“Operation Worst Mistress?”
“I mentioned I’d thought of a few ideas. Extravagance, gluttony, terrible taste, laziness — things like that. I thought we’d work through them one by one.”
“Every single one is a masterpiece. The servants are going to absolutely despise me, aren’t they?”
While I had been in the throes of panic over ‘groom lessons’, Emily had been quietly, methodically preparing.
“That’s exactly the point. We’ve managed to make it all the way to the Hardeion estate — so if you earn a bad reputation with the staff, what do you think will happen?”
“…Hmm.”
“Your credibility as a future duchess would plummet. And that might well cause the duke to start seeing you in a negative light too.”
“Oh?”
“In particular, Madam Mary seems to share a rather close bond with the duke. As a rule, in any noble household, the head housekeeper wields the most influence.”
“You’re right! Emily, you’re incredible — you figured all that out so quickly.”
Emily gave a modest nod. Then she stacked two or three books, a notepad, and a quill pen onto the tea table one by one.
“I’ll just jot down the plan and a few key reminders. This operation shouldn’t be too difficult.”
‘Third-person speech, excessive whining.’ Those had been genuinely hard.
“What’s this one called?”
“My lady, have you ever been truly extravagant?”
“No. My parents always said that a wasteful woman brings shame upon the family name.”
“Exactly. So an extravagant woman — a wasteful mistress — is the worst kind.”
It was a simpler method than I’d expected. Essentially, it just meant spending a lot of money, didn’t it?
“Aha! This does seem easier than the last operation, honestly. I think I can manage this.”
“Good. Oh — and there’s also something you need to find out from the duke.”
“What is it?”
“This.”
Emily wrote two words on the notepad — ‘personal allowance’ — and circled them.
“Before we decide how extravagant to be, we need to set a target amount. And before that, we need to know what funds will actually be allocated to you.”
“He’s not my real fiancé — I’d feel uncomfortable spending his money without permission…”
“You’re already being referred to as the future mistress, aren’t you? And I happened to overhear something earlier. Someone was working out the budget for the groom lessons, including a personal allowance set aside for you.”
“What? Who?”
“Someone named Hugo — the brown-haired aide. He was muttering to himself, trying to work through the figures. I couldn’t help but overhear.”
“Right — Hugo.”
Hugo was a bit… simple, wasn’t he?
A good-natured, well-meaning sort — just a little dim.
“Hmm. Come to think of it, Kael does seem like someone who spends quite freely.”
I thought back to how Kael had handled money in the original novel. Even with his contract lover, he hadn’t stinted on funds. He gave her no real attention, but solved every problem with money instead.
“That’s true. And right now, he doesn’t seem particularly frugal with you either. So he’s bound to at least make that much of an effort.”
I wasn’t completely certain yet. But looking back at what happened with Kate and Dorothy, he clearly hadn’t held back there.
‘If Kael gives me nothing, this whole operation fails automatically.’
I hoped he’d give me at least a small amount. Somehow, I had the feeling that the servants would despise a future mistress who splurged on luxuries before she’d even married into the family.
‘I’d love to stage a show of extravagance even with my own money — but I have none.’
“If he doesn’t give me anything, do we go straight to Operation Gluttony?”
“I think we can cross that bridge if we come to it. My guess is there will definitely be some kind of personal allowance allocated to you. The amount might vary, but it’ll be there.”
“If you say so…”
“For now, even if the duke doesn’t bring it up himself, you should feel him out first. Ask whether there’s an allowance set aside for you during the groom lesson period.”
* * *
As it happened, Kael summoned me.
There was a matter he needed to discuss briefly, he said — I should come to his study.
‘Perfect. I’ll find a way to bring it up naturally.’
I balled my hand into a small fist and steeled myself.
“Admirable resolve.”
“Excuse me?!”
He was seated in the chair of honor on the study’s sofa. He tilted his chin toward my hand.
“You looked like you were making some momentous decision.”
“Oh, that — yes, I suppose I was. Since things have turned out this way, I thought I’d better give it my all.”
It wasn’t quite the decision he thought it was, but I handled the moment with what I privately considered to be rather impressive improvisation.
‘Even I thought that was convincing.’
“There’s nothing particular for you to do. I’m the one who has things to learn.”
I nodded without a word. He was right, after all — I hadn’t come here for bride training. There was nothing for me to do on my end.
“The reason I asked you to stop by briefly is to discuss how you’ll spend the next month.”
Kael said this as he handed me a single sheet of paper.
“This is my daily schedule.”
I glanced through it. He spent the vast majority of his day on work. His sleep was minimal, and his meal times — while present — were brief.
‘Being a duke is truly a grueling existence.’
“No matter how busy I am, we must share at least one meal together every day.”
So that’s why he’d shared his schedule — so I’d know his hours and plan accordingly.
Come to think of it, one of the operations Emily had outlined was ‘gluttony’. I was fairly sure that meant eating an enormous amount. This was working out nicely.
“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind! Is there anything else I should do?”
“Do whatever you like. Buy whatever you want.”
“…Oh.”
An unexpectedly generous offer. I blinked at him, too flustered to do much more than scratch my cheek with one finger.
“You may also go out as you please, though you must inform me beforehand. You’re permitted to see friends, though this applies to female friends only. And as I said — no matter what, we share one meal a day without fail.”
“Hmm. So no staying out overnight, I take it? Since we have to eat together every day?”
“Would that be acceptable to me?”
One of his eyebrows arched crookedly. His tone shifted too — that firm, clipped voice he used whenever he was correcting me.
I’d only been asking. I wished I hadn’t.
One wrong word, and here I was on the receiving end of this barely veiled reprimand.
The next month was going to be full of small indignities. I could feel it.
“With the exception of overnight absences and meetings with men — everything else is at your discretion.”
“Really? As long as I don’t do those two things, I can do anything? Anything at all?”
“Anything.”
Well, that was promising.
Staying out overnight, spending time with men — those were two things I almost never did anyway. (The incident where Kael had tricked me into an overnight stay didn’t count.)
“Then I’ll do that. I don’t have any male friends to speak of, and as for staying the night somewhere… the only person I’ve ever done that with is you.”
I said it absently, as though searching through my memory, turning the thought over in my hands. At that, Kael let out a low, involuntary laugh — more exhale than sound — and murmured:
“That’s a relief.”
‘He really is a difficult person to read.’
“Right then. Um — Kael.”
“Yes.”
It felt a little brazen to bring up money right away, but I gathered my courage.
Would a fiancée who talked about finances this soon put him off, even slightly?
“I was wondering, um — about a p-per—”
“Per?”
Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Hugo stepped in.
“It’s ready as you requested, Your Grace.”
Hugo gave me a brief, respectful nod, then held out a sealed envelope.
“This is the personal allowance budget the duke has set aside for you, my lady.”
“A-a personal allowance? You’re really giving me one? For me?”
“Of course. You’ll be staying at the estate for a while, after all.”
‘He’s actually giving me one.’
Emily had hinted at it, but I hadn’t truly believed it. She hadn’t even had the formal ceremony yet — I hadn’t expected him to hand over money this easily.
“Would you like to take a look?”
“Yes. Just one moment.”
‘How much would it be?’ Even if it was a small amount, I’d be grateful and spend it as extravagantly as I could.
I opened the envelope carefully, acutely aware of both men watching me.
* * *
