The Abandoned Duchess Seems to Want a Peaceful Life - Chapter 167

Chapter 167: A Letter from the Royal Capital

A regular knock echoed, and when Theodore opened the office door, Lloyd entered with a polite bow.

“Lady Melfina, a letter has arrived for you.”

“Thank you, Lloyd.”

About ten envelopes sat on the wooden tray, which Marie accepted and carried to the desk.

The number of letters arriving at the lord’s mansion from outside had also increased considerably of late. With the development of the Enkar region now proceeding in earnest, letters were arriving from nobles in various regions.

The most numerous were from the northern nobility, requesting technology transfers. These were relatively easy to deal with, as she only needed to reply that they should go through the Oldrand family. She didn’t have the time to meet with each and every noble, and she had already received Alexis’s consent to act as his proxy.

“Ah, this one is for you, Marie. It’s from your younger brother.”

When she handed over the letter, which was folded parchment sealed with wax, Marie’s expression brightened for a moment before quickly turning pensive.

This, in turn, made Melfina feel a sense of guilt. Marie was likely concerned that Melfina had not once received a reply, even though they had agreed to write to their brothers.

“Don’t worry about it. My brother spends half the year in our southern domain, and his education as the next lord has likely begun, so it can’t be helped.”

Melfina smiled at Marie, who looked a little downcast as she cradled the letter in her hands as if it were precious.

Her relationship with her brother, Rudolf, had by no means been a bad one. For aristocratic siblings, they had probably been quite close.

Therefore, Melfina didn’t think he was failing to reply because he wanted to cut ties with his married sister.

“Oh, this one is addressed to Lord Julius. How unusual.”

The address was the lord’s mansion in the Enkar region, but the name in the recipient field was Julius.

This was the first time a letter had arrived at the lord’s mansion for someone other than Melfina or Marie, and when she casually checked the sender’s name, her body stiffened with a jolt.

Caroline von Osterreich.

It was the first time she had learned the family name, but when it came to a “Caroline” she could think of in connection with Julius, there was only one person.

—The villainess of Julius’ route, Caroline.

In the game, Caroline was Julius’s fiancée, a character with an extremely jealous nature who subjected the heroine to cruel harassment.

If Melfina attacked with sarcasm and insinuations about a lack of education or etiquette, Caroline was the type to tear a dress while smiling and pour a non-lethal dose of poison into tea.

Both were depicted as very insidious villains, but Caroline’s aggression was of a different nature than Melfina’s, often being extremely drastic and potentially fatal.

“Lady Melfina?”

“Hm? What is it, Marie?”

“No, you just seemed to be lost in thought… Shall I have the letter forwarded to Melto Village?”

“No. I happen to have a matter I want to discuss with Lord Julius anyway, so I’ll take it to him directly. Can you free up some time for me tomorrow afternoon?”

“Yes… Shall I brew some tea for a break?”

“Yes, please.”

“Then I will prepare it at once.”

She must have sensed something and made the offer to change the mood. Melfina let out a breath, relieved by Marie’s kindness, and returned the letter in her hand to the tray.

In the main story of the game, unlike Melfina who was appointed as Maria’s tutor, Caroline did not have many appearances.

She was often depicted in ways like the shadow of her distinctively curled hair appearing at the edge of the screen during scenes where she snuck into Maria’s closet to release poisonous spiders or when the flowers gifted by a love interest all withered at once. She didn’t have many lines or character stills.
In the Julius route, she aimed for Maria’s life, incurred Julius’s displeasure, and was robbed of her sanity by his hand, to be confined for the rest of her life. That was Caroline’s fate.

Knowing this outcome, and because he had acted on a whim, hedonistically, showing no regard for the subtleties of human emotion, Melfina had been very wary of Julius when they first met.

—Looking at the Julius of now, I can’t imagine him doing such a thing.

He still seemed to sleep for long hours, but he was enjoying his life as a freeloader at Nido’s house and was said to be taking good care of the baby, Sara. His relationship with the residents of Melto Village also seemed to be good.

Seeing the current Julius, who laughed brightly, drawn in by Rena, instead of the sarcastic and somewhat decadent smile of the game, she wanted to believe he wouldn’t do such a thing.

—Looking at the Julius of now, that kind of future is just too sad.

