Chapter 322

Three days passed in a blur, so quickly Nina barely had time to breathe.

Even devoting all their strength would not be enough time to prepare for the crisis soon to come.

“…Madam, wouldn’t it be better to attend mainly indoor events, as Lady Barrington said?”

While helping Nina get ready, Marsha looked deeply anxious, afraid that a dangerous situation might occur.

It would be better to hear people say her reputation was inflated.

Wasn’t that better than having her person threatened?

But Nina’s resolve was firm.

“It’s alright, a guard knight will accompany me, and my husband separately asked the guard captain to strengthen patrols in the slums.”

Ash didn’t know about this.

He had been just as busy for the past three days.

Going in and out of the Imperial Palace.

Going out to the square where the free meals would be distributed and setting up tents.

Checking the restaurant rented from the Imperial Palace and the ingredients.

‘…He’s even busier than I am.’

He left at dawn and returned in the evening, so there was no way he would know what she had prepared, or for what purpose.

“There are plenty of ladies who will make prayer visits even if you don’t, so must you really do it?”

“You know too. Unlike the last charity event, if I step back from the difficult work, the way people look at me will worsen. I don’t want to give Duchess Nord a good excuse, so please understand.”

He already disapproved of her visiting the slums.

So if he found out someone was targeting her, there was no way he would stay still, was there?

Like Catherine or Marsha, he would either make her attend only indoor events, or in a severe case, ‘nudge’ her into being absent from every event.

‘…He won’t find out, will he?’

She had asked Ash for something separately, but since noblewomen were scheduled to visit the slums, where crime was frequent, it wasn’t a strange request.

So surely he wouldn’t discover that Marquis Crewe and Rebecca were targeting her.

“Madam, even so, I still think you should tell His Grace and strengthen your escort a little more…”

“Enough.”

Nina rejected Marsha’s opposition at once.

Of course, people weren’t good just because they were poor.

But why did the slums keep getting ignored?

Weren’t the slums the main stage where crimes large and small took place?

A strange rumor had spread in such a place, so how could she not be afraid?

But she couldn’t avoid it.

“I’ll need a little more color on my cheeks and lips.”

Looking at herself in the mirror, she looked haggard enough that people would believe it if she said she was absent from the event for health reasons.

“Madam…”

“Please.”

With her face twisted as though she might cry, Marsha colored her cheeks and lips with floral rouge.

When a pale red tint was added to her face, which was already pale even without powder, she seemed to regain some vitality.

“Marsha, I’ll be back.”

“Madam, I want to go with you too. Please let me go with you, yes?”

“That won’t do. If you catch a cold, who will attend to me? And if things happen as expected, it’ll be hard to protect you too.”

If an urgent situation occurred, the guard knight wouldn’t be able to pay attention to Marsha as well.

After all, the first priority the guard knight had to protect would be her.

There was no way she would take Marsha with her to a dangerous place.

“Don’t worry. I’ll come back safely. You know how hard I prepared, don’t you?”

“……”

Under the pretext of an order, Nina tied Marsha’s feet to the villa, then stepped outside.

Since Ash had headed to the square early at dawn, she was the only one who climbed into the carriage.

By now, he would be doing volunteer work while facing the cold wind.

The square was teeming with countless people like a swarm of ants.

The nobles and soldiers who had come out to volunteer were forming order by lining up the poor who had come to receive meals.

Nina, who had covered her hair with a hood and half her face with a scarf, got out of the carriage with a knight’s help.

There were many people, but finding Ash wasn’t difficult.

All she had to do was look for the black hair sticking out among people of similar height.

‘…I was going to greet him before I left.’

There were too many obstacles to reach her husband.

‘It can’t be helped.’

Nina quickly gave up and looked for Catherine.

Catherine was talking with women of various ages.

“Miss Catherine, what happened with what I asked you for?”

“It’s all ready. Ah, and these are the people who will be going to make prayer visits with you today, Madam.”

The volunteers who would visit the homes of those who had difficulty moving and couldn’t receive free meals at the square.

Most of them were faces Nina knew.

Not only the mothers of her nephew-in-law’s friends, but also her mother’s acquaintances, and even women she had never met before.

She had hoped there would be as few volunteers as possible, but at the unexpectedly large number of people, Nina’s expression darkened.

“…Have you all heard a certain amount of explanation from Miss Catherine?”

Unlike previous years, a serious accident might occur, so there was a need to notify them of the danger in advance.

• Author
• Recent Posts

mikan

Latest posts by mikan (see all)