CH 2.13

“Did you want me to make friends, Husband?”

I asked with some certainty.

My husband suddenly looked up from his papers.

“Would you believe me if I told you yes?”

“Because you want me to have some influence in social circles?”

“Did you cry?”

“Uh?”

I waited for my husband’s answer, confused by the sudden change of topic.

He put away his pen, came to the sofa where I was sitting, and sat down facing me.

“I’ve been poking and prodding you every step of the way because I wouldn’t have succeeded otherwise. You want an idle life, do you, Madam? I thought that would be nice too, but it’s unhealthy. People connect with other people, work, eat, sleep, that’s the most normal and healthy thing.”

“Um…”

Um, is that normal?

Yeah, I understand, okay?

“I thought you might have noticed, more or less…But it seems that you still didn’t get it.”

“No, I think I understand a little. At least, when we were first married, that was just a quick nutritional supplement, right?”

The livestock food I was forced to eat.

Frankly, it tasted awful, but it was highly nutritious.

Actually, it was not the cheapest of all grains, but rather a bit expensive.

I thought he was spending a lot of money to harass me.

“You got that, huh? Well, the circumstances after that are the same for me. I was trying to see if I could really entrust you with the job of my Duchess.”

“Wait a minute! Did you just say job? I knew you took it as work! Where’s the word ‘duty’ there?”

“That’s not the part you should be reacting to ―― I mean, I just wanted to check a little bit to see if the person who recommended you to be my Duchess was right or not.”

Pardon?

That sounds a bit strange, no?

The way you phrased it, it means someone recommended me to be your Duchess. Did I get it right?

But at the time, I was regarded as a crazy girl who spent money as I pleased and put pressure on my family’s finances. Who in the world would ――…

“I was caught a bit off guard to discover that you’re unexpectedly tough…Nevertheless, I figured that there’s no problem with your abilities.”

“I’m sorry for being so tough. Speaking of which, stop putting on airs and just tell me everything. Of course, you’re going to tell me what you’re up to, including what you’ve done so far, aren’t you?”

When I pressed him, he said.

“Not all of them, mind you…Alright, I thought I would at least listen to the regrets of the person who introduced you to me. In fact, I also had a few considerations myself…Risha, you’ve been studying and protecting the Count’s family, including their estate, since you were a child, haven’t you? Even though you had no choice, I sympathized when I heard about it. Well, it was for the best.”

My husband leans his back against the back of the sofa and slowly crosses his legs.

He looked me straight in the eye with those crimson eyes.

“Sympathize?”

“You reminded me of what I had gone through at the age of ten, so I felt sorry for you. I had an incompetent father for some reason, but I also a grandfather at the time. I was strictly disciplined and did a great deal of obligatory studying for the future. Even if I was asked for my opinion on something, it was only for reference, and my grandfather had the rights to make decisions, so to put it simply, I had no responsibility.”

He was a protected child, my husband continued.

“Meanwhile, I was sent to the estate and found friends that I had spent my childhood with. Now that I think about it, I had a fairly carefree childhood.”

I see. I’m sure he’s having a hard time now, to the point that he’s nostalgic for the past.

“What about you? I may not have had the best childhood, childish I might say…but I still felt better than you.”

“So you took pity on me and asked me to marry you?”

“Not exactly. But now I’m really glad I married you.”

“So you’re saying that you want me to do something that I couldn’t do as a child ―― is that it?”

My childhood certainly isn’t a happy one, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to be told that now.

“I may be meddlesome, but that’s what I meant. You’re no longer a kid, so I can’t tell you to play whatever you want, but I’ll tolerate some. Well, I’m sorry about Mrs. Miriam and Elise, but this isn’t a charity either. Everything is meaningless unless you’re able to properly protect the dukedom in my absence as the head of the duchy.”

I know that.

The official wife has the primary authority in the absence of the head of the family.

What happens when a person with insufficient power assumes the position can be seen clearly in the case of the Count of Verdigo.

“So, who is it? The man who recommended me to you?”

“Don’t you already know?”

Yes, I do.

I mean, only one person would do so.

“Ragnard.” 

“Ragnard.”

The name I uttered overlapped with my husband’s.

“As we get older, we have less time to regret and redo things. In fact, he’s much older now. Even if he doesn’t look like it…It’s only natural for him to want to find someone he can entrust you with when he’s gone, right? It’s me, your precious husband.”

When you put it that way, I have nothing to say. 

Ragnard is invaluable to me. It’s no exaggeration to say that he’s my only family now.

“I told you, didn’t I? He loves me.”

“I know…”

I feel like I’m going to cry.

When I bowed my head, my head came to my side and gently pulled my head toward him.

“I thought it was a little out of place that such a rigorous person would have regrets.”

I could hear the husband’s chuckle from above my head.

“Ragnard wants to give you back some of the things he wanted to give you as a child. Besides, isn’t this what your mother would have wanted? She wanted you to be happy. I don’t know if she would be happy about you marrying me, but at least for Ragnard, I’m a man worthy of entrusting you to. Fine, I’m sorry for all the terrible things I’ve done.”

“How to――…”

“I told you, Ragnarok is old. If I take my time, I won’t be able to deliver what he wants. If I recklessly order you to do something you’re unwilling to do, you’ll just be defiant and that’s the end of it. So I had to make you do it, even if you’re unwilling. Well, when Michelle approached me, I thought I’d get you to join his faction instead. As you’ve seen, he’s an oddball, and the people in his faction are generally oddballs. I figured you’d hit it off.”

I’m sorry about that…

I got married and turned defiant.

What’s wrong with losing my temper and being defiant?

I thought I could finally relax, take it easy, and sleep a lot without anything on my back, and then it happened.

Yeah, I did get plenty of sleep.

Also, I finally understood what Miss Michelle – or rather, Mister – meant when he said that my husband was overprotective.

How could it be my husband’s place to tell me to make friends?

Is he my mother?

Please take care of my daughter and be good to her – doesn’t sound like I’m his wife, right?

On top of that, when the royal family came at me, everyone around me would have left because they didn’t want to incur the royal family’s wrath.

And so that was why my husband warned them first.

Miss Michelle’s faction had nothing to do with that, though.

T/N: Alright, there’s a turn around. (^▽^) I thought the Duke is going to be an a-s-shole..