A Battlefield Of Flowers (2)

It rained heavily all day today. That seemed to be why he had finished his schedule and returned earlier than usual.

“Welcome back.”

When I stood in the cool entrance hall filled with the sound of rain and greeted him, Victor smiled brightly like a child.

“Marion.”

He strode toward me, stroked my cheek, and smiled radiantly once again.

“It is cold today. Shall we go to bed early?”

Victor must be tired.

Because I had looked directly at his face, I nodded with my cheeks slightly flushed.

An attendant took Victor’s coat, while Dideric and Madam Sermona immediately ordered the bathwater and meal to be prepared. The maids who received their instructions quickly bowed and disappeared. For some reason, their faces were flushed with excitement as they looked at us and whispered among themselves.

Why were they acting like that?

I tilted my head, then simply headed toward the dining room with Victor, who continued smiling broadly.

I sat to Victor’s left, filled my stomach with fragrant and sweet beef bourguignon, and went upstairs.

It truly was colder than usual today. When I slowly settled into the marble bathtub in the lady of the house’s room, the maids brought bathwater warmer than usual. I awkwardly dipped my hand into the pouring water. Perhaps I had already grown accustomed to the mild weather, because the hot bathwater felt welcome. Back in my homeland, we would have bathed in the river on a day like this.

After finishing my bath, I put a thin outer garment over the shirt I usually wore. When I picked up my sword and headed to the bedroom, Victor soon appeared.

“What were you looking at?”

“My new sword.”

I had been examining the new blade. I had chosen one that suited me from the armory to replace the sword damaged during our last spar.

He chuckled when he saw me hugging the sword.

“Do you know that you look just like a wildcat when you sit like that?”

Not understanding, I widened my eyes.

It was the first time in my life anyone had compared me to something like that. I had always been called a basilisk, a demon, or a wyvern.

As Victor approached, a deep musky scent drifted from him. He bent toward me.

“Crouched like this…… looking at me with yellow eyes, and with sharp claws too…….”

His eyes, like those of a predator studying its prey, swept over my entire body as though admiring it. For some reason, I began to feel strange and hurriedly averted my gaze.

“Your…… eyes are yellow too, Victor.”

Saying his name aloud still felt terribly awkward.

At my words, he smiled brightly.

“That is true. We have something in common.”

Secretly, I thought we were nothing alike.

If my eyes were like the moon that had risen too early in the evening, his eyes shone as brilliantly as the midday sun. How could something so powerful and beautiful be compared to me?

Leaving me to mumble awkwardly, he went to the bed and lay down. His cheerful voice said,

“Now then, Marion. Put me to sleep again tonight.”

The thick curtains were drawn, and darkness pressed in. Beyond the curtains, the windowpanes rattled in the wind. Whooo, the sharp sound of the wind seeped into the room. It was a sound that had accompanied me all my life.

I set down my sword and approached Victor on my knees. In the deep darkness, he had closed his eyes and was breathing slowly. Once sleep gathered him into its sleeve, he would once again be tormented by nightmares he could not endure alone.

How pitiful.

My mouth opened without my realizing it.

“……When the pure white snow gathers by the window…….”

His body flinched. Afraid he might open his eyes, I quickly clasped his hand tightly. I remembered how comforting it had felt when someone did that for me as a child.

“……A weeping star above the pitch-black pond…….”

It was an old song from Amari that a maid had sung to me when I was young and frightened by the wind rattling the window frame. Victor’s stiff shoulders gradually relaxed.

I had no talent whatsoever for singing, but I continued murmuring the song. I hoped that, even briefly, a deep and dreamless sleep would carry away this gentle man.

When I opened my eyes the next day, a blanket had been draped over my shoulders. I rubbed my cheek against its warm edge before sitting up with my hair disheveled.

“You woke early.”

Victor was sitting at the edge of the bed. Unable to avoid feeling embarrassed, I looked at him.

His upper body was completely bare. Even when he had awakened yesterday and gone back to sleep, he had been wearing a robe. When had his clothes come off?

