Chapter 5: The Fastest Way to Become a Successful Fan (5)

I roared like a beast once I returned to my room.

Anne shuddered when she saw the pillow covered in silk cloth deform into various shapes in my hands. I knew I should be acting like a prim lady, but I just couldn’t keep my composure after my earlier encounter with Abel.

“Are you that happy?” Anne chuckled, snatching the pillow from my hands.

“You should have seen that adorable face! His cheeks were so soft and chubby, and his lips were so cute….”

“I gotta say, kids are cutest at that age, but from what I’ve seen, he seems to be smaller than his peers."

“Right?! He’s a growing boy, so he’s supposed to be eating well, but the food here in the North tastes terrible."

“I thought you were against this marriage. Did you already have a change of heart?” asked Anne as she cleaned up the mess I made.

I had to admit. That went quite unexpectedly. At first, I was going to call Hades out on his narcissism and call off the wedding immediately, but it ended up looking like I went all the way to bother him during work because I was anxious to meet him.

As embarrassed as I was, I had to admit that the situation wasn’t too bad for me. Once I become the Duchess of Louvremont, I would be able to fangirl Abel to my heart’s content both legally and comfortably as Abel’s stepmother.

The only problem was Hades, aka Duke Louvremont.

But that problem would soon dissolve on its own.

As unfortunate as it might be, Hades had but less than a year left to live. He was destined to die in place of Abel.

“Hmm….”

I never really had much interest in characters other than Abel and the heroine, but now that I’d met Hades, I was starting to feel bad for him.

But there was no helping it. Because this story wouldn’t be able to continue unless Hades sacrificed himself for Abel.

On Abel’s eleventh birthday, his latent power would suddenly overwhelm his body, going out of control. He would find himself at a dangerous threshold where his extraordinary powers would try to consume him whole.

If Hades did not sacrifice himself by absorbing this chaotic power to contain it, then there wouldn’t be a main character in <Persona>.

Abel would mature significantly with his stepfather’s sacrifice, which would act as a turning point. He would become cold and brusque, but that too would end up becoming a part of his charm.

And anyway, even I was helpless to do anything to save Hades from his destiny. If his cause of death is external, I may be able to help him. But in this case, the cause was going to be Abel’s exploding power. There was simply no way for me to stop that.

“Say… if Duke Louvremont happens to die after our marriage, what will happen to me?”

“…Pardon?” Anne’s face hardened. It was obvious what she was thinking. She seemed to suspect that I might try to assassinate Duke Louvremont to free myself from unwanted marriage while still remaining near Abel.

“It’s nothing.” I waved my hand dismissively in front of Anne’s face as if to wave away her delusion.

Though it was a pity, Hades was destined to die soon, so wouldn’t I be able to stay here as a duchess and live an okay life afterwards? Stanning Abel, playing the role of his mother now and then, and a few years later I might be able to greet the nice, pretty and talented heroine as my daughter in law.

Seriously, why was I even questioning myself? Once I get married to Hades, Abel would become my son and the duchy my new home.

“That’s really not that bad….” I began rubbing my chin with a smile of satisfaction.

Anne saw me, her face even paler than before. I could tell she was genuinely afraid I’d attempt an assassination.

Again, there really was no need for me to go that far. Hades was destined to die soon anyway.

What worried me, though, was that up until the moment of his fated death, I’d not only have to act as Abel’s mother but also as Hades’ wife.

But my worries didn’t last for long. I just came back from meeting him in person to say I will be a good wife and whatnot, so I’d already lost the will to correct Hades’ misunderstanding that I wasn’t following around the members of house Louvremont for the sake of Hades.

So, sure, I just thought I’d go along with the story that I was madly in love with His Grace as a long-time secret admirer.

That sounded better than the truth anyway, which is that I’d been secretly chasing after his 10-year-old son.

“Oh, right! My handkerchief! Anne, could you bring it over? I’d like to finish the embroidery I was working on so I can give it to Abel as a gift.”

I recalled how Abel thanked me for my gift, and my voice shot up a pitch due to excitement. I wanted to give him something I made myself, so I’d been learning how to stitch. It was something I’d never tried before, even in my previous life.

Actually, I wanted to finish it before I arrived here, but it was taking time because I lacked the skills.

“Are you talking about the handkerchief with the Childe’s face? You never entrusted it to me before. Every time I offered to keep it for you, you insisted that you wanted to hold onto it yourself.”

“So you don’t have it? Hold on, but I don’t have it either….”

I quickly ran my hands over the dress I was wearing, but of course, I couldn’t find the handkerchief there. I mean, the dress didn’t even have any pockets.

So then, where could it have gone? Just as Anne said, I remembered carrying it around the castle….

I couldn’t believe I lost the handkerchief after I’ve endured so much just to give Abel a gift with his adorable face on it.

I searched everywhere with Anne. We looked inside the sewing basket, the pocket of my jacket, the dresser drawer, under the bed, and even under the pillow, but the handkerchief was nowhere to be found.

How bizarre. I could swear I had it with me when I first arrived at the duchy….

“Where did it go?!”

I squatted down on the floor and searched under the bed. When I raised my head back up, Anne shrugged and shook her head at me.

“I don’t know, milady.”

“Oh no…, I was almost finished with it too! I just needed to stitch in the black thread to complete his hair.”

“You have plenty of handkerchiefs, so why not start a new one? We can always give him the other one when we find it. After all, there’s no rule saying you can have one handkerchief." Anne consoled me as she organized the sewing basket.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling down. I put a lot of effort into that handkerchief; my fingers were still sore from being pricked by the needle — and now it was gone.

But soon, I gave up. “Yeah, I guess I’ll just have to make another one. There’s nothing I can’t do for Abel’s sake.”

* * *

Around the same time, Hades called Abel to his office. While waiting, he was thinking of Aisha.

I promise I’ll be a good wife.

His lips curled into a grin.

‘What a funny woman.’ he thought.

She followed others so openly, yet she was the only one who didn’t realize that the person she was following had noticed her. She thought she was hiding it so well, too. He found that funny as well.

At first, he thought she was no different from all the other women who chased him. But as time went by, his curiosity began to grow. She followed him everywhere he went but never actually approached him. In fact, he could tell she was being careful not to get caught.

He thought she was aiming to become the duchess of Louvremont, but also that she loved him so much that she was happy just watching him from afar. Her perseverance managed to pique his interest.

Soon, he found himself looking for the strange lady wherever he went, and now that a year had almost passed, the habit had stuck with him.

She had never revealed herself to him, so Hades was genuinely surprised when the lady first contacted him for permission to visit the duchy.

Still, marriage was never part of his plan. He had no intention of making such an important decision without consulting his vassals first. His decision was purely an impulsive one.

‘Why did I do that?’

Perhaps it all started when he saw the handkerchief Aisha left behind after their welcoming dinner together.

Hades pulled a white handkerchief out of the desk drawer and spread it out in front of him. A small chuckle escaped his lips.

A clumsy embroidery was stitched on the plain handkerchief. Brightly colored threads clumsily formed a round face, black hair, crimson eyes…. It was his face, no doubt.

The embroidery was far from perfect, but Hades found it quite cute. Considering that it was made by a noble who probably never even used a needle before, the result wasn’t so bad.

Hades grabbed the handkerchief and rested his head on his hand. He chuckled fondly, shaking his head.

‘As I thought, she’s an odd woman…, but also quite interesting.’