mrs. Shaynie doing that? Rubica had told her she didn¡¯t want etiquette lessons on the first day. As she was nning toe and go like a wandering breeze, she didn¡¯t care about the dignity she had as the duchess. Studying manners was a waste of time. She would rather take a walk. ¡°Right now, the ymore Family and crown prince are in a good rtionship. If you ask to be introduced to the crown princess when you go to the capital...¡± She went on babbling about things Rubica really didn¡¯t want to know. She had already kicked her out by saying she had a headache and had to see the doctor. What kind of excuse should she use today? She was thinking hard on it when Ann quietly asked. ¡°Your Grace, should I bring refreshments?¡± Rubica could almost hear a bell ring in her head. Why hadn¡¯t she thought of it herself? She could eat something and say she had a stomachache and make a fuss about it. Mrs. Shaynie would have no choice but to leave if Ann called the doctor. Chapter 60

Chapter 60: Chapter 60

Ann, thank you. You are a genius!¡¯ Ann had worked as a housekeeper for a long time, so she had to know well how to get rid of such tormenting visitors. She couldn¡¯t have asked to bring refreshments for no reason. Rubica nodded and Ann went away. Now only Rubica and Mrs. Shaynie were left in the reception room. As the room was for the ymores to talk in private, other maids couldn¡¯te in most of the times. Mrs. Shaynie frowned much less when Ann was gone. She still had wrinkles on her face, but it was like four wrinkle lines instead of five on her forehead. ¡°Your Grace, do you know that it is an insult to you for the housekeeper to leave in the middle of a meeting?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°How can the housekeeper dare to leave her mistress?¡± ¡°But I just gave her permission to...¡± ¡°And she hasn¡¯t hired maids for you yet, how can she ignore you like that?¡± Rubica hadn¡¯t known Shaynie would criticize Ann so severely and was surprised to hear that. She hadn¡¯t liked Shaynie that much, but now she looked like the evil hag of fairy tales. Rubica was so shocked that she didn¡¯t know what to say. Ann hadn¡¯t hired maids yet not because she was ignoring Rubica. It wasn¡¯t like that at all. As Rubica was from a bar family, she hadn¡¯t been able to bring any maids herself. However, she couldn¡¯t just hire the daughters and wives of the nearby retainers. Then they would busily spread words on what happened in the household every day. Those words coulde back to harm Rubica. She had already been given a list of potential maids from Ann, but she hadn¡¯t made her decision yet because she talked about it with Ann for long. Plus, it had been only a week since she became the duchess. It had been too short to even use the word ¡®yet¡¯. ¡°Really, Ann is not good enough to serve you. I worry she might not be able to give you the necessary advice when you meet the king and the queen at the capital. She knows almost nothing about manners.¡± Shaynie sounded really worried. Then, she smiled warmly to Rubica as if saying she could take care of all that. But to Rubica, it only looked like a hag¡¯s evil smile. ¡®So this is what you are after.¡¯ The manner teacher in a duke¡¯s family wasn¡¯t a lower rolepared to the housekeeper and it came with a huge sry. However, that was only an honorary job. The housekeeper could stay right next to the duchess to meet those who had great power and influence on the noble society. Moreover, she could give direct advice on the uses of the family¡¯s budget and rmend people for certain jobs. In short, she had some real power. Teaching manners to Rubica was just an excuse, Shaynie had made all those visits because she wanted to rece Ann. ¡®Should I tell her not to criticize Ann in front of me?¡¯ Rubica wondered what she should say, but then she heard knocking on the door. Ann, who knew nothing about what happened, came in with refreshments. She poured out a ss of Rubica¡¯s favorite apple juice and poured grape juice into Shaynie¡¯s ss. Moreover, the refreshments on each te were different. Ann had thought of both Rubica¡¯s and Shaynie¡¯s taste. Rubica found it so sad that such a nicedy had to be criticized by Shaynie on her back. ¡°Ann, ording to the ymore Family¡¯s traditional manners, the coffee spoon should be on the dish. Putting it next to the napkin like this has been done by nobles onlytely. How can a family with a long history and traditions like ymore be shaken by such a trend?¡± ¡°Oh, I made a mistake. Thank you for telling me. You are indeed the manners teacher in this family.¡± Ann apologized and thanked her while Shaynie smiled with satisfaction. She looked at Rubica with a show-off smile. It was as if she was proiming that she should be the family¡¯s housekeeper. It made Rubica lose her appetite in an instant. She was both mad and felt sorry for Ann, she didn¡¯t even want to waste another second on Shaynie. ¡°Stop, my stomach hurts.¡± If you want to call me fickle and selfish from behind, do as you want. Rubica put down the coffee cup she hadn¡¯t even taken a sip from. ¡°Call my doctor.¡± She didn¡¯t even pretend to eat. Pretending to have a stomachache was for when she wanted to protect the person¡¯s dignity. Rubica didn¡¯t want to protect Shaynie¡¯s dignity as she had criticized Ann in front of her. Shaynie immediately realized what she meant by that and her face turned red. The duchess was openly shunning her. ¡°Your Grace! There are manners you must keep when greeting visitors. You are not an ordinary woman. You are Duchess ymore. If you had been properly educated, you would have never...¡± Rubica calmly put a hand on her stomach. ¡°What does getting a stomachache suddenly have to do with manners?¡± Nothing. Anyone can get a sudden stomachache. Shaynie was dumbfounded, but she could see what Rubica was doing. She had called the doctor saying she had a headache yesterday, and now she was doing it again saying she had a stomachache even though she hadn¡¯t eaten anything. It was a huge insult. ¡°How can you get stomachache before eating anything?¡± ¡°I must eat something first to get a stomachache... Ann, please tell me, was that among the manners I must keep as the mistress of such a historic and prestigious family in this kingdom?¡± Rubica called Ann to get her help, but she was shocked when she looked at her. Ann¡¯s face was deadly pale. She had been so nervous since Rubica put a hand on her belly. She couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She held Rubica¡¯s hand and shouted to Shaynie, ¡°Stop! Mrs. Shaynie, stop it! If anything happens to Her Grace... ah!¡± Ann was probably imagining something horrible and shook her head. ¡°Your Grace! You must lie down on the sofa.¡± Rubica was surprised to see that Ann was such a great actress. She acted as if Rubica had been stabbed in her belly. Mrs. Shaynie was surprised as well and took a step back. In the meantime, Ann brought cushions and put them under Rubica¡¯s back. Rubica hid her confusion and reclined on the sofa. Ann then checked if her hands and feet were cold and looked at her belly with all the worries in the world. ¡°Your hands are cold.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not that ill.¡± ¡°Are you alright? Oh...¡± It looked like Ann wasn¡¯t pretending but was really worried. It made Mrs. Shaynie think things were serious. She didn¡¯t know what to do and nervously shifted. ¡°The doctor! Call the doctor, now!¡± ¡°Ann.¡± Rubica grabbed Ann¡¯s arm. She really wasn¡¯t sick, and she didn¡¯t want to see the doctor. It would only reveal that she wasn¡¯t sick at all. ¡°I¡¯m fine. It was just a temporary pain. I¡¯m okay now.¡± Ann let out a sigh of relief. She took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the sweat. She wasn¡¯t pretending at all. Who could sweat that much while pretending to be worried? ¡°But I think it would be better to call the doctor.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. It was just temporary.¡± Ann worriedly looked at Rubica¡¯s belly. It hadn¡¯t swollen at all but, contrary to what most people thought, that was the most dangerous period. She might miscarry the baby. Sudden pain in the belly... just thinking that something might happen to the baby made Ann shudder. ¡°Your Grace, I have made you work too hard. You must take care of yourself more than anything now...¡± Ann looked at Rubica as if she hadn¡¯t eaten anything for days. Rubica, however, looked better than ever now thanks to all those delicious and nutritious dishes she had had and the an hour of afternoon strolls every day, so she was really confused. ¡°I¡¯ll get better if I rest a little.¡± ¡°Okay, I will call Jennie. I will cancel all of your afternoon schedules, so please rest in your bedroom. I¡¯m sorry, but don¡¯t drink any coffee.¡± ¡°Okay, Ann. Don¡¯t worry too much. I¡¯m okay now.¡± Rubica patted her hand. She was so kind-hearted. Ann was touched to see Rubica was even worrying about her and rxed a little. Then, she turned to Mrs. Shaynie who was still standing. Rubica was pregnant. Her belly could hurt without any reason. Shaynie didn¡¯t know that, but that didn¡¯t matter. The duchess had just gotten married, and it was her inferiors¡¯ duty to worry first if she had a stomachache. However, she had dared to mention manners in that situation? ¡°Mrs. Shaynie, let us go out and have a little conversation.¡± Her voice was as cold as the winter breeze. Rubica realized Ann could turn so cold for the first time. Shaynie couldn¡¯t say anything and just followed Ann. What Ann and Mrs. Shaynie talked about that day, Rubica never got to find out. But after that, Mrs. Shaynie¡¯s bothering visits ended. She didn¡¯t evene near the main building. ¡®Ann is scarier than I thought.¡¯ Ann had managed the household without the mistress for thest three years. Even though Edgar fully trusted her, the real mistress and the housekeeper were different. However, there hadn¡¯t been any big problem. Rubica thought maybe the real Ann could be very different from what she knew. *** Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Chapter 61

It had been three days without Mrs. Shaynie¡¯s tiring visits and Rubica was at peace. She met rtives she hadn¡¯t met in the morning and talked with them, and she took strolls in the afternoon. She dropped by at the seamstresses¡¯ room to see how they were making Khanna¡¯s dresses but soon left in a hurry because she thought her presence was only slowing them down. ¡®Oh, I¡¯m a little bored.¡¯ That¡¯s what she thought as she ate breakfast. Now she even looked forward to the time with Edgar even though they kept fighting. ¡®No, have we been fighting less these days?¡¯ They were not so tense toward each other now. Edgar had been asking if anyone had been bothering her and if there was anything ufortable. It looked like someone had reported to him about Mrs. Shaynie. Rubica didn¡¯t talk about what had happened with her to Edgar. He was a proud man and was weak to provocation. He got mad very easily, so it was better to say nothing and enjoy the mood. Making ament could rather make him get mad. Plus, it was quite fun to pretend to ignore the fiercely handsome man ncing at her. Edgar looked quite cute then. ¡®No. Him, cute? Impossible.¡¯ Rubica shook her head. It had only been three days of peace and quiet. Had it been too boring? She was getting all kinds of weird ideas. ¡°Your Grace, are you not content with your breakfast?¡± A servant asked as he poured juice into an empty ss. Rubica had sat down at the table long ago, but more than half of her food remained on the dish. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn¡¯t get used to having breakfast with so many people watching her. She really missed the time she used to eat hot roasted potatoes with the many people sitting with her at the abbey. ¡°No, I just have a poor appetite.¡± The servants were worried when hearing that. The duchess hadn¡¯t eaten breakfast properly for more than ten days now. They had done everything they could, like changing the ingredients and recipes, but Rubica was eating less and less each day. They didn¡¯t know that it was only because she was eating alone. ¡°Who are today¡¯s visitors?¡± In the end, Rubica finished eating and asked Ann who bowed as she came into the dining hall. Maids were supposed to take a day off every three days. Serving the mistress at her side all day wasn¡¯t easy, so nobledies normally kept two or three maids. As they couldn¡¯t hire anyone as maids, Ann had worked hard without resting till now. But she couldn¡¯t keep on doing that. Rubica had ordered her to go rest yesterday and she could only leave worriedly. Things didn¡¯t go well when she was gone as Rubica hadn¡¯t received the list of today¡¯s visitors this morning. When she askedst night, all the maids and servants said they hadn¡¯t been told about it and nervously sweated. Ann was also worried about how things were proceeding without her. Despite Rubica¡¯s order to rest ande after noon, she got up early and got ready. She wanted toe for Rubica¡¯s morning preparations, but it might make Rubica think she was ignoring her goodwill. So, she waited and waited then came in the dining hall when Rubica was about to finish her breakfast. ¡°Haven¡¯t you been reported?¡± Ann sounded surprised, but Rubica was even more surprised to hear her surprised. ¡°Reported?¡± Just as she had thought, the other maids had failed to fill her ce properly. Ann regretted taking a break. ¡°Yesterday was thest day of meeting the close rtives and discussing matters of the family. As the schrs and students working with His Grace are busy, it would be better for you to visit thebter and talk to them than to have theme here.¡± ¡°So, there will be no more visits from rtives?¡± ¡°Yes, those who live far away must take a long journey toe, so they said they wille when the farming season is over.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t believe what she was hearing. Her fairy had been on the table for the ymore rtives. People who were seated near the fairy hade to meet Rubica on the second day. They were all the retainers and dependent lodgers who lived in the annexes. As the wedding had taken ce quickly, rtives who lived far away and peasants hadn¡¯te at all. The fairy must havee to Rubica by now unless she had been only part of Rubica¡¯s imagination. ¡®Maybe...¡¯ Had something happened to the fairy? What if she was so sick that she couldn¡¯te to visit? Rubica¡¯s patience snapped. She couldn¡¯t just sit and wait anymore. ¡°Get my gloves and hat.¡± ¡°Yes, madam. Are you going to take a walk?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m going to visit the annexes.¡± Ann was surprised that Rubica was so suddenly going to the annexes, but she helped her prepare without saying anything. There was no ce in the mansion that Rubica couldn¡¯t go. Rubica went across the garden and headed to the annexes. The ymore Family was a ruling family with great power, and its mansion was practically a pce. The main building was for the duke and the duchess, and the annexes were for retainers and schrs. The east annex was for the dependent rtives of ymore. ¡®Thinking about it, girls of her age haven¡¯te to meet me, not even one of them.¡¯ The eldest son of a noble family inherited a great fortune, but in return, he was responsible for the rtives¡¯ livings to some extent. Great families like the ymore Family tended to sponsor poor rtives and talented children from poor families. Boys were educated ording to their talents, and girls were taught basic liberal education. They were also trained to be maids and tutors if they wanted. The family wasn¡¯t losing at all. Those children were very likely to work loyally for ymore. ¡°Your Grace!¡± When Rubica entered the building, those who had been talking at the front gate greeted her in surprise. Rubica nodded to them then tried her best to speak with dignity. ¡°I came because I wanted to know the living condition in this building, so please don¡¯t mind me.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to disturb you with your work. Please go on.¡± Rubica said that with a sigh. People nced at her and returned to the documents they had been looking at. Most of them had already visited Rubica. ¡®He¡¯s awyer, he¡¯s an ountant, and he said he recorded books.¡¯ They probably had something to talk about the family¡¯s budget or its financial condition. Rubica went past them and checked each part of the building, starting with the basement storage and maids¡¯ rooms. ¡°Your, Your Grace.¡± They hadn¡¯t expected the duchess herself woulde. They acted like they were seeing a ghost when they saw her. ¡°What brought you to this humble ce?¡± One even asked that while sweating hard. It was Mr. Williams who handled religious events in the ymore domain. He looked so serious that Rubica couldn¡¯t say she had juste to visit or hade to find a girl she had seen at the wedding feast. Say thetter and the rtives wouldn¡¯t leave her fairy alone for days once she was gone. Say the former and they wouldn¡¯t believe her and make a fuss for days to find out the true reason of her visit. Someone innocent but with a weak heart could be used of providing that reason and be attacked. ¡®Well, I can¡¯t do as I want even when I¡¯m the duchess. Do I need to be a princess to do that?¡¯ Rubica silentlyined to herself. Actually, she could do as she pleased, it¡¯s just that she wasn¡¯t that kind of person. She wasn¡¯t going to do as she pleased even if she became the daughter of a peasant who had nothing to be responsible for. Only Rubica didn¡¯t know that fact. ¡°I came to have a look at how you are living here in the annex.¡± Could there be a more appropriate answer to that question? Using inspection as an excuse would let her look around the building as much as she wanted. She was pleased with the answer she hade up herself. ¡°We didn¡¯t know you even cared about our living conditions. Oh, I don¡¯t know what to say.¡± William looked deeply moved. The other rtives and servants who had been paying attention to the duchess¡¯ sudden visit also murmured among themselves. They were all thinking what William was thinking. Even Ann looked deeply moved. ¡°It¡¯s nothing much, but the water pipe froze and burst in the winter and now the water flow is very weak. It¡¯s not a huge problem, so we didn¡¯t report it... we can wash our face with it, but we must wait for a long time to take a bath.¡± William nced at Ann and stammered as he spoke, but Rubica was momentarily shocked at hearing that. ¡®Huh? I said I would look around. I didn¡¯t ask what kind of problem they had.¡¯ However, the people, including William, looked so hopeful. Even Ann seemed to believe Rubica was about to say she would have that fixed. ¡®Well, it¡¯s not like I am going to lose anything to have that pipe repaired. All the better for me, I¡¯ll get to spend some money.¡¯ She decided to repair every problem in the building as it would let her spend a fortune. She smiled warmly. ¡°I will have it fixed. Is there any other problem?¡± William immediately brightened up at hearing that. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to thank your generosity. Just caring about us this much is enough for us.¡± ¡°No,¡± Rubica shook her head. Then, she asked something to the man next to William. Chapter 62

Chapter 62: Chapter 62

¡°How about you? Do you have anything to say?¡± ¡°Oh, um...¡± The man was surprised to be called by the duchess so suddenly. He started to talk about how well the building was being managed and what kind of advantages living at ymore had beenpared to living under other noble families¡¯ protection. Rubica listened carefully to what he said and gave an order to Ann. ¡°He said the water tastes wrong, have someone check the water source.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, Your Grace.¡± Ann¡¯s eyes were sparkling. She was deeply moved by Rubica¡¯s kind actions and so were others on the spot. They murmured among themselves in a low voice. ¡°The new duchess is so kind.¡± ¡°She came here herself instead of sending the butler or other servants.¡± ¡°I was actually worried when I heard she was from a bar¡¯s family... but I guess I had no reason to be worried.¡± ¡°It seems our duke married the right woman.¡± They used to have some prejudices toward Rubica, but now they thought they had been wrong. However, they were actually getting another wrong idea about her. Rubica hadpletely different thoughts on her mind. ¡®Oh, I might get to spend a lot if I have this and that all repaired. Should I also get new duvets as well? They said the current duvets are old, so it wouldn¡¯t be bad to get new ones.¡¯ Rubica was excited at the prospect of meeting the fairy and spend money. She didn¡¯t know her actions of the day would make people praise her as a ¡®wise¡¯, ¡®generous¡¯, and ¡®kind¡¯ duchess instead of criticizing her as an ¡®extravagant¡¯ duchess. *** As the ground and the first floor in the east annex were inhabited by families and people who handled the main businesses in the family, they were in quite a good condition. People, however, tried to stop Rubica from entering the basement as it was for maids. ¡®Well, it¡¯s not good for the superior to go to his or her inferiors¡¯ ces.¡¯ She had also hated it when the abbot visited her and the other¡¯s rooms at the abbey. He said it was okay to show how they lived, but of course, that wasn¡¯t possible. Everyone had to get up early and clean up when it happened. After all, she didn¡¯t decide to look around the building because she really wanted to know about how people were living there. Instead, she was only after the fairy. ¡°The head of the maids would have told Ann if there had been any problem.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t forget topliment Ann as she skipped the maids¡¯ rooms. Ann really looked happy to hear that as she cared about Rubica more than anyone in the mansion. ¡®She does take it too far sometimes, but she cares about me more than anyone else.¡¯ No one had shown their fangs to Rubica as she was still under Ann¡¯s protection, but she knew she had to have many enemies. Of course, she didn¡¯t mind being bitten by rtives hungry for gossips. That was what she wanted, after all. However, she didn¡¯t want that to happen to Ann since she was easy prey for people determined to attack Rubica. Therefore, Rubica needed to give Ann a good reputation to stop that from happening. ¡°The second floor is for the girls and boys sponsored by ymore.¡± Rubica reached the second floor and took a quick look around. Most children sponsored by ymore had parents who were noble but didn¡¯t have enough money to raise their own children. They were certainly going to be a great resource to the family, but that was only going to happen in the future. Even the flooring was poorpared to the ground and first floor where people who could be of help to the family right now. ¡°Should I call them and have them meet you?¡± Rubica looked at the boys studying hard through the open door and shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s no need. I want to see how they normally live, Ann.¡± ¡°Yes, there¡¯s a need to check if the children at the annex are being educated properly.¡± Ann smiled. After Rubica gave birth to the baby, he or she would need some friends. Children raised while being surrounded by adults like tutors may be fine for now, but they tended to be troublesome as they grew up. Children should grow up with peers, fighting andpeting and getting friendship sometimes. Moreover, that role was going to be taken by the children sponsored by ymore. Of course, children of the retainers could also be the child¡¯s friends, but there had to be children to study with the child every day. ¡°Your Grace!¡± James, who had been teaching ancientnguage at the ssroom, saw Rubica and jumped to his feet. The boys, who had been reading, also hastily got up and politely bowed to Rubica. They made perfect bows. Rubica recognized all of them as they had all visited her. ¡°Please go on. I came because I wanted to know how you all are doing.¡± ¡°Oh, hu. I was really surprised. Let us all sit down first.¡± James and the boys were very nervous. However, as Rubica was already here, James wanted her to know how well he was teaching the boys and how smart they were. Maybe he would get promoted to be the councilor of ancientnguage. ¡°Will, trante the second paragraph on page 46.¡± He picked the smarted student. Will stammered at first, but he soon started to trante the passage quite well. Rubica felt happy and sad at the same time. ¡®When the war breaks out, these children...¡¯ ... are all going to die. What use was such ancientnguage sses? They still had four years, but it was a short time that would be gone in a glimpse. Moreover, the ten-year-old boys in the ss will only be fourteen at that time. Even if they managed to avoid the bombs, how could fourteen-year-olds survive the war? ¡°Ann, I think their pens are too old. Could you buy and give them new pens?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell the butler.¡± Rubica left the boys and walked down the hallways. Children who passed by bowed at her in surprise. As ymore Family wasn¡¯t a knight family, most sponsored kids chose to study instead of learning swordy and a few of the smartest children were sent to the Academy. The family paid for their immense tuition. They would be able to survive, but what about the others? The ymore Mansion was the first ce to be bombed when the war broke out. ¡®... I used to say good riddance.¡¯ In her past life, Rubica hated Duke ymore for inventing Ste. Some might say the crime is on those who use the thing and the inventor is innocent. However, what Edgar invented was a military weapon. He must have known how many people it could kill once it was up in the sky... he might have even tried to find a way to kill even more people. Edgar must have known Ste would eventually bring death to countless people, even if it wasn¡¯t in the Seritos Kingdom. Was Edgar still innocent? Plus, Rubica hadn¡¯t known Edgar in her previous life. He was a stranger to her. When she found out he had been kidnapped because of his own killing machine and his family eventually perished, she thought he had been punished by the gods. ¡®But what sin do these children have? And about Ann...¡¯ Before she came to the mansion, Rubica had tried to save only herself. She had thought she did enough by sending Ang to a safe ce. She had nned to get money to run somewhere safe and divorce Edgar before the war. It had been less than a month, but she had grown fond of people in ymore. ¡®Can¡¯t there be a way to save them all?¡¯ Her heart hurt at seeing the children studying peacefully and Ann always support her at her side. Just imagining about their future was painful. At least they were innocent, but then she would have to stop the war. Rubica doubted she would be able to do that. ¡°You are all so helpless.¡± Then, Shaynie¡¯s furious voice reached Rubica¡¯s ear and woke her up. Soon, she heard a book thrown on the floor. ¡°How can I teach you anything when you are such fools who can¡¯t even memorize this?¡± Rubica stopped. That was too much. She couldn¡¯t just ignore that and go on. She walked toward the sound and opened the door, and she could see Shaynie¡¯s back. Four girls were in her manners ss. The girls were surprised to see Rubica, but Shaynie was in the middle of throwing a fit. She didn¡¯t care and mercilessly continued beating the head of the girl with her book. The trembling girl was trying not to cry. Surprisingly, she was the fairy Rubica had been looking for so long. ¡°Stop!¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and yelled. Shaynie looked back and quickly bowed. The fairy managed to open her eyes just a little. She nced at Rubica and bowed as well. How she grasped her dress, how she bowed her head, they were all wrong. So were the other girls next to her. Rubica had been taught by her mother instead of a professional tutor, but even she could do better than that. ¡°Mrs. Shaynie, what do you think you are doing?¡± ¡°I was disciplining the girls, Your Grace.¡± ¡°You were disciplining them by beating their head with a book?¡± Shaynie realized Rubica was extremely angry, but Rubica was only a 22-year-old girl in her eyes. She thought she could easily bend Rubica to her will. Rather, this was her chance. She thought she had been trapped by Ann who had seeded in gaining control of the duchess three days ago. That sly Ann told the duke and now she couldn¡¯t even go near the main building. She decided to show Rubica her true value. She thought Rubica would be interested in her if she showed her how she charismatically controlled those useless girls. The duchess needed someone to get rid of useless people instead of herself. Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Chapter 63

Mrs. Shaynie raised her chin high. ¡°Your Grace, it is written in the Guide for Noble Ladies that disobedient andzy children should be beaten. There isn¡¯t a better way to educate them.¡± She was trying to teach Rubica, and it angered her even more. ¡°Arka, god of education and wisdom, said, ¡®Compliment when teaching children and think at least three times before using a rod.¡¯¡± Shaynie was confused as she was teaching manners. However, even if she knew the manners, she hadn¡¯t bothered to learn Arka¡¯s teachings. ¡°Your Grace, Arka¡¯s teachings have nothing to do with manners.¡± ¡°Arka is the god of education. I think you should keep his teachings in your mind as you are a teacher yourself.¡± ¡°I did think three times.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t mean that it is right for you to punish them so severely.¡± Rubica spoke firmly and Shaynie gulped hard. She thought Rubica was only a young and innocent girl, but it turned out she wasn¡¯t such an easy prey. However, there wasn¡¯t an enemy she couldn¡¯t defeat using her age and years of experience. Most people shut their mouths when she talked about her experiences. ¡°Your Grace, you are generous, so you may think I am too harsh on these girls. But ording to my years of, no, decades of experience, children get spoiled when given too much freedom. They must be disciplined. I taught your husband, too, and he is perfect when ites to manners. Your Grace, it is not good for their education to intervene when the teacher is disciplining students.¡± Oh, so you want to talk about experiences. Rubica had to resist the urge to beat her lips. She really wanted to ask if it had been Shaynie who taught that sarcastic way of talking Edgar always used. However, she couldn¡¯t dishonor the duke in front of Ann and the other rtives. ¡°An olddy I know taught children till the age of seventy, but she saidplimenting is much better than using the rod for education.¡± And, of course, that olddy was Rubica herself. Shaynie decided she couldn¡¯t back off now. Who on earth had given Rubica such wrong and useless ideas? Ann? She thought she had to save the poor brainwashed duchess. ¡°... but that¡¯s just the opinion of one person. Efficient ways of teaching differ from people to people. I wonder who told you such a thing.¡± Rubica¡¯s patience started to snap. She stopped ring at Shaynie and turned to the trembling girls. ¡°Would you curtsy again?¡± ¡°Your Grace?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need to be afraid. Just curtsy to me again.¡± The children were confused, but as Rubica spoke kindly to them, they found their courage and curtsied. Although they were following the instructions in the book, there were so many details that had to be fixed. Manners were not things that could be learned by reading books. That¡¯s why a teacher was required. ¡°Mrs. Shaynie, judging from how they curtsy, it appears your way of teaching can¡¯t be more wrong.¡± The girls thought Rubica was saying they were wrong. They cringed and looked down. Rubica¡¯s fairy even closed her eyes and seemed to be waiting for the severe punishment she was about to be given. Rubica could understand how Edgar had felt when he looked at her cringe thinking he would hit her in front of the Berner Mansion. ¡°It¡¯s because they haven¡¯t even memorized the book yet. I was going to make them finish it first and fix their postureter.¡± Shaynie kept trying to evade the problem like a sly fox. Rubica simply red at her. She meant to give her another chance if she admitted her fault, but she didn¡¯t. ¡°How old are they?¡± ¡°Your Grace?¡± Rubica then asked warmly to the girls, ¡°How old are you?¡± The children nced at her. They seemed to not know if it was okay to answer her question. Although they didn¡¯t know what it was for, they had already made a mistake and were afraid of being punished for that. They looked so scared and it made Rubica angry. She had to try really hard to keep the smile on her face. Thankfully, it worked. One of the girls carefully talked first. ¡°I am sixteen years old, Your Grace.¡± ¡°I am fifteen.¡± ¡°I am seventeen.¡± They started to tell how old they were one by one. The fairy was thest to answer and she was seventeen years old. ¡°They were old enough to be introduced to society, and they can¡¯t even curtsy properly!¡± ¡°They arezy and neglect their studies. I will teach them harder from now on.¡± She was going to beat their heads harder with a book? They were already old enough to know what it was to be ashamed. She was going to insult them even harder? Rubica eventually ran out of patience. ¡°Mrs. Shaynie, I can¡¯t stand this anymore.¡± ¡°Your Grace, please don¡¯t worry about these stupid girls. Give me a month, and I will make them improve significantly.¡± Shaynie didn¡¯t know what Rubica couldn¡¯t stand anymore was herself. The girls being below average was rather a chance. She decided to use the chance to show how great of a teacher she was. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. You¡¯re fired!¡± Silence fell after that. The girls and even Ann doubted their ears for a second while Shaynie herself couldn¡¯t understand what was happening. Rubica ignored her and gave an order to Ann. ¡°I want you to find someone to be the new manners teacher of ymore. I want someone who can teach children with kindness and knows what is the most important to him, not someone whoes to visit me every day to criticize my manners when she can¡¯t even educate her own pupils properly.¡± ¡°Your Grace!¡± Shaynie couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and yelled. She hadn¡¯t seen iting. She hadn¡¯t known that young girl, who had just be the duchess, would do such thing to her. ¡°There are at least 13 problems with the way you are standing and talking right now. I only gave you rightful advice and rmended the right way of teaching as the ymore¡¯s manners teacher. I must also say you should reflect on what you just said. It was not fit for the name of ymore.¡± ¡°Still, you are fired.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t be...¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to quarrel with you, Mrs. Shanie. I¡¯ve already given you an opportunity. Ann, as she is not the teacher anymore, she doesn¡¯t have the rights to educate them. Please send her back to her chamber.¡± Ann noticed Rubica was determined, so she silently warned Shaynie to not say a word anymore with her eyes. Then, she grabbed her arm to drag her out. She was heard angrilyining outside for some time, but it soon got quiet. A maid brought some snacks, and Rubica waved her hand to make the girls sit down, but they were too afraid. ¡°Are you going to have me eat alone with you watching me?¡± She said that as a joke, but the four girls shivered as if struck by lightning and sat down in a sh. They were afraid of Rubica. Shaynie had been the most horrible of their tutors, and the duchess had fired that Shaynie in an instant. Even if she looked so kind that it seemed unlikely for her to kill even an ant, they feared she could change if she got mad. ¡°I didn¡¯t know Mrs. Shaynie had been educating you like that... it is my fault. I¡¯m sorry.¡± The girls hadn¡¯t known Rubica would apologize to them. They expected her to be merciless on them as she had done with Shaynie, but she was acting quite the contrary. ¡°But... Your Grace.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to apologize to us.¡± ¡°It was all our fault.¡± ¡°No, you haven¡¯t done anything wrong. It was us adults¡¯ fault.¡± Rubica took out her handkerchief and gave it to her fairy who was still crying. Her fairy was tall and thin, and she had an oval chin that resembled an egg. Her eyes were slightly small, but they were round and elegant. Her beauty shined more when she was confident. However, she had lost her confidence because of Shaynie¡¯s harsh way of teaching and her beauty had faded as well. Cute girls look lovely even when crying, but that wasn¡¯t how the fairy looked. The girls calmed down after eating the egg sandwiches the maid brought. Rubica didn¡¯t ask why they hadn¡¯te to visit her. She didn¡¯t need to ask to know why. Shaynie must have not told them or said it wasn¡¯t necessary when they asked her if they should go to the duchess. ¡°Could you introduce yourselves to me one by one?¡± Rubica¡¯s fairy wiped tears and talked. ¡°I am Elise Roan de Sna.¡± Rubica smiled at finally learning the fairy¡¯s name. Her name was beautiful just like her. The other girls then also introduced themselves. Elise had a slightlyplicated background. She was from a viscount family, so she was a nobledy. Her father failed in an investment when she was five, but a noble family¡¯s revenue and spending weren¡¯t things that could be seen instantly. Some proved to be profitable yearster, and some losses could be mended with promissory notes. ¡°I failed this time, but it can happen sometimes.¡± Viscount Sna thought it wasn¡¯t a big deal. He didn¡¯t want to change his family¡¯s way of living because of one failure. His wife wanted to wear beautiful dresses fit for a viscountess and decorate herself with jewels. Moreover, the viscount didn¡¯t hesitate to spend money on his daughter¡¯s and son¡¯s education. However, things don¡¯t always go as you want. His ount book started to be filled with bad marks, and when that happened, things were already out of his control. When he was forced to sell his domain, he couldn¡¯t stand it and killed himself. His will said he couldn¡¯t bear to live after humiliating the family¡¯s name. Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Chapter 64

Elise was twelve back then. Viscountess Sna, who was left behind, calmly took care of things before she could even find a way out of the grief of losing her husband. She sold the family¡¯snd and everything within it first. Unlike her husband, she couldn¡¯t bring herself tomit suicide and leave the children behind. ¡°Now we cannot live on without working. Richard, you should apply for the admission test at the Royal Knight Academy next month. Knight is the only upation that will let you earn money and keep your honor as a nobleman.¡± Richard, who was three years younger than Elise, nodded. Was it because he was so desperate? He did pass the test despite his young age. However, he would only be given a small amount of living expenses before being officially knighted. His family rather had to support him while he trained. ¡°Eli.¡± One day, Viscountess Sna made up her mind and called her daughter. ¡°All we have left is the dowry I brought when I was married. But if we live like we have lived till now and support Richard, we will run out of money in less than five years. Then, there will be no dowry for you.¡± Elise had seen iting, but she didn¡¯t want to leave her mother. She was just too young to ept the sad reality. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I don¡¯t want to get married. Let¡¯s stay together. Richard will be able to earn money when he officially bes a knight.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve sent a message to the ymore Family. You know my maternal grandmother was a ymore, right? They said they would dly ept you. ymore¡¯s tutors will teach you, so I won¡¯t have to worry about your education.¡± She said you, not we. A bad feeling came over Elise, but she tried to sound delighted. ¡°Then we are going to the ymore Mansion? I will sing to His and Her Graces. My friends all say I have a pretty voice, so they will all like it.¡± However, her mother shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s an abbey where only widows can stay. I am going there.¡± ¡°Mama, what are you talking about?¡± ¡°If I work at the abbey, they will give me everything I need, food and all. And if I pass a test and be a priestess, I will also get some money, although not much.¡± ¡°No! No, mama.¡± Elise buried her face in her mother¡¯sps and cried. She begged not to be sent away alone. Viscountess Sna also wished she could stay with her daughter, but it would cost her lovely daughter¡¯s future. ¡°Eli, I actually wanted to be a priestess before I met your father. So, will you let me achieve my dream?¡± ¡°You¡¯re lying! Stop lying to me.¡± Her mother had never said she wanted to be a priestess before, therefore Elise knew she was lying. ¡°Eli, but what would happen to Richard if we spend all our money living together? He is receiving less than half of what the other knights in training get from their families. He will start taking sses next year, but if we don¡¯t do something, we won¡¯t be able to even buy him a sword.¡± However, when the viscountess spoke of Elise¡¯s little brother, she had no choice but to stop protesting. After that day, Elise wept in her room for a week. But crying was of no use, she had to leave for the ymore Mansion when she managed to hold back tears. Actually, living at the ymore Mansion wasn¡¯t that badpared to being a ward in any other noble family. At least the family was rich, and it had always been sponsoring talented children. Some of them weremoners, but the problem was that Elise was an extremely ordinary girl. Moreover, her manners teacher, Mrs. Shaynie, was merciless. ¡°You are slow, you are clumsy, you are even huge and easy to notice.¡± Elise had never heard such insult before and was shocked. ¡°How dare you look like that at an adult? Has your mother taught you nothing?¡± Shaynie didn¡¯t like Elise. However, she was extremely kind to children who were likely to grow up to handle important businesses in the ymore Family, especially to boys. ¡°Oh, even the way you hold your knife is so elegant.¡± And when Elise simrly held her knife, Shaynie harshly pinched her hand. ¡°All wrong. How can be you of any use when you can¡¯t even hold a knife properly?¡± She was scolded no matter what she did. She shrugged as much as she could to not be noticed by Shaynie. ¡°Stop slouching!¡± She became less and less lively. She had been called pretty in her childhood from time to time, but now everyone she met said she was ugly. At first, she told herself, ¡®No, mama and Richard said I was pretty¡¯. But in time, she started to truly believe what people said. When she went to her first ball at the age of fifteen, she had to stay behind a wall for a long time. No one asked to dance with her. ¡®... mama and Richard think I¡¯m pretty only because they¡¯re my family.¡¯ Her mother had entered the abbey to keep her dowry and let her marry a decent man. Richard was getting schrships from the academy for the same reason, but it all seemed useless to Elise. How could there be a man who would marry such an ugly girl? However, she couldn¡¯t make her family¡¯s efforts be in vain. Time passed and she turned seventeen. She tried her best to be unnoticed by the people and stayed at the ymore Mansion. She was going to hang on and give her entire dowry to her brother when she was too old to get married. She nned to learn hard and be a tutor, and the right manners were especially important to female tutors. ¡°How can you not even know this?¡± However, Mrs. Shaynie¡¯s merciless hand beat her every time. She taught it was right to bow deeply one day and said nobles should have dignity and only nod politely the next day. Elise just didn¡¯t know what was right and what was wrong but giving up now would make the efforts she had made until now useless. She wanted to give up everything. Then, Rubica came. The duchess was as high as the sky to her. When Elise first saw her, she feared she might anger her. She hadn¡¯t beenplimented even once ever since she came to the mansion. However, Rubica wasn¡¯t mad at Elise. Instead, she was mad at Mrs. Shaynie who had been harsh on her. She even kicked her out. Elise thought the duchess was a scarydy. But after she coldly kicked out Mrs. Shaynie, she looked at her kindly. Then, she warmly whispered, ¡°You all must have had a hard time. Well, for what reasons have youe here?¡± It made Elise confess everything that had happened to her, and the duchess listened to her story. Moreover, she wasn¡¯t the only one to feel that. The other girls also said about how they ended up as the ymore¡¯s wards. One had lost her parents and siblings. One had to leave because of the huge debt her family had. They had no choice but to depend on the ymore Family¡¯s mercy instead of living with their own children. Of course, they each had a sad story. Actually, in a way, they were fortunate. The ymore Family epted all close and distant rtives as long as they didn¡¯t have any fatal scandal. The count family, Rubica¡¯s mother¡¯s family, had instead thrown Rubica out when she went for help. They said they couldn¡¯t ept the child of a daughter who had insisted on a marriage that was against their will. That was probably an excuse. They might have found Rubica¡¯s debt to be too much. If they had looked into the matter without turning her down tly in an instant, she might not have been fooled by her uncle. ¡®It¡¯s all in the past. Holding resentment is useless. That family wasn¡¯t as rich as ymore.¡¯ Rubica emphasized with the girls, then she asked kindly, ¡°What have you learned so far? Have your teachers taught you well?¡± Fortunately, not all tutors were like Shaynie. Their writing, embroidering, and math skills were good enough. Only manners, the most important thing to ady¡¯s life, was problematic. After talking to the girls, Rubica summoned the writing teacher, math teacher, and embroidery teacher. ¡°Thank you for educating the family¡¯s wards well.¡± Then, she had Ann add a little bonus to their next wage payment, and soon words about it spread among the annexes. *** When Rubica was listening to the girls¡¯ stories, Mrs. Shaynie, who had been fired by her, went to Carl. ¡°I¡¯vee to seek an audience with His Grace.¡± Carl was surprised to see thedy with the stiff neck and high chin. The sun wasn¡¯t about to set for another couple of hours. ¡°Mrs. Shaynie, His Grace is busy.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll wait here.¡± ¡°Pleasee back after dinner if you must really meet him.¡± Mrs. Shaynie sighed. ¡°I guess I have no choice. Please tell His Grace that I havee to report to him about the duchess¡¯ rudeness to the ymore¡¯s manners teacher. The ymore¡¯s reputation depends on it. I¡¯ll wait here.¡± It seemed like she wasn¡¯t going to just go away. Having an olddy waiting in front of the office couldn¡¯t look good. Carl thought about it for a moment and replied, ¡°I¡¯ll tell His Grace. Please wait in the next room.¡± Carl carefully went in and told Edgar about Mrs. Shaynie. Edgar normally would have ordered to have her kicked out, but he then he heard the part about ¡®the duchess¡¯ rudeness¡¯. Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Chapter 65

Carl put Edgar on his chair, hid the wheelchair, and brought Mrs. Shaynie in. ¡°Your Grace! I¡¯ve never been treated this way in my life. Her Grace¡¯s actions are clearly problematic.¡± Shaynie was determined and spoke before Edgar even asked why she hade. She left out the part about how she had treated the girls and made it look like she was the victim. In her story, Rubica was an arrogant and stupid woman who kicked out her, the strict teacher who truly cared about her pupils¡¯ future, just because she disliked her. Edgar waited for her to finish talking and asked, ¡°So what do you want me to do?¡± ¡°Please talk to your wife and tell her to cancel her decision of firing me. It¡¯s the only way to keep your honor and the ymore¡¯s reputation.¡± Talk to her? Edgar had to hold back hisughter. It would only make him get scolded. Shaynie hade to the wrong person. He really couldn¡¯t find any way to defeat her. It would have been better to plead to Carl or Ann. ¡°There must have been a good reason for her to do that.¡± ¡°Your Grace!¡± ¡°It is fully her right to decide which tutors to hire. I will give you enough severance pay and expenses for your journey home. I¡¯ll also write you a good rmendation letter.¡± Shaynie should have stopped there, but she didn¡¯t believe what people said. This cold duke was in love with that girl? In her eyes, Rubica wasn¡¯t even that beautiful. Even if he had been in love, all men cared more about their honor. Shaynie decided to use the fact that Rubica was from a bar family. ¡°Your Grace, it seems to me you don¡¯t know about your wife yet. I visited her three days in a row, and she is ignorant about the manners of high nobles. She doesn¡¯t walk with elegance and she speaks like amoner. Most of all, she needs to abandon her habit of speaking rudely to you. When I pointed it out to her, she...¡± ¡°What did you say?¡± Edgar¡¯s voice was icy cold. Shaynie thought her n was working and was delighted. She should havee to the duke in the first ce. There wasn¡¯t a wife who could disobey her husband. ¡°If you permit it, I will teach your wife three times a week and transform her into a mild and obedient woman.¡± If Edgar¡¯s legs had been fine, he would have jumped up to grab Shaynie¡¯s throat. However, he couldn¡¯t. Instead, he grabbed a book and threw it at her. Shaynie shut her mouth in surprise and realized his cold gaze and words had been toward her, not Rubica. ¡°I apologize if what I said displeased you. But I spoke only out of my loyalty to...¡± ¡°Why aren¡¯t you using me of my behavior?¡± ¡°Pardon me, Your Grace?¡± ¡°I just threw a book at you. Isn¡¯t that rude?¡± His blue eyes were as dry as someone who had been trapped in the desert for three days without water. Shaynie flinched. ¡°You use Rubica of everything she does including the way she talks, but to me, you instantly apologize. Aren¡¯t you ashamed of yourself?¡± ¡°You, you are the duke, but she is...¡± ¡°The duchess.¡± ¡°Your Grace!¡± Edgar didn¡¯t want to hear this anymore and gestured to Carl. He took out the document he had been looking at, dipped his quill in ink, and started to write in it. He was acting as if Shaynie wasn¡¯t there as if she dissolved into the air. ¡°Please, please listen to me. Tolerating your wife¡¯s behavior will only dishonor this family.¡± Carl grabbed her arm and shook his head, but she still wasn¡¯t going to give up. In the end, Carl had no choice but to drag her out. As soon as a servant closed the door, Shaynie burst in tears and stomped her feet. ¡°Why is he doing that? I did nothing wrong. It would be good for him to have me correct his wife¡¯s attitude!¡± Carl shook his head at seeing she still couldn¡¯t understand what was going on. It was his guess that Edgar liked it very much when Rubica rebelled or behaved rudely to him. He did fight with her with his mouth, but a corner of his lips curled up every time it happened, and the tips of his ears would turn red. Carl even had wondered if his master had a liking to being abused. However, when someone other than Rubica did that to him, he was merciless. ¡°Mrs. Shaynie, you used Her Grace¡¯s way of speaking in front of him.¡± Shaynie couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying as wives were supposed to speak politely to their husbands. Rubica¡¯s behavior couldn¡¯t be that pleasant to Edgar. In fact, he had frowned hard when hearing people murmuring that it looked like Rubica had him within the palm of her hands. Shaynie had tried to fix that as the manners teacher. Yes, she was the duchess, but everything she had was hers only because she had married Edgar. Shaynie thought she could easily cancel Rubica¡¯s order to have her fired if she could gain Edgar¡¯s trust and favor. ¡°Yes, I did. Even the crown prince cannot speak like that to His Grace, so I said her behavior must be corrected.¡± ¡°You were not there when His Grace spoke of it at dinner a while ago, but he said how he and his wife speak to each other is a matter between them, so no one shouldment on it.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°Besides, he also had my wage cut for three months for advising Her Grace on her way of talking. She tried to stop him but, in the end, my wage was still cut.¡± Carl left out what had happened in the middle, and Mrs. Shaynie vaguely realized what kind of mistakes she had made only then. ¡°Then...¡± ¡°Mrs. Shaynie, as you criticized Her Grace¡¯s way of speaking, His Grace will not write you a favorable letter of rmendation. Or he can refuse to write it at all.¡± Failing to get a letter of rmendation would make it very difficult for her to get hired. Nobles didn¡¯t hire even maids without a letter of rmendation, so Shaynie didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°What should I do now?¡± ¡°Go to the duchess and beg for mercy. She is the only person who can make His Grace change his mind.¡± ¡°I...¡± Shaynie realized she had misunderstood the situation. She had looked down on Rubica in her heart when she first saw her. The woman was from a bar family and she was only a bit pretty. She had been able to be the duchess only because of the duke¡¯s love. However, most men cherished their honor more than their wives no matter how big their love was. A woman who had nothing but her husband¡¯s love tended to worry about losing it. Women who ranked high enough and had huge dowry justughed when Shaynie spoke to them and moved on. Or they ignored what she said. That was why she had been so sure she would be able to get Rubica in her grasp if she scared her just a little. Most got scared and listened to her when she said it was easy to be looked down in society with such manners. Lowly women were jealous of women who had seeded in climbing the socialdder through love and dreamt of achieving it themselves, but the reality was harsh. They found a reason for beingughed by society or not being able to gain the household¡¯s respect within themselves. They thought if they tried harder, if they learned the right manners, it would be all fine. Actually, nobles of high rank didn¡¯t bully them for such reasons. They did that because they thought those women were upying ces that should have rightfully been their daughters¡¯ or sister¡¯s ces. No matter how beautiful they were, no matter how polite they were, no matter how nice they were, people found something to criticize them. However, Shaynie didn¡¯t think what she had done was bad. It was better for their mental health to find reason within yourself than to find it within others¡¯ hostility. But sadly, Rubica was not like any other woman Shaynie met. She didn¡¯t have that sense of inferiority which women from low families, who had risen to high ranks, had. That evening, Shaynie eventually apologized to Rubica. She said she would teach using Rubica¡¯s method and begged to be hired again. However, Rubica turned her down tly. *** When Edgar came out after taking a shower, he spotted Rubica sitting on an armchair looking somewhat displeased. She had been in a bad mood at dinner. Steven was now enjoying celebrating every day and had made a huge pile of ice cream, saying the eleventh day after the wedding had to be celebrated as the god created the world in eleven days. However, even that couldn¡¯t make Rubica feel better. She said, ¡®I want some more¡¯ twice, so no one noticed that, but Edgar did. Rubica had truly been feeling bad. ¡®She isn¡¯t looking at me.¡¯ When he went into the bedroom after taking a shower and putting on his nightclothes, Rubica always blushed and nced at him while pretending not to. Edgar liked that time. He realized her cheeks turned redder than ever when she looked at the waterdrops on his neck run down, so he came out without drying himself. Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Chapter 66

However, why was he doing that? Edgar found the reason was Rubica. How she would react if he let her know he had done in purpose? Then, her rosy red cheeks would turn fiery red, she would also get mad and use him of teasing her. He already had to restrainughter at imagining that. He was going to roll on the floor andugh hard when it actually happened. Her so innocently being embarrassed without knowing he was doing it on purpose... it was a memorable scene he was going to tease her for a long time. ¡®Yes, it¡¯s all part of the n to tease her.¡¯ So, he justified his action like that. But today, despite his efforts, Rubica wasn¡¯t looking at him. It felt like her body was here, but her mind was somewhere far away. ¡®Have I done something wrong again?¡¯ Edgar could swear he hadn¡¯t done anything. After a week¡¯s time, he had learned what Rubica liked and what she hated, at least to some extent. Of course, he still made wrong guesses from time to time. But at least today, he hadn¡¯t done anything to make her feel bad. He had even kicked out Mrs. Shaynie who hade to speak ill of her. ¡°Rubica.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Rubica answered when he called her. As she wasn¡¯t ignoring him, he probably wasn¡¯t the reason for her sulkiness. It made him feel relieved and worried at the same time. Rubica at least liked his face. Even when she got mad at him, she looked away and reluctantly forgave him if he stared at her with his clear eyes. But now, the only thing that could flutter her heart, his beauty, wasn¡¯t working. ¡°Is there something wrong?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Rubica, who had buried herself in the armchair to think, looked at Edgar in surprise. He had always literally looked down on her, but today, he was looking at her worriedly. She hadn¡¯t known he could make that kind of expression. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°I can see that it isn¡¯t nothing.¡± Edgar pulled a chair near her and sat down. The maids left the room after lighting the incense. He then took Rubica¡¯s hand. Her hands were always warm. He had to fight the urge to kiss them. Strangely, he was caught by an impulse he had never felt before when he was with her. Where were all those feelingsing from? ¡°You are distracted.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not...¡± When Edgar¡¯s clear blue eyes looked straight at Rubica, she faltered and looked away. It was hard to lie when his eyes were looking at him. Unlike his personality, his eyes were so clear as if they had been forged with the clearest things in the world. ¡°Rubica, look.¡± Edgar gently wrapped her cheeks in his hands and made her look at him. ¡®They¡¯re like jewels.¡¯ Rubica¡¯s auburn eyes, that he had thought to be made of ordinary colors, couldn¡¯t look more wonderful to him these days. The reddish tint of irises moved his heart. ¡°Are you worried Mrs. Shaynie might spread rumors? Don¡¯t worry, she may be an arrogant fool, but she won¡¯t be able to speak ill of you to others. Nor will I let it happen.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m worried about.¡± ¡°Then what is worrying you?¡± Rubica hesitated. Could Edgar really solve what was troubling her? He was an arrogant man. She could still not forget how he had behaved when they first met, but at least he did keep his words. ¡®And he is smarter than me.¡¯ It was easy to forget that because of his enchanting beauty, but he was smart enough to be called the genius of the century. Plus, his high pride wouldn¡¯t let him use her worries or weaknesses against her. In the end, she decided to tell him what it was about. ¡°I have a problem.¡± ¡°A problem?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about the girls who were being scolded by Mrs. Shaynie at the annex today... and they are each in a pitiful situation. I want to help them, but I don¡¯t know how.¡± So that¡¯s what is troubling you. Edgar had to try hard to hide his lips curling up. He was d that she wasn¡¯t sad because of him, and he also found her so lovely for caring so much about the children in the annex. He had to resist the impulse to hug her tightly. ¡°Could you tell me the details?¡± Thankfully, Edgar didn¡¯t say her worries were useless. He listened to her instead. ¡®Thinking about it, when we first met, Stephen reported I was running away after stealing things, but he left the carriage to ask me the reason.¡¯ Maybe Edgar was nice, and Rubica looked at him in awe. ¡®Oh, he is so handsome.¡¯ However, when she looked at his face, she forgot about judging his character. She was once again enchanted by his ck hair and marble-like skin. The line that ran down from his nose to the lips and chin was so beautiful that she sometimes wanted to trace it with her hand. ¡®Wake up, Rubica. Wake up. You don¡¯t love him. You were just slightly attracted to his face. People say you get used to pretty faces in less than a year.¡¯ But would she really get used to that face one day? She tried to ignore her fast-beating heart and went on. She described all the details, and when she reached the part about Elise, she easily got excited. ¡®She can be so pretty with just a little help!¡¯ Edgar looked at her as she passionately talked to him. She was tweeting like a sparrow and it was cute. He wondered who those girls she was so passionately talking about were and envied them. ¡®I am jealous?¡¯ He had never been jealous of anyone till now. There hadn¡¯t been a thing he couldn¡¯t own or couldn¡¯t do. But now, at this moment, he envied Elise. If Rubica talked of him so enthusiastically like she was doing about Elise... His heart beat so fast that it almost left his body. He felt dazed and couldn¡¯t imagine it further. ¡®He said it was only a temporary phenomenon, but it¡¯s getting worse!¡¯ He had had the Academy¡¯s best and most famous medical doctor research on the negative effects of the heart beating fast and hands sweating hard when taking the medicine for the cold with champagne. The doctor had replied instantly. [Your Grace, your heart may beat fast when you take alcohol and the medicine for the cold together. But it¡¯s all temporary, so please don¡¯t worry too much.] However, that symptom wasn¡¯t temporary. It rather got worse and worse. He sometimes felt so stuffy that he couldn¡¯t breathe, but soon the pain vanished. His heart beat so hard and loud, but then it turned icy cold. That much would have been fine, but he had been getting strange impulses. He kept thinking of the wedding when looking at Rubica¡¯s lips. More specific, he recalled the moment he kissed her. Then, he suddenly wanted to hold her in his arms and kiss her. What was wrong with him, he really didn¡¯t know. ¡®Is it some kind of mental disease? I must call the doctor and get diagnosed.¡¯ ¡°Are you listening to me?¡± Rubica noticed Edgar was staring at her lips and tapped on his finger to get his attention. Her gesture was so cute that Edgar couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. He held her hand tightly. He wanted to pull her close and taste her lips, but then he would have to pay for the consequences. His eyes were like a calm ocean. Rubica couldn¡¯t even imagine there was desire boiling underneath that ocean. She just knew Edgar was staring at her in a daze as she talked and thought it was strange. ¡°I¡¯ve been listening. Especially about that girl named Elise Roan de Sna. I can take a test on her right now.¡± As he had perfectly memorized Elise¡¯s full name, he probably had been paying attention. Rubica worried she might have unconsciously shown her interest in the fairy as she talked and quickly tried to mend it. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m worried about Ms. Sna the most. She looked the least confident among them. Mrs. Shaynie had been so harsh on her. To fix it, someone must stay with her and keep working on it... oh, she will be so beautiful in an instant if she just had a little confidence.¡± ¡°You seem to be very worried about Ms. Sna.¡± ¡°She, she is a member of this family. I¡¯m only doing what I should as the duchess.¡± She was right. She was only doing her duty as the duchess, but it made Edgar feel somewhat sad. Oh, how good would it be if she cared about him like that? She did blush at seeing him from time to time, but it was only when he was in front of her. She wasn¡¯t curious about him at all. ¡®Of course, she said she was in love with someone else.¡¯ Arman, just thinking of that man¡¯s name hurt him now. ¡°Do you want to keep Ms. Sna at your side and take care of her?¡± Rubica nodded without hesitation. ¡°But as the girls live in the east annex, it would be ufortable for its inhabitants if I go there too often...¡± ¡°There¡¯s a very simple solution to it.¡± It made Rubica immediately meet his gaze. Edgar was d but, at the same time, he didn¡¯t like that he wasn¡¯t the reason for it. First the cook Steven, and now a girl. He would have already kicked out Steven if it hadn¡¯t been for that smile Rubica made when she ate the cakes he made. Edgar now even wondered how far that strange feeling would go. Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Chapter 67

However, he couldn¡¯t get rid of the girl Rubica was giving all her attention to. Rather, he was offering her a way to keep that girl next to her, and he pitied himself for that. ¡°It¡¯s simple? How?¡± ¡°Do you want to know?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Rubica nodded hard and Edgar narrowed his eyes. It made Rubica get a cold feeling on her back, it couldn¡¯t be something good. ¡°If you want to know...¡± Edgar was going to demand a kiss in return, but heughed hollowly at seeing Rubica so tense. He got this feeling that getting refused would destroy his pride beyond repair. He quickly changed his mind and made a demand that Rubica could ept. ¡°A hug.¡± They had already agreed that much was okay. Edgar was a bit disappointed, but Rubica seemed to be hesitant to say okay to that. ¡°A hug...¡± ¡°Why, you don¡¯t like it? Then I¡¯ll keep my mouth shut. Let me give you an advice, Ms. Sna¡¯s life will be very difficult from now on if you openly show that you care about her. People will get jealous of her and some will torment her until she delivers their requests to you.¡± Edgar didn¡¯t like that Rubica wasn¡¯t easily epting what he wanted and made Sna¡¯s future look as miserable as possible. Rubica couldn¡¯t hear more. She covered her ears and yelled, ¡°Stop!¡± When they first met, Edgar thought Rubica was like a rubber ball. A rubber ball that could bounce in any direction. But at least in certain circumstances, he could easily see where she would bounce to. At least her morality was crystal clear. ¡°Oh, I really have no choice.¡± Now I can slowly stand up and hold her in my arms. Edgar pleasantly thought so and undid his crossed legs. But then, Rubica abruptly got to her feet and came to Edgar. Her linen nightdress fluttered within the dim candlelight and each step showed her silhouette. Edgar was surprised by her sudden action and froze on his chair. Rubica took a deep breath, stretched out her arms, and put them around his neck. Her soft skin touched Edgar. Under her clean linen nightdress was her unique scent mixed with perfume and the smell of her soap. ¡®... she hugged me first.¡¯ He had been wrong. He didn¡¯t know to which direction the rubber ball would bounce. Each action of hers was beyond his expectation. ¡°Done, right?¡± Rubica tried to pull herself away from Edgar after a time only long enough to have a cookie. Edgar couldn¡¯t resist his impulse and hugged her waist tightly. Rubica was surprised. Although his arms were strong, he was tenderly embracing her. She could easily free herself from those arms only if she wanted. However, her legs didn¡¯t move as if they were rooted on the floor. She had to try hard to calm down her fast-beating heart. What was wrong with her? ¡®Arman is the only man I love.¡¯ She had married Edgar only because she had no choice. But then, why was her heart beating so fast? ¡®It¡¯s just because he¡¯s handsome. I do love all pretty people.¡¯ Edgar also knew Rubica was in love with another man. This dashing man could have as many women as he wanted. There was no way he would bother to love a girl who was in love with someone else. It was only out of mischief. Rubica managed to calm down and took two steps back. The hands that held her so strongly let her go so easily. Silence filled the room for a moment. ¡°That was too short to be a reward.¡± The voice showed no emotion while Rubica¡¯s body still had the warmth from the hug. She hid the shaking in her voice and said, ¡°You didn¡¯t talk about how long it shouldst.¡± Edgar wanted to moan when seeing her dancing under the candlelight. He wanted to see her face better. He regretted putting candles instead of mana stonemps in the bedroom. He shouldn¡¯t have taken the advice that putting candles instead of brightmps would be better for the mood. Now the mood didn¡¯t matter. He wanted to see her cheeks. If they were even just a little red, he would be the happiest man in the world. ¡®Wake up.¡¯ He wanted to stretch out his hands and hold her in his arms again. He wanted to hear the sound of her breathing and beating heart. He wanted to stroke her silky hair. He also wanted to kiss her lips that he was missing so much as if they had always been his. However, all of that was only part of Edgar¡¯s impulse. Rubica didn¡¯t love him. She didn¡¯t want him. She often stared at him in a daze and looked embarrassed when their eyes met, but that was all. She didn¡¯t like it when he held her hand without her permission, and when he did what others described to be manly, she would get mad. She didn¡¯t resist having contact with him only when they were doing a deal, and he couldn¡¯t even make big requests. When he mentioned a kiss, she frowned as if she had never seen such a filthy bug before. She was the first to look at him that way. He fought that strong impulse and patted the spot on the sofa right next to himself. Then, he tried to keep his arrogant expression and pointed at it with his chin. Thankfully, it worked. Rubica bit her lips, clearly not satisfied, but she sat down next to him. He had to try hard not tough each time her nightdress brushed his side. ¡°Then tell me that simple solution. If it¡¯s not as good as you said, I will get back the hug I just gave you.¡± You¡¯ll get back the hug you gave me, does that mean I can hug you if I give you the wrong answer? Edgar had to resist the urge to say that out loud. To him, it was a pleasant joke, but it was more than enough to make Rubica angry. ¡°Have Ms. Sna be yourdy-in-waiting.¡± Rubica widened her eyes. She blinked a few times and soon understood what Edgar was saying. She hadn¡¯t even thought of that. Soon she smiled as bright as the sunshine of a spring day. Yes, that smile. Edgar felt like he could do anything if he could just see the smile that brought a warm breeze to his wastnd heart. Even if he had to do something that would make his own heart ache, he would be given a sweeter joy at the end of it. Edgar looked at her auburn eyes that sparkled with joy in the dim yellow lights of the candle and dered it to himself in his heart. Her eyes were like jewels. No, they were jewels. ¡°Oh my, how could I not think of it myself?¡± ¡°It would be better for you to get yourself anotherdy-in-waiting. Ann has been working too much just by serving you alone.¡± Rubica nodded widely. ¡°And it will also be of help to Ms. Sna¡¯s family as she will be paid as mydy-in-waiting. Oh, but... what if she doesn¡¯t want to work for me?¡± Rubica suddenly became worried. She was the duchess, but she had nothing that was entirely hers. She recalled the few rtives who had shown hostility toward her at the wedding feast. After what Shaynie had done, Elise might not like her. Plus, she had been among the ymore¡¯s rtives. Maybe she would be offended for being hired as her maid as she is a rtive of the family. ¡°Rubica, you are Duchess ymore. Not wanting to be yourdy-in-waiting? What kind of nonsense is that?¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°Countess Geor sent me a letter today to ask me to hire her fourth daughter as yourdy-in-waiting. They are all after that position, although they are not showing it yet.¡± ¡°But I haven¡¯t received any such letters...¡± Of course. Ann had been keeping that letter instead of giving it to Rubica after discussing the matter with Edgar. He didn¡¯t think Countess Geor had sent that letter out of goodwill. They were just trying to control Rubica through herdy-in-waiting. Rubica, he knew she wasn¡¯t someone who would mind being bullied or such schemes, but plots of aristocrats and policies could sometimes be dirtier than anyone¡¯s imagination. Edgar worried bringing thedy of another great family as Rubica¡¯sdy-in-waiting would only let others know of what was happening in the household. Then Rubica might suffer a lot. In that sense, Ms. Sna was a nice option while also being a rtive of ymore. Although she had little blood from the family, she didn¡¯t have anyone who would have her spy on Edgar and Rubica. It would be better than bringing someone in from a count¡¯s family or marquis¡¯ family. ¡°Ann must have felt she wouldn¡¯t do well as yourdy-in-waiting, so she left the letter out.¡± ¡°But then...¡± Edgar¡¯s additional exnation only made Rubica feel even worse. Edgar¡¯s mood also plummeted along with hers. He couldn¡¯t even guess what he had said that was making her so sad. ¡°Then?¡± ¡°Ms. Sna isn¡¯t that good with manners. Mrs. Shaynie couldn¡¯t have taught her worse, but she is great at math and ancientnguage! She¡¯s also good at ying the piano...¡± Rubica¡¯s voice shrank. Manners were necessary for girls who wanted to bedies-in-waiting. Edgar soon realized Rubica was worrying Ann might say no to hiring Ms. Sna. But actually, she was going to wee it more than anyone else if Ms. Sna became Rubica¡¯sdy-in-waiting. However, he didn¡¯t tell that to Rubica. Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Chapter 68

¡°I¡¯ll talk to Ann.¡± Rubica brightened up in an instant. Edgar then felt like a heavy rock had been removed from his chest. He wanted to kiss her cheek, but he restrained himself and put a piece of cheese in front of her lips instead. Rubica lowered her guard after hearing he would talk to Ann for her and ate the cheese. Edgar¡¯s chest tickled at seeing her ept food from his hand. He found his mood changing with her every action. It was strange and unfamiliar, but he couldn¡¯t deny that it felt good. Lately, he had been waiting for the sun to set quickly. ¡°But you must take longer walks instead.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t I exercise enough already?¡± ¡°You only walk for about half an hour. I want you to walk for at least an hour.¡± Edgar thought of her while he worked at his office. Sometimes he recalled what she said the night before and smiled. Sometimes he wondered what she was doing. Then, there came moments where his curiosity wanted to know if she had fallen or something happened to her which drove him crazy. Each time that happened he called Carl to check if Rubica was safe, but he couldn¡¯t believe everything Carl said. ¡®I am always his top priority. He doesn¡¯t care about Rubica¡¯s safety.¡¯ There was something not right with Carl¡¯s loyalty. He wouldn¡¯t report to Edgar even if Rubica was just about to breathe herst breath if he thought it wouldn¡¯t do Edgar any good. Edgar really couldn¡¯t believe what he said. So, he often sent Carl to Rubica to rmend taking a stroll. Most of the time, she would get mad at what he said and refused to do as he wanted, but that was only when she thought it was wrong. She tended to follow any reasonable request. Although she found it bothering, she took a walk every time Carl asked her to. Three among the dresses she hadmissioned to Khanna and were supposed to arrive in two days were for taking strolls. Rubica didn¡¯t protest when Edgar wanted her to take care of her health. The mansion¡¯s garden was wide and beautiful that it was quite pleasant to walk in it. However, there was one thing she didn¡¯t like. Edgar¡¯s blue eyes now looked green because of the yellow candlelight. Sometimes his face looked more like the masterpiece of a skilled sculptor instead of a human¡¯s face. ¡°If you really care about my health that much, there¡¯s something more urgent. You, Edgar.¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t understand what she was talking about and looked confused. His lightly raised eyebrows and frowned forehead made him look like a mischievous boy. Rubica suddenly realized they were too close. Although they were wearing clothes, her thigh was right next to his legs. She thought jumping to her feet would look strange and slowly inched away, but the area where their bodies met seemed to be only getting bigger. It appeared Edgar wasing close to her as much as she backed off. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Um...¡± Had he realized she was in a panic? She tried to look away but, at that moment, Edgar grabbed her chin and made her look at him. He didn¡¯t like that she was looking away, so he put his face right in front of hers. ¡®Oh, I wish you were not so handsome.¡¯ It was really a torture to have such a handsome guy as your husband. Without realizing it, she gulped hard. He instinctively knew how to tempt a woman. ¡°Tell me. Don¡¯t look away.¡± Why on earth was this man doing this to her? Her heart beat so fast that it almost leaped out of her chest. She barely managed to talk back. ¡°I meant your health. You should care about it more.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the one who needs to take walks. It¡¯s you. You stay in your office and don¡¯te out. At least I meet rtives in the reception room and talk about goods to prepare for the next month with Ann, but you do nothing and stay inside your office all day.¡± Edgar¡¯s eyes, that had just been shining so clearly, became dull. His body went away in an instant like a waterfall running down a cliff. He reclined on the sofa and looked at Rubica with dark eyes. Those clear blue eyes had now the colors of a deep ocean. ¡°I don¡¯t need it.¡± His voice was icy cold. Rubica didn¡¯t know why he was so angry at what she just said. At first, she wished Edgar to detach himself from her and go away. But funnily, when he did go away, she felt somewhat hollow. ¡°Yes, you do. Books about health say it is good for your health to walk under the bright sunlight.¡± ¡°I am getting enough sunlight through my office¡¯s windows.¡± ¡°But you can¡¯t get fresh air...¡± ¡°I often have the windows open for that, so it¡¯s fine.¡± He was firm, so Rubica shut her mouth. Actually, she wanted to ask him to walk with her. She had been living in abundance ever since she came in the ymore Mansion. When she said she wanted to eat something, it was instantly brought to her. She could dress in anything she wanted. Nevertheless, she felt somewhat hollow. Servants in the mansion, including Ann, were all kind to her, but there was a strict line between them. The line between the mistress and servants. That line was hard to cross. When she had been treated like a maid at the Berner Mansion, she had had to talk while ncing at Ang and her parents. She had to think hard to please them with every word she said. True friendship? That was only possible between equals. Rubica found out why Ang had been annoyed by her only after she became the duchess. She wanted Rubica to think of them as equals. That was why she was mad when Rubica tried to please her, and when she pointed out her faults, she eventually did as she said although she protested. Rubica could see that line clearly when taking walks. Even when it was gloomy, everybody nodded when she said, ¡®The weather is so nice.¡¯ They all said such a day was the best for taking walks as the sunlight isn¡¯t too strong. That happened on rainy days and sunny days as well. When she stopped in the middle of taking a walk, they tried to find out what had displeased her or what grabbed her attention. Although Ann and the maids followed her while she walked, she felt like she was walking alone. She had taken a walk every day for a week, but she hadn¡¯t even looked around half the garden. The sceneries she saw were new but boring. She even waited for the dinner with Edgar these days. ¡®I know you¡¯ve been watching me.¡¯ When she turned around because she couldn¡¯t stand the boredom the curtains of one of his office¡¯s windows moved. ¡®He¡¯s secretly watching me again.¡¯ Although she couldn¡¯t even see a strand of his hair, she guessed so. Then, the boring walk got a little enjoyable. She tried to go to parts of the garden that couldn¡¯t be seen from the office¡¯s windows. Carl came every time and asked her to change the direction of her walks. ¡®If you are going to watch me from behind the curtains like that, you¡¯d better just walk with me.¡¯ However, she didn¡¯t want to ask that to him first. If she said that, that incubus-like man would smile saying, ¡®So you are falling in love with my charms after fall.¡¯ She really wanted to see Edgar smile like that. Out of impulse, she got up from the sofa andy on the bed. ¡°I want to sleep. You should go now.¡± Ding, ding, ding. The bell rang to announce it was one in the morning. Edgar looked at the grandfather clock and turned to Rubica who was lying down with her face buried in her pillow. ¡°Sleeping in that position isn¡¯t good.¡± Rubica rolled andy in the right direction. She never disobeyed when what he was saying was right, but she really didn¡¯t like what he said and pouted. Strangely, Edgar wasn¡¯t mad at that. He was rather grateful. -I meant your health. He was d that she was caring about him. Each time Rubica went out to take a walk, she abruptly turned back to look at Edgar¡¯s office. Then Edgar quickly hid behind the curtains to not show himself in his wheelchair. The sound of his beating heart would get louder than ever. At first, he didn¡¯t like getting interrupted while spying on her and enjoying the fact that she was being safely protected in his mansion. ¡®Does she wonder if I¡¯m doing well?¡¯ But after he came up with that tiny and trivial possibility, he didn¡¯t get annoyed when she looked back. He even found himself counting the times she looked back. Chapter 69

Chapter 69: Chapter 69

He wished he could walk by her side. Each time she looked at something, he wanted to ask what she was looking at and look at it himself. What kind of sensation the day¡¯s weather brought to her, whether the air was fresh, whether her shoes were right for walking, he had so many things to ask her and say to her. However, all those were not allowed to him. It was good that Rubica wasn¡¯t asking him to walk with her. Then, he would have to turn her down tly, and she would think he didn¡¯t want to walk with her. He didn¡¯t want her to think like that. But at the same time, he was sad that she wasn¡¯t asking for that even though she worried about his health. ¡®What on earth is wrong with me?¡¯ When he looked at her, he was happy, sad, disappointed, and d at the same time. He was getting opposing feelings all the time. He really didn¡¯t know whether it was her or himself. ¡°You should go now.¡± ¡°May I leave after seeing you fall asleep?¡± His voice sound pitiable even to himself. So far, his pride had been the only thing that supported him. He did not give up on his life, despite all the miseries he was suffering, because of that. However, he abandoned his pride so easily in front of Rubica. Moreover, the woman who was making him discard his pride in an instant shook her head at that. He wanted to grab her shoulder and yell if she thought he did that to just any woman. No, actually... he wanted to plead to let him stroke her hair. ¡®I¡¯m crazy, I¡¯m crazy.¡¯ He was either sick or enchanted. Maybe that piece of note that had reced his ring had been a warning. ¡°Edgar¡± However, when he heard her voice, all those tormenting thoughts melted away. Their eyes met. She hesitated but then closed her eyes. How could he resist that? She had closed her eyes. That was all. However, it was a great temptation to Edgar. She was much more seducing with her eyes closed than any other woman naked. He bent down and kissed her forehead carefully like a priest carrying a holy object. ¡®I don¡¯t want to end this.¡¯ He wished he could stay that way forever and ever. He inhaled hard to enjoy her scent. There wasvender incense for sleeping burning right next to the bed, but it wasn¡¯t a problem for him. No matter how strong the scent that filled the room was, he could always detect her unique scent. Was it because he had been kissing her for too long? Rubica moved. Edgar had no choice but to remove his lips. But this time, he didn¡¯t straighten his back. Instead, he slowly moved his face down. Their lips were about to meet, and her eyes shook like a boat in a storm. ¡°Goodnight kisses should be done on the lips.¡± A sweet voice came out of his lips. He had never imagined he would be the one whispering like that as the others were always the ones trying to seduce him. His lips were wanted by so many other women. ¡°No.¡± Rubica looked away. With her, he was always the one who was tempted and got refused. ¡®You are so cruel. Why are you not even a little kind to me?¡¯ He had heard that countless times when he said no to temptations. But today, he said that to Rubica. In his heart, so that she couldn¡¯t hear it. His heart was in chaos. He could now understand so well the women he had found bothering and impossible to understand before. His reason shouted he had to understand her, and she didn¡¯t love him, but his heart med her. Everybody wanted him. So why was she the only exception? -I love Arman. Arman, it was all because of that man. He resisted the urge to grab her chin and kiss her passionately and went away. ¡°I was joking. Don¡¯t overreact.¡± Then, he forced himself to scold her to hide his wretched heart, but he didn¡¯t dare to look at her face looking away because of what he had said. He turned and walked to the door. ¡°Goodnight.¡± Then he closed the door behind him. He walked through the dark hallway to his office. He thought all the way there about that wall between Rubica and himself. ¡°Arman.¡± That man. His name dominated his mind. The man Rubica said she loved. ¡°I¡¯ll find you.¡± But then what? What would he do? He didn¡¯t know. Of course, he had a strong and violent urge. The urge to find that Arman and kill him. However, he couldn¡¯t make that decision. It wasn¡¯t because his conscience said it was wrong. It wasn¡¯t because of morality, either. He feared Rubica would never look at him if she found out he had done such a thing. ¡®But she will not open her heart to me as long as he is alive.¡¯ It was a dead end, and he was extremely nervous. He hadughed at hearing people say there was no right answer in life, but he hadn¡¯t known he would find himself in such a situation. With his disheveled hair, he thought hard for a long time. Then, he abruptly asked himself something. ¡°Why am I doing this?¡± That was the strangest thing of all. Rubica. What was in her heart that he was so anxious to get it? Why was he nervous about that wall between them? Why was his heart beating like crazy when he thought of her? Why did he feel so sad when she was cold to him? It was all because of her. ¡°It¡¯s driving me crazy.¡± He had to meet his doctor, exin his symptoms, and get a prescription as soon as possible. However, he didn¡¯t even order Carl to bring the doctor. He just jumped to his feet and ran to Rubica like a bee looking for honey as soon as the sun went down. The time he could be with her was limited, so he cherished every second of it. He didn¡¯t want to waste that time on seeing the doctor. *** After Edgar left, Rubica took a deep breath. Then, she lightly touched her forehead that Edgar just kissed. It was hot as if she had had a cold. She still couldn¡¯t believe the way Edgar had looked at her in the darkness. His gaze had been like he was really craving for her love and his voice had been sweet like honey. Her heart had beaten fast as if it had been Arman, not Edgar. ¡°No.¡± She shook her head and med her heart. ¡°Wake up, it¡¯s not him.¡± Edgar was handsome, yes, but her heart beating fast because of him instead of Arman? Wake up, Rubica. There¡¯s no way you love him. You may like pretty things, but you are capable of telling it apart from real love. ¡°Wake up. Being drawn to beauty is different from loving someone.¡± She put a hand on her chest and breathed deeply. Her heart started to rx. -I was joking. Don¡¯t overreact. It had to be true. There was no way that man, who had everything, really wanted her heart. He confused her sometimes, but it was him only teasing her. Rubica tried to look at her situation objectively. Who was Edgar? His beauty was enough to attract countless girls even without his wealth and talent. Girls don¡¯t care about men¡¯s appearance? That¡¯s only what men hope for. How can a girl resist if a handsome man courts her? If only there was no danger of throwing your life in a pit... Rubica shook her head hard and tried to get rid of that thought. Anyway, there had to be many women around Edgar. Plus, he was 25 years old. He was in the prime of his youth. He had probably done everything with thedies who craved for him. There was no way girls would leave such a handsome man alone, and most men tended to forget about responsibility when others said it was okay. Yes, Edgar must have had enough experiences of having fun with girls. Rubica¡¯s life had been ruined after marrying one of these professional womanizers. She didn¡¯t know a thing about such men¡¯s schemes. Edgar was probably enjoying watching her blush at his teasing, after all, he did smile like a devil sometimes. He had enough girls near him, and there could be only one reason for him to bother to do this to her. ¡®... it¡¯s just his lust of conquest. He doesn¡¯t like it that I¡¯m in love with someone else.¡± Moreover, such a man would live like the wind when the woman finally opened her heart. Rubica knew a woman who was fooled by such a man. When was it? It was probably when Rubica turned 50. She had been na?ve at first but, by that time, she had be an important source of help in the abbey. Children and youths depended on her. -Rubica. When the 19-year-old Anna, who was still like a little girl, came to Rubica in tears, her belly had already swollen up. Anna didn¡¯t know a thing. It¡¯s easy to think 19-year-olds know a lot but, in fact, she knew nothing. She used to have a lover, but Zorba, a 30-year-old sailor, had seduced her. Zorba was a wild and charming man, although not as much as Edgar. He had enough women who just wanted to y with him. Well, Rubica didn¡¯t want to criticize them for having that kind of rtionship when they both agreed, although she wasn¡¯t that kind of person herself. However, that bastard got bored of those easy rtionships and turned his eyes to the innocent Anna. Chapter 70

Chapter 70: Chapter 70

The girl strongly refused at first, but Zorba started to coax her with words. I will get a home for you, I will never let you down, etc. Other women would have never believed that, but Anna was too young to know about the world and men. Zorba stopped meeting other women saying he truly loved Anna, and she believed him. He then ran away immediately the night she got pregnant. I do love her, but I love my freedom more and cannot be bound to one ce h h. In the end, Anna had to give birth to her baby and raise him all by herself. Rubica still gritted her teeth when thinking about that Zorba. She even wanted to stop the function of a specific part of the man¡¯s body by pouring a certain drug into his mouth, all in order to prevent Anna from suffering again if she ever met him in this second life. ¡®I will not be fooled! He¡¯s gettingpetitive just because I¡¯m not throwing myself under his feet like the others. It¡¯s better not to be close to such a man who kisses so easily.¡¯ She told that to herself again and again as she fell asleep. *** ¡°This is where the ymore¡¯s schrs do many kinds of experiments.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, Your Grace.¡± Rubica forgot to reply to the schrs in front of her and looked around in a daze. Today was going to be spent visiting the west annex. She had thought it would be inhabited by schrs just like the east annex and havebs full of beakers and liquids like thebs in the abbey. However, when she reached the building, she had to admit her imagination hadn¡¯t been enough. When she went inside, she met an unbelievably wide space. The ce was huge and tall with mana stonemps attached on the ceiling to light the ce at night. The schrs had been either experimenting or discussing, but they all stopped and looked at Rubica when she entered. She nervously moved her toes in her shoes because of the many people looking at her. ¡°Nice to meet you too.¡± She hoped they would get back to work after hearing her reply, but they were still looking at her. Her palms got sweaty. Were they going to stare at her until she left? She wondered what to do but then recalled what Edgar often said. ¡°Please go back to your businesses.¡± Then all those gazes were gone at once. She managed to breathe. Getting too much attention was one of the things she really wanted to avoid. ¡®Being the duchess is really hard.¡¯ Then the man who had introduced himself as the director gave her a tour. ¡°This is a new war chariot we are working on. Your Grace, this iron isn¡¯t just ordinary iron. Even a troll¡¯s ax wouldn¡¯t be able to prate it. Haha!¡± The directorughed as he pointed at the huge war chariot which was at least five times bigger than a normal chariot. Rubica was supposed tough along with him, but she couldn¡¯t. ¡°And it has cannons here, so it can be used for both offense and defense.¡± The director had been given special directions from the duke before Rubica¡¯s arrival. He was supposed to exin in detail on how great he was, how great his inventions were, and what kind of profit they had gained for the kingdom. ¡®Hu, he is a man as well.¡¯ The director had once thought the duke wouldn¡¯t even bleed when poked with a needle, so he was shocked to see his change. He said he wanted to impress his wife so proudly. That was a skill as well, but the director had no choice but to diligently obey that order. His career depended on it. Plus, there were many projects that couldn¡¯t proceed without Edgar. But no matter how much he talked, the duchess didn¡¯t sparkle her eyes with respect for her husband. She only seemed to get gloomier. ¡®This won¡¯t work. If she leaves in that state, I will have to pay for it.¡¯ The duke was scary when he would get mad. He expressed his rage not by throwing documents but by assigning pile of documents. That was even scarier. He would assign all kinds of difficult problems almost impossible to solve with a strict deadline. If the director somehow managed to bring him the report, he would point out which premises were wrong, where the calction was not right, and where it wasn¡¯t logical. Anyone would be destroyed beyond repair for at least a month after getting that attack. ¡°Your Grace, and the cannon¡¯s direction can be readjusted.¡± The director decided to use the best card he had to catch Rubica¡¯s attention. An assistant inside the chariot operated the machine following his order. Soon the cannon moved with arge sound. ¡°It will hit the apple right next to you.¡± Rubica turned deadly pale when the canon was pointed at her, but the director was so sure. The cannon had been made following Edgar¡¯s design and had great uracy. He was sure it would hit the apple without even grazing Rubica¡¯s hair. Rubica wanted to yell, ¡®Stop!¡¯ However, when the canon¡¯s mouth was pointed at her, she could do nothing. That dark hole. Oh, the fire from that hole had taken so many lives. She had even survived underneath the bodies of those who died first. She trembled in fear. ¡°Stop it!¡± Ann yelled instead of Rubica. She was now furiously mad. ¡°How can you dare to point a cannon to Her Grace?¡± ¡°But there¡¯s no need to worry, this cannon is perfectly urate. Your Grace, you will also be surprised to...¡± Schrs tended to be overconfident with their own inventions, so Ann punched the director¡¯s back with all her might. He rubbed his back with a silent scream of agony. ¡°Can¡¯t you see she is surprised? I¡¯ll report this to the duke!¡± ¡°What? Oh.¡± Now he had screwed everything. The director turned pale, but Ann turned her back on him and took Rubica¡¯s still shaking hands. ¡°Your Grace, are you alright?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you take a walk in the garden and get some fresh air?¡± Rubica barely managed to nod. She then leaned on Ann as she left the west annex. ¡°Geraniums have bloomed in the inner garden. The gardener said they smell very good.¡± They headed straight to the inner garden. Rubica tried hard to get rid of those shocking memories that could either be her past or her future. ¡®... yes. He is the man who made that terrible weapon.¡¯ She realized the reality which she had forgotten. Life at the mansion was just too peaceful. Good dresses, good rooms, and good people... She had even started to think Edgar was quite nice. At first, she had hated herself for being drawn to his beautiful face, but it turned out he wasn¡¯t that bad. He had rudely kissed her without her permission and had spoken things that angered her at first but, even then, he had epted her terms of refusing to have intercourse with him without any objection. She was worried that he might be the kind of man who would change his words after the wedding, but he didn¡¯t demand physical contact that she didn¡¯t permit eventer. It was hard to find people who did that much among men. Yes, his mouth often spoke the wrong things, but actually, he was quite well-mannered and nice. ¡®But, he created all of it.¡¯ Bombing from the sky. Those war chariots that were once created to defeat monsters and protect people fired at the people with their cannons. So many people died and even more suffered. Just thinking of all that made her despair. Before she met him, she just hated the man who had made all that but, after finding out he was a nice man, now another fact tormented her. If Edgar had known the future, if he had just known what would happen, would he still have made such weapons? Maybe, just maybe she hade back in time because... She sighed as she looked at the geraniums in front of her. She wasn¡¯t sure she could exin logically about what had happened. He would only think she had had a strange dream. ¡°Do you not like the smell of geraniums?¡± Rubica was surprised at hearing Ann say that. ¡°If you don¡¯t like that, I¡¯ll have the gardener nt different flowers.¡± ¡°No, no.¡± Oops, she had forgotten that she wasn¡¯t an ordinary woman anymore. The duchess was quite an enjoyable upation. She could do anything and enjoy anything. Instead, now she had to be with people who watched her every action and tried to find meaning in it no matter where she went. ¡°Then, um.¡± Ann tried to find out why Rubica had shaken her head, but then a maid spoke first, ¡°Is the weather cold? Should I bring your shawl?¡± Rubica slowly shook her head. They were thinking of having the gardener renovate the garden just because she had shaken her head at seeing some flowers. She worried saying it was because of her dress would put the me on the seamstresses. ¡°But then...¡± ¡°I was just thinking?¡± ¡°Thinking? Your Grace, has anything made you ufortable?¡± Oh, how good would it be if she could talk? How good would it be if she could confess the future, the miseries everyone was about to face? She knew she shouldn¡¯t say that as she was the duchess, but she had almost said to the maids to deposit their money in Jackal Bank instead of the national bank many times. However, she couldn¡¯t say anything and just smiled awkwardly instead. Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Chapter 71

The maid widened her eyes when Ann looked at her and silently ordered her to stop asking. The maid realized she had crossed the line and quickly shut her mouth. Then an awkward silence fell. Rubica was weak to such moments. She was very good at listening to other¡¯sins. She could gravely nod and agree even when the other person was bluffing. However, she wasn¡¯t good at lighting up the mood. For her entire life, she had been someone who listened to someone else¡¯s story, not someone who led the story herself. But now, she had to y that role. ¡°Oh, right.¡± She pped her hands to change the topic. It was a very unnatural action, but it brightened up the people around her in an instant. ¡°Ann, you said I needed ady-in-waiting, right?¡± Her voice was a little higher as she was nervous. She had nned to talk about it when she was alone with Ann, but she had nothing else to talk about. Moreover, it looked like it wouldn¡¯t be that bad to talk about it now. ¡°Yes, madam. I¡¯ve discussed the matter with your husband.¡± Ann hesitated, wondering if she should talk about all those rmendation letters she had received but not passed on to Rubica. ¡°I¡¯d like to have Miss Elise Roan de Sna as mydy-in-waiting.¡± However, Rubica had already made up her mind. Ann froze for a second to hear that as she didn¡¯t see iting. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s...¡± She said that only to get some time to think. If it had been anything else, she would have respected Rubica¡¯s will and agreed with her. However, choosing a newdy-in-waiting was different. Hire the right girl and she would be Rubica¡¯s loyal right-hand woman, but choosing the wrong girl could ruin her future. Ann made many calctions in that short moment and soon reached a conclusion simr to Edgar¡¯s. ¡®Although Ms. Sna still has a lot to learn, she is the best option we have.¡¯ Soon, Ann made that cute and warm smile that Rubica liked. The smile that made her grey hair glow warmly. ¡°Thank you.¡± Rubica was surprised to hear Ann say that. She wasn¡¯t saying Elise was the right choice or the right girl. Instead... ¡°You must have made that decision because you cared about Ms. Sna and her poor family.¡± ¡°That¡¯s...¡± That was not what it was about. Rubica just wanted to keep her fairy next to her. She wanted to make her stay with her and find every part of her beauty that hadn¡¯t bloomed yet. Hiring her was the only way to get what she wanted, and that hadn¡¯t even been Rubica¡¯s idea. It had been Edgar¡¯s. Actually, she hadn¡¯t given much thought to Elise¡¯s future. ¡°That¡¯s not it. I just...¡± Rubica opened her mouth to exin but then closed it again. Even the other maids were looking at her with awe. It looked like they had been enchanted by the magic of the ¡®generous¡¯ duchess again. Rubica couldn¡¯t bring herself to say to those twinkling eyes that she had made that decision only because she wanted to make Elise pretty. Even if she had said that, there was no way these people would believe her. They would only think it means she cared about Elise and was going to take care of her carefully. ¡°I just need ady-in-waiting. That¡¯s all.¡± ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Rubica gave up on exining and spoke with a sigh, but Ann smiled as if she could understand it all. The maids were also smiling happily now. It felt so wrong. Rubica had worked hard to get a bad reputation, but she had only be a kind, wise, and generous duchess. Moreover, this moment was about to add the adjective ¡®humble¡¯ as well. The duchess who was kind, wise, generous and even humble. ¡®How am I supposed to get a bad reputation!?¡¯ Rubica trembled in fury at all those nice adjectives she was getting contrary to her will. Actually, what she was doing was diligently obeying what her desire said, but nobody else thought so. Rubica just looked way too calm and reserved to think so. That was also the reason why nobody had realized she loved beautiful faces until she became an olddy. *** Rubica headed to the east annex as soon as she finished taking the walk. It was under renovation after herst visit. Things like cracks on the walls and leaking pipes took a long time to be repaired, but the duvets had already been reced with new ones. Everyone brightened up at seeing her and seemed to want to thank her. However, Rubica hade for a reason. She went past them fast and stormed to the third floor. ¡°Ms. Sna, the duchess wants to see you.¡± Elise, who had been resting, opened the door in surprise. Rubica quickly looked around the small room and sat down on a chair. The room was better than the small attic where she had lived at the Berner Mansion, but she wanted to give Elise an even better life. ¡°Ms. Sna, I¡¯vee today to make you an offer.¡± Elise momentarily showed fear and kept grasping the skirt of her dress. ¡°... have I done something wrong?¡± Her crouched shoulders showed she was worried Rubica might havee to ask her to leave the mansion. Rubica decided she had just been wrong. The girl wasn¡¯t in a better environment. She might have eaten and worn better things but, judging from her fearful attitude, she must have been scolded no matter what she did. Her life could have been as miserable as Rubica¡¯s, or even worse. ¡°No, Ms. Sna. You have done nothing wrong.¡± Rubica spoke kindly, but Elise still looked worried. She was sure that she had nothing but miseries in front of her. What had offended the new duchess? She was so nervous that she couldn¡¯t sit down even when Rubica asked her to. Therefore, Rubica had no choice but to tell her why she hade first. ¡°I want you to be mydy-in-waiting.¡± At that moment, Elise doubted her ears. ¡°... me.¡± She couldn¡¯t believe it as she had only encountered misfortunes ever since she became a teenager. ¡°Yes, you.¡± ¡°... Your Grace, you must know it as you have seen it, but I cannot even curtsy properly. The way I walk, the way I open the door, it¡¯s all wrong.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because Mrs. Shaynie has taught you wrong. I apologize for that.¡± ¡°Apologize? Oh, please don¡¯t say that.¡± Her heart pounded. Was something good really about to happen to her? Wasn¡¯t it a mistake? Was the duchess really trying to get her as herdy-in-waiting? If Rubica cancels her offer saying she hade to the wrong girl after she was sure, she was going to be hurt beyond repair. Meeting misfortune was okay. She was used to it. However, she would be thrown to an endless pit of despair if she found out that hope and joy had been a mistake. ¡°I, I don¡¯t have arge voice. I¡¯m not good at embroidering like Catherine and I¡¯m not good at writing like Cloe. I cannot write beautifully.¡± She had to check first. It was better to find out there wasn¡¯t any fortuneing to her than believing it and being disappointed afterward. Rubica looked at the girl. She was trembling and speaking as if she wanted Rubica to change her mind. Did she not want to be herdy-in-waiting? Rubica thought it was possible. Even though she had be the duchess now, she was still from a bar¡¯s family. Although her fairy didn¡¯t seem to be that kind of person, any arrogant noblewoman would snort when offered to be herdy-in-waiting. ¡°You don¡¯t want to be mydy-in-waiting?¡± ¡°No, no. How could I dare to think so? But, but... I¡¯m just too clumsy, and...¡± Elise¡¯s eyes moved aimlessly, and her hand holding her skirt trembled hard. Rubica pitied her. ¡®... I was like that in the past.¡¯ She recalled the time when she had given up every joy in life. Maybe she had been able to endure that ruthless war only because she had been in grief. She was neither surprised nor thought it was unfair when something bad happened to her. She then carefully took Elise¡¯s hand. ¡°But I like you.¡± It made the girl abruptly look up. Even though Rubica had said something nice, she looked so shocked. ¡°But, but... I¡¯m not pretty, and...¡± No. You are pretty. You really are. You are one of the prettiest people I¡¯ve met so far. Rubica barely managed to not shout so. The girl would only deny that. Now wasn¡¯t the time to be honest. It was time to say something Elise could believe. ¡°But you¡¯re the best at ancientnguage.¡± ¡°... yes.¡± She didn¡¯t deny it this time. She was good at ancientnguage. Before she could say that wasn¡¯t something ady-in-waiting should excel at, Rubica spoke quickly. ¡°There¡¯s a book I want to read, but I don¡¯t know much about the ancientnguage. I want your help with it and don¡¯t worry too much about your manners. You can learn as you work.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°Ms. Sna, I need ady-in-waiting, not a manners teacher. You may speak honestly if you don¡¯t want the job.¡± Elise finally realized what was happening. It wasn¡¯t a mistake. It was surprising, but it was real. Duchess ymore wanted Elise Sna as herdy-in-waiting. Her eyes shook hard. Rubica feared she might refuse saying she wasn¡¯t sure she could do it, so she quickly started to exin the terms of hire. Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Chapter 72

¡°You will get about 150 Gold as your monthly wage if you be mydy-in-waiting. It will also be increased once a year depending on how long you work. Your living expenses will be covered by the family just like now, so don¡¯t worry.¡± Elise had a brother who was studying at the Royal Knights¡¯ Academy. Although they had some of their mother¡¯s dowry left, it wasn¡¯t big. Moreover, that brother had been refusing to receive money from her, saying he didn¡¯t want to ruin his sister¡¯s future. Elise¡¯s heart had ached so much each time she saw him train with his rusty sword and old gloves. It wasn¡¯t the time to run just because she was afraid, worried, wasn¡¯t confident, and couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°I¡¯ll, I¡¯ll do it.¡± Elise barely managed to find the courage to say that. Her palms were sweaty, and she still wasn¡¯t sure. Rubica might be disappointed with her in a month and kick her out. It was a good opportunity, but she was so afraid as if she was standing at the end of a cliff. ¡°Thank you!¡± Then, Rubica jumped to her feet and hugged her tightly. That hug was warm enough to melt any frozen heart. Tears started filling her eyes. She didn¡¯t know why, but she got this feeling that Rubica would never easily kick her out no matter what mistakes she would make. She had never believed in anyone that way. ¡°Please don¡¯t thank me. I¡¯m the one who should be grateful.¡± Elise had to try very hard to say that out aloud between the tears and sobbing. *** Elise¡¯s things were immediately moved to the main building. As it had been Edgar¡¯s idea to bring her as thedy-in-waiting, there was no need to tell him about him. Rubica assigned her a room adjacent to Ann¡¯s room. She wanted to have her stay right next to her own room, but the third floor was only for the duke and the duchess. And now, Elise was in the middle of Rubica¡¯s chamber. She couldn¡¯t immediately start serving Rubica. She had to be trained by Ann for about a week before she started to work. Rubica and her maids stood around the girl as if she were the important one. Elise didn¡¯t know what to do with so many people watching her as she had never received that much attention before. ¡°Jennie.¡± Rubica finally spoke after staring at her for a long time. Then, a clever-looking maid responded, ¡°Her skin will soon get better if she uses herb water to wash her face. I think it would be better than applying this and that.¡± ¡°And her hair?¡± ¡°I think it would look better untied.¡± Another maid agreed with Jennie and nodded, ¡°And it would be better to cut her fringe short.¡± Rubica crossed her arms and carefully nodded with her eyes still fixed on Elise. The girl looked around confusedly. It was as if they were talking in riddles. ¡®Are they talking about Her Grace?¡¯ She managed to make that guess. They wereing up with opinions about hair and skin, so they were probably discussing about the duchess¡¯ dress and style. Well, what else could so many people be thinking hard about? But there was one thing she couldn¡¯t easily understand. ¡®She already has good skin...¡¯ Could she not be satisfied with it as she was a nobledy? Then, Rubica pped her hands. ¡°She has that kind of chicly style, right?¡± The maids all nodded to that. Elise was now even more confused as Rubica didn¡¯t appear to be chic. It looked like it would fit more to keep her hairbed back and decorated with a pin. What if nobody dared to say the truth? Should I just stay quiet? But what if she regrets her decision after she cuts her hair? She nervously shifted her feet in her dress and finally made up her mind to talk. But then... ¡°Elise, you trust me, right?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Can you trust me and let me handle this?¡± Rubica took Elise¡¯s hands and persuaded her with a convincing voice. Her hands warmed up the girl¡¯s. She nodded at that warmth. ¡®Of course, I should trust her. Who else can I trust?¡¯ Rubica brightened up immediately and hugged Elise tightly again in joy. Although the girl was surprised, she liked it. ¡°Great! Then let me take care of it!¡± That was the signal. Jennie quickly brought a small chair from the corner and made Elise sit down on it. ¡°I¡¯ll pick and bring some dresses from my dressing room.¡± Then Ann and a few maids followed Rubica to a small room. Should I follow them? I¡¯m herdy-in-waiting. Elise tried to stand up, but Jennie pressed her shoulder to stop her. A maid and ady-in-waiting. Amoner and a noblewoman. There was a huge gap in rank between them, but Jennie looked so determined that Elise had no choice but to stay seated. Soon a white cloth was spread on herp and Jennie took out silver scissors from her pocket. Elise got the goosebumps. She had never seen scissors like those. Then, the maid came closer with those scissors in her hand. Is, is she about to do something to me? Was that offer of hiring me as thedy-in-waiting only a bait? They are even paying me a wage to tease me, what is about to happen now? Elise couldn¡¯t keep her eyes open and shut them in fear. Snap. Soon she heard a chilling sound right in front of her eyes. She instinctively cringed and wished she could run out. ¡°Stay still!¡± However, Jennie even yelled at her, and Elise didn¡¯t have the guts to tell her not to be so rude to a noblewoman. She just ordered herself to get used to this new misfortune as soon as possible. Yes, no matter what they do to me, at least they are paying me. Just endure it, and it will all be fine. ¡°Well, it¡¯s all done.¡± Jennie spoke kindly after the cutting sound was over. Elise couldn¡¯t believe it. No one hit her head with a book or beaten her arm with a ruler. Still, she kept her eyes shut tightly. She wouldn¡¯t dare to open them. ¡°Child... no, Ms. Sna, you should open your eyes now.¡± She was afraid, but she feared disobeying would bring an even bigger punishment. Her eyes snapped open. Then, Jennie, who had just been making a stern face, offered her a mirror with a smile. The mirror was as big as a book and showed Elise her face. ¡®Huh?¡¯ She found her own face so unfamiliar. It felt different from usual. Soon, she realized her fringe had been cut until it reached her eyebrows. It was the first time she ever had her fringe cut, although there had never been much of it. She thought it wouldn¡¯t fit her but, to her surprise, it didn¡¯t look bad. ¡°How about this one and this one?¡± Rubica came out of the dressing room while carrying two dresses. They were both more splendid and more luxurious than the dress she was wearing now. ¡°Oh, I think this would be perfect.¡± Jennie quickly took a pink dress and put it in front of Elise. ¡°Yes, right? I also thought it would fit her.¡± That was another signal. Rubica didn¡¯t give any further order, but the maids surrounded the girl again. ¡°Please lift your arms high.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take off her shoes first.¡± ¡°The strings of your corset are too old. Where did I put the strong strings?¡± ¡°But her slip is clean.¡± Huh? Before Elise could even say that, she was undressed in an instant. By the time she realized what was happening, she was already wearing the dress Rubica had brought. She felt so dizzy at looking at all those embroidered roses and rubies on the chest part. She had never seen such an expensive dress before. ¡°And Linda, you¡¯re the best at doing the hair.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Rubica called a maid with red hair who confidently came to the front. She undid Elise¡¯s hair that had been tied so tightly. Then, she applied a scented oil on it and started tob with great skill. ¡®But Mrs. Shaynie said I should always keep my hair tied or I¡¯ll look dirty...¡¯ Elise was worried, but she couldn¡¯t let down all those people excitedly looking at her. So, she stayed still. In the meantime, Ann found and brought a hairpin that could be worn simply. It had a ruby carved to look like a red rose that matched the embroidery of the dress. It was clearly expensive, but Linda didn¡¯t hesitate to put it on the side hair that she had just braided and twisted. ¡®... that pin must cost more than everything I have.¡¯ Elise was so scared that she couldn¡¯t even look at the pin, but the others were all smiling andughing. ¡°Her hair looks just like a rose when braided and rolled like that.¡± ¡°Yes, it matches the rose-shaped hairpin.¡± ¡°Jennie was right, she looks better with her hair untied.¡± Elise didn¡¯t know what was going on, but it didn¡¯t look like they hated her. Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Chapter 73

Elise managed to rx, and Jennie took out a round can. ¡°She¡¯s still young, so only use the rouge.¡± ¡°Yes, madam.¡± Jennie scooped a bit of that red thing in the can and started to apply it on Elise¡¯s lips. Mrs. Shaynie had said such a thing was only for impudent girls. She especially hated red because she thought that color was indecent. ¡®... are they ying with me as if I was their toy?¡¯ Will theyugh at me after all this? Or are they about to take my hand, drag me out, and show everyone how cheap I look? She only knew how to make bad guesses. Misfortune and being mistreated were her friends, but fortune and hospitality were far away just like the nymphs¡¯ ind across the ocean. ¡°All done, all done.¡± Jennie went away and Rubica excitedly took Elise to arge mirror. The girl looked at it, wondering how funny and cheap she would look. ¡®Huh?¡¯ But there was a doll standing there. ¡®No way.¡¯ She neither looked funny nor cheap. She was surprisingly beautiful. Her horizontally cut fringe was highlighting her lightly elevated blue eyes. Moreover, the pink dress amazingly matched her white skin. All that with the hair braided like a rose by Linda, the red rose-shaped hairpin, and rose embroidery of the stomacher created a fantastic beauty. The lightly applied rouge didn¡¯t look wrong, instead it made her look even prouder. Was the girl in the mirror really herself? She didn¡¯t just look like a noblewoman, she looked like a princess. She couldn¡¯t speak for some time. Only a while ago, a dull and ugly girl had looked back at her each time she looked into a mirror. But now, she was seeing someonepletely different. She was just so surprised that she couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°Do you like it?¡± Elise just stared at the mirror and said nothing. So, Rubica carefully asked worried the girl might not like the dress. That question brought Elise to her senses. She looked around to find everyone was expectantly looking at her, especially Linda who had braided her hair and Jennie who had applied soft cream to her face and the right rouge on her lips. ¡°Thank...¡± Elise tried to say thank you first, but she quickly shut her mouth. ¡®Her Grace might get offended if I thank the maids.¡¯ Mrs. Shaynie had taught her to be harsh on the maids. Even when showing gratitude, you should only thank the most superior of them all and thank others only when you get the chance. However, she never taught about how to get that chance and how to show gratitude. -You will anger your superiors if you don¡¯t behave ording to manners! Mrs. Shaynie¡¯s words rang in her ears. Elise wanted to show that she was grateful, but she feared she might let everyone down. Her thoughts were now entangled. ¡°... you don¡¯t like it? You don¡¯t like the dress?¡± Rubica carefully asked when Elise looked like she was almost about to cry instead of smiling. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll prepare something else if you don¡¯t like it.¡± The dress Rubica had chosen fitted Elise very much. It shined as soon as she wore it as if it had finally found its true owner, but the girl could be thinking differently. Beauty was a subjective concept. Rubica was willing to let her go through her dresses until she found something she liked. It looked like she was about to go back to her dressing room, so Elise quickly waved her hands. ¡°No, no. How can someone like me not like such a precious dress...¡± ¡°You like it?¡± ¡°... yes,¡± she replied in a small voice. Rubica and her maids all let out a sigh of relief. Elise hadn¡¯t known they would care so much about every word she said, and it made her even more nervous. She had always changed her expression and words ording to how others reacted to her. No one had cared why sheughed and cried. ¡°And how about your hair? I think I focused too much on doing as I wanted...¡± ¡°I, I like it.¡± Elise nced at Rubica and added in a small voice so that only Linda could hear it, ¡°It¡¯s very pretty and amazing.¡± ¡°Right? I wonder how you came up with such an idea. Your hair and the rose-shaped pin together make it look like flowers have bloomed on your head.¡± Elise wasplementing a maid first instead of thanking the duchess, but Rubica was not mad. She rather agreed with her and joined her. Elise couldn¡¯t understand what was going on and stared at her. Judging from the duchess¡¯ expression, she was neither scolding nor getting along with the mood. She genuinely meant it. Strangely, Elise¡¯s shoulders felt lighter. She made a very tiny and faint smile to be relieved of that heavy burden. ¡°Oh!¡± Rubica covered her mouth with both her hands. Then, she started shaking hard. Elise was worried she might have done something wrong, and the maids were also surprised. The duchess was a little strange, but she had never done that before. Ann was worried she might be sick and turned pale, she was about to call the doctor immediately. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s that smile!¡± However, what she yelled was something none of them had expected. Rubica quickly took the girl¡¯s hands again. ¡°Could you, could you smile like that again?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°It looked so pretty!¡± Rubica was very much excited, and Elise looked at her shocked. Was she really the duchess who had coldly kicked out Mrs. Shaynie? She had seen it with her own eyes, but she really couldn¡¯t get used to that huge difference. ¡°Please! Smile like that again.¡± Elise hesitated, but Rubica held her hands together and begged. It almost made the girl faint. She had made the duchess beg. She really didn¡¯t know what to do, and the duchess had even saved her from that pit. ¡®I can even smile in front of scaffolds if that¡¯s what she wants.¡¯ Elise raised the corners of her lips as high as she could. She recalled what she had done and managed to smile with her eyes as well. ¡°No, no. Don¡¯t force yourself to smile like that. Try being proud like you just did.¡± ¡°... proud?¡± ¡°Yes, proud. You look really good when you are proud.¡± That was unexpected. Kindness and elegance were some of the virtues ady should have. Elise had been taught to always speak kindly and softly. Mrs. Shaynie had harshly pointed out if she spoke just a little sharply. ¡®You look sharp because the corners of your eyes are raised high. Who will marry you if you keep your mouth shut like that?¡¯ It gave her the habit of worrying if she had offended the other person each time she spoke a word. She really hated her appearance that made her look unapproachable. She had tried so hard looking at the mirror to look nice and kind. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn¡¯t be like those born with kind-looking faces, and the duchess was now asking her to smile proudly. ¡°Being proud is... being proud is...¡± Elise tried to say it wasn¡¯t good, but then she closed her mouth again. The duchess looked so excited and she didn¡¯t want to let her down. Now she really didn¡¯t know what to think. She was supposed to act differently from the right behaviors she had learned so far. -Splendid women will immediately catch men¡¯s attention. However, such women are just toys for the night. In the end, men choose kind and modest women. Elise had followed that teaching. She had been told she would eventually be rewarded if she tried to be modest, but the duchess was ordering her what was contrary to all that. ¡®... but she is the one who rescued me.¡¯ Mrs. Shaynie had told her she should be a nice and obedient woman, but she wasn¡¯t the one who had saved her. Among the many men she had met, there had been some who said she had to be even nicer, but none of them had gratefully proposed to her. When she realized that, she got a small rebellious spirit inside her. If I can¡¯t do it no matter how hard I try, then let¡¯s not do it at all. ¡®If she likes a proud girl, that¡¯s who I should be.¡¯ That was much more realistic. She was Rubica¡¯sdy-in-waiting and, as herdy-in-waiting, it was her duty to please her mistress. She rxed her eyes and freed her frozen lips. Then, she smiled naturally like she sometimes did in her childhood. ¡°Oh!¡± Rubica shrieked like a girl did when looking at handsome and dashing opera actors. Even the maids shortly lost their words at seeing that. ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± But at the moment, Rubica had no spare energy left to notice the mood. She waspletely focused on Elise¡¯s beauty that was just about to bloom. ¡°Jennie! You were right. Using only a bit of rouge was the best choice. Doesn¡¯t it highlight that light smile of hers?¡± ¡°What? Oh, yes, yes.¡± Jennie quickly came to her senses. She had been so shocked by Rubica¡¯s sudden reaction that she hadn¡¯t examined the girl yet. She then looked at Elise again. She still looked nervous and was still slouching, but soon Jennie realized what Rubica was talking about. Chapter 74

Chapter 74: Chapter 74

¡°Yes. The rouge definitely highlights her tiny lips, and her proud smile looks very noble.¡± Jennie had served a number ofdies beforeing to ymore and knew how topliment well. She used every word she knew to praise Elise¡¯s beauty. Her tongue that hadn¡¯t easily moved in front of nobledies moved freely this time. It was because she really meant what she was saying. She wasn¡¯t just ttering her. ¡°Yes, she will look even prettier if she smiles proudly with more confidence,¡± the other maids also agreed with Jennie and added. Rubica was happier than anyone else at hearing that and said, ¡°Yes, right?¡± She continued to nod to theirpliments, but she didn¡¯t shriek again. She was back to being the calm and wise duchess. ¡®... what was that?¡¯ ¡®She was probably just a little excited for a moment.¡¯ ¡®Yes. Actually, I was a little surprised too. I couldn¡¯t believe my own eyes even after seeing her being changed.¡¯ The maids exchanged nces and silently reached a conclusion while Rubica was still happily looking at the shy Elise, so she didn¡¯t notice what the others were doing. ¡°Then...¡± Getting so much attention made the girl get more and more nervous. They were all kind to her, but she still found it too much. ¡°Should I take it off now?¡± She thought this was some kind of doll y. Although she hadn¡¯t officially started working as thedy-in-waiting, she decided she had at least given some fun to her mistress. To be honest, although she had been nervous, she enjoyed it. However, she couldn¡¯t stay that way any longer. She had neither the money nor power to buy such an expensive dress. She feared she might end up wanting to have it if she were to wear it just a bit longer. It would be better to take it off. ¡°Take it off?¡± Rubica widened her eyes and asked back. Her auburn eyes momentarily glowed in the light. ¡°It¡¯s your dress, I cannot keep wearing it...¡± ¡°You have it!¡± Rubica cut her short so that she wouldn¡¯t be able to say more negative things. Her fairy was supposed to take what others gave her. That¡¯s what fitted her. Looking down and the hesitating attitude only diminished her beauty. ¡°Have it? But Your Grace, how can I dare to have your dress?¡± ¡°This dress isn¡¯t right for me, I would never wear it even if I keep it. But it looks so good on you. It¡¯s like it was made just for you. I think it would also be better for the dress to be worn by someone who looks good in it than to rot in my closet.¡± However, it was too much. It was too expensive. She was not worth it. Elise wanted to tell her anxiety to Rubica, but she feared it might offend her. Even Ann couldn¡¯t see her like that anymore and spoke, ¡°Ms. Elise, you should take it.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°It ismon for a mistress to pass on her dresses to herdies-in-waiting. Now you are thedy-in-waiting of ymore. What you wear is rted to the family¡¯s honor and pride. Her Grace has graciously given you a gift, so you should dly take it.¡± Still, the dress was way too expensive. Elise gulped hard as she looked at herself in the mirror. There were rubies decorated on the stomacher, although they were small. Moreover, the fabric must have been imported. The Kingdom of Seritos wasn¡¯t capable of making such fabric. It was a dress that befitted the daughter of a prestigious family, not ady-in-waiting. After all, it hade out from the duchess¡¯ closet. However, what Ann was saying also made sense. Ladies-in-waiting had a duty to wear dresses good enough not to defame their mistress. Unfortunately, Elise couldn¡¯t afford to buy such dresses. She was going to be paid, but such a dress was probably worth more than her wages for four months. ¡°Thank... you, Your Grace. I¡¯m sorry for trying to refuse your generosity.¡± ¡°No, no.¡± Rubica had been listening to Ann and came to her senses at hearing Elise speak to her. She realized Ann was telling Elise to think of her poverty and ept the dress as nicely as possible. However, Rubica had just been excited about the girl¡¯s beauty she had finally managed to find. So, she just wanted her to wear the dress she had found. She hadn¡¯t thought about her being poor and how she should dress as ady-in-waiting. Rubica felt ashamed. She had not cared about the girl¡¯s situation despite her age. She just easily lost her reason in front of beauty even with her old age. ¡°I¡¯m d you¡¯re epting it. Please wear it often.¡± Elise slightly smiled at hearing that. That smile was proud and enchanting like a night fairy¡¯s smile. ¡®She will catch everyone¡¯s attention in society.¡¯ Her heart pounded. She could almost already see people staring at Elise¡¯s beauty. She couldn¡¯t wait to see that. However, she couldn¡¯t hold a luxurious ball during the agricultural season. If it was going to just diminish her fame, she wouldn¡¯t have cared. But the host and all the guests of a ball held in the agricultural season would be punished. So, no one woulde at all in the first ce. That was aw unique to Seritos that other kingdoms didn¡¯t have. As the kingdom alwayscked food, it turned a blind eye on all the other extravagance of the aristocrats but didn¡¯t forgive holding balls in the agricultural season. Rubica also liked thatw as it showed the king cared about his people at least a little bit. ¡°Oh, I wish winter was already here.¡± ¡°Winter?¡± ¡°So that I could see you dance in that dress at balls. Everyone would be so surprised to see you.¡± However, the girl only frowned. She had no good memory of any balls. She had always waited alone behind walls to be asked to dance, but no man offered her a hand. There were only miserable and embarrassing memories. She never wanted to go to balls again if she could. ¡°Your Grace, but I¡¯m always a wallflower* during balls. I need a partner to dance. I will... never be able to dance.¡± ¡°It might have been true before, but now...¡± Rubica sounded firm, and the maids nodded as well. They were sure many noblemen in the capital would be following the girl around. ¡°They will regret not recognizing your beauty sooner.¡± ¡°It might be hard for you to be at Her Grace¡¯s side because of all your suitors.¡± They all spoke in one voice, and Elise was shocked. She couldn¡¯t even be sure if they were all talking about her, or someone else. ¡°Elise, are you a good dancer?¡± ¡°Oh, um, I¡¯m not that good at dancing.¡± ¡°Then start practicing. You will have to dance a lot starting this winter.¡± And then, dancing was immediately added to the lessons Elise was supposed to take from now right on the spot. ¡®Oh, I wish winter woulde quickly! I am definitely taking Elise with me when I go to the capital no matter what.¡¯ Rubica determinedly told herself. People were going to be so shocked to see the girl, who they had once ignored, had transformed into a beautiful flower. They would have to apologize to her for their foolishness. It just felt so good to imagine all that. *** While Rubica was being busy with renovating the annex and hiring Elise as herdy-in-waiting, there was a man who was just as busy as her. Lord Sesar was delightedly smiling at seeing his greenhouse being built. It was located in a corner of the mansion¡¯s garden, slightly away from west-north. He had decided to live in a small hut right next to the greenhouse. ¡°Are these all the saplings you have brought today?¡± ¡°Yes, these are all the vine roses we can find.¡± Sesar took out a magnifying ss and carefully examined the various roses nted in pots. Various colors and huge buds, they were all roses famous for their beauty. He had spent almost as much as his entire wealth to get that many roses. His work was costing a lot. He wouldn¡¯t even have dared to try it if Rubica hadn¡¯t invested in his research, and Sesar didn¡¯t waste that money. He found every bad or ill rose and took it out. The merchant already lost his nerves to see he was much more thorough than he had expected. ¡°Hmm...¡± Sesar finished examining the nts and smacked. The merchant was worried as he was hesitating instead of taking out the gold coins from his pouch and paying. Most clients he had met till now had been flower shop owners. Sesar also looked no different from them. Long boots that came up to his knees and dirt on his clothes. He even had dirt on his white beard. However, Sesar waspletely different. He was doing a lot of strange thing like ordering bits of various nts instead of buying a huge amount of one nt saplings. The merchant really didn¡¯t know how to handle him. ¡®... it would be bad if he cancels his order.¡¯ The order¡¯s price had been set higher than the average market price. Moreover, the trustworthy ymore Family was going to pay that money. The merchant had thought he had met great fortune when he first got the job. He even opened an expensive bottle of wine that night. However, he sweated hard at seeing Sesar being much harder to deal with than he had imagined. It looked like there wasn¡¯t such a thing as easy money in the world. *Wallflower: a girl who is never asked to dance. Chapter 75

Chapter 75: Chapter 75

¡°We sell the best saplings while the other shops have even faultier goods.¡± The merchant quickly said, fearing the deal might be canceled, but Sesar didn¡¯t say anything. He, instead, spent a long time in his own world and then abruptly started speaking. ¡°I¡¯ll need wild roses.¡± ¡°You are pretty and strong enough but using only vine roses will make itck stability. I need the strength of wild roses. Maybe it would be better to use damask roses and make roses that are pretty and smell good.¡± The merchant wondered what he should say to that, but soon he realized Sesar wasn¡¯t talking to him. He was talking to the saplings. ¡°Hmm. Yes, yes. That would be better.¡± Sesar nodded. The merchant wondered if he should leave him alone, but then Sesar turned to him. ¡°Can you also get various damask roses?¡± ¡°What? Yes.¡± The merchant instinctively nodded and Sesar rubbed his hands with satisfaction. ¡°And can you get them quickly? I want to make at least one product before May.¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s possible,¡± the merchant quickly made some calctions and replied. Even the impossible would be possible in front of money. It also appeared Sesar wasn¡¯t going to cancel the deal. ¡°Okay, then thank you.¡± ¡°Um, about the payment...¡± ¡°Bring this to the butler of the ymore Mansion over there, and he will immediately take care of it.¡± Sesar handed him a list of the saplings he decided to buy. It was very urate. He had appeared to be only looking at the pots, so when did he check all that? He looked clumsy but was in fact thorough. The merchant blinked. As soon as he took the list, Sesar left while throwing away his gloves. Then, he walked to his hut without saying anything. The merchant sighed at that weird behavior. He really didn¡¯t know how to handle him, but he was still an important client. The merchant resisted the urge to say something to him and headed to the mansion. ¡°Where did I put that book on wild roses?¡± The hut was in a mess. Sesar went through huge piles of books and finally managed to find a red book. It had been written by a schr he greatly looked up to. He took out a leather bag and put in it the huge book, some clothes, a shovel, linen for wrapping roots, and rations for a few days. He could get the rest through the merchant, but not wild roses. He wore his coat and was about to leave when he was reminded of something. ¡°Oh, fertilizer! Hey, I have to order fertilizer!¡± He had been concentrating on the saplings and forgot to order fertilizer. He quickly ran out, but the merchant was long gone. Sesar was about to head to the mansion himself when he spotted a man. The man was studying the new saplings and his back looked quite familiar. ¡°Sir Stephen?¡± ¡°Lord Sesar, it¡¯s been a long time.¡± It was Stephen, the duke¡¯s guard. ¡°Is the dukeing here?¡± ¡°Oh, no.¡± Sesar asked with hope, but the knight¡¯s answer was cold, so the man was a little disappointed. However, at the same time, he found it odd for Stephen to be here as he always put the duke¡¯s safety as his top priority. ¡°Then what has brought you here?¡± ¡°I just came to look around.¡± That voice was very tiny, but Sesar immediately brightened up at hearing that. ¡°Do you like flowers?¡± ¡°That¡¯s...¡± Stephen was about to say something, but he shut his mouth again. Sesar thought he was being shy. A knight and flowers, that was an unusualbination. ¡°None of the saplings have bloomed as it isn¡¯t the season yet, but after the greenhouse is finished, we will be able to see flowers bloom.¡± Sesar started to exin. He felt sorry for Stephen who hade to see flowers only to find none. Stephen heard his exnation about the saplings and the flowers that would bloom without even frowning a bit. ¡°But how will these flowers be used?¡± Sesar excitedly replied, ¡°They were ingredients for creating even prettier flowers.¡± ¡°... and what are those roses for?¡± Sesar couldn¡¯t understand the question. He blinked. Flowers are supposed to be pretty. They were not for anything, but the knight seemed quite agitated. ¡°The duchess has decided to use them to decorate the garden.¡± ¡°The garden... is that the only purpose? Don¡¯t those flowers, like, have a special poison or can be used to run machines?¡± ¡°Oh, flowers are supposed to be pretty. Why do they need another purpose?¡± Stephen didn¡¯t buy it and frowned. Sesar, however, was starting to get offended. Thinking such impure thoughts at seeing his lovely flowers? That was an insult. ¡°You are right.¡± Sesar was a very simple man and immediately felt better at hearing the knight agreeing with him. Then, he realized Stephen could be of help to him. ¡°Sir Stephen, I am about to go on a trip to find wild roses. Could you give me some tips for camping?¡± ¡°... camping?¡± Stephen¡¯s eyebrows twitched and realized he made a mistake. He thought about saying he was busy and running away, but it looked like it would onlyplicate matters even more. He gave up and started to walk to find a good spot before exining. ¡°Let me exin.¡± ¡°There isn¡¯t even a single bad person among those who like flowers.¡± Stephen stopped. He couldn¡¯t understand how the botanist had reached that conclusion. He even wanted to grab him by the cor and ask him why he thought so. He didn¡¯t like flowers. More urately, he didn¡¯t care about them at all. However, he couldn¡¯t tell that to Sesar. Then he would find it weird for him to be here. He couldn¡¯t let that happen. ¡°Surroundings is the most important in camping. If thend is wet, avoid it as much as possible. And, when you can¡¯t, choose somewhere with grass. Here, this spot is good.¡± Then, Stephen showed him how to make a simple shelter. Sesar soon followed his instruction and tried it himself. He worked very well for an old man. ¡°But why are you doing this much?¡± ¡°The duchess has believed in me and has invested in my work, so I cannot let her down.¡± ¡°Then investing in you and your work has been her decision entirely?¡± ¡°Yes. The duke didn¡¯t say much to it once she made that decision. She has a sense of beauty others don¡¯t have. The moment she looked at my sketches, she realized they were going to be very beautiful flowers. You must understand as you love flowers.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± Stephen just tried asking and, to his surprise, Sesar didn¡¯t try to hide anything. Even if he didn¡¯t like that he turned from a knight who liked flower to a knight who loved flowers, that was an unexpected gain. ¡°I didn¡¯t know she had such a great sense of beauty.¡± ¡°Oh yes. She is different from the others.¡± ¡°How different?¡± Stephen pretended to agree and put in a question. That method makes the other person think of it as meaningless gossip, spill out information, and forget all about it. ¡°Her behavior and other things, and she knows a lot. She must have studied a lot.¡± However, the duchess hadn¡¯t studied that much even if she had been educated a little at home like most of the other noblewomen. ¡°Oh, she hasn¡¯t studied that much.¡± ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be. Weird. She urately read the name of a flower written in ancient Babarian.¡± ¡°Ancient Babarian?¡± Sesar didn¡¯t see the knight¡¯s eyes shine dangerously. Even if he had seen it, he wouldn¡¯t have noticed it. He cared more about flowers than people. To him, a change of expression was tooplicated. ¡°Her vocabry is a little strange as well.¡± ¡°Her vocabry?¡± Rubica spoke like any other normal people in Seritos. Stephen couldn¡¯t understand, so he had to ask. Sesar then smiled proudly. His observations were worse than a toddler¡¯s in some areas, but in other area¡¯s he was like the genius of the century. ¡°Others wouldn¡¯t be able to see it. Only someone who has met various people at the Academy and has learned much like me can notice it.¡± ¡°Hmm...¡± ¡°She called friendship ¡®philia¡¯. That¡¯s a word the priests of Hue use.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± To Stephen¡¯s surprise, that conversation turned out to be quite profitable. He decided there was a further need to find out more about Rubica. ¡°But why are you asking that?¡± ¡°I just wanted your opinion. Oh, and actually it is safer to make a shelter on trees instead of making it on the ground. Let me show you.¡± Stephen quickly changed the topic. Thankfully, Sesar¡¯s suspicion soon vanished. He was an extraordinary man who cared only about flowers and soon forgot other things. At first, he had run out shouting he had to order fertilizer and, as soon as he saw Stephen, he asked him to teach him how to camp. The interest Stephen has shown in the duchess was quickly erased from his memory. Roses were much important to him. He just left Rubica a letter saying he was going to leave for a few weeks to find wild roses he needed for his work. Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Chapter 76

*** ¡°Your Grace, the dresses made by Khanna have just reached the seamstresses.¡± Rubica, who had been reading a book with Ann in the duchess¡¯ study, closed the book as soon as she heard that. The book was about management and events of the household. It couldn¡¯t have been more boring. ¡°Already?¡± She was grateful enough to be freed from that boring task, and what was freeing her were the new dresses. She smiled brightly. It was amazing that Khanna had made so many dresses that quickly, even though the seamstresses of ymore had helped with embroidering. Rubica couldn¡¯t wait to see Khanna¡¯s work. ¡°Madam, shall we go there?¡± ¡°May I?¡± ¡°Yes, I can take care of this on my own.¡± ¡°But... I cannot make you do all this hard work alone.¡± Although most events took only a day, there was a lot of preparation to be done. Rubica couldn¡¯t let Ann do all that hard work. Plus, Ann would stick to the budget as much as possible. Rubica was going to make every event the most splendid ever during her time as the duchess. Ann, who didn¡¯t know her ns, was deeply moved. ¡°You even worry about me...¡± Rubica felt a little guilty, but it wasn¡¯t like she was not worried about her at all. ¡°Let¡¯s do this togetherter and let us go to see the dresses.¡± ¡°Yes, I also want to see you in pretty dresses.¡± A maid took the thick book and moved it while Ann put the books in a drawer and locked it with a key. Only the duchess and the housekeeper were allowed to look into it. Rubica, instead, stood stiffly till they got ready. ¡°Thank you.¡± She was supposed to get used to others doing her things, but it felt so awkward. She thanked after some hesitation. Ann and the maid simply blushed. They said there was no need for her to thank them as they were only doing their job, but it looked like the day Rubica would naturally stand and watch was still far away. ¡°Then, shall we go now?¡± Rubica arrived when Rosa and Khanna were putting a dress on a mannequin to see if there was something wrong with it. Rubica eximed at seeing the elegant salmon-colored dress. She really loved it, probably because she had added her own opinion to its design. ¡°Your Grace, please try it on.¡± ¡°May I?¡± ¡°Of course. It¡¯s your dress.¡± Rubica excitedly nodded. The door was closed and the curtains were drawn. They took the dress off the mannequin and started to help Rubica put it on. Khanna hadn¡¯t lied about helping her husband¡¯s work from time to time. The sewing and frills attached to it were very neat. Of course, she was not a perfect or great designer, but she mended her ws by actively listening to Rosa¡¯s and Rubica¡¯s opinions. The dress was beautiful and it surprisingly fit Rubica¡¯s body. It didn¡¯t drag on the ground and only came down to her ankles. Its length was perfect for walks. Moreover, the armholes and the waist were a little wider to make it easier to move around. Rubica liked it. Khanna was a designer who didn¡¯t forget the original purpose of the clothes. ¡°It really fits you well.¡± ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t know the salmon color would look so good on you. Should I tell Carl immediately and order more...¡± ¡°The pearl decoration of the stomacher is so beautiful.¡± Rubica stood in front of a huge mirror. It was quite embarrassing to say it, but the dress did look better on her than when it was on the mannequin. The salmon-color dress maximized the pleasant softness of her milky white skin and had been made to increase her beauty even more. ¡°I like it.¡± Khanna smiled widely when hearing that. Although she had done her best, she was worried Rubica might not like it. ¡°I can freely move my arms around like this, and the dress itself is so light. It¡¯s so good.¡± Moreover, Rubica even didn¡¯t miss the thoughts Khanna had given while making the dress. Being beautiful was good, but it was for taking strolls. It was supposed to befortable enough to carry a parasol and walking. Khanna didn¡¯t forget the dress¡¯ purpose to focus on making it pretty. That was something an unprofessional like Rubica couldn¡¯t have thought of. ¡°Yes, I tried my best to make itfortable for walks.¡± Then, she showed Rubica the other dresses. They were all in the colors that suited her perfectly. Rubica nodded and additionally bought gloves and a straw hat that would go well with the dresses. ¡°Oh, right.¡± Khanna was about to curtsey and leave when Rubica stopped her. ¡°Can youe again tomorrow?¡± ¡°Tomorrow? Of course.¡± The fact that Rubica had ordered dresses from her hadn¡¯t been widely spread yet. Of course, she had worked hard for a few days to make the dresses, but she still had more than enough time. Of course, even if she had had other orders to take care of, she would have made time for Rubica. ¡°Thank you. How about tomorrow afternoon? I want to talk to Ann and set the time.¡± ¡°Do you need any more dresses? Please tell me and I will bring some designs and fabrics.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not for me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not for you?¡± ¡°Yes, I want to order a dress for my newdy-in-waiting.¡± Rubica was worried about Elise. Although she had given her a pink dress, that was only one dress. Moreover, it was for feasts and formal events. Even thoughdies-in-waiting didn¡¯t have any hard work that the maids did, judging from how Ann lived, it wasn¡¯t a position that did nothing. Elise would have to help with making a list of people who will be of help to the family, and Rubica couldn¡¯t manage the books alone. ymore was too big and had too many people, and there were anniversaries to be celebrated. Most thought ofdies-in-waiting as women who kept the mistresspany and brought her fan but, in fact, they had many things to do and even more to take care of. Rubica didn¡¯t want Elise to do all that in an ufortable dress. ¡°Then do you want me to mend your dress?¡± ¡°No, I want you to make a new one.¡± ¡°Excuse me? Oh, it must be for someone you very much care about.¡± Rubica was quite confused to hear that. The Berner Family, in which she had grown up, had maids but wasn¡¯t noble enough to havedies-in-waiting. Her mother had been the daughter of a count, but she had never taught her on how to behave withdies-in-waiting. Actually, as Rubica was from a bar¡¯s family, she would have been fortunate if she were to marry a baron. ¡®But Ann said it was normal to give dresses todies-in-waiting...¡¯ It looked like it was normal to pass down dresses instead of giving new ones. ¡®Well, whatever. I will pass down my dresses and give new dresses!¡¯ Stupid, extravagant. A girl from a lowly family who didn¡¯t know how to behave as the duchess. Those were rather what she wanted people to say about her. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then I will bring what is needed.¡± After Khanna left, Rubica had a maid bring the dress to her dressing room. Then, she went back to the study. She hadn¡¯t discussed with Ann about the budget for the first half of the year. She had looked into the books to find out about the expenses they had spent till March, but the part about the budget that was going to be spent in the future was different. It was good that festivals held in the domain weren¡¯t the duchess¡¯ work. However, celebrating anniversaries of the family was part of her duty, and she was getting a headache because of all those birthdays of the rtives that had to be celebrated. ¡®I don¡¯t even know who they are.¡¯ Of course, she could find out about it one by one. However, as she had many things to take care of in front of her, that way was going to be too slow. In the end, she decided to take a shortcut. ¡°Let¡¯s increase the expense of gifts for rtives and anniversaries thanst year.¡± ¡°By how much?¡± ¡°About 5% more.¡± In that perspective, Ann was a very trustworthy housekeeper. She had managed the household for four years without the mistress and she thoroughly knew about when and where the budgets were being used. She immediately calcted the percentage Rubica spoke of and showed it to her. ¡°It would be the first gifts you send after your arrival at ymore, so it would be better to spend a little more money.¡± Plus, she didn¡¯t nag at Rubica like Mrs. Shaynie. Rubica smiled happily. She also assigned enough money on the maids¡¯ snacks. She did the same with the kitchen¡¯s expense. Now Steven was making a cake every day without being given an excuse. He had even bought a new recipe book and had made it with joy. Ann assigned more money on sugar, flour, cinnamon, rum, and other things than usual. But then, she grabbed her hair while calcting. ¡°Uhh.¡± ¡°Ann?¡± ¡°Madam, it won¡¯t work. Can¡¯t we cancel that dress order for Ms. Sna?¡± It looked like they had gone over the budget. No, they had probably done that a while ago. Rubica had ordered to increase itpared tost year, not to decrease it. Ann had agreed with all that as it seemed like little money, but when it was all put together, it wasn¡¯t a small sum at all. Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Chapter 77

¡°But there won¡¯t be enough dresses for you.¡± ¡°The dresses I have looked at will be so ufortable for Elise.¡± ¡°If we mend them well...¡± ¡°Elise is thin, but she is taller than me. Of course she would be able to wear them, but it wouldn¡¯t look good.¡± Ann moaned. Her mistress was just too kind. However, Ann didn¡¯t want the money for Rubica to be spent on ady-in-waiting. Rubica had looked so beautiful in that dress made by Khanna. Dresses made for her were much better than the mended ones that had been made for the duke¡¯s grandmother. She had just be the duchess, so she had to beat the noblewomen in the neighborhood with her dresses. ¡®... there are good things with nning the budget with Ann, but this is a problem.¡¯ Rubica had been thinkingpletely different thoughts while looking at the same books. If she had been nning the budget alone, she could have spent as much as she wanted. The housekeeper would have no choice if the mistress said that management of money was her duty and her duty alone. But now, Rubica couldn¡¯t n the budget without Ann¡¯s help. Helping with the management of the abbey and running a noble household had many simrities, but there were many differences as well. Preparation for the uing summer, things needed for the festival, goods to be distributed to servants and rtives. Rubica didn¡¯t know the details about them and, as the needed quantity was much bigger than her imagination, it was rather impossible to guess the appropriate amount. ¡°Isn¡¯t there anything we can decrease?¡± Rubica decided to take a step back. She couldn¡¯t assign the budget as she wanted while Ann was watching. It would be better to take a step back for now and spendter when she had the opportunity. ¡°There are many things to spend money on, right? I¡¯m sorry that I cannot satisfy you.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s enough already.¡± Actually, Rubica was already spending many times what normal noble mistresses spent. It was just that she needed many things, including dresses, as she hade with nothing, unlike other noble wives. ¡°Hmm...¡± Rubica decided to hold on for now, so she could take part in even bigger extravagancester. She put down the document onst year¡¯s budget and started to study this year¡¯s budget. Ann was thorough and had been recording all the needed information. ¡®I definitely have spent a lot of money on Lord Sesar.¡¯ Almost two-thirds of the entire budget was being spent on gardening. Rubica didn¡¯t regret her decision to invest on Sesar and his roses, but she thought she should not have spent that much. She was about to move on to the next page, but then she stopped. ¡®No, the total expense is many times what I paid Lord Sesar.¡¯ Decorating the garden cost that much? Rubica took a walk in the garden every afternoon. She hadn¡¯t looked around every part of it, but it seemed unlikely that maintaining the garden cost as much as Sesar¡¯s work. There wasn¡¯t any greenhouse, and there weren¡¯t many strange or rare nts. There were just plenty of mazes and roads with trees that required nothing more than water and fertilizer at the right time. What on earth was costing this much of money? Rubica wondered if the gardener was embezzling money. ¡®But he can¡¯t possibly get much by lying about the prices of the fertilizer and saplings...¡¯ She had met the gardener a few times while she was taking strolls, and he seemed someone very nice. He sometimes made mistakes too, so he was the type of person who would find things that required much thinking like embezzling too troublesome. Rubica¡¯s eyes slowly followed the list and were fixed on one line. ¡®... mana quartz!¡¯ The garden of ymore had flowers and trees that weremon in the Seritos Kingdom. However, there was one thing that they spent a huge sum of money on, and that was mana quartz. ¡°Ann, what is this?¡± ¡°Oh, one mana quartz sculpture loses its light every year. We start finding mana quartz in March and the sculptor starts to work in June. Then, the finished sculpture is installed in October. One of the sculptures has just lost its lights... we must quickly get mana quartz to rece it.¡± Mana quartz were from Iber¡¯s territory. Knights who would fight with the dragon¡¯s underlings, men who carried their things, and expenses for them eating and sleeping. It cost very much. ¡®It costs as much as deploying an army.¡¯ Moreover, the budget included the danger pay andpensation for the dead¡¯s family, so probably many people died during the quest. ¡°Do we really have to get it?¡± ¡°... yes. It is a tradition to show a new mana quartz sculpture to the people during the harvest festival to pay a tribute to the duke.¡± Ann exined why getting mana quartz was necessary. As it was about showing off the ymore¡¯s power, the thing about mana quartz was a very old and meaningful tradition. When aristocrats, royals, and ambassadors came to the ymore Mansion, they were all overwhelmed at seeing all those mana quartz sculptures in the garden. Many rtives and peasants were proud of that garden as well. However, Rubica didn¡¯t agree to that exnation and just stared at the list. ¡®The budget will be increased by a lot if we don¡¯t spend this money.¡¯ She could buy Elise at least a hundred dresses with that money. That was very tempting. Ann was still exining about the family¡¯s honor and pride, but Rubica couldn¡¯t hear her more. ¡®Wait, all those sculptures are about to be shattered when the war breaks out.¡¯ So were the ymore¡¯s pride and honor. ¡®They are pretty, but they cost money and the people¡¯s lives. I don¡¯t like it. I¡¯m sick of people dying. It¡¯s not like that is necessary. They will all live if we just don¡¯t get that trivial thing for pride and honor.¡¯ Rubica had been impressed by the beautiful mana quartz, but now it was just ¡®that trivial thing¡¯ to her. She had always loved beauty, from her birth to her death and even in this second life. It was really hard to repress her passion that was capable of doing anything for beautiful things in life. She had been able to tolerate with Edgar¡¯s arrogant way of speaking to some extent when they first met only because he was handsome. However, no beauty coulde first than people¡¯s lives. -Father, why aren¡¯t you sellingnen? It¡¯s pretty and very profitable. That¡¯s what Rubica asked her father who mainly sold food. She was 13 back then. Lanen was a gem that had been poprtely and the demand was high. Although her father was amoner, her mother was from a count¡¯s family. As long as they had her mother¡¯s connections and rank, they could easily get permission to sellnen. Moreover, judging from her father¡¯s skills, it seemed it would be easy to getnen. It was going to bring them huge money, plus the opportunity to see prettynen for Rubica. However, her father looked very sad at hearing his little girl¡¯s innocent question. -Rubica, kingdoms wherenen can be mined are all having a civil war because of it. And, those who mine the gem are all children as young as you. -Children like me? Rubica was surprised to hear that. She had followed her father to the mine once out of curiosity. It was a noisy, dusty, and dangerous ce. She felt fear to see the dark cave that looked like it would engulf everything at any moment and couldn¡¯t dare to get in it. -Lanen is very clear and beautiful, but many people must bleed for its beauty and they are still bleeding. Of course, I will get a lot of money if I sellnen, but I don¡¯t want to feed you and dress you with the money made from other¡¯s blood. -I don¡¯t want it, either. Rubica¡¯s mother kindly stroked her hair at that. Her gesture was so elegant. -There are many beauties in this world, but none of them are worth more than people¡¯s lives. Rubica, I prefer your father selling food and saving many lives than making huge money. Rubica had never forgotten what her parents told her in her long life. It was okay to spend money and work hard for beauty. However, no matter how much she liked beautiful things, she couldn¡¯t value them more than people¡¯s lives, especially those around her. Of course, she wanted to see new mana quartz and sculpture made with it. Apart from her pride and honor as the duchess, beauty always stirred the lust inside her. The world was full of people who did all kinds of crazy things for beauty. Some abused their own bodies until their lives were in danger. Some even abandoned their parents and children. Rubica¡¯s lust wasn¡¯t smaller than theirs at all. However, she didn¡¯t do what they did because she didn¡¯t think of beauty as the most valuable thing in the world. Beauty was good, but nothing could be higher than life. In the end, what mattered to her was to enjoy the beauty with people around her and to be happy together. Rubica made up her mind. It had nothing to do with Elise. Whether they had enough money or not, she would have made that same decision in the end. Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Chapter 78

¡°Ann, cancel all the budget on mana quartz.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°We¡¯re not getting it. Let¡¯s find something to rece the sculpture. Let¡¯s just do what other noble families normally do. We should make a huge meat pie, smash it on the day, and give it out to the people.¡± ¡°What? But... you might get med for it? The rtives will not tolerate it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± That was what Rubica was hoping for. She got a rebellious spirit. She had tried hard to be med, but the oue hadn¡¯t been that good. She diligently spent money and behaved as she wanted, but what people said about her was ¡®our mistress is so great, generous, humble, and wise.¡¯ Now she really wanted to say goodbye to that wise duchess thing. She never meant to be a wise wife and she never wanted to live for Edgar¡¯s honor. She wanted to live as she wanted. She had enjoyed her previous life helping others, but it had to be okay to live as she wanted for once. It wasn¡¯t going tost more than two years, after all. Also, she just couldn¡¯t understand why so many people had to die for the ymore¡¯s honor and pride. It would be better for her to get the me. She would be called a wife who was from a bar¡¯s family, had no manners and reason, and diminished the duke¡¯s honor instead of the extravagant duchess she had originally nned of, but it didn¡¯t matter. Either way, all she had to do was to be med and get divorced. ¡°Madam...¡± Ann wanted to convince Rubica, but she soon gave up at seeing her firm auburn eyes. They had spent a short time together, but Ann already found out Rubica was firmer than she looked and always did what she decided to do. ¡®But I can¡¯t let it happen, it will throw her pride to the ground.¡¯ Insults and mocking that followed a noble wife who was thought to diminish the husband¡¯s honor did much more than simply bother the family. They were things that couldn¡¯t be defeated by the name of ymore. Ann really wanted to change Rubica¡¯s mind, but she was the housekeeper. She couldn¡¯t openly me her and make her cancel the decision. It would only be destroying the duchess¡¯ honor to save the duke¡¯s honor. ¡®I must get some time first.¡¯ First, she had to dy announcing they were not getting mana quartz this year. She smiled kindly and put the abacus she¡¯d been holding in a box. ¡°I think we won¡¯t be able to take care of expenses rted to mana quartz even if we work till dinner. Your Grace, it¡¯s time to take a walk. Why don¡¯t we get some fresh air and do itter?¡± ¡°Hmm...¡± Rubica suspiciously looked at Ann. She had expected at least two hours of a quarrel with Ann at the spot. Ann had her as the top priority, but only because she was the duchess. It was rather suspicious she was so easily epting what was going to bring huge changes to the family. Ann broke in a cold sweat at seeing those eyes that felt like they were looking through her soul. At such moments, Rubica looked more like someone who was decades older than her instead of being the duchess who was much younger than her. Even she had difficulties hiding her true thoughts. Rubica noticed she was only pretending to ept what she said. However, using her now would only cost her dedication and loyalty to her. ¡®Well, I didn¡¯t expect her to agree with me so quickly. I¡¯ll just have to persuade her in time.¡¯ Quarreling with Edgar was okay, but Rubica really wanted to avoid fighting with this kind housekeeper. Rubica decided to go along with her for now and find a way to convince herter. ¡°Okay, Ann. I was getting tired. Let us go.¡± There was a need to take a walk at the gardens and be refreshed by trees and flowers. She wore the salmon dress made by Khanna and put on a straw hat decorated with flowers that matched the dress. Then, she put on ivory-coloredce gloves. Ann helped her to get ready and secretly whispered to a maid nearby. ¡°Please tell Carl what she just said.¡± ¡°Yes, Mrs. Taylor.¡± Edgar was the only person who could stop Rubica. Ann knew what she was doing was going to make her lose Rubica¡¯s trust. She had already made a mistake of babbling about her once, but was it really the housekeeper¡¯s virtue to say nothing and obey only because that was what Rubica wanted? ¡®I don¡¯t mind if she gets to hate me and not trust me. I must stop her from getting med, no matter what the cost is.¡¯ Rubica hadn¡¯t even been introduced to the capital¡¯s society. Ann believed she was more than capable of handling the weight the title Duchess ymore brought, but what others thought waspletely different. Even she couldn¡¯t guess what would be done to her if she went to the society without properly managing her reputation within the dukedom. ¡®And there are so manydies who wanted her ce...¡¯ There were people who acted as if it had been taken away from them even though it never belonged to them. Ann didn¡¯t know that hatred and mes were what Rubica truly wanted and the reason for which she decided to y the viin. ¡°Why don¡¯t we have the girls at the annex join us for a walk today?¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, I think it would be good for you to talk with them and hear gossips and people¡¯s interests.¡± ¡°Then Elise ising too, right?¡± ¡°Of course. Ms. Sna had to leave her friends so quickly. They will be delighted to see each other.¡± Rubica smiled as if she had been given a box of confectionaries. She really wanted to see Elise taking a walk in that pink dress she had passed down on to her. She would be more confident if her friendsplimented her change. ¡°Good. Let¡¯s send a word to Elise and the annex.¡± ¡°Yes, madam.¡± The girls had been taught quickly under the new manners teacher. As soon as a maid delivered them the duchess¡¯ message, they grabbed their parasols, hats, and gloves and came to the main building¡¯s porch. ¡°Your Grace, you look so beautiful!¡± ¡°Is that a new dress?¡± The teenaged girls were interested in dresses more than anyone else and realized Rubica¡¯s change very quickly. Rubica thought they were just ttering her, but she liked it. She also liked that they looked brighter and happier than before. ¡®They will be even more surprised to see Elise.¡¯ Rubica was excited to imagine them praise Elise¡¯s change. She wanted to show the world that she turned Elise into someone beautiful. ¡®I wish she woulde quickly...¡¯ Thedy of the day should be thest to appear, but Rubica couldn¡¯t hide her anxiety. ¡°Elise!¡± She finally came out, and she looked just like when Rubica and her maids had worked on her. The girls called her name, but they couldn¡¯t say anything for a long time. The new Elise was the incarnation of what Mrs. Shaynie always said a reserveddy shouldn¡¯t do. ¡®But she looks pretty.¡¯ ¡®And she doesn¡¯t look cheap.¡¯ She rather looked as noble as a princess. When her friends stared at her without saying anything, Elise embarrassingly looked down. She wasn¡¯t worth such a splendid dress after all. The duchess¡¯ and her maids¡¯pliments had been able to give some courage and confidence to the newdy-in-waiting. However, it was hard to gain confidence after being suppressed for a long time, and Rubica noticed she was misinterpreting the girl¡¯s gaze and was being afraid. She thought about speaking to her, but it could make the girl think all those praises that were about to be given to her was because of the duchess. ¡°Have you cut your fringe?¡± Then, Kay, who was a year or two younger than Elise, carefully asked. Her friendly blue eyes were sparkling. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Who did it?¡± ¡°One of Her Grace¡¯s maids.¡± ¡°It looks so good. Maybe I should cut my fringe, too.¡± Kay touched her hair that was tightly bound just like Elise¡¯s previously. Now she had no choice as her hair was tied and fixed with pins, but it appeared her hair would be in a different style tomorrow. ¡°That dress really fits you well.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°We couldn¡¯t recognize you at first because you looked so beautiful.¡± ¡°And that lip color matches you.¡± ¡°Madam has given me some rouge, I can share it with you.¡± ¡°Really? Then can I try it too?¡± The girls were momentarily dumbfounded by their friend¡¯s sudden change, but they soon got excited and delighted. They started topliment Elise who didn¡¯t know what to do when surrounded by them, but she recovered her smile in time. She was still half in doubt, but her smile was getting confident. And, Rubica happily watched them. It felt like seeing one¡¯s daughter get everybody¡¯s attention at her debut in society. She wanted to boast that she had been the one who chose the dress that people said looked so good on her, and she also had her maids do her hair and makeup. The more the girls were in awe, the more delighted she was. ¡°Well then, shall we go now?¡± ¡°Yes, madam.¡± The girls spent a long time at the porch, but they all politely grabbed their skirts and lightly curtsied as soon as Rubica spoke. Each movement was elegant. It hadn¡¯t been a week since the new manners teacher came, but they already knew how to behave as noble girls. ¡®I was right to fire her.¡¯ Rubica did feel a little sorry for not writing a rmendation letter, but she didn¡¯t want to let Shaynie easily be the manners teacher of another noble family as huge as ymore. She needed to reflect on herself. Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Chapter 79

*** Edgar could hear noises from the outside. There were many voices, but only the calm and clearughter of a woman reached his ears. It was Rubica¡¯s. He quickly pushed his wheelchair to the windows. He hid behind the curtains lest anyone saw him, but he couldn¡¯t suppress his curiosity. He could see Rubicaughing through the clear window. She was probably having a good time. Today she had more people with her than usual. She had hired a girl from the annex as herdy-in-waiting, and it appeared she had made her and her friends join her for the walk. ¡®Is that her?¡¯ Edgar could immediately tell who Elise was. Rubica¡¯s expressions were very different when looking at her than when she looked at the other girls. Edgar was looking from afar, but he could clearly see that difference. Rubica nced at Elise while she slowly talked to the others and smiled happily. It looked like she was eager topliment the girl each time she did something. ¡®She looks at the girl as if she were her granddaughter.¡¯ He raised an eyebrow. He crossed his arms and touched his chin. He did that when he carefully examined something. Moreover, he had a habit of tapping the end of his table when thinking deeply. ¡®She sometimes behaves like an old woman.¡¯ He was carefully examining her behavior. She was walking while listening to her maids and the girls, but then she staggered because of a jagged stone. She embarrassedly looked around to see if anyone had seen that, but she was relieved to see everyone was looking at the flowers and soon pleasantly walked away. ¡°Ha.¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t help butugh. Of course Ann and the others saw her stagger. They were just desperately pretending to have missed it, but that innocent girl didn¡¯t know it and was relieved. ¡°Haha!¡± He really couldn¡¯t helpughing to see her back as she pleasantly walked away. She tried to put on a proud face and talked to a maid. It made Edgar grab his stomach andugh out loud. Everyone had seen her mistake and she was the only one who didn¡¯t know it, but here she was pretending it never happened. It was so funny. That was the reason why he could not miss her every move even though all she did was walking in the garden. She gave him new joy every day. Of course, he couldn¡¯t miss that fun. He managed to stopughing and look at Rubica walk in the garden. She felt different from usual. She would usually sparkle in beauty under the sunlight, but now she was dazzling. ¡®Wait, beauty?¡¯ He covered his mouth with a hand. Rubica hadn¡¯t turned back to look at his office, but he left the windows in surprise. ¡®I¡¯m going crazy.¡¯ An ordinary woman. That was who she was, an ordinary woman. She had been like that when they first met. Yes, she had looked amazing at their wedding because of the mood and the dress. She had looked like an angel who hade down to earth only because her lips, face, eyes, and everything had looked misty because of the golden veil, but the girl herself was ordinary. Moreover, that girl now looked prettier than anyone else to him. Was he seeing an illusion because of the stress? He quickly rang a bell. The sound was going to make Carl appear in less than half an hour. ¡®This can¡¯t be. I really can¡¯t postpone it more. I must have Carl call my doctor.¡± He was giving that order in advance because he knew he was going to forget everything and go to Rubica as soon as the sun went down. He wondered if that devil-like woman had cast a spell on him. If this was some kind of mental disease, he had to have it treated before it got worse. An illusion that made an extremely ordinary woman look dazzlingly beautiful... he was definitely in a bad condition. ¡®... no, she isn¡¯t extremely ordinary.¡¯ He shook his head. That assessment was too harsh. ¡®Her eyes are beautiful. That¡¯s a fact. And her skin, too. People prefer white marble-like skin these days and don¡¯t approve healthy milky-white skin like hers. Being bright and healthy is better than being pale. Health is the best, after all.¡¯ Edgar examined each part of her body like that. Her fingers, hair, shoulders, nose, eyshes, and lips. ¡®Her fingers are at the right length, and her big fingernails are good to look at.¡¯ ¡®Her shoulders are a little small, but they are round and fit perfectly when I hold her in my arms. And its round line shown over her dress is pleasant to look at.¡¯ ¡®Her full lips are fine too.¡¯ And, to his surprise, every part of her was pretty. ¡®Wait, then isn¡¯t she pretty?¡¯ It was quite logical to judge the whole through its parts. Edgar decided Rubica¡¯s name rightfully belonged to the list of Seritos¡¯s beautiful women. His eyes were not wrong. Rubica was beautiful. But then, why did she look ordinary to him before? She wasn¡¯t extremely ordinary at all. There wasn¡¯t another woman like her anywhere. ¡®My eyes were wrong.¡¯ Who had been wrong was the himself of the past, not his present self. However, it hurt his pride to admit that. He was a genius in engineering who could even find an error of 1mm. And, he had failed to recognize a woman¡¯s beauty? ¡®It¡¯s because she was in a in dress. That old grey dress she was wearing when we first met was the worst.¡¯ Yes, he had always been right, both in the past and in the present. He had just misjudged Rubica only because she had been wearing a dress that was too in and hiding her beauty when they first met. He couldn¡¯t see his thought had a huge logical w and smiled with satisfaction. ¡®Now that she is the duchess, she will never have to wear such an ugly dress. Good.¡¯ He closed his eyes and savored the Rubica he had just seen. Why was she looking many times prettier than usual? What was different? Edgar tried to find out. ¡®Yes, her dress.¡¯ The salmon-colored dress she was wearing waspletely different from what she normally wore. He was familiar with the dresses she had worn before. His grandmother, the original owner of those dresses, had been alive only six years ago. She was the first to lead the beauty of pale white skin, faint blond hair, and clear blue eyes like Edgar¡¯s. The dresses Rubica had worn till yesterday had been made for his grandmother, and she had been apletely different type of woman. They were all fine, but they weren¡¯t fit for Rubica. ¡®She said she ordered new dresses a while ago. That Kha... um, was it Khanna?¡¯ He had been relieved to know the designer wasn¡¯t a man, although he didn¡¯t know why he was relieved to know the designer¡¯s sex. ¡®Anyway, she needs to wear dresses that are right for her.¡¯ Knock knock Then, he heard the knocking on the door. It was Carl who he had called. It hadn¡¯t been half an hour, but he hade quicker than usual. ¡°Come in.¡± Edgar gave him the permission toe in. Then, the sound of opening the lock with a key was heard and Carl carefully came in. He had just been told what Rubica had said about the mana quartz and was wondering how he was supposed to deliver that to Edgar. ¡°Did you want to see me, Your Grace?¡± Carl bowed and waited for the order. Edgar had called him to advance the appointment with his doctor, but he said somethingpletely different after stroking his chin for a long time. ¡°How much of my private budget is left?¡± ¡°... what?¡± Carl asked back in surprise. His master wasn¡¯t extravagant. He ordered only the needed amount of clothes and the only things he spent money on wereb tools and pens. More than half of his private expenses were left every year and was being saved in his personal ount. ¡°Is there none left?¡± ¡°No, no.¡± Carl quickly shook his head and finished calcting in a short time. There had been a sudden increase in spending this year to pay Rubica¡¯s dowry. Carl subtracted that amount of money plus the average sum Edgar was going to spend from now and spoke of the remaining amount. ¡°Hmm.¡± Tap, tap. Edgar tapped the end of his mahogany table. He seemed to be thinking hard. He had almost no greed for money, so what was he thinking about? Had he gotten himself a new hobby? Carl decided to make a guess, but he couldn¡¯t. ¡®I must tell him what Ann told me before he spends that money on something else.¡¯ ¡°Your Grace, there¡¯s something you should know.¡± Chapter 80

Chapter 80: Chapter 80

¡®No, I should quickly tell him what Ann let me know before he spends the money on something else.¡¯ ¡°Your Grace, there¡¯s something you should know.¡± ¡°Is it urgent?¡± Edgar sounded irritated. He had been trying to figure out how much money he could give Rubica as an expense for buying dresses. Five thousand Gold? Ten thousand Gold? Fifty thousand Gold? Or all the money he had left in his private ount? To what extent she would be delighted and from which point she would find it too much, that was very hard to calcte. Edgar didn¡¯t like that he was being interrupted while thinking about her usual habit of spending. ¡°It¡¯s about Her Grace.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± However, that changed when Carl said it was about Rubica. Although he had just seen her pleasantly taking a walk in the garden, he always felt nervous and agitated when thinking about her. He was worried that she might be sick or offended, and he strangely felt proud to see her well. He didn¡¯t want to interfere with her every action. He had grown up surrounded by people who wanted to control his actions just because they loved him. But to him, it was neither love nor protection. It was horrible violence and confinement. He didn¡¯t want to force her to do what he hated the most. He let her do as she wanted as much as possible and didn¡¯t want to hear what people said about that. Ann and Carl were the keenest at noticing that. After thest incident, they tried not to talk about Rubica. Still, Carl was now trying to say something, so Edgar had a bad feeling about it. ¡®She appeared to be healthy... is she sick?¡¯ His heart got cloudy. Just imagining Rubica lying on the bed and sweating made his heart ache. Then, she would never let him hear her cute, twittingughter again. Was he never going to see her arguing with him and doing what she believed to be right regardless of his thoughts? Health was something no one had control of, but if she got sick after marrying him, he was going to feel guilty for it. ¡®It¡¯s okay. If she¡¯s sick, I¡¯ll have her cured. I¡¯m the richest man in this kingdom. I can pay for her treatment.¡¯ Edgar managed to calm down and waited for Carl to speak. It was probably a very serious matter as Carl was taking a deep breath. Edgar promised himself to ept the news, no matter what it was. ¡°Her Grace said she will ban people from getting mana quartz this year.¡± ¡°What?¡± But what Carl said was beyond Edgar¡¯s imagination. He felt dazed as if he had just been struck by lightning. If his two legs had been fine, he would have jumped to his feet. Why was she always thinking and acting in a way he couldn¡¯t even imagine? ¡°What kind of nonsense is that?¡± Edgar knew Rubica. She eximed in awe at seeing the beauty of mana quartz statues. She was clearly fascinated by the stones¡¯ beauty. It had been the first day he felt grateful for being born as the hair of the ymore Family. He was sure he would have managed to support himself and get wealthy with his genius brain no matter where and whom he had been born as. However, mana quartz statues were something no one could get without power and wealth made by generations. Each year, in the harvest festival, the family invited its rtives and other noble families it was close with to show the new mana quartz sculpture. Edgar had been nning to make the next event the most splendid ever to properly introduce Rubica to the nobles and royals. The size of the first event after the wedding was a measurement of his love for his wife. The bigger the statue is, the more the aristocrats realize that ymore is on a different level from them. The event had to be sessful no matter what. Edgar was going to use that event to let Rubica befriend royals like the princess before she went to the capital¡¯s society. It was to let her get acquainted with her life as Duchess ymore without many difficulties. He was not going to let flies, who looked down on her because of her background, buzz around her. So, he needed the biggest and the most splendid mana quartz sculpture ever. He had already hired one of the two best sculptors in the continent. He even nned to make the statue in the motif Rubica wanted. ¡°What was Ann doing while she made such a decision?¡± ¡°ording to a maid who was there, Her Grace was so determined that she had to take a step back for now.¡± Edgar sighed deeply. It looked like Rubica had made up her mind. He knew what kind of expression she put on when she made up her mind. ¡°You are the only one who can stop her... so Ann let me know about it although she knew Her Grace wouldn¡¯t like it.¡± I can stop her? Edgar sneered. If he had been capable of bending her to his will, he would have done it long ago. But when she said no, he could do nothing as if he was enchanted. He even hade up with a good idea when Rubica wanted to have a girl she liked at her side. Thinking about the bright smile she showed him at that time made him feel both good and bad. Why did she want to keep such an ordinary girl near her when she had such a great husband? ¡°Why on earth has she decided so?¡± But this time, letting her do as she wanted was going to cost a lot. Edgar didn¡¯t want others to use her. Most decisions came after reasons, except those of the few very strange people. Edgar wanted to know the reason first to solve the matter. ¡°Her Grace looked into the budget ns for the first half of the year with Ann, and...¡± Carl calmly exined what the maid had seen and heard, also adding what he knew. They certainly had spent a lot of money this year. The sudden wedding had cost as much as any other wedding with the beautifully decorated wedding hall and gifts for the peasants, although there had been very few guests. Additionally, Rubica had decided to invest on Sesar¡¯s experiment even though it wasn¡¯t her area, just because it was rted to decorating the garden. That much would have been fine, but then she went to the annex and gave orders to fix every inconvenience like an angel. Of course, it had made the rtives living there look at her in a new perspective and spread good words about her. Even those who had mocked her behavior at the wedding with prejudice wasplimenting her now, saying Edgar had found himself a good wife. All of that was not bad, but the problem was Rubica had done everything at the same time, in less than two months since her arrival at ymore. She was so radical. In addition to that, she wasn¡¯t from a wealthy family, so she hadn¡¯t been able to bring dresses and jewels with her. She had to buy dresses in fashion for every asion and event, and that was going to cost a lot. Moreover, she had hired a newdy-in-waiting and wanted to buy dresses for her, too. That was just too much. Of course, ymore was rich. However, the end of nobles, who relied on revenue from their domains and titles and spent to their heart¡¯s content without calcting, was never good. Plus, ymore wasn¡¯t a family that only had to manage its domain. Supporting many schrs, businesses, factory workers, and factories cost huge money. To export weapons, there was a need to show how great the new weapon was. They couldn¡¯t spend their money easily just because they were rich. Carl was getting worried about Rubica. What she had done till now had been out of goodwill, but there was no guarantee its oue would also be full of goodwill. ¡°Lack of expenses? You think she made that decision because there wasn¡¯t enough money?¡± Edgar was shocked to hear Carl¡¯s exnation and asked back. He felt so annoyed. The great ymore Familycked money that his wife couldn¡¯t even buy the dress she wanted? He wasn¡¯t just annoyed. He could already hear his high and mighty pride get cracked. ¡°To my judgment, yes.¡± Carl didn¡¯t bother to deliver what Rubica said about not wanting people to die in order to get mana quartz. He thought she had added that just as an excuse. ¡°Do we really need to give up on getting mana quartz?¡± Edgar was going to add, ¡®Are we reallycking money that much?¡¯ However, he stopped. Saying that out loud was going to shatter his pride. ¡°Actually, not that much. There are still many things to save money on, like gifts for rtives, bonuses, and carnival.¡± ¡°Then she should have saved money on those things, why did she make such a decision?¡± Edgar really couldn¡¯t understand. He crossed his arms and touched his chin. Rubica, he knew, wasn¡¯t a fool who wasn¡¯t capable of basic math. She was rather good at calcting just like the proper daughter of a merchant and knew how to manage the books. ¡°That, I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Okay. Carl, how much money do you think she needs?¡± Carl immediately wrote the sum of money Rubica needed to buy dresses and jewels while also enjoying entertainments. It was less than ten thousand Gold. Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Chapter 81

Edgar couldn¡¯t help butugh hollowly. He couldn¡¯t let Rubica¡¯s reputation be thrown to the ground just because of ten thousand Gold. And, he felt irritated. He had made her worry so much and make her decide on giving up mana quartz in the end just because of ten thousand Gold. Was he a man who was worth only that much? ¡®I should have cared more.¡¯ He had thought she would do well as she was good at keeping the books and ounting, so he did not care much about it. That was the problem. She was new to ymore. Managing a dukedom couldn¡¯t be easy. Even he had found it too much when he first handled it. She had just be the duchess and had a lot to buy. He should have assigned her enough money in the first ce. ¡®... you could have talked to me if you needed help.¡¯ Then Edgar would have dly helped her. He had given her a nice solution to Ms. Sna¡¯s matter, and Rubica had been delighted to hear that. Although he wanted to scold her and say he couldn¡¯t understand why she liked such an ordinary girl, he also felt happy at the same time. He had wanted her to ask for his advice again, but she didn¡¯t. Edgar had been silently disappointed because of that. However, even he had to admit what he had said till now was... Harsh. He sometimes opened the empty jewelry box and stared at where the blue ring had been. If the ring had stayed there, he might have used it as soon as he met her just to be nice to her. ¡°Carl, prepare to withdraw money from my ount.¡± Carl blinked, but soon he understood what Edgar was saying. ¡°I never thought of that solution, Your Grace.¡± Edgar reclined on his chair and tapped on the table¡¯s end. He had been angry at first, but maybe this could be an opportunity. He had been wondering if it would be better to give money to Rubica and tell her to buy new pretty dresses with it or to summon that designer Khanna and order the dresses himself. There couldn¡¯t be a better excuse. He wished he could just give her his bank ount and say she could spend as much she wanted. However, judging from her personality, it was only going to backfire on him. ¡®Carl said she needed ten thousand Gold. So will thirty thousand Gold be enough?¡¯ Although the dresses Rubica had worn now were made of expensive fabrics and had the family¡¯s history, they were old. That was a fact. The dress she was wearing today was different. The embroidered flowers fluttered in the wind with each of her step and made Edgar forget every worry. He wished he could go down to the garden now and see her. And... ¡®And what?¡¯ And what did he want to do after that? He didn¡¯t know. He just wanted to see Rubica right in front of him, not from far away. Although mana stonemps lighted the room as if it were still daytime, it didn¡¯t have the sunlight¡¯s warmth. He wanted to see her shine under the clear sky. ¡®... what is wrong with me?¡¯ He had never had such a strong impulse and didn¡¯t know what to do with that strange feeling. Carl was surprised to see him tap on the table¡¯s end. His face was changing color from red to blue to white. Carl carefully called him, ¡°Your Grace?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Edgar realized Carl was in front of him only then. He always finished what he was doing quickly and had a good concentration, but he had been slipping away while thinking these days. Moreover, those other thoughts were all about Rubica. ¡°What were we talking about?¡± ¡°We were talking about withdrawing money from your private ount.¡± Carl answered in surprise. He had barely seen Edgar make such a trivial mistake. Edgar tutted and decided on the amount of money. ¡°Thirty thousand Gold. It should be appropriate, right?¡± ¡°But we onlyck about ten thousand Gold. In my opinion, that is too much.¡± ¡°It would be better to have enough budget. She should buy jewels and shoes sometimes. I don¡¯t want to see her give up when she suddenly wants to buy something expensive because there isn¡¯t enough money.¡± ¡°Then I will tell so to Ann.¡± Carl bowed and was about to leave. Edgar then tried to imagine Rubica hearing the news from Ann. She would surely be delighted. Maybe she would have someone deliver a thank you to him. ¡®Wait.¡¯ If I deliver the news myself, I can see her being delighted with my own eyes and hear her sincere thank you? He quickly stopped Carl. ¡°Wait.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± ¡°Do not tell Ann. I¡¯ll tell Rubica myself.¡± There was a slightly ominous smile on his lips. Carl soon noticed what he was nning to do. It seemed like his master really liked his wife. ¡®So soon?¡¯ Carl tried to recall when Edgar started to like Rubica. He couldn¡¯t even guess. Edgar had found her to break his curse at first. He had no feeling toward her. To those who didn¡¯t know the real story of the two, they appeared to be madly in love, but the truth was different. It had been a marriage made by mistake. Edgar had barely, truly barely managed to stop her from running away. Moreover, Rubica hadn¡¯t been trying to y the push and pull game. She really hadn¡¯t been interested in him. At first, Edgar had been no different. He had proposed to her only to find a lead to break the curse, that was all. But at some point, his eyes were following Rubica. He was keenly reacting to her every action, although he would pretend he wasn¡¯t. ¡®This can¡¯t be good.¡¯ Unlike him, Rubica didn¡¯t love him. She really didn¡¯t care about him. Carl¡¯s heart ached to think about how offended his master was about to be in the close future. Carl wished for his happiness. He would do anything for that as he had sinned against Edgar and his mother. He couldn¡¯t pay for it even with his life. ¡®She said four years.¡¯ Carl and the emperor were the only people Edgar could talk to about his curse and discuss the matter with. Because of that, Carl knew everything about his and Rubica¡¯s marriage, like how it had happened and what kind of terms it had. ¡®What will happen to him if she leaves after four years?¡¯ Edgar couldn¡¯t see it yet, but he was falling for her more and more every second. He had not trusted anyone and had turned cynical about love. But now, he had opened his heart to Rubica and was following her. The heart was an unpredictable thing. No one could know how it would change. That was a truth that never changed. Carl felt sorry for his master to think what he would be after Rubica¡¯s departure. He would probably go through great pain and either get even colder than before or work till he copsed. ¡®I must stop it.¡¯ Rubica was the woman his master had managed to love. Carl had to stop her from leaving Edgar no matter what. Living for Edgar, that was the only way he could atone to him. Carl genuinely believed so. *** The seamstresses¡¯ ce was decorated with elegant mint-colored panels. There was a firece that pleasantly warmed the room and Rubica was sitting in an armchair right next to it. Close to her feet were about four, five dogs living at the mansion lying close to one another, trying to keep the warmth of their feet. Rubica stroked the head of the biggest dog, Latte, and happily watched Ann and Elise talking to each other. ¡°You can read a little of Sharmannguage?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then you can help me with the purchase of ssware and porcins?¡± Elise quietly nodded to that. She seemed confident. It looked like beingplimented by her friends from the annex had done her good. Acknowledgment from your peers was always better than thepliments from the adults to regain confidence. ¡°Do you also know any othernguage?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not fluent in any of them, but I know simple words and numbers.¡± ¡°Well, it would be enough for keeping books and dealing with merchants.¡± Ann smiled proudly. Elise was diligent and liked learning. She absorbed everything she learned so it was quite fun to teach her, and she was kind-hearted. Ann was silently impressed with Rubica¡¯s eye of seeing people. ¡°Did you learnnguages here?¡± ¡°Yes, I could learn many things thanks to His and Her Graces¡¯ generosity.¡± It was better to be a ward of ymore than to grow up in an ordinary noble family for education. There were many schrs living in the mansion. For instance, Lord Sesar the botanist was unique. He knew which nts were poisonous and which nts could be used as medicine. Thanks to him, Rubica could add a few more facts to what she had learned about nts at the abbey. If it had been an ordinary noble family, it wouldn¡¯t have been possible. Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Chapter 82

Ann was taking out a napkin and started to show Elise how to fold it in the ymore style while Rubica watched them. More urately, she eagerly watched Elise. ¡°But why do we fold napkins this way?¡± ¡°A long time ago, one of the ancestors of ymore went on a trip to the north. He met a goblin there and it showed him how to fold napkins like this. So, after that, we follow that style to honor their friendship...¡± Rubica was not really paying attention to Ann¡¯s exnation, but then she was suddenly surprised. ¡°Wait, Ann!¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Then, that ancestor knew how to speak the goblinnguage?¡± Ann was confused at hearing the question. That story was like a fairytale, so no one knew who that ancestor exactly was. Even Ann had heard it from her predecessor. ¡°Yes, or the goblin spoke the humannguage.¡± ¡°Is it possible to learn the goblinnguage?¡± ¡°What?¡± Ann was now truly confused. The kingdom of goblins was far away, and learning theirnguage wasn¡¯t going to be useful, especially so because goblins who wanted to sell goods would learn basic humannguage. However, Rubica looked serious. ¡®Goblinnguage is going to be very important after the war breaks out.¡¯ Goblins knew the desert routes better than anyone else, and they had an underground kingdom that was as big as the one on the surface. Thanks to that, they were going to survive Ste¡¯s bombing. Moreover, soon afterward, supplies and money that were left would be gathered at the stable kingdom of the goblins. So, speaking theirnguage fluently was going to be very useful in the early stages of the war. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but maybe we can ask Lord Unda, he¡¯s a linguist....¡± ¡°Let¡¯s learn it together.¡± ¡°We should learn the goblinnguage?¡± Goblinnguage wasn¡¯t one of the things a nobledy should know. Even ambassadors didn¡¯t have any need to learn it. Thenguage was that useless. Therefore, Ann couldn¡¯t even guess what Rubica was thinking. She sometimes made such shocking decisions. ¡®Now that I think about it, she has saved her entire dowry in the Jackal Bank.¡¯ The goblin¡¯s bank wasn¡¯t that trustworthy as it didn¡¯t have a high interest rate. It was just old and stable. Ann couldn¡¯t find any connection between her mistress and goblins. She just thought Rubica probably knew something she was not aware of as she was from a merchant family. ¡°It is going to be useful in time.¡± Rubica knew she sounded very unconvincing, and no one was going to believe her if she just said that. However, to her surprise, Elise smiled shyly. ¡°Will we be able to learn it well?¡± ¡°If that is what you want...¡± Ann looked slightly doubtful, but she was agreeing for now. Rubica blinked at seeing them agree so easily. She thought they would, of course, object to it. Normally convincing people to learn such a uselessnguage together should have taken some time, but it was proceeding way too easily. ¡®Oh...¡¯ She had forgotten something: the two were herdies-in-waiting. Of course, they had to say yes if she wanted to do something. ¡®Have I made a mistake?¡¯ Rubica wanted to befriend them. However, even if they seemed close to each other, the rtionship between the mistress and herdies-in-waiting was more about power. She had to pay a lot of attention in order to be their friend. ¡®But I wouldn¡¯t have been able to convince them on this one just with words. Goblinnguage is practically useless at this point.¡¯ However, it was going to prove to be useful in the future. Rubica wanted the two to be safe and happy. They might not like it for now, but one day they would think it had been the right decision. ¡®Knock, knock.¡¯ Then, someone knocked on the door even if the door of the room was already wide open. So, who was meaninglessly knocking on the door? Before Rubica could look, Latte, the dog she had been patting, jumped to its feet and ran. Then, it wagged its tail when seeing Edgar leaning against the door. Edgar didn¡¯t even give it a look and went straight to Rubica. He didn¡¯t even take a look at the dog that was wagging its tail ready to be patted. Rubica once again thought he was a cold man. ¡®But he did knock on the door.¡¯ Last time he hade in without permission, and Rubica had warned him to knock properly. Although he wasn¡¯t happy at all to hear that, he promised he would, and now he knocked even though the door was open. He did keep his words. ¡®That¡¯s how he is managing such a huge family without problems at a young age...¡¯ To be honest, he was a little, no, very great. His sarcastic attitude and coldness were understandable considering the burden he was carrying. ¡®And he also asked my opinion first when Stephen asked him to punish me instead of deciding on my fate right away.¡¯ There were many nobles who were kind and gentle to fellow aristocrats but were merciless tomoners. However, although Edgar¡¯s way of talking was annoying, he always epted the right and just opinions of others. So, he was a little, just a little better. ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar hade to Rubica as soon as the sun went down. She looked so picturesque in that cozy room with the firece and the dogs near her feet. He was disappointed that she wasn¡¯t wearing that salmon-colored dress he had seen through the window earlier, but she did look good in that pale-yellow housedress. The magnolia embroidery around her neck and chest fit her well. Was it also a new dress? Edgar couldn¡¯t wait to tell her she could spend money without worrying about the budget. ¡°Edgar.¡± Then, Rubica lifted her beautiful face to call his name, and it made ripples appear in his heart. He wanted to bend down and kiss the lips that had just called his name. It would have been better if he hadn¡¯t known it, but he had tasted the pleasure those pretty red lips gave way too early. He now felt so thirsty. ¡°Just pat Latte a little.¡± Edgar looked down, and there was a white, huge dog waving its tail quickly. The moment their eyes met, it raised its front legs to jump into his arms. He had to grab it with both hands to not fall back, but it excited the dog even more. ¡°It¡¯s been looking at you all along.¡± Rubica pointed at the dog. She was pitying it as that bothering dog had always liked Edgar. On the other hand, the other dogs had already decided to move on to Rubica. They only nced at Edgar, who they had loyally served, and cuddled near Rubica even more. One of them even had its head buried in her dress. ¡®How dare you!¡¯ Edgar immediately dragged that dog out. It had been sleeping pleasantly, so it yelped when being suddenly disturbed. However, Edgar was mad at the dog who was seeing where he couldn¡¯t even dare to see. Latte, instead, was mad at seeing him pay attention to another dog, and it started barking. In the end, after a long moment of deep rage, Edgar made the decision to get rid of this chaotic situation. ¡°I want to speak to my wife in private. Everyone, please go out.¡± It made Ann and Elise immediately stand up, and the smart dogs also followed Ann. Then the maids left as well, but only Latte pretended to be ignorant and smiled at Edgar, panting. ¡°You, out.¡± However, that everyone included all animals as well. Eventually, it had no choice but to go out with a sad look on its face. It repeatedly looked back as it went out and stared at Edgar until a maid closed the door. ¡°Poor dog.¡± Rubica added in pity for the dog. It seemed like Edgar had just lost more points again. ¡®She¡¯s so difficult to understand.¡¯ Edgar thought so as he looked down on Rubica. She was always disappointed at him no matter what he did. Others were so easily making herugh, but he couldn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t like it. So, he stopped for a moment and red down at her. ¡®... her head is cute.¡¯ He was tall, and all he could see by ring down at her was the top of her head. It was nothing important, everyone had it, but he had to stop himself fromughing. It was so unfair. She frowned every time she saw him, but heughed when seeing the top of her head. It wouldn¡¯t have been that unfair if he had been objectively ugly, but he was the most handsome man in the kingdom. ¡®What on earth did that... Arman do to win this difficult woman¡¯s heart?¡¯ He had tried to erase that name from his memory, but now it was in his head again. Arman. That name was somon. It was even among Edgar¡¯s long formal name. His grandfather had been called that. Who was that Arman and how did he win Rubica¡¯s heart? Edgar wished he could find him and lock him up until he confessed. Chapter 83

Chapter 83: Chapter 83

¡°What is it?¡± Rubica asked when seeing him lost on thoughts. She then thought for a moment and raised a pot of water boiled with cinnamon, ginger, and honey instead of coffee and poured it out for him. ¡°I don¡¯t have that strange drink you like here, so this should do.¡± ¡°Tea isn¡¯t strange. It¡¯s much better for your health than this.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just dried leaves added to water. Edgar, nothing¡¯s better than this at preventing a cold.¡± Edgar pouted. He always tried not to, but he always quarreled with Rubica when they talked. However, he didn¡¯t hate her scolding him like that. She was giving him a drink good for his health, so she was caring about him at least a little. He liked it. Although he hated cinnamon, he emptied the cup Rubica handed him. ¡°You don¡¯t like cinnamon?¡± He frowned a little after finishing the drink, so Rubica couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°Yes.¡± Rubica made aplicated expression at hearing that. Edgar put his chin out a little and nodded as if asking what it was about. Then, she shook her head as if dismissing an idea. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like nothing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just, you seem to have simr tastes to someone I know.¡± She smiled bitterly while longing gathered on her eyes. Edgar¡¯s heart ached when she smiled like that. It made him feel the high and thick wall between them. She smiled like a noblewoman and behaved like a girl ording to circumstances, but sometimes she made an expression that only those who had lived a long life could make. Edgar didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°There are many who hate cinnamon.¡± He was trying tofort her, but all he could say was that uselessment. He knew it must have sounded as if he was scoffing at her. Rubica didn¡¯t know what was going on in his mind and smiled bitterly. ¡°Yes, there are many who like strawberries and hate cinnamon in this world.¡± ¡°... how did you know I like strawberries?¡± ¡°You ate only strawberries from the cakes Steven brought and didn¡¯t touch the other parts, you picky-eater duke.¡± ¡°Hup.¡± Thest part was what Edgar¡¯ste grandmother often said. She called him the duke since the moment he was born. Everyone said it was going to spoil the child, but she didn¡¯t care. Edgar hadn¡¯t heard that for a long time and couldn¡¯t helpughing out loud. His agitation melted right away. ¡°You sometimes sound like an olddy.¡± Most women would have gotten mad at that point, but Rubica wasn¡¯t mad. She rather looked surprised as if Edgar had just discovered an important secret. Edgar was embarrassed when Rubica didn¡¯t joke back and cleared his throat. Really, she was so unpredictable. ¡°Rubica, I heard that you have decided not to get mana quartz this year.¡± Her face immediately darkened when hearing that. She realized that what she had talked with Ann about the budget this afternoon had been delivered to Edgar. It was the second time, and now she felt an uncontroble anger. ¡°This mansion looks clean, but I guess many mice are living here.¡± ¡°Mice?¡± Edgar was surprised to hear that, and it made her even angrier. He wasn¡¯t even seeing what he had done wrong. She put down her anger and continued to speak with a smile. ¡°There are many mice hearing and spreading words here, so I think it would be better to clean the house. But I must get your permission first, right?¡± rms rang in Edgar¡¯s head. She was clearly mad, and she was smiling. That meant she was really, really mad. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°You have no reason to apologize. It¡¯s my fault, I should have kept this house clean.¡± ¡°I am really sorry.¡± Edgar turned pale and repeatedly apologized, and Rubica¡¯s anger shrank a little at seeing that he was genuinely sorry. Edgar had been a little honest these days. Plus, this matter was something big. She had meant to talk to him about it before announcing her decision. He was certainly smarter than she was. She felt like he would see why she had made such a decision and find a good way to convince everyone. ¡°The decision I made... well, it was enough to worry them and make them tell you.¡± Edgar was relieved to hear that. She was calming down a little. Now, he didn¡¯t just get goosebumps when Rubica was mad, he feared her anger. ¡°But I wasn¡¯t nning to do what I wanted without discussing it with you. And... you are much smarter than me.¡± Rubica hesitated before adding the final part. It was strange, she couldn¡¯t bring herself to say she wanted his help. However, Edgar didn¡¯t know she was seeking his advice on how not to get mana quartz. He just thought she was worried about the budget. Looking back on it, it was careless of him. Why would he think so foolishly? He was smart, so he should have been able to notice what she wanted... but the reason was simple. At first, Edgar was tense but then he was relieved as he received apliment from Rubica. This made him proud and, unfortunately, proud people tend to make the wrong decisions. He then smiled and pretended to be generous. ¡°This year is the first year of your stay in this mansion, so there must be many things to take care of and many things to spend money on. I should have thought of it sooner.¡± Then, he waited for her to tell him about her worries and rely on him. She was going to say she was worried people might criticize her if she bought more dresses and that she might be extravagant, and he was going to encourage her to do everything she wanted. However, she didn¡¯t. She didn¡¯t pay much attention to what Edgar just said and continued to drink her hot drink. ¡°It¡¯s okay. That problem will be solved if we don¡¯t get mana quartz. So, Edgar, is there any way to convince the people?¡± ¡°What?¡± Edgar frowned hard as he couldn¡¯t believe what he just heard. She never did as he expected, but this was too much. It was more than just breaking his small bit of hope. It was more like throwing a bomb on his head. ¡°Rubica, what are you talking about?¡± Rubica bit her tongue. Till now, although Edgar had tried to make deals about hugs and kisses on the forehead, he had always done as she wanted. He had always done what was good for her. So, she just thought he would also agree with her on this one. Getting mana quartz was an old tradition that had to do with the ymore¡¯s honor. Moreover, although Edgar did as he pleased, he also valued traditions. ¡®The bedroom is enough to show that... he can sleep well if he orders to bring a bed to the duke¡¯s chamber, but he tiringly stays in my room till one in the morning just because it¡¯s a tradition.¡¯ And she had expected that man to easily agree to break the family¡¯s tradition without any exnation... actually, apart from the tradition, it was arrogant to expect him to agree about such an important matter. Rubica had to admit she had been arrogant, but why had she thought so? Why did she think he would follow her will without any questions about such an important matter... Rubica was now afraid. Had she been relying on his kindness too much without noticing it? She thought she was now being a little selfish. ¡°Edgar, I don¡¯t want to get mana quartz.¡± Edgar sighed and sat down on the sofa. When they talked, the conversation was always... snapped at some point. He wanted to be her hero, supporting her and making her worries go away whenever she would say, ¡°I need money, what should I do?¡± Actually, any woman with just a bit of sense would have noticed all that with what he said earlier. He did his best to show it, but Rubica would always ignore him at the important moments. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± She got excited when hearing that. Maybe he had a great idea, so she expectantly looked at him while he crossed his legs. It was the time to show her the coolness of a capable man. Many women had fallen for him when he did that, although that was not what he had wanted, but not Rubica. Still, he couldn¡¯t give up. He spoke leisurely and elegantly. ¡°I¡¯ve ordered Carl to withdraw thirty thousand Gold from my private ount and put it into yours. Dresses, jewels, gifts, buy as much as you want and don¡¯t care about mana quartz.¡± Edgar was silently hoping she would smile brightly at hearing that. No one would be offended when given permission to buy as much as one wanted. From a kid in front of a candy shop to an old man over 70, everyone smiled widely when hearing that. Edgar was nning to embrace her when she smiled like that, and he wanted to use the chance to make up to what he had done till now. He wanted to say he had never looked down on her and wanted to respect her and be happy together. However, Rubica didn¡¯t smile. She looked even sadder. What was wrong this time? He couldn¡¯t find any faults in what he had just said. So, he was confused. Rubica was like a difficult math problem impossible to solve. Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Chapter 84

