Though she wasn’t sure if the nanny would like them since she didn’t know her preferences.

She looked up at the clear sky as she crossed the rear garden.

After entering the forest path, she traced her previous memories to find the way. The path to the red brick house had strangely few people and seemed somewhat hidden, with several confusing sections.

After making the mistake of backtracking twice, Saena found the red brick house.

Knock knock.

Saena carefully knocked on the door.

There was no response for quite a while. She became worried that perhaps the nanny was lying down sick again. Just as she was considering whether to just open the door and enter, it opened.

“Oh my, isn’t it you, Madam?”

“Hello?”

“Please, please come in!”

She had been worried since she heard the nanny was seriously ill, but judging by her complexion, she looked better than when she saw her last time. Wondering if it was just superficial, the nanny insisted on brewing tea herself, so Saena had to be served.

“His Grace has gone out for subjugation.”

While drinking the tea the nanny served, Saena opened the conversation.

The topic she would probably like most would be about Constantine, so that topic…

“Again? Last year and this year seem particularly severe. He won’t be able to sleep well when he’s out.”

“Last year and this year?”

The weather and somehow many things seem to have changed since last year.

“Yes. Nadia told me. Especially last year, he spent more time in camps than at Castle Cream.”

The nanny seemed somewhat tearful thinking of his hardships.

“Ah, I see. Come to think of it, everyone in the capital envies His Grace, but in reality, it seems, well, not easy.”

“……”

“Maybe it would be better to live comfortably as a Marquis or Count instead? What do you think?”

It was meant as a joke to lighten the mood.

How nice it would be to have slightly lower obligations with a lower title, and be able to live more leisurely and even slack off a bit.

“…Yes. That’s right. Our young master…”

“……”

But that wasn’t the right direction, apparently.

“How much our young master suffered to inherit this duchy…”

Far from smiling, the nanny started to sob even more.

“Na-nanny. Please don’t cry. You’ve just gotten better, you’ll lose your strength again.”

Saena cursed her own lack of conversational skills.

“You’re right. Yes. How silly of me.”

Her words seemed to have some effect as the nanny wiped her tears.

“Now the young master has such a lovely wife and is living well…”

Though the nanny kept tearing up while reminiscing about some point in the past, her affection for Constantine seemed solid.

Seeing this, it certainly seemed like a relationship based on affection… but what was the reason for this physical distance?

Living separately… and now that she looked at it, didn’t this house feel almost like a quarantine facility?

Was it one-sided affection from the nanny? The attachment from raising him? But that didn’t seem right either, as Constantine also seemed to value the nanny…

‘I really can’t figure it out.’

Though she didn’t know what it was, some past event seemed to be the core cause between them, but since she couldn’t know it, nor had the right to know, this question seemed unlikely to be resolved.

“I heard you were very ill recently.”

“Yes. I’m much better now.”

“His Grace would be very upset if you collapsed again while he’s away from the castle.”

“……”

“Won’t you really come into the castle?”

“……”

She asked because it didn’t seem like the nanny lived here because she enjoyed a quiet, isolated life.

But the nanny gave no answer.

“If that’s too difficult, I wish you would at least have a maid. Actually, I’d like you to consider this not just as a simple suggestion but as a strong request from the Duchess.”

She didn’t want to pull rank, but somehow felt this approach might get the request accepted.

“If you collapse alone while living separately like this, I won’t be able to face His Grace.”

The nanny was the only person he had personally introduced to Saena, and someone Constantine valued deeply enough to have been the purpose of the contract marriage in her past life.

“…I was short-sighted. Yes. I will do that.”

“Really? You’ve made a good decision!”

Saena smiled brightly, truly relieved.

“Not just your health, but I don’t think His Grace would want you living so lonely like this. Health and loneliness are separate issues, aren’t they?”

“……”

“Please receive a maid’s care and have someone to talk to. I’ll visit occasionally too. And it would be even better if you change your mind later and move into the castle.”

“It’s truly fortunate that he found such a warm-hearted person as his wife.”

The nanny smiled gently with a warm expression.

They changed topics and chatted a bit more, but perhaps because her body was inherently weak, even that seemed to quickly drain the nanny’s energy.

Saena keenly noticed the nanny’s tired appearance.

“Nanny. I’ll leave after seeing you lie down.”

