Chapter 11
Grace was the daughter of a poor viscount’s family—one with a long noble history, yet whose only notable asset was a territory with a lake burdened by a strange legend.
The reason Grace had gone through all these thoughts was simple: considering the power of Duke Felton, he could have refused the Emperor’s not-quite-a-request if he had wanted to.
Throughout the long course of history, the only force capable of most efficiently opposing the magical beasts of the North had been the House of Felton. Likewise, the only house able to supply top-grade magic stones was also Felton.
In the long run, the one at a disadvantage would be the Empire, not Benjamin.
If Duke Felton were to withdraw his troops even now, it was obvious that the magical beasts would come charging toward the capital, roaring as they went.
Yet Duke Felton had married for the sake of his loyalty to the Empire and to protect innocent imperial citizens.
Grace thought Benjamin’s sense of loyalty was probably very strong.
In the story, whenever the Crown Prince proposed something, Benjamin almost always agreed.
‘Come to think of it, wasn’t this masquerade festival also something the Crown Prince was hosting?’
And Benjamin had been invited to it.
Having reached that point in her thoughts, Grace nodded.
‘So that’s what it is.’
It was a suggestion made to show the imperial family that the marriage they had arranged was continuing smoothly.
After finishing this long train of thought, Grace felt refreshed.
“That was close. I almost thought Benjamin had feelings for me again.”
There was no way he liked her.
If I’d ended up saying we should divorce later, I almost would’ve hurt myself with my own words.
Grace let out a quiet sigh.
“Now that I’ve sorted out my thoughts, I should just sleep.”
Feeling much lighter, Grace put her diary into the drawer of the bedside table. Thinking this way, it felt easier, as if everything had been neatly separated.
The reason Benjamin was kind to Grace was to demonstrate his loyalty to the imperial family—to show he had no intention of rebellion.
Every time she felt as though he might like her, her chest had felt tight. But now that her thoughts were in order, she felt at ease.
‘But is he going to go crazy over Aria and try to kidnap her later?’
An imperial loyalist becoming an enemy not just of the Empire but of the entire world by kidnapping the Saintess?
Pulling the blanket up tightly and closing her eyes, Grace thought,
‘He’s my husband, but he’s really a lunatic.’
Well, among characters who appear as major figures in romance fantasy novels, who isn’t crazy?
Love itself is kind of madness, Grace muttered.
‘Though he’ll soon be my ex-husband.’
⋆★⋆
After sorting out her thoughts, Grace’s personality became a bit brighter, and her way of speaking grew more composed.
In truth, all she had done was clearly separate her own emotions from those of the original Grace, but everyone assumed she was simply excited about the upcoming masquerade festival.
‘Hmm, my body feels light.’
There was nothing in particular for Grace to do until the festival.
The staff of the annex counted down the days every single morning, and they also fretted daily over which cloak and mask would suit her best for the event.
Grace stretched her body, which felt lighter thanks to her dietary control. She even felt optimistic enough to think that maybe she could start some light exercise now.
‘Dieting really does work best at the beginning.’
When Grace had probed Sally before, it seemed that the original Grace herself hadn’t had a particularly good memory.
Trying to recall every memory of someone who hadn’t had a good memory to begin with meant that only emotion-heavy events surfaced…
And constantly chewing over the feelings of unrequited love naturally led to depression.
It wasn’t just any unrequited love—it was the unrequited love of someone who harbored self-loathing.
No matter how many times she reminded herself that those emotions weren’t hers, feeling gloomy was unavoidable.
‘Emotions are contagious, after all.’
“Milady~ How about this color?”
When Grace stopped stretching, Sally approached her as if she’d been waiting for the chance.
“Hm?”
In Sally’s hands was a thick, deep navy-blue cloak.
“Won’t it be too warm?”
“It’ll be fine. It’s made from the fur of a magical beast. It’s called a Rechten—its fur absorbs heat, so it doesn’t feel hot during the day and blocks out the chill at night.”
That was an incredibly convenient effect. As Grace nodded along to Sally’s explanation, one word caught her attention.
“Magical beast?”
Grace’s eyes widened as she looked at Sally.
“Why is magical beast fur here?”
Unless it was the lowest grade, magical beast fur was sent first to auction houses, then sold off to magic towers, magical tool guilds, and dress shops.
‘That doesn’t look like a low-grade one to me.’
