I would have been angry too. Showing such a terrifying form to those children, any parent would be more than just upset. I should apologize unreservedly.

Since it was already evening and time for Kian to sleep, I asked Bika to put Kian to bed and then headed for the front door.

I intended to apologize as soon as Raydux opened the door and entered, but to my surprise, he bowed his head to me first.

“Good evening, Duchess Blake. I hope you were not surprised by my sudden visit at this late hour. I stopped by to thank you on my way back from the capital.”

“A sudden greeting, what happened?”

“I will tell you in due course. However, is the Duke not here?”

“The Duke is out on business.”

“I see. I wanted to greet the Duke too, it’s a shame.”

“What’s going on? Why do you say so?”

“I wanted to thank you because the twins have improved a lot. It’s all thanks to the Duke and the Duchess.”

“Is that really true?”

Raydux spoke with a calm smile as if he had found some peace.

“Our twins fight more than ten times a day, it’s a common occurrence. But since then, the twins seem to stop in the middle of their fights, looking around cautiously. Usually, they’re children who don’t notice such subtleties.”

While it’s good for parents that they’re not fighting, I was worried that it could leave a trauma for the children.

“It’s fortunate, but I’m worried if the twins stopped because they were startled.”

“I thought so too, but they seemed normal unless they were fighting. They only stopped fighting when they noticed each other, so I was truly relieved.”

Sicar probably intended that when he summoned the Death Knight illusion.

“I thought of thanking you when you visited the Count, but I thought it would be proper to do so first, so I came.”

I thought he had come to complain, but he was here to thank me. I couldn’t be more relieved.

While it was a relief that the twins stopped fighting, I was grateful to Raydux for letting this pass.

“You’re welcome, Count. Please, come in.”

“Thank you.”

Usually, it is customary to welcome guests in the drawing room, but since I had tea time in the living room while looking after the children before, I guided Raydux to the living room this time.

I don’t know when it started, but I felt like I saw Raydux not as a comrade who joined forces to send Kian to the throne, but as a parenting comrade who raises a child together.

“I look forward to working with you in the future, Duchess.”

“I look forward to working with you too, Count.”

“So, I brought a gift on my way.”

A gift? The word ‘gift’ made my pupils reflexively dilate.

Raydux showed me a luxurious box smaller than his hand.

Could it be jewelry? The box is too rectangular to be a jewelry box. And Raydux has no reason to buy me jewelry, right?

“I hope you like it.”

“I’m really curious what it is?”

I wasn’t sure whether I could open the gift now or not. It seemed like my curiosity was too obvious, and Raydux lifted the box he had handed me and said,

“You’re curious about the contents, right? I’ll unpack it for you.”

“Actually, I was really curious about it. Thank you, Count.”

Raydux calmly unpacked the box. A fragrant and subtle aroma began to drift as he began to unwrap the packaging. Raydux took out the perfume and handed it to me, explaining.

“Actually, I’ve never seen the Duchess interacting with other noble ladies, so I prepared a perfume. It’s trending among noble ladies these days, so there’s a lot of talk in society that if you don’t spray this, you’ll fall behind in fashion. It could be a topic of conversation.”

Since the original work didn’t deal with social life, the perfume story was very unfamiliar.

Without realizing it, I must have shown a discomforting expression, because Raydux seemed to take a hint and said,

“Ladies of society are very sensitive to following trends. They think people who fall behind in fashion are barbaric, so it’s good to follow.”

They even call me barbaric if I don’t spray this perfume.

“Especially these days, it seems that there’s a lot of talk in society about the Duchess shrouded in mystery. It seems that you can avoid being the talk of the town if you spray this perfume at the upcoming royal wedding.”

The wedding was held informally without inviting guests, so it seemed like my story was constantly coming up in the talkative social circles.

Sigh. This just makes me even less eager to go to the king’s wedding.

“The royal wedding, where the new queen of this country will be born, is not far off.”

“We still don’t know anything about the new queen because she’s shrouded in mystery.”

“It’s the younger sister of the Spirit Mage, Lafe.”

Rinel Gideon Edipa looked surprised at first, but soon sighed as if in admiration.

“Ah, they say you can see the future. I didn’t know you could see that too.”

Come to think of it, at Gideon’s wedding, Hersia, his aunt’s daughter, also attended.