* * *
“Grandma, I think it would be best if you stayed here for the time being.” Holding her hand tightly, I led her into the mansion.
Grandma, flustered, darted her eyes around and muttered nervously. “W-Where exactly is this place…?”
“Ah! This is the Florette Mansion.”
Perhaps the mansion’s butler had rushed to report it, because Count Florette was hurrying toward us while rubbing his eyes. “Giselle? What’s going on, showing up so suddenly! Have you finally decided to get a divorce?”
As he came running toward me, grinning broadly at the mention of divorce, I explained the circumstances. “It’s not like that…”
Once I’d finished a brief explanation, Count Florette’s face instantly blazed with anger. “So all of this is that b*stard Reshaniel’s doing, Giselle?”
“Yes. It seems that way.”
“Let’s sit down first. Butler, please show this madam to a room where she can rest.”
After sending Giyet’s grandmother to a bedroom, Count Florette entered the parlor with me, called for the servants, and handed over a warm cup of tea.
“As expected, Duke Reshaniel, that b*stard deserves to be torn from limb to limb.”
It was an outrageous statement toward a duke, but I nodded in agreement.
Now that Grandma is somewhere safe, I should head back to the mansion where Duke Kalinos is staying.
Just as I had that thought and took a sip of tea, it happened. The parlor door burst open with a loud bang, and the Florette butler appeared, looking flustered.
“That, Co-Count. It’s just that… so-someone from the Kalinos family is here.”
“Why?”
“Ah, the duke must have come looking for me.”
Honestly, even when I saw beads of cold sweat forming on the butler’s forehead, I thought I could just make up a reasonable excuse, and everything would be fine. After all, small misunderstandings can be cleared up in no time!
* * *
“I’m here to find my runaway wife.”
…But I never expected him to come see me with such bloodshot eyes!
I frantically waved my hands at him and said, as he sat across from me on the sofa. “Huh? I didn’t run away. It was all because the scroll malfunctioned!”
“A malfunctioning scroll, you say.”
“Yes, that’s right. I was just going to make sure Grandma, who’d been kidnapped, was safely settled here at the Florette Mansion, and then planning to go straight back to the Kalinos Mansion…!”
His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “I see. Understood.”
I tilted my head, surprised he accepted it so quickly, when he spoke again.
“To be honest, at this point, I don’t think it really matters anymore whether you ran away or not.”
“Huh? I-Is that so?”
He tilted his head crookedly, then slowly stood up. He walked over to where I was sitting, and with both arms, h-h-he…
Wait, is he caging me in with his arms right now? Caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, I stared at him with wide eyes.
“You won’t be able to run away anymore.” His red eyes bore into me, as if they could see right through me.
Just listening to him talk, he sounded exactly like one of those obsessive male leads from a romance novel! But… Is he saying all this because he actually sees me as a woman, or is it just that I’m too competent for him to let me go? …Maybe because he’s so passionate about research, it sounded like, ‘I can’t possibly lose a grad student who helps with my research.’ Perhaps because of so much chaos happening lately, my head was spinning more than usual.
At that moment, he leaned in and whispered, as if to drive the point home. “What if I refuse to agree to our divorce?”
“Huh? Then…” I stared straight into Duke Kalinos’s red eyes.
The most important thing in this situation. That was…
“T-Then what happens to my precious five billion?”
Money.
For a split second, Duke Kalinos’s red eyes trembled violently. But I grabbed his arm tightly, trying to press him for an answer. Right on cue, something crashed loudly in the distance.
“Is our Giselle in that parlor?”
“Well, yes, but… Why did you suddenly show up at my mansion without any notice, Lord?”
“I-I-I just wanted to see her…”
There was a suspicious commotion by the door. I glanced over.
Duke Kalinos narrowed his eyes, looking thoroughly annoyed. “Looks like Grandfather and Father have arrived.”
Just when I thought I’d survived the kidnapping incident, now all three generations of the Kalinos family had shown up to turn my life upside down, methodically. Suddenly, the door burst open, and Garno, eyes rimmed red, strode in.
“Is something wrong?”
“Mu-Mu-Muffins. I came to bring you some muffins…”
I stared at him as he clutched the bag of bread to his chest like it was the most precious thing in the world, and asked, “…Pardon? You came all the way here just to give me muffins? Even with your shoes on the wrong feet?”
