A/N: Just got a new job (woo~!) but I'm hoping to keep up this update speed!

Chapter 13

There are seven major holidays in the Sanc Kingdom: the Winter and Summer Solstices are the longest ones, being week-long events that encourage extreme fanfare from the people in the provincial capital for all seven days; there is the Autumn equinox, a three-day long event where the nobles gather in the Capital for the Royal Hunt; the anniversary of the founding of the Sanc Kingdom, which called for a day of rest and tranquility rather than partying; the Spring equinox, also three days in length except flower festivals are common during this time rather than the harvest; then New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, both meant to be spent with family in private celebrations.

I hadn't arrived in this world in time for the Spring equinox, and I'd missed the Summer Solstice entirely because of my province tour. At this time of year, everyone was in anticipation for the Autumn equinox.

On the last day of the Autumn equinox celebration, a giant bonfire was built in the center of town and lit up. There was dancing and drinking done around it, and generally people acting like fools so they could recall this warm memory as winter descended.

We still had a good few weeks before this celebration but everyone was already well on their way in preparations. The Duke – and indeed, nearly all presiding nobility – were hardly ever at their estates during the time of the Autumn equinox, given that it was the time of the Royal Hunt, so Howard and the others were well-equipped and knew exactly how to organize the estate's celebration with minimal supervision.

Not that that had stopped me from trying to help, but Howard looked personally offended by the very suggestion. I then tried to review the budget again, but I'd already taken care of all the paperwork for the estate and the financials for the duchy were still being processed by my army of accountants, so I had nothing else to do except try to serve Howard and the others tea as they worked.

Which is why I was booted out of the study room and told to spend the day relaxing elsewhere.

"Am I just for decoration?" I griped. "I have my uses too, you know!"

"Of course, Your Grace," Daigo responded supportively. Despite his tone, I knew he had most of his attention focused on the dough he was kneading. I tried very hard not to be offended.

Daigo was a recent addition to the estate, one of several new apprentices straight from the orphanages. He was part of the program Howard and I had set up which granted apprenticeships to the older orphans; depending on the position, it could be short-term or long-term. The reasoning behind it was that serving a duke estate was valuable work experience, so even if they did not stay long-term, it would not be difficult to find work elsewhere with the backing of the Yuy estate. This program was also one of the few we could implement without Heero's direct approval since the Duchess was usually in charge of the estate.

"You know what I should do? I should 'invent' electricity."

"Of course, Your Grace."

"When I finally get around to making fairy lights, we'll see if they'll continue to keep me out of holiday planning…"

"Of course, Your Grace."

"You're not even listening to me, are you?" Now even the apprentices were rejecting me!

Chef Morris glanced over from the pot he was stirring. Thankfully, it didn't smell pickled; this pot looked vaguely like meat stew with noodles. I think I finally broke through the last barrier between me and other-me's food tastes. "Your Grace, perhaps you'd like to have a picnic? We can make you a basket."

Great, now the kitchen staff was trying to get rid of me.

"No thanks, I'm going to go…check on the knights."

The main residence of the Yuy estate was where I spent most of my time, but the actual estate was sprawling and encompassed far more. The knight's barracks were close to the main residence, although it was a god ten minutes' walk from the back garden and neatly hidden behind a downhill slope. Right next to it was the training field where Heero's men exercised and practiced swordplay daily; on quiet days, I could even hear them during my garden stroll.

As always when I left the halls of the main residence, a guard suddenly appeared close by to follow me. Since I was inside the estate and had been a very good dandy recently, the number had finally gone down to one so now only Asahi was trailing behind me.

Asahi was great because while he'd been on the Duchess Guard for awhile now, he'd still somehow missed most of my previous misadventures. This meant he hadn't yet been infected with the fanatical obsession over my every move like the others, or the strong streak of paranoia that both Hilde and Mikhail held when it came to me leaving the premises (or even thinking about leaving the premises).

Which was something I now intended to exploit without remorse.

"A~ Sa~ Hi~" I crooned with a smile, turning around abruptly just as we'd left the direct line of sight of the main residence. "I have a good idea~!"

Asahi tensed immediately.

"Let's go to the town square," I told him sweetly. "Right now."

"T-Then I shall get more guards to accompany—"

"One guard is fine," I cut him off, still smiling. "We've been to the town square plenty of times."

"But—"

"Come on, let's go to the stables to get the carriage."

"Y-Your Grace—"

I continued smiling.

Asahi glanced around like cornered prey, but eventually his shoulders slumped in defeat and he bleakly followed my quick trot to the stables. They were closer to the training grounds than the main residence, which was why they always had to prepare my carriage ahead of time and have it meet me at the front entrance.

This close proximity to the knights' training grounds was perhaps why little Connor had taken on the apprenticeship under our stableman - all so that he could ogle Lyle's practice in his free time. I didn't look forward to the day Connor's crush changed to some other person since that might mean he'd suddenly change occupations too. I should really start looking into the general education standards of the duchy as well…

The stable wasn't very busy by the time we got there; Connor and another boy in the pathway program were sweeping around the entrance, and the actual stableman was a pretty young woman by the name of Catherine Bloom.

At our approach, the curious expression on her face turned to shock. She quickly sent the two boys back into the barn before I could get within earshot, but by the panicked look on her face, I could tell she wasn't thrilled to see me here.

Reputation was a hard thing to change. With me taking over other-me's body, most – if not all – of the household staff of the main residence knew about my amnesia and subsequent personality change; the Duchess Guard, Commander Broden, and even most of the knights and guards that frequented the nearby barracks also knew of my 'condition'. Some of the exterior staff – such as the soldiers that lived outside of the estate and only came by to attend training drills, the gardeners who worked outside of the main residence's garden, and even the staff of the stables weren't exactly privy to it.

It had never really come up since then. Whenever I traveled, one of the knights would be driving the carriage; if I went to town, my usual driver – old man Gary – took me, and he treated me kindly as long as I treated him kindly. I'd also never been to the stables before so I never got to meet Catherine in person.

