I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 137

3. Jealousy

After coming to Ryzen, we started developing the estate with great enthusiasm.

The tapestries woven by the local women in the winter were hung in the castle’s main hall and corridors, making the castle more beautiful, and the workers’ expressions improved with the greatly improved working conditions.

Many times, they would come up to me and talk to me or give me something.

“Ma’am! T- this is……”

“Good morning, Theodore. What is that?”

Anna, who was at my side, took what Theo, a servant, handed me.

“T- this morning, I- I went to the mountains this morning, t- to get some wood, b- but the dog started digging, and……”

Theo is a wood-chopping and firewood-hauling servant, someone who is shy and stutters, but who often talks in front of me.

I couldn’t really make out much of what he was saying, but I did my best to smile.

“Oh, look at this!”

Anna opened the thing wrapped in a cotton towel and looked into it with a little admiration, and there were two small clay-like objects lying there.

“What are these?”

“Truffles, ma’am. They’re hard to find, so they’re precious……”

“Huh? These are truffles?”

I was amazed.

In my previous life, I had eaten “truffle chips” that contained about 0.00001% truffle oil, but I had never seen a real truffle.

“You can’t just give me something so precious, I’ll buy it from you.”

“Oh, n- no, no! I just wanted to give them to you as a gift…..”

Theo stammered and ran away.

‘To be able to actually eat something that I’ve never even smelled in my entire life is worth the price of reincarnation.’

As I smelled the unusual aroma of the truffle wafting upward, I took it back to the kitchen and told them to prepare it for dinner.

That evening, it was Killian who first noticed the truffle on top of the veal.

“Truffles,” he said, “has there been a mushroom monger in the castle?”

“No. These were picked by Theo. He went to the mountains to do some wood chopping, and the dog he took with him suddenly dug up the roots of a tree, so he picked two of them, and he gave them to me to eat.”

“……Theo?”

Killian’s eyes narrowed.

“Yep. Theodore, the servant who chops wood for the fire in the castle.”

“Is he a young man?”

“Uh…… late twenties, maybe?”

Killian’s hand tightened around his fork.

“Killian, what’s wrong? Does this not suit your taste?”

“No…… it’s nothing. Ahem.”

Killian continued to eat, looking uncomfortable, then suddenly asked, “Does this kind of thing happen often?”

“This kind of thing? What kind of thing?”

“I mean, well…… the workers give you gifts……”

“Yeah, this is all the result of my hard work!”

“Your hard work……?”

Killian’s expression got even weirder.

I lifted my chin in inward pride and said, “I didn’t tell you, but when I first came to the castle, the workers of the castle had an antipathy towards me.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Because I didn’t want you to get all worked up about it.”

Killian flinched, as if he hadn’t expected to be pointed out.

“It must have been disconcerting for them to suddenly have a new master, and I didn’t want to create loyalty by bossing them around, so I went around the castle and made sure they had a good place to work.”

“Oh, you mean things like building a new laundry room?”

“Yeah, and I’ve gotten better relationships with the workers, and they bring me gifts like this.”

Honestly, I’ve never felt this sense of being accepted, not in my previous life, not in this life.

That made it all the more gratifying.

“But the guys……”

“You know what makes me so happy?”

“What?”

“Well, in my…… previous life, I was kind of an outsider at work, and even after being reincarnated, you know how it was at the Ludwig mansion. So, it’s just so nice to have people greeting me and smiling at me and giving me gifts.”

“Ah……”

Killian trailed off, looking apologetic as he remembered the days at the Ludwig mansion.

“Weren’t you going to say something earlier? I think I cut you off mid-sentence……”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing. Let’s finish our meal, it’s a precious gift from Theo……”

“Yes!”

I said happily and ate my dinner that night.

The people working at the castle weren’t the only ones to make me happy.

“All hands, left, left! Stab forward!”

Training was in full swing on the training ground every day.

The Knights of Ryzen, which Killian had been meticulously improving since last year, were now in good shape.

As I watched Killian lead the knights from the castle, my curiosity was piqued, and I went down to the training ground.

“Killian!”

“Edith? Is something wrong?”

“No. I just thought I’d like to see the knights in training up close, too.”

It may seem a little patronizing, but the lord’s wife also needs to show her authority to the knights in the castle.

After all, I’m also someone they have to protect.

“Greetings, Countess!”

The knight commander stepped in front of me, knelt down on one knee, and asked for my hand. When I held it out, he lightly kissed the back of my hand, bowed once more, and stepped back.

And at his beckoning, the entire knights shouted loudly.

“Loyalty! For the glory of Ryzen!”

As they raised their swords and spears high in unison, then slammed them to the ground and fell to their knees, my heart suddenly pounded in my chest.

‘My and Killian’s Knights!’

I felt a surge of affection as I realized that these were our knights, protecting us.

