It wouldn't be proper to do that before the remembrance dinner

You let the cord drop and tuck the note back in the envelope. After quickly checking your appearance using your normal mirror you head down to the dinner, trying to push the gift out of your mind. It's hard to think about the Count - the two of you spent so little time together that many of your memories are from a time before you knew what married couples got up to. You viewed him as a fun friend who came to visit once in a blue moon.

He was a good man. Nice, not pushy, ready to listen. Handsome, strong, charismatic. Sigh. By the time you reach the dining hall you're feeling and looking suitably depressed. Your mother makes a long and thoughtful speech, you follow it up with a shorter one that's still heartfelt, even if Madame Zelande made you practice it until you were so bored that you had to fake every emotion.

To your surprise some servants start bringing out wine casks. Illennia is famous for its wines and apparently Duchess Evelyn sent word that this was what Count Lucas would have wanted. He always took pride in his county's vintages, so in dining halls across the nation casks are being tapped and wine is flowing freely so that all can remember him. It's hardly what you'd expect, not at all in line with the Duchess' reputation, but you're not going to complain at being handed a tall glass of fine rose wine on a night like tonight.

The meal takes hours. Your feet are aching after spending the whole time making sure to talk to everyone there. As the recently betrothed it would have looked bad if you snubbed anyone. Truly, you're thanking the Duchess for that wine - a hundred condolences stone sober would have been agony. At last you make it back to your room and find Farinna, your chambermaid, waiting to help you out of your dress.

You don't know what you'd do without her, she really is dedicated. That also means she's the sole chambermaid who stuck with you after your teen temper tantrums. At this point she can more or less say what she likes around you and often teases that without her you'd probably be stuck wearing no more than a slip if someone didn't take pity on you.

She doesn't mention the mirror, but she does look at it from time to time. You're tempted to take a look, but you are tired and perhaps a little tipsy, so you could wait till morning.