Chapter 30
Rolf, the butler who had managed Lüsenford Castle alongside the head maid for over twenty years, was a viscount without a territory of his own.
Until Pheon arrived and the domain was elevated to a grand duchy, this place had been nothing more than a mere barony. Without even a baron to govern it, the butlers had merely held the honorary title of viscount for generations.
Yet both Rolf and Head Maid Doris couldn’t help feeling as though they had finally become someone important when Pheon became a grand duke and vast lands and a castle befitting the title were incorporated into Lüsenford.
Even if those lands and castle had mostly been ravaged by the Evil Dragon’s minions, leaving them blanketed in snow where not a single blade of grass could grow—they still felt that way.
Being a grand duke and the son of the Empress meant a flood of goods and gold sent specially by the Empress herself.
To the grand duke, it was a paltry sum, but to those who had fought against the Evil Dragon and the cold in this barren land, it was an enormous amount.
Their shoulders naturally puffed up with pride. No matter how much Pheon was pointed at as a bastard, to the people of Lüsenford, he was precious blood that protected them—a member of the imperial family.
“You called for me, Your Highness.”
Rolf had raised Pheon alongside the recently exiled Doris. He had nursed him through the night when he got hurt tumbling around the training grounds with the knights or when he fell ill with a cold, remembered his birthdays, and rejoiced every time he achieved scholarly progress.
Pheon was not a man of Kline—he was a man of Lüsenford. He possessed the spirit and strength of the North.
But then he had suddenly married a duke’s daughter from the South.
“Where are the keys that the head maid should have been keeping?”
“I’m holding them temporarily, Your Highness.”
“Bring them now.”
“Right now? Yes, understood.”
Of course, marrying a wealthy duke’s daughter from the South was a welcome event. When the new bride arrived in Lüsenford, her procession had honestly been even grander than the one that had brought the young Pheon here.
That made sense since Pheon had grown up by then. Still, both Rolf and Doris had secretly hoped Pheon would marry into a prestigious noble family of Lüsenford. After all, he was the Grand Duke of Lüsenford.
“Here they are, Your Highness.”
“Is this all of them?”
“Yes, it is.”
Rolf explained one by one what each key was for.
“That’s quite a lot.”
“Yes. The head maid managed most of them, after all. It’s a weighty responsibility.”
“Then a position with such weighty responsibility can’t have a servant who treats their master’s words lightly anymore.”
His Highness the Grand Duke was still furious. Even so, Doris had been too foolish. Word was she was stuck at some old hunting lodge near the border with her relatives, unable to move—it was frustrating.
Her opponent was none other than the daughter of Ostein Duke. She was also the next Duke of Ostein. If she and Pheon had a child, that child would become the enormous figure who was both Grand Duke of Lüsenford and Duke of Ostein. And yet she had dared to touch such a duke’s daughter?
Rolf, who had managed to slip away unscathed from this incident, conveniently erased from his mind the fact that he had quietly supported and condoned what Head Maid Doris had done. He also conveniently forgot that his silence had only fanned the flames of her actions.
“You’re absolutely right.”
Five nobles who had looked down on and pressured the young Grand Duchess alongside the head maid in the banquet hall had been dragged one by one to the underground dungeon. They had all been executed without exception. Rolf thought the Grand Duchess was truly naive.
What good did it do to spare the head maid’s life? Her life ahead would be so miserable that dying all at once might have been better. In Lüsenford, such half-hearted mercy only bred resentment.
“From now on, all internal management will be handled by the Grand Duchess. Transfer over to her all the duties under your authority that she should oversee.”
Rolf flinched in surprise. Pheon’s violet eyes stared straight through him without a hint of wavering.
“Use this incident as a lesson and set an example. Show them that even in Lüsenford, there are those with respect for their master and outstanding loyalty.”
Yes. Butler Rolf Anderson Viscount was still, at least for now, one of those with ‘respect for his master and outstanding loyalty.’ At least for now.
“Yes, Your Highness. I will do my utmost.”
Pheon kept his eyes fixed on the butler until the very moment he bowed his head and turned to leave.
*
Doctor Darinka, who had ended up treating the Grand Duchess by chance, was a cheerful, spirited woman with a plump figure—one of the few female doctors who made house calls without being married.
She had been ordered to continue caring for the Grand Duchess until she was up and about. So in the mornings, she would come to the castle, or sometimes stay there, monitoring the Grand Duchess’s condition.
“Shall I put another blanket on you? It’s even colder today.”