¡°Edgar, I...¡± Rubica took a deep breath. She knew Edgar was offering money out of goodwill, and she wished she could ept that. Getting med was only going to torment her. Rumors of her being extravagant, which she had nned, were going to be spread in secret where she couldn¡¯t hear them. That kind of thing was like weeds that never died, but she could ignore them if she wanted to. However, this matter about mana quartz was different. Nobles under the ymore¡¯s protection were going to protest hard once her decision was announced. They were probably going to say a lowly and stupid woman was about to ruin the family. Of course, Rubica would be grateful if they kicked her out for that, but it didn¡¯t mean she didn¡¯t fear seeing people yelling and pointing fingers at her. The option Edgar was offering was the easy way. Rubica could take it only if she wanted to, but she just couldn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t like her conscience was perfectly clean nor she was a saint. During her long life, she had learned to sometimes give up and sometimes to turn a blind eye. When she saw someone had done something bad to survive, she tried to understand why that person did it instead of judging, and she sometimes knew how to sympathize. She wasn¡¯t a person who was clear and pure in the heart. However, she couldn¡¯t allow herself to let people get mana quartz. Even though she was not a white person but an ordinary grey person, there was this line she just couldn¡¯t cross. If she decided to get mana quartz, there will be a huge expedition to invade Iber¡¯s territory, the dragon that was sleeping. ording to the statistics of the previous quests, 20 people died in the year with the least casualties and 300 died in the year with the biggest casualties. Rubica just couldn¡¯t turn a blind eye on this. ¡°I don¡¯t want to get mana quartz. Then the budget wouldn¡¯t be a problem and...¡± ¡°Rubica!¡± Edgar quickly stopped her. She wasn¡¯t granting even a small wish of his, and it made him sad. ¡°Is it about spending my private money? You don¡¯t have to feel bad about it. No one is going to speak about it. It is my money and how I use it is entirely up to me. You just became the duchess, and I rather...¡± His heart ached. How more did she have to make him miserable to be content? ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I wasn¡¯t considerate enough.¡± So please, get rid of that sad face and smile to me. However, Rubica didn¡¯t do what he wanted. She did smile, but only awkwardly. ¡°It¡¯s not about money.¡± Edgar¡¯s expression said he couldn¡¯t understand, so Rubica tried not to sigh and exined it to him as calmly as possible. ¡°Mana quartz can be found only in Iber¡¯s territory, the sleeping dragon. And, its ferocious underlings will protect their sleeping master. Last year, about 20 people died among those who went to get mana quartz. And, a thousand people died after messing with a higher underling ten years ago...¡± She wasn¡¯t giving up mana quartz for pretty dresses or money. Her determined eyes showed an unbending will. Edgar¡¯s throat started to burn. ¡®It¡¯s good that I made them all leave.¡¯ He had meant to use Rubica¡¯s happy moment to make changes in the rules of their time together and hugging. He also nned to have an honest conversation with her. However, contrary to his expectations, Rubica wasn¡¯t happy and was saying things that couldn¡¯t be heard by others. Edgar undid his crossed legs and straightened his back. ¡°Rubica, going to the dragon¡¯s territory to get mana quartz is an old tradition that started with this family.¡± ¡°But is tradition more important than human lives?¡± It looked like it was going to be a long conversation. Edgar knew what Rubica was talking about. What she was saying wasn¡¯t bad. No, it was rather noble. However, it wasn¡¯t going to be enough to live life. ¡°Adventurers are people who make living by doing dangerous things. Lord Zilehan has already given them the down payment when the year started. If we stop getting mana quartz, they will have no way to support their family.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t we get them other jobs? I don¡¯t know if such an unnecessary thing is worth risking human lives.¡± ¡°It¡¯s their job.¡± ¡°But if they die...¡± ¡°We are giving enoughpensation to the families of the deceased.¡± Rubica was angry at hearing that. Money, money, money. Edgar always tried to solve every conflict in the world with money, including their marriage. The attitude he had just shown was no different. He thought everyone would just be delighted when given money. ¡°Do you really think that was what those family really wanted? They would have preferred their loved ones to be back alive more than those money.¡± Edgar looked at Rubica as if she were a strange creature. On the other hand, Rubica felt like he was thinking that she was like a priestess pretending to be innocent. Maybe that was true. She had spent more than half of her life at an abbey. And, although she was never educated to be a priestess, she had learned many things there. ¡°Rubica, how did ymore start and grow?¡± Edgar spoke without any emotion. Rubica was confused as he was suddenly asking about his family¡¯s history when they were talking about mana quartz. However, the ymore¡¯s history was more famous than the royal family¡¯s history, so she could answer without any problem. ¡°By developing weapons that use the energy in the mana stones.¡± ¡°Yes, and tens of millions of people in this kingdom cannot starve to death thanks to those weapons.¡± Rubica was about to ask what it had to do with what they were talking about, but then his blue eyes sparkled dangerously. ¡°We provide new weapons that haven¡¯t been tested yet to adventurers who go to get mana quartz. They use those weapons to get rid of the monsters and underlings in the dragon¡¯s territory. Cannons, bombs, guns, and protective shield to fool the underlings¡¯ eyes. How destructive they are, how convenient they are, to what extent they can block the monsters¡¯ attacks. The adventurers use them first and find things on which they can be improved. Finding mana quartz isn¡¯t just a tradition that was made to boast about this family¡¯s wealth and power.¡± Rubica¡¯s auburn eyes shook, and Edgar could see his words were convincing her. It would be great if everything could be done in the good. However, in this world, there was something called necessary evil. ¡°But... but...¡± Rubica moved her dried lips. She couldn¡¯t back off so easily. She hadn¡¯t announced to give up on mana quartz out of a sudden impulse. Strong memories about life and death from her previous life that no one had experienced yet. The hope and ironies of a life that made her get up the moment she was ready to give up everything. If she hadn¡¯t had those memories, if she had known only the peace of the time, she would have backed off easily. ¡®This kingdom is about to be destroyed in four years because of your weapon. I want to save those I can save before that.¡¯ Rubica wanted to yell so. Plus, people who had all kinds of knowledge and wisdom to survive like adventurers were precious. Each one of them could save at least twenty people nearby. Adventurers who wouldn¡¯t die this year would certainly make their families survive the war after four years. However, she knew well saying that would only make her look crazy. She wasn¡¯t even sure Edgar would believe her. If it hadn¡¯t been for those memories about the future, she would have given up with a small guilt in the corner of her heart, telling herself it was all part of necessary evil. She wished she could tell Edgar to stop developing weapons. She wanted to say it was only going to get the kingdom destroyed so everything he did was useless. However, if he didn¡¯t develop weapons, there would be many who would starve to death right this winter. That was the sad reality. She could neither do this nor do that. ¡°Is it necessary to have those adventurers do the test? There must be other ways. The southernnd still has monsters, so you can give its inhabitants your weapons as a test.¡± Rubica worked with her small head toe up with some other options. She didn¡¯t know if what she was saying was right. To be honest, she didn¡¯t know much about wars and weapons. But still, she wanted to decrease the unnecessary casualties as much as possible. Moreover, she trusted Edgar would find an even better way with just a small hint. ¡°Rubica.¡± However, his voice couldn¡¯t have been colder as he called her name. Her brown eyshes fluttered. ¡°We must try to find a way other than sending adventurers to get mana quartz, one with fewer casualties and without people dying unnecessarily...¡± Edgar knew she was desperate, and he felt angry since he had to be harsh to her. However, he had to say what he had to say. ¡°Rubica, what do I do? How does ymore earn its money?¡± It was simr to the question he had asked earlier. He half wanted to stop her desperate, shaking voice. Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Chapter 85

¡°... by developing military weapons that use mana stone as the energy source.¡± ¡°Yes. You are telling me we should not have people killed and try to save them as much as possible but, to be honest, you have already been spending blood money. What you wear, what you eat, even what you sleep on. Everything has been bought with blood. That is how ymore earns its money. Make the other kingdoms bleed to feed its own people.¡± Rubica felt like someone had just poured a bucket of ice water on her. Edgar tried his best not to scold her and say the truth, but it was no good. Rubica felt like he was shouting right next to her ear, telling her to get rid of that hypocrisy. The lips that had desperately moved to convince him were now shut tightly. She wasn¡¯t ignorant enough to tell him to stop developing weapons then. There were always small and big wars in the world. In the south of the continent, monsters and humans were still fighting, and some kingdoms were in long wars about their rights of inheritance. The kingdom of Seritos was rather safe from the wars as it was at the end of the continent and was surrounded by the Seris Mountains, Ios¡¯ territory on the bottom and Iber¡¯s on top. Except for the fact that the kingdomcked food because dragon Ios now had all the fertilend, it had been one of the few peaceful kingdoms for centuries. ¡®And, its only and biggest problem,ck of food, was solved through selling the military weapons developed by ymore.¡¯ ymore¡¯s immense wealth had been built on wars and blood. However, ironically, the kingdom¡¯s people were able to not starve to death thanks to that blood money. And, Rubica couldn¡¯t say she wasn¡¯t benefiting from it. More than half of what she had eaten from childhood had been imported. Without ymore, she would have starved to death before even turning ten. Rubica looked at Edgar sitting on the opposite sofa. He looked quite stern. He was probably thinking she was just a na?ve idealist, but she didn¡¯t want to give up yet. Not yet... She wanted to convince him more. She still believed he could think of a good way, and she didn¡¯t want to miss the chance to save lives just because she would be considered stubborn and na?ve. ¡°I... I know many people in this kingdom will starve to death without ymore¡¯s weapons. I won¡¯t ask you to stop making weapons, but can¡¯t we at least minimalize the casualties? If we don¡¯t get mana quartz, we can save twenty to a thousand lives. I, I¡¯m not as smart as you, but... I¡¯ll help you to find a good way. We will find a way if we work together, and I believe you will find a good way.¡± ¡°And why should I do that?¡± The voice sounded so tired. His blue eyes were now colder than winter itself. Rubica could no longer find the warmth of spring and sunlight she had sometimes seen in those eyes. ¡°... Edgar.¡± ¡°Finding and getting mana quartz is part of the family¡¯s long tradition. Many rtives are also proud of it.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°You talked of another way? Of course, I can find another way to test the weapon¡¯s efficiency and safety, but the tradition started because of the promotion effect that fighting the dragons¡¯ underlings bring. Rubica have you heard of the tradition¡¯s history?¡± Rubica shook her head. In a kingdom where women were thought to be homemakers and homemakers only, a woman could only get limited education. ymore was rather an exception for teaching ssics and history to its ward regardless of their gender. Most women would get basic education and that was it. Moreover, that basic education meant knowing enough to read ¡®The Ladies¡¯ Guide¡¯ and write one¡¯s name. To women, learning to embroider their families¡¯ clothes and learning to y the piano to entertain them in winter and on festival days were much more important than learning history. Rubica had learned a lot more than mostdies or prestigiousdies while helping her merchant father and hearing about trade and calction. However, that wasn¡¯t proper education. About ymore¡¯s start, she knew simple facts on the book of nobles and part about the kingdom¡¯s legend. She didn¡¯t know the details. ¡°Do you think ymore¡¯s weapons always sold well? What kind of crazy king would buy untested weapons made by an inventor at the end of the continent? Currently, everyone knows mana stone has a great amount of energy but, back then, it was just a ck rock.¡± Edgar blurted that out and gulped down the rest of the drink Rubica had poured out for him earlier. It was bitter. It had turned cold and the scent of cinnamon he hated was now even stronger. Rubica looked even sadder at seeing him frown. Her eyes were wet. It made Edgar want to shout he was sorry, and she could do as she wanted. However, he couldn¡¯t afford to be weak now. If he couldn¡¯t stop her, he would have to see those wild-dog like rtives bite her off. No, he couldn¡¯t see that. It would be better to hurt her himself, he couldn¡¯t bring others into it. ¡°After the first ymore finished making his weapon, he decided he couldn¡¯t sell it at a high price by fighting monsters in a rather safer area. So, he joined forces with the king and led knights to a dragon¡¯s territory. Everyone said it was crazy and they were going straight to their death, but they were about to starve to death anyway in winter if they failed to sell weapons. So, they were brave. ¡°And, do you know what happened? They defeated the strong ogre captain that even the bravest knights couldn¡¯t defeat and killed multiple griffins that used to bite and kill countless peasants. ¡°Now, no one is afraid of such monsters but, at the time, even the Reta Empire, the strongest nation of all, had to gather many armies to fight those things. ymore, however, defeated all of them at once with less than 50 of the king¡¯s knights.¡± It was a story Edgar had always heard as he grew up. His rtives also heard the story that had been passed down from generation after generation. They were proud of that story and loved it. Their ancestor hadn¡¯t been just an inventor. He had been a great man who was courageous enough to willingly choose death during the moment between life and death. That story was carved on many ymore¡¯s hearts and left an indestructible pride and honor. That pride had turned firm in a thousand years¡¯ time. They could turn into mad dogs if anyone tried to break that firm pride. ¡°Words spread and the first ymore¡¯s weapons were sold at an extremely high price. The demand was so high that they had to work all day and night in the factories. Thanks to that weapon, they could import wheat, and that year no one starved to death in Seritos for the first time ever. ¡°If the monsters the first ymore defeated had just been ordinary monsters instead of the dragon¡¯s underlings, that wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡± Rubica looked down. She could see Edgar wasn¡¯t going to side with her, and she could understand him. Still, she wanted to convince him. However, no matter how hard she thought, she couldn¡¯t find any good words to convince him. Rubica could see it was time to back off and, although her head ordered so, her heart didn¡¯t move. ¡®I¡¯m being stubborn. I must... give up now.¡¯ However, she just couldn¡¯t bring herself to say she understood Edgar¡¯s reasons. She bit her shaking lips hard and looked down. She didn¡¯t dare to see Edgar¡¯s blue eyes anymore. She didn¡¯t want to act like a little girl in front of him. It was time to behave like an adult. There were many things that no one could change in this world, and even she hadn¡¯t lived a perfectly clean life. Edgar was only doing his best at his position. ¡®However, this isn¡¯t the time of the first ymore. Everybody now knows the greatness of the mana stone¡¯s energy and ymore¡¯s weapons effectiveness.¡¯ No matter how hard she tried to console herself, she couldn¡¯t stop asking herself that question. ¡®Do we really have to risk lives? Isn¡¯t there a safer way?¡¯ In the end, tears started to form in her big eyes. Emotions weren¡¯t something she couldn¡¯t easily control, even at her old age. Being an adult, being mature. Sometimes she just didn¡¯t know what those things were. She just couldn¡¯t ept it. Was it really mature to just back off despite all that? In the end, she couldn¡¯t hold it in and drops of tears fell from her eyes. No matter how many times she told herself she had to ept the sad reality, she couldn¡¯t think about the people who were about to die to get mana quartz and their families who were about to lose their loved ones. Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Chapter 86

Rubica was sick of it. She had seen people die many times. She had seen it so many times that she was truly sick of it. She didn¡¯t want to see people die anymore. She didn¡¯t want to see more people despair over their loved ones¡¯ death. ¡®If it weren¡¯t for the mana stone...¡¯ Mana stones were always the problem. Nations and individuals who acquired it could get huge wealth. It was also why the war had gotten so big with Ste. Dragons tended to choosends with abundant resources as their territories. Iber chose to live in the mountains that were known to have even purer and stronger mana stones than the one present in the Seritos kingdom. On the other hand, Ios got himself the fertilend where many rare nts grew. Humans wanted thosends, but they had no power to fight the dragons, so there was nothing they could do. However, that changed the moment Ste was made. With it, humans had the power to fight dragons, not just their underlings. Dragons were content to have their fertilend, but humans were different. The moment a kingdom got a dragon¡¯s territory, the whole continent¡¯s power was rearranged though long and tiring wars. While the young and poor people lost their lives, the aristocrats enjoyed the mana stone and their abundant resources. Rubica saw all that tragedy and the adventurers who had to go to get mana quartz. She tried to believe it was all part of necessary evil, but she couldn¡¯t help questioning, ¡®Is that really a necessary sacrifice?¡¯ She knew sometimes it was needed to risk lives for the nation and the world, but those brave people were not the ones who would benefit from all that destruction. Instead, people who forced them to sacrifice themselves were. Compensation enough to live? To the deceased¡¯s families, that couldn¡¯t be more important than having them back alive. ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar carefully called her name. She was still crying, so she couldn¡¯t say anything and just trembled. She knew she looked like a child pouting for not getting her wish granted, but she couldn¡¯t control herself. ¡°Rubica.¡± A kind voice called her, with its former firmness all gone. Rubica wanted to say something, but she couldn¡¯t. She was going to cry out loud if she failed to hide her shaking voice. She really didn¡¯t want to do that. ¡°Rubica.¡± She heard Edgar¡¯s voice again. It sounded a little closer. Soon a huge hand carefully stroked her face. The soothing gesture made her even sadder. She didn¡¯t want to show that and clenched her fists until her hands turned white, but it was no good. Edgar¡¯s hands gently wrapped her face and carefully lifted it up. He saw her eyes shedding tears. It made his heart ache so much that he wanted to grab his own heart. ¡°My family has a long history, so it values its traditions very much. Getting mana quartz is one of the many things we do to honor the first ymore¡¯s legacy. They will all strongly protest if you try to break it. Rubica, I... cannot let you get med like that.¡± ¡°But...¡± Rubica opened her lips with a shaking voice. She knew how foolish she looked. But still... she wanted to convince Edgar till thest moment. She wanted to bet everything on the slightest warmth and hesitation in his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t mind getting med. Can¡¯t you at least let me try? You can do nothing or pretend to not know. Just... give me a chance to convince them.¡± ¡°Rubica!¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t take it anymore and tightly hugged her. His heart ached. He knew she was right. Still, he had to stop her, and he hated himself for that. He couldn¡¯t let her walk into the fire pit. ¡°No. Please... don¡¯t do it. You will only be hurt and nothing will change.¡± Those words reached Rubica¡¯s ears. He was speaking for her but, strangely, those words pierced her heart. Those warm words hurt her more than any harsh words she had heard. ¡°... Edgar.¡± ¡°My rtives will do anything to stop you. You... you have just be the duchess.¡± Rubica tried to get away from him, but he held her even tighter. From now, he was going to convince her with harsh words. He didn¡¯t want to see her painful face as he pointed out the sad reality. ¡°They will first have Ann give up her position as the housekeeper. They will say she failed to serve you well and make her take the responsibility. If you still don¡¯t give up, they will find every weakness you have and attack you with it. They will find faults with the newdy-in-waiting you just hired and kick her out and demand you to stop funding your cousin who is studying at the Aron¡¯s Academy, and for the worst...¡± Edgar could feel Rubica¡¯s shoulders tremble, but he let out a sigh and forced himself to continue. ¡°ymore¡¯s weapons might not sell as well as before. It can happen if you decide to go on with your wishes. Then, the continent will be in peace, but some of the people in this kingdom will have to starve to death instead. And, they will make you responsible for it. Rubica, you might be a criminal and get exiled in an instant.¡± There. His exnation was over. Rubica didn¡¯t say anything more. She just wetted Edgar¡¯s shirt with tears. Now she couldn¡¯t find anything to convince him with. The people in Seritos were surviving thanks to the weapons that ymore made. Which country on earth would dly sell wheat and food to a faraway kingdom at the end of the continent that had no specialties? She had to ept that fact. It was sad, but she had to ept it. As always, it wasn¡¯t easy to follow the way she thought was right, especially so as her way was different from what others called ¡®right¡¯. If it had been her problem alone, she would have pushed forward no matter what Edgar said. However, her decision wasn¡¯t just going to make her suffer and end there. Edgar let her know her decision was going to hurt the people she loved and cared about. If she had been the only one to suffer, she would have followed her way no matter what. However, it all changed if the people near her were also about to get hurt. ¡®Stop. You must give up. Insisting more is foolish.¡¯ Her head epted it, but her heart couldn¡¯t. She just couldn¡¯t give up, and it all came out in her tears. She wanted to stop crying and tell Edgar she could see his point like a grown-up. However, if she had been able to do what she wanted, she would have ceased being a mortal and be a goddess a long time ago. ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar held her tightly for a long time and then carefully called her. As she wasn¡¯t moving her small lips to convince him, she probably had understood what he meant. However, she was still crying and shivering, and it made him nervous. He looked down and saw the top of her head that had made him smile just when looking at it. But this time, he couldn¡¯t smile. He was rather worried sick of her. He gently stroked her shaking shoulders, but her trembling didn¡¯t stop. It just got worse. Have I everforted someone crying... he looked back into his memory and asked himself, but it was no good. He had been raised tough as the only son and the heir of the family. How he was supposed to handle such a situation, he didn¡¯t know. ¡°Rubica.¡± His mind turned white at seeing her silently crying. He couldn¡¯t even think of ordinary sentences tofort people, like ¡®don¡¯t cry¡¯ or ¡®I know how you feel¡¯. He just called her name like an idiot. He was sorry. Why was he a ymore? How good it would have been if ymore had been like any other normal noble families that only had to rule their domains well. He knew he was feeding people with the blood of other people. He had been educated to not feel guilty about it. Thanks to that, to him, ymore was a family he had to protect with pride. But then, this woman he met at the age of twenty-five was shaking his values and making him feel a strong desire to throw them away. ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar called her name and stroked her hair. Then, he carefully lifted her face. At that moment, Rubica closed her eyes. She couldn¡¯t bring herself to look at Edgar, she was so afraid. She felt like he would shout at her and scold her for being a fool as soon as he saw her crying. However, she heard nothing. No tuts, no yells. She just could feel his hand silently wiping her tears, saying he knew why she was insisting... Rubica knew he had understood what she was saying. However, he had his own burden that stopped him from agreeing with her goodwill. She had to stop... she had to stop, but she cried even more. It would have been better to not know Edgar at all. Then, she would have been able to me him and call him a ruthless man who made weapons. Sometimes, having someone to me could be a huge help. She could me him for every misfortune and evil in the world. Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Chapter 87

However, the actual Edgar who Rubica met was different. He constantly scolded her and was arrogant like any other man with a high rank, but he wasn¡¯t bad. He knew where all his privileges came from, and he didn¡¯t try to abandon his duties. The weapons he made were made for killing. Some kingdoms bought those weapons to cause civil wars and fought in the name of ridiculous causes to get each other¡¯snd. But at the same time, those weapons enabled humans to drive monsters away and farm thend. Moreover, the people in Seritos could survive instead of starving to death. That had to be why Edgar was spending every day in his office to work. The entire kingdom depended on his work every year. After Rubica met him, she found out that he must have invented Ste out of goodwill. Although Seritos had the fertile goldennd right next to it, its people couldn¡¯t touch it because of Ios, the dragon. Edgar and the king probably created that hideous weapon to get that field and stop the people from starving to death ever again. Rubica was sad. Everything made her sad. She was sad to find out Edgar was a good man. Why did they have to live like that? And, why was the world taking the course it was taking? No one could survive in the world only through goodwill, and Rubica hated it. ¡°Rubica, Rubica.¡± Edgar kept gently wiping her tears, but she couldn¡¯t calm down. She just kept shedding tears, and Edgar pitied her. Although he had convinced her by saying it was inevitable to test the weapons, there was nothing wrong with what she had said. ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar knelt down on one knee to meet Rubica¡¯s eyes. Then, he silently put his forehead on hers. However, Rubica didn¡¯t open her eyes. Edgar felt like she was denying him right to his soul, and it saddened him. But, what could he say to her? Edgar hesitated for a moment and then carefully kissed her eye. He could feel the salty taste of her tears. He pitied her and felt sorry for her, but there was nothing more he could do. ¡°Rubica.¡± His lips followed a drop of tear to her cheek and then to her chin, but she still kept her eyes closed tightly and didn¡¯t move. ¡°Rubica.¡± He called her name again like a sigh. The sad liquid that made his heart ache didn¡¯t fall under those brown eyshes anymore, but her lips were still wet with tears. ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar hated that she was crying. He hated to see her face wet with tears. He didn¡¯t want to see her tears ever again. Impulse bubbled likeva underneath his heart. He had to back off, but he just couldn¡¯t leave her crying like that. ¡°Rubica.¡± In the end, his lips reached hers. They beggingly touched and didn¡¯t do more. They just removed the tears on her lips and went away. ¡°Edgar.¡± She called his name. Her voice had no scolding or anger about the kiss. It was rather kind. Then, she slowly opened her eyes. The short moment of her eyelids moving felt like thousands of years to Edgar. Her irises had be clear because of the tears and they glowed like red rubies in the mud. ¡°Edgar.¡± She called him again. Without noticing it, Edgar took her hands. He feared that she might vanish right in front of him, but she just smiled. ¡°Edgar.¡± She smiled weakly. Her smiles had always been like sunshine. But this time, her smile was as sad as thest flutter of a falling sparrow¡¯s wings. ¡°I was stubborn. I¡¯m sorry.¡± She took a step back. She backed off because she cared about his position and his family¡¯s honor. She was putting down the belief that had supported her in all those troubles and sufferings. ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t hold it any longer and hugged her tightly again. He hugged her so tight that she couldn¡¯t breathe, but she didn¡¯t push him away. She didn¡¯t hug him back, either. She just stayed still like a piece of paper flying in the wind. Edgar thought he knew why Rubica was insisting on her decision just a moment ago, but he could see the truth only now. He hadn¡¯t known because he had listened to her only with logic and efficiency. Only now could he see what he was forcing her to give up. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± Rubica whispered to him. Then, she had to try not tough. She was giving up what she hadn¡¯t been able to give up in war, suffering, and pain for the man she had hated so much. However, even that had to be nothingpared to the burden he was carrying. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I demanded the impossible.¡± Edgar was more mature than she was. Most people believe you mature as you get older, but Rubica had seen the opposite more often. An old man once mercilessly beat a child with his cane to get another potato. There¡¯s no guarantee you will get wisdom as you get older. Many just get better at justifying one¡¯s selfish actions and thoughts. Rubica was grateful that Edgar never tried to criticize her for being insistent. He was ratherforting her. She could read that from his gentle hands and lips. Someone once said gentleness was the only thing that could make a firm heart surrender. Rubica knew Edgar was understanding her. If he hadn¡¯t known what she was giving up, she would have rather not given up. But he understood, he understood and was begging her to give up for everyone. That made up her mind. ¡°Edgar, I¡¯m okay.¡± Rubica rather soothed Edgar who was clinging onto her like a child. She was the one who was giving up, but now Edgar looked like a child not wanting to give up. ¡°And it¡¯s a little hard to breathe now, so...¡± It made him manage to detach himself from her. His blue eyes burned like mes. The moment Rubica met those eyes, she had to hold her breath lest the mes burned her soul. Edgar opened his mouth to say something. ¡°Your Graces, it¡¯s time for dinner.¡± Then, a maid who had been waiting from the outside spoke over the door. They had spent a long time in the seamstresses¡¯ chamber. They could even see the stars through the windows. The maid worried lingering more would make the dishes go cold and carefully spoke although she knew she was interrupting them. Servants had to eat after the master and the mistress finished eating. If they took more time, the servants were not going to get a proper supper this evening. It was already toote to say they didn¡¯t feel like it. Rubica took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears off her face clean. ¡°We should go now.¡± Then, she spoke to the man who was still looking at her. Her eyes were still red, but she now had her emotions under control. Edgar hesitated, but he soon offered her a hand to escort her. Even though they had always been on bad terms and always quarreled, they were still married, so she had always taken his hand. But this time, she didn¡¯t take his hand. Instead, she took a step back while smiling weakly and awkwardly. Edgar felt like he was falling from a cliff, but it wasn¡¯t like he could demand to hold her hand after just forcing her to give up like that. His hand fell in embarrassment, and Rubica left the chamber first without saying anything. Edgar forced his legs to move to follow her to the dining hall. They went into the hall, both looking serious. However, the servants didn¡¯t worry about it much. The couple used to fight over small things during meals and then soon smile. They couldn¡¯t handle the heavy mood and waited for Edgar to blow up. However, that didn¡¯t happen till dinner was over. The mood couldn¡¯t be any heavier. The duke wasn¡¯t a man without patience, but he tended to snap easily about anything that had to do with his wife. The servants started to get serious at seeing Edgar being patient as it hadn¡¯t happenedtely. ¡®What is going on?¡¯ They were nervous at seeing the two moving their knives and forks silently. It was an emergency. Their master and mistress often yelled and criticized others, but the mood wasn¡¯t bad when that happened. It was more of a joke than a fight, and it was quite hard to look at them being all lovey-dovey. But this time, they were neither ring nor criticizing each other. They just ate as if they were dining alone. This was serious. It was the most serious type of fight between a married couple. The servants couldn¡¯t utter a word in fear. Then, Rubica sighed, so the servants wanted her to start scolding Edgar. However, she didn¡¯t. She just told a maid serving her that she didn¡¯t want to eat more and stood up. And, Edgar didn¡¯t stop her. He just kept staring at his dish, but it wasn¡¯t like he was eating. His hands hadn¡¯t moved for quite some time. The mood was suffocating. It was all quiet and all they could hear was Rubica¡¯s footsteps as she walked away. Chapter 88

Chapter 88: Chapter 88

When the sound of Rubica¡¯s footsteps stopped, Edgar dropped his fork and knife. The servants gulped hard fearing the nervousness that was on his face. The duke looked like he would run to his wife and whisper words of love if only she said anything. ¡°Ann.¡± However, the person Rubica called in the hallway wasn¡¯t Edgar. It was the housekeeper who was always loyally by her side. ¡°... I think I was wrong about the mana quartz. Just please do it like you always did.¡± ¡°What? Oh, yes, yes, of course.¡± Soon, she moved again. The servants and the maids met each other¡¯s eyes for a second, but they couldn¡¯t even guess what Rubica was talking about. Only Carl understood and was deeply relieved until he looked at Edgar. He was empty, he was sitting still with an empty expression. He didn¡¯t move even after the sound of Rubica¡¯s footsteps faded away. Time passed. Nobody could say a word to the duke, but then he abruptly stood up. ¡°Shit!¡± Then, he threw his napkin away and ran to the duchess¡¯ chamber. *** Rubica let the maids serve her. Ann rmended her a bath, thinking warm water would melt both her stress and frozen heart. However, Rubica shook her head. For now, she didn¡¯t want to do anything. She looked at the panels¡¯ pattern that had looked so elegant just yesterday, but now it didn¡¯t bring her any feelings. She was just tired of everything. She managed to get changed into a nightdress and sat down on a nearby sofa. Her body felt so heavy, and she couldn¡¯t even get to the bed. ¡°Your Grace, you must be very tired.¡± ¡°Do you want me to massage your legs?¡± A clever maid brought her a console and put it under her legs. At first, Rubica had found such a treatment too much, so she smiled and thanked even after she got used to it. But now, she didn¡¯t have enough energy to put up that smile. She felt hollow. Nothing could reach her now, and being grateful was something she couldn¡¯t afford now. ¡°No, it¡¯s okay.¡± Rubica barely managed to say that. She looked exhausted, so Ann gave a silent order with her eyes and the maids immediately left. ¡°Your Grace.¡± Ann carefully called Rubica and dropped her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Rubica wasn¡¯t surprised to hear the sudden apology as she knew what Ann was apologizing about. Ann waited for her to tell her how disappointed she was, but what Rubica said after a short silence wasn¡¯t what she had been expecting. ¡°No. You only did what you had to do for ymore, so how can I me you for doing your duty as the housekeeper? I rather thank you for stopping me from making a foolish decision and carrying it out.¡± Although she said that, she clearly looked heartbroken, therefore Ann didn¡¯t know what to say. It would have been better if Rubica was mad at her for tipping Edgar off. She had determined to endure it if Rubica never trusted her again, but not like this. ¡°Your Grace, I will never do it again.¡± Ann¡¯s voice trembled. However, Rubica felt very tired as she shook her head. She didn¡¯t have enough energy to point out it was already the second time. Letting out your anger is something you do only when you have expectations and love for the person. Rubica had abandoned all that a long time ago. ¡°No. I thank you for stopping me. Please do it again if I ever make another foolish choice.¡± If Rubica was trying to tear apart and grind Ann¡¯s heart, she was doing excellently. However, Rubica really meant it, she wasn¡¯t scolding her at all. Ann couldn¡¯t guess if she was supposed to kneel down and beg for mercy or ask her to change her mind again, knowing it was crazy. ¡°Ann, I¡¯m tired. I want to go to bed now.¡± Rubica stretched out her hand. Her body had no strength and she couldn¡¯t even get up from the sofa. She had always been proud of her health. She didn¡¯t add walking in the garden till she sweated as part of her afternoon routine because Edgar rmended it, she walked and walked to prepare for the war that was about toe. And now, she was full of energy like the maids who did all the rough work. But strangely, this evening, she was so tired. She got help from Ann and managed to get up from the sofa and lie on the bed. ¡°I want to sleep now. Please turn off the lights.¡± Her eyes closed as soon as her head hit the bed. She didn¡¯t have any energy left to wait for Edgar. And, what good was that going to be? She was nothing to him. ¡°... okay.¡± Ann hesitated for a long time, but eventually she blew out the candles and dragged the duvet up to Rubica¡¯s shoulders. Then, she heard a bumping sound, and it was followed by the sound of someone running toward the room. Ann knew what that sound meant and clenched her teeth. Late. It was way toote. This wasn¡¯t the time. ¡°Rubi...¡± Edgar opened the door and called Rubica¡¯s name, but a wrinkled hand covered his lips. Edgar had to shut his mouth at seeing the woman, who had always been kind to him, being stern. ¡°She¡¯s asleep.¡± That was merciless. He nced at the clock and it wasn¡¯t even midnight. Rubica had juste into the bedroom. It was too early to go to bed. ¡°At least I can talk to her for a moment.¡± ¡°No.¡± Ann spoke through clenched teeth. Men. They are all so senseless. ¡°No?¡± Ann didn¡¯t say more and dragged Edgar out of the room. Then, she closed the door quietly and made the servants leave. She was worried the matter about mana quartz could be a problem when it leaked out to the people. ¡°What did you do to convince her?¡± Edgar hesitated as it was quite embarrassing to exin. It had been a couple¡¯s conversation, and he cared more about Rubica being alone in the room. He nced at the door and Ann had to suppress a groan. Edgar looked like he was about to push her aside and go in at any moment. ¡°She is very disappointed and tired. If you force her to wake up to talk now, it will only make her close her heart even more. It¡¯s not the right way.¡± Ann¡¯s plea made Edgare to his senses. ¡®It will only make her close her heart even more.¡¯ It was as if someone was pouring a bucket of cold water on him. He hadn¡¯t paid attention to how Rubica would take in his actions. ¡°Then what should I do now?¡± He sent a distress signal to the only advisor he had. He had never asked other¡¯s help to solve a problem as he mostly took care of his issues on his own. However, even he couldn¡¯t take care of this alone. The housekeeper had lived longer than he had and had been taking care of people for all her life, so he had to depend on her. Plus, Ann cared about Rubica more than anyone else. ¡®Shit.¡¯ He wished to be the person who spent the most time with her. If only he could... he would have done it. He could be with her only in the short night hours and that was painful. After he met Rubica, he cursed the sun that never rested and came up every day. It hadn¡¯t been this serious. Even he himself was surprised at the rage that suddenly came up. And, that rage would melt away in less than a second when he looked at a person and that person smiled at him. Moreover, it made him feel like he was walking on the clouds. ¡°Your Grace, please tell me how you convinced her.¡± Ann gravely asked to the lost Edgar. He managed to calm down and recited every word of the conversation he had had with Rubica. As he was the man with the best memory in the continent, it wasn¡¯t that hard. ¡°You did that?¡± Ann looked a little troubled at hearing all that. Edgar had logically exined to Rubica why dispatching adventurers was needed and what kind of meaning getting mana quartz had. Strictly speaking, his method hadn¡¯t been wrong. However, not everything in the world happened like that. A child didn¡¯t grow up to be good just because he had enough food and a ce to live. Sometimes, a child who grew up without enough food and wandering around the street turned out to be better. Depending on whether there was someone who gave great love and went through the obstacles together, one can think of something trivial as big or something big as very trivial. ¡°Let me ask you this for thest time. When she took back what she said and told you she was sorry, did you say you were sorry as well?¡± Edgar looked back into his memories. However, no matter how hard he searched, he couldn¡¯t remember him apologizing to Rubica. Only then, Edgar realized what kind of huge mistake he had made. She didn¡¯t take his hand. She looked away from him. That hurt so much that he had missed what kind of wound he had left on her heart. ¡°... I didn¡¯t.¡± Ann tutted, but she didn¡¯t me Edgar. He was only 25. At that age, it was easy to think one could control everything with logic. Instead, she was rather surprised by Rubica. Chapter 89

Chapter 89: Chapter 89

¡®I thought she had made that decision spontaneously because of theck of budget.¡¯ Rubica was only twenty-two years old. Actually, she had lived until she became an olddy beforeing back to be 22, but there was no way Ann knew that. Moreover, Ann hadn¡¯t known Rubica¡¯s announcement to give up mana quartz was rted to her belief. At age 22, it was enough to start a family and give birth to children, but no matter what anyone said, that age was also the time when they were interested in looking pretty. Actually, even those who had learned about ymore and its tradition about mana quartz at school easily said it wasn¡¯t good to send many knights and adventurers to get that luxurious but unnecessary thing. To those who hadn¡¯t been born and grown up in ymore, it was difficult to understand the family¡¯s honor and pride attached to what appeared to be an old tradition. And, there were realistic problems about it as well. Many of ymore¡¯s rtives worked in businesses rted to the development of military weapons to make a living, but that opportunity was only given to smart people who had learned a certain level of mechanics. Although ymore was a family led by a genius, not every member was like that. It was necessary to have jobs for those who were not that talented, and finding mana quartz was one of them. Some rtives made a living by recruiting and introducing adventurers who would get mana quartz and taking amission. ymore chose the best and the biggest mana quartz to decorate its garden. The remaining mana quartz belonged to the adventurers and rtives who were in charge of the mission. Rubica must have not known that there were rtives who made a living through mana quartz. The budget wasn¡¯t enough, and mana quartz was a luxurious good. In any other family, her decision would have been right. So, Ann thought she had made that decision only because of money. However, ording to Edgar¡¯s exnation, she had been wrong. ¡®She made such a decision because she cared about other¡¯s lives. She is so soft-hearted.¡¯ Rubica, however, wasn¡¯t soft-hearted at all. She was firm when she made decisions, and when she spoke after making up her mind, she was never scared. Not even in front of Edgar. When he looked down on someone with his cold eyes, even those countless girls who lunged at him cowered and apologized. However, Rubica said what she believed to be right, no matter what kind of expression he put on. She was capable of smiling warmly, but she was also a strong person who could stand for the right cause. It is easy to think such confident people, who don¡¯t back off easily, also have strong hearts and don¡¯t get easily hurt. Most people think those who cower are soft-hearted. However, Ann knew many who acted like that but always sought ways to gain something selfishly. Some even used their own attitude to me others for speaking harshly to them when they were so timid and weak. Those people were not soft-hearted at all. They were aggressive people who used their weak behavior as weapons to control others. Contrary to that, what moved Rubica to insist on something wasn¡¯t her own happiness. It was always for others. If she was mad, she would try not to point it out when there were eyes watching, even when there were maids and servants, not just other nobles. She tried to restrain herself and speak nicely. She let out her anger when there were people watching only once when she saw Mrs. Shaynie mercilessly beat the girls at the annex. ¡®I misjudged her this time.¡¯ Rubica always liked being happy and making others happy. Therefore, Ann had thought this happened because she was acting spontaneously without thoughts like her peers. But ording to what Edgar said, that wasn¡¯t the case. Rubica thought deeply and did what she believed to be right. Ann regretted it, although it was toote. She had cared only about stopping Rubica, and it had been wrong. At least she shouldn¡¯t have shut her mouth there, she should have asked Rubica why she had made such a decision. ¡°She gave up her code for you.¡± ¡°I must apologize to her now.¡± However, Ann shook her head. Edgar should have apologized on the spot, but he didn¡¯t have any choice. He was still a young man full of energy. To know when to suppress strong emotions and how to act a lot of experience was required. And, by the time one got enough experience, most people were too old to be madly in love. That was life. ¡°No, Your Grace. If you go in now, it will only make her close her heart even more.¡± Edgar was about to run into the room, but he stopped. ¡°She is extremely tired now. It must be everythinging up to her at once, the nervousness and worries she got after she came here.¡± After Rubica¡¯s arrival at the mansion, she seemed to get used to the ce quickly right on the first day, but she only looked like that. She hade a long way to be the mistress of a huge mansion without any close maid or rtive. It would be a lie to say she had no anxiety or nervousness in her heart. However, she wasn¡¯t the type of person who showed her anxiety first. That was why Ann had been trying to be nice to her. Still, to Rubica, Ann was only a housekeeper she met one day. They didn¡¯t know much about each other. Rubica just pressed down on any dissatisfaction and troubles the people with an inferior rank gave her when she suddenly showed up. Moreover, Edgar had made a hole in the pot that was suppressing her feelings. Now all of it, pain, sufferings, it all came out at once. It was better to let it flow out than to force her to mend the hole and stop the fuss. Then Edgar was supposed to embrace her, and they would be closer than before. ¡°That is exactly why I shouldfort her.¡± But of course, Edgar couldn¡¯t see that. He had never cared about others¡¯ feelings. That was the biggest privilege his rank and beauty gave him. ¡°No. You should just leave her alone now. If you go in, she will not be able to cry out loud because of you. Now you must let her grief. Your Grace, what can be ruder than forcing a sick person to listen to what you have to say?¡± Edgar moaned. He had secretly taken pride in providing the best environment for Rubica. Wealth, high rank, and the housekeeper who cared about her more than anyone else. He hadn¡¯t thought she could have agony and stress piled up inside her. He just liked her smiling at him. He felt happy when he saw her wearing pretty dresses bought with his money. He was sure at least he was making her much happier than when she had been at the Berner Mansion and he could make her even happier from now on. However, he had been arrogant. He was someone who didn¡¯t care when others called him arrogant. But this time, he had to admit he was arrogant. ¡°She will not be able to hear a word you say even if you go in now and talk. She is tired and stressed, so she will only get mad at you for not leaving her alone.¡± ¡°... no, that can¡¯t happen. Ann, what am I supposed to do?¡± Edgar beggingly asked Ann with a sad but eager voice. Ann felt like being electrocuted in that urgent and difficult situation. The image of a desperate Edgar was reflected in her grey eyes. She had been slightly confused at first, but now this was the proof. She had been right. Her Eddie was in love. He used to look like someone who would never have any warm feeling toward anyone else, much less love someone. But now, he was in love with Rubica. It wasn¡¯t a simple desire for possession or feeling that every married couple had. Willingness to dly sacrifice anything. That was the attitude which only those who were truly in love could have. ¡°Just let her cry for now. She will fall asleep after crying, and when she wakes up tomorrow morning, she will feel very lonely. She must not have felt it till now because she met new people like me and Elise, and we are not even on bad terms. We happily talked andughed. That is why she will be even lonelier. Now for the first time, she is realizing that she is here alone without anyone on her side.¡± It made Edgar get even more nervous. His palms were wet, but he didn¡¯t know if it was sweat or tears. ¡°What, what should I do?¡± It was a great dilemma. If he went in now, Rubica was going to be mad and disappointed by his rude behavior. However, if he left her alone like that, she was going to sink in loneliness tomorrow morning. He wanted to go in and spend the night with her tightly in his arms, even if she started to hate him. He didn¡¯t want to let her feel lonely. Chapter 90

Chapter 90: Chapter 90

Ann soothed the man who was anxiously shifting on his steps, not knowing what to do. He was a man who didn¡¯t know how to whisper words of love, when to push and when to pull. ¡°Your Grace, this is not the time. When she will be at her weakest that will be the chance to open her heart.¡± Ann¡¯s grey eyes sparkled with a serious look as she advised Edgar. ¡°Come as soon as the sunes up tomorrow and tell her you are sorry. It will make her realize you are the only one she can rely on in this lonely ce.¡± ¡°... as soon as the sunes up tomorrow?¡± It was as if time was slowing down, and Edgar felt greatly pained in his heart. That had been happening oftentely, but this time the pain was stronger than ever. ¡°Yes, it will be when her heart is the most open.¡± ¡°Does it have to be in the morning? What about night... or evening?¡± Ann moaned. Edgar had just acted as if he would do anything for Rubica, so she couldn¡¯t see why he was saying that. ¡°Then, her heart will be so closed that nothing will be able to open it. Your Grace, you must go to her first thing in the morning.¡± However, Edgar said nothing and now it was Ann¡¯s turn to be anxious. ¡°Are you going to say you are busy? Yes, you are busy. Of course, I know that. But, do you want your rtionship with your wife to remain cold forever? Do not say you must put your work first. Your Grace, you are the head of a family now. You are obliged to keep your family safe. Don¡¯t even think about throwing all the burden to her, running away to work, and ming her for not knowing what matters.¡± Ann tried to exin it as calmly as possible, but she was so eager that she spoke emotionally in thest part. As a rtive who was supposed to lead him to the right way, she was about to grab Edgar by his cor if he said work was his top priority. However, even that thought was blown away when seeing his face turn as white as snow. She was ming him too much, but her Eddie didn¡¯t protest. He didn¡¯t say anything. He just nkly stared as if he was someone who lost the most precious thing he had. Edgar felt desperate, he could to anything but that. Ever since he was born, he always felt capable of everything. Nothing was too difficult for him. He was the top of the ss anywhere he went. Even when he met hardships, he was sure that he would soon get over them, so he wasn¡¯t stressed. When he was cursed, he felt tormented, but he strongly believed he would eventually break the curse. For the first time in his life, however, he felt ipetent. ¡°Ann.¡± Edgar spoke in a heavy tone. He couldn¡¯t go to Rubica tomorrow morning, so he had to choose the second worst thing. ¡°Get out of my way.¡± Ann realized Edgar was thinking of going to Rubica now. ¡°No. Your Grace, have you been listening to me?¡± ¡°Move.¡± The bedroom¡¯s door was very thick. Still, he was worried the noise might reach Rubica and spoke between clenched teeth. Ann beggingly looked at him while feeling sorry for him. Why was he going to take the second-worst option instead of the best way she just taught him? ¡°Ann, move.¡± However, he was the duke and she was the housekeeper. She could try to stop him, but she couldn¡¯t block his way. She had no choice but to step aside and let Edgar get into the duchess¡¯ chamber. Rubica was asleep. Only the sound of her breathing filled the dark room, so Edgar lighted a nearby candle and walked to the bed. He was nning to wake her up and talk. It was not midnight yet. They had agreed to be together till midnight every night, so he thought that much would be fine. However, his determination was shattered to pieces when he saw her sleeping. She must have fallen asleep while crying as the pillow was wet, and her eyes had already swollen up. She was sleeping just like that, looking so sad. Edgar couldn¡¯t shake her just to wake her up and force her to listen to him. He bravely went past Ann toe in, but now, he couldn¡¯t do anything in front of Rubica. He couldn¡¯t move as if he was enchanted. ¡°Um.¡± He even took a step back in surprise when she moved during her sleep. She was so sad even when she was asleep as another drop of tear formed on her eyshes. He couldn¡¯t wake her up. He just couldn¡¯t. She had fallen asleep after being exhausted and waking her up felt like the worst thing to do. He just stood still like a statue and stared down at her for a long time. He let out a sigh and put the candle on a table. Then, he leaned down to lightly kiss the sleeping girl¡¯s forehead. ¡°Goodnight.¡± He wanted to wipe her tear, but he couldn¡¯t as he feared it might wake her up. As he came out, he felt like the greatest loser in the world. Ann was relieved to see himing out without waking up Rubica and asked him, again and again, toe back as soon as the sun came up, saying she would wake Rubica slightlyter than usual. Edgar just smiled bitterly. *** While sleeping, Rubica could feel someone was staring at her. The gaze was warm but sad. She knew a man who sometimes looked at her like that. ¡®Arman?¡¯ It was him. Strangely, she just got that feeling. Arman wasn¡¯t with her now, and she couldn¡¯t find him, but she could tell the man in front of her was Arman. Warm, kind, but sad... he was the only person who had such warmth, feeling and scent among the people she had met. She wanted to open her eyes and look back at him. She wanted to yell that she knew he was Arman and there was no reason to lie about it. She wanted to hug him tightly and cry, saying although she didn¡¯t know what he thought of her, she was in love with him. Maybe he remembered, just like she remembered a distant future. However, she couldn¡¯t move. She wanted to at least open her eyes and see his face, but the day had been too exhausting, and her tired body didn¡¯t even agree to move an eyelid. Rubica felt an urgent feeling within her. If Arman had his memories, he might be disappointed that she wasn¡¯t recognizing him right away. Time mercilessly flowed. He let out a deep sigh. He stared at her for a long time and then leaned down. Soon warm and wet lips touched her forehead, then he left. ¡®No.¡¯ The sound of his footsteps walking to the door made her feel dizzy as if she was falling from a cliff. She wanted to say that although she was wearing good dresses, eating delicacies, and doing well, she wasn¡¯t truly well as he wasn¡¯t with her, that she only appeared to be fine. She wanted to stop him and hold him. Please don¡¯t give me up like this. If you are here, please talk to me. At least give me a hint. Don¡¯t leave. However, despite her desperate wish, the door was closed with a thud. Rubica moaned silently. She felt remorse deeper than despair. It was so sad. She couldn¡¯t move, but tears came out of her eyes without any problem. She was buried in emptiness without anything and fell asleep there. The emptiness inside someone was capable of making that person thinking that she was resting. However, the truth was that she was lying on a drifting raft without any safety equipment. Although she had a long and deep sleep, it only made her even more tired and stressed. ¡°Your Grace, Your Grace.¡± She barely managed to fall asleep, but then someone called her. The clear voice wasn¡¯t Ann¡¯s that woke her up every day. ¡°Your Grace, it¡¯s time to wake up.¡± Rubica managed to open her eyes that were almost stuck. Her eyes felt dry and painful. Elise was looking down on her worriedly. ¡°Here, hot towel.¡± Rubica got up and Elise offered her a hot towel instead of a basin of water to wash her face. Rubica closed her eyes again and put the towel on her face, and it made her moan immediately. She had cried so muchst night that she could feel her eyes and face were swollen without even seeing a mirror. ¡°Where¡¯s Ann?¡± ¡°She said she was going to His Grace¡¯s office to meet him.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Rubica had also gone to Edgar¡¯s office to see him once, but the butler kicked her out, saying the duke was busy with work and couldn¡¯t be bothered. Then he went in, with that strange dried nt Edgar liked and a cup. ¡®... so Ann can go in there?¡¯ Again, great tiredness came to her like a tidal wave. She was supposed to feel much lighter after a good night¡¯s sleep, but now she felt so tired as if she were very sick. Elise watched a maid changing the hot towel till Rubica¡¯s swelling went down then brought a basin of water. She was still learning from Ann and had never served Rubica before, therefore she felt so nervous for doing it alone without the housekeeper. Chapter 91

Chapter 91: Chapter 91

Rubica put her hands in the water basin and took them out again. She had lots of things to do, like washing her face and getting dressed, but she just couldn¡¯t bring herself to do all that. ¡°Your Grace, which dress do you want to wear today?¡± Elise realized Rubica wasn¡¯t okay and tried to speak as lively as possible. Choosing among the many dresses she had and deciding on essories that matched the dress was Rubica¡¯s favorite time. But now, everything just felt tiring. In the end, Rubica shook her head. ¡°I just want to stay in the bedroom today.¡± She had scheduled to meet Khanna in the afternoon, so Elise was surprised to hear that. ¡°But madam, you must go to have breakfast...¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have any appetite. Could you tell the kitchen I won¡¯t have breakfast?¡± ¡°Are you ill?¡± Ill? Rubica thought about that. She wasn¡¯t ill since her body was fine. She was just extremely tired. ¡°I just want to be alone.¡± Before, she didn¡¯t find it bothering or tiring to have people surrounding her, but it was quite strange to get everyone¡¯s attention no matter what she did. She used to live without anyone¡¯s attention on her for a long time. She had almost no memory of being the center of attention, and it wasn¡¯t like she wanted it. Rubica rather found other¡¯s attention overwhelming. However, even if her life at ymore Mansion was strange, she didn¡¯t hate it. Both the maids and she got used to each other. It was quite fun to talk about dresses and makeups. Her maid taught her many things she hadn¡¯t known and having Elise transform was extremely fun. But now, she found everything bothering. She didn¡¯t like the noise around her, and she hated having meals more than anything. She had to cut the meat with a knife and use a fork to swallow it with so many people watching. Eating was something that was supposed to be done pleasantly with a family, but she was alone. Moreover, she wasn¡¯t just alone, she was alone while surrounded by so many people. She just couldn¡¯t endure it. ¡°Could you all leave now?¡± Her voice now came out in tears. What am I doing early in the morning? Elise and the maids will get so confused, and it¡¯s Elise¡¯s first time serving me in the morning. Look at that scared face. It¡¯s time to act like a grown-up now. She chided herself like that, but emotions were something that always went against reason. ¡°Oh, um.¡± Elise didn¡¯t know what to do. A maid grabbed her arm and winked at her which brought Elise to her senses. ¡°As you wish, madam.¡± Then, she left with the maids. As the door was closing, Elise saw Rubica sitting alone on the bed. As Duke ymore had everything, his wife also had everything. She had been nothing before, so it looked dramatic and made many jealous. Rumors about her had spread in the dukedom and many were jealous of her, but even more people wanted to be like her. ¡®Oh, she must be so happy.¡¯ ¡®Her life just changed with marriage, I envy her so much.¡¯ ¡®I want that to happen to me as well.¡¯ That was what people said about Rubica. But now, to Elise, Rubica didn¡¯t look happy. She rather looked so lonely and sad. *** ¡°What are you saying, Carl?¡± ¡°He is busy.¡± Ann thought Edgar woulde to the bedroom first thing in the morning. However, he didn¡¯te even after she waited for a long time. In the end, she asked Elise, who wasn¡¯t used to her job yet, to take her ce and ran to Edgar¡¯s office. She was going to grab him by his cor, no, by his hair and drag him to the bedroom no matter what nonsense he would say. However, that n was stopped by Carl guarding the door of the office. ¡®You dog.¡¯ That wasn¡¯t a curse, it just meant Carl was too loyal to the duke. ¡®You dog-like idiot.¡¯ That was a curse. Ann had already exined to him what was going on, but he forgot all that the moment the sun came up, behaving like a beast who couldn¡¯t understand humannguage and followed the usual. ¡°He must meet his wife and talk to her now no matter what.¡± ¡°Ann.¡± Carl was worried. Ann didn¡¯t have the key, but it looked like she was about to bring an ax and break the door to get in. ¡°The king hasmanded him to go to the capital in two days, and he hasn¡¯t finished checking the experiment report he must present at that time.¡± ¡°The king is always calling our duke, he will understand if he skips the summon just once.¡± ¡°... His Majesty hasn¡¯t summoned him for a conference for two weeks to let him enjoy his marriage. Many matters are behind schedule. The king has already been considerate to our duke more than enough, and now he must repay that kindness.¡¯ ¡®King, you idiot, that marriage is in danger now!¡¯ Ann had to try very hard to not say that out loud. If she had yelled that, she would have been arrested for dishonoring the king. ¡°But this is...¡± Then, a maid came and gave her a small piece of paper. Ann frowned even harder at reading what was written on it. Although Elise still had a long way to go to get used to her job, she knew what to do in the situation. Moreover, that situation was getting worse and worse. It might even be impossible to make things right if something was not done right away. ¡°Carl, you can go in to get him drinks and meals, no matter how busy he is, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going when you are in front of me. Ann, you are going to push me aside and go in the moment I open this door, right?¡± Ann clenched her teeth. That was why working together for a long time wasn¡¯t good. The butler knew her too well. ¡°Sir Stephen, pleasee here and grab my arms.¡± The maid was surprised to hear that as there was no guard to be seen in the hallway. ¡°I know you are here. Get down.¡± They heard a sigh from the ceiling, and soon Stephen came down without making a sound. ¡°Mrs. Taylor, I¡¯m just the duke¡¯s guard. I don¡¯t want to interfere with a private quarrel.¡± ¡°Oho, but the duke¡¯s and the duchess¡¯ matter cannot be a private quarrel. Sir Stephen, stop saying nonsense and grab my arms tightly, or I might beat our butler till I knock him out.¡± Stephen flinched. He didn¡¯t want to interfere, but he didn¡¯t want to create an even bigger fuss. He had no choice but to grab Ann¡¯s arms. ¡°Carl, Stephen is going to hold me like this. How can an old woman like me beat the guard captain? Carl, open the door, go in, and report to the duke that his wife has refused to have breakfast and said she wanted to be alone.¡± Ann was sure that it would make Edgar jump to his feet and go to Rubica¡¯s side. She had seen him not being able to control his feelings in front of Rubica yesterday. He just couldn¡¯t neglect her. He was hurt even more when she looked sad. ¡°Do you really have to do this?¡± Carl sadly asked. He didn¡¯t want to deliver the news to Edgar as he didn¡¯t want to see him get hurt because of it. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then promise me, Ann. I will do what you want, but if he still says his work is more important, you should give up and leave.¡± Ann nodded without saying anything. She was confident. To her, it wasn¡¯t even gambling. Edgar had only one thing he had to do, anyway. Carl sighed at seeing her like that as he knew that Edgar didn¡¯t have only one thing to do. He had only one thing he could do. However, if he didn¡¯t do what Ann wanted now, he could be the one restrained by Stephen. Ann was more than capable of bringing an ax and breaking the door. Then Edgar¡¯s secret would be revealed, so Carl decided to put calming her down as the top priority. ¡°Your Grace, there¡¯s something you should know.¡± He knocked using the code that meant there were people watching. ¡°Is it urgent?¡± ¡°... yes.¡± Ann gave Carl a deadly look and he quickly said yes. After a short pause, Edgar told him toe in. Carl looked around, carefully turned the key to go in, and quickly closed the door behind him. Ann lifted her chin high while already wearing a victorious smile. She was going to say I told you so when Edgar came rushing out. However, time passed and the door didn¡¯t open. She got more and more nervous. ording to her expectations, Edgar should have immediately run out scolding everyone for not taking care of his wife well the moment he was told she wasn¡¯t eating. Her smile faded. ¡®Creak.¡¯ She heard the sound of the opening door which she had waited so much for. However, the person who came out wasn¡¯t Edgar. It was a troubled Carl. He must have suffered a lot inside as he took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off after closing the door. ¡°Carl, what did he say? Is he going toe out?¡± Ann anxiously asked, and Carl pitied himself for having to deliver the news. He had been tormented by Edgar inside, and now it was time to get tormented by Ann. Chapter 92

Chapter 92: Chapter 92

¡°He said the report for the king is more important.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°He also said you should go back to Her Grace and stay by her side as she isn¡¯t eating... Ann!¡± Stephen¡¯s arms shook because of Ann¡¯s massive strength, and he was left surprised since he had never been beaten when it came to strength. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t as if he was caught off-guard. Ann immediately lunged at the door like a bull, but she couldn¡¯t open it. The thorough butler never forgot what he was supposed to do. ¡°I¡¯m not the one who should be by her side, you are!¡± You bastard! Ann kicked the door instead of letting out the cry she couldn¡¯t say aloud. ¡°How could you treat the woman who will give birth to your child like this?¡± She was kind of giving him a hint as she thought Rubica was pregnant with Edgar¡¯s child. She had kept the secret to herself till now because of the duke¡¯s reputation and the duchess¡¯ honor, but this was just too much. ¡®Your Grace! I know you have made a chaste nobledy pregnant before marrying her!¡¯ However, the door remained closed even after that while Carl also stood still. Ann felt even angrier. She knew Rubica was pregnant, and Edgar didn¡¯t even fear the rumor might get out and his wife being dishonored? He was the mightiest bastard in the world! In the end, the maid had to stop her. ¡°Mrs. Taylor, please calm down.¡± However, Ann was still mad. She puffed and steamed in front of the door for a long time. Now Eddie wasn¡¯t her cute Eddie anymore. Everyone ceased to be cute when they grew up. In a way, that was nature¡¯sw. But why would men also be bastards as if it were only natural? Was it also part of nature¡¯sw? ¡®Bastard.¡¯ Now Edgar was neither her cute Eddie nor the great duke. He wasn¡¯t even a dog-like idiot. He was just a bastard, nothing more and nothing less. *** Rubica just sat on the bed for a long time. She could finally see the reality. She should have realized it sooner, but she had been excited as if she were walking on clouds. The past few days had been pleasant, even if there had been a piece of anxiety stuck in her heart. Everyone sided with her and was impressed by the smallest thing she did. She did as she wanted, but they all praised her as the wise mistress. It felt good. It would have felt good even if it had been all lies, but it felt even better as they all meant it. That was why she hadn¡¯t known. No, she had tried hard not to know. She was a strangering from the outside. The mansion was huge and nice, but there was no ce where she could rx and rest. She just didn¡¯t belong here. She belonged at her small and shabby room at the abbey. ¡®... I was presumptuous.¡¯ She was only a stranger, and she tried to break the tradition of a prestigious family that was united together? Had she been arrogant? It was just, the people¡¯s eyes had been so kind when they looked at her, and they all acted as if they would do anything she wanted... ¡®There is no such thing as kindness without reason.¡¯ If there were, it had to be kindness with hidden intentions. Rubica smiled bitterly. Why did she feel like this ce was her home, and she had a role to fulfill there, and the budget for the duchess was hers? Those were Duke ymore¡¯s, not hers. She was just going to stay here for a while and then leave. She was a wanderer and an outsider, and she had tried to change the way an old family lived. Did arrogance bigger than that even exist? ¡®I must know my ce.¡¯ She stroked her face. It wasn¡¯t swollen anymore thanks to Elise and the hot towels. However, she couldn¡¯t understand how she enjoyed such great hospitality so naturally as if she deserved it. ¡®I would never get such great hospitality if I were not the duchess.¡¯ She didn¡¯t achieve that rank. Moreover, Edgar hadn¡¯t asked her hand in marriage because he was in love with her. She still didn¡¯t know what he wanted, but he certainly hadn¡¯t loved her when he proposed to her. He was just worried about the consequences of canceling the marriage that had already gotten the special permission when he offered the marriage of a limited time. ¡®It¡¯s not mine. I don¡¯t deserve it.¡¯ Then, what was she? She thought her looks weren¡¯t even close enough to be a good-looking doll. ¡®An actress hired to act the role of the duchess.¡¯ Sheughed. That was right. Now she could understand. Edgar needed someone to fill that role, and she had been perfect as she was a lowly orphan who had had nothing and no one. ¡®Wait, then...¡¯ A man who needed a woman to act as his wife. She felt like she was now looking at an important lead, but her thoughts couldn¡¯t be continued because someone knocked on the door. For a second, Rubica wondered if she should answer or not. ¡°Your Grace, it¡¯s Ann. I heard you haven¡¯t eaten anything.¡± ¡°I¡¯m okay, Ann.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve brought some soup and bread. Please, eat at least a little.¡± Ann sounded desperate, but Rubica still didn¡¯t have any appetite. However, she was supposed to meet Khanna in the afternoon, and she felt like she wouldn¡¯t be able to do that if she didn¡¯t eat anything. Besides, it looked like Ann wouldn¡¯t leave her alone if she refused to eat again. ¡°... fine.¡± Soon Ann came with a creaking sound of the door. She was carrying a small tray with good-smelling stew and tasty white bread. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m sorry that I made everyone worried.¡± Rubica smiled. If her smile had been like the fresh dew of spring, now it was like the evening sunset. It could have been a chance for Edgar if she carried her pain until the evening, but Rubica wasn¡¯t the type of person who held grief in her heart for long. She had been like that a long time ago, but now she had gotten used to making herself feel better when in grief. ¡°I brought some stew from the kitchen. Please eat.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Rubica dipped a piece of bread in the stew and tasted it. It was delicious. Now that food was in front of her, she suddenly felt hungry. She continued to eat the stew without caring about Ann who was watching. She felt much better when her belly was full. ¡°I have an appointment with Khanna in the afternoon.¡± Ann was relieved to see Rubica was about to leave the bed and do something. ¡°Yes. How about taking a walk before that? It might make you feel better.¡± ¡°... a walk.¡± Rubica looked out the window and shook her head. She knew that Edgar was always watching when she walked in the garden. She didn¡¯t want to meet him or think of him now, even though she knew he had done nothing wrong. No, she didn¡¯t want to meet him even more because he had done nothing wrong. She didn¡¯t want to show him how hurt she was as he had done nothing wrong. ¡°... I see. Then what do you want to wear for the meeting with Khanna?¡± ¡°Just get me anythingfortable.¡± Ann replied as lively as possible, but Rubica didn¡¯t smile nor her eyes sparkled like usual. She was certainly different from the usual. Ann was smart and called the minimum number of maids. They were all the kind of girls who calmly did their jobs without saying anything. ¡°It would be better to wear one of Khanna¡¯s dresses, right?¡± That was all Rubica said when deciding on a dress. She didn¡¯t chat about colors and the matching essories like she would usually do. She got dressed and then looked for Elise. ¡°Why are you not wearing the dress I gave you?¡± The girl smiled embarrassingly. She did like the dress Rubica had given her very much. It matched her well as if it had been made for her. But still, it was way too luxurious and expensive for her to wear. And, there were many jewels decorating the chest part. She found it too much. Even her mother had shown worries about it through a letter. ¡®I¡¯m very d to hear the duchess likes you that much. But you must be careful, Elise. You must know your ce. I and your father destroyed the Sna family by excessively expanding the business and spending more than we had. You shouldn¡¯t make the same mistake. ¡®No matter what you wear, do not wear anything more expensive than what your mistress is wearing. And, no matter how much she cares about you, do not ept any expensive gift. Extravagance is poison. Once you get addicted to it, you won¡¯t be able to get out easily. ¡®Think of your ie, dowry, future, and your brother who is working hard.¡¯ Wearing the expensive and pretty dress made the other dresses she owned feel like rugs. Elise was worried about that feeling. Such a dress costs more than her monthly wage, and she really wanted to take out the ruby on the chest part and sell it. However, she couldn¡¯t do it as it was a gift from the duchess. ¡°I cherish it a lot... it¡¯s pretty, but I want to save it for balls.¡± Chapter 93

Chapter 93: Chapter 93

Elise came up with an excuse that sounded good enough to not hurt Rubica¡¯s feelings. She knew that Rubica was going to give her a few more dresses, but she was going to do as her mother said. She was going to refuse luxurious dresses and ask for a couple of dresses for everyday use. She had thought about refusing even that, but it would be turning down Rubica¡¯s goodwill too much, so she decided to take that and only that. ¡°Oh.¡± Rubica looked disappointed. Contrary to Elise¡¯s intention, Rubica felt she hadn¡¯t been considerate enough as she had given the girl only one dress. Elise wasn¡¯t capable of spending money on her freely. Maybe she was about to spend her first wage for her brother training at the capital. ¡®She isn¡¯t the type of girl who will listen to me if I tell her to take care of herself first.¡¯ Rubica knew that well because she was also that type of person. There were people who found those they had to protect burdening, but there were also people who found joy in life when protecting their loved ones. ¡®I will give her as many dresses I can give.¡¯ She found energy again when having something to do. As Elise was the family¡¯sdy-in-waiting, she thought it would be good for the family¡¯s reputation to do that much for her. If there was not enough budget, she could just have fewer dresses made for herself. ¡°Madam Khanna is here.¡± Khanna arrived at the mansion earlier than promised. ording to Rubica¡¯s usual schedule, she was supposed to wait for about an hour. But today, that schedule hadn¡¯t been kept at all. Maybe it was okay to have such days sometimes. She was an actress ying the duchess, but she didn¡¯t have to do her duty diligently. It would be a trouble for her if she yed her part so well and Edgar decided it was better to keep her with him. ¡®Maybe what happened yesterday made him think I¡¯m not fit to be his duchess.¡¯ To look at it that way, it wasn¡¯t something to be so sad and disappointed about. They were not even that close. They were just pretending to be husband and wife. It was quite funny that she had expected Edgar to listen to her and sympathize with her. Why did she have such an expectation? ¡°Your Grace, should I have Madam Khanna wait for a little?¡± Rubica turned a little sad and Ann noticed it faster than anyone. ¡°No, no. It¡¯s fine. I rather want to meet her quickly.¡± Rubica quickly hid her bad mood and replied kindly. She was standing on the edge of unstable calmness. *** ¡°Khanna, I summoned you because I want you to make dresses for Elise here.¡± Rubica introduced Elise to Khanna. As Elise had been transformed by Rubica and her maids, Khanna soon realized the beauty she was been born with. She was a beautiful girl who might seize every men¡¯s attention during the next society season. However, the problem was that she was wearing a dress that was too in. The simple blue-grey dress looked modest, but it couldn¡¯t bring out her beauty at all. ¡°As it is springtime, I think dresses with bright colors would be good.¡± Khanna took out a measuring tape first. ¡°But before that, measure her size first.¡± That made the maids all approach Elise, and the girl was surprised. She hadn¡¯t known Khanna would ask to measure her size first. ¡°I, I can write down my size for you.¡± ¡°No. Judging from the dress you are wearing, there¡¯s a need to measure your size again.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t your chest often feel tight?¡± ¡°... it does, sometimes.¡± Elise just instinctively answered Khanna¡¯s sudden question. ¡°Doesn¡¯t the armhole parts of your dress feel tight?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s just my body is in a strange shape, and...¡± However, Khanna continued to speak firmly. ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with your body. What¡¯s wrong is your undergarments.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I must take your exact size and make you new undergarments¡± That was the signal. The maids started to move fast, not even giving the girl time to blink. They were good at managing shy girls who didn¡¯t want to have their size measured. ¡°Stay still. It¡¯s impossible to measure properly if you keep squirming like that.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be shy.¡± While they measured the girl¡¯s size, Khanna offered a design book to Rubica who was sitting on the sofa. ¡°I prepared this for you. I wasn¡¯t good enoughst time... so I did more research on designs and embroideries in fashion.¡± Khanna was excited, so Rubica was a little sorry to say no to her. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want any more dresses for me.¡± ¡°Oh, but...¡± I can make better dresses than the one I made before. Khanna had to swallow that. Her boutique had managed to escape the financial crisis thanks to Rubica¡¯s order. As long as she had the duchess as her customer, it looked like she wouldn¡¯t have any problem with running her boutique. So, she had found the courage to contact her former pattern maker. The man was currently receiving a high sry she couldn¡¯t afford, but he was pretty d to hear Khanna¡¯s boutique was reviving. He even said he woulde back if she gave him even half of what he was currently getting. However, Khanna couldn¡¯t even afford that much yet. Instead, he had promised to check Khanna¡¯s patterns after his work. ¡°I already have enough dresses, so please, make dresses for Elise.¡± Then, Rubica started to go through the fabricsid in front of her. ¡°This will match her skin color, and this one¡¯s good because it¡¯s simr to her eye color. Oh, and this one has a pretty pattern.¡± She picked about a dozen kind of fabrics in no time. All of them were the best. She was never wrong about that stuff. Then, she started to put them one by one on Elise. ¡°Look. It matches her, right?¡± ¡°Yes, a lot.¡± ¡°Make a dress for everyday use with this one.¡± She kept putting a fabric on the girl and tossing it to a maid next to her. She ordered five dresses in less than a second. ¡°And this one has splendid embroidery, so we should make a dress for balls with it.¡± Then, she picked the most splendid chest decoration in the design book in front of her. ¡°Use lots of diamonds and rubies. Oh, and Khanna, about the dress I just chose, add jewels to it without caring about money if you have any matching ones. ymore will pay for all that, so don¡¯t worry.¡± The maids gulped in envy, but Elise couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and yelled, ¡°No!¡± Rubica turned pale in surprise at seeing she wasn¡¯t delighted at all. ¡°... but why?¡± ¡°Such splendid things are not right for me.¡± ¡°Not right for you? You look much better in splendid dresses than in in ones. I want to see you in pretty dresses.¡± Rubica really meant it. It was quite fun to see the girl who used to look ordinary, if not ugly to the others, being transformed by her. Guard knights who had never given her a look were now ncing at her, and Rubica was a little proud of that. Elise was her pride. ¡°No, no.¡± Elise felt like a mouse in a corner. She didn¡¯t know how to escape the situation wisely, so she just came up with what she had heard often. ¡°Excessive extravagance is a crime.¡± ¡°But this much is...¡± ¡°It¡¯s an extravagance. No!¡± Elise was firm, so it made Rubica shut her mouth. Elise just didn¡¯t know how to stop that great order and said what her mother had always told her. However, that was the answer. The word extravagance was something that had to be avoided as much as possible in the kingdom. Even the king couldn¡¯t do anything about it. ¡°Okay. If you think so, I will use jewels to the bare minimum.¡± ¡°And, um, I don¡¯t want such luxurious fabrics, either.¡± Dresses were supposed to please the wearer. No matter how Elise looked good with splendid dresses and jewels, there was nothing Rubica could do about it. The girl just didn¡¯t want it. ¡°... okay. If that¡¯s what you want.¡± Rubica was disappointed. She had started to feel a little better, but now her mood was dropped to the ground again. It wasn¡¯t like she was spending money for herself, it was for ymore¡¯sdy-in-waiting. Because of that, she had ordered to her heart content without feeling guilty, saying to herself it was all for ymore. But now, Elise was saying it wasn¡¯t right. What matched her were chest ornament sparkling with jewels and expensive smooth silk... Now the only joy she had at the mansion was gone. *** ¡°Her Grace has skipped breakfast.¡± ¡°... what?¡± Edgar thought he knew what it felt like to be worried sick, but it turned out he had been wrong. What he had felt till now was nothing. When Carl told him that, he wanted to jump to his feet and run to Rubica. He wanted to plead to her and feed her soup himself. Chapter 94

Chapter 94: Chapter 94

Edgar wanted to tear apart the document he was reading. Actually, he was not even reading it. He hadn¡¯t been able to sleep at allst night and, no matter how long he stared at the documents, the only thing he knew was that the ck were letters and the white was paper. It was the first time he had been unable to concentrate this much. ¡°But why? Why is she not eating? And what is Ann doing?¡± ¡°Ann is... at the door now. She says you must go to see your wife.¡± ¡°Ha.¡± He would have done it a while ago if only it had been possible. No, if possible, he would have stayed with her all night, and he would have apologized and confessed in what great agony he was the moment she opened her eyes. However, that was the only thing the man, who could do anything, couldn¡¯t do. ¡°I wish I could.¡± ¡°No, Your Grace.¡± Edgar was hurt at hearing the immediate answer. ¡°I know.¡± He had no choice but to order Ann to go back to Rubica and take care of her. While saying so, he felt more miserable than anyone else. He felt so weak and useless. He didn¡¯t know Rubica had always found eating breakfast alone overwhelming. He only knew the Rubica who ate cakes made by Steven at dinner with the happiest look on her face. She preferred grains and fruits grown by diligent farmers to the fruits gathered by adventurers like the dragon¡¯s eye. She also never left any food on her te. ¡®And she isn¡¯t eating at all...¡¯ Rubica had always had a huge appetite, and he made her skip a meal. He felt like he was the vilest viin in the world. ¡®And, what is that tradition? No, that¡¯s not even a tradition. It¡¯s just wrong.¡¯ He had thrown away the pride and respect for the first ymore quite some time ago. He thought he was now suffering because of the wrong custom that his ancestor started. No, he must not have known that what he did would start making people promote their weapon that way. ¡®Get to your senses. Now isn¡¯t the time for that.¡¯ Edgar looked back at the pile of documents. The king kept ordering to attend to meetings again, saying he had let Edgar enjoy some time with his wife. Edgar, however, thought that was too small as it had been only a couple of weeks. He grumbled as he went back to work. Then, he skimmed through the documents and stamped his seal on them. To others, it would have appeared as if he was just leafing through the pages. However, after some time, his hands stopped. ¡®This calction is wrong!¡¯ He solved a math problem which the writer of the report had worked on more than a week in just a few seconds. Then, he marked it with red ink and put it aside. That problem wasn¡¯t even difficult. How could anyone get it wrong after spending more than a week on it? He felt a fit of unrestrainable anger. ¡®So idle.¡¯ It looked like he had been too generoustely. He couldn¡¯t believe such a report with a mistake in basic calction had been brought to him. Actually, that mistake was small, and it wasn¡¯t going to change the experiment¡¯s oue, but it was about basic concentration andmitment. ¡®How could they do such a thing?¡¯ Edgar got back to the documents he had leafed through. Then, he applied red ink to his pen and started to make mercilessments. Like a professor teaching young and idle students, he started to point out every single mistake and omitted the facts in those experiments and statistics. It was time for the schrs to suffer because of the duke¡¯s and duchess¡¯ quarrel. He felt a little better after letting out his anger on the reports. It was good that time passed fast when he focused on his work. Edgar then put his pen down and looked at the mirror. It was time for Rubica¡¯s walk. He didn¡¯t forget that time even while concentrating hard, and it was now engraved on his mind. Edgar rolled the wheels of his wheelchair, that appeared like a chair, to reach the windows. He didn¡¯t like moving his wheelchair. He felt like he was a normal person when he sat still on it, but when its wheels moved, it reminded him that he had been cursed. However, he didn¡¯t hate reaching the windows to see her take a walk, he rather enjoyed it. He waited behind the drawn curtains. She was going toe out at any moment, wearing a pretty dress and surrounded by herdies-in-waiting and maids. ¡®Is she feeling a little better now?¡¯ Edgar gulped hard. He eagerly wanted to see Rubica¡¯s face, his wife who hadn¡¯t had breakfast. He was surely going to feel great pain in his heart at seeing her sad, but he still wanted to see her. He wanted to see her face and, if she was sad, he wanted to see with his own eyes how sad she was. However, Rubica didn¡¯te out. Edgar was confused since she liked being punctual as much as he did. He wanted to use his bell to call Carl and ask him what was happening. But he couldn¡¯t move because he feared Rubica mighte out while he went away to call Carl. He cherished every second he could see her. That time was more precious than anything to him since he wasn¡¯t a normal person and couldn¡¯t be with her during broad daylight. ¡°Please.¡± Edgar pleadingly muttered after about half an hour, staring at the entrance of the garden. ¡°... Rubica.¡± However, Rubica didn¡¯te out even after an hour. Edgar couldn¡¯t believe it. Rubica was skipping both breakfast and her walk. As she walked, she sometimes looked up to the direction of Edgar¡¯s office. Although he had to move away from the windows when it happened, it made his heart flutter. She was thinking of him, and it couldn¡¯t make him happier. But today, she was noting out. She was noting out, knowing he was watching her. Was there any clearer refusal? Edgar knew it was time to give up now, but he couldn¡¯t leave the windows for a long time. It took very long to admit the fact that Rubica wasn¡¯t taking a walk today. Even after he admitted it, he took a long time to return to his desk, and he didn¡¯t call Carl. He feared that sending Carl to Rubica would bring him back replies like she wasn¡¯t taking a walk because ¡®she didn¡¯t want to see him¡¯ or ¡®she didn¡¯t like it that he was watching her¡¯. *** One author once said this: when men feel agitated or get hurt by love, they have many ways to forget that pain, like sword fighting or riding a carriage to the local tavern to drink, and drinking a cup of strong coffee the next morning with an aching head. However, that¡¯s not possible for women. The only thing they can do is to take a stroll in the garden. There was nothing better than taking a walk for ady in a bad mood. But today, Rubica didn¡¯t feel like taking a walk. So, she decided on the next best thing, and that was embroidery. Rubica asked Rosa and brought some embroidery tools. She hadn¡¯t done that for a long time, but she still skillfully threaded a needle. Then, she started to embroider without any sketches. Embroidering was one of the things she was very good at. ¡®Wow.¡¯ Elise, who was next to Rubica, nced at her work and was impressed. Rubica finished embroideringvenders and started to add little butterflies and bees. She was unbelievably good for her age. ¡®She is twenty-two years old this year.¡¯ Elise looked down at her own work. She was considered good at embroidering for her age but,pared to Rubica, it was nothing. Rubica was skillful, and she could embroider without a sketch like someone who had worked as a seamstress for at least twenty years. ¡®She is really great.¡¯ Elise looked at Rubica with admiring eyes, but she didn¡¯t care about the girl¡¯s gaze and kept working. Her hands were moving regrly with a certain speed like those of a craftsman¡¯s. Elise felt like Rubica was immersed in her calmness. Embroidering like that must require more than just average concentration. She wanted to be like her, so she took a deep breath and started to concentrate. However, contrary to her guess, Rubica was full of passion. ¡®Why! Why! Why do you hate expensive dresses?¡¯ She was letting her uncontroble anger out by embroidering. She just couldn¡¯t understand Elise. However, it wasn¡¯t like she could grab the girl and make her do as she wanted, so she was getting rid of her stress by poking the fabric with her needle. There wasn¡¯t such a thing as a woman who hated jewels. Rubica liked jewels, too. If there was one thing she learned after living so long, it was this: there was no need to save face. ept what you are given. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t like Rubica was going to ask something in return to Elise. The only thing she wanted was to see the girl transform into the most beautifuldy. But Elise, her fairy, didn¡¯t like being dressed and decorated with expensive jewels because that was too extravagant. Who on earth had given her that stupid idea? ¡®Stupid Kingdom of Seritos.¡¯ Suspect number one was the kingdom that made extravagance something to be denounced. However, it would ept having dragon¡¯s eyes on the tes of the royals and aristocrats and let ymore have mana quartz. Saying two things with one mouth was one of the basic qualifications to be a royal, but this was too much. Chapter 95

Chapter 95: Chapter 95

And, the next most likely suspect was Elise¡¯s mother who was currently at an abbey. ¡®Stupid Elise¡¯s mo...¡¯ Rubica couldn¡¯t continue the rest. The woman had volunteered to live a hard life at the abbey to not ruin her children¡¯s future after her husband¡¯s death. There was no need to curse her as well. And, to be honest, Rubica could even understand her. She had paid for her failure to manage the family¡¯s revenue with her husband¡¯s death and the destruction of her family. In a way, it was only right for her to advise her daughter to avoid extravagance and think of jewels as mere rocks in order to stop her from meeting a fate like hers. ¡®But you should have told her to hesitate a hundred times when buying jewels with her own money but ept jewels given by others. Why did you give her a sense of honor? It is okay to forget that sometimes, especially when you are poor and burdened.¡¯ It might sound strange, but the world gave more chances to thick-faced people than to good-natured people. Elise had been educated well and had a kind nature, but Rubica now had to pity her for that. She didn¡¯t know if she was supposed tough or cry. ¡°Madam, the duke wants to see you.¡± Carl¡¯s voice reached her and woke her up, and Rubica¡¯s hands stopped in the middle of embroidering. Edgar could just knock ande in as usual, why was he asking for her opinion? This was his territory, he could do anything he wanted here. Why was he suddenly pretending to care about her opinion? ¡°Can¡¯t I see himter?¡± Although Rubica said that, she knew that wasn¡¯t going to happen. She thought Edgar would juste in no matter what she said just like he always did. But, to her surprise, after Carl delivered what she said, she heard an ¡®I see¡¯ and the sound of him going back. ¡®Oh, no.¡¯ Had that been too harsh of her? She didn¡¯t mean to refuse him that much. Although she had been very angry yesterday and gloomy in the morning, now she was feeling much better. She had decided to not get more than what she deserved. But now, she acted like a meanie without meaning it. ¡®He¡¯lle back soon.¡¯ Edgar wasn¡¯t the type of person who cared about other¡¯s feeling. Rubica continued to work on her embroidery and waited for him, but he didn¡¯te back till dinnertime. ¡®Does he think I¡¯m very mad?¡¯ It was possible. She had skipped breakfast and her afternoon stroll, and he hadn¡¯t shown himself to her at all. ¡®Of course, there¡¯s no way he cared about my feelings.¡¯ If he really was worried about her, he should have put everything aside toe to her. However, he just left her all day to her sadness and gloominess and just worked at his office. That was the kind of guy he was. To him, nothing was more important than work. Maybe he thought it was even more important than himself. ¡®... but.¡¯ He had asked for her opinion and didn¡¯t ask twice when she said no. Now she was the one who was worried, so she went down to the dining hall the moment the bell was struck. During dinnertime, Edgar either came to her to go down together or went down first to meet her there. But today, only the empty table alone weed her. ¡®He used to eat alone before I came.¡¯ Maybe she was going to be forced to eat dinner alone just like breakfast. Toote, Rubica regretted it. Maybe she had offended Edgar too much. Although they were not in love, they had to live together, so she wanted to be on good terms with him. Although he had a mouth that said lots of problematic things, he wasn¡¯t ill-hearted. Rubica regrettedining to him too much. ¡®Well, there¡¯s nothing I can do about it.¡¯ She had been the one who refused to see him first. She thought there was nothing she could do if it angered Edgar, and he didn¡¯t want to see her face anymore. She sat down on her chair and drank some water. ¡°Your Grace, what should we do? Will you eat together if His Gracees down?¡± ¡°No, I want to eat first.¡± It looked like he wasn¡¯t going toe down, so she didn¡¯t want to wait and be hungry and miserable. Previously, she had yed some kind of pride game with him, but now it looked so foolish. She decided to be realistic by taking care of herself. There was nothing more important than that. ¡®But still, eating alone is no fun.¡¯ She was poking her entr¨¦e when she heard a stumping sound from behind. She looked back in surprise, and Edgar wasing into the hall. He was surprised to see Rubica was already there. Then, his face hardened at finding out she was already eating without him. ¡®You didn¡¯t even wait?¡¯ Rubica thought he was about to scold her like that. She was going to smile awkwardly and say she was sorry for what she did earlier, but Edgar sat down without saying anything. As soon as he sat down, aperitif and entr¨¦e were brought to him even though he said nothing. He didn¡¯t look at her direction as if he was determined, and it started to feel quite awkward to talk to him first. Apologizing was only possible when the other person was showing the willingness to ept it. So, Rubica just followed Edgar¡¯s example and started to eat quietly. Edgar said nothing as he ate his entr¨¦e and then his main dish. Rubica was feeling really nervous. She was thinking of talking about the weather or the flowers she had seen while walking, but he looked so serious that she dismissed the idea. ¡®Why is he so angry? I decided to give up in the end.¡¯ Rubica thought it was a little cold of him to treat her like that. But sheforted herself, saying thinking like that was too emotional. They were married because they had had no choice in the first ce, and she had no affection toward him. She just thought about how to run away from the mansion as soon as possible in every waking moment. ¡®... and I¡¯m also getting my runaway money.¡¯ Carl had made her an ount in the Jackal Bank and deposited her money including the trust fund for Ang. Now that money was going to be safe even after the war, but Rubica couldn¡¯t be relieved with just that. Someday, she was going to find a good excuse, go to a bank that dealt with Jackal Bank, find some of the money, and hide it nearby. ¡®I also want to find Arman.¡¯ Her lead about Arman was too small, so she could only worry about what to do. She was worried that her memories of him might start to fade. ¡°Rubica.¡± They were now eating ice cream with fruits as the dessert as if it were only natural. Edgar probably hated sweet things and cold things since he lifted his fork to get a piece of one of the few fruits he liked. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to interfere with this matter, but about the budget you will use this year...¡± Rubica widened her eyes as they had already finished talking about the budget. They even had a war before agreeing to get mana quartz as usual. ¡®Oh, is it about that thirty thousand Gold?¡¯ Rubica thought he was about to say he was going to give her some of the private money in front of all the watching eyes. Generous husband. That was what people were going to call him if he talked about it in front of them instead of doing it in private, and she was going to be an extravagant wife who wasn¡¯t good enough for such a husband. Was that how he was getting his revenge for being rejected? But to Rubica, it wasn¡¯t bad at all. She rather weed any kind of bad name. Rubica put down her spoon of ice cream and was ready to reply that she was grateful for his generosity and she had spent money without thinking because of her foolishness. ¡°Let¡¯s not get mana quartz this year.¡± Rubica¡¯s lips, that had just started to move, stopped. She wasn¡¯t the only one who was frozen by that announcement. The maid who was carrying dishes and the servant who was bringing the water to wash their hands after dinner, they all stopped at once. Silence fell in the hall. ¡®What, what is he talking about?¡¯ Rubica wasn¡¯t the only one shocked. Carl and Ann, who knew Rubica had been the one to make that decision, doubted their ears, and the other maids and servants doubted their ears for a different reason. Surrounded by shocked people, Edgar was smiling as if he was enjoying all that. ¡°Edgar, what are you...¡± ¡°And not just this year, let¡¯s never get it again.¡± He put the piece of fruit in his mouth. Then, he stood up and left the table, quite lighthearted. Even in panic, his attendants left after him to do their job. Those who were left in the hall, however, were still in a panic. ¡°Ma, madam.¡± Ann barely managed to escape the panic and looked at Rubica. She was stammering, and she probably wanted Rubica to give her an exnation about the situation, but Rubica didn¡¯t know what was going on either. What was wrong with that man? He always changed his mind, he was even more fickle than the moon in the night sky. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I...¡± Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Chapter 96

¡°I don¡¯t know either. I...¡± Rubica shut her mouth and stood up. She felt sorry for leaving the ice cream that hadn¡¯t even been tasted yet, but this wasn¡¯t the time to enjoy her dessert. Being with those panicked people wouldn¡¯t let her find out what Edgar was up to. To know why he was doing that, she had to talk to him. ¡°Ann,e with me.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± Ann understood what Rubica was about to do and nodded. She told the other maids to not follow her since she was going to serve Rubica on her own this evening, then she followed Rubica. ¡°Edgar!¡± Rubica arrived when Edgar¡¯s attendant was helping him get changed to his slippers. Edgar then saw Ann and Carle in after her. He nodded to his attendant who soon realized what was going on. ¡°Then, Your Grace, I hope you have a pleasant time.¡± Nothing good wille by being present there. The duke and the duchess were going to have a very serious conversation. If rumors about it got out, he was going to be held responsible. He tried to leave, but Edgar turned to Rubica and opened his arms. ¡°I¡¯m not ready to have a pleasant time yet.¡± The message was clear. He wanted the attendant to undress him. It appeared the attendant wasn¡¯t going to allowed to leave before helping his master get changed into afortable gown. He nced at Carl, but Carl wasn¡¯t his master. Edgar was. ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± Now he had no choice but to witness the couple¡¯s fight. ¡°Edgar, I want to talk to you in private.¡± Thankfully, the duchess gave him a chance to survive. The attendant silently let go of Edgar¡¯s jacket sleeve, hoping to be unnoticed. Actually, having to witness the fight itself wasn¡¯t scary. He was sure he could do his job like a mute no matter what the two said. However, the problem woulde after that. When he left the room, the other servants were not going to let him go until he told them everything. ¡°Let¡¯s just talk. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s that serious.¡± But sadly, Edgar dismissed that chance. Rubica sighed, and Edgar hated it when she did it. However, this time, he pretended to ignore it and let the attendant undo the buttons on his sleeve. ¡°We are not getting mana quartz this year? What are you talking about?¡± ¡°I meant what I said, and I n to not get that thing ever again.¡± ¡°What the- Edgar! I really can¡¯t see why you are doing this.¡± Edgar smiled, but Rubica truly didn¡¯t know why he was doing that. ¡°I decided that getting mana quartz was unnecessary. Is there any other reason needed?¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°I apologize again for interfering with your budget.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the problem!¡± Rubica grabbed her skirt and then let it go again a couple of times. Ann and Carl couldn¡¯t dare to speak and just watched the two. ¡°Finding mana quartz is about the ymore¡¯s honor, tradition, and history. It is also needed to test newly developed weapons and to check if there are any problems with them.¡± It just made no sense. She was saying exactly what he had told her to convince her. It also had made her eventually admit he was right. But unlike her, Edgar didn¡¯t lose the smile on his lips. He took off his shirt and wore a gown his attendant brought. ¡°I n to make a new tradition.¡± ¡°Edgar.¡± Rubica was so mad that tears swelled up in her eyes. She had cried yesterday because she had been so angry that she had to give up on her values, but now she cried because she was mad at Edgar who always got his way. Why was this man always trying to toy with her? She never thought of defeating him or toying with him, but he was always like that to her. ¡°It has always been a problem to count such a thing as domestic budget for the family.¡± ¡°Then, are you saying you will assign it to the outer budget?¡± ¡°No, not at all. I told you, I will never get mana quartz again.¡± Rubica put a hand on her forehead while Ann found the situation quite confusing. It had originally been Rubica who talked about not getting mana quartz, and she canceled that yesterday. ording to what Ann knew, Edgar had never been interested in the matter. Before Rubica came, he let Ann handle the management of the household and the family¡¯s tradition that were ¡®things that, of course, had to be done¡¯. He hadn¡¯t had any choice. He was always busy handling the matters right in front of him as he wasn¡¯t just working on the weapons developed by ymore. The king had already sent him a letter yesterday, asking him toe to his castle. Perspective about the economy that was rted to the price of mana stones and the progress of the military business. Such things couldn¡¯t be decided without Edgar¡¯s opinion. In his letter, the king said he had waited for enough time for the duke and his wife, and he even used a mana stone carriage just to send that one letter instead of using a bird. The messenger was under strict order to not go into the duke¡¯s office, but he showed the king wanted the duke to go to the capital and attend meetings, evente at night. The family could run three mana stone carriage partly because the kingdom really needed him. Edgar was always, always busy. Now, it was a miracle that he never missed dinner with Rubica. ¡°Your Grace, I think your wife is right on this.¡± Ann didn¡¯t know what was going on, but now Rubica was the one who was saying getting mana quartz was necessary. So, she quickly sided with her, and Edgar looked at her with amusement. ¡°Ann, are you siding with her because you are the housekeeper?¡± ¡°No, of course not, Your Grace. I just think she is right on this matter.¡± ¡°I said I would find a way to rece the tradition.¡± ¡°But the tradition is old. If you break it, your rtives will immediately protest.¡± However, Edgar only smirked at that. ¡°So, what can they do by protesting?¡± ¡°Edgar.¡± Rubica stopped Edgar from getting limitlessly arrogant. How could the situation be reversed like this? She had been the one insisting on giving up mana quartz only yesterday, and he had made her give up her will, but now he was insisting on it himself. Rubica was confused as she really didn¡¯t know why he was doing that. He was a smart person. Although he was a little too arrogant, he wasn¡¯t the kind of person who acted like a stubborn child. Therefore, Rubica calmly called his name. ¡°Such a sudden decision will make everyone protest. Why don¡¯t we take time and find a way?¡± Edgar looked at her as she recited exactly what he had said the day before. Carl and Ann were desperately looking at them, and although the attendant was trying to ignore everything, he couldn¡¯t get rid of the curiosity in his eyes. Things were going exactly as he wanted. ¡°Okay. I will talk to my wife in private, so leave.¡± Everybody sighed at hearing that, although whether they were relieved or giving up, it wasn¡¯t known yet. Before Ann left, she grabbed Rubica¡¯s hand tightly. Although she didn¡¯t say anything, her eyes were pleading to Rubica, hoping she would convince Edgar. On the other hand, Carl watched the attendant leave the room worriedly. It looked like stopping words from getting out would be impossible after Edgar made the announcement at the dining hall. As the servants lived in the annex, the ymore¡¯s rtives were going to find out about it very soon. It was only a matter of time. Probably the entire dukedom was going to know about it by tomorrow. The duke who had announced to not get mana quartz and the duchess who was trying hard to stop it. Edgar was going to get piles of letters protesting in less than a week. Moreover, those rtives were going to start knocking on Edgar¡¯s office door first thing tomorrow morning. How was Carl supposed to get rid of them? It was the biggest crisis in his 50-year-old career as the ymore¡¯s butler. ¡°Your Grace, please.¡± Now his only hope was Rubica. He erased from his mind the fact that it had been her who proposed to give up mana quartz in the first ce. Even if he failed to do that, he would have no choice but to ask Rubica to stop the duke anyway. Rubica nodded as if saying, ¡®I got this¡¯. It felt so strange. ¡°Edgar.¡± After they all left, Rubica determinedly called Edgar. He looked back at her with quite a pleasant expression. He didn¡¯t know what she was feeling and was just happy. ¡°What on earth have you done?¡± ¡°You did well.¡± ¡°I did well?¡± That answer eventually blew Rubica up. Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Chapter 97

¡°Why on earth are you doing this? You say that in front of people right after I give up? Why did you make me give up if you were going to do this? Did you disagree with me just to make me angry?¡± ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar poured a cup of warm water and offered it to her. ¡°Just calm down.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t calm down! Do you, do you like it when I get mad? Do you want to see me mad? We¡¯re not getting mana quartz? What are you talking about? You told me, it¡¯s the family¡¯s tradition that must be kept and your rtives will be mad if we don¡¯t do it.¡± Edgar nced at the door that was slightly open. Was it Ann? Or Carl? They were trying to eavesdrop. Rubica¡¯s yelling was going out through that crack and echo in the hallway. Edgar decided to use that. ¡°So what? I don¡¯t care about my rtive¡¯s opinion. I¡¯m the duke. And as the duke, I have the duty to do what I believe is right. Even if it¡¯s a tradition, I must get rid of it if it¡¯s wrong.¡± The sound was big enough to resonate in the room, but it had no anger in it. However, Rubica was just too mad to notice it. ¡°Why do you always have to have your way?¡± ¡°Even you cannot stop me this time.¡± ¡°Ed... uh!!¡± Then, he made a big fuss by hugging her tightly, and her yells were blocked by his chest. He then quickly closed the door with a bam. Everyone who had been listening outside, the attendant, Carl, Ann, and the other servants, all blushed. Out there, it sounded like the duke was kissing his wife who was trying to stop her from talking. Moreover, he hadn¡¯t forgotten to fiercely re at them before closing the door. The door was thick andpletely soundproof for the couple¡¯s privacy. What was happening in there? What kind of conversation were they having? Ann wished she could put her ear on that thick door to listen. ¡°Oh no. If she fails to convince him...¡± ¡°The night is long, Ann. No man is immune to his lover¡¯s beauty.¡± ¡°But he isn¡¯t the one who¡¯s about to be seduced. She is.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you just hear what I heard? He is about to use his beauty to make her surrender!¡± Carl quickly looked around, and the servants hastily looked down. It was not allowed to talk about their master and mistress¡¯ night affair. The door of the bedroom had been made with a special material by a great craftsman, so it normally didn¡¯t let any noisee out. Although the duke always left the room to go to his office at dawn because of his busy work, he came to his wife¡¯s room every night. And when he left the room, although Rubica was lying on the bed, her eyes were wide open. So, what were they doing every night instead of sleeping? They asked that among themselves but, actually, they all thought they knew the answer. If Rubica had known that famous misunderstanding, she would have beaten her chest in anger. ¡°I can¡¯t assure you she will not be taken down by his temptation.¡± ¡°Ann.¡± ¡°And if he wickedly cries with his beautiful eyes...¡± ¡°Ann, do not insult our master anymore.¡± Carl firmly spoke to her with a red face. The other servants¡¯ faces were all red as well, but with a very different thought. They served Edgar. They helped him get changed and take baths, so they knew every part of his body. ¡®Mrs. Taylor, if she surrenders, it wouldn¡¯t be because of tears.¡¯ ¡®Well, he is wicked. Ha, gods have given him everything. His title, his face, and even his huge...¡¯ The attendant shook his head to dismiss what came after that and Carl realized what they were thinking. Even though the two were married and it was only natural, it was indecent. However, Ann, the housekeeper, didn¡¯t know that. Even though maids were no more than extended hands of their master, Edgar really hated it when they touched him. He was different from some noblemen who picked pretty maids to serve them. That was why there wasn¡¯t even a single scandal known to the maids. They rather thought he was a nymph who hade down from the sky. Half of it was true, but Carl feared standing there longer would start the spread of some shocking rumors. Of course, as the two were married, people would only say they were madly in love. ¡°We should go now. There¡¯s nothing more we can do about this.¡± ¡°But we must wait for him toe out and...¡± Ann just couldn¡¯t give up, so Carl had to drag her by her arm. ¡°We should give them time to sleep anyway.¡± Ann looked at the bedroom¡¯s door worriedly. Then she prayed Rubica would not surrender to Edgar¡¯s tears. He had only shown his beautiful but cold aspect, so if he cried and pleaded, no woman was going to be able to resist that. Ann was truly worried. Rubica was so kind, and she was not going to be able to stand against Edgar if he was determined to seduce her. What happened till now was enough to prove it. The duke had made her pregnant, and then he got what he wanted and did a humble ¨C actually, it was only humble in Ann¡¯s mind ¨C wedding. ¡®I never knew he would turn out to be so spoiled.¡¯ When had it all started? Maybe she had been too kind to him during his childhood. She had been worried about him being too cold to women, but she had thought it was better than bing a womanizer. However, she hadn¡¯t known he would grow up to be a man who literally controlled the woman he loved. If only she could turn back time, she wanted to go back to the past and teach little Edgar it was wrong to treat a woman like that just because he had a pretty face, especially when it was the woman he loved. Now his pretty face was enough to satisfy Rubica, but it wasn¡¯t like they could depend on her patience forever. However, those thoughts were quite unfair. The person who had surrendered to tears and was about to change everything was Edgar, not Rubica. It was just that those tears had been truthful, not false, and Rubica had cried while she gave up on her ideal, not to seduce Edgar. ¡°Rubica.¡± Rubica tried to fight back hard in Edgar¡¯s arms, but she soon gave up and stopped fighting. There was nothing more unfair than the gap in strength between men and women. Edgar sadly called her name, but she was still mad and didn¡¯t say anything. She could feel his breath on her head. However, she hadn¡¯t done any crazy thing such as hugging him back to calm him down. She was really, really mad. ¡°... now can we talk?¡± Rubica didn¡¯t answer again. However, Edgar immediately knew she had calmed down and was ready to talk. He suddenly undid the lock of his hands. It felt so hollow when the warmth that had filled his chest was gone, but when he met the auburn eyes fiercely ring at him, he felt so choked that he couldn¡¯t even feel that hollowness anymore. ¡°Rubica.¡± She swatted his hand. It was a clear refusal, but Edgar chose to smile sadly than to be mad. She was going to understand him, once she heard what he was doing. ¡°Why did you do that? Why?¡± ¡°I did it to follow your will.¡± ¡°Follow my will? But I did ept what you said. I told you to get mana quartz. I now know it is for the kingdom and its people, not just for your honor and reputation. So, I made that decision. I wanted to not get mana quartz, but you disagreed with me, so I listened to you and gave up what I believed in to make that decision, and you changed your mind so easily? How can I ever trust you enough to discuss anything with you again?¡± Edgar felt a sweet pain when being med. Then, she had discussed things with him before because she trusted him at least a little. ¡°I couldn¡¯t exin it to you earlier, and I apologize for that. But I wanted you to be genuinely mad.¡± Rubica looked confused. Her anger seemed to be gone and it made Edgar happy. ¡°You are not capable of pretending to be mad.¡± He was right as Rubica was an open book. She couldn¡¯t even fake augh, much less pretend to be mad. She couldugh falsely only when she wanted to show that she was really mad. ¡°You needed me to be mad? Edgar, what are you talking about?¡± ¡°So that people would think you are genuinely against not getting mana quartz.¡± The more they talked, the more confused it got for Rubica. Edgar had expected that, so he smiled charmingly and led her to a chair. She sat down like a good child. ¡®... she¡¯s weak to this smile.¡¯ Edgar wasn¡¯t capable of properly reading her thoughts and reaction yet. But thankfully, he had learned what actions would make her weak. She couldn¡¯t help smiling in front of pretty flowers, lovely girls, pretty dresses and jewels. And, when he smiled charmingly like that in front of her, she sat down as he wanted and took the drink he gave her half dazedly. Even when the drink he was offering her was something she didn¡¯t like, she just gulped it down when he smiled. Chapter 98

Chapter 98: Chapter 98

Edgar was pretty confident in his beauty. Although Rubica had told him that liking beauty and loving were very different things, she liked beauty anyway. It was very different from hating and not caring. Edgar put his hands together, trying to look as elegant as possible. But unfortunately for him, that magic only worked for a short time. Rubica soon woke up and spoke to him coldly. ¡°I want an exnation.¡± She was demanding an exnation instead of remaining mad. It was just like her. Edgar was convinced he would seed in impressing her using words this time. But why he wanted to impress her that much, he still didn¡¯t know. ¡°Rubica, you don¡¯t want us to get mana quartz, right?¡± In her heart, yes. Therefore, Rubica quietly nodded. ¡°But if I propose such an idea, it will cause an uproar. People will say I, who has just be a duchess, is trying to break the family¡¯s tradition...¡± Then, she would get kicked out. That was what she wanted, but the uproar wasn¡¯t going to end with just her getting kicked out. Ann would have to give up her job as the housekeeper for failing to serve and advise her mistress. Look at what had happened with Mrs. Shaynie. There were many people who were after the job as it came with the privilege to work on the ymore¡¯s huge inner budget. They were just elegantly waiting for the right moment instead of openly showing their greed like Mrs. Shaynie had. ¡®... and Khanna¡¯s boutique is reviving after having me as a customer, and Elise has just be mydy-in-waiting.¡¯ If it was only her being kicked out, she would have done it without fearing anything. However, what about Khanna who had barely found a way to support her family and Elise who had received a chance to be ady-in-waiting? The two didn¡¯t have their own connections yet. There was no nobledy who would immediately take them under her wings after Rubica was kicked out. They would rather bebeled as close associates of the duchess, who was kicked out in less than a year, and be discriminated. So, the first reason Rubica abandoned her belief and took a step back was rted to the kingdom¡¯s food, and the next reason was the fact that it could harm the people around her. That was the power of attachment. She tried to be med and kicked out, but she just couldn¡¯t bear to see Ann and the others get med with her. She knew it was her weak point. However, if it had been possible to be cold-hearted just by deciding to be, she wouldn¡¯t have agonized over it in the first ce. Belief was important. It had given her the courage to continue living even in the midst of pain, let her get a glimpse of hope, and love others. However, no belief was more important than the people around her. Of course, there were people who could endure seeing others suffer for what they believed in. Rubica didn¡¯t think those people were bad, she rather found them impressive. It was just that she wasn¡¯t bold enough to do that herself. ¡°But what if I say we should not get mana quartz?¡± ¡°Then...¡± They would protest. They would try to find out what had given him that idea and some of them would ask themselves if the new duchess had spoiled him. ¡°Oh.¡± She widened her eyes, and Edgar smiled as if he knew what was going on in her mind. ¡°... you.¡± No matter what kind of riot people caused and no matter how much the rtives protested, they couldn¡¯t kick Edgar out. He was the head of the family, in blood and his genius brain. People could call him a maniac and arrogant duke, but they couldn¡¯t get rid of him. ¡°I hope everybody will say you protested against my announcement and I stupidly ignored it.¡± He tapped on his desk as if having a pleasant thought, and Rubica¡¯s eyes turned even bigger at seeing that. He thought she was impressed by his clever idea since it would let them get what she wanted without anyone getting hurt. There was no way to tell he was doing it because she wanted it and hurt everyone. So, he used a little trick. Although now he alone was going to be med, Edgar was nning to ignore all that. He didn¡¯t care about traditions anymore. ¡°But Edgar, you told me yourself, it¡¯s part of ymore¡¯s tradition...¡± Was Rubica happy about not getting mana quartz? Of course. However, for now, she couldn¡¯t believe it yet. It wasn¡¯t just because Edgar waspletely agreeing with her, but he also found a way to do it. If she tried to do it herself, she would not be able to do it because of the many people who would protest, and even if she seeded, she would bebeled as a witch who hade to ruin the family. Moreover, thatbel was going to stick on her and bother her every time she or Ann tried to do something. Maybe it would even hurt Elise when she was introduced to society. People could say it could have been that youngdy-in-waiting who gave the duchess the wrong ideas. However, things were going to be different if Edgar did it. He would be called a selfish and foolish tyrant who broke tradition, but he was going to get what he wanted eventually. Sadly, he had a much bigger influence on the family than she had. Rubica wasn¡¯t going to protest about it as she had just gotten here and was nning to leave soon. However, she didn¡¯t know when Edgar changed his mind, and it bothered her. Why did he make such an important decision so suddenly? ¡°Just because it¡¯s a tradition, it doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s right.¡± ¡°But Edgar, you were telling me getting mana quartz was absolutely necessary only a while ago. I... I didn¡¯t want innocent adventurers to die, but I admitted it was necessary after hearing your exnation and gave up.¡± ¡°Yes, Rubica. It was needed.¡± Yes. It had been necessary. However, looking down at the crying Rubica, he had asked himself a question. Was it really needed enough to make her give up on her belief of trying to protect many lives? When he asked that, he got a clear answer. He even found himself foolish for never asking that before. He had approved it without much thought just because he had been told it was a tradition that was always necessary. His money and wealth had been made on the people¡¯s blood. Maybe it had been the reason why he hadn¡¯t given much thought to it. Many people in the Seritos kingdom were surviving with grain traded with the weapons he made but, at the same time, many lives were perishing in many ces on the continent because of those weapons. That was a fact. ¡°But the time it was needed was a long, long time ago. Back then, people didn¡¯t know how great the mana stone¡¯s power was and how destructive weapons made with it could be.¡± Mana stones had great energy. However, it couldn¡¯t be sold at a high price without people knowing how great that energy was, and the ymore Family had a huge influence in Seritos because of that. If the ymore¡¯s weapons couldn¡¯t prove the great and huge power the mana stones had, they would never sell. When the kingdom was first founded and the first ymore made his first weapons, there was no way to let people know of it. Who on earth would buy unproved mana stones and weapons made with it? So, Seritos and the first ymore provided those weapons to a band of adventurers who went to the monsters¡¯ territory for treasure, and it worked. The adventurers defeated the monsters, that had been thought to be invincible back then, and took their treasure. They shared it among themselves and went home. Then, they all started to talk about the power of the weapons that made their adventure sessful. They were talkative. They never ceased to talk about how brave they had been and how their weapons had reduced those monsters to ashes. There couldn¡¯t have been a better promotion. Thanks to that, the weapons started to sell quickly, and Seritos and ymore were founded. Getting mana quartz was one of the traces it had left. ¡°Now the whole world knows that the weapons from ymore are great, so such a thing isn¡¯t needed.¡± ¡°But what about testing weapons in a real battle...¡± Edgar stopped her by putting a finger on her lips. His finger was so soft. ¡°I thought having that test done by getting mana quartz was a good choice till now, that is why I haven¡¯t been able to find another way. Now that we know it is not right, we will find another way. I think it would be good to send them to the northernnd. Helping its inhabitants expand human territories does sound and look better than getting mana quartz since it¡¯s nothing more than a luxury item.¡± ¡°But your rtives will protest.¡± ¡°The king has summoned me. I will go to the capital tomorrow, deal with him, and get the royal edict.¡± Chapter 99

Chapter 99: Chapter 99

Edgar didn¡¯t take his eyes off Rubica as he exined. The shock and anger in her eyes faded. Now, they were the kind and cute eyes he normally saw through the window. ¡°Edgar...¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t say more. What else could she say? She thought Edgar¡¯s blue eyes were sparkling colder than before, but now they looked so clear and beautiful. Even the blue sky was palepared to them. ¡°Do not worry about convincing the king. He is a rational man, so he will decide to minimize the casualties just like you argued.¡± Unexinable passion came up and stroke Rubica. Her entire body shook and then something exploded deep in her chest. She didn¡¯t know what it was as she had never experienced anything like that. She didn¡¯t know what was exploding, but that feeling absorbed her and flooded out. She couldn¡¯t resist it. She pulled Edgar close and hugged him tightly. ¡°Edgar, Edgar.¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t even breath since Rubica was suddenly embracing him. He didn¡¯t even know how his heart was beating. She embraced him first. She kept calling his name. He even wanted to pinch himself to test if this was a dream. Everything looked fuzzy. But then, everything started to look twice clearer. Rubica¡¯s voice calling him echoed near his ears. The two were in the bedroom, but it felt like they were deep in the canyon. Oh, he went between heaven and hell many times in a single day when he was with her. He hadn¡¯t known he was that fickle. ¡°Edgar, hup.¡± Then, Rubica sniffled, and it brought Edgar immediately back to his senses. Next, he pulled himself away from Rubica, even if he wanted to embrace her forever, and looked at her. Tears wereing out from her eyes, so Edgar feared he might have done something wrong. ¡°Have I done something wrong?¡± Rubica shook her head. But still, Edgar wasn¡¯t relieved. ¡°Did I say something wrong again? What did I do to hurt your feelings?¡± He got rid of the pride he always tried to keep in front of her and confessed he said many bad things until now. ¡°I realized it will make you unhappy only after I say something. I hope... I hope you understand. The people I meet are always trying to tter me, get things from me, and protest when not given, so I always push everyone away. That is why I don¡¯t know how I should treat you...¡± ¡°No, no. That¡¯s not it. Edgar.¡± In the end, Rubica cut him short when he was confessing his true feelings and held his hand tightly. He didn¡¯t have the courage to look straight at her face and looked away. ¡°I¡¯m just d, that¡¯s all... you know, you cry sometimes when you are too happy.¡± He looked straight at Rubica only then. Although she was crying, her eyes were sparkling with joy. Edgar knew her eyes twinkled like two rubies in the moonlight at night when she was happy, and her smile was as round as the crescent moon. He moaned as his body rxed in less than a second. He had found the best thing he could do for her and did it. However, if she still hated him after doing his best, what was he supposed to do then? When he heard Rubica cry, he had been seized by such fear. However, what he had done was the right thing. He had done his best, and now Rubica felt the biggest joy, so Edgar felt proud of himself. He could even make her that happy. ¡°Thank you. Thank you so much for understanding what I said and what I meant.¡± Tears came out again as she spoke. He didn¡¯t want to see her cry, even if those were tears of joy. Therefore, he hastily wiped her tears with his sleeve. But, for some reason, she kept crying even though she was trying to stop. Was it because she could finally rx now? ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I should stop now...¡± She continued to cry like a broken tap, but she wasn¡¯t sad at all. She was rather relieved, and it was much easier to breathe. Only now, she realized that she had been very tense ever since she arrived at the mansion. ¡°There¡¯s no need to force yourself to stop.¡± Edgar said that to Rubica as she tried to stop crying. Then, he gently patted her shoulder. He regretted not doing it sooner. Now she was crying because she knew he was understanding her, but she had cried for a very different reason before dinner. Although she didn¡¯t know the meaning of those tears yet, Edgar knew. It was the tears of someone who realized she had fallen into a strange world where you could never be understood. No matter how hard she tried, convinced, and expressed her heart, no one listened to her. To survive in thend of cyclopes, you must get rid of one of your eyes. Edgar knew insisting on the matter would make Rubica never open her heart to him. Maybe she would wither like a flower. He hated that, and he didn¡¯t want that to happen. So, he decided to change. It was easier to change himself than to change her, and it would make convincing others much easier. He knew the meaning of her tears because he was no different. He had been saved when Rubica pped him and told him he couldn¡¯t do it even if the girl wanted it as long as they were not in love with each other. She rejected him but, by doing so, she pulled him out from a deep swamp. When everyone said he was strange, only she said he wasn¡¯t strange and was extremely normal. There were so many people who praised him, but he always felt rejected. He didn¡¯t cry out loud like she did but, instead, he built strong and high walls around him. However, she was kind and easily believed in people, so she couldn¡¯t do that and cried instead. Edgar hated that. He was able to get rid of one of the burdens that were suppressing him after he met her. When he looked at the world with more ease, it started to glow in very different lights. Now he moved on from the thoughts that had angered him previously. However, he made the person who lightened his burden carry a huge weight. He was so indebted to her, but he didn¡¯t want to live in debt. He was Duke ymore who could have anything and do anything. Him, carrying debt? He didn¡¯t want to leave such a word in his life. Indebted to none other than Rubica? No, absolutely not. So, he tried to clear that debt. If the world couldn¡¯t understand her, he could side with her and change the world. No matter what kind of hardship he faced, it was better than being indebted to her. That was the decision he had made earlier today while he worked hard in his office. ¡°Here. You don¡¯t have to stop crying, but you must drink some water. Or you will get dehydrated.¡± Edgar spoke kindly and offered Rubica a cup full of warm water. She snuffled as she took it and drank it. When she emptied the cup, Edgar nced at the clock. It was one in the morning. Before, Rubica wished the time would pass faster, but now she felt somewhat sad about the time going by so fast. She hesitated, but then she looked up at him. ¡°If you leave now, the servants will think it was you who made me cry...¡± She regretted saying it as soon as she said it since it could sound as if she wanted him to stay. Edgar, however, just smiled. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Then, he sprinkled water on a handkerchief and handed it to Rubica. ¡°Today, cry as much as you want. There¡¯s no need to exin even if anyone asks. If you don¡¯t want to be alone, call Ann or that...dy-in-waiting you just hired. Do as you want.¡± Doing that was going to make people think she grieved a lot, and that was what Edgar was after. After he left, servants were going to see Rubica cry and spread rumors. The duchess tried to make the duke change his mind with tears, but he didn¡¯t listen. After such rumors were spread, no one would be able to hurt her about his decision rted to mana quartz. He was going to make her perfectly safe from the fight that was about to take ce, and soon Rubica realized what he meant. ¡°Edgar, there¡¯s no need to do that for me.¡± However, Edgar shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not for you.¡± ¡°But I gave you this idea, and...¡± ¡°I¡¯m the one who agreed to it, and it is more efficient for me to do it to make it happen.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°Rubica, if you are trying to do something but the person who¡¯s in it with you is being bitten off, will you be able to not to bend your will?¡± It made Rubica shut her mouth. She could have done it herself if she had been the only one to be in trouble because of the mana quartz, but she had backed off when knowing that decision of hers could harm Ann, Elise, and the others around her. Chapter 100

Chapter 100: Chapter 100

¡°I should be the one insisting on it.¡± Rubica looked at him with tearful eyes. Graceful, polite, but reserved posture. Hair that was so dark and sexy. The delicate line of his chin, and the lips as red as those of a woman¡¯s, and cold blue eyes that made her cold right to the bones. Edgar was Edgar. He had always been the same. The wless beautiful man who never changed. However, he looked kind. Before, she had seen a cold man made of ice, but now his blue eyes didn¡¯t seem cold. Was it him who had changed? Or was it her? ¡®Oh.¡¯ Her heart started to beat, slowly but surely. Moreover, that heartbeat was clearly different from what she felt when she was impressed by his beauty. She was surprised, but she couldn¡¯t take her eyes off him as if she had been possessed by something. ¡°So, rest for today, and if anyone asks why you are crying, say it¡¯s because of me.¡± Thest part came out withughter. Edgar looked quite pleased that she was crying because of him. He added a goodnight, but he didn¡¯t leave after that. Instead, he came to her. Then, he gently grabbed her cheek and made her look at him. Her deep and dark auburn eyes met the blue eyes as clear as the blue sky. His breath fell on her cheeks and eyes. As usual, his fresh but manly scent shrouded her. Unexinable but hot and strong feelings engulfed them both. He always kissed her forehead every night before leaving. It was like a ritual. But, was it because he hadn¡¯t done it yesterday? Today there was tension that hadn¡¯t been there yesterday. ¡®... I must look down.¡¯ When she looked away, he was going to kiss her forehead after a light sigh. That was how it always happened. But now, strangely, she couldn¡¯t look down. His blue eyes were just too beautiful to avoid. His eyes were like a mysterious ocean that had everything in the world in it. They were like the universe. Those beautiful eyes were looking down at her. Then, he carefully touched her cheek. She didn¡¯t hate it at all. Before, it felt awkward and strange, but not at all now. It felt warm and hot at the same time. The cheek his fingers were on felt like it was on fire, and she could also feel the strength of his arm around her very well. It felt like it was the world and nothing else existed. Moreover, she couldn¡¯t feel where she was and what she was doing at all. The auburn eyes and blue eyes started to intertwine. As they intertwined, she could feel herself being intertwined to him and disappearing. ¡®Bum, bum, bum.¡¯ Her heart started to beat differently. It was different from when it beat fast at seeing beauty. However, it was also different from when she saw Arman. She couldn¡¯t define what that feeling was, what that sensation was. Time passed slowly. Edgar¡¯s blue eyes started toe closer as if ready to engulf her. But then, it stopped right in front of her. Unlike the earlier warm mood, a tense passion overflowed between them. If she took a step back, he would take back his hand stroking her chin and stop looking at her like that without hesitation. Rubica thought that was what she had to do. She had to back off. She had to say stop, but her body refused to do that. She couldn¡¯t move from his gaze and breath just like a captured fish. ¡°Rubica.¡± She heard a low but kind voice, and her head felt dizzy as if she had a cold. Why was she doing this? Why on earth was she doing this? She felt so dizzy. No matter how hard she tried to think, her brain couldn¡¯t find the answer. The hollowness in her heart was filled by him. She slowly closed her eyes as if it was only right, as if she was only doing what she had to do. Was it desire or fate? She didn¡¯t know why she was doing it. However, Edgar knew what he was supposed to do. He knew what kind of signal she was sending him. His lips met hers as if it were only right. It was different from the first sudden kiss they had shared. His lips softly caressed hers first as if telling her not to be afraid. He held her tightly as if saying he would protect everything that was her. He couldn¡¯t believe she was letting him do that, but he decided not to rush like an idiot. He wanted to be careful with her and not break the precious moment. Their heartbeats slowly mixed and something soft came in between her lips. Although his hands were always cold, his tongue was hot. It started to madly explore her. ¡®Hup.¡¯ His two hands hugged her waist tightly. She was on her tiptoes and was bent backward. Soon, however, the passionate kiss was started. ¡®Shit.¡¯ Edgar barely managed not to say that out loud. He did not mean to act like a fool. Rubica was just opening up to him, so he had nned to soothe her lest she runs away. However, when she reacted even slightly to his desperate knocking, he lost his reason. Beyond her lips was way too sweet. His body wholly surrendered to her temptation. She had done nothing. She had just closed her eyes like she usually would when shey still on the bed and had reacted just a little to him, but he felt a maddening sensation. Her sweet and hot lips. He felt the desire to enjoy their insides forever. He wanted to reach the end of it only if he could. If he could only have her, then he would be ready to throw ymore to the dogs. He never thought of abandoning his duties before. But when it came to her, his strong will became weaker than paper. Tradition? Whatever. Attack me if you want. He could do anything if only her kiss was given to him. He should have done this long ago. He should have listened to her sooner. He had been an idiot to leave her crying. He felt like he had wings on his back and was flying to heaven. Then, she pushed him away, and it dropped him from heaven to hell in an instant. ¡°Rubica.¡± He couldn¡¯t understand why she was doing this so suddenly, but she didn¡¯t even look at him. She fell down on the nearest chair and buried her face in it. ¡°Just go.¡± Edgar was confused. He thought she was finally opening up to him, so what was this clear refusal? He didn¡¯t know why. ¡°But why?¡± ¡°Just go, please.¡± She waved her left arm at him without looking up as if she didn¡¯t want to talk any more. He wanted to beg her to show him her face. She had opened her heart to him, so he didn¡¯t want to miss the opportunity. However, judging from her cringing shoulders, it looked like it would only backfire. She had added ¡®please¡¯. She didn¡¯t do that normally, so it was a sign. It was the kind of habit of hers that came out only when she couldn¡¯t afford to keep manners. ¡°Okay. I will go now.¡± Although Edgar said that, he couldn¡¯t move for a long time. Her shoulders, however, were weakly trembling. If only he could, he wanted to stretch out his hand and pat her. However, he took back his hand. ¡®It¡¯s the gesture I despise the most.¡¯ People who came thinking they knew everything about him and touched him saying they could mend his wounds. Edgar despised them. Every time it happened, they made excuses, saying they had done it as friends or admirers out of friendship and love. Therefore, he looked back at them coldly. ¡®... now I know how they felt at least a little.¡¯ He had thought they were lying. He had thought they were trying to find his weak spot and control him and ymore. But now, he thought at least a little of it could have been genuine. But unlike them, Edgar didn¡¯t want to ignore Rubica¡¯s feeling and force her to share her pain with him. He knew what it felt like, and it was the most ufortable thing. ¡°... Rubica, just don¡¯t be alone tonight. At least call someone who canfort you.¡± However, he just couldn¡¯t leave her crying, so he gave her a stupid solution before leaving. Soon he put on the coldest and angriest expression he could make and left through the door. Ann and Carl were still waiting there with the other servants even if it waste at night. Edgar pointed at the bedroom¡¯s door with his chin for Ann and left for his office with Carl. ¡°Madam!¡± As soon as Edgar left, Ann opened the door and ran in. The servants could only nce inside before the door closed. All they could see was a handkerchief damp with tears on the table. Rubica, who had her face buried in a chair, looked up when Ann called her. Her eyes were wet and red with tears. It looked like the two had a great fight. Chapter 101

Chapter 101: Chapter 101

¡°Are you alright?¡± Ann wiped the tears on Rubica¡¯s face. She had not been able to stop crying before, but now she couldn¡¯t shed even a drop of tear. ¡°Should I prepare warm water and, um, bring a puppy?¡± Ann couldn¡¯t ask Rubica if she had convinced Edgar. The duke hade out with a firm face, so there was no need to ask. Ann just pitied the girl for having to argue with her husband for the family. She hade to an unfamiliar ce and was supposed to be loved by her husband. She could stay up all night if only she could console her. ¡°No, there¡¯s no need for that.¡± However, Rubica only shook her head. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t overwork yourself because of me. Just go and rest. You should have gone to bed hours ago.¡± Was it because she had cried for so long? Her voice sounded hoarse. Ann felt even more worried about her. ¡°But how can I leave you like this and go to bed?¡± ¡°I want to be alone for today.¡± Rubica spoke firmly, so Ann was forced to shut her mouth that wanted to say something more. ¡°I see, but please, pull the rope if you need anything. I wille right away.¡± Rubica nodded instead of shaking her head. If she had refused even that, Ann would have thought she was in serious condition and would have never left her. Ann had a maid bring a kettle of hot water and wiped Rubica¡¯s face clean with a hot towel. She left the room after hesitating for a long time. Although it was less than twenty steps from the bed to the door, she looked back ten times. The sudden announcement of the duke about mana quartz and the fight between him and his wife. Ann pitied Rubica so much that shepletely forgot that it had been her who had insisted on not getting mana quartz only yesterday. The moment Ann closed the door behind her, Rubica quickly opened a drawer next to the bed. Then, she took out the ring. Some kind of strange guilt absorbed her. It had been only for a moment, but she had been attracted to Edgar. Moreover, it had been different from being dragged to beauty. ¡°Arman.¡± Rubica carefully lifted the ring as if it were made of fragile ss and called the name of her beloved. She could almost see him saying ¡®yes¡¯ to her call, but she hadn¡¯t seen him for almost a month by now. Even though she managed to find Arman in this time, there was no guarantee he would be the same Arman in her memories. Nevertheless, she wanted to see him. She wanted to check her heart beating when seeing him once again. Moreover, she wanted to be relieved. Arman was the man she loved. There was no way her love was shaken so easily. Rubica was easily impressed by beauty, but it didn¡¯t mean she loved its owner. She had found out what love was only at an old age. And now, her heart was attracted to someone else in less than three months aftering back in time... Yes, Edgar was handsome. He was rich. He was capable, too. They had the worst rtionship at first, but she found out he wasn¡¯t hopelessly bad. It was rather strange that she hadn¡¯t fallen in love the moment she first saw him, but that was exactly what made her hesitate and feel guilty. She wanted to argue to someone what she wasn¡¯t a snob who fell in love for money and pretty faces. It was hrious. He was literally the best man in the continent, and she was wondering if she was a snob for being attracted to him... However, loving someone else other than Arman felt somewhat wrong. ¡°Arman, what is wrong with me?¡± She wished she could ask him if only she could. Why was she doing that? And what was she supposed to do? Where was her strange heart going toward? She wanted to ask the man who was much smarter than she was and had always supported her during the hard times. However, he wasn¡¯t here. There was no one she could confess herplicated and sad story and discuss with. So, she chose the ring as Arman¡¯s avatar. It was the only thing that linked the future and present that had once been the past. ¡°... he tapped on the table when thinking.¡± That was Arman¡¯s habit. He would tap on the table or the ground when he was stuck or couldn¡¯te up with a good idea. ¡°And you like the same fruits.¡± Arman wasn¡¯t a picky eater. He always ate what he was given. Still, he had preferences. After she got to like him, she naturally learned about his tastes. On the other hand, Edgar was a picky eater. So, she knew what he ate although she never wanted to find out. And surprisingly, he liked the same things Arman liked. Was it because of that? Was it because of such simrities? She had seen Arman in Edgar for a second. Although she had failed to express herself because of her foolish head and mouth and had a small quarrel, he understood her and came up with the best way to make it happen. Although there had been a quarrel in the middle of the process, he hade up with the same result with Arman. That was why she had been reminded of Arman and it had confused her heart. It had all been an illusion. Rubica closed her eyes and tried to recall Arman. It wasn¡¯t like it had been a long time, but a corner of her memories was already being damaged. She could easily recall his face, but she couldn¡¯t remember the details like the shape of his hands and how many wrinkles he had on his wrist. ¡°I went too far.¡± She shook her head. Edgar and Arman, simr to each other? No way. Edgar had gracefully long arms and legs, but Arman had a bent back and his legs were not at all beautiful to look at. He was clearly different from the handsome duke, although the two had a simr calm attitude and refined manner... ¡°Oh my, I¡¯m looking for simrities again.¡± Rubica stared at the ring on her palm for a long time. In the present that was also the past where everything had dramatically changed, the ring was all she had. She med her own foolishness and prayed all night to quickly meet Arman again. But sadly, she couldn¡¯t even guess what she was supposed to do to meet him. *** Edgar left the bedroom and arrived at his office. Carl was, of course, next to him. He really wanted to ask about the conversation Edgar had with Rubica, but he kept his mouth shut. He was Edgar¡¯s butler and his loyal servant. He was only supposed to do as his master wanted. Advising wasn¡¯t part of his job. That was the duty and responsibility only the family¡¯s retainers had. He rather regretted crossing the line for thest two weeks. About matters rted to Rubica, it was pretty much impossible for both Edgar and him to do as normal. What was it about? Was it because she was the lead for breaking the curse of his master? ¡°I want to leave before sunrise. Prepare a carriage.¡± Edgar looked at the sofa and bed in the resting room right next to his office as he spoke. ¡°Are we going to the king¡¯s castle?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I will make arrangements. We will be able to arrive tomorrow evening.¡± ¡°And I want an audience with the king as soon as I arrive.¡± The king had sent many pigeons asking when he could go to the capital. He couldn¡¯t stand it more and even sent a messenger on a mana stone carriage yesterday. Edgar had been postponing his journey to the capital, making excuses about his research and management of the dukedom. So, if he suddenly changed his mind and arrived at the king¡¯s castle, the king was going to be delighted. He was a utilitarian. ¡°I will have Sir Stephen leave first and guard the house.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Edgar halfheartedly replied andy on the bed. Carl pitied him for that. The duke, sleeping in a small bed in the resting room in his own mansion. Edgar alwayscked sleep. It would have been better if he could sleep on afortable bed, but it wasn¡¯t like he could openly use the room adjacent to his office as a bedroom. In that perspective, the house at the capital, that had few workers, was rather better. Edgar had it renovated and cleared an entire floor, so he could move around freely without worrying about being seen in the daytime. The servants and maid who had been reced at once had been ordered not toe upstairs as the duke was quite sensitive, and they diligently obeyed that order. There he would be able to sleep on afy bed during the daytime. ¡°Then please rest.¡± The butler was about to drop a few drops ofvender oil on dried flowers for a goodnight¡¯s sleep, but then he stopped. Edgar had been having nightmares after what had happened three years ago and hadn¡¯t been able to fall asleep easily. But now, he was so deep in sleep that he couldn¡¯t even hear Carl. It happened the moment his head hit the pillow. Chapter 102

Chapter 102: Chapter 102

¡°Since when?¡± After Rubica¡¯s arrival, Edgar secretly went to his office to sleep after the servants left. Carl thought it would be better not to be near him lest others might see him, so he didn¡¯t serve him at that time. So, he couldn¡¯t tell if this had been happening for some time, or it was a one-off thing. ¡°Well, he quarreled with his wife, so he must be exhausted.¡± Carl decided to think it was a one-off thing for now and didn¡¯t drop thevender oil on the flowers. The oil was supposed to bring a goodnight¡¯s sleep, but as Edgar was already deep in sleep, there was no need to rely on the scent. His eyes started to shake as he let the room. He decided to dismiss it as a one-off thing, but he hoped that wasn¡¯t the case. Edgar and Rubica certainly fought often. To those who didn¡¯t know the true story between them, it just looked like a cute love fight, but not to Carl. Edgar looked quite troubled in front of her. But strangely, he started to smile more often than before, and he even looked quite amused sometimes. It was certainly different from when he had lived only because he couldn¡¯t die. ¡®No, I must not rush.¡¯ Carl recalled his mistake. He had grown up with Edgar¡¯s father and had served him loyally aftering of age. When he told Carl he was dying because of love, he was shaken andmitted an unforgivable sin. Edgar¡¯s father was a man like fire. When he was separated from his lover, he refused to eat and became sick. His wife didn¡¯t even know what it was about, but she was just sad to see her husband sick and tried to make him eat at least a little. However, he just yelled at her. At the time, Carl thought he truly was dying. He said he would move on if Carl only helped him meet her only once and, in the end, Carl did what he asked. However, it happened again. And again. A month became two, and then a year. Soon, the duke had him prepare the visit to the vi as if it was natural when his wife left to see their son. -Your Grace, no. Not anymore. -But Edgar will soon graduate from the Academy, so this will be thest time. Just... please. Let me meet her once again. I will then end this rtionship without any remorse. Carl, I cannot live without her. When Carl refused, the duke would immediately get sick. Then, he kept moaning about how miserable he was to live a life where his love could not beplete. He said she was the only one who epted him for who he really was. Carl always lived to serve him, and he had no choice but to do as he was ordered every time. And, the oue was destruction. The duke, who said he loved his lover so much, told his wife he didn¡¯t love her the moment he was busted. He said the duchess was the only woman he loved. Only then, Carl realized he had done something shameful. He had been neither ark nor a guide who brought true lovers together. He had only been an aplice of that dirty affair. ¡®I don¡¯t deserve to think he might be in love.¡¯ He scolded himself. He didn¡¯t deserve to judge Edgar¡¯s state or love. Just like Edgar was living, instead of killing himself, only to take his duties as Duke ymore, he lived to repent, to be at least of the slightest help in breaking the curse that had been put upon Edgar because of his sin. What he had to do was clear. To be the hands and feet of the duke who couldn¡¯t move freely, and to make sure no one ever got to find out that he had been cursed. He moved to the guard¡¯s ce. He always sent Stephen, the captain of the guards, first to check to prevent something happening and revealing the fact that Edgar couldn¡¯t walk during the day. Stephen always did his job withoutining, even when summoned suddenly duringte hours. He was good and had heavy lips. If it hadn¡¯t been for him, Edgar and Carl would have missed Rubica when she was running away. Moreover, he had never told others Rubica tried to run away. ¡°I¡¯m looking for Sir Stephen.¡± Carl spoke to the knight who was on guard. The knight, however, didn¡¯t like that someone was looking for his captain sote at night and didn¡¯t reply immediately. ¡°What is this about?¡± ¡°Order of the duke.¡± ¡°He is in the Peace Room now.¡± The Peace Room was the ce for messenger birds. Carl was confused at learning Stephen was there sote at night. ¡°He got a letter from his brother and is sending a reply. Should I tell him you are here?¡± ¡°No. I¡¯ll go there myself.¡± Although Carl was Edgar¡¯s closest man who managed everything in the mansion, he was still much lower in rankpared to the guard knights. Asking the knight to deliver a message for him could offend Stephen, so Carl left him with a polite goodbye and headed to the Peace Room. The family had a huge domain and many businesses, so it received a lot of news. Latest thesis, schrs¡¯ experiment results, supply and demand of iron to make weapons, development of various chemical ingredients. It all depended on who got what information first. Mana stones carriages were the best at delivering news quickly, but as mana stone used a rare power source, it couldn¡¯t be used like that. There was a message system run by the government but using it could have important documents switched in the middle and information would leak. So, ymore raised and managed many messenger birds. Its attendants were not allowed to use those birds to send private messages, but Stephen was a knight. The division that managed the birds was also part of the knight order. ¡°Sir Stephen.¡± Stephen had been tying a little note to the most well-trained and fasted owl. He looked back at hearing someone calling him. His mysterious brown eyes seemed on guard. That was how knights always were. They acted as if they were encountering enemies when called by their name unless it was their master or a fellow knight. ¡°What is this about? It¡¯ste night.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you sending a letter to your brother? It¡¯s the duke¡¯s order, but it¡¯s not urgent. I can wait when you are done.¡± Carl spoke trying not to sound like someone who was criticizing the knight for sending a private letter using the well-trained owl instead of a pigeon. Fortunately, Stephen didn¡¯t take it that way and shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s nothing more important to me than the duke¡¯s order. What is it?¡± ¡°He is leaving for the capital tomorrow morning. He will arrive there by evening.¡± ¡°Is he heading straight to the king¡¯s castle?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± ¡°I see. I will leave right away.¡± He was a great knight indeed. Sir Stephen was great with his sword, well-mannered, and very smart. Carl expressed his deep admiration and left the room. Stephen stared at him as he left and then undid the strap around the owl¡¯s foot. He spread it and took out a bar of graphite to hastily add a line to it. ¡®The duke is heading to the capital.¡¯ Above that sentence, it was written the duchess had recently invested in the development of roses, and although it didn¡¯t seem to be rted to the ymore¡¯s business, Rubica had to be looked into as she did many strange things. ¡°Sophie, then please.¡± Stephen stroked the owl¡¯s head after tying the note back to its foot. It pleasantly hooted and flew out toward the night sky. Unlike other messenger birds, the owl only obeyed him and his brother. When others tried to stroke it, it would bite with its fierce beak or use its sharp ws. Plus, as it moved only at night, it was almost impossible to hit it with arrows. Stephen turned and left the room without any worries. He knew what he was supposed to do. Exterminate every danger on the duke¡¯s way. ¡®So that people will not find out that he can¡¯t move during the day.¡¯ He could already guess about Edgar¡¯s state. But why he couldn¡¯t move at all during the day, he didn¡¯t know. However, he was not going to tear down the trust on which he had worked so hard just to find out why. It would be like cutting the belly of a goose thatid golden eggs. He was going to find out eventually if he remained at the duke¡¯s side with patience. *** The decision about mana quartz was big. Rubica got a report about the rtives at the annex requesting to meet her before she even got to dip her hands in the basin of warm water on her bed. ¡°Where¡¯s Edgar?¡± ¡°He has gone to the capital to see the king.¡± ¡°So suddenly?¡± ¡°Yes. Actually, the king has summoned him more than once... he left early in the morning.¡± Ann looked extremely tired. If Edgar had stayed, Ann would have scolded him even before the rtives did. Rubica was a little sad to find out he had left without telling her, but she thought it was all the better. Edgar was the maker of that decision. It would be better for her to meet those rtives mad with betrayal than him meeting them himself. She had decided to do it together. He had started it for her. She would rather be sorry to him if she couldn¡¯t handle even a handful of mad rtives. Chapter 103

Chapter 103: Chapter 103

¡°Then I must get ready quickly.¡± Rubica washed her hands without using soap properly to get ready quickly, but Ann stopped her. ¡°No, you should take your time.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°They¡¯re the ones who stormed in here early in the morning without taking the steps to officially request an audience with you, so you must show them the manners. They¡¯re being rude, so they should be prepared to be untreated.¡± She sounded firm. And, although she could understand how puzzled those rtives were and why they were trying to stop it, she thought manners were a different matter. They hade early in the morning and were demanding to meet the duchess before she could even wash her face. That was a clear challenge to her authority. Ann couldn¡¯t let some bugs climb onto her mistress¡¯ head. Rubica hadn¡¯t known Ann had such a harsh aspect to her as she always looked so kind. However, the maids and Elise, who hade to serve her, also looked very serious. It looked like she had to brace herself properly. Although Edgar had started everything first, it had all started because of her determination. She decided to keep up the pace with Edgar¡¯s action. ¡°Then I should wash my hands again.¡± She made enough foams this time. She dismissed the rtives waiting downstairs from her mind and got ready slower than ever. However, even if she was going to mistreat them on purpose, doing it too well could backfire. ¡°Please give a simple breakfast to those who are waiting.¡± It could look like some form of kind hospitality, but actually, it was an elegant way of scolding and protesting for storming in even before breakfast time. It was the method Rubica¡¯s mother and aunt had used sometimes. ¡°Yes. I will have your breakfast brought here for today.¡± Rubica had to go downstairs to go to the dining hall. Ann wanted to prevent bad things from happening because of the mad rtives, but Rubica was d to hear that. In Seritos, having breakfast in your nightdress in the bedroom was thought to be something that only aristocrats ofzy and extravagant kingdoms like Sharman did. Even nobles were supposed to dress properly and eat in the dining hall in the morning. That was part of the virtues of Seritos. The kingdom really put diligence above any other virtue. However, having breakfast alone in the dining hall while being watched by the servants and maids was almost a torture. Dinnertime with Edgar was much better than that even if they fought every day. ¡°Would it be okay?¡± ¡°We have no other choice for today because of those uninvited guests, so no one will scold you.¡± Rubica felt ufortable to break the rules. Her years at the abbey had taught her keeping the rules made manyfortable. Now she knew it wasn¡¯t the time where theycked supplies that much, but still, it felt ufortable. ¡°Do not worry about it. His Grace has been eating in his office for a long time. If any of the rtives use you, I will tell them to use the duke first.¡± The rtives were probably not going to say that to Edgar. Then Edgar would ask if they were going to do his work instead and give them questions which they would never be able to solve or work that would never finish. Actually, even the king enjoyed breakfast in his bed in secret and everybody knew about it. Beingzy was the sweetest extravagance. ¡°Thank you, Ann.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t thank me. It¡¯s only what I should do.¡± Rubica knew that. Still, she was grateful. If someone like Mrs. Shaynie had been the housekeeper, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to enjoy such kindness and respect. She thought she couldn¡¯t take her inferiors¡¯ kindness and respect for granted just because she was their superior. ¡°Oh, and Ellie.¡± ¡°Yes, Mrs. Taylor.¡± Ann called Elise who was handing towels next to the maids. Ann only called her name, that was all, but her green eyes trembled in fear. She seemed to worry that her gesture of handing towels might have been wrong. Ann thought for a moment while looking at her. Although Rubica could mistreat the rtives, the servants couldn¡¯t. The butler had left with Edgar to the capital to serve him. If there were only maids to serve the rtives, they were going to be offended for being treated likemoners on the streets. The maids were not allowed to tell them what was going on but turning them down tly was going to make those girls pay for it. Maybe they could push the maids aside and storm onto the second floor, the private space of the duke and the duchess. It had to be at least ady-in-waiting to make them listen. Nobles were supposed to have enough reason to know if the girl stopping them was a servant-girl or ady-in-waiting even when losing their temper. In short, either Ann or Elise had to go down to treat the rtives. Ann¡¯s top priority was Rubica. Serving her was more important than treating the rtives. By rules, it had to be Elise who was going to go down as she had just be ady-in-waiting. However, even if she now looked more arrogant after being decorated by the maids, she was a soft-hearted child. The girl was going to cry right away after standing in front of the furious rtives. She did get ready, but the dress she was wearing today wasn¡¯t the one Rubica had given her. It was quite in. If she went out, the rtives would look down on her and directly try to meet Rubica. They might yell why the new duchess couldn¡¯t even discipline herdy-in-waiting and ask why she had kicked Shaynie out if that was the best she could do without her. Ann had to be the one who was going to go down to press the rtives first before Rubica met them. ¡°I will go downstairs to exin to the rtives and offer them breakfast. Would you serve our madam in the meantime?¡± ¡°Really?¡± Elise¡¯s eyes got so much bigger. She got really tense as if she had just been given a huge mission. ¡°I will do my best.¡± Ann had to try not tough at that and patted the girl¡¯s shoulder while whispering, ¡°Just talk to her so that she wouldn¡¯t be nervous and help her have breakfast.¡± Elise wasn¡¯t a perfectdy-in-waiting, but she was better than nothing. If Ann had still been the onlydy-in-waiting, it would have been a lot harder. Plus, Rubica was very fond of the girl. Elise was going to be better atforting her than Ann. ¡°I will do my best.¡± Elise spoke bravely even if her eyes were still shaking. She acted like she had been instructed to save Rubica from hell. Although she appeared to be soft-hearted, she was strong when given a duty. Ann liked that. She might be able to have her handle important things in the future. ¡°Your Grace, then I wille back soon.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Ann got rid of her worries and bowed to Rubica who was wiping her face with a warm towel. Then, she instructed the maids to do their best as Rubica had to face the rtives who hade to protest. She stopped and looked back many times as she went downstairs. Edgar was the one who had dropped the bomb, but Rubica had to take care of it. It made Ann angry. Edgar had run away to the capital and she was somewhat disappointed about it. She decided to confront the duke on behalf of Rubica as soon as he came back. In the meantime, Elise was determined to make Rubica feel better, but she soon faced a difficulty. First of all, she didn¡¯t know what to do to make Rubica feel better. While she wondered what she was supposed to say and what she was supposed to do, the maids moved diligently to apply the cream to Rubica¡¯s washed face and brought the warm breakfast to a small table. ¡°Madam, you should eat first and then get dressed for today.¡± Elise didn¡¯t even get to say that. An old maid did. It made Rubica brighten up and Elise regretted missing the timing. Omelet, fresh fruits, bread, bacon, milk and juice. Rubica sat down on a chair and looked at the food on the table. It was a simple breakfast, but only within the ymore standard. It was enough to make five people full. ¡®I must eat a lot.¡¯ She was going to need a lot of energy to confront those angry rtives. She had to eat more than usual, but her appetite didn¡¯t follow her determination. Eating in the bedroom was morefortable than eating at the dining hall, but she still had to eat alone. She didn¡¯t even touch the warm omelet and hot-roasted bacon. She first ripped a piece of white bread, dipped it in milk, and ate it. Although she managed to swallow it, the food didn¡¯t taste good. It looked like she would finish after a few more bites. The others in the room got worried at seeing she didn¡¯t have any appetite, and it made her lose appetite even more. That was how her breakfast time was always like. ¡®I wish I could call Edgar.¡¯ He was always saying things that made her angry, but it was much better to have that man at the other end of the table. If it had been just eating alone, she would have endured it, but it was even harder with so many people watching. Chapter 104

Chapter 104: Chapter 104

Rubica was very determined to eat until she was full, but everything felt like sand in her mouth. In the end, she put down the bread and managed to drink a ss of milk. Elise nced at her as she refilled the ss with milk. It looked like Rubica had no appetite. In the meantime, Rubica was wondering whether she was supposed to stop there, but eating only a little bread and a ss of milk when she had such a big breakfast in front of her didn¡¯t seem right. Moreover, Elise was so worried to see her like that. -Just talk with her so that she will not be nervous and help her eat well. What Ann had said before she left rang in her ears. Elise had promised to do her best, but the result till now hadn¡¯t been good. She hadn¡¯t managed to even have a small talk about the weather while Rubica washed her face, and breakfast was now turning into a disaster. Elise had never served Rubica before and didn¡¯t know she generally didn¡¯t have much appetite in the morning. Instead, she just felt like it was all her fault and desperately tried to get an opportunity to make up to it. ¡°Madam, the omelet looks delicious. Please try it.¡± Rubica looked at the omelet. It was full of fresh mushrooms, vegetables, bird meat, and expensive cheese. However, she had never savored it properly. She was sad that it wasn¡¯t dinner and was even sadder when thinking that the omelet never came out during dinner. ¡°Does it look delicious?¡± ¡°Yes. I ate it two days ago, and it was really delicious. The warm mushrooms and fried onions in it are particrly tasty.¡± Elise really wanted to recover Rubica¡¯s appetite and tried hard to make the omelet look even more inviting. As many people liked it, it was one of the dishes that frequently came out as breakfast. So, Elise described it as if it was the best dish in the world. There was nothing else like it. Rubica stared at it and then asked, ¡°Would you like to have it then?¡± ¡°What?¡± By rules, Rubica and Elise couldn¡¯t eat together. Sitting together and eating with the master and the mistress was not allowed without being invited. Moreover, Elise was Rubica¡¯sdy-in-waiting. She was supposed to serve the mistress, not be invited by her. The manners andmon sense she had were ordering her to politely refuse Rubica¡¯s offer as it wasn¡¯t right. But... ¡®I must make her eat, no matter what.¡¯ Elise was like a mouse in a corner who couldn¡¯t see anything. In short, she was moving in the right direction where it would lead her to a mistake. ¡°Would you eat if I have a bite?¡± She said what mothers said to soothe picky-eating children, and she regretted saying it soon after. She was worried Rubica might get angry because of that. However, this weird duchess was not mad. She was d to hear that. ¡°Would you do that for me?¡± Do? Do what? ¡°Bring a te, and, um, fork and knife. A napkin too.¡± Rubica was fast to act and didn¡¯t give Elise enough time to wake up from the surprise. Although the maids were a little puzzled, they did what Rubica ordered. Elise¡¯s seat was ready in no time. Now the girl was about to cry, but Rubica just smiled and gestured to the seat next to her. Elise didn¡¯t want to sit as she knew the manners. The education she received till now was telling her she couldn¡¯t sit. ¡°Elise, please, sit.¡± Elise hesitated for a long time. Rubica asked again, but she still didn¡¯t move. Rubica¡¯s smile started to fade, and soon she was utterly disappointed. That woke Elise up. She recalled the time Rubica transformed her first. She transformed her in a way that wasn¡¯t right in the people¡¯s perspective and morals which Mrs. Shaynie had always talked about. Elise had been afraid. She had feared she might look like a cheap woman when finished. However, the girl she saw in the mirror was a proud noble girl, and her friends also saw her that way. ¡®Yes, she¡¯s the one who matters. I must make her have at least one more bite. Manners and morals exist to make people happy, right? If I fail to make her happy to keep them, it would not be right.¡¯ Elise¡¯s mind rushed in front of the huge stress. Because of Shaynie¡¯s education, she had be a quiet and timid girl, but she was a teenager. By her age, she was supposed to rebel against the rules. In the end, she just plopped down on the chair. ¡°If I eat, you eat as well.¡± She announced and Rubica smiled happily. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll eat when you eat.¡± Rubica quickly cut her omelet in half. Then, she followed Elise and ate her portion. The vor of the soft egg and rich cheese filled her mouth. ¡°It¡¯s delicious.¡± She hadn¡¯t been able to feel any taste, but now it was so delicious. Her appetite immediately surged up. She moved her spoon so fast when eating the omelet. Elise was relieved to see that but, at the same time, she felt so ufortable and wished she could stand up again. Ady-in-waiting eating on the same table with her mistress... she felt embarrassed when seeing the maids. ¡®I should just finish this omelet quickly and get up.¡¯ But then, Rubica put roasted asparagus and beans on Elise¡¯s te. ¡°Try this. It¡¯s really good when eaten together with the omelet.¡± Rmending tasty food is necessary for a pleasant meal. Plus, Rubica liked caring for others. It was in her nature, but Elise turned pale again at seeing her smile. ¡°... Your Grace.¡± ¡°Please, it¡¯s so tasty and I want you to try it.¡± Elise had no choice but to take it. Was it because it had been cooked for the duchess? It was certainly much tastier than the meals she had at the annex. ¡°It¡¯s really good.¡± Rubica smiled happily. She had memories of not being able to eat for days. That was why she wanted to share when she got something tasty. Plus, the girl she liked so much was with her. Rubica then poured milk into a ss. The maids yelped, but she didn¡¯t care and handed it to Elise. ¡°I think you should drink a lot of milk.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± Elise was supposed to help the mistress eat, but now she was the one being cared. She took the ss, although she didn¡¯t know what to do with it. Sitting at the table alone had cost her all the courage of the year. She wanted Rubica to be satisfied, but what happened next felt like a storm. ¡°Milk is good for your skin.¡± Rubica even rushed her, and Elise thought refusing again would be rude, so she drank the milk. This brightened Rubica up. ¡°Drink, drink.¡± Elise did as Rubica said like a good girl. Even though Elise was much taller than Rubica, to her, she looked so young and cute. ¡°And try this, too.¡± Elise managed to finish the milk, but then Rubica put a dish of salmon and vegetables in front of her. Now, it looked like Rubica was the one who was serving her. ¡°You, you should eat as well.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll eat if you eat this.¡± Elise felt like she was getting a stomachache. This was just too much. She wanted to get up and run out, but Rubica looked so happy. She had no choice but to eat the salmon. It was an expensive dish, but she couldn¡¯t feel any taste in it. ¡°Elise, you need to eat more.¡± Rubica cut the bread into pieces and put it in front of the girl. ¡°Madam, you should eat too.¡± Elise desperately begged like someone asking to be saved from hell, so Rubica quickly took a bite of the omelet. ¡°I¡¯m eating. You should eat too, Elise.¡± ¡°I¡¯m, I¡¯m full.¡± Rubica looked very disappointed and put down her fork. ¡°Really?¡± It looked like she was about to finish eating there. Elise was surprised to see her like that and quickly ate a piece of bread. ¡°Thinking about it again, I can eat some more bread. It¡¯s really tasty. You should try it with the omelet.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Rubica smiled brightly. Then she ate the bread with the omelet just as Elise rmended andplimented her for being right. ¡®She is... she is a devil.¡¯ Rubica was kind. She had saved Elise from the pain, had given her a job and many things. Actually, to Elise, she was more than just kind. She was an angel. However, she was also a devil. The evilest of them all. Elise¡¯s family had gone bankrupt because they didn¡¯t change their way of living even after their revenue decreased. Her mother at the abbey always reminded her of them through letters. ¡®Avoid the extravagance you don¡¯t deserve. Save and save as much as you can.¡¯ Elise had taken it as her motto. She didn¡¯t want to be like her father. She wanted to be humble. However, after meeting Rubica, she had to cross that line over and over. ¡®I, I will not be tricked again.¡¯ Apart from Rubica, who was in the middle of a sweet and happy meal, Elise promised something to herself. Every moral had a good reason. Now Elise knew why the mistress and thedy-in-waiting were not allowed to eat together. It wasn¡¯t for the mistress. The rule must have been made for thedy-in-waiting¡¯s heart and stomach. She told herself it was the first and thest time she would have a meal with Rubica. She even vowed in the name of the god of honesty to not be shaken again. Chapter 105

Chapter 105: Chapter 105

Unlike Elise who was so worried, Rubica finished her meal in a happy mood. Her mood had been down to hell just the day before yesterday, but today she was happy. She had to face the angry rtives soon, but she wasn¡¯t afraid at all. She felt like she could smile no matter what they would say to her. She went to her dressing room after having breakfast. When she met Khanna yesterday, she felt like the dresses piled up in there were enough to wear for more than a year. But today, there were too few dresses. No, there were many dresses. It was just that there was nothing to wear. ¡°I cannot wear anything too splendid or with too many jewels.¡± If it had been some other time, she wouldn¡¯t have missed an opportunity to be criticized. But now, it was different. Edgar had stabbed his rtives¡¯ back as Rubica wanted, and now she had to y defensive. She couldn¡¯t wear the wrong dress and have people tell Edgar he should manage his wife first. ¡°But I must look elegant and in fashion to some extent as I cannot be called a dowdy girl from the countryside. And, if I decide on something too in, they will say I don¡¯t try to represent the family¡¯s honor.¡± It was difficult. Deciding on a dress was way too difficult. Rubica turned serious, but it wasn¡¯t like she could decide to not go down just because she didn¡¯t have a good dress. She put the dresses that had belonged to Edgar¡¯s grandmother first. Wearing one of them for a good asion could make people recall the good old days, but today it was going to have herpared to Edgar¡¯s grandmother. She didn¡¯t have much of a choice. After leaving out the ones with too much embroidery and jewels, there were less than a dozen left. She decided on a pale jade-colored dress among them. ¡°But this one is made of expensive silk, so I think they will criticize me for that...¡± ¡°Still, it¡¯s the best we have. We cannot perfectly avoid being criticized.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll wear this.¡± She couldn¡¯t choose a dress that matched her well for today. Instead, she had to decide on one that would let her be criticized the least, so it wasn¡¯t fun at all. Then, she spotted Elise waiting for the next order quietly behind the hard-working maids. ¡°Elise! You must choose a dress as well.¡± ¡°What?¡± Elise hadn¡¯t seen thating, so she was quite surprised. ¡°Me?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t youing with me when I go to the reception room?¡± ¡°Oh...¡± ¡°Or were you nning to make me go alone?¡± ¡°No, of course not.¡± Elise quickly waved her hand. A noble with ady-in-waiting and a nobledy without anydy-in-waiting were very different. The duchess needed to look like someone with authority to those rtives who came to attack her. ¡°Then let us pick a dress for you.¡± ¡°But the dress I am wearing is enough.¡± However, Elise thought there was no need for her to get ready as well. There couldn¡¯t be a single reason for ady-in-waiting to look more splendid than her mistress. However, that turned out to be her own thoughts and her thoughts only. All the maids who had been helping Rubica yelled in shock at once. ¡°No!¡± The dress Elise was wearing was too in. She could think it was fine, but itcked a certain dignity. ¡°What?¡± She was surprised to see everyone say it wasn¡¯t fine. Exining it in the wrong way could hurt the sensitive girl. The maids saw that and regretted yelling. ¡°I cannot wear anything splendid, so you should wear a pretty dress to break their spirits.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t want to miss the chance to decorate Elise again and replied quickly. ¡°But how can I look even more splendid than you?¡± ¡°No, no. I think that¡¯s exactly what you should do this time.¡± Her head started to spin fast. ¡°You will wear the most splendid of Edgar¡¯s grandmother¡¯s dresses. Then, they will not be able to criticize me for the dress I am wearing.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Elise looked really impressed. And so were the maids. They would not be able to call Rubica extravagant if there was someone to bepared with her. Saying the silk of her jade-colored dress was too expensive would be also criticizing the splendid embroidery in Elise¡¯s dress. Moreover, that dress had belonged to Edgar¡¯s grandmother. Right now, Rubica was a stranger to them, but Edgar¡¯s grandmother was not. ¡°I haven¡¯t thought of that.¡± ¡°Oh...¡± Everybody was so impressed. Actually, Rubica just didn¡¯t want to miss the opportunity to make Elise wear a pretty dress and had desperately thought of something. ¡®Now that¡¯s clever...¡¯ Rubica kept getting adjectives she didn¡¯t want. It was too much, but she decided to follow her desire to make Elise pretty. Judging from the girl¡¯s character, it looked like it would be impossible to get another chance. ¡°Okay. Then Ms. Sna, are you ready to be as splendid as possible?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Elise determinedly nodded at the maid¡¯s question. Thanks to that, Rubica could now have all the fun she wanted. ¡°We can do my hair simply. Let¡¯s start with Elise.¡± The maids surrounded the surprised girl. They had tasted the joy of transforming an ordinary girl into a beautiful flower. It felt so good to see someone be splendid with your own hands. Creating something, especially something beautiful, is one of human¡¯s basic desires. That is why we call people who make beautiful stuff artists. ¡°We can do this, madam!¡± Soon, Elise¡¯s torture began. The maids were really determined. They put on ten dresses on her, and she had to try three different dresses until they found the one that looked best on her. Moreover, her corset was pulled tighter than usual. The maid who did her hair styled her hair twice just because she didn¡¯t like it. Rubica, instead, sat down on the sofa to watch everythingfortably. Meanwhile, Linda simply rolled up Rubica¡¯s hair and put a few pins with ymore¡¯s symbol. They were warm pale-green peridot pins that matched her jade-colored dress. Linda looked at Rubica¡¯s dress after finishing working on her hair. ¡°Your Grace, you should order more dresses. There are many calm dresses that don¡¯t look expensive but actually are even harder to make than splendid ones.¡± Rubica realized she was talking about the details such as embroidering with white thread on white fabric that only those who were interested would notice. Although the dress she was wearing had been made with the best silk, it looked way too calm to represent the duchess¡¯ dignity. ¡°But Khanna¡¯s boutique stillcks people.¡± Khanna had worked really hard to make five dresses in time, and she had help from the ymore¡¯s seamstresses with the dresses for walks. ¡°Then you must tell her to hire more people quickly. And, why did you make her leave empty-handed yesterday? I think you should get about twenty more dresses. The dresses made by our seamstresses and dresses that used to belong to His Grace¡¯s grandmother are not bad, but dresses made by Madam Khanna suits you best.¡± Linda didn¡¯t give up and kept trying to convince Rubica, and it made her smile. ¡°But she needs money to hire people. She might be able to hire one or two, but she will hire more tailors after getting orders from the others as well and being financially stable.¡± ¡°She has gotten work from you, so she will be famous in no time.¡± Rubica smiled awkwardly at that. Of course, Duchess ymore¡¯s designer wasn¡¯t a bad title at all. However, the society was merciless and thedies were cold. It wasn¡¯t like an unknown designer could be immediately famous after making a couple of dresses for the duchess. Plus, Rubica had never been officially introduced to society. Even the nobles in the neighborhood didn¡¯t know whether she had a good discerning eye, much less other nobles in high ranks. Even though Khanna had gotten a few more customers, it was a little too early for thedies who led trend and fashion to look for her. ¡°Your Grace, it¡¯s done.¡± Rubica was wondering how she should exin that to Linda when she heard Jennie say that. She quickly looked just to find that Elise was even more beautiful than before. Of course, the maids had done their best to transform herst time, but they didn¡¯t have Khanna at that time. Although Rubica had failed on ordering splendid dresses that matched Elise, it let them find out that she was wearing undergarments that didn¡¯t match her. Changing to the right undergarments had brought a remarkable change. Elise had always been slouching. She had tried standing while straightening her back and shoulders, but she kept going back to slouching. But now, her chest didn¡¯t feel tight anymore even when she stood straight. It had brought many changes. In addition to that, the purplish-blue dress, that was in contrast to her bright blond hair and huge diamonds attached to it, highlighted her small and pretty face even more. ¡°Wow.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t help apuding. Elise was taller than most boys her age. She seemed to be a little ashamed of it, but it was a strong point for ady-in-waiting. Rubica wanted her to look down on the rtives with a cold and arrogant expression. Chapter 106

Chapter 106: Chapter 106

¡°But will I be able to do it?¡± Elise shuddered in fear. ¡°Do not say anything and just look down coldly while standing next to me. If you are so afraid, do not look at their faces and stare at the wall behind them.¡± ¡°The wall?¡± The rtives, who hade to meet Rubica today, were great nobles who Elise wouldn¡¯t even dare to talk to normally. She was not confident enough to look straight at their faces, but staring at the walls didn¡¯t sound that hard. ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± The girl clenched her fists hard, so Rubica smiled brightly and stood up to take her hand. She was about to say, ¡®Let us go right away then!¡¯ Jennie, however, stopped her. ¡°But why did you have only your hair done?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Rubica had been so busy watching Elise that she hadpletely forgotten about getting ready herself. The same was for Linda who was next to her. ¡°Oh, making them wait for too long can¡¯t be good.¡± ¡°Wait. I have selected the ne and earrings.¡± Linda quickly brought a ne and matching earrings. In the meantime, Jennie found and brought a pair of pretty jade-colored shoes that formed a set with the dress Rubica was wearing. Rubica quickly wore the essories and tried to put the shoes on. Sadly, putting her feet in them wasn¡¯t easy. ¡°Are they... a little small?¡± ¡°I think it was made that way on purpose as leather tends to get stretched in time, but this is too much. Please wait for a moment.¡± One of the maids brought a shoe stretcher and started to work on the shoes, and it looked like putting them on would take a long time. Elise didn¡¯t want to just stand there and wait as she wanted to make herself useful. ¡°Where do you keep Her Grace¡¯s gloves?¡± ¡°The gloves for outings are in the dressing room, but we keep the rest here in the bedroom.¡± The maid pointed at the drawer right next to the bed. Rubica was wrestling with the shoes and missed the fact that Elise was opening the second drawer. ¡°Thin and white gloves would be better than dark-colored ones, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°We should select a few pairs and show them to madam.¡± Elise took out a few pair of gloves that were just fine. Then, something small dropped on the floor. ¡°Huh?¡± Elise was surprised and bent down to pick it up. It was a ring that had been too crudely made to be considered the duchess¡¯ property. It had a blue stone as clear as the sky, but it was a stone that wasn¡¯t a jewel. Whose ring was it? Had a maid dropped it while cleaning? ¡°Elise?¡± Then, Rubica saw what the girl was doing after managing to put on the shoes. The drawer was open, and Elise was holding her ring. Her mind went ck. When she came to her senses again, she was in front of the girl and snatched the ring out of her hand. Elise was then surprised to see Rubica turn so pale. ¡°Is, is it your ring?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Rubica¡¯s voice was hoarse, and her heart almost stopped. She could breathe again only when she could feel the coldness of the ring on her palm again. ¡®Oh, no.¡¯ Every maid in the bedroom and the dressing room was staring at her in shock. An old and shabby ring. As rings tended to have special meanings, it looked like she had given them the wrong idea. Even Rubica had thought the ring belonged to someone Arman had deeply loved. ¡®It might be taken away from me.¡¯ She was afraid. She was worried Edgar might see the ring and tell her to get rid of it. She didn¡¯t want to let him find out about it. But everyone had seen her cherish it, and asking them to ignore it would only make even bigger rumors. ¡®What should I do?¡¯ Then she recalled how Edgar had scolded her about her mother¡¯s essories. She had no choice but to lie. The biggest change that happened to her after traveling back in time was that she had befriended the god of lies. ¡°It used to belong to myte mother.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Elise didn¡¯t know what to do when hearing that, and Rubica was sorry to see her believe her lie. ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was that precious.¡± ¡°Madam, why don¡¯t you keep it in a jewelry box or register it in the treasury¡¯s list?¡± A maid proposed realistically next to the apologizing Elise. If it was that precious, it had to be kept well, not be hidden between gloves in a drawer. Moreover, that was what Rubica had feared the most. ¡°But it¡¯s way too old and crude. Edgar might tell me to rece it with something that befits the duchess¡¯ honor. Could you all ignore what you just saw?¡± ¡°What?¡± The maid now looked really shocked, and they all widened their eyes. Rubica wondered what to do, but she just decided to be honest. It was going to diminish Edgar¡¯s fame and reputation, but he never cared about those things. ¡°He... oncemented on some other essories of mine. He said their rubies are not good enough for his duchess and should be reced.¡± She didn¡¯t mention how he said those essories were only good enough for a baress. Her pride was too strong to even mention that. It hurt a little when recalling that again. He had spoken without knowing that they had been left by her mother, but still, it had been too much. Even if they had been what she just normally used, she had memories about them and didn¡¯t like how he thought they could be so easily reced. ¡°This ring is very important to me and I wanted to keep it close to me. Could you all just forget about it?¡± Elise and the maids nodded, so Rubica rxed as she looked at the ring. She missed Arman even more than usual today. She was eating splendid meals and wearing luxurious dresses every day, but she had been happier when she ate roasted potatoes with him. ¡°Madam, now you just have to do your makeup. Which perfume do you want to use today?¡± A maid spoke first, and then, they all started to act as if they had never seen the ring. ¡°The one that just came from Pierre¡¯s shop. I like it.¡± Rubica replied as she put the ring back in the drawer. She thought it was all for the better. As the maids now knew about it, she no longer had to worry about them finding it and throwing it away or reporting it to someone. Maybe she would get a box with a lock to keep it safe. *** ¡°Is the duchess still getting ready?¡± Zilehan asked as he looked down at his cup of coffee that had turned cold. It was the tenth time he was asking that question, and Ann replied without a smile. ¡°She isn¡¯t ready yet as she didn¡¯t expect to meet you today. It is all to greet you in ordance with the manners, so please understand.¡± Zilehan¡¯s face twitched. Preparation? He just wanted to see her face and talk. There was nothing to prepare for that. She was taking such a long time and it made him irritated. She must be making excuses to mock him and the others. ¡®She looks so mild, but I guess she does know when to be strong.¡¯ Zelihan was one of the most important members in the family and had an audience with Rubica as soon as she became the duchess. And, the first impression he got of her was, ¡®She is so ordinary.¡¯ She spoke like a girl from a lowly family in the countryside. She didn¡¯t look unfashionable, but as she had no problem with wearing dresses that belonged to the duke¡¯s grandmother, she probably didn¡¯t have much greed. -She isn¡¯t that easy to control. That was thement of one of the men who tried to sell something useless to her and failed, but Zilehan hadn¡¯t given much attention to it. His tactic had been too crude, and it would have fooled only idiots. Moreover, he hadn¡¯t been that surprised to hear she had decided to invest on Sesar. ¡®So, she likes people who genuinely plead to her than those who try to teach her.¡¯ He hadn¡¯t gotten rid of his opinion of her being na?ve even then. It is impossible to fall to honesty and desperation and spend such huge money unless you are na?ve. That was why he hadn¡¯t been that surprised to hear she was kicking out Shaynie. He had hated the woman, too. And, when he heard she had the annex repaired and picked Elise Sna, who was in a bad financial status, as herdy-in-waiting, he thought that was it. ¡®She is eager to be considered a good duchess!¡¯ That was why he thought she would treat him and the others politely when they came to protest for the duke¡¯s wrong decision. The woman had even repaired the annex when she didn¡¯t have to only because she cared so much about how the rtives thought of her. She was a wife who had nothing of her own, and such women tended to care about words and reputation. Chapter 107

Chapter 107: Chapter 107

However, when they actually got there, they were being treated so poorly. Rubica was clearly implying she was in a much higher rank than they were, and it was her decision to grant them an audience or not. ¡®She has already won Ann on her side.¡¯ Zilehand nced at Ann. She had been serving food with a cold expression and answering shortly. She wasn¡¯t just ady-in-waiting. She was a member of the ymore Family, so they couldn¡¯t be rude to her. The other rtives, who hade with him, had eaten the offered breakfast withoutints and were waiting at the reception room. ¡°I¡¯m afraid there isn¡¯t much as you came so suddenly.¡± Ann wasn¡¯t just saying that. The tes really had little food. As ymore was a huge family, it always had enough food for the guests. However, Ann had been treating them poorly so openly. Even those who were angry had now been suppressed by her. ¡®This can¡¯t be good.¡¯ The surprise announcement Edgar had made at the table was enough to surprise anyone. Soon the news was spread to the annexes. There lived people who made a profit by finding mana quartz, so one of them rode a horse all night to go to Zilehan and deliver the news. Zilehan, who had been sleeping on his bed, immediately came to the mansion as soon as he heard the news. ¡®Many people¡¯s livings depend on it...¡¯ Moreover, Zilehan was one of them as well since he provided supplies for adventurers such as food, and it was where most of his revenue for the year woulde from. As this was the first year of Edgar¡¯s marriage, he had been thinking of proposing to organize a huge expedition to get really rare and magnificent mana quartz. He had nned to gain a lot from that as there was a good excuse for it. ¡®But now I am about to lose the job itself...¡¯ ¡°The duchess is here.¡± A servant announced what they had been waiting to hear. Everyone was relieved and stood up. Zilehan also stood up and waited. Soon the door was opened and Zilehan widened his eyes to see the girl who came in first. The blue dress she was wearing was familiar to him. Every ymore duchess had been beautiful, and Edgar¡¯s grandmother had been one of the most beautiful. However, when seeing the girl wearing the blue dress, Zilehan could almost recall her. The clear blue color of the dress added a mysterious tint to the girl¡¯s arrogant gesture, and the jewels that glittered with her every step made her look like a princess of a wealthy kingdom. Her short forelock that was in contrast with her thick blond hair highlighted her round face. Instead of the honest smile or shy expression girls of her age usually made when meeting adults, she was proudly looking down. However, it didn¡¯t feel rude. It was like she was born to just look down on people. Her cold attitude was impressive and admirable. When did Rubica get herself such a pretty girl as herdy-in-waiting? Zilehan tried to think hard, but he couldn¡¯t remember anything about it. He had heard Rubica hired Elise Roan de Sna. However, he knew well about the poor girl. It had been him who advised her mother to ask the ymore Family to take care of her daughter, but he didn¡¯t bother to do more than that. Elise clearly hadn¡¯t been able to fit in and had gotten thinner and more nervous every time he saw her, but he thought she had to handle that much to be a ward and didn¡¯t pay more attention. Still, there was one thing that made him worried about her. ¡®She is too ugly to get married.¡¯ That is why he had told Mrs. Sna to hold on her dowry for her daughter¡¯s future. Moreover, she was telling her daughter not to be extravagant and was doing her best to save. Zilehan had been quite happy and relieved to hear Rubica had hired Elise as herdy-in-waiting. The girl was neither rich not pretty. He thought she was never going to meet a good man, so it would be better to get such a good and stable job. However, he was shocked to hear Ann speak to the girl as she led Rubica to the duchess¡¯ chair and step back. ¡°Elise, you¡¯ve done well.¡± ¡®Sna? That... that girl is Elise Sna?¡¯ He blinked a few times and looked at the girl. The Elise who had always been afraid of others and nervous was gone. She didn¡¯t mind their gaze and proudly straightened her back. Zilehan had known she was taller than other girls, but he hadn¡¯t known her height would be so overwhelming. But everything was just too... ¡®She is so pretty.¡¯ Perfect. Her face, her hair, her gesture, it was all perfect. Zilehan was so surprised that he forgot he hade to protest to the duchess. And so did the others. Elise had stayed at the main building since she decided to be ady-in-waiting, but for less than a week. No one had known the ugly duckling would be such a beautiful swan in such a short time. They were so shocked by Elise¡¯s change that they were dumbfounded. They just opened their mouths and then closed them again like a fish. ¡°I know you were surprised by the duke¡¯s decision and came early in the morning. I was surprised as well, I don¡¯t know how I sleptst night...¡± Rubica didn¡¯t miss that moment and spoke first before they could behave aggressively. Then, she sighed and rubbed her eyes, showing she hadn¡¯t been able to sleep at all. ¡°I was so tired and shocked that I couldn¡¯t treat you properly even after I heard you were here. I am sorry for that.¡± She was somehow ming them, but it wasn¡¯t like they couldin about it when she was apologizing. ¡°We¡¯re the ones who should apologize, we came without any notice. But the matter is so important that we couldn¡¯t stay still. Your Grace, this is absurd. This just can¡¯t happen.¡± Rubica nodded after a round ofints. ¡°I am pleading to the duke to cancel his decision.¡± Then, silence filled the room as the rtives had nothing more to say. The duchess had already asked her husband to cancel his decision, and the duke was not here. Their initial anger had faded as the duchess was innocent. And still, she sat there listening to theirints when they stormed to her ce early in the morning. They had even been offered breakfast. Maybe she had taken time toe down not because she wanted to treat them poorly but was very tired. ¡°We are d to know you agree with us.¡± She didn¡¯t. She was nning to dy them as much as possible and wait for the moment when Edgar¡¯s decision would be unchangeable. So, she didn¡¯t nod and just smiled faintly, and everyone took her smile as acknowledgment. ¡°Then please, do not stir too much trouble and keep your positions.¡± She was telling them to go now. Everyone stood up but not Zilehan. The timing was important when recruiting adventurers. Miss the springtime and they would probably sign a contract with other employers. The budget had to be used as soon as possible. He decided to forget about the stubborn and incontroble duke and work on Rubica. ¡°Your Grace, the duke does not have jurisdiction on the budget rted to mana quartz. He is clearly crossing the line by making such a decision.¡± The other rtives were d to hear him point that out, but Rubica smiled awkwardly. ¡°But he has decided to manage it himself from now on.¡± ¡°But decorating the garden is part of your rights. Your Grace, you still have the right to make the decision.¡± Here it came. Rubica was sad to know there was a rtive whose head worked properly. ¡°But how could I dare to ignore his opinion?¡± ¡°It is a wise wife¡¯s duty to stop her husband from choosing the wrong path.¡± There was nothing better than talking about the wife¡¯s duties to convince a woman. Zilehan had be famous among the rtives because he had many gifts, and talking well was one of them. Edgar was a man hard to control, but Rubica was only a 22-year-old from the countryside. ¡°It is written in the Lady¡¯s Guide that a wife¡¯s virtue is to follow her husband¡¯s will.¡± It wasn¡¯t her favorite quote, but Rubica mentioned the name of many noble women¡¯s must-read book to counter Zilehan. ¡°But is it always good to follow the husband¡¯s will? You must stop this. Your Grace, we should send adventurers now to get mana quartz. We have already paid the down payment to the adventurers and they are preparing for the quest. I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t know how they would react if we cancel the deal so suddenly.¡± It made Rubica harden her face. She didn¡¯t know the details of the process of getting mana quartz. The family had so many huge businesses. Ironically, such things that cost huge money were handled by the rtives and it was the duchess¡¯ virtue to check if the mansion¡¯s curtains were in the right color for the season. ¡®Every rtive here works in the business of getting mana quartz.¡¯ And, of course, they took theirmission and embezzled money. It was considered something right and no one even thought of pointing that out. And now, they were desperate because their livings depended on it, so Rubica couldn¡¯t just listen to them and end it there. Chapter 108

Chapter 108: Chapter 108

¡°I will discuss this with the duke when hees back. Lord Zilehan, even if I decide to not follow his will, I have a duty to tell him about it first.¡± ¡°Your Grace! Now isn¡¯t the time for that.¡± Zilehan red at Rubica on purpose. She could see he was trying to pick a fight with her, so she didn¡¯t get mad and red back at him like an idiot. Instead, she looked down. Then, she tried to recall the sad and painful things she had witnessed. She was sorry to use the noble people who had sacrificed themselves for others to put an act. However, as she was stopping people from dying for nothing, they wouldn¡¯t mind. First, she recalled a child who had covered her little sister from the bombs. Then, a mother who tried to breastfeed her baby while dying. Then, a father who volunteered to join the army for his family. War was were the humans¡¯ evilest side was shown. But, at the same time, humans¡¯ best side was also there. Her eyes became teary in less than ten seconds. ¡°... Lord Zilehan, please remember I am from a lowly family and have nothing to depend on except my husband¡¯s love.¡± The coldest breeze went through the room. The other rtives were already looking at him as if he was the dirtiest trash in the world. Zilehan regretted what he had said. He hadn¡¯t known the duchess would use the fact she had nothing like that. No, ¡®use¡¯ was a little too strong. He pressed her too much. If she had been from a count¡¯s family or a marquis¡¯ family, she would have been able to protest to Edgar... but she was from a bar family. He sighed. ¡®Edgar, is this why you didn¡¯t get yourself a wife from a good family?¡¯ Edgar had refused all the marriage proposals he received, so Zilehan just came up with a conclusion like that. People tend to see what they want to see and judge everything with their own criteria. Should I back off here for now? However, he wouldn¡¯t be able toe back tomorrow after leaving like that. The duchess was the person who could press the duke the most, and he couldn¡¯t let her take care of the problem like that. Therefore, he decided to convince her again for onest time. ¡°But you are Duchess ymore now. You have the duties to protect this family¡¯s traditions and history...¡± ¡°Lord Zilehan!¡± It was Ann who couldn¡¯t take it anymore and yelled while ring at Zilehan. ¡°You¡¯ve done enough.¡± That was clearly a warning. Cold sweat ran down Zilehan¡¯s back and his palms got sweaty. Ann had been working as the ymore¡¯s housekeeper for a long time and she had no small amount of influence. However, the matter of getting mana quartz had to be taken care of as soon as possible for him to get paid. Before he paid the adventurers, he put the money in a bank for a short time and took the interest. It was neither illegal nor embezzling money. It was a profit he made with his wits, and he thought he deserved that much as it was his idea. He had gotten rid of the guilt a long time ago and thought he deserved that much money for his hard work. He would lose a lot if getting mana quartz was dyed like this. It wasn¡¯t his money in the first ce, but he took it as a loss. He had money to pay for small gambles and bets done at the coffee house and had to pay for a business he was investing in. He had to get mana quartz again to pay for all that. ¡®Even though she has worked at ymore for a long time, she is just ady-in-waiting. I was careful with her because she managed the budget, but not anymore.¡¯ Money gives people the judgment to interpret the situation in one¡¯s favor and the power to behave without thinking. He just didn¡¯t want to be defeated by the housekeeper. ¡°Ann, as this family¡¯s rtive, I have the duties to say what is right.¡± ¡°Do not hurt her feelings anymore!¡± Ann yelled so loudly that the sound resonated through the room. She looked at Zilehan as if he was a new servant who knew nothing. He thought it was unfair, and it wasn¡¯t like he had said something really bad to deserve that look. ¡°But...¡± ¡°She tried to convince her husband while crying yesterday. He is the one who didn¡¯t listen to her. If you want to protest about it, you should do it to him. Why are you ming her when she has done nothing wrong?¡± It made Zilehan shut his mouth. A rtive sitting next to him thought Ann was being too hard on him and spoke up for him. ¡°Ann, we are just letting her know about what she must do.¡± ¡°You let her know by storming in andining?¡± That made everyone shut their mouth. The duchess had been sitting on the sofa with a sad expression without saying anything. To talk and insist on their opinion, the young duchess was an easier target than the housekeeper. However, next to Rubica was Elise ring at them like a guarding dog. The tall girl wearing Edgar¡¯s grandmother¡¯s dress was quite threatening. It looked like thete duchess would suddenly possess Elise and p them if they said anything wrong to her granddaughter-inw. Ann was also blocking everyint. ¡®This is overprotection.¡¯ Ann was right. Toin about it, they had to go to the duke as he was responsible for it. However, none of them were unafraid of Edgar. If theyined to him, he was going to listen to them without saying anything, find out about every wrong they had done like tax evasion and embezzlement, and report it to the government or use it against them to get something more. They wanted to win the duchess to their side or press her to get what they wanted rather than taking such a risk. ¡°Your Grace, could we have yourdies-in-waiting leave the room?¡± Zilehan couldn¡¯t take it anymore and eventually asked to speak in private. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Ann asked, but he ignored her and kept his eyes on Rubica. ¡°As it is about the family, I wish to speak in private. I fear words about it might leak, so please make yourdies-in-waiting leave.¡± ¡°No!¡± Ann couldn¡¯t restrain her anger and yelled. Meanwhile, Rubica just sat on the sofa and looked at Ann who was doing all the work. She was blocking every attack so well that Rubica¡¯s determination was being wasted. However, it wasn¡¯t like she could always hide behind Ann. If she had to go through this eventually, it would be better to do it sooner. ¡°No, Ann. Lord Zilehan has made a reasonable request. It wouldn¡¯t be right to refuse when he has something to tell me in private. Please give us a moment.¡± ¡°But madam...¡± It made her heart ache. She could see what Zilehan and the other rtives were up to. Actually, they hade so early in the morning because they were shocked but, at the same time, they decided now was the right time as Edgar was gone. ¡®Even if it is important, there is a line you should keep.¡¯ Ann felt enraged. Rubica wasn¡¯t someone they could easily bend to their will, but she couldn¡¯t back off when she could inly see their scheme. ¡°I cannot leave.¡± ¡°Ann!¡± ¡°How dare you be so rude?¡± Ann decided to not listen to Rubica as well. She had lost her favor anyway, so she just wanted to protect her. ¡°How can I leave when I don¡¯t know what you will say to her in private? I have a duty to protect her. His Grace has asked me as well.¡± ¡°Ann, you are taking it too far. It¡¯s not like we are going to eat her. She is an adult and you are being overprotective.¡± ¡°She, she must rest and not be surprised. You are giving too much stress to a pregnant woman!¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes were wide open, and the rtives were surprised as well. ¡°Preg... what did you just say? Pregnant?¡± Yes, there was no reason to hide it now as quite some time had passed since the wedding. As Rubica¡¯s belly hadn¡¯t swollen yet, it looked like they could lie about when she had be pregnant. And, even if that would be hard after giving birth earlier than expected, they could just say the baby was blessed by the gods and was much bigger and healthier than normal. ¡°She is pregnant with the duke¡¯s baby!¡± Ann closed her eyes and yelled while everyone in the room panicked. Rubica, however, was the one who was shocked the most. ¡®I, pregnant?¡¯ She couldn¡¯t say anything as she was too dumbfounded. ¡®It doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡¯ She had shared kisses with Edgar a few times, but that was all. That wasn¡¯t enough to make her pregnant, but Ann looked so confident. ¡°Oh, you are pregnant... um, congrattions.¡± ¡°No, um...¡± Rubica tried to say she wasn¡¯t pregnant, and it was all a misunderstanding, but she was so shocked that she stammered. ¡°Congrattions.¡± ¡°... we were too harsh on a pregnant woman.¡± ¡°Please forgive us, we didn¡¯t know.¡± Now the tide had been turned, and the rtives all apologized for their behavior while Ann looked at them in triumph. ¡°Now then, please leave. She must rest now.¡± Everyone nodded, stood up, and bowed. Chapter 109

