Operation Begins
Heredin brushed Blair’s stray hair behind her ear as she pressed her lips together in dissatisfaction and added,
“Though Your Noble Highness the Princess probably can’t even imagine it.”
At a glance, the gesture looked gentle, but the eyes looking down at her and the words leaving his mouth were cold.
“In a situation like that, when a pretty, wealthy, and naïve woman who treats him with respect appears right in front of him.”
“……”
“Do you think that man would be any different?”
Blair’s eyes, which had been wavering anxiously, finally twisted as if she were about to cry.
As if she herself had been insulted.
All because of that mere commoner.
“From now on, when you meet that man, bring a knight with you.”
Heredin ended the conversation unilaterally and took Blair’s hand.
It was meant as an escort, but Blair pulled her hand away from his grasp.
Heredin’s cold gaze turned toward her.
Blair looked straight back at him and said,
“You don’t have the right to insult that person based on nothing but such speculation.”
Her body trembled slightly as she spoke.
Just like that day long ago when she had contradicted her brother during a luncheon at the imperial palace.
Her frightened-looking eyes were filled with conviction.
She never backed down.
Not when it was something she believed was right.
That appearance irritated him in a way that almost felt ridiculous.
“I cannot agree with your opinion.”
After calmly expressing her stance, Blair turned her back on him and headed toward the hired carriage she had arranged.
Watching her carriage leave first, Heredin let out a short laugh.
* * *
“Shall I put your hair up again today?”
Melly asked as she sat Blair down in front of the mirror.
Blair nodded slightly.
“Yes.
Please.”
Long hair was beautiful, but difficult to manage.
With so much to do for the banquet preparations today, it was better to tie it up so it wouldn’t get in the way.
The soft sound of brushing hair filled the peaceful morning room.
When Melly or Lina brushed Blair’s hair, it was also the time Blair mentally reviewed her schedule for the day.
While organizing her tasks and looking at Melly’s reflection in the mirror, Blair suddenly seemed to remember something and called out,
“Melly.”
“Yes?”
Blair moved her lips as if about to ask something, then closed them again.
Instead, she shook her head.
“No, it’s nothing.”
In truth, she had wanted to ask whether Heredin had already left.
After Blair returned to the mansion in a hired carriage yesterday, Heredin had come back very late, long after dinner time, apparently because he had other matters to attend to.
So they hadn’t run into each other.
Usually they had breakfast together every other day or so, but today she didn’t want to see him.
What he had done—insulting Mikhail directly to his face—was something he should never have done.
Was it simply because Heredin held a higher status while Mikhail was a commoner?
Such behavior was wrong.
And it was disappointing that he, of all people, had spoken that way.
‘But I shouldn’t show that in front of these girls.’
That wouldn’t be dignified.
“It’s done, my lady.”
“Thank you.”
After finishing her preparations, Blair left the room and stepped onto the stairs leading down to the first floor.
When she had descended halfway down the stairs, she saw Heredin and Ruth coming down the opposite staircase.
They seemed to have noticed her as well, because Heredin’s gaze turned toward her.
Blair stopped abruptly when their eyes suddenly met.
Heredin’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before returning to Ruth.
Blair slowly continued down the stairs and reached the first floor a step earlier, waiting for him.
Even if she felt uncomfortable, she couldn’t simply ignore him after running into him like this without at least seeing him off.
But when Heredin reached the first floor, he passed right by her.
Blair returned Ruth’s polite greeting and was about to follow behind Heredin when a cold voice stopped her.
“There’s no need for you to come out.”
He walked away with long strides.
His steps weren’t particularly fast, yet because of his long legs he quickly moved far ahead.
Ruth looked momentarily flustered, then bowed and followed him.
Watching Heredin leave the mansion while Mason saw him off, Blair stared after him with displeased eyes before turning toward the dining room.
He was the one who had done wrong, and he was the one who had openly shown their quarrel in front of others first.
There was no need for her to struggle to match his mood.
But Melly watched Blair with worried eyes.
* * *
“This won’t do.”
Lina tilted her head in confusion at Melly’s sudden words as they ate lunch on a bench in the garden, enjoying the increasingly warm weather.
“What won’t?”
“I mean His Grace and our lady.
Don’t you think they still haven’t made up?”
