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Chapter 21
The Grand Duchess’s postscript was nothing special. It was something any mother could easily say.
[P.S.]
Come to think of it, I told Clémen that she could call me Mother.
It turns out Clémen is two years older than you. She must have been lonely all by herself, so I hope the two of you can become like siblings—an older sister and younger brother—and get along like family.
And yet—
Why did these few insignificant lines make Zephyrus uncomfortable?
Especially the words siblings and younger brother. He didn’t like them.
“A younger brother…?”
Clémen already called him Master, yet she treated him like she was taking care of a child.
If she started thinking of him as her younger brother too, he felt like he might regret it in the future.
He didn’t know why—but he was certain of it.
And now they were holding hands?
Didn’t it look like a little child holding a guardian’s hand while learning to walk?
He needed to make it clear that he wasn’t a child.
Of course, there might be a better method than hugging her like this.
But one thing was certain for now.
The sense of stability he felt was greater than the embarrassment he felt.
Zephyrus tightened his arms around Clémen.
“Master, are you trying to compete in strength with me? I’m going to win.”
“……”
He suddenly remembered the time he had once been sent flying.
“I should start exercising.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“But I don’t know how.”
“Are you asking me to do it with you? I’ve never exercised indoors either.”
“Then let’s figure it out together.”
“I’ll ask the knights.”
Zephyrus paused, then growled,
“No. Don’t.”
“Why not? Aren’t knights the best when it comes to physical training?”
“I’ll figure it out myself. Don’t ask them.”
Clémen wrinkled the bridge of her nose, trying to understand his reasoning, then replied,
“Alright. Do it your way.”
With that, silence settled over them.
Scratch, scratch—
The sound of Zephyrus moving his fountain pen lazily filled the room.
As time passed, the stiffness in their bodies eased.
Their touching bodies felt warm and cool at the same time.
A refreshing sensation.
She had briefly thought this when she hugged him earlier to comfort him, but this feeling—
It was like seeing a misaligned piece finally fall back into place.
Without realizing it, Clémen leaned back against him and closed her eyes.
This is comfortable.
Twitch.
The only downside was that the chair kept jerking slightly as if it might bounce.
Still—
It was a peaceful day.
**
In a dark room, a single candle was the only source of light.
Two women stood facing each other, barely able to see one another’s faces as they began to speak.
“Zephyrus asked me to assign a room for Clémen.”
“So he wants to stay with her all the time.”
“It’s a good thing. Zephyrus is trying hard to come out of his room, but we all know…”
It wasn’t easy.
Although it looked like Zephyrus was progressing quickly, they knew appearances weren’t everything.
The real challenge would be when he stepped outside the door—
And faced people other than Clémen.
“Grand Duchess, do you intend to keep Clémen by His Highness’s side?”
“I’m even considering her as my daughter-in-law.”
“…Daughter-in-law? But His Highness is already engaged. There will probably be strong opposition.”
“The engagement has only not been formally broken yet. In truth, that relationship is already over.”
She sighed slightly.
“I do feel a little sorry, but once His Highness begins properly carrying out his duties, we can simply repay what we received from them.”
The engagement had dragged on far longer than necessary because of the food supply issue.
Since Clémen’s method didn’t remove the curse but merely controlled it, Zephyrus still wouldn’t even be able to hold hands with an ordinary person.
“And opposition? Among the vassals, the only one with the right to oppose would be Rosia.”
“But…”
“Hah. Sie. Let’s talk about pleasant things.”
Then Raysi chuckled softly.
“Well… in truth…”
“If we overcome that opposition and obtain something precious, won’t we value it even more?”
She was fully prepared to overcome the inevitable resistance and bring Clémen in as the Grand Duchess.
For Zephyrus—
His love would have to begin there.
Raysi Frouina.
The wife of the former Grand Duke and mother of Zephyrus.
She had once ruled the Grand Duchy as regent until her son could inherit the title.
Now she served as the Grand Duchess, assisting him.
The strongest female knight of the North, who had fought for and won her own love.
Sie groaned softly under the force of her presence.
“Oh dear. Sorry about that. Where were we?”
“You said you were considering Clémen as your daughter-in-law.”
