III. The Duke and Duchess of Elmano
Chapter 8. Declaration of Invalidity
‘Brother, I want to return to the Polar territory now.’
Lariella wrote that at the end of the letter she sent to Ronais. And her wise brother Ronais found a way for her to return to the Polar territory and came to get her.
She knew that even if the marriage was declared invalid, it would be difficult to receive normal proposals in the future. But it didn’t matter. The social circles that had been buzzing about her marriage to the Duke of Elmano would be in an uproar again over this declaration of invalidity, but that didn’t matter either. She planned to enter a convent once everything was settled.
It would take time for the High Temple’s approval, and if the Duke of Elmano decided to go to trial, it would take even longer, but it was enough of a justification for Lariella to leave Elmano Castle immediately.
While Ronais was negotiating with the Duke of Elmano, Lariella placed the luggage she had already packed outside her door. She had packed it herself while locked in her room for a week, using menstruation as an excuse, waiting only for Ronais to arrive.
The luggage was not much different from what she had brought when she first came to Elmano Castle. Intending to invalidate everything, she didn’t include anything she had received from the Duke of Elmano. She left everything in place: the dresses that filled one side of the room, the jewels that filled every drawer of the dressing table, and dozens of pairs of new shoes she had never worn.
Finally, Lariella removed the wedding ring that the Duke of Elmano had personally placed on her finger during the wedding ceremony and put it on the dressing table. Her finger, freed from the heavy diamond ring, felt light yet empty.
Before leaving the room, Lariella stood in the middle and slowly looked around the luxurious duchess’s room. Just like on her wedding night when she had prepared for the consummation and remained alone in this room, waiting for the Duke to arrive.
The room that had felt unfamiliar then still felt unfamiliar now, even after more than a month had passed. Perhaps it was natural, since there were no good memories she wanted to recall, only painful and bitter ones.
Lariella left the room that had never felt like hers, and now truly wasn’t hers anymore, and firmly closed the door. She seemed to be locking all the bitter and painful memories inside.
“My lady!”
Marie, who had hurriedly climbed the stairs, called out loudly to Lariella while running down the corridor. She had heard that the duchess’s brother had come to Elmano Castle to take the duchess away and had rushed over in surprise.
Panting for breath, Marie looked alternately at Lariella, who stood in front of the door in simple attire, and the two large bags at her feet, and her expression became one of someone about to cry.
“Is, is it true, my lady? Are you really…… leaving? No, my lady. Please don’t go, okay?”
Lariella’s expression, which had remained composed even when removing her wedding ring, instantly crumbled in front of the tearful Marie.
“I’m really sorry I couldn’t tell you beforehand, Marie.”
After sending the letter to Ronais, Lariella had moved her lips several times a day, trying to tell Marie. But knowing that Marie would cling to her tearfully just like now if she said she was leaving, Lariella couldn’t easily speak up. She feared her hard-won resolve would crumble helplessly in the face of Marie’s tears.
“Thanks to you, I wasn’t lonely during my time here. Be happy always, wherever you are. Thank you so much for everything, Marie.”
Without Marie, how much more painful and dreary would her life have been in this bleak and cold Elmano Castle? Lariella conveyed her sincere gratitude to Marie, who had been a good friend and kind advisor by her side all this time.
“Sob, my lady……”
Reading the firm determination in Lariella’s eyes that could not be turned back, Marie could no longer cling to her and only shed tears.
Lariella opened her arms and embraced the crying Marie tightly. Her own vision blurred too, but she didn’t want to appear to have regrets about her choice. Lariella bit her lip and forcefully suppressed the sobs that kept trying to escape.
Shortly after, servants came to move her luggage to the carriage. Lariella held the hand of Marie, who couldn’t stop crying, and descended the long staircase. Coming down to the lower floor and crossing the tall, magnificent lobby, Lariella encountered the Duke of Elmano, who was hurriedly walking out from the inner corridor.
“Lariella……”
He called her name with a surprised face.
Lariella found her name flowing from those arrogant lips unfamiliar.
All this time, she had longed for him to meet her eyes just once, to hold her hand just once, and to call her name just once, but he had always shown her only the back of his head. Why was he making such a face and calling her name only now?
