A/N: We're about caught up to everything I had written previously, but because I'm keeping the chapters to this story short and trying so hard to distract myself, I update quickly for now!

Chapter 7

My return to the Yuy estate was met not with the exasperation I was half-expecting, but instead a reform I had no intention of ever getting involved in.

"I would like to formally apologize on behalf of my men, Your Grace," Acting Knight Commander Broden stated, kneeling in remorse. He was the temporary leader of the knights who were tasked to remain at the Yuy estate while the main force went on the expedition, acting as their leader until Heero and Commander Barton returned. "For our inability to protect you from injury, I have revised and intensified our training so that this does not happen again."

That sounded like he was not only going to make them stronger, he was also going to make them crazier in protecting me.

That was just terrifying.

"Your men did an excellent job protecting me, Commander, so there's no need for apologies!" I refuted. "They saved my life and I only got a few scratches!"

His eyes drilled into the bandage still wrapped around my throat. I'd had Doctor Po examine the injury the moment I'd returned, and though she said it would likely scar, I seemed to be healing up just fine. I'd had to frantically ask her if there was anything she could do about the scarring because the look on the faces of the servants had been frightening, but I think that just made it worse because then they assumed I was worried about my looks or something.

"I thank you for your kind words, Your Grace," Commander Broden replied, notably not taking back his apology or changing his mind about the training.

"And it all worked out in the end!" I added with a beaming grin. "We discovered an iron ore mine, which will really help the duchy in the future!"

"You nearly got beheaded for iron ore," Hilde hissed ominously behind me.

Why was no one excited by the iron ore discovery?! I'd double checked the resources of the other provinces of the Sanc Kingdom too; while a few did have iron mines, the Yuy duchy having their own would greatly contribute to our trade and wealth, so we could improve the infrastructure and lives of our citizens! I even hashed out blueprint after blueprint of the technology needed to mine and craft it!

"I will make sure you never come in harm's way again, Your Grace," Commander Broden swore, with the same eyes my guards had worn for the trip back home.

Feeling the sense of impending doom, I nodded weakly.

One month after my grand tour resulting in the cult-like loyalty of the guards and six months into first waking up in the world of the novel, I began my dandy etiquette lessons.

Howard had hired a tutor that had been sworn to secrecy, as they were hesitant to let the world outside of the estate know the true extent of my "condition." As it had been half a year since I was first diagnosed with "temporary amnesia," Doctor Po had revised her initial assessment and claimed it was likely permanent. They didn't think I'd forgotten everything, as I'd used my knowledge of the novel to claim that some memories had returned to me, but it was clear to those that knew the other-me well that I had memory gaps.

We'd mentally run the idea that I could claim to be in poor health after nearly dying in the greenhouse fire, which would have excused me from most political and social obligations outside of the estate. I shot the down the idea myself; I didn't want to be kept caged in and regarded as useless, as that would directly work against everything I'd been trying to do until now.

Thus, I'd have to relearn the customs and manners that governed the higher-class. I was a blessedly fast learner, a boon of my good memory, so I usually didn't need to be told things more than once. However, there were some things that could only be learned through experience - such as dance, or posture, or table manners – so I'd had to cajole some of the household staff to hold mock-practices with me after lessons so that I didn't exhaust my poor teacher.

Hilde ended up being my dance partner most days, most of the female staff unable to dance the man's part and the knights and male staff unwilling to do so as they thought it counted as cheating on Heero or something. Out of spite, I made some of the knights have tea parties with me because if I had to feel awkward then I wanted them to feel uncomfortable too.

The hierarchy of the Sanc Kingdom had also been taught to me during these lessons. Seated at the highest power were the royalty: the Queen and King, then Princess and Prince. After royalty came the peerage, and though the royal line's power came down matrilineally, the peerage was patriarchal, at least in diction.

Highest in power, just under the royals, were Dukes and Duchesses; after them were the Marquesses and Marchionesses, then Counts and Countesses, and lastly, Barons and Baronesses. Although the words were inherently gendered, it turns out that the titles were not considered gendered at all by the people of Sanc – any peerage title could be held by either gender.

This had lead into a discussion of genders, as considered in the Sanc Kingdom. It wasn't that Sanc was open-minded and modern in thinking, as there was no equivalent to "nonbinary" or gender fluidity yet here – it was that the ones who held peerage titles were expected to function under those titles, regardless of their genders.

This is how the "dandy" and the "dame" came to be.