“Right. My son won’t be difficult. I think he’s already fallen deeply for her.”
“His Highness?”
“Yes. It’s not that hard to understand.”
“Setting aside the fact that Clémen is pretty and lovable—she’s the first person who has ever shown him warmth.”
Raysi gave a bitter smile.
Where had Zephyrus’s curse even come from?
Whenever she thought about her son growing up alone behind locked doors, her heart felt like it might break—even in death.
“So I gave things a little push.”
Knight Raysi had sharp instincts.
She could read someone’s heart faster than they could themselves.
“I put a request in the letter that Zephyrus would absolutely hate.”
“For some reason, he’ll hate it a lot. It’ll probably make him want to do the exact opposite.”
At that childish scheme, Sie burst out laughing.
“I hope things go just as you wish, Grand Duchess.”
“Indeed.”
But the most important thing wasn’t Zephyrus’s feelings.
It was Clémen’s.
“Even if Zephyrus’s efforts aren’t returned, someone still needs to remain beside him.”
“I simply hope that person will be Clémen.”
“I understand, Grand Duchess. Then shall we place Clémen’s room next to His Highness’s?”
“That’s a good idea. If they’re together morning, evening, and night, feelings will naturally grow.”
“With His Highness’s appearance, any woman would fall for him.”
At Sie’s compliment, Raysi smiled proudly.
“Of course. He’s the child of me and my husband.”
Not just his appearance.
When he was young, he had been so intelligent and kind.
Raysi began proudly telling stories about her son.
Even though Sie had heard them more than a hundred times, she always reacted as if hearing them for the first time.
After all—
Listening to stories about the child she hadn’t been able to see for ten years wasn’t painful.
“Come to think of it, he really grew up with the same face he had as a child. He grew up even better than I imagined.”
And when she saw him smiling like this, it felt like all her exhaustion disappeared.
Sie also carefully told Raysi everything Zephyrus had done while she had been unconscious.
Their laughter showed no sign of fading.
**
A fair amount of time had passed since Clémen entered the room assigned to her.
At first, when she heard it was the room next to Zephyrus’s, she wondered if it was correct.
It was even far too large to be a maid’s room, so she had asked whether there had been a mistake.
But they explained that since she was Zephyrus’s personal maid, she needed to serve him at any time, so they had assigned the room next to his.
After hearing that, she set aside her doubts and moved in happily.
It’s still huge…
The room looked like one room, but it actually wasn’t.
When she opened the door from the hallway, there was an office-like room, just like Zephyrus’s.
Beyond that were several hidden rooms in a row.
Bathroom.
Dressing room.
Library.
Bedroom.
That’s when I realized Master’s room must have a similar layout.
Even so, she had thought his room looked too small for the ruler of a territory.
Since he was the Grand Duke, she assumed his real room must be far larger.
But since she couldn’t ask to tour his room, guessing was the only thing she could do.
Clémen opened the wardrobe.
Compared to its size, there were very few clothes inside.
Three maid uniforms from the Grand Ducal household.
One outfit Ruby had given her.
And the clothes she had arrived in.
Scratching her cheek awkwardly, she changed clothes.
Since she was now a personal maid, the outfit looked more like a dress than what she previously wore.
It was the Northern style dress.
Completely covering from neck to hands.
Very suffocating.
Clémen boldly tore open the neckline.
Perhaps because the people of the Grand Duchy knew about her constitution, no one said anything about her clothing.
Even if they had, she wouldn’t have cared.
But it still felt nice to be understood.
She picked up a random book from the study and stepped out of her room.
Her workplace was right next door, which made commuting convenient.
Tap tap tap.
Whoosh!
Clémen, on her way to Zephyrus’s room, suddenly turned around at a suspicious sound.
There was nothing there.
…What was that?
She was certain she had heard a faint noise.
Did a mountain rabbit wander in?
Or something else?
“Clémen.”
While she was on full alert, Zephyrus’s voice called out.
“Yes, I’m coming in.”
Maybe she imagined it.
Click.
The door opened and closed.
“Definitely.”
“Mmm.”
“We’re the ones who’ll get it. Understood?”
The hallway floor and walls rippled as if moving, then quickly returned to normal.
