The Duchess of the Attic

"- What is it, is it broken? I was gonna surprise you by talking to me."

"Shh. Then you should have come to the ceremony. Then I lost my back."

When he heard the words of White Claude, Opal turned his fist again.

But now it's easy to be taken in the palm of your hand.

"Still noisy."

'Cause I'm mad at you.

"I didn't want to worry you."

"So you're saying you were worried!

Opal, with his right hand strapped, tried to slap Claude with his left hand.

But the hand will soon be taken.

When he regretted and Opal stared, Claude smiled as troubled and released his hand, touching his upbeat red cheek.

"I didn't even want you to cry."

Claude said so, wiping tears flowing down Opal's cheek.

Still Opal stares at Claude.

"I'll worry, I'll cry! If someone loves to do something stupid to go to a country where there is a civil war, then who!

"It wasn't a battle yet when I got there."

"Don't be reasonable! But - I'm so glad you're safe..."

Opal wiped his tears abusively and exhaled deeply, one step backwards and away from Claude.

And stare carefully at Claude from the top down.

"Hey, you didn't get hurt, did you?

"- Oh, I'm fine. Because I wasn't on the battlefield."

"Yes...... Then I'm glad. No, the war is not good."

I checked with my eyes, and when I heard Claude's reply, Opal relieved me.

But soon the words he squealed in his face seemed opal, and Claude grinned.

Of course it's not a laugh.

I denied it to Opal, but I was really caught up in a skirmish several times.

Still, this is how I was able to come back safely, so I wouldn't have to bother to tell you and make you worry.

Even though Claude knew he had no hope, he had abandoned himself for a time after Opal, whom he always liked, got married.

So I headed to the kingdom of Tysey, where the situation was anxious, with the hard-won money I had made.

It's not like I didn't have any purpose.

"You know Opal, my mother is from the kingdom of Tysey."

"Yeah. You and your father, who wanted to go on a tour - you were in big love with the Baron, and you pushed off the opposite of your family and you came to this country, right?

"I was duped, to be exact. I sent many letters and never got a reply. So, when I graduated from college, I had nothing to do with it, so I went to see what was going on."

"So I can't believe I'm going without saying anything..."

"Even I was going to be back soon. I wasn't going to name it, I was going to go home just to hear rumors about what my mother's family was doing, and I headed to Count Roussell's residence in King's Capital."

"Your aunt was from the Count Roussell family."

"Oh, she was my stubborn youngest daughter."

Finally, Claude and the Count Roussell family - now we know the connection to the Marquis family, and Opal was convinced.

But there are still plenty of questions.

Nevertheless, I can't stand here forever.

"Hey, Claude. How about some tea at the consulate? I'm sure Marcia will be glad to cry."

"... Thankful offer, but why don't we go over there before then?

"There, you mean that big rock?

"Oh."

"But..."

What Claude is proposing is a place where some big rocks are rolling at the foot of the mountain and you have to walk just a little bit.

When I was a kid, I used to make it a secret base and play a lot.

"But what? Worried we'll be alone?

"No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not sure I can climb that big rock anymore."

Claude asks reluctantly about Opal.

Indeed, it was a matter of being alone with a man, no matter how much Opal had a marriage history.

But nowadays, there are no people around here who would rumor about it in the first place.

The problem is my health, and when Opal answers honestly, Claude squirts.

"You're scared, you don't look like Opal."

"'Cause it was hard just to climb this tree, huh? You saw it coming down, right? I'm already disappointed in myself!

"So, you want me to stop?

"I'm coming."

Opal, rejoicing in an exchange no different from the old days, began walking under the words of a challenging claude.

Claude walks next door with him laughing.

Opal remembered that the conversation was completely off the table there.

"So, how was your aunt's family?

"No... unfortunately, it was a plague that also caused the battle for succession to the throne, and most of them died, except for my grandfather"

"Well...... I'm sorry to hear that..."

"Yeah, right. It's just that I still feel sorry for him because I've never even met him before, maybe he's cold."

"Claude......"

Still suffering enough.

Opal, who felt so, inadvertently shook Claude's hand.

