Kallen Addis was a completely different man from what she knew and imagined. And how did the Marquis couple react?

She didn’t want to get married. If it was like this before marriage, it was obvious how it would be after. But there was no one on her side. When she said she didn’t want to get married, her father got angry, and her brothers scolded her for being naive.

Only her mother seemed to understand her situation and comforted her, but still, she thought it was better to get married. Kallen Addis was the best match she could get, and though it was hard and painful now, the situation would change if she endured and bore an heir.

Even when she told them about the incident in the drawing room, it was the same. They even called a priest to check if she was pregnant and bragged about it. They didn’t care about how much it tarnished her honor.

So she married, bearing the heir, but Kallen only stayed out more. The stories she heard were only about which party he slept with who, and who he enjoyed with three at a time. Even when he came home early, he would just get drunk and torment her. He would force her to take his cock in her mouth or touch her behind.

At first, she was confused, but now she knew. Those were the times he couldn’t find a partner for his night games. She learned this from the curses he hurled at her. Because his wife was Amelia, unlike when his fiancée was Rosaline, he couldn’t easily find partners, and he blamed his wife for being so useless.

It was outrageous and unfair, but she had to swallow it. But now he had a mistress. It was too miserable and sad.

The most miserable thing was that she had no one to complain to. Her parents and brothers were thoroughly submissive to Marquis Addis. Thanks to the Marquis of Addis, they could enter the central political scene and expand their business. To maintain their status and business scale, they needed the Marquis’s help for at least another ten years.

“I, I don’t know, but…”

Amelia instinctively knew. She had to be careful and watch her words everywhere. It was a topic and name that shouldn’t be brought up easily.

But this was a tea party hosted by the young lady of the Viscount of Hunt, who she was close to before marriage. The young ladies and noblewomen were all kind and gentle. How long had it been since she received such kindness?

Especially Lady Brooks, who had wiped her tears and listened to her stories before. Her emotional walls slowly crumbled. It was a foolish thing.

“A while ago… we went to a banquet together. From then on…”

“A banquet…”

Their eyes gleamed. The only banquet the young Addis couple attended together recently was one. The grand banquet hosted by Grand Duchess Bryant! After that, Kallen often showed his face, but they hadn’t attended any events together. Finding a mistress at that banquet was a huge gossip.

So Kallen made a mistress at that banquet. Was it a woman he knew before? Then did he court her in the usual manner? Or perhaps, did he approach Rosaline and, after being rejected, seduce someone else out of spite? Maybe Rosaline, feeling sorry for her ex-fiancé, introduced someone to him. Or if not, what if Grand Duke Bryant, finding the ex-fiancé entangled with his wife annoying, introduced someone to him?

The actual events of that day didn’t matter. It was enough to lay out various possibilities. They merely comforted and worried about Amelia.

But others who overheard the story might misunderstand or misinterpret it. And then, it might spread to others.

Another rumor might emerge in the social circles, but that wouldn’t be their fault. Most of the participants in this gathering were neutral. That’s why Diana Lawson, who belonged to the noble faction, deliberately didn’t participate.

Most of the young ladies were from families close to neutrality, even if they were part of the Emperor’s faction. Young ladies from families with no enmity towards the Marquis of Addis, the Count of Marte, or the Grand Duke of Bryant, and those who wanted to avoid responsibility.

Hence, it would be difficult to trace the source of the new rumor. Except for the name Amelia Addis.

06.

“So… Rosaline, my wife…?”

“There are such rumors.”

“Huh.”

Noah glanced at the shattered windows of the office behind him and broke out in a cold sweat. He knew his lord would be excited, but he couldn’t not report it. If he found out later, it wouldn’t just be the windows, but the whole office that would be blown away.

Even in the midst of this, the fact that only the windows were shattered and the sound was blocked made him marvel at the archmage. It was undoubtedly adjusted so that the lady wouldn’t hear and be shocked.

“It is merely a rumor. The lady has never met the young marquis separately.”

That much was certain. Rosaline had never enjoyed a secret meeting with anyone out of Lucas’s sight. Lucas didn’t monitor or follow her; it was just that Rosaline, who walked an almost boringly upright path, was never alone.

Whenever she went out, she always had at least two maids and three escort knights for safety. If she were to have a secret meeting, she would have to silence five people at once. And half of those five were loyal retainers of the grand ducal household. She never impulsively stopped anywhere on her way back from outings.

At large-scale banquets, she entered and left with Lucas, so she never enjoyed night outings. They used the same bed in the couple’s bedroom every night since their wedding night, so it went without saying. Everyone knew that the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess had an excessively good relationship.

“So, Rosaline is in an inappropriate relationship with the young marquis of Addis?”

“That’s…”

Noah felt cold sweat trickle down his back again. At this moment, he felt like he could strangle Kallen Addis. Was that bastard bored with life? If he wanted to commit suicide, why didn’t he die quietly instead of causing trouble and putting me in this terrifying situation?

But swiftly collecting such rumors, accurately reporting them, and neatly handling them was the job of Grand Duke Bryant’s assistant.

“It seems the source is the young marchioness.”

“What the hell did you say?”

Noah closed his eyes tightly at his unfiltered curse. He heard something break with a crunch, but he quietly bowed his head. More than one thing would be broken in the office today. He fervently prayed that he wouldn’t be included.

The first rumor was simple. Kallen Addis had a mistress, and the young marchioness was crying. It was a clean truth based on facts, so it didn’t pique people’s interest. It wasn’t unexpected behavior from him. Interest started to gather when an undeniable seasoning was added to the rumor.

“Then, Young Marquis Addis had a secret affair at Grand Duchess Bryant’s banquet.”

“Oh, right, what a bold person.”

People only mocked Kallen’s manners, but there wasn’t a problem until here. There were even nobles with five or six broken engagements. Kallen, Rosaline, and Lucas were all famous in social circles, and their engagement was broken just before the wedding, so it caused a stir, but a broken engagement itself wasn’t unusual. The fact that they had no reason to break up and didn’t officially disclose the reason made it more sensational.

Now, except for gossips, few people mentioned it. The families had cleanly resolved it without noise, so there was nothing more to add. Therefore, most people thought it was much ado about nothing, as Kallen hadn’t done anything particularly wrong.