Which meant she obviously thought I was still the haughty asshole from before. Great…

"Asahi, look less like I'm dragging you to your execution," I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. She probably thought I was bullying my own guard too.

Asahi just sighed in resignation behind me. "At least an execution would give me the sweet release of death," he muttered.

Why did all my guards have to be either creepy or sarcastic. I wish I could veto them. "We're just going to visit the town square," I said.

"I hate shopping," he admitted plainly.

"You think I'd sneak away just to shop?" I needed to keep my gossip network alive and well too, after all.

"So you admit we're sneaking away…"

Veto! I'm vetoing him! Now I understand why Connor has such a crush on Lyle – Lyle was nice and friendly and didn't rain on my parade any chance he could!

We'd finally entered the stable grounds properly so I resolutely turned to face Catherine, pulling up what I hoped was a bright and friendly smile that completely hid my urge to bury Asahi in the pile of hay nearby.

"Hi, Miss Catherine," I greeted her. "Lovely weather, isn't it?"

Catherine stared at me, completely taken-aback. I didn't let it bother me – at least it wasn't fear. This was better, right? "Stable looks good too. How are your two new apprentices?"

Small talk is fitting for a Duchess, Lady Aurora had told me. To make the other party feel comfortable, indulge in small talk at first and then work to bigger topics.

Come on, dandy etiquette lessons, don't fail me now!

"Y-Yes, good afternoon, Your Grace," Catherine finally managed out. She wasn't smiling, but at least she wasn't as hostile as Hilde had been initially. She mostly just seemed confused. "And thank you. The boys are doing well."

Not a lot of description there, Cathy, but I'll work with it. "That's good to hear! As you know, we're really hoping working here at the estate serves as good work experience for these kids—"

"It's the Duchess!"

"The Duchess is here?! Do you think he recognizes you, Connor?"

I glanced over to the door of the stable, where both Connor and the other boy were poking out their heads to gawk at us. I beamed at them and pretended not to notice Catherine's utterly horrified expression as their words reached us.

"Hi Connor!" I called out to the boy before Catherine could shoo them away.

Connor, wide-eyed and blushing, froze. "H-Hi, Y-Your Grace."

Aww, so cute! I guess he felt embarrassed over last time, where he told me I looked weak and was worried about my relationship with Lyle. Little did he know I'm the one that actually recommended him to Howard for the pathway program.

"I just saw Daigo," I told Connor with a conspiratorial smirk. "Did you know he makes Lianna personalized heart-shaped cookies every time the kitchen staff cooks a batch for dessert?"

That had Connor coming out of the stable, his curiosity winning out over his trepidation; much like me, he was starved for entertainment. He loved to gossip about his friend's developing romance, and now that Daigo was finally reciprocating Lianna's feelings, they'd entered that awkward courtship stage that made them easy to tease.

"That's so lame," Connor said, the grin on his face wide. "Bet Lia's over the moon though. I heard she's the most energetic in the morning too."

Lianna entered the apprenticeship program to become a knight, so she was currently serving as a page to one of the estate knights. I hadn't been able to see her recently but did know Daigo usually met with her after his shift ended to pass her the latest batch of goodies he made.

"Oh, Honoka's page?" Asahi chimed in. "I've met her too. She's really good at catching porcupines."

I stared at him. "…why does she catch porcupines?"

"We use porcupines for training in the Duchess Guards."

"You what."

"The Duke rejected the live bear proposal," Asahi explained, as if that explained anything.

I had some difficulty turning back to Connor and Catherine. At least they aren't using bears, I told myself. What did I know about knight training? Maybe this was normal. Yeah! "Anyway," I began stiffly, acutely aware I was running away from reality. "We're here to borrow the commoner carriage."

Catherine shot up like she'd been struck. "W-We'll bring it to the front right away—"

"Oh no, don't worry, we'll just go from here!" I told her brightly.

"But—"

"It's fine." Smile, smile!

Behind me, Asahi sighed again. VETOED!

The town square was rife with seasonal vendors selling their wares: pumpkins and everything that could be made from them, from roasted seeds to flaky pastries; colorful and ornate papers meant for origami were sold in large volumes, meant to be folded into either cranes or stars (depending on the age of the folder) and placed at either a family member's grave or on the steps of a church; leaf-patterned lanterns were made and sold as popular decorations. Anything that either carried the essence of Fall was popular.

While I did always have this 'take the common carriage when I had the least amount of supervision' plan in my head for awhile now, I did miss out on one critical point: my clothes. Someone using a commoner's carriage but dressed in clothes fitting the nobility gave off an almost impossible to understand impression: either I was a very wealthy merchant or a noble fallen on hard times and trying to hide it. Either way, it would be best to change my clothes first.

So we parked the carriage in the alleyway next to the clothes shop and I left Asahi there to watch it as I went inside. I really hoped this outfit was worth enough for a completely new one along with some extra money for food and gifts, which I may be planning to use to appease Hilde and the others when they caught wind of my escapade. Although maybe I shouldn't buy Hilde another weapon, god knows she didn't need another thing to carry around to maim me with.

"Welcome!" the shopkeeper called out, glancing over before freezing and doing a double-take.

I smiled back at her brightly. I found smiling to be the best approach when interacting with the merchants of town square; they bonded over shared customer service experiences. "Hi there! I was looking to sell this," I motioned to what I was currently wearing. "And get something different?"

"O-Oh, of course, sir!" she said, stepping around her till to approach me. She seemed to be analyzing my clothes with her eyes and coming up with multiple dollar signs, if the widening grin on her face was any indication. "This material… If you're trading in this material, you could afford anything in this shop, sir!"

Oh thank god. Lunch was on me then, and maybe Asahi would be appeased enough to not make casual remarks about throwing himself in front of the carriage while it was moving. "Great, I'll take the plainest thing in my size!"

She stared at me. "The…plainest thing?"

"Yes," I replied, still smiling and bright and refusing to elaborate.