I thought to myself. And why is Grandpa suddenly speaking so politely to me?!
But just then, Count Florette shot him a cold look. “You bullied my child, and now you suddenly show up with muffins? What muffins?”
“No, that’s. In-law.”
“In-laws, please come this way. I think we need to have a talk.”
Watching the three of them together, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of impending doom. Unfortunately, the only thing I could do in this mess was try to slip away. Because… Duke Kalinos has been out of it for a while now. A normal person breathes about twenty times a minute, but he’s at least forty. That was practically the breathing rate of a kitten. …Wait, why am I making weird comparisons? I must be picking up Duke Kalinos’s habits. Anyway, people breathe faster when they’re angry, so he must be furious right now.
I glanced at Garno, who looked like he was about to cry, Neslan, who was flustered, and Count Florette, and gave a few half-hearted claps. “Alright, everyone, let’s calm down and take some deep breaths.”
“Uh, huh? But I wanted to talk to Giselle…”
“I’ll be back after taking a short walk with the duke. Now, deep breaths. Lamaze breathing. Remember, sit here and meditate for a while.”
“Y-Yes. U-Understood, Doctor.”
…Garno being so unusually well-behaved was definitely suspicious. Let’s just deal with that later.
After putting the three men in meditation poses, I decided to quickly escape from this ticking time bomb of a situation. First, I needed to calm my husband, who was unlikely to settle down with just a bit of meditation.
* * *
“…There’s a walking path near the wall. Isn’t it nice?” Giselle looked at Vientin with a relieved expression.
Florette Mansion had a rather unique structure. Beyond the outer wall, there was a densely wooded garden for strolling, planted by the previous count. It was designed as an open space where servants and outsiders alike could visit. It was fairly quiet and atmospheric, and as they chatted quietly there, his heart rate seemed to slow a little.
“Can you feel the phytoncides?”
“Yes.”
“Good, now that you’ve calmed down, let’s go back to what we were talking about earlier. What do you mean we can’t get a mutual divorce? What about my five billion?”
“Exactly what I said, Giselle. You must have noticed by now, but for some reason, I’ve developed a strange desire to monopolize you, and a dirty possessiveness as well.” He continued before she could say anything. “But walking together with you does seem to calm me somewhat.”
“Yes, now that you’re calm, perhaps we can carefully discuss my five billion—” Just as she was saying that, a familiar face appeared behind Vientin.
“Well now, Giselle. So this is where you were.”
At the sound of that all-too-familiar voice, Giselle’s body went rigid.
Golden hair and blue eyes. The color combination was strikingly similar to her beloved Riwes, but…
“…Duke Reshaniel?”
Vientin’s gaze followed Giselle’s and landed on Duke Reshaniel. But Duke Reshaniel didn’t pay the slightest attention to who was beside her. He simply smiled gently. He seemed quite pleased to hear his name from Giselle’s lips.
“It’s been a while. I missed you.”
A pristine white suit and a bouquet of flowers looked almost absurdly out of place on someone with such a rotten personality.
Giselle tightened her grip on Vientin’s hand and shot back at him, her tone sharp. “Sorry, but I’m not at all. I don’t think we’re on the kind of terms where we should be greeting each other in front of my house, are we?”
Duke Reshaniel smiled gently, as if he were a saint ready to shoulder a sinner’s burdens, and replied, “Oh dear, Giselle, I don’t know why you’re angry with me. If you’re upset about something, please tell me. There’s no need to behave so childishly like this…” He glanced briefly at Vientin as he spoke.
But Giselle just smiled back, unwavering. “Nope, I’m not sulking.”
At that moment, Vientin tightened his grip on her hand and ground his teeth. He had certainly tried to calm down. But even today alone, there had already been three things that tried his patience.
First, Giselle’s abduction. At that point, he had practically flipped 180 degrees.
Second, Giselle ran away. That’s when a crushing sense of anxiety took hold of him.
And then, the third. The appearance of Duke Reshaniel, someone not even worth calling a ‘rival’.
At last, the moment came. Vientin, having finally lost it completely, stepped in front of Giselle, blocking her view, and spoke in a low voice. “Trash has shown up.”
The three-way confrontation had finally begun.
“So, I’ll dispose of the trash. Right now.” With a murderous look on his face, Vientin drew his sword without hesitation.
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