“In exchange, tell me lots about Camelli.”

“Of course! What would you like to know? Ask me anything, my lady!”

I asked Anna various things. The geography of this area, local specialties, places worth visiting, how they spend winter, and what nobles live nearby—though she didn’t know much about this last point.

Anna chattered away, telling me what she knew. I quite liked her transparent and innocent nature.

Over the course of those few days, I became acquainted with several of the castle staff. There were a few I encountered frequently.

“This is a traditional Camelli recipe pumpkin pie. It’s very delicious!”

Anna, the new attending maid, loves sweets, so she often recommends them to me. Each time, I asked her to prepare the same for Rashid.

“This is Elga Mountain peach wine.”

Sion, the attendant who often stays by Rashid’s side. His soft wheat-colored hair and ever-smiling face are impressive. Anna blushes every time she sees Sion.

“When it snows, the sight of it piled softly on the evergreens is quite beautiful, my lady.”

The gardener Mileon is busy tending to the garden in preparation for the coming winter. Camellias bloom towards the end of winter, and since they are the symbol of Penvernon, they need to bloom magnificently, so he bustles about as busily in this season as in spring and summer.

They were all kind and good people.

I gradually became accustomed to daily life with them, and to Camelli as well.

The air, laden with cold, sparkled sharply. The city with its open sky was delicate and warm. People moved energetically through the streets lined with wide terracotta roofs. The roads paved with neat bricks were clean, and the vast square engraved with a giant camellia flower pattern was expansive.

A unique landscape, different from the glamorous Granrose that bloomed like a fully opened rose, and different from the Legentia estate where snow-capped mountains could be seen year-round, seeped into me.

“Over there is the shopping district of the first sector.”

Anna pointed out the carriage window on the day we decided to tour the castle town,

The inner streets were bustling with people. There, the scene of the market I had imagined unfolded before me. Stylish wooden signboards were attached above awnings of various colors, and beneath them, stalls were lined with ingredients.

The faces of the people walking around were full of vitality. Their bright expressions made me feel at ease.

I gestured to Anna,

“Stop the carriage. Let’s visit the market for a bit.”

“The market? It might be inconvenient for you to walk there, it’s quite crowded, are you sure?”

“Of course. If so many people can walk there, there’s no reason I can’t.”

“But still……”

“It’s fine. Just don’t make a fuss about my arrival.”

“Yes, my lady. I understand.”

Anna, after hesitating for a moment, stopped the carriage. I pressed my hat down deeply and gathered my skirts carefully as I got out of the carriage.

Even though I was wearing simple clothes for going out, once I stood on the street, I could feel occasional glances. Thinking it would be inconvenient for sightseeing if I stood out, I had ridden in an ordinary carriage without a coat of arms, and I was glad I did. At least they wouldn’t be able to immediately recognize who I was.

The market was a different world. The scent of flowers, the aroma of sweet pastries and tart fruits, the smell of high-piled grains and red meat all mingled together dizzyingly.

The places I usually frequented in Granrose were high-end shopping districts for nobles, lined with boutiques and jewelers. Therefore, this was my first time visiting such an unpretentious and lively market.

“Anna! What’s that?”

I pointed to one side of a street vendor.

“That’s flower candy! Shall we buy one?”

Anna answered cheerfully and bought one. I bought another and told her to eat it too. It felt a bit odd to eat alone.

“Can I eat this?”

“Of course. Please, try it.”

I bit into the white petals that looked like gardenia flowers coated in sugar. The hardened petals broke easily and entered my mouth. The taste was very sweet.

“How interesting. Is this a real flower?”

“Yes, it’s called a sweet flower and its petals are very sweet. Many people eat it as a snack. But the leaves and stems are poisonous, so they need to be carefully prepared. Don’t you have these in Granrose?”

“Well, they might exist, but I’ve never seen them.”

Considering that Alisa doesn’t remember them either, perhaps they’re a specialty of Camelli.

There were many other interesting things as well.

Fruits with colors and shapes I’d never seen before, strangely formed animals, dishes with unique smells. Numerous things that told me I was no longer in the reality I knew revealed themselves.

Anna, who was worried at first, soon became excited and dragged me here and there.

