What’s Wrong With My Marriage? I Was Bought as a Wife, Yet My Husband Is Madly in Love With Me! - Chapter 5

When I woke up in the morning, Klaus was already gone from the bed.

I felt foolish for having worried right before falling asleep about how I should act when I woke up. In a way, Luce felt relieved, but she also found herself feeling a tiny bit lonely.

“Good morning, Madam. May I come in?”

There was a knock at the door, and I heard Nora’s voice from outside. When I gave her permission, she entered and bowed respectfully.

“What would you like to do for breakfast?”

“Oh, um…”

“You could dine in the same room as dinner, in your private quarters, or since the weather is so lovely—how about a meal on the terrace?”

Looking out the window, the sky was clear and radiantly blue.

As I nodded in agreement, Nora said, “I shall go and prepare it,” and left. It was the first time I had ever been asked where I wanted to eat breakfast.

At the Orlov household, my mother, the mistress of the house, often ate in her room while listening to reports or giving out detailed instructions. Imitating her, my older sister also ate in her room; I had seen her ordering the maids around while she dined.

Because my mother and sister behaved that way, the servants were incredibly busy from early morning.

While my mother’s actions were part of her duties as the mistress, my sister’s were pure selfishness. My younger sister didn’t eat breakfast at all, spending her time lounging in her room until nearly noon.

My father and brother ate in the dining hall, talking of nothing but the estate and business from the crack of dawn. I had tried to greet them there once, but after being harshly rebuked for “interrupting,” I stopped setting foot in the dining hall altogether.

Thus, Luce had always eaten alone, whatever was prepared for her in a corner of the kitchen.

She had once asked to eat in her room, but the maid reported it to her mother, who scolded her: “Don’t increase the workload when we’re already short-handed.” Luce had wondered many times why it was allowed for her sisters but forbidden for her.

Because she was the daughter of a Count, the servants couldn’t sit at the same table as her. However, since they couldn’t use that corner table until she finished, she always felt their piercing stares, wishing she would just hurry up and leave.

(…How miserable.)

Sitting in the chair prepared on the terrace and sipping the tea poured for her, Luce reflected.

She was the daughter of a Count, a noblewoman. Yet, whenever she tried to exercise the natural rights of a noble’s daughter, her parents invariably scolded her as if to say that Luce possessed no such rights at all.

(Accepting that treatment despite my resentment… I was so miserable.)

I couldn’t even complain and ask, “Why only me?” I believed that if I played the part of the good daughter to everyone, eventually, I would be accepted as a matter of course.

(To even hold such a wish was already strange, though.)

Having grown accustomed to that treatment since childhood, Luce kept thinking she had to be an even “better girl.” But the result of that was the sight of her family of four—excluding her—enjoying their time together.

Even though she knew she had to forget about those people, her chest throbbed with pain.

It was like a scab over a wound. One small trigger, and pain and blood would pour out of the wound that was supposed to be healing.

(This isn’t the Orlov house anymore.)

“Madam, I have brought your breakfast.”

“Thank you. …Um, where is Klaus?”

“The Master has been organizing letters and documents since this morning. Shall I call for him?”

“N-no, it’s fine. If he’s busy with work, please don’t mind me.”

Nora blinked, then spoke in her usual flat tone.

“The Master said he wished to go into town and go shopping with you today. Therefore, he is merely clearing his schedule to be ready. Please rest assured; if it is a choice between work and you, he will always choose the time spent with you.”

“O-Oh, I see.”

As she gave her bewildered reply, Nora’s eyebrows knitted slightly.

“Could it be that the Master has not informed you of today’s plans?”

“Ah, yes, that’s right.”

“Oh, goodness. And after I told him so many times that a lady requires various preparations for an outing. I am terribly sorry, Madam. It is due to our lack of competence…!”

Nora bowed her head as if regretting it from the bottom of her soul.

“Please, don’t apologize.”

“From now on, all of us shall serve you with even greater care.”

“Thank you.”

Not knowing the “correct” way to respond, Luce simply thanked her. Nora replied with a bow.

Though Nora didn’t show much emotion, she always handled Luce with sincerity. Luce felt she finally understood what it meant to not be treated carelessly.

While she was eating breakfast, Klaus arrived, accompanied by the butler.

The moment he saw Luce, a melting smile spread across his face and he practically ran toward her. To her, he looked just like a large dog.

(To think of a grown man that way…)

As Klaus took Luce’s hand and greeted her with an enraptured expression, her face grew so hot from the early morning attention that she could hardly bear it.

“First, let’s buy some clothes for you, Luce.”

The carriage took them to a high-end shopping district. While some noble families call tailors to their mansions, it seemed Klaus was different. Back at Luce’s home, they would call tailors from shops ranked lower than these luxury stores to buy up dresses.

“Did you perhaps want to call a tailor to the mansion?”

“N-no, it’s not that.”

She was just surprised because it was different from what she expected.

“I simply wanted, at all costs, to go shopping alone with you, Luce. …I pushed my own selfishness through. I’ll do whatever you wish next time, so please forgive me for today.”

“…Okay.”

(Don’t look at me like that.)

When Klaus stared at her with those moist eyes, she felt like she could forgive him for anything. In the first place, Klaus wasn’t even saying anything particularly selfish.

“It looks like we’ve arrived. Come, Luce, your hand.”

Klaus escorted Luce naturally. Placing her hand on her husband’s arm, she stepped into a luxury boutique for the first time in her life.

The owner immediately approached and led them to the back.

“Count Barth, today you are…”

“Yes, I’d like to present this shop to my wife, Luce.”

“I see.”

(…Wait.)

Something clearly bizarre had just been said. The owner had accepted it with an “I see,” but that wasn’t right. Luce thought the conversation was absolutely insane.

“Um, Klaus. Did I mishear you? You said you want to ‘present this shop’ to me?”

“Ah, forgive me. I got ahead of myself without asking for your preference. This is no good; it’s a bit of a bad habit of mine. Luce, is there a particular shop you’d prefer?”

“Wait.”

This time, her inner voice came out of her mouth.