6. The Duke's Mansion
by Foreigner Β· 2026-08-21
Aron's room was cleaned every day.
Rien cleaned it.
She was seventeen and had been in this house for eight years.
For six of those eight years, she had served the young lord Aron.
There was no dust in the room.
Even though there was no dust, Rien went in with a rag every day.
She wiped the desk, wiped the window sill, and smoothed the bed sheets. She smoothed the sheets every day, even though no one slept in the bed.
Masa: Rien.
Masa stood at the door.
Masa was fifty-four.
She had raised Aron since he was an infant.
She had taught him to walk, taught him his first letters, and it was Masa who had brought Rien to this house when Aron was six and placed her by his side.
Masa was the only one in this house who spoke to Duke Hail in a somewhat informal manner.
That was because she had changed his diapers a very long time ago.
Masa: Rien.
Rien: Yes.
Masa: You can stop now.
Rien wiped the window sill.
Rien: I don't have to stop yet.
Masa: Rien.
Rien: There's dust.
Masa looked into the room.
There was no dust.
Masa didn't say that.
Masa: Did you eat?
Rien: I did.
Masa: Liar.
Rien: ......
Masa: Come down and eat.
Rien: Nanny.
Rien turned around, holding the rag.
Rien: Nanny, how do you do it?
Masa: Do what?
Rien: How can you act like nothing's wrong?
Masa looked at Rien.
Masa: I changed his diapers.
Rien: ......
Masa: I watched him for sixteen years.
Rien: ......
Masa: You've been here for six years.
Rien couldn't say anything.
Masa: So.
Masa said.
Masa: I've been hurting for ten years longer than you.
Rien gripped the rag.
Rien: Nanny.
Masa: Yes.
Rien: If I had accompanied the young lord...
Masa turned around.
Masa: What.
Rien: What would have happened if I had gone?
Masa answered immediately.
He answered as if he had been waiting.
Masa: You would have died too.
Rien: ......
Masa: That's all.
Rien looked at Masa.
Masa: The young lord is a quick thinker.
Masa said.
Masa: If he left you behind, it was the best possible move.
Rien: ......
Masa: A sixteen-year-old calculated that.
Masa went towards the door.
Masa: So you.
Rien: ......
Masa: Don't make that calculation wrong.
Masa left.
As he left, he wiped his face with his sleeve once.
Rien saw it.
Rien stood in front of the window.
The window was half open.
The window in this room was always half open.
The young lord had ordered it so. He said it was too cold if fully open. He said it was stuffy if not open at all. So, it was half.
Rien had heard those words when she was twelve and wondered what they meant.
Even now, she only opens it halfway.
Rien stood there for a long time.
Then he picked up the rag again.
A sound came from the door.
Rien turned around.
The Duchess was standing there.
Rien dropped the rag.
Rien: my lady.
Seirin: ......
Rien: my lady, I.
Seirin did not answer.
He had never entered this room.
Not once since his son disappeared.
Seirin came inside.
He took one step in and stopped.
And looked at the room.
There was a desk. Three books lay open on it. One was a swordsmanship manual, and two were histories of the continent.
There was a bed. The sheets were taut.
There was a window.
Seirin: The window.
Seirin said.
Seirin: It's half open.
Rien: Yes.
Rien answered.
Rien: The young lord...
Rien did not say the rest.
Seirin went towards the window.
He placed his hand on the windowsill.
Seirin: It's cold if you open it all the way.
Rien: ......
Seirin: And it's stuffy if you don't open it.
Rien looked at Seirin.
Seirin: This is the child I bore.
Seirin said.
Her voice was very ordinary.
Seirin: Keep doing that.
Rien: Yes.
Seirin: Every day.
Rien: Yes, my lady.
Seirin left.
Rien picked up the rag.
As she picked it up, she wiped her eyes once with the back of her hand.
Duke Hail came home late that day too.
Seirin was sitting at the dining table.
Hail came in.
The hem of his clothes was wet.
Seirin saw it.
And said nothing.
Hail sat down.
Hail: Wife.
Seirin: Yes.
Hail: I'm late.
Seirin: I know.
Hail raised his glass.
Seirin asked.
Seirin: How far did you go today?
Hail's hand stopped.
Hail: ......
Seirin: To the lower reaches of the Meton River?
Hail: ......
Seirin: Or did you go further down?
Hail did not answer.
Seirin: Duke.
Seirin said.
Seirin: I will ask every day.
Hail: ......
Seirin: You don't have to answer today. You don't have to answer tomorrow either.
Hail: ......
Seirin: But I will ask every day.
Hail put down his glass.
Hail: Wife.
Seirin: Yes.
Hail: I'm sorry.
Seirin: You don't have to say that.
Seirin said.
Seirin: If you say that, I can't get angry.
It was the following week that someone came from the royal family.
It was a sign of respect.
Even without remains, the ceremony could be performed. He was the only son of the ducal family and the king's nephew.
It would not look good for the country to simply ignore it.
Hail intended to accept it.
Seirin: No.
Seirin said.
It was the reception room.
There was one minister from the royal family, Hail, and Seirin.
The minister looked at Seirin.
Minister: Wife.
Seirin: Yes.
Minister: This is the will of the royal family.
Seirin: I know.
The minister: Regarding the honor of the ducal family...
Seirin: The funeral.
Seirin said,
Seirin: It is held when there is a body.
