Chapter 59

Noah looked disappointed but accepted her answer.

“Then play with Noah tomorrow.”

He held out his small pinky finger. Agnes smiled warmly and hooked hers with his, pressing her thumb on top to seal the promise.

She spent as much time as she could with him over lunch, chatting and laughing before leaving him in Lizzie’s care and returning to her study.

Before they parted, she made sure to promise again that they would spend time together the next day.

After working through more documents for a while, she heard a polite knock on the door.

“Come in.”

There were only a few people who could enter the third floor, so there was no need to ask who it was.

The clock hands pointed to four thirty. It could only be Gavelin.

As expected, he opened the door and entered.

“My lady, I rested until the time you instructed.”

His expression was as calm and emotionless as ever.

Yet the shadows under his eyes had lightened a little, and there was a faint trace of color on his cheeks.

Agnes was relieved to see even that small change. She handed him the papers she had marked.

“I wrote down the parts I was curious about here, and the ones where I added suggestions there. Everything was organized beautifully. It was very easy to understand.”

“I’m glad it was convenient for you.”

Gavelin read over what she had written and nodded. He made no unnecessary comments, neither praise nor correction, and simply began explaining each point one by one.

Agnes listened closely and took notes as he spoke.

When he finished, she smiled.

“Feels better after a proper rest, doesn’t it?”

“It is… more comfortable.”

He spoke reluctantly, though honestly, and that made her laugh quietly.

As she stacked the papers neatly, she spoke again.

“I haven’t gone through everything yet, but it’s clear how well you’ve managed things. There’s hardly anything that needs fixing.”

“Thank you.”

His words were polite and distant, not the grateful tone of someone receiving praise.

Agnes smiled in exasperation.

“What I mean is that there was no need to rush at all. You’re incredibly capable, but it seems you lack a little sense of which things are urgent and which aren’t.”

Normally, Agnes would never have said something like that. She disliked pointing out others’ flaws and preferred gentle speech.

But she had learned that Gavelin wasn’t someone easily swayed by kindness. Saying she was worried he might collapse wouldn’t work on him.

He was the kind of person who needed to be told plainly what his weakness was.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem offended. Instead, he looked at her with mild surprise.

“You mean I lack the ability to prioritize?”

“When there’s a lot of work, I’m sure you manage priorities well. But I don’t think rest is ever part of what you consider work. From that perspective, yes, I think that ability is lacking.”

Agnes looked at him directly, her expression steady.

“If you don’t rest when you should, your health will suffer. And when something important happens, you might not be in your best condition to handle it. You understand what I mean, right?”

“Yes, I understand.”

Agnes clapped her hands lightly, pleased that he finally seemed to take her words to heart.

“Good. Then that’s all the work for today. Come, sit down for a bit. There’s something I want to talk about.”

She rose from her chair and walked toward the sofa by the window.

Gavelin hesitated for a moment before sitting across from her, slightly angled to the side. Agnes placed her hands on her knees and sat upright, meeting his gaze.

“Do you remember? You once told me there was something you would tell me when I became the Duchess of Harkvitz and Vasteron.”

His eyes trembled faintly. He lowered his head, clasping and unclasping his hands over his knees.

Agnes watched him quietly and spoke in a calm voice.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. But I’m asking because I want to help you. I want to understand why His Majesty bears hostility toward you and what happened between you.”

Gavelin exhaled slowly.

When Agnes had first come to the Vasteron townhouse, he had been wary of her. At the time, he might have thought she was asking out of idle curiosity.

But now he knew better. Agnes truly wanted to help him so he wouldn’t face the same situation again.

After a long pause, he finally spoke.

“I once refused an imperial order. It seems His Majesty has not forgiven me for it.”

“An imperial order?”

That was unexpected.

From what she had seen, Gavelin was the kind of man who obeyed authority without complaint.

Even now, she wasn’t sure she was the ideal duchess in his eyes, yet he treated her with absolute respect.

Gavelin gave a short, wry laugh as if he had guessed her thoughts.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“May I ask what kind of order it was?”

“It was an order to marry Her Highness, Princess Serene.”

Agnes fell silent for a moment, thinking.

Gavelin was a noble, but not of the highest rank. Princess Serene, on the other hand, was beautiful and lively, surrounded by suitors from all corners of the Empire. Everyone knew how she met a new admirer almost every day.

And now, the man who could have married her sat before Agnes.

But she didn’t ask why he refused. Agnes knew too well that power and prestige weren’t everything in life.

She was simply curious why the Emperor had chosen him for Serene in the first place.

“What do you think His Majesty wanted?”

Gavelin gave a soft, bitter laugh and shook his head.

“I have no idea. I gave up trying to understand his mind long ago.”

His tone carried quiet resignation, the kind that came from years of reflection.

Why indeed?

The most likely reason was political. The Emperor might have wanted Serene to marry a man of lower title to weaken any future claim her children could make to the throne.

But from what Agnes had seen, Serene had no interest in succession. To her, suitors were little more than a passing amusement.

So why force a marriage neither side wanted?

“Yes, you’re right. His thoughts are impossible to understand.”

Agnes gave a faint, weary smile.

The Emperor often acted lighthearted and frivolous, but beneath that facade lay contradictions too deep for ordinary people to comprehend.

Gavelin met her empathetic gaze, then lifted his shoulders slightly as if to end the subject.

“In any case, there’s no need to worry, my lady. Here in the North, I seldom have any dealings with His Majesty.”

Even so, a shadow of something unspoken flickered in his eyes.

He stared blankly at the window where the late afternoon sunlight scattered across the floor, then stood.

“Then I’ll take my leave now. Please get some rest.”

“Ah, Gavelin. I plan to spend some time with Noah tomorrow. That will be fine, won’t it?”

“Of course.”

He replied at once, then added a moment later,

“I’ll also give some thought to what you said about priorities.”

“Thank you.”

Agnes smiled brightly. She was genuinely happy that someone so rigid and guarded had finally begun to listen.

After bowing politely and leaving her study, Gavelin paused outside the closed door and shook his head.

She was truly a meddlesome woman. But instead of irritation, there was a faint sense of relief in his sigh.