In front of the main mansion, the butler, Allen, and other servants were lined up.
“If anything happens, send me a messenger, Allen.”
“Don’t worry, Ma’am. I’ll take good care of it.”
After giving her final instructions, Agatha got into the carriage.
On this journey, the First Vice-Captain, Leon Takran, will be Agatha's escort.
Second Lieutenant, Hubert Carwen, was to accompany the procession as its escort.
Then, as Enoch got into the chariot, Hubert approached him and said,
“Let’s go.”
“Goodbye, Marquis, Madam.”
The Aratus family's procession departed, escorted by their servants.
Agatha leaned back in her chair, staring at the mansion fading away beyond the window.
Aside from her first and second marriages and the tour of her estates during her coming-of-age ceremony, this was her first time leaving the capital for such a long time.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Now you can be in my arms during the day too.”
Agatha, who had let out a small laugh, leaned against the man next to her and hugged him.
The Aratus procession is exactly three weeks away.
They arrived at the Duchy of Nobilis, a great lord and noble family in the South.
The castle of Lord Nobilis was located deep in the southern part of the continent.
It was a region where it was difficult to see snow even in winter because the weather was warm.
The first snow of this winter fell.
Agatha opened the glass greenhouse window with a slightly excited face. Snow fell gently on her outstretched palm.
"Pretty."
It was a rare sight. They said it only happened once in the middle of winter.
A hand reached out from behind and opened the thick blanket. It was Enoch, who was lying on the couch with her.
“I have a cold.”
“It’s the first snow, Enoch.”
He looked up at the sky beyond the window, where white snowflakes were falling.
“I don’t think it’ll stop that early. I’ll have to tell Jashar to clear the snow in advance.”
Agatha's expression became pale at the unexpected reaction.
“Is that all you have to say about snow?”
“... If it piles up, it’ll be hard to walk around? I guess it would be a good idea to carry it around so you don’t slip.”
Is this the mindset of a knight who has been through war?
Agatha, who was looking up at the man with slightly complicated eyes, closed the window obediently.
Her shoulders were trembling, perhaps because she was cold. Enoch came closer without saying a word.
Her maid, Jessie, who had caught her eye, brought out new tea.
The hot water bottle comes between the couch and the blanket.
Only then did Agatha let out a soft breath. It was a peaceful time.
She never thought she would be able to spend this much time in the Nobilis Estate while she was alive.
Agatha looked out at the garden beyond the greenhouse with renewed interest.
Outside, the noise of knights who had just returned from hunting could be heard.
She thinks she played with dolls with her mother there.
Her childhood memories were vague, but fragments of memories remained in various places in the castle.
This glass greenhouse was also a space that Agatha's grandmother built and passed down to her mother.
Then suddenly something occurred to her.
“Enoch. When was the last time you had your portrait painted?”
“...4 years ago?”
Enoch searched through his vague memories.
“It seems to have been during the war. When I became an adult and the official head of the Aratus family, the painter came by once.”
For generations, portraits of the family's head and heirs hung in the main hall of the castle, which contained the entire history of the family.
But Agatha had forgotten because it was not easy to come to the territory.
Portraits of the former Duke and Duchess were also hung in the hall and gallery of the castle of Lord Nobilis.
“Should we paint a portrait too? I want to hang it in the castle.”
Agatha's solo portrait, painted at her coming-of-age ceremony as an heir, was already hanging in the main gallery.
All that remained was a couple portraits to hang in the hall, painted with her husband.
Enoch's eyes softened deeply.
“I forgot something very important. I will bring a good painter.”
The man who had kissed her cheek gestured to his servant.
Meanwhile, Agatha was searching for her memories.
She thought about where to draw, but in reality, the answer was already decided.
When she was young, whenever her parents drew portraits, they would always do it in that room.
If she thinks about it, all the portraits of the heads of families and heirs hanging in the Great Hall were against the backdrop of that room, although they were decorated differently.
“Shall we follow the tradition?”
“I see you have a room that you use to draw portraits.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
The Consul General, Jashar, had quickly hired a skilled painter who specialized in painting portraits of nobles in the area.
“Madam, the painter has arrived.”
“Bring him here.”
Agatha decided to meet the painter in the room where he would paint her portrait.
As she sat down on the couch, Enoch naturally sat next to her.
