CH 15

Not only the other prisoners, but Benson, who had been patrolling daily with a grave expression, looked back at her in surprise.

“….Mrs. Bessie.”

Fortunately, Sir Benson treated her in a markedly different manner than other prisoners. 

It was thanks to Mrs. Bessie’s good reputation with the knights so far. 

“I have something to tell you.”

“It’s difficult, Mrs. Bessie.”

He didn’t want to listen to Bessie properly. Probably because of fairness with other prisoners.

“Then.” 

Benson passed quickly in front of her.

“Sir! Wait a minute! Please!” 

She shook the iron bars so hard that they rattled.

“You can’t stay still!”

The other guard couldn’t take it anymore and started shouting loudly, but Bessie didn’t care and shouted at Benson.

“You are all being deceived by her, Duchess! Aren’t you going to save the Duke?!”

Benson, who was a few steps away, stood there.

His face was full of questions as he looked back.

He was so deeply loyal to the Duke that he couldn’t just pass by a story like this. 

“…What do you mean by that?”

Bessie smiled with satisfaction.

* * *

The incident where the bell rang was simply concluded as ‘no big deal’. (Quentin was delighted.) 

If Clarisse, the protagonist of this case, knew all this, she would have been very sorry, but that night she fell asleep very deeply and didn’t hear that dignified bell.

Thus, Clarisse, who didn’t know anything, was living a rewarding prison life as usual. 

Wake up early

Wash well.

Reading a book.

Garden exploration.

In addition to that, she has increased her new activities one by one, but her favorite thing lately is drawing.

Clarisse quickly became interested in the painting, for the following reasons.

“Ta-da, look at this.”

Clarisse put a picture of a woman across the dining table and proudly told Rosalie the story.

“This is my dining friend, Jenny!”

A day later, Clarisse showed off to Rosalie by putting a drawing of a man on a piece of paper next to Jenny.

“This is my dining friend John. The two of them are a pair.”

“Ah…” 

Rosalie smiled kindly as usual, trying not to show her broken heart.

“The two of them look so good together that you could call them a couple.”

“Right? They’re just like the Duke and his wife. What about those two…” 

Clarisse, who was excitedly talking about the Duke’s couple, quickly shut her mouth. 

It was a secret that Clarisse had ever met the Duchess.

‘I’m also very forgetful.’

Clarisse smiled in embarrassment and quickly thanked her.

Clarisse quickly sat down before the ready meal.

“Thank you for the meal today. Thank you for your arrangement, Rosalie.”

“It is a matter of course.”

“Thank you for accepting my invitation, too, Jenny and John. Enjoy your meal.”

Clarisse also greeted the painting with a polite greeting and began to eat.

Rosalie stood next to Clarice and watched her.

She was said to have grown up in a royal family, and her table manners were excellent.

It makes her wonder how strict the education was for a child to become so proficient.

“Today is delicious. Would you be sure to tell the chef how delicious it was?”

“I will definitely tell the chef.”

Rosalie laughed and poured more water into the child’s glass.

“Jenny likes meat too, and it turned out really well. Oh, this is for play.”

Clarisse smiled cheerfully from behind the table, perhaps noticing that Rosalie was looking at her anxiously.

“Isn’t it a little fun to think that Jenny and John are eating together when they eat?”

“I see.”

After a few days of this happening, Rosalie decided that she would never let Clarisse eat alone.

It’s obvious she’s lonely.

But she is a child, even though she is a prisoner, she is a child who used to be the princess of a country.

If she asks to have a meal with the servants, her heart might be hurt.

There was only one way.

Rosalie went to the Duke’s office with a determined face.

“You need someone to eat with Clarisse?”

Maximilian, who was looking through the papers, raised his gaze and asked again, and Rosalie cautiously nodded her head.

“Yes, please look at this, Duke.”

Rosalie put the practical book she had brought on top of his desk and pointed to a passage with her fingertips.

[Children eat together with adults and naturally learn the right manners and conversation. In this process, correct values can be expected to be formed.]

“Doesn’t the Duke know very well that children need good examples to grow up?” 

“It is, however.”

Maximilian’s voice was rather heavy, as if he had started to worry.

Rosalie decided to try one more time.

“Besides, these days, they attach painted faces of men and women and call them friends eating together.”

