1. Marriage

Count Wellicks Sustain had three beautiful daughters. The eldest daughter, Claire, possessed an intellectual and calm charm, while the youngest daughter, Bella, was a lovely girl with adorably chubby cheeks and plenty of cuteness.

However, the second daughter, Clementina, exuded a distinctly different aura from her two sisters with their brown hair and brown eyes.

Pale lemon-blonde hair, golden eyes, glossy skin, slender yet straight and elegant figure. Unlike her sisters, she was the only daughter who resembled their mother, Caroline Sustain.

Though everyone acknowledged her beautiful appearance, her value assessment in the marriage market was not so beautiful. Being cold, stubborn, and arrogant made Clementina less suitable as a wife, lowering her value.

Clementina was merely a flower pleasing to the eye, but fortunately or unfortunately, today on her twentieth birthday, she was getting married.

“A blue wedding dress? It doesn’t suit your skin at all, Tina. You should have better taste if you’re going to be a duchess. Won’t the Duke be disappointed? Bella is so worried.”

“As if he’d be disappointed. He even likes that stiff personality of hers. What wouldn’t a man blinded by love like?”

“That might be true now, but what if you get thrown out later? How disappointed would Father be?”

Clementina sat at her vanity, entrusting her appearance to the maid’s hands. She glanced at Claire and Bella sitting side by side on the couch through the brass mirror. Claire was scowling while twirling a glass of wine, and Bella was pouting.

Though Claire and Bella criticized it as terrible, the deep blue wedding dress made Clementina’s white skin stand out even more.

Her transparent skin and plump bosom were accentuated by the front that revealed nearly all of her neck and shoulders. The long sleeves widened at the wrists, creating waves with every movement, and the hem of the dress, which elegantly revealed her body’s curves down to the waist, was embroidered with gold thread for added splendor.

Count Sustain, who had no sons, lacked a proper heir. So the Count married his eldest daughter Claire to a cousin who lived with his widowed mother. Claire’s mother-in-law was a woman who did the work of ten mothers-in-law, and her husband Rank was a fool who couldn’t even properly control his own lower half.

But what could she do? Since daughters couldn’t inherit titles, Claire’s husband would someday become the count. Then Claire would become a countess and enjoy a comfortable life, so she had to endure as the price.

Once Claire’s welfare was secured, she thought about marrying off her sisters to suitable men at appropriate times, though perhaps not to men who could provide a life as good as her own.

That was until Clementina made this ridiculous marriage.

Claire resented Clementina’s golden luck. Even if unhappy, living in gold was better than living in mud.

“The Duke is really handsome. But he doesn’t seem to match someone as cold as Tina. I think he would suit someone cute and lovable like Bella better.”

Claire gazed indifferently at her youngest sister, who spoke with feigned innocence while poking one finger into her cheek, and smoothed her well-groomed hair.

“I know, right? Bella, you might be more suitable for the position of duchess. But what can we do? Perhaps the Duke’s judgment has been clouded from fighting in the war.”

“Oh my! Then, could the rumors about him being a bit mad be true?”

Bella placed her two fists gently against her flushed cheeks and gave Clementina a mischievous smile through the mirror.

“So what if he is mad? It’s the position of a duchess, after all, so what’s the problem? I’m worried whether Tina can perform the role of duchess well. The esteemed Duchess should help find a good match for her beloved younger sister.”

“Really? Will you really help, Tina? You won’t keep me stuck in this countryside forever, will you?”

Clementina’s face, which had appeared indifferent to her sisters’ sarcasm and continued complaints, cracked. Her hands resting on her knees trembled slightly.

‘Stop fighting. You should care for and look after each other. I can see how much you three love each other.’

‘Love?’

Her mother’s teaching to live caring for one’s siblings echoed in her mind. But Clementina couldn’t utter a word.

It was obvious that whatever Clementina said would not reach her sisters’ ears.

‘Is that really sincere?’

