After Esika had a dress fitted with Riona, the atmosphere among the maids changed even more.

The maids who had openly gossiped about her or dismissed her with snickers gradually began to close their mouths, and now they reflexively bowed their heads when they saw Esika.

It was clear that everyone feared Esika.

Esika’s power within the household was growing.

Cella was pleased with the maids’ reactions.

“Head maid Yuri. Will she return?”

Cella, who was following behind Esika, asked.

“Yes. She will return.”

“Do you really think so? How could a girl who was caught defrauding Brigitte have the nerve…”

“If she had any shame, she wouldn’t have thrown herself into a married man’s arms.”

“Pardon?”

Cella, who knew nothing, looked at Esika with a puzzled expression.

Esika was walking with a faint smile.

She was aware of most of what was happening in the household.

Like the night when Yuri didn’t leave Callian’s room.

“Palms don’t always have to meet to make a sound, but…”

Esika’s lips moved coldly.

“…I shouldn’t just blame Yuri. All of the Klaus are abnormal after all.”

A sneering voice flowed from between her twisted lips.

Cella sometimes couldn’t understand what Esika was saying.

But later, when it was all over, she would realize what those words had meant.

Meanwhile, Callian, who encountered her walking in the corridor, stopped in his tracks.

Duke Gaben of the Pelop family and the knights following behind Callian also stopped.

The distance of about ten meters was neither far nor close.

“…Esika.”

But Callian unhesitatingly closed that distance.

He stopped in front of Esika and looked at her.

Though slightly more modest than that day when she wore the beautiful dress, today’s appearance was still breathtakingly beautiful.

**

Esika took an unexpected walk with Callian.

Walking together with him in the garden was probably… the first time.

The image of Esika from years ago, recommending a garden walk to Callian saying there were many pretty flowers…

And Callian, frowning coldly and hinting that he looked busy.

Yes, after that, Esika never suggested a garden walk to Callian again.

“It makes me happy to see you getting along well with mother.”

Callian, walking beside Esika, said with a gentle smile on his lips.

The sky was as clear as Callian’s mood right now.

“…You wish for me to get along even better with your mother, I see.”

At Esika’s words, Callian shrugged as if to say why ask such an obvious thing.

“The first emperor’s famous saying goes, ‘The peace of the empire begins with peace in the family.'”

Water was trickling from the fountain.

The air was crisp and the sunlight was just right, making it a good day for a loving couple to walk together.

The splendid and beautiful garden of Klaus.

And in its deepest part lies Riona’s greenhouse.

That greenhouse, where the precious Smichen chrysanthemum is grown, is heavily guarded by troops so that no one but Riona can enter.

“What does Your Grace think family is?”

Esika’s voice didn’t sound angry, just light.

So Callian opened his mouth lightly.

“My mother, this beautiful Klaus mansion, and…”

Callian paused for a moment and looked at Esika.

“My wife, Esika. You.”

Even as he spoke, Callian felt a slight prickling in his throat.

Perhaps it was because he felt awkward.

To be honest, until the misunderstanding was cleared up, he hadn’t thought of Esika as family.

She was just a noisy and bothersome woman, nothing more…

He realized he had been thinking about her wrongly.

“…”

Esika also stopped walking.

Because the atmosphere during their last meeting had been good, Callian thought it would be the same this time.

Perhaps she might even have been moved by his words.

Esika, she was now finally being acknowledged as family by Duke Callian Klaus.

Wasn’t that what she had been longing for all this time?

“How interesting.”

But Esika’s eyes showed no great emotion.

Rather, there was even a somewhat cold light in them.

“…”

Callian didn’t know what he had done wrong.

No, he thought there was no way he could have done anything wrong.

He had only given a truly perfect answer.

“…”

Esika started walking again.

And Callian walked to match her pace.

“I… intend to correct the mistakes of the past.”

He heard Esika’s voice, walking about a step ahead.

Callian’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

Mistakes of the past… While much of it was misunderstanding, it’s not like Esika had been acting as a model duchess.

