Surprisingly, the person Kaius wanted to meet together was Empress Catherine.

Kaius promised compensation to the owner of the Pink Rose Garden, and met Empress Catherine in the tea room furthest from the accident scene. He requested the lighting to be dimmed, and Empress Catherine didn’t seem to mind much.

“……What?”

“I said I was sorry, madam. I had promised to persuade His Majesty to make Miss Rosalyn the duchess if the two of you divorced. I didn’t know it would lead to such a dangerous incident.”

It was beyond imagination. To think Rosalyn’s backer was the empress. And another apology? Ariel’s bewildered gaze fell on Kaius, who nodded slightly.

“……It’s alright, Your Majesty. Everything has been resolved well.”

Kaius, who had been watching, set down the teacup he was holding.

“Now that the apology seems to be over, let me make a proposal separate from my wife’s matter.”

Empress Catherine frowned as she listened to Kaius’s following words.

“So……you want us to hand over all our hotels to Kaldenbach?”

“I hear the Lantiano ducal family is in quite a precarious financial situation right now. Their guests have decreased significantly too. So to overcome the crisis, my proposal would be most suitable. I’m not asking for it for free, but to take it over at market price, so please discuss it well with Duke Lantiano when you return, Your Majesty.”

“……I see. Is that all the business then?”

“My business is done, now let’s move on to my wife’s matter. The lands adjacent to the Letiana border belong to the Lantiano ducal family. If you transfer ownership of those estates to my wife as an apology, we will not inquire further about that incident. On the surface, it will be the empress’s reward for filial piety in curing the grand empress dowager’s headache. It’s practically abandoned land, so it shouldn’t be a great loss. What do you think?”

Empress Catherine stared for a long while at the man who could have been her husband. She seemed to understand why Emperor Hart was so jealous of Duke Elbartan.

A man who never misses an opportunity when it comes, and is so thorough that he leaves no room for escape.

With the victory of ‘Le Cordon Bleu’, he had gained much. He proved himself worthy of Elbartan in name and reality, and elevated that name even higher. Moreover, Kaldenbach’s hotels were thriving day by day, while Berryhouse was losing customers and might have to close at this rate. If she didn’t accept his timely proposal, the Lantiano ducal family would have to bear even greater losses. The moment she handed over the hotels to him, Kaldenbach would make an even greater leap forward.

It was a proposal that showed such meticulousness it was tongue-in-cheek.

And that wasn’t all. His wife’s matter was the same. For nobles who live and die by reputation, the pretext of an empress caring for the grand empress dowager was a proposal that gave her various benefits as well. If the duke had demanded more, she wouldn’t have given in so easily, but the land he requested was practically barren. It was a deal that had to be accepted no matter how you looked at it. Though it was frustrating to have lost such a man, being empress was still better than being a duchess.

“Let’s do that. That much is nothing to Lantiano.”

The land she decided to give, as if bestowing charity on a poor princess, was adjacent to the Malaba estate. That meant it was suitable land for growing pepper. It was land that Ariel had wanted to buy someday, but couldn’t due to lack of resources to expand employee housing.

Ariel twisted her skirt to keep from smiling. She wanted to tell Edward this news right away.

***

“Beautiful and magnanimous Empress, travel safely.”

How politely he bowed to the departing carriage of Empress Catherine. Kaius chuckled softly at Ariel’s behavior.

Did she even realize this woman had endangered her life? Kaius smirked as he gazed at her absent-mindedly. Still, one needs that level of shamelessness to do business. That one point was fortunate.

“Kaius.”

The lightly bouncing voice was impossible to imagine as the woman who had been sobbing just earlier. Ariel looked at him with prettily sparkling eyes, then lowered her gaze and fidgeted. Seeing her skirt flutter forward, she seemed to be tapping the ground with her shoes.

“Um……that land. It’s really mine, right?”

She must not have felt assured even though they heard it together.

“That land is entirely yours.”

Kaius readily gave her the answer she wanted. Only then did Ariel raise her head and look at him with an exuberant smile.

“Kaius.”

At her calling him again, Kaius quietly looked at her with his hands behind his back, as if telling her to ask anything. Though he felt slightly annoyed, her smile was beautiful enough to erase all of that.

“I really admire you.”

