11. Wednesdays in the Imperial Capital (2)

In the carriage on the way back, Saena held Yolly and scolded it.

“You, why are you causing so much trouble? You know exactly what you’re doing, don’t you?”

The way it rolled its eyes while wagging its tail clearly showed it was pretending not to know.

“I really want to hit you.”

When she shook her fist above Yolly’s forehead, its ears drooped down, clearly showing it understood everything.

“Kyang!”

Its bark sounded exactly like it was saying ‘I’m wronged!’

“What, wronged?”

Judging by how it was tapping its tail, that seemed to be the case.

“What do you mean wronged! Do you know how embarrassed I was because of you? Just try this again. Next time, I’ll bring a cage, you’ll see.”

“Kyung…”

Though Yolly still looked wronged as it drooped its ears and mumbled, it didn’t stop acting pitiful.

“By the way… I keep getting strangely entangled with Beth’s former husband.”

It felt a bit strange. At first, she felt very awkward talking to Elizabeth’s husband, but that feeling gradually faded.

The him of her past life and the current him seemed like completely different people.

Whether they would end up married again as time passed remained to be seen, but since it hadn’t happened yet, why worry? Thinking this way, Saena shook off the remaining strange feelings.

But perhaps because she had such thoughts…

That night, Saena had a strange dream.

『It’s the social season right now! There’s no need to go down right now, is there? Establishing a position in society is also an important role as a Duchess…』

『When did I ever ask for such things? The Kramer house won’t be shaken by the lack of your social activities.』

『……』

Saena watched Elizabeth in her elaborate dress and the Duke of Kramer with his cool demeanor as they conversed. 

Observing from a distance, it felt like she was watching a play.

Elizabeth, who bit her lips, looked more mature than her current self, but somehow displayed a doll-like beauty that had lost its human touch.

『Choose. Either go down to the territory immediately, or stay here.』

『…Honey.』

Elizabeth’s expression changed. Her stern expression disappeared, and suddenly, she approached the Duke with a melting smile and gentle voice. Her soft voice itself seemed like it would make flowers bloom.

『It’s not like anything will happen to them right away. Just one month, let’s go down together after one month.』

『……』

『Hmm, or just two weeks. Let’s just attend the Imperial banquet and go down right after. Yes?』

Elizabeth placed her hand languidly on his arm while giving him a smile. It was the kind of honey-like voice and attitude that would make any man fall head over heels.

But the Duke brushed off Elizabeth’s arm without hesitation. Not satisfied with just that, he even dusted off where her arm had touched as if something had gotten on it.

The Duke was, as always, wearing a uniform that came up to his neck and gloves worn meticulously so that no skin showed except his face. It went beyond neatness to bordering obsession.

『Is that your choice?』

『…What?』

『I’m asking if staying in the Imperial Capital is your choice.』

『……』

『I’ll take that as a yes.』

『……』

『You seem to be misunderstanding something, but this marriage is just a contract. Weren’t you the one who came to me first saying you would do that task? Yet you’re already showing such deviation in ability to perform, I don’t know what to say.』

『……』

『I want to strike my past self for having such poor judgment in making a contract with someone like you.』

Though Elizabeth’s face gradually hardened with humiliation, the Duke’s words didn’t stop.

『Since you want it so much, stay at the townhouse.』

For a moment, Elizabeth’s expression brightened again.

『The Kramer family’s townhouse is forbidden to be opened. And I’m cutting the budget allocated to the Duchess by half.』

『…Honey!』

『And addressing me with that ‘honey’ word is also forbidden. Isn’t it a meaningless title?』

Elizabeth’s face was greatly distorted. Her tightly clenched hands trembled so much that one might worry her nails would dig into her palms and draw blood.

『Contracts are sacred. You’re living in an empire based on oaths yet you did not know this. I guarantee you’ll face the consequences.』

Having finished what he had to say, Duke Kramer abruptly left the room.

Unable to contain her anger, Elizabeth started throwing things in the room while screaming ‘Ahhh–!’

Clang–!

With the sharp sound of a vase breaking, Saena woke from her sleep.

“……”

…What was this?

The afterimage was too strong to feel like just a dream. But it was also strange to consider it something that actually happened.

How could Saena know about such an incident between them?

“It’s strangely vivid.”

A contract marriage…

There weren’t just a few people who wondered how Elizabeth of the Valdez family could marry Duke Kramer.

If it was like in the dream, where marriage was used as a means…

Though it was commonly believed that he married her for her beauty, the Duke’s attitude had been extremely cold for that to be true.

The Duke only came to the Imperial Capital when absolutely necessary, and even then, he didn’t attend any gatherings except mandatory banquets. Even at those banquets, he would just make an appearance with his wife and that was it. It was hard to see him particularly taking care of his wife.

At that time, it was known that Duke Kramer was naturally cold and taciturn by nature, so everyone just accepted it.

‘My husband is a bit taciturn, right? Hoho. He treats me well when we’re alone. He’s only like that in public.’

Because his wife, Elizabeth, defended him like that, people thought, oh, that must be it.

However, even with that, people were full of expectations that now that the position of Duchess was filled, perhaps the Kramer family’s townhouse would finally be opened. Since anything related to the Duke’s family was always among the things other nobles were most curious about, everyone really wanted to see the townhouse.

Elizabeth would just smile gently.

‘It’s a Kramer family tradition. They say while the castle in the territory can be opened, the townhouse is never opened. If you come to the territory, I could try hosting a banquet though. Hehe.’

Making such excuses.

What nobles would set out on a journey to that far-off territory known for its abundance of demonic beasts just to attend one banquet? Most nobles in the Imperial Capital thought they were done for if they moved away from the capital anyway.

They couldn’t make further requests when told it was a family tradition.

But if the reason they couldn’t open the townhouse was actually because of such circumstances, it makes sense.

Even with more than half of the Kramer family’s support cut off, Elizabeth ruled over the social world without wavering, which shows just how excellent her social abilities were and how great her ambition for the social world was.

‘If the dream is close to reality, that is.’

Though it was strange, Saena somehow felt that dream was real. It was like a mysterious premonition, though she couldn’t explain why if you ask her.

Saena had to sit blankly for a while after waking up.

* * *

After repeating the routine of coming to the Imperial Capital on Mondays, having small gatherings with Kirsten and others on Tuesdays, going to the Kramer mansion for decoding work on Wednesdays, and then going back, Saena decided to stay at the townhouse for the time being.

And she only returned to the Delvon mansion on weekends to spend time with family.

It was after a few weeks of this routine—

As usual, Kirsten, Evian, Floria, and Saena—the four of them gathered.

After chatting enthusiastically and coming back from a brief bathroom break, the atmosphere somehow felt strange.

“…Did something happen?”

Though Floria was the youngest, since she was a ducal lady by status, they used honorifics with her, but the rest all spoke casually with each other, so Saena was forced to drop honorifics too.

Though she still mixed in some honorifics occasionally.

“Hmm.”

Kirsten fluttered a piece of paper in her hand while lazily blinking her eyes.

“Something happened… Yes, something definitely happened, but the problem is we don’t know exactly what that something is.”

What on earth does that mean.

Saena gave up on getting an explanation and sat down. She would find out when the time came anyway.

“I was just thinking we should move from monopolizing Saya like this to formal tea parties, but this turned out quite coincidentally, didn’t it?”

“What turned out coincidentally?”

“This. This just arrived.”

Kirsten fluttered the paper she had been holding in her hand again while gesturing with her eyes.