Maximilian’s hand, which had been fiddling with the papers, paused for a moment.

“The picture is… a friend.”

At the sound of some pity, Rosalie hoped that he might solve Clarisse’s eating alone problem.

“Hmm…” 

However, the time he pondered only increased, and no answer came back.

What on earth is he so worried about?

As Rosalie waited impatiently, Quentin, who had been listening to all of this conversation, raised his hand and intervened among them.

“I think I can go and eat together.”

Rosalie and Maximilian looked back at him at the same time.

He was sorting through the old papers piled up on one side of his office and putting them in a box.

“I think it would be better for Clarisse than eating with strangers. How is it, Duke?” 

“That would be nice.”

When Maximilian agreed, Rosalie nodded her head in delight.

“A meal with a fine gentleman like Quentin would be a wonderful time for Clarisse. If it’s not rude, could you please let me know in advance which woman will be accompanying?”

Rosalie’s sudden question made Quentin widen her eyes in surprise.

“What? W, woman?” 

“Yes, since you are the Duke’s right-hand man, you must be building a relationship with a great woman.”

Quentin had no answer to Rosalie, who looked at him with high expectations.

Because he had never been in a special relationship with any woman.

Quentin mumbled with a face that was almost about to cry, and finally squeezed out a question.

“Y…You don’t always have to have a woman at your table, do you?”

“That, Clarisse has painted both female and male paintings and hung them on the wall, so if possible, I would like a female to accompany us. Don’t tell me there are no women who interact with you at all?” 

“….”

Quentin bowed his head.

“I’m preparing for the official exam at the monastery.”

The public service examination was an official test conducted by the kingdom.

Those who performed well in this examination were given the opportunity to work for the royal family or aristocratic families.

Commoners with extraordinary brains, as well as aristocrats in the countryside whose location was ambiguous, were able to make a name for themselves and improve their status through this test.

“I heard that there are many excellent women who are devoted to their studies in the monastery.”

“Yes, there were many. But,,,”

Quentin had a tearful face.

“Everyone studies in the monastery. I only studied. I didn’t have time to build a friendship.”

Maximilian objected.

“I heard that there are many cases where people met and got married.”

“T, that can’t be! It really is a sacred place to study!”

Maximilian and Rosalie looked with strange eyes at him, making excuses with a red face.

“Oh, besides, I go to work early in the morning and leave late in the evening here, so I have few chances to meet anyone other than the Duke! Ah, Duke, please.” 

Quentin begged Maximilian with tears in his eyes.

“Please take me to a banquet in the capital city! I ended up dying from overwork after never having been in a relationship like this!”

“If it’s a woman, isn’t there a lot of them in Sheridan?”

“Have you forgotten that I am from here? All the girls in my village were collecting frozen horse dung with me!”

“Doesn’t that mean you’re good friends? I heard that there is also a relationship that has been built since childhood.” 

“You want me to join hands with an opponent to see who can find the bigger horse dung in the snow? When I see with my own eyes that there was horse dung in that hand?”

“…It must have been in your hand as well.”

Maximilian glanced down with pity at the papers he was holding.

“Anyway, I understand the situation that Quentin has no lady to bring.”

Rosalie settled things calmly. Quentin nodded slowly to see if he didn’t have the strength to answer and then continued to organize the old documents again.

“Then, I wonder if the Duke would do it himself. I’m sorry that I dared to suggest it.” 

Maximilian gave Rosalie’s idea a look of disapproval when he answered.

“It’s impossible. Above all, I also have someone to go with…” 

Maximilian couldn’t finish what he was saying.  It may be because he belatedly realized the awkward fact that he was married and had a wife.

Rosalie quickly replied.

“The Duchess will certainly set a good example.”

“Even if it’s not me…” 

“Isn’t Quentin too busy to start looking for someone else? In addition, we can’t let Clarisse contact an outsider recklessly.”

“That’s…true. If something happens to Clarisse, we can’t abide by the law.” 

“Then, I will tell the kitchen and Clarisse that the Duke and your wife will be eating together for dinner tomorrow evening.” 

Rosalie quickly reached a conclusion so that Maximilian would not talk about anything else, and bowed her head out of the office.

Maximilian was a little troubled when he noticed that Benson, who was standing in the doorway, was observing him very carefully.