Chapter 168.
2024.02.15.
The carriage carrying its master entered the ducal mansion. It was earlier than usual.
Mason, who had come out to greet him, offered the answer Herdin wanted before he could even ask.
"The madam received a letter from Marchioness Felic this morning and went out."
Herdin's brow briefly furrowed at the news, then he let out a hollow laugh.
"Did she say when she'd be back?"
"She said she would return before dinner."
Herdin looked at the grandfather clock behind Mason. There was still quite a lot of time left before dinner.
Herdin passed him and went up to the second floor where the couple's bedroom was. As Mason had said, Blair was not in the room. However, her unique scent still floated in the air.
It had been quite some time since Asiel went to play at Count Arbon's mansion, and now the child would return in four days.
So he had come home early with the intention of spending more time alone with Blair before Asiel returned, but his wife wasn't even home.
Since that night they seriously discussed having a second child, Blair had become noticeably busier. She went to art galleries, attended charity events, and started frequently participating in ladies' salons.
After spending the whole day on outside schedules and returning home, perhaps because she wasn't originally someone who enjoyed going out, she would complain of fatigue and fall asleep quickly.
So he had asked in advance last night. Whether she had any other schedule for tomorrow. She said no, so he finished today's schedule early and came back, but who would have thought another schedule would suddenly come up like this.
Still, seeing her actively doing outside activities and diligently seeking her own happiness as he had suggested seemed both endearing and fortunate...
But actually returning home to find his wife absent felt strange.
How long had it been since he experienced such silence.
Herdin looked around the empty room without Blair.
The small flower pot Asiel had gifted, the first portrait of their family of three that she still loved most, the vanity where she combed her hair every night, the book of lyric poetry she sometimes read to him, and so on.
Things that had meaning when she was with him lost all meaning once she was absent.
After looking around the empty room without his wife, he returned to the sofa and sat down with his long legs crossed.
He stared blankly at the afternoon sunlight draping dryly through the window, then absentmindedly loosened his stifling cravat.
Time flowed so slowly.
Herdin, waiting for his wife in that silence, finally rose from his seat and left the room. Then he commanded the maid guarding outside the door.
"Have the carriage stand by."
* * *
The lakeside on a spring day was bustling with people.
Families who came together, couples who came to see flowers together, young noble lords and ladies who gathered in twos and threes to find new connections—various people came out to enjoy the leisurely spring afternoon.
Among the crowd, Blair was walking along the lakeside with Monica and several other noblewomen.
"How about we go ride that ferry boat?"
Monica suggested, pointing at the ferry boats docked at the lakeside. Looking after hearing her words, numerous ferry boats were already floating in the middle of the lake.
"We can't come all the way to the lake and skip the boat ride."
The noblewomen all agreed it was a good idea, and Blair had no reason to refuse, so she followed them toward the ferry dock.
The ferry boats accommodated two passengers per boat, with a boatman standing and rowing to operate them.
Blair boarded the boat with Monica. As the boatman began to row, the group of noblewomen who came together gradually grew distant.
Blair, who had been waving at them with Monica, cautiously spoke up when their eyes met.
"Thank you, Marchioness. For taking care of me like this even though I contacted you so suddenly."
Normally, Blair spent her days taking care of Asiel, tending to plants, or looking after the greenhouse birds and Pipi that were brought from foreign lands.
No one had told her to do it, and she did it because she liked it, but as Herdin had said, if she wanted to find happiness as 'Blair,' it seemed good to try enjoying things she hadn't done before.
So she had reached out to the noblewomen's gathering she rarely participated in, and rather than showing any condescending attitude, Monica had genuinely welcomed her and taken care of her.
"Oh my, not at all. There are so many noblewomen who want to invite the Duchess to our gathering. I'm the one who's honored."
It just so happened that we were discussing recruiting a new member.
Monica added that and completely changed the topic to something else. It was a consideration so that Blair wouldn't feel burdened any longer.
As they grew closer to the middle of the lake, the boatman suddenly began to sing.
When the boatman finished one verse, they thought the song was over, but a boatman on a distant ferry picked up the verse and continued the song. Then at the climax part, they all sang together in harmony.
