Apparently, I’m a Poisonous Woman Who Sells One-Night Dreams, but I Ended Up Awakening a Hero’s Devoted Love - Chapter 1.22

“What a peaceful, lovely place!”

As she stepped down from the carriage, Mariadoll stretched her arms upward, loosening her stiff body from sitting for so long.

Jerf placed his hands on his hips and cracked his neck with a series of pops.

“Lord Jerf, your mannerisms are a bit like an old man’s.”

“My apologies. It’s because someone was leaning on my shoulder snoring.”

“I don’t snore!”

“You just don’t realize it, do you?”

Mariadoll’s cheeks flushed red as Jerf pointed out how she’d accidentally fallen asleep leaning against his shoulder – something she’d done for some reason this trip. When she protested, Jerf made a show of rubbing his shoulder.

As Jerf began rotating his shoulder blades in circles, Mariadoll puffed out her cheeks in a mix of embarrassment and defiance. Just then, Clemence approached from behind carrying their luggage.

“Mariadoll doesn’t snore. She just talks in her sleep.”

“I do not!”

“You were saying ‘doughnuts’ the other day.”

“Urk…”

She’d thought he was coming to her defense, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Now she looked like some gluttonous child! As Mariadoll sulked further, Jerf couldn’t help but chuckle.

This being their second-long carriage trip together, they’d grown quite comfortable with each other.

The two had been practically strong-armed by Frederick into taking a week-long pre-wedding trip, ultimately deciding on the mining town once governed by Bishop Mantel.

Mariadoll had said she wanted to see the minerals that changed color depending on firing temperature and duration.

When they told the Legacies about their travel plans, Clemence said he wanted to see the rocks too.

He’d been learning painting from Mariadoll’s father since before he could remember, and still painted under Mariadoll’s guidance now. He had considerable talent and seemed particularly fond of landscape paintings. After consulting with Jerf, he was specially permitted to accompany them as Mariadoll’s attendant.

After two full days of jostling in the carriage since leaving the royal capital, they arrived at a rural town spread across peaceful scenery.

Apparently, it had once thrived with mining activity, but since the mines closed, most households made their living through agriculture and forestry.

They arrived at dusk. The Stanley ducal family’s villa stood atop a small hill overlooking the town.

The main road, which wound through the town with its prominent reddish-brown brick roofs, narrowed as it continued up the hill.

Passing through groves of laurel and rowan trees, they reached a flat area where a brown brick mansion stood – its sturdy construction indeed befitting the home of someone governing this land.

“Is that the mountain where they used to mine minerals?”

From the hill with its good view, Mariadoll pointed toward the opposite mountain where few trees grew.

It happened to be in the direction where the setting sun was sinking, staining the mountain’s edge crimson.

“That’s right. About thirty minutes by carriage from here.”

“Hey, Mariadoll. Can I do some sketching?”

“Right after we’ve arrived? I don’t mind, but make sure you come inside before it gets dark.”

“Okay!”

Clemence took his sketchbook from his bag, placed it on his knees, and began sketching with charcoal. To Mariadoll, exhausted from the long journey, his energy was astonishing.

“Lord Jerf, my apologies.”

“It’s fine. Besides, this was rather sudden so the mansion hasn’t been fully prepared. I’ll have the attendants we brought tidy up the rooms, so could you wait here awhile, Mariadoll?”

“Understood. Oh, it looks like someone’s coming.”

As the attendants unloaded luggage from the carriage, a wagon came up the hill.

Stopping before Jerf, a well-built man in his forties stepped down from the wagon.

“Lord Jerf, I’ve brought the ingredients. Shall I take them to the kitchen?”

“Ah, thank you. Mariadoll, this is Maderick, Bishop Mantel’s younger brother who works as a blacksmith at the foot of the mountain. Maderick, this is my fiancée Mariadoll.”

Mantel’s hometown was this town. It wasn’t surprising he had family here.

(Now that you mention it, his blue eyes and crow’s feet are quite similar.)

Though his older brother was slightly balder at the back.

“Lord Jerf’s fiancée? If you’d told me, I would have prepared better ingredients.”

“We’re tired today. Save the feast for tomorrow.”

“Right you are. Then tomorrow I’ll prepare something really invigorating!”

Judging by his cheerful laughter, the two seemed quite close.

Mariadoll’s eyes widened in shock at his words, but Jerf merely quirked one corner of his lips and let it pass. As ever, he was too good at acting – or perhaps it was the composure of an adult.

Interpreting Mariadoll’s reaction as charmingly innocent, Maderick placed a hand to his chest and gave a gentlemanly bow.

“I was born the second son of a baronial house, but now I live as a commoner craftsman. So please, call me Maderick.”

“Understood. You mentioned being a blacksmith – might you be the one who discovered the stones that change color with firing temperature and time?”

“Yes, that’s right. My rascal of a son put stones into the burning forge. When I hurriedly pulled them out, they’d turned a beautiful red. As I experimented to understand why, I discovered the color changes depending on temperature and time in the kiln.”

The stones apparently came from when he secretly went to play in the abandoned mines and brought some back.

“Though I tell him not to go because it’s dangerous,” Maderick added with a grimace.

“Speaking of which, we’d like to visit your workshop tomorrow if that’s acceptable?”

“Yes, of course. You must be tired, so please rest well and come anytime. If I’m not at the workshop, I’ll be at the house next door.”

With a “Well then” and a bow, Maderick entered the villa carrying a wooden box.

“He seems quite friendly.”

“That he is. Since Mantel became bishop, Maderick could have inherited the barony, but he’d aimed to become a blacksmith since childhood, so he renounced his title and became a commoner.”

The second son of a baronial house would become a commoner unless he married into another family.

Understanding from a young age that he couldn’t live as a noble, Maderick apprenticed to his master blacksmith at fifteen to learn a trade.

After over twenty years, when he’d become fully skilled, Mantel decided to become a bishop.

Having never intended to live as nobility anyway, and with the mines – the barony’s income source – now abandoned, Maderick readily renounced his title.

Watching Maderick make several trips between the villa and his wagon, he seemed well-settled in this land and content with his current life. To Mariadoll, who didn’t cling to noble ways of living, she felt a sense of kinship.

(Tomorrow we’ll see the rocks at the workshop. I wonder what colors they come in? I’m looking forward to it already.)

As the sunset sank below the mountain ridge, an attendant announced the rooms were ready.

Telling Clemence he could continue his painting tomorrow, the three entered the mansion chatting about what might be on the dinner menu.

We’ve reached the “turn” in the narrative structure.

Apparently, it’s getting cold starting today. Can’t leave the kotatsu…