Special Story 3

The errand boy looked at his lady’s face with wide eyes. She was usually cheerful and full of laughter, but now her face kept flushing red and then paling blue—over and over again.

“The letter… could you give it to me?”

“Huh?”

The boy tilted his head. The Young Duke hadn’t told him to deliver the letter to the Lady… Was it really okay to hand it over?

Sensing the boy’s hesitation, Vivian forced a smile and tried to reassure him.

“It’s alright.”

“But…”

“I said it’s alright. The head of the merchant guild is a friend of mine. I’ll deliver it instead. Besides, you’re still not that familiar with the area, right?”

“No, I’ve been here a bunch of times. I know the way really well.”

“M-Many times?”

“Yes!”

The boy nodded brightly.

“The Young Duke’s already had me deliver letters here a few times. So I know the route. And… I’d feel bad making you do my job, my Lady.”

“No! Don’t even think that way.”

Vivian clenched and unclenched her fists. Her hands were trembling from a growing sense of dread.

“Come on, give me the letter. I was actually thinking I could use the walk.”

She smiled as gently as she could to keep from startling the boy. Perhaps it worked—the boy pulled the letter from his pocket and placed it in her hand.

“Then I’ll leave it to you, my Lady. Please make sure it gets delivered!”

And with that, the boy disappeared.

Vivian didn’t even spare him another glance as she immediately checked the envelope for the recipient. But perhaps due to the ink smudging in the boy’s pocket on the way over, the writing was blurred and unreadable.

“Who is this even addressed to?”

“I’m not sure… but if the Young Duke’s sending a letter to the merchant guild, who else would it be besides André?”

Michelle responded casually, but inwardly she felt guilty—Vivian’s anxiety was clearly triggered by the story she’d brought up just to pass the time.

“Miss, let’s just take it to André together.”

“She’s right, Vivi. You’re really worked up right now.”

“I… I want to open it.”

Vivian’s murmured words made Michelle and Florin flinch and immediately try to stop her. No matter how close a couple may be, secretly opening someone else’s letter was about as bad as it got.

“You can’t do that. Seriously. If you want to know what it says, give it to André and ask him—”

But before Michelle could finish, Vivian had already torn the envelope open roughly. Women’s intuition existed for a reason. Though it wasn’t something she usually trusted.

‘He said he’d be back late tonight—then why…’

If the errand boy had brought Armin’s letter, it meant Armin had already returned home.

‘And not just once…’

She’d been out of the house quite often herself, but this wasn’t the first time it had happened. And today of all days, both the Duke and Duchess Grey were away.

‘No way. No. That can’t be it.’

Vivian scoffed at her own suspicions, but her fingers trembled as she pulled the letter from the envelope.

There was only a single line written on the page.

[My wife is gone. You can come now.]

Michelle and Florin, who had tried to stop her, instinctively read the letter too. Then they both gasped and swallowed hard. What was written was beyond shocking.

“W-What is this…?”

Vivian’s voice trembled uncontrollably. The handwriting was all too familiar. Still disbelieving, she checked the seal again. The Grey family’s crest was unmistakably stamped there—this letter had undoubtedly been written by her husband.

“My wife is gone? You can come now”?

If someone had to wait for their wife to be gone to come over, there was only one possibility that came to mind.

“Michelle.”

Vivian’s voice no longer trembled. Her tone, now cold as frost, made Michelle flinch as she looked at her.

“This… this is exactly the situation you were talking about earlier, isn’t it?”

“I-I mean…”

“I’ll be going now. Sorry for leaving first. Let’s talk calmly next time.”

Michelle and Princess Florin exchanged a glance. Neither knew how to respond to Vivian.

At that moment, the Grey family’s carriage pulled up in front of Vivian.

“My Lady, are you heading back?”

The coachman, who had been waiting in the servants’ resting area, had hurried over after being summoned.

Vivian didn’t answer. Instead, she opened the carriage door herself and spoke to the coachman.

“Take me to the estate as fast as you can. It’s urgent.”

Startled by her unusual tone, the coachman nodded in haste. He’d never seen the normally cheerful and bright Vivian like this.

“Y-Yes, ma’am! Right away!”

He rushed to grab the reins. With a loud “Hyah! Hyah!”, the carriage galloped off at full speed, leaving a stunned Michelle and Florin behind.

Just then—

“Oh? Michelle, Your Highness. What are you doing out here?”

A voice came from behind them. Michelle turned sharply. It was André.

Even though they were husband and wife, she couldn’t bring herself to explain Vivian’s situation to him, and her expression remained grim. To her surprise, André asked something unexpected.

“By the way, hasn’t the Grey family’s errand boy come by? He should be arriving around now.”