The deep voices of the boatmen echoed across the lakeside, and the sound of leaves rustling in the wind added to the charm. The song in harmony with nature gave no less inspiration than songs heard in an opera theater.
As Blair stared blankly at the scene, Monica beside her explained.
"The boatmen here sing very well. So many people come just to hear this."
Actually, she was only surprised that the boatman started singing suddenly; it wasn't Blair's first time seeing a singing boatman.
She had seen them at the lakeside where they went on a family picnic one spring day last year. Hearing the boatmen's singing, memories of that time naturally came to mind.
How beautifully the child's eyes sparkled as he watched with wonder the boatmen exchanging songs back and forth.
How pleasant it was to hear her husband's laughter as he playfully told their son to try singing.
And how happy she was looking at the two of them.
Though this moment of listening to songs in nature and floating leisurely was enjoyable, the emptiness in one corner of her heart remained unfilled.
As the ferry that had been circling the middle of the lake turned toward the dock, the boatmen's song came to an end. The boatman gave the passengers time to reflect in nature and slowly returned to the dock.
The noblewomen who disembarked all seemed satisfied with today's boat ride.
"It felt like the forest had become a theater and the voices echoed. The bird songs and wind sounds we heard were like an orchestra."
"An opera in nature—it's a different feeling from an opera performance, so your heart just pounds, you know?"
"Then shall we go see a real opera tomorrow?"
The noblewomen who were already making plans for tomorrow were someone's wives and children's mothers at home, but at this very moment, they were no different from excited girls playing with friends.
Blair smiled as she watched them.
'So this is why Herdin said those things.'
Only then did she feel she fully understood the words he had spoken and his intentions. At the same time, she missed him. She wanted to tell him about the emotions she was feeling right now.
"Then shall we move somewhere else and have tea time?"
It was when the noblewomen, who had even made plans for tomorrow while they were at it, were about to move locations.
"E-excuse me."
Hearing the voice and turning around, a plainly dressed man was looking at Blair. Had he just come of age? He was a man still on the boundary between man and boy, having not yet shed his boyishness.
He kept moving his lips as if trying to say something, then perhaps thinking action was faster than words, he abruptly held out a sketchbook.
"I-I was walking by the lakeside and saw you by chance... you were so beautiful... when I came to my senses, my hand was drawing on its own..."
The man—no, perhaps 'boy' was a more fitting word—flushed his pale face red and couldn't even properly meet her eyes.
Oh my.
The noblewomen who saw the situation covered their faces with fans and let out gasps containing curiosity and envy.
Blair looked at him with bewildered eyes, then inadvertently received the sketchbook he held out.
The situation was so sudden that she couldn't immediately understand the man's words, but seeing her own figure drawn in the sketchbook, she roughly understood what the situation was.
"I was worried you might be offended... I'll give this to you, madam. I apologize for drawing you without permission!"
The man repeatedly bowed his head and apologized. Blair alternated between looking at the man and herself drawn in the sketchbook.
It was a rough sketch, but perhaps because he had majored in art, he had captured the subject's characteristics even in that short time. This was an impossible feat without affection for the subject.
Feeling his favorable impression toward her from the drawing, Blair smiled softly and accepted the picture.
"Thank you, for drawing me in such a wonderful picture. Thanks to you, today will be remembered as a picture."
At Blair's radiant smile, the eyes of the man watching her grew dazed. Only a beat later did he finally come to his senses and bow his head.
"I-I'm the one who's thankful for you graciously accepting it, madam."
Blair called Melly who was nearby.
"Melly, give this man some gold coins."
Realizing she was trying to pay him for the drawing, the man became greatly flustered and waved his hands.
"I didn't draw this to sell it! It's a token of gratitude for becoming my muse, so please just accept it."
"But at least I should pay for the sketchbook—"
The moment Blair was trying to reassure the man that it was fine, a familiar mid-low voice came from beside her.
"Just accept it."
Surprised by the appearance of the voice's owner who shouldn't be here, Blair looked up.
There stood her husband.