“It’s true! I was prettier!”

Antoinette was beside herself with frustration.

She had been not far away when Claude was bitten by the alligator.

At that time, she was too paralyzed with horror to even think about who was being attacked, and could only scream without running away, her feet seemingly glued to the ground at the cruel and terrible sight.

Thanks to that, she clearly saw Claude being dragged away like a crumpled net, the maid chasing after and kicking at the alligator before falling over spectacularly, and Kaian finally stabbing a knife into the alligator’s head.

And when Kaian pried open the alligator’s clenched jaws.

The woman’s leg pulled from between the blood-soaked teeth was dangling limply, having lost its human form like a piece of chewed and spat out chicken.

At first it was terrifying and scary, but soon the thoughtless young lady finished calculating in her head that Kaian would never keep such a ruined woman by his side.

She believed that as time passed, he would either ignore his limping wife and leave her to wither away forgotten in a back room, or send her to a convent or something for the sake of House Temnes’ honor.

After all, that woman was still the adopted daughter of the ducal family, married by royal decree.

Publicly casting aside an injured wife right away wouldn’t look very good to others.

Antoinette had never once thought that Kaian treated her gently because of the mistress of House Berang, who was like a fifth aunt to him.

She believed that the cold and sharp lord being icy to everyone but slightly different to her was an extremely special treatment.

‘I saw her. She was so skeletal, looking like she would die at any moment.’

‘Really? That bad?’

‘They say Herzol is such a terrifying disease. It’s chilling. Surely she’s not trying to harm the duke?’

For the crime of stealing the lord’s property, Antoinette was tied with ropes and beaten twenty times with a club.

It was a terrible disgrace that would block the marriage prospects of a maiden who had been stealing men’s hearts since girlhood as a conspicuously beautiful woman in the domain.

Of all things, the stolen item was Lady Elise’s cherished blue diamond ring.

Unable to accept her daughter’s transgression, the mistress of House Berang collapsed after her daughter’s public judgment and had yet to recover her health.

‘It was disgusting even to watch her breathe.’

‘Huh. Our lord is so generous. Why bother getting medicine and even offering a reward for that wench from Bermonte?’

‘Right. How could a crippled woman dance properly? She probably can’t even walk.’

‘Antoinette is much prettier. I wish he’d quickly get rid of that woman and make Antoinette the duchess soon.’

Her standing had fallen so low, but after Claude contracted Herzol, the situation reversed.

Young ladies curious about affairs in the lord’s castle began to gather around Antoinette again one by one.

While it was impossible for this to be genuine friendship supporting her, it did embolden the childish eighteen-year-old Antoinette, who had just come of age, to speak brazenly.

‘Did you really steal that ring?’

‘Of course not. How could I have done such a thing?’

‘Didn’t a castle maid bring it to you?’

Some who had seen her receive a box handed over from under a maid’s apron tilted their heads.

‘Lord Kaian said he would give it to me!’

Seeing Antoinette flare up, they all just said, Oh, was that it? I see, and left it at that.

‘Just wait until this festival. You’ll see how ugly a limping woman is.’

‘Yeah. Antoinette must have been really upset.’

‘Antoinette. Cheer up.’

After thoroughly disparaging Claude’s appearance like that and trying to reclaim her position as queen bee of the domain like before.

Antoinette, anxiously pacing at the entrance to the festival square today, couldn’t believe her eyes.

The moment she saw the woman who appeared as the lord’s lady, it was as if lightning had struck her on the crown of her head.

So words and standards normally used to praise ordinary women, like pretty or beautiful, disappeared in that moment.

Slowly escorted by the butler, the thin chiffon skirt below the waist of the dress that barely revealed her cleavage billowed and swayed like the sea foam said to have formed the goddess of beauty in legend when she was born.

No presence was felt from the woman walking with small, graceful steps.

As if a goddess had descended, or as if the queen of the fairies had secretly come out to the human world to see the festival.

It felt like the area around that woman had been cut out separately, like a different world.

It wasn’t even a face that had been overly made up with this and that.

A small face that could fit in the palm of an adult man’s hand, golden eyes that shone even more mysteriously in the sunlight, a straight nose and red lips with just a touch of rouge.

The woman’s hand resting on the butler’s was also small, and even with layers of festival skirts, her slender waist could not be hidden.

Whenever Claude passed by, those who saw her automatically closed their mouths.

Even Antoinette bowed her head silently as if moved, but when she came to her senses, she realized the looks in the eyes of the maidens watching her had changed.

Liar.

Antoinette, you shameless hussy.

It was the first time Kaian danced at the festival.

Usually it’s a dance done with the lord’s lady, but since he went off to war right after becoming lord and hadn’t had a lady until now, for the past two years the festival had started with just the lord’s opening speech without a dance.

When Claude finished dancing grandly in Kaian’s arms and he gave her a light kiss, the square was about to burst with cheering people.

Watching that, Antoinette cried alone.

“Lord Kaian is being deceived.”

Otherwise, he wouldn’t treat me like this.

That woman must have done something.

Or maybe Lord Kaian caught that awful Herzol too and his mind has gone wrong.

