Chapter 5

Together with the dowry the King had given her merely for show, Eveline was loaded into a carriage and sent to the Mason family’s territory.

‘What in the world happened over these past few days?’

By the time she came to her senses, she was already standing before the ducal castle. She had not even had the chance to form a new plan yet. Her mind was in complete disarray, but before others she thoroughly maintained her act.

After arriving at the ducal castle, Allen completely lost interest in her. Even saying he lost interest was not quite right, because in truth he seemed to have forgotten Eveline’s existence altogether. Their eyes meeting at the wedding felt like a dream.

Eveline recalled that sharp gaze which had made her tense. It had felt as though she were being cut to pieces. She had wondered countless times whether he had noticed something, but after leaving the capital and traveling for days on the way to the territory, he had not spoken even a single word to her.

It was the familiar treatment of being regarded as though she did not exist, something she had often experienced in the royal palace. Some people would not have been able to bear it, but Eveline was different.

‘This is not an entirely bad situation.’

If someone took an interest in her, it narrowed the range of her movements. Eveline wanted everyone here, just like in the palace, to treat her as though she did not exist. But she did not let down her guard easily. Allen’s gaze had been that intense, and for the first time in a long while she had been frightened that her true face might be exposed.

‘For now, I need to watch and see what he’s plotting.’

Even the Queen and Countess Miller, who had constantly doubted and tested whether she had truly become a fool, had eventually been deceived. Eveline intended to stay cautious for a while longer and wait out the storm.

When first receiving the Duchess, the butler and servants seemed somewhat tense, but once they saw her in person and realized the rumors were true, they quickly relaxed. For several days, as they quietly sounded her out, Eveline also secretly sounded them out. And just as in the royal palace, they despised Eveline and paid her no mind.

Even if they saw her wandering the castle, they looked at her with complete indifference. Thanks to that, while still acting carefully, Eveline quickly came to understand the ducal castle.

‘Everything is a mess.’

It was widely known that when Dyke’s army attacked, the former Duke, his family, and the retainers who had stayed to fight to the end had all died. Most of the butlers and servants had died too, and those who had at least saved their lives had fled, leaving the ducal castle empty. And there was no one who did not know who had caused it.

Perhaps trying to cover up his son’s wrongdoing even a little, the King ordered people to be selected to manage the ducal castle.

But while the master was absent, the newly arrived butler and servants had become far too lax, and after the master returned and remained indifferent, they committed all sorts of ugly acts.

‘They’ve embezzled a great deal, haven’t they?’

She only skimmed through the ledgers briefly and noticed the falsified numbers. Eveline clicked her tongue inwardly at this poor management, but she did not care very much. Rather, it was not a bad situation for her at all.

Eveline had worried that Allen might have noticed something about her, but making that concern seem foolish, he shut himself away in his office. The deputy commander led the Knight Order, and the butler took charge of the territory and the assets. Leaving everything in the hands of those two, Allen lost interest in all things.

As she grasped how the ducal castle was being run, she made a new plan. The ledgers full of holes worked to her advantage.

‘At this rate, even if I siphon off a little of the property, it won’t show.’

Now that she had come to the Mason territory, Eveline could no longer personally act against the royal family. But there were more than enough people willing to do anything, so long as money was involved. She decided to siphon off the Duchy’s wealth and buy people who would deal with the royal family in her place.

Allen leaned back in his chair and looked out the window. He spent most of his day shut up in his office like this. Lethargy and depression, those were the symptoms he was suffering from now.

“Your Grace, shouldn’t you begin paying attention to the management of the territory by now?”

Though his adjutant, Andrew, offered this earnest advice, he gave no answer. Andrew knew very well what was in his heart, and wore a regretful expression.

While he had been away on the battlefield to protect the country, the guilt and sense of loss from having failed to protect his own family had taken hold of Allen. During the war, he had endured somehow, but now that the goal had ended, he had become as listless as the ash left behind after a blaze, and showed no interest in anything.

Andrew had tried somehow to change his mind, but it was no use. Unless Allen overcame it himself, no one could help him.

“If only you had at least taken a proper woman as your wife, you could have entrusted the household to her….”