Chapter 109: Chapter 109

Rubica barely managed to think straight again. ¡®Did she say that on purpose? Now, that lie is too big to be used as an excuse to get rid of these people. Plus, such a lie will only bring even bigger problems afterward.¡¯ And, she couldn¡¯t even dare to imagine how Edgar would feel at hearing the news. He would be so shocked. Still, they hade too far and saying she wasn¡¯t pregnant now would only cause a bigger uproar. ¡°Goodbye.¡± She couldn¡¯t believe what was happening. The best she could do was to say goodbye to the rtives as they left. After they were gone, Ann brought a nket and put it around Rubica¡¯s belly. ¡°You have endured it so well.¡± Ann couldn¡¯t have looked more serious. Elise hadn¡¯t even imagined Rubica was pregnant, but she managed to get out from the shock and smiled happily. The news of the uing baby was more than enough to delight everyone. ¡°Ann, why on earth did you say that?¡± ¡°Oh, it must have been so hard for you, but there is no need to hide it now. Actually, I knew it from the beginning.¡± Knew what? Rubica had never been pregnant. ¡°Now that it has been some time after your wedding, you will not be dishonored even if we announce the news. Oh my, your husband has no respect for you. He left for the capital after making such a mess... he shouldn¡¯t do this when you are pregnant.¡± Ann hadn¡¯t used her wits spontaneously to escape the rtives¡¯ protests. She truly believed Rubica was pregnant, so she didn¡¯t know what to say to her. ¡°Ann, please calm down for a moment and listen to me carefully.¡± She took a deep breath. Calming down the excited Ann wasn¡¯t easy at all, but she had to make it right before the issue got even bigger. ¡°I am not pregnant.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t believe it, you can call the doctor and have him examine me.¡± Ann turned very pale. ¡°But, but...¡± ¡°If I was really pregnant, the doctor would have told you.¡± Rubica had met the family¡¯s doctor a few times, and he had said there was nothing wrong with her health. However, Ann thought the doctor wasn¡¯t saying anything about the baby because he had been ordered so in secret. ¡°Oh, my, my.¡± She had screwed up. She had screwed up big. For some time, she couldn¡¯t say anything as if she had gone crazy. ¡°Madam, I am so sorry.¡± Thinking about it again, the things she thought only pregnant women would do were things anyone could do. Putting a cushion on the belly, enjoying sweet and sour foods, that could totally happen without being pregnant. ¡°Oh, how should I take care of this problem?¡± Rubica was getting a headache as well. If Ann had announced Rubica was pregnant in front of the servants or Edgar, she would have been able to correct her immediately. She could have said it was all a misunderstanding and Ann could have apologized. However, Ann had announced that in front of the rtives. They must be spreading the news by now as most of them lived at the east annex. The news was now going to spread like a wildfire. ¡°Your Grace, I will go immediately and tell them it was all my misunderstanding.¡± ¡°Absolutely not!¡± If she said that, they would immediately request to have her removed from her position for getting such a strange idea. ¡®And if a rtive like Mrs. Shaynie were to take her ce...¡¯ Even thinking about it made her shudder. There was no way every olddy was as kind as Ann to Rubica. Ann was satisfied with giving Rubica advice even when just nning the budget, but any other woman would have nagged her to get her own way. That was exactly what Mrs. Shaynie had tried to do. ¡°If you do that, you will be in trouble. For now, let us call the doctor first.¡± Rubica¡¯s auburn eyes moved quickly. Fortunately, the room¡¯s door was close, so only Ann and Elise could hear the conversation now. ¡°We should call him, exin what happened, and ask him to pretend that I am pregnant for some time.¡± Ann realized Rubica was trying to protect her, and it moved her heart. Tears formed up in her grey eyes. ¡°I am so sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, Ann. I can take care of this.¡± Rubica was nning to work with the doctor and fake a miscarriage two monthster. As she had Ann and Elise on her side, it wasn¡¯t impossible at all. Of course, it would make people question if she would be able to get pregnant ever again, but that wasn¡¯t her concern. ¡®Oh, yes.¡¯ Ann was a very positive person, and she quickly misinterpreted Rubica¡¯s confidence. ¡®She can get pregnant quickly and the problem will solve itself!¡¯ It would be even easier and there would be no need to make excuses about how the baby was born so soon. There were many babies who were born after the estimated time. No one would doubt that. ¡®I must call Madam Khanna soon.¡¯ Ann recalled the nightdress Edgar had shown interest in a while ago. She then started to work on a n that was very different from Rubica¡¯s. *** -Edgar, the number of mana stones we mine in the mountains is decreasing every day. In the carriage that was going back to Edgar¡¯s mansion in the capital from the king¡¯s castle, he thought about what the king said to him. He was a man with grey hair and liked Edgar since his childhood. Even if it had been for political reasons, he knew how to cherish his kingdom and its people. -There might be no mana stones to mine after five years. The king confessed to Edgar what he couldn¡¯t even tell the crown prince. Edgar was his political partner and supporter. ¡°Then everyone in this kingdom will starve to death.¡± And now, Edgar was cursed. The numbness had alreadye up to his knees, and no one knew when it would reach his heart. ¡°We must think of a way.¡± There was a way. Going up to the higher part of the Seritos Mountains that had more abundant supplies of mana stones. However, that area was Iber¡¯s territory, the sleeping dragon. Its underlings would never let humans disturb their master¡¯s sleep. ¡°That isn¡¯t possible.¡± The second way was to exploit the Golden Land right next to the Kingdom of Seritos. However, the Golden Land was the territory of the greedy and fierce dragon Ios. That dragon was famous for its brutality and likes for pretty and good things. It had gotten himself and with rare and expensive fruits and really hated it when humans wanted them. It was not the kind of dragon that would give the humans a part of hisnd through negotiations. ¡°...¡± Edgar pressed on his frowning forehead. He only had little time left and the kingdom¡¯s fate was at stake. He had to find a way to save it. He didn¡¯t mind dying, but he didn¡¯t want to let innocent people starve to death. The people in the kingdom were trying hard to live on that barrennd, and he knew where the things he was enjoying wereing from. ¡°Is it the only way?¡± Edgar narrowed his eyes. Would it be possible or not, he didn¡¯t know. However, there was one way that would bring a breakthrough to the situation. Killing the dragon that was in the way. Edgar clenched his fists. He couldn¡¯t guarantee he could make a weapon powerful enough to kill a strong creature like a dragon. Dragons were fierce and hostile, but they were territorial animals. They didn¡¯t care about humans as long as they didn¡¯t trespass into their territory. Fighting fierce dragon in a direct fight would only cause casualties. Plus, the dragons¡¯ territories had nts and minerals that existed only because the dragons were there. Just sneaking in and stealing expensive goods from the dragons was more efficient than using many lives to kill dragons. That was why no one tried to fight dragons. However, the problem was the dragons¡¯ location. The north of Seritos was blocked by ice, the east by the sleeping dragon Iber, and the south by the fierce dragon Ios. The port in the west was their only way, but that was only if they had things to sell. If they could not mine mana stones any longer, which kingdom would bother to export wheat to Seritos which was in a faraway corner? ¡®I must defeat the dragons.¡¯ It was reckless, but it was the only way. Edgar knew he was taking a great challenge. However, so did the first ymore who made the first weapons to fight monsters. At first, no one had listened to him and no one trusted him. Even his friend, the knight who founded the kingdom, had been half in doubt as he organized the expedition. Chapter 110

Chapter 110: Chapter 110

¡®What should I do to defeat Ios of the Golden Land?¡¯ Edgar decided to not consider the sleeping dragon Iber for now. He had too little information on the mysterious dragon. He didn¡¯t know its strong and weak points, and even he couldn¡¯t design a weapon to knock it out without knowing them. On the other hand, Ios was currently an active dragon and there was a lot of information about him. It liked to brag and there were rumors about how he transformed into a human, came down to the humans¡¯nd, seduced beautifuldies and abducted them from time to time. ¡®I wish I could attack it from the sky.¡¯ Ios was and dragon that couldn¡¯t fly. If there was a way to bomb it from the sky, even it wouldn¡¯t be able to endure it. If only Edgar could make a weapon that could fly high to where the dragon¡¯s me couldn¡¯t reach, it would be possible. ¡°Your Grace, we have arrived.¡± The carriage arrived at the destination while he was thinking with the stars still twinkling in the sky. He hadn¡¯t had a long conversation with the king today, he was just asked how his marriage was and if he found any clue about the curse. -You haven¡¯t found any clue? She looks like an ordinary woman? -For now... yes. -Then is it necessary to maintain the marriage with her? Edgar couldn¡¯t erase what the king said carelessly, so he said he needed more time as he was just finding out about Rubica and quickly changed the topic. ¡°What? You will stop getting mana quartz?¡± Edgar had known his rtives woulde for Rubica as soon as the sun came up in the morning, but he didn¡¯t cancel his trip to the king¡¯s castle partly for this reason. He wanted to get the king¡¯s agreement as it was better than keeping up with the fight within the family. ¡°But there will be a lot of protests...¡± ¡°Your Majesty, why don¡¯t we send the new weapons to the Kingdom of Petra instead? It is currently exploring newnds. We can request profits from the expedition or some part of thend itself in return.¡± The king¡¯s eyes glistened, and the rest was taken care of in no time. To the king, taking care of his kingdom was much more important than siding with a tradition for aplicated fight within the ymore Family. Plus, he had the duke on his side, so it couldn¡¯t have been better than this. ¡®I must end tomorrow¡¯s conference as quickly as possible and go home.¡¯ Edgar trusted Rubica. Although she appeared to be very gentle, she was a very strong person. Even though she reacted sensitively to innocent people¡¯s death, she was like iron when she needed to be strong. ¡®Then I will talk casually to you as well, Edgar.¡¯ Huh. Edgar smiled at thinking how Rubica¡¯s auburn eyes had looked back then. No one else had talked back to him like that. She had been worried he might seize her weakness and control her with that, but she still bravely stood up against him. Well, it wasn¡¯t like he could use her weakness against her. The best he could do was to threaten her using her poor cousin Ang¡¯s fate, but he really couldn¡¯t bring himself to get down to that. He might control Rubica, but it would make her despise him. ¡®... but why do I care about that?¡¯ He never cared about others hating him, he rather wanted to be hated as it was better than being loved. He was truly sick of love. ¡°Carl, is the doctor here?¡± ¡°Yes. He has been waiting for you in the bedroom for quite some time.¡± He had been dying the meeting with his doctor again and again. During that time, he wanted to see Rubica¡¯s face as soon as possible. However, there was no Rubica at the capital, so he had asked Carl to call a doctor before he went to meet the king. ¡°Thank you.¡± Edgar handed his gloves to Carl and walked to his bedroom. He was able to decorate the mansion at the capital by following his tastes, unlike the ymore Mansion where many old ways and traditions had to be kept. The duke¡¯s bedchamber was right next to his office. There, he could live much more freely. Until a few months ago, he had preferred staying there rather than going home. ¡°Your Grace, it¡¯s Zigmont.¡± However, the moment he saw the doctor and his apprentice, who stood up at seeing the duke enter, he felt somewhat sad and disappointed. He didn¡¯t want to be greeted by an old man. He wanted to be greeted by Rubica even though she sometimes looked at him coldly and pretended to ignore him... He wondered how Rubica would smile in the mansion that had been renovated to his tastes. He wanted toe here with Rubica andugh at hearing how the rtives were shocked to find out both the duke and the duchess were gone in the morning. ¡®But it is impossible because of my stupid legs.¡¯ ¡°I had you wait for too long.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. It is part of my job.¡± Zigmont was one of the most famous doctors in the capital. He had even been offered to work as the king¡¯s doctor, but he preferred to meet various patients. Plus, handling multiple high nobles was more profitable. He had been given a huge down payment today as well, and that much money was enough to make the long waiting time more enjoyable. ¡°Please, sit.¡± Edgar sat down on the sofa and Zigmont¡¯s apprentice handed the doctor a chart to record the patients¡¯ condition and symptoms. Zigmont decided to ask some questions first. ¡°Your heart has been beating fasttely and you feel dizzy, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You also said you get mad abruptly and get agitated without noticing it, right?¡± Edgar quietly nodded. ¡°Hmm, then I must examine if there is something wrong with your heart. Your Grace, if you don¡¯t mind...¡± The apprentice undid Edgar¡¯s shirt buttons. Soon everyone in the room held their breath at seeing his sculpture-like chest being revealed. It was hard to believe that was the chest of someone who sat down every day to research. It had no fat and was made of pure muscles. The doctor¡¯s hand trembled when putting his stethoscope on the left part of the chest. Edgar had a beauty that made even fellow men speechless. ¡®Huh?¡¯ The doctor listened to Edgar¡¯s heartbeat and then looked confused. He probably doubted what he was hearing and moved his stethoscope. Edgar sighed deeply at seeing his confusion as it looked like he had some kind of deadly disease. ¡°Your Grace, there¡¯s nothing wrong.¡± However, what Zigmont said as he put down his stethoscope was unexpected. ¡°Nothing wrong? Then why is my heart beating like crazy so often?¡± Edgar angrily asked. He was indeed an impatient patient. ¡°But it is better than something being wrong. Your Grace, some people have such symptom because of allergies. They usually get rash, but sometimes the heart might beat very fast until it is hard to breathe. I think it would be better to take time to find out the reason why.¡± ¡°The reason why...¡± ¡°When was the first time your heart beat like that?¡± Edgar narrowed his eyes at the question. Then, he crossed his legs on a stool. He reclined on the sofa and looked into his memories. ¡°It was my wedding day.¡± ¡°Okay, your wedding day. And, when was it more precisely?¡± Zigmont didn¡¯t give any instruction, but his clever apprentice started to write on the chart. It looked like it had happened first because of excessive nervousness. Zigmont was going to listen to Edgar first, judge if it was a physical problem or mental, and decide whether to continue treating him or introduce another doctor. He wasn¡¯t a psychiatrist after all. ¡°It was when I saw Rubica walk toward me to say her vow...¡± ¡°Okay, when Rubica walked... Rubica? Your wife?¡± Edgar nodded. Then he added, quite irritated, ¡°Do not dare to call that name again.¡± His cold voice gave the doctor the chills. Zigmont had known Edgar had recently gotten married, but he hadn¡¯t known his wife¡¯s name. He apologized again and again and then moved on to the next question. ¡°When did your heart beat so loudly after that?¡± Patients are obliged to obey their doctors¡¯ order. Knowing symptoms urately is necessary to treat a disease. Even the most skilled doctor cannot heal you if you don¡¯t describe your symptoms properly. So, Edgar used his genius brain and recalled the memories without any mistake. ¡°The time I kissed Rubica during the wedding, the time I saw her in her nightdress, the time I gave her first goodnight kiss, the time she hugged me first. Yes, my heart beats fast and my palms get sweaty every time I see her take a walk in the garden. And my body temperature also rises... it got the most serious when I saw her wearing a new dress.¡± Zigmont was shocked, and a soft smile appeared on the lips of the duke who was famous for having no feelings. He looked back into his memories and savored them. ¡°I still remember so clearly. The salmon-colored dress with the small cherry blossom-like flower pattern which matched her skin color so well. Her hair essory was so cute as well.¡± Then, he suddenly got rid of his picturesque smile and frowned. ¡°But my heart started to beat like crazy as soon as I saw her in that dress. It made me worry that there might be something wrong with my heart and it might suddenly stop after beating so fast.¡± Chapter 111

Chapter 111: Chapter 111

As Edgar continued to speak, he realized what his fear was. He was cursed. His legs went numb during the day even if they were fine at night. Moreover, the symptom was getting worse and worse. At first, only his toes had gone numb, but the numbness had gone up and now he couldn¡¯t move the parts under his knees at all. His nurse had told him to find a way to break the curse before it reached his heart before leaving. Lately, his heart had been beating like crazy and his mood had been swinging like the fickle rain of summertime. He feared it might be another symptom of the curse. What would Rubica do if he got a heart attack and died? He made her his wife when she knew nothing only because she was a lead. He couldn¡¯t just die and leave her alone like that. ¡°Um, uh... it¡¯s, um...¡± Zigmont couldn¡¯t continue and even his apprentice stopped writing and stared at Edgar with a very weird expression. Edgar started to feel afraid. Was there really something wrong with him? Was it a huge disease? Was he about to die and leave Rubica alone again? ¡°Is it serious?¡± ¡°No, no. I don¡¯t think it is.¡± Zigmont quickly shook his head and looked down to get a moment. Here, there was a beautiful man in front of him moaning in pain, and it made him anxious. What made him even more anxious was what the patient was babbling about. ¡®Does he really not know the answer?¡¯ Zigmont knew well about how smart Edgar was and how he excelled at the Academy. He himself had managed to get the permission to enter the Academy only at the age of 40, and he had heard so much about the duke¡¯s greatness. And now, that great man was babbling like a fool. He really couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing. ¡®... is he trying to test me to see if I¡¯m a quack?¡¯ Zigmont carefully looked at Edgar again, but it didn¡¯t look like he was joking or acting. ¡°If it¡¯s not a serious disease, then what is wrong with me?¡± ¡°Khmm, hmm, hmm. So, I¡¯ve finished examining your symptoms rted to your heart. It often happens when you are with Rubi... um, your wife.¡± ¡°Now that I think about it, yes.¡± Edgar sighed deeply while his ck eyshes above his blue eyes fluttered. His sadness was the finishing piece to his beauty. ¡®... I think I should worry more about the duchess¡¯ heart!¡¯ What would it feel like to be the wife of such a handsome man? Every morning it would feel like a dream, probably. Imagining such a beautiful man confess his love every day made Zigmont¡¯s heart beat fast even though he was a man. The duchess¡¯ heart must be ready to explode. ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s enough about your heart. What about getting irritated abruptly? When does that happen?¡± Before reaching a conclusion, he decided to gather data about all the symptoms like a proper doctor. A heart beating fast because of love was normal, but if Edgar¡¯s sway of mood had nothing to do with his wife, it could be a psychological disease. Psychiatrists had been making theories about mental diseases that had been unexinable before like hysteria and finding effective treatment these days. Edgar was one of his important clients and he had a duty to closely examine him. ¡°I get angry quite often, and sometimes I feel so skeptical that I wonder why I was born into this world.¡¯ ¡®Hmm.¡¯ Now that sounded like a proper symptom. The apprentice thought so as well and started to quickly write on the chart. ¡°But sometimes I feel so good as if I were flying over the clouds. Then, I feel like I own the world and everything in it. I feel grateful that I was born, and the world seems so colorful and everything in the world looks so good.¡± Zigmont nodded. He now could recall the name of a mental disease which a schr he met a while ago had taught him. It was bipr disorder, and it was slightly different from depression. Someone who was as busy as the duke could indeed get such a disease. Zigmont decided to dig in a little deeper for the next doctor Edgar would see. ¡°When do you feel so happy like that?¡± ¡°When Rubica smiles at me.¡± ¡°Okay, when... what?¡± The sadness on Edgar¡¯s face vanished in a second. He thenughed like a child at recalling a funny prank he had pulled some time ago. ¡°A while ago, she also hugged me first.¡± It was not like it was as important as ¡®my baby can walk on her own now.¡¯ Was it really necessary to brag about it when it was only a hug? ¡°And she closed her eyes when I looked down, then I... um, kissed her.¡± Ugh! I can¡¯t take it anymore. Zigmont¡¯s apprentice was probably thinking that too as he almost pierced the chart with his pen. Drops of ink were even running down and smudging the paper. ¡°Your Grace! You are not ill at all.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not ill? What are you talking about? Have you heard a word I said? How can you say that after hearing such serious symptoms?¡± Edgar, who had been smiling just a second ago, angrily replied. He was serious indeed. He had to have his disease healed to protect Rubica with a strong heart, but this quack-like doctor was saying it wasn¡¯t a disease. Was he supposed to live on with a malfunctioning heart till the end of his days then? ¡°Your Grace, your condition is nothing but normal.¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t! I swear, my heart has never beaten like this before. I¡¯ve never felt so miserable either.¡± ¡°When did you feel that miserable? It was when your wife cried, wasn¡¯t it?¡± No! No! Edgar¡¯s lips were about to yell that, but then they stopped in the middle. Huh? Yes. He did feel like the world was being shattered to pieces when Rubica cried. His heart had ached so much that he couldn¡¯t breathe. He had been so sad, mad, and miserable. ¡®Maybe he is not a quack.¡¯ Edgar looked at Zigmont, quite impressed. The rumors were right, the old doctor was good. He could even guess a symptom he hadn¡¯t even mentioned yet. ¡®No, he¡¯s still a quack. I am definitely ill.¡¯ At first, he thought it was a mere flu. He then thought it was because he was tired. Next, he thought it was the side effect of taking the flu medicine and champagne together. But when he asked a schr from the Academy to look into it, he said it could happen when taking the flu medicine and alcohol at the same time but was only a temporary phenomenon and didn¡¯t deserve a serious research. So, Edgar waited for that temporary phenomenon to fade. However, it didn¡¯t. The sound of his heart only grew bigger and bigger day after day, and he started to feel more and more miserable. If he felt like he was walking on the clouds when he felt good, nowadays he felt like he was standing next to the sun and was about to melt. Moreover, he kept thinking about someone¡¯s face like an idiot. It was like he had been hypnotized since he even thought about her when he worked or read something. This had never happened before as he had both a great brain and great concentration. If this wasn¡¯t a serious disease, what was? ¡°Yes, but what does that have to do with me being normal? I¡¯m sick and that¡¯s an undeniable truth.¡± Zigmont gave him a pathetic look, and Edgar had been never looked like that by anyone before, so he was quite shocked. However,pared to the shock he would soon get from what the doctor said, this was nothing. ¡°Your condition is extremely normal. It¡¯s just that you are in love.¡± ¡°Lo, lo... what? Love?¡± ¡°Yes. It is only normal. As a husband you love your wife, so your heart beats fast when you see her, you feel like you own the world when sheughs and feel like the world is being shattered when she cries. That¡¯s all.¡± His apprentice nodded as well. That was a simple diagnosis that didn¡¯t require any psychological knowledge, no, not even any medical knowledge. They rather couldn¡¯t believe the smart and great duke had called them for such a problem. ¡®Well, it differs from person to person. One might bete in this regardless of their intelligence.¡¯ Zigmont nced at the duke who had both hands on the forehead. It looked like he wasn¡¯t going to sell any expensive medication or prescription, but as he made a huge sum of money for such a simple matter, it wasn¡¯t like he was losing. His apprentice also realized it was time for them to leave and started to pack their things. ¡°Therefore, Your Grace, you don¡¯t need any further service of me. You don¡¯t have to do anything about your problem. Just go see your wife often and...¡± ¡°... you quack.¡± ¡°What?¡± Edgar jumped to his feet and grabbed Zigmont by his cor. Although he was an old man, he did surgeries, so his arms and legs were strong. Still, he was helplessly dragged out by Edgar. Chapter 112

Chapter 112: Chapter 112

¡°Your, Your Grace.¡± ¡°Master!¡± Zigmont¡¯s apprentice quickly packed his bag and followed them. In no time, Edgar arrived at the main gate and threw the poor doctor out. ¡°Get out!¡± Although Zigmont was now a well-famed doctor, he had been treated like that during his early days, so he had learned the proper ways to fall and was able to avoid tumbling down the stone stairs. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare show your face to me ever again.¡± Then, the door was closed with a bam. ¡°Ouch, ouch.¡± His apprentice helped him to get up, but he really didn¡¯t know why the duke was that angry. It wasn¡¯t like Rubica was a maiden, and what was wrong with loving your own wife? ¡®I will never understand those nobles.¡¯ He clucked his tongue. Was he not going to be paid? That wouldn¡¯t be good. He didn¡¯t mind waiting for Edgar until the morning stars came up, but that would change if he was not going to be paid. ¡°Master, are you alright?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, my child.¡± Zigmont was about to tell his apprentice to report this to the bureau that monitored the behavior of the aristocrats when the door opened again. Soon Carl, the butler, came out with a troubled expression and, thankfully, he was holding a full wallet. ¡°Mr. Zigmont, I¡¯m sorry.¡± However, being paid brought a smile to the doctor¡¯s face. Actually, preferring to meet various patients to learn about various diseases over treating a few royals was only an excuse. The doctor loved money just as Edgar loved Rubica. ¡°No, no, but I really don¡¯t understand. You were there too, and you must know this as well, but it is only natural for him to love his wife. I told him only the right thing, and he was so mad to hear that...¡± ¡°Um, it¡¯s...¡± Carl didn¡¯t finish the sentence as he had noticed Edgar liked Rubica. Sometimes he couldn¡¯t restrain himself in front of her and would smile. However, the duke wouldn¡¯t even look at her and focused on what he was eating or said something sarcastic. He had stayed calm, so Carl hadn¡¯t known that his master¡¯s disease, no, love was that serious until Edgar confessed it to the doctor. ¡°It must be about his pride.¡± ¡°His pride?¡± ¡°His wife finds him a little... bothersome.¡± Carl really couldn¡¯t bring himself to say, ¡®She doesn¡¯t like him.¡¯ Zigmont¡¯s eyes widened. There was a woman who found such a great man bothering? She had to be crazy. ¡°That must be why he is a little confused. He will surely feel sorry when hees to his senses.¡± Carl smiled awkwardly, but the doctor was now feeling very confused. What kind of woman could she be for her to seduce the duke who even all those charmingdies failed to win? Then, his apprentice checked the gold coins inside the wallet and quietly whispered to him how much it was. He had already been given the down payment, so it was huge money. After getting that much money, it was curtesy to leave quickly before the payer changed his mind. ¡°Anyway, he is not doing that because there is something wrong with his body, so please make sure he doesn¡¯t eat any wrong drugs.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± With thatst piece of advice, Zigmont was soon gone. Carl saw him leave on a carriage and then returned to the duke¡¯s room where Edgar was still in agony, pulling his own hair out. Carl took out his favorite tea from across the desert to calm him down, and soon a sweet scent filled the room. Tea was there to ease Edgar¡¯s pain when he got a headache. Some diversion was just what he needed now. The duke would calm down after getting some fresh air and sweet scent, and he would admit the truth eventually. ¡°Put it away.¡± However, when Carl offered him a cup of tea, Edgar threateningly growled. He had never been like this before, so Carl put down the cup on a nearby table. ¡°Your Grace.¡± ¡°Get out.¡± He sounded firm, but Carl didn¡¯t move for a second. He couldn¡¯t decide if he should leave now or help the duke clear his confused mind. ¡°Your Grace, um...¡± ¡°Get out.¡± Now he was the one about to be thrown out of the door if he lingered more, so he quickly ran out. Edgar then sat alone in the room while roughly messing with his hair. ¡®I¡¯m in love?¡¯ It was ridiculous. He despised love as it only brought misery to this world. He had seen a sane person do something crazy because of love, like giving up his dream and talents just to go follow their lovers to their hometown. Love was something to be avoided as much as possible. Look at his own mother. How did such a sacred nymph fell in love with trash like his father? He really couldn¡¯t understand. And, how did his father fall in love with someone else when he had such a perfect woman by his side? That was another mystery. If love didn¡¯t exist at all, if the virtue that everyone praised but wasn¡¯t so necessary for a living didn¡¯t exist, that tragedy wouldn¡¯t have happened. He had nned to never fall in love. Feeling such an unnecessary emotion was useless. But... -Your heart beats fast every time you see her, and you feel like you own the whole world when she smiles. He definitely felt good when Rubica smiled. He got mad when that smile wasn¡¯t for him but someone else and would taste an unexinable anxiety. However, when she smiled at him, he felt like he owned the world and had to fight the desire to hold her tightly in his arms. ¡®... and she was always with me when my heart beat so loud and fast.¡¯ Especially when he kissed her forehead or embraced her. When that happened, he felt a thrilling passion going through him. Something he hadn¡¯t been able to tell the doctor which had happened on their first night together. -... and you feel like the world is falling to pieces when she cries. Indeed. His heart ached when Rubica cried. When she had to abandon her belief for him, he felt greatly humiliated for the first time in his life. He was mad about the family¡¯s tradition that he had been so proud of before. He felt disgusted to his old days of trying to keep that old tradition. He should have fixed it before she came, and he felt like he was the biggest idiot in the world. ¡°Shit!¡± It was hard to deny. Muttering he wasn¡¯t, that there was no way he was in love, was no good. He looked back into his memories and thought about the things he had done, and it looked like he truly was in love. ¡°I am in love with someone else.¡± And, with a woman who would never love him. ¡°Shit.¡± He couldn¡¯t help but swear. How did this happen to him? He didn¡¯t know either. Since when it started to happen and how he came this far, he really didn¡¯t know. He should have backed off when she said she was in love with someone else. Then, he wouldn¡¯t have suffered this kind of crazy pain. He wouldn¡¯t have been in such a crazy situation. He wished to turn back time and go back to the time he hadn¡¯t known her. ¡°Shit.¡± However, that was impossible. Now he couldn¡¯t go back to the time where he hadn¡¯t known her. Even now, although he was so confused and in such pain. ¡°Rubica.¡± He missed her. A lot. Only by seeing her, he felt like he could calm down. *** The maids at the mansion in the capital were not hired for long. They worked for a year or two and then moved to other nobles¡¯ mansions that paid them more with rmendation letters. Thanks to that, managing them was even easier. They had been told not to go to the second floor as the duke was sensitive and followed that order diligently. So, Carl could rx a little more at the capital than at the dukedom. At ymore Mansion, he had to get up early in the morning, check his master¡¯s condition, and put him in a wheelchair in his office lest a maid came and saw him. However, that wasn¡¯t needed at the capital. He woke up by the sunrise for two days and served the duke in time when other noblemen normally got ready in the morning. He was rxed, but the duke only got more and more agitated every day. ¡°The king has extended the conference for another day.¡± Edgar had said thatst night as he angrily undid his cuffs. He was now truly mad. He had nned to stay at the capital for only two days, but then the king started to make requests about this and that in return for siding with Edgar about that mana quartz matter. Edgar was really worried, and he wanted to go home immediately. His rtives were nasty and liked to boast that they were the members of the prestigious ymore Family. They could hurt Rubica¡¯s mild heart in many ways. Although Rubica had bravely said she could handle it as she had started it, Edgar was still worried. He wanted to go back and be at her side. He needed the king¡¯s letter for that, but that old roon wasn¡¯t missing a chance to make him do this and that. -Edgar, what do you think of this? The minister of state hase up with an idea to renovate the water and sewers, but my eyes are too dim to read this. The king shamelessly handed him the document and Edgar could only barely resist the urge to throw it at his face. Chapter 113

Chapter 113: Chapter 113

Although the king was old, his eyesight was better than a youth¡¯s. Moreover, he wasn¡¯t showing Edgar that document just because he wanted him to check its calctions. Instead, he was going to make some excuses and hold him at the capital until he gave him a much better idea. ¡°Carl, I will take care of this by tomorrow, so prepare for it.¡± ¡°Of course, Your Grace.¡± Carl had already found all the necessary documents like the map of old sewers, records of its condition, records of the recent extension of water pipes, and records of increase and decrease in poption and had put them in the duke¡¯s officest night. Sacrificing an hour in the evening for a spare time of 10 minutes in the morning was worth it. He was going to get up as usual, enjoy a cup of tea, and go to the duke. ¡°Sir! Sir!¡± However, his rest was interrupted by someone knocking on his door, so Carl forced himself to leave his bed. It was early in the morning and the sun hadn¡¯te up yet. Who was waking him up so early? He pressed down his irritation and opened the door. ¡°Sir!¡± The man in front of the door was the servant who took care of the messenger birds. Seeing him made Carl¡¯s sleepiness vanish. What kind of urgent message hade during the night that he was making such a fuss? ¡°What is it about?¡± ¡°I just got letters from the ymore Mansion.¡± ¡°Letters?¡± Carl did a quick calction. It was impossible for letters to arrive now unless they had been sent on the day the duke left his home. Plus, it would require very fast and well-trained messenger birds. ¡°What can it possibly be?¡± ¡°And there are many letters, from multiple ces.¡± Are they protesting against the duke¡¯s decision for not getting mana quartz? The duchess must have yed the defense well and they had decided to bring the fight to the duke. Carl yawned. He didn¡¯t like that the servant had wakened him up for nothing important. ¡°I will organize them in the morning and get them to the duke. It¡¯s not that urgent.¡± ¡°One of the letters were torn by the ws of a falcon and I saw its content. Sir, it¡¯s important!¡± The servant was smiling widely. If it was important enough to wake a sleeping person up so early, it had to be an emergency, but the servant looked like he was so d and was eager to share the joy with anyone. ¡°Important?¡± ¡°The duchess is pregnant! They are all letters of congrattion.¡± It made Carl run out in his pajamas. ¡°Bring the letters now!¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯ve already brought them here with me.¡± The servant handed him the letters and he quickly put them in his pocket. Carl looked outside the window. The sun hadn¡¯te up yet, so it would be better to bring the news to Edgar now rather than waiting till the sun came up. After the sun came up, his master would have too many factors to think of to make a decision. ¡°Your Grace, Your Grace!¡± Carl banged on the duke¡¯s door hard, and soon he heard a sleepy voice. ¡°What is this about?¡± ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s urgent. It¡¯s about the duchess!¡± The door was immediately opened, and Edgar yelled at him, ¡°Rubica? Has something happened to her?¡± In that short moment, images of bad situations went through his head. He shouldn¡¯t have left. Even though it had been necessary forter days, he should have stayed with her. ¡°Your Grace, she is perfectly fine. It¡¯s just that she is, she is...¡± Carl just couldn¡¯t make himself say the rest, but Edgar was relieved to hear Rubica was fine. However, at the same time, he got mad. Why did Carl wake him up at night when Rubica was not sick or hurt? ¡°What is it? Speak!¡± Carl handed him the letters with shaking hands, and Edgar frowned. Those colorful letters seemed more like congrattion cards rather than urgent messages. ¡°Look.¡± Carl urged him to look and he unfolded a letter very reluctantly. Soon, he almost fainted at seeing the sentence that was revealed. Rubica really knew how to go beyond his imagination. -Your Grace, congrattion for Her Grace¡¯s pregnancy. ¡°P, pregnant...¡± He hadn¡¯t done anything with Rubica to make her conceive. He could swear on that upon his conscience. He had stayed up all night next to her fighting his rising desire on their honeymoon. And now, she was pregnant? ¡°Your Grace, congrattions.¡± The servant, who hadn¡¯t been brave enough toe up to the second floor but was standing on the stairs, managed to say that. ¡°Get out!¡± Carl and Edgar yelled at the same time. The servant was surprised and quickly ran down the stairs. ¡°Carl, prepare a carriage immediately. We are going back.¡± ¡°What about the conference with the king?¡± ¡°It should be canceled. Send a message now.¡± He took off his pajamas as there was no time. He had to sit in the carriage before the sun came up. ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± Edgar put on pants and shirt, went down, and got on the mana stone carriage. Carl had prepared a jacket and necktie for him there. ¡°Driver, go!¡± He yelled. The moment the driver started the carriage, the sun came up, so Edgar dragged his feet to sit inside the carriage and breathed heavily. ¡®She¡¯s pregnant.¡¯ The baby wasn¡¯t his. He wished the baby was his child, but there was no way he was the father. It had to be someone else¡¯s baby. ¡®Rubica.¡¯ Was that why she had hesitated so much? Was that why she had always mercilessly turned her back on him no matter how hard he tried to seduce her? ¡®Arman, that bastard.¡¯ Rubica hadn¡¯t had any lover before the marriage ording to the research he had done on her. The only guess he could make was that Arman who Rubica said she loved. What kind of man was he? How could he not send even a letter to the woman who had been forced to marry another man while pregnant with his child? If Edgar had been Arman, he wouldn¡¯t have left Rubica in that fate. ¡®I will find him and kill him.¡¯ However, that could make Rubica hate him, and she might even leave him. ¡®... what should I do?¡¯ It was the thing he now feared the most. -Edgar, I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t be with you when I¡¯m pregnant with another man¡¯s baby. Her leaving him. Even imagining it made his heart ache. The worst scenario was her leaving the mansion without even seeing him, leaving behind only a letter. Considering her high pride and belief, it was more than likely. ¡°Driver! Faster, go faster!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace. I am doing my best.¡± Edgar¡¯s heart ached all the way to the mansion. He was so nervous that he couldn¡¯t even think the news might be fake. There hade not one but many congrattion letters, and that fact seemed like a good proof. Exactly four hourster, Rubica¡¯s letter that exined how it was all a misunderstanding arrived tied around a bird¡¯s leg, but Edgar didn¡¯t get to read it. Rubica was quite busy on her own while Edgar wasing home. She was making ns on how to patch up the crisis that had been caused by the sudden announcement of pregnancy with Ann. Luckily, the family¡¯s doctor knew who he should be loyal to and agreed to make things look like Rubica miscarried her baby about a month or twoter. They discussed deeply on when to put the act and how to act in the meantime to avoid suspicions. That was why she had sent the letter to Edgar slightlyte. The caretaker of the birds said that it would arrive a littlete than the rtives¡¯ congrattion letters, but only slightlyte. So, Rubica wasn¡¯t that worried. Although Edgar would be surprised to hear the news, he valued his work more than anything. He wouldn¡¯t put his businesses at the capital aside and quicklye home. ¡°For now, the fewer people know about it, the better. So, only the doctor, I, and Elise should know about it. I¡¯ve already told Elise not to tell anyone about it.¡± ¡°Your Grace, I¡¯m so sorry.¡± Ann apologized again and again to Rubica who had to take another hard burden because of her. ¡°It¡¯s fine, Ann. But you should be careful with your mouth. To be honest, I¡¯m more worried about you than about the doctor.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Even though the doctor had been working for the family for a long time, he had never leaked information about his patients¡¯ condition. When it came to having a heavy mouth, Rubica was more worried about Ann. But actually, the whole being pregnant thing came with some good points. First, there were no more visits from the rtives about mana quartz. The ymores were nasty, and most nasty people were quick-witted. They had to find out who would put up with their temper and, only then, let it out. Rubica would be the mistress of the family regardless of her background if her baby was a boy. Of course, the society was full of noble wives who were not from good families that wouldn¡¯t mind, but the ymore rtives did mind. Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Chapter 114

¡°Viscountess Portman has sent a gift.¡± ¡°Herbs sent by Mrs. Zilehan have arrived.¡± Rubica was now getting so many gifts. The most troublesome of them were dresses for a pregnant mother, baby socks, and towels. At least Rubica could eat and share the food and herbs for pregnant mothers, but it wasn¡¯t like she could give away baby clothes embroidered with the emblem of the family. ¡°The duchess has extremely sensitive skin and can only wear dresses made by Madam Khanna, and she will get baby clothes after discussing with her husband.¡± Ann, who was feeling responsible for all this, came up with an excuse. That news spread very quickly and dresses for pregnant women vanished from the gift list. However, Ann took the baby clothes and stored them well without Rubica knowing about it as she believed they will be useful one day. She also knew what was necessary for that. ¡®That nightdress the duke liked.¡¯ She had to order it. Ann called Elise, thinking it would be better not to arouse suspicion. However, she was so busy sorting the gifts and preparing letters in return that she couldn¡¯t take part in the conversation between Rubica and Khanna. ¡°Elise, could you go to serve Her Grace and ask Madam Khanna toe and see me when it is time for her to leave?¡± ¡°Yes, Mrs. Taylor.¡± So, she asked Elise instead. She thought about sending her away after that, but then she called the girl again. ¡°You have to speak to her when Her Grace isn¡¯t watching.¡± Unlike her arrogant and pouty appearance, Elise was quite simple. Without specific instructions, she would say, ¡°The housekeeper wants to see you,¡± in her clear and loud voice to Khanna in front of Rubica. Moreover, Ann would be in trouble if Rubica asked why she had called Khanna in secret. ¡°... okay.¡± It didn¡¯t feel right, but Elise nodded. She just thought Ann must have a reason for that and went to Rubica who was with Khanna. Currently, Khanna was officially the ymore¡¯s designer, so she could meet Rubica in the sewing room instead of seeing her at the reception room. Rubica then greeted her on afortable chair. ¡°Your Grace, congrattions.¡± Khanna was so excited and congratted Rubica¡¯s pregnancy, but it made Rubica feel very ashamed. However, it wasn¡¯t like she could confess the truth. ¡°You should be careful, of course, but you should also take walks regrly to give birth to a healthy child. Staying inside might make you feel depressed, so it would be better to go out sometimes.¡± Khanna was raising four children of her own, so she advised her out of her experience. ¡°My belly hasn¡¯t swollen yet, so I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a need to get dresses for a pregnant woman.¡± ¡°Yes, dresses that are loose will be enough for a while, but your belly will pop up in a month or two.¡± However, that was not going to happen. Rubica then leafed through the sketches of dress designs for a pregnant woman in the early stages. She was nning to order just enough not to be suspicious. It was good that those designs were not that different from what she was normally wearing, so she could have them fixed after wearing them for a month or two or give them to someone who was really pregnant. ¡°This one and this one.¡± ¡°Okay, okay.¡± Rubica just picked a few designs without much enthusiasm. Khanna then marked the designs she pointed and waited, but Rubica didn¡¯t say anything more. ¡°Your Grace, what about embroidery andces? Should the decoration around the cor be in the matching color of the dress itself? How about using the samece?¡± ¡°Oh, um, just get what you think is right.¡± Khanna was really surprised. Just get what you think is right? That should have nevere out of Rubica¡¯s mouth. When ordering dresses, she always offered her opinions about this and that like a canary singing. She never neglected even a small pattern. And now, she wanted Khanna to ¡®just get what she thought was right?¡¯ That wasn¡¯t like Rubica at all. ¡°Then I will pick a few that will be good. Oh, and what about fabrics?¡± Khanna brought out the fabrics. She had bought many good imported fabrics with the money she had been paid by Rubica rather than hiring an assistant. She wanted to buy good materials and let Rubica, her practically only client, wear pretty dresses. But Rubica, who would have eximed at seeing those fabrics in any other time, didn¡¯t show any reactions today. She was even looking somewhere else. ¡°Huh? Oh, sorry. I was somewhere else for a moment.¡± ¡°Oh, you must be very tired these days. How about this fabric?¡± Khanna unfolded a fabric that was clear blue. It had a great gloss and changed color under the sunlight. Rubica eximed at seeing it. Thisdy was weak to pretty things. She had been distracted only because Khanna¡¯s designs weren¡¯t good enough to catch her attention, so Khanna made up her mind to study even harder. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen such a color.¡± ¡°Yes, the dye that brings out this color is extremely expensive and only royals could use it till a while ago. That is why it is called royal blue.¡± It was like it had been made only with the deepest and the most beautiful blue from the deep ocean. Rubica picked it up and waved it lightly. It left a deep blue afterimage as it moved. It was too pretty to be made into a home dress or dress for strolls. A dress made with such a beautiful fabric was for balls. The lively blue would flood out every time the wearer moved under the lights and impress so many people. They would praise the beauty throughout the kingdom and try to describe it. The fabric was too good to be just worn in the ymore Mansion and receive a fewments like, ¡®Today the duchess wore a really pretty dress.¡¯ ¡°I think it would look good on Elise.¡± Rubica blurted out her true thoughts. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Elise was surprised to hear her name called so suddenly. ¡°... I think so as well.¡± Actually, when Khanna saw that fabric that had arrived after crossing the faraway desert and ocean, she had first thought of Elise. The color would look beautiful on anyone, but it especially fitted Elise. ¡°Yes, right?¡± Rubica got up and put the fabric on the surprised girl¡¯s shoulder. Her white skin and the blue fabric looked amazingly good together. It was like a goddess inside the painting of a famous artist had just walked out into the real world. ¡°I think there should be lots of splendid chest decorations here. How about putting pearls in cross stripes and using red rubies as buttons in the middle?¡± Elise freaked out. Her mistress was at it again. ¡°No!¡± ¡°But I think it would look so good on you... you look better in dresses that have a deep color and many ornaments than in in dresses.¡± Elise knew that as well. She had eyes of her own. When she wore and did as Rubica and her capable maids said, she became amazingly beautiful. However, the cost of that beauty was too much. ¡°But the fabric itself is expensive, so adding such ornaments would be too much.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll buy. I must go to balls when the society seasones. It¡¯s not like I skip them just because I don¡¯t want to go.¡± Actually, Rubica was nning to go to every party that would take ce. How beautiful would the balls in the capital be? Her heart beat fast just imagining it. ¡°And, you do know you have toe with me, right?¡± ¡°... yes.¡± ¡°If you wear the same dress to every ball you go, I will be aughingstock.¡± That was definitely right. She was Duchess ymore, and not even making sure her owndies-in-waiting wore proper dresses would make people call her stingy, and she really wanted to avoid that. Rubica knew about Elise¡¯s situation. She couldn¡¯t afford to get dresses for balls on her own. Moreover, taking care of the people around her was her duty and privilege as a nobledy. Rubica wanted to give Elise many splendid dresses so that people would look at her beauty at each ball. ¡°So, giving you a dress is also for me, Elise. So please, do not say no.¡± What she was saying was harshly pointing at Elise¡¯s sad reality. That was why she was trying to say it as nicely as possible, and it made Elise give up. She nodded, ¡°But this one has a color too splendid color and too many jewels.¡± ¡°Do not worry about money. Everyone puts at least this much ornaments on their chest. Look at this design. Although there are many pearls and rubies, they are not that big. Plus, they were buttons so they can be put on other dresses.¡± Rubica passionately argued. Still, the girl couldn¡¯t brighten up. ¡°Such a dress, with so many jewels, isn¡¯t right for me. I like in dresses.¡± Now there came another obstacle. Rubica looked at Elise wearing a dress that was in the color of a mouse. She didn¡¯t look that bad. Compared to her initial self with a timid character and slouching shoulders, she had achieved a great transformation. However, she could be even prettier. She had just started to bloom and Rubica wanted to make her shine even more, but what was she saying she looked better in in dresses that weren¡¯t right for her? Well then, there was no other way for Rubica to be as stubborn as she was. ¡°Elise, why are you so sure it wouldn¡¯t look good on you when it hasn¡¯t even been made yet? I want you to wear this so much, and you will look good in it. I guarantee it, everyone will praise you when they see you in it. You cane to protest to me if that doesn¡¯t happen.¡± Chapter 115

Chapter 115: Chapter 115

¡°Ann looked really busy, you should go to help her. I must speak more with Madam Khanna.¡± However, it wasn¡¯t like Rubica could keep the crying Elise when there was Khanna watching it all, and the girl needed time to calm down. Having her to stay and serve her was too much. ¡°Okay.¡± Elise immediately realized what Rubica meant by that. As she couldn¡¯t stop crying no matter how hard she tried, she would only ruin the mood by staying here. She knew she might get scolded by Ann if she went back, but she felt like she deserved it. She couldn¡¯t even control her feelings and was crying in front of her mistress. ¡°And Madam Khanna, after you are done...¡± Elise was about to say, ¡®you should go to Mrs. Taylor,¡¯ but then she closed her mouth. Ann had asked her to call Khanna without Rubica knowing about it. She just almost made another mistake. ¡°Pleasee and find me.¡± ¡°Okay, I will.¡± Khanna thought it was about the payment and nodded. Discussing money with the duchess herself couldn¡¯t be right. Elise then wiped her tears, said she was sorry, and left the room. After she left, Rubica let out a deep sigh. ¡°I wanted to let her wear a pretty dress, but she doesn¡¯t want it...¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about it. We should make a dress for strolls for you with this fabric. Staying inside because you are pregnant is not good for your body and the baby.¡± Although Elise was pretty enough to arouse Khanna¡¯s desire as a designer, she wasn¡¯t Khanna¡¯s client. Khanna hade here to make dresses for Rubica, so she rmended the fabric to her right away. ¡°But I think it would look better as a dress for balls.¡± ¡°I wish I could make you a dress for balls in advance, but you are pregnant. It would be better to make it when the society seasones as you will be in a different shape and size by then.¡± Then, Khanna started to show some other fabrics that were dresses for walks, but none of them could catch Rubica¡¯s eyes. She stroked the royal blue fabric as if she just couldn¡¯t give it up. ¡°Oh, what should I do to make Elise wear pretty dresses?¡± Elise had be very beautiful by now, but it wasn¡¯t enough to Rubica. She could be even more beautiful, she could be even prettier, but the progress was blocked by that mental wall she had. ¡°It¡¯s not like she hates splendid things.¡± Although Elise kept saying she didn¡¯t like extravagance and it was a sin, her eyes sparkled when she saw Rubica¡¯s pretty dresses. Moreover, she was always eager to rmend prettier and more splendid things to Rubica, but she was rather strict on herself. She kept wearing that mouse-colored dress that didn¡¯t match her only because it was in and simple. Although she seemed to like her new short forelocks, she kept braiding her hair saying it was for work. ¡°Why is she so afraid of wearing splendid and pretty dresses? Why is she so afraid of being pretty? She has so much potential!¡± Rubica would have given up if Elise wasn¡¯t interested at all, but she was. That made Rubica even more frustrated. ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about it. I was like her when I was her age. When I wore this pretty pink dress, I was afraid people might say I wasn¡¯t pretty enough for it. And, Miss Sna has been considered ugly previously, so she will need even more courage.¡± As long as Elise wasn¡¯t interested in being pretty, she could have a shield of excuses. However, if she tried to be beautiful and was told she wasn¡¯t, she wouldn¡¯t be able to protect herself anymore. Elise had been called ugly repeatedly when she cared the most about appearance. That was why she was trying to defend herself even after she became pretty. She had managed to find a ce to be and had found people who liked her, so she didn¡¯t want to be humiliated in front of them. If she just stayed the way she was now and kept wearing in dresses, she would be able to make excuses even if she became a wallflower again. ¡®I¡¯m not interested in being pretty. I don¡¯t want to get others¡¯ attention. Being unnoticed is just what I want.¡¯ Elise probably wanted to pretend to be cold like that and run away. Rubica could understand that. Still, the girl was too beautiful to be left like that. And, Rubica really didn¡¯t to see such negative thoughts get her. Elise deserved love and attention, her heart was as beautiful as her face. ¡°If only she wanted, she will not only get everyone¡¯s attention at balls. She would be the queen...¡± ¡°I agree. She is pretty, but she has this unique distinctive mood that charms everyone in an instant.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t there any way?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°A way to make her let go of her fear.¡± Khanna was a little confused. Most nobledies wanted to be noticed themselves. Probably none of them wanted theirdy-in-waiting to get all the attention, especially youngdies. They had a tendency of parading with a horde of followers in the society. They were supposed not to meet other men after getting married, but they just couldn¡¯t bear to lose all the attention in a day. Only olddies wanted theirdy-in-waiting to get all the attention and be the flower of society. They cherished and loved their youngdies-in-waiting as if they were their own daughters. Most of theirdies-in-waiting were, in fact, their nieces. ¡®It¡¯s strange.¡¯ What the duchess was doing now was the behavior of an olddy, not a young girl. Her eyes sparkled when putting pretty fabrics on Elise and was always eager to give her more. She even just epted and moved on with Elise¡¯s behavior. Anydy with authority would have yelled, ¡®I will get humiliated if you wear that!¡¯ Moreover, anydy who wasn¡¯t like that would have just made Elise stay at home when she went to balls. No one cared about ady-in-waiting¡¯s heart or feelings, but Rubica was always worried that Elise might get hurt and tried to soothe her as if she had been her grandmother. ¡®Well, she is so kind. She even hired me as her designer after hearing my story.¡¯ Khanna soon denied her suspicion. Some people would mature a little early. On the other hand, some people never grew up. ¡°I think the ornaments in the stomacher is the problem. We might be able to convince her about the fabric¡¯s color, but I think using jewels is too much to get over the wall in her heart.¡± That definitely made sense. She had lived as a designer¡¯s wife for years and now her experience was paying off. Khanna knew well why girls of Elise¡¯s age found splendid dresses too much and how to convince them. ¡°Then what should we do?¡± ¡°How about this kind of embroidery?¡± Khanna took out an embroidery book and showed Rubica some lily flower patterns. ¡°We can embroider with silver thread and I think it will look pretty when sparkling in the light.¡± However, Rubica took another look at the blue fabric and shook her head. ¡°It won¡¯t look good on it.¡± Plus, the fabric was very thin. It could get wriggled when embroidered. The stomacher was made by putting cotton under the fabric, but the material itself wasn¡¯t for embroidering. ¡°Yes, it won¡¯t.¡± Khanna cleanly admitted it. She had rmended embroidering as the second-best idea, but it wasn¡¯t the best for the royal blue fabric. However, making the stomacher simple would be the worst. The fabric had a strong color and had to be matched with a stomacher just as splendid. ¡°Something that isn¡¯t as splendid as a jewel but noticeable.¡± It was a difficult riddle. Still, Rubica didn¡¯t want to give up on Elise. She crossed her arms and red at the design sketch. A clear-blue dress that would look very good on the tall Elise, and silver ornaments that would look good on blue. Something that was about toe up but didn¡¯t. Something that fluttered in the wind and caught everyone¡¯s attention in an instant. ¡®Rubica!¡¯ At that moment, Rubica could hear Ang¡¯s voice. Her cousin whose beauty she had found for the first time. The morning she hadn¡¯t known it would be theirst one together, she had made a knot to decorate her braided hair instead of using a pin. It fluttered in the wind, caught everyone¡¯s attention, and even Ang, the tricky princess, had liked it. ¡®That knot!¡¯ How about using it? I can use it with the silver fabric and put it on her chest. It will glitter in the light of the chandelier. It can be even more splendid than jewels. Chapter 116

Chapter 116: Chapter 116

Once she got an idea, her body moved fast. She jumped to her feet and found a pair of scissors in Khanna¡¯s toolbox. Sadly, there was no silver fabric, but there was a white fabric that glittered because of the mixed silver threads. Rubica cut out a huge piece to make a knot. She folded it so that the cut part wasn¡¯t shown and started to move her hands quickly. Khanna didn¡¯t even get time to stop her. And soon, you could see something simr to the knot that had decorated Ang¡¯s hair but was about three times bigger. ¡°This is...¡± ¡°How about decorating the stomacher with this?¡± Khanna looked at the knot. Simr knots were sometimes used to decorate the edge of furniture or curtains. It was rarely used to decorate sleeves, but it had never been used as the ornaments of a stomacher. It was something new. Still- ¡°I think it would be pretty.¡± Rubica¡¯s knot was nothing like any knot Khanna had seen till now. ¡°Right? I can make one with silver fabric and it will glisten like a jewel in the light.¡± ¡°Yes. And if I decorate the stomacher with this, it will highlight Ms. Sna¡¯s beauty and cover the w of her shape.¡± Elise was tall and thin, and it was charming. However, she wasn¡¯t ample. Her t breasts were one of her worries. Adding jewels to the t stomacher wasn¡¯t going to help with that, but the knot could perfectly have that problem covered. ¡°We should put the biggest knot on top, then a middle-sized one under it, then a small one. It would make a good bnce.¡± ¡°Yes, right?¡± ¡°How about changing the design itself like this?¡± Khanna felt excited, and the passion inside her, that she thought was gone, med again. She took out a pen and started to draw a new sketch since she had only brought designs for Rubica while Elise had her own matching designs. ¡°We should put small knots at the end of the sleeves. I think it would be better to decorate the part with frills embroidered with silver thread rather than usingces.¡± That simple exnation was enough for Rubica to imagine the finished dress. It was not only splendid but also attractive, and she couldn¡¯t wait to see Elise in that dress. ¡°You should make it. I will convince Elise.¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes burned with passion. When that happened, her eyes were red like a ruby instead of being auburn. But Khanna, who had just been passionate with her, didn¡¯t agree and just smiled awkwardly. ¡°But it¡¯s something new.¡± ¡°It¡¯s pretty. Shouldn¡¯t it be fine?¡± Although Rubica was knowledgeable about beauty, she didn¡¯t know much about the aristocrats¡¯ society. She just had vague ideas about it. She only participated at a couple of balls for barons and bars while she nursed her mother. Those kinds of parties were for socializing. They took ce only for young men and women to meet. Rubica knew only the brightest and the best side of society, but she didn¡¯t know whaty beneath it. Could she even guess what kind of scheme and darkness was in there? She had met tough sailors and evil soldiers, but evil had the power of adjusting to every situation. Therefore, Rubica didn¡¯t know about the demons of society. Luckily, Khanna knew about them. Expensive dresses and the society were inseparable. To make clothes for high nobles, designers went from this to that mansion and heard many rumors. And, herte husband would sometimes tell her those rumors. -The marquess didn¡¯t know the party¡¯s dress code had changed and ended up getting greatly humiliated. -Oh my, Countess Portman must have been very sorry. However, her husband carefully whispered her something else. -Actually, she was quite delighted. -What? -It had been her who forged that scheme. Moreover, designers were not free from such rumors. When a designer suddenly became famous, all kinds of rumors about him flooded out through boutiques. Some nobledies believed those fake rumors and even stopped ordering dresses from that designer. ¡°People might dislike such a sudden change. This knot is very pretty and would look good on Miss Sna but, in the end, it¡¯s only made of fabric. Even if we use silver thread, it would be nothingpared to using jewels.¡± ¡°But this dress will be much prettier than other dresses with tons of jewels.¡± Rubica was still na?ve, and Khanna shook her head. Rubica didn¡¯t know the truth about society yet. It wasn¡¯t like one could get all the attention with just being pretty in there. Even the most beautiful girl was ignored if she didn¡¯t have enough dowry. That story about how a girl¡¯s life could totally change as long as she was pretty was a fantasy created by men. ¡°People don¡¯t care about how beautiful a dress is if it doesn¡¯t have many jewels on it. They would say you couldn¡¯t afford to use jewels. No matter how good the fabric is, no matter how beautiful it is, it would be considered shabby.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Rubica could now see what Khanna was saying. ¡°Moreover, people might scold you and say you tried to use some strange knots because you couldn¡¯t afford to use jewels. In this case, the dress being pretty and being noticeable would bring even worse consequences.¡± That couldn¡¯t be good as Elisecked confidence even now, and Rubica didn¡¯t think she would be able to endure hearing all that. ¡°What should I do?¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing much we can do. Um, I think this dress would be too much for Ms. Sna for now. I will bring simple designs she wouldn¡¯t reject.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Rubica answered, quite disappointed. She couldn¡¯t take her eyes off Khanna¡¯s design and the knot she had made, so Khanna tried to sound lively to change the mood. ¡°But what should I do about your dress?¡± ¡°Huh? My dress? Um, like I said earlier, just make a few dresses. You choose the design. I think it is a little too early to make dresses for a pregnant woman. I will order them once my belly pops up.¡± Khanna wanted to say Rubica had to have them made in advance, but she didn¡¯t. ¡®But everyone will be so eager to meet her and congratte her...¡¯ Although Rubica had met the rtives who were living in the annexes of the mansion or nearby, she hadn¡¯t met any great nobles who had political influence and was famous in society. The sowing process had just ended, peasants could rx a little, and the duchess was pregnant. There was no way they would miss this good chance. Rubica had to wear even better dresses to meet them and show dignity. ¡®Next time.¡¯ However, the duchess had just announced her pregnancy and was really busy. Trying to make her order even more dresses now couldn¡¯t be good, so Khanna decided to talk about it again when she came back with new dress designs for Elise. She would also bring more fabrics for Rubica, not just the royal blue she had purchased in an instant just because it was pretty. ¡°Then I will send a message when the dress is finished next week.¡± Khanna curtseyed, packed her things, and left the room. ¡°Woof woof!¡± As soon as she came out, four or five dogs, that had been waiting outside, ran into the room. ¡®Is it okay for a pregnant woman to be with dogs?¡¯ Of course,moners like Khanna had no choice, but nobledies had to be different. One nobledy was even forced not to leave her bedroom until she safely gave birth to her baby. Moreover, another family even sent the pregnant mistress to a faraway vi in the mountains lest she caught some kind of disease. Compared to them, the ymore Family was quite free. ¡°Ms. Elise is in the reception room with Mrs. Taylor. Would you like me to take you there?¡± The dogs weren¡¯t the only ones who had been waiting. Khanna recalled what Elise had said before leaving at hearing a maid ask that. ¡°Oh, but I have many belongings...¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t worry about that. This man will take them to your carriage.¡± A servant lifted up the bag full of sample fabrics and ornaments and carried it away. The family¡¯s servants had been educated well. Khanna then followed the maid to the reception room without any worries. ¡®She said Ms. Sna is with Mrs. Taylor. Is it about the payment? Then she should have told me to go to Mrs. Taylor. Why did she ask me to go to her?¡¯ It was weird as Ann the housekeeper handled the actual use of the budget. In front of Rubica, she was the kind housekeeper and agreed with every decision she made. She didn¡¯t say anything to her even when she ordered very expensive jewels rmended by jewelers. However, she always called the merchantster topare the cost of raw materials with the market price and was extremely strict when setting the specific price and due date. It was practically impossible tomit fraud on ymore. However, while other noble families often ordered a bunch of expensive stuff and dyed paying or issued a promissory note with a faraway payday, ymore was different. It always paid immediately after making a deal for buying raw materials and, when the good was finished and sent, the rest of the payment was immediately paid. Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Chapter 117

¡°Mrs. Taylor, this is Khanna.¡± Khanna had guessed Ann could be the one who wanted to talk to her, and she had been right. Ann, who had been sorting gifts piled up like mountains in the reception room with the maids, smiled brightly at seeing Khanna. ¡°Oh, Madam Khanna. Has everything gone well?¡± ¡°Yes, but Her Grace didn¡¯t order many dresses as she is still in the early stages of her pregnancy.¡± Normally, Ann would have made a big fuss at hearing that. Then, she would have personally ordered a bunch of dresses for pregnant women and even order baby clothes. ¡°Really?¡± However, to Khanna¡¯s surprise, Ann didn¡¯t show much attention to the news. Instead, she gave an order to Elise who had stopped crying and was sorting the gifts with the maids. ¡°Elise, Her Grace is alone in the sewing room. You should go to her.¡± ¡°Yes, Mrs. Taylor.¡± Elise put down the box she was holding and left the room while Ann was looking at her proudly. ¡®I was worried about her at first, but she has improved a lot. Now she knows how to handle this kind of thing with flexibility.¡¯ Ann had been surprised to see the girle down crying, but she was still a teenager. Ann couldn¡¯t expect her to be perfect. Moreover, Humans could improve and change only because they were imperfect. ¡°Madam Khanna, we should have a talk here.¡± Ann led Khanna to a small room near the reception room. ¡®But the duchess hasn¡¯t ordered anything expensive that needs a talk in private...¡¯ Khanna didn¡¯t cheat about the raw material costs and employment costs for her dresses, but still, having a talk in private with Ann in a different room made her nervous. Ann looked really grim as she offered her to sit, but Khanna still forced her tensed body to sit down on a chair. Strangely, although she had done nothing wrong, she was nervous. She tried to think hard and find out if she had made any mistake. Unfortunately, she couldn¡¯t find anything. No, was that fortunate? ¡°Her Grace hasn¡¯t ordered many dresses today, so you can pay me after they are finished.¡± Khanna was in fear and spoke first, but Ann just quietly shook her head. ¡°Madam.¡± Ann called her in a low voice that was nothing like her usual voice. Khanna almost hupped. That was true fear. She even felt like she embezzled money when she didn¡¯t. She felt like she would immediately get kicked out of her position and live on the streets with her children if only the housekeeper wanted it. Soon, Ann continued gravely. ¡°That nightdress the duke saw the other day.¡± Oh, was it about dishonoring the duchess? At the time, the duke had liked that nightdress and the mood had been fine, so everyone had moved on it. But still, Khanna shouldn¡¯t have rmended such a thing to the duchess. She trembled in fear and was about to plead for mercy. ¡°Can I order twenty of them?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°No? Then I will order ten for now. You may change the color or thece. But what is important is...¡± Ann¡¯s face turned red. She found it embarrassing to say what she had to say, but now wasn¡¯t time to care about that. ¡°... make them as sexy and erotic as possible.¡± Khanna didn¡¯t know what was going on. She didn¡¯t even answer and just nkly sat there. Was she about to refuse? Ann was worried and held her hands tightly. ¡°I will pay as much as you want. Please, you have to take this order.¡± Then, she lowered her voice and said, ¡°But it should remain as a secret to the duchess.¡± Ann decided to pay for the materials by paying for the dresses ordered by Rubica in advance and pay the rest on the day all the dresses were made. Rubica would notice it if Ann wrote it in the books. Plus, considering how she had reacted at Edgar looking at that design, she would immediately cancel the order. Ann was, therefore, plotting for a perfect crime. ¡°And you must use the thince from Sharman that can be torn at any time.¡± ¡°Oh, um,ce from Sharman is hard to get. I cannot get enough to make twenty nightdresses so quickly.¡± ¡°Then can you make ten?¡± ¡°... yes, I can make ten.¡± Khanna tried not to blush too much as she wrote down Ann¡¯s order. ¡®But is it okay to make a pregnant woman wear such a dress?¡¯ She suddenly wondered that, but she didn¡¯t ask the question out loud. The money she would make by making ten expensive dresses was just too tempting. *** While things were going peacefully at the ymore Mansion, Edgar felt like he was in hell. He couldn¡¯t sit still in his carriage. If his legs had been fine, he would have pushed the driver away and driven the carriage himself. ¡®Rubica, Rubica.¡¯ He couldn¡¯t say the name out loud, but he kept calling her name in his mind. He was enraged by the time the carriage left the capital. ¡®She is pregnant...¡¯ And, she had married him without revealing that. However, it didn¡¯t anger him at all. Instead, he was mad at the man who made her pregnant and was ignoring her now. ¡®Is it that Arman she said she loved?¡¯ The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. How could Rubica love such a bastard? He couldn¡¯t control his rage and broke a pen in his hand. He wanted to find Arman and beat him up if only he could. Such a man didn¡¯t deserve Rubica¡¯s love. Edgar wanted to make sure he never got to set his feet on the ground or see the clear sky ever again. He thought torture was something barbaric, but this time it was different. He wanted to use every cruel method he knew to teach Arman how bad it was what he had done. He made a woman pregnant and made her marry another man. ¡®Was this why she said she could never have physical intercourse even after marrying me? Oh, it must have been why she wanted to make our marriagest only for a year...¡¯ Now everything made sense. Rubica might not love Edgar, but being Duchess ymore was charming enough. Edgar could guess that not all the women who tried to tempt him were doing it because of his beauty. There were many women who would do anything to be his duchess, even if he was so rude or cold toward them. However, Rubica strongly refused him. She could have enjoyed the privileges she had as the duchess, but she didn¡¯t. She only wanted to do just enough not to make others suspicious. Even though he had given her some money as the dowry, she had put half of it in a trust fund for her cousin. Fifty thousand Gold. That was a huge sum of money for others but, to Edgar, it was small. Rubica was trying to take that money and live as a divorced woman. Edgar just couldn¡¯t understand that choice, but she was so stubborn no matter how good the bait he was offering was. Now he knew why. She had been trying to stay chaste, for the bastard who had abandoned the woman who was pregnant with his child. When Edgar¡¯s thought reached that point, something hot rose in his chest. Soon, he could feel a metallic taste of blood in his mouth. ¡®Foolish girl.¡¯ She was really foolish. If she had epted his marriage proposal and had hidden her secret, he would have believed the baby was his by now. Rubica could have lived as Duchess ymore, as the mother of the heir of ymore Family. However, she didn¡¯t. She even requested the condition of banning physical intercourse. ¡®Why? Why did she do that when she was pregnant?¡¯ People who were too just were fools and Rubica was one of them. Had she feared he might think the baby was his? When Edgar thought of that, he couldn¡¯t breathe properly anymore. He couldn¡¯t even guess what she was thinking, and his heart was about to blow up. ¡®There might be another exnation.¡¯ Edgar took a sip of tea and took a deep breath. He needed to calm down. Rubica was the one who was pregnant, and she had to be more confused than he was now. He couldn¡¯t humiliate himself by losing his temper in front of her. He had to be there with a straight mind and take care of her. For now, he had to consider every possible scenario, find the best countermeasure, and carry it out. ¡®Did she not know that she was pregnant when she agreed to marry me?¡¯ He suddenly got that idea. It was likely. Rubica¡¯s body hadn¡¯t shown any change till he left for the capital. She hadn¡¯t shunned specific foods or retched. And, the doctor hadn¡¯t said much about her condition. Maybe she had just found out about her pregnancy. ¡®Then it¡¯s even worse.¡¯ She had to be so worried and nervous. The pain he was feeling now was nothingpared to hers. She must be living in hell. ¡®She might worry about me thinking that I was fooled by her¡¯ That much was fine. That wasn¡¯t the worst scenario as he could soothe her anxiety. Even if she had known about her being pregnant, he could tell her he knew she never thought of fooling him thanks to the terms she had requested before marrying him. However, the true problemy somewhere else. It was her stubborn nature. ¡®She might feel too ashamed to see me and leave the mansion before I get there.¡¯ Chapter 118

Chapter 118: Chapter 118

Rubica was more than capable of doing that. She was stubborn and had a strong will to carry out what she believed was right. On the day they first met, she even tried to pack her things and run away. Maybe she was trying to reach that Arman. ¡®And she didn¡¯t give me any information about him.¡¯ Edgar hadn¡¯t cared much about it back then. Whether she was in love with someone or not, it hadn¡¯t been his concern. He rather weed it as he was sick of people who liked him. Of course, he had been slightly irritated with Rubica for not sharing any information about that Aman even though she said she loved him. Edgar had finished doing a background check on her before proposing to her. There weren¡¯t any men around her, and those who had been near her had run away once they found out she had no inheritance and no dowry. Moreover, Rubica herself hadn¡¯t been that interested in men. She preferred doing her cousin¡¯s hair rather than going after men. That was why he thought she was lying, so he scolded and mocked her. At the time, she had only been a tool to him. He had meant to offer some good conditions and bring her home. Moreover, the marriage had been nothing more than a mean to have her near him as she was the only clue to solve his curse. And even that had proceeded by the strong hope and insistence the king showed when Edgar discussed the matter with him. Edgar was trying to solve his curse for one reason. The kingdom needed him now. That was all. He had expected Rubica to recognize him and say she knew the way to break the curse and nothing more. He hadn¡¯t sought any emotional interaction with her. Sadly, judging from her reaction, she clearly had never met him before. Edgar regretted it only now. He should have been suspicious and wondered why she acted like that. He should have asked that eventer as she wasn¡¯t the kind of person who was good at lying. She rather showed her feelings openly. ¡°That bastard.¡± He threw away some documents on his table. He alwayscked time and even worked while traveling. That document could be the result of a very important experiment or the king¡¯s letter, but now, he couldn¡¯t afford to care about that. ¡°How dare you leave such a woman?¡± He recalled how Rubica¡¯s clear eyes had looked at him when she said he couldn¡¯t sleep with her if he didn¡¯t love her, even if she wanted it. At the time, he hadn¡¯t noticed because of the pain in his pped cheek, but his heart was already fluttering. She was an upright person. ¡°And she is so pretty!¡± Rubica wasn¡¯t just kind-hearted, she was beautiful as well. Edgar considered her in when they first met, but his eyes had been wrong and failed to recognize her beauty. He could swear she was the most beautiful woman he knew, and he had met every beautifuldy in the capital¡¯s society. He was sure that his judgment was objective and exact. That Arman had to be a fool and an idiot. Edgar couldn¡¯t let Rubica go to such a man, no matter how much she loved him. Which man, which husband could bear to see his wife meet a bastard and ruin his wife? It might have been different if Arman had been a nice guy, but this couldn¡¯t be. He just couldn¡¯t let the pregnant Rubica throw herself into a pit of fire just because of her faith in him. ¡®She is my wife, so the baby is mine.¡¯ Edgar made up his mind. The baby was Duchess ymore¡¯s child. If the baby was the duchess¡¯ child, it was also the duke¡¯s child. Her past wasn¡¯t important. The baby¡¯s biological father was ignoring both of them, so he didn¡¯t deserve to im his rights as the baby¡¯s father. Rubica is my wife. I don¡¯t care if our marriage ends in four years. Right now, I¡¯m her husband. ¡®If it¡¯s a boy, he will be ymore¡¯s heir.¡¯ Rubica was smart, so the child could be intelligent after being taught by Edgar himself. Moreover, he would be responsible and clever just like Rubica. ¡®And if it¡¯s a girl...¡¯ He could almost see a little girl who had Rubica¡¯s light-brown hair and innocent auburn eyes. He excluded the possibility of the girl resembling her biological father. Even imagining that was enough to drive him crazy. Anyway, the cute child, who would be just like Rubica, was going to call Edgar ¡®daddy¡¯. Maybe the child would nag on Rubica and tell her to be nicer to daddy, she might even cling onto her skirt and beg her not to leave daddy after four years. Imagining that scene made his heart ache and warm up at the same time. Rubica could stand strong against people who had power, but she was so weak to the weak. She would never be able to leave if her own child begged in tears. When Edgar thought of that, he almost thanked the man who made Rubica pregnant and ran away. ¡®I must make sure the child considers me his daddy.¡¯ Then, he had to catch Rubica first and convince her to raise the baby at ymore as his own. He could talk about the baby¡¯s future and remind her she could starve to death with the baby if she left. Moreover, he was going to even request to get the money he had given her back as she was breaking their deal. But if she insisted and left in the end, he would be... ¡®I can¡¯t let her suffer.¡¯ Even imagining it tore his heart. He would get her a house and send food even if she didn¡¯t get to find out it was him. He didn¡¯t want her soft hands to be rough. ¡®But first, I cannot let her know that before I stop her from leaving.¡¯ Rubica might not mind about starving to death herself, but she would eventually stay at ymore if leaving would put the baby in danger. Moreover, Edgar was going to love the child. He was going to let the child have and do everything. It couldn¡¯t be good educationally, but the child wasn¡¯t going to get spoiled as long as Rubica was there. The sun went down when he made that decision, and the carriage had entered ymore¡¯s domain. He was going to arrive at the mansion soon. *** Contrary to Edgar¡¯s anxious heart, Rubica was in a very calm state. She was embroidering with Elise under the warm light of the firece. She had already finished what she had been making. This time she had found a book with patterns that had been passed down in the family for generations and was going to embroider four corners of a handkerchief. ¡°You¡¯ve already finished it?¡± Elise asked in surprise. They had been looking at the same book, but Elise had embroidered only one corner of her handkerchief. ¡°You pick up speed once you get used to it.¡± Rubica tied a knot to finish the work. Unlike the impressed Elise, she seemed somewhat bored. ¡°You¡¯re going to embroider the duke¡¯s initial, right?¡± Rubica¡¯s hand that was putting the finished handkerchief into the basket stopped. Elise then gave her a pamphlet that had various alphabet designs. ¡°He would be really delighted.¡± Edgar, delighted? Rubica couldn¡¯t even imagine that. He didn¡¯t seem to be that interested in showing off and fashion. However, he had refined hobbies and Carl always prepared his clothes and shoes perfectly. He probably had handkerchiefs for the next twenty years stored somewhere. ¡®And he will probably throw a handkerchief away after using it once.¡¯ But she couldn¡¯t say she wasn¡¯t going to embroider Edgar¡¯s initial to Elise¡¯s sparkling eyes that now looked green under the yellow light of the firece. ¡®Well, I started doing it as practice in the first ce.¡¯ Rubica narrowed her eyes and looked down at the handkerchief. Yes, it was for practicing and there wasn¡¯t a need to put much meaning in it. And now, finding out more about the girl¡¯s taste was more important. One day Rubica would have a dress made that was so beautiful that Elise wouldn¡¯t be able to resist it and make her wear it. ¡°Could you choose a few for me?¡± Elise found a few letters designs she liked and rmended them to Rubica, and Rubica quickly memorized what they had inmon. ¡®She likes curved lines more than straight lines, and she prefers luxurious but not tooplicated designs.¡¯ Checking her taste again reminded Rubica of that royal blue fabric. ¡°And I think this one would be good for thest letter.¡± Rubica looked at the design Elise was pointing at and became sure. The dress she had designed with Khanna was in line with Elise¡¯s taste. However, Khanna had said it was too innovative and people wouldn¡¯t ept it. Rubica knew she had to give up, but she couldn¡¯t help thinking about it. ¡®How can I make people ept that dress?¡¯ She couldn¡¯t think of a good idea for now, so she decided to put it aside and smiled at the girl. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll do as you rmended.¡± Rubica embroidered Edgar¡¯s initial in no time. Even ymore¡¯s seamstresses weren¡¯t that fast. And the moment she finished embroidering, she lost all her will. Chapter 119

Chapter 119: Chapter 119

¡®I don¡¯t think Edgar will like it.¡¯ It was only for practice. She had embroidered aimlessly without thinking about Edgar¡¯s refined taste. Giving it to him would only get her scolded, so she put the finished handkerchief in the basket. The patterns book that had been so interesting only a while ago was now so boring. The boredom she had never experienced before pressed on her. When she first came to the mansion, every day had been full of surprises. She had studied everything carefully, even the patterns carved on the doors. However, even that couldn¡¯tst forever. She had memorized everything in less than a month, like the number of vases that decorated the mansion, the types of forks, and the gardener¡¯s shoes. Moreover, she was totally surprised when she first had a meal at the mansion. The series of ingredients she had never seen before, the fresh meat and fish. She hadn¡¯t been able to miss even one dish. Of course, Steven was still a great cook and everything he made was tasty, but Rubica just couldn¡¯t feel the thrill she had felt at first. ¡°I¡¯m bored.¡± No more rtives came to bother her even when she had braced herself to have huge fights with them about mana quartz but, thanks to Ann¡¯s misunderstanding, everyone thought she was pregnant now and no one came to confront her. ¡°Should we y cards?¡± Elise nced at her and carefully asked, but Rubica shook her head. She was always the winner when ying cards with Elise, even though Elise was a much better yer. A game with a set winner was not fun. Rubica stroked the dog Latte lying near her feet. The dog¡¯s fur was soft, and Latte growled pleasantly. Rubica was feeling good as well. But still, she was bored, and time was going by way too slowly. ¡®I need some kind of excitement.¡¯ However, no matter how hard she tried to think of something new, she had already tried everything. And thest one had been shattered by Elise¡¯s firm refusal. Emptiness and hollowness pressed on her. ¡®I wish time would go fast, so Edgar woulde back from the capital.¡¯ Then, Rubica was surprised to find herself waiting for Edgar¡¯s return. Why would she wait for that man? He was hard to understand, arrogant, and as sarcastic as his beautiful face. ¡®I shouldn¡¯t go down to that even if I¡¯m bored.¡¯ Yes, that was the problem. With Edgar, there had been so many incidents that she hadn¡¯t been able to sense the passing of time. She had to think so hard to counter his scolding words and actions with meanings she couldn¡¯t see. He seemed to have taken making fun of her as his life¡¯s pleasure. ¡®And he keeps trying to kiss me. He really shouldn¡¯t do that with his pretty face!¡¯ There wasn¡¯t a woman who could resist that kind of temptation. Even Rubica had been shaken. She would have turned him down tly if it had been another day, but that day had been a little weird. She had been very moved by him, and they had shared this odd feeling. His blue eyes, that were as clear as the sky, had been like the universe that day. His irises had a deep navy-blue border and would get clearer in the center. Moreover, they had shining stars like the Milky Way. Were the rising stars of the night sky like them? She had never seen someone else¡¯s eyes at such a close distance before, and those eyes were so beautiful. Rubica had been frozen on the spot as if she had been enchanted. She had known what he wanted her to do and what would happen next if she did that, but she still closed her eyes. ¡®It was because his eyes were so pretty.¡¯ Rubica pressed her cheeks that were now red by just recalling the scene. She decided to ignore the fact her heartbeat had been somewhat different from when she normally saw beautiful things. It must have been the magic cast by the shock of seeing something so beautiful at such a close distance and the mood aroused by his strangely sad voice that quietly called her name. ¡°Rubica!¡± Yes, he had called her name just like that. ¡®No, this one was a little urgent. It has to be softer and closer to my ears, mixed with the sound of him breathing...¡¯ She closed her eyes to remember it more clearly. ¡®Rubi...¡¯ ¡°Rubica!¡± A sound came to wake her up from her imagination. She was irritated, but she tried to go back to her thoughts again. ¡°Rubica!¡± However, she couldn¡¯t. Soon she felt a pair of cold but strong arms embrace her. Those were a man¡¯s arms. She was surprised. There was a man who was daring enough to hug her in the ymore Mansion? She was a married woman. Whether or not she and Edgar were truthful to each other, she couldn¡¯t let anyone else embrace her. She opened her eyes to push away the man, but she couldn¡¯t. ¡°Edgar?¡± The person who was holding her was the only man who could do that in the mansion. He had run really fast as Rubica could feel his hot breath. That didn¡¯t happen often to Edgar as his body was normally cold. ¡°Thank god.¡± Edgar wrapped her face with his hands, and he looked so relieved that Rubica couldn¡¯t tell him to let her go. ¡°You stayed.¡± He smiled sadly. So, he did know how to smile like that. Hurt, sad, and pitiful. Seeing that made Rubica¡¯s heart ache. The man had always been arrogantly beautiful, proud and strong. But now, he looked so pathetic as if he had a wound she couldn¡¯t even imagine. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be in the king¡¯s castle by now? Why are you here?¡± Rubica gulped and changed the subject. He was dangerous. He was too tempting. She couldn¡¯t let herself get enchanted by his blue eyes again and lose reason. ¡°How could I remain at the king¡¯s castle after receiving those letters?¡± His voice came out calm, but it had an irrepressible anger within it. Rubica thought he was mad about the whole fake pregnancy thing and was surprised. ¡°No, no.¡± Seeing her scared made him scared. Her mood was as fickle as the spring weather, so he pleadingly took her hands. Then, he looked to the side and ordered sharply. ¡°Leave.¡± It made Elise immediately stand up. She took all the maids and animals with her. The dogs would have insisted to stay normally, but now they didn¡¯t protest. Edgar¡¯s voice must have been threatening enough for them. ¡°Edgar, I¡¯m sorry that I surprised you. But there¡¯s no need to worry.¡± Rubica had finished making ns and had already recruited the doctor to her side. She decided to exin everything calmly. Actually, she hadn¡¯t nned this, it had all been a misunderstanding. After listening to Ann, she had to admit the housekeeper had good reasons to think so, but Rubica was more worried about mana quartz than that. ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry?¡± However, Edgar didn¡¯t calm down. He then asked back in an angry voice, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t worry? How could you say that to me?¡± He was enraged and yelled at her. He had promised himself to remain calm for her as she had to be more afraid and worried than he was, that he had to support her, but now none of that came to his mind. Rubica sometimes messed up with his heart too much. ¡°But I¡¯ve already made ns.¡± ¡°ns?¡± Edgar¡¯s mind went nk. One of the strings that held reason in his mind snapped. ¡°ns? You can¡¯t be saying you are going to leave alone in this cold weather!¡± Leave alone? What was he talking about? And cold weather? Of course, it got a little cold in the evening, but it was springtime now. ¡°No! Absolutely not! I won¡¯t let you do that.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know why he was doing that, so she couldn¡¯t convince him. Instead, she decided to calm him down first. ¡°Edgar, listen to me.¡± However, he wasn¡¯t in a state of mind to listen to her. ¡°You can¡¯t leave!¡± He wasn¡¯t even giving her time to speak. ¡°You can¡¯t take a step out of this mansion. You can¡¯t.¡± Rubica widened her eyes. She blinked once or twice as she couldn¡¯t see why Edgar was doing that. She looked like a bunny to Edgar¡¯s eyes. He couldn¡¯t let this cute woman, his own wife, suffer in the outside world. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± ¡°... of what?¡± Sadly, she left him out till the end. She acted like he had nothing to be responsible of, but it was a husband¡¯s duty to protect his wife and children. He had vowed so in front of Hue¡¯s priest. At the time, Rubica had crossed her fingers to ask forgiveness for lying, he hadn¡¯t. He had sworn. Chapter 120

Chapter 120: Chapter 120

¡°I¡¯m your husband.¡± Edgar said, pressing down his anger. It sounded like a fierce beast growling, so Rubica started to feel really afraid. It wasn¡¯t like she could say their rtionship had been made because of a deal. ¡°For now, yes.¡± However, that reply wasn¡¯t the right answer either. His eyes turned bloodshot. ¡°Is it that Arman? Where is that bastard?¡± ¡°Arman? Why are you talking about him now?¡± ¡°Are you defending him?¡± Edgar red at Rubica, and his fierce eyes were almost melting her off. ¡°He isn¡¯t a good man.¡± ¡°How do you know that? Have you ever met him?¡± Rubica¡¯s voice shook. How could Edgar be so sure Arman was not a good man? Maybe he knew him. ¡°I don¡¯t have to meet him to know that.¡± Sadly, what Edgar said wasn¡¯t what she had expected. Her slight hope vanished, and she got a little angry. He had been saying all this nonsense while scolding her, and she hated him for that. She rather missed the boredom she felt just a while ago. ¡°Arman is a good man. You don¡¯t know how kind and nice he is. Don¡¯t you speak ill of him in front of me.¡± The anger that had been bubbling inside Edgar likeva eventually exploded. ¡°He¡¯s kind and nice? Rubica, you¡¯re being fooled. Any man with responsibility and conscience would not let the woman who¡¯s pregnant with his own baby marry another man.¡± Rubica could now see why he was doing this. It was crazy, but he hadn¡¯t read her letter. The servant, who took care of the messenger birds, had been sure the congrattion letters would arrive early in the morning and her letter would arrive only shortly after as soon as the sun came up, so she hadn¡¯t worried about that, but something must have gone wrong in the middle. ¡°Stop liking him! He doesn¡¯t deserve your love.¡± Edgar criticized Arman as if he had been Rubica¡¯s father or brother. In a way, Rubica couldn¡¯t understand that. She hadn¡¯t had any kind of physical intercourse with Edgar, and he had heard the news of her pregnancy. In most cases, when a husband thought his wife had be pregnant with a baby that wasn¡¯t his, he didn¡¯t leave that alone. When the husband was merciful, the wife was kicked out, but mostly the wife was either sued or requested tomit suicide. However, even if Edgar was mad at Arman, he wasn¡¯t ming her. ¡°Edgar, I think it¡¯s all a huge misunderstanding.¡± ¡°Misunderstanding? What kind of?¡± ¡°I never got to tell Arman I love him. And...¡± Rubica was going to continue, but she had to stop there. Edgar looked so shocked as if he had just been struck by lightning. ¡°... what?¡± He asked back, holding her shoulders. He looked at her belly that hadn¡¯t swollen at all. Rubica soon realized she only worsened Edgar¡¯s misunderstanding. He was just imagining the worst thing he could think of. ¡°Ed...¡± ¡°It¡¯s my baby.¡± Edgar firmly cut her off with his blue eyes burning. Rubica had never seen him unable to control himself like that. He usually sat on the sofa elegantly and made fun of what she did. She was usually the one who got mad and pouted when they were together, and Edgar had never lost his reasons. Even during meals, Rubica nced at him from time to time, but he just elegantly used his knife. It was as if he was the incarnation of coldness, reasons, and elegance, but now he was so mad that he couldn¡¯t hear a word Rubica was saying. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°You are Duchess ymore. The duchess¡¯ baby should be the duke¡¯s baby.¡± What was he talking about? It was the most foolish thing Rubica had ever heard. ¡°It is an extremely rational and logical deduction.¡± Edgar added as if he could see what Rubica was thinking. It rather sounded like ckedy, but his voice was trembling with anxiety. ¡°I have a duty to keep you safe. No, it¡¯s my right. Your baby is my child. If he¡¯s a boy, he will be ymore¡¯s heir, and if she¡¯s a girl, she will be my daughter.¡± ¡°No, Edgar.¡± Rubica urgently stopped him, and she had to announce the truth quickly to stop him. ¡°So, don¡¯t even think about taking responsibility and leaving. I will track you down to the end of this continent. I¡¯m the one who should take responsibility, not you. So, don¡¯t tell me you already have a n, or I shouldn¡¯t worry. It¡¯s all my responsibility and my duty!¡± Edgar sounded as if he was dering war against Rubica. What he was saying was that he couldn¡¯t bear to see Rubica leave the mansion while pregnant and suffer, so he was going to take care of everything himself. In a way, that was sweet, but Rubica rather felt chilled as Edgar¡¯s eyes were glistening dangerously. ¡°And, as for the man who did, did...¡± Edgar moaned at the rising anger. That was the moment, so Rubica quickly opened her mouth to tell him it was all a misunderstanding. ¡°... did this to you, I will capture that man who knows neither honor nor responsibility and make him live in pain for the rest of his life.¡± Edgar was now smiling dangerously, and cold sweat started running down Rubica¡¯s back. She missed her moment to speak. ¡°If he¡¯s amoner, I will sentence him to the cruelest punishment I can give.¡± Edgar stopped there, thinking that describing that punishment to the pregnant Rubica wasn¡¯t the right thing to do. ¡°And don¡¯t worry, even if he is a noble, I will get your revenge. There are many ways. Poison or assassination, but I would rather let him live in pain. I will not let the man who did this to you live in peace. I will make him regret it forever and ever.¡± He turned. He was probably about to call someone, but Rubica grabbed his arm in surprise. She had to stop him before this got bigger. ¡°Edgar, you¡¯re...¡± ¡°Carl!¡± His loud voice went through the door and reached Elise who was waiting outside. ¡°Yes, Your Grace!¡± ¡°Get Carl!¡± This couldn¡¯t be good. Both Elise and Ann were going to be so afraid, so Rubica had to solve this before it was toote. ¡°Edgar, please. It¡¯s all a misunderstanding.¡± ¡°Misunderstanding? What kind of? Don¡¯t even think about calling a criminalmitting a crime as a misunderstanding. You are way too generous. Don¡¯t defend him.¡± However, Edgar was just too mad and wouldn¡¯t even listen to her. ¡°I¡¯m not pregnant.¡± ¡°You think you can get past this moment with that lie and run away? The baby is mine. You are pregnant with my child, and you can¡¯t disappear to take care of it alone.¡± This was serious. He was really mad and outraged. He wouldn¡¯t listen even though Rubica was telling the truth. Now his super intelligence was being rather harmful. He thought Rubica was up to some kind of scheme even he couldn¡¯t look through, but she simply wanted to scream that she wasn¡¯t that smart. ¡°Rubica, don¡¯t worry. I will raise the baby as if it were mine.¡± Now he was thinking about something different with his eyes full of hope. Clearly, he wasn¡¯t in the right state of mind. ¡°What the, you are going to raise a baby that isn¡¯t yours? What are you? Are you, are you a fool or something?¡± Rubica was being dragged into it without noticing it. The moment she realized she had spoken to admit she was pregnant, Edgar smiled brightly. He had been always cold, but now he was smiling brightly like the sunlight. Bum- Rubica was shocked to hear her heart suddenly beat so hard. She stared at him, lost in words. ¡®... Arman.¡¯ He was smiling just like Arman had smiled to her by the river, in the time that was a distant past and a distant future. ¡°What am I? Your husband, of course.¡± Rubica felt dizzy. Calling him foolish would be an understatement. He was acting like he was out of his mind. How did she even feel that he was simr to Arman? He and Arman werepletely different. If Arman had been like the warm spring sunshine, Edgar was like the bright sunlight of the hot summertime. Rubica was about to melt under that intense light. Then, someone knocked on the door, and the butler had arrived. Edgar brightened up and turned to the door. ¡°Is it you, Carl?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace. May Ie in?¡± Rubica had no time. She dragged his arm to stop him. The gesture clearly meant she had something to say, but Edgar didn¡¯t respond to it. It was all a misunderstanding. Rubica knew her saying she wasn¡¯t pregnant had angered Edgar even more. He was outraged and was not going to listen to her at all, but she had to stop him from giving orders to his knights. ¡®Is it the only way?¡¯ It was the way she least wanted to use, but it was the only way to calm him down now. ¡°Carl,e in...¡± Rubica closed her eyes, stood on her tiptoes, and covered Edgar¡¯s lips with hers. Chapter 121

Chapter 121: Chapter 121

Rubica felt the soft lips touching hers, but they went away quickly. Edgar had taken a step back in surprise. Rubica opened an eye, and it looked like his anger had vanished. ¡®Good, now we will be able to have a conversa...¡¯ However, she didn¡¯t get to finish that thought. Edgar grabbed her waist and pulled her to him. A different kind of passion overtook him, and Rubica could feel something hot at the back of her neck. One of his big hands was supporting her head. His hands were usually so cold, but now they were hot like fire. Toote, Rubica realized she had woken up a sleeping lion¡¯s wild instinct. What was happening? She had just aimed for a short kiss to calm him down. But now, there was no going back. No, there was going back if only she wanted that. Edgar was a gentleman, so he was going to back off if she said no. It didn¡¯t seem right to describe the man who was looking at her with firing eyes that way, but he was clear about that kind of things. But she didn¡¯t go back. His eyes, his strong hand holding her waist high, his hand softly supporting her neck, his red lips, his scent. It all intoxicated her. It wasn¡¯t going to be a short kiss at all. It was going to be a long, deep kiss that would absorb her soul. However, she couldn¡¯t move just like a fish trapped in a. The only thing she could do was to close her eyes. Soon, his lips touched hers. She could feel a different kind of passion and energy through it. In a corner of her mind, she was still thinking it wasn¡¯t right. But soon, the passion filled her and erased that hesitation. Creak. The door was opened, but he couldn¡¯t stop and she couldn¡¯t either. They were absorbed in a swirling desire and they could only see each other. The door was quietly closed again. Edgar searched inside her, determined to find out what was inside there. His lips went away only when she was about to faint out of breath. She gasped for oxygen and so did he. She could feel the hot breath on her head. ¡°Edgar.¡± She found the courage and called his name. ¡°Yes.¡± He replied, with the passion that remained. He had her in one arm and was gently rubbing her cheek with fingers as if he still wanted more. He would kiss her again immediately if only she showed the slightest sign of eptance. ¡°I have something to tell you, and I want you to listen to me. Don¡¯t ignore it or deny it.¡± He nodded. Thanks to the kiss she had granted first, he looked like he would believe anything she said, even if she said it was possible to defeat a dragon with beans. ¡°I¡¯m not pregnant.¡± ¡°What?¡± He immediately frowned. She had just shattered his happiness. However, he didn¡¯t get outraged like earlier. The fear about Rubica leaving him had somewhat disappeared after the kiss. ¡°I mean it. It happened just because Ann got the wrong idea about it. And when you listen to her, you would have to admit she had good reasons to misunderstand.¡± ¡°Misunderstand?¡± ¡°Call the doctor and have him examine me. I sent a letter to you two days ago... the servant said it would arrive this morning as he was using the fastest bird he had. I thought it would be fine as your rtives¡¯ letters would arrive in the middle of the night.¡± Rubica calmly exined how it all had happened and the anger, that had filled Edgar, faded away. He turned pale and asked in a shaky voice, ¡°... really?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Rubica widely nodded. It didn¡¯t look like she was joking. That was good. She wasn¡¯t pregnant. The worst thing he had imagined was not going to happen and he didn¡¯t have to fear her going to another man because of the baby. So, she was not guilty. She had done her best to take care of what had happened because of Ann¡¯s understanding. His head could understand that, but his body was trembling hard. He felt like he had been betrayed. He wanted to grab her and ask if she knew how worried, mad, and hurt he had been during the trip of eighteen hours. He wanted to use her of toying with his heart. She had done nothing wrong. Really, she had done nothing wrong, but... ¡°Edgar?¡± Rubica realized his change and carefully called him, but he looked away. ¡°Are you mad?¡± ¡°Of course I¡¯m not. I shouldn¡¯t be. It was all my misunderstanding and imagining all on my own.¡± Well, to Rubica it was quite unfair. She had tried to exin to him many times, but he had been so mad and said what he had to say without giving her even a moment. But in a way, she could see why he was doing this. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°For what?¡± Although he was still looking somewhere else, Rubica could feel all of his senses aimed at her. She almostughed out loud, but she couldn¡¯t do that now. If she smiled, this arrogant duke could live with his head turned like that forever. ¡°For deciding to keep me and the baby, although I¡¯m not actually pregnant.¡± ¡°That was only logically right.¡± This man was cold but warm. It was quite strange how it was possible to describe a man with two ipatible words, but the world was never ck-and-white. Everyone had both good and bad sides. Now Rubica didn¡¯t hate Edgar, even his dark side. During her stay at the mansion, she had got to know and understand him. He had had no choice but to turn cold. ¡°Most men would kick out their wife when she is pregnant with someone else¡¯s baby. Like I said earlier, but you can¡¯t be like that when you are outside.¡± To be honest, she was a little worried. Maybe he had no sense of living after spending all of his time in his office working. Deciding to raise a baby that wasn¡¯t his wasn¡¯t an idea normal people would get. He looked like he was capable of controlling every profit and convenience in the world, but... Rubica feared something bad might happen. ¡°Oh, what if my duke ends up getting swindled by someone?¡± She couldn¡¯t help but speak like an olddy worrying about her little grandson, and it made Edgar look straight at her again. ¡°Really? You worry about me? I was going to use you if you really were pregnant. Why did you refuse to have physical intercourse when you were pregnant? You should have made me believe the baby was mine. Why are you not cunning?¡± ¡°But I wasn¡¯t pregnant.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t understand. He was saying things as if she was pregnant when she wasn¡¯t, and now he was also saying she was na?ve. Oh, it was so unfair. ¡°But I thought you were. Do you know how worried I had been on my way here? I feared you might have left in secret to take responsibility and it almost blew up my heart.¡± Well, he was mad indeed. Rubica looked up at him. His face was red, and he was outraged but, for some reason, he wasn¡¯t that scary. It was strange, but she didn¡¯t find him ufortable like before. Was it because he had sided with her when no one could understand her? ¡°How can I run away after what I¡¯ve started?¡± Rubica let him know Edgar was interpreting her sense of responsibility in a strange way. ¡°My pregnancy has calmed down the uproar caused by mana quartz, so imagine what kind of trouble you would find yourself in if I disappear.¡± Herst sentence calmed him down. She was feeling responsible for him, and it gave him some hope. He then asked her with expectation, ¡°Then you wouldn¡¯t have disappeared without telling me, even if you really had been pregnant?¡± ¡°If I really had been pregnant...¡± Rubica tried to use her imagination, but it wasn¡¯t easy. Actually, her heart easily fluttered when she saw handsome men, but she had never felt a desire to date them or make love with them. She just wanted to be near beautiful people to examine and praise their beauty. And for that, being in love wasn¡¯t a good choice. That would let her examine the man in the closest distance, but only till the rtionship ended. Plus, she wanted to enjoy seeing as many beautiful people as possible, but that wouldn¡¯t be possible once she got herself a lover. Even Edgar had been offended by her examining some dashing knights at their wedding feast. Actually, Edgar was the first man she had gotten this close to. Of course, she had known Arman for a long time, but she hadn¡¯t even shared a kiss of friendship with him. Plus, he had never held her tightly with his strong arms like Edgar was doing right now... ¡°But for how long are you going to hold me like this?¡± Chapter 122

Chapter 122: Chapter 122

Rubica had been so busy calming Edgar down that she failed to notice it till now, but he had been holding her way too long. Her face turned as red as a tomato. ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe forever?¡± However, he didn¡¯t let go. He rather pulled her even closer and whispered right next to her ear. His breath tickled her ear every time he spoke. He had run all the way from the carriage to the sewing room and had been extremely outraged, and now he smelled so masculine. Rubica could hear her heart beating fast like the rhythm of a cheerful march. ¡°What do you mean forever?¡± Her voice sounded hoarse. Her entire body heated up as if she had a fever. Strangely, she had no strength even at the tip of her fingers. Unlike her, he smiled. His former anger and passion had disappeared after hearing she wasn¡¯t going to leave. She hadn¡¯t promised, but it was all the same. Now he could rx. Moreover, she had kissed him first to stop him. He didn¡¯t ask for that and didn¡¯t set up the mood and situation, but she had moved first out of her will. That action of hers meant a lot to him. When their lips first met, he had been so surprised that he had forgotten why he was standing there. He forgot all about the manners he should keep as a nobleman and enjoyed her lips, not even caring about Carling in. Really, that moment had been like a dream. Now he was sure she had at least some feelings toward him. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t have kissed him first. She was the one who taught him that any kind of physical rtionship was forbidden unless the two were both in love. ¡°I want to stay this way forever.¡± His red lips spoke slowly but clearly. The Milky Way in his blue eyes exploded into glitters. That startled Rubica a bit. He was acting like he was confessing his love, and he was about to give her another passionate kiss if only she gave the signal. Her heart was about to jump out of her chest. She really couldn¡¯t understand why he was doing this. ¡®He¡¯s making fun of me again...¡¯ She knew several women had been heartbroken by Edgar. There were some exaggerations, but the rumors were all true. Although Edgar never yed with them, he had broken their heart. -The daughter of Marquis Leofold has be lovesick because of Duke ymore. -I heard the Prima Donna of Giovanni Opera House tried to seduce the duke and ended up falling in love with him. Now she¡¯s chasing him around! The most beautiful women in the kingdom loved him, so him doing this to Rubica had to be a joke. She was only an ordinary girl. She had tried to be respectful to him as she was his wife and the person closest to him. Although Edgar pretended it wasn¡¯t, when Rubica looked into his life from a close distance, he was surrounded by overwhelming duties and traditions. Rubica also had to encounter many things she wouldn¡¯t have been able to take care of without Ann and her own experience from her past. Plus, his rtives were really nasty. They were nastier because the family had excessive wealth, and they demanded money as if it was only right. He was a lonely man. Although he was constantly surrounded by people, he was lonely. And he knew it himself, so he didn¡¯t easily let others approach him. It was like he had chosen to hurt people with words and getting rid of them as his hobby. Moreover, he always doubted people who approached him with tender words. Rubica had thought she was lonely before the war broke out and she found shelter in her mind. Although it had been slightly different from Edgar¡¯s loneliness, she thought she had been a bit like him at that time. Her uncle and aunt hade to her smiling, acting like they would do anything for her, and then changed immediately after they became her official patrons. After that day, she hadn¡¯t believed in other¡¯s kindness before she went to the abbey. She had been afraid of kind people as they would always stab her backter on. When she encountered Edgar¡¯s way of speaking which he had learned to hurt people, she had thoughts like those. Oh, he is so lonely. Moreover, she didn¡¯t like that such a man was opening up only to her, although it happened rarely. She rather wanted tofort him sometimes. ¡®But not if you make fun of me.¡¯ Rubica stepped on his foot hard. She wanted to pierce his shoe with her sharp heel, but she didn¡¯t do that lest he really lost a toe. He took a step back, mouthing a silent scream. Hisst bit of pride suppressed the scream that almost came out of his mouth. He hadn¡¯t known the woman who had been thanking him in his arms would attack him so fiercely. Rubica put her hands on his waist and solemnly announced, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare to pull a joke on me while I¡¯m serious.¡± However, he had been serious as well. He really didn¡¯t want to get away from her. Her auburn eyes were so clear as she looked up to him. Her bright brown hair reminded him ofte autumn, and her white skin smelled so good. He wished he could tell her all that. However, Rubica was thinking it was all a joke. It wasn¡¯t fair. How could she tramp on his heart like that? ¡°I wasn¡¯t joking.¡± She narrowed her eyes, trying to find out if he was telling the truth or not. It hurt him, but he squared his shoulders and straightened his back to show he was being honest. However, his arrogant attitude, that had been hispanion for a long time, didn¡¯t leave him even at this moment. His blue eyes stared at her under the eyshes raised high, almost piercing into her soul. His raised eyshes, arrogant lips, and the delicate line of the chin. Oh, they were all... ¡®He really looks like the incarnation of a nymph.¡¯ Rubica¡¯s surprising scrutiny for beauty reached the truth without her noticing it. For now, she decided to forgive him. His beauty had melted her anger. Many women must have experienced that. It isn¡¯t easy to keep a straight mind when there is such a handsome man staring at you. Even Rubica was defenseless in front of him. Arman had been the closest to her before she met Edgar, but she had only held hands with him, only because he had been blind. But with this man, she had gotten way beyond that. They had shared hugs and kisses more than once... ¡®No, don¡¯t think of that. You¡¯re going to blush.¡¯ Then Edgar would use his proud smile that was almost merciless. Rubica quickly looked away, faking a sigh. ¡°Okay, I get it.¡± ¡°No, you don¡¯t.¡± However, Edgar didn¡¯t let her go. He knew Rubica was still thinking he had been joking, and she was forgiving him about a joke he hadn¡¯t pulled. That wasn¡¯t fair. ¡°You¡¯re the one who shouldn¡¯t toy with me.¡± ¡°Toy with you?¡± Rubica looked at him innocently. That look snapped a circuit in his head, the one that handled his high ego and proud. He no longer had any control, and his mouth started to speak on its own. ¡°You kissed me first and backed off. You shouldn¡¯t have done that. Or were you ying with me?¡± Rubica¡¯s cheeks turned pink. They looked like fresh roses of the summertime and Edgar had to resist the urge to kiss them. ¡°ying with you? Of course not.¡± She cutely denied what she had done. Edgar wanted to grab her and use her of kissing him and toying with an innocent man. ¡°Do you remember what you said to me on the day we first met?¡± ¡°Do you mean the part about getting divorced after four years of marriage?¡± ¡°You said you shouldn¡¯t do it even if the other person wants it as long as both of you are not in love with each other.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Rubica put her hands on her cheeks. She had failed to control herself and had pped Edgar on that day. When she recalled that, which happened sometimes, she repeatedly kicked the air with her feet hidden inside her dress. Edgar had never mentioned it again, so she had thought he had forgotten about it but, judging from how he was talking about it with ring eyes, he hadn¡¯t forgotten about it at all. It rather had been engraved on his mind. ¡°Can¡¯t you just forget about it?¡± ¡°What?¡± The room became cold in a second. Edgar had beenforted so much by those words, and now she was asking him to forget it? No, that was impossible. ¡°Are you saying you¡¯re about to deny what you said then?¡± He couldn¡¯t help but speak coldly. It had been a ray of light that reached him while he was standing all alone in the darkness, and if she was about to cancel it... he didn¡¯t even want to think about what would happen after that. She couldn¡¯t do this to him. Chapter 123

Chapter 123: Chapter 123

¡°No, of course not!¡± ¡°Then why did to kiss me?¡± ¡°What?¡± Edgar took a step toward her. ¡°You said you shouldn¡¯t do it unless you are in love.¡± Rubica took a step back afraid. ¡°Does it mean you have feelings for me?¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what to say. Did she have feelings for him? She hadn¡¯t thought about that. ¡°That¡¯s... that¡¯s...¡± It wasn¡¯t easy to find an excuse. She hesitated and took a step back, and then another, and then again. But soon, her back met the wall. She tried to run away, but Edgar used both arms to block her way. The tension, that was as tight as a pulled bowstring, overflowed. ¡°Was that all a joke? You told me that and kissed me for fun, as a joke?¡± ¡°No, no. That¡¯s not it.¡± Rubica managed to say that, telling her heart to calm down. What that feeling had been, that breathtaking heat and passion that had absorbed her, she couldn¡¯t define it clearly. However, there was one thing she was certain of: she wasn¡¯t the kind of person who did such things for fun. ¡°Then why did you do it, Rubica?¡± Why did she do it? They had shared their first kiss at the wedding, as a vow during the ritual done in front of the gods. Her will hadn¡¯t mattered back then. However, what just happened, right in this room... she had been drunk in the mood and kissed him even though she could have resisted. ¡®But I¡¯m in love with Arman...¡¯ Love found her very slowly when she was too old to tell anyone her feelings. She had kept herte love to herself, lest the fact that she liked her would be bad to him. Although it hadn¡¯t been the passionate love of a youth, the fire in her heart had burned slowly but surely. But then, why was she doing this as soon as she came back to 22? She could have lived coldly even after getting married to him. Most marriages between nobles were a strategy to maintain the wealth, so husbands often had mistresses and it was a wife¡¯s virtue and trend to share their love with knights. Their marriage had been a marriage of convenience, but their actual rtionship was different. Rubica tried really hard to justify the feeling she got for him as something simr to friendship, but it wasn¡¯t easy. She had never embraced or kissed a man like that. If another man had pleaded for her love, saying he was lonely, would she have embraced him? Kissed him? The answer was no. Why was she doing that then? Was it because he was handsome enough to lure in many women? She thought of herself as a follower of beauty who adored and praised beauty. She had thought she would never get to love him, but was she nothing more than a girl who fell for pretty faces? ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar lifted her head and made her look at him. Her clear auburn eyes were shaking, and he could see how confused she was. She looked so fragile that his determination to get her answer started to shake. -That¡¯s how loving someone is. I feel happy when he looked happy even if I¡¯m in great pain, and the world itself bes so miserable when he is in grief, even if I am so happy andfortable. I feel like I can do anything for him but, at the same time, I hesitate because I fear he might find it too much... that¡¯s love. Rubica had said that to him once, and that was exactly what he felt about her. He was happy when she smiled, and his heart ached when she was sad. He really could do anything for her. He had even decided to give up mana quartz for her. Her tears and the fact that she could close up to him forever was a bigger pain than everyone else¡¯s objection and protests. Everyone was saying one word to him. ¡®Your Grace, you are in love with your wife.¡¯ He tried to define his feelings for her in a different way, even after hearing what the doctor said. Even he was that much confused, so he could guess how much confused she was. She turned pale and it made him afraid. ¡°You don¡¯t hate me or despise me, right?¡± Rubica just nodded, but Edgar scolded himself for trying to interpret the situation with hope. He usually prepared for the worst but, when it came to Rubica, he tried to see the best in everything. Her gaze, her gesture, to him it all meant she was interested in him or liked him. ¡®I¡¯m being no different from the girls who say I must like them just because our gazes met once or twice.¡¯ Edgar thought of the girls who always chased him around after having a dance with him, hoping for another dance, and it made him sad. He had found such girls so bothering till now. He just couldn¡¯t understand why they couldn¡¯t give up hope when he was clearly not interested in them. But now, he could rte to them, and he even felt sorry for them. This was how it felt like. Not being able to let go of even the smallest hospitality and pouring in all hopes into dreaming for a happy future. He was no different than them. However, what if she finds me bothering as well? He had gotten timid as well as he got to see the things in good ways. This was why being sarcastic was good. That enabled him to face everything without fear. But when it came to Rubica, he just couldn¡¯t stop thinking positively. ¡®I cannot let that happen.¡¯ He dropped his arms and let her go. Rubica didn¡¯t like that overwhelming tension and thought it was her chance to run away, so she escaped quickly. However, she was caught again only after a few steps. ¡°We need to talk. I have something to ask.¡± He looked quite determined. ¡°Okay, but I¡¯m hungry.¡± Edgar thought about it for a while. However, what he had to ask wasn¡¯t something he could ask in front of the others. ¡°We¡¯ll dine here.¡± Edgar told Carl, who had been waiting outside, to bring a simple dinner, adding it should be food that didn¡¯t require any servants as he wanted to talk to his wife in private. ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Carl was smiling widely. He had seen the two sharing a passionate kiss when he opened the door. He had been so shocked that he closed the door quickly. ¡°Oh! Did you just see that?¡± ¡°Oh, my gods...¡± ¡°Oh, he is so dashingly handsome.¡± The maids muttered among themselves till the door was opened again. Carl stared at them, quietly telling them to be silent, but every time he looked away, they talked about the duke¡¯s arms tightly holding his wife and his blue eyes that shined with passion. ¡°I didn¡¯t know he could be so... energetic.¡± ¡°Did you see how her skirt didn¡¯t touch the floor. He was lifting her up as if she had been a feather.¡± Actually, although Carl was trying to hide it, he also couldn¡¯t help but smile. He knew their marriage had been made through a deal. ¡®But there¡¯s no telling about a man and woman¡¯s rtionship. Yes, of course. A couple that used to hate each other turning out to be deeply in love happens quite often.¡¯ He was extremely happy and proud. To his eyes, Rubica and Edgar were madly in love. Well, a moment¡¯s mistake would be enough to make a baby. Carl drove the food cart himself. He had to try really hard not to whistle as it looked like everything was going to be just fine. ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± However, unlike him, Ann seemed to be thinking everything was going to go really, really bad. She sighed deeply and went in with a maid after announcing the dinner had arrived. ¡°Your Grace, shall we put it on this table?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Edgar nodded and lifted a basket on the table for them. Then he spotted a small handkerchief in it. On its corners was the ymore¡¯s emblem he was familiar with. ¡®Did Rubica embroider it?¡¯ He wondered that after putting the handkerchief in his pocket. He didn¡¯t dare to take a close look at it as he took it without anyone noticing. Now he was stealing, and he felt quite guilty about it, but he wasn¡¯t going to put the handkerchief in the basket again. ¡°Your Grace, have you told him?¡± Ann whispered to Rubica, pretending to readjust her dress. ¡®I have. Don¡¯t worry.¡¯ Rubica mouthed that without making a sound. Ann was relieved but, at the same time, she found the situation quite odd. Edgar didn¡¯t look disappointed at all. The two rather looked closer than before, so Ann quickly left the room to not disturb their time together. Chapter 124

Chapter 124: Chapter 124

¡°So, what is that something you have to say?¡± Rubica asked first now that she had food in front of her. However, Edgar didn¡¯t reply. He just poured a ss of fruit juice and gave it to her. He was taking a really long time, even when he was the one who wanted this conversation. She red at him, but she still drank the juice. The juice was made of orange, mandarin, and grapefruit. It was sweet and pleasantly sour. ¡°What kind of man was Arman?¡± Oops. Rubica spewed the juice as she didn¡¯t expect he would ask that. Edgar instinctively took out a handkerchief and handed it to her. ¡®Oh, no.¡¯ However, it was the handkerchief he had just put in his pocket in secret. Rubica didn¡¯t notice how startled he was and used it to wipe her face and hands. She didn¡¯t check the handkerchief and just put it on the table. ¡°Why are you asking about him so suddenly?¡± She asked back carefully. She was afraid he might know something, that he could have heard about the ring she was keeping in secret. ¡°... just asking.¡± Edgar mumbled while looking at the handkerchief. He had to get it back before she noticed it. He didn¡¯t care whether it was soaked in juice or not. Then, he spotted the initials at its edge. They were his initials. He felt like he was flying up in the sky. She had embroidered his initials on a handkerchief. She must have put a lot of effort into it as its every corner had been embroidered. It had been done very neatly. How long did it take her? Had she embroidered it while he was at the king¡¯s castle? She must have thought about him, right? ¡°...., are you?¡± He was a little out of his mind and missed what Rubica was saying. He then managed toe back to reality, but his lips kept trying to curl up towards the sky. But for now, he had to hide the handkerchief to seal the crime. He casually took it, hid it behind his chairs, and pretended to be innocent. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Really? You¡¯ll really find him for me?¡± He realized what kind of mistake he made only then. Rubica had asked him if he was thinking of finding Arman for her, but of course, Edgar wasn¡¯t going to do that at all. Even if he found him first, he would promise to him he could make Rubica happy and beg him to disappear. He could even give him enough money. However, Rubica was so delighted and hopeful that he couldn¡¯t say no to her. ¡®Plus, thinking about it, I do want to find him.¡¯ He wanted to know what kind of charms Arman had for Rubica to like him so much. He himself had everything. Power, rank, all of it. Still, when he proposed to her, she tried to refuse him just because she loved Arman. ¡®Is he even more handsome than me?¡¯ Rubica liked pretty faces. That wasn¡¯t entirely impossible. The chance of a man more handsome than him existing... before, he had hated his handsome face, but now he really liked it. She liked handsome people, so he wished to be the most handsome man of all. ¡°What are the colors of his hair and eyes?¡± The question immediately startled Rubica. ¡°That¡¯s...¡± The Arman Rubica knew had white hair, but he was only three years older than she was, so he had to be 25 years old by now just like Edgar. However, she didn¡¯t know the actual color of his hair. ¡°I don¡¯t know the color of his eyes.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know what color his eyes are? How is that possible?¡± ¡°Arman... was blind.¡± That made Edgar immediately shut his mouth. He knew he just sounded as if he was scolding her, so he needed to change the topic. ¡°Eat.¡± He cut a piece of smoked duck and put it on her te. She also wanted to escape the conversation, so she ate it, smiling like she was all fine. ¡°And this, too.¡± Edgar thought eating only meat couldn¡¯t be good for her health and gave her some asparagus and beans. But then, there were too many vegetables. He cut some well-roastedmb and beef and put it on her te. And then, he added roasted pineapple pieces. In no time, food started piling up on her te. Rubica didn¡¯t know what to say. Was he trying to turn her into a pig? ¡°What about you? You¡¯re not eating?¡± She said that because she was irritated, but he happily smiled. He had been smiling quite often now. Why on earth was he doing that? But again, his mind had always been hard to understand. ¡°... why did you like Arman?¡± That question almost made her choke on the food. ¡°Why are you asking that?¡± ¡°That information is needed.¡± ¡°You can find Arman by knowing that?¡± At this point, Edgar decided to be bold. He lifted his chin high and spoke arrogantly. ¡°Yes. You know that I¡¯m smart, right?¡± Rubica had to give up protesting since Edgar was indeed smart. That was an undeniable fact, but he didn¡¯t have to say that himself. ¡°He was always at my side andforted me when I was tired or stressed. He never refused to take the hard work... once, I was sobbing because I was so sad, but he went out to make a bouquet for me.¡± ¡°A bouquet made by a blind man? It must have been pretty.¡± Edgar lost all of his appetite, but Rubica didn¡¯t care. She looked at the vase on the table and smiled. ¡°It wasn¡¯t pretty. It was made of wildflowers on the roads. Compared to the flowers in this vase, they were small and in. But that is why it was all the more special.¡± The light of the mana stonemp in the middle of the room was reflected in her eyes, making them sparkle. ¡°He must have fumbled through bushes to check and pick flowers one by one for a long time to make that bouquet. It would have taken less than an hour for anyone else, but... it took him more than three hours. He did that only to make me feel better, to make me smile. And he couldn¡¯t even see me smiling.¡± A drop of tear was formed at a corner of her eye. It made the light sway, distorting the iris¡¯ line and light. It red in red and then sparkled clearly again. It made Edgar stare at her in a daze. She was so lovely. Who could he ever love if he didn¡¯t love Rubica? ¡°Oh, sorry. I was too emotional.¡± Edgar shook his head. He had asked her first, so she had no reason to apologize. ¡°No, you were not. It¡¯s fine.¡± Rubica looked for the handkerchief she had put on the table to wipe her tears, but it wasn¡¯t there. So, she lifted up the basket to look for the handkerchief she had embroidered, but it wasn¡¯t there, either. ¡®Huh?¡¯ Where was that handkerchief that she had worked on carefully but without much effort? Had it fallen on the floor? Rubica started to look around for it, so Edgar quickly asked the next question. ¡°When did you feel love for him?¡± The question wiped Rubica¡¯s mind clean and she forgot about the handkerchief. ¡°When, when I felt love for him?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Edgar looked way too serious. Rubica used her hand to wipe her tears and took a sip of the juice. Where was she supposed to start? She didn¡¯t know. It required a lot of courage to confess your love about a man to someone else. Plus, in this case, that someone was the man who had just been kissing her. ¡°Do you really have to hear that?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Rubica moistened her lips. ¡°Since when I started to fall in love with him... well, at first, I just thought he was a really nice man. He couldn¡¯t see at all, but he didn¡¯t me his fate. He said he was happy as he had two strong legs and could walk all day. It looked so great. It made me think, ¡®I should look at the bright side of the situation just like him.¡¯¡± Edgar had a habit of being sarcastic about everything, so he really couldn¡¯t understand that man. ¡°Then, before I realized it, my eyes were looking at him and my ears were trying not to miss a word he said.¡± ¡°There are many positive people in this world. There¡¯s nothing special about him...¡± In the end, Edgar messed up with Rubica¡¯s recollection. ¡°But I¡¯m ordinary too. What¡¯s wrong with an ordinary woman liking an ordinary man?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not ordinary at all.¡± ¡°I am. I have in brown hair and auburn eyes that are nothing special...¡± ¡°They¡¯re the most beautiful eyes in the world, so don¡¯t say that!¡± Rubica shut her mouth in surprise. Edgar couldn¡¯t hold back his anger and brutally put his ss on the table. ¡°Your hair is not in brown. Do you know how pleasant is the scent of your hair? And you describe your eyes as ¡®auburn eyes that are nothing special¡¯? Have you ever looked into a mirror? They sparkle under the light and sometimes make me wonder if there are jewels more beautiful than them!¡± Edgar¡¯s face turned red. He also wanted to praise her soft milky-white skin and her red lips, but he gave up because he knew it would make her p his back. Chapter 125

Chapter 125: Chapter 125

¡®I will make you fall for me.¡¯ Edgar gritted his teeth. Rubica waspletely toying with him, so that was going to be the fastest way to get his revenge. He had traveled for hours in the carriage without getting a moment of sleep just because he had been terribly worried. He was going to take that debt back, with interest. ¡°Anyway, what you have told me so far is normal. Isn¡¯t there any special story? Like something that made you fall for him decisively.¡± Why on earth was he asking such a thing? It had nothing to do with finding Arman. ¡°Something that made me fall for him...¡± She recalled the time Arman made soap after weeks of studying just for her. ¡°There was something I needed for work. It wasn¡¯t necessary, but it was going to make my work much easier. He didn¡¯t know anything about that area, but he studied hard and invented it just for me. Many people also benefited from it.¡± ¡°He invented it?¡± ¡°Yes, even when inventing things probably wasn¡¯t part of his profession. Isn¡¯t he great?¡± ¡°He must have been very smart.¡± Rubica nodded to that since Arman was very knowledgeable. ¡°I¡¯m also good at inventing things, and I am smart too.¡± Why was he bragging about himself when they were in the middle of talking about Arman? Rubica pouted as she ate a piece of asparagus. ¡°Is he more handsome than me?¡± Rubica almost dropped her fork as he had been asking really childish questions. ¡°Why are you asking that?¡± ¡°Information about appearance is the most important when searching for a person.¡± ¡°That applies to asking about the colors of his eyes and hair, but does it matter whether he is more handsome than you or not?¡± ¡°Of course. If he is more handsome than me, I will be able to find him in less than a week.¡± Edgar crossed his arms and answered confidently. He was so full of himself. Sadly, he was telling the truth. If there had been a man more handsome than Edgar, the world wouldn¡¯t have left him alone. ¡°He isn¡¯t as handsome as you. He is tall, but he is always slouching and has many scars.¡± He had a scar on his face. His nose was broken and distorted, and his chin wasn¡¯t in the right ce. He had told her he had been wounded severely because of the war. Maybe the face Rubica knew was very different from how Arman had looked in his youth. Death had been very close during the war and many had gotten hurt enough to look like different people. ¡®Maybe finding him will be even harder if I talk more about his appearance.¡¯ It was possible that the current Arman lookedpletely different from what she was imagining. So, she decided to talk about something else instead of describing his appearance. ¡°And he is extremely smart. He can speak thenguage of this kingdom, he is fluent in the ancientnguage mainly used in the holy books, and he speaks good Sharman. Oh! He is also good at thenguage of the empire. He once told he used to attend Aron¡¯s Academy.¡± ¡°He is good at the empire¡¯snguage? He used to attend the Academy?¡± Not many people could study at Aron¡¯s Academy. To start with, it cost a lot, and graduating wasn¡¯t easy for those who were not good enough. The ce was where the continent¡¯s geniuses gathered. If Arman had really attended there, finding him would be easy. ¡°And how did you get to meet him?¡± ¡°... I met him while I was doing charity work.¡± ¡°Charity work? At the abbey that was near Berner Mansion?¡± Edgar raised his eyebrows. Rubica didn¡¯t know this yet, but he had already received a report about her. She had gone to the abbey to pray from time to time when her mother was sick, but she hadn¡¯t been able to go there even once after her uncle and his wife took over the mansion. Maybe she had met Arman during her childhood. ¡°Arman liked strawberries and hated cinnamon. Also, he didn¡¯t drink or smoke.¡± Edgar stared at the strawberries on her te. He also liked strawberries, hated cinnamon, and didn¡¯t drink or smoke. ¡°He¡¯s diligent.¡± ¡°Yes. He was always working and reading. He lived so diligently that looking at him made me think I should also do something and work harder.¡± However, Edgar also lived really hard. He had always been struggling and fighting. Edgar used his fork to eat a strawberry, feeling somewhat annoyed. It felt so tasteless after finding out that Arman also liked strawberries. After that, Rubica kept talking about Arman, like which books and songs he had liked. She was so cute as she twittered like a canary, but what she was saying was more than enough to irritate Edgar. However, he put all of the information into his head with great care. What he paid the most attention was what that Arman had done to make Rubica happy and which things she had liked about him. ¡®Being diligent is easy. That¡¯s how I usually am. I can also invent and give her anything she needs. And I am also supposed tofort her when she¡¯s stressed? Is that all? Hmm...¡¯ In conclusion, Arman was a ¡®kind man¡¯. It looked like Rubica was drawn to kindness, but that was what Edgar was the least good at. ¡®But that is the only thing where I¡¯m not better than him.¡¯ Edgar was handsome, smart, rich, and had a high title. He couldn¡¯t let that Arman get ahead of him and win Rubica¡¯s love. ¡®So, all I have to do is to be kind.¡¯ It would be hard, but it wasn¡¯t impossible since he was great at everything. He was confident he could be the kindest man in the world if only he wanted to. He would get some goosebumps when he spoke kindly, but some inconvenience and effort was the necessary price to get what he wanted. So, Edgar made up his mind and put everything Rubica said into his mind. When she had been happy and when she had been moved, he memorized all of it. ¡°And when did you share a kiss with that Arman?¡± ¡°What?¡± Rubica had been ripping out a piece of bread after eating the food Edgar had given her, but she dropped the bread in surprise. ¡°How can you ask that?¡± ¡°... you said you were in love with each other, so of course you must have shared a kiss.¡± ¡°Of course not!¡± Edgar widened his eyes in shock at this. ¡°You never kissed him?¡± ¡°Of course not!¡± ¡°You¡¯re not lying, are you?¡± ¡°Why would I lie about that? Our rtionship was pure.¡± ¡°But there¡¯s nothing wrong with a couple sharing kisses.¡± Rubica blushed hard. ¡°No, we never kissed. He didn¡¯t even know that I liked him.¡± ¡°Really? You didn¡¯t kiss him?¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t hide his joy as he asked. However, Rubica felt both embarrassed and sad. ¡°Arman... I just liked him alone. I didn¡¯t even get to say I liked him.¡± However, Edgar was sure that Arman had liked Rubica, maybe even a lot more than she could imagine. What kind of man would make a bouquet with blind eyes just because a woman he doesn¡¯t like is crying? Anyway, Rubica hadn¡¯t kissed Arman. However, she had already shared more than one kiss with Edgar! Maybe she was already in love with him, just like he was. She was a firm person, and a little bit of fondness couldn¡¯t have been enough to let him kiss her. She had to be denying her own feelings about him just because she couldn¡¯t get over her first love yet. There were many sayings about love, and one of them was ¡®She will eventually choose the man with her.¡¯ So, Edgar was eventually going to be the winner of this fight. That was why he couldn¡¯t even guess he was being portraited as the most horrible womanizer in Rubica¡¯s mind. ¡°That much information should be enough.¡± ¡°Really? You can find him with it?¡± Rubica asked in doubt. Although the conversation had been pleasant, she had provided only vague information about Arman. She didn¡¯t even describe his appearance. Edgar, however, had started the conversation to find out about which part of Arman she had liked, but she didn¡¯t know that purpose. ¡°Of course I can. He¡¯s blind and his name is Arman, right? There can¡¯t be many like him among those who attended Aron¡¯s Academy. I just need to find men who quit the Academy because of eye diseases.¡± ¡°You think he quit the Academy because of an eye disease?¡± ¡°It is impossible to get admitted to the Academy when you are blind. Plus, you said he and I are of the same age. Less than half of my peers have graduated by now. Two third of the rest are still studying and thest one third left the Academy after failing the test that takes ce once a year.¡± However, Rubica¡¯s eyes widened at hearing that. Arman had told her he was born blind. Chapter 126

Chapter 126: Chapter 126

¡®... was that a lie?¡¯ Rubica thought Arman would never lie to her and believed everything he said. But maybe, Edgar was right. He could have lost his eyesight at some point in his life. Maybe he just did not want to exin the details. ¡°Could you, could you also look for Arman among those who are not blind?¡± Edgar, who had finished eating, raised an eyebrow at this and crossed his legs. ¡°How suspicious.¡± ¡°What? What¡¯s suspicious?¡± ¡°You¡¯re suspicious. You keep changing words. I asked hisst name, and you said you didn¡¯t know because you never asked. I asked the color of his hair and you didn¡¯t reply. You said he was blind but now you¡¯re asking me to look for him among those who are not blind.¡± Rubica cooled down her hot cheeks with her fingers. They were cold after using the cold silver utensils. ¡®Oh, no. I¡¯ve said too much.¡¯ She feared he might question her about that and reveal her secret. ¡°Well, that¡¯s not important.¡± Edgar backed off at seeing her getting anxious. The conversation¡¯s purpose hadn¡¯t been about finding Arman. It had been to find him and threaten him to never show his face to Rubica again. ¡°I¡¯ll find him and think about it again if I can¡¯t find him.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Rubica was relieved and smiled. Edgar then nced at her. He turned his chair and stretched out his arms, but she did nothing. He gestured to her again. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°If you really want to thank me, you should give me a reward.¡± ¡°A reward?¡± ¡°Come here.¡± Edgar stretched out a leg and tapped on the floor. Rubica was a little puzzled, but she was grateful to him for offering to find Arman for her. While she didn¡¯t know what kind of reward he was talking about, it wasn¡¯t like going where he was tapping at would hurt her. She stood up and went there. ¡°Ugh!¡± However, the moment she arrived at the spot, Edgar stretched out his long arms to embrace her. Then he sat back on his chair. It shook, but it was soon stable again thanks to Edgar¡¯s strong legs. ¡°What, what on earth are you doing?¡± She asked in surprise, but he didn¡¯t stop. He buried his face in her hair. ¡°My reward.¡± Rubica could feel his breath near her corbone. She was frozen by the breathtaking tension. The feeling of the passionate kiss was still lingering on her lips, and his fresh scent tickled her nose. She wished she could also bury her face in his neck. ¡°Please, stay this way only for a while.¡± She tried to move away, but Edgar held her and urgently whispered, almost pleadingly. He sounded so desperate that Rubica stopped. ¡°The trip has been exhausting. Just let me recharge.¡± He begged like a little boy and held her even tighter. She thought about pushing him away, but then she found some courage and lifted his face. Edgar¡¯s deep, blue eyes looked up at her. He was very tall, so she had always looked up to him, but now, looking down, his face lookedpletely different from the usual. Without that strong armor made of cold aura which he always wore, his eyes were full of sadness. He looked like a hurt soul and she wanted to hug him andfort him. She had always refused him, but in such a moment, she wanted to kiss that pair of lips that were even redder than hers andfort him. ¡®It¡¯s not fair.¡¯ How could anyone resist such a beautiful man with so much loneliness? Rubica let go of his face before she gave in to her impulse and kissed him. Then, she buried her face into his neck to avoid looking at his face. She feared he might lift her face to look into her eyes and put her arms around his neck. She could hear him hold his breath above her head. He started to gently stroke her hair. His gentle hand started to calm down her wildly beating heart. She felt so safe in his arms. She recalled the moment when he announced the baby that didn¡¯t even exist was his. He had been outraged to hear the baby wasn¡¯t Arman¡¯s. He was acting like he would track down the father and challenge him to a duel. She had never seen him get so mad like that before. And when she kissed him to subdue that anger, he... Even thinking about it made her blush. She hugged him even tighter to press down the embarrassment. Before, she would have run away from him to escape that feeling. But now, she didn¡¯t feel like running away at all. ¡°Are you ufortable?¡± Edgar asked quietly as he felt her hugging him by his neck even more tightly. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± He didn¡¯t ask anything further. He just stroked her hair. The sound of the wood burning in the firece and the breathing of the two filled the entire room. Rubica felt morefortable than ever. She was doing nothing. She was just in his arms, but she couldn¡¯t feel the boredom that had been pressing down on her at all. The sound of his breathing, his warmth, and his scent mixed with his perfume. It made her rx more than ever. It felt like she would never have to worry again as long as she was with him, no matter what they would encounter in the future. Worries about the war that was about toe in the distant future, worries about the noisy rtives, worries about her fake pregnancy. They all slowly disappeared in his arms. She was relieved. Her breathing started to befortable. She fell asleep in his arms and he carefully lifted her face. She was probably having a good dream as she was smiling like an angel. ¡°You¡¯re the prettiest when you sleep.¡± Edgar smiled along with her. He had been smiling a lot after he met her. ¡°But it¡¯s a little mean.¡± His long fingers lightly touched her lips. She was sleeping in his arms, not even giving a thought about how he was feeling about it. Edgar touched her lips for a long time and hesitated. But then, he lowered his head to kiss her lips, and a brutal thirst overcame him. However, the kiss onlysted less than a second. He had found out that a beast existed inside him after meeting Rubica. And although that beast was furious, it became like a tamedmb in front of her. He sighed at his unsatisfied thirst and carefully raised her lest she woke up. ¡°How did I end up being like this?¡± However, the woman who knew the answer had already fallen asleep and didn¡¯t say anything. When Rubica woke up, she was already on the bed. She then jumped to her feet in surprise. It felt like she had slept only for a moment, but the sunlight was alreadying through the windows and she was wearing a nightdress. ¡®What happened?¡¯ She remembered being in Edgar¡¯s arms, but nothing more. Had she fallen asleep like that? She blushed in embarrassment. She pulled the rope next to the bed, and the door was opened and a maid, who had been waiting, came in. ¡°Good morning, Your Grace. You must have been very tired. Should I bring water to wash your face?¡± ¡°Oh, um, how did I get herest night?¡± ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t remember.¡± The maid blushed and covered her cheeks with her hands. She looked dreamy as if she was recalling the scene of a fairy tale. ¡°Your husband carried you here himself.¡± ¡°What?¡± Rubica¡¯s face was now burning. ¡°Isn¡¯t that sweet?¡± Rubica felt so embarrassed that she wished she could go somewhere alone and scream. However, the maid keptplimenting Edgar. ¡°He was so careful to not wake you up that we all had to hold our breath.¡± However, he could have just woken her up. Her cheeks, in the meantime, turned red. Why was he acting like a romantic knight of a y? If he kept doing that, it was going to be impossible to get divorced saying their love had died. ¡®And he even knows I¡¯m in love with someone else...¡¯ She really couldn¡¯t guess what he was thinking, but she still managed to calm down her fluttering heart. ¡°What time is it now?¡± ¡°It¡¯s noon.¡± ¡°Noon? Why didn¡¯t you wake me up?¡± Another maid came with a basin of water in the middle of their talking. ¡°It¡¯s just... you looked so tired.¡± The maid who hade first avoided Rubica¡¯s gaze. Then, she met eyes with the other maid and smiled. Their cheeks were all red, and Rubica didn¡¯t like it. However, it wasn¡¯t like she could openly ask about it, so she angrily washed her hands and got changed into a simple dress. ¡°Your Grace.¡± Ann came after hearing Rubica had woken up, but she didn¡¯te alone. A servant cleared the table next to the bed and started to put food in it. Rubica¡¯s eyes widened at seeing that. ¡°What is this about?¡± ¡°You must eat well for some time, but you can¡¯t eat well in the morning. I was told you ate well here in the bedroom when Elise was serving you the other day, so I brought your breakfast here.¡± ¡°But I shouldn¡¯t be doing this...¡± In the Kingdom of Seritos, having breakfast in the bedroom was what only theziest people do, so Rubica hesitated, but Ann smiled kindly. ¡°The doctor said it would be better to have breakfast in the bedroom for now.¡± Chapter 127

Chapter 127: Chapter 127

Yes, pregnancy! Rubica had forgotten about it, but since pregnant women could get tired easily, they were given some privileges, and one of them was eating in the bedroom. Moreover, Rubica previously ate a full breakfast when it had been in the bedroom. ¡°Elise,e here.¡± Elise had been working on something else downstairs and came when Rubica¡¯s breakfast was ready on the table. Her hair was in a pretty knot again, but she was wearing a flea-colored dress that was even worse than her mouse-colored dress. Why was she insisting on such dresses when she could be much prettier? Were balls the only excuse to make her wear splendid dresses? ¡®Oh, but the balls season is months away.¡¯ Rubica had to hold back a sigh. Wasn¡¯t there a good excuse to make the girl wear a pretty dress? Should she suggest a pic? But Elise would surelye to the pic in one of her simple dresses with a shy smile even if all the other women were wearing their best dresses. ¡®Should I ask her to behave like a princess? I can say I want to pretend to be a maid.¡¯ When Rubica¡¯s thoughts were going in a strange direction, everyone left the room except for Ann and Elise. Two people were too few to serve a duchess when having breakfast, but Rubica didn¡¯t mind and sat down. She rather had some expectations. ¡®Will Elise eat with me again?¡¯ Maybe she had told Ann that Rubica had eaten well when she ate with her. Although Ann and Elise already knew Rubica¡¯s pregnancy was fake, there was a need to put up the act for the others for a month or two. However, her hope wasn¡¯t answered. Instead, Ann whispered to her as she poured her a ss of water. ¡°Did you have a good time with your husbandst night?¡± Thankfully, Rubica had nothing in her mouth yet, or she would have spewed out everything. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Oh, you know what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Ann narrowed her eyes andughed. Rubica only then recalled the door being opened and closed again while Edgar had been passionately kissing her. Oh, that must have been why the maids had been blushing, smiling, and giggling. Rubica wished she could hide, but Ann was quite in the opposite mood. She hummed as she poured juice into another ss. ¡°Maybe there wouldn¡¯t be any need to put up the act with the doctor.¡± She was clearly saying Rubica could actually get pregnant without acting. However, that made Rubica only afraid. She had fallen asleep in Edgar¡¯s arms and had woken up on the bed. They hadn¡¯t slept together, right? Edgar had been acting like the most well-mannered gentleman in the world. However, it wasn¡¯t easy to get rid of the memory of him kissing her without permission and sleeping with her in his arms on that bed. ¡°Oh, umm...¡± Was it okay to ask the question when there was Elise with them? Rubica wondered that for a moment. ¡®But she¡¯s 17. She¡¯s old enough to know about these things.¡¯ Really, nothing had happened between her and Edgar. Moreover, if there had been anything, it had been light kisses which Elise could know about. But then again, she found it sad that she had to worry about that. Who would believe her if she confessed the truth? She and Edgar were married and, unfortunately, to many people they appeared like a couple in love. Oh, she had gotten rid of one of her worries after Edgar promised her to find Arman for her, but how was she supposed to get divorced now? Was spending all the money of the family and being used as the evil duchess who destroyed the family the only way? ¡°He just moved me to the bed. That was all, right?¡± ¡°Oh, you shouldn¡¯t say that in front of a little girl.¡± Ann pped Rubica¡¯s back who almost dropped the spoon she was holding. Ann was surprised by what she had done and rubbed her back. However, she kept smiling, and Rubica could clearly see what she was imagining. Rubica started to feel truly worried. What if Edgar had really done something to her? She couldn¡¯t understand how she had been so relieved in his arms yesterday, and Edgar had moved her to the bedroom while the others were watching? She blushed hard in embarrassment. ¡°He just put me on the bed and left, right?¡± ¡°Hohohohoh.¡± Unlike the anxious Rubica, Annughed out loud. The two were so close. They were now practically pleading to each other, and she found the situation extremely satisfying. ¡°He left after watching you sleep for a long time.¡± Elise answered instead of Ann. ¡°Re, really? He didn¡¯t do anything else, right?¡± ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t know why he was so embarrassed, but he even looked away when we changed your clothes.¡± The duke had even closed his eyes and urged the maids to get it done quickly. After that, he had only love as he looked down on the sleeping Rubica. Elise smiled at recalling that scene. She even wished she could be loved like that. ¡°Oh, thank the gods.¡± Nothing happened. Rubica was relieved but, at the same time, she was a little irritated. She was not thin. Thinking about how Edgar must have felt her weight the moment he stood up while carrying her, she felt so embarrassed. ¡®You could have woken me up.¡¯ Then Rubica would have gotten up and walked to the bedroom without any protest. Why had he done that when there was no need for it? ¡®And we had so many things to talk about...¡¯ Many things had happened during their time apart. She wanted to tell him about what had happened during the audience with the rtives and about the new dresses she had ordered to Khanna. Moreover, she wanted to hear what happened to him at the capital. Were the hallways of the king¡¯s castle as brilliant as people said? Were there really so many people at the capital? She had been told the capital was different from the downtowns of the domains. There were merchants at the ports, but they mostly sold fishing basic supplies. As for expensive goods, the merchants who sold them would go to the mansions themselves. At the capital, there were some shops that sold goods carefully chosen by great merchants. Perfume shops were the most popr. Of course, counts and higher nobles still summoned masters to their mansions, but some arrogant merchants didn¡¯t go first unless they at least send a messenger to their shops. Rubica wanted to hear about that from Edgar. Of course, he was a busy man and didn¡¯t have the time to go to such ces himself, but at least he could tell her about the king¡¯s castle, the princess and the crown prince. He had only listened as usual while she told him about Ann¡¯s misunderstanding. It was a little disappointing. Was he not curious about her as much as she was curious about him? He was extremely busy. She could see him and talk to him only during dinnertime. He had to be working hard in his office even now. When he went there, it was just impossible to see him. Carl, who guarded the door, acted like Rubica was a living being trying to cross the door to hell. ¡®I can¡¯t bother him. He¡¯s so busy.¡¯ He must have woken up early, had a simple breakfast, and working hard while she was sleeping sound till noon. Thinking about that, she lost all her appetite. She tried hard to eat the food in front of her, but it felt like sand. ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat anymore.¡± ¡°But you¡¯ve eaten way too little, you should have some more.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Why was she doing that every morning when she had no problem with eating at dinner? Ann was worried. Rubica had eaten well the time she let Elise serve her when she had been busy. She thought eating in the bedroom had made her feelfortable, so she had asked the doctor and got a diagnosis so that she could have breakfast in the bedroom. ¡°Please, at least have some juice.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I just say I¡¯m having morning sickness?¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know how worried Ann was and asked. Elise nced at her, and she knew how to make her eat. ¡®Oh, please. Why are you doing this to me?¡¯ Rubica kept trying to give her good dresses and share good food with her, but Elise wanted to live with her own means. However, just like how she had been tricked by Rubica to eat with her, she had a soft spot for her. It was hard to ignore when the person who was willing to share everything with her was staring at her fork so sadly. In the end, she made up her mind. She brought extra tes, spoon and fork from the cart. ¡°Elise?¡± Ann was confused, but Elise didn¡¯t mind. She sat next to Rubica. She split a piece of bread in two, put half on her te and the other on Rubica¡¯s te. ¡°I¡¯ll eat with you, but you must eat too.¡± Ann was about to scold her for being rude, but then she shut her mouth at seeing Rubica starting to eat the bread. Chapter 128

Chapter 128: Chapter 128

¡°The bread is a little dry, but it¡¯s much better with the stew.¡± Rubica nodded to that and started to happily eat the stew made of carrot, pumpkin, and beef with the bread. Ann could only cover her mouth with both hands at seeing that. ¡®Then she hasn¡¯t been able to eat well in the morning because...¡¯ Ann didn¡¯t scold Elise. She rather dly split the food in two and put it on Elise¡¯s and Rubica¡¯s te. Later, she even brought a chair and ate with them. ¡°Thank you.¡± After the meal, Rubica whispered to Elise. She knew Elise had been courageous just for her. She only had a meal with her, but it required great courage since position and rank were very important in Seritos. Elise was quite touched to hear that as it had been just a small act of kindness. Rubica was the duchess, so she could have taken her goodwill for granted, but she didn¡¯t forget to thank her. However, Elise was the one who was supposed to be grateful considering how much she had been helped by Rubica. ¡°No, Your Grace.¡± She denied it almost instinctively, but she regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth. She should have at least said, ¡®I¡¯m the one who should thank you.¡¯ ¡®But what I have is... it isn¡¯t mere gratitude.¡¯ Thank you wasn¡¯t going to be enough to describe what she felt. She wanted to let Rubica know how much she liked her, how grateful she was, and how she had inspired her. Without Rubica, Elise would have never imagined she could be of help to someone else. She thought hard. How could she deliver her feelings? -Showing your true feelings requires more courage than using ttering words. Elise recalled what her mother had said sometimes in her letters. Yes, if she couldn¡¯t think of anything good, she could be honest. ¡°Your Grace.¡± Rubica, who had been wiping her hands, looked up and saw a determined Elise. ¡°I¡¯m the one who should thank you. I don¡¯t know what topare the generosity you¡¯ve shown me. There isn¡¯t much I can do, but I would do anything for you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± However, to her surprise, Rubica¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°You really would do anything?¡± Was she about to make Elise do something weird? The girl got a little afraid, but she nodded. She really could do anything for her even if it required her life or was illegal. Plus, if Rubica wanted something, it had to be about saving people in the end, even if it were illegal. ¡°Then can you wear pretty dresses without fear?¡± ¡°What?¡± Elise was very confused, but Rubica took her hands and continued, ¡°Please. You should really stop wearing that...¡± ¡°Your Grace!¡± But what she had to say after that was never finished because of a servant who urgently called Rubica. Ann and Elise quickly got up and removed the tes and forks. ¡°Come in. What is this about?¡± It was the servant who handled the job of greeting guests at the front door and reception room. As he greeted important guests, he wore much better clothes than the other servants and cared a lot about how he looked. However, he had run here so fast that his hair was in a mess. ¡®Is someone rudely storming around the mansion?¡¯ When Edgar first announced he would not get mana quartz, a few rtives had tried to get past the servants and storm onto the third floor. However, there were many stairs and guards in the way. Plus, even the rtives could not trespass into the duchess¡¯ quarters easily. In addition to that, everyone thought Rubica was pregnant now and the rtives had note lest they were used of giving her stress. ¡°Lord Zilehan is making a fuss in front of His Grace¡¯s office. The butler is stopping him, but he can¡¯t stop him alone... so he sent me to let you know.¡± However, the rtives hadn¡¯te for her. They hade for him. The man who had decided to take all the me even though it had been her decision. Actually, they wanted to grab him and use him of making such a decision in the first ce, but that had been impossible because he went to the king¡¯s castle. Moreover, he hade back as soon as he heard about Rubica¡¯s pregnancy. He hade in such a hurry that he hadpletely forgotten about getting the king¡¯s help. ¡®Oh, I should have told him to take refuge in the king¡¯s castle.¡¯ Butst night, he had moved her to the bed and left after seeing her sleeping well. She had wanted him to stay at the mansion a little more. ¡°Where¡¯s Lord Zilehan?¡± It was all happening because of Rubica¡¯s insistence, so she decided to take care of it. She couldn¡¯t let him handle this alone. ¡°In front of the office.¡± ¡°Take me there.¡± Ann, however, quickly stopped her. ¡°Your Grace, you aren¡¯t dressed properly yet, and your hair hasn¡¯t been done either.¡± Rubica was wearing an indoor dress, but she wasn¡¯t wearing any piece of jewelry. In addition, she had let her hair loose to eat morefortably. It was certainly not right to appear like that in front of the rtives. ¡°Let us at least do your hair.¡± ¡°But Lord Zilehan might push Carl aside and get into the office while I linger here.¡± Even though Carl was Edgar¡¯s loyal right-hand man, he was a butler. There wasn¡¯t much he could do if the rtives used their rank as their weapon. ¡°Your Grace, you don¡¯t have to worry. There are many guard knights there.¡± ¡°Ann, even I don¡¯t send him a message when he is working in his office in order to not bother him. I cannot let those rtives storm in there like this.¡± However, Rubica was stubborn. She hadn¡¯t forgotten how Mrs. Shaynie had gotten into Edgar¡¯s office while he was working by using her name. Not to mention this was also happening because of her, so she didn¡¯t want Edgar to be humiliated. They had to buy time until he got the king¡¯s consent. ¡®I must tell him to go to the capital in the evening before something even worse happens.¡¯ And today, she was going to buy time for Edgar. ¡°Carl asked for my help. It must mean the situation is urgent, so stop talking about my hair and let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°But...¡± Actually, the hair had been an excuse. Ann just wanted to stop Rubica from getting into that trouble. Even though her pregnancy had not been real, Rubica was her mistress. She had to protect her. Of course, she was supposed to be loyal to Edgar, but she didn¡¯t feel like he needed her protection. However, when she looked into Rubica¡¯s firm auburn eyes, she closed her mouth. She was overwhelmed by her aura. It was hard to believe a girl at the age of 22 had such an aura. Ann felt like what she had felt when Edgar¡¯s grandmother, the duchess who had controlled the noble society, used to stare at her. ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± Ann answered like a mouse in front of a serpent, and Rubica liked that answer. She started to follow the servant while looking like a general marching to the battlefield. Ann thought maybe she had been wrong. Maybe she had been a little overprotective when it came to Rubica. Was it because she looked young and couldn¡¯t ignore children in trouble like Elise? ¡°Elise, we should go too.¡± ¡°Yes, Mrs. Taylor.¡± ¡°If anything happens, we must use force to stop them.¡± Elise knew what she meant by that. ording to the mansion¡¯s order of rank, the butler was superior to thedies-in-waiting. Even they couldn¡¯t object to Carl¡¯s decisions, but there was an important difference between them. Although the butler was amoner, Ann and Elise were nobles. Even if Carl tried to stop Edgar¡¯s rtives, they could have their own guards drag him out. However, even those mighty aristocrats couldn¡¯t do that to thedies-in-waiting. No matter how poor they were, no matter how low in rank their families were,dies-in-waiting were nobles. Anyone who used violence on a nobledy would lose their honor. If the harm was serious, he could get excluded from the nobles¡¯ list. That was why Carl had urgently asked for Ann¡¯s help. ¡®But he could have just sent me...¡¯ Ann looked at Rubica¡¯s back as she walked in front. Average height and average size. She hadn¡¯t had the time to get prepared, so she did not have the dignity of a duchess today. But to Ann, that back looked extremely wide and sturdy. She felt like she was following a giant. Actually, Ann was thinking Carl was overreacting. The butler had been practically worshipping Edgar. He had been loyal to his former master, Edgar¡¯s father, but he was a little too loyal to Edgar, probably because of the shock he got after Edgar¡¯s parents¡¯ unfortunate death. Ann¡¯s overprotectiveness about Rubica was nothingpared to that. Even if Lord Zilehan got into the office, Edgar could kick him and his associates out for disturbing him while working. He had a diligent guard, Stephen, and he obeyed the duke and the duke only. Ann didn¡¯t know what kind of people Zilehan had brought with him, but there was no way they could ovee Stephen. Nevertheless, Rubica didn¡¯t let Carl and Ann handle this. Instead, she was going there herself to face the rtives who had always looked down on her. She had no authority, no power, and almost no dowry. However, she was still trying to protect her husband. Chapter 129 Chapter 129: Chapter 129 Ann was so touched. ¡®Although he will be mad at Carl when he finds out about this.¡¯ Even Carl probably wouldn¡¯t have wanted Rubica toe herself. Edgar didn¡¯t tolerate anything that put Rubica in danger, and that had be even more serioustely. Maybe he could me himself for having Rubica protect him. Actually, Ann wanted to see that scene. Seeing the cold Edgar disarmed in front of Rubica was one of her secret joys. *** ¡°How dare you stand in my way?¡± Lord Zilehan had even brought a cane that he didn¡¯t even normally use. It was made of oak and was quite strong. He swung it quite threateningly in front of Carl. ¡°His Grace is busy with his work. Please do not forget how important his duties are.¡± ¡°Nonsense! He just arrived here yesterday, right after hearing his wife was pregnant! If he had been really busy, he wouldn¡¯t havee back here using the mana stone carriage! Get out of my way Carl!¡± Carl stood in front of the heavy door that led to Edgar¡¯s office. He couldn¡¯t let Zilehan get in there since the man was too outraged. If he tried to grab the duke by his cor, everyone would get to find out about his condition. Edgar could walk freely at night, but not during the daytime. If his condition hadn¡¯t depended on time, they could have said he had been crippled through an ident, but his current condition had to look extremely odd to people. ¡®I hope Ann will get here soon...¡¯ Carl thought so as he looked at the cane Zilehan was holding. It was pointed at him and looked like it would strike him at any moment. ¡®I guess I have no choice.¡¯ It looked like it would be better to get a blow and bleed. Stephen, the guard knight, would interfere if it turned into bloodshed. For now, there wasn¡¯t much Stephen could do. It wasn¡¯t like he could wield his sword against those rtives to protect Carl since he was only amoner. ¡°What is going on here?¡± Carl was relieved to hear Ann¡¯s calm voice. Zilehan wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything if the housekeeper stood in front of the door. But to his surprise, Rubica hade with Ann. ¡°Your Grace!¡± Rubica was wearing a simple home dress. Unlike her usual, she didn¡¯t have her hair braided and decorated with pins. She hadn¡¯t even had the time to have itbed. ¡°I heard noises downstairs and came down. Lord Zilehan, what is this about?¡± Rubica spoke as coldly as she could while Ann winked at her. She immediately realized what she meant by that and put a hand on her belly. Her belly had swollen more than usual after having a full breakfast thanks to Elise¡¯s help. ¡®Even if it¡¯s empty.¡¯ No, that wasn¡¯t true. It was full, but not with a baby but with food. ¡°Your Grace, I must talk to the duke. Please tell the butler to move aside.¡± ¡°My husband is busy working.¡± Zilehan looked at Rubica up and down. ¡°It is none of your concern. More than that, I think you should take more care in dressing up. It would be diminishing your own honor to show yourself in that state to the guests.¡± ¡°Guests?¡± A corner of her lips curled up. When did she learn that smile? She hadn¡¯t been like that as a newly-wed bride. She had been more reserved and was known to smile kindly. How could such a young girl smile like that? Zilehan couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. Moreover, he had exactly the same experience three years ago. ¡®... Edgar.¡¯ The 22-year-old boy became the duke and took control of the family. Of course, Zilehan seeded in gaining profit even through that, but getting orders from a boy had been quite painful. Back then, Edgar had smiled just like how Rubica was smiling now. And... ¡°You call yourself guest when you havee without any notice and are pushing the servants aside while yelling in front of the duke¡¯s office?¡± -You call yourself a ymore when you are bluffing with this idiotic budget bill? Zilehan couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing? How could they be so identical? The curled-up lips weren¡¯t even a problem. The way Rubica was scolding them, it was just like how Edgar scolded and got rid of them. Was she really the same girl who cried in front of them and pleaded that she had also tried to stop the duke in vain only a few days ago? ¡°You are using the wrong term. There is another term for people like you. Uninvited guests.¡± Zilehan¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°You have stormed in here without any notice, twice, in less than a week.¡± ¡°Uh, um...¡± Zilehan took a deep breath. It looked like he couldn¡¯t get rid of the duchess by screaming and scolding her. He couldn¡¯t talk about manners about treating guests anymore since what Rubica had said wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡®What is happening? Has she been trained by Edgarst night or something?¡¯ Was it possible for a girl from the countryside to get that much authority? Maybe she had been lectured by Edgar on ¡®how to be sarcastic and arrogant¡¯. He was more than capable of doing that. Maybe he had nagged on her, like, ¡®You are not even close to the perfect duchess!¡¯ ¡°But His Grace has been at the king¡¯s castle for days. I don¡¯t know when he will go back there tomorrow, so when can I speak to him if I don¡¯t see him now?¡± ¡°He is always traveling because of work. He moves from here to the king¡¯s castle, then to his vi, then back here again. He hasn¡¯te back because he has time to spare, so stop trying to bother him.¡± ¡°As a ymore, my duties include advising him about the dukedom¡¯s affairs.¡± ¡°Even I cannot talk to him when he is working at his office. He was busy yesterday, is busy today, and will be busy tomorrow as well.¡± Rubica recited Edgar¡¯s quote that she had judged as irritating, and it made Zilehan shut his mouth, at least for a moment. He hadn¡¯t expected the duchess to say what Edgar frequently said to get rid of him. Rumors said they were madly in love, and it looked like Edgar had been giving his wife tips on how to counter the ymore rtives. ¡®... I shouldn¡¯t have agreed to this marriage.¡¯ He wanted a weak and stupid girl to be the duchess. He had thought Rubica would be easier to control than the properly educated daughters of counts and marquises. He had thought Edgar wouldn¡¯t be able to protect his wife forever from everything. -She is no easy opponent. Some people said that, but Zilehan hadn¡¯t worried much about that. She was a girl, after all. She couldn¡¯t be that smart. But now, he had no choice but to admit he had underestimated her. However, although he was much less smart than Edgar, he was sure he was more cunning. ¡°Of course His Grace is busy, but he isn¡¯t busy now.¡± He yelled confidently. What was that nonsense? For a moment, Rubica worried he might have lost his mind. ¡°Look at what the butler has brought!¡± However, when Rubica looked at what Zilehan was pointing, Rubica had to admit he was right. ¡®Damn it!¡¯ It was the tools to make tea and dried tea leaves which Carl had passionately exined about once. It seemed like Zilehan had stormed in during Edgar¡¯s only resting time when he would relieve his headache. Rubica now had no good excuse to stop Zilehan. ¡®Carl!¡¯ Rubica usingly red at the butler who looked away. ¡°The duke is sensitive and enjoys the drink from exotd instead of coffee. Everyone knows that. Is it that rude of me to talk to him about this family¡¯s future while he drinks a cup of tea? Please note that I¡¯vee in the only time the duke isn¡¯t busy.¡± Rubica bit her lips while Zilehan triumphantly raised his head high. It looked really annoying when the short man did that. ¡®But I cannot back off at this point.¡¯ The first fight was always important. If she lost now, going back on it was going to be hard, especially so because she was a girl. She couldn¡¯t be considered vulnerable. Zilehan would never forget this victory and keep trying to have her in his hand. Rubica quietly took a deep breath and counted. ¡®It¡¯s okay. I can do this. I can do this.¡¯ She had prayed to ask for forgiveness to the god of honesty before lying when she married Edgar. But this time, she didn¡¯t pray to the god of honesty even though she was about to lie. As she counted, she prayed like this to the god of lies. ¡®Please let me be a good liar.¡¯ And the god of lies granted her wish. ¡°I¡¯ve decided to drink tea, just like my husband.¡± Zilehan blinked. He could instinctively tell Rubica was lying. He thought Edgar wasn¡¯t better than him when it came to cunningness, but it turned out there was someone even better than him. Chapter 130

Chapter 130: Chapter 130

¡°Right, Carl?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± The butler replied with a question, not as an acknowledgment. Nevertheless, he did say yes. Rubica ignored that and continued. ¡°I like coffee, but I cannot drink it anymore as I am pregnant. So, the duke rmended that I drink tea instead. After trying it and finding it refreshing, I¡¯ve decided to enjoy tea just like him.¡± Of course, it wasn¡¯t refreshing at all. Rubica hated tea. It only tasted like bitter grass, and she couldn¡¯t understand how Edgar could even enjoy it. However, Zilehan was never going to find out about that. ¡°Well, um.¡± Carl really wanted to say something since Rubica was wrong about one critical fact. Although coffee was bad for pregnant women, so was tea. He wanted to tell that to Rubica, but her auburn eyes warned him. ¡®Carl, you can exin about your beloved teater!¡¯ Carl shut his mouth that was eager to exin the effects and side effects of the tea. The duchess didn¡¯t like tea, and she was saying that only to get rid of Zilehan. ¡°It¡¯s strange.¡± Zilehan tried again for thest time, but only in vain. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t Carl go for the stairs to take the tea to your chamber? He was instead carrying it to the duke¡¯s office.¡± ¡°Lord Zilehan, it is possible toe to my chamber through this corridor.¡± Rubica was surprised by her own talent. She was so good at lying. Maybe she should have sought Kirne¡¯s help, the god of liars. Then, she would have been remembered as the greatest liar even beforeing back in time. ¡°You might not know about it, but this mansion has a long history.¡± Rubica spoke as if there was a secret passage. Was there really a secret passage that led from the duke¡¯s office to her bedchamber? She didn¡¯t know. However, almost every old mansion had at least one secret passage. ¡°Right Carl?¡± ¡°Yes, yes.¡± This time, Carl was clearly acknowledging her words. ¡°I asked him to check on the duke on his way since he often skips his meals to focus on his work.¡± Carl and Ann stared at her in a daze. She was so serious that they almost felt like there really was a secret passage which they didn¡¯t even know about after working for decades at the mansion. ¡°Lord Zilehan, the duke is busy. Remember the food in this kingdom depends on what he invents. I will tell him you havee, soe back tomorrow after setting an appointment.¡± ¡®Food of the people¡¯. Rubica usually couldn¡¯t say anything more when Edgar mentioned that. As a citizen of the kingdom that exported most of its food, she had to pay attention to that. Plus, she was offering to set Zilehan an appointment, so she thought he would back off now. ¡°But the matter about mana quartz is also about the people¡¯s food. The management and expenses of the adventurers cannot be held lightly.¡± However, he didn¡¯t. He knew the duke would leave for the king¡¯s castle first thing tomorrow morning, so he was worried the duke might make a deal with the king first. ¡®There will be no going back if the king issues an order.¡¯ He had to meet Edgar before that happened and get the promise about every gain he could get. Plus, he needed to find out what Edgar was up to. ¡°If it is that important, it will require a long discussion. I will tell the duke to make time for it, so you must go back for now.¡± ¡°Your Grace.¡± Zilehan spoke firmly. He was leading the rtives for a reason. He was cunning and quick-witted, and he knew how to control those who were much smarter than he was. ¡°There are already several urgent matters, like what to do with the adventurers we¡¯ve already hired. If His Grace is really not going to get mana quartz, we must do something about their payment. If he changes his mindter, I will be very troubled in the middle.¡± Zilehan was going to hold on Rubica until Edgar came out. He had thought it was bad when the duchess came, but the crisis was also an opportunity. He was going to hold on her, and Edgar wouldn¡¯t be able to take it anymore and run out. ¡°I can¡¯t see why you are not letting us meet the duke. Your Grace, are you trying to send him to the king¡¯s castle early tomorrow morning?¡± Rubica¡¯s eyshes fluttered. Zilehan noticed her hands had been slightly shaking. Although she was pretending to be confident, she was actually very nervous. She was clearly out of excuses. He thought he had gained higher ground. That was why he made a mistake that quick-witted talkers often made. In arrogance, he believed he could end Rubica right there. To put it short, he said something he shouldn¡¯t have said. ¡°Lord Zilehan, you are being extremely rude.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you putting up an act when you cried in front of us as you described how desperately you tried to stop him? Hasn¡¯t it been you who convinced him to make that decision?¡± Rubica¡¯s hands shook in rage, and Zilehan was d to see that. He thought he had scolded her well. Edgar hadn¡¯t cared much about mana quartz originally. Although a lot of money was assigned to it, Edgar always had a lot to do. To him, it was nothing more than decorating the mansion¡¯s garden. However, he had changed his mind about that after the duchess came. He now was only raising the right question. ¡°You are going too far. Her Grace even cried on that day, trying to stop the duke.¡± Ann couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and spoke up. However, Zilehan ignored her warning and arrogantly looked at Rubica, inviting her to do the best she had. ¡°Well, if I¡¯m stressing you and causing the pain in your belly, I guess I have no choice but to leave.¡± Rubica was now so mad that shepletely forgot about her former anxiety. Zilehan was clearly implying she couldn¡¯t use her pregnancy as an excuse to run away. ¡®Edgar was right. His rtives are mean.¡¯ If Rubica really said she felt pain in her belly and was dizzy, he would leave for now and spread words on how she acted like being pregnant made her the queen. The most irritating thing about guys like him was that they took their wives¡¯ real pain of pregnancy as an act, even when they themselves were born after spending ten months in their mothers¡¯ womb. ¡°Guards!¡± Rubica decided to not be civil with Zilehan anymore. He was trying to stand on top of her head while she was the duchess. Clearly, he had crossed the line. ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± ¡°Lord Zilehan has been rude to me. Kick him out.¡± Zilehan¡¯s jaw dropped, and the rtives who hade with him were shocked as well. Yes, he was so focused on fighting with words that he had forgotten an important fact. The privilege of the duchess which the butler and the housekeeper didn¡¯t have. The family hadn¡¯t had any mistress for a few years that they had forgotten about it. Even if he hit the butler with his cane and insulted the housekeeper, they couldn¡¯t have the duke¡¯s guards kick him out. However, the duchess was different. She could give orders to the duke¡¯s guards. ¡°This is...¡± ¡°The Noble¡¯s Guide says it is only right to kick a man out if he insults the mistress.¡± Zilehan had underestimated the duchess too much. He regretted it, but it was toote. The knights who had been guarding the office¡¯s door took him by the arms and dragged him out. ¡°Your Grace, as a rtive of ymore, I...¡± Zilehan tried to protest again, but the knight who was holding his right arm poked his side with his dagger scabbard. His brown eyes were clearly saying, ¡®Shut up now or you will pay for it.¡¯ Therefore, Zilehan had no choice but to shut his mouth. ¡°Your Grace, this is a little too...¡± One of the rtives spoke at seeing Zilehan being dragged out, but his wife poked him. ¡°... too right.¡± Thankfully, he understood what his wife meant and wasn¡¯t sentenced to the same fate.¡± ¡°We were so worried about ymore that we were rude to you.¡± ¡°It is all our fault, we failed to stop Lord Zilehan.¡± Rubica looked at the remaining rtives. They had stood together with Zilehan as their leader only a moment ago, but now they were making it clear that they had nothing to do with him. She felt even dizzier at listening to their apologies that were nothing more than excuses. How was she supposed to get rid of them? ¡°Her Grace is tired. You should leave now.¡± Ann ventured, clearly implying she could take care of those underlings herself. She used the fact that Rubica was pregnant. Still, they tried to linger and by the time they got rid of them, the sky had turned red with the sun already setting. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t Edgar have finished his work by now? He hasn¡¯t been able to even have a cup of tea because of what happened today...¡± Carl was surprised to hear that. He had been so busy helping Rubica that he had forgotten about the most important man in his life. Of course Edgar knew about what was happening outside his office, but still, he should have taken care of him. Chapter 131

Chapter 131: Chapter 131

¡°Will it be okay for me to go to his office?¡± ¡°Yes, it should be fine as the sun has gone down.¡± Carl immediately regretted saying that but, thankfully, Rubica didn¡¯t seem to care about what he had just said. ¡°Okay then, I will bring him the tea.¡± Rubica wanted to go to Edgar for today. Normally, he always came to her, so it would be nice to make a change to that. Plus, she had fallen asleep too quicklyst night, and they didn¡¯t have the time to speak. Right now, she wanted to talk about what was going to happen in the close future and about Zilehan with Edgar. However, when they arrived in front of Edgar¡¯s office, they saw the door was wide open. The duke was not there. ¡°Where¡¯s Edgar?¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the duke?¡± They both asked in surprise, and a servant answered them calmly. ¡°He just left in a hurry with Sir Stephen and the guards.¡± It seemed like Edgar had left to avoid the fuss. Rubica did want him to leave for the king¡¯s castle to escape from those vermin-like rtives, but there hadn¡¯t been any need to leave so early. He could have talked with her and leave tomorrow morning. Rubica went back to her room, somewhat disappointed. She was going to have her dinner alone, and she really hated it. If Edgar had had any conscience, he should have at least had dinner with her. *** Zilehan kept sighing in his rent carriage on his way home. He had been humiliated so much, being dragged out by the knights. Something like that had never happened to him, and it had been ordered by a girl who was much younger than him. ¡®Oh, why did I agree to this marriage?¡¯ If Rubica had been from a family of high rank, at least he wouldn¡¯t have felt so humiliated. He was confident in his wits, but he hadn¡¯t known Rubica would be able to defeat him like that by using the guards. ¡®There must be a way to make things right. Of course, there is.¡¯ Although he admitted he had been rude, Rubica immediately kicking him out like that had been wrong as well, even if it had been just. It didn¡¯t make sense, but he really thought so. A woman¡¯s biggest virtue was kindness, so Zilehan made ns to spread rumors about how she wasn¡¯t kind. ¡®And she¡¯s about to give birth to her baby. I can tell people the gods will be mad at the baby if the mother keeps behaving like that.¡¯ The carriage arrived at his mansion while he was thinking. His home was quite far from ymore Mansion and it was already getting dark. His wife came out before he opened the door. ¡°Oh, Zilehan.¡± Then, she lowered her voice and whispered, ¡°The duke is here.¡± ¡°What? Edgar hase here?¡± The duke had ignored him when he was demanding to see him in front of his office, and now he hade here? Zilehan was shocked. How did Edgare even faster than him? He saw the splendid carriage standing in front of his house only then. He hadn¡¯t noticed it as its lights were all out, but it was a mana stone carriage. ¡°Okay, okay. Where is he now? Did you properly lead him to the reception room?¡± ¡°Of course. I came out here because I worried you would yell as youe in like the usual.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Zilehan rubbed his hands. Now he had a chance to talk to the duke in private. It was good. Maybe the duke was easier to control than his wife. He hated being bothered and Zilehan had already used that a couple of times. The duke could back off if he showed how he was going to cling onto the duchess and bother them. He was supposed to do at least that much for his beloved wife. Zilehan hurried to the reception room and saw Edgar sitting on the leather sofa. He didn¡¯t move when seeing Zilehane in, he just moved his eyes to look at him. He didn¡¯t get up even though the master of the house was here. He even brought an armed guard with him. Zilehan frowned at seeing that since it was rude to bring an armed guard into the reception room. ¡°Lord Zilehan, you must have been enjoying too much your life that you even sought for trouble.¡± The duke spoke harshly, but Zilehan wasn¡¯t surprised much. The duke had always been harsh with words, probably to bnce his beautiful face. Many were drawn to his handsome appearance and hurt by his merciless words. Zilehan had already gone past that at the age of 20, so he smiled heartily. ¡°All thanks to your generosity, my boy.¡± Zilehan was a ymore rtive and distant uncle to Edgar. Although he called Edgar Your Grace on formal asions, he could speakfortably to him in private. ¡°Say that again.¡± Edgar undid his crossed legs and ordered arrogantly. Zilehan blinked, unable to know what was going on. ¡°All thanks to you, my...¡± Zilehan couldn¡¯t finish that. The guard came and stroke his belly. ¡°You are being rude to the duke.¡± He spoke emotionlessly and then went back to his post. Zilehan shook in rage. He had just been humiliated by the duchess, and now Edgar was humiliating him. Why were they doing this to him? ¡°What have I done that you are doing this to me?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Your Grace.¡± The guard warned again. Zilehan wanted to yell he was the duke¡¯s distant uncle, but he didn¡¯t. The pain in his belly hadn¡¯t faded yet. ¡°Your Grace, why are you doing this to me?¡± ¡°I think you know why.¡± Edgar reclined on thefy sofa. His every move was so elegant. ¡°This sofa is quitefortable. I guess it¡¯s made of expensive leather. You have decorated your table with ssware and all the vases in this room are from Sharman.¡± Even though they were all less expensivepared to the things that decorated the ymore Mansion, they were all expensive luxurious goods. And there were two cases when it came to owning such a bunch of expensive goods. Either the owner of the house had lots and lots of money, or his money came from the wrong ce and had to be washed. Zilehan¡¯s case was thetter. ¡°Stephen, you have the strongest arms, right?¡± Edgar asked Stephen right next to him. He was ymore¡¯s guard captain and had a tall height and great muscles. He answered in a low and strong voice that had enchanted many girls. ¡°Your Grace, I am stronger than anyone in this room.¡± Edgar smiled satisfactorily to that. His guard captain was good at his job, but he also knew how to make his master feel good at such asions. Edgar picked a document on Zilehan¡¯s table and handed it to Stephen. ¡°Then it would be better to have you do it than to do it myself. Please.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± Stephen took the document and went to Zilehan who stepped back at the knight¡¯s threatening gesture. He hadn¡¯t been able to understand their conversation, but he had an instinctive fear. p! Soon the document pped his cheek with great speed. It felt so painful that he couldn¡¯t believe he had just been hit by the papers. What had he done to be humiliated like this? Zilehan looked at the papers as they fell down slowly. ¡®Oh no!¡¯ He forgot about his pain and gathered the papers. They were detailed records of how he had embezzled money until now. Each line was a good proof. If that had been all, he wouldn¡¯t have been so terrified. He could have pleaded to Edgar and be forgiven. He was his rtive, after all. However, it was written at the end of it that the matter was to be reported to the king. ¡°Ed... Your Grace! If you report this to the king, I¡¯m not the only one who will pay. It will be diminishing ymore¡¯s honor.¡± Edgar looked at him with emotionless eyes. Zilehan, who he didn¡¯t even want to call uncle now, was good at talking. That was bothering, but it was of good use from time to time. That was why he had turned a blind eye on his embezzlement till now. Although he did embezzle money, he knew to what extent he could do it, and ymore¡¯s financial status was strong enough to not be shaken by that. ¡°Lord Zilehan, I would have believed what you are saying before.¡± Edgar¡¯s blue eyes glistened dangerously. ¡°But not anymore. You have messed up with someone you shouldn¡¯t have touched.¡± Zilehan didn¡¯t have to ask to know who that someone was, but he hadn¡¯t known Edgar would react like this. He was always calm and rational, so Zilehan hadn¡¯t known he could be so sensitive. ¡°I only gave the advice I should give as a retainer...¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know ymore¡¯s retainers had the right to humiliate my wife.¡± Zilehan wasn¡¯t that good at sitting down and fightingplicated math problems, but he was quite good at shallow schemes and adapting to circumstances. As most ymores were schrs like Lord Sesar, his characteristic was quite helpful. Edgar assigned him matters rted to money. Even though he did embezzle, he always gained the family more than he took for himself. When Edgar assigned what Zilehan usually handled to clean, honest and honorable men, they ended up giving up or messing the whole business up, not being able to tolerate injustice. Chapter 132

Chapter 132: Chapter 132

¡°Zilehan, you must have been dying to know if I made a deal with the king.¡± Edgar knew exactly what Zilehan was worried about, and his worries wereing true. Edgar was going to disband the band of adventurers and sign deals with countries and guilds that were close to the territories of monsters and dragons to test the weapons he was developing. Of course, the king weed the idea. It was going to let him gain the upper hand when signing deals and treaties with other kingdoms. However, the king was hiding and pretending that it wasn¡¯t good to have him do this and that for Edgar. ¡®This wouldn¡¯t have happened if that sly old man had taken care of it quickly.¡¯ Anger and rage had started to pile in his heart as he was forced to stay longer in the king¡¯s castle. The feeling had vanished the moment Rubica fell asleep in his heart, but now it was revived at seeing Zilehan. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have acted so foolishly.¡± As soon as he said that, the guard, who had been holding Zilehan, punched his belly. Zilehan mouthed a silent scream when feeling the immense pain. However, Edgar stared at him coldly. He wanted to hit the man himself to let out his anger, but his well-trained knights were much better at that. They could beat Zilehan right before he died, but Edgar could overdo it and kill him, and he didn¡¯t want to hesitate lest he truly died. Let the experts do the violence. That was what he had always believed in. ¡°Your, Your Grace, how could you...¡± Edgar ignored Zilehan¡¯s protest and looked at his own fingernails. The tip of two fingernails were broken and they now looked hideous. Rubica would worry if she saw that. ¡°Stephen, do you have any medicine for the wounds?¡± ¡°Right here, Your Grace.¡± Edgar applied the ointment to his fingertips as Zilehan kept screaming. Well, Zilehan was responsible for that after all. Edgar had scratched his desk and chair every time Zilehan insulted Rubica. That was how he had managed to restrain himself. Without the pain of his fingernails being broken, he would have yelled. He wanted to m the door open, get out, and push Zilehan to the floor. He wanted to thrash him with a whip until he bled, but that had been impossible. His two legs refused to sit up as long as the sun was up in the sky. He had been forced to be quiet and listen until Rubica kicked Zilehan out. He never felt so ipetent in his life. But today, he had been so useless. That was why he hade to Zilehan¡¯s home as soon as the sun went down. His mana stone carriage was much faster than ordinary carriages and it let him arrive a lot earlier than Zilehan did. The knight stopped when Edgar finished applying the ointment on his fingertips. Zilehan¡¯s face was nowpletely swollen, but Edgar didn¡¯t pity him. He had always been cold. He had been taught about the necessary evil ever since he was a little boy and was the exact opposite of the kind and merciful Rubica. He had been taught he shouldn¡¯t hesitate to sacrifice one life if he could save hundreds by doing so. ¡°Do you think it is unfair?¡± Zilehan shook his head. Naturally, he thought it was unfair, but he knew he couldn¡¯t say that. ¡°Yes, of course, it is not unfair. I only punished you for your sin, contempt.¡± Edgar had be the duke at a young age and knew he had to use his authority when it was needed. Punish Zilehan lightly, and he would surely try again. Moreover, this cunning rtive wouldn¡¯t even dare to mess up with Edgar. He would go after Rubica, so he had to make sure it never happened again. ¡°I¡¯ve decided to send the weapons to a kingdom in the south and receive the rights to develop the newnd it is about to get in return. It would have gotten you many times more money than what you got by mediating with the adventurers. Mana quartz is a good that loses its light in time, but the right to develop newnd is different.¡± Zilehan shuddered at thinking about the massive amount of money ymore was about to get through trade. If he had stayed still, the business would have been assigned to him. However, there was no going back on it now. ¡°Your Grace, if words get out on how you fired a rtive who has worked for ymore for years just because he was wrong to the duchess...¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m hoping for.¡± A corner of Edgar¡¯s lips curled up at Zilehan¡¯s useless try. Even his evil smile was so seducing. ¡°Please, tell everyone I am overprotective of my wife so that no bugs would ever try to mess up with her.¡± Zilehan had to try hard to not swear out loud. When he met Edgar¡¯s eyes, he felt like he was a mouse standing in front of a serpent. It was going to be impossible to press on the duke by using rumors. He thought he knew how to control the duke, but he had been wrong. Edgar had been tolerating his schemes, and it turned out he rather enjoyed his evil fame. Edgar was done. He was about to leave the room but then he spotted Mrs. Zilehan shuddering in a corner. She was on quite good terms with Rubica. What if she pleaded to Rubica? When he thought of that, his mouth moved on its own. ¡°I will let you maintain your living so that Rubica wouldn¡¯t pity you. But if you ever plead to her, you will be left with nothing!¡± It happened so quickly that Zilehan didn¡¯t realize what was going on for a second. ¡°Thank you, Your Grace!¡± By the time he came to his senses, Edgar had already left the house. Zilehan had once held great power within the family, but now he was nothing. He had controlled the people¡¯s opinions with his excellent way of talking, but now he had plummeted to the ground for trusting his tongue too much. *** Edgar was feeling quite good on his way back home. During the day, he had been able to do nothing but listen to Rubica¡¯s voice in his office. His heart had ached so much that he had trouble breathing, and he felt extremely miserable. After it got quiet, the rage overtook him. He couldn¡¯t even remember how he had worked in the afternoon. He ran to Zilehan¡¯s house to get revenge as soon as the sun went down. After that, he was feeling much better, he even felt like he could whistle. ¡®I guess I¡¯ve been too soft on my rtives...¡¯ The cold serpent who had neither blood nor tears. The man who took rules way too seriously. Edgar denied the usations he got in less than a second. He had been way too soft. If he had gained control of his rtives sooner, they wouldn¡¯t have dared to be so rude to Rubica. He decided to fix their manners himself. He was no longer going to tolerate them just because it was bothering. -Lord Zilehan, the duke is busy. Remember the food in this kingdom depends on what he invents. When his anger subsided, he recalled what Rubica had said to Zilehan. She had sounded quite firm. He was tall but, unlike him, Rubica was small and thin. Unlike the guards who protected him, she had soft hands and waist. He thought he was supposed to protect her, and he never even imagined it could be the other way around. However, she did protect him today. She had spoken confidently to Zilehan who even Edgar found troublesome sometimes. Moreover, the way she called the guards to kick him out, that had been the climax. Great woman. Edgar had thought the word great was only for men. But now, he felt like no word could be better to describe what he felt about her, and he strangely felt good. She tried to protect him. Not anybody else, but him. He could feel he was smiling widely. -Even I cannot send a message to him when he is working in his office. He was busy yesterday, is busy today, and will be busy tomorrow as well. He thought again and again on what she said. That was what he had said to convince her. He sometimes kicked his duvet at thinking about how coldly he had been to her. What did she think when he said that? She must have thought he was an arrogant and rude man. Edgar cursed every word he had said and every action he had done at the time. However, when Rubica said exactly what he had said, those miserable times got a totally different meaning. He was so excited that now he felt a little dizzy. Was this love? A sensation he had never felt before now took over him. He couldn¡¯t control his own feelings, but he felt good. Even when he felt sad and his heart ached because of her, he didn¡¯t want to go back to his past without her at all. He was learning his feelings could sway like that for the first time. Chapter 133

Chapter 133: Chapter 133

¡®Anyway, there are so many things I must take care of.¡¯ There were a lot of things that he needed to decide on, like what to do with the party he had already hired because Zilehan insisted on it. Really, even two Edgars were not going to be enough for all that. He then made a list of things he should take care of in his mind and looked at the time. ¡®Oh no, I didn¡¯t know it was already thiste. The dinner must have started by now.¡¯ He had been so angry that he had forgotten to say he was going toe back as he left the mansion. Rubica and the others had to be thinking he had left for the capital after being summoned by the king. Rubica probably had started to eat instead of waiting for him. He liked seeing her eat very much, and he had to do his best to look away because he knew he would smile like a fool if he saw her directly. He just kept ncing at her. As he tried really hard to not show it, even his loyal butler Carl didn¡¯t know he liked that time. Edgar cursed and ordered the driver to drive the carriage faster. ¡°But Your Grace, it¡¯s less than ten minutes to the mansion anyway.¡± ¡°Just shut up and drive.¡± The distance was way too short, and it was going to be only a waste of the mana stone carriage¡¯s fuel. The driver was very confused, but he shut his mouth at seeing how urgent the duke was. It looked like there was only one thing he could say. ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± Edgar anxiously flicked his feet as the carriage took up speed and jumped to his feet as soon as the carriage arrived and ran like an arrow. Even his guard knights were confused at seeing him behave so unusually, but they followed him nevertheless. ¡°Your, Your Grace!¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you leave for the capital?¡± ¡°Your Grace, you havee back?¡± The servants were surprised to see him, but he ignored them and continued to run. The duke almost never ran, he was always elegant even when there was an emergency. ¡°Has something happened?¡± ¡°Maybe he has forgotten something.¡± ¡°It must be something serious as he is running himself.¡± All the knights and servants thought the duke was going to his office. They thought he had forgotten an important secret file that he had to handle himself. However, he ran to the dining hall. ¡°Oh!¡± ¡°Your Grace!¡± Everyone in the hall was surprised to see hime in. The servant who had been carrying a dish almost dropped it in surprise. Rubica was shocked as well. ¡°Edgar, aren¡¯t you supposed to be on your way to the king¡¯s castle?¡± She asked with wide eyes, but Edgar couldn¡¯t say anything. He was almost out of his breath. He just walked and sat down on his chair. The servants were very much confused, but they quickly got to work. Edgar nced at Rubica as he wiped his hands with a napkin. A servant was about to take away a te, and more than half of the food on it was remaining. To Edgar, Rubica leaving so much food was odd since the only time when she skipped her meals was when she was stressed about mana quartz. ¡®Has something bad happened?¡¯ Edgar almost said that, but he managed not to. There had been a lot of bad things happening. He knew how much she had suffered for him today, so he could never ask that question. For now, Edgar took a sip of water. He didn¡¯t want to pant in front of Rubica. Rubica pouted when not getting an answer in return. She had suffered so much because of him today, but he was ignoring her. ¡°I would have waited for you if I had known you wereing back...¡± She added, quite disappointed. Edgar managed to catch his breath and quickly replied, ¡°Of course, I would never leave for the king¡¯s castle without saying goodbye to you.¡± ¡°Then where have you been?¡± I went to make Zilehan pay for what he did to you. That was what Edgar thought, but there was no way he could say that to Rubica. She was a merciful person. He had to be honest with himself, he had indeed punished Zilehan a little too cruelly. If Rubica got to find out he had been at Zilehan¡¯s house, she could also find out about what he had done to him. ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll eat fish.¡± Edgar talked to the servant who brought him his entr¨¦e, and Rubica narrowed her eyes at seeing him avoid her question. ¡®You¡¯re the one who left without a word, and you say, ¡®of course I wouldn¡¯t leave for the king¡¯s castle without saying goodbye¡¯? Why do you sound disappointed? I¡¯m the one who should be disappointed.¡¯ While Edgar ate the sea bass dish a servant brought him, Rubica tried to eat her piece of cake as well. However, she couldn¡¯t pick up speed, probably because she felt a little offended. ¡°What is it? It¡¯s not good?¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t stand watching her poke the cake with her fork and asked. ¡°No, no. It¡¯s good. I like caramel and I also like cakes. I was just thinking.¡± When Rubica showed she didn¡¯t like some kind of food, it magically disappeared from the next meal. She didn¡¯t want to lose her favorite caramel like that, so she quickly denied. ¡°But you almost didn¡¯t eat your main dish at all.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s... um.¡± Rubica looked embarrassed. She looked away, and she seemed to be hesitant to answer. ¡®If she says she feels bad after what happened during the day, I should apologize.¡¯ He had hidden inside his office while she confronted his rtives, and it had been wrong. Edgar was nning to say he felt sorry when Rubica was going to say she was angry about what had happened in front of his office. ¡°I don¡¯t have much appetite when I eat alone.¡± However, to his surprise, what she said was totally different. ¡°What?¡± Now she was blushing hard, and she med him for making her confess that. That was not appropriate for the mistress of a noble family, so she decided to change the topic. ¡°Edgar.¡± ¡°Rubica.¡± They called each other¡¯s name at the same time. It was quite embarrassing, and Edgar¡¯s cheeks turned a little red. Unlike before, he was clearly expressing the change in his emotions. Rubica was surprised to see that and gulped. And by doing so, she missed the moment. ¡°So, it¡¯s okay now, right?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Your appetite?¡± Rubica nodded, although she was a little puzzled. Edgar ordered a servant to bring another one of what he was eating. Soon another sea bass dish came out, just roasted and hot. ¡°Well, um, this wasn¡¯t necessary.¡± It was quite embarrassing that he now knew about her childish habit, and he was being way too kind to her. He acted like he was her father, and it was strange. ¡®What?¡¯ However, Edgar was confused to hear that. ¡®Why are you refusing?¡¯ He thought she would be happy if he was kind to her. Instead, she looked down and didn¡¯t meet his eyes. Now what? -He alwaysforted me when I got tired or stressed. Edgar had memorized Arman¡¯s every action that Rubica described and was now mimicking him. He believed it would win her heart. ¡®But I¡¯m better than Arman in every way.¡¯ That was what he was actually thinking. ording to what she had told him about Arman, the only thing hecked was ¡®kindness¡¯. So now, he was trying really hard to be kind, but she refused it. He was trying to notice what she needed without being told and give it to her... but was she not going to give him even a chance to be kind to her? ¡®Rubica.¡¯ Edgar gritted his teeth, but it wasn¡¯t like he could let his anger out on her. He had been trying so hard to be kind to her, and he couldn¡¯t ruin all that because of some momentary anger. As someone once said, after you fall in love, you are always the weaker one. ¡°Carl, I want to have a word with you.¡± Edgar stood up. Then he spoke kindly, ¡°I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Why was he doing that? Did he want to go to the loo or something? Then why was he taking Carl? Rubica was confused. Although Edgar was smiling, his eyes looked dangerous, and it felt like she wasn¡¯t supposed to ask what it was about. ¡°Um, okay.¡± She gave permission and Edgar left the hall, still smiling like a mask. Carl followed him, also not knowing what it was about. Edgar went into a room right next to the hall, that was usually used as storage, and his smile vanished as soon as he closed the door. He asked Carl, ¡°Did you hear that? She can¡¯t eat well alone.¡± ¡°Yes, I did.¡± ¡°Did you know that?¡± ¡°I... had my guesses.¡± ¡°You had your guesses?¡± ¡°Yes. Although she always has breakfast, she doesn¡¯t eat much.¡± ¡°Why did you never tell me that?¡± Edgar¡¯s eyes turned red in rage. That signaled danger, so Carl gulped hard and confessed the truth. ¡°Um, I thought you wouldn¡¯t care about it even if you found out...¡± ¡°Of course, I should care about it!¡± Edgar grabbed Carl¡¯s cor, and he now had someone to let his anger out. ¡°I am her husband! And I didn¡¯t even know she couldn¡¯t eat well alone until today? Is that right?¡± Chapter 134

