Everyone was shocked by Zester’s unconventional verdict. Of course, no one was more shocked than Matthew himself. He cried and pleaded, claiming it was unfair, but Zester never wavered.
『Get going. I have no intention of changing my mind.』
The firmness of his stance only made Matthew howl louder, but it was one single line from Zester that would likely be remembered in Greze for years to come.
『You should have thought better before you had the nerve to raise your hand on your wife when you should be treating her like the sky.』
Good heavens. Gasps of delight, as refreshing as gulping down a cold beer, flowed from the crowd, and Gregory swung his sword through the air in glee.
Cassia, understanding Zester’s meaningful glance from afar before the satisfying punishment was carried out, returned to the castle first. Matthew Holton’s terrible screams lingered in the execution ground after she left for a very long time.
Cassia waited with open eyes for Zester, who spent the entire dawn organizing the execution ground and wrapping up the situation. Even though it was deep into dawn, she felt restless, unable to fall asleep without praising her commendable husband.
Thinking he might misunderstand and think she was asleep, she left the door slightly ajar and waited. Zester, having returned to the castle, ran hurriedly and carefully peeked his face in. Cassia, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, burst into laughter and stood up.
Seeing Cassia’s smiling face filled him with satisfaction. Zester felt proud inside. Pulling down the corners of his mouth that kept crawling up on their own and rubbing the tip of his nose, Zester abruptly held out Clara’s divorce papers to Cassia as she approached.
Laughter burst from Cassia’s mouth again as she looked back and forth between the document and Zester’s face. He looked just like Rael, when the boy aced a spelling test and was waiting for her to praise him.
“…Did I do well?”
“Hahaha… oh, really.”
Cassia was even tearing up now.
Wow, was this really the same man who issued the terrifying order to cut off a head or severe a crotch with indifferent eyes at the execution ground?
She was amazed by Zester, who possessed such an absurd gap, and amazed at herself for finding such a side of him cute.
Cassia, accepting Clara’s divorce papers, wrapped her arms around Zester’s neck and lightly kissed the tip of his chin.
“Yes, you did very well.”
***
After staying for four days, Bertol finally prepared to depart for Axios. But before leaving, he stopped by Zester’s office.
Many things had changed in that time. Zester, who used to look up at Bertol with admiration, was now extremely wary of him sending untoward glances at Cassia. His responses were curt, and whenever Bertol deliberately brought up Cassia, Zester would immediately show his displeasure.
Bertol found this side of Zester both surprising and amusing. The man must know his wife was someone he wasn’t worthy of and yet here he was, jealously protective, like a dog with its hackles raised. The Zester he knew was never like this.
‘I thought he was a weakling who would offer up even his wife immediately if I wanted.’
Bertol swallowed a laugh inside and tilted his teacup.
“Thank you for the hospitality. I’ve seen quite a lot of interesting things, so it’s almost a pity to go back.”
“Not at all. I am more grateful that you visited.”
“Ah, once I leave, the Baron will have to prepare in a hurry as well. You said you wanted to attend Her Highness the Princess’s birthday festival. I intend to send a message to His Majesty as soon as I return to Axios.”
“Ah.”
Zester let out a short exclamation and bowed slightly.
“Thank you.”
“Think nothing of it. Greze needs to slowly raise its prestige now, so entering the capital this time will be a good opportunity.”
Raise prestige. He didn’t intend to enter the Imperial Palace with such an intention. Zester thought about adding a comment but stopped.
Bertol, watching his expression, raised an eyebrow and continued.
“How long do you intend to remain a frog in a well? It seems the Baroness, rather than the Baron, is more frantic about carving out Greze’s future.”
“Pardon?”
“I talked a bit about territory wars while dining with your wife. Since the last territory war was a year ago…it’s about time the North remembered its discipline.”
“…Territory war, you say.”
“Yes. Surely the Baron has no intention of settling for Greze’s current situation either? You can’t keep such an undeserved and clever mistress stuck in this backwater forever, can you?”
Zester’s face stiffened as he interpreted the meaning of Bertol’s words. It seemed he was suggesting expanding the land through a territory war. Taking over territories ruled by other nobles, ruling over them…
Such an idea was unimaginable to Zester who only knew how to bow his head to other nobles. However, Zester was surprised to realize he was swayed by Bertol’s words.
‘Did I have such greed?’ It was a surprise coming from such a realization.
Of course, Zester himself had absolutely no greed or plan to rule a large territory. He was swaying solely because he thought of Cassia.
A large and good territory worthy of her.
Countless subjects looking up to her.
The thought occurred to him that if there was anything he could do with his meager power, he would gladly move.
Bertol read every flicker of thought across his face and smirked inwardly.
Greze growing might actually be a welcome thing. He had plenty of things here that he wanted for himself, and it would be better for it to grow rather than staying as it was, groveling at his feet.
Once Greze grew to a suitable extent and he felt it was about time…
“For the time being, both I and the Baron will be busy. We won’t have time to rest.”
He could just swallow it then.
***
Bertol returned to Axios, and for two days, Cassia spent her time very happy and comfortable.
It could not have been better than this.
