Katherine was buried in her imagination for a bit, then suddenly, she exclaimed and stood up.
"Wait a minute. I have something to give you."
Katherine left for a while then she returned with a small box in her hand.
"This is something I bought a while back, but I never wore it."
Lucia took the box Katherine gave to her and opened it. Inside, was a bunch of white lace that appeared to be lingerie at first glance.
Lucia tilted her head then she carefully lifted out the contents to check what it was. Her face gradually turned red and she hurriedly dropped the contents with fright and slammed the box shut.
"Wh…What is this?"
"I bought it for a once-in-a-lifetime experience but when I got home after going through with the purchase, I found it wasn't actually to my taste."
"You want me to wear this? This kind of thing…"
"Thinking that only prostitutes wear this, is a stereotype. There are very few noble women who don't own an underwear like this."
"No way…"
It was hard for Lucia to believe that most of the noblewomen who liked to act lofty, actually owned something so indecent.
"I knew it'd be like this."
Katherine clicked her tongue. The fact that Lucia had been married for over 10 years and never even seen an underwear like this was a problem.
"Younger sister. How many years have you been married? The times when fire is ignited once your eyes meet has passed. In a relationship, both sides should put in effort."
"…What does this have to do with effort?"
"Of course it had something to do with effort! Do you know what the scariest this is in a marriage? It is marital weariness[1]. That kind of thing has no sign. You don't even know when it'll come. By the time you come to your senses, you're already in that state. It's at times like this, that the man cheats. Their wife is no longer something new, so their eyes turns to another fresh woman."
"…"
"That's why a stimulation is necessary. Show him a fresh, new charm. Men are originally visually weak creatures."
Katherine tried her best to persuade Lucia, who was still hesitating.
"The lingerie is definitely not something abnormal or strange. I have a few myself. Plus, for your information, the designer of that lingerie is Antoine."
"An…toine?"
"I might not like Antoine's dresses but there's something different about the lingerie she makes. They're very popular too."
Lucia had no idea. Antoine had never brought up such a topic to Lucia.
Antoine already had a headache from trying to design a dress that adhered to the Duke of Taran's standard of a 'decent dress'. She was afraid of saying something useless to the Duchess and getting on the Duke's blacklist, so she didn't even think of mentioning underwear to the Duchess.
* * *
'Marital weariness?'
(T/N: Marital weariness; this can be defined as boredom in marriage.)
Lucia felt oddly uneasy.
'Now that I think about it, it's already been years since we got married.'
Enough time had flown by for the world to change. It had already been some time since the freshness she had at 20 disappeared. Soon, another 10 years would go by in a flash, and she would get wrinkles around her eyes.
However, even when she imagined her husband 10 years later, he was still splendid. On the contrary, because he had grown more stylish and imposing, the noblewomen were busy stealing glances at him at official occasions. For some reason, she got angry.
'He comes back late a lot recently too.'
Lucia looked at the empty space beside her on the bed. He came back late yesterday as well. Even though she knew this time was usually the busiest time of the year, Lucia blamed him as if he was fully responsible for coming back late.
She lay down to sleep, but her mind became even clearer and she kept breathing hard. Then she felt a twinge of pain in her lower abdomen and caressed her stomach. It seemed quite strange, so she went to the bathroom and found a blood smear on her underwear, signifying that her menstruation had begun.
She went back to bed, lay down and chuckled. So this was probably why her feelings were sensitive. After finding out the cause, her mind which was suddenly whisking itself into a rage, settled down. Since her mind was at ease, she readily began to feel sleepy.
Lucia sank into a languid state of sleep then she sensed something and woke up. Her husband's movements as he lay down next to her had caused the bed to move a little.
"…Did you just come back…?"
"…You're not sleeping?"
"I was but…"
Before she could say she woke up because she felt movement next to her, he sat up and climbed over. Lucia absentmindedly watched as he kissed her jawline and wove his hands into her nightwear. She blinked her eyes, chasing away her sleepiness. Somehow, seeing him look so excited made her giggle.
Unfortunately, she had no choice but to say something that would disappoint him.
"We can't. I started today."
"What…"
He soon understood what she meant and was greatly disappointed. Seeing his blatant disappointment, Lucia chuckled.
"It's two days early this month, isn't it?"
Lucia looked at her husband who was more knowledgeable about her menstrual cycle than herself.
"It can start a few days early or late."
"No. You're almost always regular. Get the doctor to look at you."
"Why call the doctor for something like this?"
Since he kept urging her, Lucia gave up and agreed to see the doctor tomorrow.
Lucia's mood soared and she was filled with happiness as she leaned into her husband's chest, with his strong arms around her back. Marital weariness? It seems she didn't need to worry about that yet.
It was hard for Hugo to fall asleep as he listened to his wife's even breathing. It was going to take some time for his heated body to cool down.
'Dammit.'
Hugo was very annoyed by the thing called menstruation which was experienced by every normal, healthy woman, once a month.
Lucia's menstruation began about four months after she gave birth. It was a sign that all the effects of the mugwort was gone, and that she was returned to having a normal body.
However, Hugo felt like things had actually gotten worse. When it was around the beginning of her periods, his wife complained of stomachache, and she got on edge. Worst of all, was that he couldn't touch her for four to five days in a month. If you added the days he came back late and the once-every-five-days exclusion period, it meant he had to live in solitude for more than ten days in a month.
Why?! Why does a woman have to suffer such symptoms for several days in a month?!* He grumbled inwardly till he fell asleep.
* * *
"…The Madam is asleep."
Today again? At such a time? It's still early in the evening!
Hugo glared fiercely at his innocent butler.
He had waited four days for his wife's period to end, then the next day, he unavoidably came back very late so that day was skipped. Moreover, both yesterday and the day before yesterday, his wife was asleep when he came back, even though it wasn't that late. According to the butler, the dates of the social gatherings his wife had to attend overlapped, so she had been moving from place to place all day. She had to move around and satisfy her schedule.
"My wife's schedule was packed today as well?"
"Yes, Your Grace. And it seems the busyness has caused her tiredness to accumulate over the past few days."
Dammit! Hugo spun around. He was at his limit and about to explode. But despite that, as he watched her sleep sweetly, he couldn't bear to wake her up to satisfy his greed.