12 - How to Survive as the Wife of a Monster Duke
How to Survive as the Monster Duke's Wife
Episode 12: Whether it was really because of the Nenede Herb or not, Illyin's fever went down quite quickly.
That didn't mean her muscle pain disappeared.
Since she couldn't use painkillers, enduring the pain was still her responsibility.
The doctor, who belatedly rushed over from the castle walls, emphasized that medicine suitable for the Sunfolk's constitution must be obtained from the Sunlands.
"How can herbs from Biften, which doesn't even get sunlight, work for a Sunfolk!"
The man, who was said to be the Delos family's physician, was yelling at the Maids, and his voice reached Illyin even through the thick door.
"Shall I tell him to leave if you're uncomfortable?"
Illyin shook her head at the Delos Maid.
The Delos Maid bowed deeply and retreated to the wall to wait.
The Delos Maids were much more polite than the Blue Nose Maids.
Illyin turned her gaze to the red ornament on the Maid's wrist.
She had been plagued by sleep ever since Den left.
In the meantime, the Blue Nose Maids had somehow been pushed out into the hallway, and only the Red Deloz Maids were in the room.
The Maids being scolded in the hallway right now were probably the Blue Nose Maids.
Illyin sighed briefly.
Even then, the Red Deloz Maids stood motionless against the wall, as if they had turned into statues.
"Milady."
Just then, there was a knock.
Unlike the Blue Nose Maids, the Red Deloz Maids who were waiting reacted immediately.
Illyin wondered who was calling her "Milady" even after the marriage.
When the door opened, it was Milo from the Essid Merchant Group.
Illyin's eyes widened.
"Ah, Madam."
Milo, who belatedly corrected his title, spoke from the doorway.
"I heard you were very ill."
"A little."
I'm fine now.
Illyin smiled gently.
Milo bowed briefly and handed something to the Maid.
"This is medicine brought from the Sunlands. I heard it's commonly used in the capital, so you shouldn't feel uncomfortable. But if you have any itching or..."
His explanation at the door was rather long.
Illyin listened to him speaking in a booming voice to convey his words into the large room, and eventually gestured.
"...Come in and talk."
It's not like strange things don't happen in Biften anyway.
Perhaps because he worked in the Sunlands, she was grateful that he was observing the Empire's etiquette.
At her words, Milo blinked.
"Excuse me?"
Illyin blinked too.
Milo stammered.
"M-Me?"
"Yes."
At her words, Milo's face turned pale.
"Are you telling me to enter the Duchess's room in front of the Delos Maids?"
It's like offering my neck to the Leader! Milo's face looked very troubled.
"...Ah?"
Illyin recalled Den in the awkward atmosphere.
'...It's okay here.'
He said it was okay...?
Aegis had very sharp ears.
Thanks to the master not leaving the mansion, Aegis, who was handling the long-overdue work of the main building, heard something he shouldn't have heard because of his sharp ears.
"Did the Leader really spend the night?"
It was Mille's Maid who was chattering.
The master was a person who brought rumors as much as he had names to be called.
It was always Aegis who brought those rumors.
"That's right."
"Is it because she's a Sunfolk?"
"Do you think so too?"
The answers came quickly.
Even whispering in very small voices was easily caught by Aegis's ears.
"Elena was also a Sunfolk."
It was a Blue Nose Maid who answered.
Aegis narrowed his eyes.
It was proof that the discipline of the mansion had collapsed.
Even if the master often left the mansion, how could they gossip so fearlessly?
They would be lucky if they were only kicked out; the master was angry with the Blue Nose people.
Of course, it had been a long time since the relationship with the Blue Nose had soured, but this time, the master's reaction was so intense that it felt a little strange.
Aegis also thought it was a good opportunity to get rid of the Blue Nose Maids next to the bride.
However, Elder Lidan, who came to protest against it, almost ran out of the knight's office.
What did he hear?
The Blue Nose's actions since the bride's carriage reached the Winter Territory deserved to be questioned, but the master was generously watching.
'Strangling their necks at the most decisive moment.'
That was Aden de Bifelten's motto.
But this response was a little different.
In Aegis's view, he had used his cards quite hastily.
And it only ended with kicking out the Blue Nose Maids.
Before, he would have sent the Blue Nose Maids out into the snowfield wearing only thin clothes.
He could have watched them freeze from any window in the mansion.
"I heard you were very ill."
The master usually contacted him when he left the mansion, but he didn't usually contact him when he went back and forth between the knight's office and the main building.
It was Aegis's job to find him.
"This is medicine brought from the Sunlands. I heard it's commonly used in the capital, so you shouldn't feel uncomfortable. But if you have any itching or..."
Thanks to this, on the way to the main building, Aegis saw something he shouldn't have seen.
He felt a burning sense of unease when he saw Milo standing in front of the bride's room.
"...Come in and talk."
If other brides had done that, the rumor would have circled the mansion five times and spread to the territories of other families, becoming a lasting rumor.
The new bride brought another man into the room she used as her bridal chamber!
Of course, there was a bigger problem than that.
'...It's okay here.'
Milo's reaction right now was directly refuting the master's words.
Well, His Highness was okay!
Because he was married to her!
"Excuse me?"
Aegis wanted to slap the back of Milo's head, who hadn't noticed the strangeness because he had returned from the Sunlands so quickly, and drag him away.
The only fortunate thing, even if it was just a speck, was that the Maids from other families had all been pushed out from around the room where the Sunlands bride was staying.
