IYWHM SS 1

Side Story 1

On a day when the spring flowers in the garden were beginning to bloom one by one, there was someone busily moving about the Hillan estate.

The woman who had married Duke Hillan two years ago and newly become the young mistress of the household examined every corner with rather sharp eyes.

“Please add flower decorations here as well.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Following her gestures, the servants moved in perfect coordination, and the candlesticks that had been placed like ornaments on the table were surrounded by pastel-colored flowers.

Kisa gazed at the scene with satisfaction for a moment, then walked toward the window where two servants were waiting for her.

Soon, Kisa, who had been carefully observing the two curtains they held, made her decision.

“This one would be good.”

Afterward, Kisa took a brief rest while watching the servants take down the winter curtains and hang the spring curtains.

‘If we had arrived a few days earlier, we could have prepared more leisurely.’

On the way from Yomos to the capital, they had been delayed due to an unexpected problem that held them up.

It had been fine when Count Devello, hearing rumors that the Duke and Duchess Hillan’s party was passing near his territory, invited them to his estate. The original plan of spending about a day there with the Count’s family wasn’t bad either.

But things started going wrong when the Count rather insistently urged them to rest a few more days. There was to be a gathering with the lord and ladies who governed the nearby regions at the Count’s territory, and since it was in two days, he said they should just show their faces before leaving.

They could have refused and left if they wanted to. In fact, Seyard had begun to voice his polite refusal, starting with “We appreciate the offer, but…”

However, unfortunately, Kisa, who was beside him at the time, stopped him.

“There must be people I don’t know well, right? If it’s alright, I’d like to take this opportunity to greet them.”

Looking back, that was reckless. If they had delayed any longer there, their schedule would have become tight.

But Kisa at that time optimistically believed that traveling a bit faster would cause no problems at all, and she convinced the worried Seyard.

It was due to her greed to establish herself more firmly as the mistress of Hillan in people’s minds.

While it had been two years ago that she was supposed to hold the ceremony with Seyard in this estate’s garden, due to various circumstances, the period during which Kisa had actually served as the household’s mistress was less than a year.

Embarrassingly, she was still in the learning stage, and so there was always impatience lingering in her heart.

Especially since Kisa had needed to recover her body after childbirth, she had had little contact with the outside world, so Count Devello’s proposal had seemed like a good opportunity to her.

‘I was too eager…’

The meeting with the gathering members itself had been successful, but because of that, they had arrived at the capital much later than planned, and the time to prepare for receiving guests had been greatly reduced.

Even though they had quickly cleaned the house and unpacked the luggage they had brought from Yomos to decorate the estate after arriving here yesterday, the appointed time had already come.

The guests must have disembarked from the ship long ago, so they might be in the middle of traveling by carriage to this estate.

They needed to finish quickly before the guests arrived. Just as she was thinking this, someone opened the door and entered the room.

Wondering if it was news that the guests had arrived, she turned around to see a tall man standing there.

“Kisa.”

Kisa approached him with some relief.

“Seyard, it was you.”

“Are you disappointed?”

“Not at all. Rather, it’s fortunate.”

Seyard, who smiled slightly, brought news that was more welcome than the guests’ arrival for now.

“We’ve gained some time. The one who went to meet them sent word that he’s showing the guests around the harbor.”

“Oh, really?”

“I hear the response has been quite good. Apparently, the little guest in particular has taken an interest.”

“A harbor tour, that’s nice. Why didn’t I think of that?”

She smiled sheepishly and looked up at her husband to ask.

“Was that your idea by any chance?”

When Seyard nodded in affirmation to her question, the smile on Kisa’s face deepened even more.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I’m saved.”

“Don’t mention it. Between us.”

Kisa felt a slight sense of distance in that ordinary, everyday conversation.

There had been a time when she never could have imagined sharing such peaceful moments with this person.

And to confess, in truth, an indescribable awkwardness still came over her from time to time. The kind that couldn’t be erased through effort.

“…Then I’ll go check the bedroom area again.”

At those words, Seyard obediently stepped aside to clear the path to the door.

After Kisa had returned to his side, he had always shown a consistent attitude. He didn’t probe into her awkwardness or dig into it, but seemed to just watch from a step away.

“See you later.”

With somewhat hurried steps, Kisa passed by him and left the reception room. Just before heading to the bedroom prepared for the guests, she let out a small murmur to herself.

“Is he waiting for me?”

