16. one must use everything available to the fullest

On what seemed like an ordinary day, Lysith found herself facing an unexpected obstacle.

“……”

The afternoon sunlight entering the library broke against the man’s black hair. Below that, closed eyes and a thin book held in one hand.

Glancing at the book’s title, she saw it was about embroidery.

Hap. Closing her mouth, Lysith raised her gaze to look again at the sleeping man’s face.

‘I should wake him up, right……?’

She had no idea why Dietrich Clonair was sleeping in the library after reading an embroidery book.

Lysith’s encounter with her drowsily sleeping ex-husband in the library was due to events from a few hours earlier.

* * *

Days had been slowly passing as she contemplated whether to completely ignore Sylvian’s letter and try to create an opportunity to meet Dietrich using her meager information-gathering abilities.

“……Huh?”

As Lysith was spending time reading a book in her study as usual, she frowned while examining the bookshelf. The novel she held in her hand was volume 3, and on the shelf, volume 5 existed without volume 4.

In other words, the middle volume was missing.

She couldn’t just skip it and read on; it wouldn’t make sense. After all, isn’t the emotional flow everything in a romance novel?

She asked the mansion staff if they knew the whereabouts of the middle volume or could find it, but neither that day nor the next could volume 4 be found. At this point, it seemed it had never been there to begin with.

Since she had been enjoying the book so much, she really wanted to read volume 4. She considered buying it but found it was out of print and unavailable. As Lady Gronevelt, she could certainly pressure the publisher, but she disliked using her power in such ways.

……In fact, she was desperate enough to look for the publisher, only to discover it had already gone bankrupt. Lysith couldn’t understand how they could go bankrupt after releasing such a masterpiece.

If only she had friends around, she could have borrowed it!

While Lysith was pondering what to do, her maid, who was fixing her clothes, suggested visiting the library.

“……The library?”

“Yes. Since it’s established by the empire, they should have most books unless they’re forbidden texts or ones that should only be in the imperial palace.”

“Ah, that’s right. Thank you.”

Wondering why she hadn’t thought of the library, Lysith immediately headed there. Since she only planned to borrow one book, she didn’t take Eve with her.

As the maid had said, the library was established by the Faeous Empire and was accessible to anyone. It was spacious enough to deserve the modifier “anyone.” Magical devices took care of theft prevention and status management.

Anyway, Lysith entered the library with her hair pinned up and wearing an elegant wide-brimmed hat to conceal her identity. She didn’t want to advertise that she was Lady Gronevelt. It would be too troublesome.

‘This damn hair.’

When she had gone out with Ashites, she hadn’t felt the inconvenience because he had changed her hair color, but coming out like this, if her white hair were discovered, she would immediately be called “Lady, Lady” by the librarians.

The library had three floors, and the book Lysith was looking for was on the second floor.

After using a simple magical device to find volume 4 of the coveted novel, Lysith’s face flushed with excitement.

But once she held it in her hands, she felt even more restless. Having lived almost a week without knowing what happened next, wouldn’t it be okay to read just a little bit? That thought dominated her mind.

The ending of volume 3 had been so perfectly suspenseful that she was dying of curiosity.

‘Just a little reading before I go, just a little.’

Since she had left early, it didn’t matter. It was now 1 PM, and if she returned to the mansion before 5 PM, it wouldn’t be too dark and would be fine.

Eventually, Lysith found a seat and began reading.

Flap, flap. The sound of turning pages filled the library. There seemed to be fewer people than usual today, as librarians occasionally passed by, having small conversations.

And when Lysith finally closed the book after reading all of volume 4 while inwardly chanting ‘just a little more……!’ repeatedly, it was already past 3 PM.

She had been so engrossed in the book that she hadn’t noticed the time passing. Realizing this, she glared at the innocent book.

‘I’ve read it all, but I should still borrow it.’

