Chapter 2.1

Derek Fritt’s daily routine was no different on holiday.

He was up before the rooster crowed, washed his face, and had his hair perfectly coiffed before the sun rose. He’d put on his angular livery and leave the bedroom, and the chickens would crow. He walked with wide strides down the empty corridor and soon reached his office. He open the door with its ornate gold embossed moldings and everything was perfect.

─until a rustle.

‘…….’

This morning was interrupted by an unfamiliar noise underfoot.

Derek glanced frostily down at the source of his morning’s disturbance.

‘What is that.’

There lay a pink letter envelope, completely out of place in a ducal castle. It felt like pink water on his fingertips. Derek immediately pulled a handkerchief from his inside pocket, folded it over himself, and picked up the letter.

‘Doesn’t look like it’s been treated with a drug.’

He examined the outside carefully. He also scanned the floor near where the letter had been lying.

It was near the door, so he assumed it had been slipped through a small crack under the door. Other than that, he didn’t see anything suspicious.

‘…….’

The words made Derek’s stomach turn.

A letter? To him? From whom? Why?

The letters pouring into the duchy were numerous. They ranged from party invitations to flattery, and their purposes varied. But never before had he received one with so many personal nuances.

‘……Smells dangerous.’

Derek picked up the pink letter gingerly as if it was a ticking time bomb.

At first, he placed it on a distant sideboard, but as he brushed the leaves of his plants as usual, his gaze kept drifting back to it.

‘…….’

Derek’s face remained expressionless as he reached for his handkerchief again, picked up the letter, and placed it on the tea table, a little closer this time.

But he kept glancing at it as he watered the plants.

‘Oh no.’

Eventually, the water overflowed the pot. It was a messy morning in more ways than one.

Derek furrowed his brow and stared at the letter for a long moment before finally placing it on the desk within his line of sight so that if anything was a mess, he could deal with it immediately.

‘…… I’m sure it’s another ridiculous letter.’

He had a morbid dislike for the letters that came his way.he put the invitations to one side without opening them. It was because of some memory from the past.

He was twenty-three, just back from the war. Despite his rugged appearance, he had an innocent side. So naïve that he believed the invitations he received out of politeness.

The sender’s plea to ‘please come’ was so sincere that he agreed to attend. he made time in his busy schedule.

But the moment he announced his arrival, he could still remember the whitened faces.

‘The late, late, Duke of York.

The chatter of greetings was as deafening as the sound of mockingbirds. The party he had so painstakingly organized had quickly become a funeral.

He felt unnecessarily uncomfortable. He was only there because he was invited, but he felt like an unwanted guest.

From that day forward, invitations delivered to the duchy were tossed aside before they were opened. Derek never opened them, even by mistake.

‘They’re ridiculous.’

That pink one, too. I’m sure its written some nonsense in his mind.

But he is not the naive aristocrat he was two years ago. I don’t know how a letter that should have been filed away on the Lucas line ended up here, but…….

‘Annoying.’

The mere mention of the letter grated on his nerves. Frowning, Derek finally picked up a paper-knife and neatly dismantled the envelope. He’d come this far, he thought, to read it and throw it away.

But as soon as he opened the envelope, a familiar smell hit him.

‘What, does alcohol smell like this…….’

He frowned. Is it fashionable these days to spray liquor instead of perfume on letters? The smell alone was intoxicating.

‘Oh, no.’

Derek wrapped his hand in his handkerchief as if touching something unclean.

Then he unfolded the paper, revealing a crooked handwriting that didn’t match the pretty stationery at all. The crawling handwriting reeked of alcohol.

‘…… written on two feet.’

Not a human drunk. I’ve received letters full of empty words before, but nothing like this.

Derek’s eyes narrowed as he interpreted the message.

Better you…

To Saranha, Sarami…

He… looks strong… but he’s as soft as anybody.

He is… Saran, whom I… love… with all my heart.

He is… the foolish Garton… who doesn’t know how I feel.

That person… is… you, my dear.

He… doesn’t know how I feel… about you.

But… it’s… so… good… how is it…

You… are… worse… than… germs…

Why do you keep… overcoming my antibodies…

You’re taking my cuddle spot…

You make me sick…

Bad person… but a friggin’ crazy person…

Every day I open and close my eyes… moment by moment

I could face… your face… how tight… would it be…

My heart… says I can’t play without you anymore…

because… you are… my electricity…

Me your??

my kidneys… electricity?

If… if we could… if we could…

Please place a single red flower… like my heart… by the window…

From your… dodo…

‘……!’

Derek, having interpreted the whole letter, turned to ice.

The smell of alcohol was too strong, and this letter was from…….

‘I love you.’

