Special Story 8

Dante kept his lips tightly sealed in place of an answer.

“……”

“Dante?”

Dante’s expression seemed to grow increasingly rigid, but before Yvonne could see his face any longer, Dante pulled her into a tight embrace with his large arms. Dante buried his face against her shoulder, which was much smaller than his own. Caught off guard, Yvonne blinked as she wrapped her own two hands around him in a reciprocal hug.

“W-why are you suddenly doing this?”

“Because you look pretty.”

“Wh-what kind of nonsense is that?”

“You make me happy.”

“I don’t really know what you mean, but I’m glad I made you happy.”

Yvonne couldn’t possibly know. How much comfort his heart received from the casual little remark or two she tossed out.

‘If I visit the lake with Yvonne, the memories of swimming won’t feel bitter anymore either.’

As those memories were covered over one by one, before long, every single moment of the past would naturally transform into joyful, happy colors.

The very fact that he had met such a woman felt like a miracle, so Dante lifted his head to face Yvonne’s face. Then, he pressed light kisses all over her face. Her eyes, her nose, her cheeks—there wasn’t a single spot that wasn’t pretty to him.

“U-um, excuse me.”

Yvonne, who was receiving a flurry of light kisses, stopped him. Dante tilted his head and looked at her.

With a face glowing a bright, flushed red, Yvonne stammered out: “C-couldn’t you go pull the curtains shut first?”

She seemed worried that someone might be watching through the carriage window. Dante reached out and drew the curtains.

“As you command.”

And inside the now-dimmer carriage, he pressed his lips down firmly against her forehead.

***

For Yvonne, who had a romanticized yearning for travel, the carriage didn’t head straight to the Christopher Territory. Instead, it moved at a leisurely pace over the course of five days, stopping to explore other neighboring territories along the way.

After touring various places like that, by the time they stopped at the final village just before entering the Christopher Territory, Yvonne’s overall review of the trip was this: “The villages near the capital have a pretty similar vibe to the capital itself.”

Yvonne lowered her gaze, looking disappointed. Even that expression was so cute that Dante smiled gently and rubbed her pale cheek with his finger.

“What were you expecting?”

“I was hoping for exotic night markets, foods I’ve never seen before, things like that. Since it’s my first trip!”

“Dear me, we would have had to travel quite a lot farther for that.”

He had thought he was doing his absolute best to live up to his wife’s expectations, but it seemed it wasn’t enough to fully satisfy her. Watching Yvonne with an affectionate smile, Dante thought to himself: ‘It might be a good idea to venture even further out, not just stay in Christopher. Since I took an indefinite leave of absence for once.’

If it had been up to his initial impulse, he wouldn’t have minded simply resigning and holing up in the territory, but Bentley had clung to him crying and pleading, which was how it ended up as a leave of absence instead. Despite it being indefinite, Bentley had surprisingly signed off on it without much fuss, which left Dante feeling rather uneasy.

<You’ll come back to the capital once you have a baby anyway, won’t you? It’ll be soon. Very soon.>

Why was everyone only ever going on about babies!

‘We’re supposed to be enjoying our newlyweds phase!’

A baby that looked like Yvonne sounded lovely just imagining it, but Dante intended to enjoy plenty of time alone with his wife before that.

Reflecting carefully on the villages they had passed through, Yvonne broke into a soft, bashful smile and said.

“Come to think of it, Cline felt pretty similar to the capital, too. I suppose my expectations were just too high. Well, it’s not like I got to properly sightsee in Count Cline’s territory, either.”

“Forget about that.”

“It’s fine. Now, even when I talk about things from back then, my heart doesn’t feel weighed down like it used to.”

That was what Yvonne said, but the one whose heart grew heavy was Dante. Even now, whenever he thought of Emile and Roseanne, a cold dread would grip his chest at the thought that he might have lost Yvonne right then and there.

Dante gripped Yvonne’s hand tightly. As if recounting a very old tale, Yvonne talked about the summer she had spent in Cline.

