Juliet opened her eyes to the familiar tingling sensation on her nape.
“Hello.”
She locked eyes with a man, who was half-lying against the bed’s headboard reviewing some documents.
He leaned over and planted a kiss on Juliet’s forehead.
“You finally woke up.”
In a drowsy state, Juliet sat up and broke into laughter.
She realized why her neck was tingling – her silky hair was neatly, albeit loosely braided to one side.
“Where did you learn to do this?”
“I tried to develop a hobby I could do without waking you up.”
Juliet felt a bit sorry for him. Recently, due to preparing for guests, she had been busy and would go to bed late, falling asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
On the other hand, Duke Carlyle was always an early riser.
“You seem to have a fever.”
Lennox furrowed his brows as he touched Juliet’s forehead.
“Are you feeling alright?”
“Just lack of sleep. I’m fine.”
Juliet smiled brightly. The cool touch of his hand felt good.
Seeing Juliet smile, Lennox seemed relieved and softly caressed her nape.
However, the now alert Juliet firmly pushed him away.
“We can’t. The guests will be arriving soon.”
“…It’s vexing.”
Lennox sighed as he embraced her tightly.
“As I said, any time-“
“The guests will be annoying or if playing the hostess gets tiring, I can quit,I know.”
Juliet quickly caught his words and completed the sentence.
Ever since she decided to invite guests to the Duke’s residence, Lennox had said this several times.
“…Alright.”
He reluctantly let Juliet go.
Quickly escaping to the bathroom, Juliet headed downstairs a while later.
“Did you cough, ma’am?”
“Hello, Josephine. Good morning.”
Juliet crossed the sparkling hall.
When they returned from their long but short honeymoon, the first thing the people of the Duke’s residence gave to Juliet was a splendid chatelain.
A bunch of keys that could open all the doors in the castle, a symbol of the mistress. The people respectfully asked:
“Have you decided what kind of Madam you will be?”
Only then did Juliet truly feel the reality of her marriage.
Juliet had two choices. One was to maintain a dignified relationship with neighboring families as had been done for the past hundred years, and the other was to try building a more warm and friendly relationship.
When she asked Lennox what she should do, his answer was, ‘My wife can do anything.’ In the end, it was just ‘do whatever you want,’ which wasn’t helpful.
After much thought, Juliet decided to try being a ‘sociable and charitable hostess’.
In December, there was the traditional Northern Star Birth Festival, literally a holiday commemorating the birth of stars.
It was a festival to thank and greet each guardian star during the seven days when dazzling stars rose one after another.
And Juliet sent out twenty invitations.
Once decided, everything following was easy.
“Beautiful.”
Juliet exclaimed innocently.
Thanks to the magicians dispatched from the tower, the entire castle sparkled as if made of ice and crystal.
“Everyone prepared a lot.”
Juliet admired the brilliantly decorated hall.
“Of course. Miss… I mean, Your Highness, this is the first event you are hosting.”
In a proud tone, the head maid answered. Among them, the most splendid were the large ice sculptures and twinkling star decorations placed throughout the castle. All Juliet did was interact with the magician and write invitations.
“Everyone is very spirited.”
“Everything must be perfect today.”
In fact, since the head maid and secretary Elliot had planned smoothly, Juliet thought to herself, ‘Do I really not have to do anything?’
“Peep!”
As soon as Juliet arrived in the mirror room, which was also the lady’s mistress’s room, a black baby dragon rushed out to greet her.
Onyx hung around in this drawing room where Juliet spent most of her time, although he had his own room.
Avoiding the fiercely fluttering baby dragon, Elliot, who had transitioned into Juliet’s dedicated assistant, reported.
“The guests are expected to arrive before dinner.”
“It would be good to hurry a bit.”
Juliet yawned softly as she got her hair done.
“Are you sleepy?”
“A bit. Even with ample sleep, it’s not enough; it’s quite troubling.”
For a moment, Elliot exchanged a meaningful glance with the head maid and almost spoke directly.
‘Wouldn’t it be resolved if both of you use separate bedrooms as per protocol?’
…But if such reckless words reached the Duke’s ears, Elliot didn’t know if his head would be on his neck, so he decided to keep quiet. It was a wise decision.
“And about the reinforcement of the security measures, Your Highness.”
“It’s sufficient with the current personnel.”
“Yes, you said so last time as well. But still…”
Elliot looked down at Juliet’s steps with a tone of regret dripping from his words.
“Gruk?”
The baby dragon, which had been leisurely rolling on the floor crunching on an apple, lifted his head sensing attention.
“If this little one only realized his magic…”
A month ago, when magicians visited the Duke’s residence, they attempted to cast magic on the baby dragon.
The magicians claimed that once he becomes self-aware of his ability, the dragon could cast magic merely with thought, without any spells or conditions.
“Meow.”
