Grand Ducal Couple’s After Marriage Love story - Chapter 73-1

Erna was seated in her room, waiting for Kalion. It’ll be a while before he gets here, she thought. Looking at the clock, it was well past 6 o’clock. She knew that unless it was a special day, Kalion usually returned to his room after a rigorous training in the knights’ training grounds.

Before Orpé, whom she’d worked together with up until a while ago, left the room, Erna told her to call a servant and tell them that if Kalion came, she was looking for him. She presumed Kalion would pay her a visit after washing up as soon as he came back.

Is he back in the couple’s bedroom? Erna wondered. She stood up and looked at the documents piled on the table. It wasn’t just one pile of papers. There were three piles stacked as high as her chest when she stood before the desk. They were all documents that’d arrived while she was recovering for almost a week.

Papers were delivered to her every day, and since she was bedridden for several days, the documents have piled into a mountain. Erna attempted to attend to some of them, but Orpé immediately noticed, and like thunder, she snatched the documents from her hand, telling her to rest.

“Orpé, are you disobeying me now?” Erna had asked. Where on earth did she get off snatching away documents from a grand duchess?

“I won’t give them back even if I am beheaded for disobeying! The doctor said to rest in bed for a week and not do anything!” Orpé had replied resolutely, reminding Erna of the doctor’s instructions.

Of course, Erna had expressed her dissatisfaction, but Orpé and the doctor were adamant.

Orpé had taken all of the documents that were constantly being delivered to her room away from Erna, promising that she would give them back once she got better. Flabbergasted at her behavior, Erna had  screamed at her to bring them back as an order, but even the servants smiled awkwardly and merely told her “You must rest now” as they sneakily clutched the documents in their arms while following Orpé.

Since then, until this morning, all Erna had been given were novels or books of expertise like a dictionary that she could read without any worries.

As soon as morning came, Erna ordered Orpé again to bring the documents that’d piled up, and Orpé, as if she had been waiting, dragged in a handcart she had left next to the door.

“Hah…”

After an earth-rattling sigh, Erna began to compartmentalize everything: the stuff on her desk, the things she had to look at before going to bed, and the documents she needed to discuss with Kalion. After she finished organizing, Erna clutched the documents she needed to go over with Kalion and shortly left her room, heading to the couple’s bedroom.

Arriving, Erna scanned the bedroom. Had Kalion not used this place in the meantime? It had been well managed, but she felt a unique chilliness in the empty room.

While heading for the table next to the sofa she looked at the top document. It was about the issue she’d talked about before Orpé had left.

Have I finally found a decent instructor?

In the meantime, she had continued to try to find an instructor who could explain the theoretical parts to the wizards. Unfortunately, Erna didn’t seem to be good at explaining it easily, and Orpé, who could teach more easily, still had a lot of work to do. So she’d gone around searching, and finally, there was someone suitable.

I should go ahead and meet them tomorrow.

It wasn’t an official hiring yet, because she had to meet them in person and check whether their magic talents and knowledge are up to par. However, there was one problem: the instructor was a man.

Her team of wizards was made up of all women. It wasn’t because of some special reason. If you were looking for talented people, there just so happens to be more women than men.

But it wasn’t that there weren’t any men completely. Somehow, however, the men who’d entered had left for the wizards’ tower where they could gain greater honor and wealth rather than being in Hessenguard as magicians.

Eventually, Erna stopped taking in male wizards. She persevered in mentoring, but in the end, only the wizards’ tower looked appealing to their eyes.

On top of that, they’re uncomfortable to deal with. They fought and had lots of conflict with the differences in one another’s abilities. So, to avoid such annoyance, Erna didn’t try to include any men in her team of wizards. But should I not care since it’s an instructor’s job?’ There was also one more thing that bothered her.

The potential instructor was handsome.

The first time Orpé had informed her, Erna had stared at her in disbelief. But Orpé didn’t fold at Erna’s cold glare and continued to explain about the applicant.

“It’s hard to find such a handsome man. Everyone is already following him around.”

At that, Erna flashed a grin as she said carelessly, “More handsome than Kalion?”

After having said those words she clamped her lips tightly in shock. Of course she knew that Kalion was handsome. No matter how much she was sick of it, Erna’s eyesight was extremely normal and her standard of beauty was not much different from others.

But Erna never mentioned Kalion’s name once when there was a conversation about a handsome man. It was as if such a person did not exist in this world.

But now, how could she bring up his name so naturally, as if Kalion had become the standard of the world’s handsomeness?