IBTHM Chapter 5

When I returned to my room, I roared like a beast.

Ann stared in horror as the soft silk pillow crumpled this way and that in my excited hands.

I knew, intellectually, that I should be conducting myself like a proper noble lady, but it was difficult. The aftereffects of meeting Abel in person were simply too overwhelming.

"Are you really that happy?"

Ann snatched the pillow from my hands, chuckling. Kuk-kuk.

"You should have seen that adorable face. Good heavens, his cheeks were this chubby, and his little lips kept twitching..."

"He's at the cutest age, isn't he? Though he does seem a bit small for ten years old."

"Exactly! He's at a growing age, so he needs to eat well, but Northern food has absolutely no flavor whatsoever."

"By the way, didn't you say marriage was absolutely out of the question? How did your mind change so quickly?"

Ann asked as she cleaned up the traces of my excitement scattered throughout the room.

Truthfully, even I hadn't anticipated this turn of events.

I'd definitely intended to point out Hades' narcissistic assumptions and then suggest we call off the marriage, but in the end, my body had taken over and I'd followed him all the way to his workplace.

It was embarrassing, but upon careful reflection, it wasn't such a bad deal after all.

If I became the Duchess of Ruvermonte, wouldn't I be able to engage in legal and convenient fangirling as Abel's stepmother?

The problem was Duke Ruvermonte—Hades—but even that wasn't particularly concerning.

Well...

Unfortunate as it was, Hades had less than a year left in his promised time. He was fated to die soon in Abel's place.

"Hmm..."

I'd never had any particular affection for characters other than Abel and the female lead, but having faced Hades directly and thought about it, I did feel sorry for him.

But it couldn't be helped. If Hades didn't sacrifice himself for Abel, the story wouldn't progress.

The time would come on Abel's eleventh birthday.

Abel, whose innate power would run wild, would be helplessly consumed by that uncontrollable unknown force and placed at death's door.

If Hades didn't absorb his runaway power and die in his place, there would be no male lead in the novel Persona.

Starting from the sacrifice of his adoptive father who died in his stead, Abel would grow tremendously.

He'd become a bit colder and more taciturn than now, but even that was part of Abel's charm.

In any case, even knowing the novel's contents, I had no ability to save Hades.

If someone's life were threatened by an unknown enemy, I might be able to help in advance, but there was no way to stop the power rampaging from within Abel.

"If the Duke of Ruvermonte were to die after we married, what would happen to me?"

"...Pardon?"

Ann looked horrified. Her thoughts seemed obvious.

She appeared to be fantasizing that since I didn't want marriage but did want to see Abel up close, perhaps I was preparing to assassinate Duke Ruvermonte.

"Never mind, forget it."

I waved my hands dismissively, scattering Ann's delusions.

Even if it was unfortunate, Hades was fated to die soon, so as the duchess, I could remain here in his place and live a fairly decent life, couldn't I?

I could engage in Abel fangirling and occasionally play the role of his mother, and in a few years, I might even welcome the pretty, kind, and capable female lead as my daughter-in-law.

No, what do I mean "might"? Once I married Hades, Abel would be my son and the ducal house would be my home.

"This seems quite nice...?"

As I sat there rubbing my chin with a satisfied expression, Ann's face grew even paler.

She seemed terrified that I might actually be plotting the Duke's assassination.

No, I'm telling you—even without resorting to such schemes, Hades was fated to die soon anyway.

The only concern was that between the marriage and Hades' death, I'd have to fulfill not only the role of Abel's mother but also his wife.

However, my worry was brief before I became detached about it.

Having already gone to him directly and spouted nonsense about becoming a good wife and whatnot, I'd long since abandoned any will to clear myself of the false accusation that I'd been following Duke Ruvermonte around because I liked him.

Fine, let's just say I'd been nursing an unrequited love from afar for a long time because I simply adored the cold Northern duke.

Wasn't it better this way?

I also felt more comfortable having the lie known—that I'd liked his father—rather than the truth that I'd been following around young Abel, who was a full ten years younger than me.

