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Chapter 12
“Xenia’s meal…….”
“That too, I’ve spoken with the chef and asked for it to be sent up separately.”
“I’m very grateful, Sir Bertrand.”
At the news that Xenia would be able to eat without inconvenience, Amber smiled brightly.
Seeing Amber’s smile, Denis looked surprised. Seeing her lay Xenia down on the bed, he had wondered, but it seemed Amber truly cared for Xenia.
‘Perhaps, with her…….’
Denis looked at Amber and fell into deep thought for a moment.
“Sir Bertrand? Where should I eat?”
“You may go to the dining room.”
Awakening from his thoughts at Amber’s question, Denis answered faithfully.
Amber checked on Xenia’s condition once more and then followed Denis.
“Um, by any chance…….”
Walking down the corridor, Amber remembered something and cautiously opened her mouth.
“I’m not expected to eat with the Dowager Lady, am I?”
“Do not worry.”
As soon as Amber finished her question, Denis shook his head.
“Lady Bella has asked for her lunch to be sent to her room separately.”
Amber noticed that Denis did not call Bella ‘Senior Lady’, but simply ‘Lady Bella’.
‘Are they on bad terms with the knight order?’
She tried to recall how the relationship between Bella and the knight order had been in her past life, but nothing came to mind. Because the knights had rarely been in the castle due to successive subjugations and campaigns.
‘At any rate, I’m relieved I don’t have to eat with Bella.’
Amber sighed in relief.
But her relief vanished as soon as she entered the dining room.
Because inside was a person perhaps even more difficult than Bella, the person she least wanted to face right now.
“……Duchess?”
Calix also looked surprised, as if he hadn’t expected Amber to appear.
Calix had just entered the dining room and was about to sit down.
But the moment he saw Amber, he froze, his hand on the back of the chair, unable to do anything.
Amber was just as flustered as Calix. Because after their sharp exchange in the study, she never thought they would run into each other so soon.
‘I didn’t know we would argue and then have to eat together right away.’
Still harboring resentment toward Calix, Amber unconsciously hardened her expression.
Amber had naturally assumed that Calix would eat with his knights after finishing his meeting.
Because that’s usually how it had been in her past life.
Recalling her past life, where she always had to eat alone, Amber’s eyes grew even colder.
Calix was frozen like a stone statue, not moving an inch, staring blankly into space.
Soon, a cold wind began to blow through the dining room.
The chef and servants who had brought the food stood in the corner of the dining room, watching the moods of their two masters.
Since the Duke and Duchess weren’t sitting down, they couldn’t move either.
In the end, Amber spoke first again.
“Sit down, Duke.”
Amber approached the table with the most composed expression she could muster. But Calix still didn’t budge.
Amber sighed softly and pulled out her own chair.
Just then, Calix’s body flinched violently.
“……Duke?”
Feeling that Calix was acting unusual, Amber turned her head toward him with a puzzled expression.
Calix, looking very tense, was staring back and forth between Amber and the chair she was about to sit in.
“Why are you staring?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
At Calix’s stiff reply, Amber nodded indifferently and sat down.
“Please sit down as well, Duke. The servants don’t know what to do.”
Amber urged him again. Calix pulled out his chair with machine-like, awkward, and stiff movements and sat across from Amber.
The table wasn’t very large, so Amber and Calix could observe each other’s expressions in detail.
“Bring out the food.”
The butler, who had been watching the situation, shrewdly ordered the servants, and the table was soon set.
Salt-cured beef pie, steamed artichokes stuffed with wild mushrooms, currant-studded cross buns, small freshwater fish dredged in grain flour and fried, and colorful jelly sweetened with agave nectar appeared in turn.
Seeing the food laid out on the table, Amber was quite surprised. Because it was a luxurious menu rarely seen in the East.
Though most were salt-cured preserved foods, meat, vegetables, and fish were all served together. And dessert, too.
In the water-scarce East, vegetables and fish were rarer than meat. And desserts were even rarer than that.
It couldn’t compare to the dinners she had enjoyed in the West, but this was a luxurious feast in the East that could rival the Emperor’s table.
The chef, looking proud, filled Amber’s glass with wine.
The chef, having returned to the other side of the table, tilted the wine bottle over Calix’s glass and spoke.
“As you instructed, today we have prepared it in the perfect formal dinner style.”
“……I said I would eat separately.”
Come to think of it, it was no wonder Calix had looked so surprised when Amber entered the dining room. Calix had also intended to eat lunch separately.
But the chef reacted as if he had heard something unexpected.
“Excuse me? But didn’t you yourself say it, Duke? To put special care into today’s lunch. So I naturally thought…….”
As the chef was speaking, Calix glared at him with terrifying eyes. The butler standing beside him also widened his eyes and stepped hard on the chef’s foot.
