IHMEB - Chapter 37 < Reasons for Aesthetic >
Having An Enemy's Baby
The woman looked at herself in the mirror, carefully stroking the necklace and turning her head left and right.
“This is my first time doing something like this.”
She muttered like that and then awkwardly closed her mouth as if she wanted to omit it.
Seeing Claudel looking at him, Kaian tried to raise one of his eyebrows but then lowered it.
Valmonde's old fox's calculations were clear.
He is just pretending to reconcile with the King's orders. As he had no desire to accept Kaian as his son-in-law, he must have felt that he could not bear the fact that after Claudel's death, all of her dowry and gifts would belong to the Temnes family.
Kaian doesn't have a daughter yet, but if he had to change his position and send his daughter to Valmonde, he would have done the same thing.
The last thing he wanted was for The Duke to feel sorry for her or for him to notice her.
He had already turned a blind eye to it, but he couldn't openly show that he knew about it.
Vermont giving his daughter in marriage empty-handed becomes a big deal in Temnes that requires an official protest.
Then Claudel's position within the Temnes family would worsen.
Kaian didn't want a delicate and innocent woman to suffer like that.
'I feel like I'm really possessed.'
What was it about this woman that changed him like this?
Kaian himself had doubts.
'Is it because I think it's my life that she saved?'
Has she developed a self-imposed attachment that she considers special?
The thin, gaunt woman he had seen early in the night was nowhere to be seen.
It seemed as if her whole body was glowing, like a piece of gemstone or placer gold that was stuck in a gap in a round stone by a flowing stream.
“It suits you well.”
When he pretended not to notice his mistake, Claudel's face finally opened as if she was relieved.
She is a woman who seems to have never told a lie.
She is a woman who reveals everything that is inside her.
So, reacting sensitively to what he does during times when darkness obscures her eyes is probably not something she made up.
"Really? Does it really suit me?”
Claudel happily got up from her chair and slowly spun around to look at herself wearing a bright necklace in the mirror.
“But why are you suddenly giving me a gift?”
Originally, this necklace had a complex meaning.
He was planning to make up for the embarrassment he had caused her by decorating his buttons by filling her personal belongings, and although he found out too late, he thought that because of Antjone, Claudel had never received her early night gift. Kaian was thinking of correcting this by giving this as well.
So, he'll give her this, so let's cover up this past incident and pretend it never happened.
Now he doesn't want to give Claudel expensive compensation or anything like that.
“It’s okay if I don’t receive this. The jewelry you bought me last time was too much.”
Because it was special, he wanted to give it something special.
Other than the things he can buy at a jewelry store for just money.
But how can a man say something like that?
“The Duchess of Temnes is someone who gets talked about for almost anything. If you do anything from now on, I hope you accept it without saying anything.”
“... Yes. All right. I will do that.”
It took several weeks to receive the actual necklace after it was made to order, but he couldn't even show off and pretended to be solemn.
Kaian, who immediately regretted what he had just said, was a little annoyed by Claudel, who neatly answered that she understood what he said.
“Are there any other thanks?”
“Any other thanks...”
She blinked her big, clear eyes like a doll and stimulated him with that innocent face that knew nothing.
“I’d like to see you wearing a necklace.”
“You’re looking at it now.”
“Only the necklace.”
The woman, who belatedly realized his request, blushed as she didn't know what to do.
“When it’s this bright. What are you talking about?”
“It means to prepare your mind.”
It was fun to see her embarrassed, but he was really being considerate.
After seeing Claudel's flushed cheeks, Kaian felt the knot in his stomach relax.
He bowed his head to the woman's cheek and kissed her, and when she looked up at him in shock, her eyes were already moist.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Kaian was able to leave her room in good spirits.
Tonight.
He was confident that he would achieve what he wanted.
Claudel can't refuse him.
Kaian found out.
He has a terrible temper that requires everything to be done his way, and it was unexpected that the woman who was forced to become his wife met his standards.
The woman, who could not even die in the land of Rowen without his permission, is following what Kaian tells her to do.
These days, his daily life couldn't be more perfect.
Thanks to the widespread rumor that his marriage to Claudel was by order of the King, it was an added bonus that he was freed from the hassle and bothersome courtship.
And every night.
Sleeping with Claudel in his arms relieved his fatigue so much that he became more energetic every day.
It seems like just yesterday that her eyes rolled back and he went to hunt a buffalo.
Every time he saw Claudel, he wondered if he had saved her life for this reason.
She looked like a fairy.
Fairy.
As of now, no word could come to Kaian's mind that could describe Claudel more perfectly than those words.
She was naturally thin-boned and, like a northerner, had much fairer skin.
She had white skin so thin that the veins and boundaries of her muscles were visible, silky red hair, and eyes that shined as transparent as jewels.
Occasionally he would see a woman from a distance passing through the halls of the castle, and she alone seemed to glow softly white among the other Southerners, as if her colors were different.
She ate it in her ten mouthfuls, munching on each bite with her tiny body.
