The New Mistress of the Taylor Family is Full of Enthusiasm (2)

Tweet tweet.

Thanks to the rain that fell overnight, birds woke up early in the morning, happily chirping as they found puddles to bathe in.

Of course, that chirping sound became noise to some people.

“……Hmm.”

Lucas frowned at the chirping of birds coming from the window and unconsciously reached for the spot beside him.

The warm temperature and soft body he had become accustomed to over the past few days was not there.

Instead, all that transmitted to his hand was the cold sheet.

As if she had been up for a long time, not even warmth remained.

“……?”

He shook off his sleepiness, sat up, and looked around the room. The bedroom was dim as dawn had just broken.

In that darkness, a faint light was visible. And a pink head was moving busily.

“……Giselle?”

When Lucas called her with a puzzled expression, Giselle, who had been sitting on the sofa looking at something, raised her head.

“Oh, Lucas. Did I wake you? I’m sorry. Go back to sleep.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry.”

He waved his hand toward Giselle, who was trying to turn off the lamp, then got out of bed. He picked up the robe he had carelessly thrown aside and put it on as he approached her.

The woman who had been breathing heavily beneath him, accepting him, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a mischievous girl who looked like she had pink cotton candy placed on her head was looking up at him.

“Why is your hair like that? And your glasses too.”

Lucas let out a chuckle as he looked at Giselle’s hair, which was rounded up and tied in a messy bun, then pushed up her glasses that had slid down to the tip of her nose.

“Ah…… I was wondering why I couldn’t see well. And this hairstyle is comfortable.”

Giselle adjusted her glasses with an embarrassed smile as she responded. Lucas sat down beside her with a thud and looked at the table.

“It’s still early. What were you doing instead of sleeping? Is this a ledger?”

“I was looking at it yesterday, and I just need to look at it a bit more.”

He could see the memos she had inserted here and there in the ledger filled with numbers.

With colorful papers inserted that matched her hair color, it looked more like a young girl’s diary than a record of the family’s financial situation.

……Well, a diary wouldn’t be this thick and heavy.

“You could look at it later during the day. Why are you up at dawn looking at it?”

“Just because. I couldn’t sleep after it was time to go to bed……”

“You couldn’t sleep?”

Nod, nod.

Lucas swallowed a laugh as he watched Giselle nodding her head nonchalantly.

She looked at him with innocent eyes, unaware of what mischievous impulse her words had just provoked, which was frustrating in a way.

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Unfortunate? It’s not serious enough to hear such words.”

It was just one night without sleep. As Giselle shook her head at Lucas’s words and was about to add something, he turned his body completely toward her and grabbed her chin.

Then their lips met.

“Wait, Lu……”

Startled by the sudden kiss, Giselle opened her eyes wide and tried to speak. But her words were immediately blocked by his lips.

“Lucas……”

Once more.

After the brief touch of lips parted, only Giselle’s trembling breath remained.

She couldn’t look at him directly and lowered her eyes as she caught her breath. Her chin was still held in Lucas’s hand, but she didn’t even think to push it away.

It was absurd, when she thought about it.

After already having shared their bodies, to feel awkward about a kiss.

‘Is it because it’s not nighttime that I feel awkward?’

Giselle suddenly realized that it had become brighter around them. Instead of the bluish dawn light, yellow sunlight was coming through the curtains, illuminating the hem of her nightgown.

She could feel that sunlight gradually rising upward. Along with it, Lucas’s hand holding her chin tightened slightly before he released it.

“……!”

Giselle unconsciously felt disappointed at the suddenly vanished touch and raised her gaze. But he had already gotten up and returned to the bed.

“……I’ll wash up first.”

Lucas glanced at her as he pulled the bell cord at the head of the bed. Because the bright sunlight didn’t reach near the bed, his expression wasn’t clearly visible.

Instead, his voice, strained as if holding something back, pierced Giselle’s ears clearly.

* * *

The dining table was quiet. Not even the sound of dishes clinking could be heard.

As a result, the movements of the butler and head maid serving the meal became even more careful.