So some self-reflection might be possible.

“Because I had forgotten what’s most important in life.”

“…Esika…”

It sounded like Esika saying she would make an effort, so Callian felt pleased.

She looked admirable and lovable.

He thought they might be able to spend a night together soon.

Come to think of it, he had delayed having an heir for too long.

It had been years since they married, yet they hadn’t consummated the marriage.

“If you do your best as a duchess from now on, I will also support you…”

Callian opened his mouth.

But almost simultaneously, Esika’s words flowed out.

“So please take this as a kind of.”

Esika’s blue eyes took in the vast garden.

“…declaration of war.”

Esika smiled brightly.

She had to maintain distance from Callian Klaus until things were settled, but…

Sometimes she felt the urge to grab him by the collar.

Probably because of the anger that had built up in her heart over the years.

“A declaration of war? I don’t quite understand, but… are you saying you’ll make an effort?”

Callian asked Esika with a slightly uneasy look.

Certainly, Callian is ignorant and naive in some aspects.

But he will never know, even until his death, how much pain that ignorance and naivety has left on her.

“Yes.”

So she can only try to make him regret until his death.

Esika plucked a flower and laughed.

The effort he’s thinking of and the effort she’s talking about will be in different directions.

The state of her heart, which used to flutter unknowingly with anxiety and expectation when meeting Callian, as if imprinted on this body, was now accustomed to calmness.

For Callian, family meant Riona and himself, and Esika… was never included in that circle.

An outsider. She had never once belonged to this mansion.

Even with him so close, she no longer felt him as her husband.

Only the peaked feeling of rejection writhed like a snake in her mind.

“Pfft, you’re so bland.”

Callian looked at Esika and laughed.

Many eyes in the mansion were watching this place.

Probably rumors will spread again today.

That the Duke has fallen head over heels for his wife. That the relationship between the two is improving.

**

That night, in Callian’s room.

The bright light stone was shining late into the night, and Callian held a letter in his hand.

‘If you don’t get me out and reinstate me, I’ll tell Esika about that night.’

Callian frowned at the story written at the end of the letter Yuri sent from the government prison.

Soon, a low voice tinged with anger flowed out.

“Yuri Anesis. You dare… threaten me?”

At first, he pitied her.

A pure childhood friend taking care of a stupid and extravagant wife.

When he put the Allet ring on her finger, he had wished his wife was Yuri instead of Esika.

“Your Grace…”

But he had no intention of taking responsibility for her.

Callian desired Yuri but didn’t embrace her, and thus was even more confident towards Esika.

Esika’s outbursts were a good excuse to seek comfort from Yuri.

It was much later that his feelings completely flipped.

The two of them started to look different.

Esika blooming like a flower, and Yuri looking extremely ordinary and weak compared to her.

Perhaps Esika had been more beautiful than Yuri from the start. It’s just that… his misunderstanding about Esika had obscured his true feelings for her.

His feelings for Yuri were fading like a wilting flower, but alcohol was the problem.

While venting his complicated feelings about Esika, he ended up sleeping with Yuri.

The very thing Esika had once accused him of became reality.

But Callian had no intention of continuing an affair with Yuri.

Isn’t the Anesis family even lower in status than Brigitte?

It was just going to be a one-night stand that could be dismissed as a mistake.

Later, when she gets married, he could just prepare a lot of wedding gifts for her.

He thought he could take responsibility that way.

However, an incident occurred where Yuri tried to embezzle Esika’s jewels and was reported.

He tried to persuade Esika to help Yuri but couldn’t, and Callian left it as it was rather than reaching out himself.

The intervals between her letters became longer, and he thought she had given up, but…

“Hah…”

Callian unfolded the paper and picked up a quill pen.

And with furrowed brows, Callian scribbled something in the letter, muttering low curses several times.

After folding the letter, he called Hans and ordered:

“Have this delivered to the government office manager.”

“Understood.”

Callian wore quite a displeased expression.