Chapter 37
A little while later, a servant approached Raymond with a note placed on a silver tray.
Raymond was in the middle of endless sparring matches with the knights. Crash! With a loud sound, one knight went flying. The corners of the training ground were littered with knights sprawled out in a mess.
“Next.”
Just as a knight swallowed nervously and stepped forward, a servant entered the training ground.
As soon as Raymond read the note, the cold air about him instantly changed, as if a warm spring breeze had arrived.
“That’s enough for today.”
Leaving the bewildered knights behind, Raymond hurried to his office, where he was greeted by the rose-patterned stationery the butler had prepared.
But even as he had confidently picked up the pen, Raymond suddenly hesitated.
He had flown over as soon as he received the note saying that the Madam wanted to be the Grand Duke’s only Lady, but since it was his first time ever writing a letter to a woman, Raymond had no idea what to say now that he actually had to write it.
“Hmm.”
While Raymond was lost in thought, Yulia was finishing the work she hadn’t completed yesterday—the matter of punishing those who coveted her man.
She didn’t take direct action. There was no need. After all, every noble had political rivals.
If she gave those rivals just a bit of power, they would seize upon the weaknesses and drag those people down on their own. If they didn’t know the weaknesses, she would subtly inform them.
Anyone perceptive would soon notice the commonalities among the declining noble houses.
That would be enough to serve as the Grand Duchess’s warning.
“I hope they get the message the first time.”
Yulia didn’t want to waste any more time on such pointless matters. With so many interesting things in the world, why should she have to pay attention to things like this?
As she wrote invitation letters to her rivals to visit the Grand Duke’s castle, Yulia let out a small sigh.
The butler couldn’t help but smile as he watched the Madam elegantly and efficiently handle her work.
‘How can she be so perfect?’
In the butler’s eyes, the Madam was an angel—no, a Goddess—who had saved not just his master, but the Grand Duchy and the entire North.
Even the rejection letters sent to the knights were so simple and elegant.
– I wish to be ‘Lady’ to only one person for my whole life, so I must decline. –
The butler, with his graceful handwriting, transcribed the message and placed the stationery on one side of Madam’s desk. Once Madam signed them, he would take them back, put them into envelopes, and seal them with wax.
As the butler was writing the knights’ names on the outside of the envelopes, he happened to glance toward the Grand Duke’s office.
‘Come to think of it, I think this is the first time His Highness has written a letter to a lady… Is he doing all right?’
He was not doing all right. Oh, at all.
Raymond had ordered an attendant to bring him several books about love letters and was reading them, but his face was deeply furrowed in frustration.
None of the content suited him. The letters were all full of flowery language, which felt cheesy and insincere.
If he sent such a letter, Yulia would almost certainly laugh out loud rather than be moved.
In the end, Raymond closed all the books and started to write the letter himself, agonizing over every word.
As he began to write, putting down his honest feelings one word at a time, Raymond felt a sense of calm.
***
That evening—
When Raymond finally handed Yulia the letter he’d poured his heart into, Yulia exchanged it for the acceptance letter she had written earlier that day.
Raymond read her letter and smiled, while Yulia read his and ended up in tears.
“W-Why…”
Raymond hadn’t expected her to cry after reading his letter, so he embraced Yulia and wiped away her tears. Only then did she scrunch her red nose and give a shy smile.
It was the first letter Raymond had ever written to a woman, and it was also the first love letter Yulia had ever received from a man she loved, both in this life and the last. It was awkward, but utterly endearing.
Looking up at Raymond, Yulia whispered,
“My knight.”
“My lady.”
Raymond replied, lowering his head. Their lips met, and the letters soon slipped to the floor under the bed.
Along with their clothes.
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