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Chapter : 15
Greeting each of those who had gathered, Agatha took her seat beneath a gazebo adorned with white pillars and delicate draperies.
As nobles naturally filled the space around her, the carpet soon grew bustling.
Sweet white wine, desserts, and fruit were brought in.
Agatha smiled gracefully and covered her lips with a fan. In the moment of quiet that followed, her gentle voice fell over the space.
“Everyone made it—every single one of you. It must have been a little surprising, since the invitation was so sudden.”
“Oh my, not at all! Lady Agatha, haven’t you often opened grand salons like this before?”
“Exactly. We heard you returned to your estate a few days ago, so we were waiting, thinking you might hold a salon soon.”
“I’m glad to hear that. How have you all been in the meantime?”
No sooner had Agatha spoken than several noble ladies and young ladies began chatting about recent trends in high society. It was all information she had already heard once through her close friend, Marchioness Iris Domunia, before opening the salon.
“Of course, the hottest topic is none other than you, Lady Agatha.”
Agatha winked one eye.
“Are there still that many people interested in my wedding? I thought by now plenty of you would be indifferent.”
Laughter burst out here and there at her playful remark.
In truth, given how little secrecy existed in noble society, almost everything related to Enoch and her had long since become common gossip.
Their sweet conduct that hardly resembled a political marriage.
A personal luncheon invitation from His Majesty the Emperor.
Even the fact that the owner of the island destined to become a hub of a new trade route was Agatha Nobilis.
Not to mention that the wedding was just around the corner, and that they planned to negotiate with the Maynukor Empire on Palabi Island as part of their honeymoon—both high society and the imperial court were abuzz with excitement.
“That’s why I’ve prepared something special for everyone who attended today. Jessie?”
Agatha called a maid, who placed something into the hands of the noble ladies and young ladies.
They were wedding invitations, elegantly decorated with the rose symbol of House Nobilis and the eagle’s wing feather of House Aratus.
“It’s in three weeks. You’re the first ones I’ve personally given invitations to today.”
“My goodness, what an honor, my lady.”
“How kind of you! You must have been terribly busy just preparing for the wedding.”
As word of the venue and time slowly spread among the guests—
“My lady.”
“Hmm?”
At the quiet call of her close maid, Agatha lifted her head, and her face blossomed into a radiant smile.
Her bright, sunlike blonde hair and lovely features made that smile all the more beautiful.
Startled by the unfamiliar atmosphere, the nobles turned around.
A solid, knightly build and a face handsome enough to draw admiration.
The scar on his cheek, giving him a subtly rugged look, was an honorable wound earned on the battlefield.
There stood the young marquis—a war hero—of whom it was said that even a wavering house would surely regain its footing through marriage to Agatha Nobilis.
“Enoch.”
For a moment Enoch stopped, then naturally approached Agatha and kissed the back of her hand.
“Agatha.”
“What brings you here? I heard you’re very busy today…”
“I was passing by. My aide told me you were holding a salon here. It’s been a while since I last saw you, so I stopped by to greet you, even if only briefly. I hope I’m not intruding.”
“Not at all. Um, your next appointment is…?”
At Agatha’s glance, his aide, John, answered promptly.
“You have a luncheon with His Excellency, the Minister of Finance.”
“Then you can spare me about twenty minutes. Would you like to take a short walk? The flowers are especially beautiful today.”
Enoch willingly offered her his arm. Rising from her seat, Agatha asked the still-dazed guests for their understanding.
“We’ll take a short stroll. Please feel free to chat among yourselves.”
“O-of course, my lady. Enjoy.”
It wasn’t until Agatha had gone far toward the valley that the nobles came back to their senses.
Enoch briefly glanced at the suddenly noisy gazebo, then calmly returned his attention to Agatha.
“Have you been well? You look a little paler than the last time I saw you.”
Do I?
Instinctively touching her cheek, Agatha quickly composed herself.
“Maybe I’ve been staying up late lately. Oh, by the way, I sent you the plans for how to renovate the estate through Ben. Did you get a chance to look at them?”
“Yes. I liked the third one.”
After their marriage, Agatha planned to renovate Nobilis’s Second Estate—not the capital’s First Nobilis Estate where she currently stayed, nor the Aratus estate—and live there with Enoch as their newlywed home.