But the placid baby dragon, instead of showing any signs of magic, was diligently fulfilling his role of being adorably idle and receiving affection.
“…Grrr.”
Even to magic-ignorant Elliot, the sight of high-nosed magicians begging on all fours in front of a cute baby dragon with nothing but a cute appearance, pleading ‘please, just look at this book once,’ was quite impressive.
“How would you manage to specifically rummage through boxes marked expensive apples if you couldn’t read?”
Elliot sent a doubtful look. Though feigning ignorance, the baby dragon was cleverer than thought.
However, Juliet giggled and picked up the baby dragon.
“Our Nix is just a 10-month-old baby, it’s okay if he doesn’t know magic. Right, Nix?”
“Peep!”
The baby dragon cooed peacefully in Juliet’s arms, unaware of what might happen to him in the future.
* * *
At that time, in the deserted secret drawing room, Duke Carlyle was receiving a confidential report.
Ping.
Lennox lightly flicked a gold coin in his hand.
The gold coin dropped from his hand and spun on the table.
“It’s tricky.”
“Yes, it’s hard to distinguish with the naked eye.”
It looked like a gold coin, but it was a cleverly forged fake gold coin.
“We raided the forgery site, but they had already left.”
Sir Milan reported.
Recently, they had been troubled by counterfeit gold coins. They found the forgery site and had been catching the counterfeiters, but finding the real mastermind behind wasn’t easy.
“We ambushed and raided but missed them…”
Duke Carlyle lightly tapped the table with his finger. Without much contemplation, there was only one conclusion.
“The information leaked.”
“Yes.”
In other words, it implied that one of the families maintaining a cooperative relationship and sharing information with the northern nobles might be behind the counterfeit gold coin incident.
“It’s not surprising.”
Lennox wasn’t surprised. He and his family have many enemies. It’s no exaggeration to say that all the families they are associated with are under suspicion.
“You don’t have to worry too much. It’s only a matter of time before we catch whoever is behind this.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
At the loyal vice-captain’s words, Duke Carlyle smiled broadly.
“Counterfeiting gold coins is a low-tier crime. Without a doubt, we’ll catch some miserable bastard.”
“Yes? So what…”
Almost carelessly asking what he was worried about, Milan was quick to close his mouth.
“Besides, what is this toy for?”
Deliberately changing the topic, Lennox pointed at the box on the table. Inside was a crystal brooch, the size of an adult’s fist.
It twinkled like a jewel in the shape of a flower, easily mistaken for an ornament, but it was actually a magical tool.
“Ah, it’s a new magical tool developed by the magic tower recently. Her Highness instructed me to bring useful items for you.”
“…This?”
With a doubtful look, he narrowed his eyes.
The new mistress of the Duke’s house boasted significant connections, one of them being the Eastern Mage Tower of Elaim.
Duke Carlyle often hired magicians for various reasons, such as making flowers bloom in the garden all year round for his wife, or renovating the castle, and supported them as well.
The proud Mage Tower was also friendly towards the Duke’s house. They occasionally showcased newly developed magical tools to the Duke.
“It seems like an explanation is needed.”
“Ah, of course.”
Sir Milan quickly explained.
Milan, who visited a magician a few days ago, had received instructions on the use and precautions of the magical tool.
“It’s a magical tool with a recording spell on it.”
Startled.
[…It’s a magical tool with a recording spell on it.]
“…”
The knight touched the brooch and Milan’s voice repeated exactly what he had said just moments ago.
“It’s an interesting toy.”
Duke Carlyle’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t know where it would be useful “
“Indeed.”
It wasn’t a very new spell. Though rare, voice recording magic had been used often. Usually, it was used to record important agreements or meetings.
He had never seen a recording magical tool in such a small, sparkling form before.
But Lennox decided to pay the value for now and consider its utility later.
“Send it to the Mage Tower.”
“Yes.”
Holding the cheque Lennox handed over, the knight left the room first.
Lennox looked out of the window for a moment. Due to the Christmas preparations, the entire castle sparkled like a crystal sculpture.
‘There must be one among them.’
He glanced at the guest list.
The simplest way to catch the culprit behind the counterfeit gold coin incident was to apprehend all the suspicious individuals.
But he didn’t want to use such a method right now.
-I just want to get along well for now.
When Juliet said that to him, he simply nodded without a word.
-Later on, it might help with your reputation, you know.
Though Juliet wanted to get along with other nobles to help salvage his already hit rock-bottom reputation, he didn’t want to cause trouble, let alone help.
‘There’s no need to try so hard.’
Twenty invitations had been sent out. Juliet had chosen nobles from the northern families who were distant relatives of the Duke or had good reputations.
But Lennox knew that even among those close to him, there were people harboring ill will.
Watching the carriages arriving one after another from the window, Lennox suddenly thought.
It would be nice if Juliet wasn’t disappointed even if there was a culprit among them.