#9.
It was a languid afternoon. Inside the carriage, I couldn’t stop myself from beaming. I was out on an excursion with Archid under the pretense of preparing for the Flower Festival.
Feeling my intense gaze, Archid finally asked, “Why do you keep looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”
*Yes. Perfection.*
I wanted to blurt it out right then and there, but knowing it would startle him, I searched for a different answer.
“I just feel so reassured now that you’re helping me, Lord Archid.”
Archid blinked at my response. It seemed he never expected to hear the word “reassured” come out of my mouth. After a brief silence, he spoke.
“……I did not expect you to ask for my help.”
“Is that so?”
“Because before, you never wanted anything to do with me.”
The look on his face as he spoke was heartbreakingly somber. Having lived through a year of hearing nothing but cruel words from his wife, it was only natural that he found my current behavior jarring. Even if I had helped clear out Baron Lorke recently, I was likely still just an uncomfortable wife to him—nothing more, nothing less. This was especially apparent in the way he fulfilled his duties as a husband but remained distant and reserved.
I gave him a soft, lingering smile and replied, “I thought I’d start relying on you from now on.”
Archid still looked as though he were trying to solve an impossible riddle.
I recalled the day I made the plans with him. I had heard the full story of Roena’s atrocities during last year’s Flower Festival from my three maids.
> *’So, what exactly am I supposed to do that day?’*
> *’Whatever you do, My Lady, it cannot be like last year.’*
> *’What? What on earth did I do?’*
> *’You don’t remember…?’*
I had tilted my head in confusion as Hanna let out a long, heavy sigh. I got the distinct feeling that the previous Roena had botched things up spectacularly. Sure enough, Vivian chimed in with a scowl.
> *’You completely ignored the Grand Duchess’s instructions and prepared the seeds however you pleased.’*
> *’And that’s not all. Out of all things, you chose seeds with the absolute worst germination rate. That year’s flower harvest was barely eighty percent of the year before.’*
Shuri shuddered as if the memory alone gave her a headache. Hanna added to the pile:
> *’It was only thanks to Lord Archid stepping in late to replace them with proper seeds that the germination rate was saved. If not for him, the harvest might not even have reached half of a typical year.’*
> *’Archid helped?’*
> *’Yes. Though back then, My Lady threw a fit, screaming that he was interfering in business that didn’t concern him.’*
> *’Even we thought that was a bit much… erm. Never mind. Hohoho.’*
Hanna had offered a sheepish excuse. I shook my head at the anecdote of Archid helping Roena only to be cursed out for his trouble. There was no “difficult customer” quite like her. If it had been me, I would have used it as an excuse to shower him with kisses! What a waste!
While entertaining those silly thoughts and wondering how to spend more time with him, this “date” had come to mind.
*‘I’ll just ask Archid to help me from the very beginning.’*
That way, I’d get the best seeds, avoid a scolding from the Grand Duchess, and as a bonus, get a golden opportunity for a sweet date with Archid.
That was how this outing came to be. I tried my best to suppress the corners of my mouth that kept twitching upward. My expression must have looked quite strange, because Archid, who had been watching me intently, asked:
“Are you nervous because you’re worried Mother will scold you again for what happened last year?”
“Pardon?”
“Ah… I only asked because your lips keep trembling.”
Archid tapped his own mouth to demonstrate. I stared at him blankly before blabbering an excuse.
“Oh? Ah, yes, well, exactly. That’s it. It’s just that Mother is quite terrifying when she’s angry, isn’t she?”
“I wouldn’t have thought so, considering how affectionate you were with her recently. On the cheek…”
As Archid trailed off hesitantly, I finished the sentence for him.
“The goodnight kiss?”
“Yes… that.”
Archid rubbed his cheek awkwardly. I replied with feigned nonchalance.
“Well, if I just stay scared of her forever, we’ll never become close.”
“Close…?”
Archid’s eyes widened. His clear blue-gray eyes sparkled like silver spheres. The faint turbulence in his gaze settled, and he opened his mouth to speak.
“I truly do not know how to understand you, Wife. Until very recently, you were always so sharp and defensive.”
“Just look at me as I am now.”
As I spoke calmly, he echoed back in a slightly trembling voice, “As you are now?”
I gave him a bright smile and pointed a finger at myself, speaking firmly. “Yes. The person right here in front of you, Lord Archid. Not the person I was in the past.”
At my unreserved declaration, Archid’s lips parted slightly. He seemed a bit taken aback to hear something so sensible from me. Of course, I only reserved these “pretty words” for Archid.
