HIGOS CH 10

Paul was horrified by a side of his master he had never seen before.

Jester was a man who was never disheveled, much like his personality. Even when he was tired, he never slumped or sprawled carelessly, and whenever he sat or leaned against something, he never seemed to settle into a truly comfortable position. Yet now, seeing him like this…

“Um, Master?”

Jester was lying face-down on the desk in his study, his cheek pressed against the tabletop as he stared blankly ahead and slowly blinked. He did not seem to hear Paul calling him at all.

He had been like this ever since Cassia coldly told him what she truly thought.

Jester might have been an idiot, but at least he had managed to pull himself together enough to firmly deny having any sort of relationship with Vita. Of course, it had made no difference.

“Even if you two aren’t in that kind of relationship, I don’t care. I told you, didn’t I? Whether it’s true or not. So whatever the case may be, you don’t have to worry about what I think.”

There was little point in saying anything more after hearing that.

“If the Baron says that he and Vita aren’t involved like that, then they aren’t.”

That was what Cassia had said aloud, but her face had made it perfectly clear that she did not believe him at all.

Jester was beside himself.

At first, he wondered how someone could possibly distrust another person this much. But then he realized that he was largely to blame, and he could not bring himself to resent Cassia.

He had given Vita a room inside the castle simply because she was his childhood friend and kept her by his side. As if that were not enough, he had even allowed her to speak to him informally. Given all that, he could hardly blame Cassia for immediately suspecting the worst.

Jester had to admit it.

“Did things not go well, Master? When I visited the Baroness’s room, she seemed to be in a good mood, so I assumed the two of you had ended your conversation on good terms.”

She seemed to be in a good mood?

Jester realized that Cassia had not the slightest personal feelings toward him.

While he had been troubled and unable to stop worrying about the matter, she had apparently considered it nothing worth being upset over.

“And the Baroness asked me to leave the matter of Miss Vita’s punishment to you. She did order Miss Vita to remain confined to her room for the time being, but she said you could release her whenever you wished. So… what shall I do?”

“Haa…”

Jester let out a helpless sigh without lifting his face from the desk.

What exactly is this?

His wife, who had been married to him for barely a week, was trying to casually leave the woman she suspected of having an affair with her husband right beside him…

Jester irritably turned his head to the other side and continued lying there. Paul heard his grumpy voice.

“She wronged my wife, so my wife should decide what to do with her. I don’t know. Tell her to forgive Vita or not, whichever she wants.”

Time continued to pass.

The husband and wife were in a sort of cold war. Although they lived in the same castle, day after day went by without them even crossing paths once.

Paul, who had come to deliver a letter to Cassia from far away, had by now become quite accustomed to seeing his mistress enjoying her afternoon tea. He remained silent for a moment, not wanting to disturb her.

“Mm. It smells wonderful.”

Cassia murmured as she tilted her teacup with an elegant gesture.

Unlike most noblewomen, Cassia had rarely had the leisure to enjoy afternoon tea in her previous life. No one had ever stopped her or given her disapproving looks, but she had felt that leisurely indulging in aristocratic pleasures was excessive in the shabby castle of a rural territory that constantly smelled of cow dung.

That did not mean she had lived an utterly miserable or stingy life. Rather, she had deliberately avoided the excessive extravagance that nobles commonly indulged in.

In truth, a noble’s extravagance was a measure of their wealth and standing within aristocratic society, so it was not something one could simply reject outright. A certain degree of luxury was essential to maintaining a noble image.

But frankly, after coming to a poor rural territory and becoming the wife of a lord from a commoner background, what use was maintaining a noble image?

She might have been called a baroness, but her life was little more than that of a noble in name only.

Her past as the daughter of the powerful Luverno family no longer mattered. In the Empire, it was customary for a married woman to take her husband’s title. Not long after arriving in Greze territory, Cassia had simply let go of her old life.

She had done so because she wanted to adapt to this place as quickly as possible.

Pretty dresses? None.