Andrew felt as though darkness had fallen over his eyes at the fact that his Lord had taken that famous foolish Princess as his wife.

“Knowing your merits, Your Grace, how could they possibly give you such a person?”

From the first day Eveline came to the ducal castle until now, after dozens of days had already passed, Andrew still had not managed to calm his resentment. At that moment, Allen, who had shown no reaction at all to Andrew’s complaints, discovered something and his expression changed slightly. What caught his gaze was a red back of the head. Eveline was wandering about outside like a sleepwalker, her tangled hair hanging loose without being properly put in order.

Allen rested his chin on his hand and quietly watched the sight. Andrew belatedly noticed that his gaze was fixed in one place and followed it with his own eyes. Then he frowned at the unrefined sight, so utterly lacking in the dignity proper to a Duchess.

“I’m worried that rumors will spread even among the people of the territory. I believe we should attach a dedicated servant to attend to Madame.”

Though he said they should assign a dedicated servant to attend to her, what he really meant was that she should be shut up in her room and kept out of sight.

“Stop.”

But Allen immediately overturned his intention. Andrew was surprised once that his Lord had properly responded, and a second time by what he said.

“At this rate, the family’s dignity will be severely damaged.”

“I will watch for a little longer.”

“Your Grace.”

Andrew protested, but Allen said nothing more on the matter. Knowing he would not be able to change his Lord’s mind, Andrew shut his mouth. Yet the dissatisfaction he had failed to voice remained in his eyes as they settled on Allen.

Allen seemed as though he would have noticed that gaze, and yet he only continued looking at the red back of the head beyond the window. A faint trace of interest passed over his weary face.

It had already been exactly a month since she came to the ducal castle. In the meantime, Eveline had siphoned off more than enough money for her own use. Many servants were already stealing the ducal castle’s property. Since the butler managing the ducal castle was already embezzling, the ledgers were a complete mess, and the servants themselves did not know who was embezzling how much. In that situation, the small amount Eveline had taken did not even stand out.

The knight called Andrew glared at her with displeasure every time they met, but that was not a major problem. Because there were fewer people here than in the palace, moving around was actually easier, and Eveline was now thinking of beginning her next plan, to find people.

‘No matter how much I think about it, there’s no way to leave the castle in daylight.’

In the end, she decided to use the nighttime little by little to learn about the area around the Mason Duchy.

Eveline was extremely careful in her actions, keeping the habits she had developed while living in the palace. Going straight to the busy district to find people at once involved too much risk. She began her nighttime outings by gradually widening the range of her movements.

Even though the servants were pocketing extra money behind the scenes, they still basically did the work they were supposed to do. Since the maids took turns cleaning her room every day, she did not hide anything important there.

Eveline hid clothes and money in a place known only to her. So every time she went out, she would come out dressed in her sleepwear, change clothes at her secret place, and then go outside.

Today was no different. She waited until everyone had fallen asleep, and only at a very late hour did she slip out of her room.

Afraid that even the sound of footsteps might wake someone else, she carefully walked down the corridor barefoot, without even putting on shoes.

Avoiding the stairs that creaked, she quietly descended and before long reached the front entrance on the first floor. Up to this point, everything had gone smoothly, but the problem was the noise the hinges made when opening the front door. The best she could do was watch carefully for any sign that someone might hear and come out, and leave as cautiously as possible.

Creeeak!

The moment she opened the door and the expected noise rang out, Eveline held her breath. She waited in that state for a moment. But just as on the several outings before, no sign of anyone came.

She began to move again. Yet without fully letting down her guard, she kept part of her attention turned inward and eased her body through the partly opened gap in the door.

When about half her body had come through, her gaze suddenly shifted outward. And when Eveline discovered someone who should not have been there, standing behind the door, her eyes widened.

There stood the husband she had not encountered even once since their marriage. He looked at her calmly, moving only his eyes and showing no sign of surprise, as though he had been waiting for her to come out.

“Isn’t it far too late at night to be going out for amusement, Princess?”

Without even blinking, Eveline looked back at Allen. Her pulse quickened like prey caught in a trap.