The Grand Duke had fortunately stopped breaking the furniture, but by then there were already so many broken pieces that it was impossible to replace just one piece.

For example, in the Grand Duchess’s bedroom, which was a chaotic mixture of terrible bright pink, green, and faded golden colors, removing only the bright pink curtains, sofa and bed would not make the bedroom look any better.

At this point, it would be cheaper to replace everything moderately.

“The inspector is coming, but do we need the head maid? We are preparing for spring planting and are very short-handed, and if we start the kitchen renovations too…!”

The butler pleaded with Peon, but Peon gently calmed him down.

“The Grand Duchess has now risen from her seat and started working. The prices of the furniture she has chosen are reasonable and of outstanding quality.”

“Yes, she has recruited a good carpenter.”

Even the butler had to admit that. While he was so preoccupied that he couldn’t even pay attention to it, the Grand Duchess had somehow quickly called a good carpenter and was ordering furniture.

“Since it has come to this, let’s have the Duchess be in charge of decorating the castle. You focus on the spring planting and entertaining the inspector. We should divide the work.”

This was not what the butler wanted. He hoped that a head maid who could be manipulated at will would be quickly appointed, but instead the Grand Duke was separating and dividing the authority from him.

“You have to think about your health too. If you want to work for a long time, you can’t do many things all by yourself anymore. Accidents are common during the thawing season, aren’t they?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“So from now on, gradually hand things over. Manage your health first so we can be together for a long, long time.”

But for the usually stoic Grand Duke to say such things! The butler, Rolf Anderson, had worked as a butler for over twenty years and knew that the very taciturn Grand Duke had a kind heart, but he was moved to tears that he would even say such things.

Together for a long, long time, that was exactly what he wanted, and he was very happy that his feelings were understood.

“How about postponing the kitchen renovation, Your Highness?”

“That won’t do. It’s better to show the inspector that we are taking the Duchess’s collapse seriously enough to redo the kitchen.”

“Ah! I see!”

The butler had a big realization. Yes! The Emperor’s whip is enough just by its existence, so it’s a different story to show that Lucenport is upright anyway. He also had to prepare diligently for that.

He had been so focused on using shock therapy on the Grand Duke that he had missed something important.

“We should thoroughly show the renovation in progress.”

“It would be better if the inspector comes in the midst of busy work.”

Peon nodded.

“I will personally oversee the renovation, so don’t worry too much and continue as you have been. I have no intention of putting a big burden on you either.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. But I’m still going strong.”

“I know. But this is not a good time to overdo it. Be careful, and leave the tasks for the Duchess here.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I will do so. Thank you for taking care of me.”

Peon quietly looked at the tasks the butler left behind. Little by little, without them knowing, swept up by the situation or captivated by kind words, they would voluntarily relinquish their rights, which would all return to Kaella.

*

Once you’ve done something before, it becomes familiar. If you did your best and poured all your energy into it the first time, the next time you can work more skillfully while saving your strength.

The work of selecting materials and ordering furniture from the carpenters and furniture craftsmen that Kaella had carefully observed while shamelessly walking around the Lucenport grounds was done very quickly. Then the work was roughly done. Isn’t that right?

“It’s all done already?”

“Yes.”

Kaella nodded to Peon.

“There is one furniture craftsman in charge of my bedroom and Your Highness’s bedroom, and another furniture craftsman in charge of the study. The two of them will work well together to ensure harmony between the three rooms.”

Such things had to be reported accurately and then withdrawn to avoid any trouble later. Peon, who was watching Kaella report more perfectly than even the secretary Lezen, replied slowly.

“It is fortunate from the perspective of the requester, but please do not overdo it, Duchess. I am asking you to do this because it is also within your authority.”

He paused for a moment.

“It was only with the hope that you would have something to do to keep you from being bored while recovering.”

Moreover, he wished for the Grand Duchess’s bedroom to be decorated to Kaella’s taste. It was too much to force an unwanted marriage and have the bedroom in such a state.

“I’m not overdoing it. Choosing furniture is an enjoyable task.”

“Don’t just focus on the furniture.”

