TMWDS Chapter 40

"It's exactly like you said—this is a marriage above my station. There's nothing more insulting than shoving one of the Empire's hounds into a duke's household."

"……"

"It's an opportunity that came my way precisely because I'm someone like me. Which means a proper young lady like you, raised without a single hardship, was never even a candidate to begin with. Isn't that obvious?"

Yvonne, in her confusion, couldn't manage a single word in response.

She'd only ever dismissed the marriage as beneath their station—she'd never once thought about it from that angle before.

Mocking her, Ionna murmured:

"Can't even grasp something this basic, and here you are making a fuss about becoming a duchess......"

Yvonne's face flushed a deep red.

She ground her teeth and shoved Ionna backward.

"You think I don't know you're just saying this to trick me?!"

But a trained knight's body wasn't going to stagger so easily.

Yvonne, instead, went tumbling from the force of her own shove.

Ionna merely turned her head to take in the sight of Yvonne, sprawled on the floor, groaning.

It had only been a short while since she'd returned to the past, and already looking down at Yvonne like this had become second nature to her.

Ionna knelt on one knee, as though showing some measure of consideration, and lowered herself to Yvonne's eye level. She spoke in a near-whisper.

"If you want to go tell His Grace I'm illegitimate, go right ahead."

Ionna lowered her gaze and pressed a fingertip against Yvonne's chest.

"But remember this much. If that happens, I'll kill you. Like you said, it's an opportunity above my station, so I'm a little desperate."

"……"

"If you don't believe me, why don't you actually try it and see."

Finishing her words, Ionna tapped the back of her hand lightly against Yvonne's cheek.

Yvonne's cheeks reddened with humiliation.

Yvonne wanted, more than anything, to grab a fistful of Ionna's hair right then, but if the other woman retaliated, she'd be the one worse off.

The terror she'd felt the night Nils's teeth broke was still, somewhere, alive inside her.

"Let's go, Marsha."

Ionna studied Yvonne's face with dry, unreadable eyes, then rose to her feet. She walked back toward the parlor as though nothing at all had happened.

Once the door clicked shut, silence settled in.

Left alone, Yvonne's body trembled.

She bit down on her fingertip until it ached, and muttered, in a cracked voice:

"I won't just let this go...... Never......."

The gambling gathering convened exactly four days later. Josefine's urgent invitation, it turned out, had good reason behind it.

Leroy must have received the same message from Josefine, because he requested to escort her before Ionna had even sent word.

She knew appearing together with him would look good, but Ionna had a firm reason to decline.

"Once His Grace arrives, Yvonne's bound to try picking a fight with me again."

Recalling the last commotion, Leroy accepted the explanation without any complaint.

For the time being, Ionna intended to keep Leroy and Yvonne from crossing paths directly, however inconvenient that might prove.

It wasn't that a confrontation with Yvonne frightened her, exactly, but the woman's unpredictable temper made it hard to feel entirely at ease.

She'd already warned her off from pushing any further, so it seemed wisest not to provoke her any more than necessary from her own side.

'Getting into a more wasteful fight would only end up being more trouble for me.'

Either way, when it came to gaining control of House Modrov, Yvonne wasn't a particularly important card.

With that thought, Ionna gazed carefully out the carriage window at House Alusi drawing closer.

Another guest's carriage was already parked in front of the building, and judging by the crest on it, the owner was Leroy.

She'd adjusted their arrival times beforehand, but she hadn't expected them to line up quite this precisely.

Ionna's carriage seemed to have been recognized in turn, because instead of going in ahead of her, Leroy waited by the entrance and opened the door for her right on cue.

Taking the hand he offered, Ionna stepped down and said:

"Your Grace, thank you for the gifts you sent. But——"

"No need for excessive thanks. That much will do."

He cut her off calmly, as though he already knew exactly what she was about to say next. Then he raised a hand and summoned a nearby servant.

Naturally, there was no way to argue any further about the gifts in front of other people. They were, after all, about to play the part of an extremely well-matched couple here.

"You're quite resourceful."

Ionna said, exasperated. Leroy only smiled quietly in response.

Deciding she'd have to catch him alone later, Ionna reluctantly held her tongue.

Guided by a servant, the two of them soon stopped in front of a door.

The servant knocked politely and announced:

"His Grace Duke Leroy Hance and Dame Ionna Modrov have arrived."

As expected, Nils's circle of friends welcomed Ionna and Leroy's arrival warmly.

Whether it was because they'd made an effort for the new guests, or simply how the room always was, the atmosphere inside felt healthier than she'd expected.

Some of them had split into teams to play ninepins, while others were absorbed in chess or card games.

Once the unenthusiastic greetings with Nils's friends were finished, Ionna glanced around the room and asked:

"No dice games?"

"Ah, ah...... Dice games?"

Josefine's eyes darted about, flustered by the question.

That was because dice games were the most common form of gambling of all.

He'd invited Ionna assuming she had a passing interest in games, but he hadn't expected she'd actually want a game with real money on the line, and had missed his chance to deflect it naturally.

Saying they didn't do that sort of thing would have been the safer answer, but he didn't want to lose the chance to grow closer to her either.

While Josefine hesitated, a man who'd introduced himself as Freda earlier stepped forward instead.

"Ha ha. Dame Ionna, why wouldn't dice games or anything else be on the table? Come, right this way! I never realized you knew how to enjoy life."

"There's nothing quite like gathering with people to pass the time."

"Come to think of it, is there a rowdier place than your workplace? Ha ha—of course, even people who work for the Imperial family are all just people underneath."

He seemed to have gotten the impression, somehow, that Ionna occasionally gambled with her fellow knights.

It wasn't true, but Ionna saw no reason to correct him. The more pathetic she looked to these people, the more easily their mouths would open.

Soon Ionna found herself seated with the others at a round table.

There were four in total—herself, Leroy, Freda, and Josefine.

Josefine, who moments ago had looked ready to bolt, had quickly circled back and claimed a seat of his own.

Each of them was soon given a small wooden cup and five dice.

Freda spoke up, generously.

"Dame Ionna, why don't you go first."

Without answering, Ionna dropped her dice into the cup and shook it.

The others followed suit, and after a suitable stretch of time had passed, everyone flipped their cups over onto the table.

A moment passed as each of them checked their own dice count.

Covering the dice back up with her cup, Ionna said, indifferently:

"I'll bid one three."

This meant that among the twenty dice everyone held combined, there was at least one showing a three.

Each subsequent bid had to name a higher count than the one before, so the numbers only climbed as the turns went around.

"Two fours."

"……Seven threes."

Freda's bold bid drew every eye in the room to him.

Leroy was next. He thought it over for a moment, then said:

"I'll bid twenty sixes."

The absurdity of it swung every gaze back over to Leroy.

He was, essentially, claiming that every single die at the table—every one of them—had come up six.

Which was, obviously, a lie.

Ionna, next in turn, said, unimpressed:

"Liar."

Everyone lifted their cups and revealed their dice. There were no surprises.

Leroy quietly slid the gold coins he'd set aside across the table toward Ionna.

"Ah, so close."

"You don't have to lose to me on purpose, you know."

A small, endearing back-and-forth passed between Ionna and Leroy.

That was the moment Josefine and Freda finally caught on to what was happening, and let out hearty guffaws.

"Now really, Your Grace! Even so, isn't this a bit much?"

"He's got a point. If the two of you keep this up, there's no game left at all. At this rate, Dame Ionna's going to end up with a mountain of gold in front of her and nobody else!"

"Wouldn't be so bad, that. She won't take a gift easily any other way—I've been dying trying to think of what to give her."