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Chapter 09
“What?”
Zachary looked like he was about to protest, but Yurita quickly turned back toward the Emperor.
“I would like to show my abilities for the first time as the Duchess. I plan to hold a grand banquet, and I would be grateful if Your Majesty could attend and honor us with your presence, if possible.”
“Haha! The Duchess makes decisions decisively. Very well, if my schedule allows it, I shall attend with the Empress. What do you think, Empress?”
“I would be delighted as well. It’s the first banquet the Killaster Ducal House has held in decades. This is wonderful news that will bring life back into high society.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
The sound of Zachary dropping his fork with a clatter rang out.
Yurita merely turned her head and looked at him again.
“This is wonderful, ‘dear husband,’ isn’t it? Hehe.”
“Y-you…!”
Zachary could see the mischievous smile on Yurita’s face. Before he could even finish shouting, he grabbed the back of his neck in frustration.
“How were they, Your Majesty? The Duke and Duchess of Killaster?”
After the tea gathering in the greenhouse ended, the Empress asked the Emperor.
“It was a good thing we got them married. Zachary seems completely unable to stand up to his bride.”
“She seems like a clever woman. I never thought the Duke would listen to anyone.”
“It was an experiment, and we hit the jackpot. As long as she wasn’t the daughter of some powerful family, any noble lady would have done. It seems Duchess Yurita has quite the personality herself.”
The Emperor laughed heartily as he drank the rest of his tea.
“Do you think their marriage will continue to distract Duke Zachary? As you said, the Duchess isn’t from a powerful family, so she won’t strengthen the Killaster House politically.”
“Well, we’ll have to wait and see. As long as he doesn’t start coveting the throne, Zachary is too valuable to throw away.”
“I’ll be hosting a tea time with the young noble ladies soon. I’ll use that opportunity to learn more about the Duchess.”
“As expected, the Empress is wise.”
The Emperor set down his empty teacup with a clink.
A few days later.
Every servant in the Killaster mansion suddenly became extremely busy.
The new Duchess had ordered preparations for a banquet.
It had been decades since the last one. There were indoor flower arrangements to prepare, ingredients for party dishes to gather, and countless other tasks.
Even the butler and head maid had forgotten the proper procedures for organizing a banquet and were struggling.
“So she’s really going through with it. And it’s even a banquet with a concept no one’s ever heard of.”
Butler Toby sighed as he recalled Yurita’s requests. He had just instructed the servants to buy a huge pile of pumpkins from the market.
“I’m worried this might drive the two of them even further apart.”
Though he said that, oddly enough, he wasn’t that worried.
Duke Zachary was notoriously fierce and prickly, but Duchess Yurita somehow didn’t seem any less formidable.
‘And considering she actually shouted “puppy”… at the master…’
She was definitely not an easy woman.
‘Could it be that the household has finally gained a mistress capable of taking control?’
For the first time in forty years as a butler, Toby felt an inexplicable excitement as he looked around the gradually changing mansion.
Meanwhile, Yurita sat at a table in the drawing room, writing invitations for the banquet.
A huge stack had already accumulated. It looked as though she intended to invite everyone in town.
‘The more people, the better.’
That way Zachary would suffer even more.
Didn’t he say he hated crowded parties? Then she’d invite even more people. Yurita secretly smiled to herself.
The original novel’s heroine and male lead would also attend this party. Zachary and the male lead, who fought like sworn enemies over the heroine, meeting in one place—it would certainly be entertaining.
‘And I’ll just sit back and watch the fire from across the river. Hehe.’
“Hey, why are you inviting so many people?”
At that moment, a rough voice sounded right behind her. When Yurita turned around, Zachary was leaning one hand on the table, standing close behind her.
“Did you come to help me write invitations?”
“As if.”
Snorting, Zachary picked up the stack of invitations beside her and flipped through them one by one.
“The Moran Marquis family, the Smith Count family… huh? Even that annoying Middleton Viscount family? Hey, are you planning to invite every person I’m on bad terms with?”
“Oh my, was that the case? I had no idea.”
As Yurita feigned innocence, Zachary frowned.
“You said you’d get revenge on me. Is this your idea of revenge?”
