Chapter 40

“Not even once?”

When he asked back, Abil answered, “Yes.”

So there had been none even before. Was she still feeling uneasy?

He had thought that even her way of acting like someone who had entered another person’s home had improved a great deal, but it seemed that only in that regard had it changed.

After thinking it over, Raon looked at Abil, who stood waiting for an answer.

The designers owned by Earl Winders were among the finest in the Empire.

Even Bersha had once commissioned them for nearly every party she attended, so their level was excellent. It seemed this might not be a bad time to have something new made.

“All right.”

“Then I shall see you then.”

At his ready permission, the Earl smiled so broadly that his teeth showed.

* * *

“Did it get resolved well?”

It seemed the massage had just ended, and Kina was putting her shoes back on with the maid’s help.

“Yes.”

As Raon entered, the maid, apparently having finished what she needed to do, quickly bowed and left the lounge. Seeing him return alone after going out with someone, Kina looked puzzled.

“Where is the Deputy Commander?”

“……He returned first.”

“Ah…….”

Was she disappointed that Seorin was not there? That was the first thought that came to Raon’s mind. Perhaps it was only his imagination, but it seemed as though even the silence in places where she was alone with him felt uncomfortable to her.

“Then I will have to thank him later.”

Only at Kina’s added words did he remember Seorin, who had brought the maid.

Raon let out a low, self-mocking sigh. He felt like a narrow-minded person who had not thought things through.

“Can you walk?”

Raon held out his hand to her as she sat on the sofa.

“Yes.”

Kina answered as she took his hand and rose from the sofa.

“Let us return for today.”

“There is no need to do that because of me. I am really all right.”

Seeing Kina startled and waving her hands, saying she was fine, he wondered whether she might be enduring pain despite that. Fortunately, from her expression, that did not seem to be the case.

“I had intended to return anyway. It is not because of you, so there is no need to worry.”

Raon added evenly. At that, Kina murmured that she was really fine, and instead looked him over. She felt sorry for having made him worry because of the false excuse that her feet hurt.

Raon could not understand why that small action bothered him so much.

If Seorin had been here, it seemed she would not have said her feet hurt while carefully watching the mood.

No. If it were Seorin, perhaps he would have noticed even if she had said nothing.

“In a few days, there will be a ball hosted by Earl Winders.”

As they rode in the carriage, he let his gaze fall on the dress of Kina, seated across from him. It was because of Abil, who had spoken about dresses.

Had it been something she originally owned, or had she brought it with her?

He thought hard, but since he had never paid attention to dresses in the first place, he could not tell.

Because he was thinking about that, he failed to notice Kina’s expression.

“Earl Winders’s designer is highly skilled. How would it be if you had a dress made this time?”

“……I have enough dresses already, so is there really any need?”

Even as she said that, the way Raon was looking at her dress made her oddly conscious of it.

Did it seem like clothing unfit for a Duchess? She thought so while absently smoothing over the dress with a hand that could not possibly hide it.

“He is someone who likes to give gifts to those he invites to his balls.”

More precisely, to the person in the highest position. Raon did not add that explanation.

Still…Kina trailed off.

“If the Earl’s goodwill burdens you, the Dukedom can pay for it. In any case, his skill is trustworthy.”

At Raon’s decisive tone, Kina closed her mouth.

That was not it.

It was not that she wanted to save money. She simply did not think there was any need to increase the number of her dresses.

Kina was not someone who would continue living at the ducal residence forever, and when she left, she intended to leave behind all the gifts he had given her. Since Bersha would not wear dresses tailored to Kina’s body again, they would surely become troublesome things with no use.

“……All right.”

But since she could not say all of that herself in detail, Kina simply said she understood.

A few days later, just as Raon had said, an invitation from Earl Winders arrived at the Graize Dukedom.

A handwritten letter had been included together with the invitation.

It was wrapped in beautiful, elegant, pleasing words of many kinds, but to summarize, it said that as thanks for accepting the invitation, he wished to give them a gift. It also said that he would send, through his designer, a dress and jewelry that would suit Madame, and that he hoped she would like them.

“Gerard. Is it common to send dresses and jewelry as thanks for attending?”

As he handed the letter to Kina, Gerard, who had seen the sender’s name, answered.

“It is not common, but neither is it unheard of. Especially not for Earl Winders.”

Seeing Kina give a small nod as though she understood, he added,

“He is someone who knows exactly to whom he should give something in order to gain the greatest return for himself.”

Well, his family did own quite a number of shops in the capital’s shopping district.

As Raon had said, the designers belonging to him were all skilled, so they were famous even among noblewomen and the daughters of noble houses.

Come to think of it, though Kina, who had no interest, had only half listened, Bersha seemed to speak often of Earl Winders as well. Bersha had probably been receiving Earl Winders’s goodwill for quite some time already.

She was the queen of high society. The clothes she wore, the jewelry she adorned herself with, even the cosmetics she applied all influenced the women of high society.

The fact that the favor Earl Winders had extended to Bersha had now turned toward her clearly meant a rise in status. And because of that, Kina felt no joy at all.

If it was goodwill meant for her as someone whose status had risen, then there was no reason to accept it because it was a place she would one day have to yield. And if it was personal goodwill, then it was not welcome either.

Of course, regardless of how she felt, there was nothing she could do about it. Kina wrote back with the date she preferred.

* * *

“What is with the Commander’s mood today?”

“There is a whole separate hell here.”

As soon as they came out in the morning, the knights running laps around the training grounds groaned in misery.

“It seems you still have stamina left, so add ten more laps.”

“Commander!”

At Raon’s voice, loud enough to be heard from afar, the knights cried out. It was closer to a shriek.

“Add five more.”

At the quiet voice calmly adding more laps, the knights shut their mouths while forcing down the urge to beg further.

Even so, they looked desperately toward Seorin, who was running in the very front. Their eyes said he should do something, anything. But the man who would ordinarily have stepped up first and calmed Raon down to lessen the training only kept running silently today.

“Do you still have nothing to say?”

After training that had been twice as hard as usual ended, Raon asked that of Seorin, who had come to the Commander’s office.

“I do not.”

Raon and Seorin looked at each other as if in a silent battle of wills. Raon’s gaze, fixed on him with a calm expression, was cold, and Seorin too looked as though he had no intention of yielding.

“This is a document requesting that the Imperial Palace send knights for the lords of the castles that still have not been fully restored.”

Raon held out an official paper to Seorin.

“You will lead them.”

Seorin’s hand, which had reached to take the document, paused for a moment before lifting it the rest of the way as he read it. It was a schedule that required departure in just a few days.

This was the punishment Raon was giving Seorin.