18 - How to Survive as the Wife of a Monster Duke
How to Survive as the Monster Duke's Wife
Episode 18: "Your Grace, the Duke!"
It was very rare for a thunderous voice to erupt from the 7th floor of the Biften mansion.
Of course, it wasn't as if it had never happened during the nearly twenty years that the current Duke of Biften had been in charge.
Instead, they were carried out as frozen statues, never to find their voices again.
"You must restrain yourself!"
But this person was one of the rare few who could shout several times and still be safe.
He was none other than Bess, the head physician of the Delos family.
"Have you forgotten that the Duchess is a Sunfolk?"
"……."
Aegis, unable to bear watching his master's distress, began to admire the patterns on the ceiling.
And Aden, too, during the physician's speech, began to take an interest in the patterns on the wall, something he hadn't cared about for at least twenty years.
'……I thought His Grace would know.'
He was thinking about last night.
'So, I looked like someone who investigates his bride.'
Aden unconsciously touched his forehead.
He was right, he was the one who investigated his bride.
Fortunately, Illyin seemed to have taken his words as a mere excuse, but he didn't feel at ease.
He felt like lies were piling up.
'Den… the commander of the Knights.'
Illyin was worried about me.
Aden ran a hand over his face with the hand that had been on his forehead.
The emotion that stood out clearly from his complicated mind was joy.
"At this rate, the Duchess will have to live on medicine all the time! She already has a hard time adapting to the winter, please restrain yourself!"
Whether he knew his master was lost in thought or not, Bess shouted in a booming voice.
"Don't go to the Duchess for a week!"
Aden, who had been ignoring his words all along, finally turned to look at him.
"……A week?"
"Yes!"
Aegis thought his master looked more embarrassed than when he had faced an avalanche.
Bess, determined that if he tormented the Duchess any more, this old man would lie down in front of the Duchess's room and stop His Grace, left the room.
"……."
Left alone, Aegis began to count the patterns on the ceiling again.
Aden stared at the door Bess had left through with a troubled expression.
He kept thinking about her, and it was a big problem.
\*
Illyin spent several more nights with the Duke after that.
'Say my name.'
Perhaps he didn't like Illyin calling him 'Your Grace' all the time, he kept touching Illyin so much that the long night felt short.
Only when Illyin called him Aden briefly did he seem satisfied, showering her with small, soft kisses.
Even so, the atmosphere was slightly different from that day when they had decided to share secrets.
He, who had already been cautious, treated Illyin even more carefully.
Illyin couldn't help but know the reason.
'Are you curious about him?'
'He's safe. Pleasantly so.'
After that, Illyin couldn't remember how she had greeted the morning.
Aden, who had held her several times, hesitated whenever she seemed to be having a hard time.
'Are you alright?'
He would ask, and then comfort her again until her breathing subsided.
And when she seemed to have calmed down a little, he would unleash the restraint he had been holding back.
That's how the long night passed.
The next day, Illyin's waist and thighs, muscles she didn't usually use, screamed, and she ended up calling the physician.
'Oh, Duchess!'
Bess almost wailed and urged the Delos people to get all the good Sunlands herbs they could find.
Aden, he must have heard something from Bess, that's why he became so careful.
"Aden."
Illyin repeated the still unfamiliar name.
"Aden de Biften."
The secrets she had shared with him over the past several nights were trivial.
He mainly asked about her dreams.
At least he didn't completely disbelieve in Precognitive dreams.
Was it because he had faced an avalanche himself?
Illyin's heart pounded whenever she thought of the day the avalanche had occurred.
It was a Precognitive dream she had seen all her life.
Even though she knew it couldn't be wrong, she worried that she might have taught him wrong.
So, she was afraid that even the smallest corner would give him a reason to doubt her.
She didn't want to be treated as a liar or a cursed person here.
At first, she thought it would be better than Arlen Fief, even if she was treated coldly here.
She tried to comfort herself by saying that she was satisfied with that.
'Are you scared.'
But after meeting Aden for the first time and spending time with him, she became greedy.
Illyin had always been someone who thought she should be satisfied with small things, but as she gained something she had never had in her life, she wanted more and more.
I want to live happily here.
'Don't you have any questions for me?'
So, she couldn't ask him what she was really curious about in the questions that came back every night.
She was afraid that it might be a question that would make him uncomfortable.
Is it true that your body stiffens when you make eye contact?
Many of the mansion's servants dared not make eye contact with him, but Illyin was developing a strange conviction.
Above all, it was because the knights returned from every expedition without anyone stiffening.
'I will return safely today as well.'
Aden told her his expedition schedule at night without hiding anything, something he didn't tell the people of the mansion.
He was going on expeditions much more often than was known.
"……."
He trusted me and told me.
The same goes for the relationship between the other three families and the Red Deloz, there must be a reason for controlling the information.
But here she was, suspecting him.
"Really……."
Is it true that your body stiffens when you make eye contact with him?
Aden, is that rumor true?
"Duchess, it's Eni."
Illyin, awakened from her thoughts, turned towards the door.