The minister was speechless for a moment.
Hail: my lady.
Hail said,
Hail: It is custom.
Seirin looked at her husband.
Seirin: Even the one who made the custom.
Hail: ......
Seirin: They must have seen the body.
The reception room fell silent.
Seirin did not shout.
She never raised her voice.
Her sitting posture did not change.
The minister left.
It was that night that Hans came to the ducal residence.
He came through the side door, not the main entrance.
Seirin met him in the study.
Hans: my lady.
Hans knelt.
Seirin: Please rise.
Hans: ......
Seirin: Commander.
Hans stood up.
Seirin offered him a box.
Hans opened it.
Hans: my lady.
Seirin: If it's not enough, let me know.
Hans: This is.
Hans chose his words carefully.
Hans: This is yours, my lady.
Seirin: I know.
Seirin said,
Seirin: It's what I brought when I married.
Hans held the box, unable to close or open it.
Hans: my lady.
Seirin: Yes.
Hans: If Your Grace finds out.
Seirin: He will know.
Hans looked up.
Hans: Then why?
Seirin looked at him.
Seirin: Because he can't do it.
At the same time, in the royal palace, Yuris III sat before documents.
There were twelve documents.
The king read two of them.
It took him an hour to read the two, and after reading them, he read them again from the beginning.
Roena: Your Majesty.
The queen was sitting beside him.
Roena: The third is taxes. The three eastern territories say they can't pay this year.
Yuris III: ......
Roena: The reason is orcs.
Yuris III: Orcs.
Roena: Yes.
Roena: The fourth is the price of grain. It has doubled in the royal capital market.
Yuris III: Doubled.
Roena: It's not because of war, but rumors.
The King rubbed his face with his hand.
Yuris III: Roena.
Roena: Yes, Your Majesty.
Yuris III: You do it.
Roena did not answer.
She picked up a brush.
And signed twelve documents in turn.
The King's seal was next to it.
This was how Heness operated.
No one in the court was unaware.
No one outside the court knew.
Duke Cale arrived the next day.
Cale: Your Majesty.
Roena: Duke.
Cale: The expedition has passed Laypro.
Roena: I heard.
Cale stood for a moment.
Then he spoke.
Cale: Your Majesty.
Roena: Yes.
Cale: The battlefield is not a place for humans.
Roena: ......
Cale: I also pray for His Highness's safe return. But just in case.
Roena: ......
Cale: Just in case something happens, Your Majesty's daughter...
Roena looked at him.
Roena: Duke.
Cale: Yes, Your Majesty.
Roena: Are you saying that now...
Cale: ......
Roena: ...in front of me?
Cale bowed his head.
Cale: I apologize.
Roena: ......
Cale: I was only thinking of the future of the nation.
Roena said nothing for a long time.
Roena: You may go.
Cale withdrew.
As he withdrew, he was not punished.
He could not be.
The Cale family's private army was twice the size of the royal family's direct cavalry.
No one in the court was unaware of that either.
After Cale left, Roena remained seated.
She sat for a long time.
And looked at her hands.
They were trembling.
Roena took that hand with her other hand.
She placed both hands on her lap.
Then she took three breaths.
The door opened.
Nia: Mother.
Nia entered.
She was nine years old.
She was Roena's daughter.
Nia: Mother, when is my brother coming?
Roena released her hands.
Roena: Come here.
Nia came.
Roena stroked her hair.
Roena: Your brother had something to do, so he left.
Nia: When is he coming?
Roena: Soon.
Nia: When is "soon"?
Roena didn't answer that question.
Instead, she hugged Nia.
Ains had come to see her the night before he left.
He came alone.
Ains: Mother.
Ains called her that.
He had called her that since he was six years old.
There was much talk about it in the court. It was unusual for a prince to call his stepmother "Mother."
Ains knew about the talk but didn't change it.
Ains: Mother.
Roena: Yes, Your Highness.
Ains: Don't call me that.
Roena: I must call you that.
Roena said.
Roena: If I don't call you that, people will say other things.
Ains laughed.
Ains: Mother always makes those calculations.
Roena: That's all I do.
Roena handed him a piece of paper.
Ains unfolded it.
It was a map.
It was the Laypro area.
There were several dots marked on the map.
Ains: What is this?
Roena: These are the private army garrisons of the Cale Mailon ducal family.
Ains looked up.
Ains: How did you get this?
Roena: It took three years.
Roena said.
Roena: When you pass through Laypro, take the red line. It will delay you by one day.
Ains: ......
Roena: Be one day late.
Ains folded the map.
Ains: Mother.
Roena: Yes.
Ains: Father cried.
Roena: I know.
Ains: You're not crying, Mother.
Roena looked at him.
Roena: If I cry.
Ains: ......
Roena: You can't go......
Ains stood there for a long time.
Then he bowed his head.
Ains: I'll be back, Mother.
Roena cried after he left and the door closed.
That night, at the ducal residence, Seirin entered her son's room.
She went in alone.
She carried a lamp, went in, and sat by the bed.
Rien saw it from the hallway.
The door was slightly ajar.
Rien did not enter.
Seirin did nothing.
She didn't cry or touch anything.
She just sat there.
After a long while, she stood up.
And went to the window.
She opened the window halfway.
The wind came in.
Seirin stood before it.
In the hallway, Rien covered his mouth.