49. Don’t Tame the Tomboy

The personal physician of House Smirnov couldn’t reveal the infertility fact to the person concerned.

It would be troublesome if her already fragile health worsened from the shock.

It was even more impossible for Baptiski Smirnov, who cherished his daughters dearly.

So he quietly called Katya to his private clinic and revealed everything.

Katya nearly fainted from shock but gritted her teeth and endured.

She had to be strong to protect her beloved family.

“Father and Bianca must never know about this. You understand what I mean?”

“Yes. I’ll take it to my grave.”

“Please destroy the medical certificate.”

Ivan, who only overheard the latter part of the conversation in the alley, firmly believed that Katya was infertile.

“Do you think I’d marry someone like you just because of this?”

“Well, if you don’t, I’ll expose the secret you’ve been hiding.”

“Secret… What are you talking about?”

“I heard you can’t have children. I saw you asking the doctor to destroy the medical certificate. I have evidence of that.”

Ivan said he would never breathe a word about that secret if she would quietly marry him.

He had completely misunderstood, but he had evidence.

When he first blackmailed her at the Petrovsky villa, Katya thought:

‘If I endure this now, Bianca won’t have to face finger-pointing from people.’

She couldn’t even begin to imagine what cruel things he might say about her sister, like a fish being cut on a chopping board.

People were naturally cruel when it came to others’ affairs.

What was so wrong about not being able to have children?

Did a woman’s worth only exist in her ability to bear children?

Around that time, Katya had thought it wouldn’t matter if she never married.

But Bianca was different.

She was looking for her first love, and she wasn’t the type who could endure all the rumors and discrimination that came with being an unmarried older woman.

So Katya decided to bear it all herself.

She complied with Ivan’s demands, fearing that Bianca’s medical certificate might be exposed.

In fact, even before meeting Ivan again, she had been researching infertility treatments.

One day, the Duke’s physician mentioned in passing:

“I’ve read documents saying that herbs from the Eastern Continent are effective in treating infertility. It’s passed down as a secret among the imperial concubines there.”

After that day, Katya pestered the physician and ran around herself, trying to obtain those herbs from everywhere possible.

However, the Hersen Medical Association didn’t recognize their effectiveness.

In fact, they didn’t even research infertility treatment, as the priests believed children were gifts from the gods, and humans couldn’t interfere with such matters.

Some priests even sold blessing rights, demanding donations from infertile couples, treating them as if they lacked faith.

Moreover, the Eastern Continent, reluctant to let their medical technology leak overseas, had placed these herbs on their export restriction list.

“I’ve decided. I’m not going to lower my standards just to get married!”!”

Her declaration not to marry was actually to buy time to find a cure before Bianca got married.

Knowing her father’s old-fashioned way of wanting to marry off the elder daughter first, she openly declared her intention to remain single.

During this time, she was imprisoned at the Petrovsky villa, escaped, received help from Nikolai, journeyed together to the Grand Duke’s residence, and received his proposal.

“The Prince of Black Tea?”

While contemplating Nikolai’s proposal, she learned of his other nickname.

When Katya discovered that he held monopoly rights over Hersen’s tea cultivation and imports, she confessed everything to him right after the tea-drinking competition between Nikolai and Ivan.

“Could you negotiate using Hersen tea exports to lift their export restrictions?”

“That’s not difficult.”

Once the export restrictions were lifted, Katya, no longer afraid of anything, set a trap to bring Ivan to trial.

She had planned to receive the herbs and treat Bianca, but her sister revealed her own infertility secret here with her own mouth.

“Bianca…!”

“I’m fine, Sister. I can’t watch you suffer anymore because of me. Petrovsky, if you want to point fingers at someone with flaws, point them at me, not my sister.”

Bianca said to Ivan while crying profusely.

“I don’t care if I can’t marry. I’m fine living alone my whole life, even if people despise me. I can’t watch my sister become unhappy…”

As Bianca Smirnov shed teardrops like dew with her pure and pitiful face, all who watched felt heartbroken.

Women who saw themselves in Bianca deeply empathized with the fear of being unable to have children, while men deeply empathized with Bianca’s beautiful face.