Eni, the etiquette teacher she had brought from Delos, was someone she had met as long as Aden over the past few days.
She spent time with Aden at night, and she could say she spent time with Eni during the day.
"You're here a little early today."
Illyin looked back at the clock.
It was two hours earlier than the time Eni usually came.
Perhaps because it was a cold region, the morning here started at 10 o'clock.
Even though she never saw the sun, she was still active during the hours when the sun was up.
So, Eni usually visited around one in the afternoon.
But today, she had come before she had even had a meal, which was unusual for someone as punctual as her.
"Ah, I should have contacted you in advance, I'm sorry."
Eni bowed deeply to her.
Illyin waved her hand.
After all, in the Sunlands, 10 a.m. was a perfectly active time.
It wasn't as if Illyin would be tired just because she came early.
"What brings you here?"
"I've been selected as the Delos Maid to help you prepare for the succession ceremony."
"Ah?"
Illyin blinked.
As far as she knew, Eni was quite a prominent person even in Delos.
They lumped it together as a 'family,' but in fact, the name Delos was closer to an organization than a family.
The same was true for the other families.
There were several houses belonging to Blue Nose, Dazzling Elo, and Verdant Mille, respectively, and the four names should be seen as collective names for those families.
Of course, there were families that actually used 'Nose,' 'Elo,' and 'Mille' as their surnames.
They were the families to which the elders belonged.
Of course, those were things she had learned from Eni over the past few days.
"Is there anything to prepare separately here?"
"There's nothing special, but……."
Eni hesitated and said.
"Before the succession ceremony, there is a separate procedure for the bride to receive the Divine Relic."
The Divine Relic must be the things that each family had.
Illyin looked up at the blue cloth she was wearing on her head.
"The procedure has been omitted because Blue Nose has already delivered it."
Eni smiled and continued her explanation.
"Dazzling Elo and Verdant Mille are a little late because the carriages with the Divine Relics left late. The succession ceremony will probably start as soon as the Divine Relic arrives."
I see. Illyin, who was listening to the story, tilted her head.
Then what about Delos?
"Then what about the Red Deloz's Divine Relic?"
Eni smiled.
"The leader will put it on you right before the succession ceremony."
Put it on me? Illyin became curious about the identity of the Divine Relic.
"Yes, it will probably be held tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."
"Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow……."
Still, it was an event called the head's succession ceremony.
Illyin got the impression that everything was progressing very quickly.
"Is it a little later than usual, perhaps?"
"Yes. There's that, but I heard there was some bad news from the west."
The west was where the avalanche had occurred.
Illyin thought about the contents of her dream.
Originally, the knights of the Red Deloz were trying to get rid of those Red-scaled monsters in the west.
But they failed because they caused an avalanche.
Was it called the Molly Tribe?
"Is it related to the Molly Tribe, perhaps?"
Eni blinked at Illyin's words.
"Did His Grace tell you?"
Originally, Aden de Biften had a very taciturn image.
He was actually taciturn, and he didn't pass on unnecessary words to his subordinates.
Since most of them trembled as if their hearts would drop just by looking at his face, it was troublesome to speak directly.
But at least the people of the Red Deloz who went back and forth on the 7th floor were different.
Illyin didn't know, but the arrangement of the maids on the 7th floor had been completely changed as Illyin went up to the 7th floor.
The staff was composed mainly of maids who had worked in the mansion for a long time.
In addition, the people who went back and forth on the 7th floor themselves were only those who were called the elite of the elite in Delos and who were deeply loyal to the head.
The same was true for Eni.
'Be careful not to make a mistake.'
And Eni was one of the few people who knew that the Duke and the commander were the same person.
She recalled the words she had heard before going up to the 7th floor.
The leader was talking with a stiff face, just like before a battle.
It was the first time she had seen the leader lie, and it was the first time she had seen him anxious that his lies would be discovered.
She wondered what was so different about the Sunfolk who came as the new bride, but Illyin, whom she actually saw, was a much brighter person.
"The Molly Tribe lives in the west, right? There was an avalanche there."
And she was also a very smart person.
She could see why the leader was so eager for her.
Eni turned her gaze to the mistress of the mansion, who accurately grasped the situation in a few words.
The mistress who takes care of the mansion.
In fact, the previous Duchess was more interested in herself than in the mansion.
She always wanted to leave this mansion rather than take care of it.
But this Duchess was different.
Perhaps thanks to her, the atmosphere among the mansion's servants had already begun to change.
As the head of the Red Deloz often left the mansion, the Delos maids, who seemed to be losing power relatively, had completely found their place.
This was largely thanks to the fact that Illyin sought out the Delos maids first whenever she did something.
There was almost no chance for what the mistress was doing to leak out to other families.
When she first arrived in the Winter Territory, there were rumors that she was close to the Blue Nose because she was wearing a blue cloth, but that was no longer the case.
After the wedding night, she seemed to have become completely close to the Red Deloz.
'What on earth happened on the wedding night?'
Eni, who had a pleasant imagination, smiled.