The Grand Duchess was quite a beauty. She had probably heard she was pretty since childhood, so she could brush it off matter-of-factly.
She had clear, icy blue eyes, a smooth forehead, flawless skin, and golden hair so pale it gleamed white in the light.
But her eyebrows and eyelashes were darker, thicker at the roots, short, and firm—which suited her perfectly in a natural way.
Still, Lady Lavalle was prettier.
Right. She smiled so much better and was so lively?
While the Grand Duchess was ill, Darinka had gone back and forth to the castle and heard and seen quite a bit. Inside the castle, which the head maid had gripped tightly, people had openly lamented her being dragged away.
Darinka, who knew who Lady Lavalle was and even that she had stayed in this castle, had seen those same people shut their mouths and grow cautious by the next morning.
Even the laundry room gossip about who was prettier had been strictly cracked down on by the Grand Duke.
In Darinka’s eyes, the Grand Duke cherished his much younger Grand Duchess greatly.
Of course, the Grand Duchess’s status was politically so noble that Lady Lavalle couldn’t even compare, but that didn’t explain him staying glued to her side for three days as she hovered between life and death.
The Grand Duke hadn’t taken his eyes off the Grand Duchess for a moment, yet he couldn’t bring himself to touch her. He had fetched the elixir Retillin from the Evil Dragon’s Domain in one go, but after she opened her eyes, he rarely came near her.
‘Acting all proper now?’
Well, putting that aside, the real problem was the Grand Duchess herself.
“Look at this, Your Grace. The embroidery is so pretty, isn’t it? It’s unique to Lüsenford.”
No matter how much the maids fussed and brought new things to show her, the Grand Duchess would just smile once and that was it. Was it because she had faced such a huge ordeal right after arriving as a bride? The concerns Darinka had cautiously mentioned to the Grand Duke were becoming clearer.
“You’ve recovered remarkably quickly. It’s truly fortunate.”
“It’s thanks to your efforts.”
Even to her subordinates, the Grand Duchess never forgot to express her gratitude—she was objectively a good mistress.
“I didn’t do much. The medicine was fetched by His Highness himself.”
Of course, Darinka kept silent about exactly where that medicine had come from. The fact that the Grand Duke had obtained it was known only to the doctor, the Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess, and her maids.
“You’re the one who prescribed that specific medicine as necessary.”
The Grand Duchess already carried herself with the poise befitting her station, in a way that didn’t seem out of place at all—it felt utterly natural.
“Thank you. Your Grace, you can now resume daily life, but you must take care. Be cautious with food above all, and no matter how cold it is, make sure to get light exercise like short walks.”
Patients always loved hearing Darinka say things like this. No one hated hearing that their nagging illness had finally left and they were recovering.
But the Grand Duchess didn’t seem particularly pleased. Though she praised Darinka’s efforts, those who disliked hearing they had recovered often had deeper-rooted illnesses.
“You can’t just work nonstop, either. Take plenty of rest and pace yourself moderately—that will stabilize your body and settle your mind.”
“Understood.”
Kaella nodded. Even without the doctor’s repeated warnings, she was already in the laziest state of her entire life so far. In other words, she had no desire to keep living. She already knew exactly what lay ahead.
It wasn’t new at all, and reliving it was even more painful. But the experience of faithfully performing her role as Grand Duchess in the past made her mind turn on autopilot unconsciously.
‘I need to see the people in the castle, and since the banquet ended that way, I should meet the nobles again—but the head maid would handle that anyway, so why should I bother?’
When she went out before, hadn’t she just been treated like a young, ignorant miss? As Kaella recalled that shame and humiliation for a few seconds, she belatedly realized, ah.
‘The head maid is gone.’
She wasn’t there. Did that mean she could move around a bit more freely? Her shoulders, which had lifted briefly, slumped again. What would she even do? Even without a head maid, there would still be people acting as one.
Moreover, the butler was still very much alive and well. They’d probably pick someone who suited their own interests. It wasn’t Kaella the ‘outsider’s’ place to interfere.
“Just do one important thing and rest again, Your Grace.”
“Yes. That’s right. Watch us embroider, and go see the snowflakes too. It snows a lot here—it’s fascinating.”
Lüsenford wasn’t worth investing effort into. In a few years, the Grand Duke would inevitably fail to escape the treason charge pinned on him by the Emperor, and Lüsenford would be trampled under the hooves of the imperial army.
‘Before that, I need to send these innocent maids to the warm South.’
