Beatrice Lavallee, the daughter of Duke Monde, did not particularly like Lussenford. To her, it was a shameful and shabby refuge.

At the time when they were cornered to the point of tearing down Monde Castle and selling the building materials, young Beatrice had nowhere else to go apart from Lussenford, separated from her mother who was hounded by creditors.

The cold, barren place full of tough people inherently did not suit her.

“How is it, young lady? Is the food to your liking?”

Above all, the people here know Beatrice at her most miserable. They know her wretched times when she had no choice but to rely on her childhood friend, the Grand Duke, who was similarly abandoned in Lussenford, shivering. They knew and pitied her.

Even now, the butler is deliberately saying this to her because she’s alone in the dining room. Beatrice gritted her teeth inwardly but smiled brightly on the outside.

“Of course. It’s always excellent. It was a nostalgic taste.”

“Actually, I was worried it might not be the taste you’re familiar with since the chefs keep changing, but I’m glad.”

“The Lussenford Castle kitchen maintains that taste. No, in fact, it’s gotten a bit better.”

“Ah, is that so?”

The butler brightened. Beatrice, who had to make a good impression here anyway, nodded. It was sincere too.

“Yes. The ingredients used are much more abundant and the flavors stand out. The Lussenford Castle kitchen is progressing gradually. It’s become a level more sophisticated.”

Honestly, the food here was so crude that she didn’t want to come even for the food. But surprisingly, the moment the appetizer came out, Beatrice couldn’t help but open her eyes wide.

The shape and smell were different. The potato cream soup, which used to be unevenly mashed with lumps here and there, came out smoothly and evenly ground with excellent garnish on top. The taste wasn’t bad either.

The grilled sole caught in the cold sea that came out afterwards, and the beef dish cooked by simmering for a long time were also delicious. Beatrice had a fairly satisfying meal.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

The butler, more familiar with Beatrice who had been occasionally raised with Peon since childhood than with the unfamiliar Grand Duchess, sighed in relief.

He didn’t like at all that the Grand Duchess was still changing chefs here and there without settling on one, but seeing her speak like that, it seems the level of the temporarily changed cooks is quite decent.

‘I guess I don’t need to worry about selecting a head chef.’

The butler cleanly erased the kitchen head problem that had been bothering him among too many issues. He couldn’t trust the Grand Duchess’s judgment, but if Beatrice Lavallee, the flower of the Klein Empire’s social circle, says so, it’s fine now.

“Why did they change the head chef?”

“Well, I’m not sure if you know, but there was an unfortunate incident.”

“Ah. If it’s that incident, it’s already spread to Klein.”

Spread to Klein! The butler immediately bowed his head deeply. How embarrassing. Is there such embarrassment! He felt a surge of irritation and anger towards those who forcibly imposed Turbery on the Grand Duchess anew. To tarnish the name of Lussenford!

“It’s a shameful thing. A very shameful and embarrassing thing. I can’t lift my face.”

“Is that why the head maid changed?”

“Yes. Because that woman was the main culprit…”

At the butler’s words, Beatrice furrowed her brow. The butler thought she was simply expressing displeasure about the incident, but Beatrice was actually thinking that it was becoming a headache.

‘Doris was convenient.’

The former head maid Doris Windgood would have done anything Beatrice said. She took great pride in knowing Beatrice since she was young, who had grown into a great lady dominating the Klein social circle.

But the new head maid was someone Beatrice didn’t know at all, and in a situation where Peon wasn’t setting foot in the dining room at all today, her position was bound to become even more narrow.

“Was it such a big deal? Is the Grand Duchess… very unwell?”

Let’s be careful with words first. As the atmosphere seemed quite unusual no matter how she looked at it, Beatrice decided to maintain what she considered manners, although unwillingly.

“The doctor said her whole body was swollen, blocking her airways. We thought we’d be holding a funeral as soon as she arrived. Even now, she needs to be very careful.”

She’s moving around just fine, what’s there to be careful about. Beatrice inwardly pouted.

Anyone could see that Peon was avoiding her, and the fact that the Grand Duchess was the excuse for avoiding her was so irritating. On top of that, to experience such humiliation today. The butler’s pity for her was one of those humiliations.

‘Who does he think he is to dare…’

She thought she had been carefully climbing the ladder, looking up all this time. But somewhere, something went wrong and flipped over. Then, as the Emperor said when sending her, she had to set it right.

Go and do what you do best.

