Chapter 74
“Thank you for the advice.”
“If you usually communicate well, there’s no problem. But that’s not easy.”
The Crown Prince took a sip of champagne as if to show off and put the glass down with a clatter.
“If you’re not close, you’ll have to borrow the power of alcohol, but I don’t think it’ll be difficult for you two.”
It was an implicit mockery that both of them couldn’t drink and an unsubtle jab at their marriage, implying it was anything but a love match. But there was no special change in the Duke’s insensitive face.
“Hmm.”
The Crown Prince gave up on the Duke, who was unshakable by any provocation, and turned his crooked gaze towards the lucky woman.
“It would have been better for the Duchess to marry a man who was good at talking, wouldn’t it?”
“Uh… what?”
As expected, the Duchess looked embarrassed at the joke that was walking a tightrope.
He had no personal feelings for her, but the Crown Prince felt a desire to get back at the hateful guy who had been subtly ignoring him since he was a child. If he couldn’t shake the Duke, he would at least make his wife suffer.
“My wife and I struggled a lot at first. Because I didn’t know the language of her country, and Cordelia was not fluent in our language, so we couldn’t communicate.”
“……?”
Hermia looked at the Crown Princess with a suspicious look. She was chattering like a native speaker just a moment ago.
“When you look at it, isn’t the Duke and Duchess not much different from our early days? No matter what you say, the Duke will be silent like someone who has heard a foreign language.”
“Oh, that’s not a problem. It’s not frustrating.”
“A man like that—how do you even have deep conversations?”
The Crown Prince smiled crookedly and trailed off.
‘Not frustrating? That block of wood?’
Hermia, encouraged by the hands she was holding, said in a clear tone.
“We have deep conversations just fine. Too well, even. If anything, it’s a little too easy to be honest with each other.”
It was more difficult to hide something. She added as if to herself and exchanged a secret look with Walter.
Walter coughed and hid his laughter and brought the dessert she liked to the front.
“If you need anything else…”
“Let’s eat together and finish it quickly and go get something else. The nun said that steak is the most delicious of the food here.”
“Let’s do that.”
The Crown Prince rubbed his eyes. If what he was seeing wasn’t an illusion, the Duke of Rockford was finishing off a plate that his wife had already been eating from.
The pride of the kingdom was eating the food that someone else had left behind…
The woman, who used her husband for leftover disposal, said again without any hesitation.
“I’ll eat it and tell you because I have an objective taste. The number one steak in my mind is still filet mignon.”
“I should have brought the chef. So you can eat what you like at home.”
“It’s okay. They say they’ll pack it up if you tell them separately.”
The lucky lady who became the Duchess even snatched the plate that the Duke was putting his fork on.
“Don’t eat that. It’ll just fill you up and it’s not very tasty.”
And Walter, the unshakable, formidable Duke, obediently set down his fork without protest.
While seriously thinking about whether some pathetic guy he didn’t know had covered up the Duke’s shell, the King, who had been chatting with the senators, approached with the sound of a cane.
As those in the seats stood up and paid their respects, the King received the greetings with a rough nod and slumped down in the chair.
“The cathedral is pretty good too. Gerald should have a ceremony here later. It’s much better than when I came before.”
“Mother won’t allow it. She hasn’t seen it herself.”
At the Crown Prince’s sarcasm, the King looked at Walter and replied.
“My wife is originally good at sulking over small things. You understand.”
Walter bowed his head to him, who didn’t bother to explain why the Queen didn’t attend, meaning that he didn’t care.
“Sulking? Coco knows. Narrow-minded. Petty. Is that what it means?”
In the meantime, the Crown Princess asked with a cheerful face. The Crown Prince coughed vaguely, but the Crown Princess didn’t care.
“It’s okay if Her Majesty the Queen is petty or narrow-minded. Coco will take care of Mia instead of Her Majesty the Queen.”
“Our daughter-in-law is kind-hearted even if her words are still lacking.”
“Because Coco’s heart is not sulky and is as wide as the sea.”
The King laughed and asked Hermia.
“Come and play at the Crown Princess’s palace often. There’s no better medicine than a friend in a lonely foreign life. Get along well with Elisabeth and the three of you.”
Hermia closed her lips tightly and smiled as much as she could. Even though she was married, the King still treated her like she was twelve years old.
She had to eat the steak that was the pride of the cathedral, but the King only told boring stories after that and stood up after a long time.
The Crown Princess, who was tidying up her dress for the last time, saw the men walking away and pulled Hermia’s arm.
“Keep in mind. You have to clearly convey what you like and dislike. You have to focus on the parts you didn’t like in particular so that you don’t learn anything weird from anywhere.”