She renewed her resolve every time she saw the maids. This time, without leaving a single one behind, she’d make sure all three escaped the war. If this powerless life had any goal, it was that alone.
So this time too, Kaella planned to do nothing.
Honestly, she had no motivation to do anything, and she had no intention of stepping into the already rigged game just to play the figurehead puppet role. No matter what she did, she didn’t have the ability to do it properly anyway.
*
“The head maid should be chosen by the Grand Duchess.”
Pheon looked at Kaella and stated clearly.
“For now, it’s best to handle personnel matters first. The more people helping you, the easier it will be.”
She stared sullenly at her husband, who usually avoided coming to see her under the pretense of letting her rest. In the past, she had minded every expression, every gesture, even where she placed her hands in his presence, but now she didn’t bother hiding her face.
“Then does Your Highness have someone in mind?”
The next head maid was probably already decided anyway, so she just had to go through the motions of choosing. Kaella waited for his answer.
“……How could I?”
But Pheon looked back at her with genuine puzzlement. He even seemed a bit flustered.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know much about that sort of thing…… I’ll leave everything to you, Your Grace. Do as you, who knows better than I, see fit. It’ll be an area I remain ignorant of going forward anyway. Isn’t it your domain?”
Kaella thought for a moment, then asked again.
“Then should we consult with the butler?”
“That could work, of course.”
Pheon paused briefly before looking straight at Kaella with clear intent.
“I trust your judgment, Your Grace. I believe you’ll find someone wiser than the butler—someone with qualities the people of Lüsenford have overlooked.”
Who are you?
Kaella stared at Pheon with an expression that said, who the hell are you? Had God, pitying her so much, put someone else inside Pheon’s shell this time?
“It’s your exclusive authority, so handle it yourself.”
Pheon didn’t avoid her gaze. He met it head-on.
“You need to choose your own people.”
In this lonely, cold place, she needed someone to rely on. Someone to be her hands and eyes.
“It might even be for the best. Starting anew together by having you select the head maid yourself—wouldn’t that be good?”
“A new start?”
“Your start in Lüsenford.”
How much change could one person bring? Kaella was always skeptical. In truth, it was because she hadn’t met a single decent person in Lüsenford.
“I hear the noble ladies of Lüsenford will soon have their first meeting to pay respects to you.”
That was a standard event when a lord, king, or emperor married. It was the gathering where the women came to greet the new Grand Duchess, introduce themselves, and pledge future cooperation and loyalty.
“That event will proceed in an utterly natural and reasonable manner.”
His voice cut off decisively, remaining perfectly even throughout. It wasn’t colder or more frightening. But Kaella knew that was Pheon’s way.
In Lüsenford, things somehow always went exactly as he said. Those who ignored the Grand Duchess obeyed the Grand Duke without question. To them, Pheon was their pride, their sturdy shield, and their sword.
“Since you’ll be hosting it, Your Grace, it will naturally be safe.”
And above all, Pheon possessed an unyielding, strong will. He’d rather break than bend. That’s why, before his death, Kaella had fallen for him helplessly.
He was the kind of person who had always held the points she wanted to be weak from a very young age. Someone who maintained his firm resolve even in dire circumstances and kept building the strength to protect it. Though his enemy was too strong, he never gave up.
But that was an old story. Kaella, who had given up on survival the moment she arrived here, watched indifferently as Pheon pulled something out. She didn’t even know what it was.
“And this is the one I showed you as a raw gemstone before. I’m ashamed it’s taken so long to show you the finished product. I hope it pleases you.”
Pheon offered the box with utmost courtesy. Kaella, lost in a daze, looked at the box in front of her, then back at Pheon.
“Please, open it.”
The moment she opened the box, a dazzling brilliance met her eyes. It was a ring cut in the shape of a water droplet, larger than her finger and filling an entire knuckle—a massive ring.
Kaella, whose mind had frozen, belatedly realized this was a ring made from the smallest of the twelve diamonds mined from the Kerban Mine.
“What do you think?”
If she didn’t like it, he planned to have it reworked. He wanted anything to please Kaella. Pheon waited anxiously for her reaction. But Kaella panicked, glanced around, and began rummaging through things.
“I’m sorry. Just a moment.”
With a puzzled expression, he waited until Kaella brought a box from the locked drawer of her vanity.
“Is this mine?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Then I’ll return this one.”
With a bright face, Kaella handed Pheon the ring from the Empress she had received at their wedding—her engagement ring—as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
