MB 029

As evening approached, Annecy Bethelgius returned to the marquisate.

While receiving greetings from the servants, Annecy habitually searched for Goyo’s familiar face, but it was nowhere to be seen today.

Lucullui, who approached with a strange smile, informed Annecy about the events of the day and mentioned that Goyo was taking a nap.

‘It’s not an obligation to come out and greet me.’

Despite this thought, Annecy felt an emptiness. Although it hadn’t been long since they married, it seemed he had already become accustomed to her presence.

Perhaps it was because there was no one to warmly welcome him other than the formal greetings from the servants.

Annecy entered the mansion and, without even changing his clothes, climbed the stairs towards Goyo’s room.

Feeling a presence inside the room, his expression softened involuntarily, and he knocked on the door a couple of times. Though the sound was not small, there was no response, as if she was deeply asleep.

After knocking once more out of courtesy and receiving no answer, Annecy opened the door.

As expected, Goyo was leaning on the sofa with her eyes closed, just as the butler had mentioned. It seemed she hadn’t intended to sleep; a quill pen was precariously hanging between her slender fingers.

The maids must not have dared to disturb her, fearing they might wake her. Smiling at the sight of her shoulders gently rising and falling, Annecy removed the quill from her hand and placed it on the table.

As he reached out to wake her, Annecy unconsciously paused, staring at her face.

Her white face looked slightly pale, and under the eyelids that curved into a round arc, her thick eyelashes cast shadows. Her well-shaped lips were closed, but their color was particularly faint.

A chill ran through his chest. Even though her cheeks lacked color and her lips were pale because she wasn’t wearing makeup, the sight of her sleeping so still made him feel as though she might never wake again.

Stifled by this inexplicable anxiety, he struggled to find his voice.

“Goyo…?”

It was a small whisper. Annecy himself felt it was a very soft, faint sound, so quiet that she might not hear it even if she were awake.

But before Annecy could call her name again, her eyelids opened as if it were a lie, and her clear eyes reflected his face.

“You’re here.”

Only after hearing her hoarse voice enter his ears did the breath that had been held inside Annecy finally escape.

Seeing her still dazed eyes, he smiled faintly.

She wasn’t ill, so why had such strange thoughts crossed his mind? As warm air returned to the chest that had been stifled by the eerie feeling, Annecy felt embarrassed by his own thoughts.

“You look tired.”

“A little.”

Goyo stifled a small yawn behind her palm and sat up.

Annecy folded his legs and sat beside her. Her disheveled hair covered her face, so Annecy tucked it behind her ear—a gesture that had become familiar to Goyo.

“I heard you called for Sir Eliom.”

“Yes. After you went to the capital, I decided to attend the hunting competition. Since there wasn’t really anyone else to ask for help, I asked her.”

“So, was she of any help?”

Realizing that his own words sounded sarcastic, Annecy rephrased his question.

“I do hope she was helpful.”

The tone of sarcasm only deepened.

This is why it’s important to watch one’s usual manner of speaking. Goyo hadn’t even scolded him, yet her husband was silently reprimanding himself.

“She did lend me some books. I have to return them in three weeks, though.”

Following Goyo’s gaze, Annecy also looked at the table. As she mentioned, two books were placed there. Both looked formidable enough to be mistaken for weapons.

Annecy knew well that introductory books on magic could be intimidating, but he couldn’t help but smile as he remembered Goyo’s expression of distress whenever she heard anything about magic.

“So that’s why you didn’t look well.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I’m saying that this field tends to explain everything in the most complicated way possible. Self-study isn’t easy.”

Goyo nodded at Annecy’s skillful words, which concealed his true intent.

“Since there’s no one nearby who can command spirits, I’ll have to make these books my teacher. But Sir Rajin has tried… she’s really tried to help me. She knows quite a lot of little things.”

“I don’t recall ever saying that I couldn’t summon spirits.”

“Can you summon them?”

“Well, I was just about to say that I can’t.”

This man.

Noticing Goyo’s eyes narrow slightly, Annecy let out a faint laugh.

Indeed, he wasn’t someone who could command spirits. If he had attempted it during the most intense period of his emotions, it might have been possible, but Annecy didn’t want to confront the nature of his feelings by testing them.

The main reason was that he never needed to rely on the power of spirits. However, that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone nearby who could. He hadn’t introduced this person on Goyo’s first day at the mansion because he wasn’t particularly fond of them, but they weren’t someone who would harm his wife either.

If necessary, he could introduce them—an awkwardly uncomfortable person, but not a bad one.

If he gave a few words of warning in advance, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“If I could help you, what would you give me in return?”

“…There’s nothing I have that you don’t already possess.”

Goyo continued in a somewhat sullen tone.

“And shouldn’t you be the one cooperating with me, instead of setting conditions?”

“Pardon?”

“You asked me to catch a rabbit, didn’t you?”

Blinking twice at Goyo’s words, Annecy then burst into laughter.

It had been a comment made in jest, but it seemed his wife had taken it seriously. No matter how much he tried to suppress it, his chuckling continued to escape, refusing to stop.

