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Grace sat down and carefully studied Benjamin.
“If I hadn’t read the original story, I might have mistaken this for him really liking me.”
Benjamin shyly smiled and pushed all the desserts and cookies toward her.
“Oh, I’m fine with the snacks.”
“Huh?”
“I’m on a diet.”
Grace said that as she took a sip of the coffee in front of her.
It was clearly of such high quality that none of the Americanos she’d drunk in her previous life could compare.
“They say coffee has only just started becoming popular—how can it already be this good?”
Lost in the fragrant aroma of the coffee, Grace didn’t notice Benjamin’s expression change.
“…Is this about that tailor?”
She also failed to catch how his voice had dropped into a deadly calm tone.
Grace, still distracted by the thought that coffee cups really were shaped differently from tea cups, gave a vague reply.
“No, it’s for my health. Being too fat isn’t good. And it doesn’t look great, either.”
“…”
Benjamin fell silent for quite a while at Grace’s casual words.
Then, warmth returned to his voice.
“Come to think of it, that tailor I recommended to you…”
“Oh.”
Grace hurriedly raised her head, wondering if Benjamin was going to question her for kicking the man out.
Benjamin gave the warmest, kindest smile in the world as he spoke.
“I heard his property was confiscated and he was permanently exiled abroad.”
“What?”
“I didn’t know either, but apparently he not only evaded taxes but also stole from the Imperial household. Thank goodness they finally caught him this time.”
“…What?”
“Such a rude man will never again cast even a shadow near your annex, my lady.”
Grace stared at Benjamin blankly, unsure what to make of the situation.
He smiled radiantly.
“Isn’t it fortunate? You’ve always said, my lady, that all evil must be punished according to the law.”
“Y–yes, that’s true…”
“I’m so glad things turned out just as you wished.”
His smile was angelic—truly beautiful and full of affection.
The new tailor Benjamin had brought in was overly polite, to the point of being strange.
The first time he met Grace, he couldn’t even look her in the eye, trembled all over, and was as pale as a corpse. She wondered whether he should be seeing a temple healer instead of making clothes.
“None of the tailors Benjamin brings in are normal.”
She pondered why that was but quickly decided, well—it’s Benjamin Felton, after all.
He spent all day trailing after Aria, so it wasn’t as if he actually paid any real attention to Grace.
She didn’t realize that for a duke to personally find a tailor for his duchess was already a sign of considerable care.
Sally approached with a cheerful smile and took away Grace’s glass.
Lost in thought, Grace noticed Sally’s unusually good mood today.
“You seem to be in a good mood today.”
“It’s about that tailor who got exiled last time.”
“Yeah?”
“They found his body at the border.”
“What?”
“Turns out he was even filthier than we thought. It’s a wonderful day, isn’t it? Since you’re on a diet, Madam, should we celebrate with some beef?”
“…What exactly are we celebrating?”
Grace asked awkwardly, and Sally replied matter-of-factly.
“Why, the removal of an unnecessary source of wasted energy from this world, of course! The world should be filled with precious and beautiful things, shouldn’t it?”
Grace’s face stiffened awkwardly, and Sally gasped, covering her mouth.
“M–Madam, you don’t like this kind of talk. I’m so sorry. I hope I haven’t made you uncomfortable…”
“N–no.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not having nightmares, losing your appetite because you suddenly think of him while eating, feeling your heart drop unexpectedly, or being reminded of him every time you see a dress, right?”
“N–no, I’m not.”
Grace gave Sally a dry look.
“Do they think I’m made of sugar sculptures or something?”
Or maybe a soap bubble. Otherwise, why would she be so nervously tiptoeing around?
“Is it because they pity me?”
Ah. That must be it.
Grace concluded.
“Well, I did marry Benjamin not of my own will.”
The marriage had been arranged by the Imperial family to keep the Felton Dukedom in check.
Just as Benjamin had no say in it, neither did Grace.
And yet, here she was—the duchess who had hidden away in the annex after the wedding and had not once fulfilled her marital duties.