Soon an old painter with a handsome moustache came in, followed by a servant.
“It is an honor to be called this, Your Grace, Madam.”
The painter bowed down respectfully before Agatha and Enoch.
Agatha covered her face with her fan and opened her mouth.
“As you may have heard, I’m thinking of painting a couple’s portrait to hang in the hall. How long do you think it will take?”
“Three days will be enough.”
“That’s fast.”
“On the first day, I just do the sketch and color and then work on it by myself. Everyone is busy, so they do a lot.”
"Yes?"
It was a much better way than sitting still for days on end while the portrait was being completed.
Agatha nodded slightly after confirming Enoch's intention.
“Yes. Trust me and leave it to me. If the results are good, you can expect additional payment.”
“Thank you. I will do my best.”
After giving the room to the artist, Agatha began painting a couple's portrait with Enoch the next day.
A vase full of red roses, the symbol of the Nobilis family, sits on the side table.
An antique couch was placed on a wall decorated with vines and a view of the castle beyond the glass windows.
The painter, who was correcting her pose for a portrait, cried out in satisfaction.
“Yes. I’ll sketch it out like this.”
The position was that they were facing each other at an angle.
The sound of the graphite core being worn down rang out.
The only thing they could hear was each other's breathing.
Agatha, who had been locking eyes with Enoch for a while, lowered her gaze.
It felt a little strange.
Having been married seven times, couple portraits were not unfamiliar to Agatha.
But strangely enough, this time it was different.
“What are you thinking, Ma’am?”
“I definitely thought that portraits with someone you love were different.”
On the first day, he drew the outline and color scheme.
From the second day onwards, the artist went into the room with his assistant and they worked on the remaining work among themselves.
Since Enoch had not allowed her to leave the bedroom since working on the portrait, Agatha was having breakfast in bed again today.
The butler of the lord's castle appeared smartly and cautiously and announced from outside the door.
“Madam, a guest has arrived.”
"Who?"
“He is Viscount Aitier. He lives in a mansion near Castle Nobilis, and he often visits to rent hunting grounds. Originally, Lord Jashar took care of it, but since you are staying in the territory, I thought it would be right to ask you.”
“Well done.”
The vast estates of great nobles were usually inhabited by small nobles and knights who had no land.
Those who are single-parent nobles or have small farms or merchants.
Or they were blood relatives who had not even reached the collateral line, fallen nobles, or those who had barely managed to establish a foothold in the noble lineage.
Instead of living here and paying a fair amount of taxes, they would mostly come to the lord's castle to borrow things they needed or to make requests.
This was a first for Agatha, as Jashar had been handling it all along.
“Come into the living room.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Agatha turned her head and looked up at the man who had been holding her in his arms.
“Shall we go together?”
“Please finish your meal before you go. I’m worried you’ll get sick.”
Is that person still holding me in his arms?
For a moment, she thought so, but then she opened her mouth to chew on the piece of bread he had given her. A small kiss was landing on the back of her head.
Agatha, who came out of her bedroom after two days, washed up and started her first fiefdom duties as the heir to the Nobilis family.
In the inner chamber, the maid, the first secretary, and Ethel Maslow were waiting.
“Welcome, Ethel.”
“I greet you, Madam. As you commanded, I have come to investigate Viscount Aitier.”
“Report it.”
Agatha began to dress up as she heard Ethel's voice coming from beyond the thick screen painted with roses.
The dress she chose today was a bell-line slit dress.
“Viscount Aitier. He lives in a mansion built between the Nobilis Castle and the Touker Castle right next to it. He runs an Aitier Merchant Company as a local resident of a nearby village, and it is said that he loves hunting so much that he asks the Lord Jashar to rent hunting grounds twice a month.”
He's been to an unclaimed hunting ground twice a month.
“He's not exactly a noble with such manners.”
It was common sense to request a hunting ground rental once or twice in the fall.
“What is peculiar is that he is said to have not visited the hunting grounds during the hunting season.”
Agatha received the report through her maid.
There was a list of the times the Viscount visited his hunting grounds and the game he hunted.
It was indulgence, but it was also indulgence.
What was truly unusual was the Viscount's history of visiting hunting grounds.
He only caught a couple of them.
However, he only visited the Florence hunting grounds regularly. It was strange, since if he didn't catch anything, he would go to another forest.
