By Zephyria 
After being shocked for a while, Nicole clenched his fists and snapped back to his senses. Then, without calling any other servants, he went back and forth in the bedroom alone, cleaning up all traces of Carlisle. He opened the windows wide and put a bouquet of fresh roses he had received from the gardener in a vase, completely eliminating the musty smell that had lingered in the room.
Nicole told me to go away because I was in the way, and made me sit quietly on the daybed by the window, sweeping the floor with his hands and muttering as if he had a headache.
“Anyway, I should have noticed it earlier…. I wondered what it was when I occasionally found something like dog hair in the room……. It was all Little Duke Graham….”
The Grand Duke Family and the Imperial Family had thoroughly enforced secrecy, so the true nature of the Graham Family was still well hidden, but there was no way to erase the memories of those who had directly witnessed Carlisle transforming into a wolf in Bartolo at that time.
“Ah. Wait a minute, Young Master. Could it be that the wolf that bit you and fell off the cliff back then…?”
Oops…. I was caught off guard. It connects all the way there…?
“Ha, look at this, look at this. Look at you not being able to answer. Was it all a set-up?”
What began to form in his dark brown eyes was not suspicion but disappointment. I wouldn’t have felt sorry if it had been suspicion, but he only showed disappointment, so I didn’t know what to do.
“Uhh, Nicole, there were unavoidable circumstances, uh, so…….”
“Why? Were you planning to enjoy a secret honeymoon with the Little Duke before the wedding, without His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knowing?”
That wasn’t the reason, but I thought it would be better to let him think that. Someday I wanted to explain everything to Nicole. But not now. I wanted to remain in Nicole’s mind as a naive young master who could only roll around in a flower garden. I have no intention of becoming the protagonist of a tragic love story. The moment he thought of me as the protagonist of a tragic love story, my young brother-like attendant would risk anything to save me.
When I smiled blandly, saying, “How did you know?” Nicole sighed, clutching his forehead as if his blood pressure was rising again.
“Still, how could you do something like that! Do you know how worried everyone was? I, I really thought something had happened to you…!”
As the emotions of that time resurfaced, sparks flew in his usually calm voice. I approached Nicole and gently embraced his slender shoulders. “It’s no use doing this,” his voice, laced with a snort, was brusque, but the shoulders that were embraced were docile.
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. I’m really sorry for deceiving you.”
“…Did you like Little Duke Graham that much?”
“Hey. How much could I like him? Would I like Carlisle more than our Nicole?”
“Tch.”
He doesn’t seem to dislike it. Nicole finally accepted the reality, saying that someone like our Young Master was capable of manipulating the Emperor and the Grand Duke in one hand. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at Nicole’s strangely proud expression. Nicole, who had been suppressing his anger well until now, couldn’t stand the laughter teasing him, and grabbed my gown and shook it, saying, “Don’t laugh!” The hand shaking me strongly was just a sign of affection, so I finally felt relieved.
“Okay, I won’t laugh. I won’t laugh, okay? By the way, what about my brother?”
“The Eldest Young Master must have left by now. He had a tea time appointment with the Werner Marquess today. If the Eldest Young Master’s attendants overslept too, it must have been a mess getting ready.”
Clearly, there were two young masters older than me in the Hamilton Count Family according to the family register, but since some time ago, the ‘brother’ referred to between us had naturally narrowed down to one person, Andrew Hamilton. Nicole didn’t ask who I was talking about and rattled off the information I wanted.
Hmm, good. It’s the perfect timing to sneak over. I nodded in satisfaction and moved towards the dressing room. It didn’t hurt, but I felt a strange stiffness in my hips as I walked.
“Why are you suddenly changing your clothes?”
Nicole, who had stopped what he was doing, followed me and asked. I casually replied that I was going to visit the annex where my brother was staying. The annex where Andrew was staying after handing this room over to me was a completely different building across the garden, so even though it was in the same house, I couldn’t go there in my dressing gown. Besides, this gown couldn’t hide the various marks left on my body at all.
While helping me change my clothes as I intended, Nicole still looked puzzled. It seemed strange that I was going to the annex even though Andrew was out.
“There are spare Potions in my brother’s quarters. Adrian might come looking for me anytime, so I need to erase the marks on my body first.”
“Ah, if that’s the case, you could have just told me to do it. Shall I go now?”
“No. You finish cleaning the room. I’m going to drink it right there and come back.”