Chapter 134: Chapter 134

Rubica had to eat alone in the morning and there was nothing Edgar could do about it. Finding this out would only make him stressed. To Carl, Edgar was always more important than anything else, so he decided to not report it lest he got hurt. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I thought there was no need to report it as it didn¡¯t concern Her Grace¡¯s health.¡± ¡°What? Do you think that makes any sense?¡± Edgar usingly asked again. ¡°Then there must have been many things you didn¡¯t tell me just like this.¡± His voice sank and it meant he was extremely mad now. To Carl, it was more fearful than the time Edgar grabbed him by his cor. ¡°Even you think I don¡¯t need to know about her as I¡¯m her husband only in name?¡± ¡°What?¡± Carl was being used about something he didn¡¯t even think of. He was so confused that he couldn¡¯t make proper excuses. ¡°Because our marriage is not real but a deal with a time limit?¡± ¡°Your Grace!¡± Edgar sounded so hurt while grabbing his head and frowning painfully. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was wrong.¡± The shock, even bigger than when Edgar cut his wages, hit him. Right now, Edgar was even more hurt because of what he did to protect him. Carl felt like the world was crumbling down under his feet. ¡°I swear, I¡¯ve never thought like that. You are her one and only true husband.¡± ¡°Enough.¡± Edgar cut him short. He couldn¡¯t handle the pain in his chest, but he couldn¡¯t spend more time there. Rubica was still waiting for him at the dining hall. ¡°Bring all thedies-in-waiting and maids to me. I want to talk to them one by one.¡± Carl made a mistake, but so did Ann. She had confused everyone including him by thinking Rubica was pregnant. Of course, she had acted out of goodwill, but she never asked him even when she had such an important misunderstanding. ¡®I used to think I have led this family well, but...¡¯ He couldn¡¯t have been more wrong, and he felt so useless. If he couldn¡¯t even be reported about his own wife, what good was being excellent at work and being praised by the others for that? ¡°I¡¯ll call them right away.¡± ¡°Are you out of your mind?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± And Carl, who he had believed to be smart, was now acting like a fool. ¡°Rubica is having dinner now. If I call herdies-in-waiting now, would she be able to eat?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°This is your problem, you always put me at the center. Do not do that from now on.¡± Carl blinked. He was the butler of the ymore Family. If he didn¡¯t have the duke as his top priority, who was he supposed to be concerned about? ¡°From now on, always think of Rubica first.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Do not ask back. Just say yes.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± Carl was very confused, but he loyally replied yes, partly because he could instinctively tell Edgar would immediately kick him out of the mansion if he didn¡¯t. ¡°Good.¡± Carl¡¯s immediate answer made Edgar feel at least slightly better than before. A little while ago, he had been so outraged that he almost hit someone or smashed something, but he didn¡¯t because Rubica would have some doubts if he went back with red marks on his hand. ¡°I¡¯m going back now, so get rid of that gloomy face and smile. Okay?¡± ¡°What? Oh, um, like this?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t force a smile like that... oh, forget about it. Just shut your mouth and look solemn like usual.¡± Edgar checked Carl¡¯s expression more than once, checked his expression too, and then went back to the dining hall. ¡®But he is looking really awkward...¡¯ Carl couldn¡¯t say his thoughts out loud as he followed his master. ¡°Sorry. It took slightly longer, right?¡± Rubica stared at him as he sat down with an awkward smile. ¡®... has he been to the loo?¡¯ It was nothing wrong with having to go during a meal sometimes. When that happens, you try to fight it, but sometimes it brings an unbearable pain. Maybe that¡¯s what just happened to Edgar. ¡®But he looks too fine for that.¡¯ She kept staring right at him, so he couldn¡¯t stand it and asked, ¡°Is there something on my face?¡± ¡°Oh, no.¡± Rubica smiled. Asking if he had been to the loo during dinner would be way too rude. Instead, she started to talk about the dishes on the table and resumed to eat. Her knife and fork moved fast unlike before, and Edgar smiled happily at seeing that. How could she eat so well with her small, cute mouth? He was so proud of her even though it was something everyone did. ¡°Rubica.¡± He called her name, but then a servant ran into the hall. ¡°Your Grace!¡± After he yelled that, he took a step back. He hadn¡¯t been told Edgar came back, so he thought the duchess would be alone in the hall. However, to his surprise, she was with her husband. ¡°What is it?¡± Edgar asked, not trying at all to hide he didn¡¯t like being interrupted while talking to Rubica. ¡°Oh.¡± The servant looked at Rubica, and it seemed like he brought a piece of news for her. ¡°Speak.¡± Edgar ordered him to speak. He hoped to not have any secret between her and himself. The servant hesitated, but he hupped at Edgar¡¯s fierce nce. In the end, he said what he hade to say. ¡°It seems like Lord Sesar has gone missing in the Flenus Mountain.¡± ¡°Missing?¡± ¡°What?¡± Rubica shouted in surprise. She had met Lord Sesar two weeks ago. At that time, he had been really proud of his newly built greenhouse. He showed Rubica various roses from every corner of the world which he gathered for his experiments. They were all pretty, but Sesar promised to make even more beautiful flowers and present them to Rubica. He looked so determined that it felt like he would never leave his greenhouse, and he had gone missing at Mount Flenus? It was hard to believe since the mountain had all kinds of dangers. ¡°Mount Flenus? Why on earth would he go there?¡± ¡°Oh, um, he went there to get wild roses.¡± Rubica wished she could grab her head. She hadn¡¯t been reported by Sesar that he was heading to Mount Flenus. He should have at least told her about it before going to such a dangerous ce only to get some wild roses. He did have a strange way of thinking, but he was an old man with a white beard. So, she believed he would be able to take care of himself, but now... ¡°Has he brought any knights with him?¡± Rubica was still lost in shock, so Edgar asked instead. He didn¡¯t seem to be very surprised by Sesar¡¯s sudden disappearance. ¡°No, he went alone.¡± But even he sighed at hearing that. Lord Sesar had always been short-minded. He must have focused only on getting wild roses and forgotten about how dangerous Mount Flenus was. ¡°Send a searching party...¡± Edgar was about to send his knights to find Sesar, but then he got another idea. There was a way to take care of the problem that had been bothering Rubica and him, the disposal of the adventurers he had already hired. ¡®Wait.¡¯ Many monsters were living on Flenus Mountain. There wasn¡¯t any monster strong enough to kill hundreds of people like those which infested the dragons¡¯ territories, but there were a lot of nasty ones. Although the ymore¡¯s knights were strong, they weren¡¯t meant to fight such monsters. Knights were supposed to kill people, not monsters. On the other hand, although the adventurers were not as good as knights at fighting against humans, they were great at handling monsters. ¡®Oh, maybe I should thank Lord Sesar.¡¯ How could he go missing at the right time and at the right ce like that? Edgar wasn¡¯t worried much about him. He was a weirdo and had gotten himself into dozens of troubles while he wrote the book about the nts in the Seris Mountains. It would have cost at least ten lives, but he always came back unharmed. It was like even death itself avoided him. ¡°Oh, what should we do? That mountain is really dangerous.¡± However, Rubica didn¡¯t know about Sesar¡¯s past and was extremely worried which made Edgar almost pout. He truly didn¡¯t like it that she was giving her attention to someone else. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± However, Rubica didn¡¯t know about how Sesar had lived till now and kept frowning. It seemed like it would be impossible to continue eating, so Edgar had a servant remove the dishes. ¡°We can send the adventurers I¡¯ve hired for mana quartz as a searching party. They will be able to find him soon. Lord Sesar is a little... messy. He leaves many traces. I assure you, he will be found in a day or two.¡± ¡°But what if something happens to him?¡± ¡°That is not going to happen.¡± Edgar sounded so sure of it. ¡°But...¡± Still, Rubica couldn¡¯t get rid of her worries. Edgar then thought it would be better to show her than to exin with words. ¡°Follow me.¡± He stood up and walked out. Chapter 135

Chapter 135: Chapter 135

¡°But we are having dinner.¡± ¡°I¡¯m finished.¡± Rubica wondered if it was right to get up and leave during a meal. She was the duchess, after all. Was it really right to behave like that? She decided not to care about what others said about her and do as she wanted, but it was proving to be harder than she expected. When the maids and servants said something like, ¡®our mistress is so wise,¡¯ she felt obliged to live up to their expectations. ¡®But Edgar didn¡¯t care about the order of their dinner and had the fish brought first, and, um, he also got up as he wanted.¡¯ Edgar was doing what he wanted, so why would she care about what the others thought even after deciding to be an ill-tempered woman? ¡®Is this why I keep getting the opposite results of what I aim for and be praised as the wise duchess?¡¯ She decided to be determined again. She had to be called extravagant and foolish. People had been thinking of her and Edgar as a couple madly in love and it was going to be troublesome if she didn¡¯t do something about it. ¡°Okay.¡± She made up her mind and stood up. However, contrary to what she was thinking, the maids all pitied her. ¡®Oh, she even has to leave during dinner only to please him...¡¯ It is hard to break an image once it is fixed, and Rubica didn¡¯t know she only looked like a kind-hearted wife to the others. Edgar walked out before she even got up. Rubica walked fast to follow him, but the distance between them only increased. The reason why was simple. Edgar¡¯s single step was equal to three of her steps. ¡°Edgar.¡± She was almost out of her breath. In the end, she couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and called him. He looked back. ¡°Oh.¡± He realized what kind of mistake he just made only then. The servant next to him could hear him say a short curse. It was surprising that the duke was using a word only peasants used as he had always been elegant even when scolding others. However, he smiled kindly and went back to Rubica as if he had never cursed. ¡°I was thoughtless. I apologize.¡± He had been popr among the girls, but he had never been on a rtionship. That was why he forgot to be considerate. However, Rubica didn¡¯t seem that happy at his apology. Instead, she turned pale and yelled. ¡°What is wrong with you? Have you eaten something wrong? Why are you acting kind like this? Isn¡¯t this the point where you scold me for having short legs?¡± Snap. The servant could clearly hear a corner of Edgar¡¯s reason snapping and saw a glimpse of anger on his face. However, it was gone the next moment and he offered a hand to Rubica with a smile. ¡°It was a mistake. Let¡¯s move on.¡± Rubica stared at him in fear. He was too young to die, so why the sudden change? She wondered if the cook had poisoned the sea bass dish he had eaten during dinner. ¡°Please.¡± Edgar anxiously asked when Rubica didn¡¯t take his hand, but it was so confusing to her. He had been like a venomous beast only a while ago, but now he was so kind. Even though he was smiling, some dangerous energy was flowing around him. She could instinctively tell something really bad would happen if she didn¡¯t take his hand now. So, she took his hand and the tension slowly faded. ¡°Then let us go.¡± Edgar started to walk again, but then he stopped. He almost made the same mistake again. He nced at Rubica and tried to walk at her speed, something which he had never done before. Now he was walking so strangely, trying to walk at a different speed. Rubica had to try hard to notugh. ¡®He¡¯s cute.¡¯ She felt a tickle in her heart. Although it was quite strange and she wished she knew what he was up to, she kind of liked it. To be honest, she liked it a lot. She even wanted to stand on her tiptoes and stroke his hair. The more she got to know him, the more she started to think the image she had about him before could have been biased. ¡°Here.¡± Edgar took her to his study right next to his office. ¡°Wow.¡± Rubica had never been there, so she was quite surprised to see the room looked like the old library of an abbey. There were many books on the ck and strong shelves. ¡°These are the books I often read and there are many more in the west annex.¡± Rubica nodded to that while she drew out a book from one of the shelves. ¡°Oh, that one is...¡± ¡°This gold pattern is so pretty.¡± Edgar wanted to exin what the book was about, but he wisely shut his mouth. She was interested in its cover, not its content. She was totally fascinated by the beautiful pattern that filled a square. Rubica was so enchanted by the beauty of the book that it took a long time before she came back to her senses. ¡°Oh, right. Why are we here?¡± Oh, you are hopeless. However, she was so cute. Edgar had to try hard to not smile like an idiot. He brought a box at a corner. It looked really gloomy and was full of all kinds of odd things, but Edgar picked a small pot and showed it to Rubica. It had only dirt in it. ¡°This is what Lord Sesar came back with when he went missing for the first time. He gave it to me as a gift.¡± ¡°A gift?¡± ¡°Yes, he said this pot of wet soil had been blessed by an orc.¡± ¡°It has the blessing of an orc?¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t believe it and repeated what he said. Orcs were extremely hostile to people, and they always smelled really bad. An orc¡¯s blessing was something like a curse. ¡°The knights had worked really hard for an entire week to find him, but when he was actually found, he looked so rxed.¡± And a little whileter, he came to Edgar to say he was going to invent pretty roses and he had to invest on it. Really, he had his unique way of causing trouble. ¡°And this is the wine he was given from the goblins. Oh, don¡¯t open the bottle. Various experiments proved that it¡¯s full of toxic matters. And, this is a music box he got from the sirens. My, there are still sirens living out there? Of course, that¡¯s impossible, but he sounded so serious that I had to pretend I believed him.¡± Then, he took out all kinds of odd things from the box. All of them were junk. ¡°These were what he was holding each time we found him after he went missing.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± It turned out Sesar wasn¡¯t just an ordinary weirdo. He was a friend of the monsters. Rubica had never heard of someone who wasn¡¯t killed after encountering so many monsters, much less get gifts from them. ¡°That idiot... no, Lord Sesar went missing countless times while he wrote his book. At first, we did care about him. We were worried, but when we found him, he always said something like, ¡®Oh, I was having great fun at the orcs¡¯ party, but then they kicked me out because you came looking for me.¡¯¡± He went missing so many times, and it stopped only after Edgar¡¯s father assigned him a guard to keep an eye on him. -Oh, there are various rare nts in the dragons¡¯ territories. Some are known, like the dragon¡¯s eye, but many are not. I¡¯ve heard some trees have a really good scent there. I want to see them with my own eyes and write about them... then I will be forever remembered by the botanists.¡± Sesar said that from time to time. Once he even asked to be included in the quest party that went to dragon Iber¡¯s territory to get mana quartz. The party was going to face enough dangers, so there was no way they could handle such a troublemaker as well. That was why Edgar had turned him down tly back then. ¡®Still, I thought at least he wasn¡¯t mad enough to go alone into the dragon¡¯s territory.¡¯ And now, he went to Mount Flenus. Edgar was a little mad about it but, at the same time, he thought the man would onlye back after making several strange monster friends. ¡°This is why I¡¯m not concerned about him.¡± ¡°Oh, um...¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what to say. She had had quite a pleasant conversation with Sesar about roses, so the first impression she had gotten of him being weird had somewhat faded. But it turned out he was very strange. ¡°He is an extremely lucky man.¡± She finally managed to find an appropriatement. ¡°I would rather say he has great talent at making innocent people suffer.¡± A corner of his lips curled up as he scolded, and Rubica¡¯s eyes widened and then sheughed. However, he was confused to see herugh so suddenly. ¡°Why are youughing?¡± Edgar hadn¡¯t made any joke, but she wasughing. Therefore, he really wanted to know what made herugh. Chapter 136

Chapter 136: Chapter 136

¡°No, it¡¯s just that I was worried about you suddenly apologizing and trying to walk at my speed. I thought you might be sick. You know, people say...¡± ¡°You do things you never did when it¡¯s time for you to die?¡± Edgar asked, clearly hurt. ¡°But you just talked about Lord Sesar like your usual self, and it relieved me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re relieved?¡± ¡°Yes, I was slightly worried just a moment ago, but now it¡¯s better.¡± Rubica really smiledfortably, but Edgar¡¯s mind was in a mess. ¡®You said you liked Arman because he was kind to you!¡¯ That was why he tried to do that as well. He tried to be kind and respect her, and he thought he would surely win the game if he was nice only to her. However, what he got in return was Rubica worrying if he was sick or if she had done something wrong. What was he supposed to do now? Edgar felt like he was facing a giant wall. Was there even a way to win against that Arman at all? ¡°But Edgar, bad things can happen unexpectedly, so I hope you don¡¯t do nothing thinking Lord Sesar will take care of himself.¡± ¡°Of course, he wouldn¡¯t take care of himself. He even forgot to bring a knight and went alone. So, of course, I should send people to look for him.¡± Rubica looked up at him. She hesitated for a moment and then grabbed his sleeve. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. He did that only because of me. I should have...¡± ¡°Don¡¯t apologize.¡± Edgar shook off her hand, leaving it awkwardly hanging in the air. ¡°You¡¯ve done nothing to apologize for.¡± Rubica clenched her hand. Now was the moment when he was supposed to hold her hand and say she had nothing to worry about, but he shook her hand off and firmly announced she did nothing wrong. He seemed quite mad. She had to try hard to notugh again. It looked like her duke had trouble dealing with people, unlike what most thought of him. Even if he was much taller and beautiful than her, she thought the man with the fierce eyes was quite pure. ¡°Thank you, then.¡± She was much better at dealing with people. She epted what he said and thanked, but he took a step back in surprise. Rubica really wanted tough at that, but then this pure duke would run away like a deer. ¡®I thought he would be great at handling women as there are so many craving for him...¡¯ But now, his cheeks were red, and he couldn¡¯t even look straight at her. Looking at him made her heart beat fast since she couldn¡¯t believe such a great man was behaving like a little boy in front of her. She found it cute and wanted to kiss his blushing cheek. ¡®Oh, wake up.¡¯ She scolded herself before she could carry it out. What is wrong with me? She was been having quite different feelings toward himtely. Like and that was ready to bloom when spring came after the cold winter, her heart fluttered each time she saw him. Why was she doing that? What was that feeling? Rubica realized she had been staring at Edgar¡¯s red lips and quickly looked down. What if he asked for a hug or a kiss in return again? She was surprised by the question raised in her mind. What confused her even more was that she didn¡¯t feel like refusing at all. ¡°I¡¯m the one who should thank you.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± However, Edgar said something she didn¡¯t expect. Sometimes it was hard for her to understand what he was saying. ¡°Now I found a way to use the adventurers.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re going to send them to find Lord Sesar? But it would take only a few days.¡± ¡°What was Sesar looking for?¡± ¡°Wild roses.¡± Rubica could now see what Edgar was saying. He was nning to use the adventurers to find Sesar and gather the items for his experiment. They would be much better at it than Sesar who was always easily distracted. ¡°But I think it has escted too much...¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be a trouble to ymore, so don¡¯t worry.¡± Edgar assured her. ¡°If you hadn¡¯t decided to invest in his rose inventing business, I would still be worrying over what to do with the adventurers I¡¯ve already hired. Thanks to you now I have one less trouble.¡± Edgar was saying everything Rubica had done had been right, so she looked at him. ¡°... but all of those worries started because of me.¡± Her voice shook. She had been very moved by himtely, but he then just smiled and opened his arms. No words were needed. She put her arms around his neck and leaned against his chest as if it was only natural. Soon he hugged her hard with his strong arms, and she could feel his heartbeat. She was confused, but she wished the moment wouldst forever. ¡®No.¡¯ She was about to fall asleep in his arms again. Every time she inhaled, his deep scent invaded her. She felt like she was lying on the grass on a sunny day. She wanted to fall asleep like that and never wake up... When it came to love, she was quite ate bloomer. She hadn¡¯t been interested much about it, but even she knew about that magic. ¡®It¡¯s like I...¡¯ Like him. However, that¡¯s not supposed to happen. No. I cannot do this. ¡®Arman.¡¯ Rubica tried to think of Arman in Edgar¡¯s arms. Her sad and pitiful love. The man who thought of her even in thest moment and hade to save her during the bombing. Her love that hade toote. The love that whispered to her to not give up and live on. However, no matter how hard she tried to remember Arman¡¯s face, Edgar¡¯s scent, his heartbeat, his strong arms that held her, all of that distracted her. ¡°Rubica.¡± She looked up at the kind voice calling her name. Her body had been frozen only a moment ago, but she could magically move again when he called her. ¡°Oh.¡± His fingers wiped her tears. That gentle gesture let her know she had been crying again. ¡°It¡¯s not because you are happy this time, right?¡± Edgar carefully whispered, and Rubica couldn¡¯t deny it. She nodded. ¡°Let me know if I¡¯ve done anything wrong.¡± Anything wrong? But what did he do? Being kind to her. Enchanting her with his beautiful face. Listening to her story and emphasizing with her. Asking in detail about the person she wanted to find but didn¡¯t know how to and offering to find him for her. Caring about what she liked and what she didn¡¯t like. ¡®... it would have been better if you kept being so rude and arrogant.¡¯ Then she wouldn¡¯t be so confused like this. He had done nothing wrong. They had gotten married because they had had no other choice, but he had been caring about her and trying to do his best to fulfill his duties. How could she use him? She was the one who had wronged him. She had been shaken by his actions when she had someone else in her heart. She was drunken in his kindness and wanted to depend on him. She was in the wrong. How could she have two men in her heart? How could she abandon the true love that hade to her at the end of her life only for mere kindness? ¡°Um, Edgar...¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t be too kind to me.¡± Her voice was shaking now, and so were her eyes. Edgar could read hesitation and fear in them, but his heart fluttered. He wanted to kiss her lips right away. ¡°Promise me.¡± She believed he would nod since that was what he always did. He sometimes spoke harshly but, in the end, he always did what she wanted. However, this time, he shook his head. ¡°No.¡± He could grant any other request she made, but not that. It was just impossible. Not being kind to her? There was no way he could do that. His heart would be torn to pieces before that. ¡°But, but...¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t say more. She just cried while Edgar hugged her tightly again. ¡°Just stop thinking.¡± She was shaken. He could feel it. She was finally shaken by him, by what he had done for her, by his kindness. He thought there would be no way to win her love only a moment ago, but did she know how thrilling that was? ¡°Just, just stay this way.¡± Of course, he wanted to kiss her. He wanted to let her know he deserved her more than the man who wasn¡¯t able to confess his love with a long, passionate kiss. However, he didn¡¯t. She wasn¡¯t just shaken by him. She was also feeling guilty even if she and Arman had not shared any love. None of them had ever confessed their love. Still, she felt like she was sinning. All those virtues and educations she had learned until now pressed on her. The pure and clean love for only one person. Of course, Edgar also knew that was a virtue to be kept. He knew how noble and sacred that was. That was why he wasn¡¯t forcing her to love him. Winning her heart that way would be useless. It would only be damaged beyond repair by then. Chapter 137

Chapter 137: Chapter 137

¡®But that doesn¡¯t mean I can let that man get her heart.¡¯ He was a coward who wasn¡¯t able to confess his love to the woman he loved. She said he had been so kind and sweet, however being kind to a woman you like is only natural for a man, unless he is a madman. Even Edgar, who was famous for being arrogant and selfish, had been desperately trying to do something for her and win her heart. He really regretted not putting up the act way before their first meeting. If he had done that, she would have been thinking he was a kind and nice gentleman by now. He patted on her back. His warm gesture made her stop crying and trembling. That change made him feel happy and proud. It was really amazing how he could feel such feelings just because of one person. ¡®There are people who betray love without feeling guilty at all.¡¯ However, you are too good-hearted. You should be more selfish. Edgar had to resist the urge to whisper that. *** Next morning, some rtives sent a message asking toe to visit in the evening to apologize. Words had spread overnight about how Lord Zilehan had paid for what he had done and how Edgar had threatened him. They just couldn¡¯t stay still as they feared they might be sentenced to the same fate. ¡°Then they should get an appointment with Edgar. Why are they asking me?¡± ¡°They want to apologize to you.¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes widened at hearing Carl¡¯s reply. As he was under strict orders from Edgar to keep his mouth shut about Zilehan, he couldn¡¯t exin more. ¡°But it¡¯s bothersome...¡± ¡°Should we kick them out?¡± Rubica got a little annoyed at thinking about what happened yesterday. Lord Zilehan had been able to make that fuss only because he had those followers. Moreover, as soon as he was kicked out, they said they had nothing to do with him, and now they wanted to apologize. ¡®If I kick them out today, they wille back tomorrow.¡¯ However, if she epted their apology, they could think she wanted to befriend them and keep visiting. She really didn¡¯t want that. How was she supposed to make them stoping? Then, she recalled tea, one of the reasons for yesterday¡¯s fuss. ¡°Carl, when theye, take them to the reception room and give them tea instead of coffee.¡± ¡°What? But Your Grace, tea is extremely rare.¡± Carl, who was a great admirer of tea, was clearly thinking tea was too precious to be given to those people. However, Rubica was havingpletely different thoughts. ¡®If they start thinking they must be tortured by drinking that bitter drink to meet me, they would nevere back.¡¯ However, Carl would be shocked if she said what she was thinking. Instead, she decided to use his love for tea. ¡°Carl, don¡¯t forget that I announced that I was going to enjoy tea instead of coffee yesterday. If it ever happens again, we must tell them the tea is for me. And to do that, we must show them that I do drink tea.¡± ¡°That makes sense. You are right.¡± The butler easily agreed when Rubica said it was all for Edgar. ¡°And, um, you once exined to me about ¡®tea meeting¡¯, right? Don¡¯t you think this can also be a tea meeting?¡± ¡°Tea meeting?¡± Carl immediately got excited, and Rubica remembered how his eyes had twinkled as he exined about the tea meeting. She smiled as brightly as she could. ¡°Yes. Wouldn¡¯t it be nice if many people start liking tea through this? If more people get to enjoy tea, more merchants will import it. Then, it would be easier to get good tea for Edgar.¡± However, she was thinking it was not going to happen. Most of those rtives would find drinking tea painful, just like she had. ¡°You are really... thoughtful.¡± However, Carl, the tea lover, waspletely bought by this. *** Carl waspletely fooled by Rubica and did his best to make sure everything was prepared perfectly. And such eagerness tended to make people puzzled. ¡°Mydy, you cannot drink it like that.¡± Carl warned ady who tried to gulp down her tea. ¡°You should enjoy its scent first and then drink it slowly.¡± Carl was passionately lecturing them about the tea, just like what he had done to Rubica, who currently was trying really hard to notugh. Not telling him what she was really thinking had been the right choice, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have been this enthusiastic. ¡°Tea isn¡¯t just a drink to quench your thirst. It has the whole nature in it. The energy of thend...¡± Everyone¡¯s face turned darker and darker as they all listened to Carl¡¯s endless exnation and took a sip of tea. Well, tea was nothing more than a strange drink that tasted like grass to those who never tasted it before. And now, it was getting really hard for Rubica to notugh. ¡°Indeed, it smells so good. I can see why you enjoy it.¡± ¡°Thank you for letting us know about such an elegant hobby.¡± They were so good at lying, but Rubica pitied Carl looking so proud at theirpliments. ¡°I am going to serve tea to all the guests from now on.¡± ¡°Oh...¡± Some couldn¡¯t handle the sad news and moaned. Rubica could immediately see they wouldn¡¯te looking for her again. However, there were many types of people in the world and at least one person out of ten tended to like what everyone else hated. ¡°It smells so good. It feels like we are in a forest full of trees.¡± Rubica was really shocked to hear Elise saying that. The girl seemed to truly enjoy the tea. ¡°It¡¯s like we are out in the garden taking a stroll, even though we are inside.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t agree with you more. The pleasantness of enjoying a hot cup of tea in winter cannot bepared with anything.¡± Carl happily agreed with Elise, but one of the rtives disturbed their pleasant talk. ¡°But, um, as for mana quartz...¡± However, there was no need for Rubica to stop him. Carl poured out tea for the man and fiercely red at him. ¡°You must have only pleasant conversations while having tea. Unpleasant conversation and discussion about profit only bring quarrels and disturbs the taste of the tea.¡± Rubica cheered in her mind as she hadn¡¯t known tea came with such advantages. As long as she had that drink, she didn¡¯t have to be used by people. ¡°Invite good people, have a pleasant conversation, and have tea. It¡¯s a really good culture.¡± Elise agreed with Carl out of her heart while smiling brightly, which didn¡¯t happen often. Carl looked at her enjoying the scent of the tea with happiness. ¡°Yes, Ms. Sna. In the East Empire across the desert, people drink tea in the morning and evening. When inviting friends to have a tea meeting, they take extreme care in having solemn clothes. It must be far from greed, but not shabby, and must harmonize with...¡± While listening to Carl, Rubica was suddenly enlightened. She looked around. The rtives were smiling, but it had to be torture to them. ¡®But no one is objecting to Carl.¡¯ The reason why was simple. They simply didn¡¯t know. They didn¡¯t want to bluff and be humiliated, so they did as Carl said. They even stopped talking when Carl said they couldn¡¯t talk about such things. ¡®That dress!¡¯ She thought of the dress made with royal blue fabric and silver knots. It had no jewels on it, but it was beautiful. It had something inmon with Carl¡¯s exnation. ¡®Khanna said people wouldn¡¯t ept it as it was too new, but what if I say people wear such dresses during tea meetings?¡¯ The East Empire was known to be ruled by dragons and few people knew about the country and its traditions. Although goods made there were good and of high quality, they could be reced by goods of the Kingdom of Sharman. Plus, no person in Seritos wanted to hear about and where a dragon ruled over humans. ¡®They will all believe it.¡¯ Why didn¡¯t she think of it sooner? She looked at the clear and yellow liquid in a cup in front of her. It smelled of grass and its taste was kilometers away from her liking, but the drink had infinite possibilities. ¡®I should host tea meetings and invitedies who care about fashion and would dly embrace such dresses.¡¯ Of course, she wasn¡¯t going to offer only tea like she was doing now. She was going to make tea as thinly as possible, decorate everything with pretty flowers, bring music, and put juice, fruits, and desserts that can be enjoyed instead of just having tea on the table... ¡®I will not invite even one of these people, but I will make sure it is totally amazing and unforgettable.¡¯ So, Rubica decided to start having tea meetings, but she didn¡¯t know her meetings were going to shake the whole kingdom. Her goal was not to promote tea. She just wanted to introduce a dress that was too pretty to be forgotten like that. That was all. Chapter 138

Chapter 138: Chapter 138

The rtives left by dusk. Only then, they could murmur a few words of apology since some of them knew the purpose behind Rubica serving tea. ¡®She¡¯s not an innocent girl at all, and we have no way to make requests to her.¡¯ They gained nothing since, simrly to the duke, the duchess was a difficult opponent. Moreover, just like Rubica had aimed for, they gave up oning to her with their vague hopes. ¡°Ann, could you call Khanna tomorrow?¡± Rubica asked Ann after saying goodbye to thest visitor. ¡°Madam Khanna?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ann almost pointed out Rubica had summoned Khanna only a while ago, but she didn¡¯t. She had ordered some thin and sexy nightdress from Khanna without Rubica knowing. ¡®Good. I will have her bring them tomorrow.¡¯ Fate was helping Ann. More urately, it was helping ymore¡¯s future line of session. ¡°Okay then, I will send a message to her.¡± ¡°Oh, and...¡± Rubica wondered how she should exin what she had in mind. However, she couldn¡¯t just openly ask which nobledies were interested in fashion. ¡°Could you tell me about thedies I should befriend?¡± ¡°Ladies you should befriend?¡± Ann widened her eyes as she had been thinking about ittely. Rubica was doing good as the duchess, but she had no connection in society. All the otherdies had grown up together as friends. They frequently invited each other and asked how they were doing through letters. Moreover, they were quite close. Ann was worried Rubica might be alone when she went to the capital. ¡°Yes, I want to invite them and have a tea party, just like I did today...¡± ¡°Tea party?¡± Carl, who was giving orders to the servants, replied with Ann. Rubica was surprised that he could hear her as he was quite far away. ¡°Your Grace!¡± He looked deeply moved. Actually, he didn¡¯t want to serve tea to those rtives earlier today. Tea was precious. It wasn¡¯t meant to be shared with such uninvited guests. However, as he served tea and exined its uses, he enjoyed himself more and more. Of course, he found a few rude people, who frowned at the taste of the tea, very irritating, but some did know how to appreciate it like Elise. Rubica found his reaction a little too much, so she looked at Ann instead, but she was surprised again. Ann was looking at her with sparkling eyes as well. ¡°I have been wondering how you could befriend the otherdies before the society seasones, but... oh, you are so smart.¡± It looked like Rubica was failing to be the evil duchess yet again. She couldn¡¯t bring herself to confess she just wanted to wear something pretty. *** ¡°Madam Khanna.¡± Khanna was on her way to the sewing room when a maid called her, and she could tell the woman had been sent by Ann. ¡°Here it is.¡± She took out a box from her bag, and the maid quickly left with it. Inside the box was the masterpiece she made with all her might, and she was sure both Ann and the duke would like it. ¡®But why is it needed when the duchess is already pregnant?¡¯ Well, there were some couples whose love got even hotter after the wife got pregnant. Judging from the duke and the duchess¡¯ famous love, it was more than likely, but Ann was carrying out a n without Rubica knowing about it. It was quite suspicious. -Even if you find out or hear about the nobles¡¯ private life, just forget about it. That is how people like us survive. Khanna recalled what herte husband, who had a heavy mouth, had said sometimes. He used to avoid talking about his clients, he wouldn¡¯t even mention much to his own wife. ¡®I shouldn¡¯t wonder about it.¡¯ Khanna made up her mind and stood in front of the door of the sewing room. Now wasn¡¯t the time for such curiosity. The duchess had called her again in less than a week, so she was worried if she had made a mistake or missed something. ¡°Your Grace, Madam Khanna is here.¡± ¡°Quick, let her in.¡± The door was opened and Rubica greeted Khanna with a warm smile. She had her pretty brown hair braided up and decorated with feathers and wildflowers from the garden. Khanna was impressed. She had never even thought of putting wildflowers on the hair. She was learning something new every time she met Rubica and thought even the most fashionable designers in the capital wasn¡¯t as creative as Rubica. ¡®Andpared to that, I still have a long way to go. The use of color and cement ofces, I¡¯m not good at all at that to call myself a designer.¡¯ If she were to make an excuse, it would be that she had been far from the dress-making business for too long. Her husband had asked her to work with him sometimes, thinking her talent was too good to be neglected, but she refused. She had her own reasons for that, but now she regretted it. ¡°Your Grace, you look beautiful today.¡± However, she chose to curtsey with a smile to Rubica rather than feeling sad about her past. There was nothing she could do about her past, but she could change the present and the future. ¡°No, I¡¯m not beautiful.¡± ¡°But everyone in the dukedom is talking about you right now. So many are asking me if the duchess, who won the duke¡¯s heart, is really that pretty.¡± Some people had been half in doubt when the rumor first spread. However, almost everyone now believed it thanks to the duke¡¯s recent changes. ¡°When they ask me that, I always say you are extremely beautiful.¡± ¡°But then, they will be disappointed to see me in person...¡± Although Rubica said that, she seemed to be ttered. Of course, anyone who saw her for the first time would say she was extremely ordinary. However, Khanna believed her power of making people feelfortable and her mysterious auburn eyes, that sometimes sparkled in red, couldn¡¯t be more special. ¡°Why did you want to see me today? You just ordered some dresses a few days ago... did you forget to order something?¡± Khanna asked after a maid moved her bag to the table and left the room. She had gotten better at dealing with customers. She warmed the mood and then carefully asked why she had been called. ¡°Oh, no.¡± Khanna was worried as she sat down on the chair Rubica pointed at. As she didn¡¯t know what it was about, she was afraid to ask first. ¡°Khanna, about the dress we designed that day...¡± ¡°That royal blue dress?¡± ¡°Yes. You remember.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± It was such a unique design and quite hard to forget. That night, Khanna¡¯s eldest daughter had eximed at seeing the sketch. When Khanna showed her Rubica¡¯s knot, she said it was so pretty and asked if she could use it on her hair if it wasn¡¯t going to be decorated on a dress. ¡°Could you make it?¡± ¡°What? But...¡± Khanna couldn¡¯t just say, ¡®But it cannot be worn anyway,¡¯ when looking at Rubica¡¯s sparkling eyes. ¡°Um, how should I exin this? I¡¯m going to have a tea party.¡± ¡°Tea party? What is... tea?¡± Khanna was a little confused. To start with, she didn¡¯t even know what tea was. Tea was imported across desert and ocean, so only a few had even heard of it. ¡°Oh, how should I exin...¡± -It is some type of rare dried leaves from a farawaynd across the desert. Rubica recalled what Carl had said. Although he had been quite serious, her thoughts were like, ¡®What? Dried leaves? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m a cow.¡¯ Exining it as Carl did was only going to make Khanna even more confused. ¡°It is an extremely rare ingredient from across the desert. It is brewed like coffee, but it is much more expensive and harder to get.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Khanna nodded, but she still seemed to not get it. Of course. It was something she had never even heard of, so she couldn¡¯t understand right away. Plus, coffee was a drink that was enjoyedmonly, so it wasn¡¯t that expensive. Rubica, therefore, decided to put it more realistically. ¡°A lump of tea the size of my fist is worth one gold bar.¡± ¡°What? On the other hand, five carriages loaded with coffee would be worth a little less than one gold bar. Khanna was shocked to hear a drink could be that expensive. Comparing to gold always worked the best. It was better than exining about the tea¡¯s scent, vor, and effect like Carl liked to. ¡°It is an extremely special drink.¡± ¡°I see. Then a tea party is about drinking tea together?¡± ¡°Yes, but it is very different from drinking coffee.¡± Actually, coffee didn¡¯t have a good reputation. It was a drink which men had at coffee houses before the sun came up after having fun all night. The only women who could go in those coffee houses were prostitutes. That was why although coffee was drunk often, it was a little embarrassing to openly say one enjoyed it. Chapter 139

Chapter 139: Chapter 139

¡°Tea party is about inviting good friends on a good day to enjoy the taste and scent of the tea to meditate, and feel the energy of the sky and earth through the drink...¡± Rubica recited the speech Carl had made to her. However, Khanna looked just as confused as Rubica had been. Meditation and the energy of the sky and earth? Those words were just perfectly confusing. ¡°To put it simply, it is about inviting friends to socialize.¡± ¡°So, it is kind of a party, but it is prohibited to have parties with luxurious dresses during the agricultural season.¡± ¡°I will ask the guests to not wear anything too splendid, and we will discuss literature and art. I want my tea meeting to be nothing like any party and ball that have taken ce till now.¡± ¡°Discuss literature and art?¡± ¡°Men spend many nights talking about those things at coffee houses. They all say such things are very important in life. If they want to criticize my tea meeting, they would have to shut down those coffee houses first.¡± Only men could go into coffee houses, and they were always on business regardless of the season. Some men even lived only to go to coffee houses, so banning them could lead to a riot. ¡°Then they wouldn¡¯t be able to use us, even if they don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°And as for the dress we designed, it was splendid and pretty enough even without many jewels. Adding jewels to its decoration would rather be too much. Still, it is more luxurious than indoor dresses and dresses for strolls, so it can bring out the party mood. They wouldn¡¯t be able to criticize a dress that has fewer jewels than dresses for strolls.¡± ¡°Yes, that dress wouldn¡¯t require many decorations. I can even make it without using a single gem.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a new type of dress for a new event, so wouldn¡¯t they easily ept it? They don¡¯t know much about it, so they would all believe me if I say, ¡®People in the East Empire wear such dresses for tea parties.¡¯¡± Rubica proposed a cute fraud to Khanna, but the designer was hesitant. So, Rubica decided to throw in a bait. ¡°When thedies ask about the dress, I will introduce your boutique to them.¡± Khanna was now convinced. No one could say no to money, especially those who desperately needed it like Khanna. ¡°Would that be okay? You would be in trouble if they don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not going to invite many people. I¡¯m going to invite just a few ymore¡¯s friends.¡± Rubica assured her. She had made a n to make this tea meeting a sess, and she was sure she could do it perfectly. ¡°I¡¯m going to invite Countess Tangt.¡± ¡°Countess Tangt?¡± Khanna became excited to hear that since Countess Tangt was famous in the capital¡¯s society. If Rubica befriended her, Khanna would be famous even before the society season. There would be no need to wait. Moreover, the countess had a daughter who was going to be introduced to the society this year. A girl preparing for her introduction needed many dresses, hats, and gloves. Khanna was hooked. ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡± Khanna grabbed Rubica¡¯s hands while her eyes sparkled. Rubica smiled satisfactory at seeing that, and it was now was time to start their cute fraud. ¡°Good, then you should make me another dress, something simr to the one we designed. We will make the dress, show it to Elise, and we won¡¯t force her if she doesn¡¯t want to wear it.¡± Rubica decided that showing the dress to Elise would be better than trying to convince her. Khanna was already bought by her and nodded without thinking much. Rubica chose a fabric that matched her the best and was as good as the royal blue fabric among the samples Khanna had brought. It had huge exotic flowers drawn on a white background and immediately caught her attention. ¡°I think we should use the knots like Ms. Sna¡¯s dress in the middle. How about using bright red and green?¡± ¡°As there are red and green in the fabric¡¯s pattern, I think it would be good. It would be better than using only one color.¡± ¡°But we can¡¯t make them too simr, so I will use a differentce and frill for the skirt. Maybe I can dye them.¡± Both of them were now full of passion. They decided on the designs for the matching shoes, gloves, and fan in no time, and then they even decided to make a set for Ann. ¡°How long would it take to make these three sets?¡± ¡°As there will be no jewels, it won¡¯t take long. The details of the skirts would take some time, but a week would be enough.¡± ¡°Then I will see you again.¡± ¡°Yes. You should set the date for your first tea party considering the time I need to finish the dresses after that.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that.¡± It was an event that had never been held before. Rubica didn¡¯t want to rush. She rather wanted to make it perfect and fascinate everybody. Guests, tableware, tea, and even table cloth. She wanted every detail to be perfect. She decided not to waste her chance and bought all of it new. When Edgar heard about it, he took a step even further and even proposed ordering new chairs. He had more experience in spending money, so he was better at it. ¡°Oh, and you should know how to make the knot to make dresses. I will show you how.¡± Khanna, who was putting the sketches and sample fabrics back into her bag, quickly brought two long pieces of cloth. ¡°Here. Grab it by here, put the other side under, and...¡± Khanna moved her hands ording to what Rubica said, and she made a pretty knot in no time. It was easy to make. She made three, four knots in just a few minutes. ¡°You already got it!¡± She was a designer, after all. Rubica was impressed. ¡°All thanks to your exnation.¡± Khanna put the finished knots and the piece of paper on which she had written how to make the knot in her bag. Rubica then used a little bell to summon a maid, who took Khanna¡¯s bag and left. However, Khanna, who was supposed to follow her out, was still standing there. ¡°Madam?¡± ¡°... um, Your Grace. About the dress we just talked about. Whose design is it?¡± ¡°Whose design? It¡¯s your design, of course.¡± Rubica said that as if it was only right. However, Khanna just stood there and smiled awkwardly. ¡°You have something to say, right?¡± ¡°... yes.¡± Khanna looked around. Rubica told the maid to wait outside as they had something to talk about in private. After the door was closed again, Khanna sighed deeply. ¡°Your Grace, this design isn¡¯t mine. I just mended it a little. You made its main idea of decorating it with knots. You invented that knot.¡± Rubica looked troubled at hearing that. ¡°But...¡± ¡°Yes, you are the duchess.¡± Khanna said sadly. The designer was a profession for widows and daughters of ruined noble families who had trouble with making their living. It wasn¡¯t a job for ady of high rank whose husband was still alive. Wives of aristocrats were supposed to present handkerchiefs and clothes they made, not sell them. If a nobledy sold clothes she made, it was dishonorable and proof of the fall of her family. ¡°I¡¯m fine with it being known as your design.¡± Rubica said so, but Khanna couldn¡¯t say anything for a long time. Her lips were quivering, so Rubica asked her to sit down. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was just too excited and determined to do this... but the moment I realized the design wasn¡¯t mine, I knew I shouldn¡¯t do it.¡± Rubica was surprised to hear that. She hadn¡¯t given much thought to that. If she could introduce pretty dresses and have people wear them, she didn¡¯t care about who got the credit for that. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t matter to me.¡± ¡°... it does matter to me.¡± Khanna couldn¡¯t handle her feelings and grabbed her skirt. She had been receiving the dignity of a designertely, so seeing her not being able to hide her feelings made Rubica guess she had a story. ¡°Your Grace, I studied at a famous boutique at the capital before I met my husband. I didn¡¯t make any dress after I was married. My husband said my talent was too good to be wasted like that and asked me to work again... but while I helped with his work, I couldn¡¯t even stand to look at the fabrics and needles.¡± Rubica was now really shocked. Khanna had always looked so happy to talk about dresses andces. She enjoyed clothmaking that much, so it was hard to believe what she was saying. ¡°Something happened to you.¡± ¡°When I was studying at the capital, I had this dear friend. He was four years older than me. He was great at sewing, active, and ambitious. I liked him and I liked his talents. I believed he would shine one day.¡± Khanna¡¯s eyes twinkled, although just for a moment. Rubica knew what that feeling was. She had also been drawn to Lord Sesar¡¯s dream when she first met him. That must have happened to Khanna. Chapter 140

Chapter 140: Chapter 140

¡°But he... his talent was not appreciated. As you know, sometimes being too ambitious is not good. That was what happened to him as he didn¡¯t know how to leave out spaces when designing. We were close friends and prepared for our promotion exam together. We showed designs to each other, advised each other...¡± Khanna stopped there and took a deep breath. She now looked really sad? What was the problem? Friendship? Ambition? Or anxiety? ¡°And, on the examination day, he gave the presentation before me, and... he presented one of my designs as his. He received many apuses, but I presented the same design without knowing about it. People then used me of stealing my friend¡¯s design.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t believe it and covered her mouth with her hands in shock. ¡°After that, I ran back to my hometown, met my husband, and got married. I was never going to work as a designer ever again... but that changed when I had no other way to support my children. However, I cannot im a design that isn¡¯t mine as my own.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t say anything for a while, but she didn¡¯t need more exnations to understand that this was Khanna¡¯s conscience and pride as a designer. ¡°I... I see. Then that friend is now...¡± ¡°He runs the most famous boutique in the capital.¡± ¡°Then...¡± ¡°Yes, his name is Christopher.¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes widened since Christopher was a really famous designer. She had heard about him even during her previous life. The stylish sleeve that highlighted the thin wrist with fullces, which he presented as his first work as a designer, had been praised a lot. ¡°You¡¯re saying that Christopher¡¯s famous sleeve design is actually...¡± ¡°Mine, yes. Even though everyone thought I was blinded by jealousy and lying about it.¡± Khanna replied with a sad smile, and Rubica didn¡¯t know what to say. Khanna¡¯s dearest friend had stolen her design and so many people were now praising Christopher while wearing Khanna¡¯s design. Nobody would listen to her and, even if they did listen, they just thought she was too jealous of Christopher¡¯s sess. ¡°Khanna.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t even guess what it must have felt like. She took the designer hand, but Khanna didn¡¯t cry. Her heart had been pierced by hundreds of needles already. By now, she didn¡¯t feel the need to cry about what happened back then. She had thought she was done with clothmaking, but when the living of her family was at stake, she eventually grabbed her scissors and needles again. She had sacrificed a lot to continue living, but she didn¡¯t want to be like Christopher. She couldn¡¯t present Rubica¡¯s design as hers. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I shouldn¡¯t change my mind after I said I¡¯d do it... but after I realized it isn¡¯t mine... I just can¡¯t... maybe that¡¯s why I¡¯m still...¡± Someone did not hesitate to sell his conscience to be a famous designer. However, Khanna couldn¡¯t do that just for an opportunity. ¡®It¡¯s not fair.¡¯ Rubica hated the world where people like Khanna were losing while people like Christopher were enjoying their lives. She thought it was just too unfair. The chance was too good to be thrown away like this. ¡°Khanna is not your real name, is it? Neither is Christopher.¡± ¡°Yes. Most designers work by easy names to be remembered by the customers.¡± ¡°Then I can do that as well. You can introduce me as a designer, not the duchess.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You can say your designer friend gave you the idea, but she prefers to not be known.¡± Khanna¡¯s eyes widened at the idea. Rubica hiding her identity and using a false name? She didn¡¯t even think of that. ¡°Um, I should go by... Berry. Yes, that¡¯s a name easy to remember.¡± ¡°Berry?¡± ¡°Yes, someone I like enjoys eating berries.¡± Rubica was talking about Arman. However, everyone knew that Duke ymore liked berries, so Khanna blushed at Rubica¡¯s sudden confession of love. ¡°That¡¯s a very nice name.¡± ¡°And I have a confession to make... actually, I¡¯m not the one who invented that knot. A sailor taught me how to make it.¡± ¡°What?¡± A tough sailor had taught her how to make such an elegant and pretty knot? That was hard to believe. More than that, how did she meet a sailor? ¡®Oh, right. She is from a trading family and used to live close to the port.¡¯ Still, a bar¡¯s daughter and a sailor? That was an oddbination. Yes, Khanna bought it, thinking it was likely judging from Rubica¡¯s personality. ¡°His name was Chris and his wife used to like his knots. So, even after she passed away, he would invent knots when he got time. He taught me that and I just made it a little easier to make.¡± ¡°Then, can I meet him?¡± ¡°... oh.¡± Currently, Chris should be about ten years old. He must be learning how to be a sailor from his father at a port and fishing with his friends. ¡°That¡¯s not possible. I lost contact with him.¡± Even if they met, Chris didn¡¯t know how to make that knot yet. If Rubica said it was his knot, he would just blink and ask if she was out of her mind. ¡°What was the name of his wife?¡± ¡°Ivonne. Pretty name, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Then... how about this?¡± Khanna took out somece and tied a pretty knot with it, just like Rubica had taught her. ¡°Actually, a name is very important in a design. No matter how pretty it is, if we introduce it as a ¡®knot¡¯, it would be nothing more than a knot to tie sails and twigs. That is what knots are used for, after all. However, if we give this knot a special name, it would be a special knot that exists only for nobledies.¡± ¡°Oh...¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we give it a name? It should be about Mr. Chris. How about naming it after his wife Ivonne and calling it ¡®ribbon¡¯?¡± ¡°Ribbon.¡± Rubica repeated what Khanna said. It was pronounced softly and felt luxurious. More than that, she liked the fact that it was named after Ivonne. Would Chris, the Chris she will meet in the future, be delighted to know this? ¡®He looked so happy every time he talked about his wife. She died so early, and he always missed her.¡¯ She recalled how shy he had been when she asked him to teach her how to make that knot, but he kept asking if histe wife would have liked that knot. ¡°Yes, that name is good.¡± Maybe this time, Ivonne would get to see the knot Chris made before her death. ¡°Then I wille back a weekter with the dresses.¡± Khanna left, relieved of her burden. Rubica had a short break after that and then started to look for something in her basket. ¡°Your Grace, are you looking for something?¡± Ann, who hade back after finishing what she had to do, asked. ¡°Yes, the handkerchief I¡¯ve embroidered. It¡¯s gone.¡± ¡°You mean the handkerchief where you embroidered your husband¡¯s initials?¡± Ann asked back in shock. Rubica had embroidered Edgar¡¯s initials, but hearing someone else point that out was quite embarrassing. ¡°Yes, but...¡± ¡°Then we must find it!¡± The maids started to look for it before Rubica could order them to. They looked everywhere, from the sewing room to the bedroom and the reception room. However, they couldn¡¯t find it. Of course, they couldn¡¯t find it. The handkerchief was on the table in the middle of Edgar¡¯s office, who would sometimes look at it and smile. However, there was no way Rubica and her maids knew it. They even moved the sofas to search for it but, in the end, they had to give up. ¡°Has a ghost taken it or something?¡± A maid murmured and Ann got mad at her for not being careful with her tongue in front of the duchess. ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. You¡¯ve done enough.¡± Rubica stopped them, a little surprised to see them take it so seriously. She had made that handkerchief to pass the time. She just added Edgar¡¯s initials because Elise insisted on it, but she had been too embarrassed to give it to him. She thought it was better that way. Maybe the dogs had torn it apart. ¡°... Your Grace.¡± The maids were deeply moved by Rubica not ming them. ¡°No, there¡¯s no need to look at me like that! I just made it to pass time.¡± However, one of them even cried. Why was this happening every time? Rubica desperately tried to think of a way to move on to something else. She had to change the topic. ¡°Ann, as for the guests to invite to my tea meeting...¡± ¡°Oh, yes. Are there more you want to invite? I¡¯ve done my best to choose, but...¡± Ann sounded a little worried. Thankfully, everyone shifted to the new topic. Ann was betting a lot on that tea meeting on her own. ¡°Um, if they have daughters, sons, nephews, and nieces at the right age to be married, we should invite them as well.¡± ¡°What?¡± That was unexpected, so Ann had to ask back. ¡°And choose a few good-looking men among our knights. Oh, and would there be some fine bachelors among our schrs, too?¡± ¡°Your... Grace?¡± Rubica smiled naughtily. ¡°Ann, do you know why so many people spend so much money to host or go to balls?¡± ¡°To brag about their power and wealth, and to meet with each other and make connections. And...¡± Ann realized what Rubica was talking about. ¡°Son-inw hunting?¡± Ann used a secret word only marrieddies of her age used. However, Rubica onlyughed. Chapter 141

Chapter 141: Chapter 141

¡°Exactly. Balls are one of the few ces were men and women in their youth can meet, talk, and fall in love.¡± That was the strongest and the most direct among the desires that bloomed during balls. Marriage was, after all, the biggest worry of the parents with children at the right age. Not only women dreamt of climbing the socialdder through marriage, but bachelors also dreamt about loving a woman with a high rank and huge dowry. ¡®It¡¯s a great idea.¡¯ Ann thought Rubica¡¯s totally different perspective made sense. ¡®Olddies are eager about their children¡¯s marriage. They think about how to get unmarried men and women to meet until they get a headache. Even if only one couple ends up getting married through this tea meeting...¡¯ Then everyone would be eager to be invited to the next meeting. There couldn¡¯t be a better idea to make Rubica famous in the society, so Ann decided to help with the n as much as she could. ¡°We have some knights and schrs with rank, right?¡± ¡°Yes. They are not the so-called ¡®big fish¡¯, but many marrieddies with daughters will like it.¡± Bachelor heirs with a count rank or higher came out to the marriage market less than once a year. And Edgar, who had been the biggest game till only a while ago, was now a caught fish. ¡°And they should be handsome.¡± What thedies, who would participate in the event, wanted was naturally important, but their daughters¡¯ thoughts mattered that most. Moreover, girls during their youth tended to be drawn to handsome faces. Of course, any smartdy who knew about the world would try to know if the man about to take her daughter¡¯s hand in marriage had enough money and a good enough rank to ensure their children¡¯s status, but none of that would matter to the girls who were about to fall in love. Men had to be handsome to make the girls¡¯ heart stir. If the girl didn¡¯t want, pushing her toward an ugly man with enough money and power would only backfire. ¡°Handsome men?¡± ¡°Yes. Oh, right. Sir Stephen is also unmarried, right?¡± ¡°Yes, he is a bachelor.¡± ¡°Then we should put him on the list as well.¡± Stephen, the guard captain, was actually quite handsome, although not as much as Edgar. Plus, as the guard captain of a duke family, he had to have at least the baron rank. All the counts¡¯ daughters couldn¡¯t be married to men of a simr or higher rank, so Stephen would be a good match. ¡°Are there any more good-looking men?¡± Rubica tried to make a list of the handsome men she had seen at the ymore Mansion, but she couldn¡¯t. When she thought about the schr who had shown her around theb at the west annex, an illusion of Edgar appeared right next to that. ¡®Well, although he is handsome, he is too short and too thinpared to Edgar.¡¯ Maybe schrs were not masculine enough. So, she tried to remember the knights training in the garden and choose among them. ¡®Yes, that man with red hair and brown eyes. He is tall and fit, but he would look better if his eyes were in the shape of almond... yes, just like...¡¯ Edgar¡¯s eyes... Again, the image of Edgar was confusing her. It wasn¡¯t good. No matter how handsome the man she tried to think of was, when she put Edgar next to him, he looked like a fish or a squid. ¡°Uhh, Ann.¡± She called Ann, who was making a list of bachelors to invite to the tea meeting, after thinking hard for a long time. ¡°Do you think Edgar would like to join this tea meeting?¡± ¡°Hmm, I think it would be great if he coulde, but he is so busy...¡± ¡°No, no. I don¡¯t want him toe.¡± Rubica shook her head. She really didn¡¯t want Edgar toe. If he came, all the invited girls would not even give a nce to the other men because of him. She wasn¡¯t just saying that because he was her husband. He was just troublingly handsome. ¡®Hmm, but Edgar seems to like tea as much as Carl does. He never offered it to me again after I said I didn¡¯t like it, but he drinks it himself every day.¡¯ Maybe Edgar was the reason why Carl loved tea a little too much. He was probably not going toe, but surprises could always happen. Rubica really wanted to make this tea meeting sessful and, for that, she had to make sure Edgar didn¡¯te. ¡®I¡¯ll talk to him about it in the evening.¡¯ However, while she was thinking so, Ann was having a totally different idea as she looked at her. ¡®She must be lonely because he is so busy.¡¯ Rubica tried not to interrupt Edgar while he was working. She also hadn¡¯t shown her disappointment when Edgar went to the king¡¯s castle a day after making that shocking announcement about not getting mana quartz. She even calmly sent back the rtives for him, and Ann had been impressed by that. Moreover, at the same time, she med Edgar. Think of what happened yesterday. Ann had heard Edgar did make Zilehan pay for what he did afterward, but it would have been all over if he just left his office and said a word. Still, Rubica wasn¡¯t demanding an exnation. Ann didn¡¯t know what was going on between them so, in her eyes, Edgar was being too mean and Rubica was foolishly kind. ¡®She is so nice, but if Eddie keeps behaving so foolishly, he will lose her heart.¡¯ Ann had to make them stick together before Rubica had a change of heart, and the best way for that was the ¡®baby¡¯. Rubica would be shocked to hear that, but Ann was quite proud of her n. ¡®She¡¯s so shy. I should do it instead¡¯ Ann decided to make Rubica wear the nightdress she had gotten from Khanna tonight no matter what. *** Edgar had to go to the capital. He had to go there, do the work he had pushed aside, and work on the diplomatic negotiations about the development rights with the southern kingdom. Actually, he shouldn¡¯t havee home so spontaneously. ¡°Well, just tell him I cannot go for some time.¡± However, he said no to the king¡¯s summon so easily and Carl didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°But it might anger His Majesty.¡± ¡°When that sly old man gets mad, it¡¯s almost always an act. It¡¯s fine.¡± He pressed on his forehead as he said that. It was his headache again. Convincing the king was never hard. The person giving him that headache was a woman. -It appears she cannot eat well alone. So stupidly, he had just found that out only now. He looked into it and it turned out she hadn¡¯t been able to eat well while he was gone. The others believed it was because she was pregnant, but Edgar knew the truth. Unlike him, she hated eating alone. However, it wasn¡¯t like she could eat with just anyone. Edgar had never been sad about having no family member, but now he felt sad. And what tortured him the most was... -She¡¯s always eaten too little at breakfast. However, I and Elise have been having breakfast with her in the bedroom in secret, using her pregnancy as an excuse. Rubica would be able to have breakfast with herdies-in-waiting in her bedroom for some time, but the problem was that her pregnancy wasn¡¯t real. The longer they went on with the act, the more easily it would be known. She could happily have breakfast only for about two months. ¡®Shit.¡¯ He was supposed to be with her. That was what married couples usually did. They had breakfast together, asked how each other was while working, had a walk after lunch, talk about matters of the family, and go to bed together. -Duke ymore is going to be the best husband in this kingdom. He even wanted to find those who had said that about him and beat them up? The best husband? He was the worst of the worst. He was just a man who knew how to make money, with a bunch of rtives who bothered her... He started to hate himself more and more. He frowned even harder, so Carl nced at him and carefully asked, ¡°Shall I bring tea?¡± ¡°No.¡± The headache wasn¡¯t going to be defeated by the tea. Edgar then ruffled his hair and asked about what he had ordered to Carl. ¡°What about finding that Arman? Have you found him?¡± ¡°Oh, about that...¡± Carl didn¡¯t say more after that for some time. As the butler was normally excellent as his work, he should have reported what he had found immediately. It had been a few days since Edgar gave him information about Arman that included the lead to easily find him. That was why Edgar hadn¡¯t forced Rubica to talk about Arman¡¯s appearance. Plus, seeing her eyes sparkle as she described her lover¡¯s appearance hadn¡¯t been that good. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s... Your Grace, ording to Aron¡¯s Academy, there is no blind man named Arman among its graduates and students.¡± ¡°What?¡± Edgar was surprised to hear that. If his legs had been fine, he would have jumped to his feet. ¡°That¡¯s, that¡¯s... no, there¡¯s no way she would have lied to me.¡± Did that Arman notice Edgar was going to ask him to get out of Rubica¡¯s life forever? Rubica¡¯s eyes had annoyingly sparkled as she exined about Arman, and she believed in Edgar so much that he felt a little guilty. Chapter 142

Chapter 142: Chapter 142

¡°I asked them again and again but received the same answer.¡± ¡°Ha.¡± When it came to Rubica, nothing was easy. What was he supposed to do now? The only thing he could do was to sigh while events he couldn¡¯t control kept happening. What if Rubica found Arman before he did? The light that appeared on her face as she talked about Arman was something Edgar would never be able to conjure. The little bird he loved and cherished would then fly away. He was trying his best to be kind like Arman, but she just kept asking if he had eaten something wrong. Edgar anxiously tapped the table with his fingers, and Carl flinched at seeing that. ¡°Um, Your Grace...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t Arman in your name as well?¡± Edgar red at him with enough strength that could kill a man. ¡°Yes, that annoying name is in my long, long name. My name is practically a dictionary of all kinds of ranks and my ancestors¡¯ names.¡± The royals in the Kingdom of Seritos had a shortst name: Seritos. However, the names of its nobles were extremely long as they had their families¡¯ history. Very few could memorize Edgar¡¯s long name, and even a few Duke ymores had failed to memorize their own names. Of course, Edgar wasn¡¯t one of them. ¡°It¡¯s just, um.¡± ¡°If you have something to say, say it.¡± Edgar would have no patience with anything that had to do with Arman, so he yelled forcing Carl to say what he had been thinking. ¡°That Arman Her Grace talked about, isn¡¯t he a lot like you, except that he is blind?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You just tapped the table out of habit. When I first heard about it, I even wondered if she described you because she didn¡¯t want to talk about Arman. Haven¡¯t you felt that?¡± Edgar hadn¡¯t had the luxury of thinking about such things. When Rubica talked about Arman, he just got really, really irritated to know she remembered every little detail about him. What kind of woman remembered even little habits of a man who wasn¡¯t her husband? Edgar had never cared about others¡¯ habits, except for Rubica¡¯s. ¡°Yes, apart from the fact that he¡¯s blind, his taste, his preference, they¡¯re all so simr to yours. Haven¡¯t you noticed?¡± ¡°...¡± Edgar didn¡¯t say anything. Then, he started to recall what Rubica had said about Arman, and his eyes started to get bigger. Carl was right. Arman and he had too many things inmon. Maybe the colors of Arman¡¯s eyes and hair, which Rubica didn¡¯t want to tell him, were the same as his. ¡°He is really simr to me.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± Carl could now see hope. Maybe, maybe... ¡°Then you¡¯re saying she might like me just as she liked him?¡± However, what Edgar said wasn¡¯t what Carl had intended at all. Sadly, the greatest genius in the kingdom was a fool when it came to Rubica. ¡°Your Grace! That¡¯s not what matters now!¡± Carl couldn¡¯t take it anymore and yelled, but Edgar only yelled back. ¡°Then what can be more important than that?¡± Carl hit his chest. Oh, his master was a fool, a fool in love. ¡°There¡¯s a huge possibility that Arman is actually you.¡± ¡°What?¡± If Edgar had felt like someone was piercing his forehead with an awl, now he felt like someone had just struck him with a huge nailed club. He simply couldn¡¯t understand what Carl was saying. ¡°That can¡¯t be possible. Don¡¯t you remember how she reacted when we met for the first time? She couldn¡¯t even recognize me and even tried to run away to not marry me.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, but do you remember why you asked her hand in marriage? Her name was written on the note that reced your ring. This has been mysterious and strange since the very beginning. We cannot understand it with ourmon sense.¡± ¡°That¡¯s, that¡¯s...¡± Too many possibilities came up at once, and Edgar couldn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Maybe, just maybe it is possible that you met her out of coincidence in the distant future, fall in love with her, and send her back to this time with the ring when she falls in danger... do you remember the day you first met her? It was the day it happened.¡± Moreover, she had been 22 years old then just like him. Edgar moaned at the sudden discovery. ¡°But it makes no sense.¡± ¡°Everything about that ring cannot be exined with normal logic.¡± ¡°She, she doesn¡¯t seem to know anything about it. Plus, she has no ring.¡± ¡°Maybe it disappeared after being used once.¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t breathe with his heart pounding. The sad expression she made every time she thought of Arman. She truly loved him. Oh, Edgar had been so jealous. He was sure that he would have loved her so much that she wouldn¡¯t even dream of seeing another man if only he met her sooner. However, their rtionship didn¡¯t happen as he wanted, and she was already in love by the time he got to know her. Oh, if he was Arman, he would die in happiness. ¡°But no. I am Arman? That¡¯s just impossible.¡± ¡°Your Grace, please think about it. I think it is very likely.¡± ¡°Carl! Do you think I¡¯m an idiot who can¡¯t even confess my love to the woman I admire?¡± Carl didn¡¯t say anything to that for a moment. He wondered if he was supposed to say what his master wanted to hear or tell him the truth, even if it would get him hurt. He remembered what happened about Rubica¡¯s breakfast only a day ago and decided to confess the truth, putting aside his most important virtue of ¡®protecting the duke no matter what¡¯. ¡°But you are not confessing your love to her even now.¡± ¡°Shut up! It¡¯s only because she¡¯s in love with someone else!¡± Edgar turned red, and Carl opened his mouth and then closed it again. It was really hard to keep pace with the duke when it came to Rubica. ¡°I¡¯m not a fool who would confess my love without much thinking.¡± ¡®Yes, but you are a fool for a different reason.¡¯ ¡°Let us say she likes me and shows it. Do you think I wouldn¡¯t do anything even then?¡± ¡°Well, um, of course not.¡± Edgar had always been impatient, so it was rather strange that he was being patient with Rubica and making ns. ¡®Actually, that is why I don¡¯t know if you would hold it or not when she shows that she likes you... your reactions when ites to her are just too unpredictable.¡¯ ¡°Rubica isn¡¯t the type of person who can hide her feelings. She is kind-hearted and nice, but she will say what she has to say.¡± ¡°Yes, that is an undeniable truth.¡± ¡°If I had been Arman, I would have definitely confessed my love. I wouldn¡¯t be content with giving her some flowers. There¡¯s no way that Arman is me. I¡¯m not that stupid.¡± ¡°Okay. I was wrong about it.¡± Carl thought Edgar was assessing Arman a little too harshly since he wasn¡¯t that bad and stupid. Even in Edgar¡¯s description, the man was good. ¡®But he is his rival in love.¡¯ Edgar had always been cold in everything, and Carl hadn¡¯t known he would change so much. ¡°But Your Grace, then why was the note with Her Grace¡¯s name in that box?¡± Edgar went silent for a long time. Then, he moaned. ¡°Do you remember what that sly old man told me with a smile?¡± ¡°Oh, you mean the king?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± -Edgar! What are you going to do when you fall in love in the future? At that time, Edgar had wished to wash his ears. He wanted to yell to the king that he was too old to have his eyes sparkle when talking about love. However, the king had always been interested in others¡¯ love. His hobby was to go to balls and gather rumors about who was dating who. Edgar was sick of that and, if the king hadn¡¯t been a good ruler, he would have parted ways with him years ago. ¡°Back then, I told him to get rid of that nonsense, but now I think maybe I should consider that possibility.¡± He used to believe he would never fall in love, but now, here he was full of passion. It was hard to believe, but it was the truth. Maybe the future Edgar had really used the ring for Rubica. But why? She did not seem to know him when they first met, and it wasn¡¯t like she was capable of acting. ¡®There was...¡¯ Nothing strange. It was just impossible to find something wrong. Sadly, it was hard for Edgar to be rational and objective about Rubica. ¡°Carl, search the Berner Mansion for the ring, just in case.¡± Berner Mansion, where Rubica had lived before marriage, was now empty. Carl had made sure Mr. and Mrs. Berner didn¡¯t get to take even a pillow with them when they left. ¡°Okay. But Your Grace, how about asking her yourself?¡± ¡°I should ask her?¡± ¡°I think it would be the best way.¡± Edgar didn¡¯t answer. He reclined on his chair and closed his eyes while Carl waited quietly for him to make up his mind. What Carl was saying made sense. However, Edgar was afraid. Revealing the nymph¡¯s curse was just too risky. He just managed to shake her heart only a little. However, how would she react at finding out he was under a curse and couldn¡¯t walk during the day? What if she looked at him as if he was a hideous monster? Imagining that almost shattered his heart. He couldn¡¯t confess the truth yet as he wasn¡¯t sure whether she would stay with him. Chapter 143

Chapter 143: Chapter 143

¡°More than that, we should look into her background. In the initial research we did about her, we thought she had no lover, but it turned out she had one. There must be more we missed then.¡± Carl narrowed his eyes, and he didn¡¯t have to ask to know Edgar was afraid of asking her. ¡°Thinking about it, a letter from her cousin at the Academy should arrive soon.¡± ¡°Yes, it will arrive any time now if she used an ordinary posting service.¡± Only wealthy nobles could afford to exchange quick letters using messenger birds. Plus, Aron¡¯s Academy was just too far from Seritos. Ang couldn¡¯t have had the time to send a letter during the journey and, even if she had sent one as soon as she arrived at the Academy, it would arrive a day or twoter. ¡°Bring it to me first before she reads it. I want to know if there¡¯s any information on it.¡± ¡°Okay. I will also find out about her belongings, just in case.¡± However, Edgar was hesitant. ¡°Is that necessary? She brought almost nothing, except for what she was wearing.¡± ¡°Your Grace, in my opinion, intercepting her letter is even worse.¡± He was right, so Edgar couldn¡¯t say anything to that. Actually, everything he was trying to do now wasn¡¯t right, and Rubica would most certainly be mad if she ever found out. ¡®But I cannot ask her right away.¡¯ He didn¡¯t know exactly what he was afraid of. Whatever the oue will be, their rtionship which he had managed to keep only barely till now was going to be no more. If it would change for the better, he would not hope for anything more, but if it was going to be worse, he just didn¡¯t want to find out. ¡®I need a safety.¡¯ He wanted to find a clue that would at least let him guess what Rubica would say when he asks her. He wanted to brace himself and carry it out after calcting how Rubica would take it. ¡°Just carefully ask the maids so that Rubica wouldn¡¯t get to know. Don¡¯t make it too big.¡± ¡°Okay then, I¡¯ll ask them if something has happened to her. The smaller the risk, the better.¡± It was like Carl could read Edgar¡¯s mind. The risk he was talking about was probably not about Rubica¡¯s heart but ymore. However, Edgar was just d to take a step back from that subject. ¡®Don¡¯t be nervous. I still have enough time.¡¯ He decided to look into the matter in time and changed the topic. ¡°And what about Lord Sesar?¡± ¡°The searching party found his camp in the mountains. There were some of his belongings, so they will probably find him today.¡± ¡°Good, bring him to me as soon as he is found.¡± After that, Carl left while Edgar sighed. Then, the duke opened a drawer to take out a blueprint. It was time to work on the development of the weapon which he spoke about with the king for a long time. The king wanted to take the Golden Land from the dragon Ios to solve the kingdom¡¯s problem. That was why he had agreed to send the new weapons from ymore to the southern kingdom. He wanted to dispatch an army for that and steal strategies to fight the monsters and dragons¡¯ underlings. ¡®And research on the nts that only grow in the dragons¡¯ territories has to be done as well.¡¯ Maybe Lord Sesar¡¯s wish was about to be granted. He could be permitted to write a book on the nts in the dragons¡¯ territories. Edgar smiled at the possibility. Carl was worried something bad might happen if he didn¡¯t answer to the king¡¯s summon, but actually, he was the one with the power. The king had proposed attacking Ios from the sky as it was and dragon that couldn¡¯t fly. Edgar called the king a sly old man when he got mad, and the king called Edgar a serpent without any feelings when he got bored, but basically, they did acknowledge each other¡¯s capability. -You want me to make a weapon that can attack the dragon from the sky? Do you want me to die from overwork? -Hahaha, well, even you are not that smart, right? The king said slyly. ¡®That fox.¡¯ Edgar had to try hard to not yell at him. The king was doing it only because he knew Edgar would not refuse, and he was right. Edgar could never say ¡®I can¡¯t.¡¯ ¡®Focus. I must finish it quickly.¡¯ Edgar started to study the blueprint. Making a machine fly was an extremely hard try. A few scientists at the Academy had tried it before, but they all failed. Still, there was no other way to defeat Ios. -Making the impossible possible. That is the power of ymore. Edgar remembered what all of his teachers had told him. Yes, if birds could fly, why not humans? First, he checked if there were any helpful references among the previous works of the Academy¡¯s scientists. Then, he started to draw the blueprint first. He was going to work on an engine that could fly and test it first. ¡®I should keep it a secret before I finish it all.¡¯ He decided to name the weapon ¡®Ste¡¯. He wanted it to be the guiding star in the dark future of the kingdom. However, it was way too dangerous. He was nning to destroy it after driving the dragon out of the Golden Land. What if it fell into the hands of conquerors? He didn¡¯t want to even think about it. It was good that the king of Seritos only cared about his people¡¯s living. If he could, he was going to make the weapon, get thend, and destroy the weapon and its blueprint while he was still alive. And for that, he had to make it as soon as possible. However, what was going on? His hand was moving fast, but what he was writing had nothing to do with his work. -Something needed for work, not necessary but good. He kept writing it. Rubica had said she had ultimately fallen for Arman after he invented something that wasn¡¯t necessary but really made her work easier. He wondered what it was. -It helped a lot of people. Now Edgar even drew a circle around it and added a star. He had to focus on the blueprint, but he couldn¡¯t help being distracted. ¡®But what is it?¡¯ To find that out, he had to know what Rubica usually did and what she found difficult. However, she hadn¡¯t had any reason to do anything difficult ever since she came to the ymore Mansion. It was hard to guess without any information. ¡°Hu.¡± Edgar sighed and looked at the handkerchief on his table. Imagining Rubica embroidering it herself made him smile. He couldn¡¯t even dare to use it and just kept staring at it. She had embroidered the ymore symbol on every corner, so she must have put a lot of effort into it. ¡®Wait.¡¯ This is the difficult work I¡¯ve been looking for! He immediately wrote a list of things needed for embroidering. Needle, thread, scissors, fabric, frame, etc. Then, he wrote what made embroidering difficult. -Something that wasn¡¯t necessary but made my work easier. Edgar was going to find what it was and invent it. He then pushed Ste¡¯s blueprint aside. Of course, the kingdom¡¯s future was important, and the weapon had to be invented. ¡®But I must survive first!¡¯ What he was trying to invent now was about being creative. It wasn¡¯t going to take much time. On the other hand, the development of Ste was going to take at least three, four years. Then, a dy of three, four days wasn¡¯t going to be a problem. He hadn¡¯t been able to focus and that wasn¡¯t just going to change now, so he decided to work on inventing what was more urgent to him. Just like that, Edgar postponed what he was supposed to do today to tomorrow for the first time. -Something that isn¡¯t necessary but makes work easier. His long journey to find it had just begun. *** Elise had gotten used to working as ady-in-waiting, and now Ann could trust her with simple things. ¡®Will this amount of soap, perfume, and cosmetics be enough for Her Grace?¡¯ She couldn¡¯t read the overall flow of the household yet, but she had been assigned to the purchase of simple goods. She checked on the list of things she was supposed to buy from the merchant, who woulde in two days, again and again lest she made a mistake. Moreover, Rubica was working on her n for the tea meeting that was going to take ce in a month. ¡°Hmm, I think there should be a lot of sweet dessert at the tea meeting.¡± Rubica wasn¡¯t talking to anyone in particr, but Elise replied without noticing it. ¡°Dessert? Would it be necessary? Tea is so refreshing. I think serving only tea would be enough.¡± ¡°Ha, ha, ha.¡± Rubica smiled awkwardly. To Elise, tea was a sweet-smelling drink, but to the others, drinking that bitter drink without a sweet cake was going to be torture. ¡°Carl said it is not strange to serve dessert at tea meetings.¡± What Carl had meant was one candy and one cookie per person, but Rubica decided to ignore that. She thought she had to give out at least a whole cake per person aspensation for drinking that weird drink. Chapter 144

Chapter 144: Chapter 144

¡°Really?¡± Elise thought it would be better to enjoy tea on its own, but she couldn¡¯t insist as she didn¡¯t know much about it. ¡°Yes, yes.¡± Rubica was going to use the fact that very few knew about tea. Even Carl, who extremely loved the drink, admitted he had only read about tea meetings in books. If he didn¡¯t know much about it, then the others must know even less. So, Rubica was going to design the tea meeting as she wanted. ¡®I can just say that¡¯s how people do it in the East Empire.¡¯ Then, even nobles wouldn¡¯t be able to show their distaste for tea. After all, it was worth more than its weight in gold. Plus, Rubica was going to use delicious and pretty cakes to fascinate people. ¡°Elise, I think I should go to the training grounds tomorrow.¡± ¡°The training grounds?¡± Rubica had heard the guard knights were going to train at the training ground in a corner of the mansion¡¯s garden. ¡°I want to see the knights train. I¡¯m curious as I¡¯ve never seen anything like it.¡± ¡°Elise, you should go with her. She will be lonely if she goes alone.¡± Ann joined her, trying to sound natural. Actually, they had made a list of knights who had decent rank and wealth to inherit before Elise came. Moreover, they picked the handsome men among them. -Your Grace, um, I¡¯ve done my best to pick good-looking men but, to be honest, I am quite old. I don¡¯t know which type of men girls like these days. -Neither do I. Rubica nodded. Because of Edgar, her ability to detect handsome men had been failing. Even when she saw some quite good-looking guys, she keptparing them with Edgar. -What should we do? It would be bad if the girls don¡¯t like the men we¡¯ve picked. Rubica was serious. Her hard work would be nothing if the tea meeting bes something that must be avoided by the girls. ¡®Handsome men! I need handsome men to draw everyone¡¯s attention! And a lot of them.¡¯ Sir Stephen wasn¡¯t bad, but more flowers were always better. There had to be various flowers of all kinds so that every girl would be able to have a crush on one of them depending on her taste. When Rubica¡¯s worry reached its height, Ann asked something. -Why don¡¯t we have Elise pick? -What? Rubica hadn¡¯t thought of that. -Well, she is a young girl. She had a point. Plus, Elise had grown up with girls of her age at the annex before she was hired by Rubica. She knew more about thetest trend and taste of young people these days. -But she is too shy... if I ask her to pick handsome men, she will refuse. -There¡¯s no reason to ask her that. Just take her to where the knights are training and ask her about her opinion of them. Even if she says nothing, her reaction will be her answer. If she blushes and looks down, the man is handsome, but if she says, ¡®He is quite good-looking,¡¯ he is only average. And if she justughs when asked, you should erase the knight¡¯s name from the list. -Wow, that is a great idea. Rubica and Ann really had good teamwork on such things. Ann had a problem of being overprotective when it came to her, but she was great at finding a way to get what Rubica wanted. And now, they were working together to take Elise to the training grounds. ¡°You want to see the knights train?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve always wondered about how it is, but I cannot go alone. It would be too embarrassing.¡± Going to the training ground full of men was too embarrassing even for Ann. The knights sometimes took their shirt off while training, and Ann had to try really hard to not look at them when she had to get past them. ¡°Elise, I would go with her if I had the time, but I have something to do tomorrow.¡± Ann apologetically looked at Elise while Rubica gave her a pleading look. The girl had no choice but to surrender to their joined attack. ¡°Then I¡¯ll go instead.¡± ¡°Thank you, Elise.¡± ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± Elise smiled shyly at seeing Rubica delighted. She finished what she was doing and had a maid pack a mat and parasols for tomorrow. Ann looked at everything while being just as happy as Rubica. ¡®It would be a good chance for her as well.¡¯ Ann cared about Elise. At first, she had been clumsy and hadn¡¯t known much, but she was a quick learner and Ann liked it. It looked like she was gaining confidence through her work now, but Elise still didn¡¯t believe in her own looks even though she was a young girl. Although Ann wasn¡¯t saying this because she didn¡¯t want to press on the girl, she did agree with Rubica. She wanted her to be prettier, too. ¡®Maybe it will change if she falls in love.¡¯ Having a good motive was always better than being forced to do something, so Ann really wished Elise would fall in love and change at least a bit. ¡°Oh, it will be so great.¡± Rubica looked at the various sample invitation cards. ¡®It would be better to use the same one for everyone.¡¯ She wanted to send a unique invitation to each guest, but it wasn¡¯t like this was a ball. She couldn¡¯t do that much. ¡®I¡¯ll just use a simple one with the ymore symbol.¡¯ Instead, she decided to use a different ink for each guest and put dried flower petals in the envelope. Her heart was already beating fast. ¡®What kind of dress will Countess Tangt wear?¡¯ Sowing time had passed, and the peasants weren¡¯t so busy, but it still wasn¡¯t a good time for a splendid ball. Therefore, Rubica was going to introduce her tea meeting to meditate, socialize, talk, and ask guests to not wear too many jewels or overly splendid dresses. Still, she was looking forward to it. ¡®I heard Viscountess Chartle¡¯s daughter is really pretty.¡¯ She was so excited to meet the society¡¯s celebrities of which she had only heard about. Even the schrs and knights that would be invited to the meeting weren¡¯t going to be that excited. ¡°Madam, His Grace is here.¡± A servant knocked on the door, and Ann and Elise quickly stood up. Rubica put down the papers in her hands and looked at the door. ¡°Edgar.¡± Her lips curled up as soon as she saw his face. Before she could stand up and go to him, he walked to her first. ¡°What have you been doing?¡± Edgar forgot to ask how she was and asked. He then paid attention to the pile of invitations on the table and wondered who were going to be the lucky ones to be invited. ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to choose an invitation card to send to guests for my tea meeting.¡± ¡°Oh, tea meeting.¡± Edgar had briefly heard about it from Carl. He sat down next to her and nced at the invitations while feeling happy that she was going to host a tea meeting. ¡®She must have started to like tea.¡¯ Tea wasn¡¯t an easy drink. At first, Edgar had found it strange and thought it was just tasteless. However, when he drank it the second time, he thought it smelled good, and the third time, he felt like his body was being warmed. And after that, he directly asked for it without Carl rmending it. A warm cup of tea was so pleasant. Had Rubica been fascinated by it, just like he had? He was d when thinking that now he had one more thing he could share with her. ¡°Which one have you chosen?¡± ¡°This one.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just right.¡± Most of the guests that would be invited were Edgar¡¯s friends. Ann had taken extreme care to choose people who only had a rtionship with ymore and excluded everyone who wasn¡¯t favorable to the family. ¡°Edgar, what kind of person is Viscountess Tangt?¡± Rubica had gotten basic information about them from Ann. However, that wasn¡¯t enough to talk to them and befriend them. Edgar had to often go to the capital¡¯s society and often interacted with celebrities, so Rubica wanted some advice from him. ¡°Viscountess Tangt...¡± Edgar thought for some time and then turned to Ann. ¡°What does she look like?¡± ¡°She has red hair, often wears golden essories, and has a mole under her right eye.¡± ¡°Oh, that talkative woman.¡± Only then Edgar could barely manage to recall Viscountess Tangt. ¡°Well, how is she?¡± ¡°She¡¯s loud and noisy. She keeps talking about things I don¡¯t even want to know about, like thetest trend and goods from abroad...¡± ¡°Trend? What kind of trend did she talk about? And which good from abroad?¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes sparkled as she asked, but Edgar looked a little irritated and didn¡¯t say anything for a moment. ¡®Why is she paying attention to her?¡¯ If she had time to wonder about Viscountess Tangt, he rather preferred she used that time to think about him. After all, she never asked about what he liked. ¡°I can¡¯t remember.¡± Actually, if only he wanted, he could wake up the memories slumbering in a corner of his brain and give her the answer she wanted. However, he was now sulky, so he crossed his legs and pretended to not remember. Chapter 145

Chapter 145: Chapter 145

¡°What? Stop lying.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not lying. I go to balls only because I have no other choice. Why should I listen to someone who keeps talking to me when I¡¯m so tired?¡± Rubica pouted, and Edgar found her so cute that he wanted to pinch her pouting lips. ¡°But you¡¯re so smart and you remember everything I say.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I thought you were a genius. The greatest genius in this kingdom¡¯s history.¡± That was what Edgar had heard at least a million times before, and he was sick of it. However, when it came out of Rubica¡¯s mouth, his ears turned bright red. ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to remember that much? Or have I overestimated your capabilities too much?¡± Rubica was half teasing him, but Edgar failed to notice it. ¡°Pen.¡± Ann quickly handed him a pen and paper. He then started to quickly write down Countess Tangt¡¯s favorite drink, her favorite weather, her rtives, characteristics of her daughter and sons, what she had been paying attention to, and her habit of frowning when she talked about her husband, and a bunch of other things. Rubica was shocked to see his hand move so fast. ¡®It looked like he asked Ann because he really couldn¡¯t remember who she is.¡¯ It was amazing. She had heard about how smart he was, but she hadn¡¯t known he was such a great man. How could he remember that much about a person who he didn¡¯t even care about? He was a human, just like everyone else. Then, how could he be so different? ¡°Here.¡± Edgar finished writing and handed it to Rubica. She took it, still half in shock. To be honest, it was a lot of information. Even a week wasn¡¯t going to be enough for her to memorize everything. ¡°You¡¯re really great.¡± Rubica eximed, and Edgar couldn¡¯t stop his lips from curling up. He met many people who praised his genius brain, but he never cared. Being smart and great was only natural for him, but when Rubicaplimented his intelligence, he was so happy that he couldn¡¯t hide it. ¡°You¡¯re the one who is great.¡± ¡°Me? But why?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve thought of hosting such a great meeting.¡± Edgar smiled broadly to her, but that smile was just too awkward. Rubica didn¡¯t know what to say at the suddenpliment and just stared at him. An awkward moment passed, and he eventually looked away. He was so d that she wasplimenting him, so he hadplimented her in return to take a step further, but it looked like she was thinking he wasplimenting her for no reason. ¡®But it¡¯s not... Iplimented her because I really thought it was great.¡¯ For the first time in his life, he thought he wasn¡¯t good at conversing with people. He wondered if he was supposed to make an excuse or something, but... ¡°Aha, ha, hahaha.¡± Rubica suddenly burst intoughter, but Edgar didn¡¯t know why she wasughing. Sheughed so hard, beating the armrest of her chair while tears formed in her eyes. Edgar¡¯s face turned tomato red. ¡°Why are youughing?¡± Edgar asked as if he didn¡¯t know why, but he could guess the reason. His words and expression had all been so awkward. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s, khmm, it¡¯s nothing.¡± Rubica tried her best to stopughing. She tried to stop talking lest she hurt Edgar¡¯s high pride, but it was not easy. ¡°Was I that hrious?¡± Toote. His pride had been hurt. He looked disappointed just like Latte looked when the other dogs stole its jerky. Rubica wanted tough again, but she managed to not, only barely. ¡°No, it¡¯s not because you looked funny or something, not at all.¡± She managed to calm down and kindly exined. ¡°Then why did youugh?¡± ¡°Well, how should I exin this...¡± She took a deep breath and looked for an appropriate word to describe her feeling, but it was difficult. Many things hadbined to make her burst intoughter. ¡°You are always so cold and proud. I was surprised at first to hear you say such a thing and, for a moment, I didn¡¯t know what to reply.¡± Rubica spotted Edgar¡¯s left hand anxiously wrapping and unwrapping. ¡®Now I should exin the next part really carefully...¡¯ She moisturized her lips. She wasn¡¯t a good talker, but she thought he would understand if she expressed her true feeling. ¡°It¡¯s just, you are so perfect. There¡¯s nothing you cannot do.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°So, I sometimes wondered if you were a human like me. But what you just said, the expression you made, let me know, um... there is something you¡¯re not good at. Like, oh, you¡¯re an ordinary person just like me. It¡¯s kind of relieving.¡± Rubica nced at Edgar. She was saying the perfect man had a w, too. She was worried that it might offend him, but thankfully, he didn¡¯t seem hurt. ¡°I used to think you would be great at handling women. I thought you could say something to move a woman¡¯s heart without blinking an eye only if you wanted to.¡± Now it was getting embarrassing, and Rubica had to press her hot cheeks. ¡°And it turned out I was wrong, and it¡¯s a little embarrassing, and... oh, I cannot describe it well.¡± She fanned her face with her hand while Edgar looked at her. He was d, but one of the things she had just said troubled him. ¡°What do you mean by you thought I would be great at handling women?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s...¡± Rubica¡¯s cheeks turned bright red. She nced at the maids in the room. Did she have to say it when there were so many people watching? But it wasn¡¯t like they were talking about an important secret. She couldn¡¯t ask the maids to leave ande back again after only a few minutes. ¡°It¡¯s just, you¡¯re handsome and great at everything, so you must have dated many women...¡± ¡°No.¡± Rubica¡¯s voice got smaller and smaller. Edgar cut her short, and blood surged up to his face with anger. ¡°That¡¯s such a terrible misunderstanding. Who told you that?¡± ¡°People are always talking about nobles like you. They say you always change partner during balls and many women confess their love to you...¡± Edgar clenched the armrest of his chair to the point that his fingernails left marks on the wood. ¡®Shit, it¡¯s all because of the king.¡¯ The king had said he pitied all the women craving for Edgar and asked him to dance with them, and when Edgar did as he wanted, people started to think he was a womanizer. He hadn¡¯t cared about what others said as the people around him knew he didn¡¯t even go on a date, much less have a serious rtionship. However, Rubica had been a low-ranked noble living in the countryside. She had no other information about him except for the rumors. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°No, you shouldn¡¯t apologize.¡± Rubica looked sad, and Edgar regretted yelling so loudly. Being kind was much harder than he had thought, especially because he had never restrained his anger or cared about the other¡¯s mood. ¡°Well, have you decided on the type of tea for the tea meeting?¡± He decided talking more about it would do him no good and quickly changed the topic, and Rubica was d to be saved. ¡°The tea I served to your rtives a while ago. I think it would do well.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s the cheapest tea. Why don¡¯t you go with the one I served you before? That¡¯s better.¡± ¡°But that cheapest tea is as expensive as gold. Plus, I liked it more.¡± Edgar wanted her to wear and eat only the best. However, he couldn¡¯t force her if she didn¡¯t want it. He really wanted to rmend it again, but he managed not to. ¡°But, um...¡± ¡°But?¡± ¡°You seem to be interested in my tea meeting...¡± Rubica nced at him. He raised an eyebrow. It probably meant he didn¡¯t know what she was talking about and she should exin. ¡°Um, as you like tea, I was wondering if you are going to stop by.¡± She was wondering if it was okay to tell him not toe if he did want toe. ¡°... I can¡¯t go. I¡¯m busy.¡± Edgar said so after thinking for a long time. That was the answer she had been hoping for. However, it didn¡¯t make her happy, she rather felt hollow and disappointed. ¡°Okay. I know you¡¯re busy nowadays.¡± Her voice shook, and it made Edgar¡¯s eyes shake too. He stared at her for a long time. ¡®... she must be disappointed.¡¯ Of course, he wanted to go to the tea meeting. He wanted to introduce her properly as his wife to the many nobles who would be there, but he couldn¡¯t. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°No, I shouldn¡¯t have asked that in the first ce. I know you¡¯re busy.¡± Rubica smiled. She thought it would be troublesome if he came as his beauty would draw all thedies¡¯ attention, so she couldn¡¯t understand why she was feeling disappointed. ¡®What is wrong with me?¡¯ It was so strange. When she first arrived at the mansion, she had wished to run into Edgar as little as possible, but these days, she kept thinking about him. As she decided on the invitation card, she thought about him and wondered if he was doing well and if his head didn¡¯t hurt again. ¡®Is it because I know what is going to happen?¡¯ She knew what will to happen to Seritos after four years and what kind of fate the ymore Family was going to meet at that time. Chapter 146

Chapter 146: Chapter 146

Before, Rubica believed in the rumors and used to think that it all happened because Duke ymore, blinded by power, sided with some foreigners and smuggled out the weapon. However, when she actually met Edgar, she found out that he did not crave for power, although he did have serious problems with his way of talking. He was a man who acted on what he thought was right and just. ¡®I want to save him.¡¯ That must be the reason. She concluded she wanted to see him from time to time because of her anxiety and worries that came from her knowing the future. ¡®Wouldn¡¯t there be a way to save him or help him even if I leave after our promised time ends?¡¯ However, how could she exin all that? Exining what had happened to her could get her locked up in an asylum. Most people would think that she couldn¡¯t tell nightmare and reality apart. Moreover, there was something that worried her even more. ¡®This family has risen with weapons, and the people in this kingdom can continue living only thanks to that. If I tell him to stop making weapons...¡¯ The kingdom would immediately run out of food, and the people would all starve to death before the war even broke out. ¡®What should I do...¡¯ Rubica kept thinking as she finished the conversation and had dinner with Edgar. He knew nothing about what he was about to face, and she pitied him for that. She didn¡¯t know why he was going to make such a terrible weapon, but she wanted to do her best to save him. *** When they were done eating, a messenger arrived to deliver the news about Lord Sesar. ¡°Well, where did they find him?¡± ¡°He was sleeping in a forest, totally drunk. He hasn¡¯t woken up yet but, ording to the adventurers, judging from the shape of the jars scattered around him, it seems like it was liquor made by the goblins.¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t help sighing. Really, Lord Sesar had no limit. It looked like he was going to say he had forgotten to send a letter about his whereabouts because he was invited to the goblins¡¯ party and had lots of rare and mysterious dishes. ¡°Rubica, I will go to take care of Lord Sesar and the adventurers. Go and rest first.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± However, before she left the hall, she thought for a while and made ament. ¡°Don¡¯t work too hard.¡± It was a small encouragement. But at that moment, Edgar couldn¡¯t help it and smiled at her. That smile was much more natural and prettier than the forced smile made earlier, and Rubica¡¯s heart sank. ¡®That smile he sometimes shows, it¡¯s strange, but it¡¯s so familiar. It reminds me of Arman, but he can¡¯t be Arman...¡¯ As Rubica had a bath, she tried to recall when and where she had seen that smile. She checked if she had ever gone past Edgar in her previous life, but she couldn¡¯t remember such a thing happening. Besides, he was so handsome. If she had ever seen him even briefly, she would have definitely remembered him. ¡®Maybe he is a little like Arman.¡¯ She thought so as she was done bathing. Arman had been through a lot and had looked like someone in his 80s, even though he had been only 73 years old. Moreover, he had so many scars on his body and it was hard to say he had been as handsome as Edgar. Rubica was harsh when appraising beauty even when it was the man she loved. ¡®And there are more simrities... yikes!¡¯ Rubica¡¯s thinking ended the moment she saw the nightdress Ann brought. Khanna¡¯s sexy nightdress, which she had only seen as a picture, was now in front of her eyes. ¡°What, what on earth is that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a nightdress.¡± Ann replied as if it was nothing. ¡°Of course, I can see that? But why is it in front of my eyes?¡± ¡°Well, it was among the dresses Madam Khanna brought, I guess we must have put in the wrong order.¡± Although her mouth could lie, her eyes couldn¡¯t. She couldn¡¯t look straight at Rubica and spoke while staring at the ceiling. Rubica sighed. ¡°Ann, I can see what you¡¯re thinking. Just confess the truth.¡± Ann smiled awkwardly since it seemed that fooling the duchess was impossible. Ann made the maids, who had helped Rubica during her bath, leave and exined honestly. ¡°Madam, as for this whole thing about your pregnancy, faking a miscarriage is a solution, but I think the safest way would be to, um, get pregnant fast.¡± ¡°I should get pregnant fast? That¡¯s the safest way?¡± ¡°Yes, if something goes wrong people may find out about the fake miscarriage. Wouldn¡¯t it be better to convince everyone that a baby cane out a month or twoter?¡± Now, what was Rubica supposed to say to that? Was she supposed to tell Ann she had made a deal of not having any kind of physical intercourse as she married Edgar? However, it didn¡¯t look like the housekeeper would believe her. Rubica had, after all, shared kisses with Edgar in front of the others and even fallen asleep in his arms. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to Edgar about it, Ann. Really, there was no need to prepare this... thing.¡± Rubica truly didn¡¯t want to show herself wearing the dress in front of Edgar. ¡°But... but madam.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I heard His Grace doesn¡¯t spend the nights here. It¡¯s, um, it¡¯s not like I can talk about it, but I¡¯m worried.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s because he¡¯s busy, and...¡± ¡°But he can¡¯t be that busy. Actually, I couldn¡¯t tell you this earlier as he has been kind to you, but I¡¯ve been worried that you might be hurt by it.¡± Rubica and Edgar had promised to appear like they were falling apart in time so that the others wouldn¡¯t get suspicious when they divorced, but Rubica hadn¡¯t known it would backfire like this. ¡°Could it be that he, um, cannot function as a man?¡± ¡°That¡¯s, that¡¯s not it!¡± Rubica yelled. Of course, she didn¡¯t know about Edgar¡¯s condition, but she couldn¡¯t allow people having those kinds of thoughts, so for now she said he was healthy. ¡°Please, wear this, only for once.¡± Ann looked so desperate that it shook Rubica¡¯s heart. Saying no was going to make her despair, and Rubica had a soft spot on her, anyway. The nightdress was too sexy, but she could cover herself with the duvet and exin what had happened when Edgares. ¡®He¡¯s a gentleman, so it should be fine.¡¯ At first, he had his way and ignored her opinion. But these days, he didn¡¯t do anything she hated, so he wasn¡¯t going to use the nightdress as an excuse and make trouble. ¡®He won¡¯t be able to see me if I cover myselfpletely with the duvet.¡¯ In the end, Rubica had no choice but to wear the nightdress. It was half-transparent and clearly showed her silhouette. It was so embarrassing that she couldn¡¯t even look at the mirror. She then ran out of the bathroom, climbed onto the bed, and went under the duvet. ¡°Everyone, please go out.¡± Then she waited for Edgar with only a couple of lighted candles. ¡®This is going to be even worse from now on.¡¯ She had expected something like this to happen. Giving birth to children was an important duty of nobledies. Actually, Edgar agreeing to her terms had been quite odd. Many men and women who were not in love got married and had children for their family, and it was considered only right. However, it looked like people were not going to respect her opinion like Edgar did. ¡®To think about it, he is a really nice person.¡¯ When their marriage made by the mistake of a messenger ends, he would meet a good woman and get married for real. He had fought with Rubica enough, so he wasn¡¯t going to be that rude a second time. He would surely express his feelings properly, propose, and live happily. ¡®I wish him to be happy.¡¯ However, imagining that beautiful future made her heart ache. ¡®No, I cannot do this.¡¯ She was supposed to be d to see him happy, not sad. She grabbed the pillow. Ding, ding, ding. Then the clock sounded the hour. It was already 11 o¡¯clock and Edgar hadn¡¯te. That was unusual. ¡®Is he very busy? Maybe Lord Sesar has caused a lot of problems, even more than the messenger talked about.¡¯ Maybe he was not going toe at all tonight. Meeting him wearing the nightdress Ann had prepared was going to be too embarrassing. Nevertheless, she felt strangely disappointed and worried if he was busy or too tired. ¡®Now thinking about it, the bed in his resting room is really small.¡¯ The bed was so small that only one person could sleep on it. Compared to her bed that was big enough for five people, it was way too small. If he tossed and turned on that bed, he could tumble down. She was a little, no, very sorry about him sleeping on that bed only because of her. ¡®Should I tell him to sleep here from now?¡¯ She started to think that she had been too hard on him. Maybe she failed to see him as the man he was because of the first impression and the prejudice she had about him. ¡®I should talk to him about itter.¡¯ It looked like he wasn¡¯t going toe today, so she decided to not wait for him and just sleep. Chapter 147

Chapter 147: Chapter 147

Contrary to what Rubica was thinking, it didn¡¯t take long to take care of Lord Sesar¡¯s issues. He was so unconcerned, just as usual. ¡°I¡¯ve gotten some really strong wild roses thanks to the goblins. Edgar, this time, I¡¯m going to make beautiful roses that canst for a long time.¡± He even bragged about his adventure, not knowing how Edgar was bubbling likeva on the inside in anger. ¡°Well, how long will it take for you to make those damn roses?¡± ¡°As for the gradation roses I promised to the duchess, it won¡¯t take longer than two months. Haha!¡± Edgar wondered for a second if he should grab the old man¡¯s cor. ¡°And I heard you even ordered the adventurers to gather wild roses for me? Edgar, I was really touched. I didn¡¯t know you cared so much about my work. I will make at least three roses that have never been seen before in just three months.¡± Lord Sesar sounded truly touched and Edgar felt really, really tired. He decided to end this conversation here. ¡°Oh.¡± Suddenly he recalled something. Rubica¡¯s tea meeting. She was really looking forward to it, so he wanted her to befriend the other nobles and get settled in society. ¡°The rose you promised to Rubica, make it in three weeks.¡± ¡°THREE WEEKS? That¡¯s too short.¡± ¡°Two weeks then.¡± Sesar¡¯s white beard trembled, but Edgar¡¯s blue eyes didn¡¯t move. He wanted Rubica¡¯s tea meeting to be full of the roses Sesar would make, and he knew well on how to make schrs work. Although the botanist was moaning, judging from his previous works, it wasn¡¯t impossible. ¡°Ha, okay. I will make it in three weeks.¡± ¡°You must bring enough flowers to fill a vase.¡± Then, he pointed at the door with his chin. It meant Sesar should go back and get started. As soon as he left the room, Edgar assigned him a guard. Of course, that guard¡¯s true work was to keep an eye on the old weirdo. ¡®Really, I cannot to through a single day without any problems.¡¯ Edgar sighed and looked at the clock. It was 11 o¡¯clock already. He had to move fast, or he was not going to take a single step into Rubica¡¯s bedroom. He then stood up. ¡°Your Grace.¡± Carl, who had gone away, came looking for him. Edgar thought of ignoring him, but the butler looked quite urgent. ¡°What is it? Make it quick.¡± ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s about Her Grace¡¯s belongings.¡± ¡°Shh, lower your voice.¡± Edgar quickly lowered his voice lest someone might overhear and report it to Rubica. Carl thought he was being way too sensitive, but he quickly closed the door to get along with his master. ¡°Well, what about Rubica¡¯s belongings? Has something happened?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t searched her room yet, but a maid said something a little strange.¡± ¡°What was it?¡± ¡°She asked if you really ordered Her Grace to get rid of the things herte mother left.¡± ¡°What?¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t believe he had done something like that. Making Rubica get rid of what belonged to herte mother? He could have told her to keep it safe in the family¡¯s treasury, but telling her to get rid of them... it was just impossible. ¡°Why would I do such a thing? I¡¯m not crazy.¡± ¡°Um, but I have my guesses. The ruby essories she had when we first met her at the Berner Mansion, I think those used to belong to herte mother.¡± Even a death sentence wouldn¡¯t be that shocking, so much so that Edgar couldn¡¯t even see straight. ¡°What?¡± He could remember every word he had said back then. Sadly, his brilliant brain never failed to remember. -Such essories are only good enough for a bar¡¯s daughter. You¡¯re about to be my duchess. You shouldn¡¯t wear them. He hadn¡¯t liked Mr. and Mrs. Berner very much. Everything in that household had looked so...me. He thought she deserved better, so he didn¡¯t even imagine those essories had belonged to Rubica¡¯ste mother. She had been a count¡¯s daughter, and she would have been called ady even after her marriage. Moreover, in the nobles¡¯nguage, telling a count¡¯s daughter she was only fit to be a baron¡¯s daughter was a huge insult. ¡°Shit.¡± If only he could, he wished to go back in time and beat himself hard. He wanted to punch his own face until his nose bled, break his legs, and snap his back, and even all that wouldn¡¯t have been enough. -Your Grace, can¡¯t you at least be a little kinder? He had ignored those who said that to him. When he was just slightly kind, people lunged at him like hungry lions, so he made himself an armor to protect himself. He hadn¡¯t known he would get to regret not taking that advice. ¡°Those essories, Rubica¡¯s cousin took them with her to the Academy, right? Carl, send a man on a mana stone carriage. I want them back immediately.¡± ¡°But Your Grace, if I remember right, those essories all had rubies.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And the cousin took all of them.¡± ¡°Yes, Rubica gave them to her cousin named Ang.¡± He recalled how that girl named Ang had angrily red at him. However, Rubica had stopped her, saying she was fine with it. Why didn¡¯t he do something? He was the biggest idiot in the world. ¡°Isn¡¯t it strange that a maid knows about it?¡± Edgar nodded. ¡°So, I asked how she found out about it, and she said she learned this after Ms. Sna identally found another essory Her Grace kept in secret.¡± ¡°Another essory? She kept it in secret?¡± ¡°Yes, she has said nothing about it till now as Her Grace asked her and the others to not tell you about it. She said it was linked to a golden chain and it looked just like a ring.¡± ¡°A... ring?¡± For a moment, Edgar wondered if he was breathing. Everything looked so fuzzy, and Carl had to quickly grab him. ¡°That may not be the case. I asked her what kind of ring it was, and she said she couldn¡¯t see it well as she was far from it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. It can be just a normal ring.¡± Edgar took a deep breath. It could be nothing, but it was a ring and it bothered him. ¡°What did Elise say about it?¡± ¡°She has a heavy mouth. More than that, she is one of Her Grace¡¯s most trusted friend... I couldn¡¯t ask because I feared Her Grace might get to hear about it.¡± ¡°Okay then, where did she find it?¡± ¡°In the second drawer of the bedside cab, right next to the bed.¡± ¡°The bedside cab...¡± He had been seeing that piece of furniture every day, but he didn¡¯t imagine that something so important was hidden in it. ¡°What do you want to do?¡± ¡°I should check it myself.¡± Edgar managed toe back to his senses and replied. This involved her, so he couldn¡¯t have anyone else do it. He had to either ask her or check it himself. ¡°Your Grace?¡± And to do that, he had to go to the bedroom, but he hesitated for a long time. ¡®But what if that¡¯s just an ordinary ring?¡¯ Then nothing would change. He would try to find another lead, but their rtionship would be the same. ¡®... but what if it¡¯s the ring my nurse gave to me on that day?¡¯ His mind turned ck and he couldn¡¯t think more. His brain, which usually worked too well, refused to think more. Probably a lot was going to change between him and her. ¡®I rather wish it is just an ordinary ring.¡¯ Edgar hesitated for a long time, then he slowly walked to the bedroom. He usually ran in haste, but today he walked slowly. For many times, he stopped, looked up at the ceiling, sighed, and shook his head. ¡°Why is he doing that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Doesn¡¯t he always run to Her Grace¡¯s room?¡± Carl red at the servants and they shut their mouths. However, Edgar was almost out of his mind and couldn¡¯t even hear them murmuring among themselves. He arrived in Rubica¡¯s bedroom, looking like a criminal that was about to get the death penalty. ¡°Madam, His Grace is here.¡± A maid said that more than once, but no reply came. ¡°Your Grace, it seems she¡¯s already asleep.¡± She had fallen asleep already? Another 30 minutes was remaining till their promised time. Normally, Edgar would have been disappointed, but today, he was relieved. ¡°Okay then, I should go back. It¡¯ste.¡± He turned with a relived heart, but Carl grabbed him. ¡°Your Grace.¡± He didn¡¯t have to say more. He was clearly saying Edgar had to go and see as he would eventually need to learn about it. Edgar agreed with him, and it would be better to go through it now. He wasn¡¯t a person who dyed things, but then, why was he feeling like postponing this? He just wanted to live a normal life, just like he was doing now. Having a short conversation with her after the sunset, having dinner with her, and seeing her fall asleep... that was enough. He didn¡¯t wish for more. He even thought he was fine with not being able to walk during the daytime as long as he could enjoy that. ¡°If you¡¯re afraid, I¡¯ll look for itter when she is not in the room.¡± However, the butler¡¯s suggestion woke him up. ¡°No.¡± He sounded cold like the winter frost. This was between him and her, so he couldn¡¯t let anyone else get involved in this just because he was afraid. He couldn¡¯t run away just because he was enjoying the present. Chapter 148

Chapter 148: Chapter 148

¡®Plus, she used to have an ordinary life, and she got into all this mess just because of me.¡¯ He had to do this now for her, so he took a deep breath and opened the door. The maid had been right, Rubica was already asleep and the room was quiet. Edgar carefully closed the door and went to the bed under the dim light of a candle. Rubica knew nothing and was sleeping with a fluffy duvet covering her body all the way up to her neck. She looked so innocent with her eyes closed and just looking at her made him so happy. He wanted to lightly press her cheeks. ¡°Rubica.¡± He carefully called her name, but she was sound asleep and didn¡¯t move. He removed a strand of hair from her forehead and gently stroked her. Rubica smiled, probably feeling good about his warm hand. His heart started to beat like crazy. She was smiling because of him and he couldn¡¯t be happier about it. ¡®Oh, but now isn¡¯t the time for this.¡¯ Edgar stared at her for a long time, but then, he managed to wake up. When he looked at Rubica, he lost track of time. It was almost like magic, but he managed to look away. ¡®The second drawer.¡¯ On the simple bedside cab, he could see the cream and scented candle which she often used before going to sleep. For a moment, Edgar stared at the second drawer. All he had to do was to put a finger in that brass knob in the shape of a ring and pull it. However, his fingers were frozen as if he had been wandering outside for days in the cold winter. ¡®Oh, but this is nothing.¡¯ Opening a drawer wasn¡¯t difficult at all. He did that almost every day, but now, it felt like the most difficult thing in the world. He took a deep breath and scolded himself. ¡®I cannot have someone else do this for me. It has to be me!¡¯ He yelled in his mind, put a finger in the ring, and pulled. It opened with a ttering sound, so he must have used too much force. He had taken pride in being careful, and he made such a mistake. He quickly looked at Rubica, and thankfully, she was still sleeping. ¡°Haa.¡± Now that he could breathe again, he looked inside the drawer. ¡®But there are only gloves.¡¯ The drawer was full of all kinds of gloves, so Edgar didn¡¯t know what to do. Maybe Rubica had moved it to somewhere else after Elise found it. At least he would have done so. ¡®But...¡¯ He was about to close it again, but then he spotted something glittering between the gloves. It didn¡¯t look like something to decorate gloves. He put in his hand, and a cold metal chain touched his hand. ¡®Why have you kept it here?¡¯ You should have moved it after someone else found it. He even med her for keeping it there. However, most people didn¡¯t think that many steps ahead as he did. ¡®I wish it was just an ordinary ring...¡¯ She was his only lead for breaking his curse. He was supposed to pray that this was the blue ring for himself, but now, he didn¡¯t care about the curse or himself. He just wanted to stay with her. He slowly lifted the chain. Time passed so slowly, and he could even see the dust rising from the gloves as the chain came up. Moreover, at its end, he could see the blue ring which he had been looking for. ¡°Ah.¡± A sound that could either be a moan or a sob came out of his mouth, and then his mind went nk. He couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing, and his hand started to feel so heavy with the chain. ¡®No, it can¡¯t be.¡± There were many blue gems, and there were many rings with blue gems. Maybe this ring was just simr to his. She had said it belonged to herte mother. Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding. Edgar denied what he was seeing and lifted the ring close to his eyes. Oh, but the ring was indeed his. At first nce, it looked like one of the many stones you would find in beaches, but when looked closely, it had a mysterious mour. And it even had the mark he identally made with his fingernail. Except that the ring was very worn out, it was exactly the same. ¡®... it is the ring.¡¯ The moment he acknowledged that, his legs wobbled and fell on the floor. Thest bit of thinking he had helped him to not make a big sound. All the thoughts and deductions, which he had been dying till now, overcame him. -That Arman, isn¡¯t he a little too like you? He recalled Rubica saying she didn¡¯t know the color of the man¡¯s eyes as he had been blind. She also avoided exining about his appearance. -And her age is the same as how old you were on that day. -He said he was happy as he could walk with his two strong legs day and night. ¡®Then...¡¯ He recalled the possibility he had put aside till now. The king did say that the future Edgar, who was in love, could have sent her instead of himself back in time, but he just snorted at that. He despised love, and he had believed there was no way he would ever fall for someone. However, now he was in love with her. How did it happen? He didn¡¯t know either, but his heart refused to be controlled by his head and he felt so happy and excited when he got to see her. To the point that he became an idiot every time he was with her. ¡®Why haven¡¯t I thought of that possibility sooner? No, actually I knew about it. I knew about it all along. I just thought that couldn¡¯t be.¡¯ The reason why was simple. He had been blinded by jealousy. She loved Arman and he hated him for that. That was why he ignored all the clues in front of him. He refused to know. He just despaired at the thought that she was in love with someone else. ¡®Rubica!¡¯ He clenched the ring. What had happened, how he lost his sight, how he met her, how horrible he looked for her to fail to recognize him, it all didn¡¯t matter. He was Arman. He was the man she loved with all her heart. He was happy. He was so happy. No word could describe what he was feeling now. Blood surged out of his heart and was dispersed to his entire body. His senses were so clear, and he could feel everything, the scent of the burning candle in the air, the smell of dried sheet on the bed, and the dust in the carpet. He felt like he and the world were one. He had never felt so alive. For the first time in his life, he thanked the gods. ¡®Wake up.¡¯ He had no reason to hesitate more. He then managed to calm down his exploding sensation and stand up. He wrapped and unwrapped his hands and then tilted his head from side to side. He cleared his throat lest his voice might shake, and Rubica naturally slept through all that. She looked like an angel and it made him smile. Now all that was left was to be with her in love. ¡°Rubica.¡± He didn¡¯t know if he was crying or sobbing. However, Rubica didn¡¯t even budge, still sound asleep. ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar called her name again. She didn¡¯t say anything, but he was happy. He loved her, just like he did in the future. ¡°Rubica.¡± He shook her shoulder with his shaky hand. He was worried she might be mad about being woken up in the middle of the night, but he had to talk to her right now or his heart was going to burst. ¡°Ugh.¡± In the sleep, Rubica could feel a hand shaking her. She didn¡¯t know who it was and angrily pushed it away, making the duvet slide down her body. ¡°Hup.¡± Edgar was shocked to see her body being revealed and took a step back. The nightdress she was wearing was more like underwear and showed her silhouette so clearly. Now he was seeing something he hadn¡¯t dared to imagine even in his dreams. He was a man in the middle of his 20s. The desire was aroused inside him in no time. Why was she sleeping in such a nightdress? He didn¡¯t know. But she looked so... unconcerned and it almost burst his heart. ¡®I cannot see this longer.¡¯ He used to think he was someone extremely rational, but he couldn¡¯t control himself in front of Rubica. He decided he had to leave the room before the desire took control of him. He ran to the door and grabbed the doorknob. ¡®But she will catch a cold if she sleeps like that...¡¯ She was almost naked. The nightdress was that thin. He hesitated for a really long time, holding the doorknob. He wasn¡¯t sure he could restrain himself even after seeing her again, but he was worried she might get sick after sleeping like that. ¡®Ha, I guess I have no choice.¡¯ Edgar narrowed his eyes as much as he could. Then, he slowly went back to the bed. He managed to grab the duvet, fighting himself constantly. ¡®Let¡¯s just cover her. Let¡¯s just cover her and leave.¡¯ Chapter 149

Chapter 149: Chapter 149

He shut his eyes and covered her with the duvet, but that was a mistake. With his eyes closed, he couldn¡¯t see Rubica turning. His fingers then touched something soft and warm. ¡°Agh!¡± His eyes snapped open. It was good that he had just covered her entirely. If he had seen her face, he would have failed to control himself. ¡®What, what did I just... touch?¡¯ He looked down at his fingers. The softness had felt nothing like his own hard skin. ¡®Oh, what on earth are you thinking, woman?¡¯ Wearing that is cheating. Having that, that soft skin is cheating! Edgar silently protested to Rubica who was sleeping soundly without noticing a thing, but that protest couldn¡¯tst long. He had to leave the room before he turned into a beast. ¡°Your Grace?¡± Carl had been waiting outside and was surprised to see Edgar suddenly jump out the door with a fiery red face. ¡°Have you seen it?¡± However, Edgar said nothing and just went past the butler while running. ¡°Your, Your Grace! Your office is not that way!¡± Carl yelled behind as Edgar ran down the stairs, but he couldn¡¯t listen. He ran out of the building in no time and ran across the garden. The cold wind of the night went past him, but it wasn¡¯t enough to cool his passion. He couldn¡¯t get rid of the image of Rubica, even though he had seen it under the dim candlelight. That thin fabric that covered only parts that had to be covered aroused him even more. He couldn¡¯t help imagining what was beneath it. Ssh! He ran to the garden¡¯s fountain with the mana quartz statues and dipped his head in the cold water. When even that wasn¡¯t enough, he just went in there, still wearing his shirt. He drank the water that came into his mouth and nose. ¡°Your Grace?¡± Stephen came faster than Carl did and offered Edgar his cape, but he shook his head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t need it.¡± ¡°But you¡¯ll get cold.¡± ¡°Just leave me alone. And why are you still guarding me when it¡¯s sote? This is my mansion and I¡¯m safe here. Just go and tell everyone not toe.¡± Stephen nodded and went away. Edgar then looked up at the night sky inside the fountain. His body managed to calm down after counting about a hundred stars. He came out of the fountain and sat down while dripping with water. He had been so shocked that he had kept the ring in his pocket. He took it out again. It faintly glittered under the starlight. The ring¡¯s blue stone looked like an ordinary stone under the sunlight. However, under the starlight, its light flowed like a river. ¡®There¡¯s no need to think further. I sent her back in time using this ring.¡¯ He didn¡¯t know why, but it seemed like he was going to lose his sight in the future. How many years had passed? Edgar tried to clear his mind and think of everything Rubica had said about Arman. ¡®But why did I never tell her I loved her?¡¯ That was his first thought. He had been cursing Arman for a long time, and he really couldn¡¯t believe he was actually Arman. When Rubica talked about Arman ¨C he still didn¡¯t want to ept his future self as himself ¨C she shyly blushed. Moreover, Arman had also liked Rubica. Then, why did he never tell her that? Edgar really couldn¡¯t understand. He was so happy when Rubica was only slightly shaken by him, so why had Arman done nothing? ¡®He could walk day and night, so it sounds like he found a way to break the curse... oh, is it because he lost his sight?¡¯ Edgar made a mental note about the other possibility of breaking his curse. However, losing his sight meant he wasn¡¯t going to see Rubica¡¯s lovely face ever again, so he was not going to take that way as long as he had a choice. ¡®And she sounded like he was blind and poor.¡¯ Maybe that was why Arman had been silent about his love. However, that reason entirely denied the possibility of Arman being himself. Edgar looked around his mansion quickly. Two annexes,b, and the main building. It was practically a castle. He had too much money. He didn¡¯tck anything. But in Rubica¡¯s description, Arman had nothing. ¡®I lost all of this?¡¯ He couldn¡¯t understand. What had happened? Had there been a rebellion? When Rubica talked about Arman, her eyes sparkled but she was also worried she might say something wrong. ¡®I must talk to her about this.¡¯ Edgar knew about the ring and its power. However, Rubica looked like she hade back in time without knowing a thing. Of course, she couldn¡¯t open up. She must have been very afraid. ¡®Stupid Arman. At least you should have given her a clue.¡¯ Like telling her to find Duke ymore and show him the ring or confessing he was actually Duke ymore. One sentence would have been enough, then everything wouldn¡¯t have be this difficult! ¡°Isn¡¯t he an idiot? I could have juste back!¡± He spoke his next thought out loud. Did he be a fool after being hit in the head by a rock or something? He could have juste back in time himself and meet Rubica with all his memories. He could have convinced her to marry him and everything would have been fine... or not. ¡®She must have been surprised as well.¡¯ Of course, she would have been surprised if a guy she had never seen before showed up and confessed his love for her. She would have wondered if he had been bewitched by dark magic. Things wouldn¡¯t have been fine at all. They couldn¡¯t havee back in time together. Only one of them had been able to do it and things would have been difficult and hard either way. ¡®Huh!¡¯ Edgar suddenly thought of something and snorted. ¡®Of course. You didn¡¯t want to be forgotten, you idiot.¡¯ If he hade back in time, she would have lost all the memories about him. He must have calcted whether it was better to send her ore back himself, and that selfish idiot -himself-probably didn¡¯t want to be forgotten by her. He must have wanted her to remember everything about him. That was why he sent her back. If Edgar announced he was Arman now, she was going to be happy. She would surely love him then. But would that love be toward Edgar? No, she would find Arman¡¯s traces and past in him and love those. ¡®If I tell her the truth now, I will never be able to win against Arman.¡¯ Edgar gritted his teeth. He loved her, and he wanted to be loved by her. Not as a substitute of another man, but as himself. He didn¡¯t want her to find someone else¡¯s shadow in him and love him for that, even if that someone was his future self. ¡®I¡¯m d that I didn¡¯t tell her.¡¯ He had run away from Rubica¡¯s very... stimting nightdress. She normally wore thick nightdresses that made him somehow sad. When he couldn¡¯t resist the urge and tried to order the sexy nightdress, she had been extremely mad. Then, why did she wear that tonight? ¡®Maybe... to seduce me?¡¯ He couldn¡¯t help but smile like an idiot. She was definitely being drawn to him. He was sure it was only a matter of time. He didn¡¯t want to confess the truth now like an idiot and let that Arman win, and he still couldn¡¯t get rid of the grudge he held against his future self. ¡®I¡¯ll tell her I¡¯m Arman when she starts to love me more.¡¯ He made up his mind. He then stood and went back. Of course, thinking about how he was hating his future self all along, he felt a little embarrassed. Nevertheless, the future was the future and the present was the present. For now, Edgar just couldn¡¯t ept he was Arman. He decided to turn his future self as his rival in love and defeat him. Rubica would be confused, of course, but he thought that much would be fine as he had been so confused because of her. ¡®She¡¯ll get a headache, not even dreaming I am her Arman.¡¯ Rubica was already being shaken by him. He was sure of it. He knew well how those who loved him looked at him, so Edgar was going to be patient and wait until she admitted she liked him more than she liked Arman. Either way, she was going to choose him. ¡°Your Grace, what is this about?¡± Carl freaked out at seeing Edgarpletely soaked with water still dripping down from his sleeves. ¡°Oh, I had something to think about.¡± ¡°You¡¯re wet. I will immediately prepare warm water.¡± ¡°... not in the bathroom. It might wake Rubica. Just choose an empty room.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Carl brought a movable bathtub into a room that had been used as a nursery but was now empty. Edgar theny in the warm water. Carl nced at him, a little worried. He had thought something must have gone wrong after Edgar suddenly ran out, but now the duke looked so calm. He was even humming. Chapter 150

Chapter 150: Chapter 150

¡°Have you... looked into the matter?¡± Edgar flicked his hand and the servant who had been serving him immediately left. ¡°Open the right pocket of my jacket.¡± ¡°Oh, it is the ring.¡± Carl eximed happily while Edgar nodded. ¡°This is great, now we just have to tell her.¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°What? But Your Grace, we must break your curse as quickly as possible.¡± ¡°Oh...¡± Edgar hadpletely forgotten about it. He was just d that he was the man Rubica loved and had forgotten about his curse. It was a mistake that wasn¡¯t like him. ¡°But we still have some time. Plus, Rubica seems to know nothing about it yet. If she knew something, she would have told me on the day we first met.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°If we rush, we will fail to get any lead and just confuse her. It would be better to make a n and take the time to look into it. Just have a maid put the ring back to where it was.¡± It made sense, so Carl nodded. ¡°I see. Then I will keep my mouth shut in the meantime. Please tell me if you want anything else done.¡± ¡°Just use a few drops of that and go.¡± Edgar pointed at the oil bottle the servant had left. It was oil made with musk, sage, and wood that he liked to use. It meant he wanted to rest, and Carl should leave. The butler did as he was ordered and went out. ¡°A n...¡± The oil¡¯s scent filled the room, and Edgar took a deep breath to clear his mind a little. ¡°Of course, I should make a n.¡± However, the n he was going to make wasn¡¯t about how to find a lead to break his curse from Rubica. Instead, he worked on a way to win her heart. ¡®I tried to be kind to her based on what she told me, and it¡¯s been working a little.¡¯ He recalled how she had talked about Arman to him. She had been so passionate about it that it had almost driven him mad with jealousy at the time. ¡®But she was talking about me, after all.¡¯ He couldn¡¯t help butugh like crazy. Rubica had looked so lovely as she described him with sparkling eyes. She had nodded hard with her cute, little chin when Edgar said that Arman sounded smart. ¡®Well, I am quite smart.¡¯ -He studied hard and invented it, just for me. So many people benefited from it. Thinking about how she looked as she said those words made Edgar¡¯s heart beat hard. Oh, he wished he could run to her now, tell her the truth, kiss her cute lips and pinch her soft cheeks. He was worried if he was just postponing the happy time only to fight against himself. ¡®No, no, no. I¡¯ve been tortured so much till now!¡¯ Days of cursing and being jealous of Arman, without knowing he was him. Even just thinking about it made him blush hard. He had been a little out of his mind and had confessed his love to a doctor. And now, he was worried the doctor might spread words about it and those words might reach Rubica¡¯s ears. ¡®If she finds out about it, she will make fun of me. Of course, there¡¯s no way she would miss such a chance.¡¯ For a second, he wondered if he should have the doctor assassinated. He had never had thoughts like those when it came to ordinary and good citizens. He could only barely manage to calm down his brain that lost its control over emotions again. ¡®Carl gave him enough money, so he won¡¯t talk in public about it. The doctors also have a duty to keep the secret of their patients.¡¯ However, that vow applied to the doctor, but not to his apprentice. Sadly, the apprentice, who had recorded Edgar¡¯s symptoms in detail, had an extremely light mouth and a lot of friends. Everyone in the capital already thought Duke ymore was passionately in love with his wife. The apprentice didn¡¯t even forget what Carl said about the duchess being cold to the lovesick duke. It was just that the capital was too far from Edgar¡¯s mansion and he didn¡¯t know it yet. ¡®From now on, she is going to be confused, just like I have been till now.¡¯ The incident about mana quartz had hurt both of them, but it had shaken her heart. Edgar could feel her looking at him so warmly after that. If his future self could win her heart, he could also do it now. He was even richer, younger, and more handsome. He didn¡¯t have any other advantages, but he was going to win. Should it be Arman or Edgar? Should it be the man who was at her side during the hard times but couldn¡¯t be found now, or the man who was with her right now? Rubica was going to think about it again and again. There was no reason to be chaste for a love that had never been confessed, but Rubica was just too good. She was going to wonder if she was betraying her love or not, when actually the two men were one same man. ¡°Haha!¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t help butugh. Of course, he thought he was being a little evil, but he was feeling pleasant. ¡®I¡¯ve been tortured for so long, she can suffer at least this much.¡± She was going to be confused, and he was going tofort her and hug her, pretending to know nothing. ¡°It¡¯s okay that you still love Arman. If you like me at least a little, that is enough for me.¡± He was going to say such things and deceive her, then she would feel so sorry to him. He was going to use her guilt like that and make her choose the him of the present, not of the future. In the end, she was going to be in love with the same man, but to Edgar, it was totally different. ¡®Future me, I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m going to take her love.¡¯ He announced so as he looked into the mirror after a bath. He didn¡¯t want to share her love with anyone, not even with himself. Rubica¡¯s heart had to be his and his only this time. *** The singing of the birds woke Rubica up. It was already morning. Sadly, the nightdress Ann had prepared with such determination was never used for its purpose. No, she was not supposed to be sad about it. ¡®I wore this thing for him, and he didn¡¯t evene.¡¯ That was what she had hoped for. Meeting him in such a nightdress was going to be extremely embarrassing. But then, why was she feeling disappointed? Or was she expecting that... ¡®Oh please, he¡¯ll justugh at me if he ever sees me in this.¡¯ Edgar was one of the most handsome men on the continent. On the other hand, she was kind of in-looking. She could look pretty but, when standing with Edgar, she had to look more like a sea creature than a human being. If Edgar had seen her wearing such a nightdress, he would have asked seriously if she was under some kind of punishment. ¡®Yes, I¡¯m not disappointed. It¡¯s rather good.¡¯ ¡°Your Grace, have you woken up? Then a maid spoke from the outside. The room¡¯s door was thick, so how did she find out that Rubica was awake? She almost said, e in,¡¯ but then she shut her mouth when remembering what she was wearing. ¡®I can¡¯t let anyone see me in this.¡¯ She hadn¡¯t knownst night as it had been dark, but under the bright daylight, the nightdress was too sexy. She hadn¡¯t known Khanna was capable of making such sexy dresses, and it was even worse than being naked. She quickly got changed into a linen nightdress, which she normally wore, and put that lingerie-like nightdress in the wardrobe. ¡°You maye in.¡± As soon as she said that, Elise and a few maids came in. ¡°Ohh.¡± The maids eximed at seeing Rubica wearing a different nightdress than the night before. Rubica just smiled embarrassingly. Even though Ann had prepared a sexy nightdress for her, her husband, Edgar, didn¡¯t evene. They had to be pitying her. However, unlike Rubica who had slept soundly, the maids knew that Edgar hade at night. They must have spent a really good time together that she was now wearing a different nightdress. Moreover, her embarrassing smile only confirmed what they were thinking. ¡°Your Grace, you wanted to go to the training ground this afternoon.¡± Elise quickly spoke to stop the maids murmuring among themselves. ¡°Oh, yes, right.¡± That cleared Rubica¡¯s mind. She had no time to waste and had to prepare. After breakfast, she decided on a white dress with daffodil patterns and used a matching hair essory. Elise packed a mat, a pic basket, and two pairs of binocrs. ¡°You are always so pretty.¡± The girl said so as she looked at Rubica. She looked ordinary at first nce, but she knew how to highlight her own beauty when she wanted. She wasn¡¯t dazzling, but she drew attention and had a smile that was pleasant to look at. Chapter 151

Chapter 151: Chapter 151

¡°But Elise, you¡¯re much prettier than me.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡± Elise shook her head, thinking Rubica was only saying that to cheer her up. Apart from Rubica¡¯s pity for her, it was really hard for her to tear down the wall of prejudice she had built in her heart on her own. ¡®When we get to the training ground, many knights will be surprised to see her. Maybe someone will praise her beauty. Will that give her confidence?¡¯ Rubica was going to the training grounds to pick some good-looking knights, but she also had another purpose. She hoped there would be a knight who would lunge in like a boar when giving gifts andpliments to win a girl¡¯s heart. ¡°Then shall we go?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Rubica went to the training ground with Elise and a few maids. As she was the duchess, she could sit right in front of the training ground and watch. However, she didn¡¯t want to interrupt the knights¡¯ training, so she settled down on a small hill in the garden where she could look down at the training grounds. Elise put a parasol over her head to protect her skin from the sunlight and started to take out the food she brought. ¡°Madam, here are fresh apple juice and preserved plums.¡± ¡°Thank you. They¡¯re all my favorite.¡± Elise had brought a bunch of food as if they were on a pic. Therefore, Rubica happily ate and watched the knights train, and it was more exciting than watching a y or dance at the town festivals. ¡®They¡¯re all properly wearing shirts.¡¯ The knights had been told in advance that the duchess was going toe to see them train and had paid attention to their appearance. None of them took their shirt off as usual, so it was quite disappointing. ¡°Dashner, your right leg.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ¡°George! Your posture is wrong.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± However, that disappointment didn¡¯tst long as the knights proceeded with their training. They all started to sweat hard and their white shirts stuck to their body, showing the line of their muscles. Leaving a little space for imagination was always better than showing the real skin. ¡®Well, they have a much better body.¡¯ Of course. They were knights going under professional training. On the other hand, Edgar stayed in his office looking at books and blueprints. Of course, he couldn¡¯t have great muscles like them. ¡®Hmm, such bodies are fine, but Edgar¡¯s is not bad as well. He has a considerate amount of muscle, for someone who always works in his office. Yes, he has just the right amount of muscles. It¡¯s better than being so buffy like them.¡¯ ¡®And as for the face, Edgar¡¯s is much, much better.¡¯ She was supposed to focus on what she was seeing, but she kept thinking about Edgar. ¡°Elise, could you give me those?¡± ¡°Oh, the binocrs.¡± Elise handed her a pair of binocrs. Rubica had nned to look at the knights with them, but she only pretended to look at the knights and turned to the direction of Edgar¡¯s office. ¡®Hmm, he¡¯s looking at me again.¡¯ Edgar was right behind the window, probably not knowing she was looking at him. ¡®What the, is that an opera box or something? He¡¯s even brought a chair to the window.¡¯ She couldn¡¯t check his expression, but she had to hold back herughter. What was so funny about the garden that he was watching like that? He was born in the mansion and had grown up here. ¡®He shoulde out and take a proper walk if he has time for that. He shoulde and watch the grass and flowers while getting some fresh air. He reallycks exercise.¡¯ She decided to have a serious conversation about the matter with himter. His body didn¡¯t need any exercise for now, but those who didn¡¯t take care of their health tended to regret it after 30. Rubica had seen a handful of men who believed in their youthful good looks, enjoyed drinking and smoking, and lost their beauty in the end. ¡®The worst of them are those who still think they are handsome even after that.¡¯ Thankfully, Edgar was a sensitive man who didn¡¯t even like coffee, so it was unlikely that he liked to smoke. However, he had drunk champagne instead of water during their wedding feast and it bothered her. After all, he could be drinking in his office without her knowing about it. ¡®Oh, but losing his beauty would be a loss for this kingdom...¡¯ His beauty was a problem, but losing his health was going to be an even bigger problem. Rubica decided to ask him to take walks with her. ¡°Madam, what is so funny?¡± Elise¡¯s question woke her up from her thoughts. ¡®Oh, right. Now isn¡¯t the time for this.¡¯ She had almost forgotten why she was there. First, as a test, she pointed at a knight who wasn¡¯t that good-looking. ¡°Elise, isn¡¯t he handsome?¡± Elise didn¡¯t say anything for a moment, so she didn¡¯t seem to be agreeing with that. However, soon she said yes with a kind smile. ¡°Yes, he is handsome.¡± Ann had been right after all. Next, Rubica pointed at the knight who was at the top of her list. ¡°Then how about him?¡± ¡°Well, um, oh... I don¡¯t know.¡± The girl shyly looked down. Rubica put the name of the knight on her guest list. Then, she started to point at the knights one by one, and Elise reacted exactly as Ann had predicted. ¡°But I think he is more handsome...¡± One of the maids joined them. Watching the knights train hard under the bright sunlight fluttered the girls¡¯ heart that she joined the conversation without permission. ¡°Is he?¡± ¡°No, he isn¡¯t. Your Grace, I think the man you just pointed at is better.¡± ¡°But why?¡± ¡°He has more solid thighs.¡± Everyone burst intoughter at that. ¡°But that¡¯s more important than the face!¡± However, the maid seriously argued her opinion and even Rubica couldn¡¯t handle it andughed. She even forgot to cover her mouth with her fan. ¡°Haha!¡± A breeze took her high giggle to the knights¡¯ ears. Then, they immediately started to make mistakes. ¡°Dashner, you can¡¯t lower your right arm like that. Sahar! You¡¯re putting too much strength in your left arm. What the, George! Why are you standing like that?¡± Stephen, who had been overseeing their training as their instructor, immediately pointed out all of their mistakes. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The knights yelled, but they kept making mistakes. Moreover, they kept ncing somewhere, so Stephen looked at where they were looking at. There was the duchess, herdy-in-waiting, and a few maids watching them under the parasol. More mistakes happened each time theyughed. ¡®Shit!¡¯ He had to try really hard to not curse out loud. The knights had been using too much strength today, and there was a reason. ¡°All of you, do you know how great of an opportunity this is? I¡¯m personally training you!¡± ¡°Of course, sir!¡± ¡°Then try to make the most of it!¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Although ymore wasn¡¯t a warrior family, its guard knights were great. They were given huge wages and honor because Duke ymore was practically the most important man in the kingdom. When there was an empty spot, the royal family selected a good knight and sent him to ymore. Nevertheless, they were so weakpared to Stephen. As their captain, he was supposed to train them himself, but he never had time for that as he guarded Edgar. He never left the duke¡¯s side. Usually, guards did their duty on rotation, but Stephen kept protecting Edgar even when it was his off time. Everyone was impressed by his diligence and loyalty. Edgar¡¯s condition was a top secret that couldn¡¯t be known. So, Stephen was allowed to neglect the training of the other knights to protect the duke. However, when the duchess said she wanted to see the knights train, the duke called him. -You should oversee their training that day. -But I must guard you. -Let your vice-captain do it. It is your duty as the knights¡¯ captain to make them improve. I think I¡¯ve been making you do too much for my convenience. Edgar talked about his duties as the captain. However, Stephen could immediately see the duke wanted him to show the duchess how awesome and great ymore¡¯s knights were. ¡®Why does he care so much about that woman?¡¯ Stephen narrowed his eyes and looked at the duchess having a pleasant conversation with her maids. After she came, there had been many changes at the mansion. Some weed those changes, but not Stephen. ¡®The duke has been clearly slowing down with his work.¡¯ He knew what Edgar was working on. When he left the mansion with the duke to guard him, his brother snuck into the office. There were a lot of important documents there, and Stephen was eager to steal those. However, he was going to wait until Edgar finished Ste¡¯s blueprint. That weapon was strong enough to defeat dragons. It was going to change the world. Chapter 152

Chapter 152: Chapter 152

The entire northwest corner of the continent was controlled by the Kingdom of Seritos. Moreover, the tide of wars turned depending on which countries Seritos sold its weapons. Stephen¡¯s home, Amanun, was in the cold northeast corner of the continent. Just like Seritos, it couldn¡¯t grow enough crops, and it wasn¡¯t like Amanun had anything else to sell. As Amanun wasn¡¯t in a position that could gain from the mana stone trade, it had always been one of the poorest countries. Therefore, Stephen was going to change that by stealing Ste¡¯s blueprint which the duke was working on. ¡®I now know what he is thinking and how he works. He estimates that he will finish the blueprint in about three years.¡¯ Then, he spotted Dashner looking at the direction of the duchess with his mouth gaped open like a fool. He was one of the most hard-working knights and rarely failed to focus on his training. ¡°Dashner! What do you think you are doing? Concentrate!¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, yes, sir!¡± Dashner straightened his back and turned, almost striking his training partner with his sword. ¡°Ahh! Hey, be careful!¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry!¡± Stephen didn¡¯t hold back his sigh. ¡®Nothing has been going right ever since she came here.¡¯ He didn¡¯t just mean his knights. The duke had also gone through a strange change since Rubica¡¯s arrival. Even though the duke was arrogant and had his own unique way of behaving, when looking closely, Stephen could see he was surprisingly hard-working and kept to the rules. He had always been like that, but he had been derailing out of Stephen¡¯s n after he met the duchess. He even spent his whole day writing her name on white paper and didn¡¯t add a line to his blueprint sometimes. ¡®Really, she¡¯s troublesome.¡¯ The duchess was disturbing both the duke and the knights under training now. How could she even think toe where a group of vigorous men trained? Even though she was trying to not disturb and watching from the outside of the training ground, the knights were all stretching out their necks to look at her,pletely forgetting about their training. In addition to that, the duchess¡¯dy-in-waiting was way too pretty. Dashner, who couldn¡¯t take his eyes off her, was doing pretty much nothing. Some even rudely stared at the duchess and drooled. ¡®I cannot tolerate this anymore!¡¯ Stephen gave up training his knights and angrily walked to the duchess. ¡°What is it, Sir Stephen?¡± However, when he actually stood in front of her, he had nothing to say. She was the duchess. She could go anywhere she wanted to go and see anything she wanted to see in the mansion. It was the knights¡¯ who were in the wrong, not her. ¡°Madam, I¡¯m sorry, but could you let us focus on the training?¡± ¡°Oh, but I meant to watch you all from a distance so that I wouldn¡¯t disturb your training...¡± Stephen was one of the prime men Rubica had to invite since he was good-looking as long as Edgar wasn¡¯t with him. Rubica didn¡¯t want him to avoid her tea meeting since he was clearly showing that he was there only because he had no choice. She had already finished making the list of handsome knights to invite to her tea meeting, so she smiled at the knight. ¡°Then I will go inside now.¡± But then, they heard something being smashed in the mansion. Ordinary people like Rubica didn¡¯t know, but Stephen could immediately tell that the sound was from Edgar¡¯s office. ¡°Huh? But what was that sound?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. It sounded like something was broken. Maybe some servants are moving a piece of furniture or something.¡± Then, a servant ran toward them while yelling. ¡°Sir Stephen! Sir Stephen!¡± Stephen sighed deeply. He could guess what this was about. The duke was mad for seeing his wife smile at him, so he broke a te or something simr to quell his anger, then called him. ¡°Well, what is it?¡± And Rubica, the reason for all this, widened her eyes. ¡°The duke wants to see Sir Stephen.¡± ¡°Edgar called him? Has something happened?¡± ¡°No, Your Grace. The duke just wants to see Sir Stephen.¡± ¡°But I think I heard something a while ago...¡± ¡°Haha, it was nothing. Sir Stephen, His Grace will be mad if you don¡¯t go quickly.¡± The servant tried to avoid Rubica¡¯s suspicions and gave Stephen a pleading gaze. ¡®Ha, the duke¡¯s condition is getting worse and worse.¡¯ Now he couldn¡¯t even tolerate his wife showing a smile to one of his own knights. Stephen couldn¡¯t waste time, or he could be used. Therefore, he decided to go to the duke immediately. ¡°Then I must go now.¡± ¡°So must I. I am sorry that I disturbed your training.¡± Rubica smiled again. There came another sound of something being smashed. But this time, the sound was small and only Stephen could hear it. ¡®Ha, it¡¯s not like I can tell her to not smile.¡¯ He had a senior knight oversee the training instead of him and left in a hurry. ¡°Well, Elise, shall we go in too?¡± ¡°Yes, madam.¡± Rubica was worried that lingering there more wouldn¡¯t be of any help to the knights, especially so as Stephen was now gone. As soon as she said that, Elise started to fold the parasol with the maids. However, although unfolding it was easy, folding it was rtively difficult. ¡°May, may I help you?¡± Dashner, who had been ncing at Elise for some time, ventured out and asked. If Stephen had been watching, talking to the duchess would have been impossible. However, the captain had gone to the duke and Dashner didn¡¯t miss the chance, although his face was red and he was sweating a lot. ¡®Oh, yes. The boar.¡¯ He was the reckless man Rubica had been hoping for. Although he wasn¡¯t that handsome, he was in good shape, so Rubica decided to reward him for his courage. ¡°Yes, I would appreciate your help.¡± Dashner was more than happy to hear that. He folded the parasol with his big hands in no time. Then, he tied it with a string so that it wouldn¡¯t unfold itself again. ¡°Thank you.¡± Elise thanked him and took the parasol, but then... ¡°Ms. Sna!¡± Mr. Boar finally used his courage. Rubica and her maids excitedly waited for his next words. ¡°You are so beautiful.¡± Ah, the maids moaned at hearing that. He could have asked her to dance with him at a ball someday, but instead, he went with the worst wooing line. That was what the girls thought, but his fellow knights were thinking highly of him. Some even whistled at him. ¡®What would Elise say? She will be shy, probably.¡¯ Although Elise was pretty, she still had a problem when it came to embracing her changes. She was still afraid she might not be asked to dance during balls. Rubica wanted her to get at least a little bit of confidence and courage through this. ¡°I am serving the duchess. Please do not talk to me for private reasons while I am working.¡± However, Elise cleanly cut Dashner¡¯s courage with a proud attitude that she normally used only when Rubica eagerly asked for it. She looked so cold that they could almost feel frost form around them. ¡°Wow...¡± The knights all eximed. Dashner then turned into a burning boar, who for a moment didn¡¯t know what to do. Then, he deeply bowed. ¡°My apologies!¡± Next, he ran and hid among his friends. Elise didn¡¯t care about the knights murmuring about her and continued to speak to Rubica. ¡°Madam, you must be tired after staying so long under the sunlight. We should go inside.¡± ¡°Oh, okay.¡± Rubica said okay, but she still couldn¡¯t believe what just happened. Elise had always been so embarrassed when Rubica and her knights called her pretty, but she wasn¡¯t embarrassed at all about the knight¡¯spliment. She rather looked irritated. *** Rubica nced at Elise as she wrote another invitation with ink that matched the receiver. Elise, in the meantime, put one of the finished invitations in an envelope and sealed it with wax. She seemed to be concentrating, but she didn¡¯t look that happy. ¡°Um, Elise.¡± ¡°Yes, madam?¡± ¡°Were you offended earlier at the training ground?¡± Elise quietly nodded. ¡°But the knight wasplimenting you... what was wrong about it?¡± Rubica muttered to herself. Even though no one talked about it, everyone was concerned about the girl¡¯sck of confidence. Rubica believed beingplimented from the others would help her regain her confidence, and it had actually worked at first. However, it could only make Elise ept the fact that she was not displeasing to look at. ¡°I was offended because...¡± ¡°Because?¡± ¡°That knight once called me ugly before.¡± Elise pressed the stamp with the ymore emblem on the hot red wax she dropped on the envelope. She used a lot more strength than before. ¡°What?¡± That stupid boar couldn¡¯t even recognize a pearl in the mud and babbled such stupid nonsense? Rubica was now mad. ¡°I was mad because he dared to woo me right in front of you when he couldn¡¯t even remember me. He couldn¡¯t even say a word when his captain was around, and you are much, much higher in rank than Sir Stephen.¡± ¡°I will call him right now and have him apologize to you!¡± However, Elise just shook her head. Chapter 153

Chapter 153: Chapter 153

¡°It¡¯s been more than a year already. Moreover, I just don¡¯t want to talk to him.¡± ¡°Okay, we will not go to the training ground ever again.¡± Rubica nodded and focused on writing the invitations. Soon she finished thest one and handed it to Elise. Then, she stretched her back and stroked the dogs lying near her. The dogs loved it when they were patted. ¡°Your Grace.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Am I pretty?¡± Elise was really serious when she asked that after she finished sorting the invitations. ¡°Yes, you are really pretty. I want you to believe me now.¡± ¡°You said I was pretty when we first met. Back then, I was really ugly... so although I was d to hear what you said, I just couldn¡¯t believe it. I thought you were saying that to encourage me as I was too scared, so I was happy even though I took it as a lie.¡± ¡°But I said that because you are really pretty!¡± Rubica shouted anxiously, and Elise had to try hard to notugh. Why did the duchess care about her so much when she was just nobody? Really, she was a strange mistress. ¡°You see, that knight who called me ugly before kept ncing at me today. Then, he found the courage to speak to me, and what he said was apliment. He said I was pretty.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that boar ever again. We should just ignore him.¡± Oh no, Rubica said the nickname she had given him in secret, and Elise had tough at that. ¡°Boar?¡± ¡°Yes. Doesn¡¯t he look like a boar?¡± ¡°He does! Haha!¡± Eliseughed for a long time. She could calm down only after drinking some hot water, but she couldn¡¯t help thinking about Dashner and his boar-like face and had to try hard to notugh again. ¡°So, what were you trying to tell me?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just, um... I suddenly got to think, ¡®Was I that sad just because I wasn¡¯t asked to dance with men who can¡¯t even remember the people they humiliated?¡¯ Then, being depressed for such a long time about it suddenly felt really stupid.¡± Elise made a sad smile that usually didn¡¯t belong to young girls of her age. ¡°What is beauty? Why on earth it hurt me so much and changed the people¡¯s attitude toward me so quickly? I¡¯m the same me, I was myself back then and I am myself now...¡± Of course, Rubica used to think being pretty was good. She had been taught girls had to try hard to be pretty, and she had been taught that her value depended on how many men asked her to dance at balls and how many men asked for her hand in marriage. However, when she got older, she learned that wasn¡¯t the only thing that set the value of her life but, by then, every bit of wealth and happiness had already been destroyed by the war. Before that, she thought it was a virtue that had to be pursued. And now, a girl was asking if it was that natural and right. ¡°Hmm.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what to say at such moments, so she just decided to talk about the Holy Book as she was used to it. She wasn¡¯t sure she could exin her own thoughts, but what a great man had said in the past could give Elise the answer she was looking for. ¡°Elise, there is a part about beauty in Hue¡¯s Holy Book.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t Hue the god of love? Why is beauty mentioned in his book?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know that either. I guess it¡¯s because love and beauty are highly connected. Anyway, the book says, ¡®the goddess of love is ugly¡¯.¡± ¡°The goddess of love is ugly? Not the most beautiful among immortals?¡± ¡°Yes. You see, the goddess of love is supposed to pursue beauty. And to pursue something, you mustck it. If the goddess of love were beautiful, she would have no need to pursue it. That is why she is ugly.¡± Elise looked a little confused as she had never heard about that before. The Holy Book of Hue, the god of love, wasn¡¯t considered that important. The vow of marriage and the vow of lovers in it were well known, but only a few knew about what it said about beauty. Rubica had learned about it only thanks to her time at Hue¡¯s Abbey. ¡°That is why ugliness is beautiful. She can be pretty because she is ugly.¡± ¡°She is beautiful because... she is ugly.¡± Elise was lost in words for a moment. The goddess of love was beautiful because she was ugly? She had never thought about beauty that way. She used to think that ugliness was bad and had to be avoided. That was why she had been so miserable. Oh, why am I not pretty? Why am I so ugly? She kept asking that. She had been sad and depressed when looking at herself in the mirror. ¡°Then, I have always been pretty? Even when everyone called me ugly?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Rubica nodded. Now that she thought about it, she had said Elise was pretty even when the others called her ugly. It had sounded like constion back then, but why did it sound genuine now? ¡°So, don¡¯t care about what others think. Just wear the dresses you want, wear the makeup you want, and do your hair as you want. Of course, you don¡¯t have to do it if you don¡¯t want to. But I¡¯ve been asking you to do it because...¡± ¡°I was always looking at you with envy.¡± Elise finished Rubica¡¯s sentence and smiled. ¡®Oh.¡¯ Her smile was different now. It was totally different from when Rubica had her smile proudly and confidently in front of the others. Now her smile was truly full of confidence, and it couldn¡¯t bepared to the forced smile she made before. It made Rubica feel so happy and sad at the same time. Elise wasn¡¯t the only girl who wasn¡¯t asked to dance at balls and mocked as ¡®a flower on the wall¡¯. That happened each year. And every time that happened, those girls lost their confidence and burst in tears when they got home. Most of them couldn¡¯t even be consoled by their families. Their families rather scolded them for kicking away a chance to get married and tore apart theirst bit of pride. They each had their own unique beauty, but it was denied when they were not asked to dance with men. ¡®And most of those men are no better than Dashner.¡¯ Rubica wished those girls to realize they were beautiful, regardless of what others thought of them. Then, Latte suddenly jumped to its feet and ran to the door. ¡°Madam, the duke hase.¡± Well, the dog¡¯s nose was always correct. Rubica nodded and a maid opened the door for Edgar, who had a slightly red face as he ran inside. ¡°What is wrong with your hand?¡± Before he could say anything, Rubica pointed at his right hand that was now wrapped in a bandage. He hid the hand behind him, but Rubica had already seen enough. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°Oh, I heard something smashed when I was at the training ground. Did you get hurt then?¡± After she came back to the main building, she had asked what the sound had been about, but they just smiled awkwardly and said it had been nothing. However, judging from Edgar¡¯s guilty expression, he had been hurt at that time. ¡°Oh, but you have to write with this hand every day!¡± Rubica was worried. She went to him and tried to take a look at his hand, but he pulled his hand out of her hands. ¡®Huh?¡¯ That was odd and Rubica blinked in surprise. ¡®Oh, is it because I tried to grab his wounded arm?¡¯ She only wanted to take a closer look at his wound, but it could have appeared threatening to him. Rubica decided it would be better to make him sit down and ask him to show her the wound. ¡°Just sit down first.¡± Rubica tried to take his left hand as she said that, but Edgar took out his hand again. Then, he awkwardly went to the table and sat down while Rubica nkly stared at him. ¡®Why is he doing that?¡¯ Her heart hurt as if someone was poking it with needles. He was always eager to touch her, and he would ask hugs and kisses every time he saw an opportunity. She just couldn¡¯t understand his sudden change. ¡®It must be a coincidence.¡¯ She managed to calm down, sat down next to him, and smiled at him. But then, he looked away and it made her heart ache again. However, she dismissed the feeling and asked him kindly. ¡°I am worried. May I have a look at your wound?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already had the doctor treat it, so it¡¯s fine.¡± But he turned her down tly, still not looking at her. ¡®Oh...¡¯ Now it was clear. It hadn¡¯t been a coincidence. He was truly avoiding her. ¡°... okay.¡± Rubica said sadly. Now it was the point for Edgar to ask why she was sad, but he didn¡¯t. He had been acting like a sweet lover, but was he tired of it now? Thinking so made her sad. Chapter 154

Chapter 154: Chapter 154

¡®Oh, it¡¯s driving me crazy.¡¯. However, contrary to what Rubica was thinking, Edgar was avoiding physical contact with her because of another reason. As soon as he saw her, he remembered what he had seenst night. Her sleeping in that nightdress which he couldn¡¯t even describe under the dim candlelight, and her soft skin that he touched by mistake. Just thinking about it made his blood surge. He was now desperately trying to control himself. ¡°Elise, now we should sort these invitations and have a servant deliver them.¡± ¡°Yes, madam.¡± Rubica sorted the letters, trying not to look awkward while Edgar picked up one of them. ¡°Stephen?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to invite him to the tea meeting too. It¡¯s okay, right?¡± Rubica had gotten Edgar¡¯s advice on which nobles to invite, but as the knights were all ymore¡¯s subjects, she didn¡¯t discuss with him. ¡°But why do you want to invite him?¡± Edgar sounded quite serious. ¡°Why? It¡¯s because...¡± Before Rubica could say anything, Edgar picked more invitations. They all had one thing inmon. ¡°They¡¯re all for handsome men.¡± Rubica nodded. ¡°Am I not enough for you?¡± Rubica looked like she couldn¡¯t understand the question, and it made him even madder. He knew very well that she liked beauty. However, she had a husband. And now, she wanted to invite a bunch of other men? Edgar was the most handsome man on the continent. Plus, he was the Arman she was so eagerly looking for. Why did she want other men when she had her own man right next to her? ¡°Ah, hahaha!¡± Rubica suddenly burst intoughter. At first, she had been confused as she didn¡¯t know what he was talking about. However, she could see what this was about now. ¡°Don¡¯tugh. I¡¯m serious.¡± And that was even funnier. He refused her touch only a minute ago, and now he was jealous? Really, he was extremely good at confusing her. ¡°Haha, Edgar, no, haha, that¡¯s not it.¡± She was supposed to exin, but she wasughing so hard that it was hard to speak. Edgar started to look really offended. ¡°But it is! You said you wanted to see the training ground, so I thought it was about the management of the household, but you were busy looking at the knights. I know you spied on them with binocrs. You, you even smiled at Stephen.¡± You called Stephen so suddenly because of that? Then, that sudden smashing sound and your bandaged hand were because of... Now it was even harder to notugh. Rubica covered her mouth with both hands. She wanted to roll on the floor andugh hard, but she managed not to because she knew Edgar would refuse to see her for a whole day if she did that. Elise and the maids were also trying hard to look normal. ¡°Edgar, that¡¯s not it. I am inviting these men for thedies I am inviting. It¡¯s not to delight my eyes at all.¡± She regretted saying that as soon as she did since now everyone knew she liked pretty faces. That had never been revealed in her previous life... ¡°Really?¡± However, Edgar looked so serious that she decided she didn¡¯t have to worry about that. To those who were watching this scene now, what she had just said wasn¡¯t something they would remember. Their memories were going to be imprinted forever by the smart duke¡¯s stupid misunderstanding and foolish acts. ¡®Oh, it¡¯s bad that this treasure-like guy¡¯s impression is about to be ruined.¡¯ So, she decided to join him and be aughingstock together. ¡°And why would I look for anything else when I have such a great eye candy right here?¡± However, her fool-like husband smiled stupidly at that. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± He was d to be her eye candy. Along with that, his impression was totally in shambles. ¡°Of course.¡± Rubica half gave up and agreed with him. It made him feel a lot better and he helped her sort the invitations. However, when their fingers touched, he jumped to his feet. ¡°I will be in the dining hall.¡± Then, he ran out of the room. ¡°What is wrong with him?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± As he was d to be Rubica¡¯s eye candy, it didn¡¯t seem he was mad at her. However, after that, he flinched every time Rubica¡¯s body touched him even slightly. Then, he looked away and tried not to touch her again. ¡®Why on earth is he doing that?¡¯ Rubica didn¡¯t know that he had seen her in the nightdress yesterday and couldn¡¯t tell what this was about. She did want to avoid physical contact with him, but she hadn¡¯t wished for him to avoid her gaze as well. She wasn¡¯t the type of person who just endured such a situation. She had already abandoned her belief that she would one day be appreciated if she patiently endured. That only happened in fairy tales. When she held back herints, people thought she had none. When she endured, she was used. That was the reality she had experienced. ¡°Edgar, are you mad at me?¡± She asked as soon as they were alone in the bedroom. Edgar, who was sitting on a sofa next to the firece far from the bed, blinked at the question. ¡°Mad at you?¡± He asked back as if he really couldn¡¯t understand the question. However, his blue eyes under his soft, beautiful eyebrows were still not looking at her. ¡°You look like you are mad at me...¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡± ¡°Then why do you keep looking away?¡± Edgar angrily looked straight at her when he heard the question. His eyes were burning like mes, and Rubica, who felt like they would burn her, took a step back. It looked like she had messed up with a sleeping lion. ¡°Why am I looking away? You really don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know... that¡¯s why I¡¯m asking.¡± He grabbed his armrest tightly, and it meant he was really mad. Rubica didn¡¯t know why, so she was very confused. ¡°You seduced me like that, and now you pretend to be innocent...¡± ¡°Seduced?¡± ¡°Why were you wearing that nightdressst night?¡± He confronted her. ¡°That nightdress... oh!¡± Rubica realized what he was talking about, and her face turned red in less than a second. He had seen her in that embarrassing nightdress? It was so thin that she didn¡¯t want to remember how she looked in it, and she couldn¡¯t believe the man in front of her had seen it. She wanted to run away. But where could she run to? This was her room. She could run out, but she would eventually have toe back. She jumped around while ruffling her hair. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you saw that. It¡¯s so embarrassing!¡± ¡°What do you mean, embarrassing? You looked really pretty...¡± ¡°What?¡± His blue eyes glistened under the dim candlelight, and Rubica could feel her body freezing in tension. He let out an extremely dangerous smell. ¡°Why did you wear it?¡± If she really had worn it to seduce him, he wasn¡¯t going to hesitate. ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s because... Ann asked me to.¡± ¡°Ha.¡± He sighed. Now it was his turn to ruffle his hair as he could see what must have happened. Ann was good at interfering when she wasn¡¯t supposed to. ¡°I should rece the housekeeper.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s not her fault. She was just trying to be considerate.¡± Rubica jumped to her feet and spoke for Ann. Edgar then looked at her. ¡®Dull.¡¯ She was so dull that she couldn¡¯t even guess that he liked her. ¡®Well, she thought the blind man worked for hours to make a bouquet just because of their friendship.¡¯ And he had been stupid enough to not confess his love, and she still didn¡¯t know. It was no different now. He liked her and everyone at the mansion knew that. Even the dogs knew that, but she didn¡¯t know. He kept giving hints, but she didn¡¯t notice it. ¡°Rubica.¡± He smiled dangerously, and Rubica couldn¡¯t help but crouch. It felt like he was about to shake her with something extremely evil. ¡°I have a confession to make.¡± Edgar had once promised to Carl that he would never do anything like an idiot if he ever found out Rubica liked him. He was the Arman she loved. He didn¡¯t want to be an idiot who couldn¡¯t even confess his love to her like his future self. ¡°A confession?¡± ¡°It seems like you will never notice it if I don¡¯t tell you, so I must tell you.¡± Rubica widened her eyes, clearly not knowing what he was about to say. ¡®Of course, she would refuse now.¡¯ However, she was going to regret it afterward. He decided to be refused dly, and he was even ready to pretend to be heartbroken. ¡°I like you.¡± Rubica frowned as she couldn¡¯t understand what he meant by that. ¡°Not as a friend. I like you as a man likes a woman.¡± He made it clear before she could interpret it the way she wanted. ¡°No, no way.¡± ¡°Of course there¡¯s no way a husband loves his own wife.¡± ¡°But I...¡± ¡°Am in love with someone else? I know. You¡¯ve told me that enough times.¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t understand him. He knew about her situation, and he still liked her? He even seemed rather rxed. However, Elise just shook her head. Chapter 155

Chapter 155: Chapter 155

¡°You¡¯re joking, right?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t make such jokes.¡± ¡°But...¡± He got up from the sofa and came closer to her slowly. He feared that she might run away from him, but he knew this was the moment he should pull her in. ¡°Rubica.¡± She didn¡¯t stop him when he stroked her head. Maybe she was so shocked and confused that shepletely forgot about running away. ¡°I like you. I looked away because I couldn¡¯t help thinking about how you looked in that nightdress when I saw you. When our fingers just slightly touched...¡± He couldn¡¯t bring himself to talk about how he touched her by mistake. Instead, he let out a hot breath. ¡°I like you, and it¡¯s driving me crazy.¡± ¡°But I...¡± ¡°I¡¯m not demanding you to do anything with me right now. Will you just give me a chance?¡± ¡°A chance?¡± Edgar smiled sadly when looking at her lips repeating what he had just said. He wished he could kiss those pair of lips right away. But now that he had confessed his love, he couldn¡¯t just be swayed by the mood. He just bit her with his poisonous fangs. To swallow her whole, he had to wait for the poison to spread to her body. ¡°Just think of me as a ¡®potential boyfriend¡¯, will you? Just give me some possibility.¡± He carefully kissed her hand, and he saw a possibility on her blushing cheeks. ¡®There¡¯s no need to rush.¡¯ She was eventually going to love him, just like she had loved Arman. It¡¯s just that he wanted her to love him not because he was Arman, but as the person she was looking at right now. ¡°Edgar.¡± Rubica called him in a hoarse voice while he gently grabbed her cheeks with his huge hands. Then, he slowly leaned down. She didn¡¯t know what to do but, in the end, she closed her eyes. Soon he kissed her forehead. ¡°Goodnight, my love.¡± That was what he always wanted to say every time he gave her a short goodnight kiss. And now, it was her turn to be confused as much as he had been. He left the room, only leaving his charming smile behind. *** Rubica was so shocked by Edgar¡¯s sudden confession of love. She had never heard anything like that from anyone, and she hadn¡¯t known she would hear that from Duke ymore. ¡®What should I do? Oh, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever done anything that would catch his eyes...¡¯ She couldn¡¯t understand him. However, what was even harder to understand was herself not pushing him away. She had never been through anything like this. She could neither guess his feeling nor hers and ended up not getting a wink of sleep. And the next day, she was so busy that she couldn¡¯t think about that anymore. The guests she had invited to her tea meeting sent back to announce they wereing and just assigning each of them to the right spot alone wasn¡¯t easy. ¡°Your Grace, here¡¯s a letter for you.¡± Carl called her when she just managed to finish the job. Was she supposed to redo it all over again? She took the envelope, almost about to cry, but a happy smile crept across her face as soon as she saw the name on it. ¡°Ang!¡± The letter had traveled a long distance and the envelope was in bad condition. Ang must have a lot to say as there were twenty letters inside, and Rubica didn¡¯t hesitate to start reading them. [Rubica! I¡¯m writing you a letter as soon as I passed the entrance exam. I was worried as I had never been properly educated, but I passed, although barely. I¡¯m still in the lower ranks, but I¡¯m going to study hard and be the top of my ss.] Then, she exined in detail what she had experienced in her long way to the Academy. Rubica smiled when reading the stories about the many countries she went through and the many people she met. [I tried to meet Isaac when I arrived, but I cannot meet him. Maybe he¡¯s avoiding me. Mother always said he is a great student, alwaysplimented, but it looks like he is great in the opposite meaning. My professors keep telling me, ¡®You are so diligent, unlike your brother.¡¯] Rubica¡¯s heart sank when Ang mentioned Isaac. The letter said she shouldn¡¯t worry about it as Ang was going to let her parents know about it and find out more. ¡®Well, it¡¯s better this way. Isaac should give up his study and leave the Academy for everyone¡¯s sake.¡¯ And what followed that was enough to brighten her up. Ang was about to be given a long vacation before deciding on her major next semester, and she was asking if she coulde to meet Rubica. ¡°Madam, you look delighted. The letters must have a lot of good news.¡± ¡°Ang passed the entrance exam, and she has made many funny friends too. There is a country ruled by a queen, and women can work as officials there. She wants to take me there someday.¡± ¡°She must be very smart. The new semester will be starting soon, I will send her a few books and writing tools in ymore¡¯s name.¡± ¡°And she wants toe to visit before next semester...¡± ¡°Ms. Berner cane anytime she wants. I will make arrangements and make sure she stays at the best guestroom we have.¡± Carl immediately replied, so Rubica thanked him with a smile. She was already missing Ang. What should she make her wear and what should she make her eat? She started to look forward to it. ¡°Is there anything else you want me to do?¡± The part of the letter about Isaac bothered Rubica. However, it didn¡¯t seem right to ask for help with it. She had to take care of it herself. ¡°No, it¡¯s...¡± ¡°Please tell me anytime if there is anything you want to be done.¡± Rubica stared at Carl who patiently waited for her to speak. ¡°Thinking about the Academy reminds me of something. I once asked Edgar to find a man for me. I think he probably had you do it...¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Carl eximed and regretted it. He should have pretended to be ignorant or tell her to ask the duke. However, his exmation had revealed he knew something. ¡°I was wondering because he didn¡¯t tell me anything afterward, and he was confident he could find him soon. Carl, if you know anything, please tell me.¡± Saying he knew nothing was going to destroy the trust she had for him and Edgar, so he wondered about what he should do. ¡®His Grace said he will win her heart on his own...¡¯ But honestly, having to watch all that was driving Carl crazy. He couldn¡¯t understand why his master was taking a detour when there was a shortcut right in front of him. Edgar called Arman an idiot without any courage, but in Carl¡¯s eyes, the two were no different. However, judging from Edgar¡¯s personality, convincing him out of it was going to be impossible. ¡®But what if she realizes it first?¡¯ He couldn¡¯t tell her openly, but he could give her a hint. Plus, if their love was madeplete, it was going to be good for her as well. After all, the duke had once told him something. -Do not consider me as your top priority. Always think of Rubica first. Moreover, it was going to be better for her to find out that the Arman she was looking for was the duke as soon as possible. Therefore, he was not betraying the duke, he was carrying out his order. ¡°We asked Aron¡¯s Academy, and there was no blind man named Arman among its graduates.¡± ¡°Oh...¡± ¡°The duke must have not told you because he didn¡¯t want to disappoint you.¡± Rubica bit her lips. After a moment of silence, Carl gravely asked, ¡°Your Grace, I was wondering...¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Do you remember the duke¡¯s full name?¡± ¡°His full name? Edgar Taylor yd Windmore.¡± Carl wanted to talk about the duke¡¯s real full name, but he didn¡¯t. He knew that if he mentioned that much the duke would make him pay for it. ¡°Oh, are you talking about his real full name that goes on and on for pages?¡± Thankfully, his smart mistress soon found the answer he wanted, so he smiled broadly. ¡°Why don¡¯t you look into it sometime? It has ymore¡¯s history in it.¡± And he left after that, saying it was time to bring tea to Edgar. ¡°Have you given her the letters?¡± Edgar quickly asked as soon as Carl went into the office. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And she didn¡¯t say anything about it? Like the handwriting was wrong or the paper was worn out strangely.¡± ¡°Not at all. She was just happy to get the letters.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Actually, the letters Rubica had gotten were a carefully made copy. The real letters were in Edgar¡¯s hands. Edgar had read Ang¡¯s letters in advance, and his hands had shaken in rage to know what they said. Ang kept asking once every ten sentences if the duke was abusing Rubica. [If he ignores you, don¡¯t stand it.] [If it is painful, don¡¯t endure it alone. Just tell me and I wille to you right away.] And she also added, ¡®Here at the Academy, Edgar is famous for being arrogant and selfish even though he is smart.¡¯ She wrote everything, including the time he said, ¡®What is so difficult about it? A month of studying should be more than enough for it,¡¯ to a ssmate who was ten years older than him and failed the test three years in a row. Chapter 156

Chapter 156: Chapter 156

[He looked handsome, but he also seemed to have some personality issues, and it turned out he indeed has some serious problems. Rubica, just endure it a little more. I am going to study hard and be sessful, I will also support you when you leave that horrible household.] Edgar eventually exploded at that sentence. In the end, he called a professional letter forger. -Rewrite this letter and leave out everything bad about me. Moreover, the forger was remarkably good. He could even recreate the worn-out envelope which went through its long journey on the ship. -Wouldn¡¯t this eventually be revealed when Ms. Berneres? Carl pointed out at seeing the forged letter, and Edgar went silent for a long time. -I will win her to my side before that. Send enough gifts and money to her in my name. Oh, and send maids and guard knights for her. She will be treated as a ymore¡¯s rtive. Carl wanted to say Ang wasn¡¯t the type of person who could be bribed, but he kept his mouth shut. The duke wasn¡¯t going to listen to him anyway. Instead, he just said he would send the maids who could give her the best impression of him. And fortunately, Rubica didn¡¯t notice that the letter she got was fake. ¡°And did she ask for anything after reading that letter?¡± ¡°No, she asked for nothing.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be right.¡± Edgar looked down at the real letter from Ang on the table. Even though Rubica had received only twenty pages, he had about thirty pages. So, about ten pages were just criticism about him. ¡°She should have at least asked us to look into Isaac¡¯s matter.¡± Edgar had already gotten enough information about that troublemaker, and he was going to take care of him as soon as Rubica asked for his help. ¡°Maybe she doesn¡¯t want to tell me as it is her family¡¯s matter.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not a thing anyone would want to talk about...¡± ¡°I think she is nning to ask you herself.¡± Edgar¡¯s frown faded a little. Carl was right. How could Rubica talk to the butler about such a sensitive matter? Of course, she could tell her husband. ¡®I must be her strong supporter and protector.¡¯ Rubica had said she was practically an orphan without any rtives. She had only two people she could call family: Ang, who was far away, and Edgar. Who else could she turn to when she needed help and support? He was ready to solve any trouble she had if only she told him about it. ¡°Oh, and Your Grace, I¡¯ve been wondering this for some time, but what have you been making?¡± There was no blueprint on Edgar¡¯s table. Instead, it was in a mess with wires, wood pieces, and sawdust. Edgar looked a little embarrassed at the question. ¡°It¡¯s done now.¡± ¡°Done?¡± ¡°Yes. It was a difficult idea and I wandered a little only because I didn¡¯t have enough information, but it¡¯s all done now.¡± Then, he quickly put the things on the table in a drawer. Carl held his breath at witnessing that hurrying move. ¡®Has he been distracted from his project?¡¯ However, that was impossible. Edgar had been diligent since the moment he was born. He sometimes focused so hard that he even forgot to eat. Him, being distracted? That was just not possible. ¡®He must have made one of the parts that are too important to entrust to others.¡¯ Carl tried to think of what he had just witnessed in the best way possible. He tried not to think that making such an important part with wood instead of iron couldn¡¯t be right. ¡°Then please, call me if there¡¯s anything you need.¡± Edgar let out a sigh of relief after Carl left. He had finallye up with quite a good idea and had forgotten to hide what he had been doing. He took out a needle and thread from a drawer. Then, he put them in what he had just invented and hit the button. ¡°It works perfectly.¡± Was this what moved Rubica¡¯s heart? ¡®If it isn¡¯t, I will find a hint and make another invention.¡¯ It was his invention, after all. There was no way he couldn¡¯t make it. He was sure he would win Rubica¡¯s heart, sooner orter. *** Rubica spent the entire afternoon writing back to Ang. She wrote about all that had happened in the meantime. It went on for over ten pages, but it was so pleasant that she couldn¡¯t feel the pain in her arm. Then, she started to make table cloths in the evening. Rosa and the other seamstresses made delicateces next to her. ¡°Why don¡¯t we make roundces and use them instead of coasters?¡± ¡°That would be nice. We should use rose patterns for it.¡± ¡°And it would be good to lightly embroider the edge of the napkins.¡± Edgar stopped the servant from announcing his arrival and stood by the door to look at the scene. Rubica diligently embroidered but, at the same time, she looked up at hearing what the others said and sometimes smiled quietly. Just looking at her moved his heart. He wished her to enjoy the peace and happiness there forever, and he felt like he could do anything for that. ¡°Woof woof!¡± However, that dream ended the moment Latte saw him. Edgar didn¡¯t like the dog running at him, but Rubica smiled at seeing him and looked quite cute. As Rubica found him thanks to the dog¡¯s barking, he patted its head as a reward. ¡°Ohh.¡± The maids eximed as the duke had never patted Latte before. They thought the tale of a man being transformed by his wife after marriage was nothing more than a legend, but it turned out it wasn¡¯t that impossible. ¡°Why are you working so hard on it? You don¡¯t have to do all of this yourself.¡± Edgar protested. He didn¡¯t like that the guests would wipe their hands and mouths with the napkins Rubica was embroidering. ¡°But it would be better to put more time and effort into it.¡± It is so fun to gather around with working as an excuse and chat. Rubica pouted, her eyes still on the needle. Edgar sounded so annoying that she couldn¡¯t believe he had said he loved her only a day ago. ¡°Use your time and effort only on me.¡± His light smile was quite mischievous, and Rubica was shocked by the sudden attack that she touched the thread that was barely hanging at the needle¡¯s eye. ¡°Oh no, I identally pulled out the thread.¡± ¡°Elise, you should bring a candle to her.¡± Threading such a small needle was hard, especially at night. She grabbed the needle again, frowning hard. But then... ¡°Give it to me.¡± For a moment, she didn¡¯t know what he was talking about. However, he asked again, pointing at her hand holding the needle. ¡°Come on.¡± What could not match Duke Edgar ymore more than a needle and thread? Rubica tried to hide her surprise and handed him what he wanted. He smiled and then took out a device that was the size of a palm from his right pocket. Then, he put the thread in a groove on top and put the needle in a hole next to it. ¡°Look.¡± Edgar pressed the button with everyone watching. Boing. There came the sound of a spring bouncing off and then he pulled out the needle. ¡°Oh!¡± ¡°It has been threaded.¡± ¡°What just happened?¡± Everyone eximed while Edgar smiled happily. Days of hard work were finally paying off. At first, he hadn¡¯t known what to do. He knew nothing about embroidery, so he didn¡¯t know what was annoying and irritating about it. After a few experiments, he concluded threading a needle was something trivial but difficult. ¡°Just press the button and the needle will be threaded.¡± Edgar showed them how to do it again, and the old seamstresses whose eyesight was not good as before were extremely delighted. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s amazing!¡± ¡°Now we won¡¯t have to struggle with magnifying sses anymore.¡± ¡°Your Grace, may we try it?¡± Edgar handed them the device, and everyone took their turn to try it. It was an extremely simple invention, but they were all so impressed. ¡°But how did you get it? Is it from Sharman?¡± Rubica asked curiously, but Edgar was slightly disappointed by her reaction. She didn¡¯t seem to be falling in love with him. ¡®This one¡¯s a failure.¡¯ It looked like what made her fall for Arman was yet another invention. He decided to postpone the development of Ste. He was going to make the invention in a few months no matter what. ¡°I didn¡¯t buy it. I made it.¡± ¡°You made it?¡± ¡°He made it?¡± Everyone looked at him in shock, but Edgar was so used to being praised that he didn¡¯t like the mood. ¡°I got some time and made it as a pastime.¡± Edgar pointed at the door with his chin and everyone left reluctantly. A few old seamstresses couldn¡¯t take their eyes off the device on the table. ¡°What is this about?¡± Rubica asked why he sent everyone out, and he didn¡¯t have anything he could say. He just couldn¡¯t tell her he had done it because he wanted to beplimented by her and was irritated when everyone was so shocked. Chapter 157

Chapter 157: Chapter 157

¡°I heard you got a letter from Ang.¡± However, Edgar was the smartest person on the continent. To him, finding an excuse was easy. ¡°Oh, you knew.¡± ¡°Of course, I know everything about you.¡± His warm gaze reminded Rubica of the confession of love he had made a few days ago. Normal days had followed it and what had happened then, now felt like a dream. So, why was she thinking about it now? He just said it was right for him to know everything about her, but it embarrassed her. ¡°Rubica.¡± She didn¡¯t know what to say, but then he suddenly came close. She could feel his breath right in front of her nose and her cheeks turned red. ¡°I heard your cousin did well with her entrance exam. Does she need anything? If she needs something or help, just tell me anytime. There¡¯s nothing I cannot help you with.¡± Before, Rubica hadn¡¯t cared much about his kind consideration since she thought he was just trying to keep ymore¡¯s name honorable and respected. However, after he confessed that he loved her, now it came to her with apletely different meaning. He was trying to win her heart, and she didn¡¯t know what to say to him. ¡°Oh, um, it¡¯s fine. I think Ang is doing well. There¡¯s no need to worry.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Is she really okay? Is there nothing wrong? Anything I can help you with?¡± He was pressing on her and it surprised her. Toote, he realized he had made a mistake. Shit. He couldn¡¯t let her find out that he had read her letter first in secret no matter what. ¡°I¡¯m just worried. You don¡¯t have to withhold everything to yourself.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± She didn¡¯t withhold anything. She would always counter back immediately whenever he did something she didn¡¯t like... The time she pped his face in anger, and saying she would do the same to him if he talked down to her... it all crossed her mind. Her cheeks were now fiery hot. He liked her even after all she had done to him? It was strange. There had to be something wrong with him. However, he was the one frustrated. She did withhold everything to herself! She couldn¡¯t even tell him about Isaac, much less about the ring. Edgar really wanted to use her, but he managed not to. It was his fault that she couldn¡¯t tell him about all that as he should have made her trust him. ¡°Oh, right.¡± Rubica seemed to be reminded of something, and Edgar¡¯s chest billowed up with hope. ¡°What is it? Just tell me.¡± He looked at the pair of lips which he wanted to kiss right away. If those cute lips demanded anything, he was going to grant it even if it would cost his life. ¡°Oh, um, your personal wealth. Where do you keep it?¡± ¡°My personal wealth? At Seritos Bank, of course.¡± Rubica gulped hard. She wished Edgar would not misunderstand what she was about to say... ¡®No, I should not be scared!¡¯ She wanted him to misunderstand. She wanted him to think of her as a strange woman who made strange requests so that he would lose his interest in her. ¡°Can¡¯t you move it to Jackal Bank?¡± ¡°Jackal Bank?¡± Edgar raised an eyebrow. ¡°But it¡¯s not like it has a stable finance, nor does it have a high interest rate...¡± He was right. There was nothing where Jackal Bank was better than Seritos Bank. However, within a few years, it was going to be the safest bank of all. After all, Goblins were stubborn and didn¡¯t take their clients¡¯ money. ¡®But it¡¯s not like I can tell him that.¡¯ Instead, Rubica raised her chin high. ¡°So, you don¡¯t want to?¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t mean...¡± ¡°But you¡¯re talking so much, it means that you don¡¯t want to.¡± Edgar sighed. Rubica wanted to make the future that was about toe to him at least slightly better. And, if she could also get rid of the love he had for her, it would be even better. She wanted him to be sick of her. ¡°No, I will do it.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± She couldn¡¯t hide her joy at hearing his answer and smiled brightly. For a moment, Edgar wished he could raise her high up. If only she would keep smiling like that to him, he could put all of ymore¡¯s wealth in Jackal Bank, not just his personal wealth. ¡°And is there anything else?¡± ¡°Anything else...?¡± Edgar pressed her again. She stared at him, not knowing what this was about. He even looked somewhat anxious. ¡°If there is, do not hesitate to tell me.¡± Just say you are worried about your troublemaking cousin. Then, I¡¯ll take care of it. He will not be able to mess up with you ever again, even in hell. ¡°Then...¡± Rubica put her chin on her hand and gave it a thought. Edgar thought she was hesitant to talk about Isaac as it could be quite embarrassing. Therefore, he patiently waited for her to talk. However, what she said after a long silence was not what he had expected. ¡°I want to buy a gem.¡± ¡°A gem?¡± ¡°Yes, a really huge and expensive one.¡± Edgar narrowed his eyes and looked at Rubica. Although she was trying to smile innocently, he could see that she was somewhat embarrassed. ¡°Is there anything more?¡± ¡°More?¡± This time, she shook her head. Her faint brown hair beautifully swayed. But right now, Edgar couldn¡¯t see that beautiful scene. ¡°No?¡± ¡°No. Why do you keep asking?¡± ¡®Because that can¡¯t be your final answer!¡¯ Edgar had to try really hard not to say that. If he showed he knew about Isaac, she would get to find out he had seen Ang¡¯s letter. ¡°Just think about it. Do you have anything you need my help with?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Think again.¡± ¡°Still no.¡± ¡°Then think again.¡± Rubica was now really confused and just blinked. ¡°But there¡¯s really nothing.¡± ¡°Ha.¡± She wasn¡¯t asking for his help with what she actually needed help and asked a useless favor. Edgar sighed and didn¡¯t try to hide that he was offended, but Rubica seemed rather happy at that. ¡°I want a really huge and expensive gem. You will pay with your budget, right?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She was saying the typical line, and Edgar could now see what was going on. Rubica was easily making seemingly useless demands like, ¡®Move your personal wealth to Jackal Bank, and buy me a gem with your money,¡¯ but she wasn¡¯t asking for his help with Isaac¡¯s matter. It seemed like she was nning to take care of it on her own without troubling him. ¡®Ha.¡¯ She was hiding what he was supposed to take care of and making some childish demands. There could be only one purpose behind it. ¡®She¡¯s trying to make me hate her.¡¯ Some women would suffer after turning away some lovesick men tly. There were men who couldn¡¯t ept it and chased women around or hurt them, demanding them to tell their true feelings. To avoid such things, a few women came up with a clever tactic. This was called, ¡®The safe refusal¡¯. ¡®I want to have an emerald as huge as my fist. If you truly love me, you should be able to do that much for me.¡¯ When a woman made such a request to men who wouldn¡¯t let them go, they easily went away, calling her extravagant and hungry for money. Being refused was at least a hundred times safer than refusing, even if it came with such criticism. Edgar knew well about the tactic thanks to his beautiful mother. Moreover, he also had taken it up to himself to ensure that the women, who desired him, were sick of him because of his coldness. ¡®Now this is really hurting my pride.¡¯ He hadn¡¯t known a day woulde when the woman he liked used the ¡®safe refusal¡¯ tactic on him. The fact that he had it all didn¡¯t mean he could have the heart of the woman he loved. ¡®But she will regret it so much once she finds out that I¡¯m Arman...¡¯ Now, this would be equal to his shameful past of cursing Arman and trying to criticize him. ¡®Okay then. You want to provoke me with money? I will let you taste ymore¡¯s wealth.¡± ¡°I will have Carl bring the most famous jeweler from the capital by tomorrow afternoon. Oh, and don¡¯t you need shoes? You only havefortable leather shoes now, but you must have shoes with diamonds too.¡± Shoes decorated with diamonds? Rubica widened her eyes. Although she normally bought shoes that matched the color of the dress she would wear, she had never thought of using gems on shoes. After all, shoes were almost never seen when wearing a long and wide dress. ¡°And why are you using this fan?¡± ¡°What¡¯s, what¡¯s wrong with it? It hasce from Sharman and really pretty embroidery.¡± ¡°But its ribs are not made of jade.¡± Edgar harshly criticized the small fan on the table. Then, he took out a magnifying ss from an embroidery basket and criticized it too. ¡°And why is this made of silver when it should be gold?¡± Then, he immediately called a servant without giving Rubica a chance to speak. ¡°Rece all of these with gold.¡± Chapter 158

