The new head maid had all her children pay their respects to the Duke and Duchess, then checked the Duchess’s office and bedroom that needed to be ‘tidied up’, as well as the Duke’s bedroom and office, before finally leaving with her husband arm-in-arm.

“Duchess.”

At the sound of her name, Kaella looked up at Peon, who was so much taller than her that she had to crane her neck to see him.

“Don’t mind what the new head maid says.”

“What do you mean, Your Grace?”

“About having children.”

Ah, the ‘good news’. Kaella knew very well that such talk had nothing to do with her, so she didn’t pay any attention to it from the start. But Peon seemed quite bothered by it.

“It’s typical of what they say, but right now your health is more important, Duchess. And…”

He looked around, making sure everyone was far away, then lowered his voice to a whisper.

“Regarding our marriage, I will strictly adhere to the contract.”

Ah, the contract. The prenuptial agreement that Kaella already knew was no longer valid and had promptly forgotten about.

“The matter of my heir…”

“The matter of Your Grace’s heir.”

Kaella interrupted him. Peon immediately closed his mouth and listened intently to her quiet voice.

“Is for Your Grace to decide, not me.”

What would you, who have become so much kinder lately, say to this? Would you just let it go? Or would you think I know my place?

Kaella stopped after silently wondering for a moment. Either way, it didn’t matter as long as it could bring temporary peace to this precarious marriage.

“So if I said I wanted an heir from you, Duchess, would you comply with that decision?”

His usually calm voice sounded strangely irritable. It seemed he was choking up.

Kaella couldn’t understand. Peon was saying things Peon shouldn’t, in a tone that was impossible. The two lords standing in the wide but rough and desolate hall of Lussenford Castle looked at each other.

Suppressed emotions swirled in Peon’s violet eyes, but Kaella couldn’t tell if it was anger or annoyance.

Various emotions that were difficult to define as one were pouring out solely towards her. Before she could instinctively step back to defend herself, Peon quickly spoke as if to grab her.

“Don’t say such things if you don’t want it. And the matter of my heir is not for me alone to decide, but for us to decide together.”

“Then will you have an heir from me?”

This time it was Peon looking at her as if he couldn’t understand. He seemed surprised by the unexpected words.

Kaella felt a thrill at having blocked his words.

The powerless Kaella, who was nothing more than an object of indifference to Peon and an obstacle to his marriage to his lover, had caught him off guard. He probably didn’t expect the obedient, calm, and always compliant emotional subordinate to say such a thing.

It was way off topic, but she just wanted to say it once. Even though she knew how Peon would react, she wanted to shake him up even just once.

“People’s common sense dictates that I should bear Your Grace’s heir, that’s why the Sirensters say such things.”

Honestly, it was surprising to hear such words after coming back from the dead. They were words that had nothing to do with Kaella.

Before she died, everyone knew that the Duke neglected the Duchess and never visited her bedchamber. No one expected the Duchess to bear the heir of the Duke of Lussenford.

“But just because others think it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s natural between you and me, Your Grace. I don’t care about talk of good news or whatnot. I’m not interested in what people gossip about.”

She was sick of hearing what others had to say. She could maintain a blank face even at considerable insults. Would you, now innocent yet wearing the face of a sinner, know that?

Kaella smiled. She smiled while clutching the pocket of her dress that held the vial of poison.

“So regarding an heir, please handle it yourself, Your Grace. If you go out and conceive a child, bring them here when they’re born. Your heir should rightly be raised in Lussenford. I will raise them to the extent that I can.”

Although she didn’t know how long she could raise them since she would die soon.

Was it the wine she drank today? Or had death burned away some of her fear? Seeing Peon’s flustered face, the words she had swallowed without properly saying before her death came spilling out. It felt refreshing to say them.

“And if that displeases you as well, I won’t interfere, so don’t worry.”

Child. In Kaella’s memories, still vivid from the past 4 years that don’t exist at this point, she lived with her heart in her throat, waiting for news of Beatrice’s pregnancy.

When news came that Peon’s lover was with child, it would feel like the inevitable had arrived.

