Chapter 3.2

Chapter 3.2

Three years ago, when Chezare first left for battle, Eileen would write to him every day. She wrote to him for an entire year, but not once did she receive a reply from him. Since she wasn’t expecting anything in return, she had never felt disappointed. All she felt was worry.

“I thought he didn’t read them. Since there weren’t any replies, I assumed that personal letters were not delivered to the battlefield… Besides, even if the letters had been delivered, His Excellency would probably have been so busy that he wouldn’t even have the time to read them…”

She didn’t want to become a nuisance to him. And so, she stopped writing to him after the first year. For the past three years, everything she learned about Chezare was from the newspapers. Yet today, he suddenly went to meet her, and even proposed to her.

“His Excellency would be very happy whenever your letters arrived.”

If that was the case, then why weren’t there any replies? Eileen felt as though Lotan was saying that to comfort her. Since he was a knight under Chezare’s direct command, he would have witnessed all her letters being thrown away.

Faced with the kind Lotan’s consideration for her, Eileen hid the bitterness she felt and put on a cheery front. “Now that he’s back, there’s no need for letters. I’ll make up for it with something else.”

“That’s right. All you have to do is to stay by his side.”

Eileen feigned ignorance as though she didn’t know that he was referring to her becoming Chezare’s duchess, and Lotan grinned at her reaction. As if on cue, the car came to a stop.

“We have arrived.”

Before she knew it, they had already arrived at the entrance of her house. Eileen had inherited this small two-storey brick house that came with a little garden from her mother.

According to the imperial law, this house should have been inherited by her father, but thanks to Chezare’s intervention in her mother’s will, she became the one who inherited it instead.

There was an orange tree in the garden, and its green leaves were swaying in the wind. The tree had borne fruit, and the orange and green colours added some liveliness to the brick house.

The orange sapling that had brought to life this picturesque sight was actually an extremely luxurious item that shouldn’t have appeared in the garden of the Eirod family, a noble family that had fallen from grace. Once again, this tree was a gift from Chezare.

Lotan got out of the car first and then walked over to open the door on the other side. Hearing the rustling of the leaves in the wind, he looked at the orange tree with delight.

“Has anyone tried to steal the oranges before?”

“How could that ever happen?”

Since receiving the orange tree as a gift, there had only been one instance of theft. The brave orange thief was shot dead by the Duke’s men. Needless to say, no one ever dared to go anywhere close to Eileen’s house, not to mention the orange tree.

Eileen raised her head and looked at Lotan, who had accompanied her all the way home. This boorish-looking man smiled brightly at her when their eyes met, and even the burn marks on his face wrinkled as he did so.

Just like the orange tree that didn’t match the status of the Eirod family, at the beginning, Eileen felt as though the Duke’s knights were unreachable, like the skies. They didn’t seem like people whom she could speak or joke with in the way she could communicate with them now. She felt this even more strongly with the Duke.

She forced a smile, trying to lift her depressive mood.

“Thank you, Captain Lotan. Would you happen to have time for a cup of tea?”

It had been some time since she had met him, so she didn’t want him to leave so quickly. She was also very curious about what had happened over the past few years.

Lotan graciously accepted her invitation, and the two of them had tea in a small drawing room in the brick house. He then listed the people who wanted to meet Eileen.

“Miss Eileen, Senon really wants to see you. When I told him that I was going to meet you today, he insisted on sending his regards.”

“Sir Senon?”

“Yes. Not just him. Michele threw a tantrum too. And Diego speaks about you all the time, Miss Eileen, and he seems to think that you’re still a young girl. I heard that when he came back, he bought you a rabbit doll, so I got you one too.”
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