Grace in Wonderland - Chapter 132

132. Side Story I

Before her marriage, Grace Spencer had once described her unrequited love, the Young Earl Richard Spencer, as a ‘Janus.’

Boasting high status, immense wealth, extraordinary knowledge, robust physical strength, and a masculine appearance, he quickly earned the reputation of being Ingrint’s most eligible bachelor and the darling of high society after ending a twenty-year engagement period.

During his college years at Grentabridge, Richard often visited Cherry Hinton to gaze at his reflection on the water’s surface. People naturally assumed this narcissistic act stemmed from the arrogance or excessive self-love of someone exceptionally gifted.

However, Grace, who at the time harbored unrequited feelings for the Young Earl from afar, instinctively recognized Richard’s true nature. She intuitively understood that his peculiar behavior of staring at his reflection in the stream was actually rooted in self-denial.

Through his meetings, interactions, and eventual marriage with Grace, Richard Spencer no longer exhibited such Janus-like behaviors. He no longer deliberately concealed his face, considered the scar on his temple as a flaw, nor felt bound by the eyes of others.

However, even after marriage, Richard’s Janus-like tendencies did not completely disappear. He remained a man whose front and back, exterior and interior, day and night were fundamentally different.

“Young Master, shall I prepare a simple cot in the parliamentary office again this year, like last year?”

Richard Spencer, the Young Earl, had just returned from a two-month honeymoon. He was now preparing to attend the new parliamentary session.

The parliament was both the flower and the foundation of Ingrint politics. While Ingrint was part of the continent, it was also unlike any other nation on the continent. It was a country where the theory of limiting royal power and reflecting the will of the people in governance—a principle that theoretically sounded ideal—was alive and breathing.

During the regular parliament, held for a month in autumn, the budget for the following year would be finalized, new laws enacted, and certain bills revised. As a member of parliament, Richard Spencer had to familiarize himself with key issues, build alliances and opposition, and work behind the scenes to achieve his desired outcomes.

Last year, he frequently ate and slept in his office within the parliamentary building. Though it didn’t suit his fastidious personality, it was sometimes physically necessary because the documents he needed to review each day were piled to the ceiling.

Recalling last year’s events, Sebastian asked Richard in a half-resigned tone. The memory of preparing fresh clothes and linens every morning, procuring hot water to ensure meticulous cleanliness from head to toe, and enduring great hardship made his vision go dark.

Still, Richard Spencer was someone who carried out his duties with certainty, so it would likely be the same this time. A skilled attendant must naturally follow the Young Earl’s will. This was an official duty, after all.

“What are you talking about? I’ll sleep at home.”

Richard’s nonchalant reply easily resolved Sebastian’s internal conflict. Looking at the Young Earl’s face, which radiated resolute determination, Sebastian nodded.

This was the aspect where Richard Spencer’s Janus-like nature was most evident. By day, he was a refined and elegant grand noble; by night…

On the second floor of the Spencer mansion, the master and mistress bedrooms stood side by side in the central area. Currently, the Young Earl and his wife used them. Of the two bedrooms, one lacked any trace of human warmth. This was because Richard Spencer never even set foot in his own room.

The lips of the maids and servants could be either heavy or light depending on the situation. They were heavy when incidents or accidents occurred. For instance, when Grace Montague was kidnapped before her marriage and Richard Spencer returned with an injured leg, not a word of it leaked beyond the mansion walls.

Conversely, their lips became light whenever they witnessed or overheard the sweet displays of affection between the Young Earl and his wife. The observant maids had been chattering ever since Richard Spencer, before his marriage, instructed them to hang a woman’s portrait in his bedroom.

To the maids and servants of the Spencer mansion, Richard had long been an unapproachable figure. Except for his attendant Sebastian and his younger sister Freya Spencer, he showed no interest in or attention toward anyone.

From a young age, Richard had been like this. He was the complete opposite of Lancelot, who was kind to his subordinates. Even when his fiancée Eleanor d’Estrée came from Gallia, he displayed maximum indifference with only minimal manners, a behavior that disheartened everyone, including Sebastian.

