Before Duke Kaywhin Mayhard’s birth, the winter of that year was so harsh that even beasts couldn’t stand it. At the same time, the Duke of that time went all out in monster subjugation.

With all those things considered, the amount of monsters that came down from the mountain just naturally decreased.

‘And after Duke Mayhard inherited the house, he immediately took his knights and went up the mountains to sweep up all the monsters.’

His actions were brilliant.

He was able to eradicate almost all of the monsters that were a long-time nuisance for the fief then.

‘I think he was sixteen at that time.’

The ridiculous thing was, it just became one of the reasons why people called Duke Kaywhin Mayhard a monster.

‘Even though if it were someone else, he would just be praised as having an outstanding armed force.’

In reality, anyone from any fief who made the same result would’ve gotten the title of an honorable god of war.

They made the same achievement, but one was called god of war while the other was called a monster.

Yelena suddenly felt irritated.

It didn’t have anything to do with her, but she felt annoyed.

Anyway, right after the monsters—the only stain in the fief—were sweeped up, the fief rapidly developed.

This was where Duke Mayhard’s abilities showed.

After he cleared out the monsters, he lowered the tax of the fief en masse for five years, as a celebration of the sweeping.

They didn’t forget to spread that rumor as well.

The effect was very good.

The people who were too busy to survive didn’t care whether the fief lord was called a monster among the nobles’ society.

‘If we think about it a little, he’s a capable man. Come to think of it, he also has a lot of businesses.’

The rumor about Duke Mayhard’s abundant wealth was as widespread as the talk about him being a cursed monster.

When Yelena was deep in thought about that, the maid who had been quiet so far said carefully.

“…Uhm, Madam, should I call for that child?”

Yelena wondered what she meant before shaking her head.

“That wouldn’t be necessary.”

She must’ve been talking about whether Yelena wanted to punish the maid who forgot to relay the news about the Duke to her last night.

Nevermind that.

Yelena was feeling good.

Maybe because she found out that being deserted in their first night was just her misunderstanding.

She generously forgave the mistake of the maid whose name she didn’t even know, and instead said,

“Let’s look around the castle. I also need to hear everyone’s introductions.”

* * *

“Pleased to meet you, Madam. It’s an honor for me to serve you. I’m the butler, Ben.”

“Nice to meet you, Ben.”

“I’m the head maid, Lula.”

“I’m the head cook, Cooker.”

“I am…”

As Yelena was receiving the castle’s core workers’ introduction, her eyes lit up.

“Head gardener?”

“Ah, yes.”

The man who introduced himself as the head gardener awkwardly scratched his nape.

Yelena amusedly stared at him.

Head maid, head cook. She’d heard of various ‘Head’s before, but a ‘head’ gardener was a first for her.

“What’s your name again?”

“It’s Gardner.”

“I guess managing the castle’s garden is a heavy responsibility.”

“Ahaha, yes. Unexpectedly enough, there are more than ten gardeners who are living and working in the castle.”

“Up to ten, huh.”

Indeed, if it were to that extent, a head gardener really was needed.

Seeing Yelena purely expressing her admiration, Gardner the head gardener cleared his throat a little.

The butler Ben then cut in.

“The Master cherishes the gardens quite a lot. Among them all, he strolls the East Garden especially often.”

“East Garden…”

Yelena repeated it in a mutter to keep it in her mind.

“I see. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

“I shall also introduce myself officially. I’ve become the lady of the house as of yesterday. My name is Yelena Mayhard…”

Why do I feel so shy adding the surname Mayhard behind my name?

Yelena hid her shyness and quickly continued.

“You may address me as Duchess Mayhard. I look forward to working with you all.”

“Please take care of us.”

“Please take care of us, Madam.”

She didn’t know how many times she heard the word Madam today alone.

Even so, even when compared to the title Young Lady she was used to hearing all her life, she didn’t really hate it or feel uncomfortable with it.

Yelena softly smiled while looking at the people bowing to her.

The castle was more expansive than expected, so it took some time to tour around.

Not just time, it also took a toll on Yelena’s stamina.

After looking around the castle, Yelena was introduced to the knights who just finished training before wrapping up the day.

It was tiring, but somehow Yelena felt full as she laid down on the bed.

‘Will he come today?’

