[Duke of Crimsworth, Lord Jeremy Lovedale

Thanks to Marchioness Francine Whitman’s special consideration, I have been given the opportunity to associate with Lady Celestine.

Lady Celestine is a young lady who commands the admiration and envy of her peers at this Whitman School. She is lovely and elegant. Also, though she doesn’t speak much, she seems to know how to draw everyone’s attention at important moments. I thought you might need it, so I’ve attached a separate list of the young ladies who are close to her.

And news I heard just yesterday during tea time: Lady Celestine will be taking about two weeks off from school to attend the regular spring season ball. If you want me to monitor her during that period, it honestly won’t be easy, but if you wish, I’ll find a way.

I’ll report again as soon as I obtain new information.

Bronwynner Howard]

Jeremy read the letter once more carefully.

The former nanny’s letter was impeccable. Not only the perfect spelling and neat handwriting, but above all, the content was concise with no unnecessary details.

According to the letter, Celestine seemed to be leading an exemplary school life. Though this wasn’t contrary to expectations, he somehow disliked the letter. It only contained information about what Celestine was like, without a single word about how Bronwynner herself was doing.

She was his employee, so shouldn’t she diligently report not only on work progress but also on her attendance status?

He put down the letter and called for his butler.

“Emil, prepare a horse. I’m going out for a while.”

The butler immediately sensed his master’s intention and followed him to the dressing room.

Recently, the young Duke of Crimsworth had been enjoying horseback riding at all hours. The butler knew well that when he had something unpleasant or something to think deeply about, he would ride around this area for two or even three hours.

Horseback riding was truly a wholesome gentleman’s hobby compared to hunting or gambling. The problem was that recently, the master had also been drinking more frequently after riding. Jeremy knew how to exercise restraint and had never caused trouble because of it before, but young noble gentlemen tend to make big mistakes in a moment of carelessness. Especially those who normally appear so detached.

‘Well, I’m not even sure if “detached” is the right word anymore.’

The fact that Jeremy Lovedale possessed a detached and indifferent temperament was not unrelated to the fact that he held the position of Crimsworth’s lord along with very balanced interests. Rather than being completely indifferent to his surroundings, he paid just enough attention to matters that needed his concern, and he had enough money and power to resolve most problems without his direct involvement.

He had been like that since boyhood, so it was considered his nature, but in the past few weeks, he had grown more irritable and his moods changed like boiling porridge.

‘That’s also a privilege of youth.’

The privilege of old age was being able to attribute everything about one’s master to youth, but the old butler, of course, didn’t realize this.

While taking out the duke’s riding clothes, the butler asked,

“When will you return, Lord Crimsworth?”

“Before dinner.”

However, he returned much later than that. After washing up and going down to the dining room, Maude and Countess Windell were already eating dessert.

“Jeremy, why are you so late?”

“It just happened that way. Lady Havilland.”

He turned to the countess. “Countess, you have much experience as a chaperone. How long does debut preparation usually take?”

“If the young lady herself is mentally prepared, it doesn’t take that long. Though she would need a debutante dress, of course.”

“In your opinion, how prepared is Miss Pemberton?”

“Jeremy! Are you planning to introduce Miss Pemberton to society? Already?”

Maude exclaimed excitedly.

“There’s nothing stopping us.”

Indeed, what could stop them?

To examine Celestine thoroughly without arousing suspicion, Bronwynner needed to become closer to her. For that to happen, the two needed to spend as much time together as possible.

The Whittingham regular ball is a three-day event, but the week before features debutantes’ presentations to Her Majesty the Queen, and afterward there are all sorts of social gatherings enjoyed by those who became close at the ball. As Bronwynner reported, Celestine, who secretly enjoyed attention, wouldn’t miss the opportunity to become the belle of society. From a duke’s daughter’s perspective, this would be her last chance to flirt with young men before becoming engaged to Reginald.

Then Bronwynner must also attend the regular ball.

That was the conclusion Jeremy had reached while on horseback.

‘Then she’ll report more diligently too.’

The only sentence in her letter that bothered him was [if you wish, I’ll find a way]. Of course he wanted a more detailed investigation. She shouldn’t have said she would find a way, but rather that she would investigate and asked him to find any method for her.

‘Also, I can monitor whether she’s being lazy or not.’

While trying to prevent Bronwynner from being expelled just a week after enrollment, he ended up having to take Devon Whitman to the ball, and he couldn’t understand why it was so difficult for her to write one line about her own school life. If Bronwynner also came to the ball, he wouldn’t need to ask privately. It was a good plan in many ways.

“But with so little time left until the ball, is there anywhere that can make a debutante dress now?”

Countess Windell asked worriedly.