Chapter 158: Chapter 158

Rubica was shocked to see Edgar finding ways to spend money on ces she hadn¡¯t even imagined. She shouldn¡¯t have overlooked the ¡®decorations that pretended to be humble but must have cost a master craftsman¡¯s wrists,¡¯ which she had seen in the carriage on her way to ymore Mansion. ¡°Carl, send a carriage to the capital.¡± And she even had to witness him sending a mana stone carriage to the capital to bring the best jeweler in the kingdom. Then, he looked around the sewing room, then the bedroom, and made all kinds of orders which Rubica couldn¡¯t have even imagined. There was one thing she had forgotten. Even though she was from a merchant family, what she knew about extravagance was within the standards of the Seritos Kingdom that had frugality as a virtue. On the other hand, Edgar had met people from kingdoms that believed it was the nobles¡¯ virtue to spend and boast about their wealth during his time at Aron¡¯s Academy. What he knew about luxurious goods was beyondparison with Rubica¡¯s knowledge. Indeed, people who have spent money are better at spending money. *** Gifts from Rubica piled up high like mountains in Rubica¡¯s room every day, and her maids were even happier than her to open the boxes. ¡°Oh, madam, look at theces on these shoes. They are so thin.¡± ¡°The ribs of this fan are made of white jade, and they are even more delicate than fans made of wood. This baby angel carved here is so cute. From where did His Grace get such things?¡± They all made a fuss as they went through all the things. Rubica, who normally would have been even more passionate than them, let out a heavy sigh. ¡®I was only trying to make him see straight again as he was blinded by love, and I ended up with this bunch of gifts...¡¯ As Edgar had guessed, she had asked for a gem because she wanted him to cease to love her. However, she hadn¡¯t aimed for a safe refusal. She just couldn¡¯t believe that the man who had everything, even beauty, loved her when she was only an ordinary girl! She was neither extremely pretty nor extremely smart. Maybe he had gottenpetitive when hearing that she was in love with someone else. She believed he was only blinded by love, and he would easily get rid of that special feeling he had about her once he saw her again. She wasn¡¯t good enough to be Duchess ymore, so a woman who was more capable and prettier than her had to take the ce. The former Duchess ymores were just too great for her to put herself next to them. So, she tried to make hime back to his senses but ended up making him even stranger. ¡°I heard the ne the duke ordered will arrive tomorrow.¡± ¡°I had never seen such a pretty and huge ruby like that.¡± Ruby... Thinking of the time Edgar ordered that ne still gave Rubica the goosebumps. The jeweler arrived in the mana stone carriage and showed several jewels, and Edgar just abruptly picked the biggest ruby he had. -This is simr to your eye color, but I wish it sparkled a bit more... -No, my eyes do not sparkle like that. Look closely. They are just brown with a slight red tint. -What are you talking about? They are sparkling more than this ruby. Then, he put the gem on her neck and sighed. -Don¡¯t you have a better one? -Your Grace, it¡¯s the best of the best rubies we have. -Well then, I guess I have no choice but to settle on this, even though it is nothingpared to your sparkling eyes. Rubica now truly regretted provoking him. She hadn¡¯t known Edgar was so talented at spending money. He chose a ne that had so many jewels that would surely give some pain to her neck, and even ordered matching earrings and ring. In the end, Rubica couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and tried to stop it. -Edgar, aren¡¯t you spending too much of your budget? -I¡¯m not using any budget. I¡¯m using my personal money, so it¡¯s fine. -But you are spending too much. -Where am I supposed to spend all the money I make? Should I buy nes and earrings for myself? Do not take the joy of buying jewels for you away from me. Then, he ordered more emeralds and diamonds to decorate Rubica¡¯s shoes. The jeweler ended up earning more than twice his average year revenue by that point and screamed happily. However, Edgar didn¡¯t stop there. He started to bring in all kinds of craftsmen after that. He used gold on everything Rubica used, from her fan to the small bags for putting things in. -Do you need anything else? Like, something you need my help with. And every time he made an order, he stared at her and asked that. What kind of torture was this? Seriously, Rubica didn¡¯t know what to do. -Please, my room is almost full now. Edgar, please stop ordering. I do not need anything else. -Now that I think about it, your umbres and parasols are too in. They have frames made of wood. You deserve something much more expensive than that. How about silver? Gold is too weak and bends easily. -Edgar, please. -Why? You don¡¯t like silver? Then how about jade? Edgar asked innocently. He was pouting a little since Rubica was still not telling him about Isaac¡¯s matter. He sent her piles of gifts so that she would not dare to use the tactic of ¡®making him hate her by demanding wealth¡¯ ever again. And the merchants, who witnessed all of this, spread words as soon as they went back to the capital. The duke was out of his mind with his love for his wife and was spending money like crazy for her, and she was desperately trying to stop him. Soon everyone knew about it and Rubica became ¡®the frugal duchess¡¯ without even knowing about it. ¡°Is there any way to cancel all this?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t say that. Each and every one of these goods has been made with extreme care, the merchants will be in trouble if you cancel the orders now.¡± ¡°You are right...¡± Rubica unfolded a fan made of jade, feeling a little uneasy. But it was... so fascinatingly pretty. ¡°Your Grace, Madam Khanna is here.¡± ¡°Khanna? Oh, she must have finished the dresses I ordered. Tell her to wait in the sewing room. Elise, could you take this to Ann?¡± Rubica sent Elise to Ann on purpose. Then, she went between the mountains of gifts to leave the room and went to the sewing room. Khanna hade with three dresses with ribbons, just as she had promised. ¡°Wow, they are really pretty.¡± Even though they had just been basted, they were even prettier than Rubica had expected. The one made out of royal blue fabric that inspired the dress design was pretty, but so was the one for Rubica that had huge exotic flowers drawn on white. ¡°Please try it. We should see if it is ufortable or not.¡± ¡°Okay, I should try it first.¡± However, as it was a new design, the maids didn¡¯t know what to do with it, so Rubica calmly instructed them. ¡°Fix this part with pins and tie there with a strap.¡± Khanna was secretly impressed at Rubica¡¯s instructions. The duchess had never learned about clothes, so how was she instructing them so precisely? She even chose the perfect gloves and ne that Khanna didn¡¯t have anything more to say. ¡°Wow.¡± When the maids saw Rubica in the dress, they lost their words for a moment. It was a new design they had never seen before. It was unfamiliar, but also breathtakingly beautiful. Especially the knots that decorated the chest part. They were even more splendid than a stomacher with jewels. ¡°Your Grace.¡± Jennie went to Rubica, half in a daze, and she immediately knew what the maid wanted to do. ¡°You may do it.¡± Jannie did her hair and makeup that matched the dress in no time. Then, she picked up a few flowers from a vase and put them on her hair. They matched the dress¡¯s splendid pattern so well. ¡°It is so amazing and pretty.¡± ¡°I thought it was a bit strange, but it looks so pretty on her.¡± ¡°And what is that decoration on her chest? It seems different from ordinary knots.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called ribbon.¡± Khanna answered to the maid¡¯s murmurs. ¡°Ribbon?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s Madam Berry¡¯s idea.¡± Rubica¡¯s cheek felt hot for a moment. However, none of the maids paid attention to it as they were all eager to hear Chris¡¯ story about the ribbon which Khanna was telling them. ¡°He made it because histe wife liked pretty knots? How romantic!¡± ¡°Oh, but my name is Ivonne, too!¡± None of them could imagine Madam Berry was actually Rubica, and it was only natural. A woman with a high rank designing a dress? That was just not possible. ¡°Is it really pretty?¡± ¡°Yes, it matches you so well, and the ribbons on your chest is so pretty.¡± The maid really meant it, and she wasn¡¯t just saying that to tter her mistress. To start with, she didn¡¯t know Madam Berry was actually Rubica. Chapter 159

Chapter 159: Chapter 159

A thrill, that was different from when she received all thosepliments aftering to ymore, went through Rubica. She felt proud to see everyone was so impressed by the dress that had started out as her idea. It was a different sense of aplishment from what she had gotten from her previous life when working for others. ¡°Would you call Ann and Elise for me?¡± A maid went to call the two. Rubica then became a little nervous, even though all the maids hadplimented her dress. She had been confident when she considered it Khanna¡¯s design, but when she herself got involved in it as Madam Berry, she was worried that it might be criticized. She flicked her feet hidden under the dress to calm herself down. ¡°Your Grace?¡± She could hear Elise¡¯s voice, and she instinctively clenched her fist. ¡®I cannot frown!¡¯ Rubica feared her anxious look might ruin the girl¡¯s first impression about the dress, so she smiled as brightly as she could. ¡°Elise, this is the dress I prepared for the tea meeting.¡± Her voice shook so hard that she couldn¡¯t ask how it was. Elise, however, didn¡¯t move from the door for a long time and every second felt like a whole year. Rubica¡¯s palm got sweaty. Right now, she wasn¡¯t the duchess. She was a designer waiting for her design to be evaluated. ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know what to say...¡± Rubica feared the new design might not appeal to the conservative girl, but then, a voice that was much higher hit her ears. ¡°Oh, Your Grace! What is that dress? It is so unique and pretty!¡± Ann didn¡¯t hesitate toe past the door and came to Rubica. Her grey eyes sparkled like those of a teenage girl who loved dresses. ¡°I had this designed for my tea meeting.¡± ¡°For the tea meeting?¡± ¡°Yes. See, it has no jewel.¡± Ann kept eximing. The dress had no jewels and no delicate embroidery, but it was as beautiful as any dress that had a bunch of gems and embroidery. ¡°No jewel... it¡¯s marvelous.¡± Elise hade to them and curiously looked at the ribbons on the chest and sleeves. Thankfully, she didn¡¯t seem to hate the dress. ¡°This is called ribbon.¡± When Elise couldn¡¯t take her eyes off it, Khanna kindly exined. ¡°Ribbon?¡± ¡°Yes, adding ribbons to this dress was Madam Berry¡¯s idea. She once met a sailor named Chris, and...¡± Elise¡¯s eyes turned teary at hearing Khanna¡¯s exnation. Nothing was better at moving a person¡¯s heart than a love story. That is an all-timew. ¡°It¡¯s wonderful, and it has a good meaning. It is so pretty, even though it has no gems... it¡¯s like it was created for tea meetings.¡± Well, actually, Rubica had decided to host that tea meeting because of the dress, but the girl¡¯spliment gave her confidence. Rubica looked at Khanna and she quickly brought the other two dresses. ¡°I wanted to wear this design together, so I ordered dresses for you too.¡± There was a deep green dress and a royal blue dress, but Elise could immediately see which one was for her. ¡°You don¡¯t have to wear it if you don¡¯t like it.¡± Rubica anxiously added. Elise had clearly changed after what had happened with Dashner, but she still liked to wear that grey dress. And, Rubica stopped asking her to wear more splendid dresses. Before, it was as if the girl was being forced to wear that dress even when she didn¡¯t like it, but now it no longer looked like that. ¡°Why would I not want to wear such a pretty dress?¡± ¡°Oh, I just thought it¡¯s not in the style you like...¡± ¡°Oh, because it is not in like the one I¡¯m wearing right now?¡± Elise smiled as she could guess what her mistress was thinking. ¡°But madam, I wear this just because it¡¯sfortable for working. I know how hard you are preparing for the tea meeting, so I cannot show up in this grey dress and break the mood. From now on, I am going to wear pretty dresses to balls and parties, regardless of practicality.¡± ¡°But this dress ispletely different from any dress that has been in fashion till now... maybe they will criticize it.¡± Did she want the girl to wear it or not? Rubica could feel her own contradiction as she said that. Now she knew why Khanna had been so nervous every time she showed her designs. ¡°Criticize? They will all be eager to know which boutique made this!¡± ¡°I think so too.¡± ¡°Of course. If anyone criticizes this dress, you must tell that person to go see a doctor as there must be something wrong with her eyes.¡± Even the maids were eager about it. Rubica¡¯s heart was even about to jump out of her chest and she had to press on it to keep it in its ce. ¡°Is it... really that good?¡± Both Elise and Ann nodded. Ann had also realized the deep green dress was for her the moment she saw it. Unlike the other two dresses, its ribbons were in one color. It had a calm and elegant charm. ¡°Then, could you wear them so that I can see if they are in the right size and if there¡¯s anything ufortable about them?¡± The maids moved fast at hearing that. When the two finished wearing them, Rubica eximed to see them. She was now seeing what she had been imagining for so long, and she felt so happy. ¡°Oh, gods. Ann, I almost didn¡¯t recognize you!¡± Rosa the seamstress, who came after hearing what was going on, yelled at the door. She was so surprised that she called Ann by her name as she did in private instead of calling her Mrs. Taylor. ¡°Rosa, you¡¯re embarrassing me.¡± Ann shyly smiled at Rosa as she made a fuss about her dress. ¡°Please don¡¯t say that in front of Her Grace and Elise. They are much prettier than me.¡± ¡°Oh! Your Grace!¡± Rosa spotted Rubica only then and yelled. ¡°Oh my, you look like a goddess.¡± Now it was Rubica¡¯s turn to smile shyly. Rosa grabbed Khanna and started to ask her questions. Her questions were much more professional and sharper than what the others asked. ¡°That decoration in the chest part is so unique. Madam, how did you make this? From where did you get this idea?¡± ¡°Actually, this knot is not my idea. I have a friend called Madam Berry, and she...¡± The more Rosa¡¯s eyes sparkled as she heard the story, the hotter Rubica¡¯s cheeks became. Listening to her own story andpliments about it wasn¡¯t a thing she could easily get used to. ¡°She didn¡¯t overlook a knot made by a sailor and transformed it into a dress decoration? She must have great senses. Is there any way I can meet Madam Berry?¡± And the head of seamstresses was different. She was more interested in the designer than the love story between Chris and Ivonne. ¡°Oh, Madam Berry doesn¡¯t really like to meet people.¡± ¡°But I wonder so much how she came up with such an amazing idea. Madam, is there any chance...¡± ¡°Rosa!¡± In the end, Rubica couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and called Rosa. ¡°I think a hat made of the same color would suit Ann better... I want ymore¡¯s symbol embroidered on it. Can you do it in time?¡± ¡°Do you want me to embroider the whole hat or add it as a point?¡± Really, Rosa was meant to be the head of the seamstress. That had to by why she was so curious about Madam Berry. ¡°The whole hat.¡± Rubica thought that much would be enough to make her forget about Madam Berry, and she was right. Rosa widened her eyes. ¡°As we need time to make the hat itself, we might not have enough time.¡± Soon Rosapletely forgot about Madam Berry, so Rubica let out a sigh of relief at seeing her discuss what kind of decoration would be good for the three¡¯s hats and whether it would be better to embroider their gloves with Khanna. ¡®It seems like I shoulde up with the reason why Madam Berry cannot present herself to the people.¡¯ However, that worry went away the moment she saw herself wearing a beautiful dress in the mirror. The dress that had started from her idea didn¡¯t look good just on Elise. It looked good on everyone. It could change from calm to splendid just by using different colors and materials. ¡®Oh, why am I nervous?¡¯ She had thought she would be relieved if only Elise and Ann liked it. However, theirpliments made her even more nervous. What if the other nobledies called it too unique or strange? What if she had dragged the two of them into this just to satisfy her greed? She was now really afraid. ¡°Um, if you don¡¯t like it, you don¡¯t have to wear it at the tea meeting?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t like it? I am definitely going to wear this. I have never had such a pretty dress. I thought it was luxurious when I saw the fabric, but it is even prettier when made into a dress. I would rather be sad if you order me not to wear it.¡± Elise¡¯s firm words and Ann¡¯s firm nodding let Rubica breath again. Now, even if she yelled this wasn¡¯t right, the two were not going to ept it. They were all, including Rosa, fascinated by the dresses¡¯ beauty. ¡®Ugh, what am I supposed to do now?¡¯ However, the arrow had already left the bow. All she could do now was to prepare for her tea meeting as best as she could. Chapter 160

Chapter 160: Chapter 160

Edgar eventually ran out of things to present to Rubica, and she was relieved to see her bedroom clean again. ¡®Oh, I really didn¡¯t know there were so many luxurious goods in this world.¡¯ She sighed as she looked down on the slippers she was wearing. They had several pearls embedded in them. The pair of slippers was one of many things Edgar had ordered from a shoemaker he called. Once the rich nobleman decided to spend money, he really spent a lot. Rubica couldn¡¯t even dream of catching up with him. He had moved his personal wealth to the Jackal Bank as promised, but Rubica doubted if even half of it remained now. However, that money could change a lot of things... and she wished he would stop spending money on her. ¡°Your Grace, the duke hase.¡± ¡°Already? Tell him toe in.¡± He couldn¡¯t being with merchants again, so Rubica replied rxingly. However, Edgar came in with several servants instead of merchants. ¡°Oh my!¡± Rubica jumped to her feet and eximed at seeing the flower vases the servants were carrying. They were all full of roses which Lord Sesar had once promised to Rubica. Each flower was as white as snow in the middle and became redder and redder until it reached the edges. They were all breathtakingly beautiful. Moreover, they were so huge, at least twice as huge as ordinary roses. ¡°I thought I would have to wait much longer to see them...¡± She couldn¡¯t touch the petals lest she hurt the roses. Instead, she lightly touched their leaves with shaking hands. Then, the flowers shook and filled the air with a sweet scent. Even the scent was much better than that of other roses. ¡°Do you like it?¡± Edgar asked with augh. She was so fascinated by the roses that she failed to notice his chin shaking to see her in such joy. ¡°Yes! They are so beautiful. They are so much prettier than I imagined, and... I don¡¯t know what to say!¡± Edgar had to try really hard to not say she was much prettier in his eyes since saying such a thing wasn¡¯t going to make her happy. She would rather frown. ¡°I should have studied botany.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°You were not this happy about what I made.¡± Edgar wasining like a little boy, and Rubica didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°No, I was happy about it too. Thanks to it, now our old seamstresses do not have to struggle when threading their needles. It has be really famous with the name of ¡®ymore¡¯s Threader¡¯.¡± Rubica had even heard it started to be exportedtely. The things Edgar made had the power of making people exim, even the smallest one of them. ¡°But you didn¡¯t smile like you are smiling now at seeing these roses.¡± ¡°But my smile is only...¡± ¡°Everything to me.¡± Rubica shut her mouth after that. She was so embarrassed and got goosebumps. He was acting like she was the most beautiful woman on the continent and she just couldn¡¯t understand him. She even worried about the skin condition of the servants who had to witness all that. ¡°Anyway, this much should be enough to decorate where your tea meeting will take ce, right?¡± Rubica looked around at the roses that had filled her room. ¡°This isn¡¯t enough. This is too much... oh, how about giving a rose pot to each guest?¡± Rubica was going to introduce the ribbon dress at the tea meeting. If it had been Khanna¡¯s dress, it wouldn¡¯t have been a problem, but she had worked on its design herself. Every day she got more anxious and worried that people might not like it. And, nothing was going to be better than ¡®bribery¡¯ for it. She was sure the noble guests would be happy to get those roses. ¡°But these roses are yours, you shouldn¡¯t give them away.¡± However, her husband, who looked really irritated, wasn¡¯t cooperating. ¡°But pretty things are best enjoyed when shared by many. I want the guests to enjoy these pretty roses for a long time.¡± ¡°But this is your flower. If they want to see them, they shoulde here and get your permission.¡± ¡°Lord Sesar worked so hard to make them. And I should keep it to myself? He wouldn¡¯t agree to that.¡± ¡°Why are you talking about Lord Sesar?¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes widened at seeing the frown on his forehead. ¡°Why am I talking about Lord Sesar? Because he is the one who invented this rose.¡± Edgar went silent for a long time. ¡®I didn¡¯t press Sesar like that so that you would be able to share it with the others!¡¯ He really wished he could say that, but he didn¡¯t want her to know that he made the botanist work for days without sleeping. ¡°Yes, he invented this flower, but ymore invested in it, so I think we have those rights.¡± Carl, who was standing behind him, shook his head, and Rubica agreed with him. These kinds of moments reminded her that he had lived without anything to fear, so Rubica decided to be firm about it. ¡°Edgar, I invested on Sesar¡¯s work with my budget, so I should decide how to use its oue.¡± When she tried to convince him with gentle words, he didn¡¯t want to give up on his opinion like a stubborn child. Therefore, she had to make it clear to make him ept it and back off. ¡°I guess I took it too far.¡± See? It worked. ¡°Carl, will you call the jeweler again tomorrow?¡± ¡°The jeweler, Your Grace?¡± ¡°Yes. I should present my wife at least a diamond ring for interfering with her business too much...¡± ¡°Edgar?¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t bear it and grabbed his arm. ¡°Please, enough with the gifts, okay?¡± ¡°Why? It¡¯s my personal wealth, I should decide on how to use it.¡± ¡°Oh, but please...¡± She beggingly put her hands together, and it melted his anger. That simple gesture was capable of melting his anger? It was funny and logically unexinable, but it worked. Maybe he had insisted on it so hard to see that one gesture of hers. ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t if you hate it that much. Well, if you want to give out the roses, you can.¡± Then, he had the servants move the flowers back to the greenhouse. ¡°Oh, but wait.¡± Rubica stopped a servant carrying out a pot. She took out a pair of scissors, cut a few roses, and put them in a nearby vase. Everyone thought she wanted to put that in her bedroom. ¡°Carl.¡± However, to their surprise, she handed the vase to Carl. Edgar red at him so fiercely that the butler couldn¡¯t take it right away. ¡°But Your Grace, why are you giving this to me?¡± ¡°Could you put it on the desk at the office?¡± ¡°The office?¡± ¡°Why do you want it there?¡± Even though Edgar spoke bluntly, his eyes were already smiling, so Carl quickly took the vase. ¡°You always stay there during the daytime. So, it would be good to at least have some flowers next to you... would putting a flower vase on your desk disturb your work?¡± ¡°Of course not. Carl, put it in the middle of my desk right away.¡± ¡®Putting it in the middle would definitely disturb your work.¡¯ That came up to Carl¡¯s throat, but he managed to swallow it again and left with the servants, carrying the vase. ¡°Rubica.¡± After they were alone, Edgar called her in a low voice. There was a blue fire in his eyes. Rubica gulped hard and looked at him, offering her a hand. His wrist had blue veins. Was it because of the fire in his eyes? She could feel her heart heating up. Her reason was warning her she couldn¡¯t do this, but her hand was already on his hand. Heughed quietly and then suddenly pulled her in. Her cheek touched his broad and solid chest. His strong arms held her tight. It was hard to breathe, but she felt rather safe. She even wished for him to hold her like that forever. She couldn¡¯t keep sharing such hugs with him now that she knew he was sincere to her. Before, she had hugged him for friendship¡¯s sake. He looked so hurt and lonely and she just wanted to console him. But now that she knew he had true feelings for her, she couldn¡¯t do this. However, her lips were clenched tightly like a m and refused to say words of refusal. And instead of pushing him away, her two arms touched his back to feel every muscle it had. Edgar looked at Rubica shaking in his arms. She gave him roses... He was so happy. He wanted to kiss her right away, or he would go crazy. However, he couldn¡¯t do that when seeing her eyes in fear. He had nothing to fear before, so he didn¡¯t know why he was always so afraid when he was with her. ¡°Edgar, I...¡± ¡°I know.¡± Rubica whispered, still holding him. He knew what she was about to say, and he would have to let her go after hearing it. However, Edgar just wanted to hold her only a little longer. ¡°You know? And you¡¯re still doing this?¡± Rubica just couldn¡¯t understand him. He was the one who had confessed his love for her, so why was she so anxious? On the other hand, he seemed quite rxed. He even whispered to her. ¡°Can¡¯t you change for me? You know what people say, love changes everyone.¡± Chapter 161

Chapter 161: Chapter 161

He whispered sweetly like a tempting devil who was sure she would eventually love him. What was even more shocking was that she couldn¡¯t clearly deny that. ¡°I¡¯m not changing for you!¡± In the end, Rubica couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and pushed him away. However, Edgar wasn¡¯t mad and justughed. She was refusing him because of him. Of course, he was jealous of his future self who had Rubica¡¯s heart... but he liked her trying hard to not change despite all the efforts he was making. He regretted mocking true love in the past as there were indeed people who were not like his father. ¡°I heard you asked about Arman to Carl?¡± ¡°Oh... you didn¡¯t tell me anything for some time, so I asked him.¡± Rubica felt a little guilty and made a quick excuse. She had asked him to find Arman without many thoughts but, after his confession of love, she started to think it must have been too harsh for him, and she felt sorry for it. ¡°I asked the Academy and they said they didn¡¯t have such a man. I think he lied to you, so you don¡¯t have to be faithful to such a liar.¡± ¡°He, he must have had a good reason for it.¡± ¡°But you don¡¯t even know whether or not you will get to meet him again. Are you going to live alone forever just because of him?¡± Rubica looked down at that. What if she really never found Arman? ¡®Before, I was sure we would meet...¡¯ She believed they would eventually meet again at Hue¡¯s Abbey after the war broke out. But now, she was trying hard to stop the war and she wanted to at least get Edgar to safety. However, would she be able to meet Arman after changing fate like that? Without any war, why would Arman go to Hue¡¯s Abbey? She could wait for him there, but there was no guarantee he woulde. Previously, she didn¡¯t believe she could change the world as she was neither smart nor capable like Arman. Still, she had seeded in changing Ang¡¯s life. And most of all... she wanted to save Edgar. ¡°Rubica, can¡¯t you just live happily with me for now? We can live happily together, and you can meet Armanter!¡± Rubica¡¯s jaw dropped. What was this man talking about? ¡°Are you saying I should be with you for now and be with Armanter?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He anxiously agreed. ¡°A husband rmending his wife to have an affair...¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t mean that.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s what you meant. Are you saying I should toy with you? Edgar, have you forgotten what I told you when we first met? You must cherish your heart!¡± Rubica didn¡¯t want to meet a man, have some fun, and leave him just for fun, even under an agreement. Some might get pleasure and joy in such rtionships, but she didn¡¯t want it. It was rather unpleasant to her. ¡°Ha.¡± Edgar groaned. He should cherish his own heart? Was this something the woman who was refusing him could say? However, it didn¡¯t feel that bad. She tried to live up to her code and he loved her for that. He had been saved thanks to that. Plus, she was saying that because she cared about him, after all. ¡®This kind of quarrel is useless.¡¯ It seemed like Rubica¡¯s faith for Arman wasn¡¯t a thing that could be destroyed by a few words. ¡®Oh, I must have been really good to her.¡¯ Although heined, he knew his future self must have done anything for her, just like he was doing right now. Fighting against oneself was always the hardest fight of all. ¡°Rubica, I have something for you.¡± He decided to stick to his original n. At first, he nned to give her the gift while she was fascinated by the roses and melt her heart. But then, she uselessly prepared roses for him. She was so charming that he couldn¡¯t help hugging her hard. So, what happened was all her fault. ¡°But I don¡¯t want more gifts... Edgar, you¡¯ve given me so much that I no longer feel d. I have more than fifty pairs of shoes and I haven¡¯t had the time to try them on when they are all piled up on my shoe cab.¡± ¡°But you will be happy to see this.¡± He handed her a jewelry box with a smile. He looked so rxed that it was hard to believe he had just been desperately pleading to her. ¡®And it¡¯s even more confusing when he keeps changing his attitude like this.¡¯ Rubica still couldn¡¯t believe that he liked her, so she opened the box without any expectations. She thought it must be a ne or a ring that had a really huge gem. ¡°Oh!¡± However, her eyes widened at seeing what was inside and soon her eyes became teary. The gems inside were smaller than any gems she had seen at ymore and its color was a bit dark. However, they were more precious than any other jewel to her. They were the ruby essories her mother had left her. ¡°How...¡± ¡°I had someone get it from the Academy.¡± Edgar came to her and put a hand on her waist, but she didn¡¯t push him away. He had rushed a little earlier. ¡°I know it¡¯s toote, but I¡¯m sorry about what I said back then. I, I didn¡¯t know.¡± Rubica smiled. ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t keep it in mind.¡± ¡°But do not do that from now on.¡± Their eyes met, and his blue eyes made a thrill go past through her body. He was an extremely dangerous man. Rubica felt sensations she had never felt before whenever he was with her. ¡°Don¡¯t hold it to yourself when you are mad about something. If you are sad, if you want to say something, just tell me. I will listen to all of it.¡± He whispered so sweetly while Rubica looked at his red lips. She was tempted to kiss those lips and had to look away not to. ¡®No. I... I cannot surrender to this impulse and toy with him.¡¯ She carefully touched the essories. They must have been cleaned by a jeweler as they were cleaner than she remembered. But then, she suddenly got suspicious. ¡°How did you know these used to belong to my mother?¡± Edgar looked surprised by the question. ¡°I asked your cousin if she needed anything, and she told me.¡± There was no way Ang had told him. She was a proud girl and wasn¡¯t the type of person who would give Edgar the answer he wanted. She would rather screw him over. ¡°But Ang¡¯s letter arrived only a few days ago.¡± Her auburn eyes turned deeper. Shit. He wanted to please her so eagerly that he ended up making a mistake which he otherwise would have never made. ¡°Your uncle and aunt told me.¡± ¡°But they don¡¯t know these used to belong to my mother.¡± Mr. and Mrs. Berner didn¡¯t even pay that much attention to her. If they had known those essories belonged to Rubica¡¯s mother, they would have immediately sold them. They had a strange sense of inferiority to her as she had been a real nobledy. ¡°How did you find out? Tell me the truth.¡± Edgar went silent while Rubica patiently waited for his answer. And, Edgar¡¯s mind spun fast in the meantime. How much was he supposed to reveal? Maybe he could say one of Rubica¡¯s maids had told him, but then she would ask if he had opened her drawer. He could get out of this by lying, but it was going to be a problemter when he told her he was actually Arman. ¡°Can you promise to not despise me?¡± ¡°I promise.¡± She promised right away with her auburn eyes piercingly staring at him. ¡°I read your cousin¡¯s letter in secret...¡± ¡°What?¡± As he had expected, she was mad. However, it seemed like it was better than letting her find out that he convinced a maid to tell him about her privacy. ¡°You read my letter in secret? How could you do such a thing?¡± ¡°But you promised to not despise me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not despising you, I¡¯m mad at you!¡± Edgar could say nothing now. He had control when they first met, and Rubica would shut her mouth at his logical and cold words. However, she had been the winner of their quarrelstely, and Edgar just couldn¡¯t speak harshly to her anymore. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°You could have just asked me to see it, and I...¡± Rubica didn¡¯t finish the sentence, but Edgar didn¡¯t let it go. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have shown it to me, right?¡± ¡°Yes...¡± The letter had her family¡¯s humiliating matter. Therefore, she really didn¡¯t want to show it to anyone, and most definitely not to Edgar. ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar grabbed her hands tightly. He had so many things he wanted to say. However, right now he didn¡¯t deserve to say anything. He was so weak in front of Rubica¡¯s matters. He just did things without giving many thoughts to them, like a mouse being drawn to the smell of cheese. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me sooner?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I read your letter without your permission. But... if I hadn¡¯t read it, I would have forever been remembered by you as a bastard who humiliated yourte mother.¡± Was it because of the despair his voice had? He was the one in the wrong but, strangely, Rubica felt sorry for him. Chapter 162

Chapter 162: Chapter 162

¡°Just please ask for my help if you need it. You know I like you, so you should use it more. Please give me a chance to be used by you.¡± ¡°Used by... Edgar, you are really weird.¡± He was saying she should use him. He was saying she should be with him for now and could go to another manter. Where on earth did that proud duke she met at first go? Rubica carefully stroked his hair as he pleadingly looked at her. His ck hair was as ck as the night and as soft as velvet. That gesture let Edgar know she was forgiving him. ¡°Rubica, from now on...¡± ¡°Wait.¡± Rubica was enchanted by his beauty once again and thought about what he had just said. Then, she narrowed her eyes. ¡°Thinking about it now, you¡¯ve been pressing me to tell you and ask for your help if I had any problem.¡± She could see his neck moving to gulp. ¡°You were talking about Isaac¡¯s matter written in Ang¡¯s letter, right?¡± Now there¡¯s no use in denying it. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And when I didn¡¯t tell you, you got mad and bought all those things to tease me?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t teasing... ah!¡± Rubica mercilessly pulled his ear. It was something she wouldn¡¯t have even dreamed of doing when they first met. ¡°Admit it! Do you know what kind of trouble I am in right now because of all those things you¡¯ve sent me?¡± Rubica was now famous as the duchess who was desperately trying to stop the duke from spending money like crazy. And thanks to that, her n of being called extravagant was now impossible. Edgar was born rich, and when he was determined to spend, what he did was beyond the imagination of the poor. How could the world be so unfair even when spending money? ¡°I admit it.¡± ¡°Promise you will not spend your wealth just out of anger ever again.¡± ¡°I... can¡¯t.¡± Rubica pulled his ear hard again but, this time, he shut his mouth tightly and didn¡¯t surrender. At first, he had been mad, butter, he started to enjoy the pleasure of buying things for her. ¡°Edgar, your ear hurts a lot, right? So promise me now.¡± He just silently shook his head and she scolded him again, but they were both smiling broadly. *** Rubica decided to host her tea meeting near the garden¡¯s fountain. She also nned to decorate the ce with Sesar¡¯s roses, and Lord Sesar was quite proud of it. ¡°You nned such a wonderful event to introduce my roses... Your Grace, I am really touched. You are the only one who appreciates the greatness of my work.¡± Rubica opened her mouth to correct his misunderstanding, but then she was shocked to hear the announcement he made right after that. ¡°That is why I¡¯ve decided to name this rose ¡®Rubica¡¯.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re not doing that!¡± He was going to name his rose after her? Was embarrassing her a hobby of the people in the mansion or something? Lord Sesarined that Rubica wasn¡¯t epting his praise for her, and she could only barely convince him. They decided to call it ¡®Taylor Rose¡¯ after one of the most famous names in ymore. Edgar, who didn¡¯t like the thought of everyone just calling Rubica¡¯s name, happily agreed to it. Anyway, the fountain and the Taylor Roses looked extremely good together. They put the table in ordance with each guest¡¯s taste and decorated them with table cloths and napkins they had worked hard on. In the meantime, Steven kept making all kinds of desserts. At first, he was fooled by Rubica to make cakes, but soon he realized it made him happier than when he would make any other dish. He wanted to see those picky nobles exim at his desserts, so he filled all the tables with them. ¡°Ann, the weather is so good.¡± ¡°Yes, I was worried it might rain, but the day is so clear.¡± Finally, the day hade. Jennie had been working on Rubica¡¯s skin for three days for this day. And, after two weeks of discussion, they decided to use Taylor Rose on her hair instead of using other luxurious hair essories. -The flower exists only here for now. I think it is more valuable and meaningful than any other jewel. Moreover, Rubica excluded all those luxurious nes, fans, and parasols Edgar had bought in the meantime. Each of them was pretty, but none of them matched her dress. Rubica wasn¡¯t an idiot who used jewels that didn¡¯t match just to boast about her wealth. Instead, she took great care in selecting the silverware the guests would use. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s Countess Tangt¡¯s carriage.¡± Ann pointed at one of the mana stone carriages that were arriving in line. A middle-ageddy with fiery red hair came out with two girls. She looked confident as if she was born as a nobledy of high rank. ¡°Will I be able to do it well?¡± Rubica got suddenly scared. Her palms were sweating, but Ann held her hand tightly. ¡°Of course. We¡¯ve done our best to prepare for this.¡± ¡°But what if I make a mistake...¡± ¡°If anyone points it out, His Grace will not let that person off.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what had happened to Zilehan and thought Ann was saying that just to encourage her. But somehow, thinking of Edgar calmed her down. She smiled at the window of his office that looked down on the garden. The thin curtain had been drawn, but she was sure he was watching her. ¡°Good afternoon, Countess Tangt. This is Duchess ymore.¡± Rubica smiled naturally at thedy who was wearing a gold-colored dress that matched her red hair well. As instructed on her invitation, she was wearing a calm dress, but she didn¡¯t forget to make herself seen by wearing a ne made of hundreds of yellow diamonds. It turned out she had a great sense of fashion, just like the rumors said. ¡°Congrattions on your pregnancy. I am so happy to meet you. Oh, and this is my daughter Gabriel, and this is Tatiana, daughter of Viscount Chartle.¡± Countess Tangt was talkative, just like Edgar had said. Rubica could barely find a moment to say hello to the two girls. ¡°Nice to meet you, Ms. Chartle.¡± It seemed like the countess had brought Ms. Chartle with her as her family didn¡¯t have mana stone carriages. As people said about her, Tatiana was a mature and beautifuldy. Rubica had heard the countess had already picked her as his son¡¯s wife. ¡°Nice to meet you, Ms. Tangt.¡± Then, Rubica said hello to the girl next to Ms. Chartle, but she was shocked to see her. The girl was short and only came up to her friend¡¯s shoulder. She had round cheeks just like her mother, but she had them painted so red that it looked like there was something wrong with her skin. Moreover, her eyebrows painted in ck were clearly not right for her red hair, and Rubica didn¡¯t even want to start on the dress that tried to make her look like a maturedy. ¡°Gabriel.¡± Gabriel, who was staring at Rubica, woke up by her friend¡¯s whispering and smiled shyly. ¡®Oh, she¡¯s so cute.¡¯ At least her smile was childish and cute, but it was hidden beneath her thick makeup and only Rubica could notice it. ¡°It is my honor to meet you, Your Grace. Um... your dress is so pretty!¡± What she had been staring at were the ribbons on Rubica¡¯s dress that were fluttering in the wind. Rubica blushed at the girls¡¯ suddenpliment. ¡°Gabriel.¡± However, only Rubica was d to hear that. Gabriel could read a warning in her mother¡¯s low voice. She should haveplimented the duchess¡¯s beauty, not her dress. ¡°I, I didn¡¯t mean you were not pretty...¡± In the end, Countess Tangt yelled at her daughter. She pulled Gabriel¡¯s arm to hide her behind her back, then she covered her mouth with her fan tough. ¡°Oh, she is still so young and careless. Please do not take it seriously. She will be introduced to the society this year but... as you can see, she still has a lot to learn, so please be generous to her.¡± Then, she left in a hurry, dragging her daughter with her. ¡°Oh, Gabriel, you are really giving your poor mother a hard time. Why are you so different from your sisters? They are all reserved. Can¡¯t you be at least half as good as Tatiana?¡± Her scolding made the girl slouch even more. However, Rubica wanted to go to her right away and tell her she wasn¡¯t offended but rather happy about herpliment to the dress. ¡°Madam, the next guest.¡± However, Rubica was the host of this meeting and had several guests to greet. She had no choice but to take her eyes off the poor girl and smile brightly at the next guest. ¡°Your Grace, it is my honor to meet you. I saw the flowers in the garden. They were so pretty that I kept eximing. What kind of flower is it?¡± ¡°It is Taylor Rose made by Lord Sesar.¡± ¡°He made a new flower? Wow... that is really remarkable.¡± ¡°Your dress is beautiful. Which designer made it?¡± ¡°It is Madam Khanna¡¯s work.¡± ¡°Kha... nna. That name isn¡¯t on the list of the designers in the capital.¡± After that, she had to keep greeting and answering questions. Thankfully, they all liked Lord Sesar¡¯s new rose and her dress. They even carefully asked about the ribbons that decorated Rubica¡¯s dress. She gave them a simple answer and then Ann and Elise exined the details. Chapter 163

Chapter 163: Chapter 163

¡®Oh, I¡¯m about to lose my mind.¡¯ She had smiled so much that her face muscles were now hurting. However, she was having a good time looking at her guests¡¯ dresses and hair essories. It was also pleasant to get to know the other high-rank nobles¡¯ trends and interests. Most of all, she was happy that what worried her so much was going well since a lot of people were asking her about the dress and the roses. ¡°Madam, you must be tired.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m fine. But I think I should go to my table now.¡± Rubica¡¯s seat was at the same table with Countess Tangt as she was the most famous celebrity of society. As soon as Rubica sat down, she started to talk as if she had been waiting for her. ¡°I was so shocked when Ms. Sna introduced herself for the first time that I had to ask her name again and again. Oh my, the girl was so pretty! It made me admit that although I have an eye that can recognize what is beauty, I do not have the gift of recognizing hidden beauty.¡± Rubica smiled at her babbling. Edgar had said he didn¡¯t like her because she was too talkative, but it was different for Rubica. ¡®It¡¯s good that I don¡¯t have to talk.¡¯ Rubica didn¡¯t have to worry about the topic. She just agreed with Countess Tangt from time to time and looked around. The mood was pleasant, and a few men and women were already exchanging shy nces. Now that was a sess. She happily looked around again, but then she met a pair of brown eyes. Sir Stephen was ring at her, clearly dissatisfied. As the guard captain, he was supposed to guard her. But now, Rubica could almost see the hatred directed to her that shrouded him. He looked like he wanted to kill her at any moment. ¡®Wow, I get that he had to leave Edgar¡¯s side to be here, but is that something to be so mad about? Does he like Edgar that much?¡¯ Rubica truly couldn¡¯t understand that. Of course, this had to be another work for him, but it was much easier than guarding the duke. However, Stephen didn¡¯t even give a look to the women passionately staring at him. He just looked at the direction of Edgar¡¯s office and sighed. It looked like he wasn¡¯t just worried about the duke, he seemed to be missing him. ¡®Then maybe...¡¯ Rubica almost covered her mouth with both hands at the possibility she suddenly thought of. ¡®Does he like Edgar?¡¯ Nothing else could exin that attachment he was showing. To Stephen, his duty as a guard had to be one of the few asions he could freely look at and protect the person he loved. ¡®Oh my, I didn¡¯t know.¡¯ Rubica pitied Stephen and his love that could never beplete. She looked at him with pity, but then his face muscle twitched when she silently mouthed some words to him. ¡®I know what this is about. I understand.¡¯ And then, Stephen¡¯s eyes caught fire. What does she know? Has she realized I am a spy from Amanun? Is the duke not doing his work as part of their n? He gulped down the cup of tea in front of him to cool down his anger. ¡°You can¡¯t drink it like that. You must drink it slowly, savoring its taste.¡± Carl showed up from somewhere and stopped him. ¡°Are you plotting a scheme with her to screw me over?¡± ¡°I... do not know what you are talking about.¡± Carl politely replied, and Stephen had no choice but to shake his head. Duchess ymore. She just showed up one day and after that, everything in his n had gone off its course. *** As Rubica had expected, the guest had trouble drinking tea. However, the pain waspensated the moment they ate Steven¡¯s cakes and sweets. ¡°This cake is really good.¡± ¡°And I¡¯ve never tried this cookie before. It¡¯s crispy on the outside, but the inside is so sweet and moist.¡± Steven had been into dessert making after he started because of Rubica. She kept giving him information about desserts she tasted or heard of during her time at the abbey. As Seritos didn¡¯t have many desserts, the cakes and sweets were shockingly delicious to its nobles. After a round of pleasure, they started to talk. The first topic was Elise¡¯s amazing transformation. ¡°I couldn¡¯t recognize her at first. I never guessed she could be so pretty.¡± ¡°Who changed her so utterly like that?¡± ¡°Well, I heard her dress was made by Madam Khanna.¡± ¡°Has she also given her advice about the makeup and hairstyle?¡± All thedies¡¯ heads were now full of thoughts about Madam Khanna and her boutique. The dresses worn by the duchess and herdies-in-waiting were not only sensational, but they were also extremely pretty. They had no jewel, but they looked more splendid than the dresses of famous designers that had many jewels. In addition to that, Ann¡¯s dress even looked reserved and elegant. The wind carried the story about Chris and his ribbon that started at Elise¡¯s table to Rubica¡¯s ears. ¡°I should order dresses from Madam Khanna as well.¡± ¡°Oh yes. I would like to order a simr dress to what the duchess is wearing.¡± Everyone was very interested in Rubica¡¯s chest decoration. She blushed shyly when being showered inpliments. Someone saw that andmented on how she was a kind and quietdy. ¡°Will my daughter be pretty like Ms. Sna if Madam Khanna helps?¡± While the olderdies were busy talking about that, the men were busy with something else. Some young lords were trying to flirt with Elise, and a few of them even left their own tables and couldn¡¯t leave her side. ¡°I envy her.¡± Gabriel whispered and Tatiana kindly spoke to her. ¡°That can happen to you as well, Gabriel.¡± However, that didn¡¯t help her much. Although her sisters were always called beautiful no matter where they went, she wasn¡¯t like them even if they had the same parents. She was constantlypared with her sisters, and her role was only to highlight their beauty. ¡®How could she change like that?¡¯ Gabriel had never gone to a ball as she hadn¡¯t been introduced to society, but she knew well about Ms. Sna. She was famous as a wallflower. -Gabriel, if you don¡¯t change, you will not be asked to dance at balls. You will have to stand alone and watch the others dance, just like Ms. Sna. Her mother would say things like that to scare her and make her lose some weight. -But I have a brother, so it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for me. I can dance with him. She would say that to anger her mother even more, but actually, she was afraid. What she feared more than not being asked to dance was the people talking about how she was never asked to dance, just like her mother was doing. Why did people count the times a girl was asked to dance and made fun of it? It¡¯s nothing more than dancing! Gabriel could emphasize with Ms. Sna, even though they never met in person. However, today she found out that she had beenpletely wrong. Ms. Sna now had a crowd of men who wanted her. ¡®But what I envy about her the most is that attitude.¡¯ Gabriel wasn¡¯t jealous of Elise¡¯s admirers. She had seen many women with admirers. To start with, her two sisters were like that. However, Gabriel didn¡¯t want to be like her sisters. They wouldpete about the number of their admirers and boast about it. Gabriel silently criticized them, thinking there was nothing to boast about as it wasn¡¯t like her sisters could marry all of their admirers. On the other hand, Elise was different. Even though she had a number of men looking at her, she wasn¡¯t d about it. She rather found it bothersome, and that attitude looked quite cool in Gabriel¡¯s eyes. ¡°Do you want to be friends with Elise?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± The duchess¡¯s kind question made her realize she had been rude. She hadn¡¯t participated in the conversation at all and kept staring at Elise. Rubica offered to call her for Gabriel, but she shook her hands. ¡°No, it¡¯s not like I wanted to talk to her. It¡¯s just, her dress is so pretty, and I couldn¡¯t help looking at her.¡± ¡°Oh, thank you.¡± Gabriel wasplimenting Ms. Sna¡¯s dress, but the duchess blushed and thanked her. Gabriel thought she was extremely kind. ¡°I also agree with you. Ms. Sna¡¯s dress is beautiful, but Her Grace¡¯s dress is... well, I don¡¯t even know what to say about it.¡± ¡°Mother?¡± ¡°Yes, my child?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I get another dress for my debutante?¡± ¡°But you were insisting on Christopher¡¯s boutique with tears only yesterday...¡± Gabriel blushed in embarrassment, but her cheeks had beenpletely painted in red, so it wasn¡¯t shown. ¡°I want Madam Khanna¡¯s dress.¡± The countess wasn¡¯t the type of woman who would be reluctant in spending the money for her daughter. And Gabriel, her youngest daughter, was the dearest one to her. Every time someone criticized Gabriel¡¯s looks, she felt like it was all her fault as she was her mother. ¡°Of course, if that is what you want.¡± Countess Tangt made her decision right on the spot. Rubica had promised Khanna to introduce her boutique to her, but she hadn¡¯t known it would be this easy. Chapter 164

Chapter 164: Chapter 164

¡°You must like the dress very much.¡± ¡°I... want to wear a blue dress like that.¡± Gabriel, who hoped that wearing a simr dress would let her shine like Elise, dreamingly smiled. ¡°A blue dress?¡± Rubica held her breath for a moment. In her opinion, the color royal blue and Gabriel were just not right for each other. She really wanted to whisper to the girl that there were other colors that matched her more, but she had to try hard not to. However, Gabriel didn¡¯t notice it and replied innocently. ¡°Maybe Ms. Sna will be on ¡®The Little Bird¡¯s News¡¯.¡± ¡°The Little Bird¡¯s News¡¯?¡± ¡°Gabriel, how could you speak of such a magazine full of gossip in front of the duchess?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not full of gossip. It is a small newspaper for girls full of entertaining articles and useful information.¡± ¡°That is exactly why it is even more dangerous. It gives useless ideas to young girls! I heard it even said there is a nation ruled by a woman. It spreads rumors that haven¡¯t been verified, and I don¡¯t think it is good that it is getting more and more famous.¡± Rubica was curious about it, but the countess couldn¡¯t let her daughter continue to talk about such a gossip magazine. ¡°Look at the embroidery in this napkin. This is so pretty. ymore¡¯s seamstresses are extremely skilled.¡± ¡°Oh, but Her Grace has done it herself.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Countess Tangt raised an eyebrow at hearing that. ¡°Oh, then that rumor must be real.¡± ¡°Rumor?¡± ¡°I head the duke loves his wife so much that he invented a machine that threads needles for her.¡± Rubica almost dropped the fork she was holding. She then smiled awkwardly and tried to take care of it. ¡°He said he made it as a pastime. Right, Ann?¡± ¡°Oh...¡± However, Ann didn¡¯t give a clear answer and just smiled. The countess continued, ¡°It must have been embarrassing for him to tell you the truth.¡± At first, Rubica desperately tried to deny it, but in time, she realized the countess had a point. ¡®Did... he really make it for me?¡¯ Suddenly she felt like crying. Moreover, he said he just made it because he had too much time? She couldn¡¯t believe she bought that. Why was he always trying to defend himself with those cold words? ¡°Your Grace,¡± Thankfully, Carl talked to her. ¡°Oh, it must be the time to recite a poem.¡± It was an idea to add more style to the tea meeting. Therefore, Rubica had picked a ssic poem about friendship to not kill the mood. ¡°I must have Elise prepare for it.¡± ¡°Your Grace...¡± Carl smiled at her as if he had something to say. ¡°His Grace has sent Lord Russel.¡± ¡°Lord Russel?¡± ¡°That Lord Russel?¡± Suddenly people started to murmur. As Rubica didn¡¯t know much about poetry and poets, she was a little confused, but she didn¡¯t show it. She asked naturally, ¡°But why did he send Lord Russel so suddenly?¡± ¡°As he couldn¡¯te himself, he sent Lord Russel to recite a poem instead of him.¡± It looked like Lord Russel was a famous poet, and Rubica was relieved that she didn¡¯t embarrassed herself by asking that and simply allowed it. As she just heard, Lord Russel was a famous poet. However, he was arrogant and entric. He didn¡¯t evene to meetings no matter how much money he was offered. However, he hade to this tea meeting for one simple reason. During his time at the Academy, he had avoided failing a subject by getting Edgar¡¯s help with an assignment. Edgar threatened to announce that the assignment had beenpleted with his help if he didn¡¯te. ¡°It is my honor to meet you.¡± Russel kissed Rubica¡¯s hand. He had always wondered what kind of woman Edgar would fall in love with. As he was an arrogant man, Russel thought he would fall for someone as arrogant as himself or extremely beautiful. However, contrary to what he had expected, the woman in front of him looked kind and nice. Russel sat down at the edge of the fountain and recited a poem. Everyone was enchanted by his clear voice and the sound of the fountain¡¯s water. ¡®It¡¯s not the poem I¡¯ve chosen.¡¯ At first, Rubica listened to it without much thought, but then her face turned redder and redder. The poem was a serenade a man once wrote for his beautiful lover. What was even more embarrassing was that Russel kept staring at her. ¡°Well, the butler did say the duke sent someone ¡®instead¡¯ of him.¡± ¡°I guess he must have nned to recite it himself.¡± ¡°Huh, that Duke ymore has changed this much...¡± Any man could be braver than ever after confessing his love. Rubica didn¡¯t know what to do about the stories that spread more and more in time. She could have argued that it was all a misunderstanding if it had been only a few weeks ago, but it wasn¡¯t a misunderstanding anymore. ¡®How much has he spent to call that man?¡¯ Judging from what the others were murmuring about him, the poet had to be very famous. Rubica was even worried that Edgar might be in debt. ¡®Well, even if he has some debts, it wouldn¡¯t be a prob... no, it would be a problem.¡¯ She was going to try her best to stop the war for Edgar. And if she seeded, the banks would not be destroyed. ¡®But wouldn¡¯t they start to criticize me by now? I¡¯ve spent this much.¡¯ She now had to win this fight. Roses that cost a fortune to make, cakes that were sweet enough to melt tongues, the great poet, tables, new silverware and ssware she bought for the meeting, plus expensive tea. This tea meeting had cost more than a proper ball, so the people were supposed to call her insane. Rubica wanted the guests to say things like, ¡®the duchess is so extravagant¡¯ and ¡®she isn¡¯t fit to be Duchess ymore¡¯ on their way home. ¡®Well, I really am not fit for this role.¡¯ Everything was just too much for her. The title Duchess ymore was too much, and Edgar was even more too much. Rubica just couldn¡¯t understand why such a great man wanted her so badly. *** As the guests went home on their way, they, of course, talked about Rubica. However, what they were saying waspletely contrary to Rubica¡¯s expectation. ¡°I heard Duke ymore is buying almost all the jewel in the capital, so I thought she would show up wearing a bunch of jewels...¡¯ Countess Tangt muttered as she fiddled with her yellow diamond ne. She had only put one brooch on her dress as she had been asked, but she still wore the expensive and luxurious ne that hurt her neck. Still, as she was someone who liked to get attention, the countess was scared that it might not be enough because of the duchess. ¡°I was surprised to hear her dress wasn¡¯t the work of a designer at the capital.¡± ¡°Yes, it is the work of a designer in the ymore¡¯s dukedom... that designer is about to be famous now.¡± The countess bit on her fingernail. Why didn¡¯t she think of it sooner? Finding a talented but not known designer... people were going to wear Khanna¡¯s dress from now, and they were not going to forget the fact that Duchess ymore had been the one who found that designer. Plus, it was going to bring even more wealth to ymore as Khanna lived and worked in its domain. As if the familycked any money. ¡°I must send a message to Khanna¡¯s shop as soon as we arrive home. We must get an appointment right away, or we will not be able to order dresses from her.¡± ¡°But mother, the society season is still far away. We don¡¯t have to rush like that.¡± ¡°Gabriel, who told you I was rushing for you?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to order my dresses. Have you seen Ann? She looked at least a decade younger!¡± Countess Tangt had survived as a society¡¯s celebrity for many years, and her instinct was yelling the dress was going to be in fashion. Her pride just didn¡¯t let her be out of fashion. ¡°But I am going to use some gems. I can¡¯t just wear a dress without any gems. Really, I didn¡¯t know the duchess would show up without any jewelry. She wasn¡¯t even wearing a brooch.¡± ¡°I think she is extremely frugal, but she isn¡¯t stingy. She shared this rare rose with us.¡± Countess Tangt smiled. Her innocent daughter was thinking Rubica had done it only out of goodwill. However, the countess had known this meeting was to let the duchess get used to society without any trouble since the moment she received her invitation. ¡°Gabriel, what is important is her idea of giving out those roses. If it isn¡¯t the duke¡¯s idea or the butler¡¯s but the duchess¡¯s, she is one scary woman.¡± ¡°Are you saying she had a purpose when she gave us roses?¡± ¡°Yes. She gave those roses to the guests who went to her meeting. Do you think they will just keep them at their homes? Such rare roses presented by ymore?¡± ¡°No... they will most certainly invite nobles in their neighborhood to boast about it.¡± ¡°Yes, and it is a nobles¡¯ characteristic to think they are not important enough when they don¡¯t have something new and rare that the others have.¡± The countess pouted. It was her habit to talk about nobles in the third person even though she was one of them herself. Chapter 165

Chapter 165: Chapter 165

¡°Soon people will rush to ymore and ask to buy Taylor Roses.¡± ¡°Gabriel, that pot of roses is probably worth enough to make a wedding dress when you get married.¡± Gabriel looked down at the pot of roses near her feet. The small pot with a few flowers was going to be that expensive? It just felt too unrealistic. She had just been happy to be given it, and it turned out it was part of such aplicated and well-calcted n. ¡®Duchess ymore is about to be a celebrity in society.¡¯ Gabriel was sure Rubica would be greater than her mother. People were going to be eager to find out everything about her, including what she wore and what she ate. ¡°Gabriel.¡± Tatiana woke her up from her thoughts. The countess had fallen asleep since she was tired after hours of talking. ¡°You are going to write about her, right?¡± Gabriel nodded hard. Her next article was going to be about the tea meeting and Duchess ymore. ¡°Our source¡¯s maid snuck out to question the chef. And don¡¯t worry about the housekeeper, I¡¯ve worked on her myself.¡± ¡°Shh, Titiana. My mother might hear us.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. She¡¯s fast asleep.¡± Titiana poked the countess. She was sleeping soundly and didn¡¯t even budge. The two girls had to try hard to notugh. The Little Bird¡¯s News, which the countess hated so much, was a magazine Titiana, the girl she had picked as his son¡¯s wife, was making in secret. Moreover, Gabriel was working on the sharpest column of the magazine. *** ¡°I am d that the meeting was sessful.¡± Carl the butler smiled brightly, which he rarely did. It had been the tea meeting he had always been dreaming of. Even though the tables had been almost fully filled with cakes and guests looked for water and juice after taking a sip of tea, it had been a nice meeting. A famous poet even came to recite a poem, and then they shared their opinions about it... even the tea meetings held in the East Empire couldn¡¯t have been as perfect as this. ¡°I am d as well. Some even asked where they could buy tea.¡± ¡°Yes, maybe tea meetings will be famous in this kingdom.¡± Carl said hopefully. Of course, Rubica had quite different hopes. Several people had asked about Khanna and her shop whileplimenting Rubica¡¯s dress. Some even said it was too pretty to be worn only at tea meetings. It had been so sessful that Rubica couldn¡¯t believe she had been so nervous about it. ¡°Carl, Edgar must have finished working by now, right?¡± Before she could finish saying that, a pair of huge hands grabbed her by the waist and lifted her high. It was Edgar, of course. He spun her around as if she had been the lightest thing in the world. ¡°Ah!¡± She yelled, but she was alsoughing. The ribbons on her chest fluttered in the wind, and Edgar had to do his best to not be enchanted by the beautiful ribbons and stare at her chest. ¡°Did you like my gift?¡± Rubica recalled Lord Russel¡¯s passionate recital and blushed. It had been a poem that so eagerly pleaded for love. ¡°Did it really have to be that poem?¡± ¡°But it was meaningful because of that poem.¡± ¡°Edgar!¡± ¡°You must have not liked Lord Russel¡¯s recital. Well, I didn¡¯t like the way he looked at you. I must find him right away and make him pay for that.¡± ¡°Edgar!¡± How could he say such a thing with a straight face? Now that he started once, he was going to stop at nothing. He naughtily smiled. ¡°I guess you didn¡¯t like that it was a poem written for someone else. Should I have him write a new poem only for you?¡± ¡°Please, stop teasing me.¡± He probably had said that to tease her as he narrowed his eyes andughed. Hisughter made her heart beat fast. Theughter that was neither too low nor too high. The sound gave her a strange longing feeling. But that thought couldn¡¯tst long as Edgar started to kiss her forehead again and again. ¡°What, what are you doing?¡± ¡°You¡¯re so pretty.¡± He said as he kissed her lightly lose hair. That made Rubica shudder as he looked like he would eat her alive at any moment. ¡°Hmm, hmm.¡± Carl couldn¡¯t look anymore and cleared his throat. That woke Rubica up. What had been they doing in the middle of the garden even if it was dark? She could feel the servants looking at them and murmuring as they cleared the tables. ¡°Huh.¡± Edgar reluctantly let her go. He seemed to be in quite a pleasant mood and kept asking about what happened during the tea meeting on their way inside. But then, Rubica started to think that it was a little strange. ¡®... it sounds like he was watching us.¡¯ Or he couldn¡¯t have known about which guest was wearing what and who enjoyed which dessert like that. Maybe he actually wanted toe to the meeting. Rubica looked at him, but she didn¡¯t know what to think. ¡®Should I have asked him toe?¡¯ Even though Edgar easily said what he wanted to say as a man of power, he was not always honest. She had something to ask him today. She wanted to make him lower his guard by making the mood for it before she got there. ¡°Edgar, why don¡¯t we host a tea meeting together next time?¡± She thought he would smile happily and say yes. However, it only made him lose his pleasant mood. ¡°No, you know that I¡¯m busy.¡± You are that busy, but you were by the window and watching the whole time? Rubica really wanted to say that, but she didn¡¯t. It looked like she couldn¡¯t make him feel generous with that. ¡°Okay then. Oh, and that threader you made, it has be really popr these days. I heard it¡¯s being exported now. You made it as a pastime, but it became so popr. You are truly great.¡± Edgar narrowed his eyes as he could see she was making it all up. She seriously needed to realize that she was a terrible liar. Nevertheless, it did make him feel good, even if it was a lie. ¡°Well, I am great.¡± Rubica could only barely resist the urge to point out his arrogant attitude, but she kept her smile. ¡°So I was thinking... can¡¯t you tell me what you are going to invent from now on?¡± ¡°What?¡± She knew that she was making a crazy demand. ¡°I am interested in what you do since you can make such great things.¡± ¡°Rubica.¡± He called her name calmly. ¡°What I usually make are not things that you would be interested in, not at all.¡± ¡°No, no. I am interested in your work, a lot.¡± ¡°But I once heard an idiot at theb tried to demonstrate a new weapon in front of you and you almost fainted in shock.¡± He knew about that? Rubica blinked. Edgar even crossed his arms while coldly asking, ¡°Why do you want to know about my work when you are so afraid of it?¡± Actually, he didn¡¯t like his family business that much. He remembered his first invention and what happened when he experimented with that for the first time. ¡®Edgar, do not forget. Our wealth has been made over the blood of numerous people.¡¯ His weapons were used to threaten monsters and dragons¡¯ underlings, but they were sometimes used to hurt people. Edgar didn¡¯t want Rubica to know that. She was a grown-up, and she understood what he did... but he didn¡¯t want her to see the true face of his darkness. He feared it might make her despise him. ¡°But... but...¡± Rubica bit her lips. She was desperately working with her brain that didn¡¯t work well to save him, but he wasn¡¯t cooperating. She med him for that. ¡°I want to know what you do.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to know what I do. You have many other things to do, so I don¡¯t want you to try to find out about it and get hurt.¡± She couldn¡¯t defeat him with logic. However, she couldn¡¯t give up now. She had no choice but to just insist. ¡°But you know about everything I do. Like who sends letters to me, why I was surprised at theb, and how I assigned my budget, you know all that...¡± Now it really felt unfair. Her lips trembled, and that wasn¡¯t an act. Edgar tried hard to not swear and spoke as coldly and calmly as he could. ¡°You are my wife. I have a duty to know where you are and what you do.¡± ¡°But... with that logic, you are my husband! I also have a duty to know where my husband is and what he does!¡± ¡°Rubica.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not about to say something like, ¡®It¡¯s too difficult for women, so you don¡¯t have to know about it¡¯, right?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think of me as one of those idiots who say such things!¡± Edgar angrily hit the armrest of his chair. It surprised Rubica a little, but she didn¡¯t cease to re at him. Chapter 166

Chapter 166: Chapter 166

¡®I have to stop him from making that terrible weapon.¡¯ Before, she thought she couldn¡¯t interfere with what he did. However, the more she got to know him, the more she started to think maybe he also didn¡¯t want to see the tragedy Ste would bring. She wanted to stop him. She knew she would look like a foolish and na?ve girl who didn¡¯t know what she was insisting in his eyes, but that was fine. If she could only stop him from making Ste and stop the war, she didn¡¯t mind if he ended up hating her or ming her. ¡°Do... you really have to know?¡± In the end, he asked between clenched teeth. He could see that she would never look at him again if he didn¡¯t let her get what she wanted now. Moreover, that was one thing he couldn¡¯t ovee. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°But you cannot go to theb. You were so surprised... I cannot let that happen to you ever again.¡± ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t go to theb.¡± What she wanted to know was whether he was working on Ste or not. She didn¡¯t want to see the bombs and war chariots they were making at theb. ¡°And I cannot show you all the documents.¡± ¡°Okay, just tell me what you are making.¡± Even though Edgar would stop her from seeing all the documents, Rubica didn¡¯t care as she wasn¡¯t sure she would understand all thoseplicated documents. ¡°Do you just want to know what I am working on? Or also what the schrs at theb are making?¡± ¡°Umm...¡± She pressed her cheeks with her fingers and thought about that for a moment. As Ste was a great weapon, it was probably going to be invented by Edgar himself, but she wanted to take the safe route. ¡°All of it.¡± ¡°Okay then, I will have Carl arrange it. There are many things and it will take some time.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I can wait.¡± Edgar looked at her, a little troubled. He had been mad at her for trying to see an aspect of him he didn¡¯t want to show her. But thinking about it calmly now, he could see she wasn¡¯t just insisting on it for no good reason. She had asked him to move his money to Jackal Bank, and now she wanted to know what kind of weapon he was making. ¡®It must be war.¡¯ He reached a simple conclusion. That easily exined how he was blinded and met her as a man who had nothing. ¡®But how?¡¯ On the west side of the Seritos Kingdom you could find the sea, on the north, you had the dangerous Seritos Mountains, and its east south was the dragon Ios¡¯s territory. The kingdom was practically an ind. That was why it had been able to maintain peace while it exported weapons that shook many kingdoms. Even if the dragon¡¯s territory made it hard for people of Seritos to get enough food, it was also the fence that defended the kingdom. The fire of war couldn¡¯t engulf the kingdom easily. Ste. Edgar thought about the bomber to which he decided to dedicate everything he had. It had to be Ste. Nothing else could bring the kingdom down to ruins and destroy ymore. But who did it? The king? Or the crown prince? But neither of them had any lust for conquest. The crown prince didn¡¯t even want the crown. ¡®Or... maybe a spy.¡¯ Maybe a spy from another kingdom was going to steal his blueprint. Such a thing had happened more than once in ymore¡¯s history. He immediately decided to dy the development of Ste. Then, he started to work on how to sort out the spy. *** A cool breeze came and filled the entire garden with the scent of roses. The rose made by Sesar was not only beautiful, but it also had a strong scent. This was all thanks to the wild roses he had found at Mount Flenus. A man breathed in the scent in the middle of the garden. ¡°Hmm.¡± His golden hair glittered under the moonlight. His eyes were golden, just like his hair. He looked around the garden full of roses. ¡°It¡¯s just as he promised. I like it. It¡¯s all pretty.¡± He found an old man trying to steal his roses at Mount Flenus, so he thought about killing him. But now, he thought he made a good decision when sparing him. As the old man had promised, he had brought an unbelievably beautiful rose to the world. ¡°And now it¡¯s all mine.¡± His golden eyes glistened dangerously. Ios the Greedy. That was how they called him. Like any other dragon, he liked beautiful things, and he had an extremely strong lust for nts. He decided to make this new kind of rose bloom only in his territory. He cast a spell and gathered wind with his left hand. Small lights that looked like golden power floated around ready to engulf the roses. Ios snapped his finger. The golden lights were supposed to disappear with what he wanted. ¡°Huh?¡± But to his surprise, nothing happened. Ios looked around, quite confused. The golden luster he had summoned had vanished. ¡°What is going on?¡± He cast the spell once again, but it didn¡¯t work. It seemed like his magic didn¡¯t work in this ce. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the building across the garden. Dragons were superior to all creatures. Every creature that came into his territory obeyed him, except for some humans with a strong will. Even outside his territory, his power scarcely didn¡¯t work. ¡°Is this the territory of another entity?¡± Ios ruffled his hair. Golden luster floated around each time his golden hair moved. ¡°Master, are you finished?¡± The ground moved and a wrinkled goblin popped out. It drank the scent of the roses that filled the garden and smiled happily. Giving precious liquor to that troublemaking botanist had paid off. Thinking about watering the roses made it already happy. ¡°We should go.¡± ¡°No, I cannot take these roses.¡± Ios said, biting his lips hard. The goblin stared at him. The dragon should own all the roses in the garden by now. ¡°My magic isn¡¯t working.¡± ¡°What? That¡¯s not right. Unless this is the territory of another dragon...¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Ios frowned. This had never happened before. His magic was not working... there were few creatures stronger than him, except for his fellow dragons. However, he couldn¡¯t smell his kind right now. ¡°Oh!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s not a dragon, maybe it¡¯s a nymph.¡± ¡°A nymph?¡± Nymphs were one of the few beings stronger than dragons. Ios frowned. Assuming the mansion belonged to a nymph made everything clear. ¡°But why would a nymph be here? They¡¯re all clean freaks.¡± ¡°How would I know what a nymph is doing here?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s up with them either.¡± Ios angrily pulled his hair while the goblin carefully gathered golden particles that fell from him. Even though the dragon was greedy about the flowers and trees, it didn¡¯t care even a bit about the gold that fell from his body all the time. The goblin silentlyined, thinking Ios was the one who didn¡¯t know what was up with him. ¡°Oh, nymphs are supposed to live on their ind in peace. What is one of them doing here?¡± ¡°I think you don¡¯t deserve to say that. You came to steal these roses.¡± ¡°Shut up, Minos.¡± The goblin, Minos, shrugged. Ios crossed his arms and looked around the garden. The roses were too beautiful to be given up so easily. Plus, that mad botanist had promised him to make even prettier flowers in the future. ¡°As he belongs to a nymph, kidnapping him will only lead to an even bigger problem.¡± ¡°How about getting permission?¡± ¡°Permission?¡± ¡°Nymphs are all kind and love peace. They usually grant requests when asked politely.¡± ¡°Politely?¡± Ios red at Minos. His fiery golden eyes let the goblin know it made a mistake. Ios was not just greedy. He was also vicious. He could set the pretty garden on fire, saying no one else could have what he couldn¡¯t have. ¡®And when nymphs get mad, there¡¯s no stopping to their wrath.¡¯ A seriously mad nymph could do far more than setting fire on a garden, and Minos really wanted to stop that from happening. ¡°That¡¯s what I meant, master. I meant we should trick the nymph by pretending to be polite and get these roses.¡± ¡°Trick the nymph?¡± Ios asked back. The idea sounded pretty good to him. Thankfully, he wasn¡¯t that smart but simple. ¡°The owner of this mansion has just entrusted us a huge sum of money in the goblins¡¯ bank. We can pretend to work for the bank and smuggle out these roses.¡± And to pretend to be the bank employers, they had to be polite. However, Ios couldn¡¯t think that far ahead. He was just d to trick someone. ¡®It¡¯s good that he¡¯s so simple.¡¯ Minos looked around the giant mansion as it gathered Ios¡¯s golden luster again. It was also interested in the mansion¡¯s owner who suddenly entrusted so much money to the Jackal Bank. Minos wanted to know why he had done that. He was worried the man might have noticed Jackal Bank didn¡¯t take only the humans¡¯ money but also managed the dragons¡¯ and monsters¡¯ money as well. The truth was that it was nning to pretend to help Ios while finding out about ymore. Chapter 167

Chapter 167: Chapter 167

Soon after the tea meeting, Rubica started to get letters. The letters were enough to fill the silver tray, and there were a lot more than the number of guests who hade to the meeting. ¡°What are all these letters?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know.¡± Even Ann was surprised to see the letters sent by the high nobles who hadn¡¯t even been invited to the meeting, including Marchioness Miramont. They were not even acquainted with Rubica, so why did they send letters to her? ¡°You should read them first.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± For a moment, Rubica wondered which letters she should read first. She could guess why the people who hade to her tea meeting sent letters, but why did the people who hadn¡¯t been invited send letters to her? She got curious and picked Marchioness Miramont¡¯s letter first. When she opened the envelope, some well-dried flower petals fell. They smelled sweet. Even if Rubica just suddenly became a duchess, the Marchioness, who was born in a prestigious family, wrote the letter with extreme care. ¡®She has no reason to tter me, so why did she send me a letter?¡¯ The letter was written in a very elegant style. The Marchioness talked about the weather, asked how Rubica was, and she congratted her about the sessful tea meeting. Then, she ended with hopes to exchange letters with Rubica sometimes, just as she had done with the former Duchess ymore. Rubica narrowed her eyes when she finished reading it. The letter was extremely normal, but there was no way the Marchioness sent it without any purpose. However, she couldn¡¯t read the purpose herself as nobles¡¯ affairs were all soplicatedly intertwined. ¡°Ann, what does this letter mean?¡± Rubica handed Ann the letter who read it and smiled. ¡°Oh, the Marchioness must want the Taylor Rose.¡± ¡°She wants the rose?¡± ¡°Yes. See, sheplimented on how you gave roses to the guests at the tea meeting. She says it is a wonderful way to make friends. She is also making it clear that she wants to befriend you. It means she wanted to be presented with the rose too.¡± Now that made sense. Rubica was grateful that Ann was at her side to interpret nobles¡¯ theplicated way of talking. ¡°Should I send her some roses?¡± ¡°It would be better not to.¡± ¡°But why?¡± ¡°Marchioness Miramont and Countess Tangt are rivals.¡± ¡°Rivals? But aren¡¯t they friends?¡± ¡°They have beenpeting with each other ever since they were maids. They have been pretending to be good friends after they got married to two families that are close friends, but actually, they hate each other very much. Countess Tangt must have not missed this opportunity, and she must have invited the Marchioness to show her the rose and talk about it. I guess it made her jealous, and she eventually sent a letter.¡± ¡°So, the countess will be mad if I send roses to the Marchioness.¡± Tangt and ymore had been close, but Miramont wasn¡¯t close to ymore. Therefore, Rubica decided not to send any roses to the Marchioness and opened the next letter. ¡°Huh? But this one is almost exactly the same as Marchioness Miramont¡¯s letter.¡± ¡°Then thatdy must want the rose as well.¡± The next letter and the one after that were all remarkably simr, so Rubica wondered if they were sharing a temte or something. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to write back to them. The amount of roses Lord Sesar is growing now is not even half of what these people want...¡± Moreover, Sesar was about to finish making yet another type of rose. He couldn¡¯t pay his full attention to Taylor Rose. Thankfully, Ann gave Rubica a simple solution to it. ¡°We should ask the butler to hire some men to grow the roses.¡± ¡°Oh, yes, we can sow seeds in the greenhouse and then move the saplings to grow in the field. We should hire some men to take care of the roses, and as for the work that requires many hands for a short time, we should hire and pay the nearby farmers.¡± And the weather was perfect for the roses to grow. ¡°The farmers will be delighted since it will be an unexpected earning.¡± ¡°Yes, right? Hmm, but I didn¡¯t have the rose made to turn them into something to be given as gifts, so I should tell them to ask Lord Sesar if they want to buy it.¡± ¡°To Lord Sesar... but madam, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea. I think we¡¯d better let Carl handle the selling.¡± Rubica could immediately see what Ann was worried about. Lord Sesar wasn¡¯t the kind of person who could manage a business. He would either demand an insanely high price or sell his roses at almost nothing. ¡°We can tell them Lord Sesar is busy with his work and they should ask Carl. That would do.¡± ¡°I think so too.¡± As there were too many letters, Rubica couldn¡¯t write back to all of them herself. So, she decided to let Ann write back to those who wanted the rose and only sign the letterster. Then, she picked one of the letters sent by her guests at the tea meeting with shaking hands. Her heart beat fast with anxiety and expectation. Everyone looked happy as they left after the meeting, but in nobles¡¯ society, looks didn¡¯t always tell what people were thinking. However, after reading only a few lines of the letter let her realize she had nothing to worry about. Most of the guests wrote they had been happy to participate in such a pleasant and meaningful meeting. ¡°Ann, look. Ms. Chartle wrote she wanted toe if I ever host another tea meeting.¡± ¡°She must have liked the tea meeting very much.¡± ¡°Oh, and this girl also asked me to invite her to the tea meeting again.¡± Rubica rejoiced like a little girl while Ann smiled proudly. Rubica¡¯s tea meeting had been a great sess, and Ann didn¡¯t have to worry about the society season. ¡°I guess my n has worked well enough.¡± ¡°Of course. A maid from a baron family has even been to theb. She said she was on an errand, but she only brought a small letter.¡± ¡°Aha.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t need any more exnation. She could see what kind of errand the maid hade toplete. As she had plotted, the seeds of love that had been sowed in her tea meeting were about to bud. Ann put a hand on her mouth and said in a small voice. ¡°Actually, Elise has gotten ten letters already.¡± ¡°Ten letters?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure she will get more soon.¡± Ann raised her chin high as if she had been the one who was getting love letters. Well, nothing was better than love at making a meeting sessful. Even the most boring meeting can be pleasant if someone you like is with you. ¡®Oh.¡¯ But then, Rubica suddenly thought of Edgar. He liked to sit on the sofa in the bedroom and put his long legs on a stool. Then, he would listen to her story without doing anything else. Although Rubica always thought she had to stop talking as he had to be tired as well, for some reason, it was hard to stop talking to him. She talked in detail about the tea meeting and her maids, and he sometimes made a cynicalment. Even though it was just gossip, he was never tired of it. The problem was that Rubica also liked that time very much. -I like you. Thinking of what he had said made her blush. ¡°Madam?¡± ¡°Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something else.¡± Rubica said as she fanned at her feverish cheeks. She had been suddenly thinking of Edgar quite oftentely. She tried to ban the thought from her mind and opened the letter from Countess Tangt. ¡°What would Countess Tangt think of my tea meeting?¡± ¡°As Marchioness Miramont couldn¡¯t stand it and wrote you a letter asking for the rose, the countess must have shown off her rose to her, so... I think she must have liked your tea meeting.¡± Even though Ann said so, she also sounded a little nervous. Although a number of nobles were thinking highly of Rubica¡¯s tea meeting, if the celebrity of society said, ¡®The rose was good, but the meeting was not,¡¯ that was going to mean nothing. Rubica wiped off the sweat on her palms as she read the letter. However, she widened her eyes as she reached thest paragraph. And so did Ann. What was written wasn¡¯t something they had expected. -I also want to host a tea meeting myself. If you know a merchant who sells good tea, please rmend him to me. I would also be delighted if you coulde to my tea meeting. Rubica couldn¡¯t believe her own eyes. She took a deep breath and read thest part of the letter again and again. Thankfully, the letters didn¡¯t disappear or change. ¡°Countess Tangt wants to host a tea meeting herself!¡± ¡°Oh my gods! Oh, there can¡¯t be a betterpliment for your tea meeting.¡± ¡°Ann, call Carl immediately. I must ask him to tell me about the tea sellers in detail.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± When Carl came, he was so happy to hear the countess was nning to host a tea meeting herself that he almost knelt down on the spot. Then, he did his best to make a list of tea sellers. He even wanted to write down about which tea each seller sold and how to brew each tea ording to its unique characteristics and Rubica could only barely talk him out of it. Chapter 168

Chapter 168: Chapter 168

Rubica wrote a letter in return that said she would be happy to go to the countess¡¯s tea meeting anytime, trying not to show how delighted she was. ¡°Well, I can see why Countess Tangt is famous as the society¡¯s celebrity. She is much cleverer than the others.¡± ¡°She¡¯s cleverer?¡± ¡°Look. You received too many letters, so the others will only get letters signed by you in return, but the countess has seeded in receiving a letter written by yourself. All because she announced she was going to host a tea meeting herself.¡± ¡°Oh, thinking about it that way, it is a really clever n.¡± Rubica was impressed. Even though Edgar thought Countess Tangt was only a talkativedy, not anyone could be a celebrity in society. Rubica, however, suddenly became scared. ¡°Will I be able to do well among people like her?¡± ¡°But you are already doing well. Taylor Rose has be this popr all thanks to your idea.¡± Ann replied casually as she sorted the letters for the other nobles. However, it confused Rubica and she had to ask back. ¡°My idea?¡± ¡°You gave a pot of rose to every guest who came to your meeting. They invited their neighbors to show it off, so now they are all eager to know what Taylor Rose is and where they can get it. It was the best promotion.¡± Ann looked at Rubica with admiration, but she suddenly felt dizzy. She hadn¡¯t given out those roses for that purpose, not at all. She just wanted to spend a lot of money and thought giving out gifts would be the best way for it. Why did she keep getting such results? She tried hard to be a good daughter and a nice niece, but her hard effort never paid off. But now, the harder she tried to be a bad wife, the higher people thought of her? What on earth was going on? ¡°We should call Madam Khanna and order more dresses for the tea meeting. I think we must order at least five different tea meeting dresses.¡± ¡°Do I really need five different dresses for Countess Tangt¡¯s tea meeting?¡± ¡°Your Grace, I bet on this pen that Marchioness Miramont will send you an invitation for her own tea meeting within a week.¡± And just as Ann assured her, Marchioness Miramont sent her a messenger bird with the invitation for Rubica in less than a week. However, the problem was that she wasn¡¯t the only one to receive such an invitation. A few of those invitations were not addressed to Rubica but to the knights and schrs in ymore. If it had been only about befriending the duchess, the tea meeting wouldn¡¯t have been so sensational. A few young women and men had been fond of each other at the meeting. And now, their parents just couldn¡¯t stay still. As it was not the time for balls yet, they wondered how they could let their children meet their crush again, but then they heard the countess was hosting a tea meeting. Soon, they realized that tea meeting was the best solution for the problem. ¡°I think I should also go to Marchioness Miramont¡¯s meeting.¡± ¡°You are right. It wouldn¡¯t be good to neglect the Miramonts too much.¡± Maintaining a good rtionship with Tangts was important, but Rubica couldn¡¯t make it look like ymore feared Tangt that much. Therefore, Ann added Miramont¡¯s tea meeting to Rubica¡¯s schedule. ¡°There are also some meetings Carl said you¡¯d better go to.¡± As Rubica was Duchess ymore, she couldn¡¯t neglect families that were ymore¡¯s business partners. Ann prioritized the meetings Rubica was supposed to go to. ording to that, Rubica was going to be really busy a weekter. ¡°I think the five dresses we¡¯ve ordered won¡¯t be enough...¡± ¡°Yes, Madam Khanna has been extremely busytely. All thedies who are going to host a tea meeting want to order from her. I heard Marchioness Miramont even sent knights and a mana stone carriage for her lest her order might be put back in the list.¡± ¡°Do they all want ribbon dresses?¡± Rubica asked, unable to hide how excited she was about it. ¡°Oh, but it is now impossible to get the fabric we used for the dresses. Especially Elise¡¯s royal blue fabric. No one can get it now.¡± That was a sess beyond Rubica¡¯s imagination, and she had to press her fast beating heart to calm it down. ¡°As it is pretty without any jewels andfortable, some even wear it when they are not at tea meetings.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s also good for the dukedom.¡± Ann looked at Rubica with pride. At first, she had been a little worried to see her mistress invest such a huge sum of money for her tea meeting. However, she hadn¡¯t been able to stop Rubica as the duke was spending an enormous amount of money just to buy gifts for her. And now, she thought it was good that she didn¡¯t try to stop her. Khanna received a lot of down payments and orders, so she immediately started to hire skilled tailors. Moreover, supplies, including good fabric, started to flow into the dukedom. Its inns were even making high profits thanks to the servants who came for Madam Khanna. The same was with Taylor Rose. Even though ymore was famous for its weapons business, its subjects were not. Peasants who didn¡¯t have skills that let them get a job at ymore¡¯s factories lived lives that were no better than the peasants of other domains. However, thanks to the sess of Taylor Rose, ymore was now hiring farmers to grow roses which led to extra jobs and profit for the peasants. And after the farmers¡¯ financial status improved, various seeds and farming tools that met their demands entered the market. Of course, more deals were made at shops now. Rubica¡¯s bold spending had been a clever investment to make the dukedom flourish. ¡®I used to believe saving was the only virtue...¡¯ The kingdom didn¡¯t have enough supplies. Even though it was buying its food with mana stone, the price of food soared up immediately when famine would strike the continent. That was why Ann had always tried to practice saving that was called the virtue of Seritos¡¯s nobles. To prepare for the famine that coulde at any time, she tried her best to save while she managed the household in the absence of Duchess ymore. However, even though Rubica just got what she wanted to eat, what she wanted to wear, and even what she wanted to see, she was doing a better job of managing the household than Ann. If Ann had stopped her from investing on Sesar and hosting such a grand tea meeting, this day wouldn¡¯t havee. ¡°Your Grace, the queen also wants to see Taylor Rose. I think we should send it to her.¡± ¡°Of course we should if Her Majesty wants it. Oh, we should send this new rose along with it.¡± Rubica said as she touched the flowers in a vase on the table. It had the opposite gradation from the Taylor Rose, white in the edge and red in the middle. Edgar had presented it to her yesterday. Rubica wanted to ask why he was bragging about it when Lord Sesar was the one making those roses, but he looked so hungry for herpliments that she just said what he wanted to hear. ¡°The queen must be happy to see it.¡± ¡°And Lord Sesar said he is going to make light purple roses as his next work.¡± Now he had be really confident thanks to his series of sesses. Even the rtives who had ignored him were now showing up at his greenhouse, wondering if they could get some roses. Each time that happened, Sesar poured a bucket of water on them andughed heartily, saying they should have been nice to him. ¡°Maybe he¡¯ll even make a rose that bloom in winter.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± Rubicaughed, but she thought it wasn¡¯tpletely impossible for Lord Sesar. ¡°Anyway, as you are going to be busy, we should order more dresses and essories.¡± ¡°But I already have enough essories...¡± ¡°What the duke has bought for you are splendid, but they don¡¯t match the dresses you are going to wear to tea meetings. You should save them for balls.¡± Ann was now so enthusiastic about it which made Rubica anxious. Ann had been worrying about the budget and had tried to make Rubica spend at least a little less. She had been really worried about the duke¡¯s great spending till only a while ago. As Rubica had bought a lot, it was time for the budget to run out. However, Ann wasn¡¯t worried at all. ¡®I know Taylor Rose is being sold well, but it¡¯s just a rose...¡¯ Plus, they hadn¡¯t nted it much as they hadn¡¯t known it would be so popr. Unlike manufacturing goods, it took time for roses to bud, grow, and bloom. Rubica couldn¡¯t understand Ann¡¯s reaction, even though the dukedom¡¯s financial status had somewhat improved. ¡®I haven¡¯t looked at the books as I was busy preparing for the tea meeting and writing back letters.¡¯ She had entrusted Ann with the matter, believing the housekeeper would tell her if something wrong happened. If Rubica¡¯s memory was right, she had spent more than the budget. Something must have gone wrong by now, but Ann wasn¡¯t saying anything, and it worried her. Now that she decided to save Edgar no matter what, she couldn¡¯t have thoughts like before where she didn¡¯t think it was her problem whether Edgar was in debt or not. ¡°Ann, about the books...¡± ¡°Oh yes, you haven¡¯t had the time to look at the books after you assigned the budget. I will have Carl organize it and bring it.¡± The housekeeper sounded extremely rxed, so Rubica thought this couldn¡¯t be right. Chapter 169

Chapter 169: Chapter 169

¡°Your Grace, Lady Tangt has arrived.¡± Elise carefully knocked on the door to announce the visitor¡¯s arrival, and Ann looked at the clock in surprise. ¡°My, it¡¯s already time!¡± Countess Tangt had asked if she could send her daughter to Rubica so that she could get advice on how to host a tea meeting. Of course, that was only an excuse, but Gabriel had left Rubica a good impression at the meeting. Even though her mother scolded her, she was a witty and clever girl. Rubica could see through what the countess was up to, but she didn¡¯t want to miss a chance to socialize with interesting girls just because she didn¡¯t want to be part of Countess Tangt and Marchioness Miramont¡¯s fight, so she didn¡¯t refuse. ¡°What should we do? Should we bring her here to the sewing room?¡± And Ann was more excited than anymore else about this and was taking too many steps further. ¡°What if she asks you to be her chaperone?¡± ¡°Ann, as the letter said, we are just going to talk about tea meetings. She would find it too much if she was invited in the sewing room for our first meeting.¡± ¡°Then it would be better to meet her in the reception, but a side of your hair is in a mess. Jennie!¡± Rubica left Ann, who was making a fuss, and gave orders to Elise. ¡°You must be able tomunicate with Miss Tangt better as you are of simr age. Why don¡¯t you go down and meet her first? Oh, and don¡¯t forget to bring enough cakes and fruits.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Rubica remembered how Gabriel wasn¡¯t able to eat cakes to her content at the tea meeting as her mother didn¡¯t let her. She wanted the girl to eat what she wanted at least during the visit. Rubica then saw Elise go down and let Jennie do her hair. Today, Rubica was wearing an orange-colored dress with apricot flowers embroidered on it. The dress wasn¡¯t new but had been ordered a long time ago. Only its stomacher was new. Rubica had put ribbons which she secretly made at night. That much was enough to transform it into a new dress in fashion. -If you cannot take all the orders you are getting, you can use dresses you already have and only make matching stomachers. When Rubica whispered to Khanna, she looked at her as if she had just saved her life. Khanna¡¯s shop had been getting so many orders and every worker, including herself, couldn¡¯t sleep more than three hours a day. Rubica¡¯s idea had been introduced as ¡®Madam Berry¡¯s Suggestion¡¯ and was now popr. It cost a lot less but also easier to catch up with fashion than ordering a bunch of new dresses. Jennie braided up Rubica¡¯s lose hair and finished it with a ribbon made with the same fabric of her dress. When Rubica went down to the reception room, she could see some maids standing in a circle with Gabriel in the center. ¡°Oh, look.¡± ¡°Yes, we are really in it.¡± They were so busy talking about something that was thicker than a pamphlet but too thin to be called a book that they failed to notice Rubicaing. ¡°Your Grace.¡± Gabriel spotted Rubica only some timeter and stood up. The maids curtsied at her in surprise and scattered back to their work. Rubica was curious about what they had been looking at, but she forgot about it the moment she saw Gabriel. ¡®Why? Oh my gods, why?¡¯ Gabriel now looked very simr to Elise at the tea meeting, although the details were slightly different. The dress made of royal blue fabric that Madam Khanna had said was impossible to get, the red lips, and she even cut her fringe short like Elise. It even made Rubica wonder why her stomacher had pearls and diamonds instead of ribbons. ¡°Thank you for inviting me, Your Grace.¡± Gabriel smiled shyly as usual. What she was wearing didn¡¯t match her at all. One good thing was that she wasn¡¯t wearing thick makeup as she did in the tea meeting and her lovely smile was being somewhat shown. ¡°Nice to see you again, Miss Tangt. You must havee a long way.¡± ¡°But it didn¡¯t take long thanks to the mana stone carriage. Oh, and please call me Gabriel from now on.¡± Rubica hid her shock and asked the girl to sit down. She took a deep breath and then sat down as well. Rubica looked closely, and it looked like the girl¡¯s corset had been tightened so much that she had to take a deep breath each time she sat down and stood up. ¡®Well, those cross stripes require a thin waist.¡¯ Rubica pitied her. Gabriel was small and cute, so imitating Elise wasn¡¯t right for her. Who on earth tightened her waist so much? Even though the table was full of desserts that had been made just for her, she couldn¡¯t even try one of them. As she was wearing a tightened corset, eating just one cookie could give her a stomachache. Compared to her forced beauty, Elise, who was wearing her grey dress as she wanted with her hair tied for work, looked rather pretty andfortable. As the girl was a guest, Rubica was supposed topliment how she looked, but she just couldn¡¯t bring herself to do it and changed the topic. ¡°What have you been reading? You seemed to be having quite a lot of fun.¡± Gabriel replied shyly, ¡°The Little Bird¡¯s News. I have thetest edition that just came out yesterday.¡± ¡°And you are in it.¡± A maid whispered to Rubica. ¡°I am in it?¡± ¡°Yes, look.¡± Gabriel¡¯s face turned red. Before she could stop the maid, she put The Little Bird¡¯s News on Rubica¡¯s hand. And when she opened it, she immediately saw the headline that read, ¡®Will The New Duchess Be Able To Rule Society?¡¯ Rubica started to read, half in curiosity and half in fear. The first article harshly criticized how the duke bought so many jewels and expensive luxurious goods. [ymore has always been the best at practicing frugality, the greatest value in this kingdom. What kind of person is the duchess who transformed the duke who used to be as cold as the icy wind of the Seritos Mountains? To find out, The Little Bird¡¯s News has seeded in sending an agent to participate in her tea meeting.] ¡®Oh, it looks like, just maybe...¡¯ Rubica¡¯s heart started to beat fast. Her efforts of trying, in every possible way, to be infamous were about to pay off. She hurried to the next page, anticipating the thought of being called the evildy who immersed ymore into the pit of evil called extravagance. [But Duchess ymore, who our agent met...] ¡®Is about to be described as a woman that must be criticized for giving out cakes and sweets made of expensive sugar, buying new table cloths, tes, and napkins, and even having a new flower invented just to decorate her garden?¡¯ [Was extremely kind and modest.] Rubica couldn¡¯t believe the line she was reading and blinked. She read it again. Then again. Still, it said ¡®kind and modest¡¯. [And frugal.] Now, what was that supposed to mean? [However, at the same time, she wasn¡¯t stingy. She didn¡¯t hesitate to present roses to her guests, and what she did for Miss Elise de Sna is...] After that, the reporter described in detail how Elise had be Rubica¡¯sdy-in-waiting. Rubica couldn¡¯t read more and raised her pale face. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know either. We didn¡¯t know what we said among ourselves would be in a magazine.¡± ¡°Actually, a lot of people have been asking my mother about how I became yourdy-in-waiting.¡± ¡°Oh, and it even has what I said. I did talk about what happened when you ordered from Madam Khanna for the first time at the tea meeting, but...¡± Ann looked quite confused. As she had said many things to many people, she couldn¡¯t guess which of them had told her story to the magazine. The reporter even added a worriedment that read, ¡®Although I do admit Madam Khanna¡¯s dresses are beautiful, I fear Duchess ymore is caring about the dukedom¡¯s economy too much.¡¯ ¡°This is not it. I didn¡¯t do that to get suchpliments.¡± Where did it start to go wrong? Rubica realized she had been doing it all wrong since the first step. She even wished she could tear her hair, but the people around her, including Ann, were looking at her with kind eyes. ¡°But isn¡¯t it all the better? I¡¯ve learned eating cake on the first day of marriage is to honor the god¡¯s will thanks to this magazine.¡± ¡°But, but... I fooled Steven just because I wanted to eat cakes.¡± ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t have to be so humble.¡± The mighty castle with her impression was so strong that even Rubica herself couldn¡¯t bring it down. She failed in making Edgar get sick of her, and now being kicked out for not having the virtues a duchess should have was practically impossible. She picked up her cup to cool down her burning insides Chapter 170

Chapter 170: Chapter 170

¡®Ugh!¡¯ However, what was inside the cup was not her favorite coffee but tea. ¡®Oh, right. I¡¯m pretending to be pregnant.¡¯ She was also pretending to like tea for Edgar. Among the many gossip The Little Bird¡¯s News had, there was one single opinion she agreed with. [However, the drink called ¡®tea¡¯ that was offered at the tea meeting was extremely hard to get used to. Of course, a handsome nerd like Duke ymore might find it tasty, but its unfamiliar scent and vague taste makes it hard to be approached.] Rubica put down the cup without drinking even half of it, not trying to hide her detest. ¡°You don¡¯t actually like tea, right?¡± Gabriel regretted saying that as soon as she said that. As usual, her mouth was making trouble. That was why her mother had hesitated to send her, but Gabriel had seeded in persuading her and made her believe the duchess would find it too much if the countess went herself, so in the end, she sent Gabriel instead. ¡°Do you think so?¡± Rubica smiled awkwardly. Even though the others didn¡¯t know what to do, she didn¡¯t hate the girl¡¯s honesty. ¡°I liked the tea meeting very much, but I cannot say the same about tea.¡± ¡°Well, I cannot drink this without any cake.¡± ¡°You drink it because His Grace likes it, right?¡± Gabriel asked as if she could understand. Her mother hated the color green very much, but she changed the mansion¡¯s curtains into green every spring just because her husband liked it. Husband and wife had toe to an agreement at some point even if their likes and dislikes were not exactly the same. ¡°Well... yes, that¡¯s it.¡± More urately, she decided to pretend to like tea to get rid of the rtives who almost stormed into Edgar¡¯s office, but she just agreed with the girl for now. ¡°Although the tea meeting is great, I don¡¯t think it will be able tost long if people don¡¯t like tea. Not every noble family is capable of making delicious cakes and cookies like ymore.¡± Now that was quite harsh. She was such a weird girl that Rubica had to look at her. She didn¡¯t know what to think of her. Although her imitation of Elise was enough to freak anyone out, she had a witty way of talking that somehow drew people in. ¡°Is there any solution for it?¡± Gabriel smiled and asked a maid to bring sugar and milk. Even though her mother had scolded her for ying with expensive ingredients, sugar and milk were a way she had found to enjoy tea. ¡°ording to my research, it tastes the best when it is brewed really strong, almost toxic, but this much would do fine.¡± Then, she poured in almost all the sugar the maid brought, added milk to it, and then mixed it. The tea changed color in no time. ¡°Please, try this.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t this what they do at coffee houses?¡± It was how men drank coffee to wake up in the morning after having fun all night. However, Gabriel only widened her eyes as if she couldn¡¯t see what was wrong with that. ¡°But this isn¡¯t coffee. This is tea. Plus, in that logic, the tea meeting itself isn¡¯t right. Wasn¡¯t a discussion about literature and art considered to only belong to coffee houses?¡± That was what Gabriel liked the most about the tea meeting. Even though everyone had been shocked to see the great poet, Lord Russel, show up and forgot to point it out, prostitutes had been considered the only women who could discuss poems of love with men. However, the duchess let girls from nobledies talk about love in broad daylight, although it seemed like she didn¡¯t realize what she had done yet. ¡°Yes, as tea isn¡¯t coffee, it has nothing to do with what they do with coffee at coffee houses.¡± Rubica found the courage and had a sip of Gabriel¡¯s tea. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s delicious.¡± When milk was added to it, it didn¡¯t smell like grass anymore. It was quite spicy and tasted a lot like nuts. Ann and Elise got curious and took turns to taste it. ¡°It is certainly better.¡± ¡°I... don¡¯t know. I think I like to drink tea on its own.¡± Elise looked a little confused. It seemed like she had a simr taste to Carl, but most people in the room preferred tea with milk and sugar a lot more, just like Rubica. ¡°I think adding milk and sugar would let us enjoy tea without any dessert.¡± Rubica looked at Gabriel with admiration. It was just adding a few spoonsful of sugar and some milk, so why did she not think of it herself? ¡°Then Your Grace, could you ask for sugar and milk and add them to your tea at my mother¡¯s tea meeting?¡± Gabriel was going to put an article with the title of ¡®Duchess ymore¡¯s New Way of Drinking Tea¡¯ right on the day after Countess Tangt¡¯s tea meeting. Both her and Tatiana were sure that the article would give them the biggest sell ever. ¡°You don¡¯t have to ask me that. From now on, I am going to always add milk and sugar to my tea.¡± Gabriel¡¯s mother was going to regret telling her not to y with food when she saw the duchess drink her tea with milk and sugar. Unable to hide her joy, she jumped to her feet and yelled. ¡°Thank you so...¡± However, she couldn¡¯t finish the sentence. She fainted. Rubica was so surprised and didn¡¯t know what to do, but Ann quickly took the girl to the nearest resting room. She made all the maids leave, closed the door, and undid the straps of Gabriel¡¯s dress. Then, she wetted a towel in cool water and dropped it on her face. A momentter, Gabriel slowly opened her eyes. Rubica was worried that she might be greatly ill. ¡°I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s nothing.¡± Gabriel said casually to calm her down. ¡°It¡¯s nothing? But you just fainted!¡± ¡°I just fainted for a moment. That is normal.¡± ¡°Does this happen to you often?¡± ¡°Oh, yes.¡± Gabriel looked embarrassed. ¡°I weigh too much, so...¡± ¡°Being overweight has nothing to do with fainting! And you are not overweight at all.¡± Gabriel widened her eyes at seeing Rubica very angry. Whenever she passed out, even her mother said she should have lost weight. However, Rubica seemed genuinely concerned about her. ¡°Are you ill?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not ill.¡± ¡°It must be because her corset was too tightened. Your Grace, please do not press on the poor girl. She just woke up.¡± Ann said as she handed Gabriel a cup of cold lemon juice while Rubica red at her royal blue dress. It was quite pretty and splendid, but she had been hating it since the moment she saw it. ¡°Who made your dress?¡± ¡°What? Oh, it¡¯s Christopher¡¯s work.¡± Gabriel wanted to order the exact dress that Elise had worn at the tea meeting from Madam Khanna, but as her mother had predicted, her shop was getting too many orders. Moreover, she couldn¡¯t even talk to Khanna as her mother prioritized her own dresses over Gabriel¡¯s debutante dress. She had to be content with Khanna¡¯s promise to make her a debutante dress before autumn. -I¡¯m sorry about Madam Khanna. Although you haven¡¯t been introduced to society yet, I have many meetings to go to. -I know, it would be a disgrace to our family if your dress is not as good as Marchioness Miramont¡¯s dress, but if I wear a lousy dress, I would be a lousy Gabriel, just like usual. -Gabriel... just tell me any designer you want except for Khanna. I will get you any dress you want. And to satisfy her daughter, the countess called Christopher who was the most famous designer in the capital. And he showed them the royal blue fabric as if he had been waiting to be called. It was almost impossible to get the fabric in the market, but Christopher had his own ways of getting things. Gabriel had one thing inmon with her mother that she didn¡¯t want to admit. She just couldn¡¯t be behind fashion. Christopher said, ¡®With this royal blue dress, you will be called a fashionabledy.¡¯ Gabriel, almost enchanted by his words, then ordered a dress from him. -And this dress is for a thindy, so you should lose some weight. So, she dly promised to lose weight, even though she tried and failed every year. -If you fail to lose weight, you should tighten your corset to make a silhouette that is right for the dress. Of course. Gabriel had to wear the royal blue dress no matter what. She had a small hope that the dress would let her be like Elise, and that hope took control of her. ¡°And that designer told you to tighten your corset that much?¡± ¡°Yes, he said I had to tighten my waist as much as possible to look pretty.¡± Rubica bit her lips hard. A designer who made a girl tighten her corset until she passed out? She was enraged once again about the designer who had stolen Khanna¡¯s design but was enjoying fame and wealth that he didn¡¯t deserve. Chapter 171

Chapter 171: Chapter 171

¡°But almost all the girls tighten their corset this much these days. I¡¯ll be fine soon.¡± Gabriel said it as if it really was nothing. Then, she saw a vase full of roses by the window and was surprised. It had the opposite gradation from Taylor Rose: white in the edge, red in the middle. ¡°Is that a new rose invented by Lord Sesar?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. I got itst night.¡± Elise had put the roses in vases to decorate the mansion, and one of them happened to be in the resting room. ¡°How are you going to promote it this time? Are you going to host another tea meeting?¡± This could be an exclusive news, so Gabriel couldn¡¯t resist her curiosity and asked. Rubica, instead, looked at her curious brown eyes. The girl could get excited so easily and was always curious. Telling her to tighten her corset until she couldn¡¯t breathe properly was just too cruel. ¡°I didn¡¯t give out the rose at the meeting to promote it.¡± She made it clear again even though no one believed her. ¡°Oh.¡± As she had expected, Gabriel let out a sad sigh. Rubica wanted to sigh herself, but she didn¡¯t. As it was nothing to hide about, she told the girl what she was so eager to know. ¡°I am going to send this rose with the Taylor Rose when I present it to Her Majesty.¡± ¡°Oh, the gentrifying tactic!¡± Gentrifying tactic? Rubica raised her eyebrows and Gabriel quickly shut her mouth at seeing that. People said it was possible to pay back debts with words, but she rather tended to find herself in debt with words. ¡°I¡¯m just sending it because the queen is curious about Taylor Rose. I¡¯m not aiming to promote the roses.¡± Rubica exined as calmly as she could. The honest girl, who was as talkative as her mother, seemed to be the source of society¡¯s rumors. Therefore, Rubica didn¡¯t want her to get the impression that she was so capable. ¡°I think you shouldn¡¯t present it to anyone else.¡± However, instead of nodding, Gabriel¡¯s eyes sparkled, and she even made a suggestion. ¡°It must be a precious thing which no one can get from anywhere else so that everyone will open their purse. It will get ymore even more than what Marchioness Miramont spent at thest rose auction.¡± However, Rubica held her breath at hearing that. ¡®An auction?¡¯ She thought Carl was selling the rose at a set price. As so many people wanted it, she figured he had to be selling it on a firste, first-serve basis or in ordance with the rtionship they had with ymore. However, it turned out Carl was using an unfairer but fairer method. It was called, ¡®Those who can afford shalt get the rose!¡¯ It was a way that no other noble family could replicate as they got most of their revenue by selling crops grown in their domain. ¡®But... this family makes its living through weapons business.¡¯ Weapons that were manufactured in small numbers were put on auction, or their price was set through lobbying. Carl must have not given much thought to it. He must have just decided to put the rose on auction as the demand for it was much bigger than the supply. Rubica could tell him he could have sold it to friends of ymore first, but he was surely going to be surprised and say he hadn¡¯t thought of that idea. So, the rose must have earned ymore a huge sum of money by now. Rubica felt like fainting, but she managed to calm herself and exined it to Gabriel. ¡°Gabriel, as a nt¡¯s seeds tend to be spread in time and Taylor Rose is rtively easy to grow, this frenzy cannotst for long.¡± That was how nts were. It was hard to get the rose now and people were eager to pay as much as they could to buy it, but it was only a temporary phenomenon. Someone could steal its seed or sell it to everyone at a much lower price, blinded by money. Either way, Taylor Rose was going to be a flower that could bemonly seen by the roads. ¡®That is exactly why you should get as much as you can get from it now!¡¯ Gabriel really wanted to yell so, but she managed to resist the urge and smiled sweetly. ¡°But a rose is not a manufactured good. It cannot be produced in a short time just because the demand for it is high. It will take at least five years for it to be amon flower.¡± ¡°You are... right. It is affected by the weather and our greenhouse has only limited space.¡± ¡°And Lord Sesar is going to create more kinds of roses from now on, right?¡± Rubica nodded, feeling like a sailor enchanted by a siren. How did this girl know that much? She adjusted her evaluation of the girl upward, from a witty girl to an extremely clever girl. ¡°I think it would be better to give it a luxurious image before that happens. It must be considered a precious flower that was once only seen in the royal garden and ymore Mansion. Then everyone will be interested in the new roses made by ymore even after this fever about Taylor Rose dies out.¡± ¡°But... I cannot give it only to Her Majesty. It would be a waste of such a pretty flower.¡± Sesar and Rubica had boldly decided to make new roses because they wanted to bring pretty flowers to the world and spread them to please the people¡¯s eyes and noses. She didn¡¯t want to stimte people¡¯s desire to possess and vanity to make money. ¡°Um, then let me put it in this way. You can supply it to the royal family, and you can suggest to the queen that she can use it to decorate her garden and give it to visitors from abroad. She will surely be delighted and do so.¡± ¡°I think so too.¡± Ann immediately got interested in the idea as it was going to let Rubica win the queen¡¯s favor. However, the part about giving the rose to visitors from abroad bothered Rubica more than the part about the queen. ¡°Do you want to introduce the rose to foreign kingdoms as well?¡± The frenzy about Taylor Rose was still only in Seritos. Carl had said it was possible to export it when Rubica decided to invest in Lord Sesar and his work, but to her, the idea had sounded unrealistic. The south of the continent had good weather and various kinds of crops, so thend had enough beautiful flowers. ¡°Yes, I wish to make the rose ymore¡¯s, no, Seritos¡¯s specialty. If the queen lets only a few high nobles who are on good terms with Seritos have it, people in the other kingdoms will also be eager for it as well.¡± Thepetitive spirit of nobles about expensive and luxurious goods was greater than anything. Moreover, nothing aroused nobles¡¯ vanity better than the desire for something special that couldn¡¯t be bought with money. At least the Kingdom of Seritos had a brake for that called ¡®Frugality is Virtue¡¯, but the other kingdoms didn¡¯t even have that. ¡°You can also make jam and candies using Taylor Rose and present them to the queen.¡± ¡°Is it possible to make jam and candies with roses?¡± ¡°I once tried a candy made in Sharman. It was a violet flower candy, not rose candy, but if it is possible to make candies with violets, why not roses?¡± ¡°But the rose is expensive enough already. Is there really a need to make food from it?¡± This time, Ann wasn¡¯t fond of the idea. ¡°It would be meaningful because it is made from such an expensive rose, and this idea is for when the frenzy about the rose dies out.¡± Gabriel was very much excited as she talked. She always had plenty of ideas. Even though her family always scolded her ideas as useless thoughts, thanks to her friend Tatiana, she had been able to publish The Little Bird¡¯s News. Even though her mother called it a magazine full of gossip, she bought every edition in secret and read it to see if there was anything about her family on it, and Gabriel knew that. Moreover, when there was apliment about her, the countess¡¯s voice would even go up a tone higher. Although Gabriel was always being ignored by her family, she was confident about her ideas. And now, Duchess ymore was paying attention to what she was saying, just like Tatiana. She was greater than her mother, but she wasn¡¯t ignoring her like her mother, and it encouraged her. ¡°They will be considered the food that only the greatest nobles could eat, and that impression matters. Food is not like a nt. It can be continuously produced. Sharman¡¯s violet candy is loved because once a queen who was famous for her beauty liked it. However, it tastes really bad. Everyone also thinks of Sharman when ites to luxury goods, but actually, there are much better products from elsewhere. But people all think, ¡®Sharman makes the best luxurious goods,¡¯ all thanks to its image.¡± She even waved her arms as she spoke, forgetting her dress¡¯s strap had been undone. Ann covered her bare arms with her shawl in surprise. Only then the girl realized she had been way too enthusiastic and blushed. Chapter 172

Chapter 172: Chapter 172

¡°That¡¯s... an interesting idea.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s a good opinion. Making jams and candies isn¡¯t hard to try. It would also be good for our peasants.¡± Rubica stared at the roses in the vase for a moment. She recalled the pleasant conversation she had had with Lord Sesar about the flowers, but she hadn¡¯t even imagined this would happen back then. ¡®How would he react if I ask him to make a rose that tastes good?¡¯ As he was Sesar, he was either going to be confused and stroke his beard, or say it sounded like an interesting challenge. Rubica had a feeling it would be thetter as he was Lord Sesar. ¡®Oh, I¡¯m already making ns to make candies from the rose.¡¯ Rubica looked at Gabriel with much curiosity as she drank lemon juice, and she was now almost admiring this small and cute girl. ¡°I will do as you said.¡± Then, she added after hesitating a little, ¡°But is there something you want in return? Like you want your family to handle a part of the production of jam and candies or want the production of the packaging.¡± Gabriel wasn¡¯t a subject of ymore like Carl and Ann. She was a Tangt. It was weird that Lady Tangt was giving business advice to ymore instead of using the ideas for her family, but regardless of that, Rubica couldn¡¯t shamelessly get her ideas and let ymore monopolize all the profits. ¡°In return?¡± Gabriel looked at Elise for a moment. Then, she blushed hard again. ¡°There is something I want, but it¡¯s a little embarrassing... can I talk to you in private?¡± Ann looked confused, but she willingly left the room with Elise. When Gabriel was alone with the duchess, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and yelled, ¡°I want to be pretty like Ms. Sna!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°How did she change like that? You are her mistress, so you must know. I wanted to meet Madam Khanna and get her advice, but she is so busy now and doesn¡¯t have time for someone like me. Could you let me meet her?¡± Gabriel said all that without breathing and gulped down the rest of the lemon juice while Rubica looked at her a little shocked. ¡®But you are already pretty enough.¡¯ She wanted to say that. However, how did Elise react when she said that to her? Even though it let her recover a bit of her confidence, she just thought Rubica said it to cheer her up. Gabriel was not like Elise who could change instantly with just a little work done on her hair. Although her hair was in the slightly wrong style, Elise had known she was quite pretty in the first ce. On the other hand, although Gabriel was witty, she seemed tock confidence when it came to her appearance as much as Elise had. ¡°If the person who transformed Elise...¡± ¡°So you know who that person is. Please, let me meet her.¡± Rubica just couldn¡¯t tell her the person was actually her. She didn¡¯t want to be even more famous. ¡°Anyway, if that person tells you to stop wearing a corset, what would you do?¡± ¡°I should stop wearing my corset? But I cannot get a pretty silhouette without it, my waist is just too t. Even girls, who are much thinner than me, tighten their corset.¡± ¡°And what if she tells you to stop penciling your eyebrows?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯te out without drawing my eyebrows ever since I was ten. My eyebrows are too faint,¡± Gabriel touched her thickly-drawn eyebrows and replied sadly. Rubica studied the girl carefully. However, that made the girl afraid and she grabbed her by her sleeve to plead. ¡°Please let me meet her.¡± Gabriel was not like Ang nor Elise. Elise was timid, and she was also submissive. When Rubica insisted, she ended up wearing the dress Rubica wanted her to wear and cut her forelocks even though she was afraid. However, would Gabriel behave like Elise? She seemed to be a girl who liked to ask questions until she could ept it and find the answers herself. What Rubica wanted her to do was to stop tightening her corset and wearing thick makeup as her cute, lively bare face looked much better. Rubica was sure that the girl wouldn¡¯t ept such advice now. Plus, she wasn¡¯t like Elise where Rubica could ask her to have faith in her and try her advice first. ¡®And what has changed Elise the most was not me.¡¯ Elise¡¯s attitude had remarkably changed after what happened with Dashner at the training ground. Even though she usually worefortable clothes, now she didn¡¯t hesitate to wear splendid dresses when it was needed. She had stopped worrying about how she looked to the others and what they thought of it. Ironically, when she was free from the other¡¯s evaluations, she could find her true beauty. As every person had different kinds of beauty, the journey to find it couldn¡¯t be the same. Rubica couldn¡¯t repeat the mistake she made with Elise on Gabriel. ¡°Okay, I will let you meet her.¡± ¡°Really? Thank you, thank you!¡± ¡°But I have one condition.¡± Rubica gulped hard. This time, she held Gabriel¡¯s hand tightly. She didn¡¯t know if what she was about to do would work, but she had to try. One good thing was that unlike Elise, Gabriel was extremely enthusiastic. ¡°A condition? Please tell me, I¡¯m willing to do anything.¡± ¡°Every night before you go to bed, look in the mirror and say, ¡®I am beautiful¡¯ ten times.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Thene back here a weekter. You must do as I said.¡± Gabriel blinked. She was supposed to say that to herself? That was somewhat embarrassing. ¡°Do I really have to do that? Can¡¯t I just pay her? I have saved enough money in secret.¡± However, Rubica shook her head. ¡°You must do as I said, or meeting the person who transformed Elise will do you no good.¡± That was a strange request. Gabriel asked why she was supposed to do that, but Rubica said she couldn¡¯t tell her now and she would tell her exactly a weekter. ¡°Ha...¡± Gabriel really wanted to say she couldn¡¯t do that unless she was told why. That was how she usually was. But... she wanted to be pretty really badly. Whenever her mother sighed and said she wished Gabriel looked only half as good as her sisters, she just smiled and said, ¡®Well, I never wanted to be born like this.¡¯ That would get her what she wanted, but then she had to weep all night wetting her pillow. She would rather die than to feel so miserable for her entire life. ¡°I will do it. But you are going to let me meet her a week from now, right?¡± Duchess ymore smiled mysteriously, and the smile made Gabriel believe in her. Ms. Sna¡¯s change had been like a miracle. She had a feeling that the gods were about to grant her a miracle as well. *** After Gabriel left, Rubica was finally able to see the books. She had shock, gloom, and resignation all mixed up together. ¡°What the, but the bnce hasn¡¯t decreased. It has doubled!¡± ¡°All thanks to you.¡± Carl said with admiration, but Rubica wanted to grab him by the cor and yell, ¡®Thanks to me? It¡¯s all thanks to you who do your work too well!¡¯ What kind of magic did he use that selling off some roses led to this oue? ¡°I¡¯ve heard from Ann about the decision. I will send the roses to the queen tomorrow, and we are nning to invest this amount of budget on the production of rose jam and candies.¡± Carl wrote down the amount of money, but as it was about making food, it was less than 1/10 of the budget which had increased dramatically. Rubica sighed at seeing there were was still a lot of money remaining. ¡°What are we going to do with so much money?¡± ¡°You can use them as you want.¡± Rubica named some jewelers and perfume makers, trying to see how the butler would react. She implied she was nning to spend as much as Edgar didst time, but Carl didn¡¯t turn pale. He just smiled kindly and said he would add appointments with the sellers in her schedule. Oh, where did the Carl who told on her when she said she was going to invest in Sesar go? ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I already have too much jewelry.¡± She said so and added milk and sugar to her tea which made Carl¡¯s lips twitch. ¡°But madam, I think adding milk and sugar diminishes the tea¡¯s unique scent.¡± However, Rubica just lifted the cup and drank it pleasantly. She was punishing the butler for doing his job too well. As she had expected, he looked as if there had been bugs crawling all over his body. Then, he quickly ran away, saying he had to pay wages to some workers. That made Rubica feel good for a moment, but then she became sad. Now she had no way to make Edgar hate her, and she was about to be sentenced to life as Duchess ymore. How would Carl and Ann react if she told them she was getting divorced as she had promised Edgar? Maybe they would chase her to the other end of the continent. Her lips curled up at imagining the scene and she had to push them down again with her hands to calm down. Chapter 173

Chapter 173: Chapter 173

''And¡­ how would Edgar react?'' When her thoughts reached that point, her smile faded. Just yesterday, Edgar hugged her from behind, while she was enjoying the scent of the roses, and whispered he loved her. Of course, the mood ended right after Rubica stepped on his foot in surprise¡­ but would she be able to divorce him? "Huh?" Rubica looked down on her skirt in surprise. There was a round smudge on it, and a few more smudges started to form next to it. She quickly wiped her face with a handkerchief and blew her nose. "Tears? Why am I crying?" She felt so stuffy and gloomy as if she had a huge stone on her chest. She tried to think of Edgar, but then more tears fell. She would usually feel proud or happy when thinking of him. So, what was wrong with her? Rubica reached to the embroidery basket on the table and took out a ribbon she had been making in secret. "Sewing is the best remedy for grief." She had read The Little Bird''s News thoroughly, and it seemed like Christopher was monopolizing the royal blue fabric. Moreover, he had said to Gabriel that ''although ymore was a great family, Khanna was only a designer without much experience who worked in the countryside'', so he was trying to diminish Khanna and her work. ''Well, we cannot lose to him.'' Their ribbon dress had been highly sessful at the tea meeting. However, they couldn''t maintain their poprity if they kept making the same thing. That was why Rubica had decided to make a moreplicated and prettier ribbon. She then started to sew with burning eyes, but her hands kept slipping as the fabric had good gloss but was quite slippery. She struggled to sew on it but eventually made it into a ribbon. The fabric that had glistened mysteriously under the light made the ribbon look even prettier, but the sewing part hadn''t been done neatly enough and it bothered her. "Isn''t there a good way for it?" Then, someone knocked on the door. Rubica hastily put the basket under the table and greeted Edgar, pretending she had been doing nothing. A servant came after Edgar and put down a document on the table. "What is that?" "What you asked the other day." It was a list of weapons ymore was inventing and was going to invent in the close future. Rubica immediately took a look at it, but it was full of hard symbols and numbers. Edgar raised his chin high as if he had seen iting. "You will have to stay all night to go through it all." "It''s fine." Rubica started to read it patiently. However, her hand stopped when she was about halfway through it. She spotted the word ''Ste'', and Edgar didn''t miss that. ''So that was it.'' Her face turned white. Then it turned blue, and then red. She asked in shaking voice, "But why is this part empty? It only has the weapon''s name." "Because it''s ssified." Well, even Rubica couldn''t demand to know about a ssified project. So, she just stared at the paper for a long time. "Which stage is it in?" "I''m still designing it." "Do you really have to make this?" Even though he had postponed its development to sort out the spy, he had made up his mind to make it someday. He nodded, "I''ve promised it to the king. I have to make it for this kingdom''s future." Rubica bit on her lips hard. If it was a promise he had made to the king, she couldn''t cancel it. ''Would the king believe me if I told him Edgar can''t make Ste as it is going to bring a war?'' She wasn''t sure. However, she had to stop Ste from being made, then she could save the man in front of her. Moreover, she was prepared to do anything for that. She made her decision and looked at Edgar. He had been reclining on his sofa only a moment ago, but now he looked quite nervous. "Edgar, you like me, right?" "Why are you asking when you know that I do?" "Then can you make something for me?" She took out her basket again and showed him the ribbon she had been working on. "I want to make ribbons with this fabric, but I cannot sew on it properly as it is too slippery. I can cut it and finish it with the heat of the candlelight, but I cannot do it evenly. Can you find a way to finish it neatly?" Edgar looked at the ribbon. If it could be done with heat, he could apply the technology for cutting iron tes, but he would have to find the right temperature instead. "It won''t be hard." "It won''t be hard? So you can make it soon?" "I have a machine that works in a simr principle, although it''s not for substituting needlework." Rubica crossed her arms while thinking that it wouldn''t be good if it was easy. She had to distract him from making Ste and find a way to put a stop to it in the meantime. She turned to what she had been making. "Khanna''s shop is getting too many orders and its tailors are working all day and night. I think you can make a machine that can do the needlework for them." He raised an eyebrow at hearing that. ''Why haven''t I thought of that?'' He had made the threader to please her, but even he had to admit that it was a very simple machine and Rubica hadn''t thought much of it. He didn''t even think of a machine that could do the needlework. "It will take some time, but it''s not impossible." "Then put your other works aside and make this first." He almost said he would dly do that. Of course, he was going to make it if that was what Rubica wanted, but she was acting as if she had the right to make demands to him and he didn''t like it. Plus, he knew it could be what had made her fall for Arman, and he didn''t like that even more. "Why should I make it?" "Umm, because Madam Khanna is ymore''s designer and her sess would also be good for the dukedom." "But I have more urgent things to do. I must make things on that list and sell them on time." Rubica had known he would say that. He was a rational man. He loved her, but he wasn''t going to change his priorities because of her. She, however, didn''t know he had already postponed his work more than once and took out the card she had been saving. "If you make it for me, you can kiss me from now on." "What?" Edgar couldn''t believe what he had heard for a moment. "Uh¡­ does that mean I can kiss you¡­" "On my lips." Edgar jumped to his feet and came to Rubica in no time. He then grabbed the armrests of her chair hard. "Really?" His voice was much lower than usual. It made her chilly in the back while her body simultaneously turned feverish. He was leaning down to meet her eyes, and it made her feel like he was about to devour her like a beast. However, there was no going back now. She was willing to do anything to save him. "Really." As soon as she said that, his lips were on hers. She couldn''t say he could do that only after he made what she wanted. Instead, she put her arms around his neck as if she had been waiting for it. It was hot. Heat started from their lips and was hot enough to melt her down. Moreover, she missed it. Even though she had said they couldn''t do it, she had nced at his lips from time to time and recalled the kisses they had shared. When he smiled happily like a little boy to her, she also felt an impulse to kiss his forehead. "Edgar." She panted and called his name, but then the pair of lips that went away came again. It came again and again, but the burning thirst in their hearts wouldn''t go away. ''I like him.'' In his arms, she realized why she had cried a little toote. Stopping Ste and saving the kingdom from the war, that was only an excuse. She just didn''t want to lose him. Would she be able to leave him if she ever got to meet Arman again? The answer was no. He acted like there wasn''t a thing he couldn''t do for her. He anxiously looked for her and smiled in relief when he found her. She wasn''t sure she would be able to leave him. He had everything people wanted, but he was going to be broken beyond repair without her. "Rubica." "Yes?" She rubbed her cheek on his chest as she replied. Although he was the one who was embracing her, she promised to herself again and again that she would save him. "I love you." However, she couldn''t say, ''I love you too.'' Why was that? She didn''t know why, not yet. Chapter 174

Chapter 174: Chapter 174

¡®And...how would Edgar react?¡¯ When her thoughts reached that point, her smile faded. Edgar had hugged her behind while she was enjoying scent of roses and whispered he loved her only yesterday. Of course, that mood ended right after that when Rubica stepped on his foot in surprise.... But was she going to be able to divorce him? ¡°Huh?¡± Rubica looked down on her skirt in surprise. There was a round smudge on it. And a few more smudges started form next to it. She quickly wiped her face with a handkerchief and blew her nose. ¡°Tears? Why am I crying?¡± She felt so stuffy and gloomy as if she had had a huge stone on her chest. She tried to think of Edgar, but then more tears fell. She had usually felt proud or happy to think of her. So what was wrong with her? Rubica reached to the embroidery basket on table and took out a ribbon she had been making in secret. ¡°Sewing is the best remedy for grief.¡± She had read The Little Bird¡¯s News thoroughly, and it seemed like Christopher was monopolizing royal blue fabric. And he had also said to Gabriel that ¡®although ymore was a great family, Khanna was only a designer with not much experience who worked in countryside¡¯, so he was trying to diminish Khanna and her work. ¡®Well, we cannot lose to him.¡¯ Their ribbon dress had been highly sessful at the tea meeting. However, they couldn¡¯t maintain the poprity by keeping making the same thing. That was why Rubica had decided to make a moreplicated and prettier ribbon. She started to sew with burning eyes. But her hands kept slipping as the fabric had good gloss but was quite slippery. She struggled to sew on it and made it into a ribbon. The fabric that had glistened mysteriously in light made the ribbon look even prettier, but the sewing part hadn¡¯t been done neat enough and it bothered her. ¡°Isn¡¯t there a good way for it?¡± Then someone knocked on the door. Rubica hastily put the basket under the table and greeted Edgar, pretending she had been doing nothing. A servant came after Edgar and put down a document on the table. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°What you asked for the other day.¡± It was a list of weapons ymore was inventing and was going to invent in close future. Rubica immediately took a look at it, but it was full of hard symbols and numbers. Edgar raised his chin high as if he had seen iting. ¡°You will have to stay all night to go through it all.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Rubica started to read it patiently. But her hand stopped when she was about half through it. She spotted the word ¡®Ste¡¯. And Edgar didn¡¯t miss that. ¡®So that was it.¡¯ Her face turned white. Then it turned blue, and then red. She asked in shaking voice. ¡°But why is this part empty? It has the weapon¡¯s name only.¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s ssified.¡± Well, even Rubica could demand to know about a ssified project. She stared at the paper for long time. ¡°Which stage is it in?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still designing it.¡± ¡°Do you really have to make this?¡± Even though he had postponed its development to sort out the spy, he had made up his mind to make it someday. He nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve promised to the king. I have to make it for this kingdom¡¯s future.¡± Rubica bit on her lips hard. If it was a promise he had made to the king, she couldn¡¯t cancel it. ¡®Would the king believe me if I told him Edgar can¡¯t make Ste as it is going to bring war?¡¯ She wasn¡¯t sure. But she had to stop Ste from being made, then she could save the man in front of her. And she was prepared to do anything for that. She made her decision and looked at Edgar. He had been reclining on his sofa only a moment ago, but now he looked quite nervous. ¡°Edgar, you like me, right?¡± ¡°Why are you asking when you know I do?¡± ¡°Then can you make something for me?¡± She took out her basket again and showed him the ribbon she had been working on. ¡°I want to make ribbons with this fabric, but I cannot sew on it properly as it is too slippery. I can cut it and finish it with the heat of candlelight, but I cannot do it evenly. Can you find a way to finish it neatly?¡± Edgar looked at the ribbon. If it could be done with heat, he could apply technology for cutting iron tes. But he would have to find the right temperature instead. ¡°It won¡¯t be hard.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be hard? So you can make it soon?¡± ¡°I have a machine that works in simr principle, although it¡¯s not for substituting needlework.¡± Rubica crossed her arms. It was bad that it was easy. She had to distract him from making Ste and find a way to put a stop to it in the meantime. She turned to what she had been making. ¡°Khanna¡¯s shop is getting too many orders and its tailor are working all day and all night. I think you can make a machine that can do needlework for them.¡± He raised an eyebrow to hear that. ¡®Why haven¡¯t I thought of that?¡¯ He had made the threader to please her, but even he had to admit it was too simple a machine and Rubica hadn¡¯t thought much of it. He hadn¡¯t thought of a machine that could do needlework. ¡°It will take some time, but it¡¯s not impossible.¡± ¡°Then put your other works aside and make it first.¡± He almost said he would dly do that. Of course, he was going to make it if that was what Rubica wanted, but she was acting like as if she had had rights to make demands to him and he didn¡¯t like it. Plus, he knew it could be what had made her fall for Arman, and he didn¡¯t like that even more. ¡°Why should I make it?¡± ¡°Umm, because Madam Khanna is ymore¡¯s designer and her sess would also be good for the dukedom.¡± ¡°But I have more urgent things to do. I must make things on that list and sell them on time.¡± Rubica had known he would say that. He was a rational man. He loved her, but he wasn¡¯t going to change priority of what he had to do because of her. She didn¡¯t know he had already postponed his work more than once and took out the card she had been saving. ¡°If you make it for me, you can kiss me from now.¡± ¡°What?¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t believe what he had heard for a moment. ¡°Uh... Does that mean I can kiss you....¡± ¡°On my lips.¡± Edgar jumped to his feet and came to Rubica in no time. He grabbed the armrests of her chair hard. ¡°Really?¡± His voice was much lower than usual. It made her get chill in her back and her body turned feverish. He was leaning down to meet her eyes, and it made her feel like he was about to devour her like a beast. However, there was no going back now. She was willing to do anything to save him. ¡°Really.¡± As soon as she said that, his lips were on hers. She couldn¡¯t say he could do that only after he made what she wanted. She put her arms around his neck as if she had been waiting for it. It was hot. Heat started from their lips and was hot enough to melt her down. But she had missed it. Even though she had said they couldn¡¯t do it, she had nced at his lips from time to time and recalled the kisses they had shared. When he smiled happily like a little boy to her, she felt impulse to kiss his forehead. ¡°Edgar.¡± She panted and called his name, but then the pair of lips that had went away came again. It came again and again, but the burning thirst in their hearts wouldn¡¯t go away. ¡®I like him.¡¯ In his arms, she realized why she had cried a little toote. Stopping Ste and saving the kingdom from war, that was only an excuse. She didn¡¯t want to lose him. Would she be able to leave him if she ever got to meet Arman again? The answer was no. He acted like there wasn¡¯t a thing he couldn¡¯t do for her. He anxiously looked for her and smiled in relief when he found her. She wasn¡¯t sure she would be able to leave him. He had everything people wanted, but he was going to be broken beyond repair without her. ¡°Rubica.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± She rubbed her cheek on his chest as she replied. Although he was the one who was embracing her, she promised to herself again and again that she would save him. ¡°I love you.¡± However, she couldn¡¯t say, ¡®I love you too¡¯. Why was that? She couldn¡¯t know why, not yet. Chapter 175

Chapter 175: Chapter 175

In front of ymore Mansion, where countless roses were now blooming, there was a man who was only half tall of an adult fixing every action of a man much taller than him. ¡°Say the line again.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you. I am Os from Jackal Bank.¡± ¡°You still sound too arrogant. And please stop shaking your leg like that.¡± The taller man had brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a brown jacket only minor workers of banks would wear, and he got mad to hear what the shorter man wearing a golden jacket with a medal said. ¡°What is wrong with shaking my leg, Minos? Maybe you should do something about your height first.¡± ¡°Even though a short man does draw some attention, no one get suspicious of it. And my lord, it is extremely hard to walk when I extend my height so suddenly.¡± ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve been falling at least once with every ten steps. That is why we are at the nymph¡¯s house only now.¡± Now Minos was mad. That was not why they hade to ymore Mansion only now. It had taken many, many days for Minos to teach attitude of a bank worker to that stupid gold dragon. Now he was good enough not to arouse too much attention, but he kept insisting he was perfectly ready, so they were here now. But to be honest, Minos was sure they would be kicked out in less than an hour for being rude. ¡°My lord, as we have discussed, you must freeze time if we get busted.¡± ¡°Okay, but then our transformation will be undone instead.¡± ¡°Its¡¯ fine. If we freeze time and talk to the duchess, only she will get to see our true forms.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t happen. My acting is so perfect.¡± Ios said as he picked his right ear. ¡°You cannot pick your ear like that in front of the duchess.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. Let¡¯s get this done with quickly, or I¡¯ll miss my kids¡¯ watering time.¡± Minos sighed again and again. Ios was the most not trustworthy man, no, dragon in the world. ¡°I will introduce ourselves, so just please get along with it.¡± Then he told the doorkeeper they were from Jackal Bank. He probably knew Jackal Bank was handling the duke¡¯s personal wealth as he soon led them to the butler. ¡°You came to gain an audience with the duchess?¡± The butler with white hair gave them a sharp gaze. Minos resisted the urge to take out a handkerchief to wipe sweat that ran down his forehead and exined with a smile. ¡°We came to thank her for entrusting funds to her and also give her a small gift.¡± ¡°Hmm, but you could have sent a messenger for that.¡± ¡°As she is one of our most important clients, we would like to gain an audience with her. And we wish to exin about the savings ount she made and other products of Jackal Bank.¡± The butler looked them up and down. Even though goblins and humans did work together sometimes, they were not exactly on good terms. He didn¡¯t like it that he had never head Jackal Bank hired any humans, but their identity certificates and contract were real. ¡°Please follow me to reception room. Elise, would you tell Her Grace she has visitors?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± The two were led to reception room after that. Minos could wipe his sweat with a handkerchief only them. Ios looked around the room and frowned the moment he spotted a vase full of roses. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what is wrong is humans. How they dare to do that to such pretty flowers?¡± ¡°Please calm down. We¡¯re on an act to full the nymph and you cannot forget that.¡± Minos warned him in low voice, lest a maid or a servant would hear him. But Ios wasn¡¯t that much concerned with it. He reclined on sofa. ¡°So, you think the duchess is the nymph?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve done some research. The duke was born in this mansion and grew up here, so he seems to be an ordinary human, but the duchess is extremely suspicious. She used to be a nobledy of low rank from countryside, but then she suddenly came here and became the duchess. And most of all, she entrusted money to us goblins when she couldn¡¯t have chosen among all those human banks. No human would ever do that. I think she is a nymph who fell in love with a human and came here.¡± ¡°I just can¡¯t understand how she can like a human.¡± The, Minos¡¯s keen ears heard footstepsing downstairs. He warned Ios the duchess wasing and he had to be careful. Then he stood up to prepare. Soon the door was opened and a beautifuldy came in. ¡®Ohh.¡¯ Minos silently eximed to see her. The yellow dress with finge tree pattern she was wearing gave fresh feeling. And what decorated her chest had to be the ribbon he had heard about. He thought she had to be the nymph. Then he suddenly turned to check on Ios, but then he was shocked. The dragon was staring hard at the ribbons on the duchess¡¯s chest. Dragons just couldn¡¯t resist pretty things, just like crows loved shining stuff. ¡®Ios!¡¯ Minos quickly pulled at his pants and it made Ios wake up. He smiled like a banker as he had been practicing hard. It looked terrible to Minos, but he had no choice now. First he politely bowed to Rubica. ¡°It is an honor to gain an audience with you, Your Grace. I am Minos from Jackal Bank, and this is Os.¡± Ios bowed like a banker as he had learned from Minos. And it worked, as the duchess asked them to sit down. ¡®Hmm, so easy.¡¯ Ios felt so proud of himself and said the prepared line with a smile. ¡°Thank you for trusting us with your funds.¡± Then he silentlyplimented himself for perfectly imitating a banker. However, Rubica could immediately see he was not a banker. Bankers usually tended to quickly look around to check the client¡¯s financial status by examining condition of the mansion, just like Minos was doing. But this man called Os looked so rxed. The smile on his lips he just couldn¡¯t hide showed he was quite enjoying the situation. ¡®This Minos is an ordinary banker, but that Os is not.¡¯ So on what purpose had theye to meet her? For now, Rubica decided to greet them with a smile. ¡°I am d that you came. I had a few questions to ask.¡± ¡°Is it about the trust for Ms. Ang Berner?¡± Minos rubbed his hands and asked back. He was quick-witted. He had to be a banker. Rubica nodded and called Ann. ¡°I think this is going to be a long conversation, so it would be better to have some refreshments. Do you drink coffee.¡± ¡°Oh, with two spoonful of sugar and a lot of milk.¡± Ios said as he crossed his legs. It made silence fell in the room, but the dragon couldn¡¯t see what he had done wrong. He just yed with a pot right next to the sofa. Minos quickly tried to fix it. ¡°Please!¡± ¡°...Ann, please make sure milk and sugar is brought with coffee.¡± ¡°Yes, madam.¡± As Ann gave the order to a maid, she frowned at ios to warn him. But the dragon didn¡¯t even care. Only poor Minos was sweating like crazy. ¡°I think that much interest will be enough to fund Ms. Berner¡¯s study at the Academy, so it would be better to put the rest of the savings to installment savings or investment.¡± ¡°Do you have any appropriate product for that?¡± Minos reached at his bag to take out documents. ¡°That rose!¡± But then Ios jumped to his feet and yelled to see the vase the maid brought with refreshments. In it were three pale purple roses he had never seen before. Minos put his both hands on his forehead. He had prayed the dragon¡¯s patience tost for just an hour, but it couldn¡¯t less even ten minutes. He regretteding to no other ce but a nymph¡¯s home with the impatient dragon. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen it before. Where did you get it?¡± He was talking down to Rubica so naturally. Both her and the maid with the vase were surprised, but Ann wasn¡¯t. She had not liked Ios since the moment she saw him. She took a step forward and opened her mouth to scold him for his rudeness toward the duchess. ¡°Huh?¡± Ann froze. Rubica looked around, and everyone had stopped as if time itself had stopped. She couldn¡¯t even guess what was going on. ¡°Stop looking at others. Answer my question.¡± Ios came closer and said. His camouge had been undone to use a new magic. Rubica¡¯s jaw dropped at his golden hair and eyes. Tiny lumps of gold kept falling from his hair as he moved. Minos couldn¡¯t resist it and gathered them. ¡°Your...question?¡± ¡°That rose. Where did you get it?¡± Ios pointed at the pale purple roses. He didn¡¯t seem to be hostile, but Rubica couldn¡¯t help fearing him. Her mouth was frozen with fear and she couldn¡¯t even utter a word. Then Minos spoke to help her. Chapter 176

Chapter 176: Chapter 176

¡°Your Grace, he hase out to mortal world because he couldn¡¯t resist curiosity about your roses, so just answer to his questions and everything will be fine.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not...a human, is he?¡± ¡°Answer my question first!¡± Ios put his face right in front of hers and yelled. His highly raised eyebrows and stubborn lips clearly showed he had a temper problem. Even Minos, who was now in his usual goblin form, was saying it would be fine if she just answered his questions, but he wasn¡¯t saying he was kind. ¡®I can¡¯t tell him about Lord Sesar. It might endanger him.¡¯ Rubica managed to reply in shaking voice. ¡°I didn¡¯t get it. It has been made.¡± ¡°Made? Oh, has that man seeded on making something new again? But pale purple rose wasn¡¯t among the roses he told me about!¡± Ios clenched his fists and yelled angrily. He sounded like he already knew about Lord Sesar. ¡°You know Lord Sesar? Where have you met him?¡± ¡°At goblins¡¯ party that took ce in Mount Flenus.¡± Oh, it turned out Lord Sesar hadn¡¯t been talking nonsense. Rubica anxiously grasped her skirt. It seemed like Sesar had brought a really huge problem. Edgar had said he was a walking trouble and she shouldn¡¯t have taken it lightly. ¡°I should have kidnapped that human and lock him in my territory.¡± Ios stared at the flowers and smack. If only if he could, he wanted to nt the new rose deep in his territory and enjoy it alone. Humans couldn¡¯t appreciate its beauty as it was and cut it to decorate their house, and it was just too good for them. But what he hated even more was the fact that it had been a human who made such beautiful rose. ¡°Umm.... What are you?¡± Rubica got rid of most of her dear and asked. Although Ios¡¯s eyes and words were sharp, the way he looked at the rose was kind of familiar. ¡°What am I? Ios, of course.¡± Rubica doubted her ears for a second. She asked the goblin. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, he is Ios the Golden Dragon.¡± Minos smiled awkwardly and opened his bag wide to take out a stone. ¡°It¡¯s for me.¡± ¡°...For me?¡± What he was offering was a stone that wasmon on beaches. The goblin was surprised more than anyone to see her reaction. What he had brought was a mermaid¡¯s heart that nymphs extremely liked. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re not the one.¡± It seemed like his guess had been wrong. If the duchess was not the nymph, was it her husband then? He wondered how he was supposed to gain an audience with the duke as he was even harder to meet than the duchess. But then Ios yelled. ¡°I¡¯ll give you one of that each month, so hand me Sesar.¡± Ios was not clever like Minos. He started to say his terms, thinking Rubica was the nymph. ¡°And I want all roses he had made till now bloom only in my territory. And I also want that thing on your chest. Tell me what you want in return.¡± ¡°In.... return?¡± ¡°Yes, I will pay for taking what belong to you, so tell me anything you want. Oh, but not this and this and this among the nts that grow in my territory.¡± Rubica looked at the dragon for a moment. Although she couldn¡¯t understand more than half of what he was saying, she could notice something strange in it. Ios was thinking of her as an entity that was equal to himself. She already knew how scary and fickle he was through numerous stories and legends, but she decided to give it a try. ¡°What if I don¡¯t want it?¡± ¡°What?¡± Ios¡¯s face turned red. Being refused was something he didn¡¯t get to experience much. ¡°But why? I must spend at least a week deep in the sea to get one heart of mermaid. That thing is really hard to get!¡± Even though he said, he didn¡¯t burn the mansion or started to smash things. It seemed like he couldn¡¯t just take Lord Sesar and his roses without her permission. Rubica soon realizing this was a negotiation going on and she had the upper hand in it. ¡°....Fine, two. I can¡¯t do more than that. I can¡¯t leave my territory for more than half of every month, I must take care of my nts.¡± Rubica imagined the dragon watering and manuring flowers. She almostughed hard at that. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but this thing is not what I want.¡± She hated it even more after hearing it was heart of a mermaid. But that really frustrated the dragon. ¡°What? But aren¡¯t you all crazy about that thing?¡± Rubca carefully replied, trying not to break his misunderstanding. ¡°We can all have different tastes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Simple Ios bought that and nodded. Then he ruffled his hair into a mess. He wanted to turn the mansion into a mess as well, but the pale purple rose was just too fascinating. ¡°Okay, then what do you want? Name your price.¡± Rubica gulped hard. Name your price? That was the hardest demand possible. ¡®Can¡¯t you let people farm on part of your in?¡¯ She really wanted to say that, but she couldn¡¯t as she didn¡¯t know what the dragon with temper problem was thinking she was. He still couldn¡¯t take his eyes off the rose. She carefully asked. ¡°Do you want the flower that much?¡± ¡°Of course I do. I¡¯m taking Sesar, so tell me what you want in return?¡± ¡°Lord Sesar is a human being. He isn¡¯t a thing that can be traded.¡± ¡°.....What? Isn¡¯t he your underling?¡± ¡°He is a member of this family, but he gets to decide where he goes and what he does with who, not me.¡± Ios scratched his head. He couldn¡¯t understand what Rubica was talking about. It seemed like a huge gap between humans¡¯mon sense and dragons¡¯mon sense. ¡°I¡¯m saying you should offer your terms of employment to him, not to me.¡± ¡°Are you saying I should make a deal with a human?¡± Ios bit his lips. His pride had just been hurt a lot. Minos quietly shook his head to signal danger. Rubica gave up exining a deal and employment were two different things. ¡°Anyway, Lord Sesar wouldn¡¯t want to go with him, so I cannot make him do it.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? He should be honored to be my underling.¡± Rubica smiled awkwardly. Why did things like this keep happening to her? She had never imagined there woulde a day she had to convince a dragon. ¡°You said you wanted his flowers bloom only in your territory.¡± ¡°Yes, such beautiful flowers should be protected in my terrotiry.¡± ¡°But Lord Sesar wants to share the beauty of his flowers with many. He didn¡¯t make them just for one to enjoy.¡± ¡°But humans don¡¯t know how to appreciate the real beauty of flowers.¡± ¡°Still, you didn¡¯t bring this rose to this world. A human did.¡± Ios¡¯s lips shook. He had nothing to say to that. Minos was surprised by Rubica¡¯s courage of convincing the dragon. Even though Ios was thinking she was a nymph, she was actually a weak human. ¡°I will give you this pot of roses. Take it and nt it where you want.¡± ¡°I want more than a few roses.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll also give you Taylor Rose. And I will give you the roses Lord Sesar will make in future if you want.¡± Ios pouted. But Rubica¡¯s promise of sharing roses with him made him a little better and the frown on his forehead faded. The tensed mood became a little rxed. Minos let out a sigh of relief. ¡°And I also want one of those things on your chest.¡± ¡°You can have it.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s the price.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want any price.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want anything in return for giving me what belong to you?¡± ¡°I just want you to make the roses bloom beautiful.¡± Actually, what she really wanted was the troublesome dragon to leave the mansion quickly. But she hid that and smiled brightly to Ios. ¡°I don¡¯t get it...¡± Ios frowned again. It was only natural to pay a price in return to get something. He¡¯d been told nymphs were metaphysical beings, and he was having a really hard time understanding what she was saying. ¡°I don¡¯t want to take anything without paying a price! Just tell me anything you want.¡± ¡°But I do not want anything right now....¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t know what to do. Even though Ios was saying she could ask for anything, she knew he would be enraged if she asked for anything he really liked. Making a demand could reveal the fact that she was only an ordinary human. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when I get to want something, so why don you take the roses first?¡± She decided to postpone her answer. It seemed like it would be better to make the ill-tempered dragon leave and talk to Minos. At least she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about losing her life while talking to the goblin. Chapter 177

Chapter 177: Chapter 177

After Minos from the Jackal Bank left, Rubica had trouble focusing on what she was doing. She even poked a finger with her needle, but she didn¡¯t notice the finger bleeding. Ann couldn¡¯t watch her like that anymore and asked her to take a walk. She knew doing more needlework would end up having all of Rubica¡¯s fingers bleeding. ¡°Shall we?¡± Rubica had already taken a walk earlier in the afternoon, but she dly nodded to Ann. The fresh air that had the scent of flowers made her feel much better. She walked in the garden, but then she saw Stephening out of theb. He was supposed to be at Edgar¡¯s office guarding him, so it was weird he was out here, and he was even staggering a little. ¡°Doesn¡¯t... Sir Stephen look a little strange?¡± ¡°Yes, he looks as if someone broke his heart.¡± Ann replied with curiosity. Thanks to his handsome looks, rank, and excellent swordsmanship, he had been quite popr at Rubica¡¯s tea meeting. He had gotten several letters after that, but he refused all the invitations he received and didn¡¯t even write back any letters to the lovesick girls. ¡°So, which girl has made him stagger like that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what this is about.¡± Rubica quickly stopped Ann¡¯s imagination from writing a sad love story. However, what she was thinking wasn¡¯t much different from what the others thought. ¡®Has something happened to him with Edgar?¡¯ He looked so fragile that she just couldn¡¯t walk past it. Edgar was now acting sweetly as if he could do anything for her, but how did he act when they first met? He kept saying and doing horribly arrogant things thatpletely shrouded his beauty. Stephen must have been hurt by him, and Rubica just couldn¡¯t ignore that. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to call him and find out what it is about?¡± ¡°Yes, I think so too. Sir Stephen?¡± Ann called his name repeatedly in a loud voice, but Stephen couldn¡¯t listen. As he was usually keen even to the smallest sound, it made Rubica even more worried. ¡°Lord Stephen!¡± Ann shouted so loudly that the sound rang through the garden, and Stephen stopped only then. He was a little surprised to see Rubica, but then he quickly wore his usual emotionless expression. ¡°What is it, madam?¡± ¡°Sir Stephen, is there something wrong?¡± Ann and Stephen spoke at the same time. He frowned at Ann¡¯s question, but only for a second. But sadly, Rubica¡¯s maid didn¡¯t miss that small change. ¡°Oh, so something really has happened.¡± ¡°Is it really a broken heart?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s time for him to fall in love.¡± The maid¡¯s talking eventually made him frown even harder. ¡°What on earth are you talking about? Do not misunderstand me.¡± He wanted to say he would leave if that was all, but he just couldn¡¯t say that to the duchess. His knights had changed a lot after the tea meeting, and he wasn¡¯t liking the changes. He was also getting several love letters and invitations to meetings, which he didn¡¯t wee at all, so he wasn¡¯t d about such misunderstandings. ¡°Yes, it must be because of Edgar.¡± Rubica added that, pitying the knight, but it almost made his eyese out in shock. Actually, he just had a conversation about the new machine the duke had ordered to be made at theb. -Why is this here at theb? He was checking on the raw materials that had arrived at theb, pretending to be on a different errand. There was something that didn¡¯t belong there: some smooth and soft fabric. -It¡¯s needed for a new experiment. -An experiment with fabric... I wonder what you are going to make. Were they trying to make some kind of special defense suit? He couldn¡¯t hide his hope and asked. The duke had stopped working on his blueprint some time ago because of his wife, and Stephen wondered if he had finallye to his senses. -Oh, the duke is trying to make a machine that cuts fabric cleanly with heat. As it wasn¡¯t any top military secret or something, the engineer answered his question without any doubt. Stephen, however, hadn¡¯t seen iting. A machine that cut fabric cleanly? Why on earth was ymore trying to make such a thing? -Why on earth are you making such a machine? -I don¡¯t know either. Anyway, we have to make it as soon as possible since it is the duchess¡¯s request. The moment Stephen heard the word duchess, he almost bit his tongue. It was almost like she was born just to ruin his n. The duke had so many things to do. Why was he supposed to waste his time on such a useless thing? He really wanted to use the duchess. The engineer could see he was angry and left after murmuring a goodbye. Stephen was supposed to leave as well, but he stood on the spot and stared at the piles of fabrics as they went into theb for a long, long time. ¡®I thought he had finallye to his senses, but he ispletely out of his mind now.¡¯ The duke had been having trouble focusing on his work for some time. He meddled with something that looks like a toy and came up with a strange tool for needlework. He said he made it because he got some free time, but everyone could see whose heart he was trying to win with it. Even then, Stephen thought it would be temporary. No, he had hoped it was temporary. The duke had so many projects on his hands. Messengers and letters from the king had gone into his office more than once during thest few days, so the king had to be urging him toe back to his senses. However, the duke hadn¡¯t made that threader as a temporary impulse. Really, he was blinded by love. ¡°Ha, is he... not going to make it? When the anger faded, despondency came. He remembered how hard he tried to gain the duke¡¯s trust and be his most trusted guard. He already had a lot of information he wanted to steal right now, but he had been waiting only for ¡®Ste¡¯. However, it looked like he wasn¡¯t going to get its blueprint even if he waited for ten years. ¡®I must calm down and let them know about this.¡¯ Stephen decided to use a messenger bird to let them know about the duke¡¯s strange condition and make a new n about it. He must have been shocked a lot and the way felt so long. He staggered, and then he stopped to take a deep breath. Then, the duchess and her girls called him and were now talking about love and heartbreak. However, what angered him the most was the duchess¡¯s, ¡®It must be about Edgar.¡¯ ¡®Does she know?¡¯ He got mad and scared at the same time. The duchess looked quite worried about him. Therefore, she carefully said to him, ¡°Do not get too disappointed even if you don¡¯t achieve what you want. You know, none of us can always get our ways.¡± Rubica was sure Stephen liked Edgar. The duke, among so many men in the world... what would happen if that was ever revealed? Although it was about her own husband, she pitied Stephen for it. ¡°You will get another chance, a better one.¡± ¡°Your Grace...¡± Rubica tried hard to make him feel better, but then she was surprised. He called her with an extremely gloomy and ominous gaze but, contrary to that, there was a blue fire burning hot in his brown eyes. However, considering she was his rival in love, she could understand that. ¡°You... know?¡± Rubica thought about it and then nodded. He had to be in so much pain that he couldn¡¯t tell anyone about it, and she pitied him for that. ¡°Just cheer up.¡± However, Stephen pped her hand away and left without saying another word. ¡°Sir Stephen, how dare you!¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright, Ann.¡± Ann was enraged by Stephen¡¯s attitude and tried to follow him, but Rubica stopped her. Stephen was guarding Edgar while hiding his feelings for him, so he had to be in extreme agony. She had asked him toe to her tea meeting without knowing about that. And just as she had expected, he was now getting a lot of attention. Oh, he had to be hating her so much by now, for that and for taking the heart of the man he liked. ¡®I must pay more attention to him.¡¯ It wouldn¡¯t be good for him to keep guarding Edgar. Maybe he would get a little better if he was distanced from Edgar. Rubica didn¡¯t know that he was a spy and waspletely misunderstanding everything. She also didn¡¯t know what her kind consideration was about to bring. Chapter 178

Chapter 178: Chapter 178

¡°Your Grace, the sun is already setting.¡± Elise was right. The sky had turned red. Was it thanks to the encounter with Stephen? Rubica¡¯s anxious heart had calmed down. She thought her worries were nothingpared to those of the people who could neverplete their love. ¡°We should go in now.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Before Rubica went back in, she took a look around the garden. Unlike how it had been when she first arrived, it now had colorful roses. Everyone had objected to her decision of investing in Sesar¡¯s work, but only Edgar had trusted her and supported her. Moreover, it had been the same with the mana quartz. Everyone else thought of her as a na?ve idealist, but not Edgar. Faith was what she was the most grateful for among what she had received from him. ¡°Ann... Edgar would believe anything I say, right?¡± She spontaneously asked Ann who nodded immediately and added a joke, ¡°Of course. He would believe you even if you said it was possible to make butter with beans. If the others don¡¯t believe it, he will find a way to make it possible himself.¡± However, that didn¡¯t sound like a joke to Rubica. Edgar was indeed looking for a way to make the machine Rubica had talked about. ¡®A machine that can do the needlework instead of humans... even I thought that made no sense, when I¡¯m the one who asked for it.¡¯ But Edgar was like, ¡®You can trust me with it!¡¯ and he had already finished designing the machine about ribbons. What kind of machine was she supposed to ask for in order to stop him from making Ste? She was worried but touched at the same time. He acted like it was only natural for everything she said to turn into reality. She wondered where that much faith wasing from. ¡®But then, shouldn¡¯t I trust him more as well?¡¯ Was it because of their bad first meeting? To be honest, Rubica didn¡¯t trust Edgar that much. She was hesitant to tell him about what happened with Minos not just because she was worried about how much he would get hurt. She feared he might be disappointed at knowing she was still looking for Arman. Although she wanted him to believe her past, she was thinking he would of course not believe it. That was why she was holding everything to herself even when she wanted to confess everything. She wasn¡¯t sure she would be able to bear it if he didn¡¯t believe her. He was saying he loved her. Despite that, she was going to be very disappointed if he didn¡¯t believe her. That was why she had hesitated so much to tell him the truth. However, she couldn¡¯t hide the truth forever just because she feared he might not trust her. She had to find the courage and take each step forward. Nothing could be solved by postponing what she had to do. ¡®I must be honest about Minos first.¡¯ Of course, she couldn¡¯t tell him about the dragon and his goblin right now. Edgar was highly likely going to ask if she was on some kind of bet with Lord Sesar if she exined about all that. Although that would naturally change the moment he met Minos and see him transform into a goblin. Then, he would also believe her story about the ring. Most of all, Minos was going to support her and her story. ¡®And it is a sure way to stop him from making Ste.¡¯ The encounter with the dragon had been shocking and fearful, but it was all for the better. If she told Edgar about how she had traveled back in time, he would understand why she wanted to find Arman so badly. ¡°Rubica!¡± When Rubica went inside, Edgar was running down the main stairs of the building, doing his cuffs. He was in such a hurry that his hair was a mess. He looked so urgent and was extremely surprised when he spotted her. He quickly ran down the stairs. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°What... is it? What do you mean?¡± He frowned at the question. Rubica was usually in the sewing room at this time of the day. So he had gone there with an excited heart to see her as soon as the sun went down, but the room had been empty. He had been on his way to the outside, worrying if something bad had happened to her. ¡°You... were taking a walk?¡± Only then he saw one of her maids carrying a parasol and the gloves she was wearing. He was relieved, but then he got mad at himself for running out like an idiot without asking a maid where she had gone. ¡°Yes, I went out to get some fresh air.¡± ¡°Oh, we should have left someone in the sewing room to tell you about it.¡± Ann¡¯sment made Rubica realize why Edgar seemed to be in so much hurry. She blushed and cleared her throat once, then she took Edgar¡¯s hand. He flinched when she took his hand first, but he didn¡¯t hate it, so he stayed still. ¡°The roses have bloomed outside. They are all so pretty.¡± ¡°I know. I look at them from the window every day.¡± ¡°And they smell good, too.¡± She stared at him. Edgar became tense and he could feel his cheeks hardening. Rubica had been saying that sitting for too long in his office wasn¡¯t good for his health. Although he was trying his best to hide the reason for that, he knew it was time for her to get a little mad about not being able to see him during the daytime. ¡°Why don¡¯t we take a walk together?¡± ¡°A walk? But the sun has already set.¡± ¡°But... then will you take a walk with me tomorrow afternoon?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t afford time for a walk during the day.¡± ¡°That is exactly why you should go out now. You cannot stay inside for long like that. I know you are busy, but you have to get some fresh air and see the sun.¡± However, Rubica didn¡¯tin as she was just worried about him. For a moment, Edgar wished he could rub his cheek on hers. ¡°Okay then, we will go out now.¡± He said that before he could think about it. She smiled at hearing that, and that smile was prettier than anything else. Taking a walk at night wasn¡¯t a problem. Thanks to a servant with a bright mana stonemp, their way was as bright as if it was daytime. ¡°Edgar, look here. The roses are pretty, but these delphiniums have also bloomed so prettily. I think our gardener has really good skills.¡± Edgar had seen that flower quite often, but he had never cared about it till now. He didn¡¯t even know its name, but he decided to raise the gardener¡¯s wage right on the spot. ¡°Yes, they are pretty.¡± ¡°And they also smell good.¡± She took a deep breath and so did he. They could feel the strong scent of flowers. It had the night¡¯s atmosphere and was quite fresh. It waspletely different from drinking in the scent of flowers which Rubica had put in his office that was mixed with the smell of the old carpet. ¡°Haha!¡± Edgar tried to agree enthusiastically with her, although it made him feel really awkward. Rubica burst intoughter at seeing that. Heughed along with her even if he didn¡¯t know what it was about. Her clearughter made him feel better, and she let him know that he was actually capable ofughing so easily. ¡°Edgar, may I give you a tour around the garden? I think I know this ce better than you by now.¡± Rubica took the mana stonemp from the servant and smiled a little naughtily. She was asking to spend some time alone with Edgar, and it made his heart burn up. He immediately ordered his guards to stop following. Rubica could see Stephen was mad about it, but she looked away and pretended to be ignorant. She thought it would be better for Stephen¡¯s mental health to be away from them. ¡°Have you seen these hydrangeas? They must not be seen from your window because of that tree...¡± Rubica turned a corner, but then she couldn¡¯t continue with the exnation. Themp dropped from her hand. He hugged her and held her high. The scent of hydrangea mixed with his unique scent made her dizzy. Her feet couldn¡¯t touch the ground and it made her even dizzier. ¡°What, what are you doing? Let me go.¡± However, Edgar didn¡¯t let go of her for a long, long time. He buried his face in her hair and drank in her scent mixed with the sweet perfume. He could feel her heart beating like crazy. The faster it beat, the more relieved he became. Did she know how worried he had been when she was suddenly missing? Now she let him embrace her and kiss her, but he couldn¡¯t cease to worry that she might leave him someday. The more the happiness and sense of stability he had gotten through her grew, the more worried he became about losing it all again. Chapter 179

Chapter 179: Chapter 179

¡°Edgar.¡± Soon Rubica gave up on trying to make him let her go. She just gently swept on his cheek with a hand. That soft and kind gesture made the anxiety that was stuck on his back disappear. ¡°Are you worried?¡± The brown eyes looked so mysterious as they looked up at him, saying she understood it all. He normally would have said no because of his mighty pride, but he nodded as if he had been enchanted by those eyes. He became strangely honest when he was with her as he felt she would listen and understand everything he said. ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere. I¡¯ll be by your side forever.¡± It made him hug her even harder. ¡°Do you really mean it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Do you know what that means?¡± The chillingly low voice reached her ears. His blue eyes were shining like the morning star and his chin and lips looked as firm as usual. However, the hands that held her were shaking a little, and it couldn¡¯t have been her imagination. Rubica wondered how she was supposed to let him know her heart. Theyers of emotions that had been piled up in time were tooplicated and difficult to define. ¡°Yes.¡± Instead of giving him aplicated exnation, which could potentially distort what she was trying to say, she answered in one short word. Soon, his face came close and their lips touched. They had shared so many kisses that now she couldn¡¯t even remember each of them, but every time their lips touched, her heart beat fast and heat engulfed her entire body. ¡°Rubica.¡± After the kiss ended, his forehead came down to meet hers. It still looked white, but it was burning as if he had a fever. So were his hands on her cheeks. He had always been cold, so when did he change like this? Rubica closed her eyes and enjoyed his warm hands. ¡°Will you really stay with me forever?¡± She already said she would, but he kept asking. ¡°Yes, I will stay with you.¡± ¡°Even if you meet Arman again? Will you stay with me instead of leaving with him?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± That answer came without any hesitation. Edgar couldn¡¯t control himself and hugged her as hard as he could. He couldn¡¯t believe he didn¡¯t have to worry about the warmth in his arms and the sound of the heart beating at him anymore. ¡°I can¡¯t breathe!¡± She weakly beat on his chest and he quickly let her go. Edgar was smiling like crazy. Rubica red at him but, in the end, she burst intoughter as well. She was sure she was the inest and most ordinary girl in the world, so why was he so happy to be with her? She wondered that sometimes. What kind of power brought them together? Asking that question made tears swell in her eyes. She quickly turned to hide her heart that was as fickle as the rain of a summer¡¯s day. ¡°Look. Aren¡¯t these hydrangeas pretty?¡± ¡°But you are prettier.¡± Of course, that answer made her jaw drop. ¡°How can I think about some flowers when you are in front of me?¡± He didn¡¯t care about the look she gave him and protested as if that was only the natural truth. Herints were funny, but what was even funnier were her cheeks turning red. ¡°You are the only person who says I¡¯m even prettier than flowers.¡± ¡°Of course I should be.¡± Rubica said that to shake away the embarrassment, but Edgar agreed with her. ¡°If anyone else says such a thing to you, I will not let them get away with it.¡± His eyes glistened dangerously. Judging from his serious gaze andpressed lips, he really meant it. He was even taking a step further and worrying if anyone else wanted her. Was she really the most beautiful woman in the world in his eyes? ¡°As the others don¡¯t need the help of an optician, I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t say what you are saying.¡± ¡°An optician?¡± ¡°We really should have your eyes checked this week.¡± ¡°But my eyes are fine... of course, I¡¯ll do it if you want.¡± He couldn¡¯t even understand the joke, and Rubica had no energy to be mad at him. On the other hand, he was feeling really good. He even hummed as he walked. He then took the extremely light mana stonemp Rubica was carrying, saying it was too heavy for her, and held it himself. ¡°Having a walk at night isn¡¯t bad.¡± Rubica¡¯s skin glowed white under the soft moonlight. Her hair fluttered in the wind, her dress made sounds when she walked on the grass, and the faint smile she made each time she saw a pretty flower. They were walking in the garden, holding hands, and it felt like a wonderful dream. ¡°A man from Jackal Bank hase today, right?¡± Rubica was wondering when she should talk about Minos, but then he asked about it first. As a man hade from the bank that now managed their wealth, of course, he was supposed to be worried if there was anything wrong. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I heard you were alone with him at the reception room for quite a long time...¡± However, what he was worried about wasn¡¯t the management of his wealth. So, Rubica couldn¡¯t help but stare at him in shock. ¡°What, is there something wrong about that?¡± ¡°Not exactly, but...¡± He looked away. He didn¡¯t want to rule over her at all, but he did care a lot about what Rubica had talked about with the banker. Thinking the banker had heard of her worries he didn¡¯t know about made him a little sad and angry. ¡°And you even gave him coffee and refreshments. Weren¡¯t you being a bit too kind to the banker?¡± He didn¡¯t want to appear narrow-minded, so he couldn¡¯t tell what he was really thinking and made a problem out of something else. Of course, he didn¡¯t know that it made him look even more foolish. ¡°He was a guest.¡± ¡°But still... you are just too kind.¡± He angrily stroked his chin. For a moment, Rubica didn¡¯t know what to think of it, but his pouted lower lip made her realize he was jealous. ¡®Maybe it¡¯s good.¡¯ It was better than to hesitate and dy telling him about Minos. ¡°The banker has asked me to let him meet you.¡± ¡°Meet me? Did he ask for an audience with you just for that? That¡¯s absurd!¡± Before he could say he should cancel the deal with Jackal Bank immediately, Rubica held his hand tightly. ¡°He said he knew a way to find Arman.¡± ¡°What?¡± Edgar¡¯s eyes burned dangerously. His knuckles that clutched themp turned white. Rubica cowered at his angry voice, but she wasn¡¯t afraid. She was sure he would listen to her. ¡°He said he would tell me how to find Arman, but I should let him meet you in return.¡± Edgar¡¯s eyebrows went up high. He wasn¡¯t mad at Rubica, but he was mad at the banker who he didn¡¯t even know. ¡®It must be a fraud who wants to fool this innocentdy.¡¯ As Edgar knew Arman was himself, the offer of the banker was quite suspicious to him. He was a mere banker, but he knew Rubica was looking for Arman, and Edgar didn¡¯t like it. If he was just trying to use what she said coincidentally and gain something from that, Edgar was going to make him never see the light of the day ever again. ¡°I will have Carl make time tomorrow.¡± ¡°No, you don¡¯t have to do that. Just... meet him when you get time.¡± Edgar had been pushing everything aside to do what Rubica asked, and it had been bothering her. She hade up with the idea to dy the development of Ste, but as he had so many important businesses on his hands, it strangely made her feel guilty. He was saying he was willing to postpone other important things and make time to help her find the man she liked, and she felt so sorry for that. She couldn¡¯t say sorry, but she touched his finger instead. She was clearly hesitating, and it almost made him smile, but he stopped himself and tried hard to look disappointed. ¡°Why? Don¡¯t you want to find Arman quickly?¡± ¡°Yes, but...¡± Her eyes were wet. She didn¡¯t know what Arman was thinking, and she now wanted to cry. How could he be so nice to her? Didn¡¯t he care about his own feelings? She had never been loved like this before. She had always been the helper, not the cared one. Chapter 180

Chapter 180: Chapter 180

¡°Thank you.¡± Actually, she wanted to say sorry. However, saying sorry when she wasn¡¯t telling him the truth felt like deceiving him. Instead, she said thank you. At least she meant it with all her heart. ¡°No, Rubica. You don¡¯t have to thank me. I¡¯m only doing what is right.¡± Edgar decided to abandon his pride and do anything, including pretending to be heartbroken, to win her heart. But when she actually seemed to cry, he didn¡¯t know what to do. He was slightly worried that she might be mad at him once she found out he was Arman. ¡°It¡¯s only right?¡± ¡°It¡¯s only right to do anything for the woman I love. Plus, you are my wife.¡± His love who was going to be with him forever and ever. Needless to say, the moment she said she was going to stay with him, their promise about divorce had been broken and their marriage was more than just a deal. Edgar didn¡¯t hesitate to call her his wife, and she didn¡¯t reply by saying she wasn¡¯t his real wife. ¡°But there are many people who use love to do bad things.¡± ¡°I know. Love is the best excuse to justify all kinds of bad things.¡± He leaned down and lightly kissed her lips. It didn¡¯tst more than a second, but it made her heart ache. Was it his brilliantly bright smile¡¯s doing? ¡°But at the same time, there are people who are not like that.¡± The light of the mana stonemp let her see his smile without any distortion. Rubica could see he was saying she was one of ¡®those who didn¡¯t use love as an excuse to do bad things¡¯. His faith was like a miracle. Only now Rubica realized why she had been anxious after Minos¡¯s departure. She was afraid, afraid that Edgar might be disappointed if she asked him to meet Minos so that she would be able to find Arman. She was afraid his heart might leave her. Yes. Actually, she was afraid he might abandon her. However, his faith in her was much stronger than she had imagined. She thought she had been a fool to worry... ¡°You are not that kind of person, but I¡¯ve already done a lot of bad things to you.¡± She had asked the man who liked her to find his rival in love. If Edgar had asked her such a favor... it would have torn her heart apart. ¡°No, you¡¯ve done nothing wrong.¡± Actually, he was the one who had been doing her wrong. Edgar even wondered if he should tell her he was Arman. He made all this fuss just because he didn¡¯t want to share her love with his future self. However, when he saw her loving him and being sorry about it, he could see he had done something truly foolish. He was no different from Arman who sent her back in time instead ofing back himself just because he didn¡¯t want to be forgotten by her. He was a selfish man, and he humbly admitted it. ¡°Edgar.¡± However, each word he said only moved her heart even more. She buried her face in his chest and breathed deeply. His scent made her feel hot, but it also made her feel stable at the same time. She had found out through him that it was possible to be sofortable even when her heart was beating so fast. ¡°You¡¯re going to believe anything I say, right?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Even though she was asking the question, she was sure of it. She wanted to tell him everything. However, now was not the right time to do it. She had to make him meet Minos first and tell him about Arman¡¯s ring and all that happened till now. She could tell him to believe everything as she was the one saying it, but it wasn¡¯t the correct way to build trust. It would only destroy it. She wanted to live up to his expectations as much as he believed in her. ¡°Just wait a little longer. I will tell you everything, about what happened between me and Arman.¡± His hand, that had been stroking her back, stopped. It made her worried and she hugged him even tighter. ¡°Rubica.¡± He called her name with a slightly shaking voice. She had finally decided to tell him everything. The moment he had wished for so earnestly was finally on its way to him. ¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡± He could wait for thousands of years now that he finally had her heart. ¡°But instead...¡± He gently wrapped her face in his hands. For a moment, Rubica resisted his hands trying to make her look up at him. She couldn¡¯t bear to look at his eyes. However, he gently urged and she eventually looked up. When she looked into his eyes, she was surprised. ¡°Edgar.¡± ¡°Please, do not despise me.¡± Drops of tears that looked like gems were falling from his blue eyes. They looked so sad, and Rubica raised a hand to wipe them off his face. ¡°Despise you? Why would I ever despise you?¡± She whispered and he smiled sadly. Because he knew. He had been so rude to her in many ways when they first met, but she eventually forgave him. She looked like one of the so-called ordinary people, but she was hiding strength beneath it. As always, she was going to forgive him even when she got to know the truth. That was why he felt so small and was so sorry for her. He had lived a life without forgiveness. ¡°Please don¡¯t hate me.¡± Rubica looked up at him as he kept crying and pleading. ording to what most people would think, she was supposed to be the one begging to not be abandoned. She had nothing. However, he was acting as if she was a goddess, and it didn¡¯t look cowardly. It rather felt cute and trustworthy. She was sure she would be able to live a life of happiness with him. ¡°I love you.¡± Rubica stood on her tiptoes and said that instead of forgiving him. Moreover, that wasn¡¯t out of impulse at all. She had been hesitating to say that as she was scared and afraid that she didn¡¯t deserve to be loved by him. But... but then, it would be no different from her previous life in which she had never been able to confess her love to Arman. ¡°I¡¯ve been wanting to tell you this.¡± She had hesitated and hesitated in her previous life, and she failed to say it, but in this life, she wasn¡¯t going to repeat the same mistake. No matter what kind of hardships she was about to encounter, she was not going to hesitate and lose her love ever again. ¡°Rubica, Rubica.¡± He held her tightly while calling her name again and again in a teary voice. ¡°Edgar, I love you.¡± She wasn¡¯t confessing her love to Arman, but strangely, the remorse she had for so long melted away like the snow. Now, if she ever got to meet Arman again, she was going to hold his hands tightly and say, ¡®thank you¡¯ instead of ¡®I love you¡¯. Even though it was now in a different form from her original wish, atst it had been granted. *** After her visit to ymore Mansion, Gabriel Tangt had changed a little. Normally she would have run to her mother as soon as she got out of the carriage and told her about everything she had seen including the number of dishes at the mansion she had just visited. But this time, she didn¡¯t say much until she took off her hat and got changed into afortable indoor dress. ¡°Gabriel, what have you talked about with the duchess?¡± ¡°Oh, about how she was and the weather and things like that.¡± The countess eventually asked first, but Gabriel didn¡¯t give her a proper answer. After that, she went to her room, stayed there for a long time, and then abruptly came out and said, ¡°She has asked me toe again next week.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good. She must have liked you very much. Well, with what kind of stories have you won her favor with?¡± Showing off her wittiness was what Gabriel enjoyed the most. Her mother was sure she would smile broadly and talk about how smartly she had entertained the duchess for hours. ¡°Nothing much.¡± However, Gabriel replied coldly and went back to her room. The countess couldn¡¯t hide her surprise and asked herdy-in-waiting, ¡°What on earth has just happened?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. Maybe she is finally growing up.¡± ¡°Gabriel is growing up?¡± The countess said to herself as she looked at the closed door of Gabriel¡¯s room. Gabriel was her youngest child and she had always thought she would be forever twittering like a canary at her side, eager to get her attention. ¡°No, it has to be a whim.¡± The countess quickly denied the reality. Maybe Gabriel was not telling her about what happened with the duchess to get more attention. No matter what anyone said, Gabriel was the most like her among all the children she had. The countess was sure she understood Gabriel better than anyone else. Chapter 181 - Chapter 181

Chapter 181: Chapter 181

¡°We should just leave her alone. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll run out of her room in less than two hours and tell us everything.¡± The countess assured herself by saying so and told the other family members to leave Gabriel alone as well. A day passed like that, and another came, but Gabriel didn¡¯t change. She even went into her room every evening, locked the door, and let no onee in. ¡°What if... what if she has made a mistake in front of the duchess?¡± ¡°Maybe she is going there again next week to apologize, not because she has been granted another audience,¡± another maid replied, and it made the countess anxiously jump up and down. Herdy-in-waiting advised that it would be better to wait for Gabriel to talk first as she was a teenager in puberty, but it was in vain. Fickle people tend tock patience. In the end, the countess couldn¡¯t hold it anymore and knocked on Gabriel¡¯s door that night. ¡°Gabriel! Gabriel!¡± ¡°What is it, mother?¡± Gabriel asked, still not opening the door. The countess was now about to faint with stress and worries. ¡°My child, what kind of mistake have you made? Just tell me honestly.¡± ¡°Mistake?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Gabriel. Your mother will take care of it.¡± Gabriel realized why the countess was making such a fuss and sighed. She was grateful that her mother loved her and cared for her, but she hated it whenever she acted like that. ¡°Nothing happened.¡± ¡°Nothing happened? But then you wouldn¡¯t be this quiet. Please, open this door and tell me what this is about.¡± ¡°I am not obliged to always be talkative. If you are so curious and worried, ask the duchess, not me. Of course, she would be surprised as nothing really happened.¡± ¡°Really? Nothing happened?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The countess couldn¡¯t press on Gabriel further. The door was still shut, and she didn¡¯t like it, but she had already raised many children and she knew that insisting couldn¡¯t be good. ¡°Gabriel, pleasee to me at any time if you feel like talking. You know I love you.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Gabriel had to try really hard to not say, ¡®I know it too well, and that¡¯s the problem.¡¯ After she heard the countess leaving, she sat down on a chair next to her bed and looked at the mirror. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m the one who¡¯s about to pass out in stress.¡± She had made a promise with the duchess to look into the mirror every night before she went to bed and say, ¡®I am beautiful¡¯ ten times. At first, she thought it would be easy. She couldn¡¯t see why the duchess wanted her to do something so foolish and childish. However, when she actually stood in front of a mirror, her mouth was shut tightly and couldn¡¯t say anything. ¡®It had to be before I go to bed.¡¯ As it was time to go to bed, her eyebrows hadn¡¯t been painted dark and she was wearing no makeup to cover the freckles on her face. As it was time to go to bed, she couldn¡¯t roll her hair or use any hair essories. Her waist, that wasn¡¯t tightened by a corset, and the loose underwear were the worstbination ever. Looking at herself in the mirror, she just couldn¡¯t bring herself to say, ¡®I am beautiful.¡¯ If it had been in the morning, she could have gotten ready for the day, make her maids leave, and try it, but it was nighttime. She wished she could send a messenger bird to ask the duchess if this was what she had been aiming for. -If youe back here next week without fulfilling your promise, I cannot let you meet her. -But how are you going to know whether I¡¯ve said that while looking at the mirror every night? You won¡¯t be there. -I will be able to tell. Oh, her eyes had been so confident as she said that. Gabriel sighed and looked at the mirror again. She had stayed up almost all night yesterday. She felt like theck of sleep could kill her. It was just one sentence, so she couldn¡¯t understand why she was hesitating so much. -Well, I¡¯ll be the ugly Gabriel as usual. She didn¡¯t have any problems at saying that to the others and even to her mother who had given birth to her, but she could not say ¡®I am beautiful¡¯ all alone in her room? Was she that timid? She got angry. ¡°Wake up, Gabriel. You cannot miss this chance.¡± Gabriel talked to herself on the other side of the mirror. ¡°Are you going to be called ugly and ignored for the rest of your life and die as a virgin without ever getting proposed?¡± But thinking about it again, that didn¡¯t sound so bad. Her father and brother were not going to let her be in any financial difficulty. Moreover, the profit she was getting from The Little Bird¡¯s News, which she was publishing with Tatiana, was enough to support herself. ¡°But not doing it and not being able to do it are two very different things.¡± However, why did it matter if they both led to the same end? ¡°Please stoping up with excuses. Just cooperate!¡± She closed her eyes and beat the mirror with her head. She hated herself so much for hesitating about such a little thing. ¡°Oh!¡± She kept banging her head for some time, but then she realized something. ¡°I can close my eyes!¡± Why did she realize this only now? She had been having a hard time saying it to herself in the mirror, but then she could close her eyes. The duchess didn¡¯t say that she had to keep her eyes open. ¡°Hehe, I am really the clever one.¡± Was it because she had beenining while looking at the mirror for thest two days? Gabrielplimented herself in the mirror quite naturally. Then, she closed her eyes and started to carry out the promise she made with the duchess. ¡°I am... beautiful.¡± It was harder to say than she expected even with her eyes closed. Still, she could do it when she didn¡¯t see the mirror that had her real, undecorated self. ¡°I am beautiful.¡± When she said it for the second time, she didn¡¯t hesitate. The first time is always the hardest. After she said it about nine times, she started to wonder, ¡®As I haven¡¯t done this for two days, should I say it about thirty times instead of ten times?¡¯ Since she already said it nine times, thirty times sounded easy. She wanted to be done with this cleanly, so she decided to say as much as she had dyed. And then, she repeatedly said ¡®I am beautiful¡¯ really quickly. After she said it twenty times, she started to feel thirsty. After the twenty-fifth time, her closed eyes felt strangely tingly and she wanted to wash her face. Around the twenty-eighth time, she started to wonder, ¡®Oh, why am I making such a fuss over something so small, enduring the thirst and itchy eyes?¡¯ When she said it for the twenty-ninth time, she eventually opened her eyes to get rid of the itchy feeling. Now that she had only one more to go, she didn¡¯t want to close her eyes again. She had gotten enough confidence after saying the line twenty-nine times. ¡°I¡¯m...¡± She gulped hard and challengingly stared at herself in the mirror. She was still neither beautiful nor pretty. She was small and overweight, her red hair was way too thick and her eyebrows were too thin. And, why were there so many freckles on her face? She moaned, thinking she was an ugly nobody. But now, she was even angrier at herself for carrying out Rubica¡¯s terms with her eyes closed when she was just a nobody. ¡®It¡¯s just an image reflected in the mirror.¡¯ It was nothing but an ordinary, no, ugly image. She couldn¡¯t be hesitating so much about it. Gabriel took a deep breath and held her hands together. They said the hardest fight of all was the fight against oneself. She couldn¡¯t even beat her appearance that was only a small part of who she was. ¡®I¡¯m the smartest of the Tangts. I read better than my siblings and I¡¯m also great at math.¡¯ However, she was afraid of her own face reflected in the mirror? Really, that hurt her pride. She took another deep breath, held her hands together, and looked into the mirror. After making a lot of effort including reminding herself of her strong points, again and again, she spoke. ¡°Beautiful.¡± Then, she breathed heavily. Shecked oxygen more than when she rode on a running horse. She felt happy that she finally did it, then she felt so hollow at learning that she had been hesitating so much about something so easy. Then she realized something. ¡®It¡¯s... the first time.¡¯ It was the first time she ever called herself beautiful. She had always called herself ¡®so ugly¡¯ when she looked into the mirror. She used to wish she was tall and thin like Tatiana and had soared-up eyes like a baron¡¯s daughter. Instead, she knew her eyes made her look a bit like a fool. So, she always thought about the women she wanted to be like each time she stood in front of a mirror and wondered what she should do to be at least a little more like them. She looked into the mirror every morning and every night, but she wasn¡¯t looking at herself. She was trying to find them in the mirror. Chapter 182 - Chapter 182

