How to Survive as the Wife of The Monster Duke

had said, unable to hide her curiosity.
“But… Why are you being so helpful? So nice?”

While Ilyin had noticed that Red Delrose and Blue Nos were the most adversarial, that didn’t Green Mille and Delrose were allies.
If anything, Blue Nos and Green Mille were closer, and Red Delrose set as a check on the other three families.

Then why was Rippo, Mille’s direct child, helping her?

“Well,” the girl had said, “it’s because…”

Ilyin could scarcely believe what Rippo had said next.

“Oh my god, ma’am!”

Ilyin was pulled from her thoughts the moment she stepped out the door.
The cold wind of April at Biflten felt enough to freeze her head.
And the maids, as soon as they saw her, exclaimed as one.

They looked flustered, as though afraid to go near her lest they spread the cold they were suffering.
But she grabbed each maid’s hands, in turn.

Even with gloves, their hands were like ice.

“From now on, don’t….”

As the people of Delrose couldn’t refuse her requests, she caught herself before saying “don’t listen”.

“If I set you a task that is too difficult, let me know.”

Don’t just listen and obey, she thought.
She clasped a maid’s frozen hands, and her warmth spread through them.

Ilyin felt the cold rush into her own hands.
The maid looked as though she didn’t know how to react to it.

“If it’s an absurd order, tell me it’s absurd.”

She grabbed another maid’s hands.
Hers were also frozen.

The maids and knights in Viscount Arlen’s mansion all tried their best to follow orders, but not blindly.
They would push back as best they could against an awful job, or an absurd command.

Everyone had found her annoying, so they hadn’t tried to do even normal daily responsibilities for her.
But as always, it was very different with Delrose.

“I don’t want my people to get sick or hurt for some petty errand.”

My people. The words spread a special warmth among the maids shivering in the cold.
The bond between the attendees and master was especially close in Delrose, one seldom felt in the suppressed atmosphere of the other families.

“We’ll keep that in mind, ma’am,” Etra said on their behalf, drawing a laugh from Ilyin.

“Then those who are cold go inside,” Ilyin said.
“The rest of you come with me, as warmly dressed as you can.
I’ll show you something amazing.”

Will they really think so, Ilyin thought, or is it only I?

The maids looked at each other.
Not one thought to let their lady go alone.
All stayed with her as she headed for the Delrose knights’ ground.