"Oh, right! My handkerchief! Bring me my handkerchief, Ann. I need to hurry and finish the embroidery I was working on so I can give it to Abel as a gift."

I grew excited recalling Abel's face as he'd authenticated my tribute gifts.

Truth be told, I wanted to give him one heartfelt present, so I'd been struggling with needlework—something I'd never even attempted in my previous life.

Originally, I'd planned to finish it before arriving here and give it to Abel as a gift, but perhaps lacking talent, I just couldn't get the speed up...

"You mean the handkerchief with the young master's face embroidered on it? You never left it with me, did you? Every time I offered to keep it safe for you, you insisted on keeping it yourself..."

"Hm? You don't have it? Wait, I don't have it either..."

I felt around the dress I was wearing from top to bottom, but there was no way a handkerchief would emerge from a garment without pockets.

Where did it disappear to? As Ann said, I did seem to carry it around with me a few times...

I'd gone through hardship upon hardship trying to embroider a handkerchief with adorable Abel's face as a gift—where could it have gone?

Ann and I searched everywhere from the sewing basket in the room to the pockets of my outdoor clothes, the vanity drawers, under the bed, and even around the pillows, but the handkerchief had vanished as if it had ascended to heaven or descended into the earth.

This was truly a bewildering situation.

I was certain I'd had it with me until arriving at the ducal estate...

"Where did it go?!"

When I jerked my head up after crawling around looking under the empty bed, Ann, who stood across from me, shrugged and shook her head.

"How should I know?"

"Oh no... I was almost finished. I just needed to embroider a bit more of the hair part with black thread and it would have been complete."

"We have plenty of white handkerchiefs, so just embroider another one. If you find it later, you can give him that one too. There's no law saying you can only carry one handkerchief at a time."

Ann said consolingly as she organized the sewing basket, watching my crestfallen face.

Despite Ann's comfort, I felt slightly deflated.

I'd been diligently embroidering Abel's face, poking holes all over my hands in the process, and now I had no idea where it had gone.

But I soon resigned myself.

"Ah well, fine. I'll just embroider another one. What wouldn't I do for Abel?"

At that moment, Hades had summoned Abel and was thinking of Aisha.

'I'll be a good wife.'

His lips curved in a smirk.

What an amusing woman. She'd been openly following him around everywhere, yet only she didn't know that the person in question had noticed.

She seemed to think she'd been hiding it well all along, which was also amusing.

At first, he'd assumed she was just one of those many women who clung to him like aphids, but as time passed and he observed her, he found it peculiar.

She persistently followed him around, yet she seemed to have absolutely no intention of directly revealing herself or making her presence known to him—instead, she appeared anxious about possibly being discovered.

He'd thought she was aiming for the vacant position of Ruvermonte's mistress, but it seemed more like true love after all.

Perhaps because her tenacious determination was impressive, he'd begun to find her just slightly interesting.

At some point, he'd found himself searching for that strange woman first whenever he went anywhere.

That had been going on for about a year now.

When the woman who'd never once revealed her presence first actually contacted him asking if she could openly visit the duchy, how shocked he'd been.

Still, he hadn't intended to decide the marriage matter so impulsively without even consulting with his retainers.

His decision had to be called impulsive, didn't it?

Why had he done that?

Perhaps...

Had it been when he saw the handkerchief Aisha had left behind at the dining table where he'd hosted her after her first visit?

Hades opened a drawer, pulled out a white handkerchief, and unfolded it, letting out a hollow laugh. Hah.

On the plain cloth handkerchief, embroidery had been sewn with clumsy skill.

Using various colored threads, she'd rather adorably stitched a round face, black hair, and red eyes—it was unmistakably his face to anyone who looked.

The skill was utterly terrible, but quite cute, wasn't it? For a noble lady who'd probably never held a needle before, wasn't this commendable?

Holding the handkerchief, Hades pressed his forehead and shook his head, laughing as if absurd.

She really was strange but entertaining.