Sitting alone at the table, Beatrice swallowed her wounded pride and humiliation along with the crispy and sweet apple pie.

Apple pie! What a crude and ugly cheap food! Beatrice inwardly mocked the level of Lussenford and the Grand Duchess for serving this as dessert.

“Young lady, would you like another plate?”

“Oh, yes.”

Well, it brings back memories. Although it’s rustic. Beatrice cleaned the second plate as well.

*

While Beatrice was grinding her teeth in the Lussenford Castle dining room, which was austere at best and desolate at worst, the Grand Duke couple sat closely together at the bedroom table for the first time, sharing food with their heads close together.

Peon enjoyed watching his wife eat and serving her a bit more, urging her to eat just a little more. The closer distance allowed for more conversation.

“I think we’ll have to cancel the plan to finish counting the silver tableware today.”

“Yes. We should be careful now that there are more eyes watching.”

As expected, Kaella just nodded.

“How do you find the newly appointed head maid? Are you satisfied with her work?”

“Lady Silence is a person with clear manners and accurate judgment.”

Although she was deliberately brought in based on the Lussenford situation grasped before dying, the new head maid worked humbly yet competently.

“I’m just worried that she seems to clash a bit with the butler.”

“There’s no need to worry. That’s something we can figure out by putting our heads together again. Like this.”

Like this? Kaella looked at Peon, who was sitting very close, tapping the table haphazardly set with bread, soup, and meat dishes, and smiling gently.

It’s a table far from etiquette that would make the head chef of House Ostein sigh if he saw it, saying that the young lady is eating freely again.

It was as if Peon was smiling like when they were young, packing a picnic basket and spreading out a blanket, cutting soft and crispy blueberry pie and croissants filled with ham and cheese into small pieces for young Kaella.

Right. That’s how it was in the old days.

“It’s like when we were young.”

Kaella looked up at Peon.

“We often went on picnics together back then. You would only eat sandwiches if they were cut.”

Because the fillings would keep falling out between the bread if they were too big, she had to eat only small finger sandwiches made for teatime.

Even so, she would glance longingly at the big sandwiches Peon and Beatrice were eating, wanting to try them too. It was cute.

She couldn’t bring herself to ask, so she would just look on, and he would pretend to give in and cut his portion for her. He liked seeing Kaella’s face light up as she accepted it.

“Ah…”

However, Kaella reacted awkwardly to his words.

She had been formal with him even before marriage, and now she treated him stiffly as if she didn’t even remember that they were once close playmates. Was it a memory she didn’t want to recall? Peon felt his heart sink belatedly.

Well, it might not be a good memory for Kaella, who had no one to play with except an older brother seven years her senior. She always had to follow him around, and he probably didn’t play with her well.

Then, did she already not like him much even before the regression? Was his feeling that Kaella liked him just an arrogant misunderstanding of his inflated ego?

“I must have been quite a bother to you.”

Kaella, for her part, thought that Peon had changed so much after meeting him again after death that she didn’t know how to match his pace.

Before she died, throughout their married life, he had treated Kaella as if he had no childhood memories at all, like a complete stranger he had just met. So it was very unfamiliar for him to bring up old memories first.

“No. You were cute and lovable.”

Kaella, who opened her eyes wide at his words and just blinked, was still just as cute and lovable now.

Although she followed him well when she was young, now that she’s old enough to know everything, how could she be interested in someone seven years older? Peon couldn’t dare approach her even because of the age difference.

Kaella had to be prevented from wasting that age more dazzling than jewels in vain. There should be no more unjust deaths at such a young age because of a cowardly and weak husband.

“It was an enjoyable meal for once.”

He said neatly as he rose from his seat. They were bound to part ways anyway, so he had to maintain boundaries. He had to restrain himself from going crazy wanting to cross that line, tie himself up and lock himself away.

“Have a good night, Your Grace.”

Peon suppressed his desire to stay seated longer and forced himself to get up and leave the bedroom.

As soon as he came out, the cool air immediately enveloped him. Since he had left his wife in his bedroom, he was sleeping in a makeshift bed hastily set up in a room next to his office.

Working late into the night and sleeping on an uncomfortable bed was familiar to him as a soldier. After regressing, he didn’t even feel uncomfortable. He had to endure. Only by enduring could he protect.

But, separate from that, there were times when his senses became unnecessarily sensitive. Peon detected light footsteps coming up the opposite corridor facing the Grand Duke’s bedroom.

