-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Unwelcome Guest
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A gift arrived from Demian.
It was a newspaper featuring an article about the Vandermir couple's weekend date, along with a small box. The Duchess opened the box, then dropped it in shock.
Inside lay a clump of familiar blonde hair, hastily chopped off, that she had seen somewhere before.
‘Ha! No wonder there was no reply.’
The Duchess’s lips twisted. It had been over ten days since she lost contact with the spy, who had seemed quite pretty and useful.
She had even held a little hope, thinking the spy was doing a decent job. But, as expected, the spy must have been expelled and dealt with.
‘What is this?’
The Duchess discovered a letter buried among the hair and picked it out with her fingertips.
The letter, bearing the Red Hawk insignia, was concise. It contained a perfunctory greeting and a notification, or rather a warning, that a large number of the mansion's staff had been replaced.
“Unfortunately, the Head Maid also resigned due to personal reasons. It’s truly a shame you won’t be able to see her anymore.”
All the connections she had planted in the mansion were thus uprooted. The letter crumpled miserably in the Duchess’s hand.
“That vicious man.”
She muttered, her voice trembling with rage, and ordered a maid to clear away the box. She then sat on the sofa to rest for a moment when the Vandermir Grand Duchess appeared.
Her greying hair was neatly tied back, and despite her advanced age, her posture was remarkably straight and rigid. Her sharp eyes further enhanced her strict demeanor.
“Mother, you’ve arrived.”
The Duchess scrambled to her feet and bowed her head. A disapproving gaze swept over her.
“What happened with Demian? You said you would handle it, so why is there no news?”
“Ah, that is…”
At the sharp question, the Duchess stammered.
Sending the spy maid to the Vandermir mansion was her initiative; only her husband vaguely knew the situation, while other family members were completely unaware.
She had boasted about having a good idea, and now, admitting failure was proving difficult.
However, the Grand Duchess was neither generous nor patient enough to wait for her hesitation.
“Don’t be so slow-witted, speak quickly!”
“…I sent a spy as a maid to cause trouble in the mansion, but it failed. I apologize, Mother.”
The Duchess confessed, closing her eyes tightly. The Grand Duchess’s expression hardened chillingly.
“N-next time, I’ll approach it more carefully…”
“Don’t you know that the more time you waste, the more it benefits that child?!”
At the thunderous reprimand, the Duchess’s shoulders hunched. She could never assert herself in front of her husband’s mother.
“How utterly incompetent she is. She’s no help to our Alex at all.”
The Grand Duchess sighed and clicked her tongue.
She rarely approved of her son’s wives. She had dismissed the former Duchess as weak and timid, and the current Duchess as being from a humble family.
But in truth, there probably wasn’t a single woman in the world who would satisfy her as her son’s wife.
Duke Alex Vandermir was the Grand Duchess’s only son, born with great difficulty. He was a child she cherished more than her own eyes, her entire world.
She wanted to keep him by her side forever, unwilling to give him to anyone. No matter how noble the family a woman came from, she saw them only as leeches trying to drain her son dry.
Even with two grandsons, the Duke remained a child in her eyes.
“If Demian inherits the family, it will surely harm our Alex. We must prevent that at all costs!”
Her bony, gnarled hands clenched.
More than a decade ago, the Grand Duchess had seen a seething fire in the eyes of the child who had lost his mother.
Rage, resentment, sorrow, hatred…
It was a flame fueled by such emotions. If left unchecked, it would surely devour her son alive someday.
‘He tries to build his own people within the family, and he’s directly and indirectly opposed Alex all this time… His dead mother was foolish, which was a problem, but he himself is cunning and persistent, which is the problem.’
Thinking of Demian, who resembled the Duke perfectly in face but whose eyes reminded her of the deceased Duchess, the Grand Duchess shuddered.
To her, Demian was not a beloved grandson but a threat, a danger to her son.
“I think so too, Mother. That’s why I’m working hard, so please…”
“Enough! What can I possibly entrust to someone as slow-witted as you?”
At the Grand Duchess’s gaze, which seemed to view her as the most useless thing in the world, the Duchess’s words caught in her throat. But the rebukes didn’t stop there.
“You couldn’t even subdue one young noble Lady before the marriage, and you dragged it out this far. Pathetic.”
“…”
Aracilla Hugo wasn’t just any ordinary young noble Lady.
The Duchess felt wronged but said nothing, bowing her head deeply. She knew that any excuse would only be met with scolding for talking back.
“I can no longer trust you and remain idle. It’s a mother’s duty to clear the path for our Alex.”
She had lived with that mindset for decades. Thanks to it, hadn’t her son safely ascended to the position of Duke Vandermir?
If anyone harmed her son, even if it was her grandson, the Grand Duchess would gladly strike them down.
As long as she could protect her son.
“I must go to the capital.”
The Grand Duchess declared solemnly. The Duchess’s expression brightened for several reasons.
“Really, Mother?”
“Yes, I need to properly show Hugo’s granddaughter what kind of family ours is.”
As the Grand Duchess of the Vandermir Ducal Family and the Duke’s grandmother.
Her lips curved into a viper’s smile.
* * *
“I will likely be away for a long time on a mission soon.”
Demian announced this at breakfast. They had both grudgingly woken up at dawn and sat opposite each other to uphold their promise of sharing at least one meal a day.
Unlike Demian, who was merely picking at his food with little appetite in the morning, Aracilla was slowly eating to fill her stomach.
This was thanks to a habit she had cultivated since childhood of eating breakfast.
