Chapter 61

“How soon will they be able to get out of bed?”

“It’s hard to say for certain, but maybe around a month.”

“Do your best. Get them back to the west as soon as you can.”

“I truly want to, sir. It’s maddening. They’re pestering me from both sides non stop.”

Brother Matteo and Sister Judith kept trying to cajole Gilbert whenever they got the chance.

Even when he refused and pushed them off they returned, stubborn as dogs.

It made the hair on his neck stand up, bringing to mind the sight of a beast he’d met in the mountains when he was small.

They really were like wild dogs with their leashes cut.

If only Brother Vincent would hold his subordinates in check.

Don’t even start talking about him.

He was unpredictable, grinning and loitering about in a way that made Gilbert uneasy, so Gilbert kept his distance.

‘Of course the creepiest one is someone else entirely.’

Gilbert stared at the man sitting before him with a face as if nothing in the world mattered.

He looked utterly indifferent.

But thinking of how the duke had looked when Gilbert reported the duchess’s fainting still felt like a nightmare.

When his gaze met the duke’s the duke spoke.

“The barbarians from the holy city seem to have offered you a pretty reward.”

“You don’t need to prod that far. My lady is much richer than they are.”

“Hmm.”

“And whatever Your Grace thinks of me, I swore loyalty to the lady. She was the first to see my worth.”

Anyone can tell the value of a finely cut jewel. Even a glance from above is enough.

But to find a raw gem you have to go down low, meet it at its level, and inspect each stone.

That’s something ordinary nobles would never do.

“My lady is that kind of person. People may misunderstand her now but someday everyone will see who she is.”

“They will. She’s a kind person.”

“…Yes?”

“Enough. Go on out.”

At the duke’s dismissal Gilbert bowed his head.

When they stepped into the corridor a cold air filled Gilbert’s lungs. It was enough cold to wake the dazed man fully.

Yet he still felt as if he’d seen an illusion.

Maybe it was only his imagination but at the very moment the duke called Elicia kind he had looked like someone holding back tears.

* * *

Boredom was killing me.

No Nero, no books, no companion gold coins and trapped in a bleak inn.

The local physician’s diagnosis was that my body was badly worn out and I needed at least a week of bed rest.

If I so much as stood up the Count Conte and Ramon would make a fuss, and Sir Gareth, the duke’s aide, was posted at the doorway on guard.

“Madam, I’ve brought you a thin soup to soothe the stomach.”

“…”

I needed at least something good to eat, but this place offered a miserly reception.

Fish soup, smoked fish soup, salted fish soup, and the occasional fish pie as a special treat. Everything was fish.

Was I getting such shabby treatment because I was hiding my rank as duchess?

“Madam, I thought you might be bored so I brought something to read!”

Maybe Ramon finally realized my mood had hit a new low.

He tried to be useful at last.

“It’s a situation report the Bellamare officials compiled ♡”

“…”

Scratch the idea that he finally understood me.

Who brings a report like that as reading material in front of me, of all people?

I glared silently and Ramon, stupid as he was, began to sense he’d done wrong. He took cautious steps back.

“Please rest, madam. I will take my leave.”

“Is that supposed to be reading material, you—”

I aimed the stack of documents at the fleeing man but my grip was weak and they slipped from my hands.

The report landed perfectly open on my knees as if fate had a sense of humor.

The first page read,

[Report on Bellamare Road Restoration and Supply Distribution]

Hmm.

I’m not reading because I want to. It’s just there so my eyes go to it.

Even so my fingers flipped pages faster and faster.

By the time I reached the last page—

“Sh*t.”

My blood pressure surged higher than my fatigued body deserved.

They blamed every problem piling up in Bellamare on a single landslide and shoved the shabby excuse at me as their investigation. It was incompetence on display and it made me laugh for the wrong reasons.

“I’m here to get sea air not to work. After all the trouble at court am I supposed to keep toiling even at a resort?”

Ignore it.

Yes, pretend you didn’t see. Pretend you saw nothing.

“It’s boiling in here. Getting angry just makes me hotter.”

They’d stoked the fireplace high in the name of treating a patient so the room felt stifling.

Just as my irritation climbed and I fanned myself, the sound of cool waves struck my ear.

Gazing at the dark sea for a moment like a spell had been cast, I opened the door.

“Master of the guild?”

Gareth met my eyes at the corridor. Maybe because of security.

I lowered my voice to a whisper.

“Where are Lord Ramon and Count Conte?”

“They said they were bored and went to bed early.”

Good, the noisy nags had gone.

I smiled inwardly and Gareth brought over a blanket that had been hanging nearby.

“The corridor is chilly. If you have anything to do come inside—”

“You. How skilled are you?”

“Yes?”

“As the duke’s aide you can’t be useless.”

Gareth met my sudden question with a calm nod.

“If it’s with a sword, I’m fairly competent.”

“…”

His eyes said more than words.

Normally his gaze seemed blank, but the moment he held a sword it changed completely.

“Good. I want to go for a walk. Come with me as my guard. No objections.”

* * *

Gareth and I walked through Bellamare’s sleeping streets.

We passed a few people but my borrowed inn clothes kept us from drawing attention.

Being a young man and woman out at night did lead to a few curious looks.

Someone whistled and chuckled.

“They probably think I’m a tavern whore.”

“If His Grace hears that he’ll have Bellamare wiped off the map.”

“Don’t bother. Who would imagine the duchess wandering like this at night?”

A noble title can vanish with a change of clothes.

After being out in the sea air my legs began to ache and my skin shivered.

“Let’s rest a while.”

“You don’t look well. Maybe we should return now.”

“My feet hurt. I can’t walk much farther.”

I perched on the edge of an old fountain that had long since run dry.

I thought a walk would clear my head but it only made things more complicated.

‘Lombard’s main trade routes are basically two.’

The Third Bridge heading inland south and the Bellamare port leading to the western sea.

Of those the sea route was crucial for moving the region’s largest export, ore.

‘What has the governor been doing here?’

There were too many problems.

For one, there were no smelting facilities to refine ore for export, which would have created jobs and vastly increased revenue.

Food supplies were another issue.

‘In the north where winter is long and the land is poor they have to rely on imports.’

Yet whether rats had eaten the decks or some other thief was at work, the cargo and warehouse stocks were far less than the report had suggested.

Where would I even begin to fix all this—

‘Wait.’

Fix? I’m here to lounge in the sea breeze not to overhaul the place.

“Madam of the guild.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything.”

“…?”

My endless thoughts ended at Gareth’s low call.

We’d set out in the dead of night and a pale blue dawn was already breaking.

We were about to head back when Gareth silently signaled and I saw a crowd gathering soundlessly where he pointed.