Today, Beatrice Lavallee had no choice but to use the Grand Duchess’s bedroom. Peon, who didn’t want to run into her, immediately left the front of the Grand Duke’s bedroom.

“Rolf!”

But even when he came to his office, he could hear Beatrice calling for the butler.

“Where’s Peon?”

“Ah, at this hour, he’s probably in his office.”

And unlike with Kaella, the butler’s voice, so kind to Beatrice, could all be heard, everything, even with thick walls, doors, and dozens of stairs in between.

The senses that had become hypersensitive after returning to normal, with the golden rule not working after regression, are helpful at times like this. Peon got up from the seat he was about to sit in again and headed to the bathroom.

“I need to wash up.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

He deliberately blocked his senses from turning towards the Grand Duke’s bedroom and avoided Beatrice. As soon as he escaped to the bathroom, he heard the office door open.

“Peon? …He’s not here. Where is he wandering off to?”

I know. Beatrice is persistent. She has very strong desires, and she did anything to fulfill them. She’s determined to see Peon somehow tonight.

‘How annoying.’

No, it was beyond annoying, it was irritating. He’s the master of this castle, yet he’s in a situation where he has to avoid an uninvited guest.

But he was determined never to meet Beatrice alone. He couldn’t tarnish Kaella’s honor by failing to properly play the role of a husband like before the regression.

Peon, sitting in the bathtub with his arms casually draped, brushed up his hair. Would Kaella be bathing now too? Would the water temperature be warm? She should be careful not to catch a cold.

“Rolf! Peon’s not in his office?”

“Ah, he’s in the bathroom now.”

“Where?”

Peon looked at the ceiling and sighed. He hoped Kaella would replace this butler who couldn’t tell right from wrong and blabbed every trivial detail of the Grand Duke’s movements to outsiders as soon as possible.

He’s a husband who has left everything to his wife. He intends to live with nothing, giving everything to Kaella.

There’s no time to leisurely sit in the bathtub and rest. He quickly washed his body, wrapped a large towel around himself, and slipped out of the bathroom. He barely avoided Beatrice by a hair’s breadth.

“Peon? …Tch, he’s not here.”

She calls his name in a bright voice, but the moment she discovers he’s not there, her voice instantly turns vicious.

She hasn’t seen him since dinner tonight, and the situation has changed, so she must be quite anxious. But even so, for a married man to barge into where he’s washing, is she in her right mind! What on earth has she been doing in places he can’t see!

“…Ah.”

Peon, who came out roughly dressed, groaned and put his hand on his forehead. Water dripped from his wet hair, but he had no mind to wipe it off.

Before the regression, how difficult must it have been for Kaella in places he didn’t know about.

The exiled former head maid Doris Windgood complained that the Grand Duchess kept changing maids because she was picky, but surely those maids must have done something wrong. He should have looked into even such trivial problems. If he had, Kaella would have, ‘now’…

“Peon?”

Peon, leaning against the wall in a white shirt with buttons undone and a towel around his neck, turned to look at Beatrice, who had finally found him.

“Ah, here you were. I’ve been looking for you for a while.”

“Why me?”

When a dry voice returned, Beatrice smiled brightly.

“Because I missed you.”

“It’s late. Good night.”

No, I hope you have nightmares. Peon muttered without sincerity as he moved his steps. One Kaella was enough to sleep well.

“S-sleep, you say?”

Beatrice stuttered, too dumbfounded.

This flower of the social circle, the queen who dominates the social world has come, and he just says good night? It seemed fortunate that Peon happened to be wearing just a shirt and pants even in this cool weather, and she had come prepared to cross a line she had never crossed before, but he says good night?

What’s gone wrong?

“Peon, it’s been too long since we met. We should catch up.”

She deliberately made her voice seductive and approached stealthily, but Peon was already walking far away before her white hand could reach out. It was obvious he wasn’t even listening to what she was saying.

“Where are you going?”

He grabbed and opened the Grand Duke’s bedroom door in front of Beatrice, who was chasing after him.

“Where else?”

He glanced down at Beatrice with cool eyes, fully revealing the muscles he had built through actual combat.

The moonlight pouring in through the windows in the corridor illuminated his wet hair, dark eyebrows, delicate eyes and tightly closed lips, fully exposed neck and chest, and abdomen.

The body, filled with nothing but muscle without an ounce of fat, was brimming with masculinity. Beatrice felt her throat go dry for some reason.

“To my wife.”

And the next moment, Peon entered through the open door. The door slammed shut in front of Beatrice’s eyes.