INDC 24

~Chapter 24~

 At the Theater.

Unlike when she had met him at the guild, he was dressed in a suit that looked quite expensive at a glance.

And he was not wearing the round glasses she had seen at the guild.

Perhaps the glasses had softened his impression, because without them his appearance looked somewhat sharper than the gentle first impression she remembered.
“I hope the journey here was not too difficult.”
“Thanks to you, it was fine.”
Convincing the knights who insisted on escorting her that she wanted to “go quietly without attracting attention” had taken some effort.

After arriving at the theater, she entered through the back door to avoid attention, and since the manager guided her, there was no difficulty.

She did plan to cause a scandal someday, but it was still too early.

So she had no choice but to accept some inconvenience.

Mikhail extended his hand to Blair.

Having lived as a princess, Blair naturally accepted his escort and sat down.

Mikhail handed her a filled wine glass.

His posture showed he was very accustomed to entertaining guests.
“Thank you.”
Blair accepted the glass and asked,
“So, has the purchase of the mansion in the kingdom been completed?”
Mikhail, who had been about to introduce the wine, burst out laughing when Blair went straight to the main topic.
“Oh my, you won’t even give me time to breathe.

I’m a little hurt.”
Blair blinked as if she did not understand.

After all, the reason they had met was the request.

What else was there for them to talk about?

Still smiling faintly, Mikhail took a small coin from his inner pocket and held it out.
“To get straight to the point, the mansion purchase was successfully completed.

If you take this to Argenta and go to the place written on the coin, they will give you the mansion’s purchase documents.”
Blair picked up the coin placed before her and examined it.

On the front of the coin something was written in the Clania language.

As a princess who had learned foreign languages, Blair easily read the phrase, “Clania’s Last Cup.”

It seemed to be a metaphorical expression.

Mikhail then handed her a wooden token and continued explaining.
“And this is the identification you requested.”
“You’ve worked hard.

I’ll send your payment to the guild through my maid tomorrow.”
“I’m glad I could be of help.”
Mikhail replied with a smile.

Seeing him smile, she felt as though the gentle impression he had when wearing glasses returned.

Just as Blair was about to ask him about the glasses, the black curtain on the theater stage fell.
“It seems the play is about to begin.”
After waiting for a moment, the curtain rose and actors appeared on the stage.

Soon the narrator standing on one side of the stage began reading, and the play started.
⟨In the distant past, there were sacred animals who protected this world.

People called them divine beasts.

They came from another world and possessed power far greater than that of humans or demons.

Yet they neither sought greater power nor ruled over the weak, instead striving to maintain the balance and peace of the world.⟩
The play’s story was about divine beasts, something Blair had encountered many times since childhood through plays and books.

It was a story that anyone born and raised on the western continent would likely have heard.

And after her marriage, she had encountered it once more while studying the history of the House of Delmark as the lady of the house.

Because the protagonist of this play, Helios, was the divine beast who had lent his power to the first Duke of Delmark.

Seeing that story again like this felt strangely moving.

Noticing Blair’s attention fixed on the play, Mikhail added an explanation.
“It is the story of the last divine beast, Helios, and Arwen, the human knight who was his lover.

It’s quite an interesting play.”
The early part of the play told how Helios, who had originally been hostile to humans unlike the other divine beasts, gradually opened his heart and grew close to Arwen.

Still young, the two grew close through Arwen’s friendliness, forming a friendship and going on adventures together.

Along with it, grand music began to resonate.

At that moment, a faint noise mixed into the music.

It sounded like a woman crying.

Blair looked in the direction of the sound with confusion.

The source was the room next door.

Blinking in surprise as she stared at the wall, Blair soon realized what the sound was.
‘That sound… could it be…’
At that moment, Mikhail’s voice came from behind her.
“This theater is that kind of place.”
As if he were accustomed to such situations, he calmly drank his wine and continued explaining.
“It is a place where secret lovers meet and share their love.

Quite suitable for the request you made, Duchess.

That is why the play contains many battle scenes.”
If the stage was noisy, all sorts of sounds from the lounges would be drowned out.