Peon slyly brought out the tasks the butler had left behind again.

“As you know, the inspector is coming. It’s still far off, but the kitchen is being repaired, and spring planting season is approaching, so there’s a lot of work. I’m embarrassed to say that I’m not a sophisticated person, so I’d like you to be in charge of decorating the entire castle and entertaining the inspector.”

“Me?”

“Yes. It’s naturally a task that you should do, isn’t it?”

Kaella hesitated before speaking.

“We should… quickly appoint a head maid.”

“The head maid is just the head maid.”

Entertaining an envoy sent by the Emperor is always the job of the lady of the house. Peon, who emphasized two or three times that it was her job, was unfamiliar. Unfamiliar people are frightening.

“It’s spring anyway. It’s the season for postponed repairs or improvements, so please look around the entire castle and take care of any places that need it. I’m counting on you. These are the related documents I received from the butler. If there’s anything missing, please let me know.”

She had clearly intended to just change the furniture moderately and withdraw. She had intended to use this as an excuse to send Mary to Austen. Kaella couldn’t even answer as she looked at the documents on the desk.

“And from now on, please use the Grand Duchess’s study.”

“No.”

Kaella shook her head and flatly refused before he even finished speaking.

“It’s enough for me to just borrow Your Highness’s desk for a short while.”

That’s how it had to be. Her place was not here at all. So when the Emperor’s inspector came, they had to see how the Grand Duchess of Lucenport was being treated.

After the inspector returned and this life ended, no disadvantage would fall upon the Duke of Austen. The Duke of Austen would just be an unfortunate victim who lost his daughter in a terrible blizzard.

A flawless victim was the only goal Kaella had to put her heart and soul into right now.

“Duchess. I am not enough.”

She hated this man who lowered his body to meet her eyes even as he spoke softly. She was sad and resentful that the man who was kind in everything made the only exception to that kindness for her. Her heart had hardened to the point of exhaustion.

The wounds remained as wounds, and even if her remarried husband showed kindness to her, it did not heal them. Rather, she was afraid because he did not act according to common sense.

She wanted to shout at him, asking why he was doing this. She wanted to tell him to express his anger if he was angry. What was he trying to gain from her by cunningly crafting his expression and words? What terrible death was he trying to bestow upon her this time?

“The preparations are insufficient, and I am ashamed to have caused you great hardship from the beginning.”

Why was he doing this? She wanted to shout. She wanted to tell him to just get angry if he was angry. What terrible death was he trying to give her by cunningly crafting his expression and words?

“As such, I want to make your position even more clear.”

The words she had desperately wanted to hear before dying were too frightening, as they completely engulfed her. Peon reached out his hand to her.

Kaella could neither reject nor take that hand, only able to stare at it. The outstretched hand eventually reached out and took her hand.

“You are my only wife who rules Lucenport with me.”

The words that were so sweet that they instantly soaked her parched heart were terrifying.

“Please do not refuse what is natural. All the power and wealth I have is also yours, is it not?”

Peon finally took her trembling hand and kissed the back of it.

*

Has dying once made her crazy?

Kaella stared at the few ledgers that recorded only a fraction of Lucenport Castle’s income and expenditures.

The butler is not that meticulous of a person. He probably thought it would be okay to hand this much over to Kaella. In Lucenport, there is a strong sentiment of looking down on the weak and gently raised, so Kaella must have seemed ridiculous to him.

Even so, Kaella looked down at her hands, which had become even more stained with ink.

She had been so excited to receive just a portion, not even all, of the ledgers symbolizing the authority of the Grand Duchess that she had thoroughly examined and organized them. She must really be crazy.

‘You said you wouldn’t do anything? You didn’t even have the strength.’

Who are you, Kaella de Chasseur? Even asking herself, there was nothing to say after happily finding all the suspicious parts in the already expanded ledgers.

Well, sure, it was refreshing to confirm the butler’s corruption that she had suspected before dying. It was so annoying that she had struggled against such a sloppy person. But so what? She needed physical evidence.

