Villainous Husband, the One You’re Obsessed With Is Over There - Chapter 65

Chapter 33.1

It wasn’t time for me to adore Sylvia. All of a sudden, I was now thrown into a situation where I had to favor Duchess Nerma instead.

‘I’m sorry, Sylvia—!’

I promised to try my best to take good care of you though!

With that thought, I glanced down at Duchess Nerma with a face that was suddenly disturbed.

“Yes, I see.”

The Duchess smiled a little more as my voice trembled slightly with tension. At the same time, her face was as if saying, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t show your weakness like that.’

…Scary.

Seeing her like that, I resolutely stretched my shoulders so as not to reveal my weakness before I felt like words of praise were conveyed through her eyes.

“The etiquette of social gatherings is the same in all countries, so I don’t think there will be any major problems.”

“Oh, my gosh. That’s a reasonable statement. You were a princess when you weren’t married yet.”

Duchess Nerma covered her mouth with her fan and chuckled after saying that.

On the other hand, I laughed at myself as I spoke. What would be the same thing? This was a crazy country, not my home country…! In my memory, Unro Kingdom was a bit small, and the people had a common sense even if they had bad bones in their bodies.

I added quickly, thinking that I might be overly arrogant.

“However, since the Actilus Empire has its own customs, there might be slightly small, subtle differences from my home country. So for that part, I’ll leave that to you.”

I thought I had said it was so that it wouldn’t feel like I was begging her for anything, right?

While I wanted to quickly turn my gaze to Cisen to confirm that I was speaking well, I didn’t, fearing that the act itself might be an act of revealing ‘weakness.’ Instead, I focused my gaze on only the Duchess, who was still smiling.

It seemed my choice was correct.

Duchess Nerma was still sitting at my feet, not even paying attention to the dust on the ends of her dress before opening her mouth again.

“I’m glad, Your Majesty. Actually, it’s presumptuous though I was waiting for you to order it. I’ve been spreading rumors in the social world…”

It felt ominous for her to speak with a shy blush on her cheeks like that…

I asked cautiously.

“…What did you say?”

“It’d be better to show your sincerity in advance because…”

When she straightened her back, I bowed my head unexpectedly and the Duchess whispered in my ear.

“At the beginning of next month, they’ll be given an opportunity to meet with the Empress up close, although that opportunity wouldn’t be given to anyone.”

Right now, it was in the middle of early July… so, at the most, it would be in three weeks. So before my value, which peaked in hunting, withered and fell, I could already see her intention to see the game quickly.

Haha!

Duchess Nerma, she did her job very well. She was indeed excellent that I was about to cry…!

Even though I wasn’t ready mentally or physically for this yet, I wondered if I was even ready for the hunt before as well…

I swallowed my tears inside and smiled.

“Ha, haha… Thank you.”

…Just like that, as soon as the summer solstice festival was over, I was destined to start a new job like crazy again. Even if you pretended to be a high person, you couldn’t eat anything raw.* There was no place where you could go on and win without lifting your finger.
[ T/N: Eating something raw is an idiom which means, (disparaging) To do or have something without making efforts. ]

“If you study the circumstances inside and outside the Palace and make your official debut in the imperial society, from then on, you’ll be in charge of the affairs of the Imperial Family in earnest.”

Duchess Nerma uttered so with a voice that made me feel dizzy.

I couldn’t help but be nervous at the thought that my schedule would be too busy. If that were the case, when would I be able to plan to escape?!

If I studied, July would pass quickly, not to mention if I were to be in charge of the imperial family’s affairs as well. Not only that, but the Emperor’s appearance was scheduled to take place in December, so with common sense, I would, again, be swamped.

…It seemed that I was mistaken to think that there was a lot of time to escape. I had to move quickly.

“…Whoo.”

“I’ll help you both physically and mentally, huhu.”

While I sighed in frustration at the thought of running away, Duchess Nerma seemed to have interpreted it a little differently.

I glanced down at her face sullenly.

…Okay, let’s solve the immediate problem first.

ﾟ· : * ✧ * :· ﾟ

I began to earnestly learn social etiquette after that.

The social etiquette of the Actilus Empire was surprisingly normal. I was worried that there might be a culture of throwing forks at each other at tea parties, though unexpectedly, that wasn’t the case.

A delicate tea party in a country that revered force and barbarism, although it caused cognitive dissonance… this country was selectively normal.

Still, there were differences between Unro Kingdom and here, so I had to learn the differences from the Duchess of Nerma diligently. Similarly, I had to also learn other things after the social gathering that was a fortnight away.

It was something I didn’t like very much, even though I had been learning for a week. It was no joke.

“Come on, Your Majesty. There’s a long way to go. I look forward to your kind cooperation today.”

Duchess Nerma unfolded her fine leather-bound notebook.

This was a secret weapon that her husband, the Duke of Nerma, wrote and personally referenced and was titled ‘All About the Actilus Aristocracy.’ The note, about a hundred pages long, had thin pieces of colored paper protruding from every corner.

According to the words of the Duchess, “Even if you don’t know anything else, these are the things you should memorize.”

Please consider sending some love either through the translator’s Ko-fi or by leaving a rating/review for this series on novel updates~!

For update pings, novel discussions and/or to send mistake reports, join our discord server~