Blair’s face turned bright red when she heard Mikhail’s explanation.

She turned her head away as if embarrassed even to meet his eyes, but it felt as though Blair’s flustered voice echoed in the air.

How could people do such shameless things…

A person who was shocked over something like this was planning to create scandals with several people as grounds for divorce.

That contradiction somehow seemed cute.

But as if teasing Blair, the sounds from the next room grew louder.

Blair could not focus on the play and kept rolling her eyes around restlessly.

Watching her, Mikhail chuckled before bringing up another topic.
“After your divorce, do you have any other plans?”
“For now, I’m thinking of starting a business.

I haven’t decided what kind yet.”
Mikhail had only raised the topic casually to draw Blair’s attention away from the sounds next door, but her answer surprised him inwardly.

It seemed strange that someone who had lived her entire life without lacking anything would say she planned to start a business herself.
“Have you secured capital?”
“I’m planning to soon.

And I’ll need your help to prepare that capital.”
Most of the jewels and valuables Blair had owned as a princess had already been spent when she entrusted Mikhail with her request.

So she had devised another plan to secure capital for her business.

By using her memories of the future.

However, she had no intention of stealing someone else’s business idea.

Though she had miraculously returned to the past, she felt it would be wrong to use it purely for personal gain.

Instead, what she aimed for was…
‘If my memory is correct, soon my brother’s chamberlain will buy several paintings at an auction.’
At a family dinner, Ivan had complained that his chamberlain had bought cheap paintings.

But two years later, the painter who created them would catch the attention of the Marquis of Piace, a family famous for supporting artists for generations, and rise to fame. Naturally, the value of his paintings would soar as well.

Only then did Ivan retrieve the paintings he had carelessly thrown into storage and boast about his artistic insight.

Blair planned to take a small portion of what would eventually become Ivan’s.

After all, how much had she lost to him throughout her life?

Surely she could claim at least this much for herself.

She justified it to herself like that.
‘It will take two years for the painting’s value to rise, but I plan to rest until Asiel is born anyway.’
Even after the topic of business, Mikhail skillfully guided the conversation so that Blair would not focus on the sounds from the next room.

Having traveled many countries as the guild master, he told stories that inevitably fascinated Blair, quietly observing the way her eyes shone brighter than usual.

After a while, when the room next door finally became quiet, Mikhail naturally wrapped up the conversation.

Thanks to that, Blair was able to finish watching the play she had seen as a child.

Soon, the play ended.
“I’ll escort you.”
Mikhail extended his hand to Blair.

Blair took his hand and rose from her seat.

But after only a few steps, Mikhail stopped at the door.
“Unfortunately, my escort ends here.

It’s not yet the right time.”
Blair looked at him for a moment and suddenly asked,
“Are you a noble?”
Even in the future Blair knew, Mikhail’s identity had never been revealed.

She had naturally assumed he was a commoner, but after meeting him in person, he seemed extremely well-versed in noble etiquette.

At Blair’s sudden question, Mikhail smiled faintly.
“If I appear that way, then I suppose that’s fortunate.”
He responded smoothly, avoiding the question naturally.

Realizing this, Blair did not press further.

Mikhail lightly kissed the back of Blair’s hand and released it.
“Then I hope to see you again soon, Duchess.”

* * *

“Welcome back, my lady.”
When Blair arrived at the ducal residence, Mason and the lined-up servants greeted her.

As she stepped inside the mansion, Blair asked him,
“Where is the Duke?”
“His afternoon schedule ended early, so he returned a short while ago.”
When Blair heard that Heredin was in the mansion, her heart sank.

Nothing had happened with Mikhail at the theater, and her marriage with Heredin was strictly a contractual, superficial one.

But she still felt uneasy.

Like someone returning home after committing an affair.

Even though everything she was doing was simply part of a plan to achieve the safe divorce he wanted.

As she had been doing lately, Blair climbed the stairs hoping she would not run into Heredin.

But the gods were not on her side.

Beside her door stood Heredin, waiting for her.

The husband she had not seen even the tip of for the past fifteen days stood there with cold eyes.