Expensive jewelry? None.

Even the luxurious dishes made with costly ingredients that she had enjoyed at Luverno Castle were, unsurprisingly, nowhere to be found at Greze Castle.

No one would have thought that Cassia, who had grown up living the life of a wealthy aristocrat, could easily adapt to Greze territory.

And yet, she had.

She had become so accustomed to simplicity and frugality that even in this second life, when she had decided to live however she pleased, there was hardly anything that tempted her.

As long as her clothes were comfortable, that was enough. As for beautiful jewelry, what was the point of possessing it when there was nowhere to show it off?

“The cake is delicious, too.”

For Cassia, who had never cared much for extravagance or waste, one of the things she enjoyed most these days, ten years after returning to the past, was afternoon tea.

The tea was nowhere near as rare or expensive as the varieties she had once enjoyed at Luverno Castle, but it was perfectly drinkable.

And there was a wonderfully sweet cake that she had personally ordered from the castle’s cook.

She had become so accustomed to avoiding extravagance and waste that neither particularly appealed to her anymore. She was quite satisfied simply eating, sleeping, doing her business, and taking a leisurely tea break in between.

And besides, how beautiful was the snow-covered Greze territory that could be seen from the castle?

After proudly declaring her strike against work and spending her days doing nothing but eating and relaxing, the world looked extraordinarily beautiful to Cassia.

“My lady, you have received a letter from Habelrn. It seems to have been sent personally by Viscount Habelrn…”

Paul, who had been watching Cassia happily enjoying every little thing—a sip of tea followed by a delighted murmur, a bite of cake followed by another—suddenly remembered the letter.

He quickly took it from inside his coat and handed it to her.

The letter bore a seal shaped like a blue rose, the symbol of Habelrn.

Cassia accepted it with a blank expression.

Viscount Dreyan Habelrn.

How many years had it been since she had last heard that name?

In her previous life, she had received a letter with exactly the same contents on exactly the same day.

After sending a rather cold reply at the time, she had never exchanged letters with him again. It had surely been more than ten years since she had last seen his face.

Cassia had always had considerable interaction with the nobles of Habelrn, whose territory bordered Luverno.

Back when she had been the daughter of the Count of Luverno, she had gotten along quite well with Dreyan, Habelrn’s heir.

The same had been true of the Count of Luverno and the former Viscount Habelrn.

There had even been a few casual discussions about marriage between Cassia and Dreyan, who were around the same age, but the matter had never become serious.

Although the two families had frequent interactions, Habelrn was simply on a much lower level than Luverno.

The Count of Luverno had spent day and night searching for a suitable match for his beloved daughter, hoping to marry her into a powerful and wealthy family.

The marriage proposals that poured into Luverno Castle were never good enough to satisfy the Count.

And after all that fuss, I ended up being sold off to this place.

If her father had not spent so much time weighing one marriage proposal after another and had simply married Cassia off somewhere suitable—no, he would not even have had to go that far.

If he had merely married her off to nearby Habelrn, perhaps she could have avoided the catastrophe of being sold off here.

Honestly, anywhere would have been better than this place.

Thinking that, Cassia opened the letter from Viscount Habelrn.

She had still been living in her hometown when the elderly former Viscount Habelrn passed away from his chronic illness and his late-born heir, Dreyan Habelrn, inherited the viscountcy.

After taking over the title, Dreyan had been extremely busy trying to stabilize the territory. Once he finally had a moment to breathe, he had contacted Cassia.

She remembered receiving his letter around this exact time ten years ago.

She remembered its contents vividly, too.

Cassia swallowed nervously as she noticed Paul discreetly watching her from the side.

The contents had been absolutely outrageous.

Of course, returning ten years into the past had not changed what the letter said.

<Dear Baroness of Greze… Yeah, right.

Even writing this makes me want to cry. I still can’t believe it.

Are you seriously surviving in that godforsaken countryside? You’re not sick or anything, are you?