The sooner I erased the marks, the better. I covered my bare skin tightly with a scarf and gloves that didn’t match the season and headed to the annex at a brisk pace. It wasn’t a very elegant movement, but no one in this mansion could scold me for such a thing right now.
I felt strangely good as I walked across the garden, the well-groomed grass crunching under my feet. It wouldn’t be bad to have a leisurely late breakfast or late lunch in the garden after emptying a bottle of Potion.
The knights guarding the front of the annex didn’t stop me, even though I was dressed suspiciously out of season, but simply bowed politely. As expected. There was no way that meticulous man wouldn’t have taken measures in advance so that I could visit him anytime.
“Hmm…. That’s right……. It’s strange. Why does this place look so familiar…?”
I had only heard that Andrew had moved to the annex, but this was the first time I had actually come here. The first place I saw when I opened the door was a space that was usually used as a drawing room. Andrew had no intention of receiving guests here, so he had brought in a large desk suitable for reviewing documents and was using it almost like an office.
The desk, which occupied most of the area, and the partition installed to go to the bedroom were clearly all things I was seeing for the first time……. Strangely, it looked familiar. No, the feeling of being familiar was more accurately felt from this space itself rather than from the various unfamiliar objects.
My brain tingled with a frustrating sensation that seemed to be about to surface but didn’t, but I decided to postpone it for later. Without delay, I strode through the empty room and headed to the bedroom beyond the partition. As was the case with aristocratic families in this world, the bedrooms of the head of the family and the heir were equipped with several Potions in case of emergency. Before the room was changed, Andrew had hidden the Potions he had under the bed.
I was wrong. I reached under the bed and groped around, but there was nothing to be felt. I stuck my head in, wondering if it had gone in deep, but only a few specks of dust were rolling around, and I still couldn’t find a Potion.
“Huh? What. Why isn’t it here.”
Just one bottle, no, I think I only need to drink three sips, but how can there not be even one bottle? It’s not like the Hamilton Family has become so destitute that they can’t even afford to keep Potions on hand. Anyway, I thought it would be in the bedroom, so I quickly looked around and lifted my head. And in front of me, I saw an old velvet sofa that didn’t match the overall clean-looking furniture at all. The dark green velvet sofa had an outdated design that seemed to have been popular at least twenty years ago. Each carving on the wooden handle was very luxurious and antique.
“…Ah!”
The moment I saw that sofa, I finally remembered what I had forgotten. I wondered why the structure was strangely familiar, but this was……. The annex where Andrew and I had wallowed in the mud during that… the Innocent Boy Event that was forcibly carried out with the System’s return… the one I was even embarrassed to remember…….
“But that annex wasn’t in a much more remote location than this? Surely they didn’t move it as is……. No way, right? Yeah, that’s not it. It’s just that each annex looks similar, so I’m mistaken for a moment.”
Even if they could bring the sofa, moving the entire building? That was an act that exceeded the limit, no matter how much money the Hamilton Family had. The architectural technology of this world has not developed enough to move stone buildings as they are, and if they really did such a thing, they would have hired Sorcerers no matter what. If it was this scale, they would have had to hire at least three or four Sorcerers……. Just as the calculator was about to spin rapidly in my head.
“Why do you assume it’s a mistake?”
A nonchalant voice suddenly popped out from behind, where there had been no sign of anyone. I gasped in surprise and turned around, and there was the owner of this room, with an expression as nonchalant as his voice, giving me the answer once again that it was right that he had moved it.
“Oh dear, you seem very surprised. It cost about 40,000 gold to ask the Sorcerers for various modifications, but you don’t have to worry about it.”
4, 4, 40,000 gold…? It was an amount that made my jaw drop even with the memory of having lived as the Empress of a country. The annual salary of Mr. Seymour’s company employees, who are considered to be well-paid in the commoner world, was a little less than 2,000 gold. I gave up thinking any further.
“For example, magic that immediately transmits to me when you come here, or magic that allows you to return here from wherever you are if you come here. I’m glad I budgeted generously. It’s quite useful.”
Indeed, he was worthy of being the Little Count of the Hamilton Family, who had been praised for being second to none in the country in terms of financial power, even though he had problems with power and tradition. He approached me with elegant steps and personally helped me up, who was surprised. Then, with his arm wrapped affectionately around my shoulders, he led me to the velvet sofa in question.
“So, what do you need that you’ve taken the trouble to come all the way here?”
The tone of voice, which assumed that I would never look for him unless I needed something, was nonchalant but somehow painful. He and I both knew the dynamics of our relationship, which had long been tilted.