Chapter 125

Knock knock.

“Master. It’s Emily.”

“Come in.”

Click.

The duke had been working through a backlog of affairs. His return to the study had been considerably delayed—on account of the Enchanting Rabbit.

“I’ve sorted the personal correspondence that arrived for the mistress. The handwritten letters from the orphanage and poorhouse children are here as well.”

“Thank you. Leave them there.”

The duke had a somewhat particular—one might say obsessive—quality about him.

He made a point of reviewing every piece of correspondence addressed to his wife before it reached her hands. Not a single letter went unseen by him first.

It was simply the nature of his desire: to know everything about her.

Of course, Ivelina—who lived with the transparency of glass—was aware of this habit and thought little of it. She had nothing to hide.

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

After Emily departed, the duke focused on his work for a while.

Ivelina’s recent escapades had left his affairs somewhat backed up.

It’s like watching her during our courtship days.

A quiet smile crossed his lips.

He had long since given up trying to imagine how much further his baby rabbit’s capacity for adorableness could go. The count had exceeded a lethal dose and was simply infinite.

Even now, while reviewing documents, her face refused to leave his thoughts.

Tch. I’ve been thoroughly enchanted by the Enchanting Rabbit.

He wanted nothing more than to stay beside her at all times.

But he was the head of House Hardeion, the lord of Hardeion Duchy, and the man responsible for his beloved wife and child. He could not continue ignoring his backed-up duties.

And so, taking advantage of the window while his baby rabbit slept off her sedative, he was attending to business.

He finished his work in the deep of the night.

Before leaving, he went through the letters Emily had delivered, one by one.

A handwritten note from a common-born child who had entered art college on Ivelina’s sponsorship.

A rolling paper from the poorhouse children addressed to the Duchess of Hardeion.

And then, slipped among them—a red card that caught his eye immediately.

He opened it with an unremarkable expression.

TO: E.H.

Darling. You’ll come back next time, won’t you? I’ll be expecting a night that burns. Keep it a secret from your husband.

— S.J.

E.H.

By any reading, the initials of Ivelina Hardeion.

The clean line of the duke’s jaw tightened. A vein rose distinctly at his smooth brow.

“Ha. Now what is this.”

It was deep in the night when I finally managed to get up.

“Goodness. That sedative really is something. How many hours did I sleep?”

My head was still swimming.

I groaned and massaged my stiff neck.

My husband appeared to still be working late. Normally I would have brought him refreshments and offered some encouragement—but tonight, I didn’t feel like it.

“He’s genuinely awful. An absolute villain of a husband.”

The Prowling Leopard, they’d called it. Honestly, it suited him.

I was thoroughly fed up with my husband, who bit at my neck like that wretched leopard on a daily basis.

Tonight, for once, I did not feel like forgiving his meanness.

“Sigh.”

I pressed my feet to the floor and let out a long exhale—and then stopped.

“Hm? Why is this out here?”

My toe had nudged something. It was the box from the Smith Johnson shop, the one I had carefully hidden beneath the bed.

“I’m sure I tucked this away properly.”

And the contents that should have been sitting neatly inside were strewn across the floor beside the bed.

Even the lid had come off and landed somewhere in the distance.

“Good thing I woke up before my husband got home. If he’d found this, he would have drilled me with questions. And Janes, who agreed to keep it secret for my sake, would have been in terrible trouble.”

I dragged my heavy body off the bed and began picking up the scattered items one by one.

“Protect Natalie Dawson~”

I hummed softly and gathered the Mushroom Pebbles first.

The little pastel-colored figures gleamed and sparkled.

“Hihihi. Even looking again, the colors are just gorgeous. Definitely collectible.”

Once all the Mushroom Pebbles were accounted for, I moved on to the various handcuffs.

“Wow. This one is a really unusual design. How does it even open?”

I didn’t think I’d chosen that one—it must have been something Emily had added.

I crouched beside the bed and began placing the gathered items back into the box one by one.

“One, two, three…”

At that moment—

Bang!

The bedroom door crashed open.

“Oh my goodness!”

My heart nearly stopped. I looked up wide-eyed toward the door.

My husband was standing in the doorway. His expression tonight was particularly ominous—a blank face saturated in darkness, like something out of the underworld.

“Kyaah!”

Given what I had been doing, I was genuinely startled.

“I—I was just startled. I—I was only cleaning some d—dust off the floor—”

I hastily slid the box back under the bed.

At the same time, my husband crossed the room toward the bed in long strides. As he came to stand over me, the moonlight disappeared behind his shadow.

He bent one knee and crouched, tilting his head to the side.

He lifted my chin with his fingertips.

“Darling.”

“…”

I swallowed. His cold aura was enough to send a chill through me.

He curved one corner of his mouth and asked:

“What were you doing?”

“D—dusting under the bed—”

“Ha.”

He dropped his head slightly and let out a soft, derisive breath. Pressing his bottom lip between his teeth, he reached beneath the bed.

“W—wait! Not that—”

I grabbed his arm and pulled with everything I had, but he was stronger than I could overcome. I held on and wrestled anyway.

“No, don’t!”

He yanked the box free with an irritated motion. It was in his hands now.

He rose to his feet, making it clear he had no intention of letting me take it.

I was left in the position of a cicada clinging to a tree trunk.

I hopped up and down, putting every last bit of strength into hanging off one of his arms, scrabbling desperately to get the box back.

Our physical struggle left the box lid teetering dangerously.

“Please! Just pretend you didn’t see it! This is really—”

He upended the box over the bed without mercy.

Thud thud thud.

Dozens of items scattered across the sheets.

“…No…”

My legs gave out and I collapsed onto the bed.

Right before my eyes was Mushroom Pebble Number Two.

What do I do… Emily and Janes are going to get in so much trouble because of me…

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Ah. Right. So that’s what it was.”

“…”

Without warning, he swung himself over me. In one motion he had me trapped between his legs.

My eyes flew open. What—?

“Darling. Was he really that good to you? Hm?”

“What?”

He let out a derisive breath and drew his brows together.

“Ah. This was a gift from him too, was it.”

“What? No, where did that even—”

And then he said something that made no sense whatsoever.

I tried to sit up, but he caught my wrists and pinned them against the sheets.

“Ngh. W—wait! Ahh!”

He lowered himself and put his weight over me. He muttered something cutting under his breath and bit into the side of my neck.

“Ngh! Ahk!”

“Do you know how much I love you.”

He proceeded to lick and bite and nip at my neck like a man out of his mind.

Both my hands were firmly caught in his, leaving me unable to move.

“Ah! W—wait, this is a misunderstanding—”

“You dare betray me.”

“Hah—hk! P—please! H—help— huu— ngk!”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re mine, Ivelina.”

It was a storm.

And then it came to me.

“Was he really that good to you? Hm?”

“Hah—hk! P—please! H—help— huu— ngk!”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re mine, Ivelina.”

That nightmare I had a while back. It was a premonition after all…

In his hands, my clothes came undone in an instant.

Three months later.

“C—congratulations. You’re pregnant.”

I rounded on my husband the moment the diagnosis was given.

“I knew this would happen! Goodness, I can’t live like this!”

Kael had his head hanging, absorbing the blows I was landing on his back and arms.

He was paying the price for his sudden loss of control.

He had gone as white as a man drained of every drop of blood. He had been like this for three months.

“I told you it was a misunderstanding! If you’d only listened to me all the way through—”

“But how—how is she pregnant.”

His red pupils trembled violently. He turned to the physician with a bewildered expression.

“As I’ve explained before, Your Grace… even with the contraceptive, there remains that one-percent chance…”

“…”

“One time in a hundred…”

The color drained steadily from my husband’s face.

He covered his face with both large hands.

He was a large man, and watching him crumple like this was—honestly, a little pitiful. But it was the consequence of his own making.

I stood with my arms folded, huffing through my nose at him.

Then Kai wriggled over and climbed up onto my husband’s thigh.

“Father! Does this mean Kai is getting a little sibling?”

“…”

My husband appeared to have lost his hearing to shock. He may have lost the power of speech as well.

So I answered on his behalf.

“That’s right! Mama is pregnant! Kai is getting a baby brother or sister!”

“Wow! Mama is the best! Thank you so much!”

“Let’s go tell everyone! Kai, come with Mama!”

“Yes! I’d be honored, Mother!”

I scooped Kai up immediately.

No one had wanted this second child more than Kai and I. Our mother-and-son pair went off together, snickering and laughing with our hair flying, to the drawing room.

Thankfully, the whole family happened to be gathered there.

“Mother! Father! Kayrin! Emily!”

Every head turned toward me.

“I’m pregnant!”

The drawing room erupted in joy.

The following spring.

One more portrait was hung in the Duke of Hardeion’s study.

A portrait of a dear, cautious little boy who was the very image of his father—and bright, laughing twin girls who held equal shares of both parents—and a husband and wife who loved each other without reservation, all smiling warmly together.

End of Bonus Arc: Three Ways to Seduce Your Husband

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 1

The trouble began with a game of dominoes.

“Oh no. I knocked it.”

Clatter-clatter-clatter.

The youngest had accidentally touched the line, and dozens of pieces toppled in an instant.

And so, as on every other day, the twins’ bickering commenced.

“Dummy.”

“I’m not a dummy!”

“Then I’ll call you a crybaby.”

“I’m not a crybaby either! Waaah!”

The youngest burst into tears. She opened her small, precious lips to the widest possible extent and wailed with her whole being.

She cried so wretchedly that every person in the drawing room—with the exception of Kael—dropped their brows in sympathy.

“Looking at our twin granddaughters, I’m quite reminded of our son and our dear daughter-in-law. The feeling of watching our son torment her every single day.”

“Isn’t it? So remarkable. How on earth did they end up with the same dynamic?”

The family watched the twins with complete absorption, as though observing an excellent puppet play.

Our twins had been tucked together in the womb and remained inseparable ever since—always attached at the hip, always bickering like this. Or rather, less bickering and more a situation where our youngest was perpetually on the receiving end of something.

“If crying all day every day doesn’t make you a crybaby, what does?”

Our sharp-tongued second child, who was remarkably decisive for her age, had clearly taken after my husband. She even looked like him—Kael at seventy percent, his mother at twenty, and a modest ten percent resemblance to me. That ten-percent contribution was my golden hair and nothing more. In short, she possessed a beauty so dazzling it bordered on painful.

“I’m not! I’m not a crybaby! Waaah! I hate you, Unnie!”

The youngest came running on her plump little legs, sobbing as she ran. She launched herself into my arms and buried her small face in my chest, wailing wholeheartedly.

“Sniff. Mama. Bella keeps calling Chloe a dummy. I’m not a dummy. Mama said Chloe is a sweetie… huu, waaah.”

