「Hello, Isabella.」

A letter arrived for Isabella, whose days had been nothing but a blur. The opening of the letter Bailey had brought her began with a warm greeting.

「I hope a letter like this isn’t too much of a burden for you, when every day must be a whirlwind of wedding preparations.」

What was this person saying, when she herself had to be even busier than Isabella with the wedding fast approaching?

「I’m making the dress with just a little extra room compared to the measurements I took last time, so you don’t need to lose any weight. You’re already so thin I worry you might collapse, so please don’t go starving yourself over the wedding.」

Even reading the letter, it felt like Selectra’s voice was right beside her. She was not managing her weight for the wedding, but in a different sense, she truly had not been eating properly, so she was a little worried about the scolding she would get later.

Still, there was nothing she could do about it. She was nervous herself, and food would not go down easily. Why was she so nervous when this was not even her first time? Back then it had simply been an exhausting and painful day. Perhaps the Isabella of that time had felt her heart fluttering as she took his hand.

Perhaps she had even thought that even if they were not starting out in love, if she could one day open his heart and build something between them, they might live a quiet and peaceful life like any other married couple.

「So don’t skip meals and make sure you eat properly. And look forward to it. My masterpiece is in the making, and when you see it, you’ll want to throw your arms around me.」

“Ha ha.”

Isabella burst out laughing as she read the letter, written in Selectra’s lively voice exactly as she was in person. They had been exchanging letters since they agreed to be friends at the banquet. It would have been lovely to visit her atelier and talk in person, but Selectra was a renowned designer. She was impossibly busy, and she had apparently been pulling all-nighters lately on top of everything else, working on Isabella’s wedding dress.

Declen Clerc held the largest share of the blame for those sleepless nights. He had brought a wedding date Isabella herself had known nothing about and begun pressing Selectra, who had shown up at the Piper barony with dark circles under her eyes.

— That blasted grand duke has commanded me to take My lady Isabella’s measurements again immediately and produce the wedding dress.

Selectra had announced her purpose in a voice that sounded like her teeth were grinding together, and she and the people she had brought with her began taking Isabella’s measurements. Isabella offered her tea, but Selectra said she had no time even for that, gave a feeble smile, and left the Piper barony just like that. That had been the last she saw of her. She wondered if she was doing any better now.

「So please tell Declen for me. Tell him to stop hounding me. No matter how much I love what I do, when he comes every single day asking about the progress, it makes me want to drop everything and walk away.」

Isabella had not been the only one thrown into a panic by the suddenly set wedding date. While Declen was dropping his bombshell on Reymon, Fabian Parker, the grand ducal estate’s head steward, was dropping one on Henry, and Declen’s aide Gunner Taylor was dropping one on Selectra.

Caught off guard and blindsided, they each quietly set about doing what needed to be done. Henry began preparing gifts for his only daughter, who would soon be married. Fabian had told him there was no need to bring anything, that he need only come himself, but Henry would not hear of it.

He said he wanted to give his only daughter everything he could, and began buying beautiful and practical gifts. The house, already overflowing from Declen’s barrage of presents, was growing even more cramped. Isabella tried to stop him herself, telling him it was unnecessary, but Henry would not be deterred. Watching him, her chest grew tight.

In the past, when she had married, would he have been like this if he had been alive? It was not as though she was marrying far away and would never return, yet he looked at her like someone he would never see again, and for the first time in her life he went out of his way to find things people said were good, ingredients included, and cooked for her himself. Henry was determined to share dinner with her even when they could not manage breakfast or lunch together, and Isabella waited for those evenings to match him.

Once Aria returned, she would not be able to spend time with her father again, so she intended to hold these moments very dear. When the time came to leave everything behind, she would need the strength of the memories she had carefully stored away.

And Selectra sent her regular letters. Brief greetings, updates on how far along the dress was, and reminders not to starve herself and to eat properly. At the end of each letter, there was always one request.

「Please, I’m begging you. Keep Declen from coming here. You’re the only one who can stop him. Think of it as saving my life and do this one thing for me.」

Every letter ended with Selectra’s desperate plea. Would he even listen to her? Given that the same request kept coming, it seemed Declen was indeed visiting her atelier regularly, just as Selectra said. For the purpose of pressing her, no less.