A dandy, as had been explained to me when I first appeared, were males of noble lineage groomed to marry other males of noble lineage. (A dame was the female equivalent – a female groomed to marry another female.) A dandy could not marry another dandy – that was considered obscene. Dandies were usually the second or third-born sons, who would never inherit their parent's title and thus needed to be married off. Although not all non-first-born males were made into dandies, it was considered the preferred option so that the nobles didn't have to send their children into the knighthood or merchant guilds. It did boil down to some consideration of sexual preference, however; if they couldn't even consider batting for the same team, then they'd make a poor dandy/dame.

Male pregnancy was not a thing here. (I feel like I dodged a bullet…) I had thought that would affect the prospects of a dandy being married, but it turned out that because divorce was illegal and extramarital affairs frowned upon, the people of Sanc preferred those of a non-hetero orientation to marry the ones they were attracted to rather than the opposite gender.

The nobles married to someone of the same sex who required an heir were expected to either adopt from a relative or have a child with a surrogate. It astounded me how it could be both open and narrow-minded at the same time but I kept that to myself.

Both dandies and dames were not overly-common, but nor were they extremely rare. I supposed it was like finding a four-leaf clover in a clover patch – surprisingly pleasant but not exemplary.

I was, however, one of the most renown dandies in the Sanc Kingdom. I had felt plenty sickened when Lady Aurora, my tutor, told me this - I assumed other-me had been infamous for my terrible treatment of just about everyone, but apparently the Yuy estate had kept my awful other-self's habits very well hidden because she went on to explain how coveted I had been for my beauty.

"The Maxwell House has always been known for their violet eyes, but yours put everyone's to shame," Lady Aurora said. "They're often likened to amethyst gems. Not to mention your slight physique and quick wit… You made waves when you debuted at 16. Fortunately, your father and brother were hyper-vigilant; they fought off suitors every time you attended a party."

I bet other-me had thoroughly enjoyed the attention. He seemed like the kind of asshole who preened in the spotlight.

"You should host a tea party next month," Lady Aurora advised me after a month of lessons. "I would normally consider this too early to host your own, but it's obvious you're remembering some of your etiquette lessons – you've picked everything up so quickly…"

I couldn't exactly fault her that logic. Her embroidery lessons had been declared unnecessary after one afternoon; I may not know much more than basic sewing and stitching, but this body knew embroidery very well and I could complete it after all the steps had been explained to me. Hilde had said I "used to be" (other-me) very good at embroidery, so the body was just conditioned for it now.

Other-me must have been a terrible dancer then, because I still felt like a novice there…

"But who will I invite?" I asked. Tea parties were more than just a few people chatting over tea and cakes; it was a social gathering of women (and dandies!) with political sway. As a duchess, I was expected to socialize with people of high status so I couldn't just invite the vendors from the town market.

"The wives of your highest-ranking officials should be fine," Lady Aurora said. "They're high enough in status to attend, but not high enough to question you even if you do slip up."

Living in this world held a lot of shades of impostor syndrome. I was parading around as someone that was both me and not-me, acted as if I knew what I was doing when I had only an abstract idea of my purpose, all for a place and people I was expected to care about despite how little exposure I had to them. It was easy to feel like an outsider and to fall victim to the oddities any local would have known how to avoid.

Anyway, this is a long-winded way of saying that Lady Aurora must be firmly in my boat, since her suggestion landed me in this situation.

"You do still look a bit under the weather, dear," Lady Angela, wife of one of the mayors in the duchy said. She smiled as she said it, her expression seeming to read that she got away with some kind of insult to my looks with the statement. "I hope you're not pushing yourself, even though I'm overjoyed to see you."

I smiled back at her, glancing at Hilde standing nearby. She was acting as one of the attendants to the party, ready to serve at a moment's notice, positioned near a garden hedge and mostly obscured from the view of my tea party attendants. I was using her expression to gauge my previous self's relationship with the guests around me.

Hilde gave the back of Lady Angela's head murder-eyes.

Got it.

"Thank you for your concern, Lady Angela, you're so sweet," I said lightly. "I'm relieved to see you in much better health than I."

Giving a pointed look to the fifth cake she was eating since the tea party started, I added coyly, "I've been trying to stay away from too much confectionary myself – I heard it was bad for the skin."

Lady Angela set down her dessert fork and reached for a cup of tea, a sullen smile now on her face. Point one for Bitchy Me. I guess there really was an advantage for being known as an asshole.

