For the Lady's Wise Regression - Chapter 37

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 37
Vanessa couldn’t fathom how to make sense of the situation unfolding before her eyes.
“I am Lea Nuk, Captain of the Ruscliffe Knight Order, and I’ve been assigned to protect you starting today.”
She’d finished breakfast, at least. That was something.
Since there was nothing to do until lunch, she’d been thinking of taking a tour of the residence anyway.
But she’d distinctly said she didn’t need an escort, hadn’t she?
“……I’m glad to meet you, Lea Nuk. Did Ian arrange this?”
And not just any knight, but the captain herself?
Normally a captain stayed at their master’s side, didn’t they?
Unlike the bewildered Vanessa, Lea Nuk—who bore a striking resemblance to her master in her austere features—simply nodded in acknowledgment.
“I heard you were going out today.”
“……But I said an escort wasn’t necessary.”
“I will remain out of sight and cause no trouble.”
In other words, she was coming along anyway!
Vanessa exhaled sharply.
She’d planned to bring one person, and now the whole arrangement was falling apart.
Or rather, what she’d intended was closer to abduction.
‘This is inconvenient.’
She would have preferred to bring this person to the Ruscliffe Residence, but Ian would never allow it.
So what was she to do?
Take them to the Sharoze Residence instead.
She’d calculated generous travel time for the round trip and arranged an evening departure accordingly, but now there was this unexpected complication.
“You’ll report back to him, of course?”
“For the sake of my lady’s safety.”
It didn’t trouble her if her own movements were reported to Ian in meticulous detail.
He likely wouldn’t take much interest anyway.
But the one person she was bringing today—she needed to ensure word of that reached Ian’s ears.
After all, discovering who that person was connected to wouldn’t be difficult for Ian.
‘I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.’
What could she do?
……What indeed?
‘I simply won’t let her report back.’
She did need someone to deal with potential obstacles anyway.
She’d originally planned to hire mercenaries, but a captain of knights would be far superior in skill.
After a moment of deliberation, Vanessa offered Lea Nuk a helpless smile.
“You’re right. As it happens, I do need someone.”
Since it had come to this, Lea Nuk would have to become her accomplice.
Suppressing a laugh, Vanessa extended her hand toward Lea Nuk.
“Then, Lea Nuk, will you show me the Garden to celebrate becoming my escort?”
Lea Nuk gazed at the offered hand for a moment, then carefully removed her gloves and took Vanessa’s palm.
“……As you command.”
After circling the spacious Garden once, the two entered the Pavilion nestled at its innermost reach.
Now that she thought about it, the Imperial Palace had a dome-shaped Pavilion as well.
The way the sky showed through the translucent glass was so lovely that she’d once thought she ought to have one built somewhere. Someday.
But that plan had faded after her marriage to Carlisle.
To find one here of all places…….
Standing at the entrance, Vanessa gazed up at the ceiling and smiled softly.
‘How beautiful. I didn’t know Ian cared for such things.’
She’d thought he didn’t enjoy Tea Time, yet in many ways he surprised her.
“This Pavilion was built for you.”
Lea Nuk, who had maintained silence until now, finally spoke.
“……For me?”
“Yes. Every member of our order worked together—digging the earth, preparing the foundation, laying the floors.”
“I wouldn’t have known until you told me. If I hadn’t come to the Garden, their efforts would have been in vain. I’m grateful I saw it.”
“And…… my lord handled the most important part—the interior.”
……She hadn’t known.
Or rather, she hadn’t wanted to know.
Vanessa let her gaze drift from the Pavilion’s ceiling and slowly surveyed the interior.
‘……What does he think I am?’
It wasn’t quite as extensive as the room he’d shown her as “her quarters,” but here too, pink had not been entirely abandoned.
The table in the pavilion, the chairs, even the flowers planted around it!
At this point, wasn’t Ian simply obsessed with pink?
If he was indulging a taste he couldn’t openly express under the pretense of the temple, well—she could understand that much, given she’d agreed to this Contract Marriage and all.
That’s what Vanessa thought, until she glanced at the carpet beneath the table and turned her head away as if she’d witnessed something she shouldn’t.
“Surely Ian didn’t decorate all of this himself?”
“Yes. He personally selected everything he felt would suit Madam. Even those flowers there—he planted them with his own hands.”
“Again?”
“……?”
“No, it’s nothing…….”
Vanessa exhaled a deep sigh and stepped outside the pavilion.
If I asked him to change all the furniture here too, that wouldn’t do, would it……?
