The maid's eyes lit up at Irena's muttered words as if welcoming her.
"Oh, is this a letter from the Duchess of Temnes?"
Her curiosity and young voice made Irena shoo her away.
"I want to be alone, so go out. I will handle the preparations to receive the guests this afternoon."
The maid closed the door with a disappointed expression and disappeared.
At Castle Valmonde, Irena had a close friend who was her maid. However, there were also people who'd never been outside the area around Castle Valmonde.
She'd wanted to travel in a more relaxed manner, but she'd been afraid of what the Duke of Vermont would say, so she couldn't voice it aloud. However, for some reason, the Duke of Vermont had first ordered Irena to go alone, saying he'd provide her with an escort and attendant. She'd been secretly excited about the brief freedom granted to her for the first time in her life.
Irena vaguely guessed the reason was because of Valquiterre.
Her friends who were by her side also had fair complexions due to their noble status. If she'd been accompanied by friends to Rowan, it would have been difficult to keep the noble ladies who'd been staying in the capital from attending the royal ball.
It was considered a tradition for Vermonters not to debut in the capital's social circles, but not all vassal nobles avoided the debutante.
The mansion that became her temporary residence was located on a main road where the townhouses of local nobles were gathered, and those who were introduced through the salon served Irena.
But under the Duke of Vermont's watch, Irena was a puppet who did her father's will. She bought dresses and jewels, was introduced to a salon, received beauty treatments, and had to accommodate the Duke of Vermont's ambitions every day. Seeing his daughter like that, her father smiled with satisfaction.
*"If you become Queen, it will only be a matter of time before Temnes and such are destroyed."*
*"Father, have you forgotten that Claudel married Rowan? Besides, the King is a half-cousin to the Duke of Temnes, right?"*
When it came to politics, the Duke of Vermont's strength didn't decline even as he got older—he was like cast iron dug from deep in the ground. He was a very respected lord when he ruled the land of Valmonde with his unwavering stubbornness and will, but whenever politics or Temnes came up, he became illogical and furious.
Anyway, the King's Birthday event, which had been carefully prepared, went smoothly. She'd only dined once in the Hanging Gardens after being summoned by Valquiterre, who'd wanted to personally give her an invitation to the ball. The ball ended without Irena dancing or talking to him once. The problem was that nothing had happened.
*"This can't be happening! You can't do this to me!"*
The Duke of Vermont had been furious as if he'd been defrauded. Irena could tell that the whole time she'd been dining with Valquiterre, he hadn't been as interested in her as her fingernails.
Still, he'd sent out the invitation so publicly, and since the Duke of Vermont had been present, she'd thought he would ask her for the first dance, even as formal courtesy, but her expectations were completely wrong.
Considering the social custom of conveying one's true intentions through attitude rather than words, the King's attitude of not even asking for a dance seemed to be drawing a line in front of many nobles that he wouldn't even tolerate rumors of something going on between Irena and him privately.
The Duke had given such a person platinum armor of his choice from the treasure trove of Castle Valmonde.
*My father is getting older too.*
Maybe it was because he was anxious about the issue of Vermont's succession. It was impossible for the Duke of Vermont—who was calculating and self-interested—to give treasure as a gift first, as if trying to win favor without hesitation, given his personality.
Vermont never lost money.
*Now that this has happened, he can't go back empty-handed. At this point, I guess I'll have to find Vermont's successor and marry him off.*
In the end, Irena had already endured the Duke of Vermont's matchmaking efforts four times, and the guest that Madame Arnanti was bringing this afternoon was her fifth. After the royal ball, she'd seen one almost every week.
*At this point, it's natural for the introductions to continue.*
Perhaps because there were quite a few aristocratic families whose fortunes had grown in the war's aftermath, she was still in demand in the marriage market.
"What kind of person will come today?"
Every prospect Irena had met so far had had problems.
*"Is the rumor true that Vermont plated the castle with fire and gold?"*
They wanted to gauge her family's wealth.
*"If you have the port at your disposal, isn't it only a matter of time before you get rich?"*
It was questionable whether they came to meet a match or to look for investors for trading businesses.
*"Your ex-husband went to war and died right after the wedding. Even though you're a widow, you're no different from a virgin, right?"*
The only person who'd been interested in her had asked crooked questions.
*"What man would like a wife who was tamed by another man?"*
Hadn't he shamelessly said something completely outside common sense to Irena's face and watched her reaction?
"Ha, is there a way to avoid this meeting?"