“E-Errand boy? How do you know about that?”

“Well, I mean… the Grey family sends messages through an errand boy, don’t they…? The Young Duke told me it should be today—he said once everything was ready, he’d send for me. Said to keep it a secret from Lady Vivian. But it’s taking longer than expected.”

He pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time, tilting his head. By now, the errand boy should have delivered the letter.

“Wait. That letter…”

“Huh?”

“The one that said something like… ‘the wife is out’? That kind of message?”

“Oh? How do you know that, Your Highness?”

Michelle stared at her husband in shock.

“So… that letter… was meant for you?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“And the kid said it wasn’t the first time he delivered something like that…”

André scratched the back of his head and counted on his fingers under Michelle’s suspicious gaze.

“Well, three times. So technically not ‘once or twice,’ I guess?”

Michelle finally lost it.

“What the hell?! Why would you send each other letters that could be so easily misunderstood?!”

“M-Misunderstood?”

André stammered, clearly flustered by Michelle’s reaction.

“He said his wife had gone out, so he told me she was out. And he said I should come over now because he needed to see me urgently…”

Michelle and Princess Florin were unimpressed by his explanation, their eyes sharp as knives.

Sensing the danger with his well-honed instincts, André forced an awkward laugh and suddenly spoke loudly, as if deliberately trying to be overheard.

“Ah! Now that I think about it, I left in the middle of balancing the ledgers! Haha, my head’s a mess today.”

With that, he turned on his heel and walked quickly away.

Michelle and Florin watched him leave with exasperated expressions and sighed deeply.

“What should we do? Should we follow her now?”

“It’s already too late. The coachman drove off at full speed—we’ll never catch up.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything… I think I made her worry for nothing.”

Michelle hung her head, regretting having brought up idle gossip so carelessly.

“No, Michelle. I was part of that conversation too. Vivian will be fine. The Young Duke will sort it out. Let’s not worry too much.”

Even as she tried to comfort Michelle, Florin couldn’t take her eyes off the direction Vivian’s carriage had disappeared into.

***

Meanwhile, in the carriage, Vivian was gripping her handkerchief so tightly she nearly tore it apart, consumed by a storm of emotions she couldn’t control.

Anger.

‘How could he be having an affair just two weeks after we got married?’

Sadness.

‘I still love Armin… but does he not love me anymore?’

Regret.

‘If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have been so shy. I should’ve been more honest with him, told him how much I love him.’

Anger, again.

‘Still, how could he send letters like that to another woman, over and over again, while I’m right here?’

Sadness. Regret.

Her feelings swung back and forth with each passing moment until the carriage finally arrived at the Grey family estate.

The moment it stopped, Vivian flung the door open as if she would break it and ran straight toward the entrance.

“My Lady?”

The butler, surprised to see her return so early when she’d said she was going out to meet friends, approached quickly. But Vivian barely acknowledged him, getting straight to the point.

“Is Armin home? Is he here?”

“If it’s the Young Duke, yes, he’s in his room right now.”

“When did he get back? I saw him leave this morning.”

“I’m not sure of the exact time, but now that I think about it… I believe it was shortly after you left, my lady.”

Vivian bit her lip hard at that. Before the butler could stop her, she was racing up the stairs, three steps at a time.

“My Lady—! You’ll—”

—get hurt, he meant to say, but before he could finish, Vivian missed a step and staggered. She nearly fell—but someone caught her.

It was Armin, who had just been coming down the stairs.

“Vivian?”

At the sound of Armin’s gentle voice, the tears welled up in her eyes. The hands that had reached out to catch her were warm, steady—so much so that it made her not want to believe. Not want to believe he could—

‘An affair… with someone else…?’

She had so many things she wanted to say. Should she demand an explanation? Should she yell at him? Or should she just tell him the truth—that she was scared and hurt?

“Hrk…”

But no words would come. Only sobs. Vivian suddenly clung to his neck and burst into tears. The quiet weeping turned into loud, uncontrollable wailing.

“H-Hey, what’s going on?” Armin was bewildered, completely at a loss for how to handle her sudden outburst. “Vivian, what happened? What’s wrong?”

“Huuuhh… sniff… w-waaaaaah!”

She cried without any concern for appearances, for the formality they’d kept between them over the past few weeks. She simply sobbed in his arms like a broken-hearted child.

Just then, the Duke and Duchess returned from their outing. Their eyes widened as they stepped through the front door.

Crying? In this house? The home that had been nothing but cheerful ever since their only son’s wedding?

The Duchess looked up toward the source of the sound—and her eyes narrowed immediately.

There, in her son’s arms, was her daughter-in-law, sobbing uncontrollably.

And the Duchess’ expression turned instantly sharp and cold.