“Oh dear. Did Bella say our baby was a crybaby? That was unkind of her. Our baby is simply very emotionally sensitive, isn’t she?”

“Mmhm… sniff.”

The youngest rubbed her face—and her tears, and her runny nose—thoroughly into my chest. She was unmistakably my child. Her looks were a hundred percent mine. She had inherited my golden hair and my light green eyes entirely. And even this—the crying into someone’s chest with a runny nose—was a perfect recreation of the way I cried into my husband’s chest.

This appeared to be an observation others had also made.

“Truly. Our youngest princess is the very image of our dear daughter-in-law. Look at that natural third-person speech. Not a trace of awkwardness.”

“Well—she’s the only one in this household who can use third-person speech without it seeming strange. Apart from our dear daughter-in-law herself. Now there are two of them.”

The youngest cried in my arms for quite some time. I had to keep patting her back and coaxing her.

“Chloe. Come to Papa. Mama must be getting heavy.”

When the youngest showed no sign of stopping, my husband intervened. Kael, sitting beside me, patted his thigh and coaxed her over.

Chloe, who adored her father, crawled across on her short, plump legs and settled onto his knee. She anchored her round bottom firmly in place, then redirected her runny nose to his stomach and resumed sobbing.

“Waaah. Papa… Chloe is so sad. Chloe is really not a crybaby…”

“I know. Our Chloe, you had a lot to be sad about.”

At this point, a reasonable person might be surprised. One might think my once-fearsome husband had become an entirely different person.

But this was simply the result of extensive rote learning.

While I was pregnant with the twins, my husband had declared his intention to atone for his sins against me—and proceeded to devour every parenting book available in the empire. He studied until past midnight, and though I wondered if he was taking it a bit far, given the circumstances surrounding the twins’ conception, I decided to leave him to it.

The result was that he was now capable of delivering the lines of a reasonably warm father.

“I’m a sweetie… Papa said Chloe takes after Mama and is the cutest… hic.”

“That’s right. Our Chloe is the most adorable crybaby in the world.”

But changing his fundamental nature had been a resounding failure.

“I hate you too, Papa! Chloe is NOT a crybaby!”

“I’m afraid that crying three times a day like clockwork does, technically, make you a crybaby.”

Chloe dissolved into hiccupping, breathless sobs that left no room for air.

It was at that moment—

“Mother! Morning lessons are finished! I can play with my sisters now!”

Our reliable, darling firstborn came rushing into the drawing room. Just turned six, he had recently received a gifted designation and was in the middle of an intensive preparation course for entry into the gifted academy—fulfilling Jacqueline’s long-held obsession with her nephew’s education.

“Waaah! Oppa! Bella and Papa called Chloe a crybaby!”

The youngest wriggled free of my husband’s arms and launched herself toward her brother, fat tears flying. Chloe reached out her arms and wriggled frantically to be picked up. Kai scooped her up without hesitation.

He was only six—lifting a two-year-old couldn’t have been easy—but he managed it with surprising competence.

“Oh dear. Our Chloe must have been very sad.”

“Mmhm. Chloe was so, so sad. Only Mama took Chloe’s side.”

“That’s okay. Oppa is on Chloe’s side too.”

Kai’s face was one hundred percent Kael’s, but his empathy and emotional sensitivity were a perfect copy of mine. A genuine relief.

He patted the back of the little sister sprawled weeping over his shoulder.

“Chloe. But today, you might want to try not to cry too much.”

“Sniff. Why?”

Chloe lifted her tear-and-snot-covered face. Kai met her eyes with a gentle expression.

“Today is Bella and Chloe’s birthday. Soon there’s going to be a very grand and wonderful party in the garden.”

“Oh! So Chloe gets to wear her princess dress today? And eat a really, really big cake?”

“Of course. Probably the biggest, most magnificent cake in the world. The Emperor and Empress are coming. But if Chloe keeps crying like this, her eyes might get all puffy for the party.”

The youngest hastily scrubbed her tears away with two small hands.

“Chloe isn’t crying anymore! Chloe’s tears are all gone!”

“Well done. Then let’s pick out your dress together later. What do you think?”

“Yes, yes! Chloe loves Mama and Oppa most in the whole world!”

Chloe beamed and buried herself in her brother’s arms.

I watched the scene and murmured to myself:

“Somehow a six-year-old brother is doing a better job than the father.”

I could feel a burning stare directed at me from the side. I ignored it with all my might.

A moment later, Bella padded over to me.

“Mama. I finished the dominoes.”

“Oh, our second little princess! You finished already?”

“Mmhm. It was easier once the crybaby went away.”

Bella pointed to her completed creation.

Immediate uproar. Father-in-law and Mother-in-law practically climbed over the sofa backs.

“My dear! Look at that! Bella is a true genius without a doubt! To complete a level-ten domino set in only ten minutes!”

“We must find an excellent tutor immediately! The delicacy of expression she achieved with mere wooden pieces—that’s an extraordinary talent!”

I looked at the completed design and felt genuine admiration.

“Wow. You finished all of that by yourself? That’s truly impressive.”

“Mmhm. Bella did well, so give a hug.”

Bella reached out her arms.

I slipped both hands under her arms and lifted her.

“Up you go!”

I settled her on my lap and studied the completed design up close. It was a woman’s face rendered in dominoes—the cascading hair lovingly reconstructed piece by piece.

“Is this Mama’s face? It looks so much like Mama!”

“Mmhm. It’s Mama. Because Mama is the prettiest in the world.”

“Oh, you darling thing! I’m so proud of you!”

“Mmhm. Bella did well, so give a kiss now.”

“Of course, of course! Our precious girl deserves as many kisses as she likes!”

I bent my head and launched a thorough kiss attack on the child’s face. I nibbled and smooched at her soft cheek at length.

“Mmn.”

Bella let out a small noise, apparently finding it a bit much. But our second child bore the assault without complaint.

Her ears and face were going brilliantly red. Bella was someone who, despite her composed exterior, secretly adored physical affection—and whenever she received kisses, she flushed like this, as though she might burst. Her father’s genes, undoubtedly.

Her face half-squashed under my lips, she declared in a muffled but decisive voice:

“Mnh. I’ll make Papa’s face next time. Papa is the second-prettiest.”

“It is an honor, Your Highness.”

One side of Bella’s cheek was thoroughly damp.

“Oh! Shouldn’t our little pups show off a talent at the party today?”

“Oh, you’re right! It’s our little darlings’ birthday party! We should take this opportunity to display their genius to the whole world!”

“Agreed! But what should they show off? There are so many things!”

“That’s the problem! Singing? Dancing? Drawing? They’re good at everything—how do we choose? What do we do!”

The in-laws’ voices were climbing steadily higher.

Sigh. I suppose it’s finally my turn.

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 2

I handed Bella to my husband and rose to my feet with great resolve. I lowered my voice to a commanding register.

“Ahem. If I may, I shall determine the talent show category for our little pups today.”

“Of course, dear daughter-in-law!”

“What is it, what is it! I’m so curious!”

I strode with purposeful steps to the center of the drawing room and faced the assembled family.

“Today’s talent show category shall be: a song and dance routine.”

“Ohhh!”

“Kyaah!”

The in-laws erupted with delight. I nodded at their enthusiasm and continued.

“I, Ivelina Hardeion, will now conduct an intensive lesson in the art of the tadpole dance.”

“Wonderful! A performance by our daughter-in-law! We’ve been waiting!”

“Me too, me too!”

To thunderous cheering from the in-laws, I straightened my back, clasped my hands behind me, and assumed the posture of a commanding instructor.

“Our Bella and our Sweetie will come stand in front of Mama.”

“All right.”

“Yes! Sweetie Chloe is coming right now!”

The second and third pups arranged themselves in a line before me.

I bent to meet their sparkling, attentive eyes in turn, then spoke in a low and solemn voice.

“The intensive lesson begins now. I may be somewhat strict.”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

“From this moment, Ivelina Florence is not your mama. She is your strict teacher.”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

“Depending on your attitude, she may be an angel or a devil.”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

The twins answered earnestly, eyes shining.

I made eye contact with Kai, who was standing close by, and tilted my head toward the sofa.

“Now. Our Number One pup goes and sits beside Papa.”

“Understood, Mother!”

Kai dashed to the seat beside Kael. My husband reached out and snagged him by the scruff like a mother tiger, depositing him on his knee and resting his chin on the child’s head. Kai appeared to have been selected as a substitute for me.

At that moment—

“Mother! Sister-in-law! My lessons are finished too!”

Kayrin burst into the drawing room.

“Kayrin! Come sit down this instant! Your sister-in-law is about to give a surprise performance!”

“Are you serious?! I’m sitting immediately!”

Kayrin rushed to take the seat beside Kael. I looked at the three identical faces and cleared my throat.

“Ahem. Then let us truly begin.”

I assumed a dramatic stance. Then, with full commitment, I arranged my face and posture into the expression of a tadpole paddling furiously upstream.

“By the stream, a little tadpole, wriggle-wiggle swims along!”

“By the stream, a little tadpole, wriggle-wiggle swims along.”

“Tadpole! Wriggly!”

The children followed along enthusiastically with their short, chubby arms and legs. Bella was flawlessly precise. Chloe’s posture was slightly imprecise, but she tried her hardest.

I moved on, executing an elaborate set of footwork to demonstrate the part where the tadpole’s legs suddenly pop out.

“Back legs pop out! Front legs pop out!”

“Back legs pop out. Front legs pop out.”

“Pop! Pop! Oops!”

Chloe, thrusting her front legs out, sat down hard on her bottom.

“Dummy.”

“Chloe is not a dummy! Chloe is a sweetie!”

Chloe huffed mightily and sprang back up. She dusted off her round little bottom and immediately copied my ready stance.

I threw my arms into wide circles, executing a perfect leaping frog finale.

“Leap-leap-leaping, became a frog!”

“Leap-leap-leaping, became a frog.”

“Leap! Frog!”

“Ohhhh!”

“Kyaaah!”

The audience fell apart.

“Astonishing! Our little darlings are clearly dance prodigies!”

“That’s right! Blood will tell—they’ve inherited their dear daughter-in-law’s dancing talent entirely! Kyaah!”

The in-laws were in raptures, bouncing on their seats, clapping each other’s hands.

“Mother! That was magnificent! I got goosebumps—the routine was incredible!”

Even Kai was overcome with admiration.

My husband nodded with deep, satisfied approval.

“Certainly. Befitting the former lead dancer of the elementary academy’s beginner class.”

“Right? The competition for that position was a hundred to one, you know. The year I applied happened to draw an enormous number of candidates.”

“As expected. Impressive.”

At that moment—

“Peekaboo! Our little darlings!”

