Special Side Story

Carriages that had traveled long distances arrived one after another at Elmano Castle.

The people who alighted from the carriages were nobles who wanted to invest in Duke Elmano’s new trading ship that would depart the following spring.

Duke Elmano’s trading ships, which transported rare goods, had been achieving tremendous success every time. Moreover, the new trading ship to be launched next year was said to be twice as large as the existing ones, so there couldn’t be a better opportunity for nobles who wanted to make a lot of money. That’s why they all traveled the long distance to come here.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Duke Elmano.”

“Thank you sincerely for your precious time.”

“Everyone, welcome to Elmano Castle.”

The nobles greeted with faces full of expectation, and Kais received them with a dignified appearance.

Some of them glanced curiously at the area behind the Duke. They wanted to see the Duchess in person, who had caused quite a stir in Bayaroman’s social circles for a while with her marriage to Duke Elmano, declaration of marriage annulment, and then reunion.

The Duchess stood quietly one step behind. The nobles who saw her understood why the notoriously arrogant and cold Duke Elmano had fallen so deeply for her.

The Duchess, who was blushing slightly as if nervous, wasn’t just beautiful. Despite her unassuming attire, she radiated a sparkling vitality, and her gently contained smile showed a refreshing pleasantness that made people feel good. In particular, her clear and intelligent light blue eyes had a unique charm that automatically made viewers smile comfortably.

As the visitors’ gazes one by one turned toward Lariella, Kais’s relaxed face stiffened uncomfortably.

All the gazes showing interest in Lariella displeased him, but among them, the most irritating was Neiden, the eldest son of Count Tabanelle.

The young man who accompanied the elderly Count Tabanelle couldn’t take his eyes off Lariella from the moment he stepped out of the carriage.

A reddened face with a dumbfounded expression, and lips that nervously twitched with the desire to speak just one word to her. Seeing the young man who seemed completely smitten with Lariella, Kais became displeased.

How dare he. Not a chance.

He moved sideways to stand like a wall in front of Lariella. Then he slowly looked around at the visitors and said,

“Now that everyone seems to have arrived, let’s move inside. I’ve prepared precious tea brought by the last trading ship. Willis, escort the guests inside.”

At Kais’s gesture, Willis, who had been standing behind, stepped forward in front of the guests.

“I will guide you to the reception room. Please, everyone this way.”

The visitors moved into the lobby, marveling at the grandeur and luxury of Elmano Castle. But even after everyone had gone inside, Neiden alone remained behind, lingering.

Kais addressed the young man, whose face had reddened even more, in a cold voice.

“Does the heir of the Tabanelle family have other business with me?”

Confronted with the gray-blue eyes that seemed to pierce through him, the young man finally came to his senses and frantically shook his head and hands.

“No, n-no, Duke.”

Though he hurried after the others belatedly, Neiden kept glancing back as if reluctant to leave. When his eyes met Kais’s again, he startled and turned his head away, looking quite pathetic.

Just a callow youth with eyes too big for his station.

Kais glared fiercely at the back of Neiden’s head as he walked away.

Only after Neiden had walked to the end of the lobby and turned into the corridor, completely disappearing from view, did Kais turn to face Lariella. The fierce look in his eyes that had been bristling just moments ago had softened as if it had never been there.

He gently stroked under Lariella’s eyes, which were tired from staying up the previous night, with the tip of his thumb and said:

“You worked hard preparing, Lariella. You must be tired, so go up to your room and rest a bit. You don’t need to come out when the guests leave.”

Lariella wasn’t yet accustomed to receiving guests. When she suddenly heard that more than ten nobles would be visiting Elmano Castle, she couldn’t sleep well the previous night, half nervous and half worried.

Because of that, her eyes felt dry and she was somewhat drowsy, but not to the extent that she needed to go to her room right away to rest. And above all, she didn’t want to give the gossipy social circles any more reason to talk about whether the Duchess properly received guests or not.

Lariella smiled brightly as if nothing was wrong.

“No. I’m not tired. I’ve just been standing here. I can see the guests off later too. As the mistress of Elmano Castle, I should at least do that much.”

At Lariella’s spirited response, Kais made a disgruntled expression.

He didn’t want to show even a strand of Lariella’s hair again to those men who had been eyeing her, including that fool from the Tabanelle family, but Lariella, not knowing Kais’s feelings, was saying she would personally see the guests off.

He couldn’t openly tell her not to appear when she wanted to fulfill her role as the mistress, and he couldn’t reveal his petty inner thoughts that he hated other men looking at her.

Then the only option was to distract her with something else so she would completely forget about having to see the guests off.

Knowing exactly what always distracted Lariella, Kais casually suggested:

“The meeting will probably take at least three or four hours, so why don’t you go to the library and read a book in the meantime?”

The library of Elmano Castle was incredibly spacious, occupying the entire first floor of the annex building, and was filled with precious art pieces, manuscripts written by sages themselves, rare books said to be difficult to obtain even at high prices, and ancient books densely packed on every shelf.

Lariella loved this space filled with an enormous amount of books stacked in layers, more than she could read in a lifetime. Because of this, whenever she went to the library, she would sit there losing track of time, and Kais always had to send someone to call her back.

“That would be nice, but……”

Although Kais’s suggestion was quite tempting, Lariella couldn’t readily agree because she was afraid that if she went to the library on a day like this, she might forget what she needed to do and become completely absorbed in books.

Kais offered a rather good solution for her.

“If you’re worried about being late to see the guests off, don’t worry, Lariella. I’ll send a servant to the library before I end the meeting. Then you can read your book with peace of mind and come out to see the guests off when the servant arrives.”

At those words, Lariella’s face brightened.

“Will you do that for me?”

“Of course, that’s nothing.”

“Great. There was a book I wanted to read quickly anyway.”

Her smiling face was so pretty that he wanted to pull her tightly into his arms and shower kisses all over her right then, but Kais decided to be satisfied with just pressing his lips firmly against Lariella’s cheek for now. He would save the greater pleasure for a few hours later.

“Don’t worry about the guests and just relax. Until the servant comes to you later.”

“I will.”

Lariella nodded obediently and waved her small hand.

“See you later, Kais.”

She soon walked toward the annex, her dress skirts fluttering.

Kais watched her retreating figure with tender eyes as she quickly crossed the garden, then turned and began to stride across the spacious lobby.

A very suspicious smile hung on his lips as he walked, whatever he was thinking.

⁕⁕⁕