Lost in thought about excuses, she got out of bed. Her body must not be in good condition, as she felt weak all over and her head ached as if it would split.

Though the pain was a bit more severe than usual, she couldn’t stay in bed. She had something to do today after a long time.

Janet raised her heavy body and approached the mirror. The mirror reflected a pale yellow chemise and nightgown, different from what she had worn yesterday.

It was fortunate that she had woken up at dawn and changed clothes. If someone had seen the front that was clearly cut with a knife, no explanation would have sufficed.

Janet pulled down the front of her chemise to examine the wound more closely, as it extended to the upper part of her chest hidden by clothes.

Fortunately, yesterday’s wound overlapped well with the scar that had been made by whipping.

Janet felt relieved.

She had needed an excuse in case Rihanel saw this scar, but now she could say it was a scar caused by the knife.

Knock, knock. At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Janet hurriedly pulled her chemise back up.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Letsy entered. After glancing at the bed, she said with a slightly reddened face,

“Madam, would you like breakfast? I’ll bring your meal to your room. We’ll clean the master bedroom while you’re having your meal.”

Madam. At the unfamiliar title, Janet stared blankly at Letsy for a moment, suddenly realizing that she had now become the nominal mistress of this house.

Since Rihanel had said they were just married and not to think of herself as a duchess, she had unconsciously thought the form of address would remain the same as before.

“I’ll do that. Oh, and thank you for the medicine.”

“Medicine?”

Letsy opened her eyes wide. She seemed to be hearing this for the first time. She was probably acting that way so Janet wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. Grateful for that consideration, Janet just shook her head.

“Never mind.”

Janet left the room and walked to her own room. Somehow there were more servants on the second floor than usual.

“Good morning.”

“Did you sleep well, Madam?”

All the servants of the duke’s residence were courteous.

The previous duke had been such a strict person that even the servants never openly showed their emotions like amateurs.

But those subtle glances.

Janet was not unaware of them.

They were glances filled with various curiosities.

Whether Rihanel and Janet had really slept in the same room. How excited the woman who had become a duchess as of today would be. And how thick-skinned this woman was, whom they now had to serve whether they liked it or not.

Everyone was kind, but they did not welcome her.

Seeing such a pervasive chill despite there being more people than usual on the second floor.

And, in fact, that was the true feeling of the servants.

“Letsy, come here!”

As Letsy was coming out after escorting Janet to her room, Beji, who had been pretending to dust in a corner of the corridor, urgently beckoned to her.

As Letsy approached with a puzzled expression, all the servants in the corridor, both men and women, gathered around her.

“How is it?”

“How is what?”

“Did they really get married?”

“We saw the wedding yesterday, didn’t we?”

“No!”

Beji looked around cautiously, then lowered her voice even more and asked,

“I mean, do we need to change the sheets?”

“Yes.”

“Really…?”

Beji tilted her head.

Honestly, it was unexpected. From the servants’ perspective, the duke didn’t seem to love the witch.

This made sense, considering he had neglected her for a month or two before the wedding, and no one had seen them together at the wedding reception.

And that wasn’t all. Even if one could excuse not going on a honeymoon because the duke was busy, not even having meals together on their first day of marriage made no sense.

But they spent the night together? Then… hmm….

“So what, should we treat her as the duchess now?”

Paul, who was in charge of the mansion’s lamps and candles, asked casually.

“Of course, Paul.”

Letsy opened her eyes wide as if to say, what are you talking about? Beji was quite displeased about this.

The witch had made Letsy do everything by herself until now. From morning attendance to makeup and dressing for outings… she had made Letsy do all these difficult tasks alone.

Even for a personal maid, doing everything alone was an enormous burden.

It wasn’t as if the duke’s residence lacked servants! Despite having so many servants available, she only used Letsy.

That alone was cause for complaint, but what worried Beji more was Letsy’s psychological state. The kind-hearted Letsy had clearly been brainwashed by that witch.

“Isn’t the witch tormenting you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just look at the grooming alone. What takes so many hours that you come out after spending so much time in there? She looks naturally pretty, so it doesn’t seem like she needs much makeup!”

“Well, that’s just… we try different things?”

This was how it always went.

She wouldn’t answer properly when asked and kept defending the witch. No wonder Beji was growing increasingly displeased with Janet.