Thanks to that, the frequency of awkwardness arising had decreased considerably compared to before. The relationship between the Duke and Duchess was also excellent.

Only sometimes her heart felt stuffy…

“No, this isn’t the time to be spacing out.”

Suddenly shaking her head, she once again immersed herself completely in preparing to receive guests.

****

“Sister Bella!”

The child who got out of the carriage let out a joyful scream with all her might upon seeing Kisa.

“It’s been so long! I missed you!”

The middle-aged woman who stepped onto the Hillan ducal family’s land afterward caught the arm of the child who was about to run to Kisa.

“This child! What kind of behavior is this!”

“Mom!”

“Didn’t I tell you over and over on the way here? The situation is different from before. Sister Bella is now a duchess, so you need to show proper respect—”

“Sister wrote in her letter that I could treat her like before!”

“You child, you child! That doesn’t mean you should act like a wild horse!”

Before the mother-daughter argument could escalate further, Kisa quickly intervened to stop both of them.

“Calm down, Mana. And you too, Daisy.”

Perhaps thinking she had raised her voice too much in front of people, Mana scratched her cheek with an embarrassed expression.

“Sorry… no, I mean! I apologize, Your Grace.”

While Daisy grinned as if to say “I told you so,” Kisa reassured Mana with a warm smile.

“It’s fine. What Daisy said earlier was right. I’d like both of you to treat me as you did before. Like when we all lived together in the same house.”

The mother and daughter’s reactions to Kisa’s request were starkly divided.

“Ah, while your words are truly grateful, how could we dare to such a noble person—”

“Mom, I was right, wasn’t I? And sister, don’t worry! Even though you weren’t really Sister Bella, I’ve decided to think of you as Sister Bella!”

“Daisy, be quiet! I’m losing my mind completely!”

Kisa felt moved watching them bicker unchangingly even after coming to a foreign country.

Indeed, inviting Mana and Daisy here had been a very good idea.

In truth, she had wanted to meet them right after returning to Sorbi and settling in to some degree, but various matters had caused delays.

About a year and a half. In some ways, it wasn’t a period that could be called very long, but to Kisa, it somehow felt distant.

“Daisy, you’ve grown so tall since I last saw you.”

When Kisa murmured quietly, the two stopped their bickering and turned their attention to her.

“Well, children naturally grow by leaps and bounds every day…”

“That’s right. At this rate, I might grow taller than sister!”

After shouting energetically, the child looked around in all directions with eyes full of interest.

“More importantly, sister’s house is really cool!”

“This child too. You shouldn’t be so boisterous.”

While saying this, Mana was similarly glancing sideways at the splendid exterior of the estate, apparently curious as well.

“Mom, it looks like the palace of the king and queen in picture books! Are we really sleeping here tonight?”

Kisa answered that question on Mana’s behalf.

“Of course. It’s not just one night—you could stay longer too. No, I’d like you to stay longer.”

“Really? Is that okay?”

Daisy was so happy that she even blushed and jumped up and down.

“How exciting! Sister, this place is even better than the hotel where Matilda stayed, right?”

Matilda was the name of a close friend that Daisy often played with.

“Hmm, well. Probably so, I suppose?”

In this capital, there were probably only places like the royal palace that could be said to have better facilities than the Hillan estate.

Kisa’s answer made Daisy even happier.

“Can I look around here, Sister Bella?”

“I’ll give you a slow tour later. How about we eat first now? Aren’t you hungry?”

“Oh, now that you mention it, it’s already lunchtime.”

The child nodded vigorously as if only now realizing she was hungry.

“That’s right, I’m hungry. It’s been a long time since breakfast.”

“Come on, let’s go in. The food is already prepared.”

It was just as Kisa was about to lead the two to the dining room.

“Did you have a good conversation, Kisa?”

Seyard appeared from the main entrance of the estate, which was a few steps away.

Before the carriage carrying Mana and Daisy arrived, he had said there was a matter to discuss with Gilliam and that they should meet in the dining room.

“It wasn’t really a problem, and I also thought it would be better to properly welcome the guests.”

“Good timing. These are Mana and Daisy, my benefactors as I’ve mentioned many times before.”

After saying this, Kisa turned around to introduce Seyard to the mother and daughter this time.

But Daisy, who had opened her eyes as wide as saucers as if struck by lightning, spoke first.

“Wow, a prince?”

The child’s gaze remained fixed on Seyard.