It was a small tea party, meant to act more as my reintroduction to polite society after being "ill" for so long after my near-death experience in the greenhouse fire. Very few people knew about my provincial tour, the knights and servants being sworn to secrecy and the handful of people met in other towns keeping it to themselves for their own reasons.

I'd decided on four esteemed ladies: Lady Angela, who had been in the Yuy dukedom's capital for a small holiday; Lady Iria, sister of Master Winner who had followed his move to the Yuy duchy; Lady Fuyunari, wife of Acting Commander Broden; and the most worrisome of guests (despite Lady Angela's foul words), Lady Meilan, wife of Master Chang who served as an advisor to Heero.

Lady Meilan hadn't said anything so far, but she had a look in her eyes that mirrored Hilde's homicidal inclinations so I knew the peace wouldn't last long. I was also trying very hard to avoid the inevitable blowout by exchanging pleasant conversation with Ladies Iria and Fuyunari, who though they seemed mildly confused by my not-complete-assholery, were kind enough to indulge me.

"Have you been spending most of your time indoors, Your Grace?" Lady Iria asked, concern coloring her tone. She was in the medical profession, and I heard from Howard that they had considered hiring her for the Yuy estate but she'd wanted to stay in town to help the commonfolk. She hadn't ever been mentioned in the book, so aside from what I learned from my staff, I didn't know much about her. "I very much trust Doctor Po's abilities, so I'm sure you're receiving the best care, but getting plenty of fresh air always helps."

"Oh, I really agree – spending time in nature is very healing," I said brightly, thinking back to my hiking in Aoba-ku. It had been very pretty when I wasn't dying from exhaustion or being attacked by bandits.

Hilde apparently thought back to that trip too, shooting me a threatening glare. What a joy-killer.

Lady Meilan scoffed quietly into her tea. I politely pretended not to notice, refusing to step on that grenade.

"O-Oh, I've heard some interesting things around town," Lady Fuyunari spoke up, everyone taking my cue to ignore Lady Meilan's souring mood. "An iron ore mine was found near the town of Aoba-ku recently!"

I grinned victoriously into my teacup. Finally, someone just as excited as I was!

"I heard that as well. There's even talk of construction of some new mining tools," Lady Angela put in, sounding dubious.

"It will be good if it's safer. Mining is a very dangerous job," Lady Iria added.

I nodded in agreement. "Yes, it's very hard labor. Not only do they have to worry about bad air quality and exhaustion, there's also flooding and cave-ins," I said. "We have a new tool that can pump out excess water to reduce the chances of flooding, and new support beams will be built to enforce the integrity of the walls so that the danger of cave-ins is lowered as well."

I set my ornately-decorated teacup down on the saucer, frowning in thought. "But we also need to worry about the safety of the iron refinement. We have a new design for the blast furnaces, but there's always a chance something may go wrong…" I should consider setting up a sort of inspection group to check for safety and work conditions, like a little medieval version of OSHA.

Breaking out of my ruminations, I realized I was getting stared at by my guests in varying degrees of surprise. Even Hilde from the far back was joining in, except she looked a lot more long-suffering about it.

Oh shit, the engineer came out. Duchess mode on, duchess mode on!

"Or so I've heard from the market!" I laughed off, willing it to work.

Lady Meilan's gaze turned suspicious. "You've been to the market?"

"I've met with some merchants from the market," I clarified. It wasn't a lie, technically speaking, even if the implication was that the merchants came to the estate to see me.

"Oh? It's good to see you still enjoy shopping," Lady Angela tittered, eyes sweeping what she could see of my clothes. "Although I think I remember seeing this dress last summer… Were this season's fashion not to your taste?"

Damn, she really did just strike whenever she could, didn't she? Fucking bitch, I didn't even mention how the make-up she had caked on made her look like some haunted Victorian doll.

"After my accident in the greenhouse, I decided to do some self-reflection," I smiled, the words miraculously not sounding ground-out. "As I have plenty of beautiful dresses and jewels, I didn't see the need for more."

"Then why were you meeting the merchants?" The real question was, why was Lady Meilan so suspicious of me?

Much like her husband, she too hailed from the Kingdom of Lagrange, and from the way the novel described their culture - it seemed very focused on honor. I can see how other-me would have grated on them but I wasn't sure if she had a personal vendetta against me for some past crime. Meilan Long was a familiar name so she must have appeared in the novel, but I think her screentime was similar to other-me's – she must have been mentioned in passing.