The Crown Princess, who spoke in a machine-gun-like manner, waved her hand as if nothing had happened.
“Advice, thank you.”
“If you usually communicate well, there’s no problem. But that’s not easy.”
The Crown Prince took a sip of champagne as if to show off and put the glass down with a clatter.
“If you’re not close, you’ll have to borrow the power of alcohol, but I don’t think it’ll be difficult for you two.”
It was an implicit mockery that both of them couldn’t drink and that it was an arranged marriage that couldn’t be friendly, but there was no special change in the Duke’s insensitive face.
“Hmm.”
The Crown Prince gave up on the Duke, who was unshakable by any provocation, and turned his crooked gaze towards the lucky woman.
“It would have been better for the Duchess to marry a man who was good at talking, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, yes?”
As expected, the Duchess looked embarrassed at the joke that was walking a tightrope.
He had no personal feelings for her, but the Crown Prince felt a desire to get back at the hateful guy who had been subtly ignoring him since he was a child. If he couldn’t shake the Duke, he would at least make his wife suffer.
“We were very frustrated at first. Because I didn’t know the language of this person’s country, and Cordelia was not fluent in our language, so we couldn’t communicate.”
“……?”
Hermia looked at the Crown Princess with a suspicious look. She was chattering like a native speaker just a moment ago.
“When you look at it, isn’t the Duke and Duchess not much different from our early days? No matter what you say, the Duke will be silent like someone who has heard a foreign language.”
“Ah. That’s okay. It’s not frustrating.”
“You can’t tell such a man deep stories…”
The Crown Prince smiled crookedly and trailed off.
‘Not frustrating? That block of wood?’
Hermia, encouraged by the hands she was holding, said in a clear tone.
“He tells deep stories well. So well that it’s troubling.”
It was more difficult to hide something. She added as if to herself and exchanged a secret look with Walter.
Walter coughed and hid his laughter and brought the dessert she liked to the front.
“If you need anything else…”
“Let’s eat together and finish it quickly and go get something else. The nun said that steak is the most delicious of the food here.”
“Let’s do that.”
The Crown Prince rubbed his eyes. If what he was seeing wasn’t an illusion, the Duke of Rockford was emptying the plate that the woman had eaten and passed on without any hesitation.
The pride of the kingdom was eating the food that someone else had left behind…
The woman, who used her husband for leftover disposal, said again without any hesitation.
“I’ll eat it and tell you because I have an objective taste. The number one steak in my mind is still filet mignon.”
“I should have brought the chef. So you can eat what you like at home.”
“It’s okay. They say they’ll pack it up if you tell them separately.”
The lucky lady who became the Duchess even snatched the plate that the Duke was putting his fork on.
“Don’t eat that. It’ll just fill you up and it’s not very tasty.”
Who on earth was the man who obediently put down his fork there?
While seriously thinking about whether some pathetic guy he didn’t know had covered up the Duke’s shell, the King, who had been chatting with the senators, approached with the sound of a cane.
As those in the seats stood up and paid their respects, the King received the greetings with a rough nod and slumped down in the chair.
“The cathedral is pretty good too. Gerald should have a ceremony here later. It’s much better than when I came before.”
“Mother won’t allow it. She hasn’t seen it herself.”
At the Crown Prince’s sarcasm, the King looked at Walter and replied.
“My wife is originally good at sulking over small things. You understand.”
Walter bowed his head to him, who didn’t bother to explain why the Queen didn’t attend, meaning that he didn’t care.
“Sulking? Coco knows. Narrow-minded. Petty. Is that what it means?”
In the meantime, the Crown Princess asked with a cheerful face. The Crown Prince coughed vaguely, but the Crown Princess didn’t care.
“It’s okay if Her Majesty the Queen is petty or narrow-minded. Coco will take care of Mia instead of Her Majesty the Queen.”
“Our daughter-in-law is kind-hearted even if her words are still lacking.”
“Because Coco’s heart is not sulky and is as wide as the sea.”
The King laughed and asked Hermia.
“Come and play at the Crown Princess’s palace often. There’s no better medicine than a friend in a lonely foreign life. Get along well with Elisabet and the three of you.”
Hermia closed her lips tightly and smiled as much as she could. Even though she was married, the King still treated her like she was twelve years old.
She had to eat the steak that was the pride of the cathedral, but the King only told boring stories after that and stood up after a long time.
The Crown Princess, who was tidying up her dress for the last time, saw the men walking away and pulled Hermia’s arm.
“Keep in mind. You have to clearly convey what you like and dislike. You have to focus on the parts you didn’t like in particular so that you don’t learn anything weird from anywhere.”