There was no damage to the fur at all, and it gleamed with a glossy sheen. And something like that wasn’t appropriate for a cloak meant for a mere village festival.
“We happened to get it by chance!”
“By chance?”
“Yes!”
Grace’s gaze shifted past Sally, toward the window behind her, where she could see the slightly battered-looking knights of the Felton ducal order.
“…By chance?”
Grace asked again.
Sally naturally stepped in to block Grace’s view.
“Yes, by chance!”
Grace thought,
‘This feels kind of burdensome.’
What would happen if she said, *I don’t like navy blue*? Grace didn’t know what a Rechten looked like, but she did know that magical beasts were, by nature, troublesome creatures to deal with.
‘Well, it’s not like they just went out and hunted a Rechten to make this cloak for me specifically.’
But whatever the reason, it did seem that they had procured the cloak just for now.
At the very least, Grace had enough tact to recognize that.
She didn’t want to become a shameless mistress of the house who complained about the color after someone had gone through the trouble of making a cloak from non–low-grade magical beast fur.
“Sally, step aside for a moment.”
Grace had Sally move to the side and approached the window to look outside.
“……”
Several knights were slumped in a corner, looking utterly exhausted.
“Sally, was it really by chance?”
“Well, um…”
Clutching the cloak tightly, Sally glanced nervously at Grace.
“Did His Grace tell you to say you got it by chance?”
“……”
Silence followed. Grace narrowed her eyes.
“M-Milady is delicate, you see. And festivals are long, with lots of people…”
‘Delicate?’
Grace looked at her reflection in the window. Her thick frame was anything but delicate.
“But we didn’t make it right after catching it!”
“I see.”
“We lay in wait for months to catch it.”
“…?”
Grace stared at Sally, thinking, *What is she talking about now?* Meeting Grace’s round-eyed gaze, Sally began confessing everything as though admitting a crime.
“Rechtens aren’t in their active season right now, so we selected special personnel just to find it. A-and then…”
“No, that’s enough. Stop.”
Grace raised a hand to cut Sally off.
“…Hmm.”
Pressing her fingers to her brow, Grace sank into thought. What should she do about this?
Even setting aside the reason Benjamin had given her a cloak made from magical beast fur, she felt she should give some sort of compensation to those knights.
Of course, Benjamin would reward them appropriately for their labor, but she couldn’t help feeling concerned.
The knights’ duty wasn’t to lie in wait for months to hunt a difficult magical beast just to make their mistress a cloak.
‘Huh?’
Grace narrowed her eyes as she looked again at the navy-blue cloak Sally was holding.
The golden cord attached to the cloak, and at its edge, a pale green gemstone brooch.
“…This.”
“Is it not to your taste?”
“No.”
Grace knew this cloak.
‘This feels like the cloak Benjamin gives Aria first after kidnapping her later.’
After the duchess dies and Benjamin is no longer a married man, he kidnaps Aria and drapes her in a cloak like this.
Then there’s a scene where he smiles and says it suits her very well.
‘She said that smile was gentle—but terrifying.’
Of course it was terrifying. A gently smiling madman was bound to be frightening.
Grace almost started feeling conflicted again, but she steadied her heart. Yes—every reason Benjamin had been kind to Grace was to prove his loyalty to the imperial family.
All of his true feelings were directed toward Aria, and so on and so forth. Repeating this to herself three times, Grace managed to suppress the expectations that threatened to resurface.
“I’ll just wear it. It seems fine.”
At Grace’s approval, Sally’s expression brightened.
“And we should give gifts to the knights who went to procure this cloak.”
“Gifts?”
“Would it be rude to give only money?”
Money was good, of course. But would giving only money seem insincere? Grace pondered.
Still, money *was* good.
She recalled the gold-is-all-powerful mindset that had been rampant in online communities in her previous life, even as she also remembered the painful days she’d lived despite coming from a wealthy family.
“Money, and… hmm, it’d be nice if there was something else we could give.”
Food would have been nice, but Grace had been on an extreme diet lately, so there wasn’t a single sweet thing in the annex.
As she rummaged through her memories, an idea came to her.
“Could we at least buy cookie sets from outside, enough for everyone?”
“Yes!”
Thinking about it again, Benjamin would be the one giving them money anyway, so Grace didn’t need to.
If it were converted into money, some might feel dissatisfied with the amount and get hurt feelings, while others might take offense, talking about a knight’s honor and such.
