Chapter 40
My office was already a mess, and this place wasn’t any better. With April’s toys, storybooks, and art supplies added in, it looked even messier.
“Is there space to make a separate playroom for April?”
“There’s space, but the problem is the budget,” Dylan, standing nearby, adjusted his glasses and said.
“Go to the capital soon and visit the bank.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll write a letter of authorization. Withdraw some funds from Verdic Bank. When can you go? The sooner, the better.”
“But the funds in Verdic Bank…”
“For now, the priority seems to be organizing the Grand Duchess’s office.”
Dylan swallowed his complaints at Kylen’s firm expression and nodded.
“Then, I’ll just leave this on the Grand Duchess’s desk and go.”
The Grand Duchess had requested a detailed map of Winterford. Dylan placed the map on her desk as they followed Kylen, but the papers she had spread out caught his attention.
“This is…”
Dylan blinked rapidly, clearly shocked.
“What’s wrong?”
Kylen, leaving the Grand Duchess’s office, turned around when Dylan didn’t follow.
Dylan, who had said he would just drop off the map, seemed glued to her desk, staring at the papers.
Kylen moved forward, ready to scold Dylan for daring to look at the Grand Duchess’s documents without permission.
“Dylan.”
At Kylen’s low, close voice, Dylan muttered as if in a daze:
“Amazing… truly amazing, Kylen.”
Dylan’s expression was a mix of disbelief and admiration. Kylen approached Eliana’s desk.
Dylan pointed at a paper at the edge of the desk.
“This is a report listing the population of Winterford’s small and large villages. And this is the population of the villages we recently inspected, along with the margin of error.”
In an excited voice, Dylan continued:
“This is the quarterly tax report from those villages, and this one seems to be the estimated population of each village.”
“What is this…”
“How did the Grand Duchess even think of this…”
Dylan roughly placed the map down and explained why it was so impressive.
The village they had inspected with the Grand Duchess had very different information than what they had. The biggest difference was the population.
Using the taxes collected and the population numbers from previous reports, the Grand Duchess had calculated the margin of error and estimated the actual population.
She then ranked the cities for which accurate population surveys should be conducted first.
Dylan grew louder with excitement as he explained. It had been a long time since Kylen had seen him so enthusiastic.
Kylen, too, could not hide his astonishment.
She did all this alone?
He began going through the neatly organized documents, one by one, his brow furrowing deeper with each page.
Kylen had intended to scold Dylan for looking at the papers without permission, but he forgot his purpose and continued examining them.
From survey periods to estimated costs—everything was impressively organized.
“Not much stamina, but surprisingly clever.”
Kylen chuckled quietly, half in disbelief.
At that moment, the Grand Duchess’s office door swung open.
Her usually confident, sometimes playful, sometimes serious light brown eyes were wide with forceful motion.
If Kisty were produced in large amounts in the northern part of Winterford Castle, many people would be needed. That would create jobs, generate income, and collect taxes.
First, I needed to call Benjamin, learn the proper way to make Kisty, and estimate costs.
I ran quickly and reached the office door, panting, then pushed it open.
Wait…
For a moment, I wondered if I was seeing things from being out of breath.
Two familiar people were rifling through my desk. This was definitely my desk…
It was Dylan and Kylen.
I stepped back into the hallway, thinking I might be mistaken about the room. But looking left and right, it was my office.
‘Bang!’
The door slammed, making Dylan jump and shiver.
I looked at Dylan and Kylen in turn.
Dylan didn’t know what to do and began sweating. Kylen turned his head, cleared his throat, and pretended to cough.
“What are you looking for?”
Neither Kylen nor Dylan answered. Only the crackling fire and wind against the window filled the room.
I walked to my desk, stepping on the thick carpet, and began organizing the scattered papers. Kylen, one step aside, still didn’t speak.
“If you have nothing to say, could you please leave?”
A paper lay on the floor—it was the report with names and characteristics of Winterford Castle staff, given by Benjamin. Exactly the document I needed.
As I bent down to pick it up, I noticed Kylen’s shoe twitching.
I straightened up, holding back the urge to assert dominance. Even after I asked him to leave, he remained in place.
Dylan adjusted his glasses, sweat dripping down, glancing between me and Kylen.
I didn’t want to see Kylen’s face. I didn’t trust what he might say.
“Ha. I’m busy, you know.”
I sighed deeply and issued a dismissal.
Dylan bowed deeply to show respect and left the office. Kylen hesitated but then stepped toward the door. He stopped before grabbing the handle and turned back. I ignored him, pretending to read papers.
Only when the door closed did I slump into my chair.
Kylen had softened from before, but I didn’t think he would ever secretly search my desk.
“This isn’t right.”
The feeling I had been holding inside suddenly burst out.
It was like seeing your boyfriend secretly go through your phone.
Even though we weren’t married for long, he had been my first husband across both past and present lives.
Living under the same roof, sharing meals… and I wasn’t considered family by him?
A wave of doubt washed over me.
Knock, knock.
Mia came in. She saw me resting my forehead on the desk and hurried over.
“Grand Duchess! Are you okay? Are you hurt… or crying?”
“No. I’m not crying.”
This wasn’t tears—it was sweat. I wiped it roughly. Mia scolded me.
“You’ve been overworking in this cold… how did you even manage?”
I stopped Mia from going to call the physician.
“It’s nothing. I just want to rest early today.”
“B-but…”
“Please. Don’t call the physician.”
If a physician came, Kylen would hear about it. I changed into comfortable clothes, letting Mia help me.
It wasn’t really a fight with my husband—it was just me feeling hurt.
As I lay down, the bedroom door opened slightly, and April peeked in.
“Eri? Are you hurt?”
Had she finished playing with Isaya? She probably came looking for me since I wasn’t in my office.
I lifted my upper body, a smile forming as a sudden idea came to mind.