When news came that the child was born, she would pathetically wonder what the child was like. Knowing exactly what kind of person Beatrice Lavalle was, she would needlessly worry if the child would receive proper care.

How much would they resemble Peon, she would want to see them once, and in the end, even if she ended up having to raise that child too, she would surely feel a small joy.

She would search for Peon in the child’s face. She would be happy to at least raise his child. She would be happy to be able to do something for Peon in that way.

If she could occupy even the tiniest positive part in his life, she could do anything. Truly anything. There was a time like that. As for Kaella’s own child…

No, no.

“Then I shall go in first…”

“I’m not interested in any woman but you, Kaella.”

Kaella’s words were cut off as she tried to turn away, stopping her train of thought. The smile completely vanished from her pale, small face. Rather, she flinched in surprise.

“I detest bastards.”

The rushing words shook violently.

“But if you want to have a child, I’ll do my best to cooperate.”

The eyes that were always indifferent and cold towards Kaella were now swirling with all sorts of emotions. Eyes that were not empty and unreadable, but eyes that one could unwittingly get swept into, with too much to read.

“I’m glad to hear you don’t care what people say.”

He lowered his head, swallowing many words. The black cloak covered the white fur. In an instant, the tiny Duchess was swallowed up in the Duke’s embrace and disappeared from view.

“Then you should focus on getting healthy. So we can make an heir, right Kaella?”

*

Sometimes there are things that become irreversible if you think about them too much. No, maybe they are things that have no answer no matter how much you think. Since it’s all futile, they should be left covered in distant memories, never to be brought out again.

But Peon made her face those things.

“Duchess, please change the furniture to your liking. I’m sorry, but it’s really a mess. How could they use such cheap things, how…”

The new head maid, Fabiola Sirenster, grimaced, saying that even common households in Lussenford don’t use such things these days.

“This is wrong starting from the wallpaper, Your Grace. It all needs to be replaced. It’s so embarrassing and shameful.”

Kaella smiled.

“I’ll hand over the furniture orders I placed to you.”

The time had finally come for her to step back. She could push most things onto the head maid and focus solely on sending back the maids she brought. It was the chance Kaella had been waiting for.

The opportunity to do nothing, deal with just one problem, and then face death with ease. She wanted to be in a carefree state where she could die without regret whenever a crisis hit.

“Yes, Duchess. I will prepare everything with utmost sincerity, but I will still proceed only after getting your approval on everything. As I am from Lussenford, I am very lacking in hosting delegates from Krine.”

But that path seemed too distant. It felt even further away. The new head maid was, to put it kindly, reliable and trustworthy, and to put it another way, someone who unquestioningly believed the Duchess should properly fulfill her role.

As a result, Kaella had to personally prepare to greet the Emperor’s investigator who would soon descend, and she inevitably had to look into the kitchens Peon began renovating after the banquet.

And one more thing.

“You’re here too, Your Grace.”

As the kitchen renovation was connected to the castle’s plumbing, and greeting the investigator was a matter the Duke also had to be deeply involved in, Kaella had to face Peon several times a day.

Led by the new head maid who smiled and bowed, Kaella’s maids also lowered their heads to Peon.

“You mustn’t overexert yourself, Duchess.”

Peon gruffly said to the head maid after first checking if Kaella’s attire was not too thin.

“Of course. The most important thing is for the Duchess to be healthy.”

Fabiola replied very contentedly, looking at the Duke and Duchess. It was plain to see from her expression alone that she thought of them as a loving couple. When in fact, they were not at all.

The Duchess had to appear even healthier as the Emperor’s investigator was coming, for the sake of Lussenford’s well-being.

As for the Duchess’s well-being after the investigator left, well, who could guarantee that. Moreover, since she had said things to Peon that she shouldn’t have, it was obvious Peon was holding back his anger.

“The renovation is too big. At this rate, we’ll have to redo the sewers too.”

The steward approached and reported in the meantime.

“Are the sewers intact?”

“No, they are not.”

“Then gut it all and redo the sewer construction too. I don’t know much, but I do know at least the kitchen needs to be clean.”

