An Arranged Marriage with an Enemy - Chapter 17

“…Just gave some? Did Leo drink it?”

“Yes; she looked at it for a long while and then took a sip. She thanked me and said she would drink the rest of it carefully.”

Poor Leonida. Kaon paid a moment of silent tribute to his unfortunate sister. She likely would have been pressured to drink by Madeleine’s expectant gaze.

“Oh my! I almost forgot! Young Master, hold on a second!”

“Uh, yes? Take your time, there’s no need to rush.” He immediately ran to his room, set the glass down somewhere, and hurriedly returned to where he came from.

Fortunately, Madeleine didn’t comment upon the suspicious absence of her special juice. Instead, she held out a basket. “When Miss Alessia returns later, give her this.”

“Cookies?”

There were chocolate-stuffed ones and savory butter-flavored ones and sugar-sprinkled ones.

“It’s nothing special. I was eating cookies with my kids the other day and she asked if I could give her one. She looked so happy while she was eating it…”

“So you prepared all this for Alessia?”

“What preparation are you talking about? I just baked a little too much.” Madeleine waved her hand in disbelief, stressing that she hadn’t made much of an effort.

However, even Kaon knew that the wide variety of cookies in the basket could not have been a coincidence. The expensive confectioner’s sugar sprinkled on the surface made it clear that she intended to give them to Alessia in the first place.

‘You said you would show her what Ferdinand was like…’

It had only been two months since she had referred to Alessia as ‘it’. Was Madeleine showcasing that Ferdinand was well fed? It was quite amusing, but it made sense. Madeleine was an affectionate person.

‘Don’t you want to give it to her directly?’

As if answering his question, the head maid said, “The baroness will definitely have words for me if I get caught doing this. They taste good even when they’ve cooled down, so just leave it in the room. It would be better if you two ate them together, but you’re not a fan of sweets…”

Baroness Robert. Kaon immediately understood why Madeleine wanted the cookies to go through him first. The baroness was aggressively hostile to Ingelos, and at the same time the most insistent on etiquette. She believed that there should always be a certain distance between nobles and their employees.

“How did you become so close? Didn’t you hate even the idea of her?”

“What are you saying? Even Young Master is making fun of me…” Madeleine grimaced, then lowered her voice, “Well… If I may explain, it’s just that she is so very kind. The young lady comes and talks to me every morning. In a way, it’s like she doesn’t even give people a chance to hate her.”

Reservations set free, the maid began to lament that Alessia kept trying to help with her tasks, even at the expense of being scolded.

The way she tried to get along with people was so cute and innocent. She had also picked the right person for that method. If she had tried doing that to the baroness, she would have been sent straight to etiquette class.

“I just think Miss Alessia is a good person. Even the other maids know that, so they’re less afraid these days.”

“Really?”

“Everyone was scared at first because she’s a mage from Ingelos. We couldn’t even make eye contact—it was a mess. Maids started procrastinating so they got scolded”

Kaon knew very well that there was judgment and prejudice mixed in with that fear. While it may not be everyone, it was fortunate that some of them had warmed up to Alessia.

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“Come to think of it, it might be because we can’t see her eyes that well anymore.”

Delighted by the news, it took a moment for him to pause. “Eyes?”

“She’s wearing strange hats these days. Maybe they’re fashionable in Ingelos, but in any case, there was an unexpected effect.”

‘No way…’

“So since they can’t see her eyes clearly, the maids are feeling more comfortable?” Kaon’s face hardened.

***

Kaon hurried up the stairs, mind racing. He kicked the door closed, then hesitated in front of the curtain separating their rooms. Bracing himself, he slipped into Alessia’s side of the suite. He knew it was an awkward thing to do, but there was something he needed to check.

He went straight to the dressing room, eyes zeroing in on the hat shelf without straying. It only had the hats purchased from Deborah’s boutique. Next, Kaon opened the jewelry box, and it was totally empty.

“Ah…” Kaon swallowed a groan.

If Alessia had originally liked hats, there would have been more than what they’d bought at that one time. She would have had full sets of jewelry if she liked flashy things. Even if a lack of funds was an issue, if she really liked them, she wouldn’t have left her jewelry box totally empty.

There were no other hats in her dressing room, no other accessories except for the ruby ring she wore all the time. Her closet only had the plain, everyday clothes they bought together, all of them far from being glamorous or unique.

If her taste in clothes was that simple, it was highly unlikely that she had purchased those hats because they were to her liking.

Kaon trudged back to his room helplessly, covering his face with his hands and closing his eyes.

‘So it was her armor against the people of Ferdinand who hate her existence.’

Alessia was trying to blend in, and he hadn’t noticed at all. ‘Cute’ wasn’t enough to describe her efforts.

“You stupid bastard…”

***

“What’s this about?” Joseph swallowed his irritation at the unusual command.

His master, the young master of Ferdinand, suddenly came to his room while he was resting, gave an absurd order with a sad expression on his face, then disappeared.

“Joseph, have you thrown away all the jewelry Mother used to use?”

“No? I can’t just throw away your family’s belongings. However, it’s unlikely that Lady Leonida took them.”

“That’s true… Great, please go and get them.”

“…The former duchess’ jewelry?”

“Yes. Oh, but you don’t have to bring them all, just the red ones.”