"M-Me?"
Even the Red Deloz Maids were wide-eyed at Milo and the bride's exchange.
Aegis grabbed the Maid who was about to drop the silver tray she was holding.
Aegis put his index finger to his lips.
'Quiet.'
The Maid nodded repeatedly.
Aegis pointed to the Maids around him and then put his index finger to his lips again.
It meant to keep their mouths shut properly.
I understand, the voice answering was trembling.
"Are you telling me to enter the Duchess's room in front of the Delos Maids?"
Aegis called out to Milo, who was flustered.
"Milo, the Lord is looking for you."
"Ah! Ah, yes."
Milo looked relieved at the opportune moment.
Aegis dragged Milo out until he was out of sight from the door before letting go of the back of his neck.
Milo, who had wide eyes, was almost like a wooden block.
It was the first time Aegis had seen Milo, who was skilled in improvisation enough to be in charge of external merchant groups, freeze like this.
He probably felt like the Leader's sword was at his neck.
"W-What happened to me?"
Milo asked in a trembling voice.
Aegis headed towards the master without a word.
"It's worse than you thought."
It didn't matter why the master lied.
He must have had a purpose, and we, as his subordinates, just had to follow.
But Milo had just refuted that lie head-on.
The bride was definitely not stupid.
The person who would soon be questioned was not Milo, nor himself, nor Duke Aden, but His Highness, who would face the bride as the commander of the Knights.
He could guess what the master's reaction would be when he delivered the news.
It might not be the Blue Nose Maid who would freeze at his cold gaze, but Milo.
It was essential information for the master.
But he and Milo of Essid were in a precarious situation where their necks were on the line.
Ah, damn it.
Aegis uttered a rare curse.
Aden was in the knight's office.
He was examining the information that had come through the Essid Merchant Group.
He was originally not interested in matters outside the Winter Territory.
But the bride kept making him curious about the Sunlands' affairs.
What he held in his hand was information about the Baron family.
It was information taken in a much broader direction than what Milo had brought before.
He also confirmed that they were not related to the Imperial Family.
It was very clear that there was no possibility of her being an assassin.
Above all, Illyin, whom he had seen up close, was a person with such a weak frame that she couldn't even train, let alone be a trained person. He had to be careful even when touching her.
Thanks to this, he had to spend a rather patient night.
To her small body, he must have been like a giant wave.
He had to thoroughly control himself so that Illyin wouldn't only groan in pain during the night.
That only fueled him more.
'Ah,'
The hotter scent that drew him in became stronger as she exhaled.
It was such an intense night that the Sunfolk who had just arrived in the Winter Territory was sweating.
He thought he had restrained himself, but the very fragile bride ended up bedridden.
Of course, the suffering was made worse by the Blue Nose Maids who had brought the wrong Nenede.
Aden narrowed his eyes.
[Earl Arlen has lived in the Arlen territory for generations and his origins are clear, but Countess's origins are unclear.]
Whenever he investigated, information about the Countess was always tripping over his feet.
They were very trivial things, but Aden found them strangely unsettling.
Why was information about one person constantly pouring out from a family that had nothing to offer? Moreover, the Arlen family, despite being an insignificant Baron family, had quite a few suspicious aspects.
Even though the Essid Merchant Group had investigated in a short amount of time, why was there so little information coming out?
It was as if it was impossible unless someone was intentionally blocking the information.
The simplest thing among them was to kill them and shut their mouths.
[The existence of a personal Maid is unclear.]
Milo of Essid was definitely not an incompetent person.
When he had no place to get information and nothing was caught, he narrowed the scope of the pursuit instead.
Milo's clue was the first appearance of Illyin that he had seen.
The Baron family's knight served her, but he did not enter the Merchant Group.
Of course, Illyin may have ordered him to wait outside, but if she was the Baron family's precious daughter as rumored, the knight should have tried to follow her in order to avoid being reprimanded.
Feeling strange, Milo dug in another direction.
In the process, he caught someone who used to work as a Maid in the Baron family.
She had come to the capital to get something at Illyin's order, and she had gone around complaining to the merchants about her superiors.
She was a strange woman, she said.
Of course, the price for speaking carelessly was terrible.
When Milo tracked her down, she was already gone from the world.
A Maid who goes around saying negative things about her superiors.
The information that Milo, who had caught on to that, approached indirectly was that.
The existence of a personal Maid who served Illyin is unclear.
"The Baron family's precious daughter doesn't have a personal Maid..."
It's easy to inflate only good rumors.
Aden narrowed his eyes.
He thought of Illyin at night.
Her slender waist swayed precariously every time he moved.
Wherever he grabbed, she was so thin and weak that he had to suppress himself even when desire arose.
Really, she looked like she was going to die.
She didn't come to kill me.
'Are you afraid to make eye contact?'
Still, the bride seemed a little more comfortable when he covered her eyes.
Aden rubbed his forehead.
Actually, he just wanted to say that he was Den.
It was a night's work where no one would eavesdrop anyway.
But instinct is faster than thought.
How could he tell the bride, who lowered her gaze and closed her eyes whenever her face was about to be seen, to take courage and look at his face?
It was also a problem that he had nothing to say if she asked why he had deceived her.
That's...
He was in the middle of making excuses in his head, unlike himself.
"Your Highness, it's Aegis."
Behind Aegis, who was entering the room, stood another person.
