“Impressive.”

A sharp, mocking voice rang out toward Calix as he rode at the front — Zenfri. Standing beside him with a sour look, Zenfri’s words dripped with sarcasm. Alter, missing the jab entirely, grinned and gave Calix an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

“Your Grace is truly remarkable! Such a considerate and splendid husband!”

Zenfri regarded him with open disdain before giving Alter a sharp, deliberate rap on the head.

“Do you not understand the concept of sarcasm? Did that sound like a genuine compliment to you? Hm?”

“Huh? Then you were being sarcastic—deliberately—toward His Grace?!”

“…Ha.”

Zenfri sighed and pointed behind them. His finger indicated a lavish, ostentatious carriage that was utterly out of place in such surroundings. It was following the forest path. Inside, Selina was nodding off, her head bobbing with drowsiness.

“Let me ask you—when the emperor himself offers to grant you a wish, what do you think of a man who asks for nothing more than a carriage?”

The question was aimed squarely at Calix.

“Hmm…”

Alter pondered with great seriousness before suddenly raising his hand.

“A bit disappointing, I’d say! If it were me, I’d ask for something edible. What I want is a week-long feast without a single break—!”

“Enough. Don’t speak to me until we reach Thalia.”

Zenfri clamped a hand over Alter’s mouth, unwilling to hear another word.

“Anyway, this time, spare us the excuse that you were trying to deceive everyone. Anyone could see that Your Grace was worried for my lady.”

“Me?”

Calix lifted a shoulder in feigned ignorance.

“Of course. Could you, for example, tell someone with a broken ankle to mount a horse and ride?”

“I couldn’t. Or rather, I wouldn’t. But Your Grace is different, aren’t you?”

Zenfri then repeated, word for word, something Calix himself had once said.

“Do you remember what you said to me when I was back on the battlefield with an arrow in my thigh and told you that I would die if I got on a horse?”

“Wait until you recover?”

“No. You told me to crawl there if I had to!”

“That’s how much I trust you.”

“…If you’d just keep that sort of thing to yourself, I wouldn’t be fuming inside like this.”

Zenfri shook his head and added.

“You really seem like you’ve changed. Changed as a person.”

Watching him grumble, Calix gave a dry chuckle.

“I haven’t changed.”

His expression hardened as he stared straight ahead, seemingly determined not to acknowledge the carriage carrying Selina.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

“I’m glad you’ve returned safely.”

After spending a long time travelling by carriage, they finally arrived in Thalia. Servants from the ducal estate came out to greet them. Once the formalities were over, Calix headed straight for his office.

‘Even during the carriage ride, we hardly had any time to talk…’

Selina watched his retreating back with a sense of disappointment. She had thought that, at least upon arriving in Thalia, they might exchange a few simple words—You’ve worked hard, or Thank you for your trouble. But Calix left quickly, as if being chased by something, avoiding her entirely.

Several days later, the person who came to see Selina was not the Calix she’d been waiting for, but Lady Lily. She handed Selina a bundle of papers, explaining,

“I know you haven’t fully recovered yet, but there’s something I need to pass on to you.”

On the first page of the document she handed over, the words Encouragement Event for the Territory’s Residents in Preparation for the Hot Season were written in large print.

‘Come to think of it, summer will be here soon.’

Having lived only in the monastery until now, Selina didn’t know in detail how hot the summer could be. That area had many monsters, and perhaps because of that, the temperature was damp and chilly all year round.

“What you’ll need to review, my lady, is the event schedule.”

Lily turned to the next page, which outlined what would happen at the encouragement event. First, there would be an opening address to welcome everyone and offer words of encouragement for the upcoming hot season. This would be followed by the distribution of necessary items and a personal greeting for each resident, after which the event would come to a close.

Selina studied the sequence carefully, determined to memorise it.

“There’s no need to memorize it right now. You’ll remember naturally as you prepare. But before we begin, there’s one thing you’ll need to decide in advance—what supplies would be best to distribute to the residents of the territory…”

As Selina listened to Lily’s explanation, her heart quickened. She had never been entrusted with anything so important before, and the thought of doing something meaningful for the ducal estate—and for its people—filled her with a rush of excitement.

