CH 37

A clean but worn out brown skirt. Plain blouse and warm outerwear.

And even her hair tied high like a woman working on a farm.

Lily stood upright, dressed like a cold-weather wife.

“I asked what’s everyone doing here? You don’t just gather like this for no reason. I’m really curious.”

She looked around the winter castle people who were in the midst of chasing her escape route.

Unlike her dazed and depressed appearance before, she was full of vitality. Her splendid beauty that caught the eyes of others, not covered by ordinary clothes, was the same.

“Did you all go play hopping as a group?”

People were dumbfounded with Lily’s reasonable reasoning.

“What?”

“It’s nice to be relaxed, but it can also make Lord Blake mad. He is a very thorough person.”

“Eh, yes?”

“It’s cold, so don’t play too long. I’ll go in first.”

Lily had been working since early morning, so she went away with her light gait following today.

The knights and the servants looked at each other’s faces and spoke again.

“Huh?”

“What happened just now?”

“Wait. Was it Miss Lily that we saw?”

They returned to the winter castle with footsteps as if possessed by something.

It was incredible! It wasn’t an illusion. 

Lily was still exhaling a cool energy and smiling affectionately.

As she walked through the hall on the first floor, she talked to Blake.

“Lord Blake, I just came to see Coco II and there was white hair around his buttocks. Is he okay?”

“It looks like it’s molting. It’ll grow black again soon.”

“And Coco…”

Lily looked at the people standing blankly in front of the gate. It was very funny to see the snow piled up on their heads.

“The people here are full of energy since morning. Earlier, everyone was running and playing.”

“Them?”

Blake fixed his fierce eyes at the people.

He thought it was crazy that grown-ups were running around.

“Stay away. Don’t get too close, it could be a contagious disease.”

“Oh……”

Lily poked the man’s hard forearm as if his joke was too much.

The servants, who suddenly became crazy, just stood still.

One of them suddenly burst into tears.

“Ahhhhhhhhh… If this is a dream, I never want to wake up…”

“Miss Lily is back…!”

“Blow the trumpet quickly, and rob the food warehouse! Let’s hold a festival even if we get scolded!”

(*Blake and Lily were clueless that the people were looking for her. Lily thought they were playing, and Blake thought they were crazy )

***

“I’m sorry for worrying you all this time.”

Lily, who was eating at the dining room for the first time in a long time, was bewildered when she saw the huge cake in front of her. 

“I will try not to worry you in the future…but what the hell is this cake?”

“This is a cake that Chef Alex made in a hurry! Although there is no flour or whipped cream.”

The servants had to celebrate the day by making a cake out of ingredients they didn’t have. It was the happiest day ever.

They only now realized it anew. The fact that this little lady, who had been staying here only for a few months, had become so precious.

“So it probably tastes a little weird. It won’t taste like the cake you think it is…Hehehe.”

A chick who fell out of the blue in a wolf cave full of ugly scars wasn’t in danger.

Instead, she brought out the vigilant Captain Wolf due to an unfortunate incident and saved many lives with her mysterious power.

As a result, the chick unwittingly became the king of the wolves.

“A cake without flour or whipped cream?”

Lily looked at the cake, repeating that same sentence.

The white outside was sauce, not cream, and the inside consisted of chopped meat.

She thought carefully after tasting the cake.

What a great combination of hamburger steak and garlic sauce.

“It’s delicious.”

“Really? It’s chef Alex’s work. Now. Eat a lot, a lot! What is this because you haven’t eaten properly in a while? Your arm is so thin, it can go through the hole of a needle. Can you walk for eight hours, let alone half a day?”

‘Can even an average person walk for eight hours?’

Lily thought as she watched the garlic steak-cake piled up in front of her.

Yeah, when it comes to fitness standards for people in the Duchy, well…

“Yesterday, all of a sudden, there was even a hole in the wall. The repair has been done, but a little cold wind is still coming in, so don’t go near it. You’re going to catch a cold with this body.”

The culprit Blake coughed and turned away.

“She won’t be able to eat half of what you gave her. Idiots.”