I’ve finally managed to catch my breath after everything that’s happened, and you’re the first person I thought of. I’m worried about you, too.

Pack your things right now and reply to me. I’m thinking of going there myself to see whether it’s actually a place where you can live.

I’m also really curious to see the face of the lucky man who managed to take the most beautiful woman in the Empire as his wife and then dragged her off to the middle of nowhere.

If I’d known things would turn out like this, I should’ve just lived my life throwing punches like some ignorant brute.

I’d better stop before I start swearing.

Write back soon.

Your old friend, Ian.>

Back then, Cassia had been so startled that she had immediately shoved Dreyan’s letter into the crackling fireplace.

No matter how close they were, what was the point of sending a letter with absolutely no sense of propriety?

Just imagining what might have happened if one of the servants—or Jester himself—had seen it first was horrifying.

The letter blatantly mocked and looked down on both the small rural territory of Greze and Jester, who had risen to nobility through imperial appointment.

Cassia had been embarrassed on his behalf.

At the time, she had also worried that if her husband saw the letter, he might mistakenly think she shared Dreyan’s opinion of him.

The Cassia of her previous life had been furious with Dreyan’s letter and had sent him an angry reply.

She had written that she was deeply shocked and disappointed by his insulting letter toward both herself and her husband, and that she never wanted him to contact her again.

In truth, she remembered the letter somewhat more favorably than it actually was.

The real thing had been much harsher.

There had probably even been a few swear words.

Several letters of apology from Dreyan arrived at Greze Castle afterward, but Cassia tore every one of them apart and burned them.

Why had I gone that far back then?

As Cassia tilted her head in puzzlement, a faint, powerless laugh escaped her lips.

She had been so concerned about what Jester might think.

No matter how close a friend he was, she had felt uncomfortable communicating with another man. And the fact that Dreyan had openly looked down on and disrespected her husband, Jester, had also angered her.

The Cassia of her previous life, who had resolved to become a virtuous and faithful wife, had naturally driven Dreyan away with harsh words.

Sometimes, when she thought of Dreyan later in life, she had wondered if perhaps she had been too harsh.

Yes. I lost a good friend.

There was no doubt that Dreyan had been a friend who genuinely cared for her.

This time, Cassia did not throw his letter into the fireplace or tear it into pieces.

“Paul.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“I’d like to send him a reply. Could you prepare everything for me?”

“Of course.”

Paul immediately brought a sheet of parchment, a pen, and ink to Cassia’s tea table.

Trying to recall the face of Dreyan, whom she had not seen in nearly ten years, Cassia picked up the pen.

“Viscount Habelrn says he wants to come and look around here. It would be all right to invite him, wouldn’t it?”

Paul quietly nodded as Cassia asked while beginning to write her reply.

It was unheard of to turn away someone who had announced their intention to visit. And if that person was a noble, it was only proper to welcome them graciously.

“Of course. I’ll inform the Baron as well and make thorough preparations for our guest. When did he say he would be visiting?”

“He’ll probably set out around the time my reply reaches him. He said he would pack his things in advance, so I imagine he’ll come here as soon as he receives my letter. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it take… about two weeks?”

“Yes, that sounds about right. Then I’ll make preparations accordingly.”

“Thank you. Please put in a good word for me with the Baron, too. Viscount Habelrn is an old friend of mine.”

“Ah, yes…”

Cassia continued writing her reply while humming softly, and she looked quite excited.

Paul watched her closely.

Unlike the icy anger that had filled her letter ten years ago, Cassia’s reply this time was overflowing with warmth and affection for an old friend.

<Dear Viscount Habelrn,

What would you have done if someone other than me had read this letter? How could you write in such a ridiculously informal manner?

I’m doing all right.

There are several faces I’d like to see, and you’re probably one of them.

It seems your busy days have finally passed. I’m glad you’ve been able to catch your breath.

Come visit once you receive my reply.

I’ll be waiting for you.

I’ve missed you, too.

Your old friend,

Sia>