“That’s true. Since you’ve agreed to catch the rabbit, it would indeed be shameless of me to ask for anything in return.”

“But didn’t I say I’d give you a handkerchief in return?”

“Catching the rabbit is something you do yourself, but the handkerchief is something you buy.”

“I was thinking of making the handkerchief myself.”

Can you even do that? 

Goyo doubted future events, wondering if perhaps he would lie about making it himself after having someone else do it. However, oddly enough, Annecy had never lied before.

Losing her words, Goyo set aside her suspicions and asked.

“What do you want?”

“Now isn’t the best time, but I’ll tell you soon.”

Annecy’s smiling face was the most suspicious Goyo had ever seen, but she didn’t press further. They hadn’t signed a contract, so she figured she didn’t have to comply if she didn’t want to.

After all, Annecy must have known there wasn’t much Goyo could do for him.

“Come to think of it, it might be better if Sir Eliom doesn’t come for a while.”

“Sir Rajin?”

“The person helping my wife is a bit shy around strangers.”

“I don’t have much time to call Wartin. It’ll be difficult for them to help for too long. At a time when they don’t overlap…”

“The person helping my wife is very shy around strangers.”

After simply changing the adverb and repeating himself, Annecy added an exaggerated explanation.

“He probably wouldn’t even like the sight of a stranger’s shadow.”

“They don’t like Sir Rajin?”

“Yes, the person helping my wife said so.”

Goyo looked into his gray eyes, trying to gauge Annecy’s words. 

Come to think of it, when she had brought Rajin into the mansion, hadn’t his expression been unpleasant? It was natural for him to be displeased with unnecessary people coming in and out of the mansion. 

He was in a politically sensitive position, and both the plans he was scheming and the secrets he was hiding were anything but ordinary.

It was paradoxical, considering his secret goal was the extermination of Rubiette’s family, but Goyo could clearly understand his thinking. 

It was possible because she had no affection for Rubiette, and it was possible because she had already accepted her own death.

‘I was careless.’

Since the marriage, Goyo had treated him more comfortably than Annecy had expected, and it seemed she had let her guard down. If his kind mask was to last, Goyo also had to maintain her own boundaries. 

Reinforcing her slightly softening resolve, Goyo asked for confirmation.

“If you don’t like me bringing people into the mansion, please let me know. You are the master of the house.”

“That’s not… what I meant. I’m not the only master of this mansion. You can do as you wish.”

But Annecy unexpectedly looked troubled. She had seen him look bewildered before, but it was rare, and even then, it only happened when Goyo made the first move.

If it was something he wanted, he would have snatched it up as if he’d been waiting for it and skillfully wrapped it up in his words, but judging by his face, that didn’t seem to be the case.

‘If it’s not that he dislikes having people in the mansion, could it be a personal issue with Rajin Eliom?’

While Goyo was trying to understand his intentions, Annecy, who had composed his troubled expression, apologized in a subdued voice nonetheless.

“I apologize for bringing up such a pointless issue. That wasn’t my intention.”

“Do you, perhaps, have a bad history with Sir Rajin—no, Sir Eliom?”

“…I can’t say for certain, but there are some uncomfortable aspects. I’m worried it might bring misfortune to you.”

To talk about Count Eliom, one would have to go as far back as his birth. 

It wasn’t something he could bring up by mentioning the old days involving his mother and suggesting that Rajin Eliom had ulterior motives.

“If that’s the case, I’ll do as you say.”

Goyo agreed without further questions, as if she had accepted Annecy’s explanation.

It was fortunate for Annecy, but it didn’t make him feel particularly better. Even if she had probed further, it wasn’t something he could explain.

“It was just because he was the only one I could talk to about spirits. There’s no special attachment.”

“I see.”

Although the lack of special attachment was meant for Rajin Eliom, Annecy felt that it applied to him as well. 

It was obvious that while Goyo was comfortably conversing with him and getting used to his kindness, she was also drawing a line.

It was a wise approach. The one being irrational was likely himself for unnecessarily growing attached.

Annecy Bethelgius thought to himself. Then, he said what he could at that moment.

“If I’m misunderstanding him, I’ll let you know right away.”

For some reason, Annecy felt a bitter sensation in his heart.

*    *    *

As soon as the next day arrived, Goyo was introduced to a teacher by Annecy.

He was a man with ash-blonde hair and a youthful appearance. Annecy had explained that he only appeared that way because he had mixed blood from a different race, but that he was actually much older.

Though she found it intriguing that he was of a different race, Goyo knew it would be rude to show it. She hid her curiosity behind a practiced, composed expression and greeted him first.

“I’m Goyo Bethelgius. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Marquess Bethelgius. My name is Exer Fribesque, and I serve the Bethelgius family. Please call me Exer.”

Though she had never seen him around the mansion before, Goyo wasn’t particularly curious about it.

Given the nature of Annecy Bethelgius’s work, she had assumed there were many people working for him whom she wasn’t aware of.