“Another contraceptive? Was it a day or two ago? Some young lady from a high-class household came then too.”

It was the voice of what seemed to be the pharmacist’s husband.

“Well, why else! The legal wife must be trying to deal with a pregnant concubine!”

The female pharmacist scolded him. But then, perhaps conscious of Daphne beyond the partition, the conversation quickly died down.

Their conversation bothered her.

She hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, but it kept nagging at a corner of her mind. So she carefully asked the pharmacist who came out with the prepared medicine.

“Was there a noble woman who bought contraceptives recently?”

“Right. Someone who’s often in the newspapers… Ah!”

The pharmacist, who’d been answering carelessly, clamped her mouth shut.

“Hmm, this… I’m not sure if I should reveal customer information.”

Yet she was grinning meaningfully all the while. Her demands seemed quite clear.

After a moment’s consideration, Daphne made an offer.

“I’ll pay you for it.”

“How much can you give?”

“2,000 derks.”

It was roughly two months’ living expenses for commoners in the Avont Empire. Too much to pay just to hear an interesting story.

But she had a strong intuition.

That this was information she absolutely needed to know. Daphne immediately handed over exactly 2,000 derks.

“Will this be enough?”

Fortunately, the pharmacist nodded. She whispered in Daphne’s ear.

“The crest on the carriage that woman came in… hmm, it looked like a crest anyone would recognize. Anyway, a young woman who got out of that carriage bought contraceptives. Just from her way of speaking, she somehow felt like a young lady of high status.”

“Do you happen to remember what color her hair was?”

“Well, was it blonde?”

When she heard that, Daphne could no longer maintain her composure.

“What kind of contraceptive did she buy?”

“Whew, that would be hard to say. We don’t want to die either.”

She hurriedly left the pharmacy. It felt like someone had dumped cold water over her head.

A blonde woman from a high noble family recognizable to the Empire’s citizens just by the carriage crest.

It was highly likely to be the Melanian Marquis family.

The Marquis’s only daughter, Reina Melanian.

Astaire’s longtime childhood friend. And.

The woman Astaire loved.

Why would she suddenly be seeking contraceptives?

* * *

Daphne stared blankly out the window from inside the carriage. All kinds of thoughts tangled in her head.

Why would Reina suddenly seek contraceptives? The question that started with “why” stuck in her chest.

Was it for her own use? Or to give to someone else?

As far as Daphne knew, Reina was unmarried, and the only man she could have romantic feelings for was Astaire.

Then there were two possibilities. Unfortunately, both were the worst for Daphne.

Miserably desperate, even.

If Reina bought the contraceptive for herself to take…

She recalled the conversation the two had shared in the Duke’s estate room not long ago. It still rang vividly in her ears like she’d just heard it.

“Astaire. So what will you do from now on?”

“…What do you mean?”

“The Seyfried… Duchess, I mean.”

“She…”

Her heart raced so fast it seemed ready to burst through her skin.

“…I’ll have to settle things. Eventually.”

In the hazy conversation, a few familiar words lodged in her ears against her will.

Their voices were faster than her own hurried steps.

“…Then we can… be together now, right?”

“Soon.”

Her fingertips grew cold, and her breathing became labored. Daphne slowly regulated her breathing to avoid showing it to the escort knight riding with her.

“Are you alright, Madam?”

The hand gripping the handle had already turned pale.

“No. I’m just a bit sick.”

“I’ll have them stop the carriage.”

“No, looking outside, it doesn’t seem far to the Duke’s estate.”

The escort knight’s concerned gaze stung, but she had no time to think about such things now.

If Reina wasn’t carrying Astaire’s child, then she must have bought the contraceptive to give to someone else.

That someone was likely herself.

Daphne smiled coldly, like ice.

All of them were possibilities too difficult to handle.

Still, she couldn’t just sit still like this.

“Madam! We’ve arrived at the Duke’s estate!”

In the meantime, the carriage had passed through the familiar main gate.

Daphne stumbled out of the carriage with the escort knight’s support.

The Duke’s estate’s massive courtyard garden came into view. Various flower beds, a fountain pouring water droplets toward the sky with a splash.

They were beautiful, but not one of them belonged to Daphne.

“None of it matters anymore.”

She was going to divorce anyway. She would leave Astaire.

Whether he married his longtime friend Reina or whatever else, it had nothing to do with her anymore.

“Madam.”

The head butler came out and bowed to her at a right angle.

The title “Madam” grated on her, but she didn’t bother correcting it. Until she received final approval for the divorce from the Imperial family, she was still “Madam” to the head butler.

“Were the documents delivered properly to the Duke?”

“Well, that is…”

The head butler trailing off was unlike his usual self. Even without asking, she could tell what had become of the documents she’d sent to Astaire.

“Prepare a carriage. He should be out inspecting the trading company around now.”

Normally she would have waited for him to approach first, but not anymore.

“That will be difficult, Madam.”

“Why?”