Though I did rather like the domed ceiling…….
Vanessa turned back one last time, gazing at the flowers planted beneath the pink table.
He’d transplanted all of those flowers himself?
That Ian?
……The image of Ian, with that massive frame of his, crouching down to plant tiny flowers one by one made her stomach turn unexpectedly.
‘It doesn’t suit him at all…….’
***
“Madam, it’s time for your appointment with the master.”
In the middle of a leisurely stroll through the Garden after finishing the pavilion tour, Lea Nuk spoke up.
“Is it lunchtime already?”
“Yes. I shall escort you to the Dining Hall.”
“No, that’s all right. I can find my way. I’ll be going out after I finish eating, so have everything ready. Oh, and if you don’t mind, could you wear a robe?”
“Of course.”
Lea Nuk bowed her head but didn’t leave her spot.
“……What are you doing?”
“I’ll escort you to the residence entrance.”
“The Knight Order’s dining hall is on the opposite side. The guards need to eat too.”
“I shall follow quietly so as not to be a bother.”
……Now I see why Lea Nuk is the commander of the Ruscliffe Knight Order.
She’s just as willful as her master—absolutely impossible to budge.
Vanessa looked at Lea Nuk and decided against arguing.
How could she possibly break through that stubbornness?
That face said she wouldn’t back down no matter what was said.
Vanessa let out a quiet sigh and moved forward.
‘Now that I think about it, she did say something about a set appointment time.’
Eating at fixed hours was something only the faithful of the Sacred Kingdom would do.
Suddenly curious, Vanessa paused mid-stride and turned her head.
“Lea Nuk.”
“Yes, Madam.”
“Is there anyone besides you who knows that I and Ian eat together?”
Lea Nuk fell silent.
“Commander?”
“……Ah, yes. The master has instructed everyone to be mindful when mealtimes arrive.”
“……Everyone?”
“We interpret it as the master’s direct order, since he cannot call for Madam himself.”
This isn’t some kind of cuckoo clock alarm.
Does that mean I have to hear people reminding me to eat breakfast and lunch in rotation?
And the way she speaks, it’s as if there’s a set time for every meal?
Something only the Sacred Kingdom would do…….
‘No, wait. Given that he’s apparently planning to become a saint around age forty, maybe he’s been adjusting his daily rhythms to match Sacred Kingdom practice from early on?’
Though I don’t recall ever seeing Ian pray.
Well……let me look on the bright side.
At least the condition about eating breakfast and lunch together is being upheld without me having to make any effort myself, right?
Thinking that it was good enough, Vanessa entered the Dining Hall and blinked at the sight before her eyes.
‘……Then why insist on eating together at all?’
In his hand was a Newspaper, and before him sat a cup of Tea with steam rising gently from it.
This was the scene that greeted Vanessa the moment she laid eyes on Ian.
And at the far end of the opposite side, food was laid out in lavish abundance.
As if the table had been split clean down the middle.
“Ian.”
At Vanessa’s call, Ian didn’t lower the newspaper from his hands, only glancing up with his eyes.
“You’re late.”
Late? Me?
He reflexively looked at the clock hanging on the dining hall wall—the minute hand was creeping toward the one.
Five minutes, and she was saying something about it now?
“Sorry. I lost track of time looking around the garden.”
But he was nothing if not meticulous.
Late was late, whether or not he’d noticed the time.
“……I wasn’t asking you to apologize.”
If anything, Ian was the one caught off guard by Vanessa’s ready admission.
“It’s lovely, the Pavilion. You decorated it yourself?”
Vanessa settled into her seat and began cutting the steak before her into small, deliberate pieces.
“……Do you like it?”
“Yes. I’d like to have tea time there.”
She placed a small bite of steak in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully, then twirled a forkful of pasta, rolling the noodles around the tines.
‘Come to think of it, pink might not be so bad after all.’
Sunlight pouring through the domed ceiling needed brightness more than it needed restraint.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
As she lifted the coiled pasta to her mouth and began chewing, her eyes met Ian’s.
“How’s the taste?”
Watching his gaze linger for only a moment before drifting back to the newspaper, Vanessa swallowed the pasta she hadn’t quite finished chewing.
“Good. Better than the pasta from this morning.”
“I should have Gayen make it more often.”
“No. It tastes better when it comes around once in a while. If you ate it every time, you’d get tired of it.”
At her offhand remark, Ian lifted his eyes from the newspaper and fixed her with a steady gaze.
“……I’m not sure. Every time I see it, I never tire.”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing. Never mind.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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