The White Marriage of the Seamstress and the Ice Count

“Good afternoon, great aunt. Thank you for your invitation.”

After a few minutes walk from the castle, we arrived at a house with a green roof.

We knocked on the door and entered. 

“Thank you for having us,” Alexius said with an expression like he was not thankful at all.

As I followed him into the house, I saw an older woman sitting in a rocking chair in the back of the living room.

That woman was the “troublesome relative” that Master Alexis was referring to — his great aunt, Mistress Margaret Stapleton.

Predeceased by her husband, Mister Stapleton, a wealthy merchant who had expanded his business to not only the whole of Searfield but also to the neighboring areas, she now lived quietly in this house with her maid.

On the surface she seemed to lead a simple life, but she was in fact an éminence grise of Searfield, with one her word sufficient to resolve any matter within the whole estate.

After Alexis’s parents died of an illness and he succeeded to the title at a young age, she helped him in many ways. On the other hand, once she said “I cannot entrust this land to a young man who is not yet married,” Alexis had no choice but to get married in a hurry.

Mistress Margaret, who was reading a letter in a rocking chair, turned her wrinkled face toward us. Her white hair was tied up neatly and she was wearing a lovely blue loose-fitting dress with a bow tie scarf.

Despite her advanced age, or perhaps because of it, she had a gaze that seemed to be able to see right into one’s heart with just one glance.

The skin on her face was wrinkled but glowing, with heavy makeup and bright red lipstick.

“Oh, so you have come, Alexis. And here I thought you had locked your bride away in the back of the castle for the rest of her life and would never show her to me.”

“You must be joking, great aunt. Here is my wife, Seraphina.”

“How do you do, Mistress Stapleton? My name is Serafina. Please, call me Sara.”

She thoroughly looked me over with her big gray eyes before she put down the letter and pointed to the sofa. 

“Welcome, Sara. Sit down. And it would be lovely if you called me Margaret.”

“Yes, Margaret.”

“Elsie, is the tea ready yet?” Margaret called the maid when we sat down.

“Yes, Mistress!”

Immediately, a maid called Elsie brought the tea wagon from another room.

She was a cheerful-looking red-haired girl of about sixteen or seventeen and she quickly prepared the tea for us.

But she was also a little nervous. 

“Ah!”

She spilled tea on my hand. 

“Sara!”

Master Alexis, red in the face, snatched away my hand and quickly wiped it with his own handkerchief.

“Are you okay? Were you burned?”

“I, I’m fine.”

“Ah, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay. It wasn’t that hot.”

My cheeks were getting hotter and hotter as I answered Alexis and Elsie respectively. Master Alexis was still making sure that my hands were not burned. Margaret was watching me closely.

As Elsie hurriedly wiped up the spilled tea, Margaret curled the corners of her red lips in amusement.

“It’s good to see you two getting along so well. Since he became the ‘Ice Count,’ Alexis was on his way to remain celibate ‘til the rest of his life.”

“Great aunt…”

Master Alexis made a stern expression.

The air was tense, but Elsie, blissfully unaware of it, interrupted.

“So it’s true! Before, the Count had no interest in any other woman but Miss Rosie.”

…Miss Rosie? This was the first time I heard of a woman of that name. Who was she?

“Ah, speaking of Miss Rosie, I’ve heard she’s sick and bedridden again. I’m worried about her.”

Hearing Elsie’s words, Alexis suddenly stood up.

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I will have to leave you now. Sara, take your time.”

“Eh? Ah… Alright.”

Master Alexis hurried by like the wind.

The room became silent and still. Somewhere outside a crow cawed. 

Lady Margaret let out a sigh.

“Oh dear. And here I thought he would relax a little once he got married.”

“He must still be crazy about Miss Rosie.”

Margaret glared at Elsie.

“Elsie, have you finished cleaning up?”

“I’ll get right to it!”

Elsie swooped out of the room.

There was just me and Margaret in the room now. An awkward silence fell between us two.

If I wanted to be polite, I would try to make small talk to break the ice. 

But I did not.

My mind was occupied with that Miss Rosie, whom I had never met or heard of before now.

Even a maid of his great aunt knew that Alexis was crazy about Miss Rosie. 

She was probably of a lower social position than him.

Since he could not marry a commoner, he was left with no choice but to marry me instead.

So that’s why this was a “white marriage.”

I should have known this from the beginning, but my heart was still plunged into darkness. 

“Sara, I noticed a handkerchief Alexis was holding earlier — did you embroider those initials yourself?”

I smiled weakly when Margaret suddenly asked me that.

“…Yes. I embroidered it myself and gifted it to Master Alexis.”

Last night, I went into my sewing room as soon as I could and began embroidering.

I started by embroidering the initial “A” on a men’s handkerchief I found on the shelf.  It turned out quite well, so I gave it to Alexis in the morning. 

Of course, “A” was supposed to be his initials, but I didn’t say so myself because I thought it could come off as too pushy.

I was happy that he accepted it and ended up using it.

…I guess it was just him being polite…

Margaret spoke to me before I could fall back into overthinking.

“You like embroidery, don’t you? Do you have any other things you have embroidered?”

“Yes. I also have this one.”

I took out my handkerchief with lavender embroidered on all corners. She picked it up and expected it carefully.

Her gray eyes twinkled.

“Well, well. You are very good at this.”

“Thank you very much. Do you like embroidery as much as I do, Margaret?”

“Me? Oh, I prefer other manual tasks. I like to simmer things in a pot.”

“A pot…? Do you make jam?”

“Ha ha, something like that. Sara, dear, would you be so kind as to give me an embroidered handkerchief next time?”

“Yes, of course.”

The crow cawed again.

Maybe they were perched on the roof, I wondered.

As I chatted with Lady Margaret over a cup of tea, my fragile heart gradually calmed down.

But when I returned to the castle after the tea party and when it was time for dinner, there was still no sign of Alexis.

Alexis did not return to the castle that day.