On their way, they kept worrying they might be too late. But fortunately for them, Rubica barely got up from the bed only after they arrived.

“I guess I overslept.”

Rubica thought they had waited for her to wake up and brought the water, so she smiled embarrassingly. She then dipped her hands in the basin in her nightdress. Every time she moved, the maids could smell the scent they were so familiar with but only one person used in the entire mansion.

‘It is the perfume His Grace uses when he sleeps.’

How long had they stayed tightly together for Rubica to smell of his perfume? The maids all blushed and so did Ann.

They had been somewhat worried about the duke who hadn’t been interested in women before Rubica came. But maybe he was even more passionate than their imagination.

“Are you not tired?”

“A little.”

Rubica didn’t realize the implications behind the question and answered as she rinsed her hands.

“Are you going to… take a bath?”

Ann spoke first. She thought it was right for her to ask first as she was older and had been married.

“Bath?”

“Uh, um. His Grace’s scent is so strong on you, so…”

Rubica realized the scent only then, and her face turned red in no time.

“Nothing happened!”

She regretted saying it as soon as the words came out of her mouth. Who on earth would believe her? It only made the mood even more awkward.

“Oh… okay.”

Ann and Jennie looked away. They were clearly thinking something had happened.

Her body felt just the same as before. Edgar had probably kept his promise, but the scent of his perfume was so strong that even she could smell it. Even an idiot would have realized he had slept with her in his arms all night.

‘I fell asleep before I could say he couldn’t hug me while I was sleeping.’

He knew how to evade restrictions to get what he wanted. Was she supposed to applaud and say he was indeed Duke Claymore? In the end, Rubica had to take another bath in the morning.

***

“Carl!”

Rubica called the butler after she was dressed in a good dress to meet guests. Her hair and face had been done perfectly. She now wanted to find Edgar and grab him by the collar, but Ann and the maids had refused to let her go till they were done with her.

“Your Grace, what is it?”

“Where is Edgar?”

“You mean His Grace! He is at his office.”

“Take me there, now!”

Carl had seen it coming, but he hadn’t known it would happen right away on the next day of the wedding. He determinedly looked at Rubica.

“I’m afraid you can’t. His Grace is very sensitive while he works. He has given strict orders, only I can go into his office.”

Rubica was surprised to hear that, and Carl was making it clear.

“And I cannot go in either?”

“No. He is even more sensitive nowadays.”

It looked like she was not going to get what she wanted. Rubica stared at Carl and realized he was carrying a tray.

“What is it?”

“It is a drink which His Grace drinks often.”

“Oh, you mean coffee. I know how to make coffee. It would be okay for me to bring it to him, right?”

Carl could see what she was after and smiled.

“It is not coffee, madam. His Grace cannot drink coffee. These are dried leaves of a rare plant from a far land across the desert.”

“Leaves?”

The thing inside the small dish on the tray was way too small and black to be dried leaves.

“How can you make a drink with leaves?”

“It is just like making coffee, you add water to it.”

“Then I should be able to make it, too.”

Indeed, there were utensils that were almost the same with the ones used to make coffee, like a small cup, a pot, and a spoon on the tray.

“No. This ‘tea’ is extremely delicate. It gives an entirely different taste according to the water’s temperature and the air’s humidity.”

“Tea?”

“Yes, it is called so because the leaves are from tea trees. It is used to relax and improve the memory. More than that, it is not stimulating like coffee.”

Then Carl started to give a speech about the good effects of that ‘tea’. He started with when it was first made and how it was traded and how he had gotten that rare stuff, not missing out even a single detail.

“Hamm.”

Rubica yawned in front of him, but Carl didn’t care and went on. It looked like he was the person who loved tea, not Edgar.

“I think it is a shame that such a great drink hasn’t been made popular on the continent. Actually, even better tools are needed to bring out the tea’s true flavor, but His Grace said these are enough to remove his headache…”

Rubica seized the chance to distract him.

“He has a headache?”

“… yes, he suffers a lot sometimes.”

Carl managed to wake up when Edgar’s health became the topic.

Rubica sighed. It wasn’t like Edgar was playing. It looked like it wouldn’t be right to go after him to accuse him when he was so busy with work. Plus, he had a headache. She didn’t want to use her time to ease his pain from him.

“When will he be done working?”

“He will be there at dinner. He is very sorry that he couldn’t have breakfast with you. Please don’t forget, he is a very busy man.”

“It’s alright. But Carl, it wouldn’t be good to stay at the office if he has a headache. Please tell him it would be better to take a stroll sometimes.”

Carl smiled bitterly at this.

Taking a stroll under the bright sky, the duke probably wanted that more than anyone else. However, he decided to tell what Rubica just said to Edgar. He had a feeling it would make him feel better.

“I will tell him that. And Your Grace…”

Carl hesitated before speaking.

“I heard you are scheduled to meet visitors today.”

“Yes, I was told relatives from nearby have come to meet me.”

“I know it is rude for me to ask this, but could you please call the duke His Grace at least in front of them?”

Rubica’s auburn eyes met Carl’s. He knew better than anyone else what was going on between her and Edgar. And he was pleading to her.

“I know you are very angry with him. I also think you and him should together decide how you call and talk to each other. But madam, you are Duchess Claymore before you are his wife. If you talk like that to him in front of us servants or your inferior relatives, they might misunderstand it.”

“I cannot deny I did that because I was angry.”

“Yes, although His Grace is not saying anything, he must be very sorry as well.”

Rubica thought about it for a moment. She was from a lowly family anyway. She wasn’t a princess whose any behavior could be accepted by others.

Now she was surrounded by servants who liked her, but the relatives were different. They must have a huge pride in being members of the Claymore Family. Now a woman from a baronet family had become their superior, and she wasn’t talking politely to the duke. There was no rule regarding the way of talking between married couples in Hue’s Holy Book, but people’s common sense was different. There had been people who didn’t try to hide their hostility toward her even at the wedding feast.

In the end, Rubica nodded.

“Okay, Carl.”

“Thank you.”

Carl smiled happily at Rubica’s reply. He believed she would do her duty as Duchess Claymore very well because of the attitude she had shown at the Berner Mansion, and he wasn’t wrong.

***

When Rubica arrived at the duchess’ reception room upstairs in the Claymore Mansion’s main building and took the list from Ann, she realized talking to Edgar wasn’t the problem she was facing now.

“There are about 20 people in total you will talk in private today.”

“20 people? But I just met about 30 people at the reception room downstairs…”

“Yes, you had a small talk with them. The people you will meet from now on are close relatives and those who want to talk to you about the management of the household.”

Now, this was more than just saying hello to people. It was a kind of work.

‘Yes, I used to help Lefena hear stories of people who had come for her help at the abbey. This must not be that different.’

And as soon as she met the first visitor, she realized she couldn’t have been more wrong.

“Your Grace, the hoes now used by the peasants in the Claymore Manor are very bad. Iron from the Seros Mountains contains a lot of impurities. They will rust soon. The food production rate of the manor will soon drop significantly.”

Rubica was surprised to hear that from Mrs. Huzburn. She quickly asked for books to Ann and checked the purchase of hoes.

“But we bought hoes only two weeks ago…”

Before she could point out that purchase had also been done under Mrs. Huzburn’s recommendation, she cut her short.

“It doesn’t matter when they were bought. They are going to rust soon. But! The hoe I invented recently is made from high-quality iron from the Enan Mountains. Using this hoe will greatly increase the food production in the manor.”

“It will be good for Claymore to buy the hoe my husband invented.”