Clementina wanted to focus on something of no value rather than let the thorny jealousy of the sisters she was supposed to love flow through her. Like counting the numerous pearls the maid had begun tying into her braided hair.

“Tina! Are you listening?”

Claire fluttered her fan irritably as she confronted Clementina.

“Are you ignoring us again? Do you think Bella is just a pretty fool! Is that it?”

Clementina smiled uncomfortably and addressed the whimpering Bella.

“That’s not true, Bella. How could I think you’re a fool?”

Claire nervously folded her fan with a snap! and gripped it in one hand. Bella sniffled and looked at Clementina with resentful eyes.

The maid who had been preparing Clementina’s adornments finally placed a blue sapphire hair ornament with a veil at the highest point of her head.

Seeing this, Claire grimaced and turned her head toward the window, while Bella pursed her lips and turned her head toward the door.

At that moment, the door flung open.

Count Wellicks Sustain entered with quick, anxious steps. His brown hair, which until yesterday had been messily sticking out in all directions, was now neatly fixed, giving him a noble impression just for today.

Claire and Bella quickly stood up and approached their father. Seeing this, Clementina also quietly rose and turned toward them.

“Oh, Father. Did you come to see Bella?”

“Why did you come all the way here when you must be busy?”

“I came to see my daughter’s face. Let me see, my little lark.”

Count Wellicks Sustain passed by Claire and Bella and stood before Clementina. The Count slightly grimaced, seemingly displeased with his beautiful daughter’s appearance.

The Sustain family, with their fertile lands, had decent income and belonged to the better-off provincial nobility, but being on the frontier, they were far from power.

When news spread that such provincial nobility would form a connection with the imperial family, many were envious, but Count Sustain pondered this marriage proposal for quite some time.

Some thought he was embarrassed because it was for his second daughter, the outcast who everyone thought would remain single until death. Others believed it was the sad heart of a father who had to marry off a child he loved dearly, even if to the Empire’s hero.

Whatever the truth, it was clear that Count Sustain did not welcome this marriage.

“Father, Bella is so sad that Tina is leaving.”

Bella, standing behind Count Sustain, grabbed his sleeve.

“I see Bella is upset. Don’t worry. If you miss Tina, you can always go to Drasia, can’t you?”

“Oh my! Really? Can I really do that? That’s okay, right, Tina?”

Clementina froze at her father’s loving words. The small and lovable Bella coming along?

“Tina doesn’t look very happy. You don’t hate the idea, do you? Sob sob sob, Tina is so cold. Oh, I miss Mother so much.”

‘Good heavens, that cute mouth mentioned Mother.’

Caroline Sustain, the Countess, who had been in poor health for a long time, went to Derin in the southern part of the Ronakia Empire for recuperation ten years ago but disappeared after encountering bandits on the way. Count Sustain searched every corner of the Empire meticulously but ultimately failed to find her.

With no ransom demands, rumors circulated that the Countess had left Count Sustain.

It was a false rumor that Count Sustain had grown tired of the beautiful but willful Caroline Sustain and had an affair with Clementina’s ordinary but gentle nurse, causing the Countess to run away.

Clementina couldn’t believe any of the rumors. She longed for the warm embrace of her mother, who would lull her to sleep every night with adventure stories about heroes and dragons instead of lullabies.

Especially on a day like today. Of course, she wasn’t the only one who missed her mother.

“On a day like this, it would have been better if my love, Caroline, were here.”

Count Sustain held Clementina’s face with both hands and examined it thoroughly.

“You’re truly beautiful today. It’s like seeing Caroline on our wedding day. You really take after my Caroline.”

Clementina’s delicate eyes trembled slightly. Count Sustain muttered in a low voice with a servile expression, grinding his molars.

“Damn it all, I wish I could throw away all this Duke business. I should just keep you in my hands and live…..”

Count Sustain stared at his daughter, who was a substitute for his beautiful wife, with bulging eyes.

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