Chapter 91
Ruan had thought that the mansion Ralph introduced would be a nice place. After all, it was personally selected and prepared by Ralph Steiner himself.
But…
‘I didn’t expect it to be this nice…’
Located slightly away from the city center but not too remote, the mansion was an elegant three-story stone building.
From the moment he first saw the exterior of the mansion, adorned with intricate sculptures, arched decorations, and magnificent windows, Ruan couldn’t help but be amazed.
Having only seen the rugged and practical buildings of Reinke since his possession, he had unconsciously thought that was the standard form of architecture in this world. While the Reinke Grand Duke’s castle was impressive in its own powerful way, the graceful beauty of this mansion was striking in a different sense.
And when he opened the large door and entered the building, Ruan realized:
The true value of this mansion didn’t lie in its beautiful exterior.
When Ruan had asked Ralph to arrange a mansion, his main focus was on creating an environment where the Grand Duke would experience minimal stress.
And Ralph had prepared a mansion that perfectly met Ruan’s requirements.
The mansion’s structure provided excellent soundproofing, blocking out noise, and thick curtains were hung on every window, seemingly to block even the smallest sounds that might come through. Of course, there were plenty of spaces where a large cat could hide and rest comfortably.
There weren’t many servants assigned to the mansion, but they were all quiet and capable individuals. They were all from the Steiner Guild, so there was no risk of them spreading information elsewhere.
Above all, what surprised Ruan the most was… that the mansion’s interior was designed to have an atmosphere quite similar to that of the Grand Duke’s castle.
‘Ralph really put a lot of thought into this.’
Ruan recalled Ralph, who had just been led away by his aide. It seemed that the entourage had arrived earlier than expected, causing some schedule adjustments. Ralph, with his bright eyes, had looked at Ruan with an expression that said, ‘I did well, right? So pet me. Please, please, please pet me. Pet me a lot.’ He couldn’t stay at the mansion for long and was dragged away. Even as he was being taken away, he couldn’t tear his glistening eyes from Ruan, whimpering in a way that was so pitiful.
It was fortunate that they were scheduled to meet again soon to deal with matters related to monster products while in the capital.
When they meet again, he must express his gratitude and pet him to his satisfaction.
A smile crept onto Ruan’s face as he thought of the retriever exuding joy and affection with his whole body.
‘I thought there would only be tiring and complicated matters while staying in the capital… But I can meet Ralph like this again. There are unexpectedly good things too.’
Of course, as there were unexpectedly good things, there were also unexpectedly complicated matters of the heart.
Ruan turned his eyes to scan the empty room.
It was a room designed to feel as similar as possible to the Grand Duke’s usual bedroom, with the bedding they usually shared brought along. However, the room meticulously prepared for the Grand Duke remained abandoned, not yet welcoming its owner.
Because as soon as the Grand Duke arrived in the capital… he left with the knights.
And that too…
‘You should rest.’
‘That’s right, Ruan. You got very carsick on the way. You should rest.’
‘We’ll take good care of His Grace and be back!’
Excluding Ruan.
Of course, he did get terribly carsick… but that was because they raced through strange roads in a carriage without rubber tires.
Recalling the image of the Grand Duke and the knights leaving the mansion by themselves, Ruan let out a deep sigh.
He had thought the Grand Duke and the knights had grown closer during the journey to the capital. But he didn’t expect them to become so close that they would go somewhere by themselves, leaving only Ruan behind.
He had been feeling uneasy and whatnot, but now he had to admit it. Ruan was feeling depressed seeing the Grand Duke getting close to others without him. And he became even more depressed realizing he was depressed about it.
Ruan knew.
Because of his cat-like behaviors, people who didn’t know him well might misunderstand… But the Grand Duke was someone you couldn’t help but love more the more you got to know him. Once you became close to the Grand Duke, it was impossible not to see how affectionate, lovable, and cute he was.
So it was natural that he wasn’t particularly needed to mediate the relationship between the Grand Duke and the knights who had already grown close, but seeing the Grand Duke being close with others made him feel so unsettled.