“You’re all having a hard time. I think Killian is making the training too hard. If there’s anything that’s too much for you to bear, just tell me.”

“Thank you for your kind words, ma’am.”

The knight commander bowed, but the knights and soldiers behind him chuckled softly as Killian and the knight commander exchanged glances.

“Anyone who visits my wife’s office in private will be hung upside down from a tree.”

If Killian hadn’t been so intimidating, the mood would have been much better, though he was joking, of course.

I stole a quick glance at Killian, said goodbye to the knights, and headed back to the castle.

My heart pounded as I thought of the endless things I had to do in the future.

***

Killian was recalling how much of a social butterfly his wife was these days.

‘Theo…… Theodore…… Who is that?’

The day after the truffle veal dinner, Killian found a worker named Theodore.

He suspected that it was not loyalty alone that had prompted the poorly paid firewood chopper to give his wife a gift of the precious mushrooms, which could fetch 150,000 sennas at a time.

“Y- y- you called for me, my lord?”

“……is your name, Theodore?”

“Yes, it is.”

Killian sighed.

Theo is a man that Killian also knows. He is a late bloomer and has a stutter after suffering from a fever as a child.

Because of his kind and diligent character, Killian also looks at him favorably. He even has a wife and children already, and they are also humble and kind.

‘I don’t think Theo coveted Edith.’

Killian was a little embarrassed that he hadn’t even known his name until now and offered him two gold coins worth 100,000 sennas.

Despite his repeated refusals, Killian forced the coins into his hand.

“You’ve done the hard work,” he said, “but we shouldn’t be the only ones eating. Go buy your wife and children something delicious.”

With that, Theo bowed several times in gratitude and left.

‘Am I overreacting? I mean, it’s not like every man in the world covets Edith……’

It was two days ago that he had such thoughts.

But Killian’s suspicions were rekindled when he saw Edith receiving a rousing welcome from the knights.

‘Where are those bastards looking right now? Should I tell them to close their eyes?’

Killian was unhappy with his wife’s sudden arrival on the training ground.

‘And why is she wearing such a neck-baring dress today?’

Even though she was dressed appropriately for the warmer weather, Killian was bothered by the way the knights were staring at her.

And he didn’t like the sight of Edith holding out her hand just because the knight commander was kneeling down.

He didn’t want the knight commander to stick his snout in there.

‘How dare you put your mouth on my wife’s hand while I’m looking at you with my eyes wide open?’

It was the kind of greeting any noblewoman would do, but Killian felt a thousand fires burning inside.

“You’re all having a hard time. I think Killian is making the training too hard. If there’s anything that’s too much for you to bear, just tell me.”

Edith’s smile was as bright as a spring breeze as she encouraged the knights and soldiers.

It was clear that Killian was not the only one thinking this.

All the eyes of the men lined up at the training ground were on her.

And in that moment, Killian realized.

‘Edith was always this beautiful and sweet, I just didn’t realize it……’

When Edith first arrived at the Ludwig mansion, it never occurred to him that she was beautiful. No, he consciously tried not to think about it.

But Edith has always been beautiful, and there must have been many eyes on her, even if Killian himself didn’t realize it.

‘She was always the talk of men at the social club.’

He knows now that their lascivious words were all bluff, but their desires could not have been lies.

Killian glanced at Edith, who was smiling at the knights.

Her dazzling eyes and full lips were lovely.

‘Isn’t it natural to think that I wouldn’t want to let anyone see such a beautiful woman?’

But at the same time, he realized that if he did, he would be hated by Edith.

Frustrated, Killian thrust Edith to climax that night, more vigorously than usual.

Nervous and anxious that Edith might set her eyes on someone other than him, he thrust into her as if to imprint himself on her.

“K- Killian, please, stop……!”

“No…… I don’t want to let you go……”

“Killian…… what are you so afraid of? I’m always by your side……”

Edith could instantly read Killian’s mood.

Burying his face in Edith’s chest, Killian made a small confession. “I think I’m crazy. I’m jealous of every man in the world, and I want to hide you from them.”

“My God, Killian.”

Edith’s warm hands caressed his back and the back of his head.

“I love you.”

“Say it one more time.”

“I love you, Killian. Don’t you ever forget that the reason I came back from the long-distance carriage station was because I would rather die at your hands than live without you.”

For a moment, Killian’s mind flashed back to Edith, sitting expressionless in the cold execution ground, her white neck bare.

At the time, I thought she wanted nothing from me, and it broke my heart to realize that what she really wanted was to die at my hands.

I shouldn’t have doubted her.

“I’m sorry. I acted like an idiot again.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay to be worried, it’s okay to doubt. I’ll let you know every time, how much I love you.”

Killian pulled Edith’s delicate body into a tight embrace.

“I love you, Edith.”

A contented smile came from Edith, and only then did Killian settle down.