At the End of Ruin, There You Are - Chapter 33

The duchess’s maids were unusually busy from the morning.

“How about this?”

Kaella smiled weakly at the question.

“Anything is fine.”

Truly, anything was fine, but the maids were determined not to let today pass idly. They were more cautious than the Lucenford patrol scouts guarding the border, and more meticulous than the knights protecting the Soleil Palace where the emperor resides.

“How can it be fine! You’ll be seeing those nasty nobles again! You must show the dignity of the Austine princess!”

It was a meeting with the northern noblewomen after the duchess had recovered from nearly dying at the welcome banquet. The maids were greatly shocked by the frivolous and tough demeanor shown by the northern nobles at the welcome banquet.

Their first impression was so firmly imprinted that the maids thought all northern nobles were like that, and thus put great effort into adorning the duchess. It’s the most basic social formula.

The more enemies, the more lavishly one should arm oneself with adornments.

“This sky blue really suits your eye color, Your Highness.”

“This vivid blue is pretty too.”

This was the first time Kaella had so many jewels as the Duchess of Lucenford.

She had received many as gifts from foreign envoys when she married, and besides the jewels she had as the Austine princess, she also brought all the jewels of her mother, who was the Duchess of Austine.

These were all things that were taken away last time when her father passed away so helplessly during her previous marriage. She quickly packed them all when her father told her to take everything. At least if they were in her hands, even if she lost her title later, the jewels would remain.

The bride who had been scorned for being too poor and shabby had become tremendously wealthy. Should she consider herself fortunate to have the ample wealth her father had separately provided, in addition to the jewels?

‘That can’t be right.’

Kaella had already begun her life as the Duchess of Lucenford by collapsing after eating perenko. In this place where weakness is a sin and not being able to eat what others eat is even less understandable, she would forever be an outsider who could not blend in.

Before dying, she had tried desperately to gain acceptance through fierce effort, but during her confinement she learned that effort alone was not enough.

This time, she lacked even the motivation for such efforts, so wouldn’t she just be recorded in history as ‘the duchess who failed to adapt to Lucenford’? No, everything would end before she could even be recorded.

“What’s wrong, Your Highness? Your complexion doesn’t look good.”

The gazes of the Lucenford nobles looking at her were full of contempt and blame. Recalling those characteristic looks that would ease slightly only after Kaella constantly proved herself, but soon return to normal, she felt suffocated again.

“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

Just as the maids were all dropping what they were doing and rushing to Kaella, there was a knock on the door. The maid who went out beyond the screen opened the door.

“Excuse me. Your Highness, the time has already come. You must go out now.”

With no lady-in-waiting present, the butler appeared.

“What are you saying? There’s still plenty of time. She hasn’t even finished dressing yet.”

“In Lucenford, punctuality is most important. As this is an event hosted by Your Highness, you should go out first to greet the arriving guests.”

“What? Where is there such a rule? The people coming now are coming to pay their respects to Her Highness!”

“It would be better to watch your words, as those coming are at least of higher status than you. Your Highness, please hurry. You’re already very late.”

See? Nothing has changed. There were more than a few here who cast cold glares at Kaella, who claimed to be Peon’s parent or guardian and was usurping Beatrice Lavalle’s position.

“Her Highness is not in good health. The doctor also said to be careful, so she should move slowly.”

Cecil, who had held back once, spoke deliberately.

“Even so, you shouldn’t ignore Lucenford’s customs. The host must greet arriving guests in advance.”

“Since when did Lucenford have such a custom?”

A low voice echoed in the corridor built of cold stone. Kaella, who had been motionless until then, flinched for the first time. The Grand Duke, who had walked in with heavy steps, passed by the butler and entered.

“It’s cold. Close the door.”

When he entered, wearing a cloak with black fur on the collar, the spacious room felt completely filled.

Kaella reluctantly rose from her seat. Peon immediately stopped her.

“No, please remain seated. I didn’t come to disturb you.”

Not ‘sit down’, but ‘please remain seated’. The butler was greatly surprised to realize that the Grand Duke was using the highest honorifics towards the Grand Duchess.

“Since when did it become Lucenford’s custom for the host to greet guests, Rolf?”

Gesturing to the maids to quickly attend to the Grand Duchess, Peon turned towards the butler.

“I’ve been here for about 20 years, but I’ve never heard of such a custom.”

“That is, among the noble ladies…”

“Even if such a thing exists, local customs do not supersede imperial law.”

