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Once they confirmed that her expression was still stern, they sank their heads forward once more and repeated their apologies.

However, those girls didn’t show any sign of understanding.

It was just because their master was angry that they were blindly asking for forgiveness until the master felt better.

They looked like they didn’t even know what they did wrong.

‘Ha.’

Yelena crossed her arms in front of her chest.

It was ridiculous.

Thinking about how those two maids caused her to feel nervous and wasted as much as an entire week made her extremely mad.

However, what made her angrier was—

“We just did it because we were thinking of Madam.”

“That’s right. We were just doing everything for Madam. We didn’t mean anything else. Really.”

“Please forgive us.”

—That.

The sight of them confidently saying that they did it for Yelena.

The fact that they didn’t doubt it one bit and believed.

That if they did such a thing, she would feel delighted.

That confidence.

The blind conviction that there would be no woman who would be happy to have Kaywhin Mayhard, who was called a monster, as a husband.

The accident they caused and their very way of thinking were so annoying that it was hard for her to put up with it.

What fanned her annoyance even more was how if it were Mielle right here, like how it was supposed to be, their conviction would be the reality.

The two maids would’ve gotten praises and rewards like they wanted, and their action would be deemed wise.

She hated that.

That fact made her feel awful and unpleasant.

Yelena didn’t understand why she was so angry.

But now that she was angry, she could only express her anger.

Yelena looked past the head maid Lula, who was hanging her head in a sense of responsibility, and laid her eyes on the butler Ben.

“Ben.”

“Yes, Madam.”

“What punishment can I give those two?”

Ben said in a careful tone.

“If we go according to the law of the fief, you are allowed to go as far as cutting off their tongues.”

The law of the fief was more prioritized compared to the law of the kingdom when it comes to personal disposals in regards to employees.

It seemed that cutting off their tongues was included in that ‘personal’ business.

Yelena smiled while thinking of that, and the maids interpreted that as something and started to beg her with deadly pale face,

“M-Madam…”

“Madam, please forgive us! Please! We were wrong!”

“You were wrong? Do you guys know what you did wrong?”

“Y-Yes?”

“…No, nevermind.”

Would they get it if Yelena had to explain the anger she herself couldn’t understand?

While thinking that way, Yelena then said to the head maid.

“Five whips. Two days of fasting, including water. One week of probation.”

“…!”

“Take them away.”

“T-Thank you very much.”

Compared to cutting off their tongues, it was a very lenient punishment.

The head maid Lula might’ve expected the worst after seeing Yelena’s cold attitude that she thanked her in confusion before taking away Anri and Marie.

“Those children have been working here for a long time.”

The butler Ben said.

It was the excuse he used to explain why the head maid looked like she was cherishing the two maids.

Yelena didn’t answer.

She didn’t care about that.

The reason why she didn’t cut off their tongues was not because her anger suddenly subsided, and nor was it because of the trembling head maid.

She just didn’t want her first work as lady of the house to be cutting off some maid’s tongue.

“…Ben.”

“Yes, Madam.”

“Is the Duke in his study right now?”

Ben was quite sharp.

He said right away.

“I’ll guide you there, Ma’am.”

* * *

The outside of the study was noisy.

Duke Mayhard laid down his pen.

The noise in the corridor usually couldn’t be heard from inside because there was a thick door blocking it, but Duke Mayhard had a more exceptional hearing compared to an ordinary person.

It was when he just ordered the servant to open the door.

The door was opened wide before the servant could open it, and one person strided in.

“…Wife?”

Yelena froze for a moment hearing the word wife, but she then immediately approached his desk.

Duke Mayhard didn’t stop Yelena from approaching him.

If anyone had seen her then, they would think that she was approaching him like she was itching to fight the Duke. She then stood in front of Duke Mayhard.

Yelena blankly stared down at the face of the Duke, who was sitting on a chair.

‘…It’s nothing much.’

The face that she couldn’t see properly earlier because of the backlight was now completely visible to her.

For the first time, Yelena saw the Duke’s patches that people kept calling the symbol of the devil.

Her impression was just that.

‘It’s really nothing much.’

She was speechless.

People made a fuss inside and outside just because of something like this?