“The Duke has forbidden any outings for you whatsoever, Madam. He’s also arbitrarily canceled all your external appointments. If you need anything, I’ll procure it for you.”

She was speechless.

Why on earth would the Duke refuse the divorce?

The head butler’s expression, knowing everything about the two of them, was peculiar.

“Actually, the truth is…”

The head butler opened his mouth with difficulty and explained why she couldn’t divorce.

Daphne’s face colored with shock after hearing everything.

* * *

So, it was about seven years ago.

When he first met Daphne. When her surname was Brandley, not Seyfried.

During the great boom period, they’d been lucky enough to buy a title with money, but as countless noble families fell during the Great Depression, only a hollow title remained for them. 

Daphne was one of the traces that era swept through and left behind.

At that time, Astaire was making money by repeatedly buying valuable but cheap real estate or businesses, packaging them nicely to raise their value, then reselling them at high prices.

Businessman.

Or investor.

People called Astaire by such titles.

In his youth, his father had despised him for vulgarly chasing only money as the heir to a ducal family, but after his father died, there was only one way to raise the ducal house left to him. 

Money.

The man fully utilized his abilities to save the ducal house in crisis. Through that, he made the Seyfried ducal family rise even further in the Empire’s noble society.

When he met that woman—no, that girl—it was similar.

It was when he went to meet a pathetic man who wouldn’t repay money he’d borrowed, even though he could afford to.

“Oh, Duke! Next month, our family’s exploration ship that departed for the New Continent will return. With the precious minerals that ship brings—”

“I understand that exploration ship was shipwrecked ten days after departure.”

He might deceive the world, but not that man, Astaire Seyfried.

Everyone was like that before him. Astaire looked coldly down at the balding man groveling like he’d lick his shoe.

A man who held both the Empire’s greatest wealth and the honor of being head of the high noble group “Blue Bloods.”

That’s why he could force even a high noble of count rank to kneel.

‘There’s a rat eavesdropping.’

But the man’s attention was directed elsewhere.

Someone—no, something—hiding behind the wall and peeking bothered him.

They weren’t even hiding their identity properly, didn’t even know how to hide. A sneer naturally escaped.

“If you won’t repay, I’ll have no choice but to make you repay by force.”

“Duke! Please!”

At first, he thought it was this count’s daughter.

“This mansion looks quite expensive—how about selling the house first? The weather’s nice these days, so you won’t freeze to death living on the streets.”

So he deliberately provoked the count more. Even if she was a child, everything the child ate and wore came from the count’s money, which, strictly speaking, originated from what the Duke had lent.

In front of a child, there was no reason to deliberately hide cold reality.

“Instead of the mansion, I’ll sell something else, something else!”

“It’ll have to be valuable enough for me to willingly pay for it.”

In an instant, the girl who’d only been stealing glances poked her head out.

When she stuck her head out like that, anyone would have to look. She must be stupid like the count.

Then, the girl watching them burst out between them. The count’s head turned and his greasy eyes widened.

“Daphne! You wench, how dare you b*tt in!”

“Shut up, Count.”

He’d thought she was a daughter, but from what she said, she definitely wasn’t his biological daughter. Then a maid or…

Come to think of it, he seemed to have heard such a rumor.

That some low-ranking noble who’d racked up huge gambling debts to the count had practically sold his daughter to the count as a maid.

Was that her?

“Then buy me.”

He wanted to applaud her boldness, but her situational awareness was completely lacking. Something like that couldn’t possibly be valuable.

The girl quietly clenched her fists, and though she pretended otherwise, her nervousness was clear.

“I heard you’re looking for something valuable. So I’m proposing that you buy me.”

“Proposing?”

What absurd words—now it was even cute.

The Duke approached in just two steps and met eyes with the girl, who was vastly smaller than him. Then he seriously advised her.

“Proposing. You chose the wrong word. That’s something you can only use when you’re equals.”

“…I think transactions are established not by age or position, but by how much each side needs the other.”

Interesting.

Thinking that, he raised his hand, and the girl flinched and squeezed her eyes shut.

Had she grown up being beaten by the count?

He wasn’t particularly surprised. He didn’t feel sorry for her either. Cheap sympathy he couldn’t take responsibility for was worse than throwing a lump of sh*t.

When the Duke’s hand slowly patted her head, the girl quietly opened her eyes and lifted her head.

Would this be the color if you melted the summer sea sky where seagulls cry?

That’s what he thought when he met those blue eyes.

So he impulsively said it.

“I’ll listen. Why I should buy you.”

He spoke with enough coldness to make the listener’s knees weak. He thought she’d back down at this, but surprisingly, the girl didn’t.

“I have one exceptional ability.”

—

T/N: Quick clarification — Daphne’s bio dad (Viscount Brandley) > sold her to the count > count then sold her to Astaire. There are some lines in the raw chapters referring to her bio dad as count, which confused me greatly while editing the chapters. But just to be clear!