‘They don’t seem to have fought……’

Bushin glanced at his master’s expression as he poured tea into the cup in front of Lucas.

Lucas was usually a man of few words, but today was particularly bad.

However, he didn’t appear displeased. Rather, it was more like……

‘I should say he seems awkward. No, it would be more accurate to say he’s overly conscious of the madam.’

“Oh my. I’m sorry, Master Lucas.”

Was it because he was too lost in thought? Or perhaps because his attention had wavered while observing his master.

Bushin realized he had poured much more tea than the proper amount into Lucas’s cup and hurriedly apologized.

“Hmm? What are you sorry for…… Ah, it’s fine.”

He didn’t immediately understand Bushin’s words, but then saw the tea water overflowing onto the tablecloth and waved his hand dismissively.

A brief commotion arose due to the butler’s uncharacteristic mistake. Because of this, the strange atmosphere between them was also disrupted.

“Oh, by the way, we’ve received several invitations over the past few days.”

Giselle spoke as if suddenly remembering while watching the maids clear the teacups and tidy the table. He too was running his hand through his hair in the changed atmosphere when he responded to her question.

“Invitations?”

“Some were simple letters inviting us to tea parties. Others sent gold-embossed cards inviting both of us to formal dinners.”

“Ah…… They must be curious. Still, it’s a bit hasty. How many days has it been since we got married?”

Lucas smiled slightly after hearing Giselle’s words. She leaned slightly toward him and continued.

“So I was wondering if I could invite people to the mansion first?”

She had never properly attended social gatherings because she had been busy paying off her father’s debts and supporting her family. But she knew enough to understand that such gatherings were not simply for building friendships.

They wouldn’t have sent invitations to her just to say ‘let’s be friends.’

“I think it would be better to see them in my territory first.”

To win a battle, one needs to dominate the battlefield.

Giselle recalled the contents of a military tactics book she had read during her academy days when she would read anything she could get her hands on.

The venue where social gatherings are held could indeed be considered a battlefield where fierce combat occurs among women.

Perhaps noticing her thoughts, the corner of Lucas’s mouth turned up slightly.

At that moment, the maids who had finished clearing the table quietly stepped back, and Bushin approached again to pour tea.

He picked up his teacup, took a sip of tea, and nodded willingly toward the woman who looked at him with sparkling eyes.

“Do as you please.”

“Ah, then regarding the scale of the gathering……”

“That too, Giselle, do as you wish.”

Lucas replied again as he put down his teacup. But Giselle furrowed her brow as if that answer wasn’t enough.

“Still, if I’m going to host something like a tea party, there’s the budget issue.”

“So why are you asking me about that?”

He interrupted her words and smirked.

“I’ve completely entrusted the Taylor family finances to you. Have you forgotten already?”

She had been looking at the ledger since dawn without sleeping, yet apparently hadn’t kept in mind her own authority.

“Uh, hmm……. It’s not that I forgot.”

“So you don’t need to ask my permission for things like this, Giselle. You are the mistress of this mansion. It means that even I cannot arbitrarily infringe upon your authority.”

He spoke in a firm tone to Giselle, who was looking at him with wide eyes. She rolled her eyes around before opening her mouth again.

“……Well, then I’ll go with hosting a light tea party.”

“I told you there’s no need to get permission.”

Lucas let out a hollow laugh as if wondering if she had even heard what he said. But Giselle seriously objected to his words.

“I wasn’t asking for permission, I was just talking. Normal everyday conversation. We’re a married couple, aren’t we?”

“……”

“So can’t we have conversations like this……?”

Giselle’s confidence disappeared mid-sentence and her voice trailed off as she faced the man who was looking at her with his lips tightly closed.

She suddenly felt afraid, wondering if she had been too bothersome to him when they weren’t even a real couple. Her mouth went dry, anticipating a rebuke to stop with the unnecessary talk.

‘But we are a married couple! It’s not like we’re the only couple who married without love.’

Not everyone marries for love, and arranged marriages are rather common among nobles and the wealthy upper class.