Chapter 182: Chapter 182

¡®You fool, you idiot!¡¯ She med herself. In the past, she med her family so much for considering her ugly when she was doing the same. It turned out she was the one who had been thinking of herself as ugly more than anyone else. -Yes, mother. I am ugly, so at least let me wear pretty dresses. She didn¡¯t want to be criticized by the others, and the best defense was a good offense. When she said that first, no one would easily say she was ugly. She was ming the others for considering her ugly while she was ignoring herself so much, and that wasn¡¯t right. Gabriel looked at herself in the mirror, frowning hard. Then, she got up from the chair andy down on her bed. Now that she was looking straight at herself in the mirror instead of looking for the others in it, it was even harder to look at her reflection. ¡®Now I can see why the duchess demanded such terms.¡¯ Gabriel thought the duchess was putting her up to a really embarrassing thing, but it turned out there had been a deep reason behind it. For all these years, she had beenughing at the others¡¯ foolish behaviors as if she had been the smartest person in the world, but she was the real fool. At least she didn¡¯t cry, and that let her pride survive. However, the next day, when she said ¡®I am beautiful¡¯ for the fifth time looking at herself in the mirror, she eventually burst in tears. ¡°I am beauty... ful.¡± She found a handkerchief on her dressing table and blew her nose. Her nose turned red, making her look funny. Usually, she would have left the mirror and tried to make her nose normal again, either by washing her face or putting a cold towel on it. But today, Gabriel didn¡¯t do any of that. Instead, she puffed her chest and looked at herself in the mirror. Maybe it was her imagination, but her eyes seemed to be shining with confidence. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m not that bad. No, that won¡¯t do. It has to be what the duchess said. Gabriel, you are beautiful.¡± After wrestling with herself in front of the mirror, she had gotten to quite like her image in the mirror. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m short and a little plump, but what¡¯s wrong with that? It makes me cute.¡± Her mother and the designers who often came to meet her always said she had to lose weight to look more like her sisters, but now she realized losing weight would make her lose that cuteness she had. ¡°And I have thick eyshes. It¡¯s a sign of beauty.¡± Then, she stuck her tongue out. It turned out words really had powers. Before, she had always been busy trying to find ws within herself in the mirror. But now, she was looking for her beauty. She was seeing what she had not been able to see before, and it was marvelous. Even what she used to think as ws now looked like beauty, seeing them from a different perspective. ¡°Yes, I am beautiful.¡± She was no longer forcing herself to say that to keep the promise she made to Rubica. She really meant it. From now on, regardless of what the others thought of her, she was going to think of herself as beautiful and love herself. ¡°So, I must stop criticizing myself.¡± The duchess said she would be able to know immediately if she kept the promise when they meet again. Gabriel had wondered how she was so sure of it, but now she could see why. Although the looks she saw in the mirror hadn¡¯t changed at all, now she was apletely different person. Moreover, her mother was the first to notice her change. ¡°Gabriel, do you have any worriestely?¡± ¡°No.¡± Gabriel replied simply as she wrapped the gifts for the guests who woulde to her mother¡¯s tea meeting. However, that made the countess worry even more. ording to Gabriel¡¯s nurse, she had been staying alone in her room with the door locked every night, and she was heard talking to herself. It worried them both. She was so worried about her daughter that she even abandoned her high pride and wrote to the duchess to ask about it, but she only replied by saying they just had an honest and pleasant talk. ¡°Gabriel, I think it would be better to make you a new dress for this tea meeting. As I am the host, my daughter should shine the most in it.¡± In the end, the countess decided to bear some financial losses and threw bait to Gabriel. Nothing excited the girl more than a new dress. It would surely make her feel better and she would try to make the most of it saying, ¡®I won¡¯t be seen if I stay still, so I will need a dress with tons of jewels shining.¡¯ ¡°A new dress? No, I don¡¯t need it.¡± But to her mother¡¯s surprise, Gabriel wasn¡¯t excited at all at the offer. The countess then yelled in shock, ¡°What are you talking about? You don¡¯t need a new dress?¡± Actually, Gabriel had enough dresses to fill a whole room. However, she was always saying, ¡®What¡¯s good with having so many dresses when none of them are good enough to be worn?¡¯ And she didn¡¯t want a new dress? The countess feared there might be something wrong with her brain. ¡°You don¡¯t need a new dress? That¡¯s impossible... this is serious, Gabriel. I must have you examined by the doctor immediately.¡± She made a fuss and it made Gabriel narrow her eyes. In the end, she decided to tell her mother a tiny bit of what happened with the duchess. ¡°Actually, I am going to meet Madam Khanna when I meet the duchess tomorrow. I think she will rmend dresses, hairstyles, and makeup for me.¡± ¡°Madam Khanna said she would do that for you?¡± Rubica hadn¡¯t told Gabriel exactly who had transformed Elise. She just promised to let her meet the person. However, Gabriel knew well that by saying so much, this would end up with her mothering with her tomorrow. ¡°I think she will, probably.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I go with you then?¡± Just as she had expected. Gabriel thought her mother was probably the easiest person to understand in the household. ¡°But if I showed up there with you without asking permission for it in advance, both the duchess and Madam Khanna would be so surprised.¡± The countess bit her fingernails and yelled, ¡°Then you should have told me about it sooner! Oh, have you been saying nothing after you came back from ymore Mansion to hide this from me?¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not it.¡± ¡°I know you want to be prettier, but you know you can¡¯t polish a turd!¡± She was half joking. She thought Gabriel would smile like the usual and say, ¡®But I must at least try to not be the unusual one in this family.¡¯ However, she didn¡¯t. She coldly looked at her mother, put down the wrapping paper which she was holding, and stood up. ¡°Is getting prettier so important to you? Important enough to call your own daughter a turd?¡± ¡°Gabriel.¡± Toote, the duchess realized she made a mistake. Gabriel was careless and often made mistakes, but she was the cute youngest daughter who always said funny and pleasant things by her mother¡¯s side. That was why the countess had forgotten she had a line that must not be crossed even when talking to her. Until now, Gabriel had been so eager to be loved by her, no matter what she said. But now, she looked so cold, only then the countess realized her little girl was about to detach herself from her. ¡°Oh, child.¡± Just before Gabriel could leave the room, the countess grabbed her arm. Thankfully, Gabriel didn¡¯t shake her hand off. The countess smiled awkwardly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You know I love you a lot, right?¡± Gabriel¡¯s heart ached as much as her mother¡¯s did. She was happy that her mother was apologizing first. She wished she could embrace the countess and tell her she knew how much she also loved her. However, she knew that would only make her live by her mother¡¯s side as a part of her forever. As Titania had sometimes told her, ¡®We are supposed to rebel without any reason when we¡¯re in puberty, Gabriel. You are just way too nice.¡¯ Yes, it was time for her to rebel. ¡°I know, mama. But... I need your approval, not your love.¡± Gabriel whispered she was sorry, then she left. The countess stared at her back as she walked away. As Gabriel was her youngest daughter, she had always been worried about her. Gabriel had always looked like a five-year-old girl in her eyes. But now, she realized she was a girl who was about to be introduced to society. ¡°Have I wronged her a lot?¡± Herdy-in-waiting, who had been with her since her maidhood, thought about it, then she said, ¡°Not a lot, but yes.¡± The countess ruffled and messed with her hair that had been done with great care. She raised four children and did her best with each of them, but she still felt like an amateur when it came to child raising. Why were they all different from each other? Her second child hated what her first child loved. One of themined she trusted her too much and didn¡¯t love her, and another child -Gabriel- wanted her approval more than her love. ¡°I wanted to be the perfect mother, at least to Gabriel. I thought I could as she was my fourth child.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as the perfect mother. No one is perfect. Miss Gabriel is just growing up. It¡¯s time for her to learn that it isn¡¯t always good to endure what the people she loves say to her.¡± The countess sighed deeply. Maybe she was getting hurt by her children in a new way every time because she was always in the wrong. ¡°Please tell the kitchen to prepare some sandwich for Gabriel to eat in the carriage on her way to ymore Mansion.¡± For now, she decided to do what she could as Gabriel¡¯s mother, instead of continuing to me herself. Chapter 183

Chapter 183: Chapter 183

Rubica was quite nervous as she waited for Gabriel. The girl¡¯s pride was as high as her cleverness. Maybe, after she went home, she had thought about it and decided to ignore what Rubica put her up to, thinking it was all useless. ¡®Did she understand what I meant by it?¡¯ Gabriel could have done as promised, but it wouldn¡¯t guarantee that she learned something from it, just as Rubica had aimed for. This had been more of a half gamble. When the maid, who carried messages came into the room, Rubica jumped to her feet without noticing it. ¡°Has Miss Tangt arrived?¡± The maid replied by saying she hade to deliver a letter from Jackal Bank, but Rubica didn¡¯t have the time to be disappointed. She was worried and had hopes about Minos as much as she wanted to meet Gabriel. Therefore, she quickly opened the letter. Minos wrote that he couldn¡¯te right away as he was looking for something and said he wished to meet the duketer. He was asking for her understanding. Well, Rubica had wanted to meet Minos tomorrow, but it wasn¡¯t like she could be mad at him. She had no choice but to write back to him and ask him to write to her when he got time. ¡°Madam, Lady Tangt has arrived.¡± ¡°I will meet her in the sewing room, and I do not want anyone else to be there.¡± ¡°Yes, madam.¡± Ann had gone to meet the butler to discuss the delivery of rose candies to the queen. Rubica was worried that having anyone else in the room might make Gabriel say something she didn¡¯t mean out of embarrassment, so she went to meet the girl. ¡°Good morning, Your Grace. The weather is as clear as your heart today.¡± Gabriel spoke with her wits as usual. When she raised her head, Rubica could see what she had asked for had brought more than she had expected. ¡°You have done as I said.¡± ¡°Well, it was a bit embarrassing, but it wasn¡¯t that hard.¡± Gabriel lifted her chin high and boasted even though she had cried looking in the mirror every night. That exaggerated attitudebined with her freckles made her look cuter and lovelier. That was a charm that couldn¡¯t be seen when she covered her face with thick makeup. ¡°Still, it must have been hard toe here bare faced.¡± ¡°True. When my parents saw me like this, my father stopped the carriage and my mother burst into tears.¡± ¡°He stopped your carriage? But what¡¯s wrong with not wearing makeup...¡± Rubica was trying topliment Gabriel¡¯s courage, but then she was shocked to hear her answer. It was normal for a girl to not wear any makeup before her debutante. Gabriel scratched her head, a little embarrassed. ¡°I never came out without wearing makeup since I was 12.¡± ¡°What? But that can¡¯t be good for your skin.¡± ¡°I know.¡± She shrugged. It looked quite foolish now but, at the time, she hadn¡¯t been able to take even a step outside without makeup. Her parents scolded her at first, but they eventually gave up and bought her a bunch of cosmetics, just as she wanted. ¡°We cannot always follow what we know. Everyone knows that getting up early in the morning is good, but only a few actually do that.¡± It was one of Gabriel¡¯s old habits to prepare an excuse that sounded good in case she got scolded. ¡°Why have youe barefaced even when your parents were so shocked?¡± ¡°Because you promised to teach me how to be pretty. So... I thought it would be better to show who I really am, without any makeup. It¡¯s a quite a reasonable choice.¡± Even Gabriel herself though she was going too far with thest sentence. However, Rubica didn¡¯t point it out. She smiled and agreed with her. ¡°Yes. Wearing makeup makes the colors of your face and lips look different, so I cannot tell you which cream you should use and which style is right for you.¡± Gabriel hadn¡¯t expected such a reaction, so she was slightly embarrassed. Those who are strong against criticism are weak topliments. While she was stammering, not knowing what to say, Rubica called Jennie. ¡°What is it, Your Grace?¡± Jennie was a little afraid that Rubica was calling her instead of one of herdies-in-waiting since she was only a maid. Now she knew Rubica didn¡¯t punish her maids easily, but it still wasn¡¯t easy to get rid of an old habit. ¡°We¡¯re going to transform Miss Tangt.¡± ¡°What? Lady Tangt? I heard she would being today, but... where is she?¡± Jennie looked around the room even when Gabriel was standing right in front of her. In the end, Gabriel blushed really hard and raised her hand. ¡°Here.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Gabriel de Tangt.¡± ¡°Oh, oh. I am so sorry, mydy.¡± Jennie was really surprised and kept apologizing while Gabriel waved her hands. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine.¡± Gabriel forgave Jennie who thanked her. And the next moment, she brought a chair. Then, she made the girl sit down on it and started to check her thoroughly, from the hair down to her feet. Was she the person who transformed Elise? Gabriel¡¯s brown eyes sparkled with curiosity and hopes. ¡°And which cream do you use?¡± ¡°I use ra Cream from Coco Shop.¡± Gabriel was quite d at being asked the question. Coco shop was where they made the most expensive cosmetics in the kingdom. Gabriel¡¯s mother had ordered from there the moment she heard the queen used its products. However, Jennie looked a little troubled at hearing her answer. ¡°Coco Shop? But its cream is a little heavy for you...¡± Rubica brought Jennie¡¯s cosmetics box and spoke as she opened it, ¡°That must be why her makeup did not look right.¡± ¡°Yes, the basic is the start of makeup. Hmm, this is a selection of cosmetics for you, so there isn¡¯t anything right for our youngdy.¡± Then, she ran out of the room, not waiting for answers. Before Gabriel could ask if the maid had been the one who transformed Elise, Rubica took out a bottle of hair oil from the box. ¡°You would look prettier without the fringe, but I don¡¯t know how to get rid of already existing fringes.¡± Then, she started to put Gabriel¡¯s fringe behind. ¡°You should grow your fringe and put them back like this.¡± Rubica started to take out hairpins and put them on the girl¡¯s fringe. Gabriel, in the meantime, nced at the duchess¡¯s hair essory box and eximed. It was full of wonderful and pretty things. One hair essory that had been made with thin ribbons looked like a daisy flower. Gabriel picked it up to take a closer look at it, but it hadn¡¯t been sewed. ¡°Oh, this fabric is so amazing!¡± ¡°Yes, right? Edgar made it.¡± ¡°The duke?¡± Gabriel eximed in great shock, and Rubica had to quickly correct her imagination. ¡°No, not by doing the needlework himself. He made a machine that can substitute sewing by applying heat to the edge.¡± ¡°What? He invented such a machine? Wow, that¡¯s shocking.¡± Gabriel took a closer look at it. Unlike ordinary ribbons, it was made of oneyer instead of two. She rubbed its edges, but not even a single thread came out. She was so impressed by it that it made Rubica proud. No other husband would make such a brilliant machine just because his wife wanted it. She started to exin excitedly. ¡°As it doesn¡¯t require any needlework, it can be made with thinner fabric and can be made into more varied essories.¡± Rubica brought her sewing basket and took out the ribbons she had been working on. There were some in shapes of flowers like rose and camellia, and butterflies made of more than oneyer of ribbons. ¡°You cannot make these with thick ribbons.¡± ¡°You made all of these?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Gabriel narrowed her eyes. She looked at Rubica and the ribbons again. Rubica¡¯s ribbons were more delicate than the ribbons in Khanna¡¯s shop which her mother had ordered. Each time Khanna was asked about the ribbons, she always said it had been Madam Berry¡¯s idea. Moreover, she had just announced Madam Berry was about toe up with more varied ribbon decorations, and everyone was so excited about it. ¡®Then maybe... she is Madam Berry.¡¯ However, Jennie came back before she could talk about it. Then, she started to apply the cream on the girl¡¯s face without giving her a chance to speak. Rubica¡¯s maids were as fast as their mistress when it came to their work. Chapter 184

Chapter 184: Chapter 184

¡°Close your eyes and raise your head a little.¡± After that, Gabriel closed her eyes and raised her arms as Jennie and Rubica requested. There was so much going on that she didn¡¯t even notice when Khanna arrived. The designer then took out a dress, which Rubica had ordered in advance, from a huge box. Gabriel held her breath the moment she heard the sound of her taking the dress out. She knew she was about to be suffocated with a corset, and just thinking about it was horrible enough. -Beauty is always ufortable. Christopher, the designer who she worshipped with her soul before Madam Khanna appeared, had said that to her sometimes when she suffered from the corset. He would tell her so many stories about how the pretty girls who currently ruled society had gone through so much pain to be like that. That made Gabriel believe she also had to endure all kinds of pain and ufortableness to be pretty. ¡°I am ready.¡± ¡°Good, shall we start?¡± Gabriel thought Khanna was about to have her hold a pir and bring in a few sturdy maids to mercilessly tighten her waist. However, Khanna didn¡¯t call any maids. She just pulled the straps of Gabriel¡¯s corset once or twice, just enough to make her dress look good. ¡°But will this much be enough?¡± ¡°Yes, that will do.¡± ¡°But I have a...¡± She almost said ¡®thick waist¡¯, but she stopped there. She promised herself to not criticize herself in front of the others ever again. Khanna could see what the girl was afraid of and smiled kindly. ¡°This is a dress Madam Berry and I specially designed to fit your body shape.¡± Then, she showed her the dress she brought. It was white and had huge flowers and a peacock embroidered in green on it. The bottom of the skirt had been done with peacock¡¯s feathers covered by buprestid wings. Its color changed as the dress moved. And, unlike ordinary long dresses, its skirt was short, so it looked more like a jacket. ¡®It¡¯s a little... new.¡¯ Gabriel¡¯s eyes shook nervously as she looked at the dress¡¯s short upper part. However, how was the dress Rubica wore for the first time at her tea meeting? It had been an innovative design, but it had been weed. Actually, the growing distrust in her heart was actually aimed at herself. To be honest, the dress was beautiful, but she was hesitating because she wasn¡¯t sure she deserved it. ¡®But thesedies are experts, and I¡¯ve decided to believe in them. I cannot back off now.¡¯ Gabriel found the courage and started to follow Khanna¡¯s instructions to wear the dress. In the meantime, Rubica chose something for the girl¡¯s hair from her essory box. Nowadays, it was fashionable to wear a t hat that covered about half of the head when going outside, but what Rubica chose was a headdress that was a little bigger than that. It had a thick lump ofce that resembled a cobweb and was decorated with a daisy-shaped green ribbon that was bigger than a man¡¯s fist. Rubica put it on Gabriel¡¯s head, made a few huge green ribbons in no time, and added it to her hair using pins. ¡°Well, what do you think?¡± ¡°Oh, I am always impressed by your work.¡± Rubica smiled at thepliment. However, what delighted her the most was Gabriel¡¯s change. ¡°Yes, you look so pretty now.¡± It made the girl¡¯s heart tickle. She felt like standing up and jumping up and down like crazy. Before, when someone called her pretty, she thought it was to mock her or to be polite. But today, she epted Rubica¡¯spliment as a truepliment, without any kind of distortion. ¡®I didn¡¯t know being called pretty could feel this good.¡¯ Finally, Gabriel ripped apart the invisible cocoon that had been encasing her and came out. She smiled widely to Rubica, not caring about how it would look like. She no longer cared about whether she was going to get attention in society or not. She didn¡¯t care about what others thought of her. The duchess she liked and admired was saying she was pretty. What more did she need? She didn¡¯t care about bee-like men who went after this flower and then the next one. The girl who had been ashamed of herself found her confidence again and stretched out her wings. It was marvelous. Rubica, Jennie, and Khanna all stopped for a while, astonished by her smile. ¡°I should bring a big mirror so that she will be able to see it herself.¡± Jennie woke up first and shouted. The mirror arrived while Rubica was doing the final touch on the girl¡¯s hair. For a moment, Gabriel just stared at herself in the mirror. -Pink lips are for delicate and lovely girls. They¡¯re not for an ugly girl like me. However, the girl in the mirror was wearing a clear pink rouge, but it suited her much more than the thick red rouge she had been using for years. -My eyshes are short, my eyes are small, and as if that wasn¡¯t enough, my eyebrows have to be so thin. That was why she usually painted her eyebrows with a thick, ck eyebrow paint. But now, the brown eyebrows that had been painted so lightly matched her hair color so well and highlighted her brown eyes even more. -Why is my hair so curly? And it is so red and always drags attention. Every morning, she wouldb her hair and braid it as tightly as possible. However, Rubica had made her hair curly to make it look thick but also added ribbons to it so that the thickness of it wouldn¡¯t be so highlighted. Contrary to what Gabriel had thought, that hairstyle made her round face and freckled skin look even cuter. Also, the over dress that had lots of pleats where the upper part ended made her waist look thin enough without tightening the corset. When Gabriel said nothing at seeing herself in the mirror, Rubica anxiously asked, ¡°Do you like it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m... surprised.¡± Gabriel spoke after a slightly long silence. She sounded shocked, but thankfully she didn¡¯t seem to be disappointed. She still couldn¡¯t take her eyes off the mirror. ¡°From the bottom to the top, you¡¯ve changed me into a style that I always considered wrong for me.¡± She had always worn thick makeup to cover her freckles as she was ashamed of them. However, Jennie had used light makeup that showed her freckles but also her good skins. Before, she would have been horrified by the idea of showing her freckles, but after determining to not hate herself too much, she didn¡¯t hate her freckles. She even thought it was a unique charm that others didn¡¯t have. ¡°But... this suits me better.¡± Gabriel could now see Rubica hadn¡¯t made the request just to make her regain confidence. If she hadn¡¯t done the training of calling herself beautiful in front of the mirror, she would have been looking for ws now instead of seeing how beautiful she had be. Sometimes, the wall inside your heart is powerful enough to stop you from seeing the truth right in front of your eyes. ¡°I¡¯m d you like it!¡± ¡°Yes, I wonder what kind of cosmetics your maid just used on me. It feels sofortable.¡± To her surprise, Jennie gave her names of a few cosmetic shops that sold not-so-expensive goods which evenmoners often used. Apart from what she had used today, she also told the girl about some makeup products that would suit her well. ¡°You are young. Your mother¡¯s expensive creams have too many nutrients, so they can¡¯t be good for your skin.¡± Gabriel even wrote down everything Jennie said. She thought she had been right at finding the courage and ask for the duchess¡¯s help. She was sure she had gained much more than her newfound beauty. ¡°Oh, my!¡± Ann, who had just finished talking to Carl, knocked on the door and came in. Then, she asked in surprise at seeing Gabriel, ¡°Who is this beautifuldy?¡± ¡°This is Lady Tangt.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ann¡¯s eyes became so wide that they almost came out. She circled around the girl and eximed like a sailor who encountered a mermaid out in the ocean. It embarrassed Gabriel a lot, but she endured it, thinking it was nothingpared to how her family would react when she got home. ¡°You look so pretty! Why on earth have you been hiding your beauty?¡± ¡°Heh heh.¡± Gabriel smiled widely. She wanted to be elegant and proud like Elise and Tatiana if she ever got to be pretty. She had even practiced that look in secret. However, after she decided to be herself instead of someone else, she could smile naturally. She now knew it suited her best, no matter what the others said. Chapter 185

Chapter 185: Chapter 185

¡°Oh, she is so adorable.¡± Everyone wanted to stroke Gabriel¡¯s head, but they couldn¡¯t do that to the daughter of a count. In their eyes, Gabriel looked like a cute flower fairy who reincarnated into a mortal girl. ¡°Oh, right. We just got the first samples of rose candies. I heard you were here, so I brought some for you to taste.¡± Ann was so astonished by Gabriel¡¯s new loveliness and almost forgot why she was there, but she managed toe to her senses. A maid, who hade with her, opened the cover of the te she was holding, and the scent of roses filled the room in no time. It made them feel like they were in the middle of a rose garden. Gabriel picked up one of the candies and put it in her mouth. She rolled it with her tongue and immediately melted like snow. Instantly, she started to miss its taste. Thanks to her celebrity mother, she had been able to taste candies from variousnds. She even found it pitiful that her ownnd didn¡¯t have any delicious candy of its own, but today her wish was being fulfilled. ¡°Well, how is it?¡± ¡°It is the most delicious candy I¡¯ve ever tasted!¡± She shouted as she quickly put the second candy in her mouth. Steven wasn¡¯t just a genius in making desserts. He was the god of desserts. ¡°Hmm, but I think it would be better to add a little salt to it.¡± ¡°Salt?¡± ¡°Yes, just a little bit of salt will bring out its sweetness even more.¡± ¡°Ann, please tell that to Steven.¡± Then, Gabriel sat down and gave advice on how to wrap the candies for the queen. ¡°How about dividing them into small boxes instead of putting them all in one box so that the queen will be able to give them out? It would also be better to decorate the boxes with ribbons.¡± It would promote the ribbons made with the machines the duke had invented. They could even be delivered to foreign kingdoms by ambassadors, and people who were always eager for pretty and good things were not going to stay still. Rubica instantly found a box in the right size and started to tie a ribbon around it. The ribbon was in a different shape from the ones she had shown Gabriel earlier. The girl, in the meantime, looked at her hands carefully. They were white and smooth, just like any other nobledy¡¯s hands. However, they worked fast as if they had been the hands of a woman who had been a seamstress for at least 30 years. ¡®Yes, she is Madam Berry.¡¯ She was now almost fully sure of it. Thinking of the advice she had given her and instructions she had given to Jennie, Gabriel was sure the duchess had been the person who transformed Elise. ¡°Gabriel, you should also take some rose candies when you go home.¡± As the candies tasted so good, Gabriel didn¡¯t refuse. She even looked at Rubica with some sort of admiration. She was Duchess ymore, the second highest rankeddy in the kingdom right next to the queen, but Gabriel couldn¡¯t help thinking she was too talented to not have even more than what she already had. ¡°Your Grace, I didn¡¯t get to look around your garden during your tea meeting, so I¡¯d like to see it now. Would that be okay?¡± ¡°I see. Would you like to go with Elise so that you won¡¯t be bored?¡± ¡°Could you exin it to me yourself? I want to see the famous mana quartz sculptures garden. You must know this ce better than anyone else.¡± Gabriel was saying she wanted to talk to Rubica in private, so she thought about it and nodded. ¡°As the sun is still up, you will not be able to see the sculptures glow, but I can tell you their stories and the flowers.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Therefore, they went to the garden. When they got there, Rubica¡¯s maids slowly left. When Gabriel was sure she wouldn¡¯t be heard by the others, she boldly asked, ¡°Your Grace, you are Madam Berry, right?¡± ¡°Gabriel, I am the duchess. I cannot be Madam Berry.¡± ¡°I know. That is why you used a fake name, right?¡± Rubica smiled awkwardly. She had forgotten how clever the girl was. She even regretted tying the ribbons in front of her and showing her the essories she was making, but it was toote. If this was ever known, ymore was going to be greatly humiliated. The family¡¯s rtives were going to protest a lot more than when they did about the mana quartz. ¡®I decided to not leave, and therees something that could kick me out.¡¯ Really, nothing followed her wishes. However, she couldn¡¯t think this lovely girl with shining brown eyes would ever harm her. ¡°What do you want, Gabriel?¡± ¡°Hmm, I know the story of the ribbon, so I won¡¯t need to hear about that, but I want to know why you chose Madam Berry as your art name. Also, how did you get the ideas about the dress I wore today and your various ribbons decorations, why you decided to work with Madam Khanna, and how you work together. Oh, and when you are going to present your rose candies to the queen and what is the nned production amount per year. And first of all, please give me some time to sketch the ribbon you are going to use to wrap the rose candy boxes!¡± Gabriel said all that without breathing at all. Rubica could almost see the afterimage of her mouth moving. She just stared at the girl, slightly shocked. ¡°Gabriel, are you...¡± ¡°Yes. I am one of the founders of ¡®The Little Bird¡¯s News¡¯.¡± Gabriel didn¡¯t just know everything about society¡¯s gossips. She was the start of gossips, the creator of rumors, and the one who spread them to the whole kingdom. ¡°Oh, my.¡± Rubica put a hand on her head. She could now see why people still didn¡¯t know who wrote The Little Bird¡¯s News even though it had so many stories and gossips in it. No one would have ever imagined a girl who hadn¡¯t even had her debut was behind all that. ¡®Of course, Countess Tangt must tell her everything. And, she always has Gabriel at her side, so she is always going to meetings with her.¡¯ Almost everyone tended to lower their guard in front of a little girl. Most people probably didn¡¯t even remember that Gabriel had been in front of them when they talked about rumors and gossips. Plus, she was short, so it was easy for her to go unnoticed. ¡°I want to introduce the dress I wore today and your tea meeting dresses as part of the ymore Style. It will be of help to both Madam Khanna and ymore. I promise, I will not say a word about who Madam Berry really is.¡± The title of duchess came with great authority and wealth, but it also came with certain restrictions. Moreover, Gabriel understood that fact very well. She would easily get excited, but she wasn¡¯t careless. If she had been careless, people would have already found out about her little magazine long ago. ¡°But I want to ask you something,¡± Gabriel said while grabbing Rubica¡¯s hands tightly, ¡°Please write a column for my magazine.¡± ¡°A column?¡± Rubica hadn¡¯t seen thating and almost spoke out loud in surprise. Thankfully, her maids were talking to the gardener and weren¡¯t even looking at her direction. ¡°Gabriel, I don¡¯t understand why you are asking me this. I don¡¯t know enough about society to write a column, and I¡¯m not a good writer at all.¡± ¡°That is not the kind of column I¡¯m asking for. It¡¯s about tips for girls who want to be beautiful.¡± Gabriel replied eagerly. Thanks to Rubica¡¯s advice, she had gained what was far more important than beauty. It was freedom from beauty. Thin waist, sculpture-like perfect body shape, small and round face, skin as white as marble, long eyshes and huge eyes. She thought only girls who had all of that could be called beautiful. That was why she med herself, skipped meals, and punished her by pinching her cheeks looking into the mirror. -You should make yourself fit the dress. -You still haven¡¯t lost any weight? Really you don¡¯t have any willpower. Clothes were meant to make people look good, but she thought it was all her fault that she couldn¡¯t fit dresses that required a thin waist. As she couldn¡¯t meet the criteria, she thought she deserved all the criticisms she heard. She chased outer beauty like that, but then her insides started to get sick. She was always scolded about her ws that she stopped thinking about her strong points and, in the end, they all disappeared as if they had never existed. Only her desire to be pretty and get attention remained, and it made her imitate others. But now, thanks to Rubica, she knew beauty stayed with her only when she was free from such obsessions. She had learned she had to love herself, and that was much more important than what the others thought of her. Chapter 186

Chapter 186: Chapter 186

¡°You can write under Madam Berry¡¯s name so that your identity will not be revealed. I will keep your secret.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what to think as she looked at Gabriel. Finding a rough gemstone like her, wiping the dirt off and polishing it to make it shine always gave great joy to her. But now that she was asked to write a column, she didn¡¯t know what to think of it. ¡°Gabriel, I¡¯m only capable of finding out which style is right for you. I can¡¯t write a column.¡± ¡°But your advice will be able to save so many people. I... at least I changed. My life has changed so dramatically in only a week. My rank and my appearance are the same, but the way I look at life and live has changed so much. Don¡¯t you know how happy it made me?¡± Gabriel didn¡¯t give up and asked again. She knew Rubica could change the world. Some might say that all she could do was to transform a couple of young girls but changing a person¡¯s life and one¡¯s attitude toward it wasn¡¯t easy at all. ¡°I will think about it.¡± Rubica knew the girl was really, really stubborn, so she decided it would be better to at least pretend to think about it rather than turning her down tly right on the spot. ¡°Thank you.¡± Gabriel also realized arguing more would do her no good, so she backed off. Instead, she took out a little notepad and a pencil from a secret pocket of her dress. ¡°So, how did you get the idea of the dress I wore today?¡± She was now acting like a real reporter, and Rubica burst intoughter at it. From afar, it just looked like she wasughing at another witty joke from Gabriel. ¡°You are so active, so I thought active sports like horse-riding would suit you well. And then, I realized it would be possible to ride a horse while wearing a dress as long as the over dress is short. So, I made its skirt only half as long as ordinary dresses, but I gave it lots of pleats to make it full. With the over dress made short like a horse-riding jacket, the fabric was given more energy to make the skirt line livelier.¡± ¡°You got the idea from a horse-riding jacket? The thing men wear to ride horses?¡± ¡°Yes, you should go horseback riding while wearing the dress sometime. It will be much morefortable than ordinary dresses.¡± Gabriel was impressed again. The duchess was capable of looking at things from a totally different perspective. She had never imagined it was possible to get an idea for women¡¯s dress from the men¡¯s jacket. ¡°If you reveal that, those who like to pretend to be refined might criticize the dress.¡± ¡°Huh? But why?¡± Moreover, she didn¡¯t know why her ideas were so sensational. It was one of her charms. ¡°Although it¡¯s true that the people who love the dress will like it even more for that.¡± After saying so, Gabriel decided to add Rubica¡¯s reaction of asking why in her article. ¡°And, you could have just introduced your ribbons and designs under Madam Khanna¡¯s name. Why did you bother to use a fake name and introduce it as a joint work?¡± Gabriel was young, but she wrote the most popr column in the kingdom. She asked that without any dy. Rubica however hesitated, but then she made the girl promise to not write about it and told her about what happened between Khanna and Christopher. ¡°Oh my...¡± Gabriel couldn¡¯t say anything more until they took a fullp around the mana quartz sculptures garden. She was keen on the trends and had been one of Christopher¡¯s most passionate worshippers. There wasn¡¯t a single woman who was famous for her beauty who hadn¡¯t worn a dress made by him at her debutante. People even said onlydies who wore Christopher¡¯s dresses deserved to be society¡¯s most beautiful women of the year. Even though he had told Gabriel to make herself fit his dresses, she still thought he was at least good at his job. ¡°He shows a lot of new and pretty dresses every season that it is hard to believe he designs all of them. I also really liked him...¡± ¡°Maybe he didn¡¯t design all of them.¡± Gabriel agreed with Rubica. Khanna¡¯s engageantes sleeve design couldn¡¯t be the only idea Christopher had stolen. When he stole her work, he tasted the sweet fruit of joy instead of getting punished. It must have been hard for him to resist the temptation when it came for the second time. ¡°Yes, now that I think about it, there is more than one suspicious thing about him.¡± He had criticized Khanna by calling her a designer in the countryside, but that was smallpared to the other things he had done. It had been Khanna who made a beautiful dress with royal blue fabric, but now she couldn¡¯t get the fabric again and couldn¡¯t make dresses with it. On the other hand, Christopher was already selling royal blue dresses to his regr customers at the capital. The color royal blue had be his symbol of the season. ¡°I think he is not going to leave Khanna alone, especially because he wronged her before. Of course, I will help her, but power and rank are not enough to survive in society. In there, if a few close nobles work together, even the queen can be aughingstock...¡± ¡°I will look into it.¡± It was smelling fishy, but Gabriel was definitely interested. She instantly came up with a n. She was going to have Tatiana¡¯s source be employed at Christopher¡¯s shop to find out what was going on in there. Finding out the truth was also going to help Khanna get rid of her wrong ill fame at the capital. Plus, writing about the scandal of the most famous designer in the capital was going to let Gabriel¡¯s magazine sell like fire. ¡°So please, do what I asked. Your column will help so many people.¡± Gabriel didn¡¯t forget to negotiate and argue till the very end. The duchess only smiled awkwardly, but she was sure it was only a matter of time. Rubica was going to join her. *** The edition of The Little Bird¡¯s News that had Rubica¡¯s way of drinking tea sold very well. In addition to that, the rose candies and ribbons that were introduced in it became so popr that Rubica even wondered if she should pay Gabriel for the promotion. Of course, she said no to the money and asked her to write that column instead. However, as Rubica wasn¡¯t sure about it yet, she dyed deciding on it again. Anyway, adding sugar and milk to coffee let nobles who were not familiar with the tea enjoy it a lot more. Moreover, as Rubica went to every tea meeting she was invited to, hosting tea meetings became extremely popr among nobles. But of course, there was a dark side to the situation. The demand for tea soared up so suddenly, but its supply couldn¡¯t follow, so its price started to rise fast. Thankfully, ymore had never been richer before, so Carl had no problem with buying tea. It was sad that tea¡¯s price was rising, but it was good that many people were now enjoying it. Therefore, when it came to brewing the tea he acquired through some difficulties, he wanted to make sure it was in the most urate and perfect way and serve it to the duke and the duchess during their resting time. ¡°Oh, wait.¡± However, Edgar stopped the butler and added some spoonfuls of precious tea. Then, he poured milk and sugar as if it was only right. Seeing his actions, Carl was so shocked that he froze right on the spot. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just right. Thank you, Carl.¡± Rubica came a littlete andplimented Carl as she drank the tea Edgar had made. Only then, the butler could see why Edgar had made such tea. ¡°I didn¡¯t make it. His Grace did.¡± Carl politely pointed at Edgar who was pretending to be ignorant. Edgar usingly looked at him, but Carl didn¡¯t want the tea with milk and sugar to be considered as his work. ¡°Thank you, Edgar. How did you make it so that it matched my taste?¡± ¡°I just used my senses.¡± Edgar tried to sound natural and cold as he drank his own clear tea, but he couldn¡¯t hide his lips from curling up. Carl wanted to leave the room at that point, but there was a message he had to deliver. ¡°Sir Minos of Jackal Bank will being tomorrow morning. I said you will have time onlyte in the afternoon, and he said he would wait. I think I can give him a tour of the garden while he waits.¡± ¡°Is heing alone?¡± Rubica joined the conversation with a smile. ¡°He said he will be bringing an employee.¡± That had to be Ios. Rubica had to resist a sigh. Why was that hard-to-understand dragon trying to get involved in this matter? Lord Sesar hadn¡¯t been making any new roses as he was busy with something else. Therefore, she was worried she might not be able to control him this time. Chapter 187

Chapter 187: Chapter 187

¡°Didn¡¯t he send me a letter or a message?¡± ¡°Only that the flower you gave him is growing well.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Rubica was quite disappointed. But then, Edgar put his arms around her waist to hold her tightly. She could feel his warmth behind her back, but the sudden embrace made her blush. ¡°What, what are you doing?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you paying too much attention to that Minos? And, why were you expecting a letter from him?¡± He spoke bluntly, but his lips were so kind as he lightly kissed her neck. Rubica didn¡¯t know if he was really jealous or pretending to be jealous just to make her happy. ¡°Edgar, please. The butler is watching.¡± However, the clever Carl had already left the room by then. ¡°Now he¡¯s not,¡± he whispered as he kissed her forehead. His voice was chillingly low. ¡°But he was here when you hugged me.¡± ¡°He was ready to leave by then. He looked at my eyes and took the sign.¡± ¡°Oh, please. How can you and Carlmunicate only through an exchange of nces?¡± Rubicained, knowing that talking about it more would only lead to an exhausting quarrel. But then, Edgar happily rubbed his forehead on her neck. ¡°Are you jealous?¡± Of course, Rubica was not jealous of the butler. However, she wanted to see him being delighted, so she hid what she was really thinking and pouted. ¡°Yes.¡± Then, she immediately regretted it since he hugged her so hard that it almost killed her. Moreover, she didn¡¯t even get to see his delighted look as he was behind her. After confessing his love, he had be even more unstoppable. ¡°Stop it, the tea is getting cold.¡± Rubicained and Edgar dropped his arms, but he still didn¡¯t leave. Rubica just gave up and drank her tea with sugar and milk. Its sweet and soft aroma made her smile. Edgar, in the meantime, looked at her curiously. ¡°Is it that delicious?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s sweet and soft. What you drink is rather strange to me. Isn¡¯t it bitter?¡± ¡°It¡¯s... sweet and aromatic.¡± He said so as he drank the tea which she criticized as ¡®smelly leaves¡¯. Rubica silently eximed, thinking it was amazing that people could have such different tastes. ¡°I can drink neither coffee nor tea without any dessert.¡± On the other hand, Edgar had no problem with drinking tea without anything else. He barely ate sweet food, even during meals. Was that why he was so thin? Their tastes were so different that it was quite strange for them to love each other. ¡°Even when drinking tea with sugar and milk, I sometimes want something sweet. Oh, and have you tried our new rose candy?¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± ¡°You should. It¡¯s delicious.¡± There happened to be a bowl of rose candies on the table. Rubica picked one and offered it to Edgar. It was small, no bigger than a coin, but he shook his head. It looked like even that small candy was too much for him. Rubica had no choice but to put it in her own mouth instead. ¡°But I do wonder about its taste.¡± ¡°Really? Then we should find a way to smash it to make it smaller.¡± Rubica wondered if she should look for the hammer to break walnut shells, but then Edgar put his hands on her waist. There was a light looming in his deep, blue eyes. The air, that had been so peaceful, started to sway with tension. ¡°There is a way for me to taste it without smashing it.¡± Rubica wanted to ask what he was talking about, but his lips blocked her sound. His tongue went in between her opened lips. It found the candy hiding under her tongue and rolled it. With their warmth, it melted faster than usual. It felt even sweeter. By the time his lips went away, it had already melted. ¡°It¡¯s a little too sweet, but it¡¯s good.¡± Rubica leaned on him, there was no strength left in her body. He lightly kissed her forehead. Now she no longer yelled to demand him to stop. She just looked at him andughed, embarrassed but happy. ¡°Oh, please.¡± She was so talented at making his heart burn. Edgar couldn¡¯t resist the urge and kissed her forehead, nose, eyes, cheeks, and chin again and again. ¡°Stop, stop.¡± He stopped only when the word of refusal came from her mouth. Even those numerous kisses were not enough for him. Heined that he couldn¡¯t stop so soon, but Rubica just pretended to ignore that and showed him a box of rose candies. ¡°Look at this, isn¡¯t it pretty? I was able to decorate boxes with this small and pretty ribbon thanks to the machine you made for me. I was told adding decorations to gifts like this is now popr.¡± ¡°I know that.¡± ¡°You know about it? But how?¡± Edgar pointed at ¡®The Little Bird¡¯s News¡¯ at a corner of the room with his chin, and it made Rubica blush really hard. She now knew why he could make tea with milk and sugar that was just perfect for her taste. The magazine introduced what kind of spoon she used to make tea, how she made it, and even how many times she stirred it with a teaspoon. ¡°You read that? But that cannot be farther from your taste.¡± ¡°I read it because I heard your story was in it. I was going to find out its publishers and drive them out of business if there were any criticism in it.¡± Thankfully, the magazine was full ofpliments for her. Rubica let out a sigh of relief instead of Gabriel. ¡°Anyway, the queen has been wanting to meet you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Edgar frowned hard. The king wanted to see Rubica ever since Edgar married her. However, he didn¡¯t want to introduce Rubica to that sly old man, so he had been making all kinds of excuses. The king also decided he really didn¡¯t have to meet Rubica as he couldn¡¯t use her for political purposes, so he didn¡¯t ask more. However, the queen was different. Thanks to the roses and candies ymore had sent her, she had been able to impress and overwhelm ambassadors from foreign kingdoms, and nowadays she was alwaysplimenting Rubica each time she opened her mouth. She was waiting only because it was quite shameful for a superior to ask to meet one of her inferiors first. ¡°Then I must go to meet her right away!¡± Rubica was so curious about the capital, so she excitedly yelled. However, her eyes shining with excitement made Edgar somewhat sulky. ¡°But the queen is extremely proud and difficult, so spending time with her won¡¯t be easy. You will be tormented quite a bit if you go.¡± Plus, the queen did care a lot about ranks and titles. If any other nobledy ever spoke ill of Rubica, Edgar could take care of it, but even he could do nothing about the queen. Therefore, he feared Rubica might get hurt. ¡°Okay, but I will be able to see the pce.¡± Of course, she was after something else. Edgar was a little irritated to hear that. ¡°This mansion is even more splendid than the pce.¡± ¡°I know, but it¡¯s not the pce. I want to see the hall where the new year¡¯s ball takes ce every year, and the crown used for the coronation.¡± The coronation crown wasn¡¯t a thing that anyone could see. However, Edgar was the second most powerful man in the kingdom, so maybe he could let her see it. Rubica sat nearer to him and pressingly looked at him. ¡°But we do have a few crowns.¡± Edgar just wanted to keep her under his protection, so why does she keep trying to fly away? Heined even though he knew it was childish. ¡°But they can¡¯t be greater than the king¡¯s crown.¡± Rubica whispered to his ear,ughing. For some reason, the more he got angry like a little boy, the happier it made her. ¡°Rubica.¡± He called her name coldly. ¡®Oh my, have I gone too far?¡¯ However, Rubica hid that thought and replied brightly, ¡°If you are so worried, I don¡¯t have to meet the queen now. We will have to go to the capital for the new year¡¯s ball, so I can see the pce then.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not it...¡± He stammered, looking away. His ears were now fiery red and Rubica widened her eyes at seeing that. His ears turned red only when he was extremely embarrassed or excited. ¡°Oh!¡± Toote, she realized she had been pressing his chest with her elbow. She quickly tried to move away in surprise, but he held her arm. ¡°Don¡¯t go away.¡± They could be together only for a few hours after the sunset, so Edgar didn¡¯t want to waste that precious time. He wanted to be close to Rubica as much as possible. Her face turned red and looked as if she wanted to run away, but she came back as he wanted. Did she know how lovely that looked? Chapter 188

Chapter 188: Chapter 188

¡°Haa.¡± Edgar¡¯s passion burned so hotly that it was about to burn his whole body. He wanted to bring Rubica to the bed right now. But sadly, he was an amateur at it. Her arm touching his chest was enough to make his mind go nk, and he didn¡¯t know what to do next. He feared hisck of skills might hurt her. For now, hugging her tightly and kissing her was all he could do. ¡®It¡¯s not like I can go somewhere and learn about it.¡¯ He was good at learning. He was confident he could excel at anything more than anyone as long as he was taught a few lessons. However, even he had to be clumsy at first. Plus, this wasn¡¯t the kind of thing he could practice. ¡°Um, Edgar. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Moreover, she was an amateur as well, but at least she realized why he was sighing thanks to all those years she had lived. Still, she also was an amateur. Even sharing a kiss melted her, so she couldn¡¯t even dream of seducing him. ¡°Why are you sorry? Don¡¯t apologize.¡± He wanted to shout he rather thanked her for that. He could only barely manage not to. Rubica stared at him as he ruffled his hair. He often did that when he scolded himself. ¡°Um, Edgar.¡± People were always saying that what should happen will eventually happen when the mood was right, even without any agreement in advance, but it seemed like it was not going to happen to these two amateurs. It was really embarrassing, but Rubica decided to talk honestly about it. ¡°It¡¯s, um, now that we¡¯ve decided to be together forever...¡± How was she supposed to say it? When they first met, she didn¡¯t hesitate to say there would be no sexual intercourse when discussing the terms of their marriage, but now she couldn¡¯t easily talk about it. She rolled her tongue in her mouth for a long, long time. Then, she managed to say it indirectly. ¡°We will have to have a child, right?¡± Edgar¡¯s face almost never changed color, even when he was very embarrassed. But now, he looked like a turnip. Moreover, Rubica had turned into a turnip ever since she called his name. The two turnips looked away from each other and couldn¡¯t say anything for some time. ¡°I guess... so?¡± Edgar finally managed to find the courage and spoke. He made his wife speak about it first, and it hurt his pride quite a lot. He didn¡¯t want to further embarrass Rubica, especially about this matter. He was supposed to lead like a man, so why was he acting like that? ¡°And you don¡¯t have any experience either, and don¡¯t know much about it...¡± ¡°What?¡± He looked up in shock. ¡°How did you find that out?¡± He tried to look skilled, but she had also mistaken him as a womanizer, at least at first. As she didn¡¯t have any experience either, she hadn¡¯t been able to tell if his kisses were that of a professional or an amateur. ¡°How did I know? Well, you just look like...¡± However, judging from how he had been behaving after that, contrary to the rumors, he hadn¡¯t had any kind of rtionship with a woman until he met her. It didn¡¯t seem possible for such a perfect man, but sometimes reality can exceed your imagination. ¡°Yes, you are right. I have no experience, and I do not know much about it.¡± Edgar honestly admitted it. The first thing you should do is to learn to be humble and admit your ignorance. ¡°Oh, um, I don¡¯t have any experience either, but I heard the first time hurts a lot.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Edgar really hated saying nothing more than ¡®okay¡¯, but he just didn¡¯t know what to say to her at that point. He was just too honest to say things like, ¡®Don¡¯t worry, I will make sure it doesn¡¯t give you any pain.¡¯ Of course, that honesty of his only applied to Rubica. ¡°I do not know about a man¡¯s first time, so I don¡¯t know what I should do about it.¡± Edgar blobbed like a fish at Rubica¡¯s worry. A man¡¯s first time? He didn¡¯t know about that either. There were many writings about a woman¡¯s first time, but not so much about a man¡¯s first time. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± He carefully took her hand. He was grateful that she decided to stay with him. He even almost said it was okay for him to never do it if it will be so painful to her. ¡°It would be the first time for both of us, so let¡¯s not rush. We should take our time.¡± Edgar had been leaving the room after she fell asleeptely. Everyone already knew they were not just close but burning with love. Ann was hopeful that Rubica might get pregnant soon, so she kept dying the news about the fake miscarriage. Rubica could feel the pressure, so she guessed Edgar had to be enduring it as well. However, he was so shocked to hear that and couldn¡¯t say anything for some time. Then, he muttered a question. ¡°So... you want to do it with me?¡± Rubica¡¯s face was now redder than a turnip and looked like a burning sweet potato. She looked down, very embarrassed. She wanted to pout at him, use him if he didn¡¯t want it, but the passion he had in his eyes as he looked at her had been even strongertely. Sometimes, when having dinner at the dining hall, she wished she could shout at him to not give her such a seducing gaze. ¡°Of... course.¡± She replied in a small voice that could be barely heard. A secondter, her world went upside down. She was now looking up at the canopy on the top of the bed. Soon Edgar¡¯s heavy body pressed on her. He grabbed her face and whispered just before he kissed her deeply. ¡°You¡¯re a devil.¡± She could see his red lips and white teeth under the yellow candlelight. His lips were wet because of none other than her own lips. Rubica wanted to say he had to be an incubus sent by the gods to seduce her, but she couldn¡¯t. His lips touched her corbone. What was happening? Her brain refused to process it. Her corbone felt burning hot and she started to breathe heavily. The pair of lips started to go down slowly. Her body froze with tension. Without realizing it, she grabbed his shoulders. It made the lips stop. The sound of their breathing filled the silence. Rubica wanted him to stop. At the same time, she wanted him to proceed. The two thoughts fought in her mind. In that tension, she could feel his lips on her delicate skin. ¡®So warm.¡¯ His lips and hands were so unskilled at what they were doing, but they moved with affection. She thought she could do it as long as it was him. But at the same time, she was afraid. That made her lips shut tightly. ¡°Rubica.¡± He slowly removed his lips. Then, he came up to gently kiss her forehead. ¡°Were you afraid?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡± He smiled as he stroked her lips. His smile looked bitter, but it was so beautiful. ¡°I can read it on your face.¡± He was right. She had felt her body rxing when his lips went away. It was what more than half of the people experienced once in their lives, so why was she so scared? Instead of waiting for her answer, Edgar embraced her with his long arms. ¡°I will take time, as we promised.¡± Then, he kissed her forehead again, but she felt strangely disappointed. She was scared to do it, but she was disappointed at not doing it. What was she supposed to do? Why was she doing that? She didn¡¯t know. ¡°I¡¯m the one who¡¯s disappointed.¡± Edgar whispered to her ear, reading her thought. Rubica didn¡¯t know if he was just saying that orining, so she was uncertain about how to reply. They thought saying ¡®I love you¡¯ would instantly bring them a happy ending, but it turned out it had just been crossing a huge mountain called ¡®the start¡¯. Thankfully, they had already crossed the most important mountain called ¡®marriage¡¯. The problem was that they were not crossing even one of the many small hills in the middle. ¡°Edgar, I...¡± ¡°Shh, it¡¯s okay.¡± Edgar stroked her back. How could he say it was okay? He didn¡¯t know what she was trying to say. She didn¡¯t even know what she wanted to say... Rubica felt a little strange as she looked up at him. Even lying on the bed, she had to tilt her head up to look at him as he was much taller than she was. He was supporting his head with an arm, and he looked very rxed. It was hard to believe he was the same person as the man who had been passionately kissing her. Really, he looked so used to this that it was hard to believe he had zero experience. ¡°No, you¡¯re wrong. How many times do I have to tell you?¡± Edgar whispered so and it surprised Rubica a lot. ¡°You read my mind?¡± ¡°No, I read it on your face.¡± He lightly tapped her nose. Rubica was slightly confused, but she was sure she could control her expression ording to the asion. She knew when to shut up and when to smile. But then, why is it that her every emotion could be seen inly on her face when she was with him? Chapter 189

Chapter 189: Chapter 189

¡°Just rx. I know you¡¯ve been as busy as metely with all of your ideas being so sessful.¡± Edgar whispered as he rubbed Rubica¡¯s back. He massaged her so gently that she closed her eyes, rxing. ¡°Edgar.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t go anywhere.¡± She groped in the dark to grab his sleeve. ¡°Stay here until the morning.¡± She thought she would be able to see his face when she woke up in the morning now that they knew they loved each other. However, he kept leaving the room at night, just as he had done when their marriage was nothing more than a deal. It hurt and disappointed her a lot. ¡°Promise me.¡± He didn¡¯t say anything, so she opened her eyes and pressed him again. Edgar looked at her, a little sadly. Of course, he didn¡¯t want to leave her either. The woman he loved was in his arms, whispering loving words... he would never want to leave her if only he could. ¡®But she will tell me everything that happened with her and Arman tomorrow...¡¯ So, he decided to lie just for once. ¡°Okay, I promise.¡± Rubica smiled happily at hearing that. She was so lovely that it ached his heart, and he couldn¡¯t even believe such a lovely girl was his lover. He feared she might melt and disappear like foam if he ever took his eyes off her, so he stroked her hair and cheeks, again and again, to make sure this was all real. ¡°Rubica.¡± He whispered after she started to breathefortably. No answer came, so he carefully got up. Rubica was so deep in her sleep that she didn¡¯t even move. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He apologized although she couldn¡¯t hear him. ¡°Tomorrow, I will stay with you.¡± However, he couldn¡¯t be sure if that was ever going to be possible. Maybe Rubica would get mad at him and announce she didn¡¯t want to share the room with him anymore. He had been so sure he could make her fall for him, but now that she did love him, he feared her love might leave him. As many people often do, he regretted what he had done, thinking there wasn¡¯t a person more foolish than the him of the past. ¡°Just today... endure it just for today...¡± He lingered in the room and could leave only after a long time. ¡°Your Grace.¡± Carl, who had been half asleep leaning against a wall, came to him with amp. ¡°You¡¯ve beening outter andter. I¡¯m not Sir Stephen, so it¡¯s a little tiring for me.¡± Carl yawned and protested, which he rarely did. Edgar could also see he was extremely tired. Carl had been working both as his butler and his guard these days. -Sir Stephen looks a little tired. Maybe the guarding duty is too much for him. What Rubica said without much thinking made a seed of doubt grow in his heart. He thought she knew about the war caused by Ste and the spy, so he had asked the king to find out about the knight¡¯s past. ¡®Now that I think about it, she¡¯s been paying too much attention to Stephen for some time.¡¯ Although Stephen wasn¡¯t as handsome as Edgar, he was good-looking enough to catch Rubica¡¯s attention, and Edgar didn¡¯t like it. So, when Rubica looked at Stephen or talked to him, he just couldn¡¯t ignore it. Edgar renamed that jealousy as reasonable suspicion and slowly started to exclude Stephen from his guard duty. ¡°Just hold on. This will be thest day and she will tell me everything tomorrow.¡± ¡°Okay, okay.¡± Carl said that as if he was giving up. It made his master quite angry, but nothing hade true among the things he assured to Carl about Rubica, so there was nothing he could say to him. ¡°I will grant you a leave next week.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t mean anything, I cannot leave your side anyway.¡± ¡°That is exactly why you should take some days off. Granting you a leave is meaningless because you never actually leave.¡± ¡°But you keep making situations in which I cannot leave your side.¡± The two went to Edgar¡¯s office as they talked like that. A long timeter, a shadow came out from a corner. It was Stephen. After making sure the duke and his butler were gone, he went to the duchess¡¯s room. He had encountered a few maids and knights on his way there, but he was the guard captain, so none of them even thought of stopping him. He blew out the candles and opened the door, using a duplicate key he made in advance. Thanks to the moonlight that filled the room, he had no trouble with seeing. He opened a window to look down. Thankfully, his brother was waiting there with three horses, right on time. Now all he had to do was to take the duchess. He went to the huge bed in the middle of the room and opened the curtains. Rubica was sound asleep. She was smiling like an innocent child, probably having a good dream. That made Stephen frown hard. She made him suffer so much, and now she was sleeping sofortably? His blood boiled with anger and wished he could wake her up and make her pay for all she had done to him. But now wasn¡¯t time for that. He took out a rope he brought and started to bind Rubica with it. ¡°Umm, Ed...¡± Rubica opened her eyes without much surprise, thinking it was Edgar. But then, she was shocked to see it was Stephen. The knight covered her mouth before she could yell. Her feet and hands had been bound already, so she couldn¡¯t even think of fighting back. ¡®I knew you liked Edgar, but I didn¡¯t know you liked him enough to do this.¡¯ Rubica looked at Stephen with pity. His face muscles twitched while coldly saying, ¡°If you try anything, I will break your neck, so stay still.¡± It seemed like it would be better to not anger him more, so Rubica nodded. Stephen was probably nning to carry her down using ropes, so squirming to escape would only make her hit the wall and get injured severely. She decided it would be better to try to convince him when she was safely on the ground and the cloth that was covering her mouth was removed. However, Stephen was a little surprised to see Rubica cooperating so easily. She was so calm as if she had been through things like this more than once. What kind of life had she been living? ¡®Well, it¡¯s none of my business.¡¯ For now, he decided to kidnap her safely, just as he had been instructed. He could kill her if she fought back so hard, but it would be better to let her live and use herter. They came down safely using ropes. Then, Stephen put Rubica on one of the horses, but she was really shocked to see the man who had been waiting for them there. He looked just like Stephen! ¡°Nice to meet you, Your Grace. I believe we¡¯ve already met.¡± Even their voices were exactly the same. There were items meant for running away on his saddle, and Rubica realized this wasn¡¯t one of Stephen¡¯s spontaneous actions. This kidnapping had been prepared for a long time. The moment she realized that, she started to think that following them wasn¡¯t the right choice. Before her body was bound to the horse, she wriggled and fell from it. ¡°Neeeigh!¡± The horse ran away in shock, making a big sound. The fall gave Rubica great pain, but thankfully she wasn¡¯t kicked by the horse¡¯s hooves. She wished it would run around the garden and be noticed by the guards. Sadly, Stephen whistled and the horse came back. ¡°Yes, Dingo. Good boy, good boy.¡± Stephen patted it and it started to rx while Rubica moaned in pain and bit her lips. They were in the blind spot of the guards. Stephen was the guard captain, and he knew about the mansion more than Rubica did. If he was not doing this just spontaneously, he must have prepared a good escape route as well. ¡®What should I do?¡¯ Her head was spinning fast. It¡¯s been quite some time since she was in such a situation. She kept thinking, trying to find a way, but then she saw a yellow light in a flower bed over there. ¡®Ios!¡¯ A golden luster glowed for a second and disappeared, so it had to be the dragon. Minos was supposed toe tomorrow, so why was he already there? Anyway, as Ios had found her, she hoped he might save her. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Stephen¡¯s voice surprised her a lot. Thankfully, the yellow light had already disappeared. ¡°There¡¯s no one there. You should get rid of any hope that someone will find us.¡± Stephen wanted Rubica to look up at him with fear, but her eyes remained calm as if she expected it. ¡°If you keep behaving like this, the great duke might get your dead body delivered to him.¡± He said threateningly, but her expression was still peaceful. It really irritated Stephen. Chapter 190

Chapter 190: Chapter 190

She had been controlling the duke and making Stephen¡¯s ns fail. Should I put a sword to her neck? He put a hand on his sword, but then his brother shook his head. ¡°Stephen, we don¡¯t have time for that.¡± ¡°Ha, I guess I have no choice. Hey, you¡¯re not the duchess to me anymore. You¡¯re just a hostage, so behave. If you do anything again, I will kill you right away.¡± It seemed like resisting again would end up with a really, really bad result, so Rubica climbed the horse. She hoped for Ios to use the spell that froze time he used before, but nothing happened. ¡®You foolish dragon, without me, you will not be getting any new roses!¡¯ She wanted to yell so, but she couldn¡¯t as her mouth was covered. Clearly, Ios wasn¡¯t thinking that far. Herst hope was Minos. There was no way he would let the dragon roam around the ymore¡¯s garden alone. At least he was a goblin who knew what was good for him. Rubica betted all her hope on that fact. And, she was right. Minos was at a corner of the garden, far from where she was. He sniffed around for some time, then he took out a trowel and started to dig. He dug until he started to see tree roots. Then, he took out something like a pearl, threw it in, and started to mend the hole again. His forehead was beaded with sweat. ¡°Hey, Minos.¡± He was working on making that escape passage for when the nymph got enraged, but then Ios called him. Minos gritted his teeth at seeing the dragon. Oh, he tried so hard to get rid of that troublemaker, what was he doing here now? However, he insisted he wanted more things from Rubica. ¡®That greedy dragon who can never be satisfied. He will give the duchess some headaches.¡¯ But he was a goblin, and Ios was a dragon. What choice did he have? So, he hade with the troublemaker, and now he put down his trowel and replied with a broad smile. ¡°What is it, my master? You said you were going to look around the garden. Have you found anything you like? I¡¯m sure the duchess will dly let you take it.¡± In a nymph¡¯s territory, his or her spouse had simr rights to the nymph. They had been able to take the roses the other day thanks to Rubica¡¯s permission. And thanks to that, Ios still didn¡¯t know Rubica wasn¡¯t the nymph. ¡°She¡¯s ying some kind of weird game... I think she has some strange hobbies.¡± ¡°A weird game?¡± ¡°Yes, she was being carried by someone, with her hands and feet bound with ropes.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t know nymphs had such hobbies.¡± ¡°What on earth are you talking about? Tell me more.¡± Ios exined what he had just seen, not seeing why the goblin was so shocked. ¡°And you just left her there?¡± ¡°I told you, they were on some kind of game. I didn¡¯t want to break the fun.¡± Minos put his head on his hands. Ios thought Rubica was the nymph, so he just shrugged, not knowing what the problem was. ¡°And Duke ymore wasn¡¯t around?¡± ¡°The duke? Of course, she wouldn¡¯t let her husband find out about such a secretive hobby.¡± Minos felt a great headache that almost shattered his skull. Didn¡¯t most married couples sleep in one bed? As nymphs were extremely sensitive, it was almost impossible to smuggle out Rubica sote at night. How did this happen? Was Ios right? Did the duchess really have that kind of weird hobby and the duke was pretending to not know about it? ¡°Master, please transform me into a human.¡± Minos decided to let the duke know about it first. If the two men were really abducting the duchess, he would be severely punished if he ignored it. ¡°A human? But doing what you are doing will be hard in human form.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just do itter. I must meet the duke and tell him about it first. What if she is really being kidnapped? It¡¯s serious!¡± However, Ios just shrugged. ¡°But she¡¯s a nymph. You don¡¯t have to worry about her.¡± ording to Io¡¯s thinking, humans were like ants to nymphs. He just thought Rubica woulde home after having fun for some time. He put his hands in his pockets, clearly showing he was going to do nothing. Minos wanted to pound on his chest because of the frustration, but he hid it and made his small brain work hard. ¡°The duchess must not want her husband to find out about her hobby. How about using it to ckmail her?¡± ¡°Oh, we can ckmail her with it?¡± Ios smiled like a naughty boy. He was biting the bait so easily that Minos thought he couldn¡¯t be and dragon but was actually a water dragon, no, a fish that forgot everything in less than three seconds. ¡°That strange fabric we saw in the market, you said you wanted it, a lot of it, right?¡± ¡°Yes. I think it would be great to decorate my trees with it.¡± ¡°We can demand the machine that makes the fabric, and you can have as much as you want.¡± Ios had taken a ribbon from Rubica and put it around the branch he liked the most. It looked quite nice on a tree, and Ios wanted more ribbons. So, he decided to announce he would go with Minos to ymore Mansion, and of course, the goblin¡¯s opinion was not heard. Ios even found a ship full of ribbon fabrics at a harbor they dropped by on their way to the mansion, and it had been very hard for Minos. Moreover, the ship¡¯s owner turned them down tly, saying, ¡®These are all to be exported. I cannot sell them,¡¯ and made the dragon lose its temper. He was ready to destroy the entire port, and Minos was only able to barely stop him by saying they would be able to get even more ribbons for free when they got to the mansion. ¡°That nymph isn¡¯t that smart, so I think it would be easy to ckmail her.¡± Minos became a small human as soon as he finished saying that. Ios naturally grabbed him by the back of his neck and raised him. ¡°Then let¡¯s go. We should go to where that duke is, right?¡± ¡°Yes. He¡¯s probably...¡± Minos narrowed his eyes and looked at the mansion. He recalled the building¡¯s blueprint, counted the windows, and then pointed at one of them. It was the duchess¡¯s chamber. ¡°There.¡± Then, he blinked. When he opened his eyes, they were in the middle of the room. ¡°But he¡¯s not here.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be right.¡± ¡°Maybe he¡¯s locked somewhere.¡± Ios thought Rubica was a crazydy, so he opened all the closets, but of course, Edgar wasn¡¯t in one of them. ¡®They don¡¯t sleep together? Hmm, what¡¯s going on?¡¯ Before Minos could finish thinking, Ios ran out of the room. ¡°Hey, you.¡± Then, he went down and touched a maid who was dozing. ¡°Where¡¯s the duke?¡± ¡°Master!¡± Minos called him, but it was toote. The maid opened her eyes and saw a huge man with golden eyes and golden hair. She screamed so loudly that the building almost trembled. The sound woke up everyone, including the guards and the butler. ¡®Oh, no.¡¯ Minos felt a great impulse to leave Ios there and run away alone. However, judging from Ios¡¯s troubled personality, that would destroy the entire dukedom. ymore was a VIP of Jackal Bank, after all. Minos rubbed his hands and tried to speak to the butler as politely as possible. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry that we surprised you, but we have to see the duke, it¡¯s urgent.¡± Carl, who was still in his nightgown, looked at him and Ios in shock. He had seen Minos, but not the man with golden hair. Everyone was looking at him, but he didn¡¯t care and just wiped some dirt on his pants. He didn¡¯t appear to be human. Moreover, his hair kept shedding glittering particles that looked like gold. A knight tried to take out his sword, but Carl stopped him and asked. ¡°Why do you want to meet the duke?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid something has happened to his precious one.¡± ¡°His precious one? You, go and check if the duchess is fine.¡± The maid came back in less than a minute and shouted, ¡°She¡¯s not in the room. The window is open and there¡¯s a rope leading to the ground!¡± ¡°What?¡± The duchess had disappeared in the middle of the night. Carl fell to the floor and knelt down. Rubica and Edgar had be very closetely, and it seemed like they had decided to be a married couple for real. The duke was even full of hopes, believing she would tell him everything tomorrow. However, what if she ran away? ¡°We saw who took her. We have something to ask the duke, so please.¡± Minos¡¯s exnation gave both relief and regret to Carl. He had been putting all of his efforts in keeping the duke¡¯s secret that he hadn¡¯t cared much about the duchess¡¯s safety. He had been so careless even though he knew there was a spy among them. Chapter 191

Chapter 191: Chapter 191

¡°Sir Dashner, please go get Sir Stephen.¡± ¡°Of, of course.¡± The entire mansion was in chaos because of the duchess¡¯s sudden disappearance. However, Carl tried to stay calm and gave an instruction to Dashner who was on the night watch duty. He regretted excluding Stephen, the best knight they had, from the guard duty. Maybe, whoever had done this had been waiting for that. ¡°And for Mr. Minos and this... gentleman, please follow me. I will take you to the duke.¡± Minos was quite impressed to see Carl remain so calm. He was doing what he was supposed to do as the household¡¯s butler. Carl took the two to the duke¡¯s office. The door was opened before he could knock on it and Edgar came out, his forehead beaded with sweat as if he had a nightmare. ¡°Where¡¯s Rubica?¡± He was indeed a nymph. He was beautiful in every way, including his voice. Minos touched his wrinkled face. Why did the gods make all the creatures look different from one another? Anyway, they had been sleeping separately, so Minos could see why Edgar hadn¡¯t been able to notice when Rubica was kidnapped. Ios had been so confident that she was on some sort of game that Minos lost his judgment for some time, but he thoughting to the duke right away had been the right choice. ¡°Your Grace, how did you know?¡± ¡°Something has happened to her, then. What is it?¡± ¡°If you can feel it, she must have left this mansion already.¡± As soon as Minos said that, he was grabbed by the cor and raised up in the air. He tried his kindest smile to those sets of piercingly glowing blue eyes. Still, it couldn¡¯t stop the dangerous energy that brought the chills to his bones. ¡°What are you?¡± ¡°What do you think you are? You can¡¯t mess up with Minos without my permission.¡± Ios grabbed Edgar by his cor. That was something he never experienced before even if he had done it to others many times. Of course, it was due to his high rank, but he was also stronger than most knights. However, the moment he looked at Ios, he was so surprised that his hand lost strength and let go of Minos. The one who suffered the most was the goblin who was suddenly dropped to the floor. ¡°What on earth are you?¡± Edgar wasn¡¯t scared by Ios¡¯s golden eyes and golden luster that fell from him. He grabbed him by the cor as well. That boldness made the dragon falter for a moment. He couldn¡¯t see how this man could do this to him. He would have torn out his arm at the very least if he hadn¡¯t been the spouse of a nymph who was even more powerful than he was. ¡°Your Grace, we don¡¯t have time for this. We must go to find your wife now. It will be impossible to track her if we hesitate longer.¡± Minos pleaded and it brought Edgar to his senses. He had been woken up by this feeling of something precious leaving him, and that hadn¡¯t been an illusion. ¡°Has something happened to Rubica?¡± ¡°Lord Ios here saw her being abducted by two men.¡± Edgar let go of Ios at hearing that. The dragon thought he was about to see Rubica being humiliated in front of her husband, and it made him feel a lot better, so he let go of Edgar as well. ¡°Two men took her?¡± ¡°Yes. They bound her hands and feet and put her on a horse.¡± Ios got excited and even imitated how they tied Rubica. Edgar then turned deadly pale and asked Carl, ¡°What happened to the guards?¡± ¡°Nobody noticed anything before these gentlemen came.¡± Before Edgar could ask what on earth the guard captain had been doing, Dashner came and urgently yelled, ¡°Sir Stephen is gone, and so are the two fastest horses we have.¡± Edgar quickly went back to his office, and there was only one thing missing: the most important document about Ste. He had been doubting Stephen for some time, thanks to Rubica¡¯s hints. He just hadn¡¯t been able to get rid of him right away as the king advised it would be better to know how the spy moved and find out who was behind him. If Edgar had known Stephen was nning to take Rubica, he would have kicked him out a long time ago. ¡°Carl, contact Baron Moreau right away.¡± Edgar had ordered Baron Moreau, one of his subjects, to organize a group of professional trackers in secret in case he was ever abducted. However, he hadn¡¯t known he would be using it for Rubica. ¡°And prepare a horse.¡± And it was Stephen, the best knight the king himself had chosen among his royal guards. He was a great swordsman, and he was also great at hiding. Carl was surprised more than anyone else at seeing Edgar was about to go after them himself. ¡°Your Grace, no!¡± The sun was going toe up in a few hours. Edgar knew why he was objecting, but he couldn¡¯t back off. Of course, he wasn¡¯t any better than his well-trained knights. But it was Rubica, he just couldn¡¯t sit down and do nothing just because he wasn¡¯t an expert in this. ¡°Bring me the fastest horse.¡± He gave another order to Carl and opened his private safe in his office. In there, his personal weapons for emergencies could be seen. He quickly got changed and put a small gun he could use with one hand in his pocket. It was small, but it was as strong as a canon. Then he also picked two kinds of portable ammunitions. Taking more would only slow him down, so that much was just right. ¡°Is it ready?¡± He got out from his office and stretched out his hand, expecting his butler to hand him a whip. However, Carl hid his hands behind him. ¡°Carl!¡± ¡°Your Grace, please calm down. You cannot go yourself. It¡¯s too dangerous. If the sunes up...¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± Edgar, with his bloodshot eyes, cut him short. ¡°I forgave you more than once, and I also warned you. Carl, pack your things and leave this mansion.¡± ¡°Your Grace!¡± Carl knelt down, but Edgar just coldly looked at him. Minos rolled his eyes at the tense mood. He had been watching for some time, and it seemed like the duke had some kind of secret. And, what was that ¡®If the sunes up?¡¯ Maybe it had something to do with why the duchess hade back in time. Maybe he could get more hints if they talked more, so Minos was going to use his goblin curiosity and concentration to deduct more information. ¡°Hmm, how about I take you there? It will take, like, five minutes.¡± Unlike Minos, who was particrly interested, Ios found the fight between Edgar and Carl quite boring and irritating. He just wanted to see Edgar find out about the nymph¡¯s weird hobby so that she would be humiliated, preferably quickly. Of course, Minos silently cursed the dragon for messing it up. ¡°You can take me there?¡± ¡°Yes. She¡¯s too far away anyway. You can¡¯t catch up with them by horse.¡± ¡°Do you know where she is?¡± ¡°I know the direction and I know her smell. I can just follow thend¡¯s energy.¡± The suspicious man with a strange eye color whose hair kept shedding golden luster was saying something really suspicious. Edgar found that idea quite appealing, but Carl turned pale and yelled, ¡°Your Grace, we can use one of our mana stone carriages!¡± ¡°It will be seen easily and will startle them. What if they kill Rubica?¡± Edgar seemed enraged, but he was thinking about how to rescue Rubica safely. Instead, he wasn¡¯t paying any attention to his own safety at all. Then, he didn¡¯t hesitate to take Ios¡¯s arm. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Carl was surprised by what he said while Ios was surprised by what he did. Most humans were supposed to suffer severe pain when grabbing his arm. However, this man seemed to be perfectly fine. ¡®Maybe he is different from the ordinary humans after living with a nymph for so long.¡¯ Iber had told him a story when he was still a baby dragon. Nymphs had the power of transforming their spouses into nymphs. Of course, there was a condition to be fulfilled, but at least they had a chance. She sadly said she envied them for that, and she fell into a deep sleep not long after. At the time, Ios hadn¡¯t asked about that condition as he wasn¡¯t that interested. Moreover, his brain didn¡¯t enjoy deduction and imagination, so he just concluded nymphs¡¯ spouses had to be simr to nymphs. ¡°We must go through the ground to get there quickly, so it will be a little hard and messy.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Ios moved before Minos could stop him. The windows were shattered with a great sound, and a secondter, Minos and Carl were alone in the room. Minos didn¡¯t know what to do, so he tried a desperate smile followed by a joke. ¡°Haha, I guess Ios forgot about this little man he carries around instead of his not so working brain.¡± Chapter 192

Chapter 192: Chapter 192

Moreover, Minos wasn¡¯t the only one who found himself in trouble. A second after Edgar left the mansion with Ios, the soil found its way to his mouth and nose before he could even realize what was happening. ¡°Oh, I forgot to tell you to hold your breath. Sorry.¡± However, Ios didn¡¯t really sound sorry and was more likeughing. ¡®You didn¡¯t forget. You didn¡¯t tell me on purpose.¡¯ Edgar could only barely manage to let that go. Right now, finding Rubica was more important than his high pride. He tried to not swallow any soil, but he couldn¡¯t hold his breath forever. The soil filled his mouth and almost blocked his neck, but he finally left the underground just before he fainted. He spat out the soil in his mouth and breathed heavily. That had been a horrible experience he didn¡¯t want to go through ever again. ¡°Haha, sorry that I happen to be and dragon.¡± When Edgar got rid of the dirt in his mouth, he could smell fresh air and corn. ¡°Where are we?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. Minos, where are we?¡± Ios had gone after Rubica¡¯s scent without much thinking. As usual, he demanded an answer to the goblin whom he carried around as a substitute for his own brain that refused to work, but only silence returned. ¡°Oh, right. I forgot.¡± Ios disappeared into the ground again before Edgar could stop him. He could just shake his head. Judging from his appearance and what he said, he had to be Ios the golden dragon. He was known for being violent and greedy, and Edgar added one more adjective to it. ¡®Stupid.¡¯ It seemed like there was no need to invent Ste just to hunt that dragon. Ios was so stupid and what Edgar already had was going to be enough. He had great powers, like moving at a great distance in seconds through the ground, but he was helplessly stupid. They were supposed to move quietly to find Rubica and her kidnapers, but Ios had made a big mess bying from the ground and talking out loud. Edgar decided it would be a hundred times better to do this alone than to work with that idiot. Plus, there was no guarantee Rubica would be fine until Ios came back. So, Edgar didn¡¯t wait for him and looked around. ¡®It¡¯s... a cornfield.¡¯ When his eyes familiarized themselves with the darkness, he started to see his surroundings clearly. The scenery wasn¡¯t familiar to him, but he never forgot anything, so he quickly noticed which part of the ymore dukedom he was in. Sadly, he was in the opposite direction from thend of the Moreaus. It was impossible for the trackers toe to where he was in the night no matter how fast they moved. epting Ios¡¯s offer without thinking twice had been the right choice. ¡®There is a cliff over there. To leave my domain without being seen, they would choose to go over that mountain. It¡¯s perfect since there are many ces to hide.¡¯ Edgar carefully looked around and headed to the mountain. He had memorized every map about his domain, but maps and the realnd were quite different. He kept looking around, but there was no trace of Rubica or Stephen. ¡®Has he brought me to the right direction? What if they¡¯re not around here?¡¯ But then, he heard the sound of hooves. He quickly hid between the corns. He had been right: two horses arrived and stopped right under the mountain. Edgar could see two men wearing long hoods and a human sized sack. There had to be someone in it, and his heart let him know who that person was. ¡®Rubica.¡¯ The feeling of something missing disappeared, but even a worse pain came to grasp his heart. The sack didn¡¯t move at all, which worried Edgar. He wished he could run out there right now and save her. However, he knew better than anyone that he couldn¡¯t move recklessly against Stephen. He was a well-trained knight. ¡°We must go over this mountain.¡± ¡°Okay, then...¡± The two men talked while opening the sack, and Edgar was relieved to see Rubica wasn¡¯t dead. However, that was the only good news. Her hands and feet had been bound so tightly and there was a sack on her head, so she couldn¡¯t see. She flinched when Stephen touched her, so she probably couldn¡¯t listen either. Thinking she was suffering for that all because of himself made Edgar¡¯s heart ache. ¡°We should untie her legs to climb this mountain.¡± ¡°But what if she runs away?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this mountain is steep. She won¡¯t be able to get far.¡± Then, they undid the rope around Rubica¡¯s feet. Edgar carefully went closer while they were on it, but then Stephen looked up. ¡°Someone¡¯s here. I heard some footsteps.¡± Edgar had carefully walked on somend that was wet to not make any sound, but Stephen¡¯s ears were just too keen. Edgar held his breath and stopped on the spot. ¡°Yes, I heard them too.¡± The man who answered had the same voice as Stephen. Soon, he put down his hood to reveal his face that was exactly the same as Stephen¡¯s. The only difference was his clothes. They were in a style that could be found on people who lived in the northeastnd of the continent. ¡®He must have been going into my office pretending to be Stephen whenever I was gone.¡¯ This wasn¡¯t just about ymore. Stephen used to be the king¡¯s royal guard. Edgar wondered what kind of confidential information they had, and it gave him a headache. ¡°I think it¡¯s over there.¡± Stephen¡¯s twin pointed at exactly where Edgar was hiding. He silently cursed and slowly put a hand in his pocket. ¡®No, Rubica might get hurt if I use this.¡¯ His gun was way more powerful than ordinary guns, but it wasn¡¯t meant to precisely hit the target. He wondered what to do, but Stephen kept getting nearer and nearer. In the end, he gave up on using the gun and put a hand on one of the bombs in his pocket. ¡®I would rather hurt myself than to hurt her.¡¯ He calcted the distance and the angle to figure out how to save Rubica. The possibility of his n working wasn¡¯t that high, but he just couldn¡¯t hurt Rubica. He made up his mind when Stephen was less than ten steps away. ¡°Pwah!¡± But then, Minos jumped out near where Edgar had juste out. He was now in his goblin form, but his eyes and mouth hadn¡¯t changed, so Edgar had no trouble recognizing him. ¡°Why can¡¯t you hold your breath even though you¡¯re a goblin? That man did much better.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because he¡¯s...¡± Minos almost said what Edgar was, but he quickly closed his mouth. In the meantime, Stephen was surprised by the two suspicious creatures¡¯ appearance and quickly hid in the cornfield. So did his twin who was with Rubica. ¡®Shit, he¡¯s right here.¡¯ Stephen was less than three steps away from Edgar. Thankfully, he was paying his full attention to Ios and Minos and didn¡¯t notice Edgar. He wished Ios would keep distracting Stephen for some time. ¡°Oh, but where is he anyway?¡± But of course, there was no way the dragon would grant his wish. Ios started to look around, looking for Edgar who couldn¡¯t even blink lest Stephen would see him. ¡°Oh, and here are the horses I saw earlier in the garden!¡± Ios even babbled loudly. He couldn¡¯t have been more careless, and Minos plucked his own hair because of that. It was dark and hard to see, but Edgar could clearly see the goblin¡¯s face color changing. ¡°But where are they?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you be a little quiet?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to find them quietly?¡± Stephen silently took out his bow and drew it in the darkness. The two mysterious beings hade out of nowhere, so he decided it would be better to get rid of the threats quickly and leave. He aimed at Ios¡¯s head and fired. He was a great archer. But sadly, his arrow couldn¡¯t pierce the target. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± He snatched the arrow in the air with one hand. ¡°It¡¯s an arrow.¡± ¡°Who dares to mess up with me? Is it him?¡± Minos rolled an eye. There were two horses, but no sign of anyone or a fight. The duke had probably hidden, and the kidnappers who were hiding in the cornfield must have been surprised by Ios. That was the most probable scenario. ¡®I shouldn¡¯t speak the duke¡¯s name.¡¯ ¡°I guess he has no reason to attack you.¡± ¡°Then, is it the nymph? But this arrow¡¯s too weak for that.¡± Ios snapped the arrow, using only two fingers. Of course, Stephen was shocked to see that. While he was focusing on Ios, Edgar started to move towards Rubica slowly. ¡°Yes, and she wouldn¡¯t just attack you so suddenly. She gave you her roses without asking for anything in return, remember?¡± ¡°But she does have a strange hobby.¡± Minos wanted to say Ios¡¯s obsession with nts was equally strange, if not more, but he managed not to. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s... it must be her henchmen. They don¡¯t know who you are, so they want to kill you for disturbing their hobby time.¡± ¡°What?¡± The exnation made no sense, but Ios bought it so easily. He was enraged at being attacked by some humans and immediately stretched out a hand toward the direction of the arrow. Chapter 193

Chapter 193: Chapter 193

Sand started gathering on Ios¡¯s palm until it became a giant sphere. He cast a spell, and soon a huge sandstorm swept through the cornfield Stephen was hiding in. Fortunately, it missed Edgar by just a meter or so. ¡°Huh? There¡¯s no one there!¡± The sandstorm left nothing but a bunch of fallen corns. Edgar could only curse at the dragon in his mind by saying, ¡®You idiot. You can¡¯t see Stephen because he¡¯s lying tly on the ground between the corns. Can¡¯t you even think of that?¡¯ Edgar decided to stop thinking about that helpless dragon and focus on saving Rubica by looking around. He had seen Stephen¡¯s twin hide near him, but it wasn¡¯t easy to locate him. ¡°I think we can¡¯t see them because of these fallen corns.¡± Thankfully, Minos wasn¡¯t a fool, and Ios tended to ept things the goblin said as he was a substitute to his dumb drain. ¡°Aha, then I can just get rid of these corns.¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t use too much magic like that, you will soonck power!¡± However, he was only good at epting. As always, Ios¡¯s body worked first before his head could even think about it. Minos sighed as the corns were all blown away by a strong wind. The dragon had nothing to fear in his own territory, but outside, his power was not unlimited. They had nted magical items to amplify and recharge magic at the ymore Mansion, so Ios had been able to use his powers without many worries in there, but they didn¡¯t have such a thing right now. Ios had used his transportation magic, then he summoned a sandstorm and a whirlwind. Minos was worried he might soon run out of magic. ¡°Why do I have to worry so much? They¡¯re only humans. Hey, where are you, you rats?¡± Stephen calmly stood up from where he was. Ios¡¯s magic was remarkable, but he had faced many monsters in the north. Moreover, judging from what the goblin was saying, Ios seemed to have some kind of limitation on magic usage. Plus, this wasn¡¯t a fight that involved facing the enemy head-on and winning. ¡®I must buy him time.¡¯ He had to distract them as much as possible so that his brother would be able to run away with Rubica. Even though the field he was standing on was currently empty, there were some corns left slightly far away, and he thought even Ios wouldn¡¯t be able to do much if his brother took Rubica to the mountains. ¡°Where¡¯s Rubica?¡± Ios asked, but Stephen fired a re instead of answering the question. Ios was directly hit by the blindingly bright light, and it angered him even more. ¡°You!¡± Ios meant to be merciful. He was nning to demand Rubica to tell her rude underling about what a great creature he was, but this was what he was getting in return? Enraged, he started to pick up stones and throwing them. They changed into huge boulders in the air and flew to Stephen, but he quickly dodged all of them. ¡°Master, you shouldn¡¯t just throw rocks like this. Just please think...¡± ¡°You, shut your mouth. Oh, this is making me truly angry!¡± Stephen kept running between the boulders like a rat. Ios,pletely lost in his anger, tried to use the spell that stopped time, but it didn¡¯t activate as he had used too much power already. ¡°Oh, but why is this not working?¡± ¡°I told you not to use too much magic like that. Please, just listen to me.¡± ¡°Huh, do you think I¡¯ll lose to a human just because I cannot use time magic?¡± It was hard to know whether Ios was fighting Stephen or Minos. But then, Edgar heard a whistle. It sounded like a signal between Stephen and his brother. ¡®He¡¯s trying to run away while Stephen is distracting Ios.¡¯ Then, he would surelye for the horses, so Edgar went as close as possible to the horses and waited. After a short silence, the corns shook from the east and Stephen¡¯s twin came out. He looked around and then pulled a rope in his right hand. Then Rubica, whose head was still in a sack, was dragged out by it. Even though her hands and feet had been untied, he was holding the rope bound around her waist so that she wouldn¡¯t be able to run away. She was still in her nightdress and her feet were bare. Edgar¡¯s heart ached at seeing that. The moment Stephen¡¯s twin turned around to put Rubica on one of the horses, Edgar took out a knife and stabbed toward his neck. ¡°Ugh!¡± However, the man was good enough to be Stephen¡¯s shadow. In fact, he sensed the strike before it came and turned. This resulted in Edgar stabbing the horse¡¯s thigh instead of the man¡¯s neck. ¡°Neeeigh!¡± The horse neighed in surprise and raised its front hooves. Rubica, in the meantime, held its mane to avoid falling. As she couldn¡¯t see, she didn¡¯t know why the horse was doing that, but she followed her instincts to survive. ¡°What the, there¡¯s another rat over there!¡± While Ios was distracted by Stephen¡¯s twin, Stephen fired a poisoned needle. However, it turned ck and scattered the moment it touched Ios¡¯s arm. ¡°You!¡± A human¡¯s attack had touched Ios, and it outraged him. Thend reacted to his anger and started to quake. ¡°Ios, calm down! You might hurt Rubica!¡± Edgar, who had been trying hard to calm down the panicked horse, yelled on top of his voice. But now, Ios was really mad and couldn¡¯t hear him. With the ground shaking, the horse was even more agitated. Edgar could see Rubica¡¯s hands letting go of its mane little by little. She was about to fall. ¡°Rubica, I¡¯m here!¡± Edgar yelled to her, but she couldn¡¯t listen. She couldn¡¯t see and she couldn¡¯t hear, so falling off the horse could kill her. Edgar, therefore, decided to get on the horse and calm it down to save her. ¡®If I grab its reins down here, it might drop Rubica.¡¯ He had to mount it, using the boulders created by Ios. Thankfully, the dragon was now fiercely attacking Stephen and his twin, so they couldn¡¯t stop him. ¡°Dingo!¡± He climbed a boulder and called the name of the horse that was carrying Rubica. He didn¡¯t go to the stables often, but he knew how the horses were trained and what their names were. He couldn¡¯t mimic their trainers¡¯plicated whistles to give the horse aplicated order, but it came running to Edgar when its name was called. Horseback riding was one of the skills noblemen had to learn. Plus, he was the heir of the most powerful family in the kingdom, so he had been trained for emergencies such as abduction since his childhood. He calcted the horse¡¯s speed and angle and jumped when it was about ten feet away. He managed to sit on it, but only barely. Rubica was greatly surprised when sensing a man suddenly hugging her from behind. She thought she was finally running away from Stephen, but had she just been captured again? She tried to hit the man with her elbow, but then she stopped. He had huge hands that were colder than other people¡¯s hands. His hands that put the rein in her hands, his thigh pressing the horse¡¯s back, his broad chest that supported her, they all felt so familiar. ¡®Edgar?¡¯ She was in doubt. Although she hoped Ios would find her, the dragon was just impossible to predict. Moreover, even if Edgar found out about the news of her being missing, she thought he would send trackers after her instead of directlying to her. After all, she didn¡¯t want him toe himself. However, when he removed the sack on her head, she saw a pair of hands holding the rein. They were clearly Edgar¡¯s. Tears formed in her eyes. She then wanted to turn and look at his face. She had been thinking about him all night. Everything she had med him about, it all had been a mistake. If fate had unfolded as her previous life, he would have been abducted instead of her. That was why Rubica thought it was all the better. She even decided to sacrifice her own life if they were keeping her alive to control Edgar. ¡°Edgar, you shouldn¡¯t be here. It¡¯s dangerous.¡± He held her even tighter. Her warmth filled his heart that had been burdened by the feeling of loss that woke him up in the middle of the night. His heart had been frozen, but now it was beating again. He could even feel the blood surging through it. He breathed in her scent deeply, and it gave him strong joy and desire. He realized now he would never be able to go back to the times he hadn¡¯t known her. ¡°I know.¡± ¡°You know? And, and you still came? You are an important man, you shouldn¡¯t be doing this for someone like me...¡± She was almost ming herself and he didn¡¯t like it. After a small silence, she realized he was very irritated. It was strange. She wasn¡¯t even looking at his face, but she could tell how he was feeling... Chapter 194

Chapter 194: Chapter 194

¡°I don¡¯t care if the world thinks I¡¯m important. What matters is that you are the most precious person to me.¡± He said coldly and pulled the reins. The horse, which had been running toward the cliff, turned to the mountains. It wasn¡¯t easy to calm it down as Ios kept making the ground shake. Plus, Edgar didn¡¯t often ride horses after he was cursed. ¡®For now, it would be better to get far away and hide.¡¯ Edgar looked back at Ios. Now that he was far away, he looked smaller than a hand. Even from far away, he couldn¡¯t help but be impressed by Stephen pressing on the dragon who was way more powerful than he was. Although by now Ios wasn¡¯t as strong as he had been at first, he still was a strong dragon. But sadly, his brain didn¡¯t know how to use his own power correctly. In addition to that, he had a big temper which was the worstbination possible. Stephen was practically toying with him. ¡®The sun is about to rise.¡¯ He wouldn¡¯t be able to stay on the horse with numb legs. Therefore, he decided to hide in the mountain, as it was rtively safe there, while the unstoppable dragon was making a fuss. ¡°Your Grace!¡± Then, he heard Minos¡¯s voiceing from the underground. He spoke quietly so that the horse wouldn¡¯t be surprised. ¡°I asked Ios where this is before he brought me here. Your butler seemed to know about this ce. Your knights will arrive by tomorrow afternoon at the very least, so please hold on till then.¡± He sounded extremely tired. It looked like he had given up on stopping Ios after many tries and came to Edgar. One of the most pitiable beings in the world is a smart subject or a stupid but diligent superior. Anyway, it was good that Minos was at Ios¡¯s side. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Oh, but be careful!¡± Soon came the sound of somethinging through the air. Thinking about it now, Stephen¡¯s twin hadn¡¯t been with Stephen or Ios. ¡®Really, it¡¯s getting harder and harder.¡¯ Edgar clenched his teeth and held the reins tightly. He was not going to let it go even if the knife struck his back. However, it flew and embedded itself in the horse¡¯s back. Neeigh! It let out a painful scream and jumped making it even harder to stay on it. Edgar didn¡¯t worry about himself as he knew well how to jump off a horse, but he was worried about Rubica. The fall could hurt her a lot. ¡°Edgar, there¡¯s a cliff in front of us!¡± Edgar had no choice but to hang on, and now they were right in front of the cliff. The horse was slowing down. It had run a long way and it was injured, so it was losing strength. They had to hold on just a little longer, and the horse was going to fall on the ground. Edgar just had to make sure it didn¡¯t fall down the cliff. He raised his head high and looked around to decide which direction to lead the horse. ¡®Oh no.¡¯ The sky was turning red over there, and it was bright enough to see well. The moon had gone down a long time ago. He had been concentrating on the situation that he had forgotten about what he feared the most. ¡®This can¡¯t be any worse.¡¯ A brilliant ray of light came through the clouds and air to touch him. His legs instantly lost all their strength. The curse was working at the worst possible moment. Bad things tended to happen during the worst times. ¡°Edgar!¡± ¡°Your Grace!¡± Rubica didn¡¯t miss his sudden change. ¡°Don¡¯t grab me!¡± They were near the cliff. It was dangerous and he didn¡¯t want her to be endangered because of him. But of course, she didn¡¯t listen to him. She held his hand as he fell from the horse. ¡°Let me go!¡± ¡°Never!¡± She knew well that she couldn¡¯t hold him for long. She was weak and he was too big. Nevertheless, she couldn¡¯t let Edgar fall alone. She knew she would be living the rest of her life in remorse and tears if he died here. ¡°Your Grace!¡± Minos jumped out of the ground and ran to them. He desperately tried to grab the two as they tumbled down the horse, but it was toote. They fell under the cliff. ¡°Shit!¡± Stephen and his twin were equally surprised. Edgar was the one Amanun was really after. They meant to take Rubica hostage to have Edgar finish designing Ste. They didn¡¯t want him to fall down a cliff. And, judging from its height, he was probably dead by now, and if he was alive, he would have to live on a bed for the rest of his life. ¡®I didn¡¯t know we would ultimately fail.¡¯ Stephen decided it would be better to run than to keep fighting this strange but powerful creature. Ios was quite tired by now, but it was getting bright and he could no longer use the darkness to fool him. Therefore, Stephen threw a smoke bomb at the dragon. ¡°Hey! What the, what is this!¡± Thick smoke shrouded him, and it was extremely painful. Unlike his underlings, Ios had never fought humans, so he didn¡¯t know what to do. While Ios was writhing in pain, Stephen quickly mounted a horse. He and his twin had divided the duke¡¯s documents into two horses to go back with at least half of them if anything ever happened. He followed his brother¡¯s whistle and disappeared with him. Moreover, Minos, who witnessed all that, was almost driven mad by the situation. The gods were not just. He knew how to use his brain and work his way out of situations, but the gods made him a goblin, the weakest species of all. Why did they give Ios, the idiot who couldn¡¯t even use his own powers, the identity of a great dragon? ¡°Cough, cough!¡± Ios coughed hard and a great amount of gold fell from his hair. However, Minos didn¡¯t collect it. For the first time in his life, he wished he could quit going around with Ios. He took a deep breath to calm down and went to the cliff. ¡°Your Graces! Are you alright?¡± He yelled on top of his voice, but no voice came in return. As there was a thick forest under the cliff, it was impossible to see Edgar and Rubica. Minos doubted something had ever happened to them as the duke was a nymph, but there were many things that worried him, like Edgar hiding his true identity to his own wife and the conversation he had had with the butler. ¡°Your Grace!¡± He earnestly called again, but no answers came. He feared they might have been injured severely. ¡°Just hang on! I wille down!¡± Minos went to a small stream, that had been made to get water for the cornfield, and found a bucket nearby. Minos filled it with clear stream water, but then he stopped. ¡®He deserves some punishment.¡¯ He added lots of dirt in the bucket and went to Ios. The stupid dragon was still rolling on the ground with his eyes closed, not able to open his eyes. ¡°Master, I¡¯ve brought water.¡± Then he didn¡¯t hesitate to throw the dirty water on his face. ¡°Ugh! Cough, cough.¡± Ios got a mouthful of dirt water and spit it out. He stopped feeling the pain and inhaled the smell of dirt while smiling. ¡°Ah, so refreshing.¡± He was and dragon. The smell of dirt was just extremely fragrant to him. Minos dropped his shoulders, thinking he couldn¡¯t achieve even that small revenge... ¡°You¡¯re the best, Minos. Oh, how dare they throw such things to this Ios! Minos, we should go get them!¡± ¡°But master now isn¡¯t the time for that. We must go to find the duchess. She has fallen under that cliff over there.¡± Minos pleaded, but Ios didn¡¯t care. He just hit himself on the head to get the water out of his right ear. Minos couldn¡¯t take it anymore and yelled, stomping his feet. ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried about her?¡± ¡°Why should I be worried? She¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°She¡¯s fine?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Minos let out a sigh of relief thinking he wouldn¡¯t mind kissing that dragon. He thought it would have been better if he had been just a little smarter, but again, then he would be suffering a lot more. A clever and greedy dragon? It would be the hardest creature to handle. ¡°Then let¡¯s go and get those rats right now. I treated them nicely because they seemed to be Rubica¡¯s underlings, but they dared to attack me! I must teach them the rules of this world!¡± Ios, whose eyes were still red with anger, clenched his fists. Minos thought he was acting like he would snap Stephen¡¯s backbone as soon as he got his hands on him. But what could he do? Ios¡¯s pride was just too high to admit he had been toyed by a human. Ios was about to go underground to go after Stephen, but Minos managed to stop him. ¡°Wait, master. We can¡¯t just go. We must have a n.¡± ¡°A n? Why should I make a n against humans?¡± ¡°But they¡¯re not just humans. They¡¯re a nymph¡¯s humans. If you beat them with a n, you would also be winning against the nymph as well.¡± ¡°Hmm...¡± Ios pretended to not be interested, but Minos saw his ears perching up. Finally, this persistent dragon was ready to listen to him. ¡®If you have to bring me around instead of your broken brain, please ask me before you do something!¡¯ Minos really wanted to yell so, but he managed not to. He started to exin a few ns to capture Stephen and his twin, using simple words so that the dragon would be able to understand. Chapter 195

Chapter 195: Chapter 195

The moment they fell down the cliff, Edgar instinctively knew that death was near. He wasn¡¯t afraid of dying, but he feared about Rubica¡¯s future. Why on earth was she still holding his hand? She should have let go. If she had done that, at least one of them would have been safe. However, she held his hand so tightly that her hand turned deadly white. All Edgar could do was to take her in his arms and roll. He was nning to use his own body as a cushion so that she couldn¡¯t be hurt when they hit the ground. The forest was thick, but its branches didn¡¯t slow them down as they were falling too fast. He anticipated lots of pain and held her even tighter. But when they touched the ground, something unexpected happened. The ground turned soft like rubber. They bounced off and, when they fell down again, the ground held them like a cradle. Did Ios cast some kind of magic on it in advance? It hurt less than when you are falling from the bed. Edgar was relieved to see that she was fine and couldn¡¯t even think about himself. ¡°Edgar!¡± Rubica also checked on him first. They were still in danger, but he smiled at feeling her in his arms. Even the leaves stuck on her ruffled hair looked so lovely. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°Yes, that Ios must have done something to the ground to make it soft.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m so d that you¡¯re not hurt.¡± Rubica¡¯s white face came back to normal only then. The green leaves made her clear and white skin look even more beautiful. Thinking about it now, they had never been together under the bright sunlight. They had seen each other only in the darkness. Edgar pretended to wipe off some grass on her face to touch it. Her soft skin was more than enough to make him feel in heaven. ¡°Oh, right. I¡¯m pressing you.¡± She enjoyed the warmth of his hand and blushed. But then, she came back to her senses and stood up. He was a little disappointed when her weight was removed but, at the same time, he was worried that she was too light. ¡°I think we should take cover until Minos finds us...¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what was going on back up the cliff, so she was worried Stephen mighte down after them. However, Stephen wasn¡¯t after her. He was after Edgar who could make Ste. She looked around and spotted a small cave a little above the cliff. They could hide in there and cover the entrance with branches and no one would be able to notice them. ¡°We should hide there.¡± Rubica said, but Edgar, who had just said he hadn¡¯t suffered from the fall, didn¡¯t stand up. She looked at his awkward smile. Maybe he said he was okay just to not scare her and suddenly she felt afraid. ¡°Edgar, are you hurt?¡± ¡°Oh, I...¡± Her eyes nervously trembled while Edgar wondered what he was supposed to say. He couldn¡¯t say it was a curse since that would scare her even more. He sat up and she helped him. Her soft arm was now on his strong arm. He always thought he should protect her, so he was slightly delighted and embarrassed at seeing that she was trying to protect him. ¡°I¡¯m not hurt much. It¡¯s just my legs are paralyzed and can¡¯t move. They will be fine again after the sunset.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t move your legs? But that¡¯s serious!¡± Edgar tried to make it sound as trivial as possible, but of course, Rubica was shocked. She yelled and the birds flew away, surprised by her sound. She quickly covered her mouth and looked around. Thankfully, no one was nearby. ¡°We should hide in that cave for now. Edgar, can¡¯t you use both legs or just one of them?¡± ¡°Both.¡± Rubica was very worried. Edgar¡¯s condition was much worse than she had expected. If Stephen caught up with them, they would be defenseless. She didn¡¯t want to spend a night in the forest without any preparation. She still had the memories of being chased during the war, so it made her even more anxious. Misfortune came regardless of time, but it was also true that it came less frequently to those who tried to avoid it. ¡°Would your legs hurt if we move?¡± ¡°No, they won¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go there, I¡¯ll support you.¡± Edgar looked at the cave she was pointing at. It looked to be a perfect hideout, but it was a little too far away. He was a sturdy man, so she wouldn¡¯t be able to carry him all the way there. He shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine here. But you should go there and hide, it¡¯s too dangerous.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Rubica was angry at hearing that and hit his back with force, which she rarely did nowadays. Her cheeks and forehead were red, but not because she was embarrassed. She was mad. It confused Edgar a little as he couldn¡¯t even guess what he had done wrong. ¡°I should go and hide because it¡¯s dangerous, but you will be fine here? What are you, invisible?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t mean... I have a gun and a knife, but you don¡¯t even know how to use them. I¡¯ll keep watching from here, so go and hide somewhere safe.¡± ¡°You are so stubborn!¡± He was only thinking about her safety, and Rubica decided to not listen to him anymore. Now, the person who was in danger was not her but him who couldn¡¯t even walk. Rubica made up her mind to carry him to the cave. As she had done it quite often, she supported him with both hands. ¡°I¡¯m not going if you¡¯re not going. I won¡¯t hide.¡± ¡°Rubica!¡± ¡°Just shut your mouth and let¡¯s go.¡± Using force was the answer to handling someone who just wouldn¡¯t listen. She replied firmly while he sighed. ¡°I am too heavy for you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve carried heavier things than you.¡± Then, she started to walk with Edgar, supporting him with ease as if she had really done it often. ¡®How many times did she do this?¡¯ Edgar bit his lips and took a deep breath to calm his anger down. He was starting to understand that strange disharmony he felt from Rubica. Her calmness was a little far from the calmness girls of her age had. People who go through many hardships eventually realize what must happen happens, those who will seed shall seed, and those who cannot seed shall fails. All we can do is to not leave any remorse in the process. She acted in a way only someone who had learned it the hard way could do. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, you¡¯re as light as a feather.¡± She misinterpreted his apology and made a joke. Making a joke to console the sad heart of the injured had been one of her rules to survive the war. However, the more she took the hard situation lightly, the more pain his heart suffered. She had been through so much pain that he couldn¡¯t even imagine it. To her, the unfair marriage he had arrogantly offered must not have even been a hardship. ¡°Well, we¡¯re here.¡± They arrived at the cave. Rubica put him in and then cut some branches with huge leaves to cover the entrance. The cave¡¯s entrance was too smallpared to the considerablyrge space inside, so the job didn¡¯t take long. And it was facing east, so they would get enough sunlight inside. ¡°What exactly is it? Is it a sprain?¡± Rubica went to Edgar and asked as she examined his legs carefully. Most of the injured people would moan in pain while moving, but he didn¡¯t. She didn¡¯t know if he was really not suffering any pain or just enduring it, and it worried her. ¡°No, it¡¯s not a sprain.¡± ¡°Then, is it a broken bone?¡± She asked again, touching his knee. But he shook his head. ¡°Well, if it were a broken bone, I should have realized it by now.¡± She wasn¡¯t an expert in healing, but she knew how to treat injuries. Early treatment was always important. Even injuries that could be healed easily could take one limb forever when neglected. ¡°Where is the knife you used to remove that sack on my head?¡± ¡°Here.¡± Edgar took out a small knife from his back pocket and handed it to her, thinking she wanted it to cut the rope that was still around her waist. However, she went to his ankles and started to rip his pants with it. ¡°What, what are you doing?¡± ¡°I must take a closer look at your wound. It would be better to rip your pants than to make you take them off.¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t necessary!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m good at this.¡± Patients tended to get nervous even at small things. Rubica said soothing words, but her hands mercilessly ripped his pants, leaving the part that only barely covered his underwear. Chapter 196

Chapter 196: Chapter 196

Soon Edgar¡¯s legs were revealed. They were as white as marble because of not seeing the sunlight for a long time. But at the same time, they were thick and strong. ¡°Hmm.¡± His legs had almost no fat, and it was easy to discern each muscle. Rubica raised his ankles and examined, but there was nothing wrong with his muscles and bones. What if his insides had been injured? Maybe that was why there seemed to be nothing wrong. Maybe it was his nerves. ¡°Edgar, tell me if you feel any pain.¡± Then, she started to slowly touch his legs starting from his ankle, trying to recall what she had learned at the abbey. Her hands went from his joints, knees, and then his thighs. ¡°Stop, stop!¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t endure it anymore and yelled. The thin nightdress Rubica was wearing inly showed her silhouette. Plus, her hands weren¡¯t the only thing that were on his legs. What on earth was she made of? It was hard to believe her body consisted of bones and flesh like his. What did she eat that she was so soft? Rubica gently stroked down the spot she just touched. Then, she looked up and innocently asked, ¡°Is it here? Do you feel pain here?¡± Her cute face and innocent way of asking eventually aroused Edgar. ¡®You beast! You pervert!¡¯ He covered his face with both hands and cursed at himself. What was he doing? She was only acting for purely medical purposes! He found himself horrible thinking about how she wasn¡¯t in good condition at all. Her white nightdress was dirty with grass and dirt, and her hair was in a mess. As she had been inside a sack for hours, she was dirty with sweat and dirt. She even smelled of horse. ¡®Shit.¡¯ However, she was so sexy. He thanked in many ways that his lower body wasn¡¯t capable of functioning. Thanks to that, he couldn¡¯t carry out a lot of the inappropriate thoughts that crossed his mind, and she could take care of him. ¡°Ed... Edgar?¡± But in the end, she also recognized his abnormal condition. She blushed hard at seeing his angry gasps. She knew how she looked better than Edgar did. That was why she had been able to boldly touch his legs, but she hadn¡¯t known he would be aroused by her when she was so dirty. ¡®What should I do?¡¯ Edgar didn¡¯t know what to do and neither did Rubica. She jumped up in surprise, pressing his thigh. That was followed by a moan from Edgar¡¯s clenched teeth. ¡°Sorry!¡± ¡°No... I¡¯m okay.¡± He barely managed to say that in a hoarse voice. Her eyes shook, not knowing where to look. Normally, he was so full of an ascetic aura, and now he was... Did she see it right? Maybe she was mistaken. It could just be that his pants folded in a spot for a moment, and maybe he moaned because of the pain. She tried hard to deny what she had seen and nced at Edgar¡¯s pants again. But oh no, she hadn¡¯t been wrong. She quickly looked away and fanned her hot face with her hands. ¡®It¡¯s a little strange.¡¯ She started to doubt something when she was able to calm down. Edgar hadn¡¯t been injured, but he couldn¡¯t walk. She massaged his legs to see if there was something wrong with his nerves, but his senses including his reflex function were working well. She couldn¡¯t find what the problem was with the little medical knowledge she had. ¡°Edgar.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± He answered, his face still in his hands. He had been always strong and dependable to her, partly because of his tall height, so him scrooching like that was quite new and cute. Rubica sat down next to him and put her shoulder next to his. His back flinched in surprise, but he didn¡¯t try to go away. ¡°I looked at your legs, and they had no wounds. And, um, judging from your reaction... they do not seem to be paralyzed. Your nerves are fine as well.¡± ¡°Oh, okay.¡± ¡°But then, why can¡¯t you walk? Are you just pretending to be ill?¡± Rubica said that as a joke, but it offended him quite a bit. He looked up and yelled, ¡°Pretending? Do you think I would ever do such a childish thing?¡± Rubica didn¡¯t miss the moment and kissed his forehead. There wasn¡¯t even a speck of dirt on his face, even with this horrible situation. He even smelled good like a forest fairy. He was so lovely. She found the courage to kiss him first, maybe he was just being unusually shy. ¡°Rubica?¡± The sudden kissed really surprised him, and Rubica realized what she had done. She blushed and looked away, but then she saw the middle part of his pants again. It seemed to have soared up even more. She didn¡¯t know why she kept looking at it. ¡°Rubica.¡± He called her name. Although she was looking away, he could clearly see which part of his body her eyes were looking at. The me in his heart that had caught fire in the small cave burned away his previous embarrassment. ¡°Yes?¡± He touched her lips as they spoke. When she didn¡¯t push his hand away, he made her look at him. Her pink cheeks and shy eyshes made his heart burn even more. His finger caressed her lips for some time, and then it went inside between them. Her wet and warm tongue touched it as if it had been waiting for it toe in. He wanted to knock her down and have her now. ¡®No.¡¯ However, they couldn¡¯t have their first time in a cave. He had waited for so long, and he didn¡¯t want to mess it up with a momentary impulse. He then managed to take out his finger. ¡°Edgar?¡± Don¡¯t look offended. I¡¯m the one who¡¯s disappointed. He managed to sound calm by saying, ¡°Minos told me Carl knew where this ce is. I¡¯ve contacted Baron Moreau, so people will soone to find us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what matters to you now?¡± ¡°Oh, and do not worry about Stephen too much. As you must have seen, that Ios is really enraged at him, so he won¡¯t be able to afford toe after us.¡± He was clearly pretending to be ignorant, and it pissed Rubica off. He had just aroused her, and now he was acting like he had done nothing. He shouldn¡¯t have caressed her lips. He shouldn¡¯t have had a scent that made her heart beat like crazy. At least he shouldn¡¯t have been so handsome. She pressed his thigh with anger. ¡°What, what are you doing?¡± She just ignored his protest and kept rubbing his thigh. Unlike his face, his organ that followed only instinct couldn¡¯t hide his passion. That reaction was quite interesting. In addition to that, it was fun to rub his solid legs. ¡°I¡¯m trying to see if your legs are fine.¡± ¡°But you¡¯ve already done that.¡± ¡°Well, that wasn¡¯t enough.¡± Now it was her turn to pretend to be ignorant. Really, it was torture. Edgar felt like it would be better to die now. ¡°But you are just rubbing it! You¡¯re not examining anything!¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m massaging your legs until peoplee so that they won¡¯t stiffen.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need for that! My legs will be fine in the evening?¡± ¡°How can you be so sure of it? Well, don¡¯t be so stubborn.¡± Her hand started toe up, heading to his middle part. For the first time in his life, Edgar¡¯s mind went nk. He had never surrendered to any kind of pressure, but he was so weak to her attacks. In the end, he couldn¡¯t suffer it anymore and yelled, ¡°Because that¡¯s what happens all the time!¡± ¡°All the time?¡± Rubica¡¯s hands stopped. Edgar realized his mistake, but it was toote. ¡°So... your legs go numb like this and are fine again in the evening?¡± ¡°No, I just made a mistake.¡± ¡°And Carl is always making sure no one goes into your office during the daytime.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m a sensitive man, he doesn¡¯t want me to be disturbed.¡± ¡°Thinking about it, I¡¯ve never seen you walk during the day. We always meet at night, and when you go to the capital, you leave before dusk and use a mana stone carriage...¡± Edgar tried to mend the situation, but it was already toote. He just couldn¡¯t find the courage to tell her about his curse even when he was ready to say he was Arman. He hadn¡¯t even found a lead to break it. She had been through too much pain in her previous life because of him, and he couldn¡¯t let her carry another heavy burden. ¡°Edgar, tell me.¡± She gently wrapped his face with her hands. He wanted to say it was all a misunderstanding if only he could. However, the moment he looked into the pair of auburn eyes which he always praised in his heart, he realized lying now would end their rtionship. ¡°It¡¯s a curse.¡± He wanted to hide it from her. He didn¡¯t want to see her be sad and suffer because of him. If he had been a selfless man, he would have chosen to be hated by her. But he just couldn¡¯t bear to see her heart leave him. He was too selfish. Chapter 197

Chapter 197: Chapter 197

¡°A curse?¡± ¡°My parents didn¡¯t die in an ident. My mother saw my father having an affair, and she took his life for that. She then cursed me so that I will never be able to walk under the sunlight.¡± Rubica¡¯s mind was spinning so fast that it hurt. She then recalled how Ios thought she was an extremely special and strong being when they first met. Aplicated puzzle was about to be finished against her will. She feared that fact so much. However, her lips moved. ¡°And your mother was...¡± ¡°A nymph.¡± A short answer. That much was enough. She should have asked only that much. But despite the warning in her head, her heart warned she couldn¡¯t miss this chance. ¡°Then you came looking for me because of your curse?¡± She could see the pain in his face and remembered the times where he begged her to not despise him. Did he find her just to use her as a tool to break his curse? ¡®I don¡¯t care. It doesn¡¯t matter.¡¯ No matter what his motive had been, the love he had shown her was real. He wasn¡¯t the kind of person who was capable of faking such an emotion. ¡°How can I break your curse? I¡¯ll do anything.¡± Her genuine auburn eyes shook his heart that never received such love from anyone before. Why wasn¡¯t she confronting him for fooling her all this time? Why did he hide the truth from her, fearing about being despised and not being loved by her? ¡°My nurse, who was on my mother¡¯s side, left me something shortly after I was cursed. It wasn¡¯t a lead by itself, but it was a special tool that gave me another chance. However, it disappeared a week before I met you and was reced by a note with your name on it, written with my handwriting.¡± A special tool that could give another chance. Her name was written in his handwriting. Could it be... no, she was taking it too far. The two thoughts crossed her mind at the same time while her head was beating like a heart. She dropped her head and put a hand on her forehead. She didn¡¯t know what that was, but she instinctively asked, ¡°Was the thing... a ring?¡± Her voice sounded like a reed, so she thought there was no way he would understand it. ¡°Yes, with a blue stone just like my irises in the middle.¡± However, he understood it and even replied. Then, he leaned down to look into her eyes. Yes, the ring that had always been on Arman¡¯s chest was blue, just like Edgar¡¯s eyes. She was sure of it, she had checked it every morning while people were not looking. -You should check his full name. She had read Edgar¡¯s long full name because of what the butler had said. She had gone past the name ¡®Arman¡¯ in that series of names. That name was just toomon. ¡®He graduated from the Academy, and he is blind...¡¯ However, he could go blind at a muchter time. Arman had worked for two weeks to invent cheap soap for her, and Edgar had pushed everything aside to make a sewing machine and one that made ribbons. They were just like each other. Of course, they also had several dissimrities. Their appearances were especially different. Nevertheless... ¡°Edgar.¡± Rubica wrapped his face in her hands again. She didn¡¯t look down to avoid his gaze, not anymore. ¡°Smile at me.¡± She felt like there was something she was supposed to realize every time she saw him smile. He awkwardly raised the tips of his lips. ¡°No, not like that. Smile widely.¡± ¡°I am doing my best. I always do my best when ites to your favors.¡± However, Edgar didn¡¯t protest further as Rubica looked just too serious. As he had never forced himself to smile, smiling widely was something hard to do. But he couldn¡¯t say no to her order, so his brain worked hard to make a smile that would satisfy her. ¡®What has delighted me the most recently is...¡¯ It was when she said she also wanted him as well. Oh, and the kiss she had just given him on his forehead. It had delighted him very much as well. Why did she do that so abruptly? He didn¡¯t exactly look great,pared to his usual neat self... Maybe she was thinking that he was sexy, just like he was thinking about her. His lips curled up. Within the small trembling of his smiling muscles, that habit, was Arman. They just looked so surprisingly different that Rubica failed to recognize it till now. What has he been through that his looks changed so much? Rubica wanted to call his name, but she couldn¡¯t as there were tears swelling up from her heart. ¡°Ar...¡± Before she could say the word Arman, his lips pressed on hers. ¡°Don¡¯t call me by that name. I¡¯m about to go mad because of jealousy.¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes were dreamy now and nodded. Her moist lips made him thirsty again even though he had tasted them many times. His middle part, that had calmed down a little, started to soar up again. Really, at this important time? What would she think if she saw it? Edgar was sure a beast that became hot regardless of time and asion. ¡°What do you mean, jealousy?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Edgar, not Arman.¡± He replied, focusing on calming himself down. Thankfully, she didn¡¯t recognize his... abnormal condition. Instead, she looked at him and asked. ¡°What makes you think I was about to call you Arman?¡± For a moment, Edgar felt like time had stopped. He had been paying all his attention to how he would look in her eyes that he had missed what was really important. He opened his mouth, but he didn¡¯t know what to say. She always made him dumbfounded. ¡°You knew?¡± Her voice was trembling, more than the ground that trembled because of Ios. She wanted him to deny it, but he nodded. ¡°How much? How much do you know? Do you know how we met? How you saved my life, do you remember what you whispered to me after you put the ring on my chest?¡± This time, she wanted him to nod. However, he shook his head. ¡°Oh.¡± She burst into tears. Her memories of Arman went past her mind. The times that had been difficult, but also happy thanks to him. She had had so many things to ask, as much as the things she wanted to tell him if they ever got to meet again. Why did he use the ring¡¯s great power on her instead of saving himself with it, and if he ever realized her feelings toward him? Really, even a whole night wouldn¡¯t have been enough for that. However, the only man who could give her the answers didn¡¯t have those memories. He even pretended to be ignorant when he knew he was Arman. Did he know how much she had been tormented? How much she med herself? The happier she became with him, the greater was the guilt she felt. Was it right for her to be so happy alone? How was Arman doing after giving her another chance? She was worried. Her heart had always been heavy with guilt as worrying about Arman after deciding to love Edgar felt like a betrayal. ¡°Since when... since when? Since when we first met?¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t know at first.¡± Edgar replied quickly while wiping her tears and nervously shifting. ¡°Then since when?¡± ¡°Since the day you wore that sexy nightdress.¡± Rubica blushed hard. It was an embarrassing memory to her, but to Edgar, it was an extremely powerful memory. He still clearly remembered how she looked, but he tried hard to not recall. The middle part of his pants was so hot that it was about to catch fire. ¡°But that¡¯s quite some time ago!¡± She was now really mad and couldn¡¯t control her anger. She grabbed both of his cheeks and pulled hard. Edgar had to endure the pain without making a sound. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me sooner? If you had told me earlier, I... I...¡± She wouldn¡¯t have hesitated so much to love him. She even wanted to love him earlier. She felt a thrill every time their eyes met, and she wanted his lips to linger more on her lips when they kissed. Oh, she had suffered so much, trying to ignore all that. ¡°Rubica, I¡¯m sorry.¡± He wiped the teardrops on her cheeks with his lips. He feared she might announce she would never see him again, but she didn¡¯t push him away. What had he done to such a kindhearted and innocent person? He regretted it, but it was toote. ¡°Why did you do it? Why did you hide it from me?¡± She couldn¡¯t even me him properly. He was sorry, but he knew he would make the same choice if it had been possible to go back in time. He was so selfish, but... ¡°I wanted your real love.¡± He confessed, putting her on his legs. Her body was warm and sweet. She was the one who taught him a human body could feel so warm and pleasant. Chapter 198

Chapter 198: Chapter 198

¡°By the time I realized it, I was already in love with you. And, I knew you would easily ept my heart if I told you about it. However, that wouldn¡¯t have been because you love me, it would have been because of Arman.¡± ¡°Edgar...¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t deny him as she had just been looking for Arman in his smile. ¡°I just wanted you to love me for who I am now.¡± There was a shadow on his face and Rubica gently stroked it. She had just been finding simrities between him and Arman, but now, she looked for the differences. His clear and moist skin, his high nose, his dark and ck hair, and his eyes that glistened arrogantly. They were different. Edgar and Arman were clearly different. ¡°Edgar, in the future a long time from now, I met you by the name of Arman. And the world had changed a lot by then. You were also different. A lot happened, but eventually, I got to love you.¡± He took her hand. His blue eyes that pierced into her soul asked, ¡°And what about who I am now?¡± ¡°I love you.¡± She said so without a second of hesitation. It was remarkable. She hade back in time to meet him again, the past Arman. The time, the situation, their status, they were all different, but she had gotten to love him. How did it happen? Unlike Arman, who was sweet and kind, Edgar was very arrogant, and he left the worst first impression on her. If such thing as fate existed, this was it. ¡°Then...¡± He gulped hard. He looked like he had something to say, but he kept hesitating and couldn¡¯t speak for some time. He inhaled a few times and spoke quickly. ¡°Do you love me more than Arman?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It matters a lot to me.¡± Sometimes, Rubica felt like he was a person hovering above the clouds, like when he professionally took care of things and when he made amazing inventions. But sometimes, she also felt like he was a stubborn little boy, such as now. ¡°But you two are the same person.¡± ¡°No, we¡¯re not! We might look like the same person to you, but not to me. I want you to love me so much that you won¡¯t ever think of Arman. I want you to think, ¡®I can¡¯t see why I loved such a fool when I had this jewel-like man here right next to me!¡¯¡± ¡°But you are Arman. Why would I regret loving Arman?¡± ¡°I want to be the only man you love.¡± Edgar pouted. He knew he was supposed to ask for her forgiveness but, for some reason, he felt likeining. He wanted to protest that he had suffered as much as she had, and he had been confused as he didn¡¯t know why his heart kept shaking. ¡°Edgar, but it all means I love only one man.¡± Rubica tried to calm him down in front of that weird paradox. She wasn¡¯t saying she loved Edgar more than Arman even though he was directly asking for it, and it hurt him, although he knew it was childish. ¡°So, is it me or Arman? Choose!¡± Still, he wanted an answer. ¡°You...¡± He had practically forced her to say it, but he smiled broadly at hearing that. His angel-like smile made her heart melt as well. Oh, she was so weak to handsome faces, and now she had the most good-looking guy on the whole continent? She had no choice but to lose to her husband for the rest of her life. ¡°I love you more than anyone else. I love only you.¡± He held her tightly and confessed his love once again. His scent felt stronger than usual. His masculine but delicate, soft scent. It always made her blush and breath fast. ¡°Um, Edgar.¡± She whispered and her breath tickled his ear. Her body was a little hotter than the usual. ¡®I guess my body is hotter as well.¡¯ He embraced her even tighter. He wanted to hold her without leaving any gap between them. He wanted to feel her warmth more. He wanted to... know everything about her. ¡°You know, something hard has been poking my legs for some time.¡± But he let her go, surprised by what she said. If his legs had been fine, he would have gotten up to go and hide in a corner of the cave. However, Rubica didn¡¯t go away. She came even closer. This time, she embraced him. ¡°Why is this thing not calming down?¡± Her voice shook. Oh, what am I saying? She buried her face in his chest, very embarrassed. ¡°That¡¯s because you are too pretty.¡± She smiled. It really didn¡¯t sound convincing whening from his mouth. She wanted to tell him if they stood together, people would be staring at him, not her. But then, he would get mad and say there must be something wrong with their eyes. ¡°What should we do to calm it down?¡± ¡°It will calm down soon when I stop seeing you.¡± He regretted saying it as soon as he said that. She probably wanted a bolder request instead of such a situation report. They had been a married couple for months, but they hadn¡¯t done it yet, so he wasn¡¯t immune to such things. How did the others do miracles of arousing each other and doing the thing? ¡°Edgar?¡± After a short silence, Rubica found the courage and called his name. She looked determined and his heart pounded. What was she about to say? He didn¡¯t want to have their first time in such a ce, so he was going to politely refuse, but he couldn¡¯t help looking forward to what she was about to say. The fact that she wanted him was always pleasant to hear. ¡°Yoooooour Graaaaaace!¡± However, the hot mood inside the cave was cooled down in an instant by a voice that called them from afar. Edgar had to try hard to not curse out loud. ¡°Where are youuuuuu?¡± The shadow of branches that covered the entrance of the cave had shortened. They could hear dogs barking. They were searching for them. Rubica quickly went away from Edgar. Oh, was it necessary for them toe now, right at this moment? ¡°Maybe we should get rid of all this.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, are you talking about this rope around my waist? There¡¯s no need for that, I can undo it with my hands.¡± However, he shook his head. ¡°No, I was talking about Carl. I know he hasn¡¯t been obeying your orders, and I don¡¯t like it. Stephen was able to abduct you because you were not guarded well. Maybe we should fire him.¡± ¡°What on earth are you talking about? Carl is always working so hard. He hase to save us.¡± Yes, right when the mood was right, faster than anyone else. He could havee a littleter. Edgar gritted his teeth. He had already forgotten how he had promised himself to refuse if she asked for something more than kisses. He med Carl for making him lose this precious opportunity. ¡°About your legs, we should say you¡¯ve been injured. And, um... you should really calm this down.¡± What if the search party found them before he managed to do so? What would they think? They had fallen down a cliff, they were in a damp cave, and the husband¡¯s legs had been wounded, and yet... her cheeks turned red again. Rubica stopped thinking there. ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± But he said no to her earnest plea and didn¡¯t even seem to be embarrassed. ¡°Then I¡¯ll go outside so that you can...¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t go.¡± She tried to leave, but he grabbed her hand. He couldn¡¯t endure being away from her even for a moment. He recalled the feeling of loss that had woken him up in the middle of the night, and it tormented him. ¡°But what would they think if they see you like this?¡± ¡°We¡¯re married. Why should we care?¡± ¡°What about your reputation?¡± ¡°Since when have I worried about my reputation?¡± Rubica bit her lips. He was right. He was an inventor who thought more of practicality than reputation. Actually, there was no need to be embarrassed so much. They were madly in love and that was something to be proud of. But with the situation being what it was, Rubica just couldn¡¯t bear to endure the look they would give her. ¡°Just stay with me, always.¡± She pushed his hand away to leave, but he pleaded. ¡°From now on, I want you toe to my office when you wake up in the morning.¡± His eyes that glistened in the sunlight were unusually unstable. Wouldn¡¯t a lost angel look like this? Rubica was impressed by her husband¡¯s beauty once again. ¡°I¡¯ll have them put a chair in there for you. You may knit or sew if you get bored. And you like Latte, right? It would be fine to bring in a dog to keep youpany.¡± He was desperate. He had missed her often as he worked in his office. If his two legs had been fine, he would have gotten up to disturb her while she was sewing or ask to take a walk together. They were married, but he had been missing her so much. As everything had been made clear now, he wanted topensate for the times they hadn¡¯t been together. More exactly, he wanted to bepensated. Chapter 199

Chapter 199: Chapter 199

¡°You don¡¯t have to do anything... just stay with me.¡± He quickly said while Rubica stared at him, saying nothing. There was nothing he could do if she didn¡¯t want toe, but he was ready to pay any kind of price if only he could always stay with her. ¡°Oh, Edgar.¡± The sounds of barking dogs and clopping hooves were already nearby. However, he didn¡¯t seem to hear them and just kept his eyes on her. What was she that he was so anxiously waiting for her answer? There wasn¡¯t anything he couldn¡¯t have, but he was pleading to her, an ordinary woman. It made her feel as if she was a queen, but what delighted her even more was the fact that he loved her. ¡°Of course, I shoulde to you. I¡¯m your wife.¡± He smiled brightly at hearing that. She had always thought he was an ice prince, but now he was smiling brightly like the sunlight. It made her heart almost stop. That was enough to be on the list of the top ten shockingly beautiful things she had seen. Of course, the first was when she met him. At the time, she had not been able to trust her own eyes and wondered how such a beautiful man could exist. ¡°Woof! Woof!¡± ¡°Oh, Latte!¡± Latte, the dog that totally liked Edgar, was the first to find them. As soon as it went into the cave, it lunged at Edgar and licked him hard. It made his passion calm down, which Rubica was grateful for. ¡°Your Graces!¡± Carl, who had traces of tears on his face, came right afterward. He hade on a horse with Moreau¡¯s trackers, following Minos¡¯s exnation. He had witnessed Ios¡¯s remarkable powers, so he believed Stephen would be caught and the duke and the duchess would be fine. However, what he saw in the cornfield was more than enough to freak him out. More than half of what used to be the biggest cornfield in ymore dukedom was gone, and there were huge rocks embedded here and there. Really, the dragon was much more powerful than he had imagined. Carl looked for Edgar and Rubica, impressed by what Ios had done, but then he found a fallen horse at the cliff and turned deadly pale. It seemed like something had happened, and maybe they had fallen down the cliff. He had lost his mind after that and could only remember bits and pieces. He tried to go down the cliff immediately, but Baron Moreau stopped him, asking if he wanted to die. Carl could only keep calling Edgar and Rubica as they went down taking a safer route. He prayed to the gods so much. ¡°Are, are you okay?¡± Carl saw Rubica first. Thankfully, she was a little tired, but she looked fine. Although he could see that there was nothing wrong with her, Carl still asked as he was half out of his mind. If she hadn¡¯t been his mistress, he would have put a hand on her to check if she was real. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m okay, Carl.¡± ¡°And what about His Grace...¡± Carl found Edgar slightlyter, but then he was shocked. Latte was licking his face so hard as if it was candy. The butler knew that Edgar was a person who would never let Latte show its affection that way. Maybe he had fallen down the cliff and now couldn¡¯t even move his arm! Judging from how he normally behaved, it was quite likely that he used his own body as a cushion to save Rubica. Carl fell in front of Edgar and wailed. ¡°Ugh, ugh!¡± He was so shocked that he couldn¡¯t even wail properly. ¡°I¡¯m fine, don¡¯t make a fuss.¡± Edgar frowned and said coldly, but Carl had every reason to misunderstand. The cliff was tall, and it was a miracle they were still alive. Edgar sounded just as usual and Rubica was calm, so Carl slowly started toe back to his senses. ¡°Your Grace, what about your legs?¡± ¡°They¡¯ll be fine when the sun goes down.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve checked. His muscles and nerves are fine.¡± The duke¡¯s pants had been ripped apart and now it could only cover his middle part. It seemed like Rubica had checked him as soon as they fell from the cliff. Carl was relieved, but he was worried at the same time. ¡°Um, have you...¡± ¡°I know what it is.¡± The duke, who had been dying in revealing the truth to her, had finally confessed everything. Carl didn¡¯t know how much he had revealed, but as he had expected, Rubica sounded like she had decided to ept everything. Although the duke had wasted all that precious time, not knowing how considerate she was. It turned out what Stephen had done was all for the better. ¡°Thank you, Your Grace.¡± Carl wanted to ask her to take good care of Edgar, but he knew he didn¡¯t deserve to say it. ¡°Your Grace!¡± Baron Moreau and his trackers also arrived at the cave. As soon as Edgar saw the baron, he asked what time it was. Moreau quickly took out a clock, looked at it, and replied, ¡°It¡¯s one in the afternoon.¡± ¡°It¡¯s toote! You should have arrived here at least by noon. How are you going to catch Stephen if you are so slow?¡± ¡°Oh, um, it¡¯s, it¡¯s all my fault.¡± The duke was as strict as usual. Baron Moreau wanted to say that finding the way down the cliff had taken some time, but he gulped and asked for forgiveness as he knew saying that would only end up with him getting scolded for not memorizing all the maps of the ymore dukedom. ¡°Lord Moreau, we need a carriage.¡± The baron looked at Edgar after hearing Carl¡¯s request. He looked calm and there was no wound he could see, but it seemed like he couldn¡¯t stand up. It was good that he had suffered only that much after falling from the cliff. He turned as pale as Carl had been when he first found Edgar and said he would immediately get a carriage and a doctor. ¡°There¡¯s no need to waste time. The trip home will take less than two hours, so I will meet my doctor there.¡± ¡°Oh, um...¡± Edgar was calcting the time needed for the journey home by using the standards of a mana stone carriage. The baron hesitated for some time and said, ¡°Your Grace, you are nning to go back on a mana stone carriage.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Edgar narrowed his eyes. Judging from the baron¡¯s reaction, it seemed like he hadn¡¯t prepared one. Maybe it was only right as he had been surprised by the news that reached him in the middle of the night and came with his search party. However, Edgar couldn¡¯t help getting angry at thinking Rubica, who had suffered so muchst night, had to go on an ordinary carriage. Horse carriages were bumpier than mana stone carriages even if they had cushiony seats. ¡°How could you forget to prepare that much?¡± Thanks to his idiotic retainer, he was being humiliated in front of his wife. He didn¡¯t mind people getting to hear about how mad he was, but this embarrassed him. His voice was enough to freeze the entire world, and it gave chills to the baron. He had been hoping that he might be rewarded for doing this important mission well, but now he was about to be excluded from the list of nobles. ¡°Forgive me, Your Grace! I will have them bring a mana stone carriage right away!¡± ¡°Are you a fool?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°If you tell them now, the carriage will arrive here by tomorrow morning.¡± The baron looked so dumb that a fire started burning in Edgar¡¯s heart. His guard kidnapped his wife while his butler ignored her and made him his top priority. Moreover, the man who he thought to be clever and assigned a job was now blowing his opportunity away. ¡°Forget about it. Is there any ce my wife can rest nearby?¡± ¡°Nearby? Um...¡± The baron couldn¡¯t say anything, so Carl spoke instead. ¡°There is a presbytery nearby. It is too small for Her Grace to rest, but at least you will be able to take a bath and have a meal. I will tell them to prepare clothes for her.¡± Carl took a cape from a knight who was waiting outside and handed it to Rubica. She had been quite embarrassed to be in her nightdress, so she thanked Carl and took the cape. Edgar had been really mad at himst night, but his anger faded a little when seeing him take care of Rubica well. ¡°Then we should go there.¡± ¡°As you wish, Your Grace.¡± The search party started to move fast when the order was given. They sent a messenger ahead to the presbytery and went to get a carriage for the duke and the duchess. They were all thinking Edgar had been wounded so severely that he couldn¡¯t walk, so there was no need to make an excuse about his condition. Chapter 200

Chapter 200: Chapter 200

¡°Your Graces, please eat.¡± In the meantime, Carl got two bowls of warm corn soup from a farmer¡¯s house nearby. As soon as Rubica smelled it, she realized she was famished. She had ridden a horse all night, fallen down from a cliff, and taken Edgar to the cave. She just hadn¡¯t been able to feel it as she was so tense, but she started to devour the soup as soon as she received a spoon. Edgar happily looked at her, seeing her eat was more than enough to make him full. At least Carl knew what he was supposed to do as the butler. Therefore, Edgar decided to let him keep his job, but only after making him promise to not stop him likest night ever again. ¡°Have some more.¡± He handed her his portion of the soup when she finished hers. ¡°But this is for you.¡± She said so, but she couldn¡¯t take her eyes off the soup. One bowl wasn¡¯t enough, of course. ¡°I ate a lot before I came here.¡± Of course, he was lying. Who on earth would eat in the middle of the night, just before leaving to chase kidnappers? Rubica didn¡¯t seem to trust him, either. ¡°Your Grace, I made sure he left with a full belly before he came here. Please, eat.¡± But then, Carl joined in Edgar¡¯s lie, so Rubica took Edgar¡¯s bowl and started to eat. Edgar decided to give the butler a bonus as soon as he got home. Really, he was good at his job. After having two bowls of corn soup, Rubica¡¯s was full. She rubbed her full belly and looked around. The branches which she used to cover the entrance of the cave had already been removed. Moreover, the members of the search party who guarded the entrance looked very tense, but she didn¡¯t recognize most of them. ¡°They¡¯re not our guard knights.¡± As they had been trained in searching and tracking, they were dressed in ck, so they looked very different from ymore¡¯s knights who wore splendid armors. ¡°I prepared them in advance. They¡¯re a search party specialized in tracking.¡± ¡°You prepared a search party?¡± ¡°You... warned me about Stephen. So, I prepared them just in case.¡± ¡°What do you mean I warned you?¡± Rubica blinked. As far as she could recall, she had never warned him about Stephen. She didn¡¯t even dream that he was a spy. ¡°Oh!¡± She then recalled what she had said, thinking Stephen loved Edgar. Oh, how did she misunderstand so much a spy? Now she couldn¡¯t me Ann who thought Rubica was absolutely pregnant, and it was so embarrassing that her cheeks turned red. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing.¡± She quickly dismissed it, but he raised an eyebrow. ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Who made you blush? Is it Stephen?¡± He was a really scary man. How could he know she was blushing because of Stephen? However, what he said next waspletely absurd, which didn¡¯t match his serious looks. ¡°To think about it, you always cared about him. You nced at him, you talked to him, and yes, you even smiled at him.¡± ¡°I smiled at him? When?¡± ¡°On the day you said you wanted to see the knights train on the training ground.¡± That had been a long time ago, so she couldn¡¯t remember what she had done that day. However, Edgar had been so mad that he even gritted his teeth. And, although he was fine by the end of the day, he still was in a bad mood. He even had a wound on his hand. ¡®Is he jealous?¡¯ She tried to think about it and realized he always frowned hard when she smiled at others orplimented others. She thought her husband wasn¡¯t the type of person who cared about those things as he always received too much attention and affection, but it looked like he was much more jealous than she thought. ¡°Oh! That smashing sound I heard that day. Was it your doing?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Edgar raised his chin high as he replied. He had been so angry whenever Rubica took nces at Stephen¡¯s muscles. Maybe it was her taste. He was confident that his face was way more handsome than any man¡¯s, but there existed many people and many tastes. Some women focused more on height, body shape, and muscles than on the face. Edgar had even had Carl bring him some weights to do weightlifting in secret in his office. Actually, he started to exclude Stephen from the guard duty before Rubica even asked for it. When thinking the knight was his wife¡¯s type, even looking at him made him lose appetite. If only he could, he wanted to get rid of every good-looking man near her. ¡°Are you a fool? Why would I blush because of the man who abducted me and made you suffer? I... do have a weak spot for beautiful faces, but not that much!¡± Edgar was called a fool for the first time in his life. Nevertheless, his jealousy didn¡¯t stop there. ¡°Then who was it about?¡± ¡°It¡¯s...¡± Rubica almost said because she was ashamed of herself for thinking Stephen loved Edgar, but then she quickly turned. She knew it would only make Edgar feel triumphant and say, ¡®So you did blush because of Stephen after all!¡¯ He would also get shocked for her thinking so. ¡°Because of you, of course.¡± ¡°It¡¯s because of me?¡± His anger faded surprisingly fast, and his voice had a strange expectation to it instead. Rubica thought hard toe up with an excuse. ¡°I just said that as a matter-of-fact, but you prepared a search party, so I was surprised and impressed, thinking you were really capable...¡± She nced at him and could see he was already more than half bought. How could he believe her so easily without any doubt? Was he really the smartest man on the continent? ¡°I just thought you were really great.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Rubica was just saying that, but he smiled broadly. His smile always looked beautiful. No artist would be able to draw that smile properly. She wanted to see it more, so she started to add otherpliments. ¡°Oh, yes. And, the way you gave orders to the baron looked remarkable. How did you know where we were, how long it would take for them toe, and how many hours it would take for us to go back on a mana stone carriage? You are really smart, and you were so charismatic as you ordered your men, and I was d that such a man is my husband...¡± ¡°Haha?¡± The men who were guarding the cave were shocked. They had never seen the dukeugh out loud like that. He mostly frowned, was irritated, sighed and even shuddered at their foolishness. It even made the goosebumps, which they received because of witnessing all their love fights during the guard duty, disappear. On the other hand, Carl remained calm. ¡®I guess Baron Moreau will not be punished.¡¯ Edgar was normally a strict master who was hard to serve, but he was endlessly merciful when it came to his wife. He seemed to have forgotten about how he had been mad about the search party that had arrived an hourter. ¡°I thought you were only good at making weapons...¡± ¡°I am not that good at handling my men. They just came an hourte. They really need to be disciplined.¡± He was even humble, and Carl was shocked to hear that. ¡°But they came immediately after getting your order in the middle of the night. I think they are disciplined as much as the border guards in this kingdom.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Edgar thought he had been humiliated, but now he was feeling so good. He wanted to show Rubica more about how capable he was. ¡°Carl, tell Baron Moreau to send trackers to chase Stephen. He mustn¡¯t have gone far, he left on a tired horse ready to copse.¡± Edgar sounded so confident that Carl couldn¡¯t tell him the baron had already done that. Then, he would be punished for all the hard work he had done overnight. He didn¡¯t want to destroy his own career. He was an opportunist, but he was quite good at his job. ¡°I will tell him so.¡± ¡°And, he will probably go to the northeast.¡± ¡°Why do you think so?¡± Edgar exined about Stephen¡¯s twin he had seen and how he had been dressed. They could easily narrow down Stephen¡¯s possible birthce, which narrowed down his possible escape route to three, four options. Rubica, who had been listening with interests, added, ¡°I think he went to Amanun...¡± ¡°What makes you think so?¡± Amanun was the kingdom she thought he had conspired with, betraying his own kingdom. However, she just smiled awkwardly instead of exining. There were just too many ears listening. Thankfully, Edgar soon realized what her smile meant. ¡°I also think Amanun is the most likely.¡± He spoke for her and then gave some instructions to Carl. When he did that, he felt sharper than usual, colder like he had been when they first met. Rubica had exaggerated a little to make him feel better, but she had to admit he was quite awesome. Chapter 201

Chapter 201: Chapter 201

¡°Ios must have gone back to his territory to rest,pletely exhausted.¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what happened...¡± Edgar wanted to protest that Rubica was caring too much about Ios, but then, Baron Moreau came back with a carriage. It was quite an expensive carriage drawn by four horses. It wasn¡¯t like they could stay in a cave forever, so Edgar got help to get on the carriage. Rubica followed him and smiled happily as soon as she sat down. ¡®Ah, sofy.¡¯ She could finally rx. Where on earth did they get this carriage from? She thought Baron Moreau was more capable than he looked. However, Edgar scolded him. ¡°This cushion isn¡¯t filled with goose feathers, and this carpet on the floor doesn¡¯t seem to be made of wool.¡± ¡°It was the best carriage we could find. Is it very ufortable?¡± ¡°My wife always uses the best even if we are near the border of the dukedom-¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t bear to hear that anymore and covered his mouth. ¡°Thank you so much for getting such a nice carriage.¡± Then, she looked at Carl who read what she meant by it, so he closed the door and started the carriage. Thanks to the duchess, the baron wasn¡¯t scolded for all his hard work. Edgar was strict, as much as he was capable, so his men were always getting scolded even after working hard. ymore¡¯s engineers who looked up to him greatly were happy to be scolded by him, but his retainers were not. Carl was therefore d when thinking that Rubica would fix Edgar¡¯s ws from now on. ¡°This is not our mansion or the nobles¡¯ ce, this is the farmers¡¯ area. Do you know how hard it must have been to find a carriage this good? You shouldn¡¯t be mad at him like that.¡± And as Carl had expected, Edgar was scolded a lot by Rubica on their way. Of course, he didn¡¯t know why he was being scolded as he just wanted her to always use the best of the best. Moreover, it was only right to scold his men who were not doing their job properly. ¡°You¡¯re not going to do that next time, right?¡± However, he just couldn¡¯t say no to her. His wall of pride that others couldn¡¯t even think of going over was crumbling down so easily. ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Rubica liked the answer and smiled. If only he could keep seeing that warm smile, Edgar would evenpliment Ios by saying that he had never seen a smart dragon like him. ¡°We will reach the presbytery soon.¡± Each time the carriage rattled, Edgar frowned harder. He had said that Rubica had to use only the best, but he was the person who used only the best items till now. Therefore, he didn¡¯t know what to do. He had been inside an ordinary carriage like this less than ten times throughout his entire life. Rubica pitied him and found a handkerchief in a drawer to wipe his sweat. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re not. Don¡¯t insist.¡± Rubica lightly subdued his bluffs and moved her hand. It made Edgar feel much better. ¡°You seem to be used to this. And, you also looked used to helping others when you supported me earlier. It surprised me.¡± ¡°I worked at the abbey. I learned how to take care of patients there.¡± ording to the report about her which he had received before they got married, she never worked at an abbey, so she must be talking about an experience from herst life. Edgar didn¡¯t hold back his curiosity and asked, ¡°And why did you work at an abbey?¡± ¡°There was a war. I ran to the south, looking for a ce to live, and then I settled at the abbey. It was much safer there. They told me I had to work if I wanted to stay, and I had nowhere else to go, so I chose to work there. I could learn a lot, so I liked it.¡± ¡°What about your family?¡± ¡°They died in the bombing as soon as the war broke out.¡± She tried to sound as fine as she possibly could. Even though she still had the pain and shock she had received at that time, Ang was now studying at Aron¡¯s Academy, and her parents were fine as well although she still hated them. ¡°Was it because of Ste?¡± ¡°Yes...¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not your fault.¡± She shook her head. In the past, she believed that he had betrayed and sold his country for his own good. However, after getting to know him, she realized that couldn¡¯t be what happened. And thinking about it, the rumor itself was wrong. If he had been working with another country, why was he abducted? ¡°When I was being dragged by Stephen, I thought it was good that it was me. If it had been you... it would have driven me crazy.¡± Even thinking about it horrified her, especially so as she knew the future. She had thought it would be better for her to die now if she only could stop the war by doing so. She looked like she was about to cry, and it hurt Edgar. He wanted to say he had been crazy until he found her again. How would he have lived the rest of his life without her? If Stephen had asked for Ste¡¯s blueprint in exchange for her life, he wouldn¡¯t have hesitated to give all the information he had. And, if he had done that, she would have refused to see him ever again. ¡°Then when did you meet me? While you were working at the abbey?¡± He changed the topic to lighten the mood. She blushed and nodded, which looked extremely cute. ¡®Shit.¡¯ That was the reason why he couldn¡¯t help getting jealous. He had to try hard to not speak sharply. ¡°Was I good-looking then?¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, no. You were just in-looking.¡± Rubica pouted, a little offended. ¡°I do like pretty faces, but I do not fall in love because of beauty.¡± She was right. Even though she had looked at him with interest when they first met, she had hated him. It was a miracle that she was now at his side, wiping his sweat. How did he melt her frozen heart? Even Edgar himself didn¡¯t know. ¡°I think... your appearance had changed because of tortures. Maybe that was when you were blinded.¡± After that, she told him briefly about the rumors about him which she had heard in her previous lie. Most of them made no sense that he couldn¡¯t evenugh at them, but he could easily guess what must have happened. ¡°Stephen must have waited for me to finish designing Ste and kidnapped me.¡± Everything had happened exactly the time he was supposed to finish the blueprint. They probably had kidnapped him and blinded him so that he wouldn¡¯t be able to make any weapon deadlier than Ste. Stephen had been on it all along... ¡°We should give up on Ste.¡± She demanded, but he couldn¡¯t easily say yes. She, however, couldn¡¯t understand why he was hesitating. Seritos was a kingdom that survived by selling weapons, but even this country wasn¡¯t ready for a weapon that could kill thousands in just one time. ¡°We don¡¯t have to make it, this kingdom can survive without it.¡± ¡°There isn¡¯t... much mana stone left in the Seritos Mountains.¡± He had no choice but to reveal the secret he had been hiding with the king, and she was utterly shocked to hear the unexpected news. Seritos couldn¡¯t survive without mana stones. As the kingdom heavily depended on it, it would immediately fall without it. ¡°I thought of Ste to get the Golden Land. I thought that the weapon was needed.¡± ¡°But do we really need Ste to fight Ios?¡± She had every reason to ask the question. Ios was a fool that trusted his own strength too much. Stephen had even seeded in escaping from him. However, that had been possible only because it had been a short fight. Tactics were not enough to win a war. Not every soldier could be as good as Stephen. The sandstorm and rain of rocks which Ios had summoned had been enough to kill thousands. ¡°That dragon is too stupid that he has to take it to the end.¡± ¡°But he seemed to be afraid of you, a nymph.¡± Rubica exined how Ios hade to her for her roses. Ios had even more remarkable powers than Edgar had expected, like changing form and stopping time. He frowned hard at the part about how Rubica had managed to fool the dragon and escape danger. It was good that Ios was surprisingly stupid, but if he had been only just a bit smarter, her life would have been in danger. ¡°If such a thing happens again, tell me first.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°And don¡¯t get yourself involved in dangerous matters to save me.¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t do that either.¡± He frowned even harder at hearing that unexpected answer. He couldn¡¯t understand what Rubica was saying for a moment. ¡°No, I can¡¯t promise you that.¡± ¡°Then neither can I. I¡¯m supposed to do nothing even if you are in danger? How am I supposed to do that?¡± Chapter 202

Chapter 202: Chapter 202

Rubica wasining. The woman who was much shorter than Edgar and couldn¡¯t even lift a heavy object was indirectly saying she would do anything to protect him. Edgar was delighted to hear it, but he solemnly shook his head. ¡°I have well-trained guards. You can give orders to them, so do not try to do it yourself.¡± ¡°But the man who abducted you was the captain of those guards.¡± Now he had nothing to say. He wanted to exclude her from dangerous and difficult matters, but she wasn¡¯t cooperating. ¡°But you can¡¯t do it.¡± Ever since he turned three years old, he had never insisted without logic by his side. However, in the end, he had no choice but to just insist. Rubica held her breath for a moment, and then she replied, stroking his hair. ¡°Okay.¡± She seemed to be trying to notugh. As Edgar had just forced her to say it, there was no guarantee she would keep the promise. Nevertheless, it relieved him at least a little. ¡°I will make you happy as much as you have suffered.¡± The story of her previous life was painful even when hearing about it. Edgar could now understand why Arman had picked the flowers for her instead of saying he loved her. He hadn¡¯t been able to say it because he had a conscience. ¡°You never made me suffer.¡± Rubica tried to ignore his sad look and lightly pinched his cheek. Her words were so kind that they made tears swell up in his eyes. He could feel only sweetness at his pinched cheek. He knew anything would feel like the fruit of heaven as long as she was with him. *** The presbytery had a little orphanage, so there were a few children waiting for them when they arrived. The expensive carriage and the trackers were enough to impress them. A priest told them to go back to their rooms, but they wanted to stay. One of them even came to Rubica and grabbed her cape. ¡°Your Grace, please forgive her.¡± The priest turned pale and quickly made the child go away. Rubica wanted to say it was fine, but she knew it would only make the children even harder to control, so she didn¡¯t. Edgar frowned to see it wasn¡¯t what he had thought. Unlike her, he had nevere to such a ce. He wanted to confront Baron Moreau and ask if this was really the nicest ce nearby. ¡°This ce is really neat. It must be really hard to keep it this clean...¡± ¡°Thank you, Your Grace.¡± However, he couldn¡¯t say his thoughts out loud as Rubica wasplimenting the presbytery. Judging from her expression, she really meant it. He wouldn¡¯t dare to criticize the ce she wasplimenting. ¡°Please, this way.¡± A priest led them to a room where a wooden bed for two and a bath full of warm water were waiting. Carl helped Edgar lie down on the bed, but his face waspletely frozen. He seemed like he was so shocked that he had forgotten to frown. He had neverid on such a small and hard bed before. ¡°Where should I go now?¡± ¡°Excuse me, Your Grace?¡± The priest¡¯s eyes widened. Rubica calmly exined why she needed another room. ¡°I must get changed, and I also need to take a bath...¡± ¡°Oh, you can take a bath here.¡± Rubica was puzzled, not able to understand what the priest was saying, but then a child who looked to be about ten years old brought a simple dress and soap for her. She took it instinctively. ¡°None of us know how to serve you while you bathe... so please, restfortably.¡± The priestpletely misunderstood Rubica¡¯s discontent face, apologized, and went away. Carl nced at them, and then he also went away, making all kinds of excuses. Edgar didn¡¯t try to hold back a snicker. Rubica¡¯s shocked face turned white, then red, and then blue. Edgar started tough out loud as if it was the funniest thing in the world. ¡°Oh, I really like this ce.¡± He managed to stopughing and spoke slowly. It was hard to believe he had been shocked by the hard bed only a minute ago. He scanned her from the head to the toes. She had to take her dress off to take a bath, and she was so sweaty. Of course, the presbytery had nothing she could use to block his view. On the other hand, Rubica was experiencing the biggest crisis of their marriage. Of course, he was her husband, but... She had never shown him her naked body. She wanted to call the priest again and ask for another room. However, they were a married couple who were famous for their love. No one would believe her if she said she was too embarrassed to take a bath with him watching. She had no other choice and raised her head high while ordering Edgar, ¡°Look away.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡± There came his devilish smile again. ¡°It¡¯s nothing to be ashamed of. We¡¯re married.¡± He sounded like he was soothing a child, and she didn¡¯t like it. She was so embarrassed, but he was perfectly fine. ¡®Huh.¡¯ However, he was the one who had been aroused just by looking at her. She gotpetitive and lifted her chin. ¡°Then be my guest and keep looking.¡± She had nothing to be afraid of as he couldn¡¯t move his legs. Yes, they were going to live together as a true married couple from now on. She couldn¡¯t be afraid of this much. Maybe someday, they would be okay with seeing each other¡¯s naked bodies. ¡®Plus, he has already seen me in that sexy nightdress.¡¯ The bathtub¡¯s hot water tempted her. She didn¡¯t want to stay in her sweaty nightdress any longer. She started to take her clothes off, telling herself there was no Edgar in front of her now. ¡°Stop!¡± He yelled after she took off the cape. He was the one who was weak to this stuff, after all. And then, he was the one who smiled leisurely and said he really liked it here? Rubica didn¡¯t hesitate to take all her clothes off. In the end, Edgar couldn¡¯t endure it and buried his face in his pillow. Rubica went into the bathtub with arge sound on purpose. His shoulders flinched every time she poured water on her body. She had forgotten because he always had this seducing scent that enchanted women, but he was new to this as much as she was. Plus, he had no choice but to lie on the bed right now. He was supposed to be asking for her mercy, but he dared to smile like a devil... ¡°Edgar, the water is so warm. I wish you could take a bath with me... maybe we should bathe together when we get home.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t say that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing to be ashamed of. We¡¯re married, after all.¡± He moaned with his back turned to her. Sheughed at seeding in her small revenge. Herughter tickled his ears. He wanted to jump to his feet and tell her to do something she would be embarrassed about forever, but his legs wouldn¡¯t even budge. He med her for endlessly tempting him. Rubica didn¡¯t know what was going on in his mind. She took her time to bathe and wore a dress prepared by the priests. It wasn¡¯t as splendid as her own dresses, but it was a light dress made of linen that smelled pleasantly. She hadn¡¯t seen such a simple dress for a long time, and it brought back memories. ¡°Edgar.¡± She went to the bed and called him. She was going to kiss his cheek and apologize for making fun of him. However, he didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°I¡¯m dressed now.¡± She added, thinking he thought she was still naked, but his back didn¡¯t move. ¡®Is he very mad?¡¯ Maybe she had taken it too far. Maybe she had crossed the line as he was too weak to her. He had to be suffering a lot because of his cursed legs, and she added more trouble to it. ¡°Um, Edgar, I¡¯m sorry...¡± Rubica put a hand on his shoulder, apologizing. But then, a great force snatched her wrist and pulled. When she realized what happened, she could see his smile looking down on her. She now had her back on the bed and could feel his weight pressing on her. She had never felt so much pressure. Her body became hot as if she had had the flu. ¡°Do you know what you have done?¡± He whispered as he traced her chin with his finger. His red lips were very tempting. She couldn¡¯t take her eyes off them even though she kept thinking she shouldn¡¯t. ¡°Why did you make me hot like that? You know how much I¡¯m mad for you.¡± He lightly nibbled her ear, and a thill went up to her back. She closed her eyes. ¡°Rubica.¡± He put his lips right on her ear and whispered. She was getting goosebumps, but was it because of his hot breath, or the desire his voice was soaked with? She didn¡¯t know. Chapter 203

Chapter 203: Chapter 203

¡°You do know I want you, right?¡± Of course, she did. She knew it rather too well, but she closed her eyes and shut her mouth tightly like a m. Edgar was very eager, but he knew she was nervous. Just like she could read his thoughts between the small movements of his face muscles, he could tell what she was thinking. ¡°What about you? You don¡¯t want me?¡± He caressed her shoulder as she opened her eyes. Her eyes were always so pure, unlike his eyes that were now full of desire. ¡°I do.¡± His heart beat fast. How could she say it so innocently? She couldn¡¯t answer the question if she knew he wanted her, but she didn¡¯t hesitate to say yes when asked whether she wanted him. It made him feel even hotter. ¡°You...¡± His hand slowly went down from her shoulder. ¡°Really drive me crazy.¡± Rubica covered her mouth to avoid screaming at the thrill she felt under her corbone. She wasn¡¯t immune to a hand touching what was under it. She didn¡¯t know how to react to the sensation she was feeling for the first time. ¡°Are you afraid?¡± However, she shook her head to his question. If it had been anyone else, she would have cried in shock and embarrassment. But it totally felt different when it was him. She was just surprised as it was her first time. ¡°May I proceed?¡± She nodded. She was honest, although she was embarrassed, and it was so lovely. She never backed off even when she was scared, and it was one of the things that made her who she was. ¡°Rubica.¡± Moreover, Edgar himself knew he was a coward who would always follow his principles, although that would surprise many. ¡°I want you too. But... I will not do it in a ce like this.¡± However, his hands were still caressing her. Her red cheeks and heavy breath didn¡¯t let him stop. His body already knew what it was craving for, and it refused to be controlled by his reason. He was hoping she would push him away at this point. He could easily stop if only she only said no. Even his brain couldn¡¯t control his body, but it followed her orders and her orders alone. ¡°Ed... gar.¡± She called his name. His eyes were moist, not with tears but with desire. ¡°Where we are doesn¡¯t matter, we love each other.¡± Really, she never gave the answer he anticipated. ¡°No.¡± He urgently whispered, ¡°You must stop me.¡± He said so, but his body couldn¡¯t hide its excitement. He was still a youth, after all. If only she wanted, he was ready to do anything no matter where they were. But neither he nor she had any experience in this, and that was a problem. Their first time was precious to him as much as it was to her, and he wanted to satisfy the woman he loved. ¡°Edgar.¡± She gently stroked his cheek. She knew what he feared and what he was worried about. She was afraid and worried as well. Who on earth wouldn¡¯t be afraid to take the first step into the unknown? ¡°Then you shouldn¡¯t do this to me.¡± He smiled bitterly, their bodies still pressed together. None of them wanted to go away. ¡°This is a punishment for teasing me earlier. Plus, I can¡¯t even move my legs now.¡± ¡°But... you don¡¯t need to move your legs to do it.¡± She countered, still dazed with passion. He was trying to tease her, but of course, he ended up teasing himself. He couldn¡¯t restrain himself anymore and passionately kissed her. However, it didn¡¯t let him go down. His reason, that had been controlling him, was about to snap. When she was out of breath, his lips went away. She breathed in the air, but he didn¡¯t seem to be short of breath at all. Instead, he was frowning. ¡°Something¡¯sing.¡± A strange feeling and pressure disturbed his nerves. He could sense a powerful being was approaching. Was something about to happen? He sat up on the bed and asked Rubica to bring him the gun in his jacket¡¯s pocket. ¡°Run away if anything happens.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t run away.¡± ¡°Then stay right next to me.¡± He pointed the gun at the door and waited. However, what was mmed open was not the door but the window. It surprised them so much that Edgar almost fired the gun. ¡°There you are. I had to look for you for a long time.¡± They heard Ios¡¯s voice, and then two men were thrown inside through the opened window. Their faces were full of bruises and their bodies were swollen, so it was hard to know who they were. Soon Minos was thrown after them. The small goblin rolled on the floor and then got to his feet as if he had done this quite often. ¡°Oh, we must have interrupted your goof time together.¡± Minos smiled sheepishly at seeing Rubica and Edgar together on the bed. Rubica blushed and yelled, quickly moving slightly away. ¡°It¡¯s not like that!¡± ¡°Yes, they don¡¯t look like they¡¯ve been having a good time.¡± Ios agreed with her as he came through the window. Edgar¡¯s face changed color at seeing him, which made Minos realize he was never going to win the duke¡¯s favor. ¡°Did you leave us after we fell from the cliff to go after them?¡± ¡°These two little rats were so good at escaping, I had to set some traps to capture them. It took some time.¡± Ios proudly said. He had failed as he attacked without any thinking, but he thought it was all because his games were so small. How could he be so full of himself? Was it because he wasn¡¯t smart enough to reflect on himself? ¡°I¡¯m so embarrassed that I thought so hard on how to beat you.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t beat me. Don¡¯t you dare provoke me, or even your wife won¡¯t be able to save you.¡± That answer was so foolish that Edgar couldn¡¯t evenugh at him. Earlier, he had been afraid, but although Ios was strong, he was only as smart as a three-year-old child. ¡°Anyway, thank you for saving us earlier.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± They thought they had been able to survive the fall thanks to Ios¡¯s power which he had over thend, but he asked back as if he didn¡¯t know what Edgar was talking about. ¡°Then you went to catch Stephen, not caring about us at all?¡± ¡°Why would I ever worry about you when you have your wife? You should know what kind of game these men and your wife were ying, and then you will bow to thank me.¡± Ios still thought Stephen and Rubica were ying some kind of game that included abducting and teasing each other. Edgar didn¡¯t like the word ¡®game¡¯ very much, but talking to the stupid dragon made him feel like he was bing a fool himself, so he didn¡¯t ask. It would be better to ask Minoster. ¡°Then, it wasn¡¯t you who softened the ground?¡± Ios shrugged as if he couldn¡¯t see why Edgar was asking. Then, he smiled mischievously to Rubica. Now that he brought evidence of her adultery, she had to give Ios what he wanted. Thinking he was toying with a nymph made him feel like he was the smartest being of the whole world, which felt quite good. ¡°Anyway, thank you for capturing them, and also for beating them up that hard.¡± ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t beat them up. One of Minos¡¯s trap did that to them.¡± What kind of a trap had it been that they looked more like two bags of meat than humans? Maybe Minos, who was smiling politely, was the really scary one. Edgar called Carl to take care of the captured. ¡°Oh my, who are they?¡± ¡°Ios has captured and brought Stephen.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Lord Ios, not just Ios! You can¡¯t be that rude even if you¡¯re a nymph¡¯s husband!¡± Edgar clenched his teeth. Really, that dragon had been irritating him a lot. ¡°I call everyone like that. My only exception is the king.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m far greater and mightier than that king! He¡¯s only a human!¡± No creature was greater than Ios, except for nymphs. He insisted, even though he couldn¡¯t recognize the nymph right in front of his eyes. ¡°Hey, you should do something about this. I tried to be nice to him, but he keeps being rude.¡± Ios even ran to Rubica to tell on Edgar. He looked like he was asking his older sister to scold their spoiled youngest brother. He was a really strange dragon. How would he change if he ever got to find out Rubica was only a human? It was good that he was so stupidly na?ve and easy to fool. ¡°But husband and wife are equals.¡± ¡°What?¡± Ios¡¯s face turned red. Edgar recalled how she had protested about the way he talked to her when they first met and smiled. He liked her for being who she was, even in front of the creature that was capable of doing anything when offended. Even he didn¡¯t have that much courage. ¡°You¡¯re equal to a man? That makes no sense!¡± ¡°It is written so in Hue¡¯s holy book.¡± ¡°Oh, please!¡± Ios ruffled his hair and protested, but then he shut his mouth, not able to find anything more to say. Chapter 204

Chapter 204: Chapter 204

¡°Um, as this room is small, I will have Stephen tied and moved to a different ce. I don¡¯t think he will be able to escape as he is more than half dead.¡± ¡°Nevertheless, do not lower your guard. He has been hiding his true purpose all this time.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. If he manages to escape, I¡¯ll immediately notice.¡± Ios said, picking his ears. Stephen was evidence that would let him get some advantages when making a deal with the nymph. He had already taken the necessary measures. ¡°Really? That¡¯s impressive.¡± Edgar looked at him in doubt, but Carl hadn¡¯t been there to witness the fight between him and Stephen, so he was genuinely impressed, which made the dragon feel good. ¡°I guess humans are not that bad, except that you cut flowers.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t like flowers being cut?¡± ¡°Yes. Flowers are the most beautiful when they are where they should be, in nature.¡± Edgar chimed in to stop the conversation from getting sideways. ¡°Carl, let Baron Moreau know that we already have Stephen.¡± ¡°Of course, so that the search party will not work hard for nothing.¡± Carl immediately knew what to do. He was a well-trained butler, and he well knew what he should do, even in this confusing situation. First, he had some men move Stephen to a small room in the presbytery, then he asked a priest to watch over him. ¡°He¡¯s breathing. He seems to be unconscious, probably because of some drug, but he will make it.¡± ¡°He will make it?¡± ¡°Yes, the important organs were not hurt. Of course, it doesn¡¯t mean that it¡¯s not been painful to him.¡± The priest almost forgot his upation and asked if there was a person who knew how to beat a man so cleverly. Anyway, he decided to heal Stephen as he had vowed to the gods to help everyone in need. ¡°He¡¯s evil, he might do anything if he wakes up.¡± ¡°I will just give him the antidote and heal him first.¡± Then, Carl informed Baron Moreau who was sad and disappointed at hearing the spy had been captured. He wanted to see the man who had brought Stephen, which gave some trouble to Carl. Fortunately, the baron went away when he told him the duke had ordered to not let anyonee in. After that, Carl asked him to acquire various goods, some of which he didn¡¯t even need, to make him forget all about it. ¡®We¡¯ve asked them to send ymore¡¯s doctor with carriages, so we won¡¯t have to meet the town doctor.¡¯ This could be a good opportunity to put an end to Rubica¡¯s fake pregnancy. They couldn¡¯t announce the fact that Stephen was a spy from Amanun. Then, the king would be in trouble as he had sent the man as Edgar¡¯s guard personally. There were those who wanted to weaken the king¡¯s power, and they would never cease to talk about it. That wasn¡¯t what Edgar wanted. Carl thought it would be better to say Stephen kidnapped the pregnant duchess to ask for a ransom. They could say the duchess was greatly shocked and miscarried the baby, and they would be able to punish Stephen for it. ¡°Go and get some pig blood and entrails. Make sure no one finds out about it.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Time went fast as he took care of all that. He looked at his clock and remembered something. ¡°It¡¯s time for the duke to drink tea.¡± A good butler was supposed to make his master feel right at home, regardless of where he was. And for that, Carl had to prepare so that his routine wouldn¡¯t be disturbed. He always had a small portion of tea for Edgar. ¡°Father, may I use your coffee cups?¡± ¡°I think the duke and the duchess should not drink coffee as they are tired.¡± ¡°I want to make tea, not coffee.¡± The priest was surprised to hear that. ¡°But tea is expensive and rare. Do you have it with you now?¡± ¡°Yes. His Grace enjoys it a lot...¡± To Carl¡¯s surprise, the priest brought some teacups. Priests had been the first to introduce coffee to the continent, and they were a group of people who enjoyed tea. It wasn¡¯t something to be surprised that the priest had teacups. ¡°There are only two sets.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t they be enough?¡± ¡°Oh, we have some guests... I will use coffee cups for them.¡± Then, the priest didn¡¯t leave the kitchen and watched as Carl made tea. He smacked in envy and worried if the water wasn¡¯t too cold. Carl could see he was a tea lover just like himself. ¡°Would you like to taste it and see if I¡¯ve done it right?¡± The priest dly epted Carl¡¯s offer. The clear scent that freshened his soul lingered in his mouth. With the best tea and Carl¡¯s good tea-brewing skillbined, it was the best cup of tea the priest had ever tasted. ¡°You are great at brewing tea.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Carl replied as he poured out tea for Minos and Ios into coffee cups without much care. ¡°I¡¯m just used to it as the duke enjoys tea every day.¡± ¡°Oh, yes. I heard you drink tea at ymore Mansion every day.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°I truly envy it. Tea was originally expensive but, after hosting tea meetings, it became popr among nobles, its price has soared up and now I cannot get any of it. I am living on what I bought before that happened.¡± ¡°But it is good that now there are many ways to enjoy tea thanks to those tea meetings. Have you tried adding milk to tea? It¡¯s quite good.¡± Of course, Carl hated adding this and that to tea. No, he rather despised it. However, he didn¡¯t want to hear criticism about his mistresse out of a priest¡¯s mouth. The priest realized his mistake and blushed. ¡°Now that more people want it, they will import more of it.¡± Tea grew only in some areas of the East Empire. There was no way its supply would catch up with its demand, but Carl raised his head high and said, ¡°Yes, there will be a way.¡± His mistress had befriended a dragon famous for being fierce and violent. Moreover, that dragon had saved her from danger and captured Stephen. He was acting like Rubica¡¯s servant. Carl believed she was a special being hiding her true powers. Maybe she was testing Edgar before she broke his curse. ¡®I should have faith in her.¡¯ Most of what she had worked on or advised on had gone well. Lord Sesar¡¯s new roses, which everyone hadughed at, had brought immense wealth to the kingdom. Admiration for Rubica had formed in the butler¡¯s heart while they went through all that. He believed she would find a way to solve problems Edgar and the king were worried about, like the food shortage in the kingdom and shortage of mana stone. Carl walked quite lightly as he carried tea. On his tray were milk and sugar, which he normally didn¡¯t bring unless Rubica asked for them. If Rubica had known about the faith that was now in his heart, she would have had him get rid of it immediately. Everything had been made by coincidences and misunderstandings. And right now, she was having a headache because of another misunderstanding. ¡°If you don¡¯t give me what I want, I will tell your husband what kind of game you were ying with him.¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes widened at hearing Ios suddenly say that. The dragonughed as if it had expected her to be shocked. ¡°A game? What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Pretending to be ignorant is no good!¡± Edgar thought he had been right to not ask what he was talking about when he had just mentioned the word ¡®game¡¯. For now, he decided to watch where this interesting conversation would go. ¡°But I really don¡¯t know what you are talking about. Me and Stephen, ying a game? That doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± ¡°Oh, so you want to y innocent?¡± Ios¡¯s firm misunderstanding wasn¡¯t broken. He thought Rubica was pretending to not know what he was talking about as Edgar was with them. A nymph getting kidnapped by a couple of humans? That was impossible. ¡°If you don¡¯t admit it, I will tell your husband everything about it! I¡¯ve even brought evidence, so pretending to be innocent is no good!¡± Rubica had been wondering why Ios had brought Stephen without being asked to, and it turned out it had been to use him to ckmail her. Moreover, she knew his brain was too stupid that there was no way he thought of that much himself, so she called Minos. Chapter 205

Chapter 205: Chapter 205

¡°Could you please tell me what he is thinking?¡± ¡°Hey! You¡¯re asking for a way out of this, aren¡¯t you? Minos, if you tell her anything, I will make you pay for it!¡± Ios acted as if everyone was unable to think without Minos just like him, but Rubica couldn¡¯t even guess what the dragon was thinking. However, Stephen and her, ying a ¡®game¡¯? It was hard for her, an ordinary human, to catch up with the dragon¡¯s thinking. Nevertheless, she could now see why he didn¡¯t help when seeing her getting kidnapped in the garden. ¡°What were you doing in our gardenst night?¡± It seemed like Ios wasn¡¯t going to exin, so she decided to counter-attack instead. ¡°What?¡± Ios didn¡¯t know what to say at the sudden attack. He couldn¡¯t tell her he was helping Minos to make an escape route in case their negotiation didn¡¯t go well. That would be too embarrassing. He didn¡¯t even know why Minos insisted on making an escape route when they were dealing with a somewhat stupid nymph who had given her nt and ribbon away without demanding anything in return. ¡°I was just looking around.¡± ¡°You should have asked for permission to do so. It¡¯s not your garden,¡± Rubica scolded him. She was somewhat stupid, but she was still a hard opponent. Ios pouted, ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll keep your secret if you give me that.¡± ¡°Give you what?¡± ¡°The thing you gave me the other day.¡± ¡°You mean the roses?¡± Ios shook his head. ¡°Then, the ribbon?¡± This time, he nodded hard and Rubica had to hold back a sigh. All of this had been for just a single ribbon? That was an exhaustingly small reason. He could have asked for it and she would have given him one right away. But now that he was troubling her so much, she didn¡¯t want to give him what he wanted unless he told her what this was about. ¡°Why do you want another ribbon?¡± ¡°To decorate my branch with it. It looks like a flower on a branch, so I like it.¡± ¡°He tried to destroy a market to get all the ribbons there, and I could only barely stop him by telling him we would get even more ribbons if we asked you.¡± Even Edgar looked at the goblin with pity. He had saved a market, so he felt likepensating him. ¡°Come to me anytime if you need my help. But,e without your burden.¡± ¡°Thank you, Your Grace.¡± Even if Minos failed to win the nymph¡¯s favor, it seemed like he will be able to get his help. Ios, however, didn¡¯t notice Edgar was talking about him when he said ¡®burden¡¯. ¡°And you, if you want a ribbon, tell me everything you¡¯ve seen, including how Rubica was ying with Stephen.¡± ¡°Ooh.¡± Ios smiled brightly at Rubica. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have yed innocent, and now you¡¯re about to be humiliated in front of your husband.¡± He sounded like he was worried about her, but his golden eyes were full of mischief. He indeed wanted to see the nymph be humiliated in front of her spouse. In addition to that, he was going to get the ribbon, so he was only gaining in this. Nymphs were said to be wise, but they must actually be very stupid. ¡°They were ying a ¡®kidnapping and teasing game¡¯. I pity you for having a nymph with such weird hobbies as your wife.¡± How could he so utterly misunderstand everything? Rubica had been made a victim of many misunderstandings by now, but this one was enough to give her shudders. ¡°No!¡± ¡°Are you going to keep denying it?¡± ¡°I was really being kidnapped.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be absurd. A nymph, being kidnapped by humans?¡± The fact that Rubica was an ordinary human was about to be revealed, and Ios could do anything once he found out that he had been fooled. Still, Rubica didn¡¯t want to be thought of as a pervert, and she didn¡¯t even feel like giving him any ribbons at all. She couldn¡¯t find a way to break his horrible misunderstanding and simply steamed. ¡°I asked for it.¡± Edgar noticed she was enraged and spoke for her, although she didn¡¯t know what he was talking about. However, his calm gaze calmed her down, and she shut her mouth. ¡°You asked for it? Did you ask them to kidnap your own wife? My, my, you are one crazy couple.¡± ¡°I asked Rubica to y along if Stephen ever abducted her, he was being suspicious.¡± Minos was truly impressed by the answer. He judged the situation in that short time and came up with the perfect answer. The rumors were right, he was extremely smart. On the other hand, Ios was now really mad. He thought this could be a good chance to humiliate the nymph, but now he was being humiliated for a stupid misunderstanding. ¡°I still want a ribbon!¡± In the end, he started to throw a tantrum. He could go and destroy a harbor when not given what he wanted. He was no better than a six-year-old boy. How old was he in human criteria? Rubica held back a sigh again and soothed him. ¡°Okay, okay. I would have given you one if you asked for it without you ckmailing me.¡± ¡°And, what¡¯s the price?¡± ¡°There¡¯s none.¡± Again, she was asking for nothing. Both Minos, who he would bring to rece his brain, and his underlings took things in return such as gold from him in exchange for their service. But then, why was this nymph always giving what he wanted for free? It reminded him of Iber, who had gone into slumber a long time ago, which made Ios feel a little strange. ¡°That¡¯s not right. I was told to pay the price unless you¡¯re family...¡± Rubica really wanted to say the price was him not causing any catastrophe, but she managed not to. Ios always insisted on having his way and would get mad easily, but it seemed like he could be mild when persuaded. Minos had been taking care of him till now, but he was only a goblin and couldn¡¯t scold Ios even when he did something wrong. ¡°Then we can be family.¡± Maybe he would not get so angry when finding out she was a humanter if they were a family. Ios was very surprised to hear her offer, but he didn¡¯t seem to be offended, so he probably liked it. However, Edgar frowned hard at hearing that. ¡°What do you mean, you want to be a family with that dragon who might do anything?¡± ¡°Stay out of this, you human!¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m her husband. If you be part of her family, you will also be a member of this family. I totally deserve to interfere.¡± Right now, Edgar was the only family Rubica had, and he didn¡¯t want Ios to join them. He really wanted to get rid of that time bomb from her side. ¡°Who said I want to form a family with you? I will only have one with Rubica.¡± But of course, that stone-headed dragon couldn¡¯t be convinced with logic. He already made up his mind to be part of Rubica¡¯s family. Then, he would be able to take her gifts without a heavy heart. ¡°If you¡¯re part of her family, you¡¯re also part of my family.¡± However, Ios just ignored him and went to Rubica. ¡°Then, who are you to me from now on? Mommy?¡± ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Edgar threw a pillow at him. A grown-up man, no, dragon, calling Rubica mommy? He could never let that happen. He didn¡¯t want a son like Ios. ¡°Oh, why does this hurt?¡± Iosined shortly after the pillow hit the middle of his face. It was a soft pillow, but it hurt as if he had been hit with a rock. Both the nymph and her husband were so strange. ¡°Then, what should it be? Sister?¡± Edgar shook his head. He didn¡¯t like it. It was better than mommy, but sister was too much. Plus, he didn¡¯t want to have Ios as his brother-inw. ¡°She¡¯ll be your aunt.¡± ¡°No, I can¡¯t do that.¡± This time, Ios objected. He couldn¡¯t call Rubica his aunt when he had Iber. She would be very disappointed if she ever woke up from her slumber. ¡°Then... second aunt?¡± ¡°No!¡± Rubica protested. She had lived for long, but she was only 22 now. She didn¡¯t want to be called someone¡¯s second aunt at such a young age. Edgar had to think harder at hearing his wife¡¯s protest. Rubica wanted to be Ios¡¯s sister as well, but she knew it would disappoint Edgar. Her husband was more sensitive and more possessive than he looked. ¡°How about cousin?¡± She already had a cousin, Ang, with whom she often exchanged letters. She thought that much would be fine. Thankfully, Edgar nodded, although very reluctantly. Rubica happily pped. ¡°Okay, Ios. You can call me cousin from now on.¡± ¡®What¡¯s the difference between being her brother and her cousin?¡¯ Ios¡¯s stupidity was as deep as a trench. He knew nothing about human customs and rtionships and just thought the word ¡®cousin¡¯ was a title simr to ¡®the Great¡¯ or ¡®the Conqueror¡¯. Chapter 206

Chapter 206: Chapter 206

Ios just thought the word cousin meant someone stronger than a sister and nodded. ¡°But you can¡¯t be my cousin.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want that either. Anyway, how many ribbons do you need? If you want, I will send you the machine that makes them. I can teach Minos how to operate it.¡± Ios smiled brightly as their free kindness didn¡¯t bother him anymore. He got excited and had Minos find and destroy the contract he had signed with Rubica. ¡°Now that you¡¯re my family, you can tell me if you need anything.¡± Minos gulped hard at that since Rubica hadpletely won the dragon to her side. Now he was going to grant her any favor she had by saying, ¡®If that¡¯s what my cousin wants...¡¯ maybe he would even give her the rare nts he cherished the most. Minos himself regretted not asking him to be his family, but his small guts didn¡¯t think that much. ¡°I need...¡± Would it be okay to ask him to lend his Golden Land? Rubica wondered if it would offend him, but then someone knocked on the door. ¡°Your Graces, I¡¯ve brought tea.¡± Rubica looked at the clock. It was a little past the time for Edgar to have tea, so she opened the door for Carl who came in. A few servants came after him and followed his instructions to move a table in a corner near the bed. Soon the small room was filled with the scent of tea. ¡°This is Edgar¡¯s favorite tea, so where did you get this?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t get this. I brought it.¡± He had brought tea? While all of this has been going on? Rubica was impressed by his great responsibility. ¡°Oh, and there¡¯s sugar and milk.¡± Normally, Carl would have never brought them unless asked to do so. But today, he was being kind to Rubica for everything she had been through during thest 24 hours, and she was grateful for it. ¡°Thank you, Carl.¡± ¡°Would you two gentlemen like to have tea?¡± He asked even if he already had tea utensils for four sets on the table. He was almost ordering them to drink. The poor goblin was too short and had to stand on his chair to grab his cup of tea. He cleverly chose the cup that seemed to be the cheapest on the table. ¡°This is a good tea, made with only the youngest leaves.¡± What Minos said made Carl stop on his way out. He hadn¡¯t seen the leaves and only tasted the tea, so how could he exactly know what kind of tea leaves had it been made with? The strange goblin appeared to be a tea expert, and it was enough to draw Carl¡¯s attention. ¡°Yes, you are exactly right. Do you enjoy tea?¡± ¡°Yes... I like it.¡± Minos said, but he looked a little guilty. What was he trying to hide? Carl was slightly confused, but Ios gulped down his portion of the tea. Carl looked at him in surprise, and he was even holding the most expensive cup the butler had purposely put right in front of Edgar. Carl felt like a piece of his heart was being torn apart at seeing that expensive tea disappear into that fool¡¯s mouth. ¡°Is there more?¡± He even asked for more. ¡°Here, drink mine.¡± Edgar offered him his cup of tea after taking only a sip. Carl was happy to see his master was learning to respect others after he met Rubica. However, Ios frowned. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m a beggar? Why would I have what you¡¯ve just been drinking?¡± ¡°Ios, Edgar was only trying to be kind to you.¡± Rubica spoke as she sipped tea with sugar and milk. Surprisingly, Ios didn¡¯t get mad. ¡°Really? But I don¡¯t want what he¡¯s been drinking.¡± Then, he gave Carl his empty cup and requested, as if it was only right, ¡°I want more.¡± Now, even Carl, who was normally so calm, reddened his face. ¡°I only had two days¡¯ portion of tea for the duke and the duchess.¡± ¡°Two days¡¯ portion? But we just had one day¡¯s portion, so you can use what you have for tomorrow.¡± ¡°Two days¡¯ portion for two is one day¡¯s portion for four.¡± However, Ios couldn¡¯t do the math and just blinked, so Minos had to exin to him what this was about. ¡°He¡¯s saying he has no more tea.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Ios disappointedly looked at his empty cup while looking like someone who seemed to be somewhat addicted to the drink. ¡°Then I¡¯ll give you mine, brew these.¡± Ios went through his pocket, pulled out a handful of green leaves, and handed them to Carl. It seemed like the stupid dragon was demanding Carl to make tea with the ordinary leaves he had, so the butler sighed and looked down at his hand, but then he was greatly surprised. To his knowledge, tea leaves were mostly ck and became red when brewed. ording to what he had read and heard from merchants, tea leaves were originally green. He had never seen green tea leaves as they were brought in via a long journey by sea, so they would naturally ferment on the way and turned ck. However, the tea leaves Ios had just handed him were green. He doubted his eyes and smelled them, but they truly were tea leaves. ¡°How did you get these precious leaves?¡± Ios was a dragon, he could reach great distances, which would take a well-trained knight on a horse at least half a day, in less than an hour. Maybe he himself brought the tea from the East Empire. ¡°Those leaves were precious?¡± Ios sounded like he had never heard anything more absurd. ¡°They smell good when brewed, but they¡¯re just leaves. They grow and fall every year, and they are not that pretty.¡± ¡°Yes, they¡¯re leaves, but they¡¯re precious leaves. If you have a lot of them... could you get me more?¡± Carl¡¯s desire for tea made him forget his fear. Now that he was looking at the green tea leaves which he had only read about, he couldn¡¯t stop. He was going to cling onto Ios¡¯s pants and beg even if he refused. ¡°Did you ask me for a favor when you¡¯re just a human?¡± Ios¡¯s lips trembled. His pride was hurt by the fact that Carl had just asked him a favor, so Rubica quickly finished her cup of tea and calmed him down. ¡°Carl asked for your help because you are so capable. Not because he doesn¡¯t respect you, but because you¡¯re so great.¡± ¡°But a human just dared to ask me something! How dare you ask a favor to this dragon?¡± ¡°People are asking favors to gods all the time. You know, like praying. Carl did it because he thought you were as great as a god.¡± What Rubica said made Ios feel better. ¡°So, he wasn¡¯t being rude to me?¡± ¡°Yes. Asking for a favor is nothing like giving orders to your inferiors. If you don¡¯t want to, you can say no, and if you feel like it, you can grant his wish.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry for offending you.¡± Carl apologized first. Ios thought about it and replied, ¡°It¡¯s okay. Now that my Rubica exined, I know I misunderstood.¡± ¡°It¡¯s your ¡®cousin¡¯ Rubica!¡± Edgar pointed out Ios had missed a word, but the dragon ignored him. ¡°Anyway, you are good at making tea, so make me another cup with this.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Minos was really shocked to hear that. Yes, Ios still sounded rude, but he wasplimenting a human, which was impossible. It was sad that the duke and the duchess didn¡¯t know how remarkable it was. ¡®It¡¯s really incredible how she tamed Ios.¡¯ Minos thought he knew the way to handle Ios better than anyone, but he only knew how to tter him. He didn¡¯t know how to fix the dragon¡¯s behavior. Ios was greatly proud of the fact that he was a dragon but, at the same time, he had thisplex about not having learned properly about how to be a dragon. That was why he felt like he was being ignored and got mad easily. However, he was taking Rubica¡¯s advice without any doubts. He seemed to believe she would never tell him something that would be bad to him as they were a family now. That was the best way of handling him. ¡°Lord Ios, would you like to form a family with me as well?¡± ¡°Me, a family with you? Why?¡± Minos asked Ios with hope, but he was immediately rejected. Rubica had seeded in making Ios¡¯s part of her family by showing him kindness without asking for anything in return. On the other hand, although Minos obeyed Ios, he was picking the gold he shed even now, so he didn¡¯t deserve it. ¡°I was joking, of course.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know you liked tea.¡± Rubica came to the goblin¡¯s salvation. ¡°Tea grows only in the East Empire, so it¡¯s really hard to get...¡± ¡°But it grows a lot in my territory.¡± Minos bit his lips. One of the secrets he had been keeping was now revealed. Tea grew inrge amounts in the deepest area of a dragon¡¯s territory, but that fact wasn¡¯t known as no human could go there. ¡°It grows a lot?¡± Of course, Rubica was interested. Minos, however, couldn¡¯t continue getting tea leaves from Ios and selling them in secret, saying they were from the East Empire. Chapter 207

