Chapter 12
Grace decided to give something other than money. As expected, it was better to leave money matters to Benjamin.
At Grace’s command, Sally set out to buy a set of cookies.
Grace casually tossed her cloak onto the bed and headed to the study.
When she opened the first drawer of the desk, it was still filled with bookmarks.
“I made all of these myself.”
Grace liked flowers despite knowing next to nothing about their names.
Among them, she pressed and preserved the ones she liked most, but instead of simply storing them away, she turned them into bookmarks.
It was a way to use them for what she loved most: reading.
*‘Grace’s hobbies are mostly quiet, solitary ones. For someone like that, she barely remembers any types of flowers.’*
Usually, having a hobby meant having interest. Even so, it was curious that she didn’t know the names or varieties well. Then again, if she simply liked them because they were pretty, that made sense.
*‘Just because you like something doesn’t mean you know everything about it…’*
Grace thought she was similar to her former self from her previous life.
“Of course, back then I barely had any choices.”
She muttered softly as she counted the bookmarks. There seemed to be more than enough, and they looked suitable as a modest but sincere gesture.
*‘If they don’t like them, it can’t be helped.’*
Still, since they were from the duchess, no one would openly throw them away.
⋆★⋆
The knights of House Felton, having finished a long expedition, collapsed onto the ground with worn-out expressions. Their comrades greeted them with sympathetic looks.
“Still, you used a gate on the way back, right?”
“Our lord never spares support for the knight order…”
Lechten appeared on a two-year cycle. If it showed up one year, it wouldn’t appear at all the next.
The Felton Knight Order—no, everyone who worked for House Felton—was generally very satisfied with the way the duchy treated them.
Fair wages, good benefits, guaranteed holidays, and a kind, capable master who was understanding.
It was a place where satisfaction was inevitable. To the point that some even said they wanted to be born and die under House Felton.
But this expedition was too much, no matter how one thought about it. This year was supposed to be Lechten’s dormant period—when it truly didn’t appear. It was so absent that people who usually prayed for it to stop showing up were now praying for it to appear at least once.
“It’s fine. If you think of this as something we did for the mistress, you can endure it. But still, no matter how I think about it, at the very end our lord…”
One of the knights trailed off, rubbing his darkened eyes as he sniffled.
“Mark, are you crying?”
“Shut up. I swore my loyalty to the mistress.”
Mark recalled that day.
It was not long after Grace had become the young duchess. News arrived that his older sister back in his hometown had contracted a plague.
Later, a saint appeared and resolved the situation, but at the time, the saint had not yet been discovered.
Everyone said Mark’s sister would die. Having lost their parents early, she was his only family.
All he could do was hope she would die without pain. The Empire even showed signs of abandoning the village entirely.
But when Grace heard the news, she used her own wealth to care for the sick villagers.
Benjamin, upon receiving reports of Grace’s actions, learned of the seriousness of the plague and how close the village was to isolation, and personally stepped in to protect and financially support them.
Despite everyone saying it was dangerous, Grace insisted that once was enough and personally visited the plague-stricken village. Afterward, just in case, she isolated herself.
In any case, even if Grace’s kindness hadn’t directly helped in a tangible way, the number of deaths sharply declined afterward.
Mark called it the duchess’s miracle.
“I think the strangest thing is that this never became a hot topic within the Empire.”
“Mm.”
His comrade nodded in agreement.
“This isn’t just something to talk about—it’s something that should go down in history. But the mistress also—”
Just as Mark was about to continue, his comrade lightly smacked him on the head with a scabbard.
“That’s enough. A knight talks too much.”
“Ugh.”
“And your sister’s coming.”
The comrade tilted his head toward one side.
When Mark turned, he saw a maid carrying a basket walking alongside a plump woman in the distance.
“Sis!”
He jumped up from his seat with a broad smile to greet Sally—then froze when he noticed Grace standing beside her.
“M-Mistress?”
“…Ah, are you well?”