Then Claude grips it back hard.

Opal wasn't the only one who struggled for nearly eight years.

"In the end, I didn't mean to see you, but when I heard you were alone at the mansion, I went to see you. Honestly, I thought I'd be paid up front, but apparently my face is pretty strong in the Roussel family traits. The butler put me in the mansion in surprise, and he even talked to the fucking jizz."

"Are you fucking jizzy?

"It was fucking jittery. He told me to go to the Imperial Castle when I saw him. Go to the royal castle and swear the loyalty of the Count Roussel family to His Royal Highness the King."

"... forceful."

"I'm arrogant."

"But you took it on, didn't you? Claude was always complaining about me and listening to me. You really like people, don't you?

"No, I'm not."

Claude replied bitterly to Opal's words.

Opal's words were so cute that Claude loved to make it happen.

How cute was the opal who always happily said "thank you" when his own self was fulfilled.

Claude exhaled deeply, holding Opal's hand.

I followed my intimidating grandfather's orders because it didn't matter.

The plague just converged, but now it was rough within the kingdom of Tysey in a battle for succession to the throne.

It was Claude, who had been in danger many times since he crossed the kingdom, but it was an even more dangerous place within the royal castle.

But Claude, lucky enough to see it in the name of the Count to His Royal Highness the King, was able to safely give him a letter acknowledging his pledge of allegiance from his grandfather.

(All I can say is that I was lucky...)

Coincidences overlapped and Claude, who had the opportunity to speak directly to His Royal Highness the King and - now the King - was attracted to the character and worked to leave the anti-King Brotherhood, independent of his grandfather's will.

It's Claude's own in financial terms and the assets of the Count's family, while using the connections he developed in college in material terms and even getting considerable help from Count Holloway, Opal's father.

"Claude, are you okay?

Worried about Claude, who's completely silent, Opal asks.

Claude grinned as usual in haste.

"You're set to be fine. I was just remembering something a little fucking jizzy. In the end, my grandfather died as soon as His Royal Highness King saw His Majesty reign, but he left an extra will."

"... is that why Claude inherited the Roussel family?

"Oh. But it doesn't matter what you think, does it? I have other grandchildren. If it's enough for me to inherit in the first place, you're my brother, right? Yet even His Majesty was allowed to escape."

In fact, the rebellion from the rest of the Count family was intense.

Even at the turn of the civil war, they made quite a fuss about funding His Royal Highness Brother Wang, saying that his parents, Count Roussel, were busy.

It was the new king who silenced such a Count human being.

For once, the king confiscated all the title property of the Roussel family on the grounds that there were no direct men.

He then silenced the Roussel family by telling them that he would give them a new marquis and confiscated property, plus a new territory, for Claude's achievements - land that he had confiscated from the nobles who had lost in this civil war.

Those of the Roussel family may seem similar to the nobles who became traitors if they remained so, then they decided that it would be more honorable to let Claude carry on the trail, and perhaps admitted it.

The Roussels said they contributed to the reign of the new king.

Claude focused on rebuilding the kingdom of Tysey, which was exhausted, with such kindred duly embellished.

Not all went well, of course.

Sometimes people were targeted for their lives by the remaining anti-Kings, and in the provinces they had to go into the folk who were on the verge of starvation to rioting.

For Claude, his first three years in the kingdom of Tysey had always been alongside danger, giving reasons not to worry about Opal and his family, but he had been out of touch not to be weak.

Even in such a cornered situation, Count Holloway just continued to give me assistance, and many investors also introduced me.

The letter from the Count never touched on Opal, but of course he was aware that among the investors was Duke McCloud, Opal's husband.

I don't mean to be particularly conscious.

Still, just a little bit, because my stepfather introduced me so much, it's true that the Duke was lonely and happy to be friends with Opal.

Then Claude worked quickly for the people to rebuild and restore to the investors.

Eventually, by the time the whole kingdom had settled down and everyone could exhale, the Duke of McCloud, with a letter of introduction from the Earl of Holloway, had visited Claude.

And Claude, having read what was written in the introduction, desperately had to indulge the man in front of him - without beating the Duke of McCloud.