Yelena narrowed her eyebrows then stretched her hand towards Duke Mayhard’s face.

The patches were in an intricate shape, as if it was tangled in a complicated spell, and covered the most part of the Duke’s face.

The parts without the patches were just his underjaw and around the lips.

Yelena’s fingertips touched Duke Mayhard’s patches.

The Duke flinched, so Yelena asked in surprise.

“Does it hurt?”

Duke Mayhard shook his head. He then said,

“…I just got a bit surprised.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. For touching you all of a sudden.”

Yelena said that, but she didn’t show any sign of retracting her hand.

She asked for a belated permission instead.

“May I touch?”

Duke Mayhard answered with a nod instead of with words.

As if she was waiting for his nod, Yelena moved her hand.

‘Whoa.’

Her fingertips grazed his cheek, and after wandering around there, they moved up.

‘It’s so soft.’

That was the impression Yelena got as she touched Duke Mayhard’s patches.

They were called patches, but after touching it herself, it really wasn’t any different from a normal skin.

No, there was a difference.

Because it wasn’t just a normal skin, but a super good skin.

‘It’s like the skin of a baby.’

She didn’t feel anything unpleasant on her fingertips.

Is it possible for a person’s skin to be this smooth?

Yelena unknowingly took off her hand from his face and touched her own face.

‘I’ve also always heard people say I have a good skin wherever I go, but.’

The Duke flinched again when Yelena did that.

He had an odd expression on his face.

After sincerely comparing her own skin to the skin of the one before her and analyzing it, Yelena finally came to her senses.

She didn’t come here to do this.

She cleared her throat.

“Actually, about the reason I came here like this.”

It was rather late of her to get to the point.

“I laid down a punishment for two maids just now.”

“So I’ve heard.”

Already?

Yelena widened her eyes.

That’s quite fast.

“Uhm, then… Have you heard about why they got a punishment?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

Then it’ll be easy to talk.

Yelena then quickly said.

“My body isn’t in pain. I don’t feel unwell either.”

“That seems to be the case.”

“But I’ve been missing sleep for a few nights lately. Because I’ve been waiting for a certain someone who wouldn’t come.”

The Duke froze.

Yelena didn’t miss that chance.

“I usually don’t have the hobby of sleeping alone. If you understand, then I’ll be waiting today.”

After Yelena said that, she didn’t even stay to hear his answer and immediately fled the study.

She looked like she was escaping, and it was right that she was escaping.

Even if it was her, she wasn’t brazen enough to confidently stay around after saying that.

‘No, maybe I am?’

Yelena suddenly remembered her older brother Edward nagging her to please have some shame as a girl.

Of course Yelena never even listened.

On the contrary, she just calmly treated Edward as a sexist to counter him.

‘I guess my shame increased after coming to an unfamiliar place.’

It happened sometimes.

If Edward heard this, he might be happy and say this was the positive effect of marriage.

Now that she thought about it, it was time for her to send a letter to her family telling them she was doing fine.

After deciding on what to do tomorrow in advance, Yelena went back to her room.

There was something she needed to do today.

“Prepare the bath.”

“What flower petals would you like to use?”

At Yelena’s instruction, the clever maid calmly asked.

Yelena wavered for a moment.

She thought of a list of flower petals that would make her skin smooth and soft, but it quickly waned.

She didn’t know much, and she felt like it wouldn’t have much meaning.

‘No matter what I do, I can’t get any smoother than that skin.’

Her husband’s skin was so perfect that she felt like challenging it would be impossible.

Yelena then faced reality and said,

“Anything, just pick an appropriate one yourself.”

“Understood.”

The maid who exuded competence even with just her gaze then retreated.

While waiting for the bath to be ready, Yelena poured the water on top of the table to a glass and drank it.

She gulped down the water real smoothly.

Somehow her throat felt dry.

‘It’s been quite a day today.’

She rashly laid down a punishment to the maids who acted recklessly, and she went to her husband and made a deal with him.

She did a lot of things.

That was why her throat just naturally went dry.

Yelena nodded and poured more water to drink again.

After consecutively emptying 3 glasses of water like a hippo drinking water, Yelena suddenly realized.

‘Am I nervous?’