Chapter 24: Chapter 24

“What are you talking about? Carl!”

Ann met Carl after she left Rubica and yelled in surprise.

She wanted to grab her neck and faint, but she couldn’t afford to do that now.

“His Grace has ordered so.”

“No way, no way.”

Ann had been surprised by Edgar countless times, but this time was extremely different.

She had never experienced such a strong and shocking surprise.

“He wants to do the wedding tomorrow…”

Normally, at least a year was spent to prepare the wedding for someone like Duke Claymore. Even the wedding that was done with the shortest preparation time in history in the family had taken four months to prepare.

A month was needed to decide on which people to invite and on which seat they each would sit.

Making the wedding dress also took long. So did preparing food and decorating the wedding hall.

“His Grace has decided to not invite any guests. The wedding will be done with two witnesses present at the nearest Hue’s abbey. There will also be a simple feast here at the mansion after the wedding.”

Carl didn’t tell Ann about Mr. and Mrs. Berner because of Rubica.

“What kind of shit is all that?”

Carl was shocked to hear such a harsh term come out from Ann’s mouth. Her face turned red as she protested to Carl.

“You get married only once in your lifetime. Lady Berner has her rights to get married in the best wedding dress in the world with the blessings of many people!”

“… Lady Berner has already agreed to it.”

Ann started to feel dizzy and put one hand on her forehead.

She couldn’t understand. Why had Rubica agreed on such nonsense instead of getting mad at it? She was kind and nice, but she had no reason to do the wedding so quickly.

A reason to do the wedding so quickly…

Ann then suddenly realized something.

“Ann?”

Ann’s face had been pale just a second ago, but now she was smiling brightly. Carl called her, clearly worried.

“Okay. Hmm, I see.”

A couple who loved each other had to get married quickly. There could be only one reason. Ann was sure of it.

Rubica was pregnant.

Lady Berner was a grown up, and so was Edgar.

A couple deeply in love losing self-control for a short time was very likely to happen. Also, a fruit of that love could be unintendedly conceived during that short time.

Nevertheless, they were both nobles. Having a child before getting married could be something to be proud of for Edgar, but not to Rubica.

‘Yes, it has to be about the baby. That is why His Grace is rushing with the wedding. Oh my, and I didn’t notice it sooner…’

Ann thought she had been too slow-witted. Carl had to already know about this, but he was probably pretending to be ignorant. The less everyone knew, the better.

Now Ann liked Rubica even more. A child’s laughter is about to fill the cold mansion!

Even imagining it was so exciting. So, she couldn’t stay still. Even though the wedding was tomorrow, Ann wanted to let Rubica wear some pretty dress.

It was going to become a simple wedding with only two witnesses plus a simple wedding feast where only people from the mansion would be present, but Ann wanted the two events to be remembered as beautiful to Rubica.

“Carl! We don’t have much time. No, I should point that out first. If the wedding is tomorrow, you should have told me I had much to prepare and little time as soon as I escorted Lady Berner to her room!”

“What? Umm…”

“Quick, call the cook and tell him to prepare the wedding feast. Oh, and can’t we at least invite ladies and gentlemen of the neighborhood?”

“Well, His Grace said it would only bring protests from the other high noblemen.”

“Well, I see. They wouldn’t care about our situation and ask why he invited some barons and didn’t invite them. It would be certainly better to invite only people from the mansion.”

“Yes, His Grace said he wanted a quiet wedding with the minimum amount of people. Only the witnesses would be present. Ann, just choose a nice dress among the ones we already have and prepare a simple feast….”

Ann frowned hard and couldn’t listen to Carl anymore.

“Carl, quiet isn’t a synonym of simple.”

Ann firmly cut short Carl’s instruction. He couldn’t understand what she was saying and blinked. Ann sighed at the butler who only cared about his master.

“You always cared about Eddie that you never look at anything else.”