“Really, my lord? Thank you for the good information.”

The maids were astonished and serious as if they were sincere.

But it wasn’t intentional. Soon after, a maid changed her face 180 degrees and grinded her teeth.

“I have one more question for this clever master. So, what the hell happened to Miss Lily?”

It wasn’t until after an argument with Blake that Lily locked herself in her room.

Everyone knew that the culprit was Blake. It even got into the ears of employees who stayed under the mountain.

During that time, Winter Castle was literally gloomy and desolate.

“Right. You’d better tell the truth, Master.”

Obviously this wasn’t a battlefield, it was a place to eat, but there was a sound of iron friction coming from somewhere.

How hard he tried to get Lily to stay at the castle, how dared these idiots…..

Blake, who had become bitter, opened his mouth.

“Lily Hedwick will stay at the castle for a while, not for a year, but for an indefinite period.”

“Huh, what did you say? Are you serious?”

“And the employees are also planning to change completely. You’re saying goodbye to the lady. Say goodbye to her today. Oh, even that won’t work. She has work to do with me today. Work hard.”

After he had finished speaking, Blake took Lily after her meal and left the dining room.

In the end, the servants fell into chaos because they couldn’t tell if the story about Lily’s increase in tenure was serious or a joke.

***

It was in his office that Blake guided Lily.

The clock ticked heavily.

Lily sat in a chair across from Blake and looked at him.

“Now, read it.”

Blake pushed the letter towards her.

The sender was ‘Duke Blake Upus’. The receiver was….

Lily’s husband, Count Fox.

“Oh, my God. I thought you had something to do with me.”

“I’ll send this letter to your ex-husband. Read it before I mail it.”

The letter, which was only three or four pages long, will be the catalyst for the case. A chance for Lily to break free from the beasts of her parents and her ex-husband and become independent.

Blake’s tone was blunt, but his actions themselves were quite thoughtful.

He said he was going to discuss everything with Lily, and he really kept his word.

“Oh, um, yes…. thank you.”

They were seeing each other for the first time since dawn’s reconciliation. Lily came with a light heart, wondering if he was going to tell her the old story, but she was completely nervous.

Lily placed her snow-white hand over the letter.

It wasn’t a letter from her ex-husband like last time, but a reply that had not been sent yet, but her heart was still pounding.

“Ummm….”

She furrowed her brow. She thought it was too much.

At that moment.

Blake’s large hand placed over Lily’s raised hand. Just like that, the warmth was delivered to Lily.

“…… just.”

Blake spoke bluntly again.

“Nothing to be nervous about. Not for a man like that.”

She was the one who was nervous. The problem was that she wasn’t afraid.

Maybe it’s because she gave a useless kiss yesterday. She had held Blake’s hand before, but why was she nervous now?

Lily felt Blake’s hard, callous hand. And the smell of old paper and mahogany in the office.

It smelled like an old but clean bookstore.

Her heart, which was racing with her anxiety, slowly calmed down.

“Thanks to you, I feel better. The time has really come to see what you wrote.”

“If there is anything you want to edit, you can do it.”

Finally, Lily began to read the first sentence silently.

[To Count Fox..… . I read your best regards…]

“Um, um.”

Lily was very serious.

She certainly did at first.

However, as the paragraphs continued, her expression faded. In the end, she almost burst out laughing against her etiquette.

“Wait a minute. Are you serious? Are you going to send it like this?”

How big and terrifying her ex-husband had imprinted on Lily.

Even in the midst of that, it was not normal to say that the content made her laugh. She read the letter again, flicking the bangs of her beautiful platinum hair to her side. She wasn’t mistaken.

“Especially this middle paragraph.”

[By the way, why are you calling her your wife when you’re divorced. I’m sorry to hear that you’re a b*stard. There is no magic stone good for your head.]

“Did you really write this? If you had prepared a fake letter to make me laugh and it was very successful, comedian.”

“Why? I mean it.”

Blake, on the other hand, pouted his lips. What’s wrong with saying her ex was a b*stard….