She took the hint. I was ushered into the backroom to be measured, and then served some tea and snacks as she gathered a few outfits to present them to me. I felt kind of like a bride picking her wedding gown, which made me wonder: what was other-me's wedding like with Heero? Did he pick out his own wedding outfit, whatever it was? Was I walked down the aisle by the father I had yet to meet? Knowing other-me, he would have hated every second of it and made it a miserable affair for all involved – or maybe he bit his tongue and quietly endured, waiting until he was in the Yuy estate to truly unleash hell?

I chose a dull outfit that shouldn't stand out in a crowd – trousers and a dark grey tunic shirt with a subdued pattern in dark red threaded on the sleeves – and was left to sip my tea as she vanished to backroom to have someone adjust the clothing closer to my size. I had just started nibbling on the cookies (which were not too sweet but very dry) when I heard the shopkeeper greeting someone else in the front, and not too long afterwards they were guided to the room where I waited.

I'd seen plenty of different kinds of people ever since I woke up here. Hilde was a very pretty girl, even when she loathed my every breath; nearly all of the Duchess Guards would have made excellent fitness models; hell, even the stableman Catherine was a beauty. Despite what I'd learned about the Middle Ages back home (where everyone during the time was painted with the heavy burden of a pre-industrialized life), the people of Sanc just looked average to me. If they all suddenly donned modern clothing and were walking the streets of New York, no one would stand out.

So when I say that the boy that walked in was almost blindingly cute, I mean it. It was like looking into the face of a goddamn angel.

He had large, baby blue eyes set in a boyishly-cute face, topped with curly blonde hair reminiscent of sunlight on a summer day. His clothes weren't as ornate as most of my wardrobe but they certainly were on the wealthier side – light brown high-waist trousers, salmon-pink collared shirt, and a navy blue vest with the black buttons done up. No tie and no hat though, so he looked a lot more casual than Trant Clark had been. Perhaps he was a wealthy merchant?

Those angelic looks though… He'd have made a great dandy!

"Your clothes are just about finished, Mr. Rashid," the shopkeeper was telling him, guiding him towards the seating area where I was. "Please wait here for a moment, I'll go get you some tea."

Rashid's smile was befittingly sweet for that angelic face as he thanked the lady and made his way towards the sofas, eyes finally alighting on me.

His smile disappeared and he stopped dead in his tracks.

I suddenly remembered I was still holding a cookie up to my mouth and was mid-chew when they'd entered – no wonder he looked surprised! I probably looked like some kind of psycho with half a cookie pressed against my lips!

I finished the cookie in one quick bite, remembered enough of the manner lessons Lady Aurora had drilled into me to dab at my lips with a napkin before smiling at him. I'm not a psycho, Angel Boy, don't be afraid to come over here!

"H-Hi," I greeted him, trying to exude friendliness instead of craziness.

He blinked.

"Lovely weather today, isn't it?" I continued on. Oh god, I needed more lessons on small talk! Lady Aurora, please help me! How do you make friends with angels?!

"I—Yes?" the blonde – Mr. Rashid? – managed out haltingly. He finally started moving closer again, although the startled expression hung vaguely on his features.

How to make this less awkward, how, how? "Um, so – you come here often?" No wait, that sounds like a pick-up line! "I-I mean, for the clothes? I'm married by the way, please don't misunderstand…"

The startled expression was back. I almost wanted to flash my wedding ring as evidence that someone had clearly married this nutcase, but I'd hung it around my neck for now so that I wouldn't be a target for pickpockets when I walked around town square. I don't think unbuttoning my shirt to reveal it would send the message I was going for here.

"W-What I mean is, are the clothes here…nice…?" I tried to explain. God, maybe Asahi was right all along and I should just aim for the eternal sleep.

"…The clothes here are very well-made," the angel—Rashid, Rashid, Jesus Christ I need to get ahold of myself – said, smiling at me gently. It was like being a thrown a life preserver while I was drowning in my own self-humiliation; he truly was an angel! "And do not worry. I am married as well."

That last part was said a little sarcastically. Hm, trouble at home? Poor angel, but I felt I could sympathize with him; with divorce illegal, it seems like we were both in sticky situations.

"Are you from around here?" I asked him. I'd gotten pretty familiar with the locals here, and if someone like this was a regular around town square, I should have seen him in one of my earlier jaunts. Maybe he was a traveling merchant? Or he was here for a holiday?

He stared at me in shock again. Why? Was he actually from around here and was well-known enough that no one would have asked him that?!

"I'm pretty new around here," I rushed to explain. "I've been here for about a year!"

"A…year?" he echoed quietly in disbelief.

"Yeah, sorry." I had no idea why I was apologizing but whatever! "Uh… my name is Doe."

"Doe?" Angel sure did like to repeat things back to me.

"You're… Mr. Rashid?" I asked. Smile, smile!

"…Yes." He'd stopped echoing me, but now there was a strange expression on his face that I couldn't identify. He was probably working out how to politely excuse himself from my presence so that he didn't catch the crazy.

Surprisingly, he took a seat on the couch adjacent to mine, which was when the shopkeeper finally came back to serve him that promised cup of tea. I also had mine refilled, and she let me know I had about another 15 minutes to wait.

"Are you...buying clothes here as well?" Angel asked me after the shopkeeper went back to the front.

As we were in a clothes shop, and I was in the seating area meant for customers waiting on orders in the clothes shop, I came to the conclusion that Angel sucked at small talk too. Comrade~ "Yes, I'm trading in this outfit for something more appropriate," I replied.

"Appropriate?"

"If I go around town square dressed like this, I'd get overcharged just for looking at something." Not to mention how stiff and awkward the vendors would be, which wasn't exactly conducive to gossipin—networking.

Hey, I couldn't rely on my Duchess title forever. Eventually Relena would come into the picture and Heero would become king, so I needed to establish connections now for my eventual life after their happily-ever-after.

"Do you often go around the town square?" Angel asked me.

"Yeah," I answered, ignoring the little flinch he did. Maybe casual speech weirded him out. "At least a few times every month. I plan to visit the brewery on Kakashiri Street after this too. Have you tried their latest liquor?"