Grace hesitated, wondering if that was the right greeting, while Mark stiffened, wondering what could have brought her all the way here.
“What brings you here, Mistress?”
At the news of Grace’s arrival, the knights quickly lined up and paid their respects.
“I heard you all went through a hard time because of me. It’s nothing much, but I prepared something as a token of my gratitude.”
All the knights looked at Grace with bewildered expressions.
Sally handed the basket she was carrying to Grace. Grace rummaged through it, taking out neatly portioned cookies and bookmarks—then stopped.
“…Ah.”
She looked at them with an awkward expression.
“Who are the ones that went to hunt Lechten?”
From Grace’s expression and actions, the knights realized that she had come down specifically to give separate gifts.
The knights who had been groaning about how hard it was just hours ago suddenly snapped to attention, standing perfectly straight and eagerly indicating that it was them.
For some reason, Grace found their 모습 cute.
“Thank you!”
*‘It’s really nothing, but they’re so happy.’*
Everyone genuinely liked the cookies and bookmarks Grace handed out.
*‘In the novel, there were so many disparaging remarks about the duchess that I thought even the knights wouldn’t like me.’*
Unaware of how she was viewed outside the annex, Grace instead found it fascinating to see the knights happily accept her gifts.
“…Madam.”
“Kyaak?!”
Just as Grace was smiling at the knights’ friendly reactions, a soft, intimate voice sounded behind her.
Startled, Grace let out a sharp scream and spun around to see Benjamin.
He seemed not to have intended to scare her, and instead looked flustered as he caught Grace, who had nearly lost her balance.
“…Ah.”
However, after holding her briefly, he released her, frowning slightly.
Grace rubbed the arm he had grabbed and looked at him.
“Uh, when did you arrive?”
“Just now. More importantly…”
Benjamin looked at the knights who had just received gifts from Grace.
“What exactly did you give them?”
“Oh, I heard they went to hunt a monster called Lechtan because of me.”
She meant Lechten, but no one pointed out her mistake.
“……”
Only Benjamin’s expression darkened slightly at her answer.
He muttered under his breath.
“…I went too.”
“Yes?”
Benjamin looked down at Grace with a sulky expression.
“I joined at the end, found Lechten’s lair, and captured it. If anything, I was more helpful than them.”
Grace looked at him with an expression that plainly said, *So what do you want me to do about it?*
“…Hmm.”
Since Sally had bought exactly enough cookies for the number of knights, there were none left. After a moment of hesitation, Grace took one of the remaining bookmarks from the basket and handed it to him.
“At least this…?”
“……”
Only then did Benjamin’s sulky expression ease, though his smile was subtle rather than clearly happy.
“Th-thank you…”
The pressed flower on the bookmark Grace gave him was a blue morning glory.
*‘Come to think of it, I really was a bit harsh.’*
The cookies and bookmarks were meant as an apology for the knights getting dragged into things because of Benjamin’s inexplicable orders. But now that she thought about it, she should have given Benjamin a gift of thanks as well.
*‘But what would I even give him?’*
Anything she bought would ultimately be with Benjamin’s money.
Making something herself was also out of the question—Grace couldn’t cook. And if the duchess suddenly went into the kitchen to bake or cook, the head chef probably wouldn’t be pleased.
If she did try, it would have to be in the middle of the night when no one was around.
And Grace had no confidence she wouldn’t cause an accident then. Thoughts like *“It’ll be fine—what could possibly go wrong?”* were usually the prologue. A flag.
*‘Usually, when someone transmigrates, they go to the kitchen and cook, and then…’*
It’s a new kind of food, everyone loves it, and suddenly the formerly neglected character becomes adored.
Grace’s thoughts drifted to the people in the annex.
*‘They treat me extremely well.’*
Whether out of pity or something else, they treated her kindly. And wasn’t that enough? She didn’t particularly like being pitied, but since she would eventually leave anyway, she might as well make full use of goodwill mixed with sympathy.
Having casually concluded thoughts that would deeply wound the annex staff if they heard them, Grace nodded to herself.