A large, cheerful voice preceded my parents’ heads appearing around the door.

“Grandma! Grandpa!”

Chloe, who had been standing still, sprinted at full speed toward my father. He swept her up and spun her around.

“Hahaha! Our youngest little darling keeps getting cuter! How is it possible she looks so exactly like her mother!”

“Yes! Chloe is a sweetie because she looks like her sweetie mama!”

“Absolutely! Our Chloe is the world champion sweetie! But it seems our little crybaby pup let loose today—those eyes are absolutely swollen!”

Chloe’s lips began to tremble again, wobbling with the threat of new tears.

My oblivious father had accidentally pressed the crybaby’s tear button.

“Waaah! Chloe is not a crybaby pup! Chloe didn’t cry! Waaah!”

“Oh dear, oh dear! This grandpa made a mistake. Our Chloe is not a crybaby! She’s a sweetie!”

“That’s right! Chloe is a sweetie!”

My father was evidently very busy making up for the reunion with his youngest darling. But my mother was no less occupied. She had already scooped Bella up and was expressing her joy at seeing her granddaughter with vigorous shoulder bounces.

“Goodness, our lovely Bella. You only seem to get prettier! Somehow you grow more and more like our dear son-in-law.”

“Grandma is pretty too. Grandma, give Bella a kiss. Lots of them.”

“Of course, of course! However many our princess wishes!”

Kiss kiss kiss. Bella, who had inherited her father’s enthusiastic kissing ways, received a thorough shower of affection. Her cheeks went red again. Her small, dainty ears turned scarlet, like they might burst.

In the meantime, Jacqueline had materialized out of nowhere, hovering at a distance and fidgeting at the sight of the twins.

“Give a kiss here too, Uncle. The other cheek.”

“Gladly!”

One word from Bella was enough to undo her entirely. Jacqueline proceeded to rain kisses on Bella with great urgency.

“Uncle! Give Sweetie a kiss too!”

Jacqueline immediately rushed to Chloe, who was in my father’s arms, and bombarded her just as fervently.

Giggle giggle, ha ha ha.

It looked like a family reunion after years of separation.

“In-law! Had I known you were coming this early, I would have gone to meet you at once!”

“No, no. We came quietly—we wanted to surprise our little darlings.”

“Well done! They’re so happy!”

“Hahaha. But I heard some kind of tremendous chant about tadpoles coming from the corridor earlier—what was that about?”

“Ah, that! Our dear daughter-in-law gave an impromptu surprise performance! She taught the twins a song and dance routine for their talent show!”

“Goodness. Damn—I should have come a little earlier.”

“It’s not too late. There’s still the encore performance! Hahaha!”

“Is that so! Dear, let’s go sit down quickly!”

My parents and Jacqueline moved in perfect formation to the seats beside Kael.

I had had no plans for an encore, but somehow found myself giving one regardless.

The Number One and Number Two pups sprang to their feet and lined up beside me.

“Leap-leap-leaping, became a frog!”

“Leap-leap-leaping, became a frog.”

“Leap! Frog!”

The moment the dance ended, the room erupted in applause and cheering.

“Yesss! Our daughter is the best!”

“That’s our daughter—the one who turned her whole academy upside down at the recital with a single dance! Her skills haven’t diminished at all!”

The performance had just wrapped up in that blaze of enthusiasm when the corridor began to shake.

A loud rumble—dozens of footsteps growing steadily closer.

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 3

Presently, dozens of male servants began delivering enormous gift boxes.

I turned to Emily, who was directing them from the front.

“Goodness. Emily, what is all this?”

“Gifts for the twin young ladies from the count and countess.”

“My parents brought all of this?”

“Yes. Gifts from other noble guests are being organized in the main hall. They’re still being delivered in real time—far too many to accommodate in the drawing room as well.”

The boxes my father had brought alone numbered in the dozens.

I spun around and called out:

“Papa! What is all of this!”

“The black boxes are Kai’s satchel and school supplies for the gifted academy. The red boxes are Bella’s birthday gifts. The green boxes are Chloe’s birthday gifts.”

“That’s not what I was asking! Can’t you just bring one of each? Why so many!”

“That’s my prerogative. Hahaha.”

I pressed my fingers to my forehead.

“Chloe loves presents! Can we open them right now!”

“Me too.”

The twins’ eyes were sparkling with anticipation.

The gift-opening ceremony commenced immediately.

Chloe crouched in front of the pile of green boxes and asked her grandfather beside her:

“Grandpa! Are all these Chloe’s presents?”

“Every one! All these green boxes belong to our sweetie!”

“Wow!”

Chloe tore into the wrapping paper with great energy. The very first box contained a princess gown targeted precisely at her taste—a pale pink dress with an abundance of silver frills, made for a small child.

“A princess dress! Chloe loves it so much!”

“Heheh. This grandfather chose it himself. And here—the matching princess tiara as well!”

“Wow!”

In front of the red boxes sat Bella and her grandmother.

Bella’s cheeks quivered. Her red eyes sparkled. She appeared to be glaring at the gift boxes—but this was simply her at maximum happiness.

“Which dress does Bella like?”

“Bella wants this one. I’ll wear this for the talent show later.”

Bella chose a red dress trimmed with gold ruffles.

“Red is still Bella’s favorite, is it?”

“Mmhm. It’s vivid and bold and beautiful. And this gold looks like Mama’s hair color. That’s why I like it even more.”

“Hohoho. I thought as much, so this grandmother also prepared accessories. Bella, at the bottom of the box there’s a matching hair ribbon for the dress.”

“Oh. A ribbon with gold thread woven through. It’s beautiful.”

“Good. Bella—let this grandmother tie it herself.”

“Thank you. I like Grandma.”

Bella’s cheeks, white as snow, flushed vivid red. She pressed her lips together, flared her little nostrils, and held very still as she offered up her hair.

This was Bella’s expression when happiness had overtaken her and she didn’t know what to do with herself—the reaction of someone who expressed affection poorly but felt it deeply.

Meanwhile, our firstborn was equally exclamatory.

“Wow. Father, the satchels come in every color. Each one has five high-quality quills inside, color-coordinated.”

“Hmm. Is this from my brother-in-law?”

“Hahaha, yes. My eldest nephew earned an honest-to-goodness placement at the gifted academy, so I opened my wallet.”

“That must have been considerable.”

Kael reached into his breast pocket, produced his wallet, and extended a blank cheque to Jacqueline.

“Brother-in-law…!”

I stepped in at once.

I had been holding back, but this was too much.

“Hang on, hang on! Kael! Even if it’s your brother-in-law, you can’t just hand out blank cheques like that—it’ll ruin the boy’s habits!”

“He’s hardly a boy.”

“That makes it worse! Handing a fully grown adult man a blank cheque like it’s nothing is just as ruinous! You’ll completely destroy his sense of financial responsibility—oi!”

In the meantime, Jacqueline had deftly extracted the cheque from my husband’s fingers.

“Brother-in-law! Thank you so much! I’ll spend it wisely!”

Lunchtime.

Bella, wearing a small black bib, was seated on my husband’s knee, working through her meal. Kael was feeding her with practiced ease.

My parents were watching Kael with undisguised attention.

“Quite remarkable. I’ve never seen a father feed a child so naturally and competently.”

“Indeed. Is there anything our son-in-law can’t do?”

Bella, fork and knife in each hand, accepted each spoonful of cream soup that my husband offered with perfectly contented swallows.

Kael fed her another bite and said in an unremarkable voice:

“I have three daughters.”

“Kph. That’s right. Our son-in-law does indeed have three daughters.”

“Kph. Our son-in-law has quite a lot to handle.”

I hadn’t realized that was a comment about me, and was busily wiping Chloe’s mouth with her white bib.

Chloe suddenly kicked her little legs and announced brightly:

“That’s right! Papa has three daughters! Chloe, Bella Unnie, and Mama!”

I frowned immediately. I turned to look across the table, and spoke with cool authority:

“Kael. What does that mean? Why do you have three daughters?”

“My first daughter is Ivelina, my second is Bella, my third is Chloe.”

He answered in the tone of someone who couldn’t believe he was being asked.

“Hahaha! Our son has become a proper mother hen! Though it makes sense—our dear daughter-in-law does powerfully provoke the protective instinct!”

“Hohoho! How lovely! Isn’t the ultimate love in this world, after all, the love of a parent?”

I leveled my husband with a deeply displeased look, head tilted at a threatening angle.

But he didn’t even glance at me. He simply offered another spoonful of soup to Bella and said without particular concern:

“I rather enjoy it. My tastes are somewhat particular.”

No helping him.

I turned my deeply displeased bulldog expression on my parents and bared my teeth slightly.

“Mama, Papa—why were you laughing just now? You’re not actually agreeing with my husband, are you?”

“Ahem.”

My father answered only with a cough.

“By the way—I hear the young Lord Hardeion will be giving the student representative’s speech at the elementary academy graduation? As the class valedictorian?”

“Yes. Thanks entirely to my sister-in-law. She has given me such wonderful, adorable nieces and nephews—I wanted to be a worthy uncle. An ignorant or undistinguished uncle simply wouldn’t do. So I’ve been applying myself to my studies all the more diligently.”

“My. How commendable. As it happens, I’ve had a graduation gift in mind for the young lord…”

My mother smoothly ignored my protest and changed the subject.

Damn.

After that boisterous meal had wound down, the twins went down for their afternoon nap, Kai went to afternoon lessons, and my husband headed to his study.

He said he would resolve only the most urgent matters while the children were quiet and come straight back—and told me not to move from the drawing room.

“Stay right here and don’t move. I’ll be back quickly. Thirty minutes.”

“Yes.”

But the moment he left, I made a dash for the central garden.

I had been wanting some time to myself under my personal gazebo, watching the quiet landscape with a cup of tea.

I was quite happily in the middle of enjoying my tea when—

“My lady!”

“Pfft—!”

The desperate voice calling my name startled me so badly that I sprayed my tea in a fountain.

I’d been lifting the cup to my lips at that very moment.

I choked and hurriedly wiped my mouth. The owner of the desperate voice was Hugo, his face entirely mapped in dark circles.

“We have a crisis! Something extremely serious has come up while decorating the garden stage! I believe you need to come see immediately!”

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 4

“…Hugo. Surely the serious problem isn’t—”

“Look at this, my lady. Isn’t the angle of this lily’s petals slightly off?”

Hugo’s already bloodshot eyes widened further. His fingertips were trembling visibly with agitation.

“…Honestly, I’m not sure I can see the difference…”

“Look closely. It is definitely off. I believe forty-five degrees would be ideal. But these lilies are currently sitting at approximately thirty degrees.”

“…Isn’t this fine? I can barely tell the difference.”

