The Proactive Grand Duchess
Something feels a bit off…
No matter that she was a mother. She must have married young. Even as the Grand Duchess, she couldn’t be much older than twenty-eight. The perfect age for me to call her noona…
My gaze refused to leave the Grand Duchess’s chest as I watched the way it moved with her breathing. Have you lost your damn mind? Get a grip!
Living on the Northern Wall had clearly done something to my brain. I cleared my throat to regain my senses.
“Even so, I cannot ignore the rules of the Arteta Grand Duke’s Residence and loiter in restricted areas. I must decline.”
My serious reaction, complete with both hands waving in refusal, must have been amusing. Rebecca Arteta let out a light, genuine laugh.
“Hehe, it was a joke. The maids were teasing each other a few days ago and I happened to overhear. I tried copying them. You looked so stern that now I’m the one who feels embarrassed.”
“……It was a joke, then.”
“To be honest, before I became part of the Arteta family, I was terribly awkward with people and almost never smiled. I was as stiff as a board.”
The Duchess gazed through the hallway windows on the third floor at the pouring sunlight, her voice turning wistful.
“But after Veronica was born, she hardly smiled at all as a baby. Other children were giggling away, yet mine wouldn’t. I suddenly became terrified. I worried she had inherited my dry personality. That’s when I started practicing smiling in front of the mirror and rehearsing gentle jokes with people. That little performance earlier was my secret ultimate technique. It didn’t work, though.”
Rebecca’s cheeks flushed with slight embarrassment as she offered a soft smile. It was the smile of a mother’s profound love for her daughter. Yet looking at that beautiful expression left me with a strange sense of dissonance. The original story’s version of Rebecca Arteta had flashed through my mind.
She couldn’t smile like that in the original.
Right after her husband, Grand Duke Gareth, died in a tragic accident, his younger brother—the very uncle who would become Veronica’s guardian—seized the duchy. To solidify his power, he cunningly isolated his sister-in-law Rebecca. In the end, he violated her. The resulting unwanted pregnancy left Rebecca consumed by shame and guilt. She withdrew from her daughter, who had already been driven mad by the betrayal, and shut herself away in her room. The sudden maternal coldness and the poisoned atmosphere of the household became the second trigger that led Veronica down her path of corruption. Ultimately, Rebecca died miserably while giving birth to that child.
To me, who knew the original ending, the sight of her laughing so brightly about practicing jokes for her daughter’s sake felt impossibly foreign.
Ah, of course it feels foreign. We’ve only just met. And I’ve already twisted that future apart.
I shook off the bitterness threatening to settle in my chest and forced the corners of my mouth upward in return.
“Thanks to you, the tension I felt upon first entering the residence has completely melted away. I’m truly grateful for the kind tour.”
Thinking the conversation had reached a natural close, I turned to leave.
“Then I’ll head to the male guest quarters on the right to unpack. It’s my first time using such a fine bed, so I’m really looking forward to—”
I had spoken assuming I would naturally stay in one of the third-floor guest rooms reserved for honored visitors. But before I could take more than a couple of steps, Rebecca’s clear voice caught me by the ankle.
“Oh my, Sir Vale.”
I turned my head. The Duchess stood before the staircase, offering me a gentle smile.
“The room where you will be staying is not over there. You must go higher.”
“……Pardon?”
I looked back and forth between Rebecca and the direction she was pointing, doubting my own ears. There stood the enclosed staircase I had noticed earlier—the entrance to the fourth floor, guarded by two heavily armed knights.
“But I am a guest… No matter that I am your benefactor, shouldn’t guests stay on the third floor?”
“Did you not hear what His Grace said earlier? He gave a strict order to treat Sir Vale as a member of the Arteta family—in other words, no differently from blood kin.”
Seeing my flustered expression, the Duchess smiled with clear satisfaction.