If the Grand Duchess goes out first to greet the northern noblewomen, that’s exactly where she starts to be looked down upon. Is Kaella in a position to greet rather than receive greetings? The reason why the butler was telling the young Grand Duchess to make a good impression on the noblewomen was obvious.

“You know very well about the hierarchy of status.”

That’s why you taught the maid to ‘be careful with your words about noblewomen of higher status than you’, right?

“It seems unnecessary to recite the Grand Duchess’s status here.”

The maids kept glancing at the Grand Duke even as they touched up Kaella’s hair.

The atmosphere emanating from his entire body overwhelmed everyone present. Even the butler, who was tall and sturdy with a typical Lucenford male build, was completely subdued and couldn’t say a word.

“If you really want to express that Lucenford Castle welcomes guests, it would be better for you to go out now and greet them.”

Peon looked down at the butler. He didn’t need to say anything more about showing respect to the Grand Duchess. If a moment came when that needed to be said, the butler would have to step down from his position.

“Yes, yes!”

The butler barely answered with a trembling voice and quickly turned to leave.

While everyone was holding their breath and watching the Grand Duke’s mood, only Kaella did not change her expression. She was very familiar with this heavy and suffocating atmosphere.

She also knew well how the butler must be feeling. When Peon set his mind to it, he could speak in a way that made the listener feel utterly humiliated. Even so, that was considerably toned down for the butler.

‘…No, could it be that the butler has already fallen out of favor? That can’t be…’

Peon spoke more to people he cherished, and said nothing beyond what was necessary to those he didn’t care about.

Clearly, butler Rolf was someone who prided himself on having raised Peon, so he should have been soothed and persuaded more gently. But this time too, Peon ruthlessly pushed him away.

As Kaella was lost in thought, finding it very strange, Peon spoke first.

“…I apologize. I have nothing but apologies to offer you. I’ll have to ask you to take care of internal reorganization.”

‘Internal reorganization’. It means he’ll dismiss even Rolf. And telling Kaella to ‘reorganize’ directly made her eyelashes flutter.

“How could I interfere with what Your Highness governs? I cannot do that.”

“It’s shameful that this is the state of things under my management.”

Peon answered, gritting his teeth. Then, seeing that Kaella seemed to be watching his mood, he quickly concealed his expression.

“Please change things as you like. From now on, this is your domain to look after.”

By then the dressing was finished and the maids hurriedly withdrew. Peon approached Kaella before she could stand up. Kaella looked at the mirror reflecting his figure. The mirror, well-polished by the maids, was spotless.

Unlike the Grand Duchess’s bedroom before she died, which always had areas insufficiently cleaned here and there, this place was thoroughly swept and polished to a shine in every corner.

With the head maid gone, the maids were excessively attentive to the Grand Duchess’s mood.

“Of course, please take your time, within limits that don’t harm your health.”

He gestured behind him. At the tip of his moving finger, Lord Wilberk quietly approached and opened the box he had brought, respectfully presenting it.

“Oh my!”

“Oh goodness!”

My word. The inside of the box sparkled so magnificently that even the maids from Austine, where gold was said to flood in, couldn’t help but exclaim and be amazed.

“I prepared this thinking it would match the ring. Fortunately, it was crafted quickly.”

The necklace lifted by Peon’s gloved hand was extremely heavy.

The necklace almost completely covered Kaella’s neck and collarbone, which had been bare before. It was so splendid that it dazzlingly reflected the light, nearly blinding to look at.

Kaella’s lips quivered in surprise at the size of the diamond set in the center. Before she could speak, Peon put the necklace on her and spoke first.

“I’ve heard that a wife’s dignity is established by her husband.”

Usually it’s known to be the opposite, but no one in that room dared to say the Grand Duke’s words were wrong.

“It’s something I’ve never done before, so I’m worried my clumsiness might embarrass you.”

It was an excessively humble statement. One might wonder if the Grand Duke of Lucenford should bow his head like that to his already married wife, but in fact he did.

Peon knew best that he, a mere Grand Duke of Lucenford, the empress’s illegitimate child, less than a mongrel, could never dare to marry Kaella, the Princess of Austine.

If the emperor, coveting the fertile Austine, hadn’t disguised the assassination of his younger brother as a hunting accident, cunningly taken away all the territory and titles, and then pushed Kaella to the north to keep Peon in check, she would have been a precious lady he couldn’t even dare to look at.

An puppet doll who had lost everything suddenly fell to him, who was desperately struggling to survive every day. The doll was very unhappy.