He had not been like this in the past. This Declen was different in so many ways. He did not send her cold looks, and the things he said were gentle. So much so that Isabella, who remembered the past, could not adjust to it at all.

On top of that, every time they met, his behavior was so sweet and tender it could drip honey. Knowing she would have to leave eventually, she would think about letting his behavior pass without comment for a while and building up memories, but then Aria would flash through her mind and she would break out in goosebumps.

She had told Aria she would leave. That she would not appear before him. From the moment Declen had come to find Isabella, she had as good as broken that promise. But it was not my choice. She had been organizing the excuses she would give if Aria appeared and demanded to know what had happened.

That it had been unavoidable. That before she could do anything, he had appeared and things had ended up this way. But that now that she had appeared, she would leave. Isabella had sorted out what she would say calmly and without flustering when she stood before her, and rose from her chair to look out the window.

“……”

She heard the sound of horses snorting and a carriage pulling up in front of the barony. Unlike the grand ducal estate with its well-kept grounds and sweeping expanse, the Piper barony had dirt floors and was small, so all the sounds from outside carried in. It must be Declen. She had finished getting ready with his arrival time in mind, so Isabella’s steps were unhurried.

“My lady, just a moment.”

Bailey called out to stop her just as she was about to leave the room. All her preparations were done. She looked at Bailey with a puzzled expression, and Bailey hesitated, fidgeting for a long while without being able to get the words out easily. This was not like her. Was something wrong?

“Bailey?”

“My lady. There’s something I really need to ask you.”

“Go ahead.”

Declen had arrived and would be waiting, but that was all right. He would be talking with Henry first anyway. Just as Declen was someone important and precious to Isabella, Bailey was precious and important to her too.

“You’ll take me with you, won’t you?”

“……”

“I’ve heard that young ladies usually ask their maids to come with them around this time, but you haven’t said anything yet, My lady.”

Isabella looked at Bailey, who was fidgeting with her fingertips pressed together as she struggled to get the words out. Bailey was right. With the wedding not far off, nobles gave the maids they favored a choice.

Whether to come along, or to remain here. The maids who received the offer would think it over carefully before deciding. There was an invisible hierarchy among maids too. A maid of the Piper barony and a maid of the grand ducal estate. The difference between them was enormous. But Bailey was not the kind of girl to weigh such things. She had simply spoken up because she wanted to go with her.

She was a friend and as good as family, someone who had grown up alongside Isabella since childhood. After her mother died in childbirth, her father had hired a wet nurse, and when the wet nurse had a daughter, he brought the child in to be her companion. The difference in their stations meant she became Isabella’s personal maid as they grew older, but Isabella had never thought of Bailey as a maid. She thought of her as a friend, family, and a little sister.

“My lady?”

“I’m sorry, Bailey.”

“What?”

“I don’t think I can take you with me to the grand ducal estate.”

“……”

“You should just stay here.”

That was why she had resolved not to bring her along this time.

“My lady, why……”

Isabella watched Bailey sink down in stunned disbelief, then turned and walked out of the bedchamber.

I can’t let you die because of me again.

The words hovered at the tip of her lips, but Isabella never let them out.

* * *

It had been a dreary day from morning, as though a fierce summer downpour might break loose at any moment. On a normal day she would have been leisurely strolling through the garden, where summer flowers would be blooming beautifully, but she had to suppress the urge to go out as she looked up at the sky threatening to unleash its rain at any second.

She was not recognized as a legitimate grand duchess and was only a target of ridicule, so if she went out to the garden with the maids and they got caught in the rain and fell ill, there was no telling what would be said about her. Still, should she go out? If she kept the maids to a minimum. No. If she took only Bailey, it might be all right. Just Bailey might actually be better. That might ease this suffocating feeling even a little.

She had sensed that a stifling life awaited her in a loveless marriage, but this was far more stifling than she had imagined. If she had married someone other than the grand duke, would she have had more freedom than now? Or would she have been happier? What good was it to regret things that had already passed so long ago?

“Your Highness, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re feeling cooped up, aren’t you? Would you like to go out to the garden?”