“What’s this?”
“Ah, just a small accident. I hurt myself cooking at home. Haha… I haven’t been married long so I’m still a bit clumsy.”
Anyone could see it was a bruise from being gripped hard. As if embarrassed by her own obvious lie, Clara hastily cleared the table and bowed her head to Cassia.
“I-I’ll just go tidy this up, Madam!”
“Clara!”
Startled, Cassia called after her, but Clara only hurried out with a flustered face, pretending not to hear with the tray in hand.
Cassia half-rose as if to follow her, but sat back down and stared at the door which had been slammed shut.
A maid leaving her madam’s room so abruptly was extremely rude, but Cassia knew exactly why Clara was reacting so sensitively.
In her past life, Clara had always been deeply ashamed of her situation. And how could she not? To live with a husband who constantly drank and struck her… and to have nowhere to go but the home she shared with such a man, it was pitiful.
Clara hated revealing those ‘shameful parts’ and even more so, hated to show any weakness. She was simply resigned to it as her fate. Even after she and Cassia became as close as sisters, she never asked for help. That was why it took Cassia so long to notice Clara’s situation.
‘She said he wasn’t like that in the early days of their marriage, but it looks like that might have been a lie. And right now, Greze and Varnan aren’t fighting so her father’s trade should still be sending money. The fact that she’s already found a job mean…’
Indeed. Even in her past life, Clara must have been struggling from the very beginning of her marriage because of her husband, Matthew, who squandered all the money she earned on alcohol. She must have struggled to make ends meet in one way or another, even before the territory war.
In a way, Cassia thought, it was a relief. She was glad she could find out about and intervene in Clara’s bleak life, one that was just as dark as her own had been, a little sooner.
‘But how do I approach her…?’
This was Clara, a woman who had taken two whole years to admit she was being beaten. And even then, thinking back, she hadn’t said it with her own mouth. Cassia had found out by chance.
If she had it her way, Cassia would demand to know who had hurt her and find a way to help, but that could be a hasty and excessive interference. She and Clara weren’t that close yet.
But if she tried to build the relationship slowly until Clara felt comfortable confiding in her, she couldn’t stand the thought of what that brute Matthew might do to her in the meantime.
“This is driving me nuts.”
Cassia muttered tiredly, staring at the empty seat across from her where Clara had been, and ran a hand through her hair.
Come to think of it, compared to Matthew, perhaps Zester from her previous life was a good husband. He was indifferent, but he never laid a hand on his wife. And though it was a tiny amount, he did earn money rather than squander it.
“Good grief. That was a good husband?”
And just like that, her anger for that Matthew Holton came surging back. If he could make her think of the Zester from her past life, a man she had hated to the point of grinding her teeth. as a ‘good husband’. then that bastard was a real son of a bitch. No, calling him a son of a bitch was an insult to dogs.
“Matthew Holton, that bastard could die this instant, and I won’t feel even the slightest pity.”
That’s right. So she had to find a way. This took priority over her vow to live an easy life and not overdo things. For Clara, for Paul, for Rael, for Lucy, for the few precious people she called ‘her’s’, Cassia would do anything.
***
The day came for the young lord of Axios, Bertol Axios, to visit Greze.
The castle was bustling. Lucas, the head chef, prepared a table full of dishes, highlighting the signature cuisine of the northern region. Paul had the servants scrubbing the castle for a week. Zester was busy training the soldiers, eager to show them off.
Everyone in Greze was excited by the visit of such a esteemed person. The only one in the castle who was completely unimpressed by the Count’s visit was the lady of the castle, Cassia.
“Haaah…”
She was the most carefree of them all, lying sideways across her bed with her head and legs dangling off the edge, like a lazy raccoon. When the right amount of blood rushed to her head upside-down, it was perfect for stray thoughts.
And right now, the thought occupying her mind was the wig business.
The venture she had ambitiously prepared for in this life was ready. The perfect stage for promotion was, of course, the imperial capital. Conveniently, the birthday celebration for the First Princess, Iskria Simonee, was set to be held at the palace soon. Cassia was aiming for that.
The birthday celebrations of the royals lasted a week in the capital, where nobles and commoners alike feasted, drank, and enjoyed performances arranged by the palace. Working was forbidden.
For her business to thrive, Cassia needed to build ties with not just northern nobles, but also with the capital nobles who left their territories to their vassals and resided in the capital. Even without the intention of distributing wigs, connections with other nobles was necessary. That is, if they didn’t want to remain a poor, insignificant territory forever.