“If anything happens, send me a messenger, Allen.”
“Don’t worry, Ma’am. I’ll take good care of it.”
After giving her final instructions, Agatha got into the carriage.
On this journey, the First Vice-Captain, Leon Takran, will be Agatha's escort.
Second Lieutenant, Hubert Carwen, was to accompany the procession as its escort.
Then, as Enoch got into the chariot, Hubert approached him and said,
“Let’s go.”
“Goodbye, Marquis, Madam.”
The Aratus family's procession departed, escorted by their servants.
Agatha leaned back in her chair, staring at the mansion fading away beyond the window.
Aside from her first and second marriages and the tour of her estates during her coming-of-age ceremony, this was her first time leaving the capital for such a long time.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Now you can be in my arms during the day too.”
Agatha, who had let out a small laugh, leaned against the man next to her and hugged him.
The Aratus procession is exactly three weeks away.
They arrived at the Duchy of Nobilis, a great lord and noble family in the South.
The castle of Lord Nobilis was located deep in the southern part of the continent.
It was a region where it was difficult to see snow even in winter because the weather was warm.
The first snow of this winter fell.
Agatha opened the glass greenhouse window with a slightly excited face. Snow fell gently on her outstretched palm.
"Pretty."
It was a rare sight. They said it only happened once in the middle of winter.
A hand reached out from behind and opened the thick blanket. It was Enoch, who was lying on the couch with her.
“I have a cold.”
“It’s the first snow, Enoch.”
He looked up at the sky beyond the window, where white snowflakes were falling.
“I don’t think it’ll stop that early. I’ll have to tell Jashar to clear the snow in advance.”
Agatha's expression became pale at the unexpected reaction.
“Is that all you have to say about snow?”
“... If it piles up, it’ll be hard to walk around? I guess it would be a good idea to carry it around so you don’t slip.”
Is this the mindset of a knight who has been through war?
Agatha, who was looking up at the man with slightly complicated eyes, closed the window obediently.
Her shoulders were trembling, perhaps because she was cold. Enoch came closer without saying a word.
Her maid, Jessie, who had caught her eye, brought out new tea.
The hot water bottle comes between the couch and the blanket.
Only then did Agatha let out a soft breath. It was a peaceful time.
She never thought she would be able to spend this much time in the Nobilis Estate while she was alive.
Agatha looked out at the garden beyond the greenhouse with renewed interest.
Outside, the noise of knights who had just returned from hunting could be heard.
She thinks she played with dolls with her mother there.
Her childhood memories were vague, but fragments of memories remained in various places in the castle.
This glass greenhouse was also a space that Agatha's grandmother built and passed down to her mother.
Then suddenly something occurred to her.
“Enoch. When was the last time you had your portrait painted?”
“...4 years ago?”
Enoch searched through his vague memories.
“It seems to have been during the war. When I became an adult and the official head of the Aratus family, the painter came by once.”
For generations, portraits of the family's head and heirs hung in the main hall of the castle, which contained the entire history of the family.
But Agatha had forgotten because it was not easy to come to the territory.
Portraits of the former Duke and Duchess were also hung in the hall and gallery of the castle of Lord Nobilis.
“Should we paint a portrait too? I want to hang it in the castle.”
Agatha's solo portrait, painted at her coming-of-age ceremony as an heir, was already hanging in the main gallery.
All that remained was a couple portraits to hang in the hall, painted with her husband.
Enoch's eyes softened deeply.
“I forgot something very important. I will bring a good painter.”
The man who had kissed her cheek gestured to his servant.
Meanwhile, Agatha was searching for her memories.
She thought about where to draw, but in reality, the answer was already decided.
When she was young, whenever her parents drew portraits, they would always do it in that room.
If she thinks about it, all the portraits of the heads of families and heirs hanging in the Great Hall were against the backdrop of that room, although they were decorated differently.
“Shall we follow the tradition?”
“I see you have a room that you use to draw portraits.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
The Consul General, Jashar, had quickly hired a skilled painter who specialized in painting portraits of nobles in the area.
“Madam, the painter has arrived.”
“Bring him here.”
Agatha decided to meet the painter in the room where he would paint her portrait.
As she sat down on the couch, Enoch naturally sat next to her.
