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Chapter 27
Bella pondered each sentence spoken by Count Rodik and soon realized that not a single word he said was true.
“Since you have less than a hundred years left to live, use several at once every year. And I gave grandfather two more than that.”
“Huh? Hahaha! I didn’t realize you were joking!”
“…I’m not joking.”
Count Rodik’s laughter grew even louder at the Duchess’s serious retort.
“Your Grace! My luck seems fresher, but if you want, I can swap a few for you! Isn’t this too much, considering you have less than a hundred years left? Hahaha!”
The boisterous laugh of Count Rodik, seen for the first time in a while, echoed through the walls of the office.
“The reason the ones I gave the Count look fresher is simply that they were brought more recently and that I preserved the roots when bringing them.”
“I’ll dry them carefully and use them frugally.”
Why had Count Rodik’s attitude toward the Duchess changed so drastically?
The peculiar sight of the usually indifferent Duchess looking normal caused the eyes of the attendants to widen in disbelief.
“Lady Filmore, how should one dry these properly?”
As the Duchess left, Count Rodik made a request—not really a request—to Lady Filmore.
The usually cold and scolding old lady surprisingly brought a clean plate without complaint.
“Place it up here.”
“Heh heh heh, thank you.”
Then, the lady who normally avoided speaking to the Duke while he worked stopped at his desk.
“Shall I help dry them, Your Grace?”
Hearing this, the Duke slowly turned toward the basket.
For a moment, his red eyes behind the wrinkled lids stared at the withered plants.
Then he slowly spoke:
“Then I will ask you to do so.”
The Duchess carefully took the simple basket with more delicacy than ever before.
What was so special about that…?
It was certainly an odd day—not only for the attendants but also for Edwin.
However, that day was only the beginning of the bizarre days yet to come.
“Grandfather?”
“Grandfather!”
“Grandfather!!”
Whether she had been told or just assumed, Belladis appeared in the office without fail at 5 PM, when the attendants were leaving.
Her voice, growing louder with each passing day, broke through the heavy, stagnant air of the office.
And whenever she visited, she inevitably brought some kind of gift.
And that “gift” was the problem.
Glossy chestnuts, colorful stones picked from the stream, leaves with pretty shapes and colors.
“Don’t you realize how serious this problem has become?”
Even in the eyes of a ten-year-old, these items were not suitable as gifts.
Edwin grew concerned at the increasingly serious situation as these “gifts” kept coming.
But Count Rodik…
“You’ve brought another gift today?”
“I’m so curious to see what treasure your old bones have brought this time.”
It seemed he was quietly looking forward to her visits.
Moreover, Lady Filmore personally arranged these strange gifts around the Duke’s desk, and the Duke remained silent even while seeing them.
During the day, the castle was noisier than ever, and at sunset, the Duke’s office would always be in commotion.
“What is everyone doing?”
Seeing that no one seemed concerned about the seriousness of the situation, Edwin wrote a letter to Theodore.
He was confident that Theodore would understand the gravity of the matter at the castle and find a reasonable solution.
A few days later, midstream of the Valhalla River.
“A hawk!”
At the scout’s cry, the knight blew his whistle, and the hawk circling above immediately perched on his arm.
The knight took the message tied to the hawk’s leg and ran to Hector.
“It’s a letter from Count Filmore.”
Hector raised an eyebrow and, taking the letter, turned back.
A man wearing gambeson stood against the vast backdrop of reed beds along the river.
The reed seeds, drifting like fireflies in the midday sun, floated in the wind and swirled around them.
The autumn wind carrying the seeds brushed through Hector’s sweat-drenched black hair.
Handing the letter to Theodore, Hector said,
“It’s a message from Edwin.”
Theodore received the letter expressionlessly, his gaze still fixed on the edge of the reed beds.
His long fingers elegantly unfolded the letter.
Hector unconsciously held his breath as the red eyes of Theodore slowly scanned the letter.
As Theodore read carefully, a small crease formed on his otherwise smooth forehead and disappeared.
Then he tilted his head slightly, reading the letter with a faintly crooked posture, a faint smile creeping along his thin lips.
Hector, who had been trying to sneak a look at the letter, quietly drew back.
In his master were contradictions: elegance and wildness, calm and chaos.
Hector could not put the peculiar sensation that emanated from him into words, but he could sense his master’s mood more acutely than anyone else.
“What is it?”
Theodore focused on the letter a little longer before raising his head.
He gazed at the distant outline of the Duke’s castle beyond the reed beds, squinting in the bright sunlight.
“Well.”
Folding the letter carelessly, he murmured in a light tone,
“The whole castle seems to be in an uproar because of my wife.”
“Eh? Ah…”
‘Hector Rodik!’
Hector paled as he remembered the terrifying image of the Duchess approaching him.
How serious must it have gotten for Edwin to send a hawk?
“Is it serious?”
“Has there ever been a day it wasn’t serious?”
Yet her husband remained completely unbothered.
“Burn it.”
Theodore tossed the letter to Hector and moved out of the reeds’ edge.
When his horse, resting in the shade, lifted its head, Theodore silently mounted.
The knights immediately prepared their mounts and resumed their march.
The quiet land trembled under the sound of galloping hooves.
Through the late autumn sunlight and drifting reed seeds, the Duke’s castle gradually grew closer.
In a few hours, they would reach the castle.
The veteran knights’ faces showed fond smiles, but Theodore at the front gave no hint of emotion.
The beautiful, expansive scenery did not catch his attention.
‘Theodore.’
Throughout the journey, fleeting memories of that woman kept surfacing, raising his alertness.
It had been a year since their marriage.
Even on the wedding day, his mind retained no image of the woman who had become his wife.
No, it wasn’t just that the image hadn’t stayed—Theodore felt that her features never really left an impression on him.
Yet the sudden, drastic change in her behavior was striking. Or perhaps shocking.
Even during brief rests, the woman would pop into his mind, now gazing at him challengingly.
And then, he received the letter.
‘The Duchess is acting strangely.’
The moment he read that line, Theodore doubted whether the letter was really from Edwin.
The Edwin he knew would never use such a vague term as ‘strangely.’
But as he read further, he realized why Edwin could not have used any other words.
‘She has taken a young wolf from the valley and is raising it like a dog.’
He read that line three times. Even thinking about it, he could only laugh in disbelief.
A wolf…
‘She even knows the names of all the castle staff and their children.’
Theodore himself knew only the names of the staff who entered his room. That was natural.
Knowing their names was one thing—but even their children’s names…
Moreover, the next part of the letter was even more outrageous.