Stand lightly in her footsteps, and walk in her footsteps.
A fragrant smell wafts from the body.
It was by chance that he realized that this smell was not soap.
A few times he ended up using the bathroom in her bedroom because the soap there was the same as the one in Kaian's room.
Still, her body doesn't smell like that.
Her existence was close to mystery, so he guessed she was like that.
Or maybe the legendary ice witch of Valmonde cast some kind of magic just on Claudel.
Is that why Kaian was so captivated?
Kaian, who was returning to his office after a short visit, stopped when he suddenly heard a sound.
“Madam.”
Also, some people dared to mention his wife.
“Isn’t it like a fairy?”
"Fairy?"
“I think I’m a little different from other women. She's small.”
"Ah. Yes. I had that thought too. Should I say that the color looks a little different when viewed from a distance? Should I say that she seems to be shining?”
Kaian's mood suddenly took a turn for the worse.
“At first, I thought I was lucky just to see that she was from Vermont. When I look at her, I think she’s pretty.”
To think that these insignificant servants were talking about thoughts that were exactly the same as his sentiments.
Kaian returned to the office and called the butler.
"Master. Did you find me?”
The butler bowed his head and waited for his command.
“In the hallway in front of Claudel’s room.”
"Yes."
“I hope from now on only maids will work.”
"Yes?"
The butler looked like he was wondering what this was all about.
“I don’t think it looks good.”
“For aesthetics?”
“Anyway, this means that servants should not pass through that hallway reeking of sweat.”
“Ma’am, is she uncomfortable?”
Kaian frowned and glared at the butler.
“If I tell you to do it, you will do it. Since when did you talk so much?”
"Yes, My lord. However, there are other things that the servants need to take care of. There are some things you can’t ask the maids to do because they are dangerous, so I will take good care of them.”
“That can’t be helped, but let the maids do all the cleaning and other things.”
"Yes. All right."
The butler disappeared from the office under the misunderstanding that Claudel was dissatisfied with Kaian, saying that she did not want to see the servants in front of her room for 'aesthetic reasons'.
'She's not that picky.'
With a sense of wonder.
Regardless of what the butler said, Kaian was satisfied with his own behavior because he had no intention of handing his wife over to some worthless bastards as entertainment.
“That necklace suits you.”
The thought of the woman hanging it around her neck and clinging to him made him want to go back to the bedroom he had just left.
That night. Kaian achieved what he wanted.
***
Servants were no longer allowed on this floor of Rowen Castle.
As speculative rumors circulated that Claudel was dissatisfied with the Lord and that the male servants were unsightly, the people in the castle finally saw the presence of the Lord's wife again.
“I heard you weren’t fired though?”
"What are you talking about. Getting kicked out to the Sin Knights’ parade ground or stables while working in the castle may not be as bad as getting fired.”
Work in the castle was comfortable, easy, and comfortable.
It was a task that everyone was anxious to take on, but since there was no mistress of the house so far, it was done as the butler managed it.
As the butler served as a long-time vassal of the Temnes family, he had a sharp and sword-like personality, so he never gave work out of personal favor or interest.
The only way to get a better position, a more comfortable position, or a more profitable job was to be recognized for their diligence and ability.
As rumors spread that people who had built up their careers at the lowest level and worked as servants in the castle for several years were changing positions at the words of the hostess, it was belatedly recognized that Claudel was suddenly the person who could control their lives.
The maids who took the vacant servant's place and advanced to the Lady's room were all friendly to Hannah and Claudel.
"Hannah! Look at this.”
“What is it?”
“I heard Madam likes flowers, so I picked them.”
One of the maids even picked new flowers every morning and offered them to her.
"Hannah! It’s not much, but can I offer this to you?”
“What is it?”
“Actually, I haven’t been able to show it off in Rowen Castle so far. My cousin married Valmont.”
In Vermont and Temnes, where even the residents spit and swear at each other, forbidden love existed everywhere.
“In Vermont, when he found out that his wife was getting married to Rowen, he was concerned about it as if it were his own business, and made tea from Valmonde and sent it to me.”
One by one, the people who had been attracted to her but had not been able to show it because of their sensibilities were anxious to talk to Hannah openly.
In particular, a biased rumor was being spread by the new maids that the Lady, who was as beautiful as a fairy, would make people fall in love with her loveliness just by looking at her in person.
The fact that she was suffering from illness because many people were unable to properly see her as she came into Rowen Castle in qb unsightly form after being drenched in the rain, most of them skipped over and thought, 'Would it be different if she decorated it properly?'
Hannah was excited as she entered Claudel's room.
"Lady. Look at this. Well, someone gave me tea made from wild grass from the shrubbery. Would you like to try it now? I can feel the scent of the North.”
However, the fairy-like Lady, the protagonist of the rumor, was sitting by the window with a slightly gloomy face, looking at the distant mountains.
“Why are you doing this? What’s wrong?”
"No."
“But you don’t look good.”
Claudel laughed awkwardly, then quit and let out a long sigh.
“I think he only likes my body.”
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