Contract Marriage Rewritten
Chapter 42
Watching Hyperion look wistfully at what had once been his room, Laniakea recalled the few times he had visited over the past three years.
Hyperion had returned to the Imperial Palace about three times a year.
From what she had heard, even that was a significant increase. Before their marriage, he had supposedly returned only about once a year.
And that was only after he came of age and left the monastery. While living there, he hadn’t been able to visit the Imperial Palace at all.
So Laniakea understood why, despite returning after such long absences, he would always hurry back to the border.
‘This place must feel awkward to him.’
Though he had lived here until he was eight, he rarely set foot inside afterward, so he likely had few fond memories. On top of that, with the Empress openly showing her displeasure, how could he possibly linger?
Perhaps because of that, Hyperion had hardly ever set foot in the Detached Palace.
Even when he did, it was only to wash up and change his clothes; he had never once slept here.
“That’s true. Your Majesty always left so quickly.”
About half the time, he hadn’t even stepped into his room, leaving immediately after sharing a meal.
She had wondered if he disliked this place, but looking at his eyes now as he took in the Detached Palace, that didn’t seem to be the case.
“Still, I remember that it was always kept impeccably tidy.”
At Hyperion’s reply, Laniakea recalled the days when she used to clean his bedroom.
Tidying his bedroom had been remarkably easy.
Why would a room whose master never returned ever get messy? Dusting every week and changing the bedding was all it took.
“Cleaning Your Majesty’s room was quite easy. That’s why I insisted to Lucy that I do it myself, but…”
“You cleaned it yourself?”
At the flustered tone in Hyperion’s voice, Laniakea quickly clamped her mouth shut. Aside from Lucy and a select few maids, no one knew she had cleaned it herself.
She knew all too well how unbefitting and beneath her station it would seem to others for the Crown Princess to do manual cleaning.
“Um… it would be a lie to deny it now. Yes, I cleaned Your Majesty’s room myself.”
“Why didn’t you have the maids do it?”
“The maids were busy with plenty of other chores. Cleaning Your Majesty’s room required the least effort, so I asked to take at least that off their hands.”
“Still, if you had ordered the maids…”
“I didn’t think there was any need to hire new staff, so I kept only a minimal crew at the Detached Palace. Besides, moving around like that from time to time felt healthier than sitting still all day.”
Laniakea earnestly explained her reasoning, but Hyperion still looked unconvinced.
It seemed quite a shock to him that his wife—and the Crown Princess, no less—had worked like a servant inside the Imperial Palace.
“If your goal was to stay active, wouldn’t attending banquets have been better? There were social gatherings as well…”
Then, Hyperion recalled Laniakea’s official records he had reviewed.
During her first year or two in the Imperial Palace, she had attended various banquets and shown her face at social gatherings.
Yet starting a year ago, there was no record of her attending anything.
“Those gatherings were exhausting since they always involved tangled politics. And I won’t deny that I wanted to save a bit more money. Once His Majesty the Emperor fell critically ill, I started giving serious thought to what would happen after his passing.”
Laniakea’s answer flowed smoothly without hesitation, as if she had prepared it in advance.
Even so, it bothered Hyperion that she had completely stopped going anywhere from a certain point onward.
‘I’ll need to look into this further.’
Without showing his thoughts, he walked up the stairs alongside her.
“By the way, what did you plan to do after leaving?”
“Um… I was planning to farm with Mole.”
“You certainly wouldn’t have starved.”
“Right? As Your Majesty knows from tasting them earlier, the crops grown with Mole are delicious.”
Laniakea beaming with pride looked remarkably like Mole puffing out its chest at Hyperion just a moment ago.
“Since you’ll be using the Detached Palace again, how about redecorating the interior?”
“May I use the Detached Palace building?”
“Did you really intend to only use the land in the Rear Garden?”
At Hyperion’s question, Laniakea’s eyes darted around for a moment before she gave a cautious nod. He ran a hand down his face.
“Use it as you please. I won’t deduct it from the contract.”
“You could, though.”
“I will not.”
At this rate, Laniakea was bound to suggest deducting her living expenses instead.
So Hyperion quickly steered the conversation elsewhere.
