CH 2.05

“Please wait! Just a minute!” 

I desperately appealed.

“Um, I just misunderstood! I believe that Husband would never do such an unjust thing after only two months!”

“How can you think that way if you believe it?”

“W-We-Well, erm…I was kidding ―― I think?”

Ahahaha, I grinned, and my husband gave up with a deep sigh.

Hey, I’m the one who wants to heave a sigh!

“That’s not funny at all. In fact, it gives me goosebumps.”

Huh?

That far?

But his face was seriously distorted.

Even I could tell that he was indeed uncomfortable with it.

But Miss Michelle was very beautiful. It never occurred to me that he’d be that uncomfortable with the thought.

Or was it that he didn’t like her? Well, people have different tastes, but saying that it was impossible, and that Miss Michelle gave him goosebumps was abnormal.　

“What’s wrong with Miss Michelle?”

Was there a past I didn’t know about?

“Who knows.”

He didn’t seem inclined to tell me, so he gave me a curt reply, and helped me up.

I couldn’t understand, but he strayed away from the subject.

He then hugged me lightly and released me easily.

Hmmm, it’s not like my husband at all.

Normally, this would have led to something fishy and/or at least a light peck on the face.

Of course, it was only on the lips that day.

Oh, I really wasn’t asking for anything. I was just glad he let you go so easily, you know?

“Speaking of which, Risha, how much do you know about Her Royal Highness?”

Oh, are you going to give me some advance information? That’s very kind of you.

While sitting me down at the office desk, my husband wrapped his arms around me, as if to confine me.

But we were too close, so I wanted to move away a little.

“The only thing I know about her is that she’s beautiful, ruthless, and she wants to be your wife. At any rate, our family wasn’t qualified to participate in a soiree that Her Royal Highness would attend. The only time I’d have a chance to meet her would be at a ball hosted by the royal family…I’m afraid I’ll get sick there.”

At the time, I was physically weak and wanted to avoid crowds.

I was too uninterested in social events as they had little to do with the management of our estate, so I mostly ignored them.

“You’re almost spot on. Both of their Majesties pamper her, and her tutors are too lenient. The only one who scolds her is her eldest brother, but he is currently on a study tour, so she has free reign to do as she pleases. As you can imagine, all of her deeds call for censure, but she’s only given a little scolding.”

“If Their Majesties sanctioned all her actions, wouldn’t Her Royal Highness have already settled in this country?”

It would change the power structure of the nobility.

“How well you grasped it.”

I could see the seriousness in my husband’s face as he raised his mouth in a huff.

Or rather, he was jesting.

“I’m not confused about condemning an entity that causes chaos in the country. That role is also for the Duke of Lindbeld to do.”

I didn’t know much about the details, but the Dukes of Lindbeld pledged allegiance to their country. 

Not to the Emperor, but to the country itself.

It was an absolute and sacred vow.

I had no idea why I believed that.

That was why the Lindbeld dukedom was so special among the nobility.

I had vaguely assumed that the dukedom and the royal family were related before marriage, and that they were quite close since they arranged marriages between the families once in a few generations, but from the way Husband talked about it, it seemed that there was more to it than that.

“From the very start, it was impossible to bring her into the Lindbeld family. My grandmother was a royal princess, so we’re a little too close by blood. You know better than most the harm of having blood too close.”

“That, yeah. It’s grave.”

I see. It wasn’t just her personality, was it? I definitely thought that was the cause, but now I knew they were a little close in blood.

Well, not too close, but maybe the color of Her Royal Highness’ hair bothered my husband a little.

Her hair was crimson ―― not quite crimson, but red.

The imperial family and the Lindbeld dukedom had intermarried once every few generations, but this was the first time that the imperial family had produced a child so close to the colors of the Lindbeld dukedom.

It could be genetics.

That would also mean that their blood would be quite close.

“His Majesty was understanding when I told him that. However, Her Majesty and the Princess were not convinced. They said that the mere possibility of ancestry was not enough reason to refuse.”

It was because he was the best person to be the Princess’s husband. 

I could understand why they were reluctant to let him go.

He was eight years older than the Princess, so if he had married her before she made her debut in society, she wouldn’t have been such a nuisance.

If that were so, there was a good chance I’d still be in the family of Count Verdigo.

“Were you disturbed by any chance?”

“They’ve approached me long ago, even when she was just a child. Sure, I’m a lot older than her, but not so much older that it poses a problem. That being said, the age gap between you and me is much larger.”

It was a ten-year age gap.

The age gap was still within the realm of possibility for a nobleman’s marriage of convenience.

“I mean, there are some checks and balances, but not enough to be a problem.”

Ah, so you really weren’t interested in marriage, then.

Fine, I understand that you didn’t have much time for it.

Besides, I was assigned a job presently, but it was too much for an ordinary noblewoman to handle. That was the thing. Without the management skills, one would probably be beset with questions about various things. The task was not simply a matter of taking charge of the household.

Normally, a hostess in the home would gradually teach a married woman how to go about the work, but my husband was unable to do so. He was looking for a woman who could help him immediately.

It just so happened that it was me.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. If he was stumped, he only had to let me know, and I wouldn’t be the devil.

I’d do my bit.

Well, if I actually knew what was going on, I might have given it some thought.

I wasn’t saying that I wanted his protection, but wouldn’t it be nice if we could at least have some kind of a ‘mutual-report’ system?

“But it was very likely that I gave her hope when I didn’t get married. It’s no surprise that she hadn’t given up, even though I clearly expressed my refusal.”

I wasn’t surprised, either.

Do you perhaps have some opinions about Her Royal Highness’s actions?

Do you feel somewhat responsible?

I didn’t think so.

“I’m not asking you to do anything about Her Royal Highness. After all, they can’t do anything either. They, at least, know what will happen if they make an enemy of the Duke of Lindbeld.”

He didn’t tell me.

But I thought that since he was my husband anyway, he was thinking of getting His Royal Highness to do something.

“The party is probably in a large, standing-room-only venue, so after the initial greetings, it’s no problem to hang out there for a reasonable amount of time and leave ―― What do you think?”

“No, not really.”

Don’t mind that I’m totally skeptical.