It was a truly absurd sum, yet by then Harry Graham had fallen so hopelessly besotted with a woman twenty years his junior that he lost all sense of reason, took out loans from moneylenders to cover the settlement, and stamped his name on the divorce papers. That was how the Graham ducal household came to be buried in staggering debt.

Not long after, Harry Graham died in a sudden accident. The young Duke Frederic Graham inherited the headship of the family with no preparation whatsoever, and on top of that, an unplanned marriage.

“Is what the admiral said true? Six whole months of training, from July through December!”

Margie had never resented Frederic for being a military man. If anything, nothing suited his flawless elegance and devastating allure better than a uniform, and admiring the lines of his body for long stretches had become one of her favorite pastimes. Why gawk at artwork when my husband is a living sculpture?

So Margie, who had never been able to hide her delight at the fine lines of his profile, couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

He’s going to be away from home for six whole months? July is barely three weeks away.

Frederic, however, remained completely still. He said nothing, and only the weight of his green gaze radiated that heavy, oppressive pressure.

“Is it…… true, Frederic? That you’ll be leaving my side soon?”

Margie asked him in a trembling voice.

“……”

His expression had not wavered through any of his father-in-law’s ranting, yet the skin beneath his eyes gave the faintest tremor. He seemed to be biting down on his lower lip, then swallowed dryly. His throat moved slowly up and down. His luminous green irises held something complicated as they fixed on Margie with an unwavering stare. Silence that radiated both dignity and a certain ruinous quality. Margie found herself marveling again at the irreplaceable presence of him.

“That is……”

Frederic had only just managed to open his mouth when,

“You ought to be spreading the duke’s superior bloodline far and wide for the good of the Empire’s future!”

Ian Flynn erupted with impatience yet again, and Frederic closed his mouth once more.

“Before being a soldier of the Empire, Your Grace is a member of the Flynn household! Is protecting the country more important right now? It’s been a full month since the wedding, which means she ought to be with child already, carrying on the family……”

“Ugh, Father!”

My husband was trying to say something to me! How could you just barge in like that!

“What kind of father-in-law in this day and age pressures his son-in-law about pregnancy and heirs! Father, come to your senses!”

Margie let out a sharp cry.

“How can you speak so openly about what passes between a husband and wife, without the slightest shame, in front of someone as unrelated as yourself, Father!”

Screaming until her voice gave out, Margie’s neck and both cheeks flushed crimson with mortification.

“That is truly the height of rudeness!”

“Marie. How could you……”

Ian Flynn’s jaw dropped. His daughter’s tirade left him speechless, his words trailing off.

“I’m an adult now! A twenty-year-old woman who can take responsibility for her own life!”

“No, Marie. Please, just hear your father out. I only……”

“Imagine if it were your in-laws sticking their noses into my affairs like this! Isn’t it perfectly obvious what people would say? They’d be telling me to cut ties with in-laws who can’t even respect their new family! And yet here we are! A father-in-law getting himself worked up over what happens under his own daughter’s marriage bed!”

“I only worry about you and the duke……”

“Please have some dignity in front of me and my husband, Father!”

“Oh, my darling Marie……”

His eyes, soft with sorrow, moved from his daughter to his son-in-law Frederic. A desperate look, pleading to be rescued from this ordeal.

“……I apologize for the disturbance.”

“Frederic! Don’t say that!”

Margie had fully expected Frederic to make a face and storm out of the room, so when he offered a quiet apology instead, she cried out in alarm and stopped him.

Even if he’s a son-in-law taken in by a ruined family, he’s still a duke in name! A man of such standing shouldn’t be bowing his head like this, it ruins his dignity! I can’t even properly support him as a wife, I just stir up trouble between him and Father, and all I seem to do is spend money left and right. What a useless fool, Margie Graham! I’d lose all feeling for a woman like this too! I didn’t bring Frederic here just to put him through this kind of misery! If that gorgeous face gets worn down, who’s going to answer for it!

“There is no need for Frederic to apologize……”

“I will endeavor not to give you cause for concern.”

“Hmph, tch!”

Ian Flynn clicked his tongue in displeasure rather than reply. He had raised her tenderly so she’d never hang her head before anyone, and here she was, taking only her husband’s side. No good ever comes from raising a daughter, blast it all!

“I’ll take my leave then. As for the tea, the two of you can share it or leave it. It’s expensive, mind you, don’t waste it! Hmph!”

His pride stung by his daughter’s rebuke, he snapped his head away and walked out in a huff.

“I’m sorry, Frederic. You had to hear all of that for nothing.”

Margie had been watching Frederic’s face anxiously all the while, and she murmured in a voice barely above a whisper.

“I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again……”

She was in the middle of apologizing on her father’s behalf and asking for his forgiveness when,

Scrape.

The quiet sound of a chair leg being drawn back. A careful, restrained sound, the kind that comes from manners worn into the body.

“It is of no consequence. So please do not apologize.”

Frederic rose from his chair and spoke.

“How can it be of no consequence, Frederic. Father said something quite inexcusable……”

Margie answered him, her expression twisting with distress.

“Sir Flynn’s tirades, Miss Flynn’s reproaches. None of it is any concern of mine.”

“Fr, Frederic……”

Without thinking, she reached out and caught his sleeve. The cufflink at the end of Frederic’s left sleeve shifted slightly out of place.

“No. In fact, it would suit me better if you blamed and resented me instead.”

He shook off the hand his wife had laid on him without a trace of warmth, then glanced briefly down at his left wrist.

“So do not apologize to me. Do not make any effort on my behalf. Not if you truly mean to consider my feelings, Miss Flynn.”

Then with his right hand he undid the cufflink on his left sleeve, and refastened it neatly. Graceful as ever, but with an irritation that bled through every movement.

“I want nothing from you, Margie Flynn.”

His eyes, calm to the point of indifference, were enough to cause her pain.

If only he had raged at her. Told her he despised her, that the appalling table manners her crude father had put on display made him sick, that she disgusted him most of all for making him hear it. That would not have split her chest open quite like this.

“Do not wait up for me again tonight. I will tell the attendant to make up a bed in the study, so do not trouble yourself over it.”

‘Is the opposite of love hatred? No, Agnus! The form furthest from love is indifference!’

A line from the heroine Bianca in 〈The Grand Ducal Household’s Lewd Wedding Night〉 surfaced in her mind. At the same moment, Margie’s vision blurred. Something hot and hazy began to fill her eyes, slowly rising.