Chapter 128

Well, a few days ago, almost right after the kidnapping incident had occurred, Yelena wrote two letters.

Each letter was sent to a different place.

One letter was sent to her family in the capital and the other was sent to Count Max’s estate, where Rosaline resided.

Yelena received a response from Count Max’s estate right away on the day she sent the letter, saying that unfortunately, Rosaline was currently away from the fief and that if Yelena were to send a letter, it would take quite some time to reach her.

Anyhow, thanks to that hospitable reply, Yelena was able to confirm that her letter had reached Count Max’s estate safely.

On the other hand…

‘I thought they’d reply right away…’

Yelena still hadn’t received a response from her family.

The capital was farther away from the duchy than the Max Countdom, but a well-trained pigeon could easily deliver a letter within a day.

If her family had written back to her as soon as they received her letter, that reply would have reached the Mayhard Duchy and then some by now.

‘This is taking longer than expected… Or did my letter get lost in transit, by any chance?’

Yelena shook her head, recalling the price of the carrier pigeon she used to send her letter. It was quite unlikely that that was the case.

“Well, it’ll come eventually as long as I wait.”

Yelena decided not to worry about it. Receiving a response to her letter wasn’t important anyway.

She had written about the recent events. Such and such had happened to her, but it ended well. She was immensely safe, so they didn’t need to worry too much, even if they ended up hearing about her elsewhere.

‘Since there’s no doubt that the rumors will be exaggerated…’

According to the rumors circulating the capital and other fiefs about the kidnapping incident, Yelena might be dead.

Yelena had written letters to those close to her to get rid of any unnecessary worry for her.

“All would have been well if the letters were delivered properly… Anyhow, this isn’t the time to be thinking about this right now.”

Maybe her thoughts had briefly wandered off because she was holding her pen.

Yelena stopped tapping the end of her pen on the desk and stared down at the piece of paper in front of her.

Written on the rectangular piece of paper in Yelena’s handwriting were simple instructions.

[Master Rosaline’s 7 Steps for a Successful Romance

Step 1: Call the other person by a pet name affectionately(important)

Step 2: Become familiar with the other person’s hobbies and interests

Step 3: Curry favor with the other person by buying a gift suited to their tastes

Step 4: Make memories between just the two of you by going on dates

Step 5: Create a hobby that you can share with the other person

Step 6: Share a secret between just the two of you

Step 7: Repeat (in any order)]

“…Hm.”

Yelena put her pen down and tucked her chin in her hand.

She had completed up to step 5 on the list.

‘Teaching him how to paint can be used for step 5, and as for step 6…’

A secret.

Yelena remembered when she had nursed her husband, who had a sudden high fever.

She had seen her husband’s scars that day.

And she had learned about his childhood.

Either one of the two was more than enough to be considered a secret.

‘Right, because he originally meant to hide them from me, but I ended up seeing them…’

With that, she could consider step 6 complete.

Now all that was left was step 7.

All she had to do was repeat the previous steps in no particular order.

Yelena’s attention went right to step 4, ‘dating.’

In truth, she had already drawn a circle around the step and written [Boat ride] in small letters next to it.

‘I want to tell him that we should take a trip to the lake.’

Yelena had been torn between a boat ride or a festival as their first date and ultimately chose the festival.

If they were to go on a second date, of course it would have to be a boat ride.

‘…But the problem is, a second date probably won’t be happening anytime soon.’

Yelena was currently being treated like a patient.

For example, she could barely take walks in the gardens amidst the worries of all the people around her. To think that she wanted to go to the lake in her current predicament.

‘Like I thought, that won’t be possible, right?’

Even if she persisted and ultimately got to go out, she thought it’d be difficult for the date to feel like an actual date.

It might just end up feeling like she went out for a breath of fresh air whilst recuperating.

‘…No, this won’t do. Let’s think about this slowly.’

Yelena decided not to rush things. Such leisure wasn’t difficult for her to come by because…

“…”