“It’s my first time organizing an event like this, but… I’ll give it a try.”

She flashed Lily a bright smile. She had no idea how difficult the work might be, having never done it before, but the will to do her best welled up in her. Surely, if she worked hard enough, she could pull it off.

However…

‘There were this many options for supplies?’

A few days later, Selina received the documents at her desk—and felt her enthusiasm deflate before she could even begin. Unlike yesterday, when the amount of paperwork had seemed manageable, a veritable mountain of paper was now stacked high before her. And all of it wasn’t just about the event—it was a list of gift candidates for the territory’s residents.

“The total budget for residents’ supplies is 1,500 gold pieces. Until last year, it was only 500 gold pieces, but now that the long war has finally ended, His Grace the Grand Duke has ordered the budget to be increased.”

One thousand five hundred gold.

Selina had never even properly handled a single gold coin in her life.

‘Can I really spend 1,500 gold wisely?’

She was already worried, but the moment she saw the endless items listed, she was at a loss for words.

“There are 975 candidates in total. The plan is to prepare the supplies and gift one to each household, so you’ll need to choose the most suitable ones within the budget, my lady.”

“Ah…”

“If you’d like to see the actual samples, we can summon the merchants directly. We can’t call all 975 of them, of course—so if you narrow down the selection, we’ll invite only those merchants.”

“Th-thank you.”

“Well then…”

Lady Lily offered a polite bow and left Selina’s chambers.

Still bewildered about what exactly she was supposed to do, Selina waited until the woman had disappeared completely before letting out a deep sigh.

‘What am I supposed to do with all this?’

She scanned through the list, but none of the items gave her a clear idea.

Fans, scented candles, chocolates, cloths, whisky and handkerchiefs — the list went on and on. There were five different types of fan, ten types of scented candle, and more than twenty types of cloth.

She had no idea how any of these items could be useful in summer and most were luxury goods typically used by nobles.

Prices ranged from one gold coin per item to over twenty, with some exceeding a hundred.

‘I can’t even tell if that’s cheap or expensive…’

She wanted to ask someone for help, but she worried it would seem strange for the daughter of a powerful marquis to be ignorant of the prices and uses of noble goods.

‘…Should I ask Calix?’

The thought of seeking his help crossed her mind, but she quickly shook her head. It had been three days since they returned to Thalia, and she hadn’t caught so much as a glimpse of him.

During the day, he seemed buried in work, shut away in his office, and in the evenings, he would go out—presumably to meet people—and not return until late.

‘We don’t even share a room, so it’s not like I see him then either.’

A pang of resentment rose in her chest.

After all, he had rescued her in the pouring rain not so long ago. Not only that, but he had also kissed her and done other things that had left her flushed with embarrassment.

But now? He was acting as if nothing had ever happened; he wasn’t even showing his face.

She’d expected things between them to go back to normal once they returned, but she hadn’t thought they’d end up more estranged than strangers.

Unaware of the situation, most of the Grand Duke’s retainers assumed that the couple must have had a serious argument after returning from the hunting competition.

‘Fine. I’ll do it myself! I can handle this on my own.’

Selina clenched her small hands into fists. She wanted to show Calix that she was perfectly capable of managing without him.

Still, she knew nothing about budgeting, so the first step would have to be studying.

“I’m sure I saw a library around here.”

She murmured, recalling having passed one when following Calix.

Leaning on a cane and limping heavily on her still-unhealed ankle, she made her way toward it.

‘Found it!’

After wandering around for nearly half an hour, she finally found the library and went in.

The room was enormous, filled with an impressive number of books. Fortunately, they were organised by category, making it easy to find what she was looking for.

‘Oh…’

Unfortunately, the book she needed was on a shelf that was far too high for her to reach. She considered standing on tiptoe, but her ankle wouldn’t allow it.

Just as she was shifting anxiously from foot to foot, wondering what to do—

“Is this what you were looking for?”

Someone stepped up behind her and took down the very book she had been trying to reach.