Chapter 46

At Yvonne’s instructions, the workers moved into the central drawing room. They were in the middle of expanding the drawing room with the large full-length windows facing the lake.

Passing the workers busily moving about, Yvonne looked around the inside of the annex, which she was seeing properly for the first time. Until now, she had only ever caught glimpses of it in passing while walking by, so this was her first real look.

The drawing room, with its high ceiling that gave it an airy feeling, had several windows, so that wherever one turned one’s head, the view was excellent.

Still, it felt somewhat cramped for a space meant not for living in but for painting. So she had instructed them to connect the drawing room and the two rooms on either side into one, and also to widen the front door.

Just then, a man named Jordan, who had gone to relay instructions to his coworkers and returned, hesitated as if unsure whether to speak, then asked,

“Um, Madam, I know it’s shameless of me to say this, but is there truly no way to save Luca?”

The workmen she had called today were people Luca had once introduced her to. Jordan in particular was Luca’s friend, and since she had met him a few times before, she had been able to call him quickly.

“I was actually hurrying because I meant to finish talking to you about that. I’m trying to make sure Mr. Luca can get out within this week. If it really doesn’t work, I’m thinking of going to the Metropolitan Police myself.”

“What? Madam, you yourself?”

Jordan lowered his voice in case his coworkers might hear and added cautiously,

“What if you get dragged into this again as well?”

“I’ll handle that myself. This happened because of a favor I asked, so don’t worry. I won’t turn away from it.”

“Well, that’s…. I don’t mean to say I doubt you, Madam…”

He had only asked lightly, but she had answered so firmly instead that Jordan awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

“Just in case, it would be best not to get greedy over any of the materials used for remodeling this place. Someone could use that as a pretext to find fault, and there may be people watching closely.”

“Do you take us for fools? We’d never do that.”

Startled, Jordan waved both hands and said it had never even crossed his mind.

“It’s an unspoken custom to quietly pilfer materials during repair work at noble estates. I’m not criticizing you, I just mean we should be careful.”

“You do know well. Shameful as it is, that’s what everyone does. But even if we’ve had no education, we know well enough that in this situation it’d be wrong.”

“I see. Then that’s a relief.”

Yvonne, who had been speaking calmly, gave a faint smile. At the sight, Jordan realized once again that rumors did not come close to the real thing, and let out a short laugh as though he had understood something.

“So what Luca said was true.”

“What do you mean?”

“That if someone took you for a noble Madam easy to fool, they’d be in for a nasty surprise. He meant you’re thorough.”

Knowing that thorough, in this case, meant meticulous and leaving no openings, Yvonne smiled faintly, when murmuring rose from the drawing room.

“Hey, what’s this? Why are you loafing around instead of working?”

“Jordan. Look at this. There’s some strange mark here.”

There, surrounding one worker who had lifted the rug spread over the drawing room floor, several men were staring down at something with puzzled faces. Yvonne followed Jordan, who headed over asking what it was, then frowned when she saw the floor.

“What is this dark mark?”

There was some sort of stain on the drawing room floor, which surely must have been thoroughly cleaned.

Had someone covered it with the rug on purpose because it would not come off? Until just now, no one had noticed it.

“There are signs it was scrubbed hard. But seeing that it still didn’t come off, it’s probably blood.”

“…Blood?”

When Yvonne asked in surprise, Jordan bent down and rubbed the wooden floor with his finger.

“Look here. The wood color’s slightly faded only in this spot, which means someone scrubbed it like crazy, but if the stain’s still there after all that, then it can only be blood. Blood doesn’t come out easily once it gets in.”

“…I see?”

At a glance it had looked like nothing more than a black stain, but now that he said it, it really did look like an old bloodstain.

What reason could there be for blood to have been spilled here?

As Yvonne wondered what possible occasion there could be for bloodshed in a noble house, Jordan seemed to think it was no big deal and thumped his chest confidently with one hand.

“Don’t worry. We’ll clean this up properly too.”

“Thank you. Please follow the drawings I gave you.”

“Yes. It’s not a large job, so one week should be enough.”

Yvonne nodded at Jordan’s confident assurance, and it was just as she stepped outside the front entrance. Jane, who had been peeking around at the workers, came running up at once.

“Madam, I… I… look over there.”

When Yvonne looked where Jane pointed, she saw the butler striding toward them from some distance away.

“He looks terribly angry. What should we do?”

