The Duke and Duchess' Divorce Circumstances

The sofa faced the bed, giving a clear view of Ramiel lying on the opposite side. 

The bed seemed very wide when she lay in it, but it looked normal-sized when the long figure of Ramiel lay down. She was struck by how tall he really was.

“How do you know the chef?”

She turned back towards Ramiel without much thought and said.

“Pierre? Ah. I was a regular at Pierre’s shop.”

Pierre’s shop was a famous upscale restaurant in the area. It was a place that pursued luxury in all aspects, from ingredients to restaurant interior and service. His restaurant, which received praise for not being unnecessarily expensive but rather cheap compared to the taste and quality it offered, was a must-visit place in the area known for its gourmet food.

Pierre boasted a great reputation, even being invited to royal parties to handle the banquet food, but sadly, his shop did not last long. From the start, the shop had accumulated a lot of debt, as Pierre’s perfectionistic nature added fuel to the fire of this risk. There was no shortage of high-quality ingredients that were just tossed aside due to his high standards. 

Despite being products that could be sold easily, there was no compromise. While guests enjoyed his high-quality dishes, he was a terrible boss when it came to management. All the profits earned went towards operating costs and repaying borrowed money, and with no profit left, Pierre’s shop had to close its doors, leaving many disappointed.

On the day Pierre closed the shop with a despondent face, Ramiel grabbed his arm and cried: ‘What would they do without such a great restaurant?’

“Did you really cry?”

Listening to the story, Ramiel asked with an incredulous look.

“I really cried.”

“If you liked it so much, you should have hired Pierre for Leanello. Just like I hired him in Berni.”

Ray’s face was taken aback by Ramiel’s words. She hadn’t even thought about that.

“How could a food-loving girl like you not think of that? What a surprising oversight,” Ramiel smiled unconsciously at her unexpected mistake.

“I… Why didn’t I think of that?”

Was it because she had lived a life as an ordinary citizen in Korea that it was deeply ingrained in her bones? Ray was the daughter of an oil conglomerate. She could have easily employed Pierre in her household when he was in trouble.

Realizing that she had lost Pierre to Leanello due to a moment of carelessness, she felt a deep sense of regret. But even if Pierre had come to Leanello, she would have left her home through marriage, so maybe this was the better outcome.

“So what happened after that?”

He was curious about how the whimsical girl in front of him proceeded after that.

“I suggested opening a shop with the remaining capital and trying to make a comeback.”

Ray’s desire was hidden in that proposal.

“I wanted to make and sell hot dogs.”

It was her favorite snack while in Korea. She had been obsessed with hot dogs for a while upon returning to her world. So Ray decided to make hot dogs herself. Since the ingredients were also available here, she could get delicious sausage, wrap it in flour dough, coat it in bread crumbs, and fry it.

While she was thinking about that, Pierre’s shop closed, and Ray casually handed him the hot dog recipe. Sausages coated in flour dough and fried bread. To Pierre, it was a strange and unfamiliar combination of food, but he was in no position to hide anything. He needed money right away to raise three children.

“Was that hot dog developed by Ray?”

It was a popular snack, even known to Ramiel in the world. The hot dog, which everyone, regardless of age, gender, or social status, had tried, ensured that Pierre, an upscale cuisine specialist, was reevaluated in the culinary world. But the hot dog, the so-called ‘national snack,’ was not created by Pierre, but by Ray Alexis.

“You developed that recipe and gave it to him without any compensation?”

There was a big flaw in saying that Ray had developed it. Ray was just the messenger who delivered the original recipe. All the details, such as the density of the flour dough and the frying temperature, were discovered by Pierre. 

He adapted accordingly, using paper-wrapped wooden sticks instead of wooden chopsticks for the situation here, and used an existing sauce from the market instead of ketchup as the finishing touch. Pierre personally developed the sauce that went well with the hot dog afterwards and always rushed to Ray first for feedback on the taste. Through this process, the two became friends. 

And Pierre successfully revived his shop with the flashy snack, delegated the management to his wife, and was now employed as a chef in Berni.

“I didn’t know the exact recipe, as it was something I heard from a friend. All the hot dogs here are made in the way Pierre discovered.”

“Here? Isn’t your friend in Ravidon?”

Instead of answering Ramiel’s question, Ray smiled.

Ravidon was nowhere to be found outside, not even in the Inua continent. Because her Korean friend lived in a different dimension. 

Coming back to Korea so abruptly was also unexpected. Ray could never have known how much her friend Yuju would worry about her once she suddenly disappeared without a trace.