“You feel like you’re being avenged over just this much?”
“Hah! Says who?”
‘His pride really is enormous.’
Even though he looked dissatisfied, perhaps because of the promise made in front of the Emperor, Zachary didn’t interfere any further.
‘Hmph, he’d better not mess with me this time.’
Thinking that, Yurita wrote another name on the invitation she was currently working on.
‘Fernando Killaster.’
“Since you’re already here, could you tell me the names of your other relatives? They probably can’t come all the way to the capital, but I should still send invitations.”
“Huh? Why invite those people?!”
“What do you mean why? For the banquet.”
“Tch. Why would I know the names of relatives?”
“Forget it. I was stupid for asking you. I’ll just ask Toby later.”
Yurita was about to put down her ink pen when—
Zachary suddenly snatched the invitation she had just written.
“Hey, give that back!”
After reading the name on the invitation, Zachary’s brow visibly furrowed.
“Don’t send an invitation to Fernando.”
“What? Why? He’s your cousin.”
“If you don’t want to regret it, just do as I say.”
Zachary answered while meeting Yurita’s eyes directly.
‘What’s with him all of a sudden?’
He was usually completely self-centered, but his tone now was strangely calm. And beneath that calmness was a clear warning about Fernando.
“…Then what about the other relatives?”
“That’s for you to decide, ‘Duchess.’”
After deliberately emphasizing her title, Zachary walked away carrying Fernando’s invitation.
‘Does he not get along with Fernando?’
It was the first time Yurita had seen Zachary look so serious.
She had only written the name because she remembered a minor supporting character from the original novel. Fernando barely had any role at all—he was one of the unfortunate people Zachary eventually killed.
Then again, the Killaster family had been written as outright villains, so there was a high chance all their relatives were strange too.
‘I kind of want to invite Fernando just to annoy Zachary.’
But that serious tone from Zachary was rare. He had genuinely been warning her about Fernando.
‘…It’s not like I actually want to listen to him.’
It was just that the invitations had already exceeded one hundred, and she had to consider how many people the mansion could hold.
Even as Yurita finished preparing the invitations, she did not write Fernando’s name again.
‘Oh no, what time is it? I have to go to the tea gathering.’
Today was the ladies-only tea party the Empress had mentioned.
Leaving the task of sending the invitations to Toby, Yurita hurried into a carriage and headed for the Imperial Palace.
The carriage stopped in front of the Empress’s palace, and just as Yurita stepped out—
She heard the laughter of young noble ladies chirping like larks nearby.
‘Those must be the other ladies invited to today’s tea party.’
All of them were dressed brightly in shades of pink and yellow.
Then Yurita noticed a graceful woman walking at the very back.
Soft brown hair, moist green eyes that looked as if teardrops might gather in them at any moment. A fragile beauty that made people want to protect her.
Yurita recognized her immediately from her appearance alone.
‘That’s Helena, the original heroine.’
At that moment, Helena’s eyes met Yurita’s. Helena’s gaze shifted toward the emblem on Yurita’s carriage, and after barely concealing her startled expression, she climbed the stairs.
‘Was she surprised by the Killaster family crest?’
Yurita stared at Helena thoughtfully, her feelings slightly complicated.
‘Zachary probably already likes Helena. In the original story, he falls in love with her at first sight after she spills coffee on his shirt.’
Their marriage was merely obligatory, but it still felt strange to already know the woman her husband would eventually cheat on her with.
Trying to shake off the feeling, Yurita shook her head and walked toward the Empress’s palace.
“Duchess Killaster, it’s wonderful to finally meet you in person after hearing only rumors.”
“I heard the wedding was held in a hurry? It’s a shame we weren’t invited.”
The Empress and the noble ladies sat gathered in the greenhouse. As expected, their main topic of interest was Yurita, who had recently married.
After all, she was the woman who had married the infamous Duke Killaster, despite coming from a completely unknown, fallen noble family.
The ladies’ curiosity toward Yurita held both sympathy and envy.
Among them, Lady Nora—whose envy concealed malice—posed a question to Yurita.
“But were there even any families invited to the Duchess’s wedding?”