Kaella glanced at the completely darkened window and quietly got up from her seat. It was now the time when everyone was asleep, and the nights in Lucenport were especially deep. Kaella, who had already sent the maids away, no longer hesitated and quietly rose from her seat.

Without even taking a candlestick, she had to fumble through the dark corridors to search a very important place and secure physical evidence. Even if she couldn’t expose it, she at least wanted to confirm that she had been right. She would come up with all sorts of bizarre excuses if caught in the process.

‘I was hungry, I got lost, well, I’ll make excuses like that. What will they say? If something goes wrong…’

Walking stealthily through the dim corridor, Kaella felt the small, round bottle she had put in her pocket.

Inside was a poison that could cause a painless death with just a small sip. Just touching the bottle that contained a portion of the poison she had brought as part of her dowry eased her worries. Kaella carefully stepped only on quiet stairs as she descended.

In this castle, there were places that were absolutely forbidden to Kaella. No, there were very many. So she had to properly resolve herself and search the most suspicious place she had deduced from the ledgers. The Grand Duchess couldn’t even go to that place.

Patting the pocket containing the poison bottle, Kaella reached the targeted room, passing through corridors where her soft fur shoes would have made noise if not for them. It was none other than the butler’s office.

There were only four people who had offices in Lucenport Castle. The Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess, the butler who served as the castle’s proxy in the absence of the Grand Duke and Duchess, and the head maid.

The butler had great authority as the person in charge of financial transactions and estate management. It was no exaggeration to say that he had even more authority than the Grand Duchess. It might sound absurd in most of the Krania Empire, including Austen, but that’s how it was in Lucenport.

‘You received the keys, didn’t you? Then aren’t they given for you to use?’

What Kaella received from Peon this time was not only tasks and ledgers, but also keys. Receiving the authority to enter most places in Lucenport Castle meant that.

Something given naturally. She didn’t know what kind of trap this was, but Kaella intended to use it to satisfy the curiosities she had thought about incessantly while confined in the tower. Even if she died, she would resolve her unjust and curious questions before dying.

She first intended to test whether the butler’s office was included in the spaces that the keys she received this time could open. This would allow her to gauge the extent of the power Kaella held. She looked around once more, as if on guard, at the surroundings that were too dark to distinguish, then inserted the key.

‘Will it work? …It works!’

The moment the key turned with a click and the door handle was pushed, Kaella’s heart raced uncontrollably. Oh my gosh, this works? It was the moment she dared to set foot in the butler’s office.

The small room full of musty old documents had two chairs, one desk, and a few bookshelves, and there was one more door behind them. Kaella’s objective was not the office, but the small door inside the office.

‘Although it doesn’t make sense in the first place to have put this in the butler’s office, this is Lucenport.’

Did she have the authority to enter that small door and confirm the item she had in mind? That was something to find out by trying. She inserted the master key once again.

This time too, the key turned very smoothly, and Kaella almost cried. This time, she felt a sense of elation at being recognized to this extent. She was happy even though she knew there was a very high possibility it was a trap.

The inner room was where more valuable items were stored. Every drawer was locked, and so were the display cabinets.

Kaella stood in front of the tightly closed display cabinet and tried moving the door once. Of course, the display cabinet was also locked, and to insert the master key, oh no. The keyhole was small.

‘Well, there’s no way they would give such an important key.’

She must have been too elated. Kaella dropped her shoulders in disappointment. It was a good opportunity to find out one of the things she was dying to know before she died. Without confirming this, she couldn’t sleep.

Then, in the darkness, footsteps were heard. Kaella was not surprised. She glared into the darkness with her shoulders hunched, eyes full of vigilance, no, malice and murderous intent, then hid her body behind the door she had entered through.

She placed her hand over the pocket where she had put the poison bottle. All that remained for the pale and frightened Kaella were poison and evil. If things go wrong, she will drink it and die no matter what.

The closed door opened and someone entered. Her heart was pounding, but Kaella was not afraid.

Who was it? The butler? In the pitch-black darkness where she had to grope to confirm, a large hand reached out towards her. With that, Kaella’s mouth was blocked.

The moment she confirmed who had covered her mouth, Kaella turned pale with fear.