Lariella passed by him indifferently, pretending not to see him standing in front of her, pretending not to hear his voice, just as he had done to her countless times before.
She knew the Duke was following her, but Lariella continued walking without looking back once. After passing through the large door and walking along the wide, flat flagstone path, Lariella finally stopped in front of the carriage Ronais had arrived in and looked around at the people gathered around.
The head maid and Mrs. Deshiri standing in the back caught her eye first. Just yesterday, the head maid had mocked her as the “empty shell of a duchess sold in a gold box” in front of the maids, knowing full well that Lariella could hear.
Just yesterday, Mrs. Deshiri had insulted her family as a “vulgar family” for not teaching her basic etiquette. The two were now looking at her with the corners of their mouths twitching, with expressions that said they had known this would happen.
May you someday pay the price for wagging those vile tongues of yours with your vulgar appearances and vulgar tongues.
After coldly scanning the two, Lariella looked in turn at the employees who were either whispering with surprised faces, laughing with satisfaction, or bowing their heads in regret, and finally gave her attention to the Duke of Elmano.
He, who had always been calm and cold like he was wearing an ice mask, was now looking at her with his entire face contorted. Seeing him standing there blankly, unable to do anything, apparently not having anticipated this situation at all, Lariella felt angry.
How lightly must he have regarded her to think she would continue to endure such treatment?
How ridiculous must he have thought people were to commit such acts with his cousin in his office, clearly visible in broad daylight?
How insignificant must she have been to him that he didn’t even pretend to try to stop her from leaving?
Lariella, who had been staring at the Duke with a gaze as sharp as a needle point, turned her face away without even nodding once.
Among all these people, she left a farewell only to Marie, who had been her only ally, and boarded the carriage.
“Goodbye, Marie.”
“……My lady. Sob, sob.”
After she took her seat and Ronais, who had bowed respectfully to the Duke, boarded the carriage, the wheels soon began to move with a rattling sound.
Lariella did not look out the window until the carriage, which had started running over the cold flagstones of Elmano Castle, crossed the drawbridge over the moat.
When she first came here, her head had been full of numerous emotions—excitement, expectation, curiosity, worry—but now, leaving this place, nothing remained. She just felt empty.
People might call her choice foolish.
But from the beginning, Lariella had never wanted the high glory of the Elmano family, the immeasurable wealth, or the splendor of social circles.
What she had wanted was only one thing: the heart of the Duke of Elmano, her husband. So the moment the prospect of receiving that heart completely disappeared, her only reason to stay there also vanished.
“Lariella, are you alright?”
It was quite some time after the carriage started moving that Ronais heavily opened his mouth.
Her brother, who must have been heartbroken upon receiving a long letter pressed with tears from his sister whom he thought was doing well, must have had many things he wanted to say and ask, but he simply asked if she was alright.
At that kind voice, the sorrow she had been holding back so well suddenly welled up.
Lariella quickly turned her face toward the window, feeling tears about to fall. But what she saw through the window was Elmano Castle, growing more distant.
Seeing Elmano Castle gradually becoming smaller, her chest suddenly ached and stung. It felt like she had swallowed a handful of thorny branches. Lariella raised her hand and clutched her chest. The moment she realized it was her heart that was unbearably painful now, sorrowful tears burst forth before she could do anything.
“Ah………. ah, sob, ugh, ugh! Sob!”
Lariella clutched her chest and cried with choking sounds.
Seeing his sister, who had always sparkled like sunshine, crying so sorrowfully, unable to handle her wounded heart, Ronais’s eyes also reddened. He stretched out his arms and embraced Lariella’s shoulders, which had grown even thinner.
“It’s okay. It’s okay, Lariella. Everything…… everything will be okay.”
With Ronais’s hand patting her shoulder, Lariella’s crying grew louder.
Three months before the wedding, and a little over a month after the wedding. The time she had spent at Elmano Castle was only that much. Yet it felt like a very long time had passed.
And it would probably take several times longer to erase all those times.
Still, someday everything would be okay, just as her brother said.
After a good cry now, and a little more when her heart suddenly aches like an illness, and a bit more during occasional moments of sadness—that’s how she would gradually forget.
Then someday, just as she had invalidated this marriage, she would be able to invalidate her feelings for him too.