Antoinette wiped away the tears pooling in her eyes with the back of her hand.

Just then, she heard the voices of some thoroughly drunk men.

“No matter how beautiful she is, there’s no way our lord would keep a woman from Bermonte!”

“Hey now. How can you say that after seeing the two of them dance earlier?”

“You don’t know anything. I’m telling you, the lord clearly said at the banquet after consummating the marriage that he’d drive out that Bermonte woman once the required marriage period was over.”

“Is that really true?”

“Of course it is!”

The drunken man spouting nonsense was Verbrook.

“You’re talking crazy. If the lord mistreated the lady like that, shouldn’t he be sitting by the beer barrels in the festival square by now?”

The tide of opinion had turned in favor of the lady, to the point where the fact that she came from Bermonte was forgotten, so no one agreed with Verbrook’s words.

Rather, they glanced at each other warily, concerned that joining in such gossip might displease the lord later.

“Well, we should get going now. Ahem.”

“Let’s head to the square and have another plate of cake.”

“Yes, let’s go!”

They all quietly got up from their seats, leaving the drunken Verbrook behind.

“I’m telling you I’m right! The lord made a promise to me!”

“Excuse me.”

Antoinette sat down across from the now-empty seat opposite Verbrook, her eyes shining.

“Could I hear about that too?”

“Huh? A young lady like you?”

“Our lord isn’t the type to make promises he won’t keep, right?”

“That’s right! That’s exactly what I’m saying!”

Verbrook laughed heartily out loud.

“I’ve finally met someone who understands!”

“Please tell me that story too. I’m curious.”

As Antoinette smiled sweetly and refilled his cup, Verbrook gladly opened his mouth.

“You see, on the second day of the banquet…”

Looking at the deeply sleeping Claude, Kaian left the bed.

Hastily throwing on clothes and carelessly buttoning them, he headed for the castle kitchen.

The castle in the middle of the night was so quiet you couldn’t see even an ant.

Right now, there wasn’t a single servant or maid left in this castle to provide even minimal service.

The only ones staying in the castle were Kaian and Claude, just the two of them.

The autumn festival held once a year in the domain was the biggest event of the year.

The autumn festival was a day when all domain residents attended without exception to enjoy Rowen’s abundance regardless of status.

As a result, it was common for even the live-in servants of the castle to all attend the festival. It was customary to draw lots to determine the minimum number of people needed to guard the castle gates and drawbridge.

Originally, Kaian too would have returned to the castle at dawn after drinking heavily all night among his vassals and kinsmen.

It was fine bringing Claude to the empty castle, but.

It was annoying that there was no one to serve them, but then he felt good thinking even that was taking care of her.

Kaian went to the castle kitchen and passed through the spacious cooking area to head for the machine room next door.

A few generations back, there was an eccentric Temnes who was obsessed with science and all kinds of machines, and he had brought in all sorts of strange devices to renovate the castle.

Like the ceiling in Kaian’s bedroom being retractable so he could see the stars even at night, or being able to use hot water directly in the bedroom bathroom when water was boiled in the kitchen through the water supply device.

It was very convenient usually, but.

“For things like that, you still have to go check the kitchen directly.”

Kaian muttered to himself as he examined the wood-burning stove that heated the water tank filled with groundwater drawn up from the castle.

As expected, the fire was out.

He skillfully lit the wood with flint from nearby, then stuffed the stove full of firewood so he wouldn’t have to come down to the kitchen again tonight, and got up dusting off his hands.

After looking around the kitchen, he gathered three large apples, bread, cheese, and a chunk of ham into a basket he spotted in the pantry where ingredients were stored, and returned to the bedroom.

Whoosh.

After confirming hot water pouring into the bathtub, Kaian returned to the bed.

“Claude.”

“Mmm?”

“Wake up.”

Kaian deliberately shook the sleeping woman awake.

“…Can’t get up.”

“You must be hungry. You need to eat something.”

“…Can’t eat.”

He kissed the woman who was responding to what he said as if sleep-talking, without even opening her eyes.

“No. Acting like you’ll collapse if you don’t eat.”

Claude was the type who needed to eat regularly even if she ate little.

Once when lunch was a bit late, she seemed very hungry already and looked gloomy, so after that Kaian started going to eat lunch ten minutes early.

“Get up.”

Claude, supporting herself with her arms and raising her head with messy hair from under the blanket, smiled broadly.

“I want to eat an apple.”

“An apple?”

He had brought them on purpose since she ate the freshly harvested apples well in the village square.

It looked good that she ate them deliciously even though they must have been quite sour before ripening.

Kaian picked up a knife and started peeling an apple.

Claude looked more awake watching the peel come off in one long strip with a crunching sound.

“That’s amazing.”

“It’s nothing special.”

“I want to try.”

As Claude reached out her hand, Kaian moved his hand away.

“It’s dangerous.”

Claude, who had been trying to grab that hand, held her slipping blanket.

“I’ll try after I put on clothes.”

“Don’t put on clothes.”

The wife still lacked the insight to understand the husband’s deep intention of waking her up on purpose to feed her.