CLATTER CLATTER—

At the sound of hoofbeats from outside, Roina leaned against the window and looked toward the source of the sound.

“Today is Wednesday.”

Wednesday in the Noxtan Empire was the day when state council meetings were held, and also the day when the heads of each family headed to the imperial capital.

Roina’s eyes naturally turned to one man. She felt strangely familiar with secretly watching him.

As if this had been part of her daily routine in her lost memories.

Roina quietly fixed her gaze on Conrad’s wrinkle-free attire.

Then she recalled the appearance of the man she had faced when she woke up in the sickbed not long ago.

“Why was he disheveled that day?”

Usually, he always maintained a neat and restrained appearance without any excess.

But the man she had faced that day……

Since thinking about it now wouldn’t change anything, Roina was letting out a deep sigh.

Suddenly Conrad, who had stopped walking, turned his head and cast his gaze toward her room’s window.

‘……!’

Startled, Roina hurriedly hid behind the curtains.

It certainly wasn’t a situation she needed to avoid, yet why did shrinking back feel so familiar?

By the time she stood leaning against the window again after chewing her lips finely, he had already boarded the carriage.

※※※

The ducal residence’s garden was entirely dyed in autumn colors.

Holding documents in her hand and blankly looking around the garden, Roina let out a low sigh.

After being caught with the medicine bottle by Conrad, she wanted to clear up his misunderstanding as quickly as possible.

The more misunderstandings accumulated, the further their relationship’s recovery was pushed away.

That’s why she had desperately tried to explain, albeit belatedly……

All that came back were cold glances and cynicism.

“It may be hard for you to believe my words, but it really wasn’t poison.”

“Then why exactly did you receive that medicine from Marquis Würetti?”

“That’s……”

“It seems clarifying that reason should come first.”

“……”

Roina couldn’t open her mouth any further.

After all, the fact that her father had tried to use Conrad remained unchanged.

Since she hadn’t yet built proper trust with him, mentioning her father was indeed delicate.

Moreover, being honest about it would also be problematic.

She feared the aftermath from Marquis Würetti, who would fly into a rage saying that not only had she failed, but her scheme had been discovered.

‘I’m glad the matter seems to have been smoothed over well.’

Soon Conrad seemed to have cleared up his misunderstanding about the medicine, but Roina’s heart still didn’t feel refreshed.

While she was briefly lost in thought, the head maid walking beside her asked in a kind voice.

“My lady, have you decided on the flowers to use for the banquet?”

“No, I haven’t decided yet.”

Roina shook her head with an awkward expression.

Bonita, the ducal residence’s head maid, was helping prepare for this banquet.

She, who had stayed at the estate as long as the head butler, was also someone who had Conrad’s trust.

Bonita was strict only regarding work, but when dealing with Roina, she treated her with the courtesy due a mistress.

“Usually marigolds or lisianthus are used for banquet decorations. Last year, freesias were used as an exception.”

Listening calmly to the head maid’s explanation, Roina’s gaze suddenly fell on flowers blooming in the garden.

“This flower is……”

“Delphinium.”

Nodding slightly, Roina gently touched the delphinium.

“It would be nice to use this flower for decoration too.”

Looking at the blue flowers that were rarely used for banquets, the head maid tilted her head obliquely, but soon answered politely.

“Yes, I’ll prepare them together.”

After finishing selecting the flowers for decoration and returning to her room, Roina quietly looked at the delphinium she had brought from the garden.

“This is a gift for you.”

“For me?”

“Hmm, is there a law saying only men can give flowers?”

“Thank you. It’s delphinium.”

“Yes, I thought it would suit you.”

It would have been nice if Conrad had understood her heart like the flower language of delphinium.

But he never acknowledged Roina’s feelings. Not even at the moment she confessed.

Gently caressing the flowers with blue buds just beginning to bloom, Roina forced herself to swallow a bitter smile.

Just as she was blankly looking at the flowers with her unsettled heart pushed aside, someone slipped a letter through the door crack.

“……!”

As Roina had somewhat expected, there was a Würetti spy hidden in the ducal residence.

What he mainly seemed to do was secretly carry letters containing secret conversations.

There seemed to be several others hiding as well, but she couldn’t find them all one by one since they rarely revealed themselves.

Roina found the letter the spy had left and sat at her desk.

Though no sender was written on the envelope, she could immediately tell who it was from after unfolding the letter.

The owner of the neat yet familiar handwriting was none other than her older brother.

Bleon, the eldest son of House Würetti, was someone she had once trusted and relied on.

Though she had to feel some kind of wall after he became the family heir.

Lost in thought, she swallowed and read the contents written inside.

My beloved sister,

I heard you visited the trading company a few days ago.

They said there was a loud noise from the office,

I’m worried whether you’re alright.

Within what I can do,

I’m thinking of negotiating with Father.

So you should leave the aftermath to me,

and act as usual.

‘Did that matter reach my brother’s ears too?’

Roina thought someone who had overheard her conversation with her father might have told him.

Since Bleon, as the heir, also spent time at the trading company.

Though she could predict the marquis’s reaction when he learned she had failed again this time, she was now thinking of receiving help from her older brother.

“It would be better if Conrad doesn’t know about this letter.”

Bleon had been close with Conrad, who was his academy classmate, but now they were worse than enemies.

Until the two families became enemies, they were said to have been quite close friends at the academy.

Since Bleon had been so reticent about his friend, Roina didn’t know the detailed circumstances either.

She could only guess that the two men could never return to how they were before.

With complicated feelings, she let out a low sigh and burned all the letters so their contents wouldn’t be discovered.

※※※

Roina wanted to remember even a little of the lost time, especially matters with her husband.

But there was no one in Duke Asheter’s residence who could help her memories return.

The method Roina chose was to meet Aila.

The only person to whom she could reveal her inner thoughts was her younger sister.

In other words, the person who would know best about what had happened during that time would also be Aila.

“I wonder if Aila has been doing well?”

Thinking of her sister who had lived at the marquisate residence without anyone to rely on made one side of her chest ache.

‘It would be nice if I could invite her to the ducal residence.’

She heard that for the past three years, no member of House Würetti except the marquis had been able to come near the ducal residence.

Therefore, she thought Aila’s visit might be nearly impossible. Seeing that her sister’s letters weren’t being delivered even now.

Letting out a deep sigh, Roina headed downstairs upon hearing news that the flowers for the banquet had arrived.

Then, while passing through the corridor, she briefly stopped at a familiar voice coming from the reception room.

“It’s already been several days of working overtime, at this rate I’ll die from overwork!”

“Nonsense. Just write the amount you want in the ledger.”

The conversation was between Conrad and his aide Harrison.

At his superior’s words about providing separate performance bonuses, Harrison’s eyes lit up with wonder.

“Your Grace……”

“I simply don’t want to hear that someone died in the estate.”

“Your Grace! Really, this is too much—. Huh? Duchess?”

Harrison discovered Roina standing in the reception room corridor and greeted her.

Having no choice but to awkwardly move forward, she rolled her eyes this way and that and continued speaking.

“Ah…… I was just passing by.”

Harrison looked back and forth between Roina and his superior, then said awkwardly.

“Then I’ll go attend to my work!”

As the aide disappeared with quick steps, he pulled one corner of his mouth as if finding it absurd.