“What kind of mission?”
“The Imperial Family has issued an order for an investigation, as signs of a large-scale movement of magical beasts have been detected in the eastern Etar Mountains.”
The Red Hawk Knights were a force comparable to the Imperial Knights.
Receiving such orders was quite common. However, it was unusual for the Red Hawk Knights to be given this command when the Imperial Knights currently had no missions.
Demian briefly recalled the Crown Prince’s seal on the order before taking a sip of water. He saw no need to tell his wife these details.
“Please be careful.”
“Understood. You too, take care of your health, wife.”
“Yes. By the way, when are you leaving?”
Demian paused before replying.
“This afternoon.”
“…Is that ‘soon’?”
That’s just today.
Seeing Aracilla’s clearly dumbfounded expression, Demian awkwardly cleared his throat.
He had forgotten to mention it earlier due to the sudden order and hurried preparations.
“Tell me exactly what time and where you’re departing. That way, I can come out to see you off.”
A wife couldn’t possibly not show her face when her husband was leaving for a distant mission. This was especially true for a couple who needed to appear harmonious to others.
“We will gather at the Knights’ training grounds and depart at 3 PM.”
“Hmm, alright.”
Aracilla nodded, reviewing her schedule for the day. 3 PM seemed manageable for a brief absence.
“Then I’ll see you later.”
“Yes, farewell.”
Demian checked his pocket watch and rose first. Aracilla finished her meal and went to work at the Magic Tower.
***
Dozens of knights stood in formation at the training grounds.
They occasionally glanced sideways at Aracilla, who entered confidently in her Magic Tower uniform. No one was unaware that the Commander’s wife was a Mage.
However, her appearance at the Knights’ headquarters in Mage attire was surprising.
“You’re wearing your uniform.”
Demian’s eyes also first landed on Aracilla’s attire as she came to see him off.
Amidst the black and red of the Knights’ uniforms, the Magic Tower uniform, based on white and blue, stood out.
“I’m already busy. Do you expect me to go home and change into a dress?”
Aracilla covered her mouth with her hand and whispered softly. Her voice was just loud enough for Demian to hear.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect you to change clothes.”
“Good. It’s nice that we don’t have many expectations of each other.”
For a normal couple, this would be a bad thing, but contract couples were different. It was better this way than to hold futile expectations and then be disappointed and sulk alone.
“When will you be back from this trip?”
“It will take about two weeks. Send a letter if anything happens.”
“You said you’re going east, right? By the time something happens and I send a letter, it’ll all be over.”
The distance from the capital to the eastern Etar Mountains was quite far. Of course, Aracilla was a Mage, so she could use magical carrier pigeons, but even then, there was the physical time it would take for Demian to return.
“There won’t be any need to worry about casualties during the magical beast investigation, will there?”
“Please don’t state your personal wishes.”
“Ah, what a shame.”
Despite exchanging such chilling jokes, the couple appeared amicable on the surface.
They must really get along well, huh?
The knights muttered amongst themselves, focusing on the two. Demian hesitated, then enclosed Aracilla’s hand in his.
“Stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
“You say the funniest things. Anyone would think I’m your troublesome seven-year-old daughter, Demian.”
Aracilla chuckled as if dumbfounded, then quickly replaced it with a sweet smile.
“Hasn’t the Marquis ever told you something like this?”
“Are you kidding? Countless times.”
She’d heard it without fail, morning, noon, and night. *Aracilla, please don’t cause trouble when your father is away.* Like that.
But unfortunately, Aracilla had never listened to her father.
“I’ll miss you, Demian. You have to come back quickly, okay?”
Aracilla deliberately raised her voice, speaking loudly enough for those around to hear. Demian willingly played along.
“I will think of you every single day without fail. Please, wife, do not forget me and wait for my return.”
For merely two weeks apart, it was quite a show. But it also made them seem like a very loving couple.
Unable to embrace, they simply clutched each other’s hands tightly as Aracilla leaned in close and whispered.
“Work hard and get hurt little.”
“And you, wife, always take care of your mental well-being.”
After exchanging their genuine advice, the two released each other’s hands as it was time for departure.
Aracilla watched her husband leave in a carriage with his subordinates, then turned away.
Anyway, she had two weeks of freedom now, right?
She usually lived without feeling particularly confined, but the freedom of her husband being away felt different. She hummed a tune and walked with light steps.
‘Should I go home for a change?’
With the Hugo Marquisate maids brought in, the atmosphere of the Vandermir mansion had become similar to her family home. But there was a clear difference from the real thing.
Aracilla, happily planning her post-work activities, narrowed her eyes when she spotted Audrey waiting for her outside the Magic Tower with a carriage.
Audrey, who had come to meet her for the first time in a while, was waving from afar and shouting something.
“Grand… Du… has arrived!”
What? A pig has arrived?
What on earth did that mean? Aracilla approached her maid, bewildered. Had a wild boar escaped and attacked the mansion?
“Madam, Madam! It’s a disaster!”
“What’s wrong, Audrey? Did a wild boar really attack?”
“Huh? No, no. It’s not that—”
Audrey’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. She cried out urgently.
“The Grand Duchess has arrived at the mansion!”
“Which Grand Duchess?”
“The Vandermir Grand Duchess!”
Ah… Ah. Ah?
Aracilla blinked slowly. The cold face of the Vandermir Grand Duchess, whom she had met at her wedding, came to mind.
An unwelcome guest had arrived without warning. A powerful realization struck Aracilla.
It seemed her two weeks of freedom had just turned into hell.