“Therefore, it is only natural that you stay with us in the family wing. I have already instructed that the sunniest southern room on the fourth floor be prepared as your bedroom.”
……This obsessive lunatic.
For a moment, Grand Duke Gareth’s burdensome face flashed through my mind and goosebumps rose across my entire body. Repaying a favor was one thing. Money, a title, land—those would have been perfect. But dragging a common-born soldier he had met only yesterday into the most private fourth-floor sanctuary of the ducal family and declaring “we are family” was going way too far!
In the original story, the Grand Duke had been an extra who died from a knife in the back in the very first chapter, so his personality had barely been described. I never dreamed he would turn out to be this much of a straight-line charging bull.
“Ah, um, Your Grace. His Grace must have been overcome with emotion and spoken in exaggeration. How could I possibly dare set foot in the sacred spaces of the Arteta family? This floor is more than enough for me……”
“That will not do. If I disobey His Grace’s command, I will be the one scolded. Now, come along, please.”
The Duchess was firm. She signaled the guard knights with her eyes to make way, then gently pushed my back and guided me toward the narrow staircase leading to the fourth floor. There was no way to express how burdensome this felt.
“……To bestow such excessive favor upon someone as unworthy as myself, I can only bow my head and offer my deepest gratitude to both His Grace and Your Grace.”
On the surface I answered with the perfect courtesy of the most loyal vassal. Inside, however, I was screaming at this abnormal hyper-speed promotion and felt like I might throw up from the pressure.
The staircase to the fourth floor felt unusually long and steep. My stomach seemed to harden into a solid lump with every step. The thick, luxurious carpet swallowed even the sound of my footsteps. The famous paintings by unknown masters lining the walls and the faint elegant fragrance brushing my nose all advertised that this was no ordinary area.
I think I’m going to be sick…
I swallowed the nausea rising in my throat. A commoner with no name, the kind of bastard who had been called “hey” or “you” while stabbing at the guts of foreign tribes on the edge of the Northern Wall. And now that same person was stepping into the most intimate sanctuary of the Arteta ducal family. The pressure crawled up my spine and stiffened the back of my neck.
“This area onward is the private space used only by our family and closest aides.”
Rebecca, who had been walking ahead, stopped and turned around gracefully. Behind her stretched a wide, comfortable corridor that seemed to go on forever.
“The large double doors at the very end belong to His Grace’s office. That is where all major and minor decisions concerning the North are made. Right beside it is the chamber of the head butler who assists with official duties. The open area across the way is our family’s private lounge.”
Her voice remained gentle, but every single thing she said made my heart sink. I was seriously beginning to question Grand Duke Gareth’s true intentions in throwing me into the very heart of the North like this. No matter that I had saved his life, what kind of ruler in this world would leave his own throat so completely unguarded?
Besides, even if the Grand Duke thinks well of me… other people are going to be suspicious the moment I so much as breathe…
Of course I would never betray the man who was essentially my savior, but the treatment still defied all common sense.
“And……”
Rebecca’s steps, which had continued with her explanation, halted before one particular door. Her expression shifted from its previous softness into something strict and resolute.
“This is the library containing the duchy’s sensitive confidential documents. No matter how much of a benefactor and family-like figure you may be, Sir Vale, this place is an exception. You must obtain permission from either His Grace or myself before entering. Understood?”
Up to that point, it was a perfect example of a mistress’s warning. I was about to nod, tense with attention, when the next words out of her mouth made me doubt my hearing.
“If you sneak in without permission or make a mess… I’ll get in trouble. You’ll get a booboo.”
“……Excuse me?”
I stared at Rebecca with a stupid expression, wondering if I had misheard. Booboo? After spending a year on the Wall hearing nothing but curses, my eardrums were now being assaulted by what sounded like a kindergarten teacher’s vocabulary.
“Ah……”
Only after my dazed response did the Duchess seem to realize what had just left her mouth. Her face instantly flushed bright red. Rebecca clapped both hands to her cheeks in alarm. Her large eyes were shaking violently.