“In Count Cline’s territory, they hold a flower festival when summer arrives. The highlight is unmarried men and women coming out to dance together, but Countess Cline strictly forbade me from going out, so I just climbed up to the highest point in the castle and watched from afar. From up there, the colorful dresses the women wore really looked like flower petals spinning around in circles.”

Scenery as beautiful as something straight out of a fairy tale hadn’t belonged to her. And so, Yvonne had no choice but to watch it from afar. Wearing an expression imbued with a heavy mix of longing, regret, and loneliness from back then, Yvonne added in a low voice: “Thinking about it now, I suppose she stopped me because she was worried I might say I wanted to marry someone other than Emile.”

She wanted to keep the former princess’s bloodline in their grasp by any means necessary. The fact that her past guardian had only treated her well for the sake of strict self-interest had also been a deep wound to Yvonne.

“…….”

Not knowing how to comfort her, Dante silently squeezed her hand. Just from that alone, his feelings were conveyed, and Yvonne shook off her melancholy and smiled brightly. Then, she changed the subject.

“What kind of festivals do they have in the Christopher Territory?”

At that question, Dante’s face fell into a glum look this time.

“I’d love to make you happy, but unfortunately, there are no festivals in the Christopher Territory. Well, there might be some I don’t know about, of course.”

“There are no festivals?”

“After my mother passed away, my father got rid of all of them.”

“Ah……”

The former Grand Duke’s mental illness seemed far more severe than she had vaguely heard. Whenever the topic casually drifted toward it, Yvonne would think of the heavy, suffocating atmosphere of the Grand Ducal household and young Dante, isolated all alone within it.

How agonizing his heart must have been.

Yvonne looked at Dante with sympathetic eyes. Meeting her gaze, Dante offered a reassuring smile.

It was just like earlier, when Yvonne had found comfort in Dante’s body temperature. The two of now stood as a couple who became each other’s strength without needing words.

Now, the gloom of the past had vanished without a trace, and spring had arrived for the Christopher family. Smiling, Dante painted over another bad memory with the present.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to discuss it with the territory manager and create one.”

“You don’t need to push yourself on my account.”

“No, no. A large-scale festival held in a territory is also a yardstick indicating that the territory is stable. If anything, I should have thought of it first; you made me remember it. Thank you.”

“Dante.”

Yvonne faced him with touched eyes. Dante added with a self-conscious smile.

“Still, my mind is a bit rigid, so I can’t quite think of what kind of festival we should hold. Won’t you think about it for me?”

“Gladly!”

Yvonne’s eyes sparkled brightly at the chance to become Dante’s strength. He looked upon his wife with a fond, affectionate smile.

***

And the next day, the carriage finally arrived at the Christopher Territory.

The vassals, domestic staff, and territory residents who had been eagerly waiting for their master and the newly arrived mistress all poured out in a crowd to welcome the two of them.

“Welcome to the Christopher Territory!”

Contrary to the vague imagination that it would be a cold and barren territory, the Christopher Territory was a peaceful place with a mild climate and wide wheat fields stretching out in the distance. Just seeing the chubby cheeks of the children running around the streets was enough to tell that this land was prosperous.

The Christopher Grand Castle, which had once been the castle of a small kingdom, was nothing short of antique. Entering the large, cleanly managed castle, a clean-looking fortress just like the capital mansion caught her eye. To put it nicely, it was neat, but given its massive scale, it felt somewhat desolate.

‘Can I decorate this place however I want, too?’

Seeing the bare walls and the antique furniture with nothing laid out on them made Yvonne’s heart flutter excitedly.

Dante went off to receive reports from the territory manager, while Yvonne was pondering where to place the luggage they had brought as the Grand Duchess. Since Yvonne was still unfamiliar with the castle’s layout and room arrangements, she essentially had to exchange greetings with the head maid first.

The head maid was an elderly matron, much like the one in the capital mansion.

“Hello, Grand Duchess. I’m Sarah, in charge of managing this castle. My husband is the territory manager.”

“Hello, Madam. I look forward to working with you.”