The chef, his face turning ashen, shut his mouth with a snap.
Calix quickly turned his head to Amber and examined her expression.
Amber said nothing, merely looking back at him.
Even though the pie was getting cold, she didn’t feel like picking up her cutlery.
The news that Calix had tried to eat separately from her was not surprising.
‘But the fact that he tried to eat separately…….’
Amber, flustered, turned her gaze to the luxurious table.
‘Does this mean this feast was for me?’
Even though that was the only way to interpret the situation, she found it hard to believe.
‘Why on earth?’
Why would Calix go to such trouble for her?
‘To keep a promise?’
Amber recalled the conversation she had had with Calix in the barracks at the training ground.
Back then, she had asked him to ‘observe the proper courtesies of marriage.’ And Calix had promised to do so.
‘It’s too much for just that promise.’
The courtesies Amber had mentioned were basic things like greeting each other.
Amber was examining the food with suspicious eyes when Calix spoke.
“Everyone leave.”
He seemed very angry that the chef had not properly understood his orders.
The servants, including the chef, left the dining room with pale faces.
“Table service…….”
“It’s fine, you leave as well.”
The butler, who had remained until the end, cautiously brought up the matter of serving, but Calix flatly rejected his offer.
The butler looked at the Duke and Duchess with worried eyes, then bowed his head and backed out of the dining room.
Silence fell in the dining room, now empty but for the two of them.
“Since it’s been prepared, please eat.”
After a long while, Calix spoke. And he waited silently until Amber picked up her cutlery first.
When Amber didn’t move, Calix sighed and spoke again.
“You also skipped breakfast.”
As he said, Amber was very hungry. Not only had she skipped breakfast this morning, but she hadn’t had a proper meal yesterday either.
Finally, Amber raised her glass and took a sip of wine. Then she split the artichoke in half, dipped a mushroom in the oozing sauce, and put it in her mouth.
The warm, steaming sauce and the sweet aroma of the mushrooms filled her mouth.
The chef’s skill was excellent, and as soon as she took one bite, her appetite immediately returned.
For a very brief moment, Amber forgot that Calix was even in front of her and focused on her meal.
While Amber ate, Calix only drank wine, not touching the food. As he drank, he watched Amber intently with subdued eyes.
Once her stomach was somewhat full, Amber quickly grew uncomfortable with his gaze.
“Why do you stare so intently?”
Like earlier when she was sitting down, Calix seemed determined to make her uncomfortable with his persistent gaze.
“Well…….”
As soon as Amber asked, Calix’s gaze wandered here and there.
“It’s…… nothing.”
What a bland answer. Amber looked at Calix with suspicious eyes, then put down her cutlery.
“Are you finished already?”
Calix asked, surprised.
“I’ve eaten a lot.”
Amber replied, but Calix looked at the half-eaten artichoke and meat pie with an expression of disbelief.
“If the food doesn’t suit your taste…….”
“It’s not that the food doesn’t suit my taste. I’ve eaten more than usual.”
Amber shook her head. Then she raised her wine glass as if to drink, hiding her face.
During the brief moment she tilted the glass and then set it back down, Amber thought deeply.
‘I don’t want to say it. But I suppose I have to?’
Not knowing what Calix was plotting by preparing such a luxurious meal, she was reluctant to say ‘those words’ carelessly. But she couldn’t just pretend not to notice either.
Even though Amber greatly disliked Calix, she didn’t want to act shamelessly.
“Thank you. I know you went to the trouble.”
Calix looked up in surprise. In a calm tone, Amber spoke her honest impression.
“It was truly an excellent meal.”
For an instant, Calix’s face turned bright red.
This time, it wasn’t Amber’s imagination. His face was so red there was no mistaking it.
“Um, Duke? Are you alright? Drinking all that wine on an empty stomach seems to have made you flushed.”
Never dreaming that Calix might be embarrassed, Amber worried about his condition.
“I’m fine.”
Calix answered brusquely, raising his glass and gulping down the wine.
“No, drinking like that will only make you more flushed…….”
Amber murmured, but Calix continued to tilt his glass back.
Surprisingly, the more wine he drank, the more the redness drained from Calix’s face.
‘What a fascinating person.’
Amber silently waited for him to empty the wine bottle.
Finally, completely recovered, Calix let out a long sigh.
Amber cut the jelly prepared for dessert and placed it on her own plate. Then she carefully savored the taste.
Since she hadn’t been able to touch sweet foods for several years before her death in her past life, the jelly tasted exceptionally good.
Swallowing the jelly, Amber smiled faintly, seemingly satisfied.
Calix, holding his empty glass, gazed at Amber’s smile as if bewitched.