In her past life, she had been too overwhelmed with caring for the few townspeople to dream of it. But this time, she intended to make Greze a ‘renowned’ territory. That desire had grown even stronger after she received confirmation from Raergo that Rael and Lucy could be born safely.
She herself would die in ten years, but her children, and her foolish husband, would have to keep on living in this Greze territory.
The First Princess’s birthday celebrations in the capital was the perfect stage to launch this.
However, the problem was…
‘One cannot just go without an invitation.’
The imperial family sent invitations to nobles across the empire. When Cassia was in Ruberno, invitations to royal events had arrived more than ten times a year. Birthday festivals, national founding celebrations, holiday celebrations, and so on…
However, after coming to Greze in her past life, she had never once received a royal invitation. It was an unsurprising reality. To be invited to a royal event as a local noble, you had to be from a family with considerable power.
In other words, a low-ranking noble of commoner-origin, ruling a tiny territory, had zero chance of being invited. Royal events were, by nature, places only for high-ranking nobles, Counts or higher.
‘Should I ask Father for help promoting it?’
She considered asking Count Ruberno but shook her head. Giving him the distribution rights for the South was enough. If she increased her father’s stake in this business even a little, she didn’t know when or how he might try to steal the initiative. Her father was, after all, a seasoned and meticulous businessman. Even she, with her 28 years of life experience, could make a mistake and be outmaneuvered by him.
‘First, I have to make it to the capital.’
Now that she had decided to grow the territory, she couldn’t stay cooped up in this countryside forever. It wasn’t just for the wig business. Even if she couldn’t go to the palace, she had to go to the capital.
‘It would be best to go during the celebrations.’
But going to the capital wasn’t something she could decide on her own. It was important to make Zester’s name and face known, too. She wondered if he would follow her lead without making a fool of himself.
‘Ah, and Clara’s problem…’
The truth was, she had more than a few issues to worry about. The wig business, going to the capital, and even more worrying than those, Clara’s situation.
A week had passed since the new servants arrived. In that time, she and Clara had grown closer but Clara’s iron-wall defense about her personal life had not changed.
She no longer even accidentally let her sleeves flap up to show her injuries.
The official way to punish her husband also lay, technically, with Zester. This was a situation where the lord himself would have to step in…
『I will trust you.』
Cassia still felt unsettled whenever she recalled that conversation with Zester. To be precise, she felt good, but also conflicted. Receiving her husband’s love and trust was a good thing, but the facts she couldn’t bring herself to tell him weighed heavily on her mind.
‘I shouldn’t have gotten so close to him. Before, he wouldn’t have cared if I died and would have lived on just fine. But this time, he’s not going to lose his mind as say he’ll follow me to death, is he?’
‘Oh, come on, there’s no way.’
‘No, no…with the way my husband is right now, I can see him doing it.’
[I’m terminally ill. I only have ten years to live.]
She couldn’t help but worry about how shocked Zester would be, how he would react when he heard those words.
Knock, knock.
“Wife, it’s me. Cam I come in?”
Just then, the voice of Zester, who had been occupying her entire mind, came from beyond the door.
“Yes, come in.”
Cassia answered, without moving from her listless, raccoon-like state. Zester immediately opened the door and came in.
“What is it?”
“Ah, Count Axios will be arriving soon…”
Ah. So it was about getting ready. It wasn’t a difficult task, but she was deeply displeased at the thought of having to go and greet Bertol, whom she disliked.
Zester strode over to Cassia, who had her eyes narrowed in an ‘I-can’t-be-bothered’ expression. He knelt down, bring himself to her eye-level. Zester, kneeling upright, and Cassia, with her head thrown back, met each other’s gaze upside down. Their expressions were complete opposites.
“…You’re cute.”
“Huh?!”
Zester couldn’t hold back his grin. To him, his wife was always beautiful, no matter what she was doing. Cassia, on the other hand, was speechless. Cute? What part?
One thing was certain. This man, even if she suddenly pooped on the spot, he would still call her pretty. Cassia was the type to consider all possibilities and think carefully, but on this one she had no doubt.
“Can I kiss you?”
By now, he hardly waited for her answer. He planted a short kiss on Cassia’s upside-down chin, then moved down to lightly bite her lips before pulling away.
Seeing his red cheeks as he pulled away, Cassia suddenly felt a strange, mischievous desire. To put it simply, it came from a desire to know just how much this man loved her.
Masking her expression with indifference, Cassia called out to Zester.
“Honey.”
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