A woman who was neither outstanding nor oblivious to that fact, but kind to everyone—that kind of person easily inspired pity.
And that woman was known, in other words, as Grace Felton.
Well—before the transmigration, anyway.
The current Grace was not nearly as nice as the old one.
“Madam, are you going out again today?”
“Yes. At least for a walk.”
Grace stood up, her body lighter than before.
The new tailor had made her a dress with far fewer accessories and lace frills—optimized for movement.
“I can’t exercise properly yet with this heavy body.”
She didn’t want to risk injury by overexerting herself. She knew that once a joint went bad, the body became more vulnerable to further injury.
So she dressed simply and put on comfortable shoes.
The new tailor had even suggested shoe designs but didn’t ask why a duchess would order such practical footwear.
Most would have, but he hadn’t.
Grace didn’t question it either; she liked things that way.
Right now, Grace had only one question:
“Why is Benjamin always outside whenever I go for a walk?”
“Oh, Madam, we meet again. What a coincidence.”
“Are you out for a walk as well, Your Grace?”
“Yes. The weather’s been lovely lately.”
Grace normally walked at a fixed time.
Benjamin hadn’t appeared on the first day. But from the second day onward, he was always there.
She changed her walking time, but he kept appearing anyway.
He always insisted with a bright smile that it was “coincidence.”
And since he kept saying so, and because she reasoned that a busy, noble duke wouldn’t have that much free time, she decided to accept it as coincidence.
Above all, if it wasn’t a coincidence, then the question became—
“Why on earth would he be walking with me?”
—which Grace found far less convincing.
“I was thinking of planting new saplings in the garden. You liked peaches, didn’t you, Madam? How about a peach tree?”
“Ah…”
“Oh, do you not like peaches anymore?”
“No. If you give me some, I’ll eat them.”
If given, she’ll eat them.
Benjamin’s face visibly fell at her phrasing.
“But peach tarts sound nice.”
His face brightened again.
“Though I can’t eat them now since I’m dieting.”
His face darkened once more.
“Then… do you have a favorite flower?”
“I like flowers, but I don’t really know their names. I can’t tell them apart.”
Not that it mattered—Grace had no intention of becoming a gardener.
Nor did she have any interest in some rom-com prologue where she’d run a flower shop in a quiet countryside after a divorce, only to meet someone mysterious who hides his true identity.
“I see. I hadn’t considered that.”
Busy planning her post-divorce life, Grace didn’t notice Benjamin muttering seriously to himself.
The servants who watched them, however, were ready to explode in frustration.
They might not have understood exactly what each of them was thinking, but it was painfully clear that the two were on completely different wavelengths.
⋆★⋆
“Oh.”
“What is it, Madam?”
“Look at this, Sally. This blouse—I’ve had it for ages, but doesn’t it feel looser now?”
Grace pointed at the blouse she was wearing and laughed.
It definitely fit more loosely than before.
“I must have lost some weight. See? Just controlling my diet works.”
Of course, with her figure, dietary control alone could shed weight easily—but once she lost a certain amount, she’d need more intense exercise than walking to continue.
Sally beamed at seeing Grace smile more brightly than ever.
“Once I lose about seven or eight kilos, I’ll ask for a divorce.”
Sally could smile warmly only because she didn’t know what Grace was really thinking.
“Are you going for a walk again today?”
“If I skip once, I’ll just want to keep skipping after that.”
Keeping up a daily routine was always hard.
Once you skip a day, it becomes two, three… and then you stop altogether.
“And then the divorce plan gets delayed.”
Yeah, that wasn’t an option.
Grace nodded firmly.
From Benjamin’s perspective, he must be dying to flirt openly with Aria.
Sure, there was a time when Benjamin was exactly her type—but the moment she learned that he’d used his wife to win Aria’s favor, any affection she’d had for him didn’t just dry up; it tunneled straight into the ground.
“And that wife was me.”
And that wife died of some mysterious illness.
“Damn it.”
Once again, Grace’s only thought for the day was how she needed to get divorced as soon as possible.
