Promise Me a Life With Three Meals and a Nap, Duke

The enemy’s (my husband) enemy (Elise) is not my friend

“Claude-sama!”

The woman who called my husband’s name intimately appeared, accompanied by several maids.

I thought she was out there a minute ago, how fast.

Where was her sickly persona?

“I’ve come to fetch you since you’ve been taking so long.”

She sounded flirtatious, but her gut must be churning.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ll come by another time. I’ve got something important to do.”

Please stop using me for your show.

“Oh, Claude-sama…do you like such a servant? You should not seek temporary pleasure from a woman who is not very educated. Remember that you are the head of the Lindbeld dukedom.”

“Elise.”

“Yes, what is it?”

Elise responded happily when my husband called her name.

Stealthily, I looked at my husband and found that he seemed displeased.

“It seems that you’re getting way ahead of yourself.”

“Claude-sama?”

“I’ve told you before. Don’t call me by my name. It’s misleading, especially since I’m already married. I only want my wife, family and close friends to call me by my first name. If you understand, address me by my honorific title from now on.”

He was telling Elise that since she scorned me in my servant’s garb as an uneducated woman, and he hoped that she, a learned woman, understood what he told her.

She wasn’t stupid, who didn’t understand a thing.

My husband expressed his dislike without hesitation.

Why didn’t he solve this problem without forcing it on me from the very beginning?

“Do I need your opinion about who I hang out with and who I spend my time with? Elise, you are nothing but a freeloader. If Mrs. Miriam is a servant, then you are a servant’s child who should be treated as such. Don’t tell me you think you can do as you please just because you’re sickly?”

His cold voice made my back tingle, even though I wasn’t the one being admonished.

“W-Why are you speaking this way? You’ve always pampered me, haven’t you? Besides, your father loves me as if I were his daughter, you know?”

“I think my father was simply feeling guilty. He found you pitiful when you were a kid, because your mother had an affair with him like a whore. I told him her kid was none of his business, but he shrugged it off…Now look, you’re totally misguided.”

I say, Husband.

You should have told her clearly from the beginning to know her place.

If you had, I would have had a much better life.

“…Is that the woman there? Is that the woman who is confusing Claude-sama?”

The quality of her lovely voice drastically changed.

My husband slowly kissed my head as if to show her that he indeed cherished me.

I felt goosebumps all over my body.

I could feel a searing gaze on my back.

“Yeah, I never expected it either. I never thought I could love someone so much…You can be all smug and dream all you want, but maybe it’s time you got a grip on reality and got married.”

Are you going to say that…to a young lady of an age that is generally considered a spinster?

She was pretty enough, but given her age, few men would be able to consider her a match.

“Claude-sama! I don’t know what that lowly woman told you, but there is no need for the head of the Duke of Lindbeld to listen to her. Please don’t do anything childish like messing with such a woman to embarrass me. I will always be by your side to comfort you.”

Eh?

I almost blurted out.

Say what?

Huh?

Husband, on the first day you said you didn’t touch her, but did you actually at least taste her?

Well, she was pretty, after all.

At a glance, she was a little on the skinny side, but her shape looked beautiful.

I felt skeptical thinking about it, since she was allowed to live a distance away from home and was showered almost like a special treatment.

But if so, my husband really had bad taste!

I knew I was thinking over the top. However, it was no wonder Elise was so conceited since my husband tolerated her, right?

“And I know exactly what you mean when you coldly talk about your marriage. I’ve been by your side since I was a child. In fact, you want me to stay by your side forever, don’t you? But since we’re no longer children, you’re saying that for my sake. You wish for my happiness even at the cost of hurting yourself, don’t you?”

Uhm…

Is there a secret code between them that I don’t know about?

Sure, I don’t know much about my husband, but from the little talk we had, I know him to be a pragmatic and profit-oriented person.

He is the kind of person who will do anything to get what he wants if it benefits him, but I wonder if he ever acts on his emotions.

“But, rest assured. I will never leave your side. I know that the woman you married is a political arrangement to avoid Her Royal Highness. In essence, you’re protecting the duchy. That’s also why I’m hosting this tea party. Since your wife is totally unreliable, I’m taking over for her to liven up the duke’s household, you know?”

Um…thank you?

It was true that I thought that those who wanted to do it should do it, but even I felt that this was over assistance.

But if my husband approved it, I thought it was fine. 

My wish was to live a life of depravity.

It was a little different now, but it was fulfilling, so I was fine with it too.

If talking about going to do some socializing or something, I’d appreciate it, but I couldn’t help but wonder how someone who had absolutely no relationship with the Duke of Lindbeld would use his name to hold a tea party.

I heard my husband sigh from above my head.

Oh, thank God.

It wasn’t that I found a sense of humor, but she was rather funny.

“Therefore, it is my job to get rid of women who are not suitable for you, Claude-sama. I can’t overlook an existence that is harmful to the Duke of Lindbeld. Of course, I’m sure you understand, Claude-sama.”

The enemy of my enemy is my friend – who said that?

I have learned that it was much better to join forces with the enemy.