IDMH - Chapter 48

Waking up early in the morning to practice swordsmanship was difficult even for knights who had been swinging swords their whole lives.

So I thought Perdes would be lazy for a day, but no.

He was never lazy and was never late.

Rather, he came to the training ground before me and was doing physical training that I wasn't even told to do.

Thanks to this, Perdes’ physical strength increased frighteningly quickly.

Now, shall I teach him how to swing a sword?

To do that, I needed to make a wooden sword that would fit him, so I secretly called Hannes and asked him to make a wooden sword for him.

It was a secret that Perdes received sword training, so I did not say that it was his.

I only mentioned things like his body size, but the quick-witted Hannes immediately recognized that it was Perdes's and laughed.

"All right. I will order it right away.”

Sigh, I groaned and held my head.

“It’s a secret from everyone else.”

“Would it be possible?”

When I saw the trusting smiling face, my worries melted away like snow.

Yes, because I can trust Hannes.

The only people in the mansion I could open up to and trust were Hannes, Sarah, and Lord Aldor.

...Does this include Perdes?

I don't know. Even though I was sharing my biggest secret with him, I had an ambiguous answer when asked if I could trust him.

It was appropriate to say that I had no choice but to trust him because of revenge.

“Lady, it’s summer now.”

Why are we suddenly bringing up the topic of seasons?

I don't think it's because I don't think I know that.

As I looked at him in confusion, Hanes smiled and continued.

“You need to get new clothes.”

The maids who look after my clothes know exactly my measurements, so I don't have to worry about the everyday clothes I wear each season, but they prepare them accordingly.

So it's not like you're saying it to me...

“You’re talking about Perdes’ clothes.”

"Yes. The maids who served him before said that he had very little summer clothes.”

"Yes?"

"yes. Plus, he's grown a lot recently, so his existing clothes have become too small.”

As soon as I could answer, Hanes bowed his head.

“I will contact the clothing room right away.”

***

Next day, morning.

The Madam of the duchy's largest clothing store took designers to visit the Duke's residence.

After hearing the story from Hannes, I went to see Perdes, who was waiting in the room.

Since I fell in love with him and got engaged, I needed to show that we were reasonably friendly.

That way, it would be easier for Perdes to live at the Duke's residence.

Knock knock.

“I’m going in.”

There was no reply, but I opened the door right away because I had already told him that I would be there this morning.

Perdes was sitting on the sofa and reading something with a serious face.

I don't think it's a book, what is it?

“Your Highness?”

“...”

Perdes showed me what he had been reading in silence.

Red letters were written crookedly on the pure white paper.

[You're going to have a baby quickly, Perdes.]

“It's the Emperor.”

“You recognized it right away.”

Perdes looked at the words written on the paper and tilted his head.

“It’s not the Emperor’s handwriting.”

“The only person who would say something like this is the Emperor.”

The person who wrote this must be the Emperor's watchdog.

Anyway, it's a font that I think I've seen somewhere. Where did I see it?

I thought about it carefully, but nothing in particular came to mind.

I don't know who it was, but the writing was really bad. That was everything.

“Where was this?”

“On the table. When I came back from class, it was crazy.”

“Who came in in the meantime?”

"No. The door was locked. The same goes for windows.”

Unlike the employees' rooms, Perdes and my rooms had special locks.

The shallow tactic of Perdes sneaking into Garrett's room didn't work.

However, the fact that the Emperor's guard opened the locked door, entered, left a note, and leisurely left again meant that he had a spare key.

“Are there any witnesses?”

"Well. I didn’t check because I was afraid I might be caught by the guard.”

Yes. If you wander around looking for witnesses, the surveillance station will notice right away.

Then the fact would reach the Emperor's ears, and what happened after that became more complicated than it is now.

“First, I’ll have to ask around at the key store and see if any of the Duke’s residence users have recently copied the keys.”

Perdes muttered with a dark face.

“I hope there are no employees who were nice to me.”

"I know, right."

I know very well how painful it is to be betrayed by someone you trusted, so I wholeheartedly sympathized with his words.

Knock knock.

“Miss, madam is waiting for you.”

"Oh yeah."

I recalled something I had forgotten for a while because of the note the Emperor left and told Perdes.

“Forget about that for a moment and go get dressed.”

Perdes nodded and stood up.

His head rose up and his face was visible from the front.

