When Chloe asked the royal family about the truth behind the political marriage, they gave her a simple, unequivocal answer: they had not known.

Only then did she realize that Kallis’s supposed proposal had been a complete lie.

After admitting the truth, albeit belatedly, the royal family asked Chloe to understand their circumstances. When she asked them about Kallis’s lover, they insisted once again that they knew nothing. As the royal family had not acted with deliberate malice, Chloe had no grounds upon which to protest.

While the backlash against the royal family would eventually subside, the same could not be said for Chloe. She had already become an outcast in the eyes of everyone living in the duchy.

The situation was suffocating and miserable, and there was nothing the royal family could do to help Chloe. Even if they tried to influence public opinion through newspaper articles, they could not win over Kallis or anyone else.

If the royal family had revealed the truth about their agreement with Kallis, the situation might never have deteriorated so severely. However, disclosing the terms of the contract was strictly forbidden. Breaking that condition would have required them to pay an enormous penalty to the other party, so the royal family chose to remain silent.

If they had at least warned Chloe privately, she would never have had to endure such crushing guilt.

But Chloe had no way of knowing the truth. Thus, she obeyed Kallis without complaint, whether he spoke cruelly to her or only sought her out when he needed something.

Eventually, even the estate’s servants began to treat Chloe with contempt. She protested against their rude and contemptuous treatment at first, but Kallis dismissed her complaints.

After that, no matter what indignities she suffered on the estate, she was forced to remain silent.

If ignorance was a sin, then perhaps she was guilty.

Ultimately, she was completely ostracized from the home she had helped build.

Fortunately, her standing in high society remained unchanged. In the aristocratic world, where the strong preyed on the weak, the royal family’s petty scheme was considered perfectly normal.

Ultimately, even that served Kallis’s interests.

Having spent his entire life as a member of a declining noble family, the Duke had failed to establish himself in high society.

After becoming a hero, however, he occasionally appeared at social gatherings. While this may have seemed extraordinary to commoners, it carried little weight among the nobility.

Chloe’s royal status, on the other hand, was another matter entirely. After their marriage, Kallis promptly began using her to secure his position in high society.

This did not change even after ‘the incident’.

It was blatant exploitation, yet Chloe did not mind. Knowing that she was helping Kallis alleviated at least some of her guilt.

She hoped that by continuing to reach out to him, his hatred for her might one day melt away.

It was a foolish love.

Unable to relinquish that single, worthless emotion, Chloe chose to remain a fool.

***

“……Gasp!”

It felt as though a boulder had landed on her chest. Horrified, she bolted upright.

Tears streamed from her wide eyes. Her back felt damp, as though she had broken out in a cold sweat during the night.

Perhaps because of the lingering nightmare, she felt chills run down her spine and her fingers twitched.

‘……It was horrible.’

It was the memory that Chloe was most desperate to erase.

In front of everyone, the duke had announced that he could no longer bear to be around her.

She could still see the servants staring at her and hear their murmurs. She could also clearly see the duke pointing at her and berating her.

‘I need to stop thinking about it.’

Don’t dwell on the past.

Chloe tried to calm down and regain her composure.

Once she had, she summoned the attendants who usually helped her get ready in the morning.

Ring, ring.

She rang the bell, but no one answered.

The bell was designed to resound throughout the entire ducal estate. It was inconceivable that every servant had ‘accidentally’ failed to hear it.

Chloe’s already precarious position finally collapsed completely.

Her world crumbled around her like a sandcastle beneath a gust of wind.

Lacking even the strength to feel disappointed, she quietly slipped beneath the covers.

She was about to close her eyes again when someone entered without knocking.

A maid glanced around before cautiously shutting the door. When she faced Chloe, she gave an awkward, embarrassed smile before speaking.

“……M-Madam, we will no longer be able to assist you.”

No longer able to assist her?

The maid spoke as though they were being forced to stop serving Chloe against their will.

“His Grace issued an order. From now on, we are not to attend to you but to serve Lady Helena instead……. He repeatedly instructed us to ignore you even if you asked for help.”

“…….”

“B-But I will still help you. Everyone has gone to Lady Helena’s rooms, and……. I slipped away by saying I needed to ask the kitchen to prepare luncheon…….”

Despite the maid speaking more loudly, Chloe could hear her voice gradually fading away.

The shocking revelation hit her again and again.

The attendants’ refusal to answer her summons earlier had not been an act of bullying, but of obedience.

Astonishingly, it was Kallis and his lover who had instigated such childish behavior.

“……Truly.”

Once again, Chloe realized exactly what her husband thought of her.

If a man brought another woman home while he still had a wife, should basic decency not compel him to feel at least a shred of guilt?

“You truly intend to kill me without making a sound.”

Before she knew it, Chloe had become someone whom Kallis no longer felt obliged to treat with even the most basic human decency.

This was how he chose to repay her love, as well as the guilt she felt towards him.

With Jane’s help, the maid who had told her the truth, Chloe managed to finish getting ready.