I think I heard them say that Duke Mayhard had finished the subjugation and returned.

She was considering to go out, but she was already all prepared for bed in her pajamas, so she stayed inside the bedroom.

‘I shouldn’t go straight to sleep. Let’s wait a bit longer. If he comes, first I’ll ask him how the subjugation went…’

Yelena was thinking about this and that while keeping herself awake for a few hours, but she fell asleep at one point.

The Duke didn’t come that day.

* * *

Yelena couldn’t understand in the slightest.

‘Why?’

Just how?

‘Why is he not coming to me at all?’

It had been a few days since the problematic first night.

But Duke Mayhard still hadn’t shown even the tip of his nose in her bedroom.

‘That’s not all.’

It wasn’t just coming to the bedroom.

The Duke and Yelena also ate separately for every meal.

At first, she tolerated it because she thought he was busy.

Her father also used to eat in his office while working if there were any business overdue.

But one day, two days.

Three days, four days.

…One week.

‘I can’t take it anymore.’

At this point, she had taken it enough and tolerated enough.

She wasn’t mistaken.

It also wasn’t just her feeling.

No matter who saw this, it was obvious he was avoiding her.

Yelena rolled her arms up as if she was going to attack Duke Mayhard immediately and exited her room.

She was waiting quietly since she was afraid he would think of her as an impatient and quick-tempered wife, but that ended now.

In the first place, the other side was being like this so she had no idea why she had to look good.

Yelena was walking towards Duke Mayhard’s office with fiery eyes when her mind gradually weakened.

‘…Who knows. Maybe there’s a situation that I’m not aware of.’

Even though I’m usually not this kind of person.

Today was kind of weird.

Yelena was standing in the middle of the hallway muttering to herself when two maids passed by.

Yelena thought of this as truly the last time, then she called over the two maids.

“You guys…”

“Yes!”

“Yes, Madam!”

The two maids immediately answered with eyes full of expectation.

‘Expectation?’

Yelena froze.

She was just going to ask them whether her husband was busy lately, and if he were, then how busy was he.

But they were looking like they were expecting something.

‘What is this?’

For the time being, Yelena carefully inspected the two maids and called out their names.

“Anri, Marie. Am I right?”

One week is a long time.

Yelena received a list of the employees working in the castle from the butler Ben, and through it she roughly memorized all of their appearance and names.

There were so many that she couldn’t do it in just one or two days, but as mentioned earlier, one week is a long time.

“Yes, you’re right.”

“You’re correct.”

The maids’ eyes sparkled even more.

It was like it wasn’t just because the lady of the house called their names, but because they were expecting something afterwards.

Yelena wondered just what these girls wanted, but first of all, she asked the question she wanted to ask.

“I don’t know if the Duke is busy nowadays, but I haven’t been able to see him at all. Could it be…”

…that there was something urgent happening in the castle? was what Yelena was going to say.

“You’re right, it is us!”

“We did that!”

“What?”

Yelena frowned.

Before she could even ask them what they meant, the maids didn’t even miss a beat and just blabbered everything themselves.

“You finally found us. We were wondering when you would notice.”

“We were the ones who did everything.”

“Please do not fear from now on. We will keep preventing the Duke from coming to you, Madam.”

Yelena froze for a moment.

“…What did you say?”

“We conveyed to the Duke that Madam feels unwell, or that Madam is not in the best condition.”

“We conveyed to him that he shouldn’t meet you before your body is all healed.”

“That’s right. We also requested that he doesn’t come to find you first before you call him over.”

Yelena’s expression hardened.

The two maids were so excited they couldn’t notice that, so they kept talking gleefully.

“We’re the ones who did it ourselves. The head maid Lula doesn’t know about it.”

“It’s something that the two of us did while thinking of you, Madam.”

“Marie.”

“Yes, Madam!”

Hearing her name called, Marie answered with vigor.

Anri looked at her in envy thinking that Marie would be praised and given a reward first, but then Yelena said.

“Go and call over the butler Ben and head maid Lula.”

“Pardon?”

“Anri, you stay here.”

Her voice was chilly and stern.

The two maids finally discovered Yelena’s cold expression then.

Yelena then commanded the two frozen girls.

“Right now.”

Anri and Marie rammed their heads against the floor as they bawled.

“Please forgive us.”

“Please forgive us, Madam.”