She planned to read it once more at home before moving on to volume 5. After finishing volume 6, she would start again from volume 1. Having made this diligent resolution, Lysith took the book and headed toward the first floor.

Just before heading to the exit, she suddenly became curious about what the first floor looked like. The second floor, being full of novels, seemed designed for comfort rather than study.

In contrast, the first floor contained books helpful for daily life. The third floor, filled with various theses and difficult subjects, would obviously be more austere than the second floor, even without looking.

Curious, Lysith poked her head into the first floor.

If the second floor had a somewhat warm atmosphere, the first floor had a slightly more rigid feel.

The use of plush cushions also seemed much less frequent on the first floor. Well, the books on the first floor were probably ones people would take home to read. With this thought, Lysith walked around the first floor once and suddenly doubted her eyes.

“……Eh?”

No matter how much she rubbed her eyes in disbelief, the figure of the man sitting in a chair near the window frame was not an illusion.

‘Why is Dietrich here?’

The melancholy passive skill that usually activated automatically when he was nearby had been completely turned off since the hunting festival, so she hadn’t known he was close.

When she temporarily turned it off, it would shut down properly with a command, but when she tried to turn it off completely, lo and behold, the method was written at the very bottom of the window in ant-sized letters!

What kind of sneaky contract clause was this?

Anyway, Lysith quickly surveyed her surroundings. If they were caught together, it could become quite troublesome.

Fortunately, there was no one around. It was a blessing that there were unusually few people today. Breathing a small sigh of relief, Lysith cautiously approached him.

‘Is he pretending to sleep?’

His Highness the Grand Duke, who couldn’t possibly have free time, wouldn’t pretend to sleep in such a place, but Lysith waved her hand in front of his face.

He truly seemed to be sound asleep, as the man showed no signs of waking despite her gesture.

After withdrawing her hand, she lowered her gaze and noticed a thin book held in his hand. It was a dark green book, and when she bent down to check…

‘You Can Do It Too! How to Embroider Beautifully……?’

What was this sales-pitch-like title?

Lysith made a wry face but then suddenly realized who was holding this book and let out a silent scream.

Dietrich Clonair was reading this book?

Of course, when they met last time, he had mentioned practicing. She hadn’t disbelieved him, but she hadn’t thought he would be diligent enough to find and read books about it.

What should she do? While contemplating, Lysith suddenly fell into a strange sensation as she observed Dietrich’s profile under the warm afternoon sunlight. She had thought such coloring wouldn’t suit him at all. As she slightly raised her hand to touch his hair, his well-maintained black hair shimmered and shone.

She, who had been standing in front of him, carefully sat down beside him. It wasn’t such a bad feeling. The library’s gentle atmosphere was making people feel that way.

‘But it would be awkward if I return too late.’

Rolling her eyes to check the time, she saw it was already 4 PM. Deciding to wake him up, she placed her hand on his firm arm and gently shook it. Even with this slight movement, the man’s eyes opened.

“……”

“……Dietrich?”

As his pupils still seemed hazy, indicating his mind hadn’t fully returned, Lysith called the man’s name in a small voice. She had considered calling him “Your Highness the Grand Duke,” but since he had clearly said it was okay to call him by name when they met last time, she thought it didn’t matter.

When she stopped shaking him and her hand slightly lifted from his arm, Dietrich, even in his half-asleep state, moved his other hand like lightning and grabbed her hand.

Startled by this action, Lysith flinched, and only then did he seem to fully wake up. His eyes widened, and the strength in his tightly gripping hand gradually loosened.

“……Lysith?”

“Yes.”

Nodding in response, Lysith belatedly realized she was wearing a hat. When she took off the wide-brimmed hat and placed it beside her, Dietrich’s gaze followed her every movement.

As Lysith fidgeted with her hand that had been tightly gripped using her other hand, Dietrich’s fingertips twitched.

“Does your hand… hurt a lot?”

“No. I was just a bit surprised……”

“……I apologize.”