The Duchess of the Attic

The day after the ball.

Opal had joined Claude's family after lunch in a separate residence at the Marquis Roussel family on the outskirts of Wang Du.

Tomorrow's wedding will take place in the chapel of this village, so we're spending the night in this mansion.

And when the reception was over, the family and invitees were going to pull up to the King's Capital, and Claude and I were going to spend only three honeymoons in this mansion.

However, Claude is still in the main residence of the King's Capital.

And now Opal, who was led to her mistress's room, seemed like a bride, softly restless.

In my last marriage, Hubert, my husband, used the next room only overnight at the consulate in the Duke's Lands.

But this time - Claude, naturally, uses the next room.

Of course I don't hate that.

(What to do...... No matter how much Claude, you don't think I've been married for seven years and I've never been on the floor yet...)

Having just seen Claude's luggage carried into the next room, Opal began to wander around the room where the elegant conditioning was located.

If you're even twenty-eight years old, you know exactly what it's like between a couple.

It makes me shush when I say I'm not ashamed, but I thought Claude would be fine.

Just tell Claude this fact or not.

I'm known to be a novice in love, but I don't know how much I understand that either.

(But if there was any procedure, if it were to embarrass Claude... I knew I should have told you in advance)

Opal, who reasonably thought about it and concluded, now hit the question of when it should be communicated.

It won't be what I'll tell you in the letter.

That's why it's late at night to come back from now on when you head to the Mansion of the King's Capital.

(... well, if you just tell him, I'll soothe him soon, and tomorrow will be fine, right? Something that has time before the ceremony ends and the reception begins)

Opal was relieved to give a satisfactory answer and headed to the library desk.

I have some paperwork to process, and I've brought it this far.

But the first thing I noticed when I opened the bag with the kind in it was a letter from Hubert.

After reading it once, I had somehow put it behind me, but I would have to get my hands on it already.

When I received it in the first place, I should have sent it back the way I had always wanted it to go through the agent.

(After all, you were floating...)

Opal cut the seal with a paper knife, sighing at himself.

And take out the contents, and look through.

"... I don't know what that means."

One shrugged Opal put the letter on his desk and stared.

Write a reply sooner or I should still have sent it back, but I regret not doing so.

My father, the Earl, should have known that I was out of touch with Hubert in the first place, but I wonder why I have enclosed the letter, and I reconsider.

My father doesn't care, he's the one who left behind.

However, I doubt my father knew about this.

(Your father arrived in this country...)

He will not attend the ceremony as the father of the bride, but he will stay in the king's capital tonight and will come to Opal tomorrow.

And as soon as the ceremony was over, he seemed to plan to return to the country, keeping him busy as ever.

By the way, Opal's brother doesn't attend as well as last time.

Claude told me about it.

(I can't believe your brother and Claude have been in touch for so long... that's sloppy, isn't it)

On several occasions now Opal has written to his brother and he has not replied.

Yet instead of exchanging letters with Claude, he helped supply supplies during the civil unrest in the Kingdom of Tysey.

Besides, he said the university had dropped out at some point, and now he's in some country.

My father naturally should have known, and I felt like one Opal was being beaten up about my brother.

(But, well, if you're well, you can't hope for anything more.)

When I was a kid, I didn't like a mean brother.

I can't say I'm still close, I haven't even looked at each other since my brother got into college, but I still have love as a family, I worry, and I get angry.

(Really, guys are on their own!)

Opal wrote a few abusive letters to hit eight.

I will also clean up the paperwork with that anger.

Then it was much more than I expected, and Opal was in a neat mood to end it all.

- The next morning.

My father, who had just arrived, came to Opal after finishing his reign.

My father's outfit, which he traveled by carriage from Wang Du, is not disturbed at all.

"Opal, it's as beautiful as it was eight years ago."

Opal frowned for a moment at his father's words as he was called to board a carriage bound for the chapel.

But I immediately smile and answer.

"... thank you, Father"

Still, in Opal's heart, he was frustrated that he didn't have to be sarcastic like that on a day like this.

So, uh, I think my father's serious.

My father thought it was for Opal that he decided to marry Hubert.

"... did your father love your mother?

"What, suddenly?

Count Holloway, father to Opal's question, frowned in surprise.

I used to be scared of this look, and it was an opal I was pulling right off, but now I can only fight it a little bit.

With pity for just a little bit, Opal continued with courage.

"Because your mother always thought of your father until he died... Of course you cared about me and your brother, and you loved me a lot. But after all, I thought you wanted your father to be more with you..."

- I made a promise.

"Yes?"

"When I met your mother, although I inherited the title, I also inherited my father's debt and couldn't turn my neck. So I didn't want them to think it was for my mother's money, and I kept her away."

"Still... you were proposed in the end"

"No, I was proposed"

"To your mother?

"Oh. They told me not to run. It's no shame you don't have money. I have money, so I was wondering if that's okay."

"So you built your current asset based on your mother's money?

Opal was quite surprised by the unexpected content.

Still encourage them to continue while not putting them on the table.

"Oh, yeah. I promised you I'd multiply your mother's money. But at the beginning of the marriage, it made me struggle a lot. Besides, your mother wasn't very tough at first, so she made it easier to live in the airy countryside than in the king's capital."

"... I didn't know"

"I've never told anyone."

The Earl, who replied to Opal, who shrugged and shrugged, has no heart or chest.

Such a distraction from his father, Opal looked at the long idle landscape visible through the window of the car.

I knew my mother was lonely, and Opal was lonely.

But my mother must have liked it, including my father's clumsiness.

(Clumsy or too rare...)

Opal doesn't wait quietly in the country, even if he's weak, and he gets in to spend time with his loved ones.

Fight to break the situation.

So Opal realized again.

"Forced to marry me and the Duke of McCloud, did you do the breaking aid that way because you overlapped with yourself?

"... Your stubbornness was in the calculations, but not McCloud's arrogance"

"So this result wasn't calculated either?

"Claude, I have no regrets that I did not give you permission to propose your first marriage. I regretted that I should have forgiven you with regard to the second time. But now I'm glad I did."

"Right..."

I have a lot of grievances, but I found out that you love Opal as a father.

But my father would not recognize the sentiment of love.

He is my father, including that, and Opal loves my father.

(Just a little, I know how your mother feels...)

Opal shifted his gaze from his father to outside the window and swallowed a sigh.