Peon spoke decisively. Kaella, who had been quietly listening, opened her mouth.

“Then construction will still be ongoing when the investigator arrives.”

It would look messy.

“But it can’t be helped. The plumbing is a very important foundation of the castle. And…”

The tall man muttered, watching the workers clear out the dark kitchen. The kitchen was dark overall and not well ventilated.

“If we do the renovation well this time, it will be comfortable for generations to come.”

But the kitchen renovation was getting too big. The cooks who moved to a temporary kitchen would be very uncomfortable and struggling since the head chef was executed.

There were no plans to hold any more banquets until the investigator arrived, but as the lady of the castle, Kaella was concerned that the construction would extend to the sewers.

Did Lussenford have the funds for that? Even if it did, it all went to military funds, and the lord himself used the same shabby furniture for decades.

Would he use the Kerban series differently this time? Kaella’s thoughts naturally drifted to the diamond ring she received. What was Peon thinking? He was still the same as always, despite her saying things she shouldn’t have.

“Shall we go up? The air here is heavy and stuffy.”

He still held her hand as they climbed the stairs, and there was not a hint of anger in his voice.

No, actually what Kaella was looking for was not a hint of anger, but a hint of indifference and coldness. A gaze that doesn’t even look at her, a turned back, a silence that doesn’t answer her words.

“The stairs are steep too, so be careful.”

But Peon never, ever did that. Rather, he was still friendly and kind to Kaella who didn’t speak. At this point, Kaella couldn’t help but think about what she had said to him.

The things she said after sending back the Sirensters were all insults. Telling Peon, a bastard himself, that it was okay for him to father bastards must have hurt him. That’s why he reacted in a rough voice. Does the ‘current Peon’ deserve to hear such things?

“How is walking? Can you manage?”

“It’s not that hard, Your Grace. I’m fine.”

Kaella answered quietly, rethinking what Peon had done since she died and returned to the past.

Before she died, he had cooperated in Duke Ostein’s death. According to Beatrice, that is. But the Peon she met after death had prevented Duke Ostein from dying. Kaella saw that.

Before she died, Peon had completely ignored her as if she didn’t exist, making all of Lussenford ignore her. Now he was wary, but not like that.

Before she died, he had confined her and cut off her food, letting her starve to death, despite her being falsely accused. Perhaps he even fabricated the false charge. But now…

“Then shall we walk a bit? A stroll will be good for your health.”

“Are you not busy?”

“I always have time to take a short walk with you, Duchess.”

He must have been displeased and angry, yet he still smiled at her. Was it proper to accuse him of crimes he didn’t commit? Was that justice?

As someone who died so unjustly, Kaella felt heavy-hearted and uncomfortable. She didn’t know how she ended up living this moment again, but clearly feeling that she was alive made her contemplate such things.

The sun was a bit dazzling as they went outside, but it got better as Peon came close and blocked it.

“You can ride a horse soon. We’ll go slowly, not galloping.”

“I know how to ride too.”

“Yes. That’s why I’m suggesting we walk together without galloping.”

Should I apologize? I should, right? No matter how famous his love affair was, no matter that she, as his wife, said it was okay for him to father bastards first, it must have hurt Peon. So I should apologize.

I’ll apologize once we walk a bit more and the maids fall back and the knights also withdraw. If I apologize now, it might be a little less awkward later tonight when we go to finish inspecting the silver.

With that resolution, Kaella stepped into the sunlight.

“Duchess, step back.”

But suddenly Peon urgently blocked her path. His large arms enveloped her. Kaella looked at him in bewilderment, then followed his gaze. Golden lights were gathered there. That was the power of the Emperor’s magical tool.

“Peon!”

And as the light completely vanished, Beatrice Lavalle appeared with a lively voice, carrying a bunch of trunks.

“Phew, it’s still cold here. Good thing I wore a fur coat. Long time no see, Peon! I missed you!”

Watching Beatrice run over with arms open to hug Peon, Kaella abandoned her thoughts.

I shouldn’t apologize.