“Yes. I’d like to ask you to stay longer, but… I’m sorry.”

“What’s there to be sorry about? Just rest well. I’ll have a maid sent right away.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Saena supported the nanny to the bed.

“Come to think of it, you didn’t come with that puppy today.”

The nanny said as she lay in bed.

“He came here alone often recently.”

“…What?”

Saena was startled by this unexpected information.

“He even stayed and slept with me.”

Yolly… that’s who you mean, right?

“Recently meaning… exactly when?”

“About ten days ago, perhaps. He started coming then, and a week ago, perhaps feeling sorry for this old woman, he stayed with me instead of going back. Then I think I lost consciousness…”

The time Yolly had disappeared matched up here.

“…Ah.”

Why did he come here in the first place? And why did he stay?

While I was neglecting you, did you… seek out a lonely person?

“At that time… I actually thought I was going to die soon.”

“What?”

“But I was surprised to wake up like this. My condition is better than before…”

“My goodness. How fortunate.”

If the nanny had passed away with no one by her side…

The thought alone was terrible.

Constantine wouldn’t be okay with it either. Though he might appear calm on the outside, his true feelings…

“He was such a good boy, I couldn’t even say goodbye…”

The nanny fell asleep shortly after lying down, unable to fight off sleep.

Leaving Saena with plenty of questions.

The nanny who had been near death,

Yolly who suddenly came and stayed here around that time,

The nanny woke up, but now you’re the one sleeping.

So where are you holding onto that edge of consciousness?

And something strange…

‘Then Constantine brought Yolly from this house.’

She recalled his attitude when he persistently discouraged her from coming along to look for Yolly.

Was bringing Yolly from here something that needed to be hidden?

Why are there so many things that don’t make sense?

What could have happened between him and the nanny?

And… could there be a connection between the nanny’s symptoms and Yolly’s condition?

Another secret?

Questions kept rising endlessly, but answers were nowhere to be found.

Just suppressing the growing questions, Saena returned to Castle Cream.

* * *

As soon as she returned to Castle Cream, Nadia came to see her.

“I heard you were looking for me yesterday, but when I visited earlier, you were already out.”

Ah, Nadia must have come while she was at the nanny’s.

“I had something to ask.”

“Please inquire.”

“Here…”

Saena spoke while handing over the internal budget and personal budget allocated for the Duchess.

“The amount seems strange. Aren’t there more numbers written somewhere else?”

In Saena’s opinion, both the personal budget and internal budget were excessive. It seemed even more strange since this was a quarterly budget, not even an annual one.

“Hmm… No. This is correct, Madam.”

Nadia nodded after looking through the budget documents.

“This is really the correct amount?”

“Yes. For reference, this budget only applies while you’re staying in this territory. There should be separate budgets allocated for the imperial capital.”

“……”

The amount written here alone matched the entire budget of an average noble family, and there were additional budgets for the capital?

“The duchy is wealthy proportional to its size. A budget fitting your position is only natural. Please use it as you wish without worry.”

The four great duchies, which had maintained their stability for a long time, all possessed tremendous wealth equal to their military might.

She knew the duchy was wealthy. Though she hadn’t known why, but today she learned the reason through Nadia’s explanation.

The foundation lay in ‘mines.’

For unknown reasons, mountain ranges where gem mines or mineral mines were discovered tended to have more demonic beasts than other places.

To the extent that mining would be impossible without the help of the four great duchies, even if someone owned the land.

For this reason, over 70% of gems and minerals circulating in the empire were distributed under the names of the imperial family and the four great duchies. It had been that way for hundreds of years. Just imagine how great that wealth would be.

“……”

Ah, so that’s why most of the raw stones supplied to ‘Lapis’ were from the duchy. She had thought it was just a contract arrangement.

Understanding this, Saena could only respond with acknowledgment, speechless.

She thought the discussion about work distribution would have to wait until after Constantine returned.

‘Just the Duchess’s personal budget alone is larger than Hollander’s entire previous budget.’

There had been times when she’d worried endlessly about not having money… now it felt like a distant dream.

Or perhaps this current situation felt more like a dream.

‘Having more money is better than having none.’

Though she felt a strange pressure from the enormous budget, like it silently demanded she fulfill her duties as Duchess very diligently.

Thanks to that, or because of it, Saena had to spend quite a tight day.