The Crown Princess, who spoke in a machine-gun-like manner, waved her hand as if nothing had happened.
“I’ll invite you to my palace next time. Let’s talk more then. I’m looking forward to hearing about your wedding night.”
Hermia belatedly understood Coco’s words and blushed.
Good heavens. How could the Crown Princess of a country say such outrageous things?
“…I’ll have to take her as a teacher.”
She muttered and hurriedly looked for the bouquet when she saw the noble ladies carefully approaching from all directions.
* * *
In the end, the steak was a complete victory for the Duke’s chef.
It was a fair result that came out after the servants smiled brightly, tasted, and even voted when all the leftover food was packed up and lined up in the dining room.
Hermia laughed and chatted with them and then entered her new bedroom with the guidance of the maids. Exclamations of emotion burst out repeatedly as she looked around the spacious and luxurious interior.
The detached house was originally a separate building for the Duchess. That meant it had been neglected for a long time, but everything that was visible and tangible was brand new.
This noble bedroom was entirely her own room. As she threw herself on the soft bed and looked at the decorations on the ceiling, a new emotion swirled in her eyes.
Young, handsome, and rich.
As Queen Donna had predicted, she had indeed married a handsome, young, and wealthy man with a lot of money.
And that wasn’t all. The young, handsome, and rich man was now completely immersed in her. So, she was going to put down all her worries and concerns and enjoy happiness only for tonight.
Worries were like these.
A vague anxiety about how long Walter’s interest would last. The unease that Mel, who had run away with the necklace, might have sold it for cheap or lost it.
The reaction of the Count and Countess when they learned from the newspaper that their daughter was married. The thought that when they returned to the mansion and checked the safe under the floor, they wouldn’t suspect that it looked different from before.
The damaged parts of the mansion were neatly repaired, and the dented safe was made with the same keyhole. Walter had also refilled the 300 million persos that was in it (Hermia cried because she thought 300 million was a waste).
As for the necklace, he had planned to replace it with a perfect replica, but she had vehemently opposed the idea, practically grabbing him by the collar in protest. In the end, they settled for a well-made fake. When the Count and Countess returned, a fake diamond necklace would be waiting in the safe.
And the gold in the ground. Walter took out only a few test gold bars and put plaster on top of them to make it look like nothing had happened.
As a result, other than the fact that her daughter had married without her parents’ knowledge, nothing had actually changed.
“Whether his heart cools down or not, whether the fake necklace is discovered or not…”
She didn’t want to spoil her mood by worrying about things that hadn’t happened yet on such an important day. She stood up with strength and left the Duchess’s bedroom and opened the door to another place.
The bedroom for the couple. The moment she saw that overwhelmingly large room, she was dizzy with the variety of colors that were more noticeable than the scale.
As she looked around the interior carefully, she could easily understand the designer’s purpose.
The bed had swaying canopies on each corner, and the charcoal curtains hanging on the balcony were for blackout. The long sofa was as wide as a bed, and the chandelier had colored glass fitted into it.
It was obvious without looking that if she turned on the lamp in the dark, the bedroom reflected in the reddish colored glass would be completely red.
Who’s head did this blatant interior design come from? It definitely wasn’t Walter.
At that moment, Emily opened the bathroom door made of cloudy glass and greeted Hermia with a proud smile.
“Madam! Why are you here already?”
“The door… if it’s like this, everything will be seen through, so how can I wash…”
“Oh, that was my idea! Master left the interior design to me.”
I wanted to say that it looked nice, but she knew she would fail if she said that, so she roughly raised her thumb.
“It’s almost over here, so Madam, go back and get ready for dinner quickly.”
Madam.
The changed title from Miss felt very unfamiliar, so she replaced the answer by awkwardly pulling up the corners of her mouth.
As awkward and strange as Hermia Vansen becoming Hermia Rockford. The surname that had changed three times, from her mother’s surname to her adoptive father’s surname, and then to her biological father’s surname, had changed once again.
She hoped this would be the last time. Wishing so, she returned to her room and built up tension for her first dinner as the Duchess.
* * *
How many times did she change clothes in a day, and even though someone else decorated her from head to toe, she felt tired. Shouldn’t she just give up on dinner and get straight to the point?
Even the centerpiece on the table seemed cumbersome today. While she was staring at the decorative flowers for a while, Walter entered with Aiden.
He still had work to do, and he was instructing something even while looking at Hermia until he sat down in his chair. Only after a few minutes did Aiden bow and leave the dining room.
“I’m sorry. I was doing things in advance that had to be done by tomorrow.”
“…Why would you do tomorrow’s work today?”