Once the noise outside had died down, Jane quietly slipped away after helping her get dressed.

Left alone, Chloe sat before her vanity and watched the time pass. Despite taking such care with her appearance, she had nowhere to go and nothing to do.

She had originally planned to hold a grand banquet that day to celebrate Kallis’s return. Several members of prominent families had recently returned from travelling abroad and she had intended to invite them to welcome her husband home, strengthening the duchy’s social connections in the process.

But now, all her efforts had become meaningless.

As she sat there in a daze, there was a knock at her bedroom door.

She had never imagined that something as simple as a knock on the door could convey such unmistakable hostility.

The moment she granted permission, the door swung open.

The visitor was a maid with neatly tied black hair. She had always made her dislike of Chloe painfully obvious.

The moment she saw her, Shayne’s smile vanished. Contrary to her expectations, she seemed visibly unsettled to find her already impeccably dressed.

“Ahem. A tea party will be held shortly, so you may accompany me downstairs. Lady Helena wishes to speak with you.”

They had completely ignored her when she had asked for help, yet now they expected her to obey Helena’s summons.

As a maid in the ducal household, Shayne should have known the rules perfectly well — as should Kallis, who had lived as a nobleman his entire life, despite once possessing little more than the title itself.

It was considered improper for someone of lower status to summon a person of higher rank at their own discretion unless the parties were already closely acquainted.

Moreover, Helena was merely a guest who had not even formally joined the household.

How could a mere guest presume to summon the Duchess?

And yet, no one had raised a single objection.

“Very well. Let us go.”

She would undoubtedly be subjected to ridicule if she attended.

Even so, Chloe wanted to speak with Helena.

There were several things she wished to hear directly from her.

“But before that, I would like you to arrange one thing.”

“……Yes?”

“I wish to speak with Miss Helena alone. I would prefer that His Grace not join our conversation.”

The outcome of Chloe’s conversation with Helena would considerably impact her decision.

The important thing was to find out if Helena could be reasoned with or if she was just another beast like Kallis.

“Understood.”

Fortunately, Shayne conveyed Chloe’s request.

Before long, she returned to Chloe’s room with the welcome news that her wish had been granted and that she would meet Helena alone.

***

“Princess! I am honored that you came!”

So she was a beast after all.

Chloe came to this realization the moment she heard Helena greet her.

Although she found the situation deeply unpleasant, she had never hated Helena.

She had no desire to win the woman’s favor or earn her hostility.

However, after hearing Helena’s deceptively cheerful greeting, Chloe’s feelings shifted firmly in one direction.

Helena and Kallis were clearly cut from the same cloth.

That woman was no different to him.

By deliberately addressing her by her former title despite knowing the correct one, Helena was making it clear that she refused to acknowledge Chloe as the Duchess.

Even someone unfamiliar with aristocratic society should understand such basic etiquette.

There was no other explanation.

Helena had done it deliberately.

“It is a pleasure to meet you.”

At the other woman’s malicious form of address, the last thread of Chloe’s patience snapped.

At the same time, the guilt she had carried toward Helena for so long vanished without a trace.

‘Indeed. Why did I ever think I needed to consider this woman? What a foolish notion.’

Now, only her instinct to protect herself remained.

“Miss Helena.”

Chloe addressed her deliberately, using the same logic.

If Helena insisted on calling her ‘Princess’ based solely on her birthright, then she was equally unworthy of any lofty or cumbersome title.

Helena stared at her, her face flushing crimson, before summoning one of the nearby maids.

Neither woman spoke while the tea was being prepared. Helena irritably chewed the refreshments set before her, only relaxing her expression once the tea had finished steeping.

Once her cup was filled, Chloe took the first sip and savored the tea. Helena watched her from the corner of her eye before imitating Chloe’s movements.

This happened when their cups had been filled for the second time.

“I asked to meet because I wanted to introduce myself to you, Princess!”

Helena spoke first, resuming their conversation.

It was the perfect opportunity to insult Chloe.

This breach of etiquette could not be blamed on ignorance either.

“I see. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Chloe paid it little attention.

Having spent her life in a world where the strong preyed on the weak, whether in the royal palace or high society, she knew how to deal with people like Helena better than anyone. She knew how to handle people like Helena better than anyone.

As expected, when Chloe showed no particular interest, Helena quickly became crestfallen.

“I heard you wished to see me privately.”

“We will be living together as family from now on! I thought it would be nice if we became close!”

She wore an innocent, endearing smile, and her pink eyes seemed to have been plucked from a flower.

She looked exactly as she had been described in the article about ‘Unfortunate Cinderella’. Her youthful face looked remarkably innocent.

Yet, despite her guileless expression, she was doing her utmost to disparage Chloe.

“How unfortunate. The two of us cannot become close.”

Now that Chloe had realized the woman was no better than a beast, there was no need for further conversation.

“……What did you say?”

“Under ordinary circumstances, someone of your status would not even be permitted to address me.”

Only coldness remained like wreckage upon Chloe’s impassive face.