“My lady! In floral arrangement, angle is everything! I simply cannot accept this angle! And that isn’t all! Could you look at this as well?”

Hugo pulled me toward the stage platform in a state of considerable distress.

“This platform. I distinctly specified a height of fifteen centimeters. But look at this!”

He dropped to the ground and pressed a measuring tape against the platform. He was in such a state of agitation that I squinted and strained to read the tiny markings.

“Fifteen-point-five centimeters! Is this acceptable? What if our little young ladies trip getting up? I must summon the contractors immediately—”

“Wait. Hugo, this level of variation is fine. These things are done by human hands—half a centimeter is perfectly reasonable to overlook…”

“Overlook? My lady. There are three things in this world I despise above all others. Pests. Insects. And the word overlook. And to overlook something at our little young ladies’ birthday party? That is absolutely not acceptable!”

Hugo declaimed this with such passion that he was spitting slightly. Then he dragged me to the garden’s seating section, where dozens of tables and chairs stood arranged in precise rows.

“Look at this as well. I specifically ordered tables with a diameter of one meter.”

“You bought new tables? The ones from the twins’ first birthday were still practically new. Couldn’t you have reused those?”

Hugo let out a pained sigh.

“My lady. Reuse. That word must never enter the life of our soft and precious little young ladies. Empire’s finest! The most expensive in the empire! The most beautiful in the empire! Do I make myself clear?”

My eardrums felt fragile. I gave a quick answer.

“Perfectly clear. So—what’s the problem with the tables?”

“Not the height—the diameter. I measured the height and thankfully it was exactly right. The issue is that the diameter is now over one meter and ten centimeters! Is this acceptable? One centimeter over, and I’d let it pass. But ten—”

“They’re for sitting and eating and having tea. Would it actually cause a problem? And surely wider tables are more useful, if anything…”

“My lady. I believe aesthetics outweigh utility. While preparing this party, I studied every text on landscaping and architecture available in the empire. The acceptable ratio for tables in a garden setting is a maximum of thirty percent of the space. Beyond that, the other elements—lighting, floral arrangements, the rest of the décor—become overwhelmed. You end up with tables floating everywhere. I don’t think that’s what we want.”

“But it’s their second birthday, not their first—is all this truly necessary?”

“My lady. You are the lady of House Hardeion. The twin young ladies are the daughters of House Hardeion!”

“…Yes, yes.”

“A second birthday comes only once in a lifetime! I cannot permit this. With your permission, I will summon the contractors and the vendor now and have every discrepancy corrected before the party begins.”

“…I think it’s best to proceed as you see fit, Hugo. You clearly have exceptional taste and passion.”

“I knew you would understand, my lady. We think alike. I’ll summon everyone immediately.”

I wasn’t sure why he’d called me out here if he was going to do exactly what he wanted regardless.

I suppose he needed me here for procedural purposes.

But I couldn’t pour cold water on his dedication. He had been preparing this party day and night for thirty days, without sleep, on my behalf. He had even gone so far as to beg my husband directly to be allowed to help—because he was genuinely worried that frugal, unfussy me would plan something modest.

“Your Grace! Please! Please let me help with the mistress’s party preparations! She will certainly plan on a minimal budget, and she’ll try to reuse last year’s equipment! Our twins’ second birthday is such a precious event! Please let me help!”

“…Do as you like.”

That exchange had taken place with me present in the room. I had stayed very quiet, because he had seen through my plans with perfect accuracy.

On several occasions, my husband had tried to give Hugo paid leave. On one occasion—after Hugo had gone without sleep for a full week, so absorbed in party preparations that he’d lost perspective—the duke had tried to send him home. I’d been in my husband’s study and heard the whole exchange.

“Your Grace! Please, please don’t separate me from the twin young ladies! If I can’t see them I become anxious and cannot function! Please cancel the leave! There’s still so much preparation to do—you can’t send me away like this!”

“…Do as you like.”

My husband had tried to force him on holiday several more times after that—annoyed by Hugo’s habit of appearing like a ghost to consult him on the most minute, ant-dropping-sized details of party planning. But Hugo rejected the leave every time.

I sighed and smiled with warm resignation. I turned to Hugo with the expression of a gracious and caring mistress.

“All right, Hugo. Your eye for beauty truly is at the finest level in the empire. Everything shall proceed according to your vision.”

“Thank you, my lady! I will give everything to make this perfect until the very end!”

Night had finally arrived.

The twins’ birthday party was about to begin.

I stood with the children, each holding one of their father’s arms, for a final check.

“Now then, our little princesses. Ready? It’s time to make our entrance.”

“Mmhm.”

“Yes!”

Two pairs of eyes—one sparkling red, one sparkling green—blazed with excitement.

I looked at those gem-bright eyes and spoke in a voice of mild gravity.

“Then before we go in, our young ladies—let’s have a quick quiz.”

“Mmhm.”

“Quiz! Quizzes are fun!”

Chloe, thrilled, kicked her legs where she dangled from her father’s arm.

I held eye contact with the children and raised one finger.

“First question: how does Mama say we greet people?”

“Hold the ends of the dress and lower the head slightly.”

“Say thank you thank you! Hihihi.”

As expected. One was far too sharp, and the other was far too sunny.

“Excellent. Our ladies are perfectly accomplished. Now—if a handsome young man catches your eye, what did Mama say you should do?”

“Go to Papa and tell him immediately. He’s dangerous and must be removed at once.”

“Follow him! Heheh!”

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 5

I groaned quietly.

“Oh, Chloe…”

I—who had followed a handsome man straight into marriage, three children, and a life of being thoroughly caught—looked at my youngest and felt a silent ache.

But the anguish was not mine alone. Kael’s brow creased in genuine concern. As the man who knew my fate better than anyone, he appeared to be deeply troubled by his youngest daughter’s blithe cheerfulness.

“Chloe, stay close to Papa at all times.”

“Heheh. Yes, Papa! Chloe will stick very, very close!”

Chloe answered brightly and kicked her legs with delight.

“My lady. It’s time.”

Emily, standing nearby, gave the signal.

“All right! Kai, take Mama’s hand!”

“Yes, Mother!”

Our mother-and-son pair clasped hands firmly. The twins were transported in their father’s arms.

We spent the first stretch of the evening in a flurry of greetings.

My husband being a man of extraordinary honor, power, and wealth, the party had drawn an enormous crowd. The vast central garden was packed with people.

“Hey!”

At that moment, someone called out in a hearty, cheerful voice.

It was Adrian. The moment I spotted the imperial couple, I rushed over.

“Oh my goodness. Reina! The little prince is so adorable!”

I forgot to greet them properly in my excitement.

The baby prince sleeping in Reina’s arms was impossibly, devastatingly cute.

“Look at that tuft of hair—it’s so precious!”

“Isn’t he? His hair color is exactly like Adrian’s. Our daughters took after my hair.”

“Completely! So, so adorable! Oh, he’s so soft!”

I stroked the baby prince’s plump, velvety cheek, nostrils flaring.

Then someone began patting my skirt urgently from below.

“Auntie! Romi is here!”

“And Rozi!”

“Kyaah! Your little highnesses are still just as adorable!”

I bent and swept the twin princesses into a hug.

Meanwhile, our little darlings were receiving the imperial couple’s lavish affection.

“Hardeion pups! Happy birthday! Last time I saw you, you were still babies!”

“Happy to see you both, little ones!”

I realized only then that I hadn’t made the proper introduction.

I looked in turn at the children in my husband’s arms.

“Oh, that’s right! Bella, Chloe—please greet the Emperor and Empress. They’ve come in person to celebrate your birthdays.”

“How do you do. I am Isabella Hardeion.”

“Emperor Uncle! I’m Sweetie Chloe!”

I startled and quickly corrected her.

“Chloe. It should be ‘Your Imperial Majesty.'”

“Oh, right! Your Imperial Majesty!”

Chloe’s charming little mistake sent the imperial couple into gales of laughter.

Adrian rose from his chair and bent down to examine the twins properly. With the warm expression of a generous uncle, he poked one of Chloe’s cheeks.

“This little Chloe is the absolute image of the duchess.”

“Isn’t she? Delightfully sweet. Look at those little bright eyes.”

“Hihihi! That’s because Chloe is a sweetie!”

“Kyaah! She really is too cute!”

Chloe giggled and swung her plump legs happily from her father’s arm.

Adrian stroked her hair with affection and shifted his gaze to Bella.

“Bella is clearly all Father’s side. She’s growing into a complete female version of Kael.”

“That’s right. Her looks are so dazzling it almost hurts to look at her. Those red eyes carry quite a presence.”

Reina, even while holding the baby prince, gave a vigorous thumbs-up. Her own nostrils were flaring—she appeared to be genuinely awed by Bella’s beauty.

Adrian rubbed his chin with an odd expression.

“She’s wonderful, but I’m having the strange sensation of finding Kael adorable, which is distinctly unsettling. Kael is not adorable in the slightest.”

He paused and turned his attention to Kai, who was standing at my side holding my hand.

“Ah, by the way—I heard our eldest nephew received a gifted designation?”

“Yes! He’ll be entering the gifted academy very soon!”

I jumped in immediately.

“But how do you already know, Your Majesty? He only passed last week—only our family knows yet.”

Adrian gave a disbelieving little snort.

“That Kael sent me a letter. After never having written me a single letter in his life. Bragging extensively, I might add.”

“Really? My husband? That doesn’t sound like him at all.”

I was genuinely astonished.

My husband was deeply invested in parenting—but I had never once seen him boast about his children to anyone outside the family.

“Here. I knew you wouldn’t believe me, so I brought evidence.”

“What is this?”

He handed me a letter bearing the Hardeion family seal, pressed exactly.

“I thought the duchess would need to see it herself. It was so outrageous I had to bring it.”

I opened the letter.

To His Imperial Majesty,

My son has been accepted to the gifted academy. Apparently he entered at the top of the entire cohort.

Now that I think of it, I believe I heard your daughters failed the gifted academy examinations. My condolences.

It was, without question, the most comprehensively rude letter I had ever read.

I stared at my husband with an expression of disbelief. He responded immediately—

Kiss.

He pressed his lips to mine.

I showed my teeth and gave a small growl.

“You always do that when you have nothing to say.”

“I suppose I do.”

Kiss.

Again.

He held my gaze steadily, eyes soft.

Face burning, I thumped his chest.

Adrian watched us and pressed his eyebrows together with considerable force.

“I didn’t show you the letter so you could kiss her…”

He gave a small click of his tongue and turned sharply to Kai.

“…Regardless. Top of the entire cohort. Our eldest nephew seems to have inherited Kael’s mind. That’s genuinely a relief.”