Right after their marriage it had been understandable—they had barely seen each other before the wedding, so things had been awkward.
But after the day Blair collapsed by the fireplace, the two had seemed to get along well.
“For a while His Grace didn’t even come out of the bedroom, and our lady was the one we were worried about…”
But one day Heredin stopped visiting the bedroom, and the atmosphere between them gradually turned cold.
Anyone could see they were a couple who had argued.
At first Melly thought they might have reconciled when they returned together from the Grand Empress Dowager’s palace.
But after observing them longer, that didn’t seem to be the case.
Especially after the day Blair returned from the gallery, it looked as if she was deliberately avoiding the dining table.
Servants were never supposed to pretend they heard something unless ordered, nor speak unless asked.
But that didn’t mean they were unaware of what was happening right in front of them.
The two of them had clearly had a major argument.
That much was certain.
Still, as servants, it wasn’t their place to interfere.
A marital quarrel was strictly between husband and wife.
However, when the tension continued for nearly a month, Melly began to worry about Blair.
After the maids who had subtly bullied Lina were caught by Heredin, the open hostility had disappeared.
But if the cold war between the two continued like this…
Melly didn’t want Blair to go through what she had experienced before.
Partly because of the guilt she still carried from the past.
And partly because she had grown genuinely fond of Blair.
But Lina was firmly on Heredin’s opposing side.
“It’s His Grace’s fault.
Completely!
One hundred percent!
Our lady is right.”
“I’m not trying to decide who’s right or wrong.
It’s their issue—we shouldn’t judge that.
What I mean is, we can’t just leave things like this.”
“Then what?”
“Whether they reconcile or argue even more, they at least need to see each other.”
But Lina, who was absolutely on Blair’s side, frowned.
“Why should our lady be the one making the effort?
The one who’s frustrated should do it.”
“Our lady must be frustrated too, even if she doesn’t show it.
But he is her husband.”
Lina finally fell silent.
Melly had a point.
No matter how close Blair was with them, they were still just servants.
The only family Blair had in this mansion was Heredin.
Even though Lina still disliked him, she decided to hear Melly out for Blair’s sake.
“So what do you suggest?”
“What if we create a situation where the two of them have to spend time together?”
“And how are we supposed to do that?”
“Well… that’s…”
Melly thought seriously for a moment, then suddenly let out a small exclamation as an idea struck her.
* * *
This is different from my previous life.
Blair stared at the scene before her with wide eyes.
In the sitting room attached to the bedroom—where she had been called while preparing for the banquet—Baroness Sionel and her assistants were laying out the finished dress and the men’s formal suit they had prepared.
Up to that point, it was exactly what Blair had expected before entering the room.
Except for the fact that her husband was sitting beside her, watching the scene together.
Blair glanced sideways at Heredin in confusion.
‘Why is he here?’
The beginning of this situation dated back to a week ago.
Baroness Sionel had come to the ducal residence to prepare clothing for the banquet.
“My lady, how about matching outfits like these?
They’re very popular among young couples and newlyweds these days.
Even in crowded places like banquets, it makes it obvious at a glance—this man belongs to this woman.”
In her previous life, the baroness had also suggested matching outfits.
At the time, Blair had followed her suggestion.
A newlywed deeply in love had been eager to show her love—and her husband—to the world.
But now that she had returned to the past, she knew how meaningless it all was.
So Blair had said she wanted to make a normal dress instead of matching outfits.
However, Melly and Lina—who had been listening behind them—suddenly interrupted.
“My lady, I want to see you wearing matching outfits.”
“It’s the first banquet you’re hosting as the Duchess.
Wouldn’t it be nice for the two heads of the house to stand out together?”
After thinking for a moment, Blair accepted their earnest request.
She didn’t particularly want matching outfits, but she also had no strong reason to refuse them.
“And anyway, it would look nice for the banquet if we dressed to match.”
Instead, she chose a different design from the one she had worn in her previous life.
Wearing the same design twice would be boring.
Even though the process had changed, the result ended up the same as before—matching outfits.
So she assumed the future that followed would also be the same.
In her previous life, Heredin had only tried on the matching outfit on the day of the banquet.
In other words, the fact that he appeared at the fitting before the banquet—when they were trying on the completed clothes—was something that had never happened in her previous life