Chapter 43

“Why does Master only look at faces. Temperament, character, background. Those things matter so much.”

There was no one in Aerondo who did not know that the master they served had never once given a woman even a proper glance. The maids lamented, believing that Yvonne Sellus had taken the place of lady of the house for one reason only, her beauty.

And for them, who had subtly ostracized Yvonne for the past three years, the fact that things had returned to how they were before, not even a few weeks after they had rejoiced over the news of divorce, was more disappointing than they could bear.

“I was so excited, thinking Miss Vivian would come as our new Madam.”

“Is there anyone among us who wasn’t? Isn’t that right, Butler?”

When the maids asked in whining tones, Harold, who had been elegantly drinking tea by the window, swallowed a sigh.

He himself held no different an opinion from the maids.

Of all people. A daughter of an Earl’s house that had fallen so far in standing it merely ran some small trading company.

That feeling was all the stronger because he knew that the funds extended to the Earldom up until now were enough to build several new companies and still have money left over.

The ongoing conversation suddenly stopped at the sound of the bell ringing just then.

It was from the Duchess’s room.

While they all merely looked at one another, wondering who would go, time passed amid sluggish movement. At last, just as one maid reluctantly started to rise, the door flew open.

“Um. Butler. Madam is calling for you.”

“…You mean me?”

Harold’s white brows twisted at the summons from the Duchess, who ordinarily never minded whether the maids came or not even when she called.

With no other choice, he rose to his feet, straightened his bow tie, and headed to the third floor where the lady of the house’s room was. When he knocked briefly, permission to enter came at once.

“I heard you called for me.”

Yvonne, who had been looking at herself in the mirror, turned at him, his neck stiffly upright.

The sight of her fully dressed up rather than in indoor attire made him blink blankly.

“Madam? Are you preparing to go out? Master clearly told you not to leave.”

“I know. That’s why I mean to invite guests.”

“Pardon?”

“Didn’t you hear? Since I cannot go out, I said I intend to invite guests.”

No sooner had she returned than she was already plotting how to spend money again. The Earl and his daughter really were no different, treating the Polshared family like their personal bank account. Clicking his tongue inwardly at the shameless Duchess, Harold reluctantly parted his lips.

“Then. How…am I to understand that you wish for a banquet to be prepared.”

“No. Clear out the annex entirely. From now on I intend to use it as a space for personal purposes.”

“If by annex you mean, which one would that be.”

“There’s one by the lake, isn’t there.”

“If you mean the Rain annex, that will be difficult.”

When Harold showed discomfort at the sudden request, the Duchess tilted her head.

“Why? Isn’t it just an unused space?”

At that calm remark, Harold restrained himself from frowning.

Why, the moment she returned, was she trying to meddle again.

Every time Yvonne had tried to do something, Harold had repeatedly made her realize it was a pointless act, and this time too he lifted his chin stiffly with the same intention.

“You still do not know this ducal residence very well. That place has been closed off by Master since before you came here, Madam.”

The annex, a ten-minute walk from the main building, was all but shut down, with no one allowed to enter. Only the maids who cleaned it occasionally went in and out, and even Yvonne herself had never set foot inside even once.

“Thank you for pointing that out, but I know that.”

At the strangely condescending tone, Harold felt his temper sour and adjusted his glasses as he asked back,

“Then why. It is hardly something important enough to break the rules of this ducal residence.”

“I need a private space to paint. And as I said, whether something is important or not is for me to decide. I do not recall asking for you, a butler, an opinion.”

A crease formed between Harold’s brows at the rebuke. Though she had no real talent, somehow she had even charmed a Prince, and after becoming the Princess’s art teacher, the Duchess had begun painting at the ducal residence as well from time to time. Ever since people started saying she could paint a bit, the way she carried herself as if she were a real artist was utterly laughable.

Until now, he had not given her a separate place to paint. After all, one side of the sitting room connected to the Duchess’s chamber had already been arranged like a studio.

And now, all of a sudden, she was demanding an entirely new building.

And worse, she was asking for the very annex that the Duke of Polshared, master of Glade Hills himself, had forbidden anyone to enter. It was only natural that Harold found the request displeasing.

“In that case, it would be enough to prepare one room in the main building. It would be more convenient for you to come and go, and besides, one never knows when you may grow tired of it….”

“No.”

Yvonne added to the butler, who opposed whatever she said on principle.

“Soon, Her Highness the Princess will be submitting a piece to the art exhibition at the academy. To prepare for that, I would rather not have people coming and going and seeing the paintings.”

Once she emphasized that she was the Princess’s teacher, Harold’s mouth indeed shut, as though his words had been blocked.

“And as I said earlier, I intend to receive personal guests in the annex from now on, so prepare it.”

“……May I ask what kind of guests these are?”

