Chapter 32

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 32

Chapter Title: The Fragrance of a Woman

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“Go pay a visit to Rowen, Irena. If you like it there, you can stay as long as you want.”

“Really? You're really giving me permission?”

Irena was over the moon at Duke Vermonte's words.

“Of course. When have I ever gone back on my word?”

“Waaah, Father! Thank you so much!”

Irena circled the desk in a感動, dropped to her knees before the duke seated in his chair, and hugged his waist, acting all cute and clingy.

“I thought you'd never allow it.”

Duke Vermonte let out a hearty laugh as he stroked the head of his daughter, who was behaving like an eager little puppy.

“Not allow it? Have you ever known me to make empty promises? Didn't I say I'd think it over?”

This all traced back to when Duke Vermonte had returned to Valmond Castle from Rowen with thirty wagons full of provisions.

Irena, who had welcomed him back enthusiastically, sparkled with curiosity.

‘You have to tell me all about your trip to Rowen tomorrow, okay?’

‘Sure. Let's have lunch together.’

The next day, Duke Vermonte barely had a moment to eat during lunch with his wife and three daughters, fending off a barrage of questions from Irena.

‘Do the people in Rowen really walk around half-naked?’

‘It's so hot there, they wear those undignified outfits that expose their skin.’

‘Are there really tons of flowers in Rowen?’

‘There are some blooming here and there, but they're not pretty flowers—just weeds, really.’

‘Aah, I want to see them for myself, even just once.’

For his flower-loving Irena, Duke Vermonte had even built a small greenhouse inside the castle.

The thick, transparent glass was a luxury item worth nearly as much as diamonds.

It had cost a fortune to construct even a single room-sized greenhouse, reinforced with sturdy iron frames designed to withstand the weight of winter snow without bending or shattering.

Once gifted the greenhouse, Irena had tended flowers there alongside the duchess.

But flowers grown without enough sunlight could never compare to those blooming wildly in nature.

Irena, who had grown up gazing at illustrations of flower fields imported from afar, longed to see such sights with her own eyes—but Valmond's customs made it impossible.

House Vermonte was practically the king of the North.

In terms of sheer accumulated wealth alone, they surpassed even the Oberon royal family.

As a result, Vermonte daughters never participated in the debutante balls held in the capital's social circles.

There was no need for the daughters everyone coveted as brides to travel a full week by carriage to the capital just to be paraded like merchandise at a market.

Instead, when a daughter came of age, they held grand balls at Valmond Castle, which the nobles dubbed the ‘Northern Debutante.’ It had become a special debutante event exclusively for Vermonte daughters.

Vermonte daughters thus had no reason to leave the formidable Valmond Castle until they married.

This had been the tradition since the days of their castle-building ancestors, and there was no particular reason to change it now.

Duke Vermonte was content with the fact that he didn't have to send off his beloved little songbird to some faraway marriage.

If only the son-in-law he'd so carefully married into the family hadn't died so pointlessly, he could have continued enjoying the prosperity shared with his darling daughter and the son-in-law who'd been raised so well in their home.

Of course, the decade-long drought had soured the territory's mood, but signs of the end were finally appearing, and Clodel's marriage had put out the immediate fires. Valmond's return to former glory was only a matter of time.

But after Irena became like a lone wild goose without a mate, his paternal worries deepened.

He'd handpicked the finest candidate from all her suitors, only for that one to die—leaving him with lingering regrets, wondering if another choice might have brought him back alive.

Blissfully unaware of her father's inner turmoil, the still immature Irena kept pestering Duke Vermonte relentlessly about visiting Rowen.

‘Clodel went there too. And you visited as well, Father. I want to go! Please?’

‘It's too dangerous.’

‘How's a flower field dangerous? I just want to see the flowers!’

‘Don't you have plenty in the greenhouse? What more do you want? Roses? Shall I have a few whole bushes dug up from the south?’

‘I don't want the greenhouse. I want to see flowers blooming outside!’

For a while, Duke Vermonte dreaded catching her eye, tired of her constant talk of flowers and Rowen. But avoiding her only led to pangs of longing for his precious daughter, whom he loved more than the apple of his eye.

“I've decided to give you my blessing, so be careful out there.”

“Yes, Father. I won't do anything dangerous.”

“Don't sneak out of the inn at night or anything like that. If you do, you won't even make it to Rowen—you'll be turned back to Valmond midway. Got it?”

“Why would I do something like that? I never break promises I make to you.”

“Then promise your father.”

Duke Vermonte held out his thumb and pinky. Irena laughed and hooked her pinky around his, pressing their thumbs together firmly.

“There. Happy now?”

“If that's what you want.”

“Of course! I've always wanted to go on a trip.”

Duke Vermonte gazed fondly at his ecstatic daughter.

‘That Temneth pup. His hatred for Vermonte reaches the heavens. But if he's getting along with Clodel, there's no reason he can't become a son-in-law too.’

Watching his daughter fuss excitedly about departing immediately, Duke Vermonte smiled with satisfaction.

The atmosphere in Rowen Castle had taken a complete turn.

The reason? Kaiyan, head of House Temneth and lord of the territory, visited Clodel's bedroom every single night.

“I thought he'd toss out that Vermonte wench right away.”

Some who had anticipated a juicy scandal were disappointed.

“It's a marriage by royal decree. I never thought it'd fall apart so easily. Who knows—maybe if they produce an heir, it'll even dissolve the grudge between Vermonte and Temneth?”

Others reacted positively, claiming they'd expected as much.

“But isn't our lady so pretty?”