It seemed she would soon have to uncover the truth behind this brainwashing herself.

***

Janet entered the company building after a long time.

She felt a slight excitement. It was similar to how she felt when visiting the train station.

“Oh, Janet! Congratulations on your marriage.”

As she entered the conference room, Tailey opened his arms toward Janet. She embraced him lightly and immediately pulled away.

“Thank you, Uncle.”

The shareholders were already gathered in the conference room. There were familiar faces who had been there since her father ran the business, as well as unfamiliar ones.

What was certain was that none of their expressions were particularly pleasant. They all sat silently with disapproving or uncomfortable expressions.

Tailey glanced at them and said to Janet,

“But you’ve already come to the company. You could have enjoyed your honeymoon leisurely before coming back.”

“No, I wanted to return to company business quickly. You’ve been working so hard, Uncle.”

“Haha, don’t worry. Was the absence of a child who was gone for five years that significant?”

Though his tone seemed affectionate at first glance, his meaning clearly revealed hostility. After blurting that out, Tailey cleared his throat with a “hmm hmm.”

Watching this scene, one of the shareholders leaned forward, placed his fist on the table, and said loudly,

“Miss Janet Wilton. To be honest, we are very concerned right now.”

The man’s resolute gaze and tone made him look like a warrior who had volunteered to speak up.

Janet clasped her hands in front of her, stood straight, and said to him,

“I got married recently. It’s Janet Reynes now, Viscount Belger.”

At this calm correction, Belger pressed his lips together. He had intentionally used her previous surname to indicate he didn’t recognize her as a noble, but when she pointed it out so directly, he had nothing to say.

Moreover, she had immediately followed the surname of the ducal House of Reynes with his title of viscount. This could only be interpreted as having a clear intention.

But in reality, Janet had simply corrected him because she thought he might genuinely not have known about the marriage, given that he had addressed her as “Miss Janet Wilton.”

“So what is it?”

“Pardon?”

“You said you were very concerned.”

“Ah.”

Having forgotten what he had been saying, Belger sighed with a face full of hostility.

“If you… if the madam takes over management rights, think about how many problems will arise.”

In response to his dissatisfied voice, Janet quietly nodded.

She understood their concerns.

Of course there would be changes. When the person with final decision-making authority for the business changes, the overall flow of business would change, and there could certainly be inconveniences arising from this.

Janet calmly began to speak,

“I’ll continue the current business operations as much as possible. I understand your concerns about changes, but……”

“Haha.”

The man burst into laughter.

Janet stopped speaking and stared at him with her mouth slightly open. Had she made a verbal mistake? She quickly went over her words.

“It’s not about changes.”

This time, someone else spoke up. It was Baronet Panet.

“Then what is it?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

Janet slowly surveyed the conference room. Judging by everyone’s expressions, they all seemed to know the answer except for her.

Janet unconsciously lowered her head, dropped her gaze, and began to fiddle with her right ring finger as she spoke,

“The business trends may have changed in five years. The railway industry is developing rapidly, and related areas……”

“That’s not it.”

This isn’t it either? She felt compelled to provide the right answer quickly. In prison, she would be punished if she didn’t give the correct answer to a question promptly, and remembering this made Janet anxious.

Fortunately, or perhaps not, Panet soon provided the answer,

“More important than that is the issue of the company’s reputation.”

“Come now, why are you being like this? No matter what the issue is, to say it in front of the person……”

“We should speak openly, or should we talk in the shadows like women? This is company business.”

Tailey made a show of trying to stop him, and Panet retorted. Tailey nodded as if there was nothing he could do, furrowing his brow.

Until then, Janet still didn’t know what he was going to say, and was only thinking about what he meant by “talking in the shadows like women.”

“To put it bluntly, who would trust a company run by a criminal who set fire to a cathedral? We can’t even trust it ourselves.”

People nodded as if they had been waiting for this.

“Ah……”

Janet’s face burned.

Her head rang.

After enduring so much contempt, why had she thought this space would be different?

No matter how many dreams the previous Janet had in this place. No matter how many ideas she had contributed, how many meetings she had attended, or how briefly she had once held the position of representative.

That was just her memory. It was just a past that was already five years gone.

Why had she thought these people would see her as the heir to Wilton Company rather than as the terrible woman who set fire to the cathedral?