For Julius, who laughed under the sun and enjoyed his days, to return to the royal capital, behave like his game counterpart, toy with Maria as an eccentric wizard, and lay a hand on his own fiancée.

She desperately did not want that to happen.

She felt that strongly.

As she stepped down from the carriage with Theodore’s escort, the children who had noticed Melfina’s carriage rushed towards her.

“Lady Melfina! Welcome!”

“What brings you here today?”

She smiled at the healthy-looking, energetic children. Seeing children full of life made her feel happy as well.

“I came to talk about work. Is everyone well?”

“Yup, we’re great!”

“Lady Melfina, are you leaving right away?”

“I can’t stay for long today, but I think I’ll have more time in the autumn. I’m sorry.”

The slightly older child next to the one who had questioned Melfina gave the younger one a light pat on the back.

“Dad and the others said Lady Melfina is busy during the summer!”

“But…”

“We’re going to have another festival in the autumn, so let’s talk properly then.”

“Okay!”

After giving a good child’s reply, the children bowed once and naturally dispersed.

“They’re all so energetic and cute, aren’t they?”

“They truly are.”

It seemed a child had slyly given Marie a flower at some point. After gazing happily at the blue flower, Marie tucked it into the chest pocket of her jacket.

Since the main purpose of her visit today was to deliver the letter, she hadn’t sent a messenger ahead, which ended up surprising Eli with her sudden arrival. It seemed Nido was out in the fields, and when she asked for Julius’s whereabouts, she was told he should be in the backyard.

“If you had sent a messenger, I would have prepared a proper welcome.”

“You must be busy taking care of Sara, Eli. I only stopped by for a moment today, so please don’t worry about it.”

No sooner had she said that than the cry of a baby echoed from inside the house.

“It’s all right, please go to her. It’s better for a mother to have a lot of physical contact with her baby.”

Waving lightly, she parted with Eli and went around to the backyard, where she found Julius and Rena crouching by the well, doing something. While it was fine for young Rena, Julius, who was quite tall, looked a little cramped.

“Hello, what are you two doing?”

“! Lady Mel! Welcome, when did you get here?”

“Just now.”

“My lady! Rena and I were just discussing how to use wind magic stones. We were talking about attaching them to a windmill with gears and using multiple gears to create a large amount of power. There are so many potential uses, it’s incredibly interesting!”

“You see, if you run it through one gear, you can change the size of what turns. Let’s say the windmill’s gear has a diameter of ten meters, and you insert a gear that rotates four times for every one rotation of the windmill, right?”

“Current windmills only perform simple tasks like raising and lowering a pestle onto a mortar or turning a millstone with their rotational speed, but by inserting gears, they can perform multiple tasks, dramatically increasing efficiency.”

“And then, and then!”

“Wait, calm down, both of you. I understand you’re talking about something very fascinating, so please write it down in a letter and send it to me. If it’s planned out properly, I’ll provide a budget for development and experiments.”

Julius and Rena looked at each other and pressed their palms together. It was probably meant to be a high-five, but the size difference between Julius, who was quite large even for an adult man, and Rena was so great that it made no sound.

“I’ll go get paper and a pen!”

With that, Rena ran off at full speed without waiting for a reply.

“Rena is starting to resemble Lord Julius…”

Melfina nodded with complex feelings at Marie’s murmured words.

Rena had always been a very energetic and curious girl. She was the first one in Melto Village to ask questions about what Melfina was doing.

Therefore, one couldn’t say for sure that Rena’s current state was solely due to Julius’s influence, but for a child of her age, the influence of those around her would be significant.

“My lady, wind magic stones are cheap, so I’d like to have a certain number in advance if possible. Also, I want to build an experimental windmill, so may I have your permission to build one at the edge of your fields, my lady? Although they are a fairly inexpensive type of magic stone, the stones themselves are of decent value, so I don’t think we can build it just anywhere, and I think Rena would be sad if it were destroyed midway and the experiment was interrupted.”

“Yes, that’s fine. I will select a good location on the castle grounds. Also, Lord Julius, before Rena gets back, this is for you.”
Somehow, not wanting to talk about Caroline in front of Rena, she took the letter out from her pocket and handed it to Julius.

He looked puzzled, but he took the letter, turned it over, and his cheerful expression was instantly wiped away. Without even checking the contents, he shoved it into the pocket hanging from his waist.