Below, soldiers lined up and began marching in unison. I squinted to get a closer look without realizing it, and Emily whispered, “Those are binoculars.”
Hermia lifted the handle stealthily only after making sure no one was watching her.
“… This can’t be happening.”
“Isn’t it more fun than opera?”
“Oh, damn it… Heaven.”
Beyond the round lens was a new world. Heaven, which was said to be something that could only be reached by praying for a lifetime, existed inside this small telescope.
She bit her lips tightly because she felt like she would swear if she opened her mouth.
As I was lost in the sight of the dynamically moving bronze David statues, my breath suddenly caught in my throat. It was because I saw a familiar figure coming down the stairs of the cemetery.
At the feast of bare skin, the man dressed in black from top to bottom was clearly Walter Rockford, even to the naked eye. At the same time, my mouth became parched.
Likewise, the maids who discovered him suddenly began to sigh.
“Ah! Why is Master here again… … !”
“Oh my! I haven’t seen you for long! You’ve already finished work early today.”
Then, one by one, they started to go back the way they came, muttering. Hermia, who was looking back and forth between the running statues and the maids, looked around in confusion.
“What? Why are you all going back already?”
“I got caught once and got in trouble. They said that if we watch, the soldiers won’t be able to focus on their training.”
Emily shook her head with a helpless expression.
“You too, young lady, get up. We must withdraw before the master notices.”
The peacock seen through the lens was out on the field, twirling his ankles. It looked like he was going to join the run.
Weren’t you sick? I guess I was worried for nothing since you’re walking around fine. That’s fortunate.
Hermia, who had been watching quietly, scratched her chin and asked.
“Would you like your Highness to take off his clothes too?”
“Well? We haven’t seen it through to the end either. If you get hot while running, wouldn’t you take it off?”
“… I guess so?”
As the maids quickly folded up the tent and moved the table, Hermia returned her attention to the parade ground.
Walter, who had been lightly stretching, seemed troubled by the strong sunlight and was fiddling with the collar of his shirt near his neck.
Are you taking it off? Are you taking the peacock off too?
As I was watching, swallowing hard, Emily urged me on impatiently.
“I told you I’d be in trouble if I got caught. Your eyesight is so good, Master.”
“Hey, wait a minute! Button, unbutton it?”
“You can show me all that stuff after you get married.”
Emily, who had even managed to snatch the telescope away, began to drag Hermia away.
If I want to get married and see her, I have to catch the writer first, but who knows when he’ll get caught! I saw his collarbone through his clothes…
I felt like I was going to die from the resentment.
“Just one minute… no, just 30 seconds… … . Damn it.”
* * *
In the end, Hermia, who had returned without seeing Walter’s upper body undress, greeted Nora with a gloomy face.
Nora, unaware of the circumstances, was smiling calmly as she took out the ointment from her bag.
“It’s tough, right? There’s probably nothing worse than muscle pain experienced by people who don’t exercise regularly.”
I thought Hermia was sick and had a bad expression on her face, so she said that. And now that I think about it, I had completely forgotten that my whole body had been aching.
Hermia rubbed ointment over her bruised arm in the shape of a handprint and then took a bite.
“Excuse me, sir, are you married?”
“I didn’t do it.”
“oh…….”
It was a bit surprising to hear that Nora was actually single, even though the question was asked after seeing that she had no ring on her hand.
“Excuse me, teacher, but how old are you?”
“I’m twenty-six.”
“Twenty-six… … .”
Hermia pondered what it would be like to be a twenty-six-year-old noblewoman in the Kingdom of Müller.
In the slums, there were some women who didn’t marry until they were in their thirties, but among the aristocrats, I’m not sure.
There are quite a few noble ladies who got married young and then lived a luxurious life with the inheritance left behind by their husbands.
In the case of divorce, most women entered a convent, and if they did not like that and returned to their parents’ house, they were usually sold off to another man’s new wife. And in most cases, those positions were filled by old men who had money.
A noblewoman, a nun, or an older man’s new wife.
Hermia could never have imagined that a twenty-six-year-old noblewoman could have other roles besides these three. So she planned to take the alimony and then go back to living as a commoner.
“I’m sorry, but teacher… … .”
“You can call me Nora. Or you can call me Ensign Wilson.”
Nora gently intervened and corrected the title. It was awkward to be addressed as ‘sir’ by the commander’s fiancé.
Hermia realized it too late and said, “Ah,” and continued asking questions.
“How did you manage to enlist in the military and enter college without getting married? Didn’t your family oppose it or anything?”
Nora was momentarily dumbfounded by those words.
‘What? College? What are you going to do in college?’
‘You must be joking about going to college to find a smart groom, right?’
