Although it seemed unlikely there would be another marriage with such a unique transaction as between him and her……

‘……Still, we sleep in the same bed, and do even more than that.’

As if to prove his words that he had no intention of being a married couple in name only, he hadn’t slept separately from her for even a single day since the wedding. Nor had there been a night when he didn’t embrace Giselle.

She suddenly recalled the man’s touch that explored her every night and shook her head vigorously.

This wasn’t something to think about in the morning.

No, that doesn’t mean it’s okay to think about at night either!

“Pfft.”

At that moment, a soft laugh was heard from Lucas. Giselle stopped shaking her head and looked at him. She could see the corner of his mouth turned up crookedly.

Whenever he made such an expression, he always said something mischievous……

“Yes. We are a married couple.”

However, contrary to her expectation, the words that came out of Lucas’s mouth were utterly ordinary. He chuckled again, shrugged his shoulders, and continued.

“Anyway, invite people as you see fit. But before that, you need to learn one thing.”

“……?”

Giselle blinked with a puzzled expression at his words. Lucas leaned his upper body toward her and whispered in a low voice.

“How to control your expressions. Everything you think shows plainly on your face.”

Were you just thinking something naughty? At Lucas’s teasing question, Giselle blinked a few more times and then buried her face in her stew plate.

The back of her ears, visible between her neatly pinned-up hair, turned bright red.

* * *

A tea party.

It was Giselle’s first social activity as the mistress of the Taylor family.

Therefore, she had to prepare it perfectly, without any flaws.

“Since this is your first tea party, I think it would be best to invite older noble ladies, madam.”

The head maid standing beside Giselle cautiously spoke up. The butler also nodded in agreement.

“Hmm, I think that would be good too.”

She willingly listened to the advice of the butler and head maid as she selected people to invite from the list. As she picked up a pen to write invitations, she suddenly heard a sniffling sound.

“Bushin? Are you crying?”

When Giselle looked up, she saw the white-haired butler with tears glistening in his eyes and a moved expression.

“I apologize for being sentimental, madam. It’s been so long since the mistress of the house hosted a tea party that I was overcome with emotion without realizing it……”

Bushin wiped his eyes quickly with a handkerchief, looking embarrassed. Feeling awkward at the old man’s intense reaction, Giselle changed the subject.

“Come to think of it, if the previous…… no, if mother were still alive, I think she could have easily been a queen who dominated the social scene.”

With the Taylor family’s wealth and the beautiful appearance she had seen through portraits, it would have been entirely possible.

It was just a joke she threw out to change the atmosphere.

But at Giselle’s words, Bushin momentarily hesitated and then slowly shook his head. A sad smile spread across his wrinkled lips.

“That wouldn’t have been the case. Madam…… the previous madam didn’t particularly enjoy social activities. She used to say that rather than putting on fake smiles and showing off what everyone had, she would prefer to spend that time painting one more picture.”

“Painting? Mother used to paint?”

Giselle, who had been nodding in agreement with the previous mistress’s thoughts on social activities, opened her eyes wide at the words that caught her interest.

Her eyes began to sparkle with admiration and expectation.

“Are any of mother’s paintings still around? I didn’t hear about this from him.”

“……A few pieces remain in the storage.”

Bushin hesitated before answering a bit late, as if Giselle’s question was unexpected. However, his answer was equally unexpected to Giselle.

“Storage? You kept the paintings in storage?”

Her brow furrowed automatically, thinking it made no sense to keep paintings by the mistress in storage. Seeing her expression, Bushin opened his mouth to explain.

“After the previous madam…… passed away, the head of the family, that is, the previous head, ordered all of her belongings to be cleared out. Since she died suddenly from a highly contagious, ahem, disease, we had no choice but to burn all her possessions.”

“……”

“At least…… a few paintings were saved because Master Lucas had hidden them under his bed.”

Giselle, who had been quietly listening to Bushin’s words, unconsciously opened her mouth and then closed it. Her hand holding the pen automatically tightened.

