Chapter 15

The next day.

Adele had just sat down to start breakfast when Tanya came bursting in, out of breath.

“I’m so sorry, miss! I had a few drinks at Lady Bonita’s place last night and must have dozed off without meaning to…”

Then she caught sight of just how much the house had changed since the day before, and faltered.

“Wait — what on earth happened here overnight?”

The parlor reeked of oil, and the door to the cellar storeroom had vanished without a trace. And it wasn’t only the inside of the house that had changed — the fence outside had been torn out entirely.

“We had rather a lot of uninvited guests.”

Fortunately, Adele looked as composed as ever. Eating her steaming mushroom soup and roasted potatoes, sipping her tea, she might as well have had nothing happen at all.

“…Guests?”

“Never mind that — eat first. There’s a great deal to do today.”

“Yes, ma’am! Just tell me what needs doing! I’ll even build you a new storeroom door myself, as penance for staying out all night.”

“Never mind the storeroom door. Go and clean the second floor.”

“What? The second floor?”

Tanya’s eyes went wide.

Once the weather had turned cold, they’d blocked off the stairs to the second floor to save on heating. There were still months of winter left to go, though — why clean the second floor now?

“We’re going to have a guest staying there.”

That was when it happened.

A carriage she recognized appeared outside the window.

“Don’t tell me that guest is…”

The carriage pulling into the garden bore the wolf crest of House Weiss.

And that wasn’t all. A line of carts loaded with luggage and people came trailing in behind it.

“Don’t tell me all of those people are guests too?”

Tanya murmured, on the verge of tears.

---

“What’s going on?”

An old mansion stood tucked away in a secluded corner of the village.

Rumors that a wicked woman who’d poisoned her husband lived there meant that even on ordinary days, few people came this way.

But today, the villagers had gathered, murmuring amongst themselves. They’d come to watch the almost magical sight of an old house transforming into a new one in half a day.

They peered in through the iron fence, now so tall it seemed to stab at the sky — the half-collapsed wooden fence had looked like that only an hour or two before.

That wasn’t all, either. Where the garden had once been plain, ornamental stones had been laid and trees planted.

The crumbling steps leading up to the house had been replaced with marble, and the cracked, peeling outer walls had already been patched over with the finest brick.

The roof, which used to creak with every gust of wind, had been replaced too, and shutters now hung at the windows.

The inside of the house was no different.

Luxurious carpet had been laid across the floors, and every door, down to the storeroom’s, had been swapped for heavy mahogany.

The walls were papered entirely in a garish floral print, and an enormous gilt-framed painting hung at the center of it all.

“Shall the chandelier go about here?”

Zimmer asked, turning to Adele.

A massive chandelier, dripping with crystal, was just about to be lowered into place at the center of the parlor.

“Th— that’s enough!”

Adele, unable to bear it any longer, cried out.

At once, Zimmer and the dozens of workers laboring inside and outside the house froze in perfect unison.

“Sir Zimmer.”

“Yes, please go on.”

Adele pressed a hand to her stomach and forced herself to keep smiling.

“I’m very grateful you’ve turned my old house into something like new. But for some reason, I feel as though I’ve been driven out of the home I used to live in.”

Zimmer’s face flickered with an “oh, no” look, and he bowed politely.

“Ah — my apologies. It seems our efforts to see the Commander comfortably settled here caused you distress instead. That was thoughtless of me.”

His courteous manner won Adele over at once, and she softened into a smile.

“No, not at all. I’m only the more grateful for how deeply you look after the Count. But he’ll only be staying a short while — is all of this really necessary?”

“I happen to be something of a perfectionist, and I can’t rest easy unless I go this far. But I’ll follow your wishes, my lady. This is your house, after all.”

“Thank you for remembering that.”

Adele was relieved that her words had gotten through.

“But I trust it’s quite all right if we do as we please with the second floor, where the Count will be staying? If you’d like, we can restore it to how it was once he leaves.”

That much, Adele couldn’t well object to.

“I’m deeply grateful for your understanding. Now, then.”

With a polite bow, Zimmer sent the workers who’d been on the first floor marching up to the second, in perfect order.

Only then, surveying the now-quiet first floor, did Adele finally relax.

“Why’d you do that? It was the perfect chance to have the whole house redone.”

Unlike her, Tanya looked thoroughly disappointed.

“It’s old, but it’s my house. My precious home, the one I’ve looked after all this time. I don’t like other people changing it without asking, that’s all.”

“Honestly, miss, I’d say you’re a seriously possessive woman.”

“Possessive? Me?”

“Not because it’s some precious home — you’re just attached to old things, plain and simple.”

“I won’t stand for baseless accusations.”

“You can’t even throw out a single old object properly.”

“That’s…”

Stung, Adele couldn’t find a retort for a moment, but quickly pulled herself together.

“This is completely different! It’s my house, and none of my own taste is reflected in it at all. I absolutely despise that garish floral wallpaper!”

“I couldn’t agree more!”

Just as the two of them, having bickered, found themselves once again in perfect agreement—

“Did I come to the wrong house?”

At the cold voice, they turned to find Christine standing there, brow furrowed.

---

Tok, tok, tock…

Seated on the sofa, Christine lifted the sheathed rapier and let it fall, over and over.

Each time his wrist moved, the tip of the scabbard struck the floor with a tok, tok.

The jewels set into the sword caught the sunlight and glittered, dazzling.

The sight was as lovely as a painting, but the onlookers held their breath, tense.

Because it looked as though he might draw the blade at any moment and cut Zimmer down where he stood.

“So you were simply being diligent in your duties?”

Christine asked, his voice slow and cold.