"I wanted to refresh my wardrobe so I sold some of the clothes I had no intention of wearing again," I said. This was met with another round of befuddled looks, which only made sense because most aristocrats in this age either kept their clothes for the rest of their lives, passed them to a younger relative if the gowns were still in good condition, or destroyed them for propriety's sake.

Since it worked somewhat well before, I played my Oblivious card and drank some more tea. "Putting that aside, have you tried the namagashi? They're really good today…"

"Engineering is not an appropriate topic of conversation for a tea party."

"…I understand…"

"And neither are discussion of the working conditions of commoners."

"…right…"

"Also, if you're insulted by a guest of a lower rank and can't respond in kind, state you've taken full offense to the underhanded remark and demand an apology."

"…yes…"

"You are the Duchess. You can't allow insult to your name and title."

"…"

Thus began Lady Aurora's Special Lesson In The Art of the Smackdown (High Society Edition).

"What are common gifts for spouses?" I asked Lady Aurora later that week, trying to catch a break from her special seminar on talking smack politely. For all that she looked like a prim and proper lady, she really did get things done; I had no idea where she found the time to write out an entire guidebook about the "art of high society communication." Did she even sleep?

Lady Aurora granted me temporary mercy by actually answering. "Handkerchiefs you've personally embroidered are prized gifts," she said. "Spouses usually embroider the House's Coat of Arms."

The symbol of the Yuy House was emblazoned on a blue shield-shaped banner, with angelic, feathery white wings stretched to touch their tips to the corners, two crimson-red swords crossed in the center. According to Hilde's history lesson, the blue background symbolized the sky, to mean the Yuy dukedom would stand tall enough to reach it; the wings were a connection to a noble, ethereal purpose given by God, proof of their virtuous ways; and the two swords were drenched in the red blood of their enemies.

Come to think of it, I think the novel did mention Relena giving Heero a personally embroidered handkerchief. It wasn't of the Yuy House's Coat of Arms, but rather a lovely flower pattern, so maybe the Coat of Arms was too impersonal.

Coat of Arms handkerchief it is then.

The muscle memory of this body was very convenient in times like this. I knew what I was doing from an objective viewpoint, but that didn't necessarily mean I would do it as well as someone more experienced; fortunately, other-me had been very experienced and the body remembered it well.

Since I wanted to send this with my third letter whenever I wrote it, I worked on my embroidery day and night. No one aside from Lady Aurora knew what it was for, and I think at some point Hilde and Howard just gave up on questioning me, so I could work unimpeded between my lessons, my ventures to the town market, and my accounting management.

Even then, it still took the better part of two whole weeks. It would have undoubtedly taken longer if the handkerchief had been bigger but I'd gone with a smaller size. I could make him a bigger one once he returned, like for a homecoming gift.

It was only when I was finally stitching on my initials – Lady Aurora stressed I had to do this to show Heero that the handkerchief was made by his husband – that Hilde finally got around to asking me what it was for.

"A gift for the Duke," I answered distractedly. Should I put a hyphen between the M and Y, or should I just not use any punctuation at all? Hmm…

Hilde dropped the cup of tea she had been making for me, staring at me with wide eyes. I looked up from the mess on the floor, secretly relieved; today's blend was freakishly sweet, I was starting to think I'd need to adjust the tea menu as well before I developed cavities.

"Lady Aurora said it's a proper gift between spouses," I explained to her, a bit defensive.

Hilde nodded dumbly. "It is," she agreed. "…I'm sure His Grace the Duke will be…pleasantly surprised."

"I just embroidered the Coat of Arms," I told her loftily.

Her already wide eyes got wider.

"Lady Aurora said it was appropriate." Why was I starting to feel like a kid using an adult as a shield against their parent's chiding?

"Yes, of course it is," Hilde agreed quickly, hearing something in my tone that must have told her I needed reassurance. "You are his husband the Duchess, it's very appropriate."

Well that was phrased a little weirdly, but whatever – at least I knew I wasn't unintentionally insulting Heero or anything. I smiled happily, going back to my stitching; no punctuation then, just 'DMY', as my dandy aesthetic demanded it.

Kaori, one of my maids, asked me the next morning if I'd be sending pressed flowers again as well. This got me thinking – maybe I should actually be sending Heero a care package…?

A/N: Heero will soon learn that if he doesn't respond to Duo's letters, Duo will just keep escalating lol

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