Angel still seemed a bit off-kilter but he gamely answered. "That new beverage – the one called whiskey?"

"Yeah, that one!" I nodded eagerly. "It's a bit stronger than beer, right? But I really like the flavor!"

"I haven't tried it yet."

"Oh, did you want to come along and try some then? I'm good friends with the owner!" Since old Megumi got both the recipe and the distiller from me, she'd started treating me like a beloved grandson. Which was fine for me, because she gave me free drinks and had a cool eyepatch, and what's better than a cool pirate-esque grandma who gave you free booze?

Angel looked like I'd asked him if he'd like to step on a bed of nails with his bare feet. He was quick to smother that expression with a brilliant smile, the sight of which kind of made me feel like I was being healed. "If you don't mind, I'd love to accompany you, ," he said, with a kind of steely determination. Was drinking whiskey like some test of courage for him?

"That's great! You can just call me Doe, by the way."

"Oh. Then you can just call me…Quatre." That must be his first name. See, we're friends already!

But just to be safe, because I wasn't going to have another Trant Clark incident: "Nice to meet you, Quatre! Please remember I'm married."

That strangled expression came back on his face. "…Yes."

We soon stepped out of the clothing shop, me donned in my new plainclothes and Quatre with a package under his arm eyeing my outfit oddly. I had a sizeable coin pouch tucked away in my pockets too, so now I could splurge a bit on what I'd buy. I wonder if Quatre would be up for visiting the butcher shop too? I wanted to see Geralt's boyfriend and see if I could glean any more juicy romance gossip.

A veritable tank given human form was standing right outside the shop, dressed similarly to Quatre if in a different color scheme.

"Ras-Raoul," Quatre called out, eyes locked on the human fortress before he glanced at me. "Please give me a minute, Doe, I need to speak with my brother."

Holy shit, that was his brother?! What did he do, sap all the burly genes while in the womb and leave Quatre with only the cute genes?!

"O-Okay," I said. "I'll go talk to my friend real quick, he's waiting for me over there." I motioned to the alleyway where Asahi was leaned against the carriage and talking to someone clearly trying to sell him some shoddy necklaces.

"Oh, there's no need, just wait here," Quatre said swiftly. "I'll have my brother tell him where we're going so he can meet us there with your carriage."

Not wanting to hassle my new friend too much, I obliged and stayed put. Quatre went over to his brother, handing him the package and speaking very swiftly and intensely. The living blockhouse glanced over at me with a startled expression – was it my dandy looks? – before quickly nodding in agreement with whatever Quatre was saying.

Quatre came back, cherubic smile in place as his brother started to walk over towards Asahi. My eyes followed the citadel of mortal flesh until Quatre laid a friendly hand on my arm, catching my attention.

"You said the brewery was on Kakashiri Street?" he checked with me, pulling his hand away after a moment.

I put my game face on – time to embrace my new role as tour guide! I was going to introduce the angel to the world of hard liquor!

We started off down the street, but I couldn't help one glance back to check on Asahi – except he, the carriage, and Quatre's brother were no longer in view.

Well, at least Asahi would be happy to get out of the supposed shopping trip for now.

Kakashiri Street was home to Belladonna's Brewery, and no, I was not ignorant to the strange naming. That was initially why I'd been drawn to it in the first place, except it was nothing more than a sales gambit to attract customers and there was no actual deadly nightshade being sold. Still, I'd endeared myself to the owner, old lady Megumi, and even got into the good graces of her niece, a bubbly woman by the name of Fiona who loved to gossip and manned the till.

"Honey, I'm home!" I called out as soon as I entered. Quatre tripped a little from a step behind me but I had most of my focus on the grinning Fiona. "And I brought a friend!"

"And where the hell have you been, brat?" old lady Megumi – better referred to as Granny Meg - came trotting out from the back, voice hard but her one visible eye soft.

"I got lost in a good book," I told her wistfully.

Fiona's grin turned wicked. "And here we thought you beloved husband returned home for a visit," she leered with a suggestive waggle of her eyebrows, implying loud and clear she thought I was being railed this whole time.

I slapped my hands over Quatre's ears but he was already making a startled expression. "Hey hey, watch what you say! My friend here is as pure as the driven snow and can't stand such dirty talk!"

Fiona cackled, unrepentant. "I guess that answers my question on if this was your husband or not!"

"My husband isn't blonde!" Going from the book description and from the painting in the study. Granted, paintings done during this time were like the medieval version of photoshop, so I wasn't sure how closely it would resemble Heero, but at least it matched the book description enough that I knew he wasn't light-haired. "He's a brunet with dark blue bedroom eyes!"

Fiona couldn't stop cackling. Like, full-on cackling, so I could understand Quatre's strangled expression very well.

"Alright, shut up, the both of you," Granny Meg cut us off. "You two boys here for business or just to annoy me?"

"You don't love me anymore!" I cried out.

Granny Meg eyed me dispassionately. "Just to annoy me, I see," she mused.

Actually, it was a good thing Quatre was here instead of Asahi. Asahi would just join in on roasting me.

"Quat here hasn't tried whiskey yet," I said, sweeping my hand over to him in a grand flourish. The poor guy just looked befuddled, which I could understand because Fiona was really weird. "I'm here to pop his whiskey cherry."

Quatre's attention snapped over to me so fast I was momentarily worried he'd get whiplash.

Fiona's lips trembled as she choked down the laughter I could see in her eyes. "You just said no more dirty talk," she pointed out, nearly breathless.

"I'm a hypocrite," I said. "And not here so you can point out my many flaws."

"Like how you look like you weigh about the same as three sacks of apples?"

Just rub salt in the wound right don't you! "I've started working out!" I said defensively. "Just you wait, I'm gonna be as big as a brickhouse!"

"Uh huh," Fiona snickered, waving me off to go help Granny Meg pull out a few bottles of whiskey. They'd started experimenting more with it nowadays so I think they were coming pretty close to making bourbon. At least they should be, else I was going to have to slip some recipes under their door sometime soon.