Kael, who had been quietly listening, added:

“Indeed. An enormous relief.”

He was apparently about to kiss me again. I covered his lips with my palm before he could and interjected:

“Your Majesty—I’m quite intelligent as well, for the record.”

“Y—yes, quite. Our duchess is also very sharp…”

While the adults conversed, the children had made fast friends.

“Romi and Rozi are twins too!”

“Wow! Chloe and Bella Unnie are twins too!”

“Wonderful! Then the four of us should be friends!”

“Good. Then Romi Unnie is the chief, Rozi Unnie is the deputy chief, I’m the third chief, and Chloe is the bedwetter.”

“Chloe is not a bedwetter!”

“You wet the bed a week ago. Dummy.”

“Chloe is not a dummy! Chloe is a sweetie! Waaah!”

When Chloe burst into tears again, Kael swept both daughters up into his arms.

“Chloe. That’s enough. If you keep crying, you’ll have puffy fish-eyes for the talent show later.”

The tears pooling in Chloe’s large eyes immediately retreated.

“Chloe isn’t crying anymore! Chloe is not a fish!”

“Good girl.”

With the imperial couple’s greetings completed, we moved toward the next table where familiar faces were gathered.

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 6

“Kyaah! Duke! Duchess!”

“Kyaah! Dorothy! Kate!”

I grabbed my friends’ hands and bounced with them.

“My goodness. The family has just exploded in size! How many of them are there? At this rate there’ll be a whole little army soon!”

“Oh! This must be the youngest—she really is the absolute image of Ivelina.”

“And this is the second one? The second daughter who looks exactly like the duke—I knew her at a glance. Already a breathtaking beauty!”

The three of us chattered and caught up in a happy commotion.

I gestured to the children, each settled on one of my husband’s arms, and made introductions.

“This is Isabella Hardeion—our eldest daughter! Bella, say hello to the aunties. They’re Mama’s closest friends.”

“How do you do, Aunties. I am Isabella Hardeion.”

“Wow, Bella is absolutely stunning. She has the look of a future great beauty—there’s something of the dowager duchess in her as well!”

The friends examined Bella’s face with wide, fascinated eyes. I gestured to the next.

“And this is Chloe Hardeion—the baby of the family! As you can see—Ivelina in miniature.”

“Hello, Aunties! I’m Sweetie Chloe!”

“Kyaah! She really does look exactly like young Ivelina!”

“Heheh. Mama is pretty! So Chloe is pretty too!”

“She is! Completely, completely adorable—head to toe, pure sweetness!”

“Heheh!”

Kate and Dorothy bounced around in delight for some time. Kate recovered a little sooner and looked around.

“Oh, that’s right! Isn’t the little duke miniature here somewhere? Ivelina, where’s our eldest nephew?”

I produced Kai with a flourish from behind my back.

“Ta-da! Our Number One pup was right here!”

“The Hardeion bloodline is truly formidable.”

I took Kai’s hand and met his eyes.

“Kai—you remember the aunties, don’t you? Dorothy and Kate, Mama’s closest friends.”

“Yes! I saw you when I was small! Hello, Aunties!”

“He’s sharp and polite and handsome too! That’s not fair! This has to be breaking some rule!”

“I owe it to my mother. She raised me well. I’ll be entering the gifted academy very soon.”

“His mind took after the duke too. What a genuine relief.”

“A genuine relief. Hopefully the twins will inherit the duke’s mind as well, don’t you think, Dorothy?”

My mood dropped sharply again.

I stamped my foot in indignation.

“I’m intelligent too! I studied tremendously hard!”

“W—well, yes, of course…”

“Attention, everyone.”

Hugo, dark circles now reaching his chin, began proceedings with a resolute expression.

“Next on the programme—the highlight of the evening! A talent show from our twin young ladies!”

Hugo was particularly animated tonight, fully embodying the role of event emcee. He was spreading his arms wide and managing the occasion with extraordinary passion.

“Ohhh!”

Applause rolled through the audience.

“Our young ladies will be presenting a wonderful song and dance!”

The applause faded gradually, and the audience settled into anticipation.

The little pups clasped each other’s hands and marched together onto the stage with great purpose. They took their positions with solemn determination.

As the director, I gave the signal to begin. The twins’ arms and legs began to work with enthusiasm.

“By the stream, a little tadpole, wriggle-wiggle swims along.”

“Tadpole! Wriggly!”

“Front legs pop out, back legs pop out.”

“Front legs! Back legs!”

“Leap-leap-leaping, became a frog.”

“Leap! Frog!”

Ohhhh.

Yesssss.

Kyaaaah.

The garden erupted. Cheering and whistling rang through the space.

But cutting through the cheering and whistling came a voice filled with grief.

“Sob. Our twin young ladies, who were newborns just yesterday… sniff… they’ve grown up so fast… I feel like I might wake up tomorrow and find them already married… just one moment, I need to dry my eyes. I apologize.”

Hugo had stopped hosting and turned away, shoulders shaking, weeping in earnest.

After crying for some time, he pressed his handkerchief firmly to each eye and returned to his duties. His eyes were very red.

“Forgive me… huu… seeing our young ladies grown so suddenly, it was both moving and sad… huu. I’ll collect myself and continue.”

“It’s all right, it’s all right!”

“Don’t cry, don’t cry!”

Words of encouragement came from the audience.

“Thank you for your kindness. Now! The second highlight of the evening is next. Our twin young ladies, please take your seats in the small chairs on the stage.”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

The little pups settled into their small chairs at the center of the stage.

The family seated in the first row—including me—exchanged murmurs.

“Dear daughter-in-law. What is the second highlight? There’s usually only one.”

“I’m wondering too. What is it? Kael, do you know?”

“I’m not sure.”

Kael shrugged and folded his hand over mine.

“The second highlight is a surprise reading of a letter—by me, Hugo Eaton. A letter written for our twin young ladies.”

“…”

The audience fell into a respectful hush.

Hugo, undaunted, produced a thick sheaf of papers from inside his coat.

“It’s rather long. This letter was composed over one month, one sentence at a time.”

The audience went noticeably cool.

Hugo, still undaunted, began to read.

“…In that moment, I believe I felt what a father feels. Whenever Lady Isabella looks at me, I find myself thinking I would give my heart without regret…”

Ten minutes later.

The twins in their chairs on stage had begun yawning widely.

“…And whenever our Lady Chloe calls me ‘Uncle Hugo,’ a tremor runs through my whole body. This stage, in fact, was prepared together by the mistress and myself. I went without sleep for thirty nights… kzzzz…”

And then Hugo began to snore.

“…”

The twins were already asleep, leaning back in their chairs.

“…Ah, ahem. My apologies. As I was saying, I haven’t slept in thirty days… kzzzz…”

Hugo was now fully draped over the podium, fast asleep.

But he and the children were not the only ones sleeping.

“Haaa.”

“Kzzzz.”

Yawning and snoring had begun throughout the garden. The family row was no exception. Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, Kayrin, and even my own parents had all sunk into deep sleep.

“Really. No need for a letter reading. Tch.”

Kael rose from his chair and headed toward the stage. I looked around and followed him up.

Everyone must have been exhausted.

I pressed a light kiss to each sleeping child’s cheek, then turned to my husband.

He had placed two fingers against Hugo’s neck.

“…Don’t tell me you’re checking whether he’s dead.”

Kael nodded without speaking.

Well—thirty days without sleep. It wasn’t unreasonable to worry about death by overwork.

“Fortunately, he’s still breathing.”

Having confirmed Hugo’s vital status, my husband gave a click of his tongue. Then he stepped toward me, closing the distance.

“Still, Kael—even if Hugo’s letter was boring, isn’t it a bit strange that everyone fell asleep all at once like this?”

“It was unbearably dull. Who does a letter reading for thirty minutes.”

“True, I was a little drowsy myself. But still…”

I looked out from the stage across the audience.

Not a single person was awake.

“Is this even possible? It’s as if some legendary creature from mythology appeared and put every living thing to sleep with a single song…”

At that moment, my husband’s body crumpled toward me.

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 7

“…Kael. Are you asleep?”

“…”

Steady, even breathing flowed into my ear.

“What. You’re really asleep? Was Hugo’s reading really that effective?”

Silence.

He was enormously heavy, to begin with. With the full weight of my husband—who was composed almost entirely of dense muscle—now resting on me, I had the sensation of being the mythological sinner condemned to carry the earth on his back.

“Kph!”

I looked around frantically, holding the substantial weight of him. Everyone was asleep but me.

Just then, the lights that had been illuminating the garden blinked out all at once.

Everything went dark.

And that was when I started trembling with fear.

I was a coward, and cold sweat began to bead on my skin.

“What! I’m scared! Kael, please wake up!”

I thumped his back with both fists where he lay against me. He slept on peacefully without a twitch.

“What’s happening! I’m so frightened! Mama! Papa! Mother! Father!”

I called out every adult I knew. They were all too busy sleeping.

The darkness was absolute.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

When I opened them again, it was still entirely dark.

Is this the underworld?

The scene was indistinguishable from the underworld, and I squeezed my eyes shut again.

Is this how I die? Well—if I can at least fall asleep in the arms of the husband I love, it’s a far gentler end than being hit by a truck in my previous life…

“Open your eyes.”

A voice of tremendous, sacred quality reached me from somewhere. It was so vast and resonant that the floor beneath my feet hummed with it. I noticed the weight of my husband was no longer there—the pressure that had been bearing down on my whole body had simply vanished.

I’m frightened. So frightened. Absolutely terrified. A warrior of the underworld has come to collect me…

“Open your eyes.”

“Yes!”

I was so terrified by the commanding tone that I forced my eyes open, tears streaming.

The golden light that poured in was so intense it brought more tears.

As my vision adjusted, I saw someone who looked like a great angel newly descended from the heavens.

Or not a person, perhaps. The one I had taken for an archangel was hovering in midair.

I rubbed my eyes hurriedly. The figure was a breathtaking woman. Platinum hair swept up. Eyes of a long, fine red—brilliant and open, not oppressive.

“So it’s you. The favorite of the goddesses.”

“Sniff. Am I dead? Is this heaven? It isn’t hell, is it?”

I wiped my nose with my sleeve and asked.

The archangel did not answer.

Ah. I’ve died again.

“Our little pups are still so young… could they grow up without their mama…”

I wept in grief. My nose ran without stopping.

“…This is neither heaven nor hell. It is simply the space of nothingness.”

“What is that… sniff. It sounds negative. So it’s not exactly hell, but something in that family…”

“You haven’t died, I tell you. Stop that at once.”

“I’ll stop immediately…”

I sniffled and wiped my nose on my shaking sleeve.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Rapieta, Goddess of Love and the Soul.”

“Pardon?!”

