Redross, who was examining the neatly arranged letters that Mrs Ballon had brought, groaned at the unusually piled up invitations.

It is only natural for the number of invitations to increase like this, right after marriage. 

Marriage for a duke was not an easy task. 

Naturally, not only the surrounding small and medium-sized nobles but also the royal family want to congratulate them on their wedding.

In addition, there were many letters asking about the tree ice flower incident recently. 

It could have been a huge disaster, and it was a great credit to prevent such an event that was easy to move to nearby land in advance.

It is no wonder that people in the capital who lack such interesting stories want to meet him in person and listen to him.

He looked through the invitations for a while, groaned again and put them all down. 

Then he got up and looked out the window.

In the first place, the Duchy itself was built on a very high place, and the office was located at the outermost part of the Castle.

With the duchy of Vermont on the verge of full-blown winter, it was impressive how heaps of straw and firewood were piled up in each house to prepare for snow.

He looked carefully at the long chimneys between the red roofs. 

Even at lunchtime, there were some houses where smoke did not rise.

He let out a small sigh. 

Knowing that the crop was lacking, I tried to provide support to the private sector, but that did not work out the way I wanted. 

In this situation, I could not afford to host a banquet.

In addition, everyone has long been babbling about Redross and Brelin’s scandal, and thought the story leading to the two’s marriage was an interesting gossip.

I didn’t even want to stick my head out there and become the subject of children’s talk.

It didn’t bother me much, but there was no reason to put Brelin there too.

She’ll just get hurt for no reason

He thought blankly, then belatedly realized that he had remembered the tears welling up in Brelin’s eyes, and he hurriedly tried to turn back his thoughts.

What if she cries again? I don’t know why I suddenly thought of that. 

In fact, Brelin was the main culprit spreading and digging up other people’s gossip.

Even so, there is also a banquet that cannot be avoided.

In particular, the fact that even the father-in-law naturally needs to  attend to show his face to such a banquet.

Immediately after marriage,it is customary to hold a banquet at the duke’s residence.

He finally sighed and closed the window as he gathered his thoughts.

You have to do what you have to do.

Because I’m not a child anymore, and the comfortable days of being a successor are now over.

 As the Duke of Vermont, I must properly inherit the duchy and do what is necessary.

Redross looked at the portraits of the successive dukes of Vermont hanging at the entrance to the room, then stared at his father’s face hanging at the end.

“I have a lot of work to do because of a vain name of the duke, Father.”

I don’t know where he is and what he is doing, but I only resented him, who didn’t say anything to my mother and made such an unreasonable investment that took away the family’s wealth.

Knock, knock, knock. 

It was the sound of a light knock that cut his thoughts.

It was Madame Ballon who raised her head in response. 

She must have come with the reply I had sent to Brelin to have dinner with me.

“Well, it’s time for dinner.”

Redross rose from her seat, and Mrs Ballon answered with a puzzled face.

“Lady Brelin says she doesn’t plan to eat yet.”

“Still?”

“Yes. Eat first… .”

“Did she say she had a lot to do?”

“He said that there are a lot of documents she’s looking at… .”

No, the ladies are usually lazy being,whether you like it or not.

It’s only after lunch that they wake up, linger in bed for a while, and then finally crawl out, eat a meal, and have a long tea time.

However, after this woman was told that I would let her participate in the business, she did wake up earlier than that every morning and disappeared. 

It’s the third day today that she refused to eat together.

At this point, I don’t know if she’s  really busy or if she doesn’t want to eat together.

Mrs. Ballon, who has been reporting the refusal of the meal request for the third day, glanced at him thinking that he must have been hurt by her rejections.

Redross rolled his eyes as he guessed about what she was thinking, put on a thin coat and approached the door.

“I’ll go see her myself.”

Mrs. Ballon thought she had heard something wrong.

“… Yeah? Not the dining room, but lady Brelin, right?”

“Yes.”

Then he staggered towards the small office he had assigned to Brelin.

