The Past Life of the Arrogant Archduke - Chapter 36

“What are all these letters covered in rose patterns?”

The next day, Raymond stopped by the butler’s office and, seeing a pile of letters stacked on one corner of the desk, asked the question. For some reason, the letters gave off a bad feeling.

“Ah, those are letters from knights asking to make Madam their Lady.”

As he spoke, the butler watched Raymond’s reaction closely.

For most nobles in political marriages, having knights seek to serve their wives as their Lady was nothing of concern, but for the Grand Duke, who loved Madam so ardently, it could be an unpleasant matter.

“……”

As expected, seeing the Grand Duke silently glare at the letters, the butler opened his mouth.

“It’s customary among noble ladies to consider it an honor to be revered as a Lady by as many knights as possible, so if you’re thinking of the Madam…”

Raymond raised his hand and cut the butler off. With a sigh, Raymond ran a dry hand over his face, then left the office without a word.

The butler watched that powerless back with eyes full of sympathy.

‘I don’t want to deliver these if I think of the Grand Duke, but there’s nothing I can do.’

When the butler delivered the letters to Madam’s office, he received exactly the same question from her, as if the two were really a married couple.

“What are these letters covered in rose patterns?”

“They’re letters from knights requesting to make you their Lady, Madam.”

When the butler handed her documents regarding the knights’ reputations along with the letters, Yulia fell into thought for a moment.

“…Is being a Lady something I absolutely have to do?”

Going to parties, she’d often hear about Ladies and noblewomen, and every time Yulia found the whole business unappealing.

If there was even a hunting competition, noblewomen had to give knights handkerchiefs they’d embroidered themselves, and if a knight achieved merit, they had to be properly praised. There was just so much to worry about.

‘I heard some even have lady-in-waiting specifically to do the embroidery in secret.’

Sometimes, for the sake of their Lady’s honor, knights would even risk their lives in duels, but on the flip side, if a knight got into trouble, the Lady would bear the disgrace as well.

With a modern mindset, Yulia found it hard to understand the idea of taking another man’s wife as one’s Lady, even setting everything else aside.

They say it’s an ideal relationship of love and loyalty, not eroticism, but isn’t that basically an emotional affair?

Besides, Yulia had, whether she wanted to or not, seen many cases where it didn’t stop at just an emotional affair.

So, to Yulia, those letters looked nothing more than love letters trying to woo a married woman.

When Yulia was busy, her nanny would go meet with the jewelry guild on her behalf, and the novels the nanny liked to read were always about forbidden love between a married noblewoman and a young knight.

Considering how well those novels sold, it was clear everyone was well aware of the not-so-pure relationships and just pretended not to know.

And for Yulia, who had been a self-proclaimed ‘wallflower’, the sudden change in knights’ attitudes was just amusing.

Even when she attended balls thanks to the Empress’s insistence and her nanny’s nagging, she never once received a single dance request.

Occasionally, a knight would try to ask her out of pity, but he would quietly disappear thanks to the intervention of other knights.

Her deceased parents had been baron and baroness, so Yulia, as their daughter, was considered a commoner. The Empress did sponsor her, but only until she was twenty. Her only assets were a small manor and some gold. Her known reason for attending balls was to catch a nobleman for marriage.

This was Yulia’s widely known reputation in high society.

Those who had treated her coldly out of fear that she might cling to them. But now, just because she became the Grand Duchess, they wanted to serve her as their Lady?

Inwardly, Yulia gave them the middle finger.

“If you don’t want to, Madam, there’s no need to do it, but… there isn’t a single noblewoman without even one knight serving her as Lady, so I am a bit concerned it could become an issue in society later.”

At the butler’s words, Yulia smiled.

“I’m sure I’ll have at least one.”

The butler, who had been lost in thought for a moment, suddenly brightened.

“That’s an excellent idea, Madam.”