"You…work out?" Quatre asked me quietly, looking vaguely perplexed. I guess I could understand; I looked like a dandy, after all, and apparently the slender form was all the rage for dandies and their wannabes these days.

But it's not like he knew I was an actual dandy so that gave me some leeway here. "Yeah, I pretty much had to or else I might die," I replied. Since the novel seems to have it out for me.

Now Quatre looked alarmed. "Wh- Are you in danger?"

Yes. "No, nothing that serious. It's just…good to be healthy, you know?"

Quatre didn't look convinced. Luckily, I didn't have to continue convincing him as Granny Meg set some whiskey bottles and wooden cups down on the counter near us and beckoned us over. The first shot she poured us was the initial whiskey recipe I'd given them and currently their top-selling item. I took my proffered cup and swirled it around, holding it closer to my face to breathe in the smoky wood smell.

Ahhh, that's the good stuff!

I glanced over at Quatre, who had mirrored my movements before taking a tentative sip. His eyes widened and he pulled the cup away from his face abruptly, his free hand coming up as if to touch his lips.

"Burns, doesn't it?" Fiona teased him cheekily. "First sip is always the funniest to see!"

I grinned into my cup. She wasn't wrong, but I felt a little bad about teasing Quatre even if it was in good fun. I took a leisurely sip of my drink, grin turning into something more sincere as I basked in the familiarity. It wasn't as good as the brews back on Earth as their refinement process was a lot cruder, but it was still leagues better than their beer.

Quatre glanced at me, then with a determined look, took a longer sip. This one went down without issue, and he almost seemed to enjoy his third swallow.

Granny Meg replaced our cups with new ones and poured us more whiskey from a different bottle. "This is the rye-based one," she told me.

I perked up in interest. "Oh ho, you finally took my advice and gave rye a try?" I'd introduced them to barley-based and corn-based whiskey so that scotch and bourbon became easier to develop, and then floated the idea of rye so they could work towards American whiskey.

"I take your advice often enough, brat," Granny Meg scoffed. "Didn't you see the distiller in the back, made from the blueprints you gave me?"

I very cheerfully did not look in Quatre's direction at all. Maybe if I acted casually enough, he'd believe I had no idea what she was talking about and that I definitely did not just hand out distiller blueprints like candy.

"George said it's revolutionary," Fiona piped in.

George needs to keep his big mouth shut. "It's just a little distiller," I said. "I'm glad you like it."

I hurried to take a swig of the new whiskey she'd poured, Quatre following suit a lot more slowly. Once our cups were drained, Granny Meg poured the last bottle she had, the whiskey made from corn-base. I took my time to savor this one, although I could tell Quatre wasn't a fan of it.

"First one, eh?" Granny Meg guessed, appraising the blonde.

He smiled at her guiltily but she only jerked her gaze around to me. "…and you, you like the corn-based one, eh?"

I fluttered my eyelashes prettily. "You can read me like a book," I simpered. She rolled her eyes and turned around, pulling out the bottles we'd chosen.

"Were you returning home after this?" Quatre asked me quietly.

I finished off the last of my almost-bourbon. "Nah, I was gonna stop by the town market and grab some things to eat. Did you want to come?"

"If you don't mind my company."

"Not at all!" Yes, angel friend required! And he was such a breath of non-stalkery fresh air!

Asahi wasn't in view outside of the brewery. I wasn't too concerned – I knew how well-trained the Duchess Guard was now, so he was probably using his ninja powers or something. I led Quatre to the town square where the vendors were already loudly calling out their wares. I was friendly with most of them by now so I waved at their greetings as I took Quatre to the meat pie stall first.

"Don't bother with his chicken & rabbit pie, we're all convinced he's being haunted by the pet rabbit he had as a kid that died tragically," I told Quatre with a conspiratorial smile and loudly enough so that both Paul – the meat pie vendor – and the other customers in line could hear.

"Max, you sonuvabitch, get outta here," Paul called out gruffly among his patrons' laughter. "And for the last fuckin' time, I ain't never had a pet rabbit!"

"Every time you say that, the rabbit pie gets worse."

"Just pick yer pie and go, asshole," Paul sighed, lips traitorously twitching up into a smile.

Quatre glanced between us but dutifully made his selection, and together we walked off with a handful of meat pies between us. I treated him to skewers next – "Veggies and chicken only from here, Hilde says the pork could kill us." "…Hilde?" "Friend of mine, probably only keeping me alive so she can murder me herself later." – and then we perused some of the artisan stalls, where I bought a few trinkets that Kaori and the other maids might like. Quatre was trying to help but everything about him screamed money, so we weren't having much luck on getting them down to a reasonable price.

"Hey, Max! Hey!"

I glanced back at the familiar voice, still handing over the ten coins to the vendor for a 4-coin necklace. The one calling me was Gilbert, one of the merchants in town I had gotten to know - the former "snake oil salesman" who was now a fully-devoted perfumer - was making his way towards me, wide grin on his face. I rather liked getting along with all the vendors in the market, as they were often free with their words and told me every little rumor they heard that I could chase up later if needed, Gilbert being a prime example. He was the reason why I'd even known something dirty had gone down in the small village of Ishigaki with its slave-buying governor.

"Hi Gil," I greeted him once he reached me, tucking my new necklace into my pocket. "…huh, you smell like…cinnamon?"

Gilbert grinned at me, almost manic in his cheer. "Damn, your nose never fails, does it? It's my newest product – cinnamon-scented oil!"

I half-expected him to throw open his heavy cloak to reveal his wares, maybe even with a dozen wristwatches wrapped around his arm like one of those cliché sketchy salesmen. Instead, he pulled out a small, ornate vial from his pocket and handed it to me. "Go on, smell it – guess the scent!"

I uncorked it and took a small whiff. It was a strong, citrus-y smell. "…wait, is this orange?" I asked.

"You got it!" Gil cheered.

Quatre's eyes were very wide. "That must have been very difficult to get, since oranges don't grow here…"

Gil waved him off with a hearty chuckle. "Trade secret, I'm afraid. You're a new face though," he said, giving Quatre a once over before looking back to me. "Aren't you usually followed around by the girl with the murder-eyes?"