It was a love letter.

He read and re-read the letter with cold eyes. The handkerchief he wore like armor was long gone.

But when he finished, he was left wondering who ‘your dodo’ was?

‘…… is out of his mind.’

Well, who cares, she’s obviously out of her mind.

But the nonchalant tone belied the fact that both of her exposed ears were bright red. I could feel my pulse pounding in my heated earlobes.

This is the first confession I’ve ever received in my 25 years of life.

‘…….’

Duke Frit had to struggle to calm his pounding heart.

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

‘Ugh…….’

‘Miss, are you awake?’

‘Nothing, water.’

‘Aah! Here!’

Audrey moistened her parched lips with water. She drank the whole jug, but her thirst was not quenched.

She thought the sky was going to fall this morning……. The smell of alcohol rising in my throat drowned out the pain of heartbreak.

‘Ugh, I’m cold.’

‘You should be in bed today. How did you drink enough to make you so sick?’

‘It happened.’

‘Your face looks like this…… Ugh, what can I do, for your pretty face!’

‘…….’

I don’t know if this is an insult or a concern.

‘Yesterday, Master Hans came in carrying you. Do you know how surprised everyone was?’

‘He did?’

‘Didn’t you know, every time you get drunk, he comes to pick you up, and he’s all grouchy but secretly sweet?’

‘Dodger? Hans. That must make a passing dog laugh.’

‘Well, with all due respect, the closest thing to a dog is last night’s lady-’

‘What?’

‘ I’m going to head out now, but if you need anything, give me a call!’

‘……Yes.’

Left alone, Audrey curled up like a shrimp with the duvet wrapped around her. Her head was spinning.

She had considered the possibility that Claude didn’t like her, but she hadn’t thought he had another woman in his life. Which made it all the more shocking.

‘Who is she?

I should have known all the women around Claude by now. Had I missed anyone?

No, Audrey’s information was accurate. Except for his time abroad at the Academy, when he’d left without warning. Maybe it was the girl he’d met then.

‘…….’

Audrey’s face instantly brightened.

If she was his favorite, she must be glowing. How could she have stolen his heart, she wondered, and it hurt.

‘Black…….’

At the same time, she was ashamed of herself for getting her hopes up.

Audrey vowed never to trust her instincts again. It was ridiculous how she had mistaken a kindness reserved for her love.

‘One mistake is enough.’

Silently dampening her pillowcase, Audrey woke up with puffy eyes.

The moment she’d been trying to avoid had arrived.

Audrey took out a traveling magic stone she had hidden under her bedside table and grabbed it.

Shuuk.

She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, she was standing in the middle of a vault full of gold bars. The vault, which had already been moved ten times, was the largest in the empire and was specially made for the fictional character Claudia Obel.

‘Quite a collection. Now it’s worthless…….’

The stacks of gold bars vaguely resembled a golden mansion. Audrey walked around it like a stroll, swiping at each precious bar.

Then her eyes stopped on one.

‘What is this?’

It was a gold bar lying like a cornerstone in one corner.

‘It was …… on this day my brother stroked my hair for the first time.’

I remembered the moment when , at 15, first fell for Claude, at 20, and how I’d stayed up all night because I didn’t know what I was doing.

Half thrilled with the money I’d earned with my own hands, and half distressed by the image of Claude’s face that kept popping up in my mind. I’d spent the night fiddling with the gold bars I’d hidden under my bed, sneaking them out a few times a day, and they’d become the first cornerstone of my golden mansion.

Audrey’s gaze was elsewhere this time.

‘I was nervous the night before I was going to take hans brother’s hand and make my debutante debut…….’

She also can’t forget the gold bars that came in the day before her debutante. Eighteen-year-old Audrey was so excited that she jumped up and down the room.

The flowers he’d given her that day had been decorating her window for two years now, and as she planted the preservation charm stones in the soil to keep them from spoiling, she remembered how grateful she was that she was a wizard.

‘…black….’

The memories of each gold bar brought tears to my eyes again.

The golden mansion contained five years of Audrey’s life, and every memory inevitably led back to Claude.

‘I can’t. I can’t do it…….’

Her body, which had been holding on for dear life, crumbled.

The great golden mansion was Audrey’s heart for Claude, and it was only in the face of it that she realized for certain that it would not be so easily dismissed.

‘When was it, Black, that I liked you because you liked me, and I liked you because I liked myself?’

Yeah. I couldn’t just give up on him without doing anything. Claude hadn’t even met her yet. Audrey had her chance.

The human heart is like a reed, bending this way and that in the wind. If your endeavors have been a breeze, now you will become a gale and shake him to the core.

Audrey was ready for anything.

******