Soon an old painter with a handsome moustache came in, followed by a servant.
“It is an honor to be called this, Your Grace, Madam.”
The painter bowed down respectfully before Agatha and Enoch.
Agatha covered her face with her fan and opened her mouth.
“As you may have heard, I’m thinking of painting a couple’s portrait to hang in the hall. How long do you think it will take?”
“Three days will be enough.”
“That’s fast.”
“On the first day, I just do the sketch and color and then work on it by myself. Everyone is busy, so they do a lot.”
"Yes?"
It was a much better way than sitting still for days on end while the portrait was being completed.
Agatha nodded slightly after confirming Enoch's intention.
“Yes. Trust me and leave it to me. If the results are good, you can expect additional payment.”
“Thank you. I will do my best.”
After giving the room to the artist, Agatha began painting a couple's portrait with Enoch the next day.
A vase full of red roses, the symbol of the Nobilis family, sits on the side table.
An antique couch was placed on a wall decorated with vines and a view of the castle beyond the glass windows.
The painter, who was correcting her pose for a portrait, cried out in satisfaction.
“Yes. I’ll sketch it out like this.”
The position was that they were facing each other at an angle.
The sound of the graphite core being worn down rang out.
The only thing they could hear was each other's breathing.
Agatha, who had been locking eyes with Enoch for a while, lowered her gaze.
It felt a little strange.
Having been married seven times, couple portraits were not unfamiliar to Agatha.
But strangely enough, this time it was different.
“What are you thinking, Ma’am?”
“I definitely thought that portraits with someone you love were different.”
On the first day, he drew the outline and color scheme.
From the second day onwards, the artist went into the room with his assistant and they worked on the remaining work among themselves.
Since Enoch had not allowed her to leave the bedroom since working on the portrait, Agatha was having breakfast in bed again today.
The butler of the lord's castle appeared smartly and cautiously and announced from outside the door.
“Madam, a guest has arrived.”
"Who?"
“He is Viscount Aitier. He lives in a mansion near Castle Nobilis, and he often visits to rent hunting grounds. Originally, Lord Jashar took care of it, but since you are staying in the territory, I thought it would be right to ask you.”
“Well done.”
The vast estates of great nobles were usually inhabited by small nobles and knights who had no land.
Those who are single-parent nobles or have small farms or merchants.
Or they were blood relatives who had not even reached the collateral line, fallen nobles, or those who had barely managed to establish a foothold in the noble lineage.
Instead of living here and paying a fair amount of taxes, they would mostly come to the lord's castle to borrow things they needed or to make requests.
This was a first for Agatha, as Jashar had been handling it all along.
“Come into the living room.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Agatha turned her head and looked up at the man who had been holding her in his arms.
“Shall we go together?”
“Please finish your meal before you go. I’m worried you’ll get sick.”
Is that person still holding me in his arms?
For a moment, she thought so, but then she opened her mouth to chew on the piece of bread he had given her. A small kiss was landing on the back of her head.
Agatha, who came out of her bedroom after two days, washed up and started her first fiefdom duties as the heir to the Nobilis family.
In the inner chamber, the maid, the first secretary, and Ethel Maslow were waiting.
“Welcome, Ethel.”
“I greet you, Madam. As you commanded, I have come to investigate Viscount Aitier.”
“Report it.”
Agatha began to dress up as she heard Ethel's voice coming from beyond the thick screen painted with roses.
The dress she chose today was a bell-line slit dress.
“Viscount Aitier. He lives in a mansion built between the Nobilis Castle and the Touker Castle right next to it. He runs an Aitier Merchant Company as a local resident of a nearby village, and it is said that he loves hunting so much that he asks the Lord Jashar to rent hunting grounds twice a month.”
He's been to an unclaimed hunting ground twice a month.
“He's not exactly a noble with such manners.”
It was common sense to request a hunting ground rental once or twice in the fall.
“What is peculiar is that he is said to have not visited the hunting grounds during the hunting season.”
Agatha received the report through her maid.
There was a list of the times the Viscount visited his hunting grounds and the game he hunted.
It was indulgence, but it was also indulgence.
What was truly unusual was the Viscount's history of visiting hunting grounds.
He only caught a couple of them.
However, he only visited the Florence hunting grounds regularly. It was strange, since if he didn't catch anything, he would go to another forest.
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