Chapter 207: Chapter 207

¡°Yes, why? Do you want some?¡± Rubica also knew the price of tea had soared up because of the tea meeting trend she started. She wondered what to say to Ios, but then Carl brought tea. As Ios had given him a handful of tea leaves, he had been able to make four cups of tea, plus a cup for himself. It tasted even better than he had imagined. ¡°I¡¯ve prepared more for Lord Ios¡¯s cousin.¡± Actually, Carl had brought more because he wanted Edgar to taste the precious tea, but Ios became generous at hearing Carl stress the word ¡®cousin¡¯. ¡°Well, it would taste better when shared.¡± He gulped down his cup of tea, but then he frowned. ¡°It doesn¡¯t taste like what I had earlier! Hey, are you trying to screw me over?¡± Ios didn¡¯t even have the most basic knowledge that the taste of tea had to be different as it had been made with different leaves. ¡°No, of course not. Carl loves tea too much to do such a thing.¡± ¡°But they¡¯re the same leaves, they should taste the same.¡± ¡°Here, look. They have different colors, see? Even the same leaves can tastepletely different, depending on how they are stored.¡± As Carl had been talking about tea often to her, she had a bit of knowledge about the drink. However, she used simple words to exin so that even Ios could understand instead of usingplex words as Carl did. ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Ios bought it so easily that Rubica wanted to sigh. She couldn¡¯t help but worry about the dragon who knew nothing about the world. Anyway, even though Ios had so much tea that he kept it in his pocket, it was quite precious in Seritos. Therefore, Rubica said, ¡°Ios, thank you for giving us your precious tea.¡± ¡°This thing is precious?¡± Ios crossed his arms and called Minos, demanding an exnation. The goblin, in the meantime, wiped off his sweat nervously. He had been hiding the fact that tea grew only in dragons¡¯ territories from Ios and had taken the tea leaves. Now it was time for him to pay the price for it. ¡°If it hadn¡¯t been for Rubica, I would have been fooled by you forever. I shouldn¡¯t have trusted a goblin!¡± Ios grabbed Minos by his neck and shook him. The small goblin could only squeal like a goose. Ios wanted to do more, but he didn¡¯t as Rubica was watching, and he knew nymphs hated violence. ¡°I guess tea only grows in your territory?¡± Edgar asked as he made Carl, who was still lingering behind because of his attachment to tea, leave the room. Ios sulkily replied, ¡°I used to think it was amon tree that grows anywhere, but it looks like I was wrong.¡± ¡°It must be one of the nts that only grow in the dragons¡¯ territories. It exins why it could only be imported from the East Empire.¡± The empire was able to produce tea in huge amounts as it was ruled by a dragon. Its neighboring kingdoms and a few kingdoms of the continent had tried to grow tea, but they all failed. ¡°The price of tea has soared up recently. Can¡¯t you sell some of yours to us?¡± Rubica¡¯s tea meeting had been the reason for it, and it was bothering Edgar a lot. The king kept letting him know he wanted to see her, so he was worried she might get scolded for it. ¡°No.¡± ¡°But you said it¡¯s quitemon in yournd.¡± ¡°Yes, I have a lot of it, but you said it¡¯s precious to you.¡± He had given it to Minos when he thought it was amon nt, but now that he knew it was rare and precious, he didn¡¯t want to give it away easily. ¡°I¡¯ll pay.¡± ¡°Human money means nothing to me.¡± The mood became tense again. Rubica¡¯s husband, who normally talked well and negotiated well, was now fighting at Ios¡¯s level. Rubica, therefore, calmed him down. ¡°We can¡¯t force him if he doesn¡¯t want to sell it.¡± Edgar¡¯s lips twitched, but he soon said ¡®okay¡¯. He always calmed down when Rubica spoke to him, no matter how mad he was. Ios, however, was somewhat embarrassed. At first, he was d since he had a good reason to fight Edgar, as he really didn¡¯t like him, but now that his opponent was backing off, he was left embarrassed. ¡°Huh, but why do you need tea?¡± Ios sat down and pretended to look at his fingernails. He pretended to not be interested, but he was clearly interested. Rubica knew he liked her quite a lot, so she decided to use it to her advantage. ¡°Hosting tea meetings has be popr because of me, and now I¡¯m in trouble because the price of tea has gone up too much.¡± ¡°You¡¯re in trouble?¡± ¡°If we don¡¯t do something, people will call me a bad person.¡± Ios couldn¡¯t see why being called a bad person was a problem, but seeing Rubica didn¡¯t like being called like that, he also didn¡¯t like it. Unlike before, he was listening quite seriously with crossed arms. However, his sudden change of attitude irritated Edgar. Who was this dragon that he was trying to interfere with and solve his wife¡¯s problem? Really, he was crossing the line. ¡°Of course I should help if my cousin Rubica is in trouble.¡± Edgar didn¡¯t like him saying ¡®my Rubica¡¯, even with the word cousin added in the middle. ¡°Thank you.¡± He also didn¡¯t like Rubica smiling at him. He often got to think that although his wife was really strict on him, she was too kind to others. If this hadn¡¯t been about Rubica, he would have messed it up already. He tried to suppress his bubbling anger and forced himself to smile. ¡°Thank you, for relieving my wife of one of her worries.¡± He called Rubica ¡®my wife¡¯ instead of calling her by name. Husband was much closer and uniquepared to cousin, and yes, he was bragging. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t give me that forced smile.¡± Ios felt a little bad although he didn¡¯t know why and sulkily protested about Edgar¡¯s expression. They were about to go into another quarrel, although none of them knew exactly why, so Rubica interrupted and stopped them before it happened. ¡°Should I tell the needed amount to Minos?¡± Minos, who had been trembling in fear of what was about to happen when he and Ios went back, smiled brightly. Rubica was saving him again. He could be in charge of supplying tea to ymore, and Ios wouldn¡¯t punish him too much for what he had done. And he was right, as Ios was nning to punish him as soon as he went home, he asked, ¡°Can¡¯t I just do it myself?¡± ¡°Are you good at math?¡± Ios shook his head. Of course, he wasn¡¯t. Plus, he didn¡¯t even feel the need to be good at it. He had been having Minos do all the hard and difficult thinking for him. The goblin had been working as his brain for decades. Moreover, as he feared Ios might get angry if he took too much tea, he had only taken only a small amount of it. Therefore, Ios decided to let him go. ¡°Minos, keep in your mind you will never get any more of my gold if you lie to me ever again.¡± ¡°Of course, Lord Ios. I will never make such a mistake again.¡± ¡°Bring me a jar.¡± That order came quite suddenly while Minos was still vowing his loyalty. However, the goblin couldn¡¯t even make a sound and brought an empty jar that happened to be in the room. ¡°This one¡¯s too small. Bring that one.¡± Minos brought Ios another jar that was as big as a man¡¯s head, and he started to take out tea leaves from his back pocket. There was enough of it to fill the jar. ¡®How does he keep so much tea in that small pocket?¡¯ Ios¡¯s back pocket had been t when Rubica first met him, and it was still t. It appeared to be enchanted. ¡°Will this be enough for today?¡± That much green tea was enough for a year. Ios hadn¡¯t been lying when he said it was quitemon in hisnd. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t ck tea but green tea, so there had to be lots of people who wanted to buy it. It was more than enough to satisfy the domestic need for tea and maybe they could even export it. Rubica couldn¡¯t help but get excited. ¡°Ios, you said you wanted to decorate your tree with a ribbon, right?¡± She wanted to give the dragon something in return. Therefore, she took out a ribbon she had with her and started to tie it, turning it into a blue flower-shaped ribbon in no time. ¡°How is this?¡± The ribbons Ios had seen in the market had beenparatively simple, so he was left speechless at the delicate ribbon. He could see a nt, the thing he loved the most, in an object that had no scent of life. How could it be possible? Really, nymphs had to be the greatest beings in the whole world. Chapter 208

Chapter 208: Chapter 208

¡°With this on my tree, it will look like it has a flower even in the middle of winter.¡± The center of Ios¡¯s territory was always green, but its outer parts, where his powers couldn¡¯t fully reach, were affected by the seasons. He had been so sad every time he saw trees without any leaves and flowers in winter. ¡°I must go right away to put this one.¡± Ios snatched the ribbon from Rubica¡¯s hand and opened the window. ¡°I¡¯ll make you a few more!¡± Before she could finish saying that, he disappeared. He hade like the wind, and now he left like the wind. It really felt like Rubica had a troublemaking little brother now, a little brother who had just turned five. ¡°He wille back, right?¡± ¡°No.¡± Minos shook his head. ¡°He will put that on one of his trees, and then he will realize he has forgotten to water his nts because of what happenedst night. He will probably spend the rest of the day watering them.¡± ¡°I see. Then I will make some ribbons for him when I get home. How much would he need?¡± Edgar held her hand. Her small and delicate hands were full of wounds. Two of her fingernails had been broken. She had been through a lotst night. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t do them yourself. Look at your hands. Do you know how much I was surprised when you made that ribbon?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still the only one who can make that ribbon.¡± ¡°Just show our seamstresses how to make it. If they can¡¯t learn that much, they shouldn¡¯t deserve to be paid by ymore.¡± Although he was saying that, he just didn¡¯t like that Ios was about to get ribbons made by her. Even if she made ribbons after they got home, he was going to tell the seamstresses to hide the sample she would make to show them and bring it to himter. ¡°Well, my hands do hurt...¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what he was thinking, she just liked that he was worried about her and blushed. She hadn¡¯t even known her hands were so full of wounds. For how long was he worried about it? Thinking about it now, there were many things she hadn¡¯t thought of, instead of that shallow wound on her ankle. She couldn¡¯t even look at Edgar and just grabbed her skirt. Then, she suddenly yelled, ¡°Oh, the carriage must have arrived by now. I¡¯ll go and ask Carl!¡± Then she ran out of the room. She looked so innocent that it was hard to believe she had just been tempting him, saying his numb legs weren¡¯t a problem for what they both wanted to do. Edgar¡¯s middle part started to feel heavy again, and he had to desperately try to calm it down. ¡°Oh, right.¡± However, all that effort didn¡¯t mean anything when Rubica opened the door and stuck her head in. She was so cute. Oh, why did she keep doing that? Edgar felt like asking if she was trying to make him faint. ¡°And Minos, shouldn¡¯t you go back now?¡± ¡°Of course. Oh, and I will take this jar of tea.¡± Minos realized she was too embarrassed toe in again, so he helped her. Rubica was grateful for his kindness, but Edgar wasn¡¯t. ¡°Rubica.¡± He called her, trying not to clench his teeth. ¡°Have Minos ask Carl when the mana stone carriage will arrive ande in.¡± ¡°But Minos is our banker, not our servant. We shouldn¡¯t give orders to him,¡± she solemnly replied and closed the door. Edgar¡¯s face turned red and Minos sensed danger. Therefore, he flew with the jar before Edgar could let out his anger on him. Edgar, who was left alone, threw a pillow away, cursing. Then he regretted it immediately as he had no way to retrieve it. ¡°How did this fall here? The wind isn¡¯t that strong...¡± A boy, who came in shortly after to serve him, couldn¡¯t even imagine he had thrown the pillow because of his reputation, which was the only thing that consoled him. *** Carl almost fainted when Minos handed him the jar of tea. He looked like he couldn¡¯t even dare to look at what was inside it. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to thank you enough...¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything. It was all Her Grace¡¯s doing.¡± Minos replied, looking around. Everyone, the guard knights and the children who lived at the presbytery, were quite curious about the dragon. However, that curiosity wasn¡¯t all positive. People tended to find goblins unpleasant. Edgar and Rubica, who had no prejudice about him, were rather abnormal. ¡°I should go back now.¡± ¡°Already? But you must be hungry...¡± ¡°No, I should leave as I¡¯ve done what I came for.¡± Rubica tried to stop him, but he just shook his head. Having people know she was friends with a goblin wouldn¡¯t do any good to her. ¡°Um, and Your Grace, may I ask you to not tell anyone where this teaes from?¡± Befriending a goblin was dangerous, but friendship with a dragon was even more dangerous. Humans and dragons had been enemies for a long time, after all. Thankfully, Rubica realized what he meant by it. Ios was being somewhat cute for now, but he was a brutal and fierce dragon. ¡°I¡¯ll just tell them we¡¯ve found a new tea dealer.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t worry much as the duke is with you.¡± Carl offered him a horse, but he said he preferred traveling through the ground and asked to be taken to the nearest field. Carl didn¡¯t think it would be good to let one of the knights take Minos, so he decided to go himself. ¡°And the carriage will be here in 30 minutes?¡± ¡°Yes, and the doctor and yourdy-in-waiting wille on it.¡± Thatdy-in-waiting had to be Ann. Rubica thought the ce was about to get quite noisy. She decided it would be better to bring something to eat to Edgar, so she asked to be guided to the kitchen. ¡°Madam?¡± In there, a priest was kneading bread with children. As it was a small presbytery, they didn¡¯t have a cook. ¡°I came to see if there¡¯s anything for the duke.¡± ¡°As you can see, we have no food, so we¡¯re baking bread now.¡± He pointed to an oven that had loaves of bread being baked in it. Rubica then looked around the small kitchen. There wasn¡¯t enough food for all the children there, and theycked working hands as well. Rubica rolled up her sleeves. It just felt like she was at the abbey again. ¡°I¡¯ll help.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± But now, she was a different person. The priest, instead, looked at her thin arms and white face. She was a nobledy, and there was no way she had kneaded bread before as it required a lot of strength. At most, nobledies made delicate dishes that didn¡¯t require much strength. The priest¡¯s prejudice let him conclude that Rubica¡¯s help would only slow down the process. ¡°Could you rather y with the children?¡± As soon as he said that, a five-year-old boy came out under the table and yelled, ¡°Can we do that, father?¡± ¡°She hasn¡¯t said yes, Jeff.¡± The priest kindly chided, but Jeff couldn¡¯t hear him. He went to Rubica, grabbed her skirt, and smiled. More than half of the children, who had been bothering the cooking priest, moved to Rubica. The beautifuldy who had just shown up was enough to interest them. It¡¯s just that they were being careful as she was a nobledy of high rank. ¡°Could you help me? As you can see, my work will be much easier without these children.¡± The children were at the kitchen saying they wanted to help, but they were actually disturbers. He had let them stay just because they missed the warmth and love theycked. ¡°Of course.¡± Rubica replied as she raised high a two-year-old toddler. The priest was right. It would be better to take the children out than to stay and help. ¡°Oh, and could you...¡± ¡°I will send food for the duke right away.¡± The priest was impressed at seeing Rubica was so kind and smiled. The carriage was supposed to arrive in half an hour, anyway. She decided to y with the children during that short time. ¡°Who will take me to a tour around the yard?¡± ¡°I will!¡± ¡°Me! Me!¡± ¡°No, I can do it better!¡± The children all eagerly ran out, almost in a running contest. It was good that Rubica didn¡¯t have to force them to go outside. ¡®They¡¯re so bright.¡¯ This wouldn¡¯t be possible if the priests didn¡¯t take care of them with love. Kind-hearted people were indeed everywhere. She had suffered a lot, but she was happy that she got to learn about such a ce. Therefore, she decided to donate money to the presbytery when the next festival day came around. ¡°Yayyy!¡± When she went to the front yard, the children who had been ying there came to cling on her. Her skirt turned dirty, but she didn¡¯t mind. She instead took out a handkerchief to wipe their nose. ¡°We nted this flowerst year.¡± ¡°And this flower tastes sweet.¡± A child picked a sesame flower and offered it to her. She took it, but then she spotted a ribbon fluttering on her chest. Chapter 209

Chapter 209: Chapter 209

¡°Oh, who put that on your chest?¡± ¡°I did.¡± The girl blushed and replied. Rubica looked around, and all the children appeared to have a ribbon on their chest. Of course, they were linen ribbons, which were very different from silk ribbons the nobles used, but they made them all look even livelier. ¡°You look like a princess.¡± Rubicaplimented her while tasting the sesame flower. Its sweet scent and vor filled her mouth. That made the knight guard who was escorting her break in a cold sweat, but she didn¡¯t mind. She had done that quite often as a child. ¡°Father Gregory promised us to buy silk ribbonster if we behave.¡± Herpliment delighted the child and she went on talking even without being asked. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t silk ribbons be expensive?¡± ¡°He said we will be able to buy enough of it to make ribbons if we work hard. Then I would really look like a princess.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know how to feel about that. A dress made of silk was expensive, andmoners couldn¡¯t even dream of having one. Moreover, jeweled stomachers were even more expensive. To even get to touch one, they had to get themselves employed as the maid of a great family. Actually, mostmoners lived their entire lives wearing in linen clothes that were nothing more than nightwear to nobles. Because of that, it was quite easy to discern whether someone was a noble or amoner by the clothes he or she was wearing. However, evenmoners could afford to buy a silk ribbon and, unlike jewels and embroidery, it didn¡¯t require much money and work. It could also be put and removed with a pin, so they would no longer have to wear crowns made of y to y princesses. With one silk ribbon, each child could be a princess. Even if her dress wasn¡¯t luxurious, she could feel and pretend whatever she wanted. The big difference between the nobles¡¯ andmoners¡¯ clothing could be small. ¡°I¡¯ll send you some ribbons when I get home.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Of course. Why would I lie to you?¡± The girl smiled happily. Rubica watched the children in simple dresses as they ran in the yard. Their dresses had dirt on them, and the only piece of prettiness was their linen ribbons, but they were much more beautiful and charming than luxurious dresses made for balls and tea meetings. Rubica was even happy to see them brag about the ribbons they made themselves. ¡®I thought it would be only in fashion for a while as a decoration for nobledies¡¯ dresses...¡¯ But now, she could see she had been wrong. Unlike any other decorations that were used on dresses, the ribbon wasn¡¯t limited to certain materials. Nobles made ribbons with silk, but it could be made with ordinary fabrics, and it was simple enough for a five-year-old to make. It could be used to decorate tables, tie curtains, and as a hair essory. It was only right as it had started from a simple knot that Chris, who was amoner himself, invented. ¡®Something simple and yet pretty.¡¯ Rubica realized what she had made, although it was a bitte. It wasn¡¯t a beauty that would be in fashion for a few months and then go away. It was eternal, and it could be possible only because it had been adopted for themoners. The dress she was wearing, the ufortable corset, and the engageantes sleeve that made the dresses, they were all going to be gone with time. But not the ribbon, it had already be a part of the people¡¯s lives. It was going to be one of the few unnecessary things that would survive only thanks to their prettiness. ¡°I hope it would be possible to produce linen that is stronger andst longer.¡± She muttered to herself at seeing a hole in a girl¡¯s dress. She had been focusing on imported fabricstely, looking for even more splendid fabrics. ¡°If less work is required to make clothes, these people will be able to wear better clothes.¡± When she asked Edgar to invent something that would help with needlework, she thought it would be enough to have the machine that would do a small bit of Khanna¡¯s work for her. Delicate hands were required to make nobledies¡¯ dresses. Even with the machine, more than half of the procedure would have to be done by hands. Plus, somedies may not want their dresses to be made with machines. However, clothes formoners were different. Rubica started to think about a design that would minimize the handwork. It had to have as many straight lines as possible, but it had to befortable when put on. ¡®I think it would be even better if one can wear it easily on one¡¯s own...¡¯ Dresses that had to be tied at the back couldn¡¯t be worn without a helper. It would be better to have it in the front. But straps would often get loose in time, so it would have to be something simpler and morefortable. ¡®Yes, buttons!¡¯ Her peers preferred to have their clothes sewed to fit their body and fixed with pins, so to them, buttons were nothing more than a decoration for clothes and shoes. Moreover,moners couldn¡¯t afford the time to make button holes as it required a lot of time and had to be sewed well. However, Rubica had someone who could free her from all those restrictions: Edgar. ¡®I¡¯m sure he will be able to make a machine that makes button holes.¡¯ She knew Edgar could make almost everything. It was even more magical than Ios¡¯s power. The dragon¡¯s magic went away with time, but Edgar inventions didn¡¯t. One of the most mysterious charms he had was that he could make what she wanted to havee true without any restrictions. Even his beauty and immense wealth couldn¡¯t bepared to that. ¡°Your Grace!¡± Rubica was ying with the children when someone called her. The strong voice was Ann¡¯s. The mana stone carriage had arrived. Really, ying with children always makes people lose track of time. ¡°Ann, it¡¯s nice to see you again.¡± ¡°Oh, Your Grace, look at your face! And these wounds on your hands! Oh, how could Stephen do this to you after all that kindness we¡¯ve shown him?¡± Rubica normally found Ann¡¯s talking a little tiring, but this time, she couldn¡¯t wee it more. They hadn¡¯t seen each other for only one day, but it felt like it had been years... Rubica felt her kindness, and Ann¡¯s words made her realize it was finally over. She didn¡¯t burst in tears only because there were so many eyes watching. ¡°You must have suffered a lot. Let us go home now.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± It no longer felt awkward to think ymore Mansion as her home. Even after falling in love with Edgar, Rubica had felt coldness rather than warmth when thinking about the ce. As they were both hiding secrets from each other, she hadn¡¯t been able to get rid of her anxiety, even when whispering love. But now, she didn¡¯t think of the abbey or Berner Lodge when she heard the word ¡®home¡¯. ¡®When I go home, I want to change the curtains to ones that have warmer colors.¡¯ ymore Mansion now felt like the ce she would love and cherish. She finally had a family, arge family that included herdies-in-waiting and the butler, thanks to her husband being a duke. ymore¡¯s servants including Carl were all good at their jobs. Rubica was quite impressed to see the two mana stone carriages in the back yard. Even in that emergency, they had sent two carriages, one for the servants and one for Edgar and Rubica. ¡®I guess they were in a hurry as they didn¡¯t send my carriage.¡¯ It felt quite weird to get on Edgar¡¯s carriage instead of the duchess¡¯s carriage. She had decided on their terms of marriage with him and pped him in that very carriage. It was quite an embarrassing memory, so she asked Ann, ¡°Where¡¯s Edgar?¡± ¡°He¡¯s already in the carriage. He¡¯s waiting for you.¡± ¡°I guess I¡¯ve spent too much time with these children.¡± Nevertheless, she didn¡¯t forget to thank the people there for taking good care of her and Edgar before she got on the carriage. The priest saw it as an opportunity and asked her to look around the dukedom with her husband from time to time. Edgar should have started doing it a long time ago as he was thend¡¯s lord, but he had been postponing it because of his curse. Rubica replied she would do it. She was kind, unlike her cold husband, and the priest smiled happily thinking she was just as kind-hearted as the people said. ¡°Edgar, I¡¯m here.¡± She went inside the carriage and called his name, feeling quite pleasant, but to her surprise, Edgar didn¡¯t wee her. He justy on the bed and said nothing. He seemed to be still mad at her for running away earlier. ¡°Edgar.¡± She called him again, but no answer came. He was behaving like a little boy. It was hard to believe he was normally so strong, wise, and dependable. Chapter 210

Chapter 210: Chapter 210

¡°Are you mad at me?¡± Rubica tried to shake him a little, but he still wouldn¡¯t say anything. He was very mad. Well, his jealousy and desire to keep her to himself was strong. It appeared it wouldn¡¯t be easy to make him feel better, so Rubica knew it wasn¡¯t time to try to convince him with words. Now she had to act. ¡°Edgar...¡± She hugged him tightly from behind, which she wouldn¡¯t have done normally. Edgar tried his best to resist it, but he couldn¡¯t hide his lips from curling up when feeling her warmth. ¡°Oh, how can I ever win against you?¡± In the end, he turned to her. He hadn¡¯t been really mad at her, anyway. He had been hoping she would do something to make him feel better if he pretended to be mad, and it worked. He had gotten what he wanted, so now it was time to hold her in his arms and feel her warmth. ¡°You promised to stay with me, but you left so suddenly. Do you know how disappointed I was?¡± ¡°Oh, um... I...¡± She tried to think of something to say, still in his arms. Even that looked so lovely. He knew he was way too crazy in love. ¡°You were ordering me. You should have asked it nicely.¡± She managed toe up with a good enough reason, but Edgar justughed. She had to be the only wife who was so eager to not lose to her own husband. However, he liked her for that. ¡°Of course, my apologies, mydy.¡± ¡°Apology epted.¡± They joked, still looking at each other with love. ¡°I told them we need no servants so that we will be alone.¡± ¡°Is that okay? I think our doctor should take a look at you...¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I was really hurt badly. I just let him examine me, and as soon as he said I was fine, I sent him to the other carriage.¡± ¡°Oh, yes. People would have gotten suspicious if he examined you for a long time. Nice work.¡± She smiled, which made him feel even thirstier. That wasn¡¯t what mattered in the conversation they were having right now. ¡°Are you pretending to not know?¡± ¡°Not know what?¡± She had tempted him so boldly, and now she was pretending to not know what he was talking about. No, she wasn¡¯t pretending. She really didn¡¯t know. Edgar had no choice but to venture further, as he was the one who was craving for it. He boldly kissed her hand and whispered, ¡°Now we¡¯re all alone in here.¡± Only then, she realized what he was saying. Her face turned tomato red and she jumped to her feet. ¡°So, so what? What are you going to do to me?¡± He couldn¡¯t move his legs. He couldn¡¯t do anything if she ran away. He just stared at her, still on the bed. Even that gaze was enough to make her feel hot. ¡°Come here.¡± His voice was so sexy. What would happen if she listened to that call andy next to him? Fear and excitement took control of her, but her pride was too high to let her run like a dog when whistled, so she looked away. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m ordering you again?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She could hear him chuckling. ¡°Let us not take it too seriously. I would obey you no matter how you speak to me.¡± She thought he was childish a few minutes ago, but actually, she was no better. Was it because she had had so many quarrels with him? She looked straight at him and shouted, ¡°Then youe here.¡± She was provoking him as she knew he couldn¡¯t. But to her surprise, Edgar jumped to his feet, came to her, and grabbed her by her waist. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but the sun has set.¡± He whispered as if he could see what she had been thinking. Again, she was the only one blushing. She was feeling so hot that she didn¡¯t even know how she was standing on her feet. ¡°I can¡¯t wait any longer.¡± She looked away, but he made her look at him again and kissed her. His hand on her waist started to go down slowly, but she didn¡¯t push him away. He knew she had also been wanting him since yesterday. He didn¡¯t fulfill her wish yet only because of his condition. However, his thirst and desire had grown evenrger while constrained, and now they were about to explode. ¡°I was going to wait until we get home, but I really can¡¯t wait any longer.¡± He could move his legs now andpared to that room in the presbytery, the carriage was quite spacious andfortable. Rubica was feeling no differently. Women also have desire. She had shared several passionate kisses with her lover, but they had never reached the end, and now she was eager to go there. ¡°Then don¡¯t wait.¡± She covered her mouth in surprise as soon as she said that. Being with him made her realize she could be so bold. She sometimes acted like she knew nothing, and she sometimes acted like she knew everything. Edgar smiled. ¡°As you wish, mydy.¡± He offered a hand to her. She put her hand on his as if she had never wanted to run away in embarrassment. Her auburn eyes were a little murky with desire, which made them look even more beautiful. However, Edgar hadn¡¯t taken a bath, and it bothered him. He started to fill the bathtub next to the bed. As the carriage was for him and for him only, there was no such thing as a wall or a screen. He took his clothes off right in front of her. ¡°Edgar!¡± Rubica covered her eyes in surprise. Of course, she had to look at him naked to do what they were about to do, but still, it was embarrassing. Edgar kissed her forehead. ¡°I don¡¯t care about where we are, but I don¡¯t want to do it when I¡¯m so dirty.¡± Soon Rubica could hear the sound of water, and she could only anxiously stomp her feet. Oh, this must have been what he felt when I took a bath back at the presbytery. She regretted it. But at the same time, she was curious and wanted to see. He was beautiful when he was neatly dressed, but how beautiful would he be when he is in a natural state? He had to be the most beautiful amongst the creatures made by god. She tried hard to define her desire to look as nothing more than pure curiosity for beauty. She put her hands down and opened her eyes. But the next second, their eye met. He had been looking at her in the bathtub. ¡°Yikes!¡± She quickly covered her eyes again, but she already couldn¡¯t forget his dark hair dripping in water and his blue eyes. ¡°Rubica, put your hands down.¡± Her hand went down at the order, but her eyes were still closed. ¡°Open your eyes.¡± She slowly did. The image of him lying in the bathtub was embedded in her eyes. She was now a captive of desire, and she was half in a daze. ¡°Come here.¡± She had just said she didn¡¯t want to be ordered around, but this time, she obeyed and went to him. ¡°Come in.¡± She slowly went into the tub. She was losing to him at the most important moment, and it was so lovely. No matter how much she usually toyed with him and ignored him, he was willing to put his heart under her feet to be stomped upon, as she was doing as he said at this moment. ¡°Edgar.¡± Her dress started to be wet and showed her body. Her round body contrasted with his strong body. How could they be so different when they are the same species? ¡°There¡¯s no need to rush.¡± Was he saying that to her, or to himself? Anyway, he didn¡¯t want to look clumsy in this to her. He calmly turned off the tap and took out a soap. ¡°Let me do it for you.¡± She went to him, making the water overflow out of the tub. The ssh sounded so romantic. She took the soap from his hand and made some foam. Then, she started to caress him. Her fingers felt even softer than usual because of the foam. ¡°Oh, this is too much.¡± It was really a torture to him. And it was Rubica¡¯s soap, not his. Her scent was now all on his body. He breathed heavily while Rubica smiled. ¡°Just hold on, you should be clean.¡± She had told him to not wait, but now he was supposed to hold on. Was she the one who just closed her eyes in embarrassment? Even the servants of gods wouldn¡¯t have faced an even greater hardship. Edgar could only barely, really, barely hold himself back while she put clean water on him. ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s...¡± The moment the foams on his feet were washed away, he jumped to his feet and raised her up. Then he went straight to bed, without giving her time to protest. His body dripped water on the floor, but he didn¡¯t care. Chapter 211

Chapter 211: Chapter 211

¡°You shouldn¡¯t have teased me so much.¡± He put her on the bed and whispered as he looked down on her. His blue eyes were burning with mes that could be either passion or anger. She looked away from his hot re. ¡°You were tempting me just a minute ago, and now you¡¯re ying innocent again?¡± ¡°It, it was just... your reaction was so funny...¡± ¡°Huh.¡± She had had fun while he was being tortured? ¡°I must punish you for teasing me.¡± She had never seen him so enraged. Well, she did admit she had taken it a bit too far. His burning eyes pierced into her soul while she closed her eyes. She cringed in fear as he came nearer. But to her surprise, what touched her were his hot lips. He kissed her deeply, taking her breath away. It made her feel so dizzy. She hadn¡¯t known he would give her a kiss as her punishment. ¡°Are you scared?¡± He asked, carefully caressing her forehead. Rubica thought about it, but she shook her head. She was nervous, but she wasn¡¯t afraid. ¡°I can hear my heart beating fast. My body is hot as if I had a cold, and I don¡¯t know what to think. But, but I don¡¯t want you to stop.¡± She had never craved for someone like this. She wanted to make him hers, right here, right now. ¡°Me too.¡± He whispered and slowly put a hand on a strap of her dress. However, despite how much he wanted to undo it, it got even more intertwined, and he ended up making a strong knot with it. ¡°Ha!¡± Rubica burst intoughter and realized he had never done this before as well. Oh, he had to be so nervous and worried. ¡°Maybe we should call it a night and just...¡± But then, he ripped off her dress. The yful mood turned hot in no time. She was surprised every time his hands touched her, but she followed her instinct. He was grateful that she was getting ready to ept him even in fear. She was so lovely. ¡°Tell me if you are too scared.¡± Edgar wished he had a lot of experience in this, but it was his first time. He couldn¡¯t lie to her by saying she had nothing to be afraid of. ¡°Well, will you stop if I say I¡¯m scared?¡± She asked, breathing a little heavily. He nodded. ¡®Oh, he¡¯s such a gentleman.¡¯ He was always proud and gave orders coldly, but he never crossed the line. ¡°But then I won¡¯t be able to tell you even if I¡¯m scared. Edgar, I¡¯m fine with it, as long as it¡¯s you.¡± She was always the one who found courage first. She led and he started to follow her. Soon, they slowly became one. It was happiness neither of them had experienced before. ¡°Rubica.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± He beggingly called her, still looking at her. Each time, she dly answered to his call. An indescribable satisfaction filled her while she hugged his broad back. ¡°I love you.¡± And that was the best thing she could say to express the joy she was feeling. *** As the man who abducted the missing duchess was the family¡¯s guard captain, none of the people at the mansion had been able to get a wink of sleep ever since they heard about it. They just waited for news, hopefully for good news, but then the carriage of the duke and the duchess arrived in the middle of the night. ¡°Your Grace!¡± With so many lights andmps, it was as bright as daytime. As soon as the carriage came to a stop, theb¡¯s director and the vice guard captain ran to it. They were extremely worried as they had been told Edgar had hurt his legs. ¡°You¡¯re surprising the duke.¡± Carl came off the servants¡¯ carriage and stopped them. Ann and the family¡¯s doctor followed him. Before they left, they had agreed with Edgar to announce the duchess had miscarried her baby when surprised by Stephen. ¡°Your Grace, we¡¯ve arrived.¡± No answer came, just as they had promised. Carl looked at Ann, silently telling her to be ready. The duke was now going to be heard shouting in surprise, and the two were going to run in there, find what they had faked, and pretend to be shocked. As Ann always excelled at making a fuss, she was perfect for the job. ¡°Your Grace, Your Grace?¡± However, even after knocking on the door so many times, they got no response. Carl was startled. What if something had happened during the journey? He should have at least made a servant stay with them even though the duke made it clear he wanted to be alone with his wife. ¡°Your Grace, I will open the door.¡± ¡°Wait.¡± Carl was relieved to hear Edgar sound so urgent. He had known the duke since his birth, and there wasn¡¯t anything he wasn¡¯t good at, and it sounded like he was great even at acting. ¡®Now he will call the doctor...¡¯ However, the door was opened, which was not supposed to happen ording to their plot. Edgar jumped out before they could get shocked. He was carrying something wrapped in a duvet, and the pair of feet that came out at the end of it were clearly Rubica¡¯s. ¡°Your Grace?¡± He was supposed to be wounded in his legs, not walking like this. However, Edgar didn¡¯t even care and yelled as he walked away. ¡°Don¡¯t follow me!¡± Carl froze at the order, and so did the people who had been waiting to wee the duke home. Edgar red at them as if he was really not going to forgive them if they dared to follow him, and then he disappeared into the building. ¡°What, what should we do?¡± Ann managed toe back to her senses before most of the others did and asked Carl. ¡°For now...¡± Carl thought of how Edgar looked and gulped hard. It had been the fiercest and the most dangerous re he had seen. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t follow them as he ordered. He will call us if he needs us. We should check inside the carriage and see if something happened.¡± As the duke was smart, it was unlikely he was doing that without any reason. Ann agreed with him and dragged the doctor who was still in shock from seeing his patient walk without any problem in the carriage. At first nce, there was nothing wrong. The carpet was wet with water from the bathtub although they didn¡¯t know why, and the bed was slightly wet as well. Sadly, Edgar wasn¡¯t carrying out the n they had made in advance. But now, since everyone, except for the three, was so scared, and they weren¡¯t even thinking of going in the carriage, it wasn¡¯t toote to improvise. ¡°Ann, where is the box of pig blood and entrails?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s here.¡± Ann took out the box she had hidden under the bed. ¡°But there¡¯s something else here. I think they¡¯re clothes.¡± ¡°You should take it out then.¡± The duke¡¯s and the duchess¡¯s safety was the most important thing to them. Carl didn¡¯t want to leave anything known under the bed, and Ann felt the same. She pulled it out. ¡°Oh!¡± It was the dress Rubica was wearing a few hours ago. It had been ripped apart, never to be worn again. Ann fanned at her face with her hand to cool down her blushing cheeks. ¡°What, what has happened to this dress?¡± However, Carl didn¡¯t say anything. The three of them could see what had happened. ¡°Oh, I see. Yes. I didn¡¯t prepare an extra dress for her...¡± Rubica was naked when they hade out, so Edgar had been obliged to wrap her in a duvet and run. ¡°I should have prepared another dress.¡± ¡°Oh, but the journey took only a few hours. They couldn¡¯t have held out for that long.¡± Ann protested as she hid the dress, thinking Rubica and Edgar had done it a long time ago, but she couldn¡¯t help smiling. ¡°Well, they¡¯re in their youth. I can totally understand it.¡± ¡°Hmm, hmm.¡± The housekeeper was saying the opposite of what she had said a second ago, her mind already drifting away. Carl cleared his throat. ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this. We should put blood on the bed. You must also tell them the duke is so shocked that he behaved abnormally.¡± ¡°Oh, right.¡± The doctor managed toe back to his senses only then. Despite his profession, hecked the skill of improvising. Carl was the only one they could rely on now. Ann, therefore, followed his instructions and put blood on the bed. The doctor also wrapped pig entrails in gauze making it look like a miscarried baby. ¡°But what is going on?¡± ¡°We deserve an exnation!¡± The people outside couldn¡¯t wait any longer and were making a protest. They wouldn¡¯t dare to follow Edgar and ask him, so they were pressing on the butler. Carl checked his expression for thest time before he opened the door. He had been worried about Ann the most as she was bad at fooling others, but she seemed to be in the greatest despair. ¡°Ann, I didn¡¯t know you were such a great actress.¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t break the mood. I¡¯m desperately trying to recall every misfortune I¡¯ve suffered.¡± Ann¡¯s lips twitched, so Carl opened the door before she could burst intoughter. Chapter 212

Chapter 212: Chapter 212

¡°I have bad news. It appears something bad happened to our duchess.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It seems she miscarried her baby because of the shock.¡± They were all shocked to see the doctoring out with a bundle soaked in blood. Soon they were burning in rage for Rubica¡¯s abductor, Stephen. As the news of it had been very shocking to all of them, no one became suspicious about the sudden miscarriage. ¡°That is why the duke carried her away in such a hurry.¡± ¡°Then shouldn¡¯t you go right away to examine her?¡± They couldn¡¯t find enough courage to go themselves, so they pushed the doctor toward the building. The doctor looked at Carl, asking for what he was supposed to do. He didn¡¯t want to knock on their door and disturb their good time together. ¡°Let us go.¡± But sadly, the butler urged him to go as well. He looked like he was about to cry, and he wasn¡¯t acting this time. ¡°But if they are...¡± ¡°He wouldn¡¯t do such a thing.¡± The doctor really wanted to say he had done exactly that, despite appearing to be the most ascetic man in the world. He started to walk, feeling like a sacrificialmb. However, when he stood in front of the door, he froze in fear. He had gone in there many times, but today, it felt like he was about to enter an underground dungeon. ¡°Oh, um.¡± He cleared his throat, wondering what to say, but then the butler knocked. That moment, Carl wasn¡¯t just the butler to the doctor. He was the savior. Yes, he wouldn¡¯t let him be the sacrificialmb. He regretted misunderstanding him. ¡°Your Grace, I¡¯m sorry to disobey you, but I¡¯ve brought the doctor so that he will be able to examine Her Grace.¡± After a short silence, they could hear Edgar¡¯s voice. ¡°Where¡¯s Ann?¡± ¡°She is right here.¡± ¡°She... shoulde in first.¡± He said with a sigh. Carl looked back and announced, still looking grave, ¡°Considering our duchess¡¯s situation, it would be better for the housekeeper to go in first than to send in a man.¡± The doctor, who was a little rxed now, wiped the sweat and agreed with him. ¡°His Grace has made the right choice. Our duchess needs to rx and rest, and she won¡¯t be able to do that if we all stay here.¡± They all took a step back at hearing it. They regretted not thinking of how the duke and the duchess must be feeling. They just let their curiosity take control of them. All of them received Rubica¡¯s help, so a few of thedies who lived in the annex were already crying. ¡°I¡¯ll go in first and call for help if needed. Please go downstairs and wait.¡± They all nodded to Ann and left. After they were gone, Ann went inside, but then she widened her eyes at seeing what was happening there. There was a pile of dresses on the floor, and Edgar was sitting on a chair, exhausted. Rubica was on the bed, her body covered with a duvet, and she looked down in embarrassment at seeing Ann. Did they make out in the room, during that short time? Ann had quite a few good reasons to think so. However, Edgar stood up and put a basket on her hand. ¡°Ann, I¡¯ve learned how great your work is.¡± ¡°Excuse... me?¡± ¡°Please, dress her.¡± The basket had pins, straps, and other things needed for ady to be dressed. Ann realized what was going on and had to bite her lips to avoidughing. Edgar¡¯s fingertips were full of needle marks. He had wrapped Rubica in a duvet and run here, which was good. However, the problem was that she only had dresses that couldn¡¯t be worn alone. Edgar tried dressing her, but... -Put that pin over there, and... ouch! -Did I stab you again? This should go here but not there? -Ouch! He had never known such hard work could exist and gritted his teeth. Why was it so hard, and why had no one thought of solving that problem? It was the first time he encountered something he couldn¡¯t do, and he was greatly shocked. ¡°Most of her dresses are hard to handle, as much as they are expensive. I only let the most experienced maids do it as they are quite delicate and fragile.¡± Ann talked as she removed the dresses on the floor. Then, she went into the dressing room. Edgar wanted to tell her to just help Rubica get dressed in one of the dresses he had taken out, but she came out just then. ¡°You must be very nervous. This is the dress she should wear now.¡± She was carrying a nightdress. ¡®Damn it, it¡¯s the middle of the night.¡¯ For the first time, he really thought that he could be an idiot. The rtionship with the woman he loved had taken away his ability to assess the situation properly. He had been taking out a bunch of outdoor dresses. And to be honest, he wanted to see her in that apricot flower dress as he had been able to watch it only from far away. ¡°But Ann, many people are waiting out there. Shouldn¡¯t we go out to meet them?¡± However, Ann gave her a grave look. ¡°Everyone thinks you just miscarried your baby. They will be suspicious if they see you are fine.¡± ¡°Miscarriage?¡± Rubica hadn¡¯t heard about it yet. They had run out of the carriage in a hurry as there wasn¡¯t a dress for her in there and although they had the time to fake a scene in there, he hadn¡¯t done it. She looked at Edgar, demanding an exnation, but he just looked away and muttered, ¡°I just couldn¡¯t think about it...¡± That didn¡¯t sound like him. He was always thorough and perfect. Therefore, Rubica was a little confused, but Ann nodded. Even a genius could sometimes be a fool in front of one¡¯s lover. ¡°I understand, I understand.¡± ¡°I guess it¡¯s good that I have a capable housekeeper and butler.¡± He sounded a bit sulky, but he was certainlyplimenting them, so Ann smiled broadly. She hadn¡¯t received anypliments for a long time. She didn¡¯t know why, but Edgar was blushing like a newly-wed bridegroom after the honeymoon. He had made a mistake, which wasn¡¯t like him, and was embarrassed by himself. It was like he was back to who he had been before he turned cold, and it made Ann d. ¡°Anyway, I must go down to finish this.¡± ¡°Yes, everyone is waiting.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t I go with you?¡± However, Edgar waved his hands. ¡°Of course not. You must be very tired... just rest here.¡± ¡®You must be very tired...¡¯ A lot of husbands say that when they were worried about their wife, but Rubica blushed hard. ¡°I¡¯m not that tired.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try to argue with me. Just take some rest.¡± ¡°He is right. You have been through a lot because of Stephen, and you had to take a journey on the carriage without taking much rest.¡± Toote, Rubica realized her mistake. She was also a bit out of her mind because of the honeymoon she had been so looking for. Everyone had to be thinking she had miscarried her baby and worried, and she was so embarrassed. She put fingers on her cheeks to cool them. ¡°Do you have a fever?¡± ¡°Oh, no.¡± However, Edgar looked really worried. He knew his kind wife sometimes lied by saying she was fine even when she was sick in order to not worry others. So, he ignored what she said and put his forehead on hers. ¡°But you do have a fever.¡± She was so surprised by him doing it that she couldn¡¯t say she was just too embarrassed. ¡°Bring in the doctor and have him examine her.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°And bring her warm water and food.¡± ¡°Right away, Your Grace.¡± He got up to leave, but she grabbed him. He was clearly worried about her, and she was d. Edgar then smiled at her. ¡°You¡¯ve heard what Ann said, right? Now you¡¯re a woman who just miscarried your baby. Don¡¯t make me a man who makes his wife appear in front of people in such a situation.¡± She was trying to protect him, and he thanked her for that. Nevertheless, he wanted her to stop suffering. He wanted to protect her. She saw what he meant and let him go. Edgar kissed her forehead again. ¡°Stop it!¡± Rubica protested at his never-ending series of kisses. What embarrassed her even more was her husband¡¯s gaze full of love was for her. ¡°Ann¡¯s watching!¡± She whispered so, but Ann heard it and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s good to feel like I¡¯m back in the old days. But you should restrain yourself in front of the others, she¡¯s embarrassed.¡± ¡°Fine...¡± Despite saying so, he couldn¡¯t let go of her hand for a long time. In the end, Ann had to push him out the door, but he kept his eyes on her until the door was closed. Chapter 213

Chapter 213: Chapter 213

Rubica was worried about her husband as much as he was worried about her. After the doctor concluded she was fine, Ann said she had to have some sleep, but she got up from the bed. ¡°Their conversation is taking too long...¡± ¡°Because they had a lot to discuss, including what to do with Stephen.¡± They seemed to be having a discussion in the conference room. ¡®He must be trying to take care everything now as he can¡¯t meet people during the daytime because of his curse.¡¯ While the doctor was examining her, he asked why Edgar was suddenly able to walk, and she just said it looked like his legs had been paralyzed for a few hours. However, she feared they might not be able to keep the secret forever. Edgar had told her briefly about it, but he must have kept a few things to himself in order to not worry her. ¡°Ann, could you bring Carl here?¡± She now needed Carl, the butler who was always concerned about his master. At least he wouldn¡¯t make things sound positive just to avoid worrying her. He would rather plead with tears, begging her to save Edgar, and describe the situation as tragically as possible. ¡°Your Grace, do you need anything?¡± Although he seemed a little tired, Carl came immediately to Rubica¡¯s summon. Then, she made the others leave the room and went straight to the point. ¡°I want you to tell me everything you know about Edgar¡¯s curse.¡± ¡°Hasn¡¯t he exined it to you himself?¡± ¡°He has... but he sounded like he was leaving out everything that I might worry about.¡± That sounded possible, considering Edgar¡¯s personality. Carl didn¡¯t say anything for a moment. If he told Rubica what he knew, an enraged Edgar would definitely scold him. However, would it be right to hide the truth from her? He decided that will be a problem forter, not immediately. ¡°I will tell you every detail I know.¡± Just as Rubica had expected, Carl told her everything she wanted to know about. He even said things she didn¡¯t ask about. In less than an hour, she knew everything, including how things had been when Edgar was born and the top-secret of Seritos running out of mana stones. In the end, she had to stop Carl¡¯s from talking. ¡°So, anyway, his curse is still on its course, right?¡± ¡°Yes...¡± the butler put his hands together and replied politely. Rubica put a hand on her forehead and thought calling Carl had been the right decision. She knew Edgar would have hidden the facts if she had asked him. ¡°I knew it, it¡¯s not just about the shortage of mana stone.¡± ¡°However, in my opinion, there is no need to develop the weapon anymore.¡± ¡°Oh, I think so too. We don¡¯t need Ste to fight Ios.¡± She shook her head as she thought of the dragon who could be either stupid or na?ve, or both. It would be faster to convince him somehow than to make a big gamble called war. Even if he wouldn¡¯t let Seritos farm on his Golden Land, if he would only let them go through it and use it as a trade route, the kingdom would be able to survive for some more time. ¡°Actually, they are talking more about Ios than Sir...¡± He almost said ¡®Sir Stephen¡¯, just out of habit, but he stopped there. ¡°That bastard. Everyone is demanding to know how a dragon showed up. For now, the duke has made them promise to keep the secret.¡± Ios had been careless enough to show his true self in front of the people, and Rubica put her other hand on her forehead as well. Edgar¡¯s improvisation could let them keep the secret temporarily, but what would happen from now on was the real problem. ¡°Edgar must see the king to decide what to do about this, right? I want to be with him.¡± ¡°He won¡¯t like it.¡± Edgar had already refused the king¡¯s offer to meet her more than once, and she knew it. ¡°I will have to meet the king one day. If I keep avoiding the audience, I will not be able to do anything. I must exin to him why we cannot make Ste.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± The king might not trust her or order Edgar to make the weapon nevertheless. She didn¡¯t want to make Edgar handle it all alone, and Carl was d to see her so full of courage. Instead of despairing about the sudden hardships, she always tried to find a solution and move forward. ¡°Minos said the blue gem in my ring is Iber¡¯s tear.¡± ¡°The dragon who¡¯s slumbering in the north mountains?¡± ¡°Yes. Do you know anything about it?¡± Carl shook his head, but then he stopped. ¡°Thete Duke ymore met his wife for the first time in there.¡± ¡°Really? Why were they there?¡± ¡°The duke was there with his men to find mana and dig mana stones, and I don¡¯t know why thete duchess was there.¡± Rubica still felt like she was lost floating in the wide ocean, but now she found a few straws. What kind of rtionship did the dragon and the nymph have? It was a problem that was rted to a slumbering dragon, but she had a clever goblin and a dragon by her side, although thetter wasn¡¯t particrly helpful. ¡°Please send a message to Jackal Bank and tell them I want to meet Minos again.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it right away.¡± Carl, who could also see some hope, was a bit too excited. ¡°But not now, Carl. It¡¯s toote. You can send a message tomorrow. You should go and get some sleep.¡± ¡°I cannot sleep when the duke is awake.¡± Rubica just smiled and didn¡¯t force him anymore as Carl insisted she was the one who had to sleep. Her eyelids had been fighting to go down for some time, and it had been bothering him. She hadn¡¯t been able to sleep for almost two days. However, she was worried about Edgar and said she would wait for him. ¡°Ann, please bring a chair so that she will be able to rest while she waits.¡± Ann read what he meant by it and quickly brought a rocking chair. As soon as Rubica sat on it, she could feel her body rxing. Its gentle swaying was sofortable. ¡°Umm.¡± Toote, she realized she had been tricked by the butler and the housekeeper. However, the sleep was alreadying over her and she couldn¡¯t resist it. She couldn¡¯t leave the chair and had no choice but to fall asleep. *** After a long time spent in tension and tiredness, you cannot rest for long even when you get the time for it. Your body remembers that it should stay tense. Rubica opened her eyes only a few hourster. She had been moved in the meantime and she was now on the bed. ¡®Yes, that chair was a scheme!¡¯ She jumped to her bed. The world was bluish outside, so it had to be early morning. It was quiet, so the meeting must have ended and the people must have gone back. But sadly, her husband wasn¡¯t with her. He had gone to his office as usual. ¡®He must be very tired...¡¯ She was more worried than disappointed. Did the man ever rest? ¡®He could have said he was tired and rest here for one day.¡¯ He always hadrge burdens on him. He deserved to put down everything that stressed him, like hisplicated researches and politics, and take a day off. Of course, there were several people who coulde and demand to meet him without caring about his condition, but Rubica was sure she could defeat them with Carl. She could say she will bring his meals herself and stop the maids froming into the room. She wanted to be alone with him like that for a whole day, not on a small bed but on her huge andfortable bed.... She blushed hard at her sudden thought. ¡°No, no.¡± She shook her head and tried to push the thought away. Actually, it was a memory, not a thought. ¡°I just want Edgar to sleepfortably.¡± She recalled his broad chest, sturdy back, and his strong arms. His deep, blue eyes that were fixed on her face during the whole time. And his hands that caressed her softly, but sometimes not so gently... ¡°Beast!¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know if she was talking about him or about herself. She had to spend some time with her head in her hands to calm down. Then, she opened the door to call her maids. ¡°Your Grace, what is it? Has someone trespassed into your room again?¡± Two men took out their swords and yelled as soon as the door was opened. They were wearing armors instead of the uniforms a guard knight usually wore. Rubica was very surprised to see them. ¡°No, no. I just woke up.¡± ¡°I see. We will call your maids for you, so please wait.¡± It seemed like security had been improved. However, was it necessary to have armed knights right in front of her door? Then, she recalled the fact that she had been abducted only two days ago. Still, it seemed like a bit too much, but she just thought they would soon stop doing it. She, however, didn¡¯t know it was going to happen every day from now on. Chapter 214

Chapter 214: Chapter 214

Even though it was so early in the morning, Rubica¡¯s maids came soon. She then washed her face, got changed, and went to Edgar¡¯s office. She doubted Carl woulde out, but he did, although he looked very tired. He was addicted to his work, even more than Edgar. ¡°He has just fallen asleep.¡± ¡°Carl, you should go and sleep too.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°I¡¯ll stay with him.¡± Carl thought about it for a moment, but then he gave her the key. He exined how the lock was opened from the outside. Next, Rubica went to the bed where Edgar was sleeping. He was sleeping soundly and didn¡¯t even budge at the sound of the opening door. ¡°He will be delighted to see you when he wakes up.¡± Carl knew it was Edgar¡¯s wish, so he was quite d that Rubica hade. He brought a chair for her next to the bed and brought warm bread and water too. She had been hungry, so she took the bread as soon as she sat down. It was fresh and smelled excellent. ¡°Your Grace, as you must know, many curses in old fairy tales are broken by a kiss from their true love.¡± Rubica realized what the butler was hoping for. ¡°Oh, but...¡± She didn¡¯t want to take his hope away, but she had to be honest. ¡°We¡¯ve kissed more than once, and we¡¯ve confessed our love to each other.¡± ¡°I know, but yesterday was your first time.¡± The butler smiled so brightly as he said that, and Rubica immediately realized what that ¡®first time¡¯ was. Butlers knew everything about their master¡¯s private life, and Carl was closer to Edgar much more than usual. ¡°Carl, get out.¡± But still, that was a line he shouldn¡¯t have crossed. Rubica ordered him coldly which made Carl realize his mistake. ¡°Please forgive me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ve gotten used to it, at least to some extent.¡± People who had the name ymore, including Edgar, tended to be absorbed in their thoughts and think about only that. Moreover, their maids and butler were no different, probably because of working right next to such people for so many years. Rubica told herself it was nothing to be embarrassed about as she and Edgar were married. ¡°Oh, he looks like an angel when he sleeps.¡± She calmed down her burning cheeks and looked at her husband. He was so handsome. ¡°No, he looks like an angel even when he¡¯s not sleeping. Although he is a nymph, to be exact.¡± When they first met, she had thought, ¡®is that being really a human?¡¯ And, it turned out he really wasn¡¯t a human. Was she supposed to thank the gods? She looked at him as she tore another piece of bread. His smooth skin, his dark eyebrows. They seemed so new even though she saw them every day. ¡°Can that be right?¡± She thought of what Carl had just said. Was the curse really going to be broken through the first intercourse with their true love? Maybe, they wrote it as the first kiss since they couldn¡¯t write it down for what it really was in stories for children. She knew there couldn¡¯t be a curse that would be broken so easily, but she couldn¡¯t help getting excited. ¡°Umm...¡± She lost track of time, watching the handsome face. He eventually started to frown by noon. He was about to wake up. ¡°Edgar, are you awake?¡± She couldn¡¯t resist the urge and whispered to his ear. He smiled. What was making him so happy? She wanted to smile along with him. ¡°Edgar.¡± She called him once again while having mischievous thoughts if he still didn¡¯t open his eyes. She could put away his duvet or tickle him hard. She thought of many ways and how he would react to each of them, but then he abruptly put his hand behind her neck. He pulled her in and kissed her. He slowly opened his eyes as they shared a passionate kiss. Then, he was shocked to see her in his arms. He looked at her with surprise, something that rarely happened, which surprised her in return. ¡°I thought I was dreaming, but...¡± Soon he smiled as brightly as spring. His blue eyes, which usually looked like the sea, were now green under the sunlight. His eyes changing colors dazed her for a moment, but then she snapped out of it. ¡°Edgar, your legs... you still cannot move them?¡± He was confused to hear the question, but he nodded. Of course, it wasn¡¯t that easy. One kiss could fix every problem only in fairy tales. She tried to not look disappointed and said, ¡°I¡¯ll bring your meal.¡± She got up to leave, but he grabbed her hand. ¡°Can¡¯t you stay a little longer?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just go to talk to a maid ande back.¡± Still, he didn¡¯t want her to leave and shook his head in protest. Rubica was quite surprised to see him insist like a little boy. In the end, she had to give him a hug to leave the room for a few minutes. He embraced her tightly and rubbed his cheek on her hair. ¡®Has he always been like this?¡¯ His love for her grew by every day, and he only let go of her when she pleaded for it with burning cheeks. He looked like he would do everything so coldly and rationally, even when it came to love, but he had a hot me hidden inside, and it wasn¡¯t easy for her to get used to it. ¡°But you muste quickly.¡± He whispered sweetly and she didn¡¯t hesitate to nod. They said beauty was one kind of power, and they were right, as she just couldn¡¯t say no to him. She walked out fast and asked a maid who was waiting to bring a meal. She came back with a threeyered tray with warm dishes in less than ten minutes. However, that short time had been too long for Edgar. He even said he wanted to rece the chef, but Rubica couldn¡¯t tolerate that and took away his fork. ¡°I like Steven¡¯s cooking.¡± In the end, he surrendered and started to eat like a good boy. She grumbled about what tricky boy he was, but she just couldn¡¯t stay mad at him for long. He looked so handsome as he ate in his white shirt. ¡°And what have you decided to do about Ios?¡± She asked when he was done eating, and he frowned as if he didn¡¯t even want to think about the matter. He had been asked so many questions, like why the dragon had shown up and what had happened. That much was fine, but Rubica¡¯s abduction became the second matter next to the dragon, and he didn¡¯t like it very much. He almost yelled his wife was much more important than that stupid dragon. ¡°I¡¯ve... decided to meet the king and talk to him about it first.¡± As it was about a dragon, he couldn¡¯t decide on his own. Plus, many had witnessed him shedding gold, so there was no hiding it. Edgar didn¡¯t want to hate Ios as he helped him save Rubica, but he still thought there hadn¡¯t been any need for him to make such a dramatic entrance. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Why are you sorry? It¡¯s my fault, I should have been more careful about Stephen.¡± ¡°But...¡± Was it because Ios had decided to be her cousin? She really felt like her little cousin had messed up. Anyway, it had been her who brought the dragon into this. Exining this was the least she should do. ¡°I will exin it to the king.¡± His hand, which was going for a napkin, stopped in the air. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the one who dragged Ios into this. I think I should go and exin.¡± Edgar could see why she was saying that. She was kind-hearted, which was good, but the problem was that the king was a sly old fox. Edgar could almost hear the old man¡¯s slyughter, which gave him a headache. ¡°That isn¡¯t necessary.¡± He sounded cold, clearly showing the matter wasn¡¯t open to discussion. Rubica would have been hurt by it before, but now she knew him better. He had always solved problems alone, and he wasn¡¯t used to getting help. He found sharing the burden with her too much and worried he might not be doing his role as her husband well. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve always wanted to go to the capital.¡± Pressing him more would only make his burden heavier, so she knew it was time to y the fool. ¡°I want to see the pce and meet the queen. Oh, and I once heard there¡¯s this great theater...¡± His eyes, that had been so determined only a second ago, started to shake. To finish it, she lightly grabbed his arm and smiled shyly. ¡°And I don¡¯t want to be apart from you.¡± In the end, he lost to her and gave his permission. ¡°But only sightseeing. If the king wants to meet you, say you are busy.¡± However, he knew she couldn¡¯t do that if the king decided to meet Rubica. Moreover, she would never avoid the meeting if the king said it was about him. Chapter 215

Chapter 215: Chapter 215

If only he could, Edgar wanted to protect Rubica from every danger and problem. He had saved her from a crisis only a day ago. Was it too much to ask, to want her to be just happy under his protection? ¡°Don¡¯t worry so much. Although foxes can be deceitful, they don¡¯t eat people.¡± He tried for a smile as he took her hand, although he couldn¡¯t do it well. He was telling himself he wanted to keep her away from danger, but maybe he just wanted to keep her only to himself. Why was he possessive of her? She clearly loved him, so why was he so anxious? ¡®Oh, get a grip on yourself.¡¯ He recalled the story she had told him about flowers when they just met. He didn¡¯t want to possess her and own her just to extinguish his inner anxiety. He himself had suffered so much because of such people. He didn¡¯t want her to go through what he had felt. On the other hand, loving her had enabled him to understand their feelings which he hadn¡¯t been able to understand before. Love is a splendidly beautiful emotion that gave endless joy, but it brings dark and muddy worries as its shadow. Lose to that anxiety, and you will be falling into pain. Moreover, you won¡¯t be falling alone as love is mutual. He didn¡¯t want to love selfishly and that was why he had to try even harder. *** Rubica didn¡¯t even get the time to get congrattions for her safe return as she had to prepare for the trip to the capital. Ann wanted to go with her very much, but she gave it up when Rubica asked her to take care of the household while she was gone. ¡°The queen is a kind-hearteddy, but she tends to easily believe what people say.¡± Edgar wanted her to avoid meeting the royals, but that was impossible. The queen had written them a letter saying she wanted to console the duchess who had been abducted by a spy, and they couldn¡¯t find a good reason to refuse that. ¡°Carl, you¡¯ve prepared tea, right?¡± Unlike Edgar who would go to the capital like the wind, do his work in there, ande back, Rubica had many things to pack. As the queen had offered to have a tea meeting in ymore style, Rubica decided to present her Ios¡¯s tea. ¡°Yes, and a few other gifts.¡± ymore¡¯s roses and ribbons had been so sessful thanks to the queen who introduced them to foreign ambassadors. Rubica also added a pair of shoes decorated with her ribbons to the gift list, using the name of Khanna¡¯s shop. She had met a few celebrities, including Countess Tangt. However, the queen was on a totally different level. Rubica checked many times to make sure the gifts and her dresses wouldn¡¯t displease her. ¡®I wish I could take Ann with me...¡¯ However, she was so talkative and active. If she went to the mansion Edgar had in the capital, she could identally reveal his important secret. Instead, Rubica decided to get as much advice as she could from her before she left. ¡°Has Minos sent a message?¡± ¡°Yes, he said one of Ios¡¯s trees is sick, so he must go to get a healing herb for it. It will take some time.¡± Well, that must have been why Ios hadn¡¯te yet despite acting as if he would immediatelye back after watering his nts. It was so... him and Rubica could make noment to that. Maybe he was even wailing in front of the tree every day, refusing to eat or drink. She could almost see Minos endeavoring to find a healing herb. ¡°I see, he¡¯s busy.¡± ¡°Yes, with that and...¡± However, Carl stopped there. He tried to move on to a different subject, but of course, Rubica didn¡¯t fail to notice it. ¡°What is it? Tell me.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s, um...¡± Carl didn¡¯t know why, but he just couldn¡¯t disobey Rubica. Edgar had told him she didn¡¯t have to know about it but doing as she said had never ended badly. Plus, Carl had already betrayed Edgar and confessed to Rubica more than once. ¡°A rumor has gone out that Ios and Jackal Bank have some kind of rtionship, now the bank is crowded with people who want to be its client.¡± ¡°That¡¯s weird! Aren¡¯t they supposed to rather avoid it at hearing it is connected to a dragon?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s because, um, several people have seen gold fall from his hair, and...¡± Carl stammered and looked at Rubica. He just couldn¡¯t bring himself to say now people were saying that the dragon had saved her. ¡°It¡¯s good then. At least Minos will bepensated for all he has done for us and Ios.¡± ¡°Of... course.¡± ¡°Still, I want to see him as soon as possible. Tell him toe immediately when he¡¯s done with what he¡¯s doing.¡± The goblin will have toe when the sick tree is healed, and Ios would drag him to Rubica if he resisted. Carl was also looking forward to meeting Ios again. Or rather, he was excited about the tremendous amount of green tea the dragon had. They arrived at the mansion in the capitalte at night. In terms of size, it wasn¡¯t even one-fourth of the ymore Mansion, but Rubica loved it. It had the minimum number of employees, but it didn¡¯t have two annexes full of noisy rtives, which she liked very much. ¡®I¡¯ve been caring about them more than I thought.¡¯ She hadn¡¯t noticed it when she was with them, but now she could tell since they weren¡¯t with her. The further your rtives are away from you, the better. ¡°If anyone says anything wrong to you, tell me immediately. Don¡¯t hold it to yourself.¡± Unlike her, Edgar couldn¡¯t have been more anxious. He could do anything in his dukedom, but there were many nobles who were hostile toward him in the capital. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You know I¡¯m not exactly the holding-to-myself type.¡± He recalled how she made her opinion clear when they first met, even though she had been a lowly noble who could just barely make it to the end of her peers¡¯ list. He smiled, but he couldn¡¯t say okay. ¡°People here are nothing like the people you¡¯ve met till now.¡± Unlike nobles with dominions whose priority was to manage theirnd well, in the capital, the nobles¡¯ ranks and positions were always changing depending on who held power. That was why they were much more cunning and good at trickery. Rubica had been born and raised far from the capital, so she was quite ignorant of such schemes. Therefore, Edgar worried she might identally find herself involved in some other nobles¡¯ quarrel. And, she was supposed to meet the queen the very next day, which he also didn¡¯t like. ¡°Okay, I promise. I¡¯ll tell you if anything happens.¡± She wanted to tell him not to worry, but she knew it would only make him spend the entire night giving her warnings and advice, so she said what he wanted to hear. It made him rx, at least a little. ¡°The queen is nice, but her mood tends to sway easily. She frowns like this when she¡¯s displeased, so if you see this expression, don¡¯t say what brought it out ever again.¡± His memory was frighteningly good, and he knew the king¡¯s and the queen¡¯s habits that even they didn¡¯t know about. ¡°If you ever run into the king in his castle, that can¡¯t be out of coincidence, so just ran away, or curtsy and leave. Also, don¡¯t speak for long, no matter what you are asked of.¡± He started to give her a lecture, just like he had done about Countess Tangt. The king and the queen were people he met very often, more than the times he met the countess, so he had much more information about them. Rubica realized she was about to spend the night listening to him in her ufortable outdoor dress. ¡°Do you mind if I get changed?¡± ¡°No.¡± Rubica thought he would leave the room and send in maids for her, but he didn¡¯t. Eventually, she had to ask for it. ¡°Edgar...¡± ¡°Oh, right. It¡¯s your first time in this mansion.¡± He stood up, but he didn¡¯t go to the door. He went to the wardrobe and opened it. It was full of clothes for women, and he took out a thin nightdress that suited his taste. ¡°Here.¡± Rubica took it, thinking it would make him leave the room. However, he just stood there and kept staring at her. ¡°Edgar!¡± She was about to cry, but Edgar realized something and tutted, ¡°Yes, you can¡¯t get changed without help.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t think he deserved to say that as he also needed help when getting dressed, but she thought he was finally about to leave the room and smiled. Chapter 216

Chapter 216: Chapter 216

¡°Turn around.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Turn around.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know what this was about, but she turned around. After a momentary silence, Edgar grabbed the strap of her dress at her back and tried to undo it, which shocked her very much. ¡°What, what are you doing?¡± ¡°Helping you get changed.¡± He sounded like it was only right, but it made her blush. How could he be so shameless? ¡°I don¡¯t want your help. Just go and call my maids for me.¡± ¡°For what? I¡¯ll do it.¡± Really, she didn¡¯t know what to say. Even after their honeymoon, she still needed some time to get used to the change. Even now, she blushed at the thought of how it had been. It just felt like a dream. On the other hand, Edgar had already gotten used to it. He was taking physical affection very naturally. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious. You can¡¯t help me undress and you can¡¯t help me dress.¡± Edgar wasn¡¯t being absurd when demanded to stay in the room. He was her husband, after all. So, she came with a different excuse. During their honeymoon in the carriage, he had ended up ripping apart her dress after struggling to undress her, and she didn¡¯t even want to think about how they eventually had to call Ann to help her get dressed. ¡°I can do it well now.¡± ¡°You can do it now?¡± Edgar nodded, quite seriously. ¡°If there is something I¡¯m not good at the first time, I always excel the second time. I remember everything.¡± He tapped on his head. It didn¡¯t make any sense, but she bought it, although she didn¡¯t know why. She knew it was impossible to beat him in a fight of words, so she gave up and nodded. ¡°Fine. But know that if you fail again and force me to call the maids, I¡¯ll be very humiliated.¡± Ann, Rubica¡¯sdy-in-waiting, hadn¡¯te with them, and Rubica had just met the maids at the mansion. She didn¡¯t want to be embarrassed in front of them. Edgar smiled as if telling her she had nothing to worry about. His lips looked even redder under the dim light of themp. She held her breath and looked away, but her heart started to beat fast. ¡°Well, here I go.¡± As he had assured, he started to undo the strap quite skillfully. He removed the overdress in no time and was triumphant, but then he despaired at seeing what was next. ¡°How am I supposed to do this?¡± He thought undressing her couldn¡¯t be that hard, although dressing her might be. However, he just didn¡¯t know what to do to remove that armor-like piece of cloth that was on her chest. He couldn¡¯t even see its exact shape as it had so many gems, embroidery, and huge ribbons, which made it even worse. ¡°Can¡¯t you just take it off?¡± ¡°Then I will be poked by the pins on it, it will hurt a lot.¡± ¡°Why does this dress have to be soplicated?¡± To know its structure, Edgar put his hands on her waist and started to examine. His hands pulled the dress and his eyes looked at her eyes, which made her blush hard again. Why couldn¡¯t she get used to his hands? Her heart was about to explode. ¡°Maybe we should call the maids...¡± ¡°No, we can¡¯t do that.¡± Now that Rubica was half undressed, she didn¡¯t want anyone else to see her like that. Edgar just tried to help her get changed and failed, but what would the maids think if they saw the scene? ¡°There are fixing pins on this side. You should remove them.¡± ¡°Aha.¡± Her exnation let him know about the dress¡¯s stomacher and started to remove the pins. As the pins were in corners where they wouldn¡¯t be seen, it took some time. He almost eximed in joy when he seeded in removing the stomacher. ¡°I think I should give our maids a pay raise.¡± Now the chemise, the skirt, and the corset were left. Edgar was confident he could undo the corset¡¯s straps as he had undone the overdress¡¯s strap quite easily. He even whistled as he did it. ¡°See? I¡¯m always good the second time.¡± But then, they heard the sound of the dress being ripped. He had concentrated too much on undoing the straps and pulled a little too powerfully, and the delicateces couldn¡¯t handle his strength. ¡°Haha, you¡¯re always good the second time?¡± Edgar bit his lips. He had never been so embarrassed. ¡°Well, even you are not good at something.¡± ¡°I must practice.¡± ¡°Practice?¡± Edgar thought about using a mannequin, but then he canceled his n at seeing Rubica ask back with a blushing face. Really, a mannequin? Why would he use such a thing when he had such a cute and pretty wife? ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be a thing I¡¯m not good at.¡± He said so as he removed the ripped corset. Rubica¡¯s skirt and panier fell to the floor in no time. ¡°None of us can be perfect.¡± ¡°I can. I can¡¯t tolerate myself otherwise.¡± Now she was wearing only a thin chemise which was practically a nightdress, and Edgar could see her body through it. ¡®Is it necessary for her to wear that nightdress?¡¯ He thought so, feeling hot, but Rubica asked innocently, ¡°How are you going to practice undressing? Using a hanger won¡¯t help, you know, it will be very different...¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe I can have Carl wear a dress.¡± He made that joke only because he didn¡¯t like that she was being so... innocent, but she found it quite funny and burst intoughter. Her chemise moved as sheughed, showing what was underneath it. He gulped hard to stop his hands from doing something naughty. ¡°Now, please close your eyes.¡± She asked to get changed into her nightdress, stillughing a little. But to her surprise, he just stared at her with burning eyes. ¡°No, I¡¯m not doing that.¡± ¡°What?¡± She jumped up in surprise, despite the fact they had already seen each other thoroughly. She was so cute. Edgar went a step closer and grabbed her chemise. The fabric was thin and soft, but it still didn¡¯t feel as pleasant as her skin. ¡°As I¡¯ve started serving you, I should do it to the end.¡± He whispered like a devil. She knew ¡®the end¡¯ wasn¡¯t getting changed into her nightdress. ¡°But, but I must hear the rest of your exnation about the king and the queen for tomorrow...¡± ¡°You can do it after we¡¯re finished.¡± He came nearer, and she stepped backward to run away, only to reach the bed. She sat on it and said something that was either a plea or a protest. ¡°We did it a lot yesterday.¡± ¡°Oh, says the person who fell asleep in the middle of it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s, that¡¯s...¡± He was now near enough for her to hear his breathing. She saw his strong arms and solid chest. Yesterday, she had seen how sweat beaded those muscles were from the closest distance. ¡°That¡¯s because you did it too many times...¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t enough for me.¡± It seemed like her husband¡¯s stamina was beyond humans¡¯ limitations. Oh, right. He wasn¡¯t a human. ¡°No? You don¡¯t want it?¡± He didn¡¯t like that she was trying to talk her way out of this and asked directly. His shadowed face was hiding anxiety, but it delighted and excited her that she replied without noticing it. ¡°I do.¡± And, she couldn¡¯t hear another word about the king and the queen until the sun came up the next morning. *** Rubica got up a lotter than usual. She helped Carl to send Edgar to his office on the second floor and started to get ready downstairs. As she was scheduled to meet the queen at two o¡¯clock in the afternoon, she didn¡¯t have much time. ¡°Will I be able to do it?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll do just fine.¡± Elise, who hade instead of Ann, encouraged Rubica, but she hadn¡¯t gotten Edgar¡¯s advice after they both lost control. Now all she knew was, ¡®Shut up when the queen frowns¡¯, and ¡®Run away if you see the king¡¯. It was good that the audience was meant to console her after the series of tragic events she had recently been through. Even the queen had to be careful with ady who had just miscarried her baby. She wore a dress Ann had chosen for her and put only minimum hair essories. She wanted to wear the most splendid dress she had, but she couldn¡¯t because of the asion. ¡°Your Grace, it is my honor to meet you. The queen is waiting for you.¡± The moment she went out of the carriage, she was greeted by a nobledy in a calm dress. She wasn¡¯t a maid but the queen¡¯s closetdy-in-waiting. Rubica couldn¡¯t help but get nervous at being treated differently from the other guests. ¡°I was told it is your first visit. Her Majesty has ordered me to take the time to show you around the pce.¡± She smiled kindly, which let Rubica rx at least a little. She had been told the queen was a woman of moods, but it seemed like she was quite kind and considerate. Chapter 217

Chapter 217: Chapter 217

On their way to the queen¡¯s quarters, thedy-in-waiting exined every part of the pce. Rubica really wanted to look around with wide eyes, but she managed not to. ¡°And as you can see, we¡¯ve decorated that garden with the roses you sent.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s so beautiful.¡± The garden was small but lovely. Rubica was d to see it and stopped in front of it to take a closer look, but then a group ofdies approached her. She had been instructed in advance to step aside only when she met royals, so she just stood there, and they curtsied. Rubica didn¡¯t feel ignoring them would be right, so she nodded to them. It turned out that was the right signal. Thedy-in-waiting introduced her to thedies. ¡°This is Duchess ymore.¡± ¡°Oh, we were thinking it might be you since only ymores wear ribbons on the chest. Nice to meet you.¡± She sounded nice, but Rubica didn¡¯t like what she said. Today, Rubica wasn¡¯t wearing a dress with ribbons since those types of dresses were meant for tea meetings. She was wearing a formal dress that had a few tiny ribbons on the stomacher with gems and embroidery. ¡°I¡¯m afraid Her Majesty is waiting for me... I hope we will meet againter.¡± She decided that talking more wouldn¡¯t do her any good, so she stopped there. Thankfully her opponent bought it and stepped back with a thin smile. ¡®She doesn¡¯t like me.¡¯ Of course. Rubica had met only nice people until now, and it had been a great fortune. No one could always be liked by everyone. However, she couldn¡¯t help but care about the reason that thedy pointed out her ribbons to express her hatred for her. She wondered what to do about it, but then she arrived at the queen¡¯s quarters. ¡°I will tell Her Majesty about your arrival. Please wait here.¡± Rubica sat in an elegant room that had a huge window overlooking the garden and soon she could hear an elegantughter. The queen came with about fourdies-in-waiting. She looked quite reserved and kind, and it was hard to believe she was a moody woman. However, her grey hair that had a huge diamond tiara on it indicated she did like to show off. ¡°Your Majesty.¡± ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t have to stand up. I know you are not in good condition. Please, sit.¡± Thankfully, the queen wasn¡¯t frowning at all, and Rubica sat down as she wanted. ¡°I saw the garden of roses on my way here. It was so pretty that I lost track of time looking at it.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s all thanks to the roses you sent me.¡± The queenughed, feeling quite good. ¡°As you cannot walk for long, I think it would be better to talk here than to go to the inner chambers.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± In less than a minute, refreshments were on the table. They already knew about Rubica¡¯s taste and she got tea instead of coffee. A maid poured hot water into a tea kettle. ¡°Oh, I see you have a visitor.¡± But then, they heard an old man¡¯s voice and everyone stood up, including the queen. Rubica also followed their example. ¡®It¡¯s... the king.¡¯ She could immediately recognize who he was. He was short and had ck circles under his eyes, which made him look like a fox. Maybe Edgar called him a sly fox not just because of his personality but also because of his appearance. ¡°And thisdy is...?¡± ¡°Duchess ymore.¡± ¡°Oh, atst, I can see you. I asked Edgar to introduce me to you so many times, but he just wouldn¡¯t. My, what a coincidence.¡± He stressed the word ¡®coincidence¡¯ andughed, but this encounter couldn¡¯t be a coincidence. Rubica remembered how Edgar had told her to run away if the king showed up like this. However, she couldn¡¯t run away now. She just smiled awkwardly and hoped the king would leave soon. ¡°My king, then you should join us in this conversation.¡± ¡°Oh, yes.¡± The king agreed with the queen and sat down. Thedies-in-waiting had disappeared already. Toote, Rubica realized she had been trapped. What was the king about to say? Her palms started to get sweaty. ¡°Oh, I see you are nervous.¡± ¡°Of course she is, this is her first audience.¡± The queen said as she poured out some well-brewed tea but, when the king saw that, he frowned. ¡°It¡¯s not coffee. I know Edgar likes it, but I hate this tea.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say it tasted quite good with milk and sugar, just like how Duchess ymore drinks it?¡± ¡°Yes, I did.¡± Rubica didn¡¯t know why they were saying that, which made her really nervous. For now, she decided to keep her mouth shut as much as possible and see where this conversation would go, just as Edgar had told her to. ¡°Tea meetings have be quite poprtely, now they¡¯re even having it here at the capital.¡± ¡°It¡¯s because anyone can easily host it only with tea and some cookies. It doesn¡¯t require much preparation like balls. Nothing can be more pleasant than sharing drinks and treats while having a delightful conversation with good friends.¡± ¡°Can be easily hosted with just tea and some cookies¡¯? Considering what tea costs these days... my dear Marie, I¡¯m afraid people will be mad if you say so in public.¡± The queen frowned, just like how Edgar had described. However, the king leisurely had a sip of her milk tea andplimented how she was getting better and better at making it. ¡°I was wondering why you came so early, as you almost nevere during this time of the day, but now I see you came with a purpose.¡± It looked like the trap Rubica was in now hadn¡¯t been set by the two of them but by the king alone. ¡°Haha.¡± ¡°I just don¡¯t understand why you keep trying to drag policy into meetings fordies¡¯ friendship. No wonder why everyone is so eager to refuse my invitation.¡± The queen protested while the king winked. Rubica had this feeling that each wrinkle made by the movements of his eye muscles was the product of his many years of being a trickery king. ¡°I¡¯m just so afraid of the protector next to the duchess.¡± The queen just snorted and stood up. ¡°Rubica, could you handle that bothering old man for me?¡± ¡°I beg your pardon?¡± ¡°I should go to take a walk in the garden.¡± Then she left the room, just like that. Was it because she was a moody woman, just like what people spoke of her, or because she wanted to let her husband have a conversation with Rubica in private? Rubica just couldn¡¯t tell. ¡°Well, Rubica...¡± Rubica could no longer follow Edgar¡¯s advice and keep her mouth shut. She tried to hide her anxiety and said, ¡°Yes, Your Majesty?¡± The king seemed even slier than most foxes. ¡°I am not in trouble because of you. Really, there isn¡¯t much even the king can do when such a thing bes popr. Of course, I can prohibit it entirely, but the person who made it so popr happens to be my favorite liege¡¯s wife.¡± ¡°Is it... entirely about the price of tea?¡± The king nodded, which relieved Rubica. It seemed like convincing him shouldn¡¯t be too difficult. ¡®He does not seem to be so stubborn.¡¯ She took one of the gift boxes she had prepared for the queen. She had meant to present it when she got the chance, but she hadn¡¯t been able to. ¡°Your Majesty, please take a look at this.¡± ¡°This is...?¡± ¡°It¡¯s tea.¡± The box was full of something that was both familiar and unfamiliar. The king was quite surprised to see green tea leaves. Rubica exined tea leaves were originally green but changed color during the long journey. ¡°Then, where did you get these?¡± ¡°Ios gave them to me. It appears tea only grows in dragons¡¯ territories.¡± The king¡¯s eyes glistened dangerously. It looked even weirder with the dark circles around his eyes. Rubica could also sense that he wanted Ios¡¯s Golden Land. Of course, he was eager for it. He had tried to take the ce by having Edgar make Ste, so Rubica feared she might not be able to convince the skilled man of politics. ¡°I can convince Ios to give us tea. It will stabilize the domestic price of tea, and we will be able to gain huge profits through trade with other kingdoms.¡± ¡°And, how did you meet the Golden Dragon?¡± The king crossed his arms and asked. ¡°He came looking for me because of roses.¡± ¡°Roses?¡± The kingughed when thinking that the flowers were now gaining the kingdom more than most of its new weapons. However, he still stayed defensive. Chapter 218

Chapter 218: Chapter 218

¡°So, you decided to give your roses and get his tea in return?¡± ¡°No, I just gave him the roses. I gained his trust in return.¡± The king couldn¡¯t believe Rubica was talking about the fierce dragon¡¯s trust. He asked with suspicion, ¡°What... are you? Are you a nymph like Edgar¡¯s mother?¡± ¡°No, I am an ordinary human.¡± ¡°Then, why did your name rece that missing ring?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t Edgar exin?¡± The king shook his head. He had talked about love when Rubica¡¯s name showed up in that box, mostly to tease Edgar. The duke stayed calm at first, but then he started to get mad. After that, he kept sending reports, but he shut his mouth at the mention of his wife¡¯s name. The king let him stop working on Ste when hearing Stephen might be a spy, but he had been wondering something. Who was this woman? He thought she couldn¡¯t be just anybody. ¡°I died about forty years from now. Then Edgar used the ring to send me back to the past.¡± ¡°Aha!¡± The king forgot everything about his authority andughed. He had been right! That little boy who pretended to be the coldest and the most rational did have a fiery love. ¡°So, Your Majesty, I must ask you something.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Please give up on Ste. No, please do not have Edgar make any more weapons.¡± The king frowned hard. Was she interfering too much? Maybe he was about to say she should care only about her own household like a properdy. Nevertheless, her tea meeting, which had significantly impacted the kingdom¡¯s economy, had started out as a small gathering she started just because she wanted to wear pretty dresses. Edgar was Duke ymore, but before that, he was her husband. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t make any more weapons? Do you want this kingdom to perish? As a duchess, you ought not to say such a thing.¡± ¡°I am begging you because I want this kingdom to survive.¡± Thankfully, the king wasn¡¯t telling her to mind her own business. He was open to discussions and new ideas, which was one of the reasons that enabled him to rule in peace for many years. ¡°They are going to abduct Edgar and force him to make Ste for them. Because of it, a huge war is going to break out in four years. It was a long and exhausting war, more than half of the continent was destroyed and this kingdom was devastated until nothing could live on it.¡± ¡°But we¡¯ve caught Stephen, thanks to your help.¡± ¡°Yes, he failed this time, but the people who want Ste are never going to give up.¡± ¡°Just wait until we have the Golden Land. Then we will destroy Ste.¡± ¡°Would... you?¡± Ste was the most powerful weapon in history. Would anyone be able to give up that power after tasting it once? It wouldn¡¯t matter if that person is good or bad since people can do bad things for good reasons. In fact, Stephen had tried to steal Ste to save his weak and poor homnd. ¡°After you take the Golden Land, you will want the trading route that leads to the easternnds. Then, the fruits of the south. Next, the mana stones in the mountains you haven¡¯t been able to mine yet because of the slumbering dragon, and it would be all for this kingdom.¡± She was right. Although the king didn¡¯t lose his smile, he could say nothing. He couldn¡¯t defeat her on this topic. He took a sip of tea and changed to a different subject. ¡°Edgar¡¯s curse is getting worse. Do you know about it?¡± ¡°Yes, our butler told me.¡± ¡°Then I must ask, do you know how to break it?¡± ¡°No...¡± The king seemed quite disappointed to hear that. He had guessed so, but he couldn¡¯t help getting disappointed to hear it. However, he couldn¡¯t have been half as disappointed as the woman in front of him. He soon hid his feeling and put on his smile back. ¡°House ymore is managing almost all the businesses in this kingdom. If he falls, this kingdom will fall.¡± ¡°That is exactly why we shouldn¡¯t rely solely on the production of weapons. I heard Lord Sesar¡¯s roses are now more profitable than most weapons.¡± ¡°Yes, they have gained us a huge revenue, but only because of spection. In time, the bubbles will fade, and they won¡¯t sell as well as they used to. It would be safer to take the Golden Land and get a stable supply of food.¡± ¡°But Ios is...¡± Rubica almost said he was too dumb, and they didn¡¯t need Ste to defeat him, but she didn¡¯t. The king might dispatch an army to defeat the dragon, and it couldn¡¯t be good. Ios called her cousin, so she wanted to find a way to coexist. ¡°He is fierce, but he isn¡¯t helpless. Look, he gave this tea as a present. There is a much safer way than waging a war, why should we take the difficult way?¡± The king narrowed his eyes to see the box full of tea. He had most certainly been surprised to hear what it was and who had presented it. He had been reported each year about how people trespassed Ios¡¯s territory and paid with their lives for it. It was impossible to easily ept the fact that the greatest foe he had thought to be impossible to coexist with could actually be persuaded. ¡°Two years, I¡¯ll give you two years.¡± However, what Rubica was saying made enough sense. War had to be avoided as much as possible. He didn¡¯t want to be held back by his prejudice and miss this good opportunity. Plus, the offer of revenue he would be able to earn with tea didn¡¯t hurt. ¡°Prove that this kingdom can be supported by other businesses in two years.¡± If this went well, many were going to starve to death. The king made it clear he couldn¡¯t wait any longer. Rubica also didn¡¯t want to drag more time and sacrifice lives. ¡°But, if you fail, you must kill Ios yourself.¡± He sounded calm, but what he said was cruel. Rubica almost dropped her teacup. The king was still smiling. ¡°Why are you so surprised? We can¡¯t make a living by any other business, we don¡¯t have any mana stone, and the duke, our only hope, might die at any time. The only way left is the Golden Land, and why would I spend a long time on making Ste and fighting a war when I have someone the dragon thinks of as a friend?¡± The king wasn¡¯t an easy man to handle, and Rubica remembered how Edgar called him a fox. He could manipte people with a smile. He was the exact contrast of Edgar. Was such cruelty and generosity required to rule over a kingdom? Rubica was rather grateful that he was giving her a chance instead of ordering her to assassinate Ios immediately. ¡®I hope that idiot would listen to me...¡¯ The fastest and the best way would be Ios letting Seritos use his Golden Land. However, judging from his character, persuading him so wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Telling him they should coexist to avoid war would only make him enraged. He didn¡¯t like humans trying to win him over after all. ¡°Okay.... in two years, I will prove that this kingdom can be strong without the weapons industry.¡± However, she just couldn¡¯t give up. The king was making it clear taking the Golden Land was their only option. If Edgar kept developing weapons, there was no guarantee there wouldn¡¯t be a second Stephen, and the third. She didn¡¯t want to let her past repeat itself. ¡°But Edgar must finish what he was working on now. We can¡¯t stop now and vite international contracts.¡± ¡°Okay, thank you for giving me a chance.¡± ¡°You cane to me anytime if you need help.¡± The king said so with a kind smile, and he wasn¡¯t just saying that. Rubica thought he was a good man. She always had had great regard for him, even as a lowly nobledy who couldn¡¯t even dream of seeing him in person. ¡°But...¡± Rubica thought they were done, but the king was about to start on a new subject. He smacked his lips like a fox about to devour a bird. ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering... how did you meet Edgar before you came back in time?¡± ¡°I beg your pardon?¡± ¡°I know he went looking for you this time thanks to that clue, but how did you meet at first? I wonder when and how that cold boy fell in love. He gave you the chance to live again instead of taking it himself, so he must have liked you a lot. Did you get married? How did he propose to you? And, was he the first to confess his love?¡± The king looked so excited, and Rubica was so confused by the shower of questions that she could say nothing. ¡°I¡¯ve tried to put every good youngdy in front of him at each ball, but he won¡¯t even budge. His stubbornness almost drove me mad!¡± Now Rubica could see why Edgar had been called a womanizer. The king had always put him up with thedies, so of course, people gossiped about it. Chapter 219

Chapter 219: Chapter 219

¡°Well? Tell me.¡± ¡°Oh, um.¡± The king was clearly going to be disappointed to hear they both didn¡¯t express their feelings for each other. Rubica blushed hard while not knowing what to say. ¡°Well, I see you are toying with yet another innocent person again.¡± Thankfully, the queen came to her salvation. She had had no choice but to go to walk in the garden as the king was interrupting the pleasant time with her long awaited guest, so she was feeling a lot worse than before she left. In addition to that, her guest was clearly feeling uneasy, and the king was up to his nasty habit again. ¡°What is it this time? You made the duke dance with a newdy during every dance, so were you about to have her dance with a young and handsome gentleman so that her husband would be jealous? You¡¯d better not do so. Although there are many men younger than Edgar in this kingdom, none of them is more handsome than him. She would feel as if she is dancing with a squid.¡± The queen was quite harsh on her husband, and Rubica¡¯s eyes widened while the king cringed. ¡°Oh, I just remembered I have a council to attend.¡± In the end, he stood up and ran away while the queen smiled happily as if she hadn¡¯t been mad at all. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that disturber, you must be tired... but as he is gone now, I think we will be able to have a delightful conversation.¡± And she wasn¡¯t frowning at all as she said so. *** Rubica could only leave the queen by sunset. She also liked Rubica¡¯s gifts very much and she even asked her to stay for dinner, which she politely refused. She looked up at the red sky. It reminded her of Edgar, who had to be waiting for her back at the mansion, and it made her a little sad. If he had been with her, the king wouldn¡¯t have dared to approach her. ¡®It¡¯s all for the better, I have a chance to try now.¡¯ The queen wanted to see her out personally, but as she had other schedules to attend, including the dinner banquet, she sent thedy-in-waiting who had brought Rubica instead. ¡°It¡¯s the princess.¡± Rubica walked fast, eager to go back, but then thedy-in-waiting warned her quietly. There was a group ofdies on the other side of the hallway, and Rubica recognized some of them. She met them earlier the day. She knew it couldn¡¯t be good, but she couldn¡¯t ignore the princess. Therefore, she stopped and bowed first. ¡°Oh, you are new.¡± ¡°Your Highness, this is Duchess ymore.¡± It was Princess Charlotte, the youngest child of the king and the queen. She was dearly loved as she was the youngest and still a minor. Rubica tried for her kindest smile and looked up. ¡°Oh.¡± At the front of the group, she could see a girl who looked very simr to the king. She blinked, quite surprised to see Rubica. ¡°Is she really Duchess ymore?¡± Rubica¡¯s feeling had been right. Thedies, in the meantime, covered their mouths with fans while the men coughed. What was she supposed to do? Gabriel would haveughed along with them. That wouldn¡¯t have been a bad strategy for a count¡¯s daughter, but Rubica was a duchess. She decided to keep her smile and not say anything in return. After a short silence, the princess started to get a little nervous. The most fearful and trickiest person in the world is whose thoughts are impossible to tell. ¡°My mistake.¡± ¡°Her Highness must have been excited as people say so much about you. Please understand.¡± Before Rubica could say it was okay, thedy she met earlier the day spoke first. Now saying she was okay would only turn her into an ungenerous person. However, she seemed to be right since the princess looked grateful for thedy speaking for her. ¡®She... doesn¡¯t seem to hate me.¡¯ Was she just easily manipted by the people around her because of her young age? Rubica didn¡¯t know what the princess was exactly thinking, but there was one thing she knew. Some of the people in the group hated her, and talking more wouldn¡¯t do her any good. ¡°I was just a little surprised. Then, Your Highness...¡± ¡°Why are you not wearing one of your famous ribbon dresses?¡± Unfortunately, Rubica¡¯s goodbye was blocked by the princess¡¯s question. It didn¡¯t seem like she was going to let Rubica go easily. It really frustrated her as Edgar was waiting for her, but there wasn¡¯t much she could do to the princess. ¡®This must be why they are using her.¡¯ Thedies she had encountered earlier must have made her and the princess run into each other. Judging from Charlotte¡¯s reaction and her innocent looks, she didn¡¯t seem to have a particr purpose. It was just that she was always loved and couldn¡¯t even guess how troubled Rubica was feeling. ¡°Your Highness, ribbon dresses are for tea meetings.¡± ¡°Are they?¡± Princess Charlotte looked confused. The king¡¯s pce was her home. She could wear anything she wanted there. Therefore, although she did know the others had to wear clothes in ordance with manners whening to the pce, she just couldn¡¯t ept it. ¡°I heard you were the person who introduced tea meeting. It has be popr here at the capital as well. I¡¯d like to go to one, but my father wouldn¡¯t let me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s because the price of tea has gone up too much.¡± ¡°And there would be no stopping it if you start going to tea meetings. Your father doesn¡¯t allow you to go because he cares about his people.¡± The princess protested, and everyone was immediately soothing her andplimenting how great and generous of a king her father was. Witnessing what kind of ttery they were using didn¡¯t make Rubica feel good, but it did made the young princess feel better. She smiled. ¡°Of course. I must follow my father¡¯s example and care about our people.¡± Without realizing it, she was joining her group in criticizing Rubica for starting tea meeting and making the price of tea go up. She didn¡¯t seem to know she was making herself an enemy of Duchess ymore. ¡®Living as a royal must be so hard.¡¯ Even a smallck of sense could easily make one a prey of ttery. What would it feel like to watch one¡¯s own children grow up among such people? ¡°Your Highness, please do not worry. The price of tea will soon go down and you will be able to host your own tea meetings.¡± Anyway, Rubica couldn¡¯t just stay still when they were criticizing ymore right in front of her. ¡°The price of tea will go down?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve found a good solution to it with your father.¡± It made the princess brighten up, but everyone else was quite disappointed to hear it. Duke ymore had been refusing to show his wife to the king, and the king had be quite enraged by it. Every person in the capital knew about that. Therefore, it wasn¡¯t surprising the king had gone to meet her while she was with the queen. Some of them even wanted to see her sad after being warned by the king to stop having tea meetings. But to their surprise, she had discussed the matter with the king and found a solution. It was more than enough to sound the rm in their heads. ¡°Soon the king¡¯s court will be full ofdies wearing clothes that follow ymore¡¯s style.¡± Ady who was right next to the princess covered her mouth with her fan and said really sharply, ¡°It uses ornaments made of cheap fabric instead of gems, so it is perfect for this kingdom¡¯s love for humble and chaste things.¡± Rubica¡¯s mind went ck at that sudden criticism. ¡®Cheap?¡¯ Ribbons could be made of cheap fabrics, of course, but ribbons for dresses were all made of the most expensive silk. Unlike stomachers, that were meant to be used once since the embroidery and gems couldn¡¯t be easily removed, the ribbons she made with Khanna could be used for various purposes and asions. However, would they even listen to such an exnation? They just didn¡¯t like her and were criticizing every w in her they could find. ¡°No one will force you to wear ribbon dresses. If you don¡¯t want to see others in it, you can stoping to the pce and stay home.¡± Her opponent was quite surprised to hear her direct counterattack. ¡°Yes, you can do that.¡± The princess leisurely agreed with Rubica, so she didn¡¯t seem to be entirely on their side. ¡°It would befit this kingdom¡¯s spirit, but it would make this man extremely sad. It is my belief that dresses must makedies shine with beauty, and to let them fulfill their purpose, no money should be saved on them.¡± A man cried so. He wasn¡¯t a peer, as he wasn¡¯t wearing any gold or silver, but he was wearing a fashionable ck jacket and had long, elegant silver hair. Chapter 220

Chapter 220: Chapter 220

¡°Oh, Christopher.¡± Ady called his name to console him, and it shocked Rubica. What was he doing here? Had the criticism about her ribbons started from his mouth? Their eyes met and he bowed elegantly. There wasn¡¯t even a single w in his posture. ¡°I am Christopher. I would be honored to make a dress for you one day.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t be needed, I have Khanna.¡± Rubica coldly turned him down tly, but it didn¡¯t make his smile fade. He had a number of high nobles as his regr customer, so this kind of refusal was nothing to him. He believed Rubica would eventually be eager to wear a dress made by him, although she was pretending to be too high for that. All he had to do was to trigger her fear that she might be excluded from the society, a bit of vanity, and pride. ¡°Oh, right. I don¡¯t deserve to as I am not a dweller of ymore Dukedom. You are as chaste as they say.¡± ¡°If I¡¯d only known the duke wanted a wise woman who manages hisnd well, I would have shown him how much I care about his house instead of trying to tter him when he showed interest in me.¡± Ady tried to imply she had had a chance with Edgar, but it confused Princess Charlotte. ¡°Edgar never showed interest in you.¡± That made thedy blush hard, so she replied, ¡°Your Highness, he did have some interest in me. We even danced together at a ball once.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because my father forced him to.¡± The princess repliedpletely unconcerned, and Rubica was more than just d to hear it. Although she looked a lot like her father, she seemed to be a different kind of person. ¡°Hmm, anyway, I¡¯ve married a good man and lead a free and happy life, and there isn¡¯t more I can hope for. On the other hand, being a duchess must be hard. If my husband were to make me order dresses from designers in ournd and put fabric ornaments on my chest instead of gems, I would cry until I have no more tears to shed.¡± Edgar would have been really, really mad to hear that. It reminded Rubica of all those gifts he had given her. She had put them in storage as there were too many of them and she found them too bothering. ¡®Should I have brought that jade fan?¡¯ However, she knewpeting with such people would only be pouring oil to the fire of their stupidity. She decided to just say, ¡®Thank you for your concerns¡¯ and leave, but then... ¡°Rubica.¡± They heard a voice. They turned in surprise and saw Edgar standing near them. Both Rubica and her opponents hadn¡¯t been able to sense his arrival as they had been so absorbed in that fight of words, so they were all shocked. The duke was usually cold as if he was made of ice, butpared to how he was now, that would have been as bright as the sunlight of a warm spring¡¯s day. Edgar came next to Rubica and met eyes with each one of them. His fierce but cold rage scared even the princess who took a step back. The duke was even scarier than her mother and her father. She thought she had made a huge mistake, although she didn¡¯t know what it was. But then, Rubica smiled warmly and took his hand. Everyone was shocked to see her greet the duke with such ease. ¡°Edgar, you could have waited for me at home.¡± She worried he might have heard the conversation. ¡°The sun has set, but you didn¡¯te, so I was wondering if some lizards were bothering you, but...¡± In a sh, he caught a fly with his bare hand right in front of the princess¡¯s face. ¡°I see there was a fly.¡± Then, he shed a deadly smile and Rubica could see he was about to do something. She really didn¡¯t want to let him loose in front of the young princess, so she grabbed his arm. ¡°It¡¯s gettingte, we should go. Your Highness, I¡¯m afraid we must leave now.¡± ¡°Huh? Okay.¡± The princess replied, still not knowing what she was saying. However, Edgar kept ring at the party and Rubica had to literally drag him out. ¡°How dare they...¡± He started to grit his teeth the moment they got on the carriage. He must have heard what thedy said to offend Rubica, and she worried he might be storming into her home right away. She changed the topic in an effort to calm him down. ¡°Hasn¡¯t Minos sent a message?¡± ¡°Oh, he came himself.¡± ¡°Really? He must havee while I¡¯m gone. He¡¯s still there, right?¡± Rubica brightened up at hearing the news. The goblin had information about the ring, which was their only lead to break the curse. She had so many questions to ask him. However, Edgar shook his head. ¡°What? He¡¯s gone?¡± Rubica regretted wasting time on the princess and her group. She should have ignored them and be on her way, but she couldn¡¯t help getting enraged at hearing the name Christopher. ¡°He has left to the north while saying he will try to talk to Iber¡¯s underlings.¡± ¡°To the north?¡± ¡°Yes, he is going to show them the ring and try to talk about it.¡± Actually, Ios had left with Minos, but Edgar didn¡¯t want to talk about the dragon to Rubica. He would get a severe stomachache each time sheplimented Ios even a little. ¡°He said it would be better for him to go as they wouldn¡¯t even talk to you and me as we are humans.¡± ¡°I... see.¡± For now, the best they could do was to wait for Minos to do what he¡¯d promised to do. Nevertheless, she was quite d to get at least a small bit of hope. *** Minos had been equally hopeful when he arrived at the entrance of Iber¡¯s territory. nco, who was pretty much the chief of Iber¡¯s underlings, was one of his old clients. In fact, when he knocked on the door, nco was quite d to see them and even offered them hot tea. She was also happy to see Ios had grown up so much. ¡°ymore?¡± Until they mentioned that name. As soon as they spoke of it, nco cleaned her ears with water as if she had heard something filthy. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare speak of that cursed name in front of me!¡± Then, she kicked the two out of her home. Outside, the cold snow had piled up to almost a meter high. Ios muttered to himself as he pulled out Minos by his feet. He had been thrown on his head and was stuck in snow. ¡°What just happened?¡± He had always been received warmly whenever he came to visit Iber¡¯s territory. He had never been kicked out. It was so shocking that he couldn¡¯t even be mad about it. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know.¡± Minos brushed off the snow on his clothes and took out his books from his pocket. Although they had just been kicked out by nco, he still had many other clients. So, they went to the second important client. ¡°ymore?¡± However, the same thing happened again. A secondter after they mentioned ymore¡¯s name, they found themselves buried in the snow. ¡°Ugh!¡± Ios became really angry and hit the falling snowkes with his fists. If there hadn¡¯t been a rule among dragons about not hurting each other¡¯s underlings, he would have lunged in like a bull and smashed the door. ¡°Hmm, I guess just mentioning ymore is enough to enrage everyone here.¡± ¡°What on earth has that man been doing?¡± ¡°Well, we must use a different strategy.¡± Minos narrowed his eyes as he looked for the next client¡¯s address in his books. Going without preparation will likely have them be thrown out again. Getting plummeted to the snow head first twice was more than enough. ¡°First, we must find out why they hate ymore so much.¡± ¡°Yes! We must find out and tell on them to Rubica about it.¡± Ios was having quite different thought as he didn¡¯t like Edgar at all. He didn¡¯t like that he could touch him without any trouble even though he was only a human, and most of all, he didn¡¯t like that he was smart. He wanted to use this chance and find out his weakness. ¡°Oh my, Lord Ios, why have youe to this humble ce?¡± ¡°Just... don¡¯t kick me outter.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Never mind. Let me go in, it¡¯s cold.¡± The third underling they visited, Snow, was very confused, but she took the two to the warmest spot and brought them milk boiled with butter. That was pretty much the same as before, but Minos knew this was going to change the moment he said they were here to find a clue for breaking Duke ymore¡¯s curse. Ios raised his arms in guard, determined to not be kicked out so easily this time. ¡°Lord Ios? Why are you raising your arms?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s...¡± Before Ios could say he was in defense in case Snow grabbed him by his cor, Minos put down his cup of milk and interrupted them. Chapter 221

Chapter 221: Chapter 221

¡°He had a huge battle recently and has been instinctively acting like this ever since.¡± ¡°What? Who dared to fight against Lord Ios?¡± ¡°It was about Duke ymore.¡± Snow¡¯s white face turned colorful as soon as she heard the name. Her face steamed and Minos worried she might melt. Thankfully, they weren¡¯t kicked out this time. ¡°So, that evil bastard has finally attacked Lord Ios.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering why he was perfectly fine after touching me, but it was because he¡¯s evil!¡± Minos hadn¡¯t been more grateful for the fact that Ios was aplete fool, and Snow totally misinterpreted his innocent reply. ¡°I can¡¯t treat you this poorly after what you must have been through.¡± In less than a minute, Minos and Ios found the table full of rare fruits that grew only in Iber¡¯s territory, meat, and wine. Snow, who was already heavily drunk, grabbed the sleeping Ios and wailed. ¡°Oh, that cursed House ymore. If it hadn¡¯t been for them, my lord Iber would have woken up decades ago!¡± Minos didn¡¯t miss that. Each dragon had different habits and natures, so only its underlings knew about them. Because of that, Iber¡¯s long slumber, which was continuously breaking the record of the longest sleep of a dragon, wasn¡¯t that known to outsiders. Minos used to think the dragon was still sleeping just because she didn¡¯t feel like waking up. ¡°So, Lord Iber hasn¡¯t been able to wake up because of the ymores?¡± If Snow had been sober, she would have never revealed a secret about her master. But now, she was drunk, and she considered them as brave warriors who just fought her greatest foe. ¡°You see...¡± Minos got a severe headache at finding out what he heard after that. ¡®Well, this can¡¯t be good.¡¯ *** On the next day of Rubica¡¯s visit to the king¡¯s castle, she received a visitor who made her somewhat unpleasant mood go away instantly. It was Gabriel. She was wearing a lovely dress with violet flower pattern andces. She smiled brightly as soon as she saw Rubica. ¡°Your Grace.¡± ¡°Gabriel! Wee.¡± Was it because she had met a group of people who didn¡¯t hesitate to show her their fangs just the day before? She was d to see Gabriel¡¯s cute and lovely face more than ever. Before Rubica could ask her to sit, she started to chatter. ¡°I begged my mother to let mee here as soon as I heard you were in the capital. Ournds are quite far away, but the capital is only about an hour by carriage from my home. Would it be okay if Ie to visit often from now on?¡± ¡°Of course, you would always be weed here. You maye every day.¡± Elise brought tea and poured it out, then Gabriel whispered to Rubica, ¡°And have you decided on our offer?¡± She was asking about her ¡®The Litter Bird¡¯s News¡¯. As usual, Rubica didn¡¯t say anything and just added sugar to her tea, which Gabriel didn¡¯t miss. ¡°Please tell me anytime if you need my help.¡± ¡°Well, actually...¡± Rubica told her about what had happened with Princess Charlotte. As Gabriel published a magazine that had news of the society, she thought she would be able to exin to her what it had been about. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry much about the princess. It¡¯s just that... she cannot leave without a herd of admirers around her, just like her mother. But she won¡¯t hate you just because those people hate you. To be more urate, she always does as she pleases and won¡¯t be swayed by others¡¯ opinions.¡± Rubica nodded, thinking of the princess¡¯s carefree attitude. Gabriel also told her about the others as well, and it turned out they weren¡¯t exactly important. Well, they tried to humiliate her by using the princess, which was something only those who were too afraid to speak for themselves would do. However, there was a single thing that she couldn¡¯t let go of. They spoke ill of her ribbon. ¡°I¡¯m sure Christopher was there because of the princess. He is the best designer in the capital, after all. They probably called your ribbons cheap because of him.¡± With her friend Tatiana¡¯s help, Gabriel had already seeded in having an informant in Christopher¡¯s shop. She knew everything about him, where and who he met and what he said to others. ¡°Are you saying he has been telling people that ribbons are cheap?¡± ¡°Yes, to every customer he meets. The other designers are also joining him in it, they¡¯re jealous that Khanna¡¯s shop has be so popr. They will get fewer and fewer customers if more people start wanting ribbons.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be good.¡± Once that criticism went around, no one would want to wear a ribbon dress. Clothes are not just about practicality. Ady¡¯s dress was aplicated oue of many intertwined ideologies. Just being pretty was never enough. Look at Sesar¡¯s roses. There were many other flowers as beautiful as them, but they brought ymore enormous wealth thanks to their rarity and symbolic meaning. Rubica had hosted a tea meeting because she knew it, and she made it a sess. ¡°If ribbons dresses arebeled as cheap, no one would want to wear them.¡± However, unlike Christopher and his friends who could meet many customers and spread words, Rubica didn¡¯t have any connection in the capital yet. Her background ofing from a bar¡¯s family was another problem. If she had been of noble birth like Princess Charlotte, everything she wore would have been turned into precious regardless of what people said, but she knew they would only say she wore something cheap because she couldn¡¯t abandon her old habit of dressing like a bar¡¯s daughter. ¡°And, I heard Christopher has been spreading a strange rumor.¡± ¡°A strange rumor?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about Madam Berry.¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes widened to hear her own secretive alias. ¡°What about her?¡± ¡°All the important ideas, including the ribbon itself, have been Madam Berry¡¯s. He is saying Madam Khanna must have tricked an innocentdy and is exploiting her ideas.¡± ¡°What? Khanna never tricked me! She always gives my share way too urately that it¡¯s almost troubling me!¡± ¡°She... gives you your share?!¡± Rubica realized she had just almost revealed Madam Berry¡¯s identity and quickly tried to exin. ¡°Oh, Khanna is a designer of ymore Dukedom, and I¡¯ve invested in her about the ribbons. She always gives me my dividend, she is always clear about the money... so I got a little mad.¡± ¡°I... see.¡± Gabriel ate a cookie, although she still looked a little suspicious. After that came a short silence. Rubica took a sip of tea, which was cold now, and tried to calm now. ¡®Even though that rumor makes no sense, more people will believe it if I do nothing about it.¡¯ That was what she had done when it came to all those nonsensical rumors about Edgar. She believed all of them before she got to know him herself. ¡°Gabriel.¡± Atst, the duchess was biting her bait. Gabriel stopped cutting a cookie and replied, ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°What is the best way to get rid of a rumor?¡± ¡°To counter it with another rumor.¡± ¡°But I know nothing about that field.¡± Gabriel smiled widely as if she had been waiting to hear that. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry. Here is an expert in that field.¡± And after she said that, she regretted not calling her a ¡®genius¡¯. In a few days, the special edition of ¡®The Little Bird¡¯s News¡¯, which many girls at the capital had been waiting for eagerly, came out. The magazine always introduced remarkable news and new trends, so it always sold well. But this time, it broke its sales record. It had seeded in interviewing a designer everyone had heard of, but no one had met. It was Madam Berry. ¡°Oh my, how did they meet Madam Berry?¡± ¡°What did she say in the interview?¡± And to their surprise, the interview wasn¡¯t the only article about Madam Berry. She exined in detail how to decorate an old stomacher with ribbons and make it new. As there were exnatory pictures along with the description, anyone could try it themselves. [Using expensive gems doesn¡¯t always make a dress beautiful. However, there is a designer who thinks his dresses are the best as they all have huge gems. He is not a designer, but a gem seller.] Gabriel was dering war against Christopher. Even with Gabriel¡¯s witty writing, a ribbon made of fabric couldn¡¯t be as valuable as a gem. However, not everyone in society could afford to put expensive gems on their dresses. Therefore, many readers were d to hear gems were not the only thing that defined a dress¡¯s beauty. They were all delighted to know they could have pretty dresses with only a bit of needlework skill. Youngdies, who were the most passionate readers of the magazine, needed many dresses. Young men could wear the same uniform every time as it was a symbol of their rank and status, butdies couldn¡¯t do so. In addition to that, many meetings had be popr this year, with a ¡®tea meeting¡¯ as the start. The royal family didn¡¯t like the trend till only a few days ago, but now rumors were that the queen was about to host a tea meeting herself. It was very different from the year before when they had had to prepare only for the society season. Chapter 222

Chapter 222: Chapter 222

They needed new dresses, a lot more of them than before. But sadly, young girls who needed dresses didn¡¯t have money, and they couldn¡¯t beg their parents for new dresses every time. And now, The Little Bird¡¯s News was offering a great alternative to it. Put different ribbon to a newbination of a skirt, overdress, and stomacher, and it could look brand new. In addition to that, ribbons were affordable to the young girls, thanks to the machine Edgar had invented. Of course, gems were much more beautiful and splendid, but they made the obvious choice between one dress with gems on it and five dresses with ribbons. Five new dresses gave them at least five different chances to go to a meeting and meet strangers. Moreover, with different ribbons andbinations of dress parts, the number of changes could be multiplied to infinity. ¡°I see all young girls put ribbons on their dresses these days.¡± ¡°Well, now gems and embroidery are for olderdies.¡± Ribbon became a symbol of youth in no time, and trends had great power in young girls. Once, low-cut dresses came in fashion, and no matter how parents lectured about how they made girls look cheap and vulgar, almost all the girls wore them, except for a few of the too reserved girls. However, parents had no reason to object to ribbon dresses. They were rather d that they didn¡¯t have to spend fortunes on their daughters¡¯ dresses anymore. All went just as Gabriel had predicted. And now, it was time for the next step. [One of the chief virtues of a designer is to make clothes that match each person¡¯s unique beauty. But I heard there is a rude designer who insists his customers should make them fit his clothes, not the other way around. We are nning to find people who have lost their beauty because of that rude designer and help them. So, do not be too surprised if Madam Berryes to find you.] Every person in society knew Christopher had been openly telling his customers to make their bodies fit his clothes. He strongly believed endeavor and suffering were required to achieve beauty. He managed his dresses strictly and demanded his customers to meet his criteria. He even told those who were already pretty that they had to try even harder, to be even prettier and to protect their youthful beauty from time. He made dresses for people who couldn¡¯t meet his standards only when they promised to make their bodies fit his clothes, just like he had done to Gabriel. ¡°I can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t put any personal feelings when I wrote it. It took me some time to realize, but he said too many horrible things to me.¡± Rubica was worried they might have provoked Christopher a little too much, but Gabriel convinced her out of it. Of course, she knew she had been a little, no, very reckless. ¡°I promise, they will not find out who you really are.¡± ¡°But if Christopher tries to harm Khanna...¡± ¡°That is exactly what we¡¯ve stopped him from doing. From now on, if anything happens to Madam Khanna, everyone will think it was Christopher.¡± Rubica nodded as it made sense. ¡°Your Grace, I just want to help other girls who are still suffering as I did. And to do that, we must shatter Christopher¡¯s high reputation.¡± They had to destroy the designer¡¯s reputation so that more people would believe them when theyter revealed what he had done to Khanna years ago. Although Gabriel had great pride and love for The Little Bird¡¯s News, to others, it was nothing more than a gossip magazine. They didn¡¯t believe everything in the magazine. Even if Christopher had done something illegal, it was very unlikely that a trial would take ce just because of something that had happened in a dress shop. To make him pay for all he had done, they had to make people believe them about it. ¡°Girls need to know they can be pretty without tightening their corset until they faint and spending hours on makeup.¡± In the end, Rubica gave in to Gabriel¡¯s dedication and passion. However, Gabriel had to promise to be extremely careful. As soon as she got the duchess¡¯s permission, she found herself a target. Well, that target was about to be given a chance to be splendidly transformed, so it would be better to call her the lucky girl. Gabriel didn¡¯t approach the prey herself. Although she was considered a cute and lovely girl now, she still often made a fuss and drew attention, so she wasn¡¯t right for doing something unnoticed. ¡°Grace.¡± Grace was shocked when Tatiana talked to her at the tea meeting of Countess Tangt. Tatiana was one of the most beautiful girls in society, and she almost never talked to others first. She was always surrounded by people who were eager to talk to her. She was a reserveddy who quietly listened to others with a smile. ¡°Would you like to walk with me in the garden?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Grace went with Tatiana, although she couldn¡¯t guess what this was about. A baron, who had been trying to court Tatiana, stood up to follow them, but Gabriel quickly stopped him. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I disagree with you about that passage of the book you just mentioned.¡± The baron wondered what to do for a moment, but he was fascinated by her lovely smile and sat down again. ¡°Well then, mydy, may I ask why?¡± He tried his charming smile he was quite proud of, but it only made Gabriel think, ¡®Yuck!¡¯. Anyway, she pretended to be focusing on the boring conversation while ncing at the garden from time to time. Grace had calmed down a bit, and she was talking with Tatiana. ¡®It seems like it¡¯s going well.¡¯ She was d that she had Tatiana. As she was so famous, no one became suspicious when she talked for so long to a girl she had never seen before. Plus, she was very persuasive. Gabriel had even been persuaded by her to publish a magazine. ¡®She is the real scary type.¡¯ She suddenly thought of her brother who firmly believed Tatiana would marry him. She imagined how his heart would be brokenter, and she pitied him for that. But to be honest, Tatiana was just too good for her brother. Plus, she needed a friend to join her when she had fun with the money she had earned through their magazine. ¡°Well, Lady Tangt, I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to settle this argument in a day. Why don¡¯t we continue this tomorrow at my mansion?¡± The baron offered with another dashing -but only dashing to himself- smile. Gabriel was looking at Grace and Tatiana as they headed back to their table, and she almost said yes. ¡°Ugh, so horrible!¡± Gabriel yelled, aghast that she almost missed an important scene. ¡°I... beg your pardon?¡± The baron was more surprised than anyone else at her sudden change of attitude. She quickly waved her hands. ¡°Oh, there was a bug on my foot. I hate bugs a lot.¡± ¡°How dare a bug surprise ady! I will find that bug and punish it myself.¡± The baron went under the table to look for the bug. Gabriel tried to sound impressed and took a nce at Grace. She seemed to be thinking about what to do with Tatiana¡¯s offer. ¡®But she¡¯ll show up.¡¯ Gabriel was sure Grace wanted to be pretty, more than anyone else. She knew it well as she had been one of the ¡®ugly¡¯ girls. Grace wasn¡¯t a fool who would let go of an opportunity that had just been given to her. Gabriel¡¯s heart beat fast with excitement at imagining how she would be changed. What kind of magic would the duchess use on her? *** Ios decided to supply tea to ymore without much persuasion required. Although he hated picking flowers and putting them in a vase, he had no objection to eating or drinking nts. However, he still wouldn¡¯t let humans go into his territory, so it was agreed goblins would handle the middle process of gathering tea and taking them to Seritos. -I¡¯m d I took the duchess¡¯s advice and put my money in Jackal Bank. -Now they won¡¯t let just anyone be their client. As long as the tea trade went on, the goblin¡¯s Jackal Bank was going to be stable. Other kingdoms also wanted tea, but they couldn¡¯t dare to take it as the creature who guarded it happened to be an extremely fierce dragon. The king unofficially announced Ios had abruptly shown himself at ymore Mansion because of the tea trade. Thanks to that, neighboring kingdoms were thinking Seritos was negotiating for peace with the dragon. ¡®I hope we were negotiating for peace.¡¯ Rubica looked at Ios sitting on a corner of Edgar¡¯s desk and eating peanuts as the desk¡¯s owner worked hard. She wanted to let out a heavy sigh, but she didn¡¯t. He had beening almost every day. It was good that at least he was in human form. Chapter 223

Chapter 223: Chapter 223

¡°Hey.¡± Edgar, who was designing the next machine he was going to make shortly after inventing the sewing machine, couldn¡¯t bear to see peanut skin that kept falling on his blueprint and frowned. ¡°Do you really have to eat here? There are morefortable sofas downstairs. Go. In there, you can spill more than a ton of peanut skin without anyone protesting about it.¡± Ios looked at Rubica who was making something by the window. However, it didn¡¯t look like she would agree to go down with him, as long as Edgar was here. He just couldn¡¯t understand why she cared so much about her human. He pouted angrily, ¡°I don¡¯t want to go. If you don¡¯t like me, you leave.¡± But Edgar couldn¡¯t move as it was daytime. Ios knew it, but it didn¡¯t stop him from making the remark, which made Edgar very angry. ¡°This is my home.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± In the end, Edgar let out a heavy sigh. ¡°When will Minose back?¡± Minos had sent back only Ios after going to the north with him, and he hadn¡¯t sent a word after that. Even when they started the tea trade, he sent a representative, saying he had to find out more. Ios was, therefore,ing to ymore Mansion because he didn¡¯t have the goblin to keep himpany. Edgar was eager to meet Minos again, and not just because of his curse. The fire of their love, which was supposed to be burning hot now, was being restrained for days because of that useless lizard. ¡°Well, It¡¯s none of my concern.¡± ¡°Ios.¡± Rubica had to warn him eventually, and he came down from the desk. ¡°He said he¡¯lle back after doing some more research.¡± ¡°And he said nothing else?¡± ¡°Nothing else.¡± Well, having that fool deliver a message couldn¡¯t have worked well. He probably caused Minos a lot of trouble, so he must have sent him back first. Rubica and Edgar gave up and went back to what they had been doing, but then Carl knocked on the door. ¡°Your Graces, Mr. Minos hase.¡± ¡°Tell him toe in immediately.¡± They had been waiting for that goblin eagerly, so Edgar quickly removed the pen and papers on his desk. As they couldn¡¯t let anyonee in, Rubica stood up and cleaned what was on the sofa herself. Only Ios stayed where he was and helped himself to more peanuts. ¡°Your Graces, I hope you have been fine.¡± Edgar wanted to say that wasn¡¯t the case, because of that troublemaking dragon, but he didn¡¯t when seeing how Minos looked. He must have been through a lot, as he now had twice as many wrinkles on his face. Carl brought tea when he sat down on the sofa, but Minos¡¯s hand shook, not able to handle the weight of his teacup. ¡°Well, have you found out anything?¡± Edgar waited for him to finish his cup and asked. He wiped off the sweat on his forehead and said nothing for some time. Maybe he hadn¡¯t found out anything, and the mood started to be heavy. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s time to water my nts.¡± Ios hatedplicated conversations, so he stood up and left through the window. Minos seemed quite relieved to see him leave, which bothered Rubica. She opened her mouth, but the goblin spoke first. ¡°I met Lord Iber¡¯s underlings to find a lead to break your curse, but they all kicked us out as soon as I said the name ymore.¡± ¡°I know, Ios told me about it.¡± Aftering back from Iber¡¯s territory, Ios wailed on how unfairly he had been treated there to Rubica for almost a week. By now, Edgar had memorized each word of his protests. Minos smiled as if he could see what the dragon must have done. ¡°Anyway, I thought it wouldn¡¯t work, so I decided to find out why they hated ymore so much first.¡± ¡°I guess... I know why.¡± Edgar said with a sigh before Minos even went to the point of his story. ¡°What is your guess?¡± ¡°Mana quartz.¡± Minos nodded gravely. The duke was indeed clever. ¡°We sent a huge party of adventurers each year, although we didn¡¯t do it this year. Many of them died, but those underlings must have suffered a lot as well.¡± ¡°Then, do you know why Iber¡¯s underlings sacrifice their lives to protect mana quartz?¡± ¡°Well...¡± Edgar had never wondered the reason before. He just thought they were just trying to protect their master¡¯snd and her property. He thought for a moment and went through the history of Seritos and ymore which he knew well about, but he couldn¡¯t find the answer in it. Of course. Minos hadn¡¯t been able to even guess the truth until the heavily drunk Snow revealed it. He took a sip of tea and spoke in a shaky voice. ¡°Mana quartz is necessary for a dragon to wake up from slumber.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°A lot of it.¡± Now they knew why all of Iber¡¯s underlings hated the ymores and why they were so hostile to adventurers who mined mana quartz. They didn¡¯t need more exnations. ¡°That is why the dragon is not waking up. More urately, she can¡¯t wake up.¡± ¡°Yes, she has been sleeping for almost five hundred years, since long before this kingdom was founded.¡± ¡°But...¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t say more and just stared at her empty teacup. She didn¡¯t feel like filling it again. The ring made of Iber¡¯s tear had been theirst hope. She despaired although she didn¡¯t mind that he couldn¡¯t walk. Whether he could walk only at night or during the daytime, no, even if he couldn¡¯t walk at all, that wasn¡¯t going to stop her love for him. The problem was that he could now just fall and die at any moment. ¡°Your Grace, you can¡¯t lose your hope now.¡± Rubica looked up at this. Although Minos was extremely tired and wrinkled, he didn¡¯t lookpletely disappointed. But before she could smile, he shook his head. ¡°Of course, you can¡¯t be too optimistic either.¡± ¡°Minos, just tell us everything you know.¡± ¡°My apologies, you must be very worried. It¡¯s just that I suffered so much in the cold mountains of the north to find out about this...¡± Edgar immediately said what he was after for. ¡°I will pay as much as you want for your hard work. Oh, and from now on, I will entrust all the investments and profits from the tea trade to Jackal Bank. Is there anything else you want?¡± ¡°Your Grace, I only did it because I value our friendship.¡± Although Minos said that, he couldn¡¯t hide his joy as he rubbed his hands. At least five of the wrinkles on his face disappeared instantly. Well, he was a goblin and was always crazy for gold. ¡°I know. I also consider you as a friend.¡± ¡°Heh heh. Hmm, where should I start? Well, Lord Iber is a dragon who has a long history with ymore. To be more urate, the entire Kingdom of Seritos has much to do with her.¡± Why was he talking about the kingdom instead of the curse and the ring? Rubica could see the conversation was going to be long, so she made more tea. But this time, she chose green tea. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Do you know how mana stones are made?¡± Edgar shook his head. Many scientists had tried to solve the mystery, but unfortunately, no one exactly knew how mana stones were made. Even itsponent hadn¡¯t been perfectly analyzed yet. ¡°When a dragon slumbers for a long time, the minerals that surround the dragon are transformed. The material is created to protect the dragon.¡± Rubica became curious and asked, ¡°But I heard there isn¡¯t much mana stone left in Seris Mountains... then Iber herself might be in a dangerous condition.¡± ¡°No, mana stones at the west of Seris Mountains have nothing to do with Iber. This kingdom is not in her territory.¡± ¡°Then the mana stones we have been mining are...¡± ¡°They must have been created by another dragon,¡± Edgar answered her question and continued, ¡°As this kingdom isn¡¯t in a dragon¡¯s territory, that dragon must have died long ago.¡± To Minos, it feltpletely different from talking to Ios. The fool only understood one out of the ten sentences he said, but this genius could see ten with the one he told him. He couldn¡¯t help but smile broadly. He could see why the duke always had a huge crowd of admirers, despite his arrogance and pride. He was like a blessing to the goblin who was exhausted after talking to a fool for years. ¡°Yes. Five hundred years ago, Iber killed her own kind, Seris, when he had just woken up from his slumber. But she also became wounded in the fight, so she went to slumber herself to recover.¡± ¡°Then...¡± Edgar ignored Rubica¡¯s confusion and tapped on the table. ¡°My ancestors have been gathering mana quartz not just to test weapons. It was to stop Iber from waking up.¡± ¡°Yes, probably.¡± ¡°What the...¡± He cursed. He didn¡¯t want to use any bad words in front of Rubica, but he couldn¡¯t stop himself. He was cursing about many things. Himself, the world, and the situation. ¡°Then they should have written it down!¡± However, what he hated the most was that the first ymore decided not to tell this important fact to his offspring. Edgar even wished he could beat that man up. ¡°He must have thought the best way to keep the secret is to leave no record of it.¡± ¡°Yes, and this tradition-obeying family gathered mana quartz for 473 years without any doubts. No, it¡¯s more than five hundred years, counting the years before this kingdom¡¯s foundation.¡± Chapter 224

Chapter 224: Chapter 224

¡°But...¡± Rubica, who had been floating like a lone ind on that ocean calledplicated deduction, carefully spoke. There was one thing she had been wondering but Minos and Edgar weren¡¯t talking about. ¡°Why did Iber kill Seris?¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t find out that much.¡± Rubica also wanted to know why House ymore had been stopping the dragon from waking up, but she didn¡¯t ask. ¡°Then, the first thing she would do after waking up would be to ughter this family.¡± Heughed bitterly. Why were so many bad things happening to him? He had managed to find the woman who gave him joy and trust, but now everything was unstable. He couldn¡¯t give up since he now had Rubica. What would happen to her if they failed to break his curse and he just died one day? She would be left alone. He didn¡¯t even want to think about that. ¡°Snow told me your mother was a nymph who came to the continent in secret because she was worried that Iber was not waking up for too long.¡± Minos had to offer so many bottles of wine to Snow to get to that, but he didn¡¯t care about the money he had spent. The duke was going to pay him well soon. ¡°Then she must have met my father to convince him not to gather any more mana quartz.¡± ¡°Probably.¡± Minos was about to add that must have been how they fell in love and got married, but he quickly stopped. Edgar¡¯s eyes were burning dangerously. The blue mes looked like they could burn the entire mansion and thend it stood on. ¡°My father knew she was a nymph.¡± ¡°Edgar.¡± Rubica ran to him. Although Minos found Edgar quite fearful, to her, he was just a poor soul with great wounds. She didn¡¯t hesitate to embrace him as she could feel his deep sorrow and anger. ¡°My mother must have begged him to not mine mana quartz, just like you did to me. And my father, that bastard...¡± ¡°Edgar.¡± ¡°Presented a mana quartz sculpture in her shape, saying it was proof of his love for her.¡± However, that was also some kind of warning to the nymph that he didn¡¯t care even a bit about what happened to Iber and that she should stop trying to convince him. He then created the background of a princess who came from a faraway kingdom for his wife. He didn¡¯t want to take risks and endanger his status because of her. That was the most selfish kind of love. No, had he loved her at all? He wanted to confront him and ask if he could turn back time. If only he could turn back time... he wanted to tell her mother to leave that horrible man and run away. No, run away? That was what a human would think. She had been a noble nymph, and it would be more right to ask her to kill that bastard and destroy his house. ¡°What did my mother feel at seeing him not giving up anything for love? When she gave up everything for him...¡± And, he even betrayed her. Edgar wanted to throw up at recalling how his father talked of true love to Carl but easily denied it when confronted. He hated he was that man¡¯s son. Half of the blood that ran in his veins hade from him. No ymore could escape the fate of being called selfish. He himself had been called selfish and cold countless times. Maybe he was about to be like his father who took his mother¡¯s love and betrayed her. Moreover, the first ymore had made sure Iber would never be able to wake up, despite the fact she enabled them to get mana quartz and bring glory to Seritos. Of course, he was fine for now, but what if he was like his father more than he wanted to admit it? ¡°Edgar.¡± She gently stroked his face, waking him out of his confusion. His eyes, that had always looked blue and calm like the deep ocean, had storms within them now. She knew what was tormenting him, and her heart ached for him. ¡°You¡¯re not him.¡± Her strong man was about to break. She could whisper so only barely. Although her voice was shaking, her eyes were still as they looked at him. ¡°But...¡± ¡°My father and uncle arepletely different, although they are brothers. The fact that he is your father doesn¡¯t mean you will be like him. I promise, you are different.¡± ¡°What makes you so sure?¡± ¡°Because, even now, you are not afraid that you might be like your father, not that I might betray you.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m afraid. I¡¯m afraid I might change.¡± ¡°Nothingsts forever. That is why trying is important. As long as you try not to be like him, you won¡¯t change.¡± She spoke firmly and he started to calm down. His anxiety and fear, which just had clouded his heart, started to fade away. He knew he would be able to live as a good man for the rest of his days, as long as she was by his side. ¡°Anyway, it would be impossible to talk to Iber¡¯s underlings.¡± The matter wasn¡¯t just about a few years. It was centuries old. Edgar decided not to be optimistic about the situation. Minos nodded, ¡°For now, yes.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve found out something, haven¡¯t you?¡± However, Rubica was not like Edgar. She had always kept her hope, even in the darkest times. She had survived far more devastating situations. Good deeds shone even brighter as inhumane things were done in every part of this chaotic world. In her previous life, she had realized everyday miracles were not that far away. ¡°Maybe, maybe not...¡± Minos took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Rubica. Why was he giving it to her when he had Edgar who would immediately understand? She unfolded it with curiosity. ¡°This is...¡± To her surprise, it was a page from Gabriel¡¯s ¡®The Little Bird¡¯s news¡¯. ¡°All dragons love pretty things. Their underlings are no different, although some of them were not that enthusiastic as the others.¡± Moreover, he already knew Rubica had a remarkable talent for pretty things. She had been able to see the true value of the roses Sesar wanted to make and win Ios¡¯s heart with them. He believed Rubica would be able to find out a good solution for this. ¡°Ios has a great love for nts. But as Iber has been slumbering for so long and didn¡¯t express her feelings like Ios even when she was awake, it was hard to find what she likes. But then, I found this.¡± ¡°This article is about clothes.¡± ¡°Yes, and I decided to look into why they bother to use Jackal Bank.¡± They had to be using a bank that managed human money to use human money. Of course, they could just rob it, but Iber¡¯s underlings wereparatively mild and moral. They were known to be vicious to the people of Seritos, but they were just punishing ouws who dared to trespass into their master¡¯snd. ¡°Although they don¡¯t go to any clothes shops, they buy a lot of fabrics.¡± ¡°Are you saying... they like pretty dresses?¡± Edgar recalled what Iber¡¯s underlings, that he had been reported about or seen dead bodies of, had been wearing, and was greatly shocked. They had all been wearing rags. Well, thinking about it now, those rags had been made of good materials, but he still couldn¡¯t imagine them liking pretty dresses. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s just that theyck the skills to make them.¡± Even Minos had doubted it when he found the magazine and pamphlets hidden in Snow¡¯s room, but then he found needles and thread... But at the same time, he could understand why they were all wearing clothes so poorly. Their hands were just too big and thick to make neat clothes, but they had splendid dress designs for nobledies as their examples, so of course, the results were, well, rags. ¡°Then what, we should lure then in with dresses?¡± ¡°Yes. For now, it seems our best way. Dragons tend to easily forgive their enemies for pretty things.¡± Minos said he couldn¡¯t understand it at all, but Rubica could, at least to some extent. To be honest, she also tended to be a little, no, very generous to people of beauty. For a second, she wondered if she was rted to any dragon. ¡°What should we do...¡± She read the piece of paper thoroughly. It was the article she had written about how to reform an old stomacher. ¡°But Minos, why are they buying only fabrics instead of directly buying clothes in shops?¡± ¡°As their master is slumbering, they can¡¯t keep their human form for long.¡± Buying fabrics at fabric shops didn¡¯t take long, but going to the clothes shop was different. To begin with, making a dress required a lot of handworks. It took a handful of skilled workers at least a week to make one dress. No clothes shops sold dresses that had been made in advance. They showed samples to their customers, measured their size, and made a new one. They also had to discuss which fabric and ornament to use, which required even more time. Chapter 225

Chapter 225: Chapter 225

Minos watched Rubica with interest as she thought hard. ¡°Minos, could you make me a secret ount at Jackal Bank?¡± ¡°A secret ount?¡± Minos¡¯s eyes widened to hear the unexpected. ¡°Yes, I think it would be better not to use my name.¡± ¡°I agree, they will not approach anything that has the name ymore on it. Are you thinking of opening a fabrics shop? Now that my kind and humans are on better terms, we can hire goblins as shop workers.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not thinking of a fabrics shop.¡± ¡°Then...¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to open a clothes shop.¡± Was she saying she was nning a clothes shop run by goblins? But they were not exactly known for their sense of beauty... Moreover, their heights could bepared to human children, so they couldn¡¯t even measure their customers¡¯ sizes. Then, was she thinking of opening a boutique just for Iber¡¯s underlings? Of course, that was impossible as well. Most designers preferred to go to their customers¡¯ homes personally, and most human designers were going to run away when asked to go to Iber¡¯s territory. ¡°Is Madam Khanna very brave?¡± ¡°Brave?¡± Rubica understood Minos¡¯s question a secondter andughed, but the goblin was just confused by her reaction. ¡°Minos, Khanna is already busy, I can¡¯t force her to make time to go there. Plus, she has children to take care of. I will never have her go anywhere dangerous.¡± ¡°Then, do you have any other designer with guts?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to open a clothes shop from where they can buy without the need of maintaining their human form for long.¡± ¡°Umm, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m following you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple. I¡¯m going to open a shop near Iber¡¯s territory, and they wille and buy ready-made clothes.¡± ¡°Ready-made... clothes? Is that possible?¡± Minos couldn¡¯t understand the idea of selling clothes that had been made in advance. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s possible. Right, Edgar?¡± She looked at him with a smile. He looked down at the blueprint that now had Ios¡¯s peanut skins all over it and took out a pen. ¡°If it is impossible, I must make it possible.¡± He had been working on a machine for that, and he just finished the design that did the sewing. Rubica had said she would make profits enough to rece the weapons business, but actually, he had been doubtful. However, apletely different kind of motive had been given to him. When two coincidences happen at once, it is fate. The circumstances were all falling into one piece, and it gave him hope. *** As Gabriel had assured, Grace showed up at ymore¡¯s capital mansion at the promised time. She hesitated for a long time in front of the heavy and thick bronze back door. She was only a baron¡¯s daughter. Would the duchess really bother to meet her? What if Tatiana had lied to her? She was so worried and nervous that she couldn¡¯t breathe properly. ¡®Should I just go home?¡¯ But the opportunity was too good to throw away. Since her childhood, she had always dreamed of someone transforming her like the fairy godmother. Moreover, she wasn¡¯t the only one who had that dream. Many girls dreamt of such a miracle. But for some reason, when the chance of achieving that dreames, one gets to hesitate, probably because they think it is a dream that can nevere true. ¡®Yes, Tatiana isn¡¯t the kind of person who mocks people just for fun¡¯s sake.¡¯ It had been a great decision to have Tatiana talk to her. If it had been Gabriel, Grace would have thought she was on a prank and ignored her. ¡°Please keep your promise.¡± She said the code and the door opened. She yelled in joy at seeing a familiar face of blue eyes and blond hair. ¡°Elise!¡± She was a serious friend who confirmed she made the right choice. However, she soon turned pale at seeing the fiery red hair behind Elise. ¡°Gabriel...¡± Even the mere sight of her destroyed the bubble of hope in less than a second. But before Grace could run away, Gabriel pulled her in. ¡°There¡¯s no time to waste.¡± Then, she pushed her into a small and narrow passage. Grace followed them, without a single clue on what was happening. It was a secret passage that led to the duchess¡¯s room, and even maids didn¡¯t know about it. Of course, Grace didn¡¯t know she was now in the duchess¡¯s chamber. ¡°I came because Tatiana promised to let me meet Madam Berry.¡± ¡°Yes, she¡¯s already watching you.¡± Gabriel made a short reply as Jenniee in. She had already checked on the girl from far away with Rubica¡¯s help and had already found out what would be right for her. She took out cosmetics she had brought and started to apply them on her face. ¡°Are you Madam Berry?¡± Jennie smiled at Grace¡¯s question. ¡°Of course not.¡± ¡°Then where is she now?¡± Jennie smiled awkwardly. Actually, what they were doing right now was quite dangerous. At first, she even tried to stop Rubica. She was the duchess, so she had no reason to pretend to be a boutique¡¯s designer. If ymore¡¯s enemies ever found out about it, they were going toe after her. Jennie eventually decided to help her mistress, but she still wasn¡¯t sure if she was doing the right thing. ¡°You agreed not to ask.¡± Gabriel muttered. Could they really trust Grace? She was a girl who knew how to keep secrets, but that could change once she started to gain attention. Even Gabriel sometimes felt the urge to talk about the advice Rubica had given her. If she hadn¡¯t been running The Little Bird¡¯s News with Tatiana, she would have told everyone who Madam Berry really was by now. ¡°This won¡¯t work. The makeup can wait. We should cover her eyes first.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to cover my eyes?¡± Grace yelled, terrified. She hadn¡¯t told anyone where she was heading, not even to her nurse, as she had promised. No one knew where she was, so if anything happened to her... ¡°I want to go home.¡± ¡°Grace!¡± Gabriel quickly grabbed her arm. They couldn¡¯t leave her now, or ymore could get all kinds of rumors about it. And even Tatiana could be dragged into it... no, it just couldn¡¯t happen. ¡°Look at me, do you think I¡¯m the same girl as I was a few months ago?¡± Grace shook her head. She had been shocked more than anyone else to see the transformed Gabriel. She hadn¡¯t even imagined Gabriel¡¯s face could be so pretty. Looking at her made Grace realize makeup didn¡¯t always make girls pretty, but she couldn¡¯t find the courage to imitate her and wear thin makeup. ¡°But then... you were transformed by Madam Berry too?¡± Gabriel shrugged as if saying, ¡®Then who else could it have been?¡¯ Grace looked at her with admiration. She had heard rumors on how she had changed after visiting Madam Berry¡¯s secret boutique, but she hadn¡¯t fully believed it. She knew Gabriel would have babbled about it herself before the rumor could even spread. ¡°Then, um, is it also true Madam Berry made the duchess pretty?¡± Now, what was that about? Gabriel¡¯s eyes widened at the unexpected question. ¡°I heard the duchess funds Madam Khanna¡¯s shop because of Madam Berry. They say the duke fell in love with her thanks to Madam Berry.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s, um...¡± Elise became quite mad and wanted to say something about it, but Gabriel managed to stop her. ¡°Not entirely wrong.¡± As Madam Berry was the duchess herself, it wasn¡¯t entirely wrong. Gabriel¡¯s answer worked and Grace¡¯s eyes started to sparkle. ¡°Oh, that must be why you called me here, because the duchess is Madam Berry¡¯s supporter...¡± Gabriel decided her misunderstanding wasn¡¯t all bad. Making people think the duchess was Madam Berry¡¯s supporter would make them never think the duchess was Madam Berry herself. Considering Rubica¡¯s rtionship with Khanna and her shop, it wasn¡¯t strange for her to support Madam Berry as well. Moreover, it also exined why they were meeting Grace at ymore Mansion. ¡°So just trust me now and close your eyes.¡± ¡°No.¡± However, Grace was stubborn. Well, it was only right to never lower one¡¯s guard in the unsafe world, so they couldn¡¯t me her for that. Moreover, although noble girls were easy to be exposed to danger, their honor was unfairly valued. If Gabriel had called Grace to Khanna¡¯s shop instead, she wouldn¡¯t have shown up at all. ¡°I¡¯ll hold your hands, okay?¡± In the end, Gabriel proposed apromise. It gave her the creeps to hold hands with another mature girl, but Grace epted it and closed her eyes. Jennie covered the tricky girl¡¯s eyes with paper and opened the door of the room in which Rubica was hiding. Chapter 226

Chapter 226: Chapter 226

Rubica eximed to see Grace, with her eyes closed and still holding Gabriel¡¯s hands. Of course, she didn¡¯t make a sound as the girl shouldn¡¯t know who she was. ¡®Another girl spoiled by Christopher.¡¯ Grace wasn¡¯t wearing thick makeup as Gabriel had done, but her corset was so tight that she couldn¡¯t breathe. She was in fashion from the bottom to the top, but none of it was really right for her. To begin with, Rubicabed her long hair that covered her face and put it back. As Grace had always believed her own round face was ugly, she freaked out and yelled, ¡°No!¡± ¡°But why?¡± Luckily, Gabriel asked before Rubica could. ¡°I, I have chubby cheeks, and...¡± ¡°This looks much better than having your hair cover your cheeks. You should cover your cheeks because you have chubby cheeks? Who told you that?¡± ¡°It was Christopher...¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure he said that just to make you buy more hair oil from him.¡± However, Grace couldn¡¯t buy that firm assurance, and her lips quivered until Elise found the courage to hold her other hand. ¡°I was... transformed by Madam Berry as well.¡± Although Grace wasn¡¯t a friend of Miss Sna, she couldn¡¯t say she didn¡¯t know her. Wallflowers were famous for a different reason from the celebrities of society. They were famous because everyone else was afraid of bing like them. ¡°Without her, I would have never figured out short forelocks were right for me. Grace, could you just have faith in her and be patient?¡± Her voice was persuasive. Gabriel was capable of telling small lies in order to get what she wanted, but Elise was different. She was a serious person who never lied. Thanks to her, Grace managed to calm down. Rubica looked at her as she constantly fought in fear with her eyes closed. She was in an unfamiliar ce, without knowing who was with her, and with her eyes closed. That must have required a lot of courage. However, thinking of the reason behind her braveness made Rubica sad. ¡®I... will make you pretty, I promise.¡¯ However, it wasn¡¯t up to her to go that much. All she could do was to try her best to drag out the charms hiding inside her. She would be satisfied only if it would let the girl regain her confidence and be happy. Nothing can be more beautiful than the energy one gets by acknowledging and loving oneself. Rubica removed her hair that had been curled a little too much ording to fashion from her cheeks. Grace was right, she did have chubby cheeks, but that wasn¡¯t a problem. Trying to cover it with hair wasn¡¯t the right solution. Plus, it also covered her especially long neck. It was a sad thing that she was hiding such a beautiful neck because of her cheeks. Rubica boldly chose a hairstyle that showed off her neck. ¡°Wow, I wish I could wear that.¡± Gabriel looked with envy at the blue dress for Gabriel as it was brought into the room. Rubica smiled at her instead of making ament. She had had several simr dresses made, although they were not as splendid as the one in front of them. She had been half in doubt, but Edgar was a real genius. Khanna eximed with shock to see his machine do the needlework as fast as a sh. -With this, we will be able to make a dress in less than a day. -Human hands are still better than this when ites to delicate work. It can only do one-line sewing, and you can¡¯t put beads or buttons with it. -Still... still, it¡¯s a revolution! It will dramatically reduce the needed time. What cost the most to make clothes was thebor costs, of course. Making a single skirt required so much handwork. But of course, there was no way such clothes made in a short time would be liked by the peers. What they wanted were dresses that had been made with as much time and effort as possible to make them special. Rubica wanted to make clothes formoners and, to sell clothes at a low price, they had to make many identical clothes if they wanted to save some money from the costs. However, would people want to buy identical clothes? Rubica¡¯s dream was blocked at that point. Very few people were willing to dress just like everyone else since everyone wanted to be at least a bit special and unique. She went to a tea meeting, still with that question in her mind, and she found a solution there. Everydy came wearing a ribbon dress, although their details varied a little. Rumors were that even Princess Charlotte was wearing ribbons dresses these days. Thanks to Gabriel¡¯s column, ribbon dresses were bing even more popr. It is part of human nature to wish to be special, but to be fearful about being too different from the others. ¡®Yes, I must make a trend.¡¯ Rubica decided toe up with an entirely new n. If ¡®The Little Bird¡¯s News¡¯ had been only for nobles, it wouldn¡¯t have been sold that much. Everyone wanted to know about what was going on in the capital¡¯s society. Peers living in the countryside and evenmoners bought the magazine. Some newspapers even argued it was making people care more about gossips than important affairs of the kingdom and should be banned. So, Rubica decided to use that great power. First, she was going to transform Grace into a remarkably beautifuldy, and Gabriel would write a column about it. Gabriel had no reason to say no to it, it was a chance for her to earn huge money. She promised she would do her best to praise Grace¡¯s newfound beauty and describe her new dress in every detail. Then, the talkers of society would surely want to see it for themselves. Of course, Rubica was confident she could make Grace pretty, and it would be even better if some idiots started proposing to her,pletely swayed by the mood. Next, the magazine would talk about the uproar, and it would say if anyone wanted to wear the dress Grace wore, they could go to Madam Berry¡¯s shop, with a detailed map showing ways to it. Of course, they were not going to meet her at the shops they had opened in the middle of the capital and near Iber¡¯s territory. Instead, they would get to see piles of dresses exactly like the one Grace wore, although not with such good fabric and details. Plus, those ready-made dresses would cost less than one-tenth of what most dresses cost. No girl would be able to leave without buying anything. In short, Grace was about to be a living advertisement. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we tighten my corset?¡± Just as Rubica expected, the girl asked nervously before she could put on the dress. ¡°But Grace, your corset is already tight enough. You can¡¯t even breathe easily. You don¡¯t have to have a thin waist to wear the dress you¡¯re about to wear.¡± ¡°Gabriel, is it simr in style with that dress you like to wear? Because it¡¯s... well, for me it¡¯s a little too...¡± ¡°I know. You want to say it¡¯s too extreme, right? I¡¯m sure your mother told you it¡¯s a dress only for girls like me.¡± People had very different opinions about Gabriel¡¯s short over dress that resembled a man¡¯s jacket. Of course, girls of her age loved it and said it was cool, but many parents worried it was... too mboyant. Some mothers even firmly believed the moment their reserved daughter was going to wear something like Gabriel, she would immediately run away. Of course, it didn¡¯t stop Gabriel from riding her horse in that dress, and many admired her for that. Now she was famous, even though she hadn¡¯t been introduced to society yet. ¡°I think you look great in it.¡± ¡°Well, as you are not denying it, she must have said so. It¡¯s okay. And don¡¯t worry, your dress is nothing like mine. Madam Berry never rmends the same dress twice. So just lift your arms so that we¡¯ll be able you help you wear this.¡± Grace slowly raised her arms, almost convinced. Rubica dressed her really carefully so that the cautious girl wouldn¡¯t be rmed. Actually, the dress itself wasn¡¯t that renovative as Gabriel¡¯s. Oh, but maybe it was, as it could be worn without a petticoat thanks to its fluffy skirt and bring out Grace¡¯s rural beauty. Her shortly rolled hair and low-cut dress were enough to highlight her elegant neck, although Rubica worried she might find the low-cut dress a little too much. Plus, she still needed something, a final touch that would make her charms shine. She looked quite fashionable already, but Rubica wanted people to shower her withpliments and praises the moment they got to see her. ¡°Oh, Grace, you look so beautiful now!¡± Unlike Rubica, Gabriel thought Grace already had been transformed significantly. The neckline was a little too low for Grace¡¯s usual conservative style, but everyone else did that much. Only priests of shrines would think of it as a problem. She just thought she could convince her even if Grace didn¡¯t like it. ¡°Then may I start on the makeup?¡± Jennie, who had the same thoughts as Gabriel, raised her cosmetics box, ready to start right away. Chapter 227

Chapter 227: Chapter 227

However, Rubica didn¡¯t say anything and took another look at Grace. Yes, she was worried about her low-cut neckline. Highlighting her long neck had been one of the choices, but she knew the girl wouldn¡¯t be able to bear to expose that much of her skin. She couldn¡¯t force her to do what she didn¡¯t want just because it would make her look prettier. Then, she would be no different from Christopher. ¡®Yes, it would be perfect.¡¯ She took out a thin linen fichu which she had made during her pastime. The fabric was thin and wasn¡¯t meant for cold weather, but it was perfect for what she had in mind. She folded it carefully and put it around Grace¡¯s neck. The white fabric covered her breast and made people focus on her pretty neck. Moreover, it made her shoulder line round and maximized the girl¡¯s unique soft aura. The fichu was the final touch she had been looking for, and Gabriel immediately reacted to the new addition. ¡°But madam, when did you think of this and make it?¡± Rubica hadn¡¯t talked of it when they discussed the n the day before. She just smiled. She had imagined many times about what would be right for Grace, but ideas tended toe to her the most when she was actually in front of the person she was styling. Gabriel knew well Rubica couldn¡¯t say a word in front of Grace, but she just couldn¡¯t help asking. Just like Rubica sought beauty instinctively, she sought answers to her curiosity. ¡°Are you going to make this in bulk as well?¡± Rubica shook her head to the question. Unlike clothes, making a triangle fichu didn¡¯t take much time. People will also get tired of seeing the same kind of clothes too many times. For a trend tost long, it must have a point where people can add and show off their uniqueness. Rubica decided to make the fichu do the role. ¡°Well, this fichu can be made as a pastime. Oh, and it can be made ofces instead of linen. I think there can be a lot of unique and various fichus.¡± Rubica just shook her head, but Gabriel could immediately tell what she meant by that. She was a really clever girl. ¡°Linen? Laces? What on earth have you done to me?¡± In the end, Grace couldn¡¯t stay silent and asked. She knew Gabriel had been talking to someone who had to be Madam Berry for some time, but she couldn¡¯t see what was going on, which frustrated her. She didn¡¯t like that her cheeks were no longer covered, and she was eager to know what they had done about her chest. She worried they might have used ruffles made of old-fashionedces which she had seen in old portraits. ¡°Hmm, how should I exin this?¡± ¡°Just wait a little longer, you¡¯ll be able to see for yourself soon.¡± ¡°Yes, Grace. Just hang on a little more. You tend to be stubborn at weird points.¡± Rubica smiled to see the girls¡¯ friendly quarrel. She wanted to see how Grace would change after Jennie worked on her. However, she couldn¡¯t let her know who she was. She lingered, sad that she had to go, but Jennie reassured her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will do my best.¡± Not even Rubica was as good as Jennie at selecting cosmetics for each skin type. She had been through many jobs because she couldn¡¯t bear to use expensive cosmetics on her clients while knowing it wasn¡¯t right for them, but now it was paying her off. Rubica grabbed her hand hard with faith and then closed the door behind her. ¡°Well, now it¡¯s my turn.¡± She had been quite shocked when Rubica revealed that she was actually Madam Berry, but at the same time, she could understand it. She couldn¡¯t understand hard words like business to support the kingdom or revenues, but Rubica told her she didn¡¯t want to give up what she wanted to do because of her status, and Jennie could rte to that. Plus, thanks to Elise, she had already tasted the joy of smashing that thick shell and presenting the hidden beauty to the world. It was now time to let Grace know how great her qualities were. ¡°May I look at the mirror?¡± As soon as they removed the piece of paper that had been covering her eyes, Grace looked for a mirror. She was so curious about her new hair and a new dress, but Jennie didn¡¯t give her one. ¡°Grace, I didn¡¯t know you were capable of making such a fuss.¡± ¡°Just wait for a few more minutes. I¡¯m still working on the basis. Have you ever seen a painter work? At first, he would use only dark colors for the background. At that stage, no one can guess what the finished painting would look like. If you see yourself now, you might think this is not what you wanted to be and burst into tears. If you do that, I won¡¯t be able to finish your makeup.¡± Jennie was sure Grace would love who she had be even if she were to look at the mirror now, but she wanted to maximize the shock and joy of her transformation. Soothing and convincing troublemakers was one of her specialties which she hadn¡¯t been able to use since her arrival at ymore. ¡°Okay.¡± Grace managed to calm down and let Jennie work on her face. After Elise and Gabriel¡¯s transformation, lively makeup hade in fashion. Everyone was using a red rouge like Elise. However, Jennie decided that Grace needed an elegant style. Of course, Grace silently moaned to see her chose and use only colors that were not in fashion. She even wished she could jump to her feet and run out. But she didn¡¯t. ¡®No one thought such red lips and splendid dress were right for Elise, and nobody knew Gabriel would look so good with such thin makeup.¡¯ Madam Berry had already transformed two girls. And Grace even believed she had transformed Rubica, formerly a countryside girl, and made Duke ymore fall in love with her. ¡°Well, all done.¡± When Jennie finished the makeup, Elise removed the cloth that had been covering the huge mirror. Soon Grace got to see herself, and she couldn¡¯t help being shocked. ¡°Wow...¡± Compared to the dresses she had worn till now, the dress was surprisingly simple. She wasn¡¯t wearing a petticoat and her corset was not tight. And its silhouette, which was almost in one straight line, was shocking in a different meaning from Gabriel¡¯s dress. However, she had to admit it was surprisingly suited to her taste. ¡°This is what I have wanted all along.¡± She hadn¡¯t known she would look so elegant and high even with her round facepletely exposed. Till now, no matter which style she tried, she had been told she looked so old-fashioned that she should go home and knit with her grandmother. She shivered, not able to believe her dream hade actually true. ¡°Don¡¯t cry.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not crying.¡± Gabriel was ready to tease her to her content, but Grace cut her t. She took a deep breath, found her gloves, and put them on. ¡°Well, what should we do now?¡± She had been told in advance by Tatiana that there was going to be an article about it. She said she could refuse the offer if she didn¡¯t want all the attention, but actually, Grace had always wanted to be famous for once. She just pretended she didn¡¯t want to. ¡°First, you must go and meet the duchess with me, and we are going to the king¡¯s pce on her errand.¡± The queen had promised topliment Grace¡¯s new change. She was going to say her simple and pastoral style was right for the values of the kingdom, and talkers would not be able to criticize it easily. ¡°And we should go to ces...¡± ¡°How about going to meet our friends?¡± ¡°No, we should make a lot of people see you. How about going to, say, the perfume shop?¡± ¡°But... going to shops is for maids.¡± Grace was cool in some ways, but she was a conservative person in nature. Gabriel looked at her as if she had been looking at a girl from thest century. Of course, rich nobles who valued their honor had merchantse to their homes instead of going to shops themselves. ¡°Do you know that boy with brown hair often shows up at the bakery in the next alley of the perfume shop?¡± However, youths preferred going to shops, not just to buy things but for coincidental encounters as well. ¡°You...¡± ¡°Yes, I know all about it. Tatiana may look nice, but she¡¯s scarier than me. If you don¡¯t keep this secret, everyone will get to know who the boy you like is.¡± Grace¡¯s face turned red. Tatiana was scary, but Gabriel was just as scary. Gabriel then quickly added, ¡°And we¡¯ll also help with your love.¡± Only very few can stay strong in the face of love. In the end, Grace lost to Gabriel¡¯s temptation. Chapter 228

Chapter 228: Chapter 228

¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go to the perfume shop.¡± ¡°Great. But first, we should show you to the duchess!¡± Rubica had already gone downstairs. Grace met her at the exception room and couldn¡¯t even think that she could have been Madam Berry. ¡°Your dress is really pretty.¡± Rubica pretended as if she had never seen the girl before andplimented the dress and hairstyle she had done herself. Grace wasn¡¯t used to gettingpliments and didn¡¯t know what to do, but she managed to whisper, ¡®thank you¡¯. Thepliments seemed to rather discourage her. ¡®Of course, her new look isn¡¯t enough to give her sudden confidence.¡¯ Rubica took the time to talk to her so that she could get used to her change. She gained confidence in time and started to smile naturally. ¡°I forgot to give Her Majesty a gift yesterday.¡± When Carl came to give her a letter from the queen, Rubica spoke of the matter. She had gotten so good at lying that she didn¡¯t even pray to the god of honesty anymore. Maybe her conscience had disappeared after she got used to life in society, or one had to lose conscience to fit in society. She didn¡¯t know which was first. ¡°I will deliver it for you. I am going to the king¡¯s pce to meet Her Majesty this afternoon,¡± Gabriel said along with the script they had prepared in advance and stood up. ¡°But it¡¯s quite heavy, you won¡¯t be able to carry it alone.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll help her,¡± Grace, who had always been sitting quietly at a corner with her cheeks covered with her hair, offered as she also stood up Rubica was d to see her change. Just a little bit of beauty had changed her so much. Maybe she had dragged out more than beauty from the girl¡¯s inside. ¡°Thank you.¡± Actually, Rubica hadn¡¯t changed Grace herself. She was pretty much the same girl as before. However, she believed she waspletely different now. That was when she learned how to love herself. Only those who loved themselves could have the sparkle that was now in her eyes. Rubica was dragged by that sparkle and walked her to the door. She even wished she could follow them to the king¡¯s pce. ¡°Madam, you should go in now.¡± ¡°Okay, goodbye.¡± Grace was clearly excited as she left. It made Rubica suddenly recall the daughter of a marquis who was being praised for being the most beautiful woman on the entire continent. She was Christopher¡¯s muse. Rubica had seen her from a close distance at the queen¡¯s tea meeting, and she was indeed as beautiful as people said. However, she didn¡¯t have the sparkle that Grace now had. She was worried sick she might put on weight after having just one piece of cake, and she worried her skin might turn dark after taking a short walk. It was said that to maintain her beautiful hair, she woke up early in the morning, washed her hair, and dried it by riding a swing for more than an hour. ¡®But that isn¡¯t real beauty.¡¯ As she looked at the carriage going away, Rubica decided to recover the beauty so many people had lost. The god of love was also the god of beauty for a reason. One can never be beautiful without loving oneself. *** Everything happened just as Gabriel and Rubica had expected. The moment Grace¡¯s dramatic change and fichu became hot, Presa, Madam Berry¡¯s shop, was opened in the middle of the capital. It was shocking that it sold only ready-made clothes, and people had a hard time epting the fact that they couldn¡¯t even get a glimpse of the designer at the shop. Soon everyone at the capital was talking about that mysterious designer. ¡°I don¡¯t know why we should bother to go to a shop when we can have good designerse to us.¡± ¡°She must be so arrogant, why else would she hide who she is?¡± ¡°Maybe she has an ugly scar on her face and doesn¡¯t want to show it to the people.¡± Nobledies, who were used to discussing with their designers for a long time at their homes, didn¡¯t wee the shop¡¯s new strategy called, ¡®If you want to buy from us,e to our shop¡¯. They felt it was more humiliating than designers refusing to visit them, saying they already had too many orders. ¡°But I heard ymore¡¯s carriage was parked in front of Presa for a long time yesterday.¡± ¡°ymore¡¯s carriage? Was it a maid on an errand?¡± ¡°No, it seems like the duchess went herself.¡± There were some people who just had to check new things with their own eyes. Thedy who was speaking had actually met Rubica at the shop, but she pretended like she had heard it from someone else. Of course, her friends didn¡¯t believe her. ¡°Don¡¯t be absurd. Why would the duchess go to such a shop? She can call any designer, even Madam Khanna, any time she wants. I¡¯m sure even that Berry will immediately go when summoned by her.¡± ¡°Oh, and you must have heard Christopher is constantly criticizing Khanna because every singledy here at the capital has bought things from him, but the duchess isn¡¯t even thinking of calling him.¡± ¡°Well, as everyone is talking about the shop these days, the duchess might have gone herself out of curiosity.¡± Thedy whose story was not being believed spoke angrily. She showed too many emotions, and everyone could notice she had been to Madam Berry¡¯s shop. However, it was hard to believe the duchess had been there just because it was so famous now, so everyone started to guess the reason. ¡°Maybe the duchess is Madam Berry¡¯s supporter.¡± ¡°It sounds likely, she was the one who hosted the first tea meeting and introduced ribbon dresses.¡± ¡°Oh, you are right. And everyone knows Madam Berry is rted to Khanna¡¯s shop...¡± ¡°Will she sometimes go to Presa from now on?¡± Someone asked the question and it brought silence. Everyone was calcting the probability of the duchess showing up at Presa again and the benefits they might be able to gain if they managed to speak to her even briefly. ¡°Well, I just remembered I must discuss something with my husband.¡± ¡°And I am scheduled to meet a jeweler.¡± ¡°Oh, and I must finish the shawl I¡¯m making for my niece.¡± They all stood up, each of them with a different excuse, and they all met again at Presa exactly an hourter. ¡°My glove got a hole and I needed a new pair immediately. This is the only shop I can buy gloves right away, so...¡± ¡°Um, I dropped my fichu and it¡¯s now dirty with mud...¡± They were all embarrassed and started to make excuses for one another. But then, they all suddenly shut up. The door was opened with a clear ¡®ding¡¯ sound of the bell attached to it, and Princess Charlotte came in with herdies-in-waiting. It wasn¡¯t easy to see the princess, and even those nobledies could meet her only at huge balls. So, everyone in the shop froze at once at her appearance. However, the princess was quite used to getting attention and spoke to the saleswoman first. ¡°Can I see some dresses?¡± ¡°Oh, um, dresses, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Yes, I need some dresses for the gifts I want to send...¡± The saleswoman immediately brought the nicest dress she had, but the princess didn¡¯t really like it. She hade because her mother had asked her to, so she wasn¡¯t going to buy anything she didn¡¯t like. She looked around and then talked to ady. ¡°May I take a look at the dress you are holding now?¡± ¡°Oh, of course, Your Highness?¡± Thedy was of low rank, so she couldn¡¯t even dream of ever talking to the princess. She quickly offered the dress, although she couldn¡¯t believe what was happening to her. The saleswoman quickly took it and showed it to the princess. ¡°Thank you.¡± The queen had told her more than once not to behave as usual. She even sentdies-in-waiting with her to keep an eye on her. So, the princess thanked kindly and smiled while thedy was so shocked for being thanked that she couldn¡¯t say a word in reply. But the princess didn¡¯t care and started to go through dresses. ¡°This one¡¯s not bad... but...¡± ¡°To whom are you going to present dresses?¡± ¡°Girls of the workhouse.¡± ¡°Oh, that is so kind of you.¡± ¡°But this one¡¯s too bright in color...¡± She looked around to see if there was anything else, but then she was surprised. Thedies, who had just been looking at gloves and handkerchiefs, were all holding a brown or grey dress. ¡®What is this?¡¯ However, it was quite convenient and let her spend less time going through the dresses, so she decided not to care. She smiled broadly and spoke to ady who was holding the brown dress she wanted. ¡°May I take a look at it?¡± ¡°Yes, yes, of course, Your Highness. I am Baroness Verier.¡± ¡°Veri... er?¡± ¡°Oh, I am so impressed by your generosity. I¡¯ve never thought of sending clothes to the workhouse. Maybe I could do it myself.¡± It was a shallow tactic almost anyone could see through. However, Princess Charlotte never thought thoroughly. She just d to hear apliment. Chapter 229

Chapter 229: Chapter 229

¡°Yes, it will be very helpful. The cold winter ising, but making clothes takes a long time. Mother said it would be better to send clothes that are ready to be worn than to send fabric.¡± Well, if she really wanted to help the poor go through the cold winter, she had to buy thick coats, not dresses. But instead of pointing it out, Baroness Verier just smiled and agreed. ¡°Of course. The workhouse alwayscks clothes.¡± ¡°Will you choose dresses with me?¡± The princess even let the baroness join in her shopping. There wasn¡¯t a single person in Seritos who didn¡¯t know the king and the queen adored their youngest princess and granted her every wish. Everyone envied Baroness Verier¡¯s fortune and eagerly listened to their conversation. ¡°We have about thirty identical dresses of this.¡± ¡°Hmm, I must buy some more, but... it¡¯s already time to meet Violet. What should I do?¡± She could just decide on any dresses, but she didn¡¯t want to do that at all. The dresses were going to be donated in her name, and she wanted to be praised for putting much care into it. But of course, she also couldn¡¯t give up the ytime with her friend. ¡°Then, how abouting back tomorrow?¡± One of thedies-in-waiting, who had been sent to keep an eye on the princess, offered, and she immediately nodded. She wouldn¡¯t have agreed to it if it hadn¡¯t been enjoyable, but choosing ready-made dresses didn¡¯t have the stress of imagining the finished dress with only a design sketch and fabric, so it was quite fun. ¡°Maybe I shoulde with mother tomorrow.¡± She carelessly said so as she left, and of course, it utterly shocked everyone who heard it. In less than a day, words about Baroness Varier¡¯s fortune spread to the entire capital. Soon people realized Presa had a great advantage over the designers they would call home. They couldn¡¯t go to tea meetings or balls without being invited to. However, everyone could go to Presa regardless of one¡¯s rank and status, as long as they had enough money to buy clothes. They could ¡®fabricate¡¯ coincidental encounters with honorable people they couldn¡¯t even dare to speak to. On the next day, the shop was crowded with customers. And more than half of them were men. ¡°My mother urgently needs a pair of gloves.¡± ¡°But didn¡¯t you buy a pair from us this morning?¡± ¡°That¡¯s... I thought my mother needed only a pair, but she actually needs one or two more.¡± The princess was the noblestdy in the kingdom, and men who wanted to find such a bride and climb the socialdder were eager to run into her. Thanks to that, the gloves became the product that gave them the biggest profit. And of course, Gabriel didn¡¯t miss this hrious situation. ¡°nco, you should read this article.¡± Snow suddenly burst intoughter while reading thetest edition of The Little Bird¡¯s News and handed it to nco. nco, who had been threading a needle with her thick hands, angrily replied. ¡°Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m busy?¡± She had been trying it for more than half an hour now. It wasn¡¯t easy to thread a needle with huge hands that were twice the size of human hands. The needle had been bent in half, so she wasn¡¯t going to seed anyway. Snow almost told her she could use the threader she had bought, but then she quickly shut her mouth. Talking about it to nco wasn¡¯t going to be good. She knew she would think of her as a traitor for taking a machine made by ymore. ¡°How about giving it another tryter?¡± ¡°No, I must do this now. Look at this ribbon, it¡¯s waiting for me to put it on my dress.¡± nco was a huge fan of Madam Berry which the magazine had been writing about often. As soon as she read the article on how to make a stomacher, she went down to a shop and bought the needed materials. She could easily make ribbons, even with her huge hands. She was delighted to make pieces of beauty herself and praised Madam Berry for her ingeniousness. She knew she couldn¡¯t make and wear a dress, but she wanted to at least put a stomacher on her chest. She thought her long dream was finallying true, but as always, her needle was not letting it happen. ¡°Hmm...¡± While nco was focused on it, Snow stole a needle and thread from her, nning to use her threader while nco couldn¡¯t see. She did feel guilty because of her master Iber, but that machine was just too convenient that she had no choice but to admit the ymores were clever. Snow already couldn¡¯t live without the machine. Moreover, it had cost only what about five apples would take, so it wasn¡¯t adding much money to ymore¡¯s wallet. ¡°nco, I bought this from the town yesterday, and...¡± ¡°Stop distracting me!¡± nco angrily looked up, but she got to smile as soon as she saw the magazine¡¯s cover. It was her favorite The Little Bird¡¯s News. Snow preferred pamphlets of clothes shops to the magazine that had too many gossips, but she had a respect for her friend¡¯s taste. ¡°This is thetest edition I haven¡¯t read.¡± ¡°Yes, I just looked through it briefly, and it has news about Madam Berry.¡± nco snatched it out of her hand before she could even finish saying that. Then, she started to read,pletely absorbed. Snow couldn¡¯t understand why she loved Madam Berry so much. Of course, her ribbons were good, Snow admitted it. However, her ribbon dress had been first worn by Duchess ymore. nco was mad at her for using a convenient machine made by ymore, but she was so generous to Madam Berry. Snow med her for that. ¡®Still, here I am, threading this needle for you. You should know how fortunate you are to have such a great friend.¡¯ Snow left nco to read the magazine and went to the kitchen. She took out the machine she had hidden, and what nco had been struggling for half an hour was done in an instant. Snow thought she had been right to dismiss her guilt. She wished Duke ymore would make a lot more things like this. Gods, may he work a lot and earn little. ¡°nco, look at what I¡¯ve done.¡± Snow went back in triumph, but then she was surprised to see nco had transformed into human form. Why had she done that so suddenly? ¡°Oh, um, I just seeded in threading your needle...¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what matters now.¡± It didn¡¯t matter? But she had spent minutes struggling for it. However, she gravely ordered. ¡°You should transform too.¡± ¡°But why? Are you going to the fabric shop again? You already have enough fabric. We all know you have a room full of silk. Just stop buying. I don¡¯t know what kind of silk that magazine introduced but use what you already have first and then think about it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to a fabric shop. I¡¯m going to a clothes shop.¡± ¡°What clothes shop?¡± Snow thought her friend had finally gone mad after struggling with a needle for so long. She yelled, ¡°But what if you show them your real form while they measure your size? Then you¡¯ll never be able to go to a human town again?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to have my size measured! I just have to go and buy!¡± nco put the passage that said there was a shop that sold ready-made clothes right in front of Snow¡¯s eyes. Her eyes widened to read the unexpected. ¡°But we are...¡± ¡°Here, it says the shop sells really big clothes and customers of all sizes shoulde. Madam Berry says they should make clothes just for each customer. She said designers who talk of their belief and make small dresses in sizes of children are not real designers.¡± Thest sentence sounded to be aimed at a particr designer nco had been a big fan of only a year ago. But Snow didn¡¯t bother to point that out since nco was always changing her mind. And for now, her whim didn¡¯t matter. She immediately transformed into a human. ¡°We can talk on our way, let¡¯s go!¡± Snow¡¯s heart beat fast with excitement to think she was about to get a proper dress for the first time. Of course, she thought it was weird for Madam Berry to open a shop in a small rural town near Iber¡¯s territory and sell huge clothes that no human could wear, but she decided not to think too much about that. Although Snow was quite skeptical, she tended to fall to traps easily. Chapter 230

Chapter 230: Chapter 230

It wasn¡¯t easy for them to walk in human form. When they finally arrived at the shop, they could see it was surprisingly neat. The door was made of quality ss and the sign was written cleanly in white paint. However, it only scared them. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t they kick us out?¡± They were wearing clothes of the adventurers they had killed for trespassing their mistress¡¯s territory. And since adventurers never wore decent clothes, they were practically wearing rags. But until now, it had been their only way to acquire human clothes. Of course, they could steal from people, but they had the pride as their mistress¡¯s underlings and didn¡¯t want to steal anything. ¡°I think they would.¡± Snow was immediately overwhelmed by the neatly dressed customers and saleswoman. She worried they might only get humiliated in there. However, nco was just eager to reach those piles of clothes. ¡°If they tell us to get out, I will kick them out.¡± ¡°But this isn¡¯t our mistress¡¯s territory. We can¡¯t do as we please.¡± ¡°Even Madam Berry willpliment what I¡¯m about to do! She said designers should wee all customers.¡± nco acted as if Presa was Madam Berry¡¯s territory and she was her underling. Snow wanted to point out the fact, but she didn¡¯t. She was also excited every time the saleswoman showed to the customers a dress. They all looked so pretty, and she was eager to take a closer look. ¡°They¡¯ll buy it if we say we¡¯re here to buy dresses for our wives. Although adventurers dress poorly, they always carry a lot of cash.¡± ¡°But wouldn¡¯t they be suspicious of them? Adventurers might lose all their money at gambling houses, but they would never buy dresses for their wives.¡± ¡°There are at least a few exceptions in every group. We can show them we have enough money, and they won¡¯t kick us out. It always works well at fabric shops.¡± The two underlings checked their wallets and went inside. The clear sound of a bell echoed as they opened the door. ¡°Wee!¡± Thankfully, the saleswoman didn¡¯t kick them out but weed them with a kind smile. Showing off their heavy wallets had been the right choice. ¡°I¡¯m here to buy dresses for my wife. First, show me the best dress you have!¡± ¡°Of course, here it is.¡± The woman took out the most expensive dress in the shop and showed it to the excited Snow. It was made of silk ribbons andces, and they had seen such dresses only in pamphlets. Snow immediately decided to buy it. ¡°I want to buy the biggest size you have.¡± ¡°The biggest? But that¡¯s really... big. It won¡¯t fit your wife.¡± ¡°How big it is?¡± ¡°Only someone who is three meters tall can wear it.¡± It clearly wasn¡¯t a size for humans. Why on earth had Madam Berry made such a thing? She even sent it to the shop to be sold. Was she trying a weird thing for promotion effects? Anyway, the saleswoman had to exin about it every time a customer wanted the biggest size, so she really didn¡¯t like the extra work. ¡°I want it! My wife is that size.¡± ¡°What? Your wife is three meters tall?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± They didn¡¯t have time to waste. Their transformation wasn¡¯t going tost long. It made Snow impatient and she showed her wallet first. The saleswoman thought it would be full of silver coins, but what she took out were shining gold coins. ¡°I will wrap it up for you.¡± No salesperson could resist the temptation of gold coins. The woman stopped thinking and started wrapping. nco went to her with a dress and carefully asked, ¡°Is this the dress Ms. Grace wears?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s in a different color and material, but the same design. But it¡¯s a dress for unmarried girls, so it won¡¯t be appropriate for your wife...¡± ¡°Marital status doesn¡¯t matter in fashion! Wrap me ten of this dress, the biggest size.¡± nco eventually lost control at hearing it was the dress Grace wore. ¡°Ten? Do you really need that much?¡± ¡°Yes, I need at least that much, for myself and as a present for my friends.¡± ¡°What? You¡¯re going to wear it yourself?¡± nco made a slip of tongue in excitement, and Snow quickly tried to take care of it. ¡°My friend must have made a mistake while talking in excitement. Um, his wife is really huge and hasn¡¯t been able to find a dress in her size.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± There were that many women who were three meters tall? It was hard to believe, but the woman decided to buy it at seeing nco take out more gold coins. Gold was never wrong. ¡°How about buying different kinds of dresses rather than buying ten of the same dress?¡± ¡°No, we don¡¯t have time for them. Just wrap them up quickly. We must go.¡± nco sensed her talons wereing back to their original forms and yelled. The woman quickly started to wrap. It was weird that the customer was asking for ten dresses of unbelievable size, but what was even stranger was that the shop indeed had ten dresses of unbelievable size. But... whatever. She got a huge bonus every time she sold a dress, and she was paid almost three more times than that when she sold thergest size. That bonus made her dismiss her growing suspicions. ¡°Here they are.¡± As soon as she said that, the two underlings took their purchase and ran out of the shop. As soon as they left the alley and reached the forest, they came back to their huge original forms. ¡°We did it!¡± ¡°We bought dresses, we bought dresses!¡± They had bought enough for themselves and their friends. They held hands and danced in joy. Minos smiled as he looked at them from a tree a little far away. He was d that his n was working, but he was even dder that he could take their gold. He had invested some money in the shop for it. ¡®Now they¡¯lle every day. I must tell them to make as many of thergest size dresses as possible.¡¯ And he was right, they came to buy more dresses every day. Moreover, nco and Snow were not the only underlingsing. In just a few days, Madam Berry became the second-highest deity to Iber¡¯s underlings, right after the dragon herself. The moment they were allpletely addicted to her dresses, Minos moved on to the next step. ¡°nco.¡± nco, who was happily choosing dresses to buy at Presa, looked up when being called. She could recognize Minos immediately, although he was in human form. ¡°Well, well, well. Look who it is. ymore¡¯s loyal subject!¡± ¡°Oh, please don¡¯t be so cold to me.¡± nco wished she could grab him by his cor and throw him out, but this wasn¡¯t her home. She looked away as if she had just seen something dirty and talked to the saleswoman. ¡°Does this dresse in any other color?¡± As nco was a VIP who gave the shop more than half of its profits, the saleswoman always considered her as her top priority. nco wanted to talk to her and ignore Minos. ¡°Yes, it alsoes in sky blue. Oh, Mr. Minos!¡± However, the moment she saw Minos, her attention immediately moved to him. She had never been so nervous around nco, no matter how many dresses she bought. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you wereing. Please, sit here.¡± She even asked him to sit down, but she had never asked nco to sit down. Of course, as she always had very little time to shop, she would never have been able to sit down, but the woman had never asked her, which was a huge difference. She couldn¡¯t help being jealous. ¡°Hmm.¡± Minos pretended to think and nced at nco. She had her back turned to them, but he could see she was trying hard to eavesdrop. It was time to cast the bait. ¡°No, I must leave soon. Well, how is business?¡± ¡°It¡¯s going extremely well.¡± ¡°Well? But your sales are a lot smallerpared to the other shop in the capital.¡± The saleswoman had thought she was about to beplimented, so she was quite surprised to hear that. Although she was selling only dresses of thergest size, it was almost a miracle to raise that much profit in such a rural town. ¡°Mr. Minos, I know this shop cannot bepared to the ones in the capital, but I think its sales are considerably high.¡± ¡°No, I am not questioning your capability. I rather think you are being undervalued. You can do much better, you shouldn¡¯t be stuck in this small town. We¡¯re nning to start exporting our produces, so how about closing this shop and moving to a harbor? You will get many more customers...¡± ¡°No!¡± With that shriek, Minos was thrown to the ceiling. As he fell again, nco¡¯s hand quickly grabbed him by his cor and ran out before the saleswoman could stop her. ¡®At least she¡¯s not throwing me on the ground!¡¯ However, nco did exactly that as soon as they reached the deste forest. She hadn¡¯t been able to do it at the shop only because there had been too many eyes watching. Chapter 231

Chapter 231: Chapter 231

¡°You tiny, evil goblin, how dare you to tell her to close the shop!¡± ¡°Ouch.¡± The impact of being thrown to the ground undid Minos¡¯s transformation. He rubbed his knees and stood up again. nco had alreadye back to her original form as well. She looked quite deadly, but Minos didn¡¯t let it overwhelm him and squared his shoulders. ¡°I¡¯ve invested in that shop some money.¡± ¡°You must have smelled gold. You were after my gold, weren¡¯t you? You greedy goblin!¡± She wasn¡¯tpletely wrong, but Minos decided to deny it. ¡°As I said in the shop, it would be far more profitable to open a shop at a harbor than to keep that shop in this small rural town. It was opened here only because I asked for it to Madam Berry for you and your love for pretty dresses.¡± ¡°Asked? Who do you think you are to ask a favor to someone like Madam Berry? And why on earth would she grant a favor to a goblin like you?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m her friend.¡± ¡°You¡¯re... her friend?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Sudden silence came. nco opened her mouth and then closed it again,pletely dumbfounded. The traitor who had sided with ymore was a friend of Madam Berry, her greatest hero? She didn¡¯t know what to think of it. ¡°But even The Little Bird¡¯s News couldn¡¯t find out who she really is!¡± ¡°But I know who she is.¡± nco¡¯s eyes shook and Minos didn¡¯t miss it. As a banker, he had made a number of deals, and he was an expert at reading his clients¡¯ desires. ¡°Would you like to meet her?¡± ¡°Meet... Madam Berry?¡± ¡°Yes, she¡¯ll agree to meet you if I ask. She will even rmend dresses that suit you. You must have read about Ms. Grace¡¯s change.¡± Of course, nco had read about it. She could recite the entire article now. The dramatic change of a girl who previously couldn¡¯t get anyone¡¯s attention was more than enough to tempt nco. ¡®She, she can do it for me?¡¯ The dresses she had bought from Presa were very pretty, but to be honest, they really didn¡¯t look good on nco. They had been made for humans. Of course, they weren¡¯t right for a dragon¡¯s underling. ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll instantly make a dress that suits you when she sees you.¡± ¡°Of course, she will! She has great skills!¡± nco angrily yelled. Madam Berry had given her a chance to wear dresses, and now she was like a goddess to her and her friends. ¡®Well, it¡¯s really hard to tter her.¡¯ However, Minos didn¡¯t lose his smile and apologized first. nco¡¯s anger faded only then. She fiddled with her fingers for some time and then asked, ¡°But wouldn¡¯t she faint when she sees me? I mean, humans are usually afraid of us.¡± She had almost made up her mind to meet Madam Berry. Minos was delighted to hear that, but he didn¡¯t show it. ¡°No, she doesn¡¯t have any prejudice. She says ugliness is beautiful because it has the potential for beauty.¡± ¡°Are you saying I am ugly?¡± ¡°No, no. Of course not. You are beautiful. And Madam Berry would never miss a chance to witness yet another kind of beauty.¡± That was the right answer as nco blushed with excitement. What kind of dress would Madam Berry make for her? She couldn¡¯t even guess, but she was sure it would be very pretty. Maybe, just maybe, the next edition of The Little Bird¡¯s News might have an article about her. Just imagining it made her feel like she was walking on the clouds. She couldn¡¯t miss this opportunity. ¡°Okay, I would like to meet her. What must I do?¡± There aren¡¯t many creatures that can win their nature. nco simply decided to forget she had just been regarding Minos as her mortal enemy. It didn¡¯t matter anymore. He was going to let her meet her goddess. *** Rubica was summoned by the queen again. As always, she offered her tea andplimented ymore¡¯s aplishments. ¡°It was indeed a great idea to sell bulks of ready-made clothes. I heard the business is now even more profitable than your roses.¡± ¡°Yes, but the price of fabric has gone up too high.¡± ¡°The Kingdom of Sharman, they are eager to gain in this opportunity,¡± the queen bitterly replied. Seritos had been caring solely about its weapons industry for too long and had neglected all the other industries. Now it had the ability to make and sell clothes of surprisingly huge amounts, but itcked materials. In addition to that, Sharman, the kingdom that was famous for its high-quality fabrics and luxurious goods, was putting up a fight against Seritos, so now Seritos was struggling to fight an economic war they were not familiar with. ¡°Really, nothing is easy. It will take us a long time to train more weavers, what should we do?¡± ¡°Maybe... we won¡¯t need to have more weavers.¡± ¡°Then...¡± ¡°Edgar is looking for a way.¡± ¡°He must be thinking of making a machine for it. Good, good. I was thinking it would be a better solution. Of course, Edgar would be able to do it.¡± The queen smiled with satisfaction. Rubica realized the queen would have suggested it if she hadn¡¯t spoken of it first. ¡®Oh, but Edgar isn¡¯t your personal inventor.¡¯ She had asked him to make this and that herself, but she didn¡¯t like it when someone else did it. Edgar had been very stressed recently. It was partly because of Ios who came to visit every day and disturbed the couple¡¯s time together, but it was also because of his busy schedule. Why was he always so busy? ¡°But we must have more weavers as well. Machines will never be able to perfectly imitate the human hands¡¯ delicate work. We must do more research about the materials to make fabric.¡± ¡°Of course, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± The queen frowned just slightly. It was easy to have others do something, but to do the work herself was quite bothering. Rubica knew it wouldn¡¯t be good to linger behind, so she put down her teacup. She tried to make a good excuse and leave, but the queen wasn¡¯t ready to let her go. ¡°I¡¯d like to meet Madam Berry, would you bring her here?¡± ¡°I... beg your pardon?¡± ¡°Our recent sesses wouldn¡¯t have been made possible without her. I¡¯d like to meet her and thank her for her hard work.¡± The queen said it matter-of-factly, but it almost made Rubica faint. The queen still didn¡¯t know who Madam Berry really was. Edgar had told her the king and the queen were good rulers, but it was all the more reason for them to be careful. Letting the queen find out Rubica had a side upation that didn¡¯t fit her status as the duchess wasn¡¯t going to do them any good. ¡°But Your Majesty, even I don¡¯t know who Madam Berry exactly is. I can¡¯t have here here.¡± This time, the queen frowned much harder. ¡°She is quite arrogant, for a designer.¡± Rubica really wanted to say that designer was now gaining more than one-third of the kingdom¡¯s earnings. Instead, she tried for a light smile and agreed. ¡°But most designers are at least a bit arrogant.¡± ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right.¡± The queen sighed to think of the group of people her daughter was always with. Christopher had been crossing the line more than once recently, and it was giving her a headache. Madam Berry was gaining the kingdom huge fortune, but he kept criticizing her as a lowly designer who sold clothes tomoners who didn¡¯t even know how to appreciate fashion. He said she was inviting girls in secret and transforming them just to sell more of her clothes. She wished she could summon him and put a stop to it, but he had too many fans. Marchioness Leofold, who was against the expansion of the king¡¯s authority, was going to tell everyone the queen was interfering with the matters of a mere designer. ¡°If you can¡¯t bring Madam Berry, bring your maid instead.¡± ¡°My... maid, Your Majesty?¡± ¡°The one who did Grace¡¯s makeup. What was her name... Jennie?¡¯ Rubica held her breath for a moment. ¡®She invited Grace yesterday and had a long talk with her, she must have asked about Madam Berry.¡¯ It must have been easy for her to make a young girl who had just been introduced to society tell her everything she knew. Maybe she had threatened her about her father¡¯s business or his domain. Rubica thought it had been right to follow Gabriel¡¯s advice and hide her true identity from Grace. Chapter 232

