The Ugly Wife of the Shady Duke

Grace returned the clean empty bowl to the merchant.

“After the invention of the gate, distribution improved, and food culture developed.
It’s really amazing.”

“That’s right!”

Benjamin nodded his head excitedly at Grace’s words, a bigger reaction than usual.

Grace was surprised to see Benjamin so excited, and she stiffened up.
Benjamin noticed Grace’s surprise and calmed down.

“Oh, no.
I’m sorry.”

The gate was also the business invested in by Felton Duchy.
It was a magical device, to put it simply, a teleportation device.

Although it wasn’t found everywhere in the empire due to its short history, the invention of the gate certainly made distribution easier and made it easier to trade fresh food.

‘Opening the gate is expensive; one has to move a large quantity of resources to make it worthwhile.’

Despite that drawback, the advantages were significant enough to overlook it.

Grace thought that Benjamin would like the gate, as it was the second source of income for Duke Felton, with their main source being magic stones.

But his answer was unexpected.

“I used to dream of being a gate installer…”

“….”

“But I couldn’t make it happen.”

Of course, that was understandable.
After all, to put it simply, he was the major shareholder of Gate Co., Ltd.

“I wanted to be a gate installer and install them anywhere in the world.
Of course, I’m happy to help with that as a duke too.”

As he said that, Benjamin stuffed a cake pop, which he had bought from somewhere, into Grace’s mouth, urging her to try it.

Grace, who usually refused to eat anything, seemed happy to eat anything today.

‘Why do you want to fatten me up?’ 

Is he trying to make me gain weight so that he doesn’t get attached?

She was about to doubt him, but the cake pop in her mouth was too delicious.
Grace chewed it vigorously and swallowed it.

“Aren’t you going to eat, Benny?”

“Just watching My Lady eat makes me full.”

Grace narrowed her eyes at Benjamin’s words.
Only then did Benjamin put the remaining cake pop in his mouth.

“….”

Benjamin covered his mouth for a while and hesitated.
He looked around and said, 

“Can you be alone for a moment, My Lady?”

“Why?”

“I’ll go buy something to drink.”

Benjamin pointed to another counter.
There were a lot of people.
It seemed difficult to move Grace around with him.

“Okay.”

Grace didn’t feel the need to stick with him, so she nodded without hesitation.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Yes.”

“It won’t take long.”

“Yes.”

“You can look around, but be careful of strangers.”

“…Yes.”

“There are some people who are just hollow bullshitters who talk a good game.[1] Those kinds of people…”

“Be careful on the way.”

“Okay.”

Benjamin left quietly to buy something to drink.
Grace watched his back as he slowly disappeared and thought to herself, ‘Aren’t you the same as those hollow bullshitters?’ [2]

“Hmm.”

Now alone, Grace looked around while removing a crumb of bread from her mouth.

“Where is this?”

During the festival where everyone was having fun, an old building that was strangely deserted caught Grace’s eye. 

Normally, it would be wise to avoid old places, but for some reason, it stood out to her.

“Hmm.”

Grace glanced at where Benjamin was headed.
She could see the back of his head.

‘He said I could explore other places.’

Grace concluded that Benjamin would find his way on his own, and she walked briskly toward the deserted area.

Near the area where no one was looking, children were gathered together.

“….?”

Grace looked around for any adults.
A child grabbed her cloak from below.

“Are you going to buy something?”

A child who looked about four years old sniffled and looked up at Grace.

“What are you selling?”

“Um… soap.”

Grace turned her gaze towards the “products” they were selling.

‘They’re not pretty at all.’

Grace sat down in front of the stall and brought the soap close to her nose.

‘The scent is not unique either…’

It would have been nice if there were other scents added, but the scent was plain and transparent without any color, and the shape was also strange.

“….”

Grace looked at the stall for a moment, resting her chin on her hand.

‘Should I buy this?’

Out of sympathy?

Grace looked at the soap, which had no commercial value, and asked the children.

“Hey, where are your guardians?”

“Our Teacher?”

“Teacher?”

“Yes.”

At the mention of a teacher, Grace was convinced that the old building was an orphanage and that these children were orphans belonging to the orphanage.

‘Could that ‘teacher’ possibly be the one responsible for these children…?’

Tl note:

[1] “talk a good game” is an idiomatic expression that means to speak confidently and convincingly about one’s abilities, skills, or intentions, often in a way that impresses others.
It suggests that someone may talk convincingly about their capabilities or plans but may not necessarily deliver or back up their words with action. 

[2] Here she wants to imply that similar to people who “talk a good game” Benjamin is also a double-faced person.
His personality is affectionate but in reality, he doesn’t like her.