Chapter 13. It Doesn’t Seem Like My Story?
That night, long after the lights had gone out throughout the castle in the dead of night, Kylo returned to the grand ducal residence.
The butler, who had been waiting for his arrival, approached and greeted him.
“You’ve returned, Master.”
Kylo handed his coat to the butler and asked naturally, out of habit.
“My wife?”
“She should be asleep by now.”
“I see.”
He replied calmly and climbed the stairs with familiarity, stopping in front of a certain door.
He started to knock but instead quietly opened it.
A soft scent wafted from inside the room, accompanied by the gentle, even breathing of deep sleep.
Closing the door slowly, he approached the bed where he sensed her presence. There lay Razel, sleeping soundly, oblivious to the world.
Kylo carefully sat on the edge of the bed so as not to wake her. In truth, even without such caution, Razel was a heavy sleeper.
‘She wouldn’t notice if someone kidnapped her.’
Silently gazing down at her, Kylo reached out to her rounded forehead. His fingertips brushed ticklishly against her hair.
As if entranced, he swept back her golden locks, then slid his hand along her soft jawline, cupping both her cheeks in one hand.
“Mmm…”
As if the grip on her face was stifling, Razel furrowed her brow deeply. Kylo serenely observed her face, with her cheeks squished and her brows knitted.
“Lately… why haven’t you come to my room?”
Well.
He visited every day, but perhaps the fault lay with the one who didn’t know.
He could have corrected her assumption as much as he wanted, but Kylo chose not to.
He had no obligation to, and secretly, he found it pleasing to see disappointment flicker across this fragile face.
In fact, the resentment that surged in him whenever he saw Razel was indescribable. In other words, it was betrayal.
Perhaps it was despair, or hatred accumulated over long years.
A woman who had done all sorts of vile things and cast him out, yet upon reunion, was so intimidated that she could barely meet his eyes.
‘How could I not resent her?’
Kylo narrowed his eyes slightly and pressed her cheeks a bit harder before releasing. She shifted in her sleep.
Watching her fidget slightly, Kylo leaned his upper body down. Propping himself on one arm beside her head, a fragrant scent like fresh flowers damp with water enveloped him.
He stared intently at her eyelids, firmly closed with no sign of opening. Her golden lashes lay thick and long like curtains.
“If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t have brought you here.”
A woman who had taken everything he had, yet believed she possessed nothing herself.
A woman who might abandon him and flee again at any moment.
Gently pressing her captured cheeks once more, her lips puckered out as if pushed.
Without softening his stern expression, Kylo lowered his head and quietly overlapped their lips.
He wanted to grip harder, to bite her tender lips savagely, but he couldn’t.
Remaining still in that position, lips merely touching, for a long while, he finally straightened up.
After one last caress of Razel’s hair, Kylo left her room.
She remained blissfully unaware, still breathing softly in deep slumber.
* * *
The day after Kylo entrusted her with managing the castle, Razel was busy from morning onward.
This place was already dilapidated enough to grate on her nerves, and now it turned out this was exactly the task Kylo had intended for her.
Gratitude outweighed any annoyance.
She was thankful to repay her sins against him, even in this way.
‘Who would have thought I’d use the skills Mother forced me to learn by working me to the bone like this.’
Of course, she didn’t know much about coordinating staff or finances.
What Clonda had tormented her with was mostly things like hosting guests or managing the landscaping inside and outside the castle to follow trends.
But because she had been constantly interfered with and kept by Clonda’s side, she had picked up a lot just by observation.
The current Razel was different from her naive days, cooped up in a villa knowing nothing.
‘I can do this.’
The four years that had been even more painful after Kylo vanished from her side.
The days she had endured, thinking they were the price for her actions, wouldn’t be in vain.
‘First, I need to increase the number of servants.’
She had compiled a long list of problems within the castle, but the most urgent to resolve was the ‘shortage of hands.’
With the current staff, nothing could be accomplished.
‘To fix this, I’ll need to post job notices…’
After pondering deeply, Razel rose from her seat and sought out the butler, the most senior among the few servants here.
Before hiring, she needed to check Windmore’s financial state.
Asking Kylo directly would have been quickest, but he was away from the castle now.
Fortunately, the butler resolved her questions in detail.
“These are the documents recording Windmore’s finances over the past four years. If there’s anything you don’t understand, please let me know.”
Listening to the butler’s explanations, Razel grasped the general financial situation of Windmore.
‘It wasn’t used much due to the long war, but surprisingly, the finances aren’t strained.’
The expenditures had been limited to salaries for the few servants, maintenance costs for the grand ducal castle that trickled out in various ways, and occasional distributions of food and supplies to the territory’s residents on Kylo’s orders.
The butler patiently explained any unclear usages.
‘I was worried because the territory is so barren, but the treasury is abundant enough to make me laugh.’
Razel knew this was connected to Kylo’s origins. He was by no means from a background that would suffer financial hardship in Crombel.
A man as clever as him wouldn’t have chosen this desolate land penniless.
He must have had some backing to make that move.
‘This is good.’
With solid finances, she could freely improve the castle.
Gaining more confidence than before, Razel prepared the job postings.
Since it was all new to her, she needed a lot of help from the butler.
Fortunately, he was versatile, with experience in finance and personnel, so the job notice content was completed over several days.
“You’re really diligent, Your Grace.”
The maid who prepared warm black tea on Razel’s table smiled brightly.
“The castle has so many problems, I have to be.”
Razel spoke as if it were inevitable, then brusquely lowered her head. She seemed displeased, but in reality, it was embarrassment from the pleased gaze and praise.
Back at Ephor, there had been plenty of servants who resented and ignored her actions.
“When you asked us to tell you everything we know about the territory residents’ situations, I was so surprised.”
“…Was that surprising?”
Pretending otherwise, Razel recalled that day.
At the time, her head had ached from thinking about this and that.
‘Windmore territory has such a notorious reputation that even with high salaries, hardly anyone from outside will apply.’
For a grand ducal house, they might employ children from decent families as maids, but she doubted any noble offspring would come here.
‘Moreover, if Crombel’s nobles know my origins, it’ll be even harder to hire people…’
For now, prioritizing recruitment meant she had no choice but to hire as much as possible from within the territory.
That’s why, to fill out the notice content, Razel had gone around asking the servants about the residents’ circumstances.
It would have been easier to gather information by ordering people, but with the staff shortage, it wasn’t feasible.
In the end, she set aside her noble pride and spent days trudging through the castle.
Back then, the accumulated dust had irritated her nose and throat, making her sigh endlessly.
But after compiling the information and completing the notice with the butler, a sense of accomplishment brought a smile to her face.
Enough to make her think her health had gradually recovered to make this day possible.
“It’s nothing special.”
Razel said detachedly to the maid who was praising her.
“Nothing special? Not many noble ladies take such an interest in the territory’s affairs. Not just me, but the other servants must have been surprised too.”
“…Hm, really?”
“His Grace the Grand Duke has been telling us about Your Grace for a long time, and we thought, ah, she really is like that.”
Razel, who had been feigning indifference, stopped her hand as she lifted the teacup. After rolling her eyes for a moment, she looked at the maid.
“…For a long time?”
“Since he told us he had a marriage partner, which was years ago? Whenever he returned to the castle, he consistently spoke about Your Grace.”
“What… did he say?”
“That Your Grace is someone who takes good care of her people.”
At the maid’s words, Razel’s expression, which had been perked up with interest, immediately turned strange.
‘…It doesn’t seem like my story?’