Instead of answering at once, Yvonne looked straight at Harold, who was stalling in hopes of finding some excuse to refuse her somehow.

“You will naturally find out once the guests arrive.”

Not just one guest but guests. Harold assumed at once that this surely meant a banquet requiring much labor and expense, and he was just about to cite the burden on the servants as a suitable excuse to refuse when—

“Let’s leave the annex matter at that, and I’d also like you to hand over the keys you’ve been managing all this time.”

“Pardon?”

To Harold, who looked shaken as though struck by lightning, Yvonne repeated herself with a smile.

“Up to now, I left the management to you because I didn’t know any better, but now I think I’ll try doing it properly. As an apology for having neglected the duties of the Duchess until now, I intend to start at once.”

“Madam, you yourself clearly said before that it would be difficult with your abilities….”

“If you mean the first day of our marriage, when I knew nothing and was taken to the study and shown such an overwhelming pile of documents it was hard to breathe, then I’ve changed my mind. So unless my words are difficult to understand, bring me the ledgers for the last three years and the keys.”

Having said that much, Yvonne turned her gaze back to the mirror as though she had no further business.

Harold, his fists clenched tight, glared at Yvonne with a face full of unsaid words, then soon left the room in a huff.

* * *

Aerondo was still in an uproar over the story of the Duke and Duchess of Polshared’s divorce, which had ended as little more than an incident.

Whether in high society or in ordinary residential neighborhoods, whenever people gathered, talk of that affair dominated the conversation.

“Can this even be real. The court made a mistake?”

“Well, mistakes happen. They said the documents could be refiled, but apparently neither of them did it again. Maybe they intend to try and make things work. How would I know the details.”

Leaving aside the court’s omission, what could anyone do if the husband and wife had changed their minds.

Even those who had suspected the court’s claim, saying that if they had truly wanted it, refiling a single document was no difficult matter, gradually turned their attention instead to the change in the couple’s feelings.

Since it had been known that the couple’s relationship had soured half a year ago because of the incident that caused Rein Kleint Company immense losses, people watched closely, wondering whether their relationship might perhaps change now.

Avandonasser was no different.

“Even if his wife made a mess of things, she’s still the greatest beauty in Aerondo, the Lily of Sellus. If it were me, I couldn’t let her go either.”

“Well, that’s why every man in Aerondo even proposed to her. Truth be told, I did too, and the moment I saw her face, I thought my heart would stop.”

Inside the darkened interior, thick with the hazy smoke of cigars, men pleasantly drunk on alcohol shouted back and forth from all around.

Avandonasser was originally open twenty-four hours a day without pause, but today of all days it was even noisier than usual despite being broad daylight. With all the window coverings drawn down to block the light, the interior was so steeped in indulgence that it was hard to tell whether it was day or night.

Servants from various houses came and went busily to fetch the men who had collapsed from the party that had begun the previous night. In one corner, men whose eyes were bloodshot from going without sleep for days were dealing cards and adding their own comments on the news of the Duke and Duchess of Polshared, lately the hottest topic around.

“Call! It stings a bit, but who could beat the Duke.”

While men who found life unbearably dull chattered noisily, slapping down cards as though staking their meager pride on them, there was one table that was notably quiet.

A man occupying a large table seat reclined carelessly and scanned through a newspaper.

[Moved by the continued comfort of the Duke of Polshared, who understood his wife’s heartbreak, Duchess Yvonne Polshared has accepted the proposal of reconciliation and expressed her intention to work toward the future. According to close acquaintances of the Duke and Duchess, this opportunity has even improved what was once a distant relationship between the couple….]

“I got played. F*ck.”

Ethan muttered the curse lowly, reached out with his left hand, tilted the whiskey glass he caught hold of, and drained it in one swallow. At the same time, the newspaper that left his hand was roughly flung into the corner of the sofa.

Ethan Inglebert. Once a proud and cold man who never understood women’s hearts, he had now become the most pathetic, pitiful, and laughable man in Aerondo.

At first he had thought it an absurd false report. At least from the Yvonne he had seen, he had not sensed the slightest desire in her to try again with Carlisle. It was precisely for that reason that he had in fact expected she would make an excellent partner.

But according to what he had confirmed through his men, the contents of the article were true.

‘We confirmed that Miss Yvonne returned to the mansion.’

‘On the night before the Duchess returned, Duke Polshared visited Lisian House. And since the men packing Miss Yvonne Sellus’s things had previously been seen on Cadney Road, it appears Duke Carlisle had already placed people around Miss Yvonne before then.’

Just as I thought.

All the while acting indifferent, and yet he had even stationed men around the house of the woman who was about to become his ex-wife.

Beyond mere disbelief, a hollow laugh slipped from between his lips. The white joints standing out on the back of the hand gripping the glass showed starkly.