TMWL 07

Chapter 7

Early the next morning, Pesha woke up and, with the help of the maids, washed her face and changed her clothes before heading to the dining room for breakfast.

The building had already been old when she was first given her title.

Even if it had been renovated, that fact did not change.

Cracked windows here and there along the way, faded still-life paintings in plain frames, and wooden stairs that had slightly sunk and creaked every time she stepped on them made her feel dizzy, but Pesha tried her best to ignore them.

When she opened the dining room door and entered, Owen Namois, who had arrived first, was sitting at the end of a long dining table covered with a white tablecloth, drinking tea while reading the newspaper.

In the gloomy dining room, which did not even have a single chandelier, the only things that stood out were the unusually white tablecloth and Owen’s handsome appearance.

Is this really okay for a count’s castle?

Ahem.

After giving a short cough, Pesha sat down in a chair. Owen folded the newspaper he was reading and handed it to the butler.

“You woke up early.”

As he said that, he had arrived even earlier and was already leisurely reading the newspaper, making the greeting sound rather meaningless.

“Was there anything uncomfortable while you slept?”

Anything uncomfortable? Of course there was.

The nights of early spring, before winter had completely gone away, were chilly from the moment you felt the air.

Although the room for the lady of the house seemed to have been decorated a little more than the others, it had not been properly heated throughout the night, so she had been cold and felt as though she had not recovered from her fatigue.

The opening of the fireplace had been completely patched up with wooden boards, but Pesha was still cautious about everything in this castle and did not want to ask a maid to remove them.

Maybe they just ran out of dry firewood. Or perhaps people in the east stop heating their homes as soon as winter ends. I don’t want to seem like someone who makes a fuss over everything.

There was nothing to be gained by becoming someone who complained from the very beginning, so Pesha simply shook her head.

“No. The room was clean and quiet, so I was very comfortable.”

Being a little cold at night would be fine once the weather warmed up in a few days. As for the heating problem that would come when winter returned, she could think about it then.

When Pesha casually brushed aside the question, Owen raised one eyebrow as if surprised before taking a sip of tea.

“That is a relief.”

Meanwhile, the butler, who had been stealing suspicious glances at Pesha, ordered the servants to bring out the food.

Then the door at the back of the dining room opened, and the servants began bringing out the dishes.

Pesha had not eaten a proper meal since the day before the wedding, so she had secretly been looking forward to breakfast.

Even after personally experiencing how unusual this castle was, her judgment had become clouded for a moment at the sight of food.

When she thought of breakfast, she naturally imagined steaming golden croissants, sweet raspberry jam, fresh milk, or fragrant seasonal fruit.

But the food the servants brought out was beyond anything she had imagined.

Potatoes.

They were potatoes.

A dish of baked potatoes with green beans, mashed boiled potatoes with paprika, stir-fried cabbage and potatoes, potato pancakes…

Anyway, everything was potatoes.

Did I marry into the Potato Kingdom or something?

No matter how delicious spring potatoes are…

Despite the shocking potato appetizers, Owen looked completely calm and familiar with them.

“Then, let’s eat.”

He picked up his cutlery and began eating as though it were nothing special, so Pesha missed her chance to ask about the potatoes.

Thankfully, around the middle of the meal, dishes other than potatoes appeared, such as thick stew and meat pie.

However, all the meat used as the main ingredient had been salted or dried for long-term storage, so it was extremely salty and tough.

This is serious…

Even if they had taken care with it because this was the first breakfast for the lady of the house, if this was the result, she could already guess what welcoming guests would be like without even seeing it.

Even if she gave the lord the benefit of the doubt and assumed he was frugal and normally ate nothing but potatoes, carrots, and cabbage, when guests came, he should still serve them a plentiful meal.

Food was the most basic part of entertaining guests, and a noble family’s reputation in high society could change greatly depending on how well they treated their visitors before sending them home.

It might seem like meaningless formality, but that very formality was one of the forces that kept noble society running.

Pesha carefully watched Owen while chewing on an undercooked carrot from the vegetable stew.

How am I supposed to explain this to him?

That the food in his castle is terrible?

That would be even ruder than the terrible food itself.

Instead of pointing out small problems, I should first look into the overall condition of this castle.

It did not seem like the problem was limited to the meals.

While she was lost in thought and barely eating, Owen, who had been silently eating, spoke to her.

“…It is your first day in Swap. Do you have any plans?”

“Plans?”

I was thinking of looking around this entire castle.

But there was no way she could say that honestly.

Pesha rolled her eyes around before answering awkwardly.

“Um… sightseeing…?”

“Then I will assign someone to you.”

“Oh, it’s fine. I can take my maid with me.”

“You don’t know the way. And… there are many dangerous places in Swap.”

“Dangerous places?”

Pesha’s eyes widened at the word “dangerous,” even though she had not been planning to go outside right away.

Owen flinched when he saw that and denied it with a frown.

“I don’t mean dangerous neighborhoods. It’s just that a noble lady like you becomes a target wherever she goes.”

“For today, I am planning to look around inside the castle.”

“There won’t be anything to see in the castle…”

Deep wrinkles formed between Owen’s brows.

It seemed that he was not unaware of how deserted the castle was.

“It’s okay. I’m just going to walk around and get used to the place.”

After a brief silence, Owen opened his mouth.

“…Do as you please.”

With those words, he finished his meal and left first, saying that he had work to do.

Even though theirs was only a political marriage, it was an extremely cold way to leave.

Suddenly losing her appetite, Pesha put down her utensils and stood up.

After leaving the dining room, Pesha slowly looked around the entire count’s castle, starting from the basement.

After roughly checking the places that were visible or seemed important, she could not help but be shocked.

How on earth has this man been running this household?

There were obvious signs of construction that had been abandoned halfway all over the castle, and because there were far fewer servants than the enormous size of the castle required, even basic cleaning had not been done properly.

And what about the food supplies?

She had thought the meals were ridiculously frugal, and sure enough, most of the stored food consisted of plain ingredients, mainly vegetables that commoners regularly ate.

In this state, if a guest came, it would be difficult even to prepare food to serve them.

The same went for alcohol.

Alcohol was sometimes used as medicine in emergencies, and it was essential for surviving the coming winter because it helped warm the body.

Yet the wine cellar was practically empty.

The garden was so overgrown that it looked as if it had been abandoned for about ten years.

When she asked about it, she was told that they did not have a gardener because the wages were too expensive.

In short, the household was a complete mess.

“Why on earth doesn’t a household with a butler and a head maid have a gardener?”

She wanted to rush straight to Owen and ask how much the count’s castle spent on its annual budget, but it was a matter that a newlywed bride, who had only been married for one day, could hardly interfere with.

Besides, he might take it as an insult.

“This is difficult.”

Strictly speaking, managing the household should be the responsibility of the lady of the house or the servants in managerial positions.

And considering that the man had spent such a long time being called away to various places because of the war, it makes even more sense.

If that was the case, there was only one person she needed to meet now.