“Yes. My duty is to see that the Commander is kept comfortable. This will be where you’re staying from now on, so I thought it only right to attend to it with everything I have!”

Zimmer’s face was taut with tension, but he held firmly to his position.

“Then let me give you my answer, for all you have.”

Shing.

Christine’s rapier shot free of its scabbard in an instant.

At that very moment, Adele rushed forward and threw herself in front of Zimmer.

“I asked for it! I told him I’d only let you stay here if he fixed up the house first! It was me, I’m the one who did it!”

One of Christine’s eyebrows rose.

Adele tensed a little at the expression, but squeezed her eyes shut all the same.

“You’re rich, so you can certainly afford that much! I wanted to use the chance to have the whole house redone!”

“Was that dreadful floral wallpaper your idea too?”

“Yes — the floral wallpaper too!”

“Is that so?”

Christine turned to Zimmer to confirm it.

“No, it isn’t.”

“Gah!”

At the honest answer, Adele turned back to Zimmer, aghast.

“He says it isn’t?”

“Sir Zimmer. Think carefully. Don’t try to shield me. I distinctly asked for it, didn’t I?”

She winked at him, urging him to just agree.

But Zimmer held his stance at ease and answered honestly all the same.

“What isn’t true, isn’t true. Marchioness.”

“You blockhead! You stubborn fool!”

Christine asked Adele, who was muttering crossly to herself,

“Why are you so bent on shielding Zimmer?”

“Well — because life is precious. Sir Zimmer was only thinking of you…”

“What on earth are you thinking, Adele?”

“Hm?”

“Did you imagine I’d actually swing this thing?”

Christine looked down at the rapier in his own hand, bewildered, his expression so utterly innocent it was as if he didn’t even know how to swing a sword.

“…Weren’t you going to?”

“Just what do you take me for? You think I’d cut a man down over something this trivial?”

“Yes. The Commander isn’t the sort to stain his blade with blood over just anything.”

With even Zimmer taking his side now, Adele was at a complete loss.

“Then why did you draw it at all?”

“To have it cleaned.”

Christine held the sword out, and—

“Yes. Whenever the Commander isn’t satisfied with my work, he always metes out the punishment of making me clean his sword.”

Zimmer unfolded a neatly pressed silk handkerchief and set to polishing the blade.

Somehow, caught between the two of them, Adele alone was left feeling like a fool.

Tanya, who had been watching quietly, nodded along, agreeing it wasn’t only in Adele’s head.

“Honestly, you two…”

Adele rounded on the workers, who had been watching the whole scene with bated breath.

“Take down that hideous floral wallpaper this instant! And that gaudy picture frame, and that migraine of a chandelier, and this carpet that’s clearly going to turn into a dust factory — take it all away! Oh, and seal off the stairs between the first and second floors! With a steel plate!”

The moment their eyes met her fierce glare, both men flinched despite themselves.

“I believe her bloodlust might overpower even the Commander’s.”

“Wouldn’t put it past her.”

---

The short winter sun vanished, and darkness fell soon after.

Tanya, who’d spent the entire day running back and forth between the workers and Adele, collapsed into bed utterly worn out.

Adele was exhausted too, but she went into the kitchen and tied on her apron.

There were desserts to prepare for delivery to the Imperial Palace, and time was running short.

She should have started the day before, but between yesterday’s and today’s chaos, the hours had simply slipped away. If she didn’t hurry now, she might truly miss the delivery deadline.

First, she pulled her recipe book from the cupboard drawer. It was her treasure, built from everything she’d developed and tested over the years.

Since this was her first delivery, she thought it best to put together a menu of the dishes she felt most confident and at ease with.

“First, I’ll need to start the dough proofing…”

That was when Adele remembered the flour was still down in the cellar storeroom. She’d forgotten to ask Tanya to bring it up.

After what had happened the night before, she had no wish to go back down into that storeroom.

It would have helped to have Christine around for something like this, but he’d gone back to the Imperial Palace.

He’d said he might not make it back tonight.

He didn’t even hold an official post yet — what on earth was he doing at the palace, and so late into the night?

Then where would he even sleep?

For some reason, she had no idea why April came to mind just then.

Gah, what an absurd thing to think!

Having such improper thoughts about a princess who wasn’t even married yet.

No idle thoughts. Just focus on the work.

Adele picked up a lantern and carefully pushed open the storeroom door.

Creak.

The weight of the newly installed, heavy mahogany door somehow made the moment all the more frightening.

It’s fine. Nothing’s going to happen today. Nothing at all…

As the door swung open, dark, damp air swept over her.

“Hhh!”

Adele drew a deep breath and cautiously stepped inside, when—

Thud, thud…

Heavy footsteps sounded behind her.

She wondered if she’d misheard, but then a dark shadow rippled closer, as if about to swallow her whole. Adele felt her entire body go rigid, unable to move.

And then something seized her by the shoulder.

“Ah— p-please…!”

She cried out, looking fit to faint—

“Are you all right?”

A familiar voice reached her.

“Haah!”

The tension drained out of her all at once, and she swayed. Christine caught her as she stumbled.

Seeing her face gone pale and rigid, it was Christine who looked more startled of the two of them.

“Why are you so frightened?”

“No, it’s nothing. You said you might not be back tonight.”

“I said I might not make it back — I never said I wouldn’t.”

“Ah, I suppose you did say that…”

Even so, Adele’s body was still trembling faintly.

“…Need some help?”

“Yes — go fetch me a sack of flour from down there.”

“Not that.”

“Hm?”

Christine’s gaze sank in too deep, and Adele felt herself flustered.

At times like this, it was as if he could read a person’s mind completely.

As if he knew exactly what she was afraid of.