This was a valid concern. Debutante dresses had specified standards for color, design, and accessories. Even the highly skilled Madame Floss couldn’t create time out of nothing.

And Jeremy wanted his ward to wear the finest dress. Since she was receiving sponsorship in the Lovedale name, it was only natural.

Maude, who had been thinking about something, asked:

“Countess, debutante dresses don’t go out of fashion, do they?”

The countess nodded.

The tradition of young ladies dressing in white gowns and presenting themselves before the queen or Her Majesty the Queen before entering Whittingham society was more than two hundred years old in Lennox. Even two hundred years ago, maidens wore dresses similar in style to those worn now.

Maude smiled brightly at her brother.

Her silver-gray eyes, so like their mother’s, sparkled.

“Then it’s solved. The previous Lady Crimsworth’s debutante dress would be no less impressive than one made by Madame Floss.”

* * *

When Bronwynner returned to Crimsworth for the weekend, that shocking news awaited her. She looked up at Jeremy in bewilderment.

“You want me to make my society debut……? In two weeks?”

“Everything is prepared.”

He said as if it were nothing.

Though she didn’t even know everything a debutante needed, one thing was certain: she wasn’t prepared at all. Moreover, she wasn’t even a real noblewoman.

“You haven’t forgotten, have you, Your Grace? I’m not Bronwynner Pemberton, but merely a former nanny of orphan origin. If it were discovered that I lied about my identity in front of Her Majesty the Queen……”

“There are many women who come to greet Her Majesty after being adopted late or achieving social advancement through marriage. I don’t see how Howard is any different from those people.”

Jeremy glared at her as she was left speechless.

“And Her Majesty meets well over a hundred people during the ball season. She wouldn’t pay special attention to the youngest daughter of a minor noble family among them. Or do you perhaps think you’re that special?”

She thought she wasn’t special, which was why she was acting this way.

“She is your aunt, isn’t she? ……And His Highness the crown prince knows that I am Your Grace’s ward.”

At the mention of the crown prince, he gave a crooked smile.

“So, did that make you feel like you were somebody? All sorts of rumors circulate in society. Once you make your debut, no one will care anymore, so it’s actually a good thing.”

What exactly was good about it? Bronwynner had never enjoyed having rumors spread about her. If anything, she worried about encountering even one of the nobles who had been acquainted with Baroness Bingham in Bathgate.

But she couldn’t tell Jeremy such things. He continued,

“And this is an order as your employer. You must follow Lady Celestine wherever she goes.”

If that was work, then she had nothing more to say. It was obvious that Celestine would meet more people—especially men approaching her—at banquets than at school.

Still, she decided to resist one more time.

“……But won’t Your Grace also attend the ball? If Your Grace watches Lady Celestine—”

“Are you suggesting I should abandon my partner and follow another woman around?”

The word ‘partner’ made Bronwynner’s heart sink.

Though it was customary for men and women to attend the Whittingham Palace regular ball in pairs, a young lady making her society debut wouldn’t have a partner, so they were supposed to go with family members or chaperones who had already entered society.

Could a guardian take his ward, then……? Probably so.

Of course, such a thing wouldn’t happen to her. The man’s next words confirmed this.

“I have to escort Lady Devon throughout the ball. Don’t think about passing your work onto others, Miss Howard.”

Ah, yes. Lady Devon.

The Rose of Whitman who would become the future Lady Crimsworth.

“……Yes.”

Bronwynner answered mechanically. Her suddenly compliant attitude seemed strange to him, and he narrowed his handsome brow.

“What, do you have some complaint?”

“No.”

Once he had determined that her job was to debut in society and follow Celestine around to monitor her every move, Bronwynner had neither complaints nor choices.

Though she had agreed, he still seemed displeased about something.

“Let me tell you just in case, Miss Howard.”

“Please do.”

“I can vouch for Bronwynner Pemberton’s identity only during the three-month contract period. So don’t even think about finding a husband there.”

When she was Bronwynner Pemberton, this man constantly urged her to behave properly if she wanted to find a husband.

But when she was Bronwynner Howard, he told her not to even dare think about finding a husband.

And she was neither Pemberton nor Howard, but Bronwynner Harcourt. The daughter of a laborer and factory worker, from Perth Orphanage, a former nanny. She had never forgotten her circumstances and place, which she would return to after three months. His very existence constantly reminded her of that fact.

She stared directly into his gray eyes.

“……If gentlemen in society have any discernment, they wouldn’t want to marry a woman like me anyway.”

She had no way of knowing what a young man, especially a duke, might be thinking, but Jeremy Lovedale was truly unpredictable. Now he looked not just displeased but extremely annoyed.

“Fine then.”

He said, almost spitting out the words.