***

Even in the carriage returning to the ducal residence, Ariel chattered endlessly about Kaius, Kaius. Moreover, one very small thing changed with this incident.

The times Ariel rode in the carriage with Kaius could be counted on one hand, but each time her seat was always as far from Kaius as possible. For the first time, she sat at an appropriate distance from him. Though she hadn’t come completely close, that alone was enough to feel satisfied.

“When Big returns, I must tell Edward this happy news right away. We were already racking our brains over whether to buy the neighboring estate first or expand employee housing.”

“Can’t you do both?”

“Hey, we lack the funds. You may not know, Kaius, but most people don’t have money overflowing. Oh, I should take this opportunity to ask Edward to come to Tris for a while.”

“Why.”

“That’s……”

Since the grand empress dowager’s birthday banquet, the invitation cards from nobles that had been trickling in were now arriving in countless numbers. The superficial reason was to build friendships, but what they all wanted was one thing. Insomnia and headaches. That was why. The reason Ariel came up with a new business plan.

“I want to open an aromatherapy shop in downtown Tris. I’m planning to start as a private shop for now, but I don’t know much about that area, so I wanted to ask Edward for help. It would be more convenient to have him nearby, so can I invite him to the ducal residence?”

“If that’s the reason, I’ll help.”

Ariel’s eyes widened at Kaius’s unexpected words.

“You’ll help open the shop, Kaius?”

“Why? You don’t want my help?”

“Of course not. It’s just that you’re busy, Your Grace. Though Edward is busy too, of course.”

Edward, Edward. How boldly she calls another man’s name in front of her husband.

“Enough, stop talking about that. Let’s settle on me helping. More importantly, are you going to sell that oil you gave me?”

“That’s right. I want to start small with things that help insomnia and headaches. Since I can’t run it directly myself, I need to hire a few employees and find a place to make the oils.”

Ariel’s explanation continued a bit more, and Kaius nodded and listened to her words. When Ariel finally stopped chattering, he lifted the curtain to check outside and tapped the carriage twice. As the carriage stopped, Kaius got out first and held out his hand to her. Behind his back, small white things were falling.

Could it be?

Hurriedly getting out of the carriage, Ariel was speechless at the too beautiful sight. The sky above, illuminated by the carriage’s headlamps, was filled with white snowflakes falling down.

Snowflakes fell one by one onto Ariel’s upturned face. They were truly cold and soft.

It was the first snow.

***

“Raymond, send a letter to the police asking for leniency for Miss Rosalyn.”

“Yes, I will write an appropriate reason for leniency.”

Butler Raymond accepted Kaius’s instructions without question.

“And spread rumors. That the Bienne count’s family is an enemy of Elbartan. Also, make sure the Bienne countess never sets foot in the ducal residence again. If there is anything still being supported, stop it all.”

“Understood.”

Ariel, knowing that the library incident was connected even to Empress Catherine, asked for leniency for Rosalyn. Kaius intended to grant his wife’s request but punish Rosalyn in another way. His method was to clearly cut off ended relationships.

“Is there any progress on the spy matter?”

“Sir Fernan, who acted as Miss Rosalyn’s spy, was immediately dismissed. The spy who went over to Duke Lantiano seems to have only reported the movements of two carriages leaving for the capital.”

“Send that one away too.”

Kaius briefly ordered, stroking his chin. It had been a long time since rooting out and expelling spies only led to new spies entering again.

“By the way, a carrier pigeon was caught yesterday.”

Raymond stepped forward and placed the note recovered from the pigeon on the desk, then stepped back again.

‘Did not find the book.’ After staring at the note for a long time, Kaius briefly thought of the ‘Demon Realm Plant Guide’, but soon chuckled. There was no way they would move spies just to find a mere plant guide.

“Shall we try handwriting analysis?”

Kaius nodded his chin in agreement and lowered his gaze to the documents, and Butler Raymond quietly withdrew.

The documents he had been writing until just now were about the shop Ariel wanted to open. The explanation he heard yesterday was sufficient. Now there were just a few things for his wife to decide directly, so Kaius set down his pen and rose from his desk.

Out of habit, he approached the window and opened it. His gaze passed over the forest turned white by last night’s snow and focused on the greenhouse.

It was something that had become like a ritual since she came here. At first, he was curious what she was doing in the greenhouse, and then it just became that way.

As if that’s how the day began. Naturally.