After Matthew Holton’s sentence had been carried out, the people of the territory, contrary to concerns, cheered at Lord Zester’s unprecedented punishment, and Clara was able to be freed from her miserable life and enter the castle several years earlier than in her previous life.
It weighed on Cassia’s mind that she had ended up retracing exactly the same steps as in her previous life, when Bertol had fearlessly come on to her despite her being a married woman, but for now she felt relieved. He had returned to Axios for the time being, so she could breathe easier than when he stayed in Greze, and she had also casually brought up the matter of the territory war, so a situation where they would be foolishly stabbed in the back like before would not be repeated.
She sipped her tea with a smile, only to sigh when her gaze fell on the gift box resting on the table.
“Why is this woman so consistent…….”
The sender of the gift that had arrived at the castle yesterday morning was Fleurette Roseline.
________________________________________________________
Supporting the Baroness with love!
Your missionary of romance,
Fleurette Roseline
_______________________________________________________
Fleurette, whom she had seen again in passing at the execution ground after a long time, sent a random gift to Cassia along with a short letter for some reason, and upon opening it, Cassia could not help but be appalled.
“What is this, really. She must be crazy, seriously.”
Cassia opened the lid of the box, which she had covered because it was embarrassing, and clicked her tongue.
It was underwear with a design too mortifying to look at with both eyes open. Made to be worn under clothes instead of a chemise, it was a hit product by Mrs. Ganache, who made her living through handicrafts in Greze and had recently earned quite a tidy profit exporting it to other territories.
The soft silk fabric looked no bigger than the width of a palm no matter how she looked at it. Even without trying it on, it seemed like it would look worse than wearing nothing at all. And the color of the fabric? What was wrong with it? It was blood-red.
She liked red well enough, but when applied to underwear with such a lewd design, that was another matter entirely. Wasn’t it far too indecent, no matter how you looked at it?
Yet instead of simply closing it and pushing it aside, Cassia, for some reason, kept leaving it by her side, opening it and closing it again in a meaningless repetition. She was secretly curious what kind of reaction Zester, who would turn red and make a fuss even with just a kiss on the lips on the bed, would have if he saw this underwear.
“Ugh! What kind of nonsense is this! How can I wear something like this! How! How!”
Despite her words, Cassia set down her teacup, picked up the underwear from the box, and rose to her feet.
Holding the thin piece of fabric between the thumb and index finger of her left hand as if she were barely grasping something filthy, Cassia headed toward the mirror.
Fwoosh.
Cassia’s face flushed with even more embarrassment as she unfolded the folded underwear and held it up in front of the mirror.
The underwear, with the chest area cut out explicitly below the thin shoulder straps, was truly, without exaggeration, only about the length of a palm.
If she wore it, her buttocks might be completely exposed.
Plop.
When she shook the unfolded underwear, something that seemed to be the matching bottom fell to the floor with a soft thud.
It did not look like it had ever intended to cover the buttocks in the first place. What was with this utterly impractical design? Cassia stared at the thing rolling near her feet with her mouth wide open.
“What is this, seriously.”
Muttering with feigned anger in her voice, Cassia began stripping off the clothes she was wearing, one after another. She had no idea what she herself was thinking right now, with her words and her body acting separately.
“What is this, seriously.”
Cassia, who quickly became naked, mumbled as if dumbfounded and pulled up the underwear bottom.
“This is crazy, crazy!”
Rather than calling it underwear, it would be more fitting to call it a string that barely covered the important parts. Turning around in front of the mirror, she saw her pale buttocks fully exposed.
“Seriously, this woman is really, truly strange. Seriously.”
Shaking her head, she put on the top this time. The feel of the fabric, softly clinging as if tailored exactly to her body, was nice, but the sight of herself wearing it was so indecent that her face flushed on its own.
Not only would her entire chest be exposed with just a slight tug, but just as she expected, her buttocks were explicitly revealed due to the length fluttering around her pelvis.
“Crazy! What in the world is this woman thinking, sending something like this as a gift! To me! Does she think I would wear something like this?!”
Though saying that after already putting it on felt a bit late…
No matter how she thought about it, this design was too embarrassing to wear even in front of her husband.
Knock, knock.
Just as she was thinking about taking the underwear off again, suddenly, a knock sounded with perfect timing.
Cassia jumped like a guilty person, flustered.
“Huh, who— I, wait a moment.”
“Cassia, take a look at this. This…”
Now that they had grown fairly comfortable with each other, both Cassia and Zester would often enter each other’s rooms after a single courtesy knock, without much thought.
Perhaps that was the problem here.
Because Zester, holding a single sheet of paper, flung open Cassia’s door without thinking and froze, words failing him as he faced Cassia standing before the mirror in her underwear.
His reddish-brown pupils wavered back and forth, unable to find focus.
“Ah, Ca— what, this, ah.”
As Zester stammered out fragmented words with trembling lips, he hurriedly checked whether anyone was nearby, then quickly stepped into the room and clicked the door shut.
“T-T-T-That could have been a disaster! Wh-wh-what if I hadn’t come alone!”
As he shouted while turning back, Zester’s gaze landed on Cassia’s flustered face, then instinctively dropped straight down.
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