This was because the questions were clearly different from those asked by my childhood friends who now have different last names and are mothers.
Because this was the first time she had been asked the question ‘how’ rather than ‘why’, Nora hesitated and could not answer right away.
“Uh… … So, I grew up in a family with many siblings. My father was a college professor. My mother taught children at a seminary.”
Seeing Hermia listening intently, she continued speaking calmly.
“All of my siblings, regardless of gender, have studied steadily since they were young. After my older sister and younger sister got married and my grandmother passed away, they went to college.”
“You have many brothers.”
“If my grandmother had lived longer, my admission would have been delayed by that much.”
Nora said it as if she was joking and then asked back.
“Do you want to study?”
“no.”
Without a second’s hesitation, Hermia shook her head. Nora smiled slightly and asked again.
“Then enlist?”
“hmm…….”
This time, the reaction was ambiguous. Hermia scratched her forehead and opened her mouth as she looked at me with a puzzled face.
“How much does a soldier get paid?”
“Your salary?”
“Ah. The army must be a bit uncomfortable because there’s a duke there. It seems a bit awkward to treat my ex-wife as a subordinate. Hmm.”
Nora watched Hermia muttering to herself as if she was talking to herself, and then asked carefully.
“Do you not want to get married?”
“No. I will do it. It’s not bad to do it with the Duke. In fact, objectively speaking, it’s an excessive position.”
“Not bad?”
“Yes. Your Majesty, you are the most handsome, rich, and gentlemanly man I have ever seen.”
So, it was quite surprising to Nora that she had no reason to refuse.
The conditions are good, but she doesn’t like him. Why would I think this girl would like Colonel Rockford?
The answer was simple. It was because they hastily assumed that he would like it since he was born in a position that a commoner’s illegitimate child could not even dream of.
As Hermia said, Walter Rockford was truly the best groom in the kingdom.
What if there was another good-looking, capable, and sole heir to a long-standing family?
It was only recently that the two empires had been competing with each other to request immigration and marriage proposals while offering good conditions, so it was only natural that single women would envy him.
Nora’s face suddenly turned hot as she realized that she had been wearing colored glasses despite having experienced so many prejudices.
Hermia confessed calmly in front of her like that.
“I have to prepare for the divorce. I don’t know how much alimony I’ll get, but I’m going to prepare for it. Oh, I said it again. Damn it.”
“Excuse me, but have you ever considered the scenario where you don’t get a divorce?”
Hermia was still blurting out her ambitious plans that she thought were only known to her, but Nora had no time to pay attention to them. She spoke quickly, narrowing her eyebrows.
“It may be my place to meddle, but the Colonel I’ve seen isn’t the type of person who would be forced into marriage because of a will. If he didn’t have the heart to do so, then perhaps… … .”
I was about to say that I would never have cared for you to this extent, but then I shut my mouth. That was rude, beyond meddling.
While briefly contemplating how to recover from her slip of the tongue, Hermia nodded her head.
“I felt that way too. At first, I thought I was being nice to her because of the will, but it didn’t seem to be the case.”
“thank god.”
Fortunately, she wasn’t completely oblivious. I sighed in relief, and Hermia smiled lightly.
“I’ve been used to that kind of gaze since I was young. But I’ve never had a crush on someone for long. It always ended badly.”
The woman who closed the cap of the ointment, lifted her arm, sniffed the scent, and spoke nonchalantly was only twenty years old. But what permeated her blue eyes was a weariness that did not match her age.
‘This girl is ready to accept a breakup at any moment.’
Nora suppressed her slightly salty feelings and spoke honestly.
“Even if your feelings fade away over time, you might not get a divorce if you have a child. The Colonel is a very responsible person… … .”
“I hate that even more!”
Hermia suddenly shuddered.
“It’s worse to hold on to her with a sense of responsibility or duty when your heart has left her. Then, later on, you’ll leave your wife at home and go meet another woman.”
She expressed her opinion passionately, looking straight into my brown eyes that were blinking in surprise.
“If your feelings have cooled, wouldn’t it be more honorable as a gentleman to give her alimony and break up cleanly? Of course, your wife should want it first. And of course, you should give her a generous alimony!”
“Miss Hermia.”
Nora put down her medical certificate and pen, folded her arms, and spoke seriously.
“According to my married friends, men who love their wives sometimes meet other women. Sometimes it’s just for fun, sometimes it’s for business. It’s not like they have to be in love to do it.”
“I absolutely agree.”
“But I don’t think all men are like that. There must be a man out there who is faithful to his wife his whole life.”
“… … .”
Hermia opened her eyes half-heartedly and thought of her adoptive father and biological father alternately with a suspicious expression, wondering if that was really true.