Thinking for a moment, Agatha realized the third plan was designed to have separate personal bedrooms in addition to a couple’s bedroom.
It was the option she liked best, but since theirs was, in name, a political marriage, she had pushed it back, worried it might seem too intimate.
Agatha subtly blushed. Ever since the luncheon with the Emperor, he had seemed strangely proactive.
Of course, she had been the one to make the first request.
Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Enoch had become more assertive in some way.
“I thought it would be easier to adjust if there were private bedrooms as well as a shared one. That’s what I was advised.”
“That sounds reasonable. But may I ask who gave you that advice?”
“Our head butler. Allen has been by my side since I was little, and he’s served House Nobilis for five generations.”
“Allen.”
“You probably saw him a few days ago when he escorted me back to the estate.”
“Yes. I remember.”
Enoch guided Agatha onto a smoother path. From the clusters of flowers blooming thickly beside the trail, a fragrant scent drifted in.
“Agatha. There’s something I’d like to ask your understanding about.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“I believe I told you before that some of my relatives have been playing games over the position of marchioness.”
Right.
That was likely why this man had decided to marry in the first place.
Agatha nodded readily.
“Have you found out who’s behind it?”
“To be precise, I’ve finished sorting them out.”
She had a feeling she knew what he was asking her understanding for.
“You’re going to go set them straight. With the knights.”
As head of the house, he had the right to punish relatives who disrupted internal order.
Last time, he had merely exiled them from the capital, but this time he would likely go in person as a warning.
“It shouldn’t take long. About two weeks, I think. I’ll leave carrier pigeons behind, so if there’s anything you need to contact me about, please send a letter that way.”
After the wedding, they would be away for at least a couple of months for their honeymoon.
It was welcome news that he could thoroughly clean up house before then.
Agatha smiled softly and tapped his arm.
“Have a safe trip. And be prepared—when you come back, you’ll probably be terribly busy.”
“My. Hearing you say that is genuinely frightening.”
“I’ll write to you from time to time. You’ll reply right away, won’t you?”
The man hesitated for a moment, then nodded and kissed the back of her hand. Twenty minutes had already passed.
“I should be going now. I’ll return as quickly as I can.”
“Don’t push yourself.”
“……”
He looked at her strangely for a moment, then obediently turned and left.
She found it a little odd, but soon dismissed it as her imagination, and while watching his broad back recede, Agatha calmly organized what she needed to do.
‘The measurements are already taken…’
While he was away, she could do the fitting, so that once he returned, they could try it on right away.
Anything else that required his opinion could be handled by carrier pigeon.
And of course, Agatha had no intention of missing this chance to send him letters asking after his well-being from time to time.
Returning to her gazebo with a smile, Agatha found herself surrounded by nobles who seemed even more excited than before.
“My lady! You looked so close with Marquis Aratus. Were you really in love all along?”
“Lady Agatha, congratulations on your wedding!”
It was a little awkward, but—
That day, her first social gathering in a long while came to a successful close.
Squelch—
Countless military boots left footprints across the blood-stained marble.
Ten days had passed since he left the capital after bidding Agatha farewell.
The head of the Thatcher family, one of the blood relatives of Aratus who had led this affair, had just lost his life at Enoch’s hand.
“My lord.”
Enoch looked with emotionless eyes at Hubert Karwen, vice-captain of his knight order’s Second Division.
“We’ve captured Baron Thatcher’s family.”
“Good work.”
Sheathing his sword indifferently, Enoch surveyed those bound and kneeling in the center of the hall.
Two sons and one daughter.
All three were adults, and by Enoch’s command, they had once been exiled from the capital, during which the eldest son’s engagement had been broken.
“I believe the eldest was the heir.”
“That is correct, my lord.”
At the sound of sharp boots approaching, the Thatcher family members, who had been bowing their heads low, began to tremble.
Especially the eldest son, exposed most directly to the chilling presence, was shaking as if in a fit.
Then—
Flap—
Hearing the familiar wingbeats he’d grown used to over the past ten days, Enoch naturally lifted his gaze.
At a short whistle, a pigeon gliding through the air landed on his solid arm.
Three roses, entwined by green vines.
Once again, the carrier pigeon bore around its neck the emblem of House Nobilis.