Even after returning, the fact that the two of them married again by coincidence was so shocking to Peon that he was left speechless, and utterly humiliating for the Austine princess.

To think that the former emperor’s granddaughter, who could have married any foreign prince, would marry a mere illegitimate child. From Kaella’s perspective, she must want to die.

“Why is this…”

“It’s the raw gem I showed you before we married. Do you not like it?”

“But I just received new ones recently.”

When she spoke carefully in a small voice, Peon bent down a little more. As the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess drew closer, the knights and maids knowingly retreated far back.

“Didn’t I say that all twelve raw gems I showed you then were yours?”

The voice whispering quietly by her ear was so gentle it was hard to believe it was Peon’s. That’s why Kaella continued to feel only fear.

Why does he keep being nice? Surely he must hate her for not being able to marry Beatrice Lavalle. He should. That would make sense.

“It seems I’ll have to keep giving you gifts until you get used to it. If I keep giving them until you’re tired of them, will you eventually accept them as a matter of course?”

Kaella stared with frozen eyes at Peon smiling kindly in the mirror.

Why is this person acting like this?

Everything was slightly off from what Kaella knew. No, it had been off for a while now.

Is this another trap?

Peon, who had long endured the emperor’s oppression and insults that drained people’s blood, was no pushover either.

His remarkable mental strength and bold decisiveness, and above all, his outstanding martial arts and leadership skills gained from struggling for survival in a harsh environment, made him the hegemon of the north.

If he had more time, he surely would have defeated the emperor. The emperor must have rushed to deal with him because he knew that.

In any case, why would such an impressive man be so gentle and kind to the shabby and inadequate Kaella?

He wouldn’t act like this without reason. There must be a purpose.

“We’re just starting, so what should I do if you keep refusing? We can’t undo the marriage either.”

Peon spoke calmly as he personally finished the dressing that the maids had left incomplete.

When he tried to put on her earrings himself, Kaella hurriedly picked them up to do it herself, while he took care of her just as he used to attend to Beatrice’s whims occasionally in his boyhood.

“I can do it myself…”

“It’s all done.”

Those words weren’t meant to cut her off, but rather sounded like an older brother soothing a whining little sister, saying ‘It’s all done, just be patient a little longer.’

It’s said that husbands who love their wives or men trying to please their mistresses know how to adjust a lady’s attire a bit, but Kaella didn’t know Peon could do that. Or more precisely, she didn’t know Peon would take care of Kaella like that.

So she just watched, stiff and frozen, as he gently draped a white fur over her shoulders.

Well, how well men can express love, our Your Highness wouldn’t know, right?

When she was still struggling to hold onto her position as the Duchess of Lucenford, Beatrice Lavalle’s words, spoken with a fluttering fan and only her eyes visible, smiling sweetly while scratching at her insides, were still vivid.

That’s right. Kaella really didn’t know anything about such things, and was always the one who devoted herself and did things for others instead.

So, she really doesn’t understand why this man is acting like this. There must be a purpose, she needs to figure it out…

‘No, I’ll just die and that’s it. That’s all I know how to do anyway.’

Kaella forcibly erased her useless worries and fears as she took Peon’s outstretched hand and rose from her seat.

“I don’t know how to thank you…”

The necklace that felt so heavy must boast an enormous price. It could easily buy a castle or so. As Kaella fingered the necklace and awkwardly began to express her thanks,

“That’s enough.”

Peon, who had been checking if the Grand Duchess was well-wrapped in the warm new fur, cut off her thanks abruptly.

“Just that much is enough.”

“How to thank you?”

Peon smiled freshly at Kaella’s dazed repetition.

“‘Thank you.'”

It was the image of a boy laughing excitedly, just as he was before being dragged to Lucenford. His purple eyes were full of vitality, his smile brimming with pure joy. It was impossible to attribute any deception or ulterior motives to that face.

“Shall we go? Today, I’ll escort you.”

If a respectful husband appears at the ladies’ gathering to escort his wife, that wife’s status would soar to the heavens. What Kaella had so desperately wished for before her death was now unfolding as reality.

She walks through the cold, chill-filled corridors of Lucenford Castle, which she always used to traverse alone and trembling, now surrounded flawlessly by maids and knights, with Peon by her side.

She didn’t cry or rejoice with emotion. Because she knew well that all of this was futile and empty.

As she walked, absentmindedly staring at the stone-built ceiling, she failed to notice the occasional glances cast her way. Those glances wavered with great unease.