“Yeah, her red hair's starting to look beautiful now that I've gotten used to it.”

The younger maids, still full of girlish chatter, gossiped away.

“Maybe it's because she's been sick. She's so small and slim now, but it makes her look like a fairy.”

“Fairy? In Valmond's freezing winds? Fairies would freeze to death there.”

Those who showed any friendliness toward Clodel would inevitably catch an earful from the hardline Vermonte haters, but more and more people in the castle were warming up to her.

“I've come to check if lunch preparations are going well.”

A brisk voice rang through the kitchen.

“Hanna!”

“You're here?”

The maid who had just been raving about Clodel looking like a fairy bounded over.

“The head chef's making all of Lady Clodel's favorites again today.”

“Hanna, what do you like? Don't you miss the food from Valmond? I hear it's quite different.”

Clodel's loyal attendant, with her brown hair and brown eyes, answered straightforwardly.

“Hmm. Rowen food suits my taste just fine. By the time we ship things grown here all the way to Valmond, they'd be wilted anyway. Wherever I go from now on, I'll probably say Rowen food is the best in the kingdom.”

“Oh my.”

“Exactly. Rowen's produce is the finest in the realm.”

Proclaiming Rowen's praises right in the heart of Rowen Castle, Hanna quickly won over the maids.

A few who had openly mocked Clodel and Hanna crossed their arms sullenly in the corner, glaring daggers—but the tide in Rowen Castle was shifting decisively.

As fondness for Clodel grew and they saw Kaiyan treating her as a proper wife, those who had initially voiced strong disgust toward Vermonte found themselves losing ground.

Some, with faces thick as iron plates, even struck up conversations with Hanna.

Once they realized this maid had a straightforward personality that didn't hold grudges or discriminate, they swarmed her with questions about the lady and the lord's nightly visits, causing a huge commotion. Now, those still grumbling about Vermonte were relegated to biting their nails in the kitchen corner among themselves.

‘What the hell is it with their pride?’

Hanna inwardly sneered at the servants and maids huddled in the corner, shooting sidelong glances her way.

After confirming that lunch was being lavishly prepared, Hanna returned to the room and caught sight of Clodel sitting by the window, reading a book.

‘My darling.’

With her Herzol fully cured, Clodel had regained her former beauty.

Bathed in sunlight streaming brilliantly through the thin curtains, her red hair glowed a vivid scarlet.

Her flawless, milky-white skin had filled out attractively, giving it a healthy sheen, and her golden eyes—radiant as divine blessings—sparkled with vitality once more.

Hanna had been so sure Clodel was dying from some illness, mistakenly thinking her wilting away from the stress of marrying into Temneth and facing persecution.

Recalling that time still made her blood run cold and her body tremble with rage—but in the end, Clodel was now living comfortably here. Hanna's plan to flee Rowen Castle with her had been put on indefinite hold.

“My lady, it's time for lunch.”

“Already?”

“What will you do if you spend the whole morning just reading?”

Clodel laughed and closed her book at Hanna's words.

“There's just so much to read.”

Clodel was going through records left by previous Duchesses of Temneth.

They detailed how household affairs were managed each year, and how disasters and calamities in the territory were handled—down to the finest points.

As the new lady of the domain, Clodel would now handle such matters herself and leave her own records behind.

“Take it easy.”

“No time for that. The autumn festival is right around the corner.”

“The butler is handling the preparations under the lord's orders, isn't he?”

“I should be the one doing it.”

Not long after arriving, Clodel had known she would die soon.

That left her with zero interest in domain affairs or duchess duties. But the noble lord had saved her life, so now she was scrambling like her feet were on fire to catch up.

‘She's so cute. Really. Why is she working so hard?’

Hanna found Clodel's diligent nature one of her charms.

Above all, it was a relief to see her beloved young miss so vibrant and full of life again—and ten out of ten for that went to Kaiyan. Hanna congratulated herself endlessly for pledging loyalty to House Temneth.

“You don't have to do all that. The lord treasures you already. You can learn slowly and start properly next year.”

“The duke is a good man. Someone like me wouldn't catch his eye.”

“What are you talking about? Our lady is so beautiful and clever. He might not know how clever you are yet, but he definitely knows how pretty you are.”

“What nonsense, Hanna. Pretty? Irena's the pretty one.”

Ever since receiving word that Irena would visit Rowen, Clodel had taken to saying things like this often.

As if she thought Kaiyan would fall for Irena the moment he saw her.

Hanna sighed inwardly at the sight of Clodel.

Objectively, both Irena and Clodel were beauties, but Irena's allure and Clodel's charm were worlds apart.

Irena embodied the classic noble maiden's beauty and poise, while Clodel stood out strikingly among them.

Whether that was from not growing up as a noble or simply innate uniqueness, Hanna couldn't say for sure.

But she was confident that first-time onlookers would overwhelmingly find Clodel far prettier.

However, as the duke of Valmond's own daughter, everyone in that castle praised Irena's looks to the skies and never breathed a word about Clodel—so Clodel seemed oblivious to her own beauty.

Even Clodel had been brainwashed into constantly calling Irena pretty.

Kaiyan, who surely wasn't blind to beauty, visiting her bedroom every night was proof enough.

“The lord will be here soon. I'll fetch lunch.”

What was the point of saying more? Her not realizing her own beauty might be part of her charm too.

At that very moment, Kaiyan was striding down the corridor with a hardened, displeased expression.

The reason? He'd just overheard some servants chattering as they passed by her room.

“Hey, you know that thing about our lady?”

“What about her?”

“She smells amazing—like a woman's fragrance.”