Can Someone Please Explain This Situation

Chapter 6

Chapter 6: How a Wife Kills Time

I verify how I’ll take my meals from now on with Lotus .

Afterwards, I somehow manage to finish breakfast then have tea or something . Now, I have nothing to do, to put it bluntly . Back home, there were so many things that needed to be done I didn’t even have the time to say “nothing to do” . But this is a prestigious Duke’s house . There’s more than enough people to help out with work . Rather, it would be utterly unthinkable for the “mistress” to do manual labour .

“Mistress?” Dahlia says .

Perhaps she saw me rolling around on the sofa by myself, groaning .

“Yes, what is it?”

“If it would please you, you could embroider?”

So I see . The mistresses of prestigious houses kill tim- I mean, elegantly spend their time doing activities like that... Since at any rate I’m a young celebrity now, I didn’t even think of doing something like that .

But for me, needlework is...

“Embroidery, I see . I can embroider, but my speciality is darning and patching . ”

Oops, ended up talking like a peasant seamstress .

“...”

It can’t be helped, back home there was obviously a lot more clothing that needed to be patched up than time to do something unproductive like embroidery . It’s a bit embarrassing to admit this myself, but I’m pretty good with my hands and am good at anything from patchwork to re-attachment . Oh, Dahlia’s looking at me in pity . Don’t wipe away a tear with your handkerchief!

But it’s not like I can’t embroider, you know? Since it doesn’t have any use, I didn’t ever just embroider, but I often embroidered flowers and birds and such on my little sister’s clothing .

Let’s take back everything I just said .

“... Ahem . Well then, what would be good to embroider?” I smile again at Dahlia .

She pulls herself together too and suggests, “How about a pocket handkerchief for your husband to begin with?”

“My, what a lovely idea,” I say flatly .

“It would have been lovelier if you hadn’t said that in a monotone . ”

“O ho ho ho . ”

Please ignore my monotone .

Though I’m simply his wife for appearances, if he keeps something I made close to him, we’ll look as if we’re a lovey-dovey couple from the outside, after all! As expected from the head maid, nice idea .

With an embroidery set that Mimosa nimbly prepared for me, I begin embroidering a handkerchief to be given to my husband .

Carefully, carefully, carefully .

“I’m already done...”

I ended up finishing the handkerchief before even an hour had passed .

“Mistress, you’re very clever with your hands!” praises Mimosa in astonishment .

But I can sew something as small as this in moments . I have enough skill to sew bigger things, like my little siblings’ clothing or even my own clothing .

“You’re really very skilled,” Dahlia praises as well .

No, seriously, it was done quickly because it’s small .

All I needed to do was carefully embroider Chinese lantern plants (the crest of the House of Physalis) and my husband’s initials, CTF, around the edge of the handkerchief .

“But you really finished so quickly . ”

“That’s because she’s dexterous . ”

“Mm, should I make a more daring design next time? Perhaps cover the handkerchief with crests? Or maybe make the initials fancier?” n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“...”

The two maids watch me with lukewarm gazes as my motivation to design rises ☆ .

I sewed all sorts of things, changing up the design, but in the end, I could only kill time until the afternoon .

I’m kind of resentful that I’m so good with my hands!

–

I finish my lunch, which was made from my breakfast as I ordered . Now then, what should I do in the afternoon? They’re going to make me make lace or something next, aren’t they? As I fold my arms and cock my head to the side, Lotus comes to see me next .

“You could write thank you letters for your wedding gifts,” he says, bringing me an inventory that listed all the different gifts we received .

It listed who brought what, and what they brought .

Oh, I’ll need to look at these items too . It’s a pain, but I skim through the inventory .

Hey now, who’s the one who sent us a figurehead of a bear with a salmon in its mouth? Perhaps I’ll have it decorate a detached building .

No, but, I need to thank someone for something they gave us . Person to person . And thank you letters like this are usually all due to the wife’s efforts, so it’s the wife’s job .

“That’s right . Things like this should be done quickly . ”

I accept writing utensils and a letter set (one that contains the House of Physalis’ seal ☆) from Lotus .

You don’t have any regrets before something happens .

You can’t ignore your regrets after something happens .

So there had been a fair number of gifts sent to us . I didn’t know . As expected from a Duke’s house . Good quality stuff is good quality, no matter how rotten it may be, as they say . No wait, this house isn’t rotten, I’m sorry .

We received gifts from almost every influential person in the country . It was pretty hard work verifying what each person sent and carefully crafting out a response that wouldn’t be rude .

Though I’m good at manual labour since I’m used to it, I don’t have any experience with this kind of desk work - no, work that requires mental power - so it tired me out a lot .

Aside from when I took a break to drink some tea and eat some sweets Mimosa prepared for me, I worked at my desk writing thank you letters with barely any rest .