“Feel free to purchase whatever you need for the Detached Palace. This will be covered by the Imperial Palace’s budget.”
“Pardon? Why…?”
“You maintained the Detached Palace so well with such a small staff all this time, so I’d like you to simply accept this much.”
With that, he placed a hand on one of the palace pillars.
The Detached Palace was built of stone and situated right beside the forest. In a place like this, moss would easily creep up at the slightest neglect.
With so few staff that she had to clean herself, maintaining pillars like these must have been an arduous task.
Furthermore, even if she had left it alone, no one would have faulted her, yet the Detached Palace was hardly any different from the other buildings in the Imperial Palace that received constant, meticulous upkeep.
Though, perhaps lacking the budget to repaint the walls, the paint was peeling in a few places.
The same was true inside the Detached Palace past the open doors.
Though servants had likely swept through once by now, there were no warped floorboards, and the walls were pristine.
Had it been neglected, there surely would have been at least a few water stains.
“Normally, the annual maintenance budget allocated to a detached palace is 100,000 gold.”
“Pardon? But…”
“I know. You were given only 50,000 gold to cover everything. It wasn’t a proper budget at all. Yet you maintained it this cleanly despite that.”
At Hyperion’s words, Laniakea could only give an awkward smile.
In truth, she had taken great care of the Detached Palace.
It was the first home she had ever had after leaving Priatra. At the same time, it was Hyperion’s home.
Though he rarely visited, she thought it wouldn’t feel good if the place he called home was shabby when he returned to the Imperial Palace.
So she had cleaned and maintained it diligently.
She hadn’t particularly expected him to notice, but…
Laniakea rubbed her hand against the corners of her mouth, which kept threatening to curl upward.
Seeing how she felt bashful yet pleased, it seemed she had secretly wanted someone to acknowledge her efforts after all.
Watching Laniakea self-consciously brush her lips with her hand, Hyperion spoke.
“And after all, merely using the Detached Palace without owning it hardly feels like sufficient reward for your past efforts. I will reallocate the budget that should have been granted originally, so decorate the Detached Palace however you wish. To start, at least 300,000 gold will be allocated…”
“That’s far too much!”
“If you don’t use it, it will likely be classified as unspent past budget and paid out to the former Empress.”
“I will spend every last coin.”
Seeing her instantly change her tune the moment the Empress was mentioned, Hyperion wore a satisfied expression.
“Is there anything else you want?”
“Um…”
He had expected her to say she would think about it, but—
“I’d like to buy the newly bred fruit trees and seeds, and I wish we had a large parasol to put in the Rear Garden. Lightweight wooden chairs, and oh, new farming tools would be nice too…”
Contrary to Hyperion’s expectations, a steady stream of desired items spilled from Laniakea’s mouth.
Watching her, Hyperion could tell.
Though she had claimed she managed well on a small budget and was perfectly fine, she had spent the entire three years holding back everything she truly wanted.
[Don’t be shy, take this! Take it!]
Mole thrust an ear of corn from who knows where into Hyperion’s hand as he was about to leave.
“Hey, seriously!”
[Ah, what? You always liked it when I gave you stuff like this!]
Mole squeaked indignantly.
Hyperion bent down and accepted the corn Mole was handing him.
Once he took it, Mole puffed with pride and waved at Hyperion.
[See you next time then, friend!]
With that, it vanished underground. Lucy stepped forward and leveled the soil where Mole had disappeared, as though it were strictly her duty.
“Mole seems to have taken a real liking to Your Majesty.”
“Indeed. Last time, Crow-tit vanished almost immediately.”
“Crow-tit’s personality is a bit… like that, but still… thank you for treating Mole so kindly, Your Majesty. Mole is my oldest friend.”
Truthfully, she had worried about what she would do if Hyperion disliked Mole.
Yet without the slightest hint of distaste, Hyperion had accepted what Mole offered and even praised how delicious it was.
This was the first time she had ever properly introduced a spirit to someone, and she had never expected him to accept it so easily.
Looking at her joyous expression, Hyperion gazed down at the corn in his hand.
“On the contrary, I was glad to be introduced to your friend.”
He truly meant it.
He was glad to be the very first person introduced to her oldest friend.