Lucas said, “If you have a private training ground, I would like to use it. If I don’t practice, I’ll lose my edge in an instant, so I want to find a place to train. A place where others can’t see.”
It was an easy request. I felt my tension drain away.
“If that’s the request, I would have granted it even without you teaching me swordplay. You can ask me comfortably.”
It seemed Lucas had decided to do his best to clear his name.
At the same time, he seemed reluctant to reveal his full abilities.
I could grant a request like that anytime.
Since I didn’t know how to use a sword, I just kept my private training ground maintained to ensure it wouldn’t fall into disrepair.
Lucas lost his words and stared at me blankly again.
I tried to read the meaning behind it, but it was complex.
It looked like resentment, yet it also looked like expectation; it felt as if something was crumbling inside him.
“Why are you so…” Lucas’s voice seemed to tremble slightly. “Why are you so kind?”
The question didn’t seem to be thrown at me, but at Lucas himself.
His eyes wavered endlessly, like a lake struck by a stone.
“I-I will teach you swordplay. Since I promised.”
“Lucas?”
“Then I will be going. I’m not feeling well.”
Since he said he was ill, I had no choice but to let him go. Lucas hurriedly left the parlor.
In the quiet room, the sound of the wind entering through the open window and leaves brushing against each other settled low.
In the midst of that, my face slowly flushed red.
“Why are you so kind?”—it felt like I had been struck by that stone, too.
Afterward, for a week, Lucas stayed quietly in his room, resting as ordered.
He didn’t pester me to sleep with him, nor did he cause any trouble.
He ate well, and Leon said that when he took flowers from the garden to visit, Lucas listened intently to his stories.
Leon mentioned Lucas’s recent state and asked why I didn’t go to visit him.
I couldn’t answer. I didn’t know why either.
Lucas was starting work again today.
Since I had decided to punish him once he was fully recovered, Lucas stopped by my office first.
It was the first time I’d seen him in a week.
I expected it to be awkward, but Lucas entered and stood before me as if nothing had happened.
“Good morning, Count.”
He looked well, perhaps from resting for a week. I felt a small sense of relief.
“I decided to punish you. Are you prepared?”
“Yes.” Lucas answered resolutely.
He stood tall like a knight, looking at me with an unwavering gaze, as if he really had prepared himself. I said to the butler, “Tell them to bring it.”
The butler left the office and brought Mill. Mill is my sister-in-law’s maid.
She was one of the maids who had told me, “I’ll be back soon, so don’t cut it, just keep me well.”
Mill entered carrying a tray with a flower crown she had made herself.
I had heard she was bored because there were no women in the house needing service, but looking at the flower crown, it was truly a work of art.
She had woven white and light pink flowers into a circle—it was far too gorgeous and beautiful to put on a man as a punishment.
Lucas looked back and forth between Mill and the flower crown with a bewildered expression.
“Count, what is this?”
“Introduce yourself. This is Mill, who will place a flower crown on you every morning for the next week. Mill, this is Lucas, who will be wearing the crown you made.”
Mill bowed slightly to Lucas. Lucas hesitantly greeted her back.
“Since I couldn’t let someone who was recently injured get hurt again, I thought about it a bit. What kind of punishment would make you reflect, I wondered.”
“…Is that flower crown the punishment?”
Lucas looked disgruntled as he realized what the punishment was.
“Wear it from morning until evening. I’ll allow you to take it off only when you sleep.”
“Couldn’t you just hit me instead?”
I had worried he might shamelessly say, “Doesn’t this crown look good on me?”, but fortunately, Lucas hated it as much as I’d thought.
It was worth the effort of creating the punishment.
“Didn’t you promise me you’d behave? I won’t be hitting you anymore, so don’t worry about that and just wear the crown.”
At a gesture, Mill took Lucas to the sofa, had him sit, and began the process of placing the crown on his head and securing it so it wouldn’t fall off.
Lucas had a “I want to die” expression, while Mill looked very happy even while working.
I said to Mill, “You were resting well, and I don’t know if I’ve given you a troublesome task.”
“Not at all. So this is the legendary ‘gift from His Majesty.’ It suits you well, Count.”
“Sorry for making you talk. Just do your work without spouting nonsense.”
Mill laughed cheerfully and worked in silence.
It seems rumors about me have spread among the maids, too.
I tried to say something trivial but got hit back several times over.
“It’s all done. How do you feel?”
I looked up from the documents I was checking as I waited, hearing Mill’s voice.
Lucas stood there with a grumpy face; thanks to the flower crown, he looked like a fairy of angry flowers.
I burst into laughter.
“Ha, ha-ha! Hahaha!”
“Count…”
“I, I’m sorry. It suits you. It really suits you. I’ll have to be careful today so no one kidnaps you. You’re truly pretty.”
I hadn’t realized a flower crown could look this good on a man.
“A flower fairy”—it was my own thought, but it suited Lucas perfectly.
Lucas was indeed as pretty and handsome as a fairy.
Though he was too tall to be small and cute like one.
Lucas said with a fierce face that didn’t match the crown, “If anyone touches me, I will kill them.”
“I’ll recognize it as self-defense, so feel free to kill them.”
Lucas bowed with a dissatisfied look and left, saying he would go to work now.
Mill watched Lucas leave with a satisfied face.
“He is even more beautiful than the rumors. I should have made it with even more care.”
“It’s already a piece of art. Good work. I’ll be counting on you.”
“Yes. I will do my best.”
How could she possibly do more than her best?
I have no idea.
Mill bowed and left the office.
“If you don’t want to marry, why not take him as a lover?”
The owner of the blunt voice was Scarlett.
“I told you, it’s not like that.”
“Then why are you being so generous?” Scarlett was cold.
There were many excuses I could give her, but that wasn’t what she wanted to say.
“Am I doing something wrong?”
“That’s not it. There are things I don’t understand, so I’m just trying to understand.”
“It’s just… I don’t like it when I’m in pain.”
“He is a slave who deserves to be in pain.”
‘If I hit him, I get hit the same way later.’
I didn’t hit him because I didn’t need to make enemies, but I couldn’t tell that truth to Scarlett.
“Then what would you have me do?”
“If you dislike pain, there is also the dungeon.”