“O-oh dear! P-pretend you didn’t hear that, Sir Vale! Please!”
The dignified image of the Grand Duchess had plummeted straight to the floor. Rebecca stamped her feet, completely flustered.
“It’s just… I’ve been teaching Veronica myself lately, and I’ve grown interested in teaching children, so I’ve been giving occasional lessons to the children at the orphanage in the duchy. The habit must have slipped out without me realizing. Oh no, that was so childish of me, wasn’t it?”
She looked up at me with half her face still covered by her hands, embarrassed. It was completely different from the elegant, mature Grand Duchess I had seen on the third floor. Instead, she seemed like an ordinary young woman flustered by her own mistake, or simply a warm-hearted teacher who loved children.
I waved my hands in a panic.
“N-not at all! Childish? That couldn’t be further from the truth. Rather… well, rather, I think it’s wonderful. The warm heart that leads you to personally care for the children of the territory is an admirable habit that deserves respect. If I were a citizen of Arteta, I would be deeply grateful to have someone like you as the mother of our duchy.”
I wasn’t just being polite. Having seen with my own eyes on the Wall how nobles treated commoners—especially orphans—my praise came from the heart.
At my serious answer, Rebecca let out a small “pfft” of laughter, the red still lingering on her cheeks.
“Hehe, thank you for framing it so kindly.”
Even the way she said “framing it” carried elegance in every syllable.
“You really are a very kind person, Sir Vale. Thank you.”
Seeing her smile—embarrassed yet clearly relieved—eased some of the tension between us. Even so, the awkward atmosphere created by the earlier “booboo” comment still lingered.
To shift the mood and, more importantly, to completely block off any future issues with that damned confidential library, I made up my mind. I would confess my own flaw.
“A-and, Your Grace, you needn’t worry at all about the library. I will never enter without permission.”
“My, there’s no need to declare it so strongly……”
“Even if I did go in, there’s nothing I could do.”
I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly and continued.
“The truth is, I can’t read. I’m completely illiterate. So even if I opened some sensitive document in there, to my eyes it would just look like a swarm of ants crawling across white paper. Haha, here I am enjoying all these luxuries as His Grace’s benefactor, yet I can’t read a single letter. Now that’s truly embarrassing.”
I tried to laugh it off, but being illiterate was a massive flaw in noble society. Even considering my background as a common soldier, it was an obstacle I would inevitably face while living in the ducal residence. Better to reveal it early and be done with it.
At my confession, Rebecca clasped her hands together and stared at me with wide eyes.
Is she going to look down on me…?
I had expected a frown filled with contempt or dismissal, but her reaction was different.
“You…… can’t read any letters at all?”
Her eyes were round with pure surprise.
“Yes, that’s correct. I never had the chance to learn because I was too busy trying to survive. On the Wall, all you needed to know was how to thrust a spear.”
Rebecca rested a hand on her chin, seemingly lost in thought for a moment. Then her face brightened and she laughed brightly.
“Then I shall teach you!”
“……Pardon?”
“I will personally help you with your studies, Sir Vale. From what I saw on the third-floor stairs earlier, you have an excellent grasp of context and sharp eyes. I’m sure you’ll learn quickly.”
This was a completely unexpected development. The Grand Duchess herself was volunteering to teach a commoner man how to read.
“No, how could someone of your station teach the likes of me? It would be far too much trouble. If necessary, I can learn from a servant or hire a tutor……”
“I insist. This proposal has a very important purpose for me as well.”
Rebecca shook her head firmly and took a step closer. Her eyes sparkled with mischief and anticipation.
“Once you’ve learned to read, Sir Vale, you must join me in volunteering at the orphanage to read picture books to the children.”
“Picture books? Me?”
I recalled my calloused, rough palms and the voice I had ruined shouting on the battlefield, and asked again in disbelief.