“Ann, it is only right for me to have His Grace as my priority and please stop calling him Eddie. You did that earlier in front of Lady Berner…”

“Oh, okay. I won’t do it again. But Carl, His Grace is not getting married alone. He and Lady Berner are getting married to each other. And right now she is…”

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Ann almost said pregnant, but she barely managed to stop herself.

No. Speaking of that happy miracle now could be bad to Rubica.

“She had no choice but to accept His Grace’s nonsense, but I don’t know. At his age, he must be misunderstanding being cold as being cool, so he may think such small and simple wedding as something cool…”

“Ann, could you please stop thinking of him as a child? He is a great man.”

“I didn’t say he wasn’t. Even if he is the duke, no, even if he becomes the emperor, Eddie will always be Eddie whom I have taken care of since he was born.”

Carl realized protesting about that to this talkative Ann would only push the conversation further in the wrong direction.

He wanted to get back to the point and put an end to this long conversation.

“Okay. Ann, so what should we do about the feast?”

“Oh, my! I rambled along again. We must do anything to make sure Lady Berner doesn’t feel like she is being neglected. Having a simple wedding to make it quick… okay, the bride will accept it for now, saying there isn’t much choice. But as you must know, Carl, a duchess gets invited to many weddings. She will get to see weddings of counts and marquises on which great money and effort have been put into. And then, one day! She will get to recall her own wedding that was much less than weddings of her inferiors, and… Carl! Do you want to see His Grace be nagged by his wife because of their poor wedding for decades? Do you really think that is what we should do for him?”

Ann finished her speech and panted. However, Carl thought Lady Berner wasn’t the kind of person who would do such a thing.

Plus, Ann hadn’t even started on the wedding feast, but Carl didn’t bother to point that out.

Instead, he agreed with Ann in a soft voice.

“You are right, Ann. Yes, we must decorate the wedding hall as best as possible and prepare a nice feast. What should I do?”

“First, summon all the cooks in the neighborhood and have them prepare nice dishes. Also, a pie from which doves will fly out when lightly touched.”

“A dove-pie? But I don’t think we have enough time for…”

“Carl! Don’t say that and take out all the silk in storage. Take them all out and have the maids make curtains and decorate the tables.”

“I will tell the seamstresses…”

“They won’t have time for that!”

Ann couldn’t take it all and hit Carl’s shoulder. Her immense power almost made him fall back.

“They must do the most important work!”

“Important work? What can possibly be more important than decorating the hall and preparing the feast?”

“You are so dumb! It is making the wedding dress, of course?”

Carl was shocked as he looked at Ann’s sparkling grey eyes.

A wedding dress… could be made in a day?

***

After Ann finished talking to Carl, she immediately stormed into the seamstresses’ room. In there, they were already embroidering the new duchess’s dress.

“You don’t have time for this!”

They just calmly looked at Ann while she wailed as the housekeeper always made a fuss. That was only normal.

So, they just sat there and continued to work.

Their head, Rosa, who had been working at the mansion the longest, replied out of courtesy.

Her small but clear voice had the power of calming people.

“What is it, Ann?”

“Oh, Rosa. His Grace has decided to get married tomorrow!”

“What?”

The seamstresses’ hands all stopped as they were all confused. They looked at Ann and Rosa calmly asked the last question.

“… my, then what about the wedding dress? Has he ordered it to a shop? Or has the lady prepared it herself?”

She was a seamstress indeed. She skipped the part about wedding feast and decorations, instead asked about the wedding dress first.

Ann looked at Rosa satisfied. She was really a great head seamstress with 30 years of career.

“The duke has instructed me to choose the best dress among the ones we already have.”

“Oh, no!”

“What nonsense!”

“We should at least change the decorations!”

“Who has made that decision?”

Ann wanted to say it had been their duke, but she closed her mouth. The seamstresses were ready to poke that man’s eyes with the needles in their hands.

Ann didn’t want Edgar’s eyes pierced by the needles.

“That is why I came to you. Now, stop whatever you were doing, and make a wedding dress for the duchess!”