I had seen more than enough half-dressed men while hunting monsters with knights, but knowing that this man was Victor made it indescribably embarrassing. I deliberately looked away and asked,

“Are you not going out today?”

“I need to…… but I wanted to speak with you before leaving, so I waited.”

“What did you want to speak about?”

“Something like this.”

Victor smiled gently.

I could not understand him. A man as busy as he was had waited in the bedroom for me to wake up without any particular business? And without even wearing…… clothes.

Restless, I found the robe lying on the bed, picked it up, and approached him. For my sake, that needed to be covered.

“Victor, please stand.”

When I spoke with forced firmness, he stood with a puzzled expression. I slipped the robe sleeves over his solid arms and moved around to the front. His perfectly trained, tanned chest entered my sight. I deliberately unfocused my eyes and tightly closed the front of the robe.

Once I had wrapped him up so thoroughly that no skin showed and even tied the belt, a small laugh sounded above my head. When I looked up, Victor was watching me with an expression on the verge of bursting into laughter.

“Marion, I am not putting on armor…….”

When I lowered my gaze, I finally realized that I had pulled the belt far too tight. Blood rushed all the way to the tips of my ears.

I considered untying it, but that seemed strange in its own way. As I hesitated, unsure what to do, he caught my hand.

“……Victor!”

“Why? You held it perfectly well last night.”

His eyes curved into a teasing smile.

My face truly felt as though it were on fire now. Embarrassed by how red it must have become, like a roasted egg, I lowered my head deeply.

Being with him was more difficult than hunting dozens of monsters.

Victor continued to play with my hand for quite some time before leaving.

He even did it at breakfast, causing me to tremble with embarrassment while thinking of the refinement expected of a proper noblewoman. The servants lowered their heads and pretended not to notice their master’s shameless display, but I did not miss the smiles brushing their lips. It was mortifying enough to make me want to die.

What was so appealing about a hand covered only in calluses?

I cooled my cheek with the back of my hand and rang the bell. Several maids soon entered, brushed my hair, and changed my clothes.

I had become fairly accustomed to being attended by so many people now. At first, even having personal maids assigned to me had felt strange.

Once I had finished dressing, Dideric came to my room. That meant he had something important to discuss.

“My lady, the social season will soon begin.”

The social season?

I pulled the nearly forgotten term from the depths of my mind.

The social season referred to the several weeks at the beginning of summer when nobles from throughout the country gathered in the capital to hold banquets and socialize. Half the trends among noblewomen and half the gossip of high society emerged during that period.

Ordinary noble ladies counted the days until they could attend…… but naturally, it was something I had only read about in books.

As I tried to judge the intention behind his words, I suddenly realized something and became alarmed.

“D-Do I have to attend the banquets too?”

When I asked anxiously, Dideric nodded.

“Yes. You are a foreigner and were married this year, so it would be appropriate to use your first social season as your debut. As Her Highness the Grand Duchess, your rank is high, so it should not be too difficult for you.”

I frowned deeply.

I thought I had learned social etiquette when I was very young, but I could not remember it clearly. One thing I knew for certain was that one could not address someone of higher rank first. As far as I knew, there was only one Grand Duke in the Empire, so nearly all the noblewomen would probably be unable to speak to me first.

As though reading my thoughts, Dideric advised me politely.

“Even so, you must not avoid speaking to everyone entirely. You need to make it known that you are the new Grand Duchess.”

Disheartened, I looked down at the floor.

I was anxious. I did not know a single person, and I knew nothing about dancing or social etiquette. Would I be able to behave like a Grand Duchess in a place filled with so many people?

My eyes shifted before I cautiously asked,

“Will Victor not be going with me?”

The elderly butler raised his eyebrows, then laughed aloud.

“His Grace will probably be busy attending the gentlemen’s gatherings. He has been absent from social activities for a long time.”

“I see…….”

“In his place, we will support you in every way possible. Madam Sermona and I will prepare everything else, so please review your books on etiquette.”

I scraped the carpet with the tip of my shoe.

“Yes.”