That’s why the maids and servants found it curious that Grace Montague frequently visited the Spencer mansion to meet Richard Spencer before their marriage.

Thanks to the gossipy chatter of the coachmen, who testified to the frequency of the Young Earl’s visits to Chelsea to see his fiancée, they discovered that the two met at least once a day, sometimes up to three times a day.

And after their marriage, the couple… at least once a day, and sometimes as many as three times a day…

Or perhaps even more than three times…

Richard Spencer’s life didn’t change much from before. In the mornings, he would descend to the dining room in his neat and proper attire, quietly consuming a moderate amount of food before sipping tea and skimming through six different newspapers.

Afterward, he devoted himself to his duties as the Young Earl in his office. Except for the tea times or walks he shared with Grace in the afternoons, he spent the entire day focused on work. To onlookers, it seemed like a disciplined, monk-like routine.

However, one addition to this routine was the splendidly wild plays he indulged in on the white sheets with his wife every night. In the bedroom, he was neither restrained nor did he follow any rules. Thus, Richard Spencer was truly Janus incarnate.

The first place where rumors began was the laundry room. Since Sebastian could not indefinitely dispose of the stained bedding by burning it, the maids who frequently laundered the sheets were the first to witness the passionate love between the Young Earl and his wife.

Next, it was the turn of the maids attending to the Young Countess. Unlike the Young Earl, who woke at dawn, the Young Countess would drowsily remain in bed until late in the morning.

Richard instructed them not to wake his wife, and the maids dutifully obeyed. Only when the Young Countess pulled the bell cord by her bedside would they prepare her bathwater and set out her clothes.

In the process of bathing her and helping her dress, the maids naturally learned why Grace Spencer could not wake up early. With a peculiar mix of envy and awe, they exchanged subtle glances among themselves.

Two months passed, and just when the fiery love of the Young Earl and his wife was no longer a subject of gossip, new rumors began bubbling up like soap bubbles from the laundry. The maids in the laundry room received the first clean bedding for the first time.

At first, they merely tilted their heads in puzzlement, but when spotless sheets arrived on the second and third days as well, the maids widened their eyes. It signified that something had changed in the love front of the Young Earl and his wife.

It wasn’t just the laundry maids who sensed this anomaly. Richard Spencer, whose animalistic instincts were sharper than anyone else’s, had been restless, anxious, upset, and gloomy for over a week, like a lion that hadn’t caught prey for an extended period.

“Ri-Richard. Let’s… let’s follow Sebastian’s suggestion, just in case.”

It was because of these words from Grace, whom he loved so dearly.

Richard absolutely didn’t want to do it. It had only been three or four months since they were married, and the vows he recited before the Archbishop of Cantonbury were still fresh in his mind. Yet, sleeping separately?

Such a thing could neither happen nor should happen. By nature, married couples should share one bed. No matter how upset one might be, sharing a bed often led to… tightening one’s thighs until they could no longer hold back, which naturally resulted in charging forward while embracing the ball…

In ancient mythology, there is a story of a king cursed by a goddess to suffer eternal hunger. No matter how much food he chewed and swallowed, his hunger could not be satisfied, and in the end, he devoured his own body.

Richard considered himself a lion king blessed by a goddess to suffer eternal hunger. No matter how much he bit, sucked, ate, or drank throughout the night, his hunger could not be appeased.

The honeymoon was a life in Wonderland where hunger and fullness coexisted. Yet, there had never been a time in Richard Spencer’s life more blissful and fulfilling than now. He even thought he would want nothing more if he could live this way forever.

That was certainly true up until a week ago.

That day, Richard Spencer, embracing Grace, who was wrapped in the blanket, gently rubbed his forehead against the back of her small head. Just as the fantastic game that began with a butterfly’s light fluttering was about to transition into a bee’s sharp sting,

The opposing team’s player declared forfeit.

“T-today is not possible.”