Nice to know that even other people could sense Hilde's imminent threat. "He's a new friend of mine, met him while shopping," I replied.

"Oh! I thought he was that husband you mentioned before, I was just about to congratulate you on his return." Why did everyone make it sound like I talked about Heero all the time?!

"My husband's a brunet," I grumbled. Quatre got that blanked-out expression on his face before he covered it up with an airy smile. I can see right through you, Quat. I'm not just some lovesick fool always gushing about his husband, okay!

Gil ignored me, digging through his pockets and pulling out another two vials. They looked similar to the cinnamon oil, meaning they were another medieval version of perfume. "Rose and honey-apple," he said passing the two vials to me. "These perfumes have been selling like crazy! As soon as I have enough money to buy my own shop, I'll make you an ever better thank-you gift but please take these for now."

"…thank you," I said, then looked up at him with a small grin. "We both know that if I use these, it's just free advertising for you, isn't it?"

I don't think Gil even knew the definition of the word 'embarrassment'. "Well, if that's just how it works out, I can't say that I mind…"

"Right," I laughed with a shake of my head, uncorking the apple-honey one to take a whiff and passing it over to Quatre for him to try. "But thanks, I'm happy to take them."

I paused, another idea coming to mind. Perfumes were for the body but they still didn't have a lot of products for hair washing here. Lye was commonly used by both the peasantry and the nobility, although the latter would often indulge in baths of flower petals afterwards since lye was pretty abrasive. It also damaged hair so we tended to rely on washing our hair with water and then conditioning it with animal fat mixed with rose water, cloves, and nutmeg.

"Gil, would you be open to a new idea?"

Gil pulled out a scrap of parchment and a quill seemingly from one of his endless pockets, looking at me eagerly. Alright, I guess those were the magic words.

"I want you to create a hair conditioner."

Gil's eyebrows furrowed. "Hair…conditioner?"

"Something that makes hair easy to brush through," I told him. "And I want it to smell good." Because if I had to keep using bacon fat on my hair, I was gonna scream.

Gil blinked. "Like a perfume, but for your hair?"

"Er, something like that, but more like something that makes hair silky and smooth, rather than just oily."

Gil mumbled some ingredients under his breath, scratching something down on the parchment that looked ineligible to any eye not his own. "…soft but not greasy…we'd have to use a different oil base, otherwise the smells would interfere with each other…"

"If you're up for it, I'm willing to make an investment," I said. Quatre's gaze was sharp and burning a hole on the side of my face, but I bravely ignored it.

"…there's no point in doing further damage to the hair, so if we do use lye, we'd need something to counteract it…"

"…uh, Gil?"

"…the smell should be something we can change, so it shouldn't be considered a base ingredient…"

"…you know what, I'll just drop off the investment money later," I chuckled, turning around to steer Quatre away. The blonde went easy, still gripping the honey-apple vial and now looking a bit shocked. I suppose the perfume was pretty well-made; even I was impressed Gil had refined the process to such a degree.

Since Quatre was looking a little parched and cafes hadn't been invented yet (reminder to self: get on that!), we took a little break at Gin's outdoor beer stall and seating area. I was already on pretty good terms with the beer vendors despite my inability to drink their goods; some took it as a challenge to refine their drinks, others just enjoyed heckling me since it provided free entertainment for their customers. Quatre had looked worried at the jeers but I did my best to assuage his fears – "They're all bark and no bite, Quat, don't worry!" "Bold words from someone who can't hold his drink!" "It tastes like PISS and you know it, Marco!" – but this just resulted in another poleaxed look from the blonde.

After Quatre was politely served beer and I was faux-patronizingly given a cup of lemon water by the smirking Gin, my little angel friend decided he'd reached his limit on not questioning my every action. I wonder what it said about me that this wasn't even an unexpected response to being in my presence anymore…

"Madame Megumi—" I choked a bit at him referring to Granny Meg so politely – god, "Madame"? Granny Meg would hit him upside the head if she ever heard that! "—mentioned you gave her the new distiller she was using to craft whiskey. Did you have that made by someone in town?"

Oh, that's right – Quatre was likely a merchant. I guess he smelled a business opportunity, or at least a business upgrade. "I gave her the blueprints and she had it constructed by the Engineering Guild and a local blacksmith. They did all the heavy lifting."

"Where did you get the distiller schematics from?"

Why am I getting Hilde flashbacks? "Friend of a friend mentioned having whiskey and told me how it was made, so while I was trying to figure out how we could make it here, I kinda improved the distiller too."

Quatre stared at me.

"It wasn't that hard, I mean, it's basically the same!" I rushed to explain. "Really, the hardest part was making sure that it heats up the mash enough to turn it into a vapor, and then having that vapor repeatedly condensed until it enters the chamber that turns it into a liquid."

I drank a bit of my lemon water in thought. "Though the real struggle was getting everything mechanized. Everyone's so used to doing it by hand but sometimes that can be dangerous – they might get burned during the fermentation process, or hurt if the distiller isn't made properly to contain the vapor. That's why I'm so glad the steam engine's become such a popular topic! Now everyone's super ready for any improvements to their tech." I was going to drag the Yuy duchy into the industrial age, kicking and screaming if I had to.

"You're familiar with the Taketoyo's steam engine too?" Quatre asked me with wide, innocent eyes.

Oh you sweet summer child! "It's awesome, right?! Have you been able to see one?"

"Yes, a friend of mine runs a steamboat out of that port and let me see it, it was very impressive…"

"Right, right?" I beamed. It was always nice to hear about the steam engine from the regular people of the duchy. Most of the staff knew the schematics came from me, but it felt weird when they complimented me about it, probably because Hilde looked like she wanted to throttle the answers out of me afterwards. "Steamboat engines only look complex, but once you figure out how to turn the steam pressure into a rotational force, you only have to figure out how much heat you need to keep it running! We're using coal for now, but I'd really like to move past that into something less hazardous."