Good heavens.

I pressed myself to the ground in a full prostration.

The goddess Rapieta?

Five goddesses governed the empire.

Rapieta, Goddess of Love and the Soul.

Tapieta, Goddess of Time and Space.

Zapieta, Goddess of Justice and Judgment.

Sepieta, Goddess of Desire.

Depieta, Goddess of Fate.

These five were the primary goddesses who maintained the peace of the empire.

And the highest among them was Rapieta.

Wait. How was one supposed to greet a goddess?

“I—I am honored to be in your presence, Your Divinity!”

“Good heavens. You really are adorable.”

The majestic voice that resonated through the space was like a benediction.

I remained prostrated and trembled from head to toe.

Despite the extraordinary beauty and that gracious voice, I felt an unmistakable pressure bearing down on my chest. Different in nature from my husband’s presence. Where my husband’s emanated from the terror he could inspire, this came from raw divine power pressing against my every cell.

“Forbidden One. Raise your head. I would see your face.”

The goddess issued a command precisely like the ones my husband was prone to giving in bed.

I raised my head while still shaking violently.

I tried to meet her eyes—

“Oh!”

She was directly in front of me without having made a sound.

She was crouching in midair, gazing down at me with an expressionless face.

“Forbidden One. I have heard a great deal about you.”

“A—about me? But why do you keep calling me that? Why do I have such a terrifying title?”

My voice shook like a leaf in wind. But I was too curious to stop myself from asking.

“Because you transgressed the laws of the human world.”

“…I transgressed a law? I think there may be some mistake. I’m the sort of person who could live without laws and still never break one…”

The expressionless goddess simply looked down at me.

Her gaze was like a well-honed blade. It felt rather like a signal to close my mouth and listen.

I closed my mouth and stared obediently into empty space.

“While I was away on holiday, the Goddess of Time and Space caused an incident. The new life you were given was her doing.”

“A new life…”

“A soul that has met its death, living again in a different time and a different space. In the human world, that is called reincarnation.”

In an instant, memories buried long and deep swept through me like a panorama.

From very long ago. A life lived in another world.

“Ah…!”

“Yes. You were reincarnated by the arrangement of the Goddess of Time and Space.”

“I—I’m so grateful!”

A fine line appeared in the goddess’s smooth brow.

“You have nothing to be grateful for. I said you transgressed a law.”

“…Yes.”

“Furthermore, your soul transgressed the law a second time. In truth, you were fated to meet an ill-suited husband in this life and die young.”

“Oh! You must mean Edwin!”

“Yes. But this time, the Goddess of Fate took a liking to you and bent your destiny. She sent you to that gala so you could meet your current husband.”

“That is something I am genuinely, truly grateful for!”

“But you and that man proceeded to spend the night together with remarkable eagerness.”

“Ha ha… ahem.”

The goddess chose to pointedly recall my embarrassing past.

“The Goddess of Desire, who was observing from the side, reportedly applauded.”

“…I am embarrassed and sorry.”

I pressed myself into a full prostration again.

“However, for any god to interfere in the life and death of a human is strictly forbidden. And so the Goddess of Time and Space received a sentence of fifty years’ reduced salary.”

“Goodness. A salary reduction…”

“The Goddess of Fate, considering her name and reputation, escaped with unpaid leave.”

“I am truly sorry!”

This time I pressed my forehead to the ground.

I glanced up slightly and immediately met the eyes of the goddess, who was looking at me with a frown.

The sensation of lungs being wrung out. My breath stopped and only cold sweat came.

“Hmm. I begin to understand why the other goddesses made such a fuss over you. You truly are a charming and endearing creature.”

…So she was frowning because she found me endearing.

“I’m so grateful that you find me endearing!”

“There is nothing to be grateful for. I intend to place your soul before the seat of judgment.”

“…What? Judgment?”

“Yes. Your soul has defied fate twice. Therefore, I intend to return your soul to its proper place.”

“What?!”

The conversation was growing more frightening by the moment.

I was to be the subject of a divine judgment.

“By the laws of the heavens, I will bring you before the seat of judgment this very moment.”

“W—wait! Three seconds! A time-out, please!”

“You have a question.”

“Many! What does it mean to return to my proper place?”

“It means regression. To the point before your marriage to your current husband.”

“A—and what about my family? What about our little pups?”

“They would naturally cease to exist.”

“No! What do you mean? Are you out of your mind? Absolutely not!”

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 8

A mother’s love is fierce.

And so I argued with the goddess quite fiercely.

“You can’t give something and then take it back! If you were going to do this, you shouldn’t have given it in the first place! After letting me bring three perfectly innocent little pups into the world—you can’t announce a judgment and simply erase those children from existence! A goddess should not behave this way! If I broke a law, then punish only me—why drag in other innocent people who did nothing wrong?!”

The goddess twisted both brows sharply.

“…Are you arguing with me? A great goddess? And speaking informally at that?”

I immediately began defending myself.

“Me, a lowly human, dare argue with a great goddess? I was merely expressing my sense of injustice while somewhat emotionally compromised. But our little pups are innocent! If my soul broke a law, then punish only me—why make our little pups suffer? Trying to simply erase them! Do you know what it cost me to hold those children in my arms? I went through immense torment at my husband’s hands to have them!”

“…”

“And I find this rather underhanded, if I may say so. If you were going to bring me before judgment anyway, you could have done it before I had children—not after I’d already had three! Our firstborn is about to enter the gifted academy! Top of the cohort, no less! And the twins are at the age where they’re just learning to talk, just beginning to take the world in with their own eyes! You could have had me killed when Edwin abducted me—what have innocent small children done to deserve this? And putting all these people to sleep because of me! Is this how a goddess should behave?!”

The goddess’s eyes narrowed.

“What a thoroughly impudent creature you are. I shall grant you a special curse.”

“What, a curse, on top of everything? This is genuinely too much!”

“You shall grow ever more dim-witted. And ever more foolish.”

“Please cancel the curse! I was upset because of my children! I’m sorry!”

I attempted an appeal from one woman to another.

“And—surely even you understand! The children I bore through my own pain disappearing—of course I’d be upset!”

“I am not yet married.”

“Oh dear…!”

A setback.

I smacked my own mouth several times in silent reproach, then pivoted immediately and clasped my hands together, pleading.

“No, no! I don’t want to be judged, Your Divinity! I don’t have the courage for something this terrifying—my nerve is the size of a bean! I can’t even win against my husband, I’m always on the losing end—! Please!”

“What would you have me do. And your nerve appears to be somewhat larger than a bean. You argued with a goddess quite vigorously just now.”

“I’m sorry! I lost my head for a moment because of our little pups!”

I kept clasping and unclasping my hands.

“I’m truly, genuinely—I was so frightened on our wedding night I cried the whole time! I know you won’t believe me, but it’s true! And even now sometimes when my husband comes at me I get frightened and tremble—and when I have a nightmare about being tormented by him in bed I need to be held to fall asleep—! And you want a coward like that to face divine judgment? This is really too…!”

“Tormented, and then cradled to sleep. My word. How endearing.”

In that instant, I spotted hope in her remark. I pressed my hands together and launched into self-advocacy.

“If you find me endearing, could you perhaps let this one slide? I’ll live even better than I already do! I’m not sure how that’s possible but I’ll try my hardest! Please?”

The goddess dismissed my words without effort.

And then, unexpectedly, she was displeased again.

“Endearing or infuriating—one or the other. Not both simultaneously. Being both endearing and infuriating is genuinely aggravating.”

“I—I’m sorry for being endearing! I won’t be endearing anymore! Please!”

“It’s too late.”

She was immovable.

“T—then, at least—when will I be sent back? Wherever I’m regressed to, as long as it’s before my marriage to my husband—I can find him again and fall in love again, can’t I? I know I would. I promise I would! So as long as I’m not already married to someone else at the point you send me back—not already married to Edwin or something horrible like that—”

“That is my decision.”

“Goddess of Love and the Soul, and you’re being this petty—!”

“Teleport—”

Flash—!

A wave of golden light flooded my vision.

The soft, billowing light burst—and the world flooded with blinding gold.

Then darkness came.

Snap!

Light returned all at once, like a switch thrown.

The eagle mask that had just snapped its fingers directly in front of me spoke.

“Miss. Are you all right?”

“Yes?”

“Hmm?”

“Where am I…?”

“The Black Guild.”

“And you are…?”

“The guild master.”

“Ah.”

I suddenly felt very stupid.

Why was I here?

“You look as though you’ve just returned from another world entirely. Shall I bring you some water?”

“Ah, no thank you.”

I was only scratching my cheek, when Emily quickly identified the gap.

“Miss. Are you all right? This is the Black Guild. We came today to ask about how to get divorced.”

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot!”

“Yes. The wedding is next week. We’re out of time.”

“Right!”

There was no time to dally. I was about to be married in a week.

I looked directly at the guild master and spoke clearly.

“The information I’m here for today is: how to get myself divorced.”

“Ah, you went ahead and got married after all? To that obsessive fiancé of yours?”

“No. Next week.”

“Ah, I see. Hmm.”

The guild master stroked the chin of his mask in thought.

Then he paused, building up to something.

“At this point, the window for a change of identity has already passed. It really does seem like marriage is the only path.”

“Yes. Which is why I want to be divorced after the marriage.”

“What?!”

The guild master startled visibly. His eagle mask swayed.

“Y—no, your resolve is truly remarkable. Why go to those lengths?”

“There are many reasons.”

I answered plainly. The guild master responded in a deeply meaningful voice.

“…Is he terribly ugly?”

“No? My husband is remarkably handsome. Wonderful physique as well.”

“Ah. Your husband is very handso—what did you say? Husband?”

“Oh, I must be going mad. I’m sorry. Ignore that. He’s just a fiancé.”

“Ah. A slip of the tongue. Anyway—why struggle this hard then? A beautiful face is worth marrying for, isn’t it?”

“…What do you mean, marrying for profit? I’m not that sort of person. I have at least a minimum of conscience.”

I gave the guild master the look one reserves for someone truly hopeless.

He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Tch. I apologize. I was thinking in purely transactional terms—occupational hazard.”

“…Well, I understand. It’s your profession. In any case—I value what’s inside.”

“Hmm. True, inner character matters.”

He nodded deeply and with apparent sincerity.

“Anyway—so the divorce method?”

“Let’s see. A method for divorce. Though I should note that I have no personal experience with divorce.”

“…And?”

“Which is to say, I may not know the best way.”

I stared at him.

What kind of information guild was this? The empire’s foremost information guild, allegedly—and it had nothing? No information at all? Running an information guild purely on personal experience?

“D—then do you know a competent divorce attorney?”

“Are you certain that’s wise?”

“Why?”