Her heart ached thinking about the five-year-old child, too young to properly understand what death meant, who had to secretly hide his mother’s paintings under his bed.

Did he think that if his father found out, even those paintings would be taken away?

Since she died from a highly contagious disease, his father probably didn’t want to lose his son after losing his wife.

So if he had known about the hidden paintings, he would have immediately confiscated and burned them all.

But she still had questions. She narrowed her eyes and asked the butler.

“If that’s the case, couldn’t they be taken out of storage now? After all this time, it seems unlikely that any germs would remain on the paintings. Moreover, he is now the head of the family.”

The previous head who had ordered all possessions to be burned was now buried in his grave. With just one word from Lucas, the paintings could easily be brought out.

She recalled how portraits of previous generations and family collections were well displayed in a separate space.

Yet the paintings by his mother were stuffed away in storage—it made no sense to her at all.

“Ah, that…… was on Master Lucas’s instructions.”

“What? He instructed it?”

It was an even more incomprehensible answer. But separately from that, a memory automatically surfaced in Giselle’s mind.

Lucas’s dry expression when looking at his parents’ portraits.

Devoid of longing, affection, or any emotion.

‘……Lucas, what kind of time did you spend growing up?’

A man who possessed wealth that anyone would envy, who seemed to have grown up enjoying everything the world had to offer.

A man who seemed to have lived in a completely different world from her.

Yet somehow, in his expression as he looked at his parents’ portraits, she felt something similar to herself.

Like her, always alone.

……What were parents to that man?

Why did the little boy who secretly hid his mother’s paintings order them to be kept in storage rather than properly hanging them on the wall after becoming an adult?

Giselle tapped her fingertips on the desk before finally nodding.

“I see. I’ll have to discuss bringing the paintings out of storage with him. Hmm…… But I should be able to see the paintings before that, right?”

“Pardon? Ah, of course. There is nowhere madam cannot go.”

Bushin bowed his head and answered her question. She nodded and stood up.

“Good. Then I’ll write the invitations a bit later…… Shall we go see the paintings? Please guide me to the storage, Bushin.”

* * *

A car on its way home slid past the empty road.

Lucas briefly fixed his gaze on the scenery of the streets rapidly passing by outside the window before turning his head.

“……”

His expression became peculiar as he looked at the small box placed next to him.

It was because of the cute, dainty-looking box that didn’t match the cool-looking man at all. And on the corner of the box was printed the logo of what was said to be the most popular bakery in the capital city of Sorben these days.

Seeing it, Lucas unconsciously frowned and averted his gaze.

Nevertheless, the sweet smell leaking from the box kept tickling his nose.

Lucas pretended to be nonchalant and threw his gaze back out the car window.

How much time had passed like that?

The car carrying him and the box emitting a sweet smell entered the mansion.

The first thing he saw were the employees who had come out to welcome their returning master. It was a scene he had seen every day, always.

Nothing new about it.

But when one person was added to it, everything changed.

It was as if a drop of pink paint had fallen into a colorless world, and that single drop had dyed the entire world with its color.

“You’re back?”

“Yes.”

As soon as Lucas got out of the car, he lightly kissed Giselle’s cheek as she came out to greet him. Someone among the employees let out a small squeal.

Although several days had passed and they should have grown accustomed to their master’s change, his behavior still seemed unfamiliar and fascinating.

“Ahem. Welcome home, Master Lucas.”

The butler glanced at the person who had just squealed as if to reprimand them, then approached him and greeted him respectfully. As Lucas nodded toward Bushin, Giselle finally noticed the box in his hand and showed curiosity.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, this? ……It’s for you.”

“What?”

Giselle unconsciously took the small box he handed her and opened her eyes wide. The box with a strawberry cake drawn on it looked undeniably cute at first glance.

It’s almost unbelievable that Lucas had given it to her.

“……Let’s go inside then.”