“I can’t meet my friend because she’s very far away. My friend… I miss her.”

She had eyes filled with longing for a person she cared about. Ray was making an expression that Ramiel had never seen on her.

“Do you miss your friend?”

“Yes. Very much. We were supposed to travel together.”

It was an overseas trip. An adventure to another continent from here. How excited she must have been when she heard that they were flying through the sky, rather than taking a train.

Ray experienced a laborious challenge for the first time in Korea. She even took on two jobs to fly through the sky. It was tough and demanding, but she also learned that people lived the same way no matter what dimension they were in.

“Let’s go play with a handsome man…”

“This land is doomed. We’re going global!”

[Footnote: There’s no more men here, so they’re going abroad to find some.]

Yuju’s face shouting came to her mind… Talking about Korea made her feel melancholic. If she could write a letter and send it, it would be nice.

“Do you want to play with guys?”

“I want to have fun with a handsome man…”

Ray, who had been casually chatting about her friend’s wishes, closed her mouth when she saw Ramiel’s eyes.

‘It’s not good to say things like that here, because they think differently.’

“I’m sleepy.”

Ray patted the cushion, slightly flattening its middle, and lay down on it.

“All of a sudden?”

“Sleepiness is supposed to come suddenly. Good night to you too, Ramiel.”

“It’s morning and the reason you have to go back to sleep is because it’s hard to explain what it’s like to have fun with a handsome guy?”

“What do you mean? I only have Ramiel.”

He started laughing at Ray’s shameless words, but then the words about having fun with men came to mind again and his smile disappeared.

He didn’t know if it was unpleasant to hear that a woman wanted a man, or if there was some other reason, but he didn’t feel very good when he heard that.

“Well, she’s not married, so it works out.”

Ray took care of it belatedly.

“Even though she said that, she probably never thought about meeting a real man. Rather, she was the kind of friend who wanted to eat more delicious food.”

Yuju accepted her, who came from a different world, as her friend without any hesitation simply because they were the same age and pretty.

While hanging out informally with Yuju and other friends of her age, Ray first realized that she loved food and had an active personality.

In the first place, she lived a life where she never thought about what kind of person she was, where she didn’t dream or pioneer her own future, nor the future that society had decided for her.

“I love to eat delicious things, so we got along well. If it weren’t for that friend, I would have never known who I really am.”

And she would have probably married Weber as her parents had arranged, living a life of ridicule. But now things were different. Ray Alexis had chosen and moved on her own, and her husband right in front of her was Ramiel Ruivan.

Now Weber was next to Ramiel. She was so grateful for his proposal.

“When you first came to look for me, I thought it was like the gates of hell opening, but it turned out to be the door to heaven opened by an angel. The contract marriage was indeed a big help to me, allowing me to have a stepping stone to dream of the future.”

Ray smiled as she looked at Ramiel who was listening to her words.

“Ramiel, I’ll be relying on you for the next year.”

Ray wished she could break up with this person with a smile. Ray, who had been fidgeting on the opposite sofa and then gone quiet, fell asleep.

Ramiel slowly got up from the bed.

He thought that if he fell asleep now, he would open his eyes at least by lunch time.

“…Charmaine will love it.”

It was Berni’s employees who were always disappointed about the master and his wife’s short visit. Charmaine looked disappointed at the plan to stay only one night and leave as soon as lunch the next day.

A couple comes together in a space called a villa. However, the fact that the couple was on good terms with each other, unlike other couples, was something that the family’s employees could only shrug at.

Unlike ordinary, ‘real couples’ were rare in the capital. Because most cases were strategic contract marriages, the atmosphere at home was often business-like and rigid.

If the relationship between the couple is good, the family atmosphere will be peaceful. Then, employees would find it much easier to work. And they felt proud of the family they work for. It was a kind of professional pride.

In other words, the relationship between the master and his wife became an important environment for the employees.

But at this time, the master and his wife came out saying they liked each other and wanted to get married, so what could they say? To the employees, the Ruivan couple was truly the best welfare they could boast of.

They wanted to be there to support the lovely new couple a little more.

And as if their earnest wish had come true, Madam Ruivan, who was soundly asleep even though the sun was high in the sky, showed no sign of waking up even when the master held her in his arms.

Ramiel carefully placed Ray down on the bed.

“Hmm.”

After tossing and turning for a moment, Ray grabbed his sleeve tightly.

“I look forward to working with you.”

“…Those are my words.”

Ramiel, who belatedly responded to Ray’s words, remained still, holding her for a while.

It was a quiet and peaceful morning.

 

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