“Consulting someone in such an official capacity means your whereabouts and the contents of the consultation could become public record.”

“An attorney has a duty of confidentiality to their client once a retainer is established. This isn’t some neighbourhood shop.”

“Think carefully, miss.”

The guild master leaned forward over the desk with a grave expression. I leaned in as well.

“What?”

“I don’t know who your fiancé is, but do you suppose he lacks the ability to find that information?”

“…He likely has more than enough.”

“Is he someone who couldn’t intimidate one small-town attorney?”

“…He would do it without breaking a sweat. He threatens to lock up his own wife at the slightest provocation. And even his family’s attorneys are on his side.”

“…Wait. He has a wife already?”

“Goodness. What’s wrong with me? I’m sorry—that was another slip. I’m not myself today. The wedding is so close, I suppose…”

“That can happen. I myself occasionally have the strangest sensation of—wait, am I actually married?”

I looked at him with an expression that made clear I did not follow.

“Ahem! In any case, to return to the point—that’s precisely why I came this far. The advantages of the underground. The value of secrecy.”

There he went again, slipping back into self-promotion.

Less than ten percent of the conversation was about my actual business, and the rest was about him.

Normally I might have been more patient, but I was out of time.

“So. Getting to the point. Might this remarkable guild master recommend a method for divorce?”

“I feel a little awkward saying this, but…”

“Please speak plainly.”

“It is a marital matter, after all. Very well—I’ll say it plainly. Are you familiar with the ‘right of refusal on the wedding night’?”

“Refusing the first night?”

“Yes. And your fiancé is a nobleman, you said?”

“Yes.”

“Then this method is both effective and simple. What is the primary duty of a noblewoman?”

“Hmm—the duty to produce an heir! I’m rather good at that! I had three!”

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 9

“What? You’ve already had children? Three of them?”

“I’m going mad. I really am. I’m sorry—please disregard what I just said. I don’t have any children yet.”

“Understood. In any case—refusing the wedding night opens grounds for a divorce suit.”

But could I actually refuse?

I had never once succeeded in refusing. Not a single time.

…And once the wedding was over, I would be dragged to the main manor without any escape. If anything, that would make him even more relentless.

I folded my arms and considered seriously.

“Alternatively—if the wedding night is never consummated, a suit for annulment of the marriage is also possible.”

“Marriage annulment?!”

“Yes. It’s as though the person never existed in your life. No divorce record, since the marriage itself is voided.”

“Wait. The methods you just mentioned—they’re actually quite promising.”

“As I said. Effective and reliable. There are many noblewomen who have been divorced on those grounds. Plenty of my clients among them.”

But there was something I needed to address first.

“Ah, well…”

“Go on.”

“The definition of the wedding night…”

“Ah—I’ve been inconsiderate toward a young lady. Please forgive me for the awkwardness. The wedding night is defined as the first night consummated after the marriage ceremony.”

Emily and I looked at each other simultaneously.

Then we both nodded, conducting a silent exchange.

Perfect.

This is it, my lady.

We paid for the information and left promptly.

On the way back to the manor, I stopped with Emily to rest on a bench for a while. We could talk strategy at the same time.

“But Emily—is refusing the wedding night really the best plan?”

“Hmm. It doesn’t feel quite like the best, but the wedding is next week.”

“That’s true…”

I stroked my chin.

A strong intuition told me this method wouldn’t work at all.

“Miss. Is something bothering you?”

“It’s a gut feeling. A certainty that this won’t work on him. I have the specific sense that I’ll cry and wail and then end up going along with it anyway.”

“That’s a remarkably detailed intuition.”

“True, but…”

I laid out my reasoning.

“Think about it. Every method I’ve tried has failed. An unbroken losing streak. So what if the wedding night goes the same way? At that point I’m stuck with that man for the rest of my life, completely and irrevocably. He won’t be using contraceptives after the wedding. And if I get pregnant? I’d be completely locked in. Properly trapped.”

“It does seem His Grace is quite conscientious about contraception. A rare quality in a man these days.”

Conscientious contraception is admirable in an ordinary man.

But is conscientious contraception admirable in a scheming duke?

I tilted my head back and murmured at the sky.

“Should I just… run away before the wedding?”

The afternoon sky was blue and sharp.

Rather like my life, I thought, wincing at the tingling at the tip of my nose.

“Running away after the wedding night would be too risky…”

“Hmm. That’s a little uncharacteristically foolish and dim-witted of you, miss.”

“Right. It really is the most foolish of plans…”

“But I think it’s actually quite a good idea. Better for the duke, too, from his perspective.”

“Hm?”

I sat up straight.

“What do you mean? Running away is better for Kael too?”

“Obviously. You don’t love him, miss. If you marry him anyway—and then go through with the wedding night—well. That doesn’t seem fair to him, does it?”

“Exactly! That’s been bothering me the whole time!”

“And it would be discourteous to the dowager duke and duchess, who are so fond of you.”

“My thoughts precisely!”

I agreed with great feeling.

Mother-in-law and Father-in-law were people of such genuine integrity. And Kayrin was so endearing.

I didn’t want to deceive them. My conscience wouldn’t allow it.

“But running away is not easy. And to escape from the duke, you’d probably need to relocate to another continent.”

“Another continent…”

Dispiritingly vast in scale. And likely expensive.

“Within the empire, you’d have to assume every corner is within his reach. He’s the emperor’s own nephew.”

“You’re right. The two of us haven’t a chance.”

“And the guild master said it—the window for a change of identity has already closed. So we’d have to flee on our original identities.”

“Oh, in that case, we may as well just get married.”

We stood and dusted off the bench.

We were making our way back to the carriage when—

“Oh?”

Something on the ground caught my eye.

A crumpled grey flyer.

“What’s this?”

“A flyer.”

I smoothed it out as best I could. It was covered in footprints, but the text was legible at a glance.

We retrieve debts. We handle most other things too.

Same-day loans OK. Same-day collections OK. Last-minute escapes OK.

— Caesar Caesar Errand Center, operated by a former Imperial Intelligence agent

“This is amazing.”

“Oh my.”

“A former Imperial Intelligence agent! That’s extraordinary, isn’t it? Espionage! Assassinations! Identity changes! They’re the most elite and secretive operatives in existence!”

“Generally speaking, yes.”

“This is it.”

The hands holding the flyer trembled.

An Imperial Intelligence agent. I could not resist.

“Let’s go right now!”

We walked for a full thirty minutes.

At last we arrived at a street lined with general shops.

“The map points to… oh, here?”

Before us was a plain grey building.

On the ground floor, a flower shop.

[Rainbow Flower Shop]

And on the second-floor window, a sign that read:

[Caesar Caesar Errand Center (Pawnshop)]

“We found it! But Emily—it’s also a pawnshop?”

“So it seems. Running a pawnshop would be an easy way to maintain liquid funds.”

“Wonderful. Let’s go in!”

The stairs were narrow and steep.

We went single file to the second floor.

At the top was a space that felt appropriately secretive and appropriately safe—like the ticket window of a public bath.

“Oh. It’s very ordinary.”

“It really does look just like an ordinary pawnshop.”

But the service window was empty.

“Is today a day off?”

“It says open year-round.”

“Where? Ah—there.”

Printed on the window glass: open year-round, 24-hour service.

“But why is no one—”

“Who’s there?”

“Eek!”

My heart nearly stopped.

A massively built man of a distinctly bandit-like appearance was standing at the top of the stairs.

What—! Not a footstep, not a single sound—!

The man was shirtless, wearing an inexplicably bright pink apron.

“…”

A rather baffling ensemble. Was there no intention to either wear a shirt with the apron, or wear neither?

Then, without warning, the man who had been standing still produced a scythe. He used it to scratch his chin-beard and asked:

“Are you customers? Here to pawn something?”

I went rigid at this display of intimidation with a weapon. He was built like a gang enforcer, which made it worse.

Fortunately, Emily spoke calmly.

“Are you the owner of this pawnshop?”

“I am.”

“And Caesar Caesar Errand Center—that’s yours as well?”

“Correct.”

“And the flower shop on the ground floor?”

“Right.”

“You’re working three jobs. That must be hard. We’re here to place a commission with Caesar Caesar Errand Center.”

“Thank you. So you’re those customers.”

The man finished climbing the stairs and came to stand at the service window.

I marveled to myself:

“Incredible… not a single footstep. How is that possible?”

“Former intelligence operative.”

He answered my murmuring without any particular interest. Then he threw open the brown wooden door beside the window.

“Go in and take a seat. I’ll be right back after watering my plants.”

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 10

“Here. My card.”

He handed me a business card.

Angel Caesar

— Caesar Caesar Errand Center

It was simple.

In the center of the dark grey card, only his name. And in the bottom right corner, the business name.

“So that’s where ‘Caesar Caesar’ comes from.”

“Correct. But it’s an alias. I don’t use my real name if I can help it. Occupational habit.”

I hadn’t asked, but he told me helpfully.

“‘Angel’ is my nickname. My late grandmother called me that. She said I was her little angel—spoiled me terribly.”

“Your grandmother must have loved you very much.”

“She did. I was her favorite of all the grandchildren. Made me all sorts of good things to eat. Called me her sweetie.”

“Her sweet—”

I glanced at him.

Bronzed skin. Heavy sideburns. A dense beard. And that bandit-like build.

He possessed every element of an intimidating appearance, assembled to perfection.

So I had nothing to say and simply listened.

Fortunately, Emily steered the conversation naturally.

“Well. Even a prickly hedgehog is precious to a grandmother who loves it. That’s the nature of parental love.”

“Exactly. My grandmother liked my fur quite a lot. She’d pull it affectionately from time to time. Haha.”

He laughed heartily. Then he looked at me with a fond expression and nodded.

It seemed he wanted me to agree.

“…Wow. She must have really loved you. Wonderful.”

I gave a thumbs-up.

“Heheh. Thank you. Take a look at the back of the card.”

“Oh?”

There was more on the back.

I flipped it over.

[Experience]

— Former Imperial Intelligence operative

[Primary Services]

— Same-day loans available

— Same-day collections available

— Last-minute escapes available

[Notes]

— Task completion rate: 100% to date

— Customer satisfaction: five out of five, three years running… etc.

[Specializations]: Flower arrangement, escapes, identity changes.

Leave anything to me.

The card that had appeared simple was anything but. The back was covered in dense text.

“By the way! You said you’re a former Imperial Intelligence operative—that was the big thing on the flyer!”

“Correct. Former Imperial Intelligence. Now I’ve fulfilled my childhood dream of becoming a flower shop owner.”

“Wow. Not forgetting your childhood dream and going after it—that’s truly admirable.”

“Hmm?”

He looked at me steadily.