Quatre was back to staring at me.

"And we don't have a lot of coal mines in the province, so I'd rather not rely on imported goods for too long," I continued because if he wasn't going to stop me, I was more than happy to explain all the things I was worried about when it came to this "new" technology. "The next logical step is to use oil. That's honestly just as dangerous but until we develop better technologies, it may have to serve as a placeholder." At least until we could move along to more green energy.

"…Oil? Like cooking oil?" Quatre asked.

"No, this kind of oil is made from organic materials that have decayed for thousands of years and turned combustible. They're in natural, underground deposits so we'd have to work on our drilling and mining tools too," I replied, distracted by my own thoughts. We could use wind and water energy alongside the more environmentally-dangerous resources, but solar would take awhile longer. I also needed to start working on harnessing electricity, which meant I'd need to have someone start making me the parts for a prototype lightbulb.

"Where…did you hear about that kind of oil?" Quatre sounded like I'd just told him I did graverobbing in my free time.

"…Friend of a friend mentioned it," I lied belatedly. Damn, so no one has discovered oil yet? Only a matter of time, most likely, but until someone dug deep enough to find some, we'd be stuck using coal for now.

"You certainly have a lot of friends," Quatre remarked quietly. "Did a friend of yours tell you about the steam engines too?"

"Yes," I lied again, because I had no qualms about lying to God or boys with angelic faces. "Aside from that—" Quatre's lips twitched like he'd just choked down a laugh at my obvious redirection "—I also heard they're developing a steam engine that could be used for transportation across land."

"Oh?"

"We—They'd have to lay down some tracks which would serve as the pathway for it, but apparently it's something like a long series of carriages attached to each other, pulled forward by a front carriage powered by a large steam engine," I explained, starting to get excited. I'd only told Heero about the possibility of a steam locomotive, and even that had been pre-emptively ended by a paranoid Hilde. "For the engine, we'd have to use high-pressure steam to increase its efficiency, but I think we can use a 0-2-2 wheel arrangement. With the wheel arrangement, we wouldn't have to worry about the weight of coupling rods and can use something more lightweight for the second axel."

"I see…"

"We'd also have to use a cylindrical boiler, ideally placed in the middle. Rather than a single pipe, it would have to be multi-tubular and carry the hot exhaust gas from the firebox in the rear through to the wet boiler and then to the blast pipe and chimney in the front."

"R-Right…"

"The firebox will have to be double-walled with a water jacket between them, but we can use either wood or coal to power it. It will have to be a long firebox with a brick arch if we're using coal though, otherwise it could be unsafe for the workers there." I couldn't wait until we moved past coal power!

"…"

"We can use wrought iron for the backhead and throat plate, with a copper drum plate between them so that it has a larger internal volume and is provides a space for better combustion." Come to think of it, I'd also need to work on the blastpipe to make sure it didn't consume too much fuel, otherwise we really would be dependent on the coal mines in other provinces.

"…Mr. Doe, you're very…enthusiastic about this, aren't you?" Quatre mused delicately. It felt like being slapped back to reality – Quatre was a merchant and just wanted a pleasant chat about recent developments in trade, not a whole lecture on something that hadn't actually been invented yet!

I blushed hotly. "Uh, yeah – engineering is just really interesting to me," I replied. "Sorry for talking so much about it though."

"Not at all, it was very fascinating. I must admit I didn't understand all of it though…" Quatre said with chagrin. God, he's adorable! That's it, he's getting a pen too. As a merchant, he should be interested in selling new and innovative products, right?

"Quatre, you're a merchant, right?" I wanted to be sure before I started offering free ideas (plus the prototypes I had back in the estate) and investment money.

Quatre blinked. "…Something like that, yes," he replied slowly. Probably just surprised I could tell.

"What kind of things do you sell?"

"My family has its hands in many different products and industries, so they sell just about everything that's legal."

Perfect! "Listen, there's this new writing utensil I was thinking of promoting and if you're interested, we can try and sell some to see if they'll catch on—"

My words abruptly cut off as I felt a hard tug on my braid. I reflexively pulled my hair around to the front – I'd had more than a few idiots try to pull my hair in a fight when I was living back in New York – and whipped around to see if it somehow got caught on someone passing by.

While I was comfortable with most of the townsfolk that frequented the town square, that didn't mean I knew them all. I always considered myself a friendly guy, you know? I was usually pretty good with faces and names, so I matched that with my natural extroverted personality and could usually sweet-talk my way into people's good side. This wasn't a surefire method however, and with my desire to pick fights with anyone twice my size, I could make just as many enemies as I could friends.

Which I guess is why the novel had to balance out my new friend Quatre with my new enemy, Asshole-Who-Can-Likely-Carry-Four-Sacks-of-Dinner-Potatoes (now forever known as Asshole).

"'Ello, beautiful," Asshole grinned down at me sleazily. He was a bit red on the face so I guessed he was a patron of Gin's awful beer, but he was steady on his feet and didn't slur any words so he couldn't be more than tipsy.

And he touched my fucking hair.

"Piss off," I growled back at him because why settle things peacefully when you can stupidly escalate. He touched my hair!

His smile dropped immediately. Behind him, I could see Gin start to notice something brewing over here but he wasn't moving fast enough to stop Asshole from grabbing my arm to roughly jerk me up and closer. I could definitely smell the beer on his breath now due to the close proximity and recoiled, but his hand on me only tightened painfully. He was definitely gonna leave a bruise.

God, I'd never hear the end of it from Hilde.

I wanted to lash out but I didn't want to cause more of a scene in Gin's little outdoor venue. Quatre seemed to share the same idea, as he'd risen from his chair to approach us and laid a calming hand on the arm Asshole was using to accost me.

"Please let go of my friend," he requested politely. I think Asshole would have scoffed at him for his manners, except there was just something vaguely worrying in the blonde's tone. Not to mention Quatre's bland, unsmiling expression – it was kinda creepy after all the smiles today.