‘Have I been under the illusion that I would always be in the role of connecting the Grand Duke with other people, thinking that would always be my place?’
If he wanted to be helpful to the Grand Duke, he should be thinking of other ways to help rather than feeling unsettled about this. Why was he feeling such petty emotions just because it seemed like the Grand Duke didn’t need him anymore?
Ruan pressed his fingers between his eyebrows and deliberately turned his thoughts to the tasks he needed to do in the capital.
‘Now that we’ve arrived in the capital, once we’ve recovered from the journey’s fatigue, I should first go to pay respects to Volker. Given the atmosphere around Marquis Elenroth, it seems he’ll create a favorable situation for the Grand Duke… But still, Volker is Volker, so I need to stay alert. And after that… we have to attend the banquet.’
A banquet for the Emperor’s birthday attended by nobles from all over the country.
An unfamiliar and noisy place, with many people. Isn’t that the perfect place for the Grand Duke’s mood to plummet to its worst?
‘I’ll have to work hard to ensure that the cat, stressed in an unfamiliar place, doesn’t get misunderstood as the scary and cruel Grand Duke again, causing the atmosphere to become strange.’
As Ruan was meticulously organizing plans and countermeasures for upcoming events, he didn’t know.
He didn’t know that the knights had emphasized that this was the time before a proposal when one should show a ‘reliable and attractive’ image. He didn’t know that because of this, the Grand Duke would focus on presenting the image of a ‘proper Grand Duke of Reinke’ without needing Ruan’s support.
As a result, the Grand Duke would be greatly misunderstood in social circles… But that misunderstanding wouldn’t be the kind Ruan was worried about.
* * *
The beginning of all misunderstandings was the popularity of Reinke’s monster products.
When dwarven monster products were unveiled through the hunting festival, and the hype for these beautiful and unique items soared, the Steiner Guild sold a small quantity of products to only a select few consumers.
This was to create an atmosphere among the nobles where owning these talked-about, rare items became another form of hunt to satisfy their vanity.
The competition to acquire dwarven monster products became fierce, and soon, at every noble gathering, there was always at least one person casually showing off their dwarven monster product.
This meant that at every social event, all nobles saw dwarven monster products and heard about how difficult they were to obtain, how rare, beautiful, and special they were.
Among those who encountered dwarven monster products in this way was also Countess Novil’s daughter, Katrin Novil.
Katrin Novil appeared to be just an ordinary noble lady, but she had a secret known only to her closest friends. She was Elia Rose, a popular novelist whose every published work shook Ardenheim.
However, despite her great fame, Katrin had not been able to write a new work recently. She was stuck in a terrible slump where nothing seemed interesting, and not a single word would come out.
Wandering around social events, wondering if she should give up her life as Elia Rose and focus on her life as a noble lady, if her inability to write was a sign from God, one day…
Katrin encountered a dwarven item at a friend’s tea party. It was an item with engravings so beautiful it felt mythical. Katrin, who had been spending days uninterested in anything, stared at that item as if enchanted throughout the tea party before returning home.
And soon after, the windows of every bookstore in Ardenheim were covered with one novel… It was “The Heart of Winter,” the masterpiece marking the return of Elia Rose after a long hiatus.
This novel, which delicately portrayed the passionate romance between the cold and ruthless Northern Duke Kaien Raberk and his beautiful and devoted lover Elianne, became a massive hit.
Not long after its release, an opera based on it opened, numerous derivative works dealing with the tender romance of the cold Northern Duke sprouted up, and there were even rumors that sales of Reinke’s monster products, ‘from the Northern Duke’s territory,’ increased thanks to this novel.
In a city where there might be those who hadn’t read “The Heart of Winter,” but none who hadn’t heard of it, it took just one season for people’s mental image of the ‘cold-blooded Northern Duke’ to be subtly overlaid with a romantic image, riding on the popularity of this novel.
As the whole of Ardenheim was enthusiastic about the Northern Duke who was ruthless and cold-blooded… but romantic in front of his lover, in the spring, a rumor suddenly began to circulate.
It was a rumor that the real-life ruthless and cold-blooded Northern Duke was visiting Ardenheim.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