A beautiful woman with a kind heart doesn’t lie.

That was people’s common belief.

While men disliked Katya for being too strong-willed and women disliked her for disgracing womanhood, everyone loved Bianca.

But watching how things unfolded, they realized that ‘The Villainess of the South’ Katya had tried to marry a man she hated, sacrificing her own life for her sister.

“How can sisters be so devoted to each other?”

“To think that madman has been tormenting such kind and caring ladies all this time!”

“How could a gentleman blackmail a lady with her private matters? Tch, that damned bastard! Ptui!”

Public opinion turned against Ivan in an instant.

Moreover, Bianca’s suitors who had given Ivan money to marry Katya felt guilty.

“Poor Lady Bianca… I have committed a mortal sin against Lady Katarina as well.”

Count Gregory began sobbing loudly, and hot-blooded suitors including Olen jumped up and started throwing things at Ivan on stage.

“You worthless scoundrel!”

“Get out! Get out!”

“Ivan Petrovsky, who brings shame to all men, get lost!”

All sorts of objects flew at Petrovsky like they’re performing a ritual to exorcise evil spirits.

“Why are you all attacking me! You all thought the same as me! You called her the Villainess of the South! You said someone needed to tame a tomboy! You’re all just easily swayed barbarians who flip-flop depending on the situation! You know that?”

The Grand Duke’s knights swiftly subdued the man who was raging like a wild beast from both sides and made him kneel before their new Grand Duchess.

Grand Duchess Katarina walked slowly toward Ivan.

Even in her small gesture telling the knights it was fine to step back, she now exuded the dignity of the nation’s mother.

Ivan, finally seeming to grasp the situation, suddenly began crying and clutching at her skirt.

“I did it because I loved you too much! My only crime was loving you too–”

“It doesn’t matter how grand your emotions are. You can’t force marriage with just a one-sided love. Women, just like men, have the right to marry who they want.”

“Katya, I was wrong about everything! Please forgive me just this once…”

“You said it yourself, didn’t you? That the husband is like the sky and the wife is earth. Yes. That’s what most people think. That the husband is the wife’s master, ruler, protector, and sovereign.”

Katya began speaking about the old values she had fought against alone until now.

“They think an angry woman is like muddy water, ugly and turbid like a muddy puddle. They think she’s lost her beauty. Many men say they wouldn’t drink a drop of such water even if they were dying of thirst. That they wouldn’t take such a woman even if given for free.”

“……”

“You said it before too. That husbands only want affection, a beautiful face, and true obedience from their wives. That these are the duties and obligations a wife must fulfill to her sovereign husband. Not just you, but everyone thinks that way. That’s why women like me who go against this are all considered sinners.”

People called her, a social outcast, ‘The Villainess of the South.’

They rejected and tried to trample those whose thoughts differed from theirs.

Under the pretext of enlightenment, they committed unreasonable disrespect.

“Many men like you have swarmed around trying to break my stubbornness. They dreamed of breaking the pride of a noble woman and taming her like a conquest. They said it stimulated their competitive spirit or whatever.”

“……”

“After experiencing so much of that, I sometimes wavered, wondering if that might really be the truth, if I might be wrong. Honestly, there were moments when I wondered if I had to abandon my true self to get married.”

“……”

“But you know what? A man appeared who didn’t demand those three things from me. A man who didn’t force his feelings on me, who loved me for wielding guns and swords instead of needles like other women, who would raise me up again when I tried to bow down in courtesy.”

Nikolai was the only person who told her that spouses were equals.

“A man who loves me as I am without trying to change me to suit his taste. That’s what His Highness is.”

“Urgh…”

“Even if the Grand Duke had nothing, even if he were of low status, I would have chosen him, and I can say with absolute certainty that I would never have accepted you as my husband. That’s how it’s been until now, and that’s how it will always be.”

“Katya, ughh…”

“Don’t try to tame a tomboy, or rather, anything alive in this world. Having life means having a life to live. Therefore, everything deserves to be loved and has the right to be loved just as it is.”

After finishing her long speech, Katya seemed to remember something and opened her lips again.

“And mind your address. I am this country’s sovereign’s… consort.”