Asshole rallied himself together admirably, his bruising hold only worsening and managing to elicit a wince from me. Curse other-me's feeble arms, I hadn't worked out long enough to bulk them out! "Your friend can—" His words cut off with a soundless gasp and he immediately let me go.

I didn't understand why until I saw that Quatre's hand had tightened around Asshole's wrist, the skin under the blonde's grip flush as the blood was cut off. Quatre's creepy non-expression never wavered as he turned to kick the back of the man's legs, forcing him to his knees all while maintaining his hold on the guy's wrist.

"If you don't learn to keep your hands to yourself, you may just lose them," Quatre told the man evenly. "Leave now or I'll rethink my decision to end this peacefully." He glanced up but not to look at me or even the owner Gin, but past us; I turned to follow his gaze and saw Asahi storming forward, followed by Quatre's mountain of a brother.

Quatre let go. Asshole, cradling his possibly-fractured wrist to his chest, fled like the fires of hell were licking at his heels. He ended up passing Asahi, whose eyes scanned him from head to toe, so I just knew he was mentally filing away the man's description for later. I really would never hear the end of it from Hilde.

I glanced back at Quatre. He was straightening his vest casually, as if he hadn't just fractured bone with his bare hands and threatened to cut off a guy's limbs. I casually reminded myself that that hadn't been the coolest thing I'd ever seen and that Quatre should technically be considered creepy now instead of just kinda hot.

Why couldn't Quatre be a dandy? Then I'd have another ally to add to my (newly-established) Dandy Advocate Group. We'd be unstoppable!

"Damn, Quat, do you have bulging muscles under all that pink?" was the first thing I could think of to say that wasn't just a plea to conquer the world with me and unify all the dandies.

Quatre smiled at me pleasantly. Hm, that was definitely kinda creepy, but in retrospect, I did that too – so this only just confirmed that Quatre was at least a dandy on the inside. An honorary dandy, if you will.

Since it didn't look like Quatre was going to do much more than shower me in his vengeful-angel smile, I was opening my mouth to continue my 'pen' sales pitch (or possibly convince him that nobility was just a title and dandyhood could be attained by anyone willing) when Asahi finally reached my side.

And then stepped up between my and Quatre, one arm out in almost a defensive stance.

"Asahi?" I stared at him in surprise. He wasn't facing me though; he was looking at Quatre and his brother with a scowl on his face.

"We should go elsewhere," Quatre said, not looking the least bit perturbed by my guard's obvious wariness. He had a point; Gin and his customers, now that Asshole had left, had instead trained their attention on us in curiosity.

I made to dig out some coins to pay for our drinks but Quatre got to it first, leaving them on the table and then leading us away with his brother in tow. He fell back half a step to allow the older man to lead, although Asahi maintained his human barrier position between me and the blonde. Someone was certainly riled.

We stopped in an alleyway where Asahi had clearly parked the carriage, although there were a handful of older men I didn't recognize that were also dressed in clothing similar to Quatre's. It was obvious they knew each other since they bowed politely to the angel, and it was then Asahi stopped me so that we didn't stand too close to them.

"You don't need to be so cautious, Asahi," Quatre said kindly, turning around when he noticed we weren't closing the distance between us and them.

"Please excuse my rudeness," Asahi retorted in a cutting tone. "But your men abducted me."

"What?" I gaped. "Abducted-?"

Quatre's older brother chuckled. "Calling it 'abduction' is a bit dramatic, isn't it, Asahi? It was more like a game of hide-and-seek."

"I am His Grace the Duchess's guard. You took him elsewhere and led me on a wild goose chase!"

"They did what?!" Is that why Asahi wasn't waiting outside of Granny Meg's brewery?

Actually, wait – did Asahi just out my true identity to Quatre and his men? And did they already know each other, or had Quatre just overheard me calling Asahi's name?

"About His Grace the Duchess," Quate said, glancing to me. His creepy non-smile was back too. "We had a wonderful time together, but I'm afraid he seems a bit…odd."

Wow, I'm right here. Quatre was going to lose his angel status pretty quickly if he kept talking about me and not to me.

Quatre's eyes drilled creepily into Asahi's waxen face. "In fact, it was almost like His Grace didn't even recognize me." His tone implied he suspected why.

Which probably wasn't good for me, but also, was I supposed to know him?

A horrible idea came to mind. I grabbed the back of Asahi's shirt. "Asahi," I hissed. "Please, please tell me that he is not my other affair!"

Asahi's head whipped around to stare down at me in matching horror. Oh shit, I had just gotten rid of Trant Clark! And Quatre came with five men that had given even a Duchess Guard the runaround! Maybe we could just outrun them?

My plans to flee from the scene with the possible use of a Molotov cocktail were cut short when I saw the shocked expression on Quatre's face. He also looked a bit horrified too, which honestly kinda hurt my feelings; I wasn't ugly! And I had a decent personality! I mean, I was married, but that was only until Heero finally met Relena. I was still a decent catch!

Quatre's brother looked horrified as well, so I guess Quatre wasn't my second paramour. That or he was just horrified that I admitted to having an affair. Well, he shouldn't be part of this conversation if he didn't want to be mortified, his little brother nearly tore off some guy's limbs just for getting touchy with me!

"No, Your Grace, he is not," Asahi said. Oh thank god.

Quatre was staring at me very hard. I tugged Asahi back a step; Quatre was cute and all but he was clearly pretty dangerous. Asahi didn't look inclined to getting out his sword either, so I didn't know if this was because he knew them or he was underestimating them.

"You really don't recognize me, do you, Your Grace?" Quatre murmured.

I felt the insane need to apologize. Asahi stepped fully in front of me before I could vocalize it though, blocking me from Quatre's analytical gaze. "We should return to the estate," Asahi said. "Mr. Howard and Miss Hilde can explain everything, Master Winner."

…

…what did he just call Quatre?

"Yes," Master Quatre Winner smiled back at us. "I think that would be a good idea."

Revoked! I'm immediately revoking his honorary dandy status!

A/N: It's all fun and games until someone is given a lecture on steam locomotives and another person is outed for having amnesia lol

Please be kind and drop a review! :)