Seeing Jane frightened just from the expression on Harold’s face, since he was particularly strict with the maids, Yvonne sent her behind herself and straightened her back.

A moment later, Harold came hurrying up and was aghast to see that the annex entrance had all but vanished.

“M-Madam… what is this…”

The instant Harold saw the devastated entrance, his vision swam. Feeling as if he wanted to clutch his forehead, he shouted,

“Madam, what in the world is all this! By whose permission have you called in workmen and started demolishing the annex? Explain yourself!”

An enraged Harold pressed her as though yelling. It was a voice so full of fury that it was hard to believe it came from such a thin frame.

At Harold’s sharp questioning, Yvonne only blinked with a rather calm face.

At the Sellus Earldom, she had heard the Earl’s shouts every single day, enough to feel her eardrums would burst. Though she had lived a rough life in the streets, it was still hard not to flinch at the raised voice of a grown man far larger than herself.

More than anything, her body reacted first and trembled, anticipating the violence that always followed Earl Sellus’s shouting.

That was why Yvonne feared the loud voice of a grown man larger than herself. Through bloody effort, she had become a lady whose noble bearing was acknowledged by everyone, but beneath that, hidden without showing it, she had rotted away inside.

Ever since marrying into this house, even when hot-tempered Harold occasionally raised his voice, it put a similar strain on her body.

Just as when she had first argued with Carlisle, whenever Harold raised his voice, she had tended to shrink back. Even if he was not as large as Carlisle, the heavy tone of a middle-aged man was enough to remind her of Earl Sellus.

So in the past, she would have apologized to the butler first. Because of the strange pressure that, as someone from another family, she must obey the long-standing rules and order of this mansion, she had been too busy watching others’ moods to utter even a single word of rebuke when the butler behaved rudely like this. Part of her had also feared that he might say something bad about her to Carlisle.

But now she felt no agitation whatsoever.

Perhaps it was because she had finally realized properly that she did not need to shrink even in front of the butler.

“I meant to consult your opinion, Butler, but I heard you had gone out without leaving any word to me about where you were going, so I had no choice but to call the workmen.”

“…Pardon?”

Ordinarily, when the butler went out, he was supposed to report his destination and return time to his master. He had broken that basic rule only because he had never once reported it until now, and because the Duchess had never taken issue with it either.

Ahem. Clearing his throat, Harold spoke in a somewhat moderated voice.

“Even so, for a matter like this, you ought to have consulted me first…”

“Harold, I am not someone who should be receiving cautions from the butler. I am your superior. I do not understand why I should feel as though I am being interrogated by you.”

Harold’s brows shot upward.

At a time like this, who was supposed to be the one angry here.

Harold stared disrespectfully at the Duchess, who was turning the tables on him, and just as he spread his shoulders wide in order to crush her spirit—

“What did he say?”

Deliberately using the intimate term ‘he’ rather than ‘Carlisle’, Yvonne stared coldly at the butler.

“I understand you went to ask for permission, so I asked whether you received an answer.”

“What? What are you talking about now…”

How did she. 

Harold’s face twisted rapidly.

He had told no one, yet the Duchess’s question made it sound as though she knew he had gone to Rein Kleint Company. His words stalled.

He hated the thought of admitting it truthfully, so he lifted his chin with forced dignity.

“Th-the annex may have been granted for use, but permission for construction was not…”

“I’m only changing the interior decoration. As you can see, everything here is outdated. This is a Dukedom in name, after all. It would be unpleasant to hear guests who see that furniture invent stories that the ducal household is struggling.”

Hah. Harold barely swallowed the incredulous breath that rose in him.

Making excuses was a skill in itself. She wanted luxury, yet she was using as an excuse guests who had never come, and perhaps had no plans to come at all.

Harold, butler of the Polshared family and vassal of the ducal house, Viscount Eritude, was keenly informed when it came to high society.

In society, people praised the Duchess only with their lips, calling her a beautiful doll or a living etiquette manual, but she had neither close friends nor any social circle she belonged to.

Since rumors of discord between the Duke and Duchess had arisen, secret gossip had spread about the Duchess, and no one would deal with her.

A mocking sort of question naturally slipped from his lips.

“Does even a studio for painting require fashion? And guests, you say. To spend money on such unnecessary things for the sake of guests who may not even have plans to come. Really now. Should you not consider my position as the one who has to manage these things every time for an inexperienced Madam?”

At the remark casting doubt on her competence as a Duchess, Yvonne’s expression hardened coldly.