Chapter 232: Chapter 232

¡°Your Majesty, why do you want to meet Jennie?¡± Unlike Grace, Jennie would never reveal her mistress¡¯s secret. Still, Rubica was obliged to do her best to stop her from meeting the queen. ¡°Oh, I...¡± The queen hesitated for some time before she answered the question. ¡°I¡¯d like to have her do my makeup.¡± ¡°Your... makeup?¡± ¡°Your maid is one of the people who transformed Miss Grace with Madam Berry.¡± The queen unfolded her fan, quite embarrassed. That made Rubica realize she wanted to meet Jennie not just because she wanted to find out who Madam Berry was. ¡°Then, you wanted to meet Madam Berry because...¡± ¡°I wanted to discuss a style that suited me. Why, an old woman like me cannot wish to be pretty?¡± Any otherdy would have tried to escape the situation with shallow ttery by saying, ¡®Your Majesty, you are already beautiful enough.¡¯ However, Rubica couldn¡¯t react quickly to such a situation. She was clearly surprised, which made the queen feel rather better. Shallow ttery is pleasant to the ears, but it also diminishes the trust of the speaker. The queen had heard more than enough ttery. Plus, she liked that Rubica just couldn¡¯t fool people, probably she had enough of the king, who always hid his thoughts and liked to control the situation, as her husband. Maybe that was why Edgar loved her. If there was one person who suffered from those who hid their true purpose and ttered more than the queen did, it was Duke ymore. ¡°Oh, um, I will ask Jennie. I¡¯m sure she will be honored.¡± If the queen¡¯s aim wasn¡¯t to find out about Madam Berry but to discuss cosmetics, Rubica had no reason to object to it. Plus, doing makeup to the queen was going to be a great honor for Jennie. It would help with her career a lot. ¡°Good, then bring her as soon as you can. I will pay her well.¡± The queen was d to hear a positive answer and smiled. She had summoned Rubica every day and asked strange questions like which cream she used and if she did her makeup herself or had a maid do it for her, and it turned out it had been all about Jennie. Then maybe she would stop summoning her too often when she got to meet Jennie. ¡®That being said, being with the queen is much morefortable than being with anyone else.¡¯ After their arrival at the capital, Rubica had lost track of time for some days watching cool buildings and people. Even though the ymore¡¯s mansion in the capital was smaller than the one in the dukedom, in there every detail had been neatly done, and she had a lot to observe. Being invited to tea meetings and looking around other nobles¡¯ mansions was another great joy. However, as it was always amongst peers, she had to be careful with each word she said, considering factions, power struggles, and rtionships between noble families. Of course, every time someone tried to criticize her, Gabriel or her mother immediately scolded them for it, but to be honest, all of it was just too tiring. She now even missed ymore¡¯s bothering rtives. ¡°Well, I see I¡¯ve been making you stay for too long. Edgar must be waiting for you.¡± The queen felt quite good after getting the answer she wanted, so she let go of Rubica earlier than usual. A servant offered to guide her way out, but she politely refused. She had visited the king¡¯s pce so often that now she knew most of its passages. She also knew who to bow to and who to avoid encountering, so she didn¡¯t need much help. ¡°Elise, what do you think about nting that flower in our garden next year?¡± ¡°I think it will look good with our roses. It would be better to nt it in the middle so that it will be seen from His Grace¡¯s window.¡± Most of all, with a servant, Rubica couldn¡¯t afford to take time to look around the pce with Elise. The servant always led her to the fastest way out and hurried back to his position, and he clearly didn¡¯t like it when she asked about a statue or a painting. ¡°What is that dress thedy in the painting is wearing?¡± ¡°That is a dress of the ancient age, the time before Seritos was founded.¡± She spent some time to see the ample line of the white dress. But then, she saw a girl crouching in a corner. She was dressed like one of the pce¡¯s maids, but her fiery red hair looked extremely familiar. ¡°Gabriel?¡± Rubica called the name, half in doubt, but it made the girl fall on her back in surprise. Yes, it was Gabriel. Before Rubica could ask what on earth she was doing dressed as a maid, Gabriel quickly put a finger on her lips. Rubica looked around and whispered, ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°I was watching Christopher and Princess Charlotte.¡± ¡°Pretending to be a maid?¡± ¡°Yes. I will be too noticed if I get around as myself. Plus, every time I run into a maid or a servant, they all bow to me, so this is easier.¡± But if anyone found out she had snuck into the pce pretending to be a maid, her family could be in trouble. Sometimes Gabriel did the least expected thing. Well, it must have taken her a lot of guts to publish a gossips magazine in secret as a count¡¯s daughter. ¡°Gabriel, if you really have to spy on them, you shouldn¡¯t do it yourself. I¡¯ll look for an expert...¡± However, Gabriel jumped to her feet before Rubica could finish saying that. ¡°Oh, Christopher is leaving. Your Grace, if you¡¯ll excuse me.¡± She bowed, turned, and ran after Christopher. Of course, Rubica was very worried about her. ¡°Elise, I think we can¡¯t let her do this.¡± ¡°Um, I think everyone will soon find out she¡¯s not a maid.¡± ¡°Yes, we must put a stop to this. I will go after her, you go back and tell Edgar.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Even if Gabriel was busted, if Rubica was with her when it happened, she might be able to save her. Therefore, she quickly followed after the girl. ¡°Oh, Your Grace!¡± Gabriel, who was hiding behind a pir to look at Christopher, was surprised to see Rubicaing. ¡°Please go home. I¡¯ve got this.¡± ¡°Gabriel, you¡¯re about to get busted. Your whole family will be in trouble if it happens.¡± ¡°Even Princess Charlotte couldn¡¯t recognize me.¡± ¡°But I did.¡± Well, Gabriel didn¡¯t have anything she could say to that. Still, she didn¡¯t want to give up now. ¡°Can¡¯t you just ignore me once?¡± Rubica opened her mouth to say it wasn¡¯t going to happen, but then Gabriel turned and jumped to hide behind the next pir. Why was she trying to spy on Christopher? Regardless of it, Rubica had no choice but to join in her little spy-act. ¡°Aha, I see Baron Jacob is your conspirator.¡± Gabriel pouted to see the face of the man Christopher was meeting in the garden. She was d she had thought of spying. Even though her The Little Bird¡¯s News had various sources, it didn¡¯t have one in the king¡¯s pce. They couldn¡¯t try to have a source there, lest the king¡¯s spy entered the publishing team. It might sound unlikely for a king to try to have influence over a gossip magazine, but politics is all about showing splendid causes and doing all kinds of illegal things underneath. ¡°Gabriel, are you saying this is dangerous?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m only trying to get information. I won¡¯t jump out there. Please stop worrying and go home. You can¡¯t be seen. If they see you, there won¡¯t be a second chance.¡± She replied without replying to her question, but now Rubica really couldn¡¯t leave and firmly shook her head. ¡°I am obliged to protect you.¡± Gabriel shrugged. She could see she couldn¡¯t convince Rubica. With the duchess dressed for an audience with the queen, it was only a matter of time before Christopher saw them. However, she had put too much time and effort into this to just give up. That raggedy maid outfit alone had cost all of her monthly allowance. ¡°Alright, you cane with me. But I¡¯m not giving up now.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± As she said so, she pulled Gabriel toward the wall. ¡°You weren¡¯t hiding properly, Christopher could have just turned and seen you.¡± ¡°What?¡± Then Rubica started to move, hiding behind pirs and walls. She did it so perfectly that their target couldn¡¯t even get a glimpse of her hair. Gabriel blinked to witness the duchess¡¯s unexpected spying skills. ¡°Where on earth have you learned this?¡± ¡°I never learned. I just figured it out throughout the course of my life.¡± ¡°What? I know you¡¯re from a merchant family, but this is...¡± ¡°Shhh!¡± Christopher had reached the entrance of the pce. He talked to the doorkeeper, probably to have a carriage brought. Rubica put an ear on the wall to eavesdrop. ¡°He¡¯s going to Argot Street. Gabriel, you won¡¯t be able to leave the pce. You¡¯re dressed as a maid.¡± ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t have to worry about that.¡± Chapter 233

Chapter 233: Chapter 233

Gabriel took out a fichu from her pocket, put it around her shoulders, changed her headdress, and removed the royal family¡¯s emblem on her chest. Maid outfits were all simr. Even a little change of a few details was enough to make her look like the maid of a noble family. ¡°But Elise must have taken my carriage, what should we do?¡± ¡°You can ask for House Chartle¡¯s carriage.¡± Now that they knew where their target was headed, they could afford a small dy. Rubica walked to the entrance after Christopher was gone. ¡°Your Grace! But yourdy-in-waiting just left in your carriage...¡± One of the knights who was on guard recognized Rubica and talked to her. Sadly, he and Gabriel knew each other. Gabriel cursed silently, pulled down her headdress, and hid herself behind Rubica. ¡°Yes, I sent her first on an errand. Miss Chartle has agreed to let me take her carriage, so please have it brought here.¡± The knight seemed to have a lot of questions, but he didn¡¯t want to displease Duchess ymore and pay for it, so he backed off easily. Until the carriage arrived, Rubica kept talking to the knight so that he wouldn¡¯t be able to see Gabriel¡¯s face. ¡°Madam, let me escort you.¡± However, the knight took it the wrong way and thought she liked him. He even offered a hand with a sneaky smile. Letting him escort her was highly likely going to let him see Gabriel¡¯s face, so Rubica quickly turned him down tly. ¡°No, that won¡¯t be necessary.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be saying your husband will be jealous of this. It is a nobledy¡¯s privilege to be escorted.¡± It was quite a gentlemanlike act to offer help to ady mount a carriage, and the knight seemed to be having a hard time epting her refusal. However, just because he was offering it out of goodwill, it didn¡¯t mean Rubica was obliged to ept it. Actually, mounting a carriage alone wasn¡¯t that impossible, although it could be a little difficult. ¡°Why would my husband be jealous about this? But is it also a privilege to be escorted by a man I don¡¯t like?¡± ¡°Your... Grace?¡± ¡°If you are ever rejected by any otherdy, don¡¯t talk about privilege again. Just ept her refusal and let her be on her way.¡± While the knight was in a daze from the shock, Gabriel mounted the carriage first. Rubica gave the knight a displeased look and went to the carriage. The doorkeeper couldn¡¯t dare toe to him. ¡®Will now they say I¡¯m rude?¡¯ Whatever. Countess Tangt, the queen, and Princess Charlotte. They had all kinds of rumors about the ws in their personalities. Sometimes, ill fame could be helpful. ¡°Your Grace!¡± When the door was opened, Tatiana, who was already in the carriage, offered her a hand. She was giving her a broad smile that was nothing like her usual shy smile. ¡°That felt so good. That knight is famous for using escort as an excuse to flirt with thedies.¡± ¡°Well then, I should have been even harsher on him.¡± Rubica mounted the carriage, and Tatiana didn¡¯t seem so surprised by her suddenly joining their spy act. As soon as the door was closed, Gabriel took off her maid outfit and yelled, ¡°He¡¯s going to Argot Street!¡± ¡°Argot Street? Of course. Good.¡± Tatiana opened the window to the driver¡¯s seat and talked to the driver, but the man didn¡¯t seem to be an ordinary carriage driver. He even knew the location of Christopher¡¯s workroom, so he was probably a reporter of the newspaper House Chartle published. At least the girls had prepared a lot for this. ¡°Your dresses don¡¯t require a corset or a petticoat, so they¡¯re perfect for an asion like this.¡± Gabriel finished getting changed and smiled innocently, but Rubica didn¡¯t know what to feel about this. She had thought about how to make morefortable and prettier dresses not because she wanted to let Gabriel use them as a disguise. How many times had this girl done such a dangerous thing? ¡°Gabriel.¡± ¡°I know, I know. But you really don¡¯t have to worry. This is our first time!¡± Gabriel said bravely as if she knew what Rubica was thinking. She was just so full of energy, and children like her were not stopped easily. She was smart, so she must have calcted several of the possibilities her action might bring before carrying it out. Rubica didn¡¯t want to nag on her and decided to not ask further. ¡°But promise me you¡¯ll never do this again.¡± ¡°Um, I don¡¯t know...¡± Gabriel tried to change the topic, but Rubica gave her a hard look and she had no choice but to nod. Even she knew she was being reckless, at least to some extent. ¡°Tatiana, Christopher just met Baron Jacob. I think he is his conspirator.¡± ¡°Baron Jacob?¡± Tatiana took out a document, that was encrypted in strange symbols and numbers, and read it. ¡°If Baron Jacob is in this, this can be bigger than we thought.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Do you remember that giarism scandal that happened recently?¡± ¡°Are you talking about the sons of peers at the Academy who giarized for their graduate paper?¡± Rubica asked, unable to resist her curiosity. The scandal had been quite famous. People who passed the final grade of Aron¡¯s Academy and graduated from it were needed in many ces, and they didn¡¯t have to worry about making their living for the rest of their lives. It was the only way for second or third sons of high houses, who couldn¡¯t inherit their father¡¯s rank, to live decently. The problem was that although anyone who could afford their studies could enter the Academy, it wasn¡¯t easy to graduate from it. Aron¡¯s Academy was strict and didn¡¯t pass any paper that didn¡¯t meet its criteria, even if the paper was written by a prince or a princess. Money and rank meant nothing there, but then the scandal broke out. A group that ghostwrote graduate papers for students, who weren¡¯t good enough to do it themselves, had been busted. ¡°Yes, they found and arrested some of the people involved, but only a few. We think Baron Jacob was their middleman, although we don¡¯t have certain information and can¡¯t write about it yet.¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes widened to hear that. ¡°I didn¡¯t know The Little Bird¡¯s News handled such matters.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t. My father owns a newspaperpany. Oh, and John, who is driving this carriage, is a reporter of my father¡¯s daily newspaper.¡± Rubica had been right about the driver. Still, she was surprised to know Tatiana knew the top secrets of the Chartle family¡¯s newspaper. It didn¡¯t seem like her family funded her magazine just because of the money it made. However, now that they knew the baron who was in such a dangerous business was involved in this, what the girls were doing looked even more dangerous. ¡°Well then, I guess Christopher will lead us to more clues about Baron Jacob.¡± Contrary to Rubica¡¯s worried heart, Tatiana seemed quite d about their newest finding. ¡°But Tatiana, The Little Bird¡¯s News must handle this. If your father steals it, I will describe in my column how tacky his clothes are, how many times his bold head reflects the light of the chandelier at every ball, and how he kills the mood with his boring jokes for a whole year.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that.¡± They could write about Christopher in their magazine, and Tatiana¡¯s father¡¯s newspaper could handle the ghostwriting scandal. Then, both of them would be gaining a lot. Tatiana was so d to know information which even the king wasn¡¯t aware of that she wanted to apud herself. ¡°Hmm, anyway, why are we going after Christopher?¡± Rubica asked, quite curious. Toote, Gabriel realized she hadn¡¯t exined the important part. Well, she was always a bit out of her mind. ¡°Hmm, where should we start?¡± ¡°First, we must show her that.¡± Tatiana had her important research documents hidden in her family¡¯s carriage. No one knew she was publishing the magazine, except for her father. It was far safer than leaving it in her room. Otherwise, the maid who cleaned her room could find it. She took out the drawer hidden under the seat and looked for four pieces of paper. They were all in different colors. One was yellow, probably very old, but one was clean and white. ¡°This is the instruction paper Christopher gave to the workers at his shop. You should take a look.¡± Unlike design sketches, which were made to be shown, instruction papers were full of all kinds of instructions and details. They were the kind of secrets that were not supposed to be shown to outsiders. Rubica wondered how Tatiana had acquired them. Maybe the queen or other nobledies didn¡¯t control society, but these young girls did. Chapter 234

Chapter 234: Chapter 234

¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not right, is it?¡± Rubica read the written instructions thoroughly and nodded. ¡°These are all done with the same person¡¯s handwriting... but this initial is used for different meanings in this record and that record.¡± ¡°You should also look at the habits of using frills andces.¡± Clothes designs may appear simr, but they all have each designer¡¯s unique habits like fingerprints. Such habits are clearly shown in written instructions, so Rubica couldn¡¯t help but ask Gabriel, ¡°Are you sure these are all from Christopher¡¯s shop? I think they were all written by different designers.¡± ¡°I knew you would see through it. But the handwriting is consistent, so Christopher must have copied it in his handwriting. It took us a long time to realize it.¡± ¡°Actually, we didn¡¯t realize it. We asked a tailor and he told us.¡± Gabriel shrugged at recalling the tailor who easily told them his suspicions for a piece of cake. If they hadn¡¯t known each shop used a totally different initial for the same frills, they would have never been able to notice it. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve always thought Christopher was strange. He would change like a chameleon ande up with totally different dresses every time a new trend came... I just thought he was a genius.¡± Gabriel sounded quite angry, probably because of all the money she had paid him. ¡°Anyway, ording to what we could find out with these records, Christopher¡¯s designs have been changing approximately every two years.¡± ¡°Then... he has been doing some kind of ghost-designing, just like ghostwriting?¡± ¡°Yes, kind of.¡± It was extremely shocking, but Rubica thought the man was capable of doing far worse, considering what he had done to Khanna. She just found it surprising he hadn¡¯t been busted after all those years he had lived as the greatest designer of the kingdom¡¯s capital. ¡°Then, we must find the people who did his designs for him.¡± There had to be other victims than Khanna. If they agreed to testify, they would be able to reveal everything Christopher had done. Then, everyone would get to know the truth about the scandal that still followed Khanna to haunt her. ¡°Well, um, we thought so too, but... the current ghostdesigner is quite satisfied with the money Christopher pays him and we couldn¡¯t even approach him.¡± ¡°Then, what about looking for his previous designers. I think it won¡¯t be that hard to convince them, now that they are no longer paid by Christopher.¡± It couldn¡¯t have been that hard, as there had to be at least four ghostdesigners. However, Tatiana didn¡¯t say anything. In the end, Gabriel had to speak instead of her. ¡°We couldn¡¯t find two of his former ghostdesigners. And as for the other two... one is missing, and the other is dead.¡± ¡°Dead?¡± ¡°Yes. The two never went to a design school. They were just tailors who worked at Christopher¡¯s shop. But they were quite talented designers, so Christopher offered to fund their studies abroad in Sharman. Of course, it was a lie. When they were no longer needed, the family of one of them received a letter saying he died in an ident, and the other just went missing.¡± This was sounding more and more dangerous. Rubica had this feeling that the other two they didn¡¯t know about yet couldn¡¯t be safe. Perhaps they were all dead. It was so scary that it gave her chills in her back, but now that she hade this far, she didn¡¯t want to get out of this, not at all. ¡°But he¡¯s just a designer, he couldn¡¯t have been able to do all that on his own.¡± ¡°Yes, it would have been impossible without a powerful conspirator. We had a source spy on him for two months, but we couldn¡¯t find out anything, and then we started to think about what we had missed.¡± ¡°And then we realized although we knew about everything he did outside the king¡¯s pce, we didn¡¯t know who he met and what he talked about in there.¡± Of course, they could easily have a source find out who often met Christopher or what kind of orders they met, but a source couldn¡¯t tell them who he met in hallways and what kind of conversation he had. ¡°That is why I disguised as a maid! We knew trying to put a spy in the king¡¯s pce would only let the king find out about us. If he ever finds out about what we do, he will have us put a poem in praise for the queen in our magazine as punishment, and it will be the end of The Little Bird¡¯s News!¡± It sounded like a joke, but Gabriel sounded serious, so Rubica couldn¡¯t tell. ¡°But Gabriel, were you nning to try again tomorrow if you didn¡¯t find out anything today? If anyone finds out you dared to sneak into the king¡¯s pce, writing a poem wouldn¡¯t be the end of your punishment. The king¡¯s guards will be punished severely for neglecting security, and they might be enemies with your family.¡± ¡°Um, I do admit that might happen, but I wasn¡¯t going to do it again tomorrow. I did it today for a good reason.¡± ¡°A good reason?¡± ¡°I asked a detective to analyze Christopher¡¯s routine, and he told me he seems to always meet his conspirator at the pce first before he meets his ghostdesigner. And now, he is on his way to meet the ghostdesigner.¡± The carriage stopped as soon as she finished saying that. They were at Argot Street. Tatiana opened the window just a little to take a look. John already knew where Christopher¡¯s secret ce was, so he parked the carriage on the opposite street so Christopher wouldn¡¯t be able to see them. ¡°Just as we thought, he¡¯s going to the ghostdesigner¡¯s workroom. We should wait for a little before we get out so that we won¡¯t run into him.¡± Gabriel nodded. Tatiana quickly took off her hard leather shoes and got changed into a pair of soft silk shoes. ¡°You should take this carriage and go home after we go.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? This is clearly dangerous. I can¡¯t leave you to do this on your own.¡± ¡°But... okay, then you should wait here. He will hear us if you go in your shoes with a metal bottom.¡± However, Rubica threw her shoes off before Tatiana could finish saying that. She didn¡¯t need shoes made of silk. Her socks were enough. She had walked with her bare feet before. Of course, her feet were now much softer, but she could handle it. ¡°I can do better than you girls. Right, Gabriel?¡± ¡°Oh, um, yes.¡± Gabriel was surprised to be called so suddenly and she nodded before she could process the question. ¡°Well, to be honest, she is better than our sources. If there is a genius in following in secret, it¡¯s her.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She will be helpful if shees with us, she¡¯ll never get us busted.¡± ¡°But the duke will be worried...¡± Actually, Tatiana was trying to make Rubica go home mostly because of Duke ymore than her inconvenient dress. Everyone at the capital knew how dearly he loved his wife. Tatiana knew well what kind of end people who had spoken wrong things about her met, so she hesitated. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Edgar willpliment you when he gets to hear what it was about.¡± Rubica assured them, but the duke was famous for being like that in front of his wife and showing his true rage when she wasn¡¯t around. ¡°Please just tell him that you... like us a lot.¡± ¡°Of course, he knows well I like you girls.¡± The duke was extremely jealous of the people his wife cared about, but he just couldn¡¯t mess up with them. He punished people severely only when he could immediately get rid of the punished so that his wife would never be able to find out about it. He could just be a nice person instead of pretending to be one, but that was just impossible for his nature. ¡°Tatiana, we should get out now.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± They had waited long enough. Tatiana started to run into the building lest they might lose Christopher, but then Rubica grabbed her. ¡°There are guards.¡± ¡°Where?¡± ¡°There, and there.¡± Rubica pointed at two people who appeared to be ordinary, but they had swords on their waist and were constantly looking around. They had never been there before when the girls spied on the hideout. ¡°But how did you know?¡± Rubica just smiled awkwardly to the question. She had thought she had forgotten all of her old habits after months of safety, but now they were kicking in again. ¡°I think we need a diversion.¡± ¡°Okay. John, you heard it, right?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± John climbed down the driver¡¯s seat as if he was used to this. He took a horse from the carriage, mounted it without a saddle, and rode it straight to the biggest guard. ¡°Are you crazy? You almost killed me!¡± ¡°Well, you should have gotten out of my way when seeing a horseing!¡± John wasn¡¯t afraid at all, even if the man was at least three times bigger than himself. Soon the guards all went after John. Chapter 235 Chapter 235: Chapter 235 While the guards were distracted by John, Rubica quickly ran into the building. She checked that there was no one on guard inside and waved a hand to Gabriel and Tatiana. The girls quickly followed her. ¡°Do you know where we should go?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°But be careful, they might be still in the hallway.¡± Once they were inside, Tatiana led the way as she knew where Christopher¡¯s ghostdesigner was. Each time she clumsily hid in a corner or didn¡¯t duck when passing a window, Rubica¡¯s hand came fast to fix it. Gabriel had been right, she was really good at this. If only she had known where to go, she should have led the way. ¡°Here it is.¡± They reached the second floor and Tatiana opened the fourth door. They quickly went inside and closed the door lest they might be seen. The room was quite spacious, but it didn¡¯t have much. There was a huge desk and a ck box, but that was pretty much it. ¡°We¡¯re right next to the hideout.¡± ¡°Then, you have rented this room?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± They had hired a source to be employed at Christopher¡¯s shop and rent the next room of the hideout, just to track one man. How much money had they spent on this? Rubica couldn¡¯t help being worried. Their magazine clearly sold well, but was its revenue enough for all the expenses they were spending? ¡°But finding out this much must have cost you a lot...¡± ¡°Only very little,pared to what we spent to buy this.¡± Gabriel said as she got her hands on the box-like thing. There was a silver object and several buttons on it. She took out a wire and attached it to the wall. ¡°With this, we can hear every word they say in the adjacent room.¡± She was right. When she pressed on the green button, they could clearly hear Christopher¡¯s voice as if they had been in the same room. Rubica looked at the ck box, very surprised. It was almost as amazing as Ios¡¯s magic. ¡°This is an eavesdropping device, and ites with a recording function. We¡¯ve spent more than half of the profits we earned till now.¡± ¡°It¡¯s truly remarkable. My, who made this?¡± ¡°His Grace.¡± ¡°Are you saying your father made this for his reporters?¡± Gabriel gave her a confused look. ¡°Of course not. I meant Duke ymore, your husband.¡± Rubica covered her mouth with both hands to hear the unexpected reply, but to Gabriel, her treating her great husband as if he was an ordinary man was even more marvelous. ¡°My father is quite smart, butpared to the duke, he¡¯s a five-year-old boy.¡± ¡°Gabriel.¡± Tatiana warned her about speaking ill of her own father, but she just shrugged. ¡°Tatiana, I was giving my father apliment. Compared to Duke ymore, he isn¡¯t even a human being. He¡¯s an octopus.¡± ¡°Shh!¡± Then, Christopher raised his voice. It sounded quite serious. Rubica quickly stopped Gabriel from starting another round of talking while Tatiana pressed on the ¡®record¡¯ button. -I don¡¯t care if you think it¡¯s not right. I want you to make dresses with tons of those ribbons. Your old designs aren¡¯t selling at all now! -But Christopher, I just can¡¯t ept that design. Those dresses might be practical, but they have no fantasy. Dresses should be unrealistically beautiful. That is my belief. -Your belief? My belief is money! And there came the sound of things being thrown. They could hear they were having a fight. -Argh! The scream of pain that ended the fight wasn¡¯t Christopher¡¯s, and Rubica couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. She stood up. She was worried sick about that mysterious designer on the other side of the wall. She tried to run out, but Tatiana stopped her. ¡°No! Your Grace, we¡¯re here to cover this case.¡± ¡°Tatiana! That designer might be killed.¡± ¡°But... it isn¡¯t our role to interfere.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Tatiana just smiled awkwardly at the question. Gabriel could see she was embarrassed to exin it herself, so she spoke for her friend. ¡°Reporters are obliged to not interfere. But instead, they have the right to go to battlefields to do their job, and they are always given protection and the needed help, regardless of their nationality. That is what the international treaty says, and Tatiana doesn¡¯t want to break it.¡± ¡°But this isn¡¯t a battlefield.¡± ¡°You see, the treaty applies to every asion...¡± ¡°Your Grace, I know our magazine is considered a gossip magazine, but I want to keep the rules, just like a reporter should do.¡± They could hear Christopher dragging out the unconscious designer. He moaned sometimes, which was the only sign that he wasn¡¯t dead yet. However, he wasn¡¯t going to stay that way for long. Christopher had guards in disguise outside the building, which he usually hadn¡¯t done, so he must havee determined to kill his ghostdesigner in case he failed to convince him to design ribbon dresses. Maybe he had met Baron Jacob to ask him to take care of the corpse. ¡°Okay, then Tatiana, you should stay here.¡± Tatiana thought Rubica understood her obligation and let go of her in relief. However, as soon as she let go of Rubica¡¯s arm, she dered, ¡°But I must go. I¡¯m not a reporter, so I don¡¯t have to respect that treaty.¡± ¡°Madam!¡± Rubica ran out of the room before they could stop her. Judging from what they had heard, Christopher had a knife. Although the man was thin, he wasn¡¯t weak at all. Rubica was about to get hurt. ¡°I must go too.¡± ¡°Gabriel!¡± Tatiana pleadingly looked at Gabriel, and it made her hesitate for a moment. Tatiana was proud to be a member of a family that ran a newspaper. She had been the first to say The Little Bird¡¯s News wasn¡¯t a mere gossips magazine but newspaper for girls. Gabriel knew better than anyone how stubborn her usually reserved and kind friend could be. However, she didn¡¯t want to lose someone important to her just to keep her pride. ¡°Tatiana, I¡¯ll just be a girl who writes a stupid column for a gossip magazine!¡± Gabriel went after Rubica, even though she knew how much her choice was going to hurt Tatiana. *** Since several weeks ago, Edgar¡¯s study had been full of all kinds of fabrics. His desk had piles of books aboutce-making and sketches. Edgar himself was looking at Sharmance, which was known to be the best of allces. He had been doing that for three hours already, so Ios was quite bored and tried to pick a fight. ¡°Are you nning to change your career and be a designer? Don¡¯t even think about it, you¡¯ll never be as good as my Rubica.¡± ¡°Your ¡®cousin¡¯ Rubica.¡± How could he so irritatingly point it out every time? He wouldn¡¯t even y with Ios, no matter how bored he was. In the end, Ios couldn¡¯t stand it. He jumped to his feet, snatched thece out of Edgar¡¯s hands, and threw it away. ¡°Hey!¡± Edgar wished he could punch the dragon¡¯s face, but he remembered Rubica asking him to be nice to Ios as he had no bad will and could barely manage to control himself. Ios had insisted on going to the king¡¯s pce with Rubica every time she went there, but after long, long persuasion, he eventually epted he couldn¡¯t go. Then, he could have gone home and water his precious nts, why was he still with Edgar? He just wouldn¡¯t leave Edgar¡¯s side. ¡°Bring me that back.¡± Edgar pointed out thece that was clearly out of his reach and said firmly. He spoke like that only when he was about to reach the end of his toleration. If Ios annoyed him again, he would no longer let him stay in his study. However, he had the pride of a dragon and didn¡¯t want to obey his order like a good dog. ¡°I¡¯ll do it if you beat me in arm wrestling.¡± Ios said as he put his right arm on Edgar¡¯s desk. He chose arm wrestling because he knew Edgar couldn¡¯t move his legs, but Edgar justughed. ¡°Hey, this might surprise you as you have nothing to do except for ying, but I¡¯m busy.¡± ¡°I know you¡¯ve been looking at that piece of fabric for days now. Well, if you are afraid of losing, I will generously fetch that for you, as winners should be generous to losers.¡± Before he could finish saying that, Edgar pushed aside the things on his desk and undid his cuff button. The tendons of his hands started contracting, showing how mad he was. Chapter 236

Chapter 236: Chapter 236

¡®Huh, but he¡¯s no match for me.¡¯ Unlike other humans, Edgar didn¡¯t feel any pain when touching Ios. Nevertheless, he was always sitting in his office. Ios had also never seen him carry heavy objects, so he believed he would easily defeat him. ¡°Hup!¡± However, contrary to what he had expected, he felt great strength as soon as he grabbed Edgar¡¯s hand and moaned. On the contrary, Edgar looked quite rxed. Ios had never lost to anyone when it came to strength. Most of the opponents he had encountered now surrendered even when he used just the strength to lift a finger. Because of that, for a moment, he couldn¡¯t remember how he should use his muscles to bring out a greater force. ¡°Hey, what are you doing with your left hand?¡± Edgar spotted Ios¡¯s left hand moving and asked. A drop of sweat ran down the dragon¡¯s forehead, so he must have been up to something. Was he trying to cheat and use magic to win? It really enraged Edgar. He decided he had to teach what justice was to this rude lizard and started to put all the strength he had on his right arm. ¡°Aw.¡± Ios¡¯s hand was bent down until it almost touched the desk. He was about to admit defeat, but then Edgar loosened his hand. Was he exhausted after suddenly using so much strength? Regardless of that, they were in a game. Ios mercilessly put his arm down. Edgar¡¯s arm went down so easily that it was hard to believe he had been winning only a second ago. ¡°I... won?¡± Before Ios could celebrate his own victory, he was surprised to see Edgar fall on his desk. He tried shaking him, but he didn¡¯t move. ¡°Are you pretending to be unconscious because you¡¯re embarrassed after losing?¡± Ios poked his hand with a pen, but no response. He put a finger under his nose, just in case, but he wasn¡¯t breathing. Ios suddenly got afraid. ¡°Oh, no!¡± Anyone was going to think he had done this to Edgar on purpose. And, how was he supposed to see Rubica¡¯s face if Edgar didn¡¯t make it? Minos had warned him many times that nymphs cherished their spouses a lot and he had to be careful about it. He quickly took Edgar to the sofa, undid one or two of his shirt buttons, and started pping him. ¡°Hey, wake up! Hey!¡± However, he didn¡¯t get the result he wanted. What was he supposed to do then? He managed to remember the term mouth-to-mouth. He looked at Edgar¡¯s red lips and gulped hard. Minos had once taught him what it was and how to do it. He really didn¡¯t want to do it, but it was the only way to save Edgar. He made up his mind and grabbed Edgar¡¯s chin. ¡°Lord Ios?¡± ¡°Ugh!¡± Ios fell on his butt at suddenly hearing Minos¡¯s voice. The goblin looked shocked, probably misunderstanding the situation. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Minos! It¡¯s great that you¡¯re here, Edgar isn¡¯t breathing!¡± ¡°What?¡± Minos quickly checked on Edgar. Ios was relieved that he was here at the right time and started to press on him. ¡°Quick, do mouth-to-mouth!¡± ¡°I should do mouth-to-mouth? On him?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Ios was going to tell Edgar, ¡®You were just kissed by a goblin,¡¯ when he woke up. Of course, he was going to tell Rubica what her husband had done while she was gone, with a little bit of exaggeration. However, Minos shook his head. ¡°Doing mouth-to-mouth won¡¯t bring him back.¡± ¡°What? No way!¡± This wasn¡¯t funny at all. Ios regretted doing that arm wrestling, although it was a bitte. Then, Minos took out a vial from his pocket. ¡°He is...¡± Out of habit, he almost exined to Ios that Edgar¡¯s nymph blood and human blood were colliding, but then he quickly shut his mouth, shivering that he almost let Ios find out the nymph was Edgar and not Rubica. He quickly opened the vial and put it under Edgar¡¯s nose. What was inside the vial smelled strange, but for some reason, it was quite familiar to Ios. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°Cough, cough!¡± Before Minos could give him the answer, Edgar coughed hard and opened his eyes. That was a relief. Although now Ios couldn¡¯t make fun of him for being kissed by a goblin, it was much better than him never waking up again. ¡°Your Grace, are you alright?¡± Edgar nodded and sat up on the sofa. While arm wrestling with Ios, he suddenly felt an electrocuting sensation on his right arm, and then his heart had a stroke. He couldn¡¯t remember what had happened after that. But now, there was something he wanted to know more than his condition. ¡°Minos, have you seeded in convincing Iber¡¯s underlings?¡± ¡°It was half a sess.¡± ¡°Half?¡± Then, someone urgently knocked on the door. Edgar looked at the clock, and it was time for Carl to bring tea. ¡°Carl, I don¡¯t want tea now.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not about tea, Your Grace. It¡¯s about Her Grace.¡± The butler sounded calm, but he was clearly worried. Rubica had gone to meet the queen. Had something happened to her? Ios opened the door before Edgar could tell Carl toe in. ¡°Has something happened to my Rubica?¡± ¡°Your cousin Rubica!¡± Edgar yelled, unable to control his anger. The hair on Ios¡¯s back stood straight and he could feel the coldness on the back of his neck. He felt chill in his bones, although winter was still far away. His brain was just too dumb to find out it was because now he was in front of a being who was more powerful than himself, but at least his instincts worked properly. ¡°Okay. Has something happened to my cousin Rubica.¡± ¡°Hmm, Your Grace, may Ie in?¡± ¡°Come in quickly.¡± Carl cleared his throat, came in and closed the door. And he reported what Elise, who came back from the pce alone, had just told her. Edgar ruffled his hair hard as if he was getting another headache. ¡°Now Gabriel is really messing up!¡± What that cute girl thought of was mostly beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. But still, a count¡¯s daughter, sneaking into the king¡¯s pce wearing the clothes of the royal maids? Even that sly foxlike king would be enraged to hear about it, so he could see why Rubica had to follow her. ¡°Are they still at the pce?¡± ¡°As Ms. Sna had just arrived... I think it is highly likely, judging from the time.¡± ¡°Carl, I wasn¡¯t asking you.¡± Carl realized he was asking Ios and looked a little embarrassed. Ios couldn¡¯t see he was being used as a tracking device and gave him the answer he wanted. ¡°Are you talking about that ce with a shining roof? She¡¯s not there.¡± ¡°Then where is she?¡± ¡°There.¡± Ios pointed toward the area where workers who came to the capital looking for jobs lived. It wasn¡¯t a slum area, but it didn¡¯t have good security. If a nobledy in expensive dress roamed around that area and met some gangsters... Edgar didn¡¯t want to imagine the rest of it. ¡°What on earth is she doing there?¡± Ios shrugged to show him he couldn¡¯t answer that question. Edgar wished he could mount a horse and go there immediately, but he still couldn¡¯t move his legs. He sadly asked Ios, ¡°Could you go and see what it is about?¡± His voice was so soft that it was hard to believe he had just been yelling at the dragon. Ios normally would have worried about Rubica and go right away, but this time, he just crossed his arms. He found Edgar particrly annoying today. Almost losing to him in arm wrestling, feeling that chill in his bones, and him suddenly fainting and scaring him to death, he hated all of what had happened. ¡°If you ask politely.¡± ¡°Please, Ios.¡± ¡°Ios? Wow, how could you not know the term ¡®politely¡¯ when even I know it?¡± Edgar clenched his feet. He had to abandon his high pride to do what the dragon was requesting. He really didn¡¯t want to do it, but now he was the one in need. ¡°Please... Lord Ios.¡± Ios pretended to think about it for a moment. He wanted to hear ¡®I beg you¡¯, but he felt like asking that much would have him permanently banned from visiting ymore Mansion. Disobeying Edgar¡¯s will was getting harder and harder every day. He decided to be content with Edgar calling him ¡®Lord Ios¡¯. ¡°Okay.¡± Then, he opened the window and jumped down. He moved, following Rubica¡¯s scent that reached him through thend¡¯s energy. He popped out of the empty area right next to the building she was in. People were having a fight there and it was quite noisy, so no one saw himing out of the ground. Chapter 237

Chapter 237: Chapter 237

¡°Hmm, this must be it.¡± Ios decided where to go, jumped up lightly using the wind, reached a window, and opened it. Then he was quite surprised to see what was going on in there. ¡°Huh?¡± The room was full of all kinds of clothing materials. There was a boy on the floor and a lot of blood around him. There was a tall, thin man who was trying to put the boy in a sack, and he was quite surprised to see Ios. Of course, they were on the second floor. Then, the door was suddenly opened and Rubica came in. While Christopher was still in shock, she quickly looked around and picked up a long pole that was right next to her. ¡°Take that!¡± She mercilessly hit Christopher¡¯s head with it, but the long pole was meant to be used to twist long fabrics around it so that they could be stored, so it didn¡¯t hurt him much. He reached out to grab her arm, but then Gabriel showed up and bit his arm hard. ¡°Ugh!¡± Rubica jumped up, put her arms around his neck, and strangled him. He chocked, unable to breathe. ¡°Gabriel, tapeline, tapeline!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Gabriel quickly brought a tapeline that was on the desk. They started to tie the man lest he might try to fight back again. It seemed like trying to help would only disturb the girls, so Ios just quietly sat down on the window sill. ¡®Wow...¡¯ The nymph was really great, especially that skill of putting the opponent¡¯s head under her armpit to choke him. He wished he could learn that skill. ¡°Gabriel, tie his legs as well. There¡¯re some strings there!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± And, it was easy from there. Rubica let go of Christopher¡¯s head only after Gabriel finished tying him tightly. Then they found a strong linen cloth and used it as a gag so that he wouldn¡¯t be able to talk. They did it, more easily than they had thought. Rubica let out a sigh of relief, but then Gabriel punched his waist with all her might. ¡°Take that!¡± Next, she started to beat his thighs and shoulders. She did it so well that she made Ios wish he had had some peanuts and cool sparkling water. It was by far the coolest fight he¡¯d witnessed in years. ¡°Gabriel, stop!¡± ¡°Let me go! He deserves more!¡± She caught her breath for a minute, took off a corset that a mannequin in a corner was wearing, put it on Christopher, and started to pull its straps. ¡°Take that! Huh, you bragged so much, but why is your waist so thick? You should have spent your time on losing some weight instead of giving those empty speeches about muses!¡± She was having an extremely emotional revenge. Christopher yelled something, but his mouth was gagged, so they couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying. Seeing him suffer from a corset over his jacket made Gabriel feel somewhat better. She kicked him to a corner. ¡°But you were so great! How did you do it? You choked him really hard!¡± She smiled innocently again as usual, but it looked a bit scary after that fit she had just thrown. ¡°Thank you, Gabriel. He would have gotten me if you hadn¡¯t shown up.¡± Anyway, Gabriel had shown up at the right moment to help. If Christopher had used the knife, which he used to attack his ghostdesigner, on Rubica... she didn¡¯t want to imagine what woulde after that. She had been through a war thatsted for decades, and she knew well how hard it was to fight a man who was taller and stronger than herself. ¡°Well, what should we do now? Huh?¡± Gabriel turned to look around, but then she saw Ios sitting on the window sill. ¡°Huh?¡± His golden hair danced in the wind and golden particles fell from it, forming a magnificent flow of light. She rubbed her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing. She had always thought there wasn¡¯t another man who was as handsome as Duke ymore, but the creature on the window was equally beautiful. ¡°Maybe...¡± It was her hallucination that they had overpowered Christopher, maybe she had been stabbed by his knife and was now dead. It had to be an illusion. She tried pinching her cheek. ¡°Ouch!¡± Surprisingly, it hurt. She had thought she wouldn¡¯t be able to feel pain after death, but it seemed like she had been wrong. Then, the entity on the window stood up and jumped down. They were on the second floor. Gabriel quickly went there and looked down, but there wasn¡¯t any blood, much less a man lying on the ground. ¡°Gabriel, what are you doing?¡± Rubica asked, pretending she hadn¡¯t seen Ios. ¡°But madam, haven¡¯t you just seen it?¡± ¡°Huh? See what?¡± Of course, she had seen it. She had seen it quite clearly, and she had even been a little mad to see Ios. He should have helped, but he just sat down there and watched. Plus, she even noticed how he groped in the air as if he was looking for invisible peanuts. She was nning to scold him hard and teach how he was supposed to help when someone was in danger when she got home. ¡°But more than that, we must treat him quickly.¡± Rubica quickly changed the topic so that Gabriel wouldn¡¯t be able to think more about it. ¡°Oh, of course!¡± Thankfully, Gabriel decided to dismiss Ios as a mere illusion and immediately came to her. The ghostdesigner¡¯s wound seemed quite serious. Luckily, the room was a workce for making clothes, so it had all the things they needed, like clean cloth, scissors, and splint. Rubica acquired all of them and started to work on the wound. Gabriel followed her instructions and cut bandages and put the splint to help. ¡°We must take him to a doctor soon...¡± They finished with the first aid, but the man was still in critical condition. He needed proper treatment. However, there were still guards at the entrance of the building and they couldn¡¯t get out. ¡°What if we wait for John toe back and then move?¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll be back soon...¡± Considering how huge those guards were, Rubica worried John might not be alive by now. It was still broad daylight, but there was no guarantee of what might happen to them after the sun went down. ¡°Most of all, I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll be able to hold that long.¡± Rubica said as she wiped the beads of sweat on the boy¡¯s forehead. He had been blinded by money to get himself employed as Christopher¡¯s ghostdesigner, but he was also a victim. Getting a formal education to be a designer cost a lot, and the lives of ordinary tailors who worked in shops weren¡¯t easy at all. If he had been given a proper opportunity, he would have never made such a choice. ¡°What should we do...¡± Rubica tried to think of a n, but then they heard footsteps from the hallway. Gabriel cringed in fear. ¡°Is it the guards?¡± ¡°It could be.¡± Rubica grabbed the pole she had hit Christopher with earlier. Gabriel quickly found a pair of scissors for cutting fabrics and held it with both hands. The buffy guards were not going to be easily defeated like Christopher, but there was no way they were going down easily. They nned to lunge on the enemies the moment the door was opened. ¡°Your Grace?¡± But the man who opened the door and came in was not one of the guards but Carl. Rubica was so relieved to see him that she lost strength in her hands and let go of the pole. It then fell to hit Carl right on his forehead. ¡°Ouch!¡± ¡°Oh, Carl, I¡¯m so sorry!¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. But oh, what happened?¡± ¡°How did you know I was here?¡± Rubica was so d to see him. She had never been so delighted to see the butler. ¡°Oh, Ios told me you were here. His Grace let me use his mana stone carriage so that I coulde and take care of you. His guard knights will be here soon.¡± ¡°Oh! Ios does know how to think! I was wrong about him.¡± Rubica happily eximed and said even Ios could improve with the right guidance. She was so proud of herself that Carl couldn¡¯t tell her the dragon had run away because he didn¡¯t want to be scolded. ¡°Ios? Are you talking about the Golden Dragon?¡± However, she was so relieved and momentarily forgot Gabriel was with them. The girl¡¯s eyes sparkled with curiosity, and Rubica looked away. ¡°Oh, um, you must know how we deal with him for his tea. Oh, and Carl, this man was stabbed by Christopher. We¡¯ve done what we could do, but he¡¯s still in critical condition.¡± Carl checked on the boy. He was now unconscious, but it didn¡¯t look like he was about to die at any moment. However, his wound was bad, and he needed a stretcher. Anyway, who on earth had done that to Christopher? He was wearing a corset over his jacket, whoever had done that must have had a weird taste. Carl had been forced to leave his master before Ios could finish his exnation, so he was very curious about what had happened here. Chapter 238

Chapter 238: Chapter 238

¡°I think it would be better to call the peacekeepers and a doctor, but you must get out of here before that.¡± However, a butler couldn¡¯t keep his job if he kept asking questions to his mistress. ¡°Oh, right. Tatiana is in the next room.¡± ¡°Miss Chartle is here?¡± Carl really couldn¡¯t help but sound confused. Miss Chartle was known to be reserved and calm, so what was she doing here? But yet again, he suppressed his curiosity and went to the adjacent room to get Tatiana. ¡°My, how did you get that?¡± However, even he couldn¡¯t help but ask when seeing the eavesdropping device in the middle of the room. ¡°Oh, um, I bought it.¡± ¡°You bought it? Are you saying your family bought it?¡± ¡°No, I saved my allowance to buy it.¡± However, the device costs far more than most lords¡¯ domains. Carl was silent for a moment while all kinds of questions were swarming in his mind. ¡°Anyway, you must leave, now.¡± One thing he could be sure of was that she was going to be in big trouble if the king got to find out about this. However, to his surprise, Tatiana shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m staying, someone has to take responsibility.¡± Then, she pointed at the device. ¡°I stopped recording after the duchess and Gabriel ran out. I cannot write an article about a tempered situation.¡± ¡°Tatiana...¡± Gabriel looked at her, unsure of what to feel. She didn¡¯t regret the choice she made, but she felt sorry for Tatiana. ¡°Please don¡¯t be like that. I¡¯m not writing an article with this, but I¡¯m not throwing it away either.¡± ¡°Then...¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to hand the recording to the peacekeepers as soon as they get here, and I will imply in my next article that I have a recording of what happened today.¡± Tatiana smiled broadly. She looked quite mischievous and Gabriel had tough with her. Still, it felt unfair to let her take all the responsibility. Wasn¡¯t she supposed to stay with her? Tatiana saw what she was thinking and shook her head. ¡°You idiot, you should go. Even if I stay here, I can say I was helping with my father¡¯s work to report, and the king will understand, but what would happen to you?¡± ¡°I can keep my mouth shut, and he won¡¯t be able to find out that I snuck into his pce.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget he¡¯s a genius in making people confess the truth.¡± ¡°But...¡± Gabriel was very worried about her friend, but Tatiana patted her hand to calm her down. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The king will have to risk a lot to punish me for this.¡± ¡°Risk a lot?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you more, it¡¯s my family¡¯s secret.¡± Tatiana replied quite pleasantly. It seemed like House Chartle knew something about the king that the world didn¡¯t know about. It was the power of a newspaperpany that had many reporters and sources. Even men of power at court couldn¡¯t mess up with Chartle. ¡°Send me a letter anytime if you need my help.¡± ¡°Thank you, Your Grace.¡± Rubica and Gabriel said goodbye to her and went downstairs. Carl had parked the mana stone carriage at the back door instead of parking it at the front, even though he hadn¡¯t known what was going on. Rubica was quite impressed with how he took care of everything. If they had mounted the carriage at the front door, everyone in the street would have found out they had been there. ¡°My home is on your way back, could you drop me off?¡± Gabriel pleadingly asked as soon as they were on the carriage, but Carl just shook his head. ¡°The duke has ordered me to bring you in.¡± Gabriel recalled the duke¡¯s beautiful but terrifying face and shuddered. She knew once the duke found out what she had done, he wouldn¡¯t let it go easily. She had dragged his wife into danger. ¡°Your Grace, can¡¯t I go home?¡± But even the butler wouldn¡¯t be able to object if the duchess gave her permission. She asked Rubica with hope, but to her surprise, she coldly shook her head. Rubica loved the girl¡¯s freely way of living her life. However, she really had crossed the line today. It was good that everything had gone well, but if it hadn¡¯t, they would have been killed. ¡°Why is this carriage so fast?¡± Gabriel usually loved the mana stone carriage¡¯s fast speed, but today, she hated it. For the first time, she could rte to the cows being dragged to the ughterhouse. However, contrary to her fear, when they arrived at the mansion, Rubica went up to Edgar¡¯s office alone, and she was left in the reception room. It was good that the duke wasn¡¯t confronting her right away, but waiting there made her even more nervous. Elise poured her a cup of tea, and she looked at the sky through the window as she took it. The sky was about to turn red soon. ¡°Umm, it¡¯s getting veryte. My parents must be worried. Could you tell His Grace I have to go home?¡± ¡°Miss Chartle, you don¡¯t have to worry about that. We¡¯ve already sent a message to your parents. Your father said you can spend the night here.¡± Her parents didn¡¯t know what had happened, so they must have been delighted to give her permission to stay at ymore. Gabriel could almost see her father smiling broadly to hear the news. ¡®And when they get to find out what I¡¯ve done, I will get no dessert for a month... no, at least for a year.¡¯ Gabriel feared that even more than being grounded, so she stared at the refreshment she received with the tea. Now wasn¡¯t time to shudder in fear. She didn¡¯t know when she would be able to eat cake again. Therefore, she forgot about her manners and started to quickly move her fork. Her te was emptied in no time. ¡°You must have been very hungry. Do you want some more?¡± And of course, Gabriel didn¡¯t say no to Elise¡¯s offer. ¡°Can I go to the kitchen with you?¡± She even boldly asked for more, as she knew if they had a maid do it for them, she would only bring a te of cookies, sandwiches, and cakes. ymore¡¯s chef made better cakes than the king¡¯s chef, so Gabriel didn¡¯t want to waste the space on the te with cookies and sandwiches. ¡°Okay...¡± ¡°Then let us go!¡± She had to eat as much cake as possible before Edgar called her. Gabriel put an arm around Elise¡¯s arm and headed to the kitchen. ¡°This, this, and that.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have more peanuts?¡± Then, while she was eagerly choosing on pieces of cakes to fill her te, a man came into the kitchen. She instinctively looked and almost dropped the te in surprise. ¡°Huh?¡± It was the man she had seen earlier, although his eyes and hair were brown, not gold. Then, he wasn¡¯t an illusion? However, he had fallen from the second floor. How could he be here? Fear and curiosity swirled together in Gabriel¡¯s mind. The man didn¡¯t care about her. He just went past her and filled a te with peanuts. The maids and Elise were used to his behavior and didn¡¯t stop him. ¡°Um... hey.¡± As always, Gabriel became curious. She decided to be brave and talk to him first. The man turned to her, but then he dropped the te of peanuts in shock. ¡°We¡¯ve met earlier, right?¡± As soon as she asked that, the man turned around and ran out of the kitchen. ¡°Oh, he spilled all these peanuts.¡± ¡°We should pick them up and give them to the birds.¡± Gabriel tried to follow him, but the maids all knelt down to pick up the peanuts, so she couldn¡¯t. By the time she ran out of the kitchen, the man had already disappeared. She was the one who was surprised to see the same illusion twice, so why was he even more surprised than her? However, she didn¡¯t wonder that for long. The chef noticed she was in trouble and brought her a huge bowl of ice cream. The treat made her forget everything about the man. *** Rubica went up to Edgar¡¯s office alone as the sun hadn¡¯t gone down yet. As soon as she saw Ios reclining on the sofa, sheplimented his quick judgment. ¡°Haha!¡± He had just been scolded by Edgar for watching instead of helping in that dangerous situation and then running away, so he was quite d to beplimented by Rubica for doing so. Edgar frowned hard while wishing he could punch that stupid dragon¡¯s face, and Ios pouted to see that. ¡°You lost that arm-wrestling fight.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t lose. I saw your hand almost touch the desk.¡± ¡°Huh, but I knocked you out right after that!¡± ¡°That was... after I lost my consciousness. It is cheating to count that as a victory.¡± ¡°Huh, are you trying to excuse yourself from losing?¡± Just like that, their endless quarrel began. As always, Ios was smiling a bit and Edgar looked genuinely mad. Chapter 239

Chapter 239: Chapter 239

¡°You were unconscious?¡± Rubica carefully chimed in their conversation. She looked very worried and it made Edgar¡¯s heart sink. Toote, he realized he had made a mistake. However, Ios didn¡¯t notice what was wrong with it and started to tell on him. ¡°He even stopped breathing!¡± ¡°He stopped breathing?¡± ¡°Yes, he really should know how far I was willing to go to save him, and he won¡¯t be able to call me a cheater!¡± ¡°Well, how far were you willing to go?¡± The question immediately made the dragon shut up. Then, he started to nce at Minos who had been quietly sitting on the sofa for some time. ¡°Hmm, hmm.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve been wanting to eat peanuts for some time, I¡¯ll go and get some.¡± As soon as Minos cleared his throat, Ios jumped to his feet. He usually yelled when he found himself in trouble, he had never tried to run away like this. ¡°Here are your peanuts.¡± However, his desperate effort to run away was soon stopped by the butler who offered Ios a bowl full te of peanuts. ¡°Huh? But these don¡¯t have skin.¡± ¡°I prepared them for your convenience.¡± Carl had realized Ios¡¯s peanut skins were making Edgar suffer, so he unskinned the peanuts in advance. However, the dragon didn¡¯t like his thoughtful help and stared at the bowl angrily. ¡°I like peanuts with skin!¡± Then, he went down to the kitchen. Once he was gone, Rubica immediately asked Minos. ¡°What has he done that he ran away like that?¡± ¡°He was probably thinking of doing the mouth-to-mouth respiration, but when I arrived, it looked like he was about to kiss your husband while he was asleep. I think he¡¯s embarrassed that I saw the scene.¡± Edgar looked like he was about to vomit. ¡°Was that mouth-to-mouth that woke me up?¡± ¡°No, it was my drug.¡± ¡°Did our lips touch?¡± ¡°They would have if I had been a secondte.¡± Edgar let out a sigh of relief. If their lips had touched, he would have spent the rest of the day cleaning his mouth. ¡°Anyway, thank you, for saving my life.¡± ¡°But you just suddenly copsed and stopped breathing? What caused it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was having an arm-wrestling match with Ios, but then my heart had a stroke.¡± Rubica had been worried about him because of his curse, and now his heart was ill as well? Her face started to turn dark with worries. Edgar wasn¡¯t happy to see that. He wanted to see her smile every day, so why did things that worried her keep happening? He could do anything ording to his will, but there was one thing he couldn¡¯t control, and that had to be his own body. ¡°From now on... you should not have any contact with Ios.¡± ¡°I wish I could! That stupid lizard keeps sticking to me!¡± Edgar angrily ruffled his hair. He was being a bit emotional but, unlike him, Rubica didn¡¯t miss a clue in Minos¡¯s advice. ¡°Minos, you know why Edgar fell, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He gave a straightforward answer. He looked quite grave, so he must have found out something. ¡°Could you stand on watch and tell us if Ioses back?¡± He asked the butler. Actually, he had been thinking of how to make Ios leave the room for some time. Carl was ready to listen to what he had to say, so he was very disappointed to leave the room, but he never refused to do his job. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll knock on the door three times if hees back.¡± Rubica sat next to the goblin with mixed fear and hope. She hadn¡¯t known she was going to be through so much today when she washed her face this morning. ¡°Hmm, where should I start? It¡¯s quiteplicated... well, to begin with, you fell so suddenly because your nymph blood and human blood collided within you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. It has never happened before.¡± ¡°It¡¯s because your nymph blood hasn¡¯t been activated till now.¡± ¡°Activated?¡± ¡°Then, what activated it?¡± ¡°Ios. Nymphs and dragons are two species that are on aplementary rtionship. The stimtion of meeting a dragon woke up the nymph blood within you, and it is now gaining power.¡± Minos had almost died to find out this much. He had been locked up in a dark room for three days without anything to eat or drink, and he had been able to survive only because he was a goblin. Snow had been even angrier than nco about this and was enraged that Minos was using what she had told about Iber. At least they agreed to help when he begged to have pity for Madam Berry who married Duke ymore without knowing about him. If it hadn¡¯t been for her, they wouldn¡¯t have even listened to him. ¡°And when your nymph power fully awakens, your human body won¡¯t be able to contain it and you will die.¡± ¡°Then. I shouldn¡¯t meet Ios from now on?¡± Edgar didn¡¯t know how to convince the dragon. He was a fool who thought Edgar not being able to walk in the daytime was an aftereffect of him daring to be a nymph¡¯s spouse despite the fact that he was a mere human. ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee it would work. Iber¡¯s underlings didn¡¯t tell me clearly if it would be possible to reverse what you¡¯ve already received from Ios, or your current condition willst forever.¡± Edgar had been thinking only about breaking his curse, but now he had a different problem. Of course, he was irritated, but he decided to solve them one by one, like solving a math problem. ¡°Then... let me ask straight. Do they know how to break my curse?¡± ¡°Yes, they said they do, although they wouldn¡¯t tell me,¡± Minos said while giving Edgar a somewhatplicated look. ¡°And they said you are still alive solely thanks to your curse.¡± ¡°I¡¯m alive thanks to the curse?¡± It was way too shocking for Edgar as he had been looking for a way to break his curse. ¡°Yes, a half-breed of nymph and human cannot exist.¡± Edgar narrowed his eyes as he couldn¡¯t easily buy Minos¡¯s exnation. ¡°But I was born without any problem.¡± Minos scratched his head. This was a story that was too long andplicated, so he didn¡¯t know where to start it. ¡°You can take your time to exin.¡± ¡°I wish I could, but I don¡¯t know when Ios wille back...¡± Minos didn¡¯t know Ios had already run away after running into Gabriel in the kitchen, so he was worried a lot. He thought he didn¡¯t have time to exin all the details, so he decided to summarize it. ¡°Your mother was a nymph who used magic to transform into a human. I don¡¯t know what kind of magic she used, but it must have been a spell that changed even her soul into a human soul,pletely unlike the crude transformation spell Ios and I use. That was why she could give birth to you and raise you without a problem.¡± ¡°Then, was her spell broken on the day my father betrayed her love?¡± ¡°Yes, probably.¡± Edgar went back to the memory he didn¡¯t even want to think of. Till now, he thought his mother went back to her original self because of her rage toward his father. However, now that he knew even her soul had been a human¡¯s, he suspected it might not have been her decision. ¡°Then, she melted to foam right after that to go back to the nymphs¡¯ ind, just like Ios moves through the ground?¡± ¡°I do not know that much.¡± Minos seemed like he didn¡¯t want to talk about it. Maybe Edgar¡¯s mother had turned into foam and died right on the spot. Edgar had to consider that possibility in his mind, and it made him sad. ¡°Anyway, the spell was broken, she became a nymph again, and I should have died on the spot?¡± ¡°Yes, but your mother cast a curse on you. It stopped your nymph power from awakening, letting you survive.¡± Edgar recalled how his nurse had known curse and blessing were two very simr things. But why hadn¡¯t she told him the truth back then? If only she had hinted Edgar could survive thanks to his mother¡¯s curse, he wouldn¡¯t have felt so sad about it. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I do not know everything. Very little is known about nymphs, and you are the first half-breed of a nymph and human. But in my narrow perspective, I think your nymph power and sunlight are somehow connected.¡± ¡°Rubica, you said I could walk without any problem when I was blind, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Rubica nodded to Edgar¡¯s question. He had been tapping on his desk for some time. ¡°So, the curse only works when sunlight reaches my eyes.¡± ¡°Yes, your nymph power doesn¡¯t work in the darkness, so you will be able to live on as an ordinary human.¡± Chapter 240

Chapter 240: Chapter 240

¡°Then what, I must blind myself to keep living?¡± Edgarughed bitterly. He needed his eyes to do what he must do. How could he draw blueprints and do experiments without his sight? Of course, it wouldn¡¯t be impossible after lots of practice, but still... He was lost in deep thoughts. Then, he looked up to Rubica. More than anything, he feared he might never be able to see her face again. His future self must have wished to see her even just once. ¡°However, as you have spent some time with Ios already, there¡¯s no guarantee you will be able to live even after you be blind.¡± ¡°Oh, that lizard¡¯s never helpful.¡± Edgar angrily ruffled his hair again. What was he supposed to do from now on? Even not meeting Ios again alone wasn¡¯t easy. Minos gulped, nced at him, and carefully said, ¡°Iber¡¯s underlings said they know a way to break your curse and let you live on in peace.¡± Silence filled the room for some time. Edgar jumped to his feet, which surprised Rubica a lot. For a moment, she thought his curse had already been broken. However, she then saw it was already dark outside and realized it was time for his legs to function again. She sighed, ¡°You should have told us that first! Why did you wait for so long?¡± ¡°Your Grace!¡± Minos was quite scared to see Edgar confront him ande to him as the man was many times bigger than himself. He still clearly remembered how he had been thrown to the ground by nco. He had hoped he would be treated nicely at ymore, but it seemed like even a human was no different from the underlings when controlled by anger. He wasn¡¯t surprised when Edgar grabbed him. It was quite pitiful, but he just decided to ept his sad fate. When Edgar threw him to the floor with all his might, he braced himself for the impact of hitting the floor. However, as he fell, Edgar steadily grabbed him and threw him up again. ¡°Haha!¡± The duke was smiling so broadly that he could see his teeth. It was a bitte, but Minos realized Edgar was tossing him in celebration. He didn¡¯t stop until the goblin said he felt so dizzy and was about to throw up. ¡°Thank you, Minos.¡± Minos held on a chair to steady himself. Rubica thanked him, and he felt like he was already the couple¡¯s savior. He wished he could have his moment, but he was a realist. He proceeded with his exnation, ¡°It¡¯s a bit early to celebrate. The underlings said you must go to Iber¡¯s territory yourself if you want to break your curse.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t they just tell me how to do it?¡± ¡°You see, if the cursed finds out how to break his curse not by learning it himself but by being told about it, that curse will never be broken. They said they¡¯ll just help to break your curse.¡± Edgar¡¯s smile faded instantly, and the office was now as cold as Iber¡¯s territory. ¡°Then it could be a trap.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The anger Iber¡¯s underlings had for House ymore wasn¡¯t something that could easily be undone. Minos hadn¡¯t missed how ufortable nco had looked when Snow said, ¡®We¡¯ll help him break the curse, so bring that bastard ymore here.¡¯ What she said about the cursed had to learn the way to break it himself could entirely be a lie. However, it wasn¡¯t like they had any other option. For now, he just thought he had to exin everything he had heard and guessed to Edgar. To be honest, he wanted to rely on his genius brain. ¡®Was that why the nurse didn¡¯t tell me specifically but said it was also a blessing?¡¯ But Edgar was having a totally different thought. If Iber¡¯s underlings had told the truth, it all exined why his nurse had spoken in riddles instead of teaching him how to break his curse. Of course, it could be a trap, but it was a risk worth taking. ¡°I must prepare for the journey right now.¡± He stood up, deciding to use Ios to get him to Iber¡¯s territory. Of course, his way of moving through the ground was horrible, but it was much faster than mana stone carriages. Considering that and other things the dragon could do, taking him to Iber¡¯s territory wasn¡¯t going to be a bad choice. ¡°Carl, hasn¡¯t Iose back yet?¡± ¡°No.¡± However, Ios, who had left minutes ago to get peanuts, was noting back. ¡°Is he growing peanuts or something?¡± Edgar went down to the kitchen with Rubica, but Ios wasn¡¯t there. ¡°Your Graces, are you looking for Mr. Isaac? Well, he dropped a te full of peanuts and then he just ran out.¡± Because Ios kept calling Rubica ¡®my cousin Rubica¡¯, the maids in the mansion at the capital just thought he was Isaac Berner. Of course, the real Isaac Berner had been hospitalized because of his addiction to gambling by Edgar¡¯s order, but he just thought it would be better than them finding out who Ios really was, so he didn¡¯t correct them. ¡°He just ran out?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± It was just like him, to stick around when he wasn¡¯t needed and to be gone when he was needed. Edgar sighed, but then he spotted Gabriele into the kitchen with a te. She had already devoured her second te of dessert and ice cream and was nning to take a teful of chocte this time. ¡°Is his name Isaac?¡± Gabriel¡¯s curios eyes let Rubica realized why Ios had run away. ¡®Oh, this isn¡¯t good.¡¯ Once Gabriel became interested, it was only a matter of time before she found out where the real Isaac Berner was and who Ios really was. She tried to think of a way to distract her from it, but then she heard a dangerous voice from behind. ¡°Gabriel, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s time for you to wonder such a thing.¡± ¡°Hup!¡± Toote, Gabriel realized she had walked straight to her death. Edgar¡¯s eyes were ring with rage. She dismissed her idea of getting chocte. Instead, she put a really big piece of caste in her mouth as herst bit of treat. Of course, it was more than enough to anger Edgar even more. ¡°Gabriel!¡± Actually, Edgar had nned to give her a speech on how dangerous it was to sneak into the king¡¯s pce like that and thenpliment her for not running away and helping Rubica to take down Christopher. But now, he was putting his rage about Ios disappearance at the important moment on the poor girl. ¡°Your Grace, I¡¯m sorry. From now on, I will think once more when doing a dangerous thing.¡± ¡°So, you n to do more dangerous things?¡± ¡°One cannot live without doing something dangerous from time to time.¡± ¡°Gabriel!¡± Surprisingly, although it looked like Edgar¡¯s cold rage was about to freeze the entire building, Gabriel shed some tears, but said everything she had to say. Edgar didn¡¯t know that getting her portion was a habit she had gotten while growing up with several siblings, so it maddened him even more. Still, he couldn¡¯t threaten the girl to tell the king about what she had done. ¡°Rubica, send a message to Khanna¡¯s shop and tell them not to take any order from Gabriel during this society season.¡± ¡°What?¡± Instead, he decided to take measures this girl will hate the most. She turned pale, just as he had expected. ¡°No, no. Madam, please talk to him. This is too much. Madam Khanna has her right to take orders as she wants.¡± She hadn¡¯t known Edgar would be this mean. She had made a mistake of forgetting the fact that he was way too smart and memorized habits, hobbies, and interests of all people, even those of the people he absolutely didn¡¯t care about. This was even worse than getting no dessert for a whole year. ¡°Gabriel, ymore Family is Khanna¡¯s supporter. Of course, she has her right to take orders from customers as she wants, but she also has the right to do as her supporter asks, if she feels like it.¡± But this time, even Rubica was firm about it. There wasn¡¯t a single person who didn¡¯t know Madam Khanna valued Rubica above anyone else. In the end, Gabriel had to surrender. ¡°I won¡¯t... do anything like what I did today ever again.¡± Nevertheless, Edgar didn¡¯t let her use Khanna¡¯s shop immediately. She wasn¡¯t the one she had endangered. Forgiving her right away was going to stop her from learning what kind of consequences her actions could bring. Instead, he shortened the ban to a month instead of the whole season. And then, Minos said something that made Edgar immediately cancel his n of using Ios to get to Iber¡¯s territory in a day. ¡°nco said you must bring your wife with you.¡± ¡°Rubica? No, it¡¯s too dangerous.¡± Chapter 241

Chapter 241: Chapter 241

¡°But your wife is almost the sole reason they decided to tell you how to break your curse. They are all eagerly looking forward to meeting her...¡± Still, Edgar shook his head. There was no way he was bringing Rubica to meet the dragon¡¯s underling. Even he knew the name ¡®nco¡¯. So many adventurers had been killed by the ax she wielded, and it was hard to count their numbers. He had every reason to be worried. ¡°I want to go with you.¡± ¡°Rubica... they despise ymore.¡± ¡°But they all like me. And if they hate ymore so much, I shouldn¡¯t let you go alone. It would be even more dangerous.¡± Rubica clearly had made up her mind. And once she did it, there was no convincing her. Edgar¡¯s head knew she was right. It¡¯s just that he¡¯d rather put himself in danger than to bring her to the cold and dangerous northeast. ¡°I must have Carl prepare a mana stone carriage.¡± It was going to take them at least a week to reach Iber¡¯s territory, even when using the fastest mana stone carriage they had. Ios could close the distance in a day, but his method involving drinking dirt all along the way. Plus, he could travel with only one person at a time. ¡°Your Grace, it will be too dangerous. I think we must gather adventurers who know how to fight the underlings and go with them.¡± ¡°It will take too long. Besides, they are helping me. I can¡¯t go with an armed band of guards. It would be openly starting a fight.¡± ¡°I agree with you.¡± ¡°But... what if they just change their mind? We must have some kind of n for it.¡± Even though their mana stone carriages were huge, they weren¡¯t huge for an army to fit in them. Carl was so worried, but Rubica came up with an idea. ¡°What if we take Ios with us? He can¡¯t hurt the other dragons¡¯ underlings, but he can help us to escape or defend us.¡± ¡°Oh, of course!¡± Carl was delighted to hear it, but Edgar wasn¡¯t happy about it at all. ¡°Escape? He can carry only one person at a time.¡± ¡°But... he won¡¯t have to take us far. We¡¯ll be safe once we leave the territory. A few seconds will be enough for him to do that.¡± ¡°But he¡¯s even stupider than a lizard, he won¡¯t be of any help.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not...¡± Even Rubica couldn¡¯t say he wasn¡¯t that hopeless, so she decided to say something else in his defense. ¡°You¡¯re right, but he¡¯s been improving. Now he doesn¡¯t throw a fit as often as before, and most of all, he¡¯s stronger than an entire army.¡± The more sheplimented Ios to make Edgar see how useful he could be, the darker his face became. ¡®She can¡¯tpliment him farther, it¡¯s getting dangerous...¡¯ Carl and Minos were stuck in the middle of it and nced at Edgar. It seemed like Rubica didn¡¯t know how she was making him feel worse and worse and was trying to improve his rtionship with Ios. ¡°Why don¡¯t we ask his opinion first?¡± Minos managed to boldly chime in and raise an opinion. Edgar nodded only then. He had just been irritated to see Rubicapliment Ios so much, but he also knew they needed him. ¡°Huh? Iber¡¯s territory? Umm... I don¡¯t want to go.¡± However, to their surprise, Ios refused the moment they told him about it. To him, shivering in the snow was a horrible experience he didn¡¯t want to go through that ever again. Plus, he didn¡¯t like that he couldn¡¯t throw a tantrum in there as the area belonged to another dragon. ¡°Ios, you don¡¯t have to go in there with us. Just stay nearby, and if we fall in danger, youe and...¡± ¡°Why would you ever be in danger?¡± Ios¡¯s eyes widened. He still believed Rubica was a nymph, so he couldn¡¯t understand why she was even talking of any danger. Even Iber herself wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat her, and she had that skill of putting her opponent¡¯s head in her armpit and choking them! ¡°You must be afraid.¡± Edgar, who had been listening quietly as Rubica tried to convince Ios, raised a corner of his lips and spoke. His voice was extremely low, but it reached Ios¡¯s ears without a problem. ¡°What? Were you talking to me?¡± ¡°Yes, you don¡¯t want to go just because they kicked your butt a couple of times? You¡¯re so timid. Well, I guess you¡¯d never been spanked before that, you just believe in your own power and mess around.¡± ¡°Edgar!¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t stand it and hit his shoulder. She had wanted toe alone, but he insisted oning with her, saying meeting Ios alone was too dangerous. Did he even want to break his curse? But even as she thought so, he kept staring at Ios and kept on the childish fight. ¡°If you¡¯re scared, don¡¯te. We don¡¯t need a coward.¡± ¡°You think I will be afraid of those underlings!¡± In the end, Ios jumped to his feet and pointed a finger at Edgar. ¡°We¡¯ll see! If you don¡¯t show up, I will smash up your butt! I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re Rubica¡¯s cousin or not!¡± Then he left, just like that. Edgar closed his bloodshot eyes only then and massaged them with his fingers. ¡°All done, now we just have to go after him.¡± ¡°You provoked him on purpose?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t convince that idiot with reason. Well, we have a journey to prepare for.¡± Edgar stood up, called Carl, and started to give him orders. He always frowned to hear Ios¡¯s name and was constantly calling him an idiot and a hopeless lizard, so it was quite surprising that he actually knew how to handle him better than anyone else. ¡®Maybe they¡¯re closer than I thought.¡¯ There were some kids who always fought but looked for each other when they weren¡¯t together. Rubica decided not to try to bring them closer from now on, which was good for Edgar. The journey was going to take only a week, but they had much to prepare for as they were going to Iber¡¯s territory. While Edgar exined about it to the king and got written permission to cross the borderline, Rubica packed things with Minos¡¯s help. ¡°You said the area is very lot cold and dry, right?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s still autumn here, but there, the snow had already piled up this high.¡± Minos raised his arms high and jumped. Seritos¡¯s winter was known to be severe, but it sounded like it was even worse in Iber¡¯s territory. They didn¡¯t have enough time to make thick fur coats, even with the new sewing machine Edgar had just invented. So, Rubica had her maids¡¯ help to find winter clothes in the mansion. It had everything, from a sable fur coat to a fox muffler. She chose and packed what was needed. ¡°That sly old fox! He hadn¡¯t signed that permission yet!¡± However, Edgar¡¯s rank was too high to just leave when the preparations were done. Nobles of marquis rank or higher had to go through a muchplicated procedure to pass the borderline. It seemed like the king was still negotiating. ¡°You haven¡¯t left? Are you scared?¡± In the end, Ios showed up at the mansion again and made fun of Edgar. ¡°We will leave soon.¡± Then he muttered a curse, although whether it was toward the king or Ios, it was hard to know. He looked so grim that Ios couldn¡¯t pick a fight with him anymore. He had no choice but to go to Rubica. ¡°What are you making? A coat?¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Rubica had thought Ios would be waiting at their destination, so she was shocked to see him and dropped what she was making. ¡°But that¡¯s too small to be worn there. It muste down to your ankles at least.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t make a coat with such a thin fabric. Look closer.¡± Rubica showed him what it was. It was in size of a short jacket, but it had straps, ribbons, and frills. ¡°Is that... supposed to go on someone¡¯s head?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m making it as a present for Iber¡¯s underlings.¡± Presa was a shop that sold clothes for humans, at least officially. But Iber¡¯s underlings had huge ears for horns on their head, so they couldn¡¯t wear ordinary hats. They must be wishing to wear hats that matched their new dresses. She just didn¡¯t want to waste her time doing nothing till the king gave his permission, so she recalled the monsters she had encountered and made headdresses for them. But as she had never met an underling before, she worried it might not suit them. Chapter 242

Chapter 242: Chapter 242

¡°Will this look good on them?¡± ¡°That? I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll viciously fight over it. Wow, are you nning to make them turn their back on each other so that they will destroy themselves?¡± Rubica took that nonsense as apliment in the form of a joke. ¡°Really? Then I should work even harder.¡± She was delighted and started to move her needle fast, but Ios took a step back to see it. ¡®I know nymphs are really smart and cold, but...¡¯ She was even humming happily. It reminded him of her skill he had witnessed at Argot Street. Yes, it wasn¡¯t a good idea to be a nymph¡¯s enemy. Bing her cousin had been the right choice. ¡®But what if I make a mistake and offend her?¡¯ Then, he would face what Iber¡¯s underlings were about to face. He thought of Edgar¡¯s angry face and the curses he muttered, plus how Minos had warned him to be careful as nymphs are extremely protective of their spouses... Ios could feel cold sweat running down his back. Rubica had seen him fight with Edgar more than once already. She appeared to be calm now, but his cousin was merciless enough to hum while making something that was about to cause an internal conflict. ¡°Ahhhhh!¡± Rubica was really surprised to hear him scream so suddenly as she hadn¡¯t known she would ever hear a dragon scream. ¡°I¡¯ll be nice to Edgar!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll behave, I won¡¯t fight!¡± He suddenly yelled so and then looked at her nervously. Why was he doing that? Rubica didn¡¯t know why, but he looked at her pleadingly as if he was begging for an answer. ¡°I thought... you two were on good terms already.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Ios affirmed it without much thought. If Edgar had seen it, he would have been outraged at his lie, but Rubica was truly happy to hear it. ¡°Oh, and Ios, could you take a look at this?¡± ¡°What? What?¡± What kind of dangerous scheme was she nning now? Ios was really afraid, but what she showed him were sketches of various headdresses. ¡°I think I can give the hat to nco as she has no horns, and what do you think would be right for Snow and Shasha?¡± She was making headdresses for the underlings she hadn¡¯t met yet, but Minos wasn¡¯t much help to it as he was a goblin and all goblinscked a sense of beauty. She hoped Ios would be able to offer her some good opinions as he had an obsession with pretty flowers and probably knew to tell what beauty was. However, when Ios took the sketches, he frowned really hard. Maybe none of them were going to match the underlings. Maybe it had been a mistake to trust Minos¡¯s description. ¡°Weren¡¯t you... going to destroy them all?¡± ¡°Destroy them?¡± Was she trying to sound him out? Or was she just teasing him when she had been nning to really give out gifts? Trying to figure it out gave Ios a severe headache. He tended to avoid it when he encountered a hard problem instead of finding a solution. ¡°I forgot to add eggshells when giving fertilizer to my trees.¡± ¡°Ios, wait!¡± But today, she wouldn¡¯t let him leave like this. She looked quite solemn, so she was probably going to scold him for running away like that every time. ¡°You must choose among these for me before you leave.¡± However, she just gave him the sketches again. His legs wobbled when freed from their fear. He felt like he had been a fool to be afraid, even for a short moment. ¡°Can¡¯t you just choose whatever you want?¡± ¡°How can I do that? These will be their first headdresses. They will get to remember it forever, and I want to make a good memory for them.¡± That much was enough to let even Ios realize she wasn¡¯t making them to cause an internal conflict. She tended to give things out for free. Moreover, she had given Ios her roses and ribbons for free. It seemed shecked one of the nymphs¡¯ distinctive characteristics, cold-heartedness. Maybe she was... ¡®Considered a stupid nymph.¡¯ That could be why she had left the nymph¡¯s ind and married a human. Suddenly, Ios felt pity for her. Why had she chosen a creature that lives such a short life as her spouse? She was a being who would live an eternal life. Would she able to handle the pain when the short time with her lover ended? Ios wished she could live happily and do what she wanted, even for a short while. And what she liked the most was to make clothes for each of her friends, regardless of which species they were. Even the clothes Ios was wearing right now had been chosen by her. She had wanted to make clothes for him herself, but Edgar had strongly objected to it. ¡°Shasha has three horns on her head, she won¡¯t be able to wear a hat.¡± Ios changed his mind, sat down, and started to choose the designs carefully. He stayed at the mansion for two days to do it, and of course, Edgar wasn¡¯t d about it at all. *** Rubica and Edgar could leave for Iber¡¯s territory only after two weeks. A lot had happened in the meantime. For starters, the scandal of Christopher and Baron Jacob was published in The Little Bird¡¯s News. ¡°Then I¡¯ve been having a murderer make dresses for me?¡± ¡°I even let him measure my size with only one maid with us... if he hadn¡¯t liked the price I offered then, he would have strangled me with his tapeline.¡± His theft of others¡¯ designs was one thing, but he had done several other things as well, so the news spread in no time. Soondies were talking about it whenever they met. The fact that he was a vicious criminal was shocking as he had usually been so elegant and neat. ¡°You know what? Christopher was wearing a corset when he was arrested by the peacekeepers.¡± And there was a girl with a voice as clear as a canary¡¯s singing who chimed in their conversations and delivered new information. ¡°He was wearing a corset?¡± ¡°Oh, to think about it, he was quite... pervert-like.¡± ¡°He was obsessed with thin waists.¡± ¡°Was it all because of his sense of inferiority?¡± ¡°He kept criticizing Madam Khanna, maybe it was because of that too...¡± Unfortunately, Rubica couldn¡¯t afford to join such entertaining conversations. She finished on her gifts for Iber¡¯s underlings just before their time to depart. While the king wasn¡¯t stamping his seal on the permission for Edgar¡¯s travel, Minos had seeded in making Iber¡¯s underlings agree on a few things. First, they were going to meet at the entrance of the territory, not inside it. ymore was also going to bring only the minimum number of attendants, and in turn, only nco, Shasha, and Snow were going to be there, just right for the number of headdresses Rubica had prepared. ¡°The northeastnd is cold and moist, and Iber¡¯s territory is the worst. Even though we are going to meet them at the entrance, we must be prepared.¡± ¡°Is it really that cold there? Most of the dresses I¡¯ve sent to our shop there were for summer and autumn...¡± Minos¡¯s advice only concerned Rubica about something totally different. This woman loved making others pretty so much that it was a pity she had been born in a noble family. ¡°The underlings are not like humans. Iber¡¯s underlings are especially not bothered by the cold. If they wear winter coats now, they will say it¡¯s too hot for them. They put scarves around their necks only after the snow has piled until it reaches your height.¡± ¡°Snow piles up that high there?¡± ¡°Seritos¡¯s winter is known to be severe, but that area¡¯s winter is beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.¡± Rubica had been to manynds, but she had never been to Iber¡¯s territory. Minos kept talking about how barren and scary the area was, but it couldn¡¯t ruin Rubica¡¯s good mood. It was her first trip with Edgar. ¡°Edgar, it¡¯s snowing outside.¡± They couldn¡¯t go out. All they could do was to open the window to enjoy the scenery, but it was enough for her. Thinking she might be able to run in that snowy field under the brilliant sunlight on their way home gave her hopes. ¡°It¡¯s cold.¡± However, despite her excitement, Edgar just coldly closed the window and put gloves on her hands. Chapter 243

Chapter 243: Chapter 243

¡°Rubica, your muffler.¡± As each day went by, he kept making her wear more clothes. White coat made of the best sable skin, muffler made of silver fox skin, gloves, furred hat, and a mask. In the end, Rubica looked like a pr bear. ¡°But this is too much, I can¡¯t even move.¡± ¡°It¡¯s cold, and you can¡¯t face them when you are cold.¡± Edgar wouldn¡¯t let her take off even one of them when he wasn¡¯t even wearing gloves, saying they made his pen slip out of his hand. Moreover, the heating of the carriage was working so well that Rubica was sweating. ¡°Can¡¯t I just wear my coat when we go to meet the underlings? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s that cold.¡± She had no choice but to hide that she was Madam Berry at Seritos Kingdom, but she had no reason to do it to Iber¡¯s underlings. She wanted to present herself as a fashionable designer. ¡°No, we are going to meet themte at night. Do you want to catch a cold?¡± The meeting was going to take ce after the sun went down because of Edgar¡¯s condition, but it wasn¡¯t going to be te at night¡¯. ¡°But I don¡¯t think it¡¯s that cold...¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard what Minos said? It¡¯s going to be a lot colder in the territory.¡± However, they were going to meet at its entrance, not inside it. But it seemed like insisting more on it would make him cry, so she just decided to give up and go to meet the underlings looking like a pr bear. ¡°Is Ios at the vige?¡± ¡°Yes, I think he doesn¡¯t want to meet nco and Shasha again.¡± ¡°Yes, he won¡¯t be of any help anyway.¡± He was never able to resist the urge to interfere, tended to get mad at weird points, and ran away when things gotplicated. ¡°It will be fine. They have ¡®invited¡¯ us, anyway.¡± ¡°Yes, even the underlings don¡¯t kill the guests they invite. They have to keep the rules that must be kept in their mistress¡¯s territory.¡± Still, Edgar was somewhat anxious as they waited for Iber¡¯s underlings. They had said they woulde in their original forms instead of transforming into humans. Edgar wasn¡¯t happy about that, considering their massive size, but it wasn¡¯t like they could decide on such details. Instead, he had ordered Carl to bring weapons. He had remodeled the carriage in a short time and now it was like a tank. ¡°Your Grace, I think it¡¯s them.¡± Edgar looked at where Carl was pointing at. The sun had set, but it wasn¡¯tpletely dark yet and they could see things to some extent. The underlings wereing from far away, and what they were wearing were clearly... dresses. Creatures each three meters tall, wearing dresses decorated with ribbons and frills. He didn¡¯t know how to describe it, even with his abundant vocabry. Edgar tried hard not tough and nced at Rubica. She had been worried she might be terrified when she met the underlings because of her memories of being chased by monsters during the war, so it was probably good that they looked so ridiculous. She was wearing a hat, a coat, and a mask, and only her eyes and nose were the parts that weren¡¯t wrapped, but she didn¡¯tugh. She looked quite touched. She had worried she might be terrified because of her trauma, but they looked all lovely in the dresses she had designed, despite their huge bodies. ¡°You think they look good.¡± ¡°Yes, Edgar. Especially that underling in the baby blue dress. I think she has a good sense of fashion. Oh, but she lets her hair loose like that. It would be better to braid it.¡± ¡°Their hands are too big for such delicate work.¡± Rubica moaned to hear it. For a second, Edgar doubted his eyes and rubbed them. But no matter how hard he looked, what he could see were three buffy creatures in way too lovely dresses. ¡®I really can¡¯t understand.¡¯ Sometimes, the beauty Rubica spoke of was too profound that he couldn¡¯t understand it. He wasn¡¯t an expert in beauty, after all. He just decided to think of it as a kind of beauty he didn¡¯t know about yet and focus on trying not tough. ¡°I am nco, the leader of the organization for protecting the peaceful slumber of Iber the Great Dragon.¡± But when the biggest underling in the baby blue dress came out to greet them, he just couldn¡¯t hold hisughter. ¡®What? An organization?¡¯ That infamous underling was, it turned out, the protector of the dragon in deep sleep. ¡°Your Grace? Are you alright?¡± ¡°Oh, I just got something from dinner caught up in my windpipe.¡± Edgar barely, really barely, managed not tough in the serious mood. ¡°Are you Duke ymore?¡± nco asked, not hiding that she was offended. Snow and Shasha also gave him a hard look, probably knowing Edgar only said that to hide the fact that he almostughed out loud. ¡°Yes.¡± It was almost like sparks were in the air. It was amazing that Edgar could remain so calm when three huge underlings were giving him a murderous look. It was like a fight was going to break out at any moment, so Minos quickly introduced Rubica. ¡°This is Duchess ymore.¡± The underlings let out short exims to hear it. They hadn¡¯t thought the white and fluffy creature next to Edgar was a human. They just thought the evil ymore had a pet bear. ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± Rubica took off her mask to say hello. Most humans tended to be afraid and run away when they saw an underling. However, she wasn¡¯t afraid at all. She was smiling with affection for them. She was different from other people who were full of prejudices. She was Madam Berry. Plus, she looked like a cute pr bear now, which was enough to melt the underlings¡¯ frozen heart. ¡°I¡¯ve brought gifts for you.¡± Rubica mentioned the gifts to soften the overly tensed mood. Carl realized what she was up to and quickly brought a few boxes from the carriage and handed it to her. Each box had an underling¡¯s name on it. nco, Shasha, and Snow each took a box and looked at them with much curiosity. They were clearly excited. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°You should look for yourself?¡± nco opened the box first, pretending like she was reluctant to do it. And when she saw what was inside, she blinked, not able to believe what she was looking at. ¡°This is...¡± ¡°I made each of you a hat that would match your dress.¡± Snow and Shasha opened their boxes as well before she could finish saying it. Snow¡¯s box had a bo made of linen, and Shasha¡¯s had a flower-shaped headdress. They clearly had been customized for each of them. The three didn¡¯t hesitate to try them on. ¡°Snow, what do you think?¡± ¡°I think it looks good on you.¡± ¡°Well, how about me?¡± ¡°The ribbons are of the same color with your horn, it looks great.¡± Ios¡¯s advice had been just right. All the headdresses had too many frills and ribbons, but they looked surprisingly good on the underlings. Even Edgar didn¡¯tugh this time and admired Rubica¡¯s sense. ¡°I should tell them to make simr things at the shop when I go home.¡± Rubica thought they would be delighted to hear it. However, it just made a strange look of pity appear and then disappear on their faces. Then they talked amongst themselves, but it wasn¡¯t in humannguage and Rubica couldn¡¯t understand it. ¡®They clearly like the gifts.¡¯ But then, why? Maybe they weren¡¯t thinking of letting them go home. She knew they never killed invited guests, but she had a bad feeling about this. After they ended the discussion, nco asked gravely, ¡°Have you brought the ring?¡± It took a long time for Edgar to realize the question was directed to him. He had been always addressed politely, in and outside Seritos. Carl was even madder than him about it. ¡°He is the duke, you should keep your manners when addressing him.¡± ¡°Manners?¡± Snow frowned. ¡°Are you talking about manners? ording to our manners, we would have cut your master in half by now.¡± ¡°How dare you...¡± ¡°Carl, enough.¡± House ymore was greatly respected in ymore, but to Iber¡¯s underlings, he was only one of the evils that was making their mistress slumber for so long. They were supposed to be grateful that they now had a chance to talk. Rubica had just barely managed to soften the mood, and he couldn¡¯t undo it himself. Edgar decided to calmly ept their rudeness. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve brought the ring.¡± Edgar showed it to them, and nco took it to take a closer look. The ring was made of their mistress¡¯s tears. It made her feel longing and hatred at the same time. She held it and spoke coldly, doing her best to sound okay. ¡°Follow me.¡± ¡°But I thought you were going to tell me the way here.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a ce where you can break the curse, so follow me.¡± Chapter 244

Chapter 244: Chapter 244

Edgar red at nco. The underling was roughly three times bigger than him, but he didn¡¯t look afraid at all. ¡°May we take the carriage?¡± nco nced at the carriage. ¡°It¡¯s not that far, so leave it here.¡± ¡°It might be a short distance to you, but it could be far for humans. Our duchess is an ordinary woman, so she must go with the carriage.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll let you take our sleigh.¡± ¡°But...!¡± ¡°Carl.¡± Edgar calmed down the butler by calling his name. They had prepared the carriage for a battle, so he was right to be nervous about leaving it. However, objecting further could arouse suspicion. ¡°Just wait here.¡± ¡°Your Grace.¡± Carl¡¯s eyes shook, but his master was telling him to wait and he couldn¡¯t disobey him. He took the order, although extremely reluctantly. Then, Edgar turned to Minos. ¡°Minos.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Grace.¡± ¡°Thank you for taking us here. You don¡¯t have to follow us further. Just go to find a lizard.¡± Minos immediately knew he was talking about Ios. Things were going quite suspiciously, so Minos thought it would be better to bring Ios, even if it would end the negotiation. ¡°Minos, you like lizards? Then I¡¯ll get some dried lizards for your next visit.¡± Shasha chimed in, entirely ignorant of the true meaning implied by the word. What Minos really wanted to say to that was, ¡®Dried lizards? We goblins might live underground, but we don¡¯t live on such hideous things. We may look ugly, but what we like are cherries rinsed in clear spring water!¡¯ However, he just tried to reply with a wide smile. ¡°Thank you, Shasha. Well then, as I¡¯ve done my work here by arranging this meeting, I must go back now.¡± Minos left after that, leaving Rubica and Edgar with no one to rely on in the coldnd. ¡°This way.¡± Rubica held his hand tightly as they followed Iber¡¯s underlings. They had invited them into their mistress¡¯s territory as guests, so they were not going to break rules and kill them. But did that really mean they were safe? There were many other things the underlings could do to them, like locking them up or making them get lost and freeze to death. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Edgar noticed her anxiety and whispered to her, which made her feel a little strange. In what was her past but was actually a distant future, she had often guided the blind Edgar by holding his hand. -It¡¯s alright. That was what she would say when they had to go in unfamiliar paths or had to run away from the bombing. Then, his steps would immediately lose their fear. He walked and ran as she led, without even a bit of hesitation. However, what they were doing now was the opposite. It made her feel happy and sad at the same time, for only she remembered it. He had said he wanted to be loved by her for who he was, not because he was Arman, but it didn¡¯t blow away all of her memories. It had been a hard time full of suffering, but there also had been moments that shined like gems. And the man who had given her power to live on through any pain now couldn¡¯t remember any of it. ¡®It would be even stranger if he remembered it, those are the things of the future he hasn¡¯t been through.¡¯ They said there was no end to human greed... Rubica decided to get rid of her disappointment and focus on the fact that they might be able to break his curse soon. However, that ¡®not far away¡¯ turned out to be in the underling¡¯s standard, just like Carl had said. Rubica¡¯s hands started to turn cold and Edgar had to try hard not to swear. ¡°I should have brought the carriage.¡± ¡°A carriage cannot move in so much snow. Snow, where¡¯s the sleigh?¡± ¡°Here it is.¡± Edgar openly made a remark for them to hear, but it looked like they couldn¡¯t even guess what he was unhappy about. Snow dug up three giant sleighs out of the snow, and nco let them get on her sleigh. ¡°I hope Minos will quickly find a lizard...¡± They couldn¡¯t see any light from the viges. The quietnd of snow felt even wider and scarier than the starry sky. The sleighs started to run through thend without any road signs. It seemed like the underlings had a way only they could see. ¡°This is ¡®not far¡¯?¡± They went across a wide field and went over a few mountains to reach a valley of ice. At that point, Edgar couldn¡¯t take it anymore and protested to nco. His wristwatch said it was already one in the morning. They were exposed to the cold night¡¯s wind in the sleigh. Rubica snuffled, despite the fact that she was wrapped in fur like a pr bear. ¡°It¡¯s not far away.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been saying that for hours.¡± ¡°It¡¯s really not far away now.¡± However, they could get off the sleigh only after another hour of going by a small road around a mountain, with a dangerous cliff at their right side. ¡°Oh my, look at that!¡± When Rubica finally got off from the sleigh, she eximed. Lights of brilliant colors, that flowed out from thend¡¯s bottom, harmonized with the beautiful northern lights that were seen beyond a giant canyon of ice. It was dangerous but so unrealistically beautiful. Snow came up to her knees, but she couldn¡¯t feel any cold. Edgar looked around and frowned. It seemed like they were surrounded by cliffs. ¡°Those lights seem to be...ing from mana quartz.¡± ¡°You can notice it instantly? Well, of course, you do, after so many years of stealing what belongs to us.¡± ¡°If you ymores hadn¡¯t obstructed us, we would have filled this until the end of that cliff years ago.¡± Edgar didn¡¯t reply to that and checked the shape of thend. The ice canyon somehow resembled a dragon. There was an empty round space that probably had been made artificially, and it was filled with mana quartz, which looked quite ominous. ¡®Are we... at the heart of their territory?¡¯ Did they trust them so easily? Should they run? Or, would it be better to threaten them, now that he knew where they stored all their mana quartz? ¡°Hey, this way.¡± While Edgar was wondering what to do, Snow found something under a pile of snow. It was some kind of pir. She wiped the snow from it and put Edgar¡¯s ring in the hole it had. Then, a huge roar came from under the cliff. The entirend started to shake, and Rubica managed not to fall only because nco quickly stood in front of her to protect her from the snowstorm. Of course, no underling did that for Edgar. ¡°Edgar, are you alright?¡± As soon as thend went still again, Rubica went to Edgar and offered a hand to him, as he was on the ground after rolling in the snow. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Edgar had hit a jagged stone while he was rolling in the snow and frowned, but he stood up, trying to look fine, but it just saddened Rubica even more. ¡°Just hold my hand.¡± If something happened to them, the underlings were going to save her, but they were probably going to ignore Edgar. She held his hand tightly and looked around. A huge tube of ss had soared up at the end of thend. Did ite up from under the cliff? That had to be why thend had shaken. Inside it was a huge diamond in the size of nco gleaming beautifully in the moonlight. The light was beautiful, even beyondparison with the mana quartz¡¯ light, and Rubica stared at it, totally amazed. The grand scenery of the ice canyon, northern light, giantnd of snow and moonlight almost made her cry. It made her feel so small. Nature could make such beautiful scenery with nothing but water, but humans built constructions which were nothingpared to nature¡¯s work and bragged about how much gold and silver they had used on them. ¡°Is there a supporting beam in it? It seems too heavy to depend on strings...¡± While Rubica was amazed by the beauty created by the giant diamond and moonlight, Edgar was curious aboutpletely different things. ¡°A supporting beam? There isn¡¯t such a thing.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s just floating in there? Hmm, it doesn¡¯t seem to be in a vacuum, have you filled the tube with some kind of liquid?¡± nco blinked at the series of questions. ¡°It¡¯s just frozen...¡± ¡°Frozen?¡± Had it been frozen full of water? Judging from the weather, it didn¡¯t seem impossible. However, Edgar wondered how it had been frozen so cleanly without even a single air bubble in it. ¡°Then...¡± ¡°Enough! That¡¯s not what matters now.¡± Edgar wanted to ask more questions, but Snow stopped him. nco, who meant to answer his questions, quickly shut her mouth and looked away. He had been told nco was their chief, so why was Snow in control? For now, Edgar decided to watch how each of them behaved. Chapter 245

Chapter 245: Chapter 245

¡°We don¡¯t have much time. You might get hurt after the sunes up.¡± Snow retrieved the ring and started to walk toward the ss tube that was far away. The snow came up to Rubica¡¯s knee, but Snow and Shasha went ahead of her to make way. She went forward with Edgar, carefully making each step lest she might slip. ¡°Ah!¡± However, the northern lights in the night sky kept distracting her. She knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to see such beautiful scenery and kept looking at them, but she missed a cube of jagged ice on her way. She fell, but nco held her. ¡°Thank you.¡± But nco didn¡¯t let go of her hand immediately and just stared at her. Her trembling hand implied she had something to say to Rubica, so Edgar just let go of her and walked forward. ¡°I admire you because you let my dreame true,¡± nco abruptly said so as they were walking. However, she looked so gloomy. ¡°Admire me? But I just like pretty things and don¡¯t miss a chance to make them.¡± ¡°Your dresses... wouldn¡¯t have been made if you hadn¡¯t cared so much about their wearers. They¡¯re not just pretty. I could see you put great efforts into making them morefortable and easier to wear.¡± To be honest, it made Rubica feel very good. She had put a lot of thinking on how to make dresses lighter and morefortable. Being pretty was one thing, but they were dresses to be worn by humans, not by dolls. She had the wearers¡¯ convenience as her priority. Therefore, she was d that nco knew it. ¡°You feel joy when you work for or help others, right?¡± ¡°I guess I do, although I cannot say I¡¯m selfless.¡± ¡°Do you make sacrifices for love as well?¡± The sudden question made her stop on her way, but nco looked deadly serious. Did she do that for love? She looked back into her memories, the moments she had spent with Edgar and Arman. She loved both of them actually, they were the same person after all. She then recalled the moment she found the handkerchief, which she thought she had lost, on his desk. Edgar had sweated hard in embarrassment saying he couldn¡¯t use it lest it got damages, and she couldn¡¯t helpughing to it. -I¡¯ll make more for you, so just use this one. After that, she made about twenty handkerchiefs with his name embroidered on it. At first, Edgar said he couldn¡¯t use even one of them, but in time, he wiped his forehead and hands with them. When he did it, it warmed up her heart. She was always so happy when he smiled after drinking a warm cup of tea made by her or wore a shirt she made for him. ¡°But did I make sacrifices for love... no. To be honest, I¡¯m quite selfish.¡± She said calmly as she looked at Edgar¡¯s back walking in front of her. He was close enough to hear every word she said. After she came back in time, she had been lying when required. Now she was almost a faithful follower of the god of lies, who she had avoided in her previous life. But this time, she knew she had to be honest instead of what he or the others wanted to hear. ¡°I never gave up on myself. I can do many things for him, but I can¡¯t give up on myself for him.¡± Yes, she could do a lot of things for him. Embroidering twenty handkerchiefs hadn¡¯t been easy at all. She also had to stress over getting rid of the maids and visitors in front of his office because of his curse. However, none of it had been a sacrifice. She had asked him not to dispatch the quest band for mana quartz, knowing that it would bring him many troubles. Also, she had been unable to abandon her desire to make dresses and started to work as a designer with a fake name, despite the fact that she was Duchess ymore. Any other nobledy wouldn¡¯t have such a thing, considering her husband¡¯s honor and social status. She smiled bitterly while thinking she had been selfish even when she loved Arman. She looked at the ring he treasured and guessed he was in love with someone else. That was why she hadn¡¯t confessed her feelings for him until the moment of her death. She hadn¡¯t had the courage to beg a man who loved another woman to love her. She just cherished herself too much for that. Maybe she loved herself more than she loved anyone else. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± To her surprise, her reply made nco brighten up a bit. She even looked relieved. ¡°There are some kind-hearted people who make themselves suffer for others. However, don¡¯t sacrifice yourself for love. Love that can exist only when the sacrifice isn¡¯t real.¡± She tried to say something more, but then Snow turned and gave her a vicious look. ¡°nco!¡± nco tried to look normal and asked back, ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t linger back there,e quick.¡± Thankfully, Snow didn¡¯t know nco had tried to give a hint to Rubica. She then sighed and offered her a huge hand, ¡°I guess we have to hurry.¡± It seemed like nco wanted to give her a ride as Rubica was wearing shoes made of fur, but she already couldn¡¯t feel her toes. She didn¡¯t mind walking thorny paths, but she wasn¡¯t immune to walking on ice. Therefore, she climbed on to nco¡¯s huge hand without much hesitation. nco put her on her shoulders and started to run quickly. ¡°Hey, hey!¡± ¡°Walk there on your own, or crawl.¡± But again, she didn¡¯t care about Edgar. Rubica begged her to carry Edgar as well, but she firmly shook her head. ¡°I will never have a ymore on my shoulders.¡± ¡°But... I¡¯m a ymore too.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not Duchess ymore to us, you¡¯re Madam Berry!¡± The underling¡¯s steps were much wider than a human¡¯s, and soon Edgar looked as small as a teaspoon. Being so far away from him started to make her feel nervous. Even though the underlings were polite to her and treated her nicely,pared to what they did to Edgar, she could feel they were hiding something. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± They arrived at the end of the cliff where the ss tube was standing. Brilliant lights from mana quartz came up from under the cliff, but she was too afraid to look at it. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you the way to save that disgusting man.¡± Snow pointed at Edgar who was still walking toward them in snow. ¡°Um, hey.¡± No matter how nice they were to her, she couldn¡¯t let them keep talking like that to her husband. ¡°I understand that you hate House ymore, but don¡¯t forget half of his blood belongs to the nymph who came to save your mistress.¡± It made nco and Shasha feel a bit guilty, but it only maddened Snow. She was extremely mad about the fact that Minos, to whom she had confessed the secret about her mistress while drunk, was actually working for ymore. ¡°But he became the duke and took our mana quartz, he¡¯s no different from his predecessors!¡± ¡°That¡¯s... yes, but not this year. He has promised not to send any more adventurers. You must have noticed it yourself when you went down to the vige to buy clothes. By this time of the year, it should be crowded with adventurers, but it wasn¡¯t. Have you seen any searching party, that should havee here in summer?¡± Snow became silent for a moment because Rubica was right. Actually, she and the other underlings hadn¡¯t found a single searching party and were worried they might have missed them. What kind of skill had they invented that they couldn¡¯t find even a single human? They had been wondering if ymore had invented an invisible cloak or something simr to that. ¡°Is... that true?¡± ¡°Yes. If you want, I will send a message home and show you the royal order issued by the king. From now on, we won¡¯t take mana quartz from you. We don¡¯t want to sacrifice lives for it.¡± Snow sighed. If it had happened only a little earlier... only a little earlier. ¡°If it¡¯s true, I apologize for what I said.¡± ¡°Then please, bring him here. We are here to break his curse, after all.¡± Walking in such high snow was dangerous, so Rubica looked at nco and pleaded. If she had known the underling would carry only her, she wouldn¡¯t have climbed onto her hand. ¡°But Madam, we don¡¯t need that... ymore to break his curse.¡± nco had to try hard not to say, ¡®that bastard ymore¡¯. However, Rubica¡¯s eyes widened as she couldn¡¯t understand. ¡°Do you want your husband to live on as an ordinary human?¡± ¡°Of course, that¡¯s why we¡¯vee this far.¡± ¡°But the price for that is your life.¡± Chapter 246

Chapter 246: Chapter 246

¡°But the price for that is your life.¡± Rubica stammered, feeling like she just had been hit in the head. Now she could tell why nco had looked so sorry for her, and there was also a purpose behind carrying only her. Rubica then looked at Edgar who was still walking in the snow. He was kicking the snow with his foot, probably cursing. If he had been with her, he wouldn¡¯t have hesitated to get her out of here. However, shouldn¡¯t he at least listen to what they had to say? ¡°Tell me why it would cost my life.¡± It seemed like Edgar would join them after she heard about it all. nco looked at the diamond gleaming in the ss tube. Her eyes quivered, lost deep in memory. ¡°Nymphs all have great powers. But since they are not gods, there are certain restrictions to their usage of powers.¡± Why was she suddenly talking about nymphs when they had been talking about Edgar¡¯s curse? ¡°What do you mean, restrictions?¡± However, Rubica knew nco wouldn¡¯t have mentioned it without a good reason. If nymphs had restrictions when using their powers, what kind of restriction did Edgar¡¯s curse have? From time to time, Ios nted rare minerals or nts to channel the power of thend and use special spells. If nymphs¡¯ magic worked in a simr way, they could just find out the mineral or nt that sustained its power and destroy it all. ¡°For example, water nymphs¡¯ restrictions appear during a storm or a drought. Then, their spell would be broken when the storm or the drought ends, or vice versa.¡± ¡°Oh, then Edgar¡¯s mother must have been a nymph of the sun! She cast a curse about sunlight.¡± ¡°Her words are magic itself. If she had been a nymph of the sun, the curse would break only when the sun dies.¡± Then, his curse would have broken only at the end of the world. Rubica shook her head, trying not to feel bad about guessing wrong. ording to nco¡¯s exnation, it was a good thing she hadn¡¯t been a nymph of the sun. ¡°What kind of nymph was she?¡± ¡°She was probably... a nymph of love.¡± ¡°A nymph of love? Are you saying she was a nymph of Hue?¡± Rubica couldn¡¯t help but ask back. She had met Arman at the Abbey of Hue, the god of love. Everything she had thought of as mere coincidence now started to feel like fate. Maybe, her dramatic life full of sufferings hadn¡¯t been lonely only because there was an invisible someone looking down upon her. ¡°Why do you think so?¡± ¡°Our mistress¡¯s heart was frozen because of love. It is only right that the nymph who came to wake her up from her slumber was a nymph of love.¡± ¡°Then, the way to end the curse is also love?¡± nco calmly nodded, but it only confused Rubica even more. If Edgar¡¯s mother had really been a nymph of love, the restriction of her magic had to be love, but it made no sense. ¡°But his love has been made whole.¡± Even though their love hadn¡¯t beenpleted in her previous life, she came back in time to tell him her feelings. Moreover, he loved her as well. If it had been about love, his curse should have been broken months ago. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be nice if the curse ended just because your love was sessful? The stronger a spell is, the trickier its conditions are. For example...¡± ¡°nco!¡± Snow threw the ring he had been holding to nco. ¡°The energy of thend is changing. I think Minos has done something to it. Just get to the point quickly. Shasha, you and I must go to stop those two.¡± It sounded like Minos had finally found Ios and was on his way here. It had taken so long, so Ios mustn¡¯t have been at their agreed meeting point. Maybe he had been taking a bath with a cup of buttered tea. ¡°Madam, I must get to the point.¡± However, Rubica already knew what she was about to say. ¡°You said the price is my life, right? The nymph¡¯s terms must have been to love him enough to sacrifice my own life. Was that why you have been so gloomy all along?¡± Who on earth would have been d to hear that the person she worshipped was going to sacrifice herself for the man she hated? She could now see why nco had been happy to hear her say she was a selfish person. She was just d that Rubica was going to live and didn¡¯t care about Edgar at all. ¡°Now it¡¯s all ready. The moment you put this ring on, this device will use your life energy and work. The mana quartz¡¯s light will destroy the nymph power hidden inside him, and he will be able to live on as a human.¡± nco just calmly exined and offered the ring to Rubica, despite her resentful look. She had never put that ring on. She just treasured it too much and had only looked at it. ¡°How long will he be able to live if I don¡¯t use this ring?¡± ¡°As his nymph power is already too strong to be suppressed by his curse, he has a year left, at best.¡± ... a year. He was destined to die early before reaching 30? Rubica looked at him. He was stilling toward her, although Shasha and Snow were trying to stop him. ¡®So... young.¡¯ Even his hair flying in the wind glowed of youth. He was so young. He still had many days to live and many joys to learn. They said all lives were equally precious, but if people were asked who would be more helpful to the world between Rubica and Edgar, most of them would say it was Edgar. And... ¡®I¡¯m young now, but as I used to say often, I¡¯ve lived long enough.¡¯ She had lived until both of her hands were full of wrinkles. She had experienced joy and sadness, as hard as her life had been. She had no regrets, except that she never got to confess her love until the moment of her death. And she had already done that, thanks to the second chance of life he gave her. ¡°Do you think I won¡¯t be able to choose death for my love?¡± nco, however, didn¡¯t reply to the question. Rubica stared at the ring that had given her an opportunity for a new life but was now going to bring her death. She thought she couldn¡¯t hesitate. He hadn¡¯t hesitated to put it on her chest when she died. What he had been thinking when he did that, she still didn¡¯t know, but she knew how he felt. ¡®I want you to live happily, without any pain.¡¯ She put the ring on her left ring finger and clenched her hand. It fit her finger perfectly as if it had been made for her. The moment she put it on, she felt an icy pain in her heart. ¡°No!¡± Edgar realized things were going wrong and yelled. Ice then shot out of the ground and engulfed her. ¡°Huh? What is that?¡± At the same time, Ios¡¯s face came out of the cold snow, but only his head could be seen on that field of snow. It looked quite hrious. He was always there when not needed, but he was always a momentte when he was needed. Snow tried to grab Edgar, but he just kicked her away. ¡°My, he¡¯s flying!¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a game. Stop watching and get here, now.¡± Edgar kicked away an underling who was many times bigger than himself. Then, he coldly ordered Ios, not dripping even a drop of sweat. Well, the weather was cold enough to make sweat turn into snow. Ios jumped out of the snow and was right next to Edgar. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Edgar couldn¡¯t afford the time to use the dragon of beingte. Normally, Ios would have been outraged for being ordered, but today, he just took Edgar¡¯s hand and jumped to the ground. Even he could see this was an emergency. He was nning to go through the ground and hit the ice that held Rubica at full speed. It was going to shatter the ice, but he thought it would do no harm to Rubica as she was a nymph. ¡°Ugh...¡± But what was nearly shattered was not the ice but his head. nco tried to stop Edgar, but he just threw her away as well and started to examine the ice cage. It appeared to be ordinary ice. ¡°It nearly broke your head, so it must be as hard as diamond.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I said your head is as hard as diamond.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Ios couldn¡¯t see it was an insult and was d to hear it. Edgar nced at Snow and Shasha, and he said to Ios, ¡°Get rid of those with your thick head.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do that, they¡¯re Iber¡¯s underlings. Iber would be mad at me if she finds out about this.¡± ¡°If... you help me this time, I¡¯ll let you be Rubica¡¯s brother instead of her cousin.¡± Edgar felt like he was giving away a pound of his flesh. If the situation hadn¡¯t been so urgent, he would have never let the stupid lizard be his wife¡¯s little brother. Chapter 247

Chapter 247: Chapter 247

¡°Deal!¡± Edgar¡¯s sore offer made Ios dly go fight Snow. He grabbed her and swung her in the air, so it was hard to tell if he was fighting her or ying with her. While he was at it, Edgar went around the ice cage, looking for a crack. ¡°Rubica.¡± He managed to find a hole and called her name through it. As Ios hadn¡¯t been able to break it, it wasn¡¯t going to be destroyed by most tools. For now, he wanted to see if she was alive. ¡°Rubica!¡± His voice echoed until it woke Rubica up. She had almost fallen into eternal slumber in the ice, and she couldn¡¯t move at all as if her body had been frozen. The ice was too cold, and the only thing she could hear was his voice. ¡®What have I done?¡¯ In her first death, she thought she had only one regret in her life. However, now in the face of her second death, she realized how arrogant she had been. She thought she would be able to die without regret after living two lives, but she couldn¡¯t help thinking of things she hadn¡¯t done yet and her dream which she hadn¡¯t achieved. After confessing her love, she wanted to make it whole, and after it was made whole, she wanted to have a happy family with children who resembled him. She hadn¡¯t known she was so greedy. ¡°Edgar.¡± The moment she whispered his name with frozen lips, the ice cage shook with a huge ¡®bam!¡¯ She looked down at the ring. She wished she could take it off, but her body was frozen, and she couldn¡¯t. ¡®How selfish.¡¯ She wished for the moment to end fast, but then there came another sound of a huge explosion. Soon his hand came in. After Stephen abducted her, he had been carrying a small gun in the pocket of his jacket. Unlike ordinary guns, it was a gun that burned everything when fired. ¡°If I can¡¯t shatter it, I should melt it.¡± The ice was hard, but it was still ice. The me soon died out in the severe cold, but not before it made a hole big enough for him to crawl in. ¡°Rubica, what have you done?¡± He looked a bit mad. Rubica wanted to answer his question, but her lips were frozen, so she couldn¡¯t utter a word. ¡°Ios.¡± Edgar realized what had happened to her and turned. Ios knew what to do. He grabbed Snow by her feet and shook her up at down. As she had confessed everything to Minos while drunk, he thought she would easily talk. However, she just kept her mouth shut. But then, nco just told them everything. ¡°Rubica!¡± Now he was really mad. ¡°Unwrap your hand,¡± Edgar said as he grabbed her fist that held the ring. ¡®But if you take this away from me, you¡¯ll lose your chance to live.¡¯ She wanted to say so, but her lips were like ice now. So were her cheeks and eyebrows. She was almost a huge lump of ice in the shape of a girl. She couldn¡¯t do anything to express herself, but he read his mind and whispered, ¡°Are you trying to make me live in hell? He sounded mad, but his voice had a deep grief in it. She didn¡¯t need to hear from him to know he didn¡¯t want her to sacrifice for him. ¡®If you miss this chance, you have a year left, at best.¡¯ She just wanted him to live on. A year was way too short. She knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy that one year, closing in to his death every second. After that short year passed, what would happen to her when she was left alone? Time affected everyone and everything equally, nevertheless, it sometimes went in a wink and sometimes went so slowly. She couldn¡¯t bear to live a long life without him, so it would be better to sacrifice herself for him. ¡°I want to live in happiness, even for a year. If you do love me, you can¡¯t die for me.¡± Toote, Rubica realized what she had done. She hadn¡¯t considered what he would be after her death. Was dying for love really noble? But at the same time, would it be right to make a choice for a short happiness that wouldst less than a year? Questions kepting, one after another, but she couldn¡¯t find the answer to any of them. Tears welled up in her eyes, even though she waspletely frozen. However, the tears froze before he could wipe them. Now he couldn¡¯t even wipe her tears, and it pained her greatly. Why was this happening? Why did she decide to sacrifice herself for him? At first, he had been mad at her for trying to leave him and die, but now, he was mad at himself. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± None of this would have happened if he had been an ordinary man. Then, she wouldn¡¯t have been involved in his fate. However, what made him even more miserable was the thought of not wanting to lose her. Was not leaving her alone part of his foolish insistence? Back then he hadughed at his own selfish thought of reviving her and sending her to the past, even though she knew nothing. The choice he was making now was no different. Was love about sacrificing oneself for the other? All he wanted was to be happy together. ¡°You suffer so much, only because you love a man like me.¡± He blew warm breath on her clenched hand. Her fingers started to melt slowly. What kind of selfish choice was he about to make? He unfolded each of her fingers. She could fold them again anytime, but she didn¡¯t. She couldn¡¯t speak or make a gesture, but that alone was enough. Even though they weren¡¯t going to be happy together, they were going to try until the very end. He started to slowly remove the ring. For his entire life, he thought he would put a ring on the finger of the woman he loved. He hadn¡¯t known he would get to remove a ring from her finger. ¡°Haa.¡± When the ring was finally removed from her, warmth started to spread to her body. It started from her fingers and reached her heart. She managed to breathe. And, when that breath touched the ring, the blue stone melted like snow. ¡°Huh?¡± She tried to catch the liquid as it fell, but it happened so suddenly that none of them could properly react to it. The moment Iber¡¯s tear touched thend, mana quartzes under the cliff started to glow. Their lights all gathered to the giant diamond in the ss tube. ¡°Yes! The heart is melting!¡± With nco¡¯s yell, what they thought was a huge diamond started to shake. Snow around it melted and the ss tube started to crack. Iber¡¯s heart absorbed all the lights and started to glow. It became as bright as daytime, and the lights all went to Edgar. ¡°Edgar!¡± He fainted and fell, but Rubica managed to grab him just in time. He wasn¡¯t hurt, but his eyes were now dull. ¡°No, no.¡± Something was wrong. Had it been wrong to take off the ring? She thought she should have just died. All they had wanted was to live on together happily. Was that asking for too much? Sadly, the cruel world was whispering to her that happiness was the wish that was the hardest to be granted. ¡°Wake up, please.¡± She cried while holding his hand. Both of his hands were still warm, and his pulse was steady, which was herst bit of hope. *** His eyes were blinded by the strong light. After that, he stayed in darkness. Only night existed in his world, and it was hard to tell how much time had passed. He moved forward, groping through space without time. He didn¡¯t know where to go. He just knew he had to run away. He didn¡¯t know how long he walked. He fell so many times that he lost count. He walked on sand, on grass, and on the bumpy roads made of small pebbles. -Go to Hue¡¯s Abbey. He couldn¡¯t remember who told him that, but it had been engraved in his mind. However, he couldn¡¯t even see, so finding Hue¡¯s Abbey was impossible. In the end, he copsed, tired and famished. His feet felt hot and he couldn¡¯t feel his knees. The only good thing was he was on the grassy field. ¡®Am I about to die?¡¯ He was grateful for it as he wanted to be freed from his pain. Half of his life had been filled with the pain of the heart, and the other half full of the pain of the body. He couldn¡¯t dare to wish for happiness. He just wished to rest. Chapter 248

Chapter 248: Chapter 248

¡°Oh!¡± But then, he heard the exmation of a woman who sounded surprised to see a man lying on the ground. ¡°Hey...¡± He thought the woman would just pass by, but she came to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Then she checked his pulse, probably to see if he was still alive. ¡®Now she¡¯ll go through my pockets.¡¯ Before, he had taken people¡¯s hospitality for granted, but after entering the world of darkness, he learned that everything was given only in exchange for a price. Now that he was a blind man, he just wished she wouldn¡¯t kick him when she found out he had nothing. ¡°Are you alright?¡± He wasn¡¯t happy about getting her attention, not at all. He didn¡¯t like it that she was disturbing his rest, but he didn¡¯t have enough strength left to move her hand away. ¡°Is it sunstroke?¡± Her murmuring let him know it was daytime, and apparently his forehead was hot not because of the fever but because of the sunlight. Soon something made of metal touched his lips. He feared it was some kind of torture and shuddered, but the thin arm that was holding him now was so firm that he couldn¡¯t resist. ¡°It¡¯s water. Drink.¡± He opened his lips at hearing that. Water that was a bit salty but cold ran into his mouth. It felt so good. He forgot that he had just been seeking for eternal rest and gulped down the water. ¡°Um, you can¡¯t see, can you?¡± The woman asked as she wiped his sweating forehead with a handkerchief. He cringed at the question. Those who had tortured and interrogated him had often mocked him for being blind. At first, he just dismissed it as foolish things from the mouth of foolish men, but with time, it made him cringe. However... the woman¡¯s voice had no ill will. He couldn¡¯t be mad or offended. That would just make him a person who got easily hurt by foolish words. He put the water bottle away and nodded slightly. ¡°Oh, I see.¡± The woman carefully touched his eyes. He didn¡¯t like it, but his body froze with fear whenever someone touched him. Many years ago, he wouldn¡¯t have hesitated to swat that hand away... He didn¡¯t want to admit it, but he had changed. He had changed from the great man who feared nothing and turned into a fool who was afraid of everything. ¡°Would you like to go to the abbey I live in? Our priests will take a look at you. I think it would be better for you to recover.¡± And fools were afraid of all things, even kindness. He was nothing but a vagrant on the streets, and he deserved to be treated like one. In the world he knew, kindness existed only when there was a purpose for it. Was she nning to help him recover and then force him to hardbor? However, he was blind. ¡°You can leave if you want after you get better.¡± ¡°Why are you being kind to me?¡± ¡°Oh! You can speak. That¡¯s good. I was worried you might not be able to talk. Then it would have been hard to find out where and why you¡¯re ill.¡± She kept talking, but she didn¡¯t answer his question. She carried him. He had nothing but bones and skin after starving for so long, but he wasn¡¯t light at all. However, it didn¡¯t bother her at all, as if she was used to carrying people. ¡°My name is Rubica. What¡¯s yours?¡± She was asking for his name. He almost said Edgar, but using that name wasn¡¯t going to do him any good. He had managed to run away only barely. He had prepared for years to find out the habits and routines of his watchers and torturers before he finally escaped. He hadn¡¯t been captured after that, which was a miracle. Maybe they no longer cared about him now that he was useless, nevertheless, he was still afraid. ¡°...Arman.¡± After some thinking, he picked a name among the long series of names he had had in the past. ¡°That¡¯s a good name. Well, Arman, where were you going?¡± He hoped telling his name might stop her talking, but she just kept twitting like a bird. ¡®She has no reason to be kind to me.¡¯ Kindness was never free. Why was she trying to know where he was going? An rm sounded in his mind, warning him to be careful. ¡°Hue¡¯s Abbey.¡± But he hadn¡¯t met such a kind person for too long. His lips, that had remained shut even at various tortures and threats, opened so easily this time. He couldn¡¯t believe that he was such a weak person who fell for just a little bit of kindness. ¡°Hue¡¯s Abbey?¡± She stopped at hearing his reply. A sudden fear gripped him. Had he said something wrong? He tried to remember which god was on bad terms with Hue¡¯s followers, but there was none. Even mightier and stronger gods didn¡¯t want to be enemies with Hue. The god of love was kind, but he was capable of giving the greatest pain. He didn¡¯t know what kind of pain, but he felt he would be hurt at least that much if this kind woman abandoned him now. ¡°Good, because that¡¯s where we are going now!¡± Her voice was so bright, without even a speck of the world¡¯s evil. She sounded to be twenty at most, but from the way she checked his pulse and supported him as they walked, he could feel she was a lot older than that. ¡°Oh, and there¡¯s a moles¡¯ road there. Your feet might get stuck in there. Be careful.¡± Just like that, the woman who suddenly showed up in front of him led him to the abbey and described their surroundings on their way. It made him feel what he had felt before he was trapped in darkness, which hadn¡¯t happened for a long time. Her strangely familiar voice made him open up to her in less than an hour. ¡°You said you were going to pick fruits, and you picked up a man instead?¡± When they arrived at the abbey, he heard an angry voice. Of course, there wasn¡¯t a ce where a useless man like him would be weed. He was about to be kicked out, and it was only right. ¡°Well, stop staring at us. Come and take his other arm.¡± However, she had been through this before more than once and didn¡¯t let the scolding get to her. Although the priest sounded unhappy, he immediately came and took the man¡¯s other arm. ¡°I think he¡¯s suffering from sunstroke. I gave him all the water I have, but it wasn¡¯t enough.¡± ¡°I think we should let him get some rest inside and then bring him something to eat.¡± They spread a nket in the cool indoors and put the man on it. Then, Rubica got up to leave, but he grabbed her sleeve. It was a childish act only five-year-olds would do, so he blushed in embarrassment. He tried to retrieve his hand, but she grabbed both of his hands. ¡°Why were you trying to get here?¡± She was used to starting a conversation so that awkward silence wouldn¡¯te. However, the man couldn¡¯t think of a good answer. Someone had told him to go to Hue¡¯s Abbey, but he hadn¡¯t told him why. ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t have to tell me if you don¡¯t want to.¡± Rubica took his silence in another way. In the war that involved humans, monsters, and even dragons, Hue¡¯s Abbey was the only refugee. As it ministered weddings for various species and epted funds, it had enough food. Many who were about to starve came for help. She didn¡¯t know what the man she saved today had been through. He was full of scars and was very afraid, but he seemed to be quite stubborn and prideful. He must have suffered a lot, to depend on her despite having such a personality. Rubica kept talking to him in her pleasant voice. It let him slowly rx while he listened to find out what he could about the ce. ¡®There are more sick people here.¡¯ He could hear some footsteps and moans. As each step echoed, the room he was in had to be quite big. Surprisingly, it seemed like they attended the poor and the wounded here. ¡®A ce for honoring the god of love...¡¯ Justice had disappeared from the face of the earth long ago. It surprised him that there was still a ce of generosity. Anyway, he was relieved to find out he wouldn¡¯t be hurt here. It naturally made his hand hold Rubica with less strength. She realized he was now relieved and asked a male friar to draw a bath for him. The water was cold, but he was so happy to finally have a bath that he actually cried. He was tasting joy which he had taken for granted after such a long time. Chapter 249

Chapter 249: Chapter 249

¡°Oh my, we don¡¯t have any spare clothes. I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m afraid you will have to wear your clothes again for some time.¡± After a bath, he could feel how smelly his old clothes were. She had endured the smell to be with him. He didn¡¯t even know her face, but he admired her for that. In the past... no, even now, he wasn¡¯t sure he would be able to do such a thing for others. ¡°Sister Rubica, Priestess Lefena wants to see your new friend.¡± ¡°Priestess Lefena?¡± ¡°Yes, she received a sign this morning that an important man woulde to us today.¡± ¡°Hmm, I didn¡¯t know she had such a gift... Arman, I will go with you. Let us go.¡± It took him some time to realize that he was Arman. He could feel her offering a hand, but he was so ashamed of his own smell that he took a step back. It made her hand stop in the air for a second, but then she didn¡¯t hesitate to take his hand. ¡°We must go up the stairs now.¡± She became his eyes for him, just like she had done earlier the day. He could feel his face heating up. He had never felt like this. He enjoyed it, but at the same time, he wanted to run away. However, he didn¡¯t have a way to get away from her and leave. ¡°Priestess Lefena is a little strict, but she is a nice person.¡± She was probably a little worried, as she didn¡¯t stop giving him advice until the moment she knocked on the door. ¡°Priestess Lefena, it¡¯s Rubica. I¡¯ve brought Mr. Arman.¡± ¡°Come in.¡± He went into the room with Rubica¡¯s help. Then, he bowed toward the direction where the voice wasing from. Priestess Lefena asked him to sit down, then she told Rubica to leave as she must have a lot to do. She hesitated as she didn¡¯t want to leave him. Nevertheless, she did have a lot to do. ¡°I¡¯lle back for youter.¡± After the woman, who he had known only for a few hours but felt like he had known for years, left silence filled the room. His blindness was now being a disadvantage. The priestess had to be watching him, examining him, but he didn¡¯t know anything about her. He couldn¡¯t even tell if she was hostile or favorable toward him, which was the most painful. ¡°Have you ever heard the voice of gods?¡± ¡°No...¡± ¡°Some of us priestesses can hear the words of gods. About one out of a thousand. It is a huge blessing only the most faithful of us can experience. I thought it would never happen to me. But this morning, I had an extremely special experience. I heard the voice of Hue.¡± He had to try hard not to yawn. Confession of one¡¯s faith was so boring to those who didn¡¯t believe in that deity. ¡°As it is my first time, I don¡¯t know how to exin it. Anyway, Hue said his own son would being here today.¡± What on earth was she trying to say? Was she bragging about getting the gift of hearing a god¡¯s words? Cool water and a ce to sleep in weren¡¯t free, after all. Maybe he was going to be forced to listen to such teachings every day, but it was much better than wandering around on the streets alone. As the price for what he had received, he tried for an awkward smile. ¡°And he said... his son is blind.¡± It took him some time to understand what she was saying. ¡°No, it isn¡¯t me.¡± He really wanted to say it was absurd, but Lefena was deadly serious. ¡°He said he would introduce himself as Arman.¡± ¡°Please do not use me to get fame as a priestess who can hear god¡¯s voice.¡± Actually, he wanted to yell he wasn¡¯t going to be used for such a scheme. He had heard there were some frauds who used religion and faith to steal other¡¯s money. He had been relieved to be at such a nice ce, but he hadn¡¯t known it was run by such a liar. Attention was thest thing he wanted since there were still many who wanted to find him and use him. ¡°He said his former name was Edgar.¡± But what Lefena said after that made him sit down again. However, he was still in doubt. Maybe his name was written on what he was wearing. ¡°One who was cursed by his mother for his father¡¯s sin.¡± His heart ached. Only himself, Carl, and the king knew about that, and those two had already died. Even his torturers hadn¡¯t been able to find out about it. ¡°Duke ymore.¡± ¡°Please, stop this nonsense.¡± He tried to deny it to the end. After he escaped, he had found out what kind of destruction Ste had brought, at least to some extent. Many despised the name ymore. Admitting his true identity now could get him killed immediately. ¡°He told me to help you.¡± His lips quivered, and rage boiled deep in his heart. ¡°He told me to hide you and take care of you.¡± ¡°Why!¡± He knew he had to deny it to the very end to live on in this abbey, but he couldn¡¯t help yelling. ¡°Why didn¡¯t he help me earlier?¡± He recalled what he had been through. The light of his past was even clearer because he lived in darkness. Why was the god of love calling him his son? If the god of war had said that, he would have epted it. However, love had never been in his life. ¡°He could have told me not to make that wretched thing. Just one sentence would have been enough. Why did that god give you a sign and not to me? And he even says I¡¯m his son!¡± Hot tears came down from his eyes. He wanted to kick the god and curse him if only he could meet him. If he was capable of giving signs, why hadn¡¯t he said a single word to him? ¡°Do you... believe in Hue?¡± ¡°No.¡± Edgar simply said no, even though he hade to Hue¡¯s Abbey seeking for help. He believed in several other gods, but he didn¡¯t believe in the god of love. He was the most meaningless and useless deity of all. His life had been full of pain because of filthy love. Therefore, he despised every person who dared to talk of love. ¡°Then there¡¯s nothing Hue could have done for you. He can give signs only to those who believe him.¡± His heart ached even more. The priestess was saying what was only logical for her, but he felt like he had just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world. ¡°Are you saying if I had believed in Hue, he would have sent me a sign to tell me not to make Ste?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± A clear yes. Not even probably. Just yes. His rage didn¡¯t know what to do at the face of that clear faith. He felt like his path was being blocked by a wall called faith. ¡°Then, what did the other gods do?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, do you believe in any other god?¡± No. He hated faith. His life had always been full of suspicions and it had powered his work and research. And it had destroyed the world. ¡°Ha.¡± He didn¡¯t know what to feel. Was the priestess saying none of this would have happened if he had just believed in any god? He couldn¡¯t believe what he had been doing. If he had believed, he would have gotten a sign? ¡°How easy.¡± ¡°It turns out to be easy. But in fact, it¡¯s not easy at all. What else can be as hard as having faith?¡± Lefena replied coldly. Moreover, she sounded like someone who didn¡¯t believe in gods. ¡°So, what else did that Hue say? Is there a way to resolve this crisis?¡± The world had almost entirely fallen by those who snuck away with his weapon and used it. The long war for mana stone and the Golden Land. He hadn¡¯t meant for it, but he brought it. He felt responsible for it. If the god had sent a sign to this priestess, at least he would have given her a clue to change things. ¡°He just told me to help you live a life full of love.¡± ¡°Bastard.¡± In the end, he cursed the god, not caring he was in front of a priestess. Lefena didn¡¯t respond as she also med the god for giving such an order to her. While she knew the god wasn¡¯t guilty, even she couldn¡¯t help but hate him. It would have been much better if the god had ordered her to save the world with him. However, she just decided to ept it as another test from god. Chapter 250

Chapter 250: Chapter 250

¡°Normally, we don¡¯t let people stay longer than a certain period, except for special cases. Even we cannot afford to keep everyone with us. But if you want, you may stay here.¡± Lefena excluded her emotions from her work and tried to sound official. Her cold voice made Edgar¡¯s anger cool down, and he started to see the reality. The abbey had epted him. Would he be able to survive outside? He wasn¡¯t sure. He had thought it would be rather better to die, but choosing death willingly wasn¡¯t easy. ¡°Thank you. For now, I do wish to stay here. But I don¡¯t want to be known for who I really am, and I don¡¯t want any special treatment.¡± The people, who he had escaped from, could be looking for him, so he had to keep a low profile, as much as possible. It wasn¡¯t bad for Lefena¡¯s side, either. ¡°Then I will treat you as one of the others. If you wish to stay here, you must work. It will be hard.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do anything.¡± Working was much better than receiving food and shelter for free. He hated feeling indebted. He sounded quite enthusiastic, but Lefena looked at him in doubt. What kind of hard work would he be able to do? He had been a duke, and people of such high rank did nothing. They even had others do their buttons for them. However, now he looked so wounded and worn that it was hard to believe he had been a nobleman before. ¡°I¡¯ll tell the abbot. Are you capable of doing calctions?¡± Edgar smiled faintly at the question. He hadn¡¯t known he would be asked such a question ever since he was five. ¡°Give me a problem.¡± He couldn¡¯t even see, but he gave the answer to Lefena¡¯splicated math problem just in seconds. It impressed the priestess greatly. He was good at math, and it was a great ability. Considering his past, he was going to be a huge help, if only he adapted to life at the abbey. ¡°The abbot will be delighted to hear about this. I will have a ce arranged for you, but I cannot let you have a room of your own.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°Do you need anything else?¡± Silence came. He wasn¡¯t saying no, so he probably wanted something. ¡°I¡¯ll get you anything I can get you.¡± ¡°Could... you give me a string to make a ne?¡± ¡°A string?¡± Edgar took out the ring he had barely managed to take with him when he escaped. ¡°I wish to have this on my chest.¡± ¡°Then, here it is.¡± What Lefena gave him wasn¡¯t an ordinary leather string but a metal chain. At first, he thought about refusing, but then he thought using it would be even better, so he put the ring through it and put it around his head. He could feel the ring on his chest. It was so light,pared to the weight of the sins he was bearing. However, if he used it in his moment of death, he would be able to go back to the past. He wouldn¡¯t be able to stop the tragedy of that day, but he would be able to stop the other tragedies. ¡®Although the kingdom might fall nevertheless...¡¯ Thinking of that made him lose his confidence. Would he be able to make the choice? Would he be able to sacrifice his own nation for the peace of the entire continent? Many of his fellow countrymen, including the king, would probably me him. ¡®Either way, I will get all the me.¡¯ He had no choice. Edgar then bowed his head to Lefena and exited the room. ¡°Well? How did it go?¡± Rubica was there to lead his way again. ¡°She said I may stay here as long as I want.¡± ¡°Oh! That¡¯s good.¡± He looked a lot lighter than before he went into the priestess¡¯s room, and she was d about it. As he was blind, she had been worried about what would happen to him after his time at the abbey ended. ¡°What... is that ring? Has the priestess given it to you?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s mine.¡± ¡°I see.¡± For some reason, his reply disappointed her. Did he make some kind of mistake? ¡°Oh, then I¡¯ll show you around! We have a carpenter here, so he will be able to make you a cane.¡± Soon, she regained her usual brightness and led him with her cheerful voice. Just like that, his life at the abbey began. Nevertheless, he didn¡¯t be a believer. He just couldn¡¯t bring himself to believe in the god of love. He hadn¡¯t given him a sign because he had no faith? What nonsense. ¡®He should have had someone else to tell me.¡¯ Of course, if a priest had shown up and told him he came with a sign from the god, he would have dismissed him as a fraud or a madman and kick him out, but still, he med the god for that. However, he didn¡¯t get to me him for long. The life at the abbey was extremely busy, and most of the people there found him too bothering. He couldn¡¯t see, and most didn¡¯t want to spend time teaching him things. Each time it happened, Rubica ran along to teach him. She seemed to feel somewhat responsible for him as she had been the person who found him. Naturally, he followed her. Her cheerfulughter always made him feel better. She never got mad at him, even when he made mistakes, and he started to admire her for that. Wasn¡¯t she suffering? Didn¡¯t she find such life painful? Sometimes, very rarely, he cried quietly. He hadn¡¯t known he would ever do such weak things. One day, she eventually saw him crying. She was thest person he had wanted to see him like that. He worried she might think he was crying because life at the abbey was too hard for him. However, she tried to neither scold him nor console him. She just sat down next to him and held his hand while he cried. ¡°Are you happy?¡± When he was done crying, he abruptly asked her. He didn¡¯t know why he was asking that. She was always so bright, and to him, it was strange. He wondered maybe she was actually miserable and was just trying to pretend to be happy. ¡°Hmm, I guess so.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you hate your life? Everything has been... devastated by the war.¡± ¡°It would have been better if the war hadn¡¯t broken out. But do I me it... no, I don¡¯t think so.¡± Rubica told him about how her life had been. How her uncle and aunt had mistreated her, how she had done nothing every day except for crying. Her uncle and aunt had been so mean to her, but still, they had been her family, so she had been sad when they were killed. ¡°When everything was destroyed, I was sad and didn¡¯t know what to do.¡± The war was cruel. But if it hadn¡¯t taken ce, would she have been able to get away from her uncle and aunt? She would have been locked up in Berner Mansion to this age, being forced to work every day. Living at the abbey was much better than such life, although she had to starve a little. At least her work was appreciated. ¡°I can say this only because I survived, but I was freed by the war. Before, I med my life every day and spent all my time wishing I was dead. But now, I am grateful I didn¡¯t die back then, and now I know there are very small but certain joys in this world.¡± ¡°Are... you saying the war started your happiness?¡± Rubica looked at him. He looked somewhat anxious and earnest. ¡°I know it¡¯s a sin to say this, but yes. I became happy after the war broke out.¡± She wouldn¡¯t have said such a thing to anyone else, but the man truly trusted her and relied on her, and she didn¡¯t want to lie to him. After some time, his eyes started to be teary again. But now, he was crying for a totally different reason. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Why... are you thanking me?¡± After Edgar was betrayed by the guard he trusted, he had just guessed his stolen invention would bring misfortunes to the world. However, the reality he got to face after he escaped was much worse than he imagined. He thought he had made everyone miserable and didn¡¯t know how to redeem the sin. Even his anger for his father¡¯s denial, which had tortured him so much in the past, was dimmed in the face of it. His own sins were too big to me anyone. Chapter 251

Chapter 251: Chapter 251

But now, here was a person who was saying she had been freed by it. She could say she was happier than she had been in the past, despite the cruel reality. She was probably going to never know what a great relief that answer was giving him. ¡°Arman,¡± she whispered as she gently wiped his tears. ¡°I know it must be hard for you, but just stay here and help people, and then one day, you will surely feel happiness.¡± When Lefena told him all the god wanted him to do was to live a life full of love, he thought the god was mocking him. ¡°Do I deserve to be happy?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± However, when Rubica said it, he wanted to believe it. He didn¡¯t believe in any god, but she was like a goddess to him. After that, she came to him often and they talked about many things. As they were way past their youth, people just thought they were close friends. ¡°If you want to go back to the past, what would you do?¡± ¡°Go back to the past? But I am enjoying my life now.¡± ¡°But if you get a chance...¡± ¡°I would like to escape Berner Mansion on my own.¡± They had countless conversations like that. However, things didn¡¯t go well for them. The fires of war didn¡¯t reach the abbey, so everyone there didn¡¯t know how bad it was, but the situation in the north became only worse and worse. Edgar got information from the wounded who came in every day. Just as he had thought, Ios was strong. At first, he was severely wounded by Ste, but the tide of war started to turn with time. Ios had a cunning goblin by his side, and he was the problem. Edgar could see Amanun and the other countries that had Ste were getting more and more nervous with time. Rumors were that things were changing even at Iber¡¯s territory, the dragon who had been slumbering for centuries. Someone, who came after being hurt badly for going in there to steal mana stones, told him Iber¡¯s underlings were using shining stones to wake up their mistresses. ¡®This ce will not be safe for long.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t easy to leave the abbey and find another safe ce. He wanted to take Rubica, if only he could. He already couldn¡¯t even imagine a life without her. ¡°Arman.¡± However, death came to them before his preparation was ready. ¡°Don¡¯t... don¡¯t say more.¡± ¡°No, there¡¯s no hope for me.¡± ¡°Rubica, no.¡± She was dying. He was ready to embrace his own death at any moment, but not hers. She was breathing herst breath, and Edgar finally realized his feelings for her. ¡°Rubica, I... I...¡± Toote, he tried to say it, but he couldn¡¯t. Did he deserve it? Did he deserve to love and be loved? He, who had lived a life full of hatred? He quickly put his blue ring on her chest. Would the ring¡¯s power work on her? He didn¡¯t know, but he had to try at least. ¡°Rubica Berner, now you will go back in time. When you do, go and find Duke ymore. Find him, and... if this ring travels back in time with you, show it to him. Then, tell him to not make Ste.¡± Rubica¡¯s breathing started to get weaker. Maybe she hadn¡¯t heard any of his words. He fumbled with her face and whispered, ¡°Have you heard what I said?¡± However, he knew she had bleed too much and didn¡¯t have enough energy to say a word. Instead, he could feel her lips curling up slightly, just slightly. He took it as a sign for hearing what he said. ¡°Tell him you know he can¡¯t walk in the daytime because of his curse, and he will at least listen to you.¡± The sound of the bombing numbed his ears, but what was happening around them didn¡¯t matter to him. He just traced her smile with his fingers. ¡°There¡¯s something I haven¡¯t been able to tell you. Actually, I...¡± What was he supposed to say first? There were so many things he hadn¡¯t been able to tell her. Who he really was, and his feelings for her that had grown so much. But before he could speak a word, he could feel her skin losing warmth. He quickly put a finger under her nose, but she wasn¡¯t breathing. ¡°Rubica? Rubica!¡± He pleadingly called out her name, but it was no good. She was dead. The person who had taught various joys and pleasures had passed away. He had braced himself for it, but now that he was really left alone, he didn¡¯t dare to admit the sad reality. ¡°Rubica.¡± He just kept saying her name, again and again,pletely forgetting what he had been trying to say. He too had to leave the spot and run away to survive. But what would happen to her if he left her in that ruthless ce? Her body would be shattered to pieced when a bomb fell on her. She was already a cold corpse, but he couldn¡¯t leave her. Whether she was breathing or not, he had to keep her safe. ¡°Ah!¡± In the end, a massive force hit him. He could smell gun powder and blood. His back was soaked with blood. Now death was trying to take his life away as well, but Edgar dly embraced it. Surviving the bombing would have only devastated him. Dying with the woman he loved in his arms was going to be a happy death. ¡°Rubica.¡± He touched her lips for thest time. She died with a smile. Even in the chaotic world, she had kept her smile and found little joys to teach him. He didn¡¯t know how he found the courage, but he leaned down to kiss her lips. He didn¡¯t dare to do it while she was alive. He had imagined kissing her lips often, although the fact that he had such a desire left in him quite surprised him. ¡®Cold.¡¯ She had high body temperature and her hands had been warm even in the cold winter. However, when his lips finally touched hers, it had no warm. Life had left them long ago. Only then, he realized she was really dead. He burst into tears. After he met her, he had been genuinely expressing his emotions and crying like a child in front of her. However, he had never shed such tears of regrets. He found her death much sadder than his own. He had guessed they would meet such an ending one day, but now that it was really here, it was hard to take it in. The ring he had put on her chest was his real hope. He wished it would turn back time and give a new life to her. ¡®I know I¡¯m a fool, but if you tell me everything that has happened, he will not decide to make Ste so easily.¡¯ In the past, he had been an arrogant man who always had his way, but thanks to the education he received, at least he tried to listen once and judge everything by logic. As Rubica was a straight person who had the power of moving people¡¯s hearts, he believed she would be able to convince him, even if it took some time. ¡®And after that...¡¯ He wished she would get to live doing what she wanted to do. She had been content with the life that was given to her and always let children who had been born in war get more chances, but it didn¡¯t mean she had no regrets. She breathed a little faster when she saw beautiful flowers. When they looked back into the days when they had had enough supplies and talked about beautiful dresses, her voice went up. He had made the decision without time to think when she was about to die, but why had he chosen to send her back in time instead of going himself? Actually, he would be much easier if he went. He wouldn¡¯t have to exin to anyone to stop the development of Ste. He would even be able to find her and save her from her aunt and uncle. But then, what about her? Rubica had often said in the past, she had been lost in self-pity instead of seeing the other aspects of life. Would he be able to save her from that if he went back in time? More than anything, he wanted to respect every life she had been through. He didn¡¯t want the people she had met, the ces she had been, the experiences and knowledge she had gotten by working at the abbey to disappear like smoke. Compared to that, his own memories... he only had memories he wanted to forget. Only horrible pain, despair, and misery. He would be better off without such memories. Chapter 252

Chapter 252: Chapter 252

He gently stroked her hair. Her skin was already so cold that it hardly felt like a human¡¯s, but her hair felt just like before. How would her thin hair change when going back in time? ¡°You must be happy.¡± He whispered to her ear, trying to steady his breath. ¡°Get everything you want. What you want to wear, what you want to eat, what you want to do.¡± He was a smart man with a genius brain, and he had never been called foolish. But still, he was stupid. Even if he traveled back in time, he would make weapons for killing while just giving up Ste. But her... he knew she would be able to bring a different ending. Making soap as she wanted had already saved countless lives. He had learned a person¡¯s wisdom couldn¡¯t be measured by knowledge in one¡¯s head after he met her. She wouldn¡¯t give up on the man who knew only his own misfortune and, instead, she would fix him. But... he wouldn¡¯t get to meet her, love her, and be happy. He had been a terrible man in his past, even to his own eyes. Surely, she would despise him. ¡®But it¡¯s okay.¡¯ Nevertheless, it didn¡¯t matter, if only she was happy. What would happen to him, it didn¡¯t matter. He rather hoped she would use him for her happiness. He could feel his breath getting weaker. As he had been living in darkness for years already, he didn¡¯t get that sudden visit from the darkness. No shbacks either. His body temperature started to fall quickly, and her body in his arms didn¡¯t feel cold anymore. -Son of my daughter. At the borderline of life and death, he heard the god¡¯s voice. -You have given the chance to live another life to the person you love. As you have given up life for love, you are now worthy to be Hue¡¯s nymph and live an eternal life. His world became brighter in a second, so he quickly checked on her. He could feel her weight on his arms, but he couldn¡¯t see anything. He sighed, not caring that now he had a god talking to him. -Come to your kind¡¯s ind with me. Anyone else would have been delighted by the god¡¯s visit and would have agreed to go, but he wasn¡¯t like that. He looked around in doubt. It was just white and bright, but he couldn¡¯t see the god himself. ¡°What happens to her if I go to that ind?¡± -As your mother¡¯s curse has been broken, the ring lost its magic. She will die. He had been right to ask. As his nurse had said, there was only a small difference between a curse and a blessing. Lose her and be a nymph to live eternal life? That wasn¡¯t a blessing. It was the most horrible curse in the world. ¡°I don¡¯t want it.¡± -You don¡¯t want it? You will live eternally in peace if you go to the nymphs¡¯ ind. You will be given a sacred power no man will ever get. ¡°So what? None of it matters to me. I don¡¯t want to be a nymph, so revive Rubica.¡± -Once you are a nymph, you will forget all of your sorrows. Do you really wish to give up your opportunity to live eternal life? ¡°What¡¯s good with eternal life? I don¡¯t want to live forever without her.¡± Silence. What was the god thinking? Did he find a man who dared to defy him amusing? However, Edgar didn¡¯t care. He was scolding the god¡¯s appearance and offer since even gods couldn¡¯t mess up with certain things. He red at the god although he didn¡¯t even know where he was. -I will not take you there if you don¡¯t want to. Instead, for passing the test to be a Hue¡¯s nymph, I will grant three wishes of yours. ¡°Let me travel back in time with her.¡± He didn¡¯t have to think much to decide on his first wish. -No, that is a wish I cannot grant you. ¡°Why is that?¡± -Then you wouldn¡¯t be giving your chance for life to her. I cannot grant that wish. Edgar frowned hard. Why did this god of love have so many conditions and restrictions? But still, he wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°Before I say my wishes, I want to know something. Did she hear what I said before she died?¡± He had checked it from her smile, but he was still worried. As the god had given him three chances, he thought it would be better to utilize them. He was a practical man, after all. -No. ¡°What?¡± -Her ears had been hurt by the sound of the bombing, she couldn¡¯t hear. Edgar was now really enraged. ¡°Can¡¯t you change even that?¡± -I¡¯m just the god of love, that is beyond my powers. Edgar gritted his teeth and wished he could punch the god¡¯s face if only he could. If he hadn¡¯t been the god who had saved Rubica from despair and gave her will to live on, he would have been spheming a lot by now. ¡®Calm down, calm down.¡¯ Anyway, it was a good thing that now he knew she hadn¡¯t heard what he said. He wasn¡¯t an idiot who would miss such an opportunity. ¡°I want a pen and paper.¡± As soon as he said that, there was a pen in his right hand and paper in his left hand. He had just used one of the three wishes. Now he had only two left. He had to use them well. Who should he send a message to? He thought about writing to Rubica what he had just told her, but at the age of 22, she had been treated like a maid. She couldn¡¯t own anything. The message might not be delivered to her. ¡®As that stupid godcks care, it can happen. I must be careful.¡¯ Even now, he could remember every detail about his study, like which object had been stationed where. It would be better to send a message to himself in the past. First, he wrote down her name. Rubica Berner. ¡°Please rece the ring in the first drawer of my study¡¯s table with this.¡± Then, after a little thinking, he added, ¡°About a week before she arrives in the past.¡± He had to be careful, or the god could put the note in there while he was being abducted. He made specific requests to make sure it was delivered at the right time. -Okay. Then, what about the ring? ¡°Let her go back in time with it.¡± He gulped hard, hoping the god would fall to his trick and count the two wishes as one. -A holy relic cannot exist in two versions at the same time anyway, very well. The note on Edgar¡¯s hand disappeared. Actually, he wanted to wish their love would be made whole in the past. However, he didn¡¯t want their love to be just a wish granted by a god. Winning her heart with magic would be meaningless. Rubica had her own life and thoughts. Even if the god had suggested it first, he would have said no. Moreover, sending the note to himself had been the right choice. Rubica had been a lowly noble in the countryside, and it was going to be hard for her to meet Duke ymore. It would be better for him to make the move himself. Actually, he wanted to write other things than just her name on that note. However... did he really deserve to? He knew she had had at least some feelings for him. Nevertheless, he didn¡¯t deserve her. He was a horrible man. He was a horrible man now, but he had been even worse in the past. Such an arrogant man wasn¡¯t right for Rubica as she deserved a nicer and kinder man. She had to have someone she wanted to be together with when she went back in time. The note only had her name, but he would be able to make enough deductions. He believed he would find her, ask what had happened, and take the right measures. He didn¡¯t know he would start by proposing to her when he found her. The past always looks better when looked back, and one¡¯s ws tend to be faint in memories. -Now, yourst wish. He had already decided on hisst wish and calmly said, ¡°I wish to see her before I die.¡± All he knew about her was how warm her hands had been and how cheerful her voice had been. He had touched her face, but that wasn¡¯t enough. He wanted to see her, for the first and thest time. -Very well. With that, the shining world slowly copsed and went back to the battlefield they had been. Edgar saw her in his arms. She was sleeping beautifully like she would wake up at any moment if he called her name. She was smiling faintly. She looked happy. She had found joy in her cruel life, to its very end. ¡°You are...¡± White hair, wrinkled face, dried lips. Her face was covered in mud and blood. ¡°Beautiful, Rubica. You are beautiful.¡± The old woman in ragged clothes was much more beautiful than youngdies wearing shining dresses with gems under the brilliant chandelier. When they came to him with smiles, he had only wished to run away. However, she was lovely. More beautiful than anyone he had known. Chapter 253

Chapter 253: Chapter 253

He was grateful that he could see her. He then tried to see and remember every detail of her face. However, he couldn¡¯t look at her for long. His breath weakened and rest soon came to him. A long, long rest. The death that finally came presented a silence that was deep enough to satisfy even him. ¡°Edgar, Edgar.¡± At the end of a deep silence, he could hear her voice. For a second, he thought he couldn¡¯t be the one she was calling. He had never told his real name to her. Was she calling another man named Edgar? She sounded so earnest that it made him jealous. Who was she calling? He had to see the man¡¯s face. He moved his heavy eyelids to look. Then, he could see a young and healthy woman. She seemed quite happy when he opened his eyes. Why was that? Somehow, she looked familiar. And her eyes were auburn, just like Rubica had said about her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m d that you woke up.¡± Moreover, it was her voice. It was her lips, it was her eyes. What was happening? Was he having a dream? But then, he felt a severe pain. The past, present, and future got all mixed up in his mind. ¡°Ugh.¡± The headache made him moan. He didn¡¯t know if he was regaining the memories from the past or the future, but he could be sure of one thing. ¡°Stupid, filthy idiot.¡± He hadn¡¯t known he would behave like that. It had happened because of a mistake from the messenger, buting up with marriage to keep a maiden with him? He couldn¡¯t forgive that. He had proceeded with the marriage, after finding out it had been a mistake, and he didn¡¯t like that either. Well, they say you should trust yourself the least for a good reason... ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°No, no.¡± Old Arman had been weak. Had his sense of judgment been weakened after growing old? He thought too highly of his younger self. He was really mad at himself, mad at Arman who had greeted eternal rest, thinking he had made the right choice. ¡°We thought you were dying! I feared I might really have to use the mouth-to-mouth breathing on you!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you ever say that word ever again.¡± Hearing Ios¡¯s voice irritated him even more. Arman¡¯s memories had been strong when he woke up, but they faded soon, and his original self became stronger. Rubica helped him to get up. All ice around them had melted and now they could see the high ins. What had happened to that ice cube and the diamond-like heart that had been beating in it? He looked around, and then he saw ady. More urately, it was a white ice sculpture in the shape of ady. There were hammers and chisels at its feet. The three underlings took their turn to pour transparent liquid on it. When the liquid touched the ice, it bubbled and started to slowly change into a human. She had white hair and clear sky-blue eyes. Her skin had a gloss like a reptiles¡¯ scale. She resembled a human, but she wasn¡¯t a human at all. ¡°Who is it?¡± nco opened her mouth to answer the question, but the sculpture spoke for herself. ¡°Iber.¡± It wasn¡¯t shocking, as everyone had guessed so by now. Very slowly, Iber turned to Ios. She blinked, and then she suddenly smiled, remembering. ¡°A lot of time must have gone by, now that you are this big.¡± ¡°Five hundred years, roughly,¡± Ios murmured. Edgar and Rubica had almost lost their lives because of Iber¡¯s underlings trying to wake her up. Ios had missed her so much, but now he was so angry that he wasn¡¯t d to see her at all. ¡°Have I slumbered for so long...¡± Iber looked a bit confused as she should have woken up after about a hundred years. What had happened? ¡°We did our best to collect mana quartz to wake you up.¡± ¡°But ymore sent adventurers every year to take it away from us.¡± Iber closed her eyes at her underlings¡¯ plea. Memories of her past went through her. However, all of them felt so foggy, probably because of slumbering for so long. ¡°Who are you?¡± She asked to the creature who had asked who she was. He decided it wouldn¡¯t be wise to introduce himself as Duke ymore right after the underlings spoke ill of his family. ¡°Edgar.¡± So, he just said his name, but it made the dragon smile faintly. ¡°Oh.¡± Hearing his name returned the memories her heart had witnessed. The couple who trusted and relied on each other had moved her heart, literally. ¡°Your love melted my tear and my heart.¡± Iber could now talk at a normal speed, and Edgar realized she had a habit of drawing her tongue when finishing a sentence. It was a habit his nurse had had. They looked nothing like each other, but her behavior reminded him of his nurse. ¡°What are you? And what is that ring that made so many things ur?¡± ¡°The tear in the ring was my soul¡¯s essence that had my rage toward myself who lost my precious one for foolish love, and my wish to turn back time.¡± The moment she shed the tear, her heart started to freeze. Hue gathered the tear to make the ring. The ring, that had a dragon¡¯s power and a god¡¯s working, became a holy relic and a medium. ¡°Edgar.¡± Iber had had a few dreams while sleeping, and there was the most vivid and the saddest one of them. ¡°If your mother had seeded in having a loyal love with her husband till death, both you and your father would have be nymphs.¡± The nymph put Iber¡¯s soul in a woman and kept her with her, thinking witnessing love that was loyal to the very end would melt her tear frozen with betrayal and loss. Unfortunately, the nymph failed, and she happened to be Hue¡¯s nymph. The nymphs who overlooked love and easily dazed others and made them fall for them. However, love is an emotion that is easy to start but difficult to keep. ¡°Edgar, you are an imperfect nymph. For you to use our powers, you need a dragon¡¯s power, including my tear. That is why my underlings brought you here. If you had sacrificed your life for love, you would have be a nymph and live an eternal life. And, if your love had sacrificed her life for you, you would have lost all of your powers and worth for making your loved one sacrifice herself for you, but you would have been able to live on as a human instead.¡± However, would that make him happy? Was the love that required at least one sacrifice noble? Once, Iber had thought giving up her everything, even her life, was true love. That was why she made a foolish choice. ¡°That is also a beautiful kind of love. However, the love Hue considers being the best is the love in which you don¡¯t sacrifice yourselves for each other.¡± Iber hadn¡¯t been able to ept it when the god told her so. True love is not to sacrifice for love? It was only a y of words. Choosing not to sacrifice had to be the easiest thing to do. True love had to be abandoning everything for it. Countless legends sang of it. Chastity and courage to sacrifice one¡¯s life for love, and gods¡¯ blessing that always came down at that moment. Now, she realized it hadn¡¯t been love but her stubbornness. She had been lost in her own feelings and failed to think of the one who would be left alone. Not sacrificing also required courage. You cannot love when you are alone. You must do it together. It is an emotion you must work on and cherish together. ¡°Edgar, if you had been aplete nymph, Rubica would have be Hue¡¯s nymph the moment you melt my tear with true love, and you would be on your way to the gods¡¯ world. However, you¡¯re an imperfect nymph.¡± Iber¡¯s voice started to change. It was the voice of Hue, which Edgar heard before his death. ¡°That is why I will give you a chance to choose. Will you be nymphs and live eternally in the gods¡¯ world, or will you choose to live on as humans?¡± ¡°Of course, they¡¯ll be nymphs!¡± That was Ios. He was a fool, but even he could now see Edgar was the nymph. He didn¡¯t like it that he had been fooled for so long, but if Rubica herself became a nymph, he would have never been fooled. So, he weed the offer, not knowing he had reached a stupid conclusion. ¡°What do you want?¡± But of course, Edgar didn¡¯t care even a bit about what the noisy dragon thought and calmly asked Rubica. She wasn¡¯t delighted by the great offer and rather looked worried. ¡°Tell me if there¡¯s anything bothering you.¡± However, could she really ask such a thing to a god? Iber read her hesitation and smiled quietly. In the end, Rubica found the courage to ask. Chapter 254

Chapter 254: Chapter 254

¡°Do nymphs... like to wear pretty dresses?¡± ¡°Pretty dresses?¡± Hue, who was now temporarily residing in Iber, had to try hard not to burst intoughter. However, Rubica looked deadly serious. ¡°Clothes do not matter to nymphs.¡± To Hue¡¯s nymphs, clothes were rather bothering. Therefore, Rubica couldn¡¯t hide her disappointment. She had opened shops to lure in Iber¡¯s underlings, but she truly enjoyed the work. Even thinking hard to make even morefortable and prettier clothes was delightful. Hue was the god of love and the god of beauty. He knew well about her interests, and he wanted to understand the essence of the woman¡¯s love for beauty and passion. He even wished she had been born as one of his nymphs. ¡°Nymphs are the very incarnations of beauty. You will be the most beautiful creature in the world and keep your youth for eternity.¡± Any other human would have been tempted. However, Rubica wasn¡¯t interested in bing the most beautiful creature. She found happiness in her journey to reaching beauty. That was why she found the perfect beauty rather boring. Being the very incarnation of beauty meant there would be no chance of adding more to it. The moment she found the most delightful and thrilling beauty was the moment she found the criticallyckingst piece and see it bloom altogether. ¡°You don¡¯t want to be a nymph.¡± Edgar could see she was hesitating, and he could clearly read her mind. Others would have found her strange, but he didn¡¯t. She sometimes did the least expected of things, but she had this center aspect that never changed. ¡°But... you don¡¯t have to give up eternal life because of me. If you want us to be nymphs, that¡¯s what we¡¯ll do.¡± ¡°Rubica.¡± Edgar looked at her and said, ¡°After I met you, I learned that even if a rose withers after a season, it can be more valuable than a gem that will keep its luster forever.¡± When Sesar came to him to convince him to invest in his work, he had decided beauty that faded so soon wasn¡¯t worth investing his money on. But that beauty had changed the world. It had been able to make even more changes as it was a life that didn¡¯tst forever like gems from the mines. ¡°But... you will have to give up eternal youth.¡± ¡°I want to grow old with you, and I want to see you be an olddy. You looked so pretty as an olddy.¡± ¡°What do you mean? You never got to see me like that!¡± ¡°I did. I asked the god to let me see you just before I died.¡± How was she when she died? Not pretty at all, she was sure of it. If she had known, she would have used herst bit of strength on wiping the dirt off her face. She blushed in embarrassment. ¡°You are pretty now, but you were pretty even back then. Or what? Are you going to stop loving me if I age and grow old?¡± ¡°No! Of course not!¡± Rubica passionately denied it, and it looked so lovely that it made Edgar want to hug her tightly. ¡°We¡¯ll stay as humans.¡± Edgar dered their decision, but Ios yelled as if he just couldn¡¯t understand. ¡°How could you be so foolish? It doesn¡¯t make any sense! Nymphs are much more powerful than humans, and they live long!¡± Although he was never going to admit it, he knew that Edgar was smart, smart enough to rece Minos as his brain. But now, he was making a decision even Ios himself wouldn¡¯t make, and the dragon couldn¡¯t understand it. And having a human sister... that was enough to hurt his dragon pride. ¡°I object! I want a nymph sister! I say no to you staying as humans!¡± Edgar wanted to rebuke him angrily, but Rubica stopped him. ¡°Ios, the god has said that if we be nymphs, we must go to the gods¡¯ world. It means... if we be nymphs, we will never see you again.¡± Ios had just determined to lie on the ground and throw a tantrum, but he blinked at that. He hadn¡¯t thought of it. ¡°Do you have to go to that gods¡¯ world now? Can¡¯t you goter?¡± However, Iber slowly shook her head and said, ¡°They must go now.¡± ¡°Then, I cane to visit you sometimes.¡± ¡°No, that is not allowed.¡± ¡°Huh? But that¡¯s unfair!¡± Hue just decided to ignore Ios¡¯s protests and didn¡¯t even nce at him. He spoke to Rubica, ¡°You have chosen to live as a human. I will give you a blessing to let you live the rest of your life in happiness.¡± As soon as he said that, Rubica felt pain in her eyes. She would have copsed if Edgar didn¡¯t catch her, but the painsted only for a short second. ¡°Your eyes are red.¡± ¡°Red?¡± ¡°Yes, they¡¯re not auburn now, they¡¯re as red as a ruby.¡± Was it the god¡¯s blessing... she smiled and thought of herte mother. When she was born, her mother had been delighted more than anyone to see her baby having red eyes, which was considered as Hue¡¯s blessing. Her interest in beauty started with her mother and was nourished by her merchant father. She couldn¡¯t wait to tell Edgar about them. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± After the god left, Iber looked at them with mixed feelings. ¡°Why did you not choose to be nymphs? You could have been happy together for eternity...¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know.¡± But, why had she made such a decision? In a way, she thought her choice had been a spontaneous one. Eternal life was charming enough. Anyone would have wanted to live forever in the gods¡¯ world with one¡¯s loved one. Nevertheless... when she thought about actually leaving for the gods¡¯ world, she remembered Ang and Ann. She worried Ios might cause even more havoc, and she pitied Minos who would have to take care of it all alone. She also thought of the girl she had nned to invite in secret and transform. Her, Elise, Gabriel, and Jennie had worked so hard on the n. All of it would be gone like foam if she became a nymph. ¡°I have many loved ones here, and Hue¡¯s Holy Book teaches us about various kinds of love. Of course, I love Edgar more than anyone in the world. Still... the love between lovers isn¡¯t the only love. There is also the love of parents and children, love among siblings, love among friends.¡± ¡°You¡¯re making me jealous,¡± Edgar protested. He wanted to have all of her love, but there were so many others who liked her and were liked by her. It sometimes made him really mad. ¡°Various kinds of love...¡± Iber smiled bitterly, but it cleared her head. Rubica was right. The world was full of many kinds of love. ¡°I guess you are right.¡± Iber looked at her underlings and Ios, who was now sitting on the ground, puffing with his arms crossed. She smiled. Those were her loved ones she had forgotten, blinded by passion. ¡°Thank you for awakening me. I guess you should go home now. I will carry you on the wind.¡± Iber offered them a hand, but Edgar shook his head. ¡°No.¡± The yellow sun hade up between red clouds above the far horizon. ¡°We will walk. Just lead us to our carriage.¡± His legs were not numb anymore, and he could feel thend with his feet. ¡°Rubica, let us go home.¡± She dly took his hand. Now that he could walk under the sun, he no longer had to suffer when seeing the sune up. He no longer had to worry about others seeing him in his wheelchair. Now he could have breakfast with her, and they could walk in the garden at noon. ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go home.¡± For the first time, they walked together under the sunlight. They had enjoyed walks at night, but it couldn¡¯t bepared to the joy of seeing each other¡¯s smile under the bright sunlight. Just like that, they walked a long way home. *** Many days passed by after they came back from Iber¡¯s territory. ¡°And where should I put this bag?¡± ¡°On this carriage.¡± ymore was always busy and noisy because of all its work, but today, the mansion was even more bustling. There were workers loading the mana stone carriages and drivers doing thest check on them. Madam Khanna, who had just arrived with documents about designs she would present in the next season, was quite confused to see the scene. The duke and the duchess had been working hard for thest year and they hadn¡¯t been going anywhere, even to balls and social gatherings. Had they suddenly changed their minds? ¡°Khanna!¡± Rubica saw her first and smiled brightly. Khanna also smiled at seeing her. To her, the duchess was her savior, a genius and the creator of the remarkable inventions ymore had presented in thest year. Although the duke had been the one to make theme true, only a few including Khanna knew who hade up with those ideas. Chapter 255

Chapter 255: Chapter 255

¡°Your Grace, are you going to the capital for business?¡± Rubica was wearing a stylish outdoor red dress which matched her red eyes very well. Of course, the beautiful dress had also been crafted by her own hands. Now, even kingdoms across the desert were eager to buy fabrics and clothes made by ymore¡¯s weaving machine. Kingdoms that had tried to keep Seritos at industrial bay by not supplying thread to it only a mere year ago were now all eager to sell their raw materials. ¡°No, I don¡¯t have any business to attend to at the capital...¡± ¡°Then are you going on an excursion?¡± ¡°Kind of.¡± Khanna couldn¡¯t help squeezing the documents in her hands. Judging from the quantity of luggage that was now being loaded on the carriage, it wasn¡¯t going to be a short and simple vacation. The duke and the duchess had been overworking way too much for a year. It was time for them to take some days off, but now that it was actually happening, Khanna couldn¡¯t help worrying about their business. She decided to get further instructions from Rubica before she left. ¡°If you are not going to the capital, where are you going?¡± ¡°Here and there.¡± The answer came from Duke ymore. His extreme beauty had improved even more. Before, he had been a cold man who was beautiful but hard to approach, but now he was like the spring in full bloom. But ¡®here and there¡¯? That was a vague term that wasn¡¯t like the duke. ¡°Here and there?¡± ¡°It means we haven¡¯t decided yet.¡± He spoke coldly, unlike when he talked to his wife, but was it just Khanna¡¯s imagination, or did he really sound a bit excited? Suddenly, Khanna got a really bad feeling. These couple of work addicts couldn¡¯t be about to carry out that... ¡°Then...¡± ¡°We¡¯re going on a vacation.¡± Oh, no. Khanna¡¯s mind went nk instantly. The two had been working without taking a single day off, but they kept getting far more orders than they could handle. Moreover, they didn¡¯te just within Seritos. Now, the entire continent¡¯s fashion couldn¡¯t exist without ymore. Look at the dress made of onlyces which the duchess was wearing right now. Makingces required much time and effort. Even the most skillful worker couldn¡¯t make more than 30cm ofce in a day. But a year ago, ymore changed all that by making a machine that weavedces,ces wide and long enough to make a dress. -Wow, this is a revolution. With such a thing, even kingdoms that wanted to stop Seritos from growing were going to change their side. Khanna thought although the duke who seeded in manufacturing suchce was great, Rubica who had thought of the mad idea was at least equally great. -We must have someone really great to wear a dress made with this fabric. Till then, they had been transforming girls that had yet to bloom to gain attention, but Khanna could guess that if a mere noble girl got to wear such a special dress for the first time, the royal family wouldn¡¯t like it. Rubica read her thinking and smiled. -I think so as well. -Should it be the queen or the princess? I think Her Majesty will... However, Rubica shook her head before Khanna could finish speaking. The queen was the greatest woman in the kingdom. Khanna wanted to ask who she had in mind, but she just waited until she talked. -Iber, the dragon of ice who has just woken up. For a second, Khanna doubted her ears. But soon, she thought the dragon was the only creature who was worth such shocking and bold material. Most of all, even that tricky queen would not be able to express her dissatisfaction toward Iber. -Great! It will be a lifetime experience to make a dress for a dragon. After that, Khanna and Rubica worked day and night and seeded in making a beautiful dress made of onlyces. It fluttered in the wind and was as beautiful as a dream. Her bare skin was shown sometimes between theyers ofces, but as its wearer was a dragon, it rather felt sacred and marvelous. Iber was happy to receive it and started to wear it everywhere she went. As she was a dragon who could go anywhere, soon everyone on the continent knew about Iber and her mysterious dress. It was a huge promotion effect that couldn¡¯t bepared to using a royal or a noble girl as a model. After that, Seritos¡¯s specialty wasn¡¯t mana stone butces, and Khanna soon found herself surrounded by orders and work from all over the world. ¡°And how long will this vacation be?¡± Khanna asked, trying her best not to look sad about it. Considering the orders that were waiting to be processed, she wished she could stop this vacation, but counting what had happened during thest year, it would be better to let the duke and the duchess get some rest. ¡°A year, or maybe a two. We haven¡¯t decided yet.¡± ¡°What!?¡± However, the answer she got was so unexpected that Khanna utterly failed in controlling her facial expression. ¡°A year or two? Then, the king has allowed it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Edgar said in a matter-of-factly, and Rubica smiled. Actually, getting that permission hadn¡¯t been easy since Edgar and the king even had a severe fight of words. As goods were consumed every year, it was more stable than the weapons industry that depended solely on a small group of geniuses. The king almost locked up the duke to stop him from leaving the new businesses that had just started to bloom. ¡®I want to visit many countries, see various and mysterious goods and customs, and get new ideas for goods to make.¡¯ The king wasn¡¯t impressed at all by Edgar¡¯s anger and threats, but he fell to Rubica¡¯s soft persuasion. He concluded if they got new ideas from the trip and came up with even more sensational goods to manufacture, it would lead to even bigger profits. ¡°But... many people want to know which fabric and color we will use for next spring. Factory Two has written to me, they must make fabrics in advance to handle the required amount of production.¡± If the king had given them his permission, a mere designer couldn¡¯t stop them. However, Khanna broke in a cold sweat while worrying about the close future. Would she be able to manage the mega-sized business without the duchess? Khanna¡¯s shop currently had branches abroad while the shops formoners run by Madam Berry now had factories of their own. Hundreds of people¡¯s living depended on them. ¡°Here!¡± Rubica handed her a bundle of thick papers. ¡°These are...¡± ¡°Lace patterns and ideas. With these and your own skills, you will be able to go on without me at least for a year.¡± Khanna quickly looked at them, and they had all kinds of ideas for fabrics andce patterns. ¡°And tell the butler if you need anything. I¡¯ll keep in touch.¡± But Khanna already couldn¡¯t hear her, she just nodded with a bright smile while looking at the papers. They were enough for three years, so all of her worries disappeared. She then decided to let Rubica go in peace. ¡°I hope you have a great journey. Oh, and do you n to visit Barnia?¡± ¡°Barnia?¡± ¡°Yes, I heard they have been making extremely pretty buttons.¡± ¡°Then we should stop by there too.¡± Rubica¡¯s eyes twinkled with curiosity. It was like her habit of pursuing beauty was engraved on her soul. Edgar opened the door of the carriage, adding Barnia to their trip itinerary. ¡°Hey.¡± Ios, who had been waiting in it, crossed his legs and waved a hand to him, but Edgar mmed the door shut. ¡°We¡¯re not using this carriage. Burn it down and bring another one.¡± The carriage¡¯s door was blown away with a huge ¡®bang¡¯ before he was done speaking. Everyone was shocked, but Edgar didn¡¯t even raise an eyebrow. ¡°What kind of manner is it to m the door shut in front of a man¡¯s face?¡± ¡°You are not a ¡®man.¡¯¡± Ios frowned hard, not able to find anything to counter it with. Rubica sensed they were about to go into a fight, so she quickly joined the conversation. ¡°Ios, why are you here? We¡¯ve sent everything you need through Minos...¡± However, the dragon said nothing when asked and even blushed. In the end, Edgar couldn¡¯t wait anymore and tried to take Rubica to another carriage, but then Ios yelled, ¡°Where are you going without telling me?¡± Edgar frowned and said, ¡°As far as I know, reporting to you about our lives isn¡¯t one of my duties.¡± Chapter 256

Chapter 256: Chapter 256

Even the winds that blew in Iber¡¯s territory weren¡¯t so cold. Despite Edgar¡¯s cold rage, Ios went on with what he had to say. ¡°I even let your people go through my Golden Land!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the one who asked for it, but Iber was.¡± When they came back to the kingdom after waking up Iber, not everything went smoothly. The fact that Seritos was running out of mana stones was revealed, and they had to face lots of chaos and hardships. The kingdom had nothing more to trade for food, and some extremists urged they had to storm into Iber¡¯s territory and take the mana stones. Luckily, Iber was wise, and she reached the conclusion that she and Ios wouldn¡¯t be able to survive by fighting humans, so she had Ios let the men use his Golden Land as a trade route. Thanks to that, Seritos was freed from its long fear of a food shortage, at least to some extent, and the rtionship between dragons and humans started to improve slowly. ¡°Hmm... but no! You can¡¯t go without me!¡± Ios looked like he was ready to leave with them. Of course, a journey with him would be pleasant, although it would be a bit tiring. However, that wasn¡¯t the kind of pleasure Edgar was hoping for. ¡°I didn¡¯t work day and night to spend time with you, I did it to...¡± Rubica quickly covered his mouth at that point lest he talked about their love life and embarrass her. ¡°Ios, but isn¡¯t the carriage too small for you to join us? Plus, its speed would be too slow for you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. I just don¡¯t understand why you call this fast.¡± Edgar wanted to reply that it was much better to go in a carriage with cushions than to travel through the ground, getting the dirt in their mouth and ears, but he didn¡¯t. He knew he wasn¡¯t good at handling the dragon, it would be better to let Rubica do it. ¡°We¡¯re going to take a ship at the port. Why don¡¯t you go there first and see the ocean? I think you would enjoy it much more than being cramped in a carriage with us. I¡¯m sure some of your nts would love the sand from the beach.¡± ¡°Hmm, well, Andro has beenining about the ground being too wet...¡± Ios narrowed his eyes when thinking about it, and then he was gone in a sh. Only then, Rubica could let out a sigh of relief. The dragon, who tried to disturb the couple¡¯s time together, was finally gone. Of course, they were going to meet again at the port, but at least they would be alone for a few days. ¡°Let¡¯s leave, before we get more disturbers.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t agree with you more.¡± There were many who would disturb their vacation. That was why they had prepared for it in secret, but they had had too many disturbers already. Edgar quickly made the driver start the carriage before a goblin could jump out of the ground and grab his ankle to stop him, saying he couldn¡¯t run away when they had so many businesses to manage. Edgar rxed only when the carriage left the dukedom. Then, he looked at Rubica. Today, his wife looked even more beautiful than usual. The red eyes that glittered under the sunlight showed how special she was. ¡°Finally, we¡¯re alone.¡± She blushed at his whispering, although she didn¡¯t know why. They had been married for quite some time now, so why was that? A corner of his lips curled up at seeing her so shy, and he had to try hard to notugh. He hugged her. She was soft and warm. Her warmth and her scent always made him rx. He even wished he could sleep forever like that, with her in his arms. ¡°Edgar.¡± Her voice was always pleasant to hear. He slowly leaned down to kiss her lips which always felt new and missed, although he had kissed them hundreds of times by now. ¡°Now, I will be able to have you all to myself, without any disturbers.¡± He meant it. Even though she said she was ordinary, only a few had the special charms that she had. Moreover, there were many flies who wanted to be near such a beautiful flower... He respected the work she did, but sometimes, when she focused entirely on making other women pretty even when she had him right by her side, he was jealous, although he knew she wasn¡¯t in love with those women. ¡°Oh, um, where were we going first again? Oh, you¡¯ve never been to Port Vail, have you? They sell delicious roasted cmari there.¡± Rubica sensed the mood was about to be intense right in the carriage, so she quickly took out the map to change the topic. Edgar could see what she was up to, but he decided to let her go for once and looked at the map. The map was full of their ns for the journey, where to go and what to see. He had said he wanted to show her the world, but that was only an excuse. Actually, he just wanted to be alone with her. ¡°And we should add this ce too.¡± He said as he pointed at an empty spot on the map. Rubica saw where he was pointing at and smiled. It was Hue¡¯s Abbey where they had met for the first time during the war. She dipped a quill in red ink and drew a star on the spot. ¡°And here.¡± ¡°That is...¡± ¡°Hometown of Chris the sailor, one of your best friends.¡± ¡°How do you...¡± ¡°Remember that? Don¡¯t forget that I have a super memory.¡± She smiled at his bragging. And as they had nned, they journeyed through many countries and saw many things. They also found time to meet skilled craftsmen. Rubica got to see what she had heard about during her time at the abbey with her own eyes. It was extremely pleasant to see all those countries, which should have been devastated by the war, were still flourishing. But what delighted her the most were the people wearing clothes made by her ideas. ¡°Oh, look at this! It¡¯s Gabriel¡¯s magazine!¡± The tranted version of The Little Bird¡¯s News that had news about Madam Berry¡¯s shops was being sold across the ocean. Rubica dly bought a copy, although it cost many times what it cost in Seritos. Gabriel would surely be happy to learn about it. ¡°Rubica, we should go now, or the abbey will close its door.¡± Edgar pressed on her. The two were now dressed like ordinarymoners, but even that couldn¡¯t hide his special aura, and he had had to cover his face with a mask. ¡°Oh, I forgot about it.¡± They didn¡¯t want to be weed at the abbey as the duke and the duchess. They wanted to go there as ordinary people. They arrived there by sunset, and it wasn¡¯tpletely the same with what they remembered. In her memories, the abbey was old and shabby, and its walls painted in blue had cracks on it. Even though its buildings had been huge, it had had only two, three buildings. But now, they were looking at about ten buildings, and their walls even had splendid wall paintings. The garden, which had had only a few dead trees, was now full of fruit trees and flowers. ¡°Was this ce so huge...¡± ¡°This has to be what it was like before the war.¡± Rubica nodded, and he was right. What they were looking at was what the abbey was supposed to look like. Nevertheless, she couldn¡¯t help but feel a little disappointed. Was the world she still remembered nowpletely gone? She should have been delighted that now all the damages caused by the war had never existed, but somehow, it made her feel bitter. Edgar felt the same as well. The ground he was stepping on, the walls he touched with his hands, the air itself, they were all different from his memories. Rubica told him the main building was pretty much the same, but as he had been blind at the time, he couldn¡¯t know. ¡°Why don¡¯t we find the ¡®mother and children¡¯ statue that you liked?¡± He spoke to lighten the mood. The mother and children¡¯s statue had been located slightly away from the dormitory they had been staying at. Rubica had loved it because the mother reading to her children reminded her of her ownte mother. She immediately said it was a good idea, and they went to the statue. Thankfully, the statue was exactly where they remembered it to be. Chapter 257

Chapter 257: Chapter 257

¡°Look! The Silvia flowers are still here...¡± Tears welled up in Rubica¡¯s eyes. It was good that such a terrible war was never going to break out, but her time at the abbey was one of the dear memories of her life. Going back there made her realize something. It was time to let go of all those hard but worthwhile days. ¡°Here.¡± Edgar took out a handkerchief and tried to hand it to her, but then he tumbled and ended up pulling her arm to him. ¡°Hey! What do you think you are doing? Get away from her, now!¡± An angry voice interrupted them. It was a girl wearing the clothes of a novice, and she was looking at them with her hands on her waist. It seemed she thought Edgar was trying to hurt Rubica. ¡°She is my wife.¡± Edgar tried to exin, but the girl didn¡¯t lower her guard. She continued, even angrier than before, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if she really is your wife or not. What matters is that she is crying, and you look quite threatening.¡± Then, she asked quite kindly to Rubica, ¡°Is this man really your husband?¡± She had stopped crying in surprise and nodded. But the girl was still looking suspicious, so Rubica opened her mouth to exin, but then her eyes widened. ¡°Priestess... Lefena?¡± She hadn¡¯t been able to recognize her at first as she had no wrinkles on her face and was a lot thinner, but her strong eyes and stubborn lips indicated that she had to be Lefena. Moreover, she was right, for the girl blinked. ¡°Do you know me?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. We¡¯ve met a long time ago.¡± Lefena tried hard to recall her, but she was sure she had never seen thisdy before. She wouldn¡¯t have forgotten such an elegant woman with red eyes. ¡°Um, my husband was just trying to hand me his handkerchief, but then he tumbled over a jagged stone.¡± ¡°Did he? Then I apologize.¡± Lefena cleanly apologized as soon as she heard Rubica¡¯s exnation. She was strict, but she always kept her rules. Edgar was quite surprised to see her bow so deeply to him. Rubica¡¯s exmation had made him remember her as well, but he never imagined he would ever get an apology from her. ¡°No, you did the right thing as a priestess.¡± He was so shocked that he addressed her as he had done before. Lefena looked at him. She also thought she had been right, but in such a case, most people got mad at her for being used wrongly. Lefena decided she quite liked the couple, so she volunteered to guide them to the abbey¡¯s entrance. ¡°I, I am not a priestess yet, so you don¡¯t have to call me one. Actually, I¡¯ve already failed the test twice... so I don¡¯t even know if I¡¯ll ever be one.¡± Lefena whispered so at the entrance. Her red cheeks made Rubica want tough, but she just took her hand instead. ¡°You will make it, you will be a great and brilliant priestess.¡± Then, she went back to the carriage with Edgar, feeling quite good. The sadness she had had when she arrived was now gone. It was as if she had the clouds of a warm spring¡¯s day in her heart. ¡°Edgar, when we first went in, I didn¡¯t know what to do because everything looked so different. But after I met Lefena, I¡¯ve realized that even if most of the world changes, some things will never change.¡± He quietly nodded, knowing what she was feeling. Many had changed. The ce she remembered now didn¡¯t exist. The time she remembered now didn¡¯t exist. However, there was one thing that hadn¡¯t changed, a person. Priestess Lefena was still there. ¡®And Ang...¡¯ Her cousin, who should have died by now, was living on. She even looked quite happy when she came to visit her at ymore. Rubica¡¯s memories, the ce she had protected, her encounters with others, they were now all gone like illusions, but they were notpletely gone. Somewhere in the world, all those people she had met had to be diligently living their own lives. She looked at the man next to her. He had taken out his blueprint for the weaving machine and was taking a look at it. Lately, he had been working on improving his weaving machine to enable them to make even thinner and more delicateces. In living diligently, no man excelled like her own husband. She was grateful that he was by her side. ¡°Edgar, I think we should go home now.¡± He smiled as if he had been waiting for her to say it. ¡°There are many people waiting for the next announcement of your secret boutique. I heard society is in a panic because of Madam Berry¡¯s sudden disappearance.¡± ¡°Oh, then we must go back quickly before they find out who she is!¡± She said yfully and kissed his forehead. She was going to live on, as diligent as him. She wasn¡¯t capable of making great inventions like him, instead, she could find beauty for people. Moreover, she liked that the work was secretive. Just like only a few, including Edgar, knew she had saved the world, not everything had to be known by the world. Whether the world knows about it or not, she will live on, for her life and joys, right where she belongs. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!