Then he gazed at me with a soft, faraway expression.

“…My grandmother said the very same thing. She always said to carry your dreams in your heart and keep moving forward.”

He seemed to be tracing a memory of his grandmother in my face.

“So. What are you here to commission?”

“Oh! To start—it’s a preliminary inquiry more than anything…”

“Ask freely.”

“Well—the flyer mentioned last-minute escapes.”

“Mm.”

“When you say last-minute—how many days’ notice?”

“Two. Just two days.”

“Really?”

“Yes. You’re a noblewoman, aren’t you, miss?”

“How did you know?”

I was wearing a robe and a hood—completely anonymous!

“I can assess someone’s rank from their hair alone. The difference between a commoner and a noble is quite significant.”

“Remarkable.”

“Let me think. For an escape…”

He flipped quickly through the pamphlets scattered across his desk.

Then he selected one and handed it to me.

[Escape Package]

— Same-day (recommended for commoners), identity change available at extra cost

— Two-day (recommended for nobles), identity change available at extra cost

The pamphlet detailed the escape process in full.

I read through the two-day option carefully.

Day 1: Book transportation and destination settlement

Day 2: Issue new identity papers and execute

“Incredible. This is all possible in two days?”

“Former Imperial Intelligence operative. The connections are exceptional.”

“Oh my.”

I was impressed.

Then Emily identified the key issue.

“The price must be considerable. What is the cost for the noble package?”

“Fifty gold upfront, fifty on completion. If continental relocation is required, ship booking is included. All within a budget of one hundred gold.”

“Is the one-hundred-percent success rate genuine, with no exaggeration?”

“Absolutely. I don’t engage in such disgraceful things—not while using the name my grandmother gave me.”

“Hmm. Reasonable.”

But there was a problem.

I eased my way into their conversation.

“…I don’t have money at the moment.”

“Then please leave.”

He was direct.

He was already standing up to see us out.

“Wait! No installments?”

“No credit, no installments. Lump sum only.”

“Then please give me five minutes to think! Just five!”

“Five minutes. That’s all.”

The only money I had was the personal allowance given to me by Kael.

What could I do?

“Miss. Isn’t your allowance more than enough?”

“But using money he gave me to run away from him is…”

That felt dishonorable.

That’s the sort of thing unscrupulous people do.

I raised my head and fixed my eyes on him with clear resolve.

“Sir.”

“Speak.”

“Could you just split it into fifty monthly payments? Interest-free. I promise to pay every single month without fail.”

“Do you have a conscience?”

“Take away my conscience and there’s nothing left.”

Two gold a month. If I worked odd jobs and saved diligently, it was entirely manageable.

“You’re clearly a penniless noble in name only. Please leave.”

At that moment—

“Wait.”

Emily’s voice.

Both the owner and I looked at her.

Emily reached into her coat and tossed something onto the desk.

Thud.

A thick brown leather pouch landed on the surface.

“Here. One hundred gold.”

“Eek! Emily! Where did this money come from?”

“My savings. My entire life savings, in fact. I set it aside in case I ever needed to run away with you, miss. I put it together carefully over the years.”

“On a lady’s maid’s salary?”

“I took side work as well.”

“That’s extraordinary!”

The owner sat back down.

“Heheh. Then allow me to serve you properly.”

He had spent all that time selling sentiment about his grandmother, and now proved to be thoroughly governed by capitalism. He reached for the money pouch with a smile.

“Wait.”

Emily stopped him.

He paused.

“I’ll pay fifty gold upfront. The remaining balance will be delivered through your assistant after we’re safely settled on the other continent.”

“…How did you know I have an assistant?”

“An errand center of this scale requires at minimum two or three.”

“…”

“I’m declining a lump sum. In any business transaction, receiving full payment upfront leads to complacency.”

“…A perceptive woman. Very well.”

He reached into the side drawer and produced a single sheet of paper, handing it to me.

“The commission application. Fill in every field completely and honestly. Leave nothing blank.”

I began filling in the blanks one by one.

For a while the room was filled with nothing but the scratch of the quill.

Then his low voice broke the silence.

“By the way—Emily, was it? Have we met before?”

“We haven’t.”

“I see. You looked familiar, so I asked.”

“I see.”

Meanwhile, I had filled in every field except my name.

If I wrote my name, my identity would be exposed. Was that acceptable?

“Completely and honestly. No blanks.”

“…Sir. Confidentiality is guaranteed?”

“I live under the alias my grandmother gave me. Don’t trouble yourself with that concern.”

I hesitated, then wrote in the name field.

[Ivelina Florence]

The moment I wrote my name, he shot to his feet and swore.

“What the—? Get out immediately!”

Special Bonus Chapter: Ivelina Becomes a Runaway Heroine — Chapter 11

I shot to my feet too.

“Why?!”

“You’re the Duke of Hardeion’s fiancée!”

“I am, but what does that have to do with anything? You said you’d handle everything!”

I was genuinely annoyed.

He had taken one look at my name and turned me out.

“I won’t accept your commission!”

“Why?!”

“Because you’re the Duke of Hardeion’s fiancée!”

“Isn’t it a bit much to be this selective about clients?”

“Of course it is. I’m a former Imperial Intelligence operative!”

“What does that have to do with it!”

I was furious.

What on earth did being a former intelligence operative have to do with choosing which customers to serve?

“One-hundred-percent completion rate, you bragged! Five stars three years running, written all over your card! This is blatant false advertising!”

“False advertising! I don’t do disgraceful things like that—my nickname isn’t Angel for nothing!”

“Angel, you say! You look like a bandit and an enforcer!”

“A—bandit?! That genuinely wounds me! Language violence is the worst kind of violence in this world!”

“If both parties could please calm down. Sir—I’d like to hear your reason for refusing our commission.”

“Huu…”

He clutched his chest and glowered at me, still seething. I held his stare without blinking.

In the middle of our staring contest, he accidentally blinked. I had won.

“Hmph!”

I turned my head away.

He sat down heavily once his breathing settled.

I sat down too, matching his exasperation. I folded my arms irritably.

“I served as an Imperial Intelligence operative.”

“I know. You’ve said it multiple times. What, are you a parrot? My ears are getting sore.”

I picked at one ear and answered absently.

Having the nerve to discriminate between customers didn’t make my words come out kindly.

“And I was dismissed because of the Duke of Hardeion.”

“Goodness.”

I was genuinely startled for a moment.

“Imperial Intelligence holds a staggering amount of information. The volume is so immense it may as well be defined as infinite. But among all the people of the empire, three individuals are flagged off-limits.”

“…Don’t tell me.”

“Correct. One of them is the Duke of Hardeion.”

“Good heavens. What kind of person is he that he’d be off-limits even within the intelligence service?”

“My thought exactly. I was so curious about what information was being withheld that I tried to access it.”

“You didn’t. And then?”

I leaned forward with interest.

“I was immediately dismissed. With a dishonorable discharge, no less. So I receive no pension. I gave my heart to this empire as one of its dark stars, and all of those years were negated. Simply because I attempted to access the Duke of Hardeion’s file.”

“…What was even in it?”

“I don’t know. I was dismissed before I could see it.”

“…Oh. So you tried to look at someone else’s information and got burned instead.”

“Exactly.”

He had his own unfortunate history.

Now I understood why he’d turned me away so abruptly.

Emily leaned in with the manner of an interrogator.

“Trying to access off-limits files would be a violation of intelligence operative conduct. Naturally you’d be dismissed. Why did you do it?”

“Curiosity.”

“Then you were in the wrong, sir. Any resentment toward the duke is simply an excuse.”

“…That’s fair. Something got into me in that moment. I can’t explain it.”

He dropped his head.

“In any case—that’s why I can’t take this commission. After that dishonorable discharge, I haven’t been able to properly read a single line about the Duke of Hardeion. The trauma is firmly lodged.”

“…So when you heard my name, you reacted so strongly.”

“Yes. I owe you an apology for my rudeness. The dishonorable discharge was entirely my fault.”

He was quick to acknowledge his own wrongdoing.

And he had the integrity to apologize for it.

“Not at all. What you did as an intelligence operative was inadvisable—but even so, I think you’re a good person.”

“…Why do you think so?”

“Because you love plants.”

I looked around at the orchids and flower pots filling the office.

And the small cactus sitting in a sunny spot by the window.

“All the flowers you keep are in pots. You can’t bring yourself to cut them for sale. And I noticed earlier—your only listed specialization in the shop is ‘flower arrangements.’ Not cut flowers.”

“…”

“This may be my own bias—but I’ve never met a person who loves plants and animals who was genuinely bad. It speaks to a fundamental respect for life.”

“…”

“In any case, I understand your position completely. I can’t impose on someone else’s trauma just to satisfy my own wishes.”

He looked down.

I took a quiet breath and stood up.

Then—

“Wait.”

He looked at me with steady eyes and spoke with resolve.

“I’ll take it. Your commission.”

“…Really?”

He nodded.

“Not for you. For myself.”

“Hm?”

“This is my chance to settle an old score. If I complete this commission, I think I might be able to finally treat this old trauma of mine.”

He grinned.

And just like that, the contract was made.

He spent an hour rapidly gathering information about me.

Afterward, he reviewed the application form I’d filled out carefully, and wrote something quickly with his quill.

“Here. The plan.”

“Oh my.”

It really was a brilliant plan.

I scanned the dense black text. The plan was written out in detailed, minute-by-minute increments.

“I’ve timed the escape for immediately after the wedding ceremony, just before the wedding night.”

“…Isn’t that a little risky? Is it safe?”

“Just before the wedding night is optimal. Two reasons.”

I swallowed and asked:

“What are they?”

“First. An escape should target the moment when the other party is ‘relatively most settled.'”

“Oh! Relatively most settled?”

This sounded remarkably logical.

I leaned in and listened attentively.

“Precisely. I considered the option of escaping before the wedding—but running a simulation, I cannot recommend that window at all.”

“Why not?”

“That’s a time when the duke would be extremely unsettled. He wouldn’t have you completely in hand yet. He’d almost certainly be in a heightened state of alertness.”

“Ah! That makes complete sense!”

“Exactly. So: immediately after the ceremony, when the duke has relaxed into the certainty that he has you—that is the correct window. Based on the reports I’ve seen, his fixation on you is extraordinary.”

“That’s accurate. The fixation is quite severe! Hearing it explained that way, it makes perfect sense!”

He was remarkably logical.

I found myself nodding and even clapping my hands at the more convincing points.

“Oh! What was the second reason? You said there were two.”

“The second is simple. Think about it.”

He fixed me with a wide-eyed stare.

I matched his gaze with equal intensity.

“On the wedding night—will you still have a shadow following you?”

“…I’d assume so?”

“Are you certain?”