When I saw him every morning, I didn't really realize how tall he was.

After hearing from Hannes that his height had grown a lot recently, seeing it up close like this really confirmed it.

When I first saw him, I had to look down because he was only about shoulder height, but now I could see him straight ahead.

“You’ve really grown taller.”

"Yes?"

Perdes grinned.

“Jack also said that I seemed to have grown a lot recently and he liked it.”

"Is it so?"

“Yes, and...”

Perdes glanced at me from the corner of his eye and asked in a low voice.

“Young Lady, I’m the biggest one... It's good?"

"Sure."

Of course, bigger is better than smaller, so I nodded.

Then Perdes gently lifted his lips and smiled brighter than before.

***

After confirming that he had grown considerably taller, I also noticed that his clothes had become smaller.

Since all the clothes he has now will be like this, I asked the costume shop madam to make all the clothes from the catalog she brought with me and send them to me.

In addition, when I ordered the same amount of fall and winter clothes in advance, Perdes called out and stopped me.

“Aren’t you spending too much money? I don’t need this many clothes.”

“This is normal. And the money is there to be spent, so of course you should spend it.”

“But I think I’m using too much...”

Who are you worrying about finances in front of now? I laughed.

This was all said because he didn't know what kind of family Duke Leopold was.

Come to think of it, I haven't shown 'that' yet.

I was planning on showing it to him when I gave him a tour of Leopold's estate, but I didn't have enough time, so I put it off until later.

Since I spend less time looking at catalogs and choosing clothes, I have some free time, so I'll show them to him now.

“Do you have a moment?”

"Why? Let’s have lunch together?”

"No. I have something I want to show Perdes.”

“What do you want to show me?”

Perdes tilted his head.

"What?"

“It’s hard to explain in words, so you have to see it for yourself. It will take about two hours, so please give me a moment.”

"Yes. Then I’ll bring my coat.” 

As Perdes was about to go to his room, I grabbed his arm.

“You don’t need a coat. It’s going to be very hot, so let’s just go.”

“It’s only May, but it’s hot?”

"Yes. It will be very hot.”

I took Perdes, who looked confused as if he didn't know what was going on and headed to the back gate of the Duke's residence.

Harness noticed where we were going and brought us a bag of cold water.

"Thank you."

I took it and stood in front of the back door.

The back door had a door as big as the front door.

However, it was extremely rare for this door to open. This is because there is almost no use for it.

There's a volcano right behind it, so what's the point of using it?

It has never exploded in 500 years, but perhaps because of the boiling heat inside, not a single blade of grass has been able to grow properly.

Fortunately, weeds were growing sparsely in the area that was in contact with the ground.

“Whoa.”

Sure enough, I was already out of breath after only a short hike. It was because of the intense heat rising through the ground.

“Huh, huh.”

It was the same for Perdes.

I've been here a few times, but it was Perdes' first time and he couldn't get used to the hot heat.

His face was so red as if it was about to explode, and cold sweat was rolling down.

“Drink this.”

When I handed over the water bag given to me by Hannes, Perdes drank the water hungrily like a traveler who came across an oasis while traveling in the desert.

Perdes seemed to feel a little better after drinking the cold water, rubbing his wet lips with the back of his hand and muttering dissatisfiedly.

“Why on earth am I climbing a volcano?”

“I told you. I have something to show you.”

“Is there something you can show me in a place like this?”

Perdes laughed as if it was absurd and looked around.

“No matter how much I rub my eyes and turn around, I can’t see a single blade of grass. What are you showing me? It’s definitely not gravel, is it?”

“It can’t be. You just have to go a little further, so cheer up.”

“Just try that weird thing, I won’t leave you alone.”

Perdes grumbled but followed steadily.

After walking for about 20 more minutes, we saw our destination, a cave.

The cave was hotter than outside because the heat was trapped and could not escape properly.

“Wow, I’m going crazy.”

Perdes had only entered the cave a little bit, but he collapsed on the floor in frustration.

I said as I placed the already lukewarm water bag on his cheek.

“We’re almost there. Hold on a little more.”

“I think I’ve heard ten times that we’re almost there.”

“I only did it five times.”

When I corrected him, Perdes looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

“What on earth do you want to show me? Is there any treasure in this?”

"Yes."

Perdes was startled by my answer and stood up.

"What? Really?"

"Really. There is ‘Pura’ in it.”

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