*‘To the bastards who bully my Archid, I am ready to return to my role as the merciless mouth from hell at any moment.’*
While I was making that internal vow, he stroked his lip and whispered softly, “I see. It seems I have been misjudging you this whole time.”
“No, it’s not so much a misjudgment as it is that you’ve only seen a part of me. Just as I misjudged you because of your background.”
“Ah.”
“I’m sorry. I was late to realize what a good person you are, Lord Archid.”
“No, don’t be. I should be the one…”
Archid reflexively protested but let his voice trail off. He seemed to be searching for the right words, his voice heavy with tension.
“I’ve been under a lot of stress since moving to a new place, so I caused you a lot of trouble for no reason.”
“……”
“I’ll do better now. Truly.”
I intentionally lowered my gaze with a sorrowful expression, and his lips twitched again. Come to think of it, even in the novel, he was a deep thinker who weighed his words very carefully.
He had been practically dragged to the unfamiliar Hadelus Castle. An indifferent biological father, a cold stepmother, and a young wife who loathed him—surrounded by them, he must have lived every second of his life in a state of high alert.
*‘Archid must have been so lonely.’*
Having grown up walking on eggshells under my own foster parents, I felt a deep resonance with the shadow over his heart. A child who wants to be loved but isn’t always ends up stiff and guarded like that.
Perhaps that was why. Without thinking, I leaned forward and gently took the hand he had held near his mouth. Startled, Archid called out to me.
“Wife?”
“You don’t have to keep everything bottled up inside. You can speak freely with me, Lord Archid.”
“……”
“Now that I look at you, it wasn’t me who was nervous—it was you.”
As I offered a soft, reassuring smile, Archid’s pupils shook even more violently than before. A face he hadn’t seen like this before was reflected in his blue-gray eyes: a girl with thick, curly red hair, eyes that tilted up like a cat’s, and deep blue irises.
*‘I’m still not used to how pretty I am.’*
Just as that vain thought crossed my mind—
“We have arrived.”
The coachman announced their arrival as the carriage came to a halt. I naturally pulled my hand away.
“Shall we go?”
“……Yes, Wife.”
Archid seemed to wear a dazed expression for a moment before responding slowly and stepping down from the carriage.
—
Meanwhile, Lady Lorke, who had been shut away in her family home since being dumped by the Grand Duke of Hadelus, received a visitor for the first time in a while.
It was Lady Marnier, a social acquaintance who had come to call.
“The Grand Duke is truly heartless,” Lady Marnier said. “How could he just cut you off as if he were chopping firewood?”
On the surface, she was blaming the Duke, but in reality, she was mocking Lady Lorke for falling from grace. It was only natural, given how Lady Lorke had flaunted the Duke’s favor to lord it over high society. Lady Lorke replied, pretending to be unbothered.
“Enough of that. The Grand Duke isn’t the only man in the world, is he?”
But Lady Marnier’s next words shattered her composure.
“I heard he already has a new lover.”
“A new lover?”
“Well, it’s not confirmed, but I saw a Hadelus carriage heading toward the seed farms today.”
Lady Marnier glanced at Lady Lorke after finishing her sentence. As expected, the other woman’s face had turned incredibly dark. To Lady Marnier, seeing the woman who used to look down on her finally humbled was a delightful sight.
*‘Hmph. It’s a shame I’m the only one here to see her looking so pathetic.’*
Lady Marnier suppressed a smirk and put on a sympathetic face. It was true that she had seen a Hadelus carriage. On her way here, she had spotted a lavish carriage engraved with the Hadelus family crest. Of course, she didn’t know who was inside. She had simply brought it up because she remembered it was the two-seater carriage the Duke was fond of using.
Bristling at the news of a new lover, Lady Lorke demanded, “Is that the truth?”
“Yes, I’m telling you. It’s almost the Flower Festival, so I suppose he’s taking his new lover out to see the flowers under the guise of buying seeds. ……Hm?”
Lady Marnier let out a small gasp and stopped mid-sentence.
It was because Lady Lorke had slammed her teacup down with a total lack of decorum. However, Lady Lorke’s expression was so murderous that Lady Marnier could only clear her throat awkwardly. She became cautious, fearing the woman’s wrath might turn on her.
“That is simply how men are,” Lady Marnier began tentatively, gauging the reaction. “No matter how beautiful a flower you may be, Lady Lorke, men eventually grow accustomed to it. It is instinct for their eyes to wander to a new bloom.”
“What exactly are you trying to say, Lady Marnier?”
“Oh my, I only wish for you to overcome the pain of heartbreak as soon as possible.”
“……”
“I apologize if I have offended you.”
At Lady Marnier’s graceful nod, Lady Lorke let out a hollow, bitter laugh.
“‘He has a new lover already?’”