Madame Ballon now had no idea whose meal to prepare and how much, so she strode after the swift-footed Duke.

No, of course, if you spend time together as a couple, your relationship should get better… And she knew that the relationship between couples was different from what looks in public, but she couldn’t imagine what the relationship between the duke and duchess would be.

That knife-like duke, who doesn’t repeat twice when he commends, is visiting someone else’s room to ask for a meal?

‘I’ve never seen anything like that.’-Mrs.Ballon

There was a time when that icy Duke also had a relationship, and Madame Ballon watched it all, but that was only as formality and good consideration. 

He is a person who has never shown any kind of affection.

However, the marriage relationship that started as if he was married to his enemy seemed to continue smoothly even after discovering the ‘affair letter’ ,and its sender has sent another one.

Redross knocked on the door of the small office, ignoring Madame Ballon’s puzzled gaze.

“Yes, come in.”

Now, a soft, familiar voice answered.

When he opened the door, Brelin, with her hair tied together, lifted her head and looked at him sourly. 

He glanced through the neatly rectified papers on her desk. 

All of these were complaints that had come within the Duchy.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she wasn’t here and went out to play, but it seems that she was absorbed in her work without even knowing that there were ink marks on her cheeks.

Redross came close to her and glanced at the papers she had sorted.

Scrolling down by hand, I looked at a few pages and found that they were divided according to their importance, and urgency and must-do tasks were marked with separate instructions or comments on a piece of paper.

[Not baking enough bread in the Vermont Bakery is a crime and should be strictly regulated according to the rules of the Baking Guild in Vermont. It is against morals for those in charge of making a living to reduce the supply of bread through collusion… ]

He looked at a few more and looked at Brelin, who was looking at him with an annoyed look. 

Even the comments written one by one were reasonable. 

It’s like someone who has lived in the Duchy of Vermont for several years.

It was a nice looking, concise, and fair treatment.

He received reports that she was diligently reviewing documents, but he did not expect that she had read the complaints so thoroughly. 

Most of them were to be dealt with by the secretaries before even being considered.

Brelin frowned and looked at him.

“Why do you look like that? Are you not satisfied with my work?”

Redross was silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.

What should I answer? How do you know so well what’s going on in the Duchy of Vermont? 

Bread guilds exist in any region, but the rules for each region are different.

‘How else did you know that, and how did you know about the tree ice flower… .’

He finally brought the question to his tongue, which had lingered in his mouth for days.

“Can you really hear the spirits?”

She smiled as she gathered her pink hair to one side and ran it down with her fingers.

“I definitely told you that last time.”

“I’m not joking. Is that true?”

“I’m not joking either.”

Redross shrugged. 

He’s not seven years old.

‘I don’t believe in such words.’

However, from the fact that Brelin was able to act as if she had been someone else and knew the duchy well, she must have had some kind of informant or a great teacher.

It was probably good.

It is advantageous to have at least one more talented person in the territory. 

I don’t know how far she will be able to achieve with the knowledge she suddenly learned, but from what I’ve seen right now, it’s almost perfect.

Considering the past, it was a series of circumstances that were too questionable, but there was no reason not to praise the flawless work.

“You’re good at your job.”

“Really?”

“So, let’s eat first.”

“But I don’t have time.”

Don’t have time?

She said that often.

It’s like she’s being chased by something and  leaving in a hurry.

Redross took his hand slowly to her cheek.

Brelin looked up at him, startled when his unexpectedly warm finger touching her cheek. 

He gently rubbed the stained area with his thumb, then backed away politely.

Her cheeks tickled because she was conscious of the part his hand touched.

“Documents don’t run away.”

“… But.”

“It is also the duty of a manager to take good care of your body. Let’s go.”

Having said that ,Brelin couldn’t protest more.

It was then that she remembered she only ate a small breakfast in the early morning

She was so impatient, she couldn’t sleep well at night these days.

‘A year is a really long time, but it’s also a really short time.’ she thought