What kind of nonsense would she hear today? The more she thought, the more she sighed.
"It would be nice to have something interesting to read."
The letter Claudel had sent was as many as eight pages long.
It had been a long time since the sisters had gone on an outing to the kingdom's capital together, but Irena and Claudel hadn't had a chance to meet separately. This was because the Duke of Vermont had restricted Irena's outings for her dramatic appearance, as the capital's social circles had been stirred by Valquiterre's invitation of father and daughter to the royal castle.
Moreover, Claudel—who was now the Duchess of Temnes, not a member of the Vermont family but a royal relative—had to follow her husband and show her face at various places almost every day.
As a result, they'd only sent and received short messages, and on the day of the ball, other than a brief conversation in the lounge, she'd been upset because she hadn't seen Claudel.
*[To my dear Irena. How have you been? In Rowan, the seasons do not change, so the days are still warm and flowers are blooming everywhere.]*
As Irena read the letter written in Claudel's pretty handwriting, a smile naturally appeared on her lips. Claudel's letter contained trivial stories.
*[Hannah has a lover. The person... Don't be surprised. My sister also knows this person. No, I should say you don't know him. Anyway! He is Rohan Hindenburg, who wrote Hindenburg's Continental Explorer.]*
Irena was surprised. Claudel had had no interest in relationships between men and women and had been very oblivious. Before her marriage, several men had shown interest in Claudel at Castle Valmonde, but she hadn't even noticed. Because of that, Claudel hadn't even held a man's hand before leaving for her husband's house.
"It's amazing. If Claudel knows, doesn't everyone in the castle know?"
Hannah had acted as if she'd spend her whole life devoted to Claudel, but the fact that she was dating someone was surprising.
*[Every time Rohan stops by the Castle, my maid disappears, but I pretend not to notice. The people of Rowan Castle are kind to me. Not at first though. Even if Hannah leaves for the Sol Continent with Rohan, I now have many people who will serve me.]*
If Claudel had already imagined it that far, Hannah's relationship must have been quite serious.
"I'm curious? It's more interesting than the books."
She'd been wondering when she'd finish reading it all, but as she went through each page of the thick letter, it was already over.
*[Because Valmonde is too far. I hope I get another chance to meet my sister before you go back home. I will write another letter.]*
Irena could feel happiness in Claudel's lengthy account of daily life.
"I'm glad you're doing well."
When she thought of Claudel, she thought of the man who stood by her side as if threatening to monopolize her. As she remembered Kaian, Irena became wistful.
She'd never felt like this until she'd seen her sister and her husband together. However, after seeing the two people who were so devoted to each other, for some reason, every time she saw a prospect, she compared him to the Duke of Temnes.
Perhaps it was thanks to Claudel that Valquiterre had quickly realized she wasn't very interested in him.
Before she knew it, Irena had come to think of Claudel and Kaian as her ideal couple. If she tried to find a relationship like that with such lofty ideals stuck in her head, would she be able to find a partner that satisfied her? She didn't have to look far—Irena herself had a completely different personality from Claudel.
"No, don't think too negatively. What do I know? I wonder if there will be someone good to meet today."
Irena got up energetically and sat down at her desk. She couldn't say as much as she wanted because telegrams cost per letter, but she could write as many letters as she wanted, so if it wasn't urgent she'd write a reply rather than a telegram.
"I would like to write a reply to the noble Duchess."
Irena dipped her pen in ink and quickly began writing her letter.
---
As he approached Rowan Castle, Valquiterre was filled with complex emotions.
"I don't even remember how many years it's been."
He hadn't been here since Kaian had gone off to war. Last time, he'd invited Kaian to the hunt at Fromhunt and had come to the castle secretly, but he couldn't go in and could only look around, so it was ambiguous to say he'd visited the castle.
However, the closer he got to the picturesque Rowan Castle, the more the castle's atmosphere differed from what remained in Valquiterre's memories.
He frowned as he saw the crowd gathered around the castle's moat.
"I told you long ago that I don't need crowds welcoming me."
As he approached with a frown, to his surprise, there was no water in the moat, which should have been lapping and reflecting the intaglio stone decoration of the castle wall whenever a light breeze blew.
It turned out that all the people he'd thought were waiting for him were busy looking down into the moat. His eyes naturally followed people's gazes and he frowned.
"What on earth is that?"
Valquiterre was dumbfounded as he looked at the dirty, black figure wandering in the moat.
"You're ruining my castle."
---