Chapter 68

The Grand Duke did not lose his smile until the end, even after he had wrapped Alexia’s hand warmly before letting it go slowly. Alexia, who was watching the Grand Duke until he disappeared from a distance, immediately pouted her lips.

“Huh? He is more decent than I thought.”

She recalled the shape of his lips that had smiled gracefully. The hands, which led the dance, were not that bad either.

“Hmmm…”

“Alexia!”

Suddenly, a spectator from afar had quickly approached her. The flushed red appearance of that person seemed to be full of curiosity.

“Who was that? Is that your fiance? He is completely different from what you say.”

Alexia’s eyes turned to her friend, who appeared to be much more excited than Alexia herself. And before she even knew it, the Grand Duke was already obliterated from her mind. When other people’s attention was cascading plenty towards herself, she was then immediately filled with vanity—as she covered her mouth with her hand and smiled away.

It was finally the day when the brief yet lengthy event had drawn to a close.

The people eventually left with an offshoot of last night’s party before boarding the train sluggishly. It was then the servants’ job to finish organizing all that much luggage.

However, there were some exceptions among them as well.

Originally, she was supposed to be suffering altogether in the midst of those busy people, but then, the color of her hair had altered the future a little.

Her voice had already returned, but as Alexia had ordered before; she should still avoid the possibility of being discovered by other people. When she was first about to board the carriage that had been prepared for the maids, Vivian looked down at the small cage that was covered with white cloth in her arms.

As soon as she showed it, Alexia told her to throw it out. However, when Vivian informed her that the rabbit was gifted by the Grand Duke, she immediately casted an unpleasant expression.

Is it, perhaps—she just can’t ignore people’s eyes on her? In the end, thanks to the permission that was given by Alexia, who was still harboring that detestable look, the rabbit could then stay quietly in Vivian’s embrace.

Alexia no longer wished to say anything else since she would never be the one to take care of it anyway—but the maids themselves.

Then, Vivian planned to ask Mr. Hans, who was the one in charge of the garden, to help in making a cage—specifically for rabbits. Until then, it had no other choice but to stay within that chicken cage in the kitchen.

“Just wait a little more, okay? Soon, I’ll put you in a wider cage.”

She then decided to put a lot of unused cloth inside that small cage, in case that something might happen. Since she just couldn’t make the others who had boarded the same carriage uncomfortable, she left a whole lot of cloth in there.

Then, Vivian hugged the cage affectionately.

***

For the time being, Vivian no longer had the opportunity to visit the Grand Duke’s residence.                                     For a while, there were no times for Vivian to go to the Grand Duke’s house.

Owing to the fact that once she had arrived in the county, the only thing that would be waiting for her was the mountainous piles of work. The heaps of laundry that were added while she went to the hunting competition and tons of further increased loads of work had started to crush Vivian’s fragile breath.

The Count did not miss this moment in any way when Alexia’s betrothal had eventually brought him the society’s undivided attention. The Count and his family began to expand their status further by accepting each and every single of the social invitations from all over the place.

And of course, simultaneously, the servants had gotten busy as well—not Alexia herself.

They had to greet the guests who constantly visited the residence and on top of that, they had to clean the guest room thoroughly, even when it hadn’t been in use. After waking up early in the morning and straight away working hard all day long, it was finally time to turn in for bed.

When she was just wondering whether these last moments were truly the end of her meeting with the Grand Duke, an urgent call had suddenly come in from Alexia.

During such a busy time, Vivian still rushed over while wiping her wet hand with the apron, only to find Alexia—undeniably fuming.