“Now, look at this, my lady!”

「Anna was excited and boisterous about her lady’s reactions.」

The sentence disappeared like smoke. She seemed to enjoy my surprised and amazed reactions. I do tend to have rather big reactions. But anyone from my world who came here would probably act the same way.

“Ah, come this way!”

As we were passing through the street, Anna pulled my arm and hid me behind her.

「There was a butcher shop selling meat on one side of the street. Anna, worried that the Duchess might be frightened by the barbaric sight, took care of her.」

I laughed at the content of the sentence. Peeking, I saw it was a shop with red meat hanging and chickens or pheasants laid out on one side of the counter.

The sight of dead animals might make one frown, but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t bear to look. At times like this, I was grateful for the somewhat modernized setting of this world.

“Hey, how can you bring a noble lady to the market?”

The burly butcher came out and guffawed at Anna and me.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Anna bristled and glared at the butcher.

I waved my hand to stop her.

“It’s alright, Anna. Since we’re here, shall we buy something?”

“But, my lady!”

“Come on.”

Anna grumbled as she moved her feet.

“Welcome, my lady! Will you be alright? If there’s anything you want to buy, why don’t you order that maid over there?”

The butcher joked.

“Hey, do you know who this person is……”

“Anna.”

I covered Anna’s mouth. Anna pouted with a sulky face.

“It’s fine.”

“Well, that’s good then! I was just worried it might be a bit gross for you, haha!”

Though his manner of speech was rough, there was no hint of sarcasm or mockery in his tone. He seemed to be purely concerned that the sight of red meat and dead animals lined up at the butcher shop might upset me.

「That’s good then. The butcher laughed heartily and rubbed his hands. Now, what shall I sell?」

I smiled slightly at the sentence that revealed his inner thoughts, as if it had been waiting for this moment.

“Well then, my lady! Just say the word. What can I get for you?”

“How much can you provide?”

I said, looking around the butcher’s counter.

“We have everything! If you need, we can even slaughter for you!”

He laughed loudly.

“Then please do that.”

“Pardon?”

“One cow, five pigs. About twenty chickens.”

“Wh-what?”

Is that too little? I heard that one cow produces hundreds of servings of meat. The retainers and staff of Camelli Castle must number well over 100, so we might need a bit more to share with them.

“No, make it two cows.”

If we cut mainly the good parts of the meat, and share the rest if there’s any left over, that should be fine. If there’s too much meat in the castle, we can send it outside the castle. It’s better to have too much than too little.

Seeing that I still have this mindset, it seems that the memories of where I was born and raised are deeply ingrained and will never be erased throughout my life.

The merchant, whose eyes had grown round, soon guffawed and said there was no question about it, quickly taking the order.

By the time we finished our sightseeing, looking around, everything was already dyed in purple. The sun was setting the sky on fire as it fled westward.

When we returned to the castle, Rashid had already come home. His hair was still wet as if he had just washed, and he wore a loose white shirt. His skin looked moist, full of humidity.

He greeted me with a smile.

“You’re late.”

“I took a little tour of the market in the castle town.”

“In person?”

“Yes, it was fun. The atmosphere is definitely different from Granrose. I bought some groceries, they said we can receive them tomorrow.”

I chattered about what I had seen and heard today.

Rashid listened to my story patiently. He didn’t forget to answer my questions at times, or to interject simple responses.

These days, he had more time to converse than when we were in the capital. I had never found it difficult to chat with Rashid before, but lately it had become even easier and more comfortable, to the point where I often rambled on about trivial things.

That’s not to say that Rashid was living like a complete idler.

While I was adjusting to Camelli, he was busy training the army. With winter approaching, he would soon need to inspect the entire domain, and the army would accompany him to manage public safety and hunt demonic beasts.

“Still, you seem a bit less busy here.”

Rashid said. For some reason, it sounded like he was saying, ‘I’m busy, but you’re not.’ Of course, that wasn’t his intention, but I felt oddly guilty.

“If His Majesty the Emperor and the eyes of the ministers were here too, I might be busier.”

I retorted primly.

It’s a waste of effort to be busy here where their eyes and ears that will decide my divorce can’t reach.