Duke Adelgart returns.

When Odelite heard this news, high society had already been turned upside down.

The influenza that had tormented her all last winter still hadn’t left her, and she hadn’t been able to leave her room, let alone the manor, for quite some time. She skimmed through the telegram the maid brought her and nodded indifferently, showing little interest.

The maid’s face filled with pity.

When she first married into the ducal family, Odelite had been full of life. Though she had married the Duke as the youngest daughter of a viscounty for the sake of her household, her naturally lively disposition drove her to adapt to this unfamiliar life. 

At first, those who had mocked her as a country bumpkin from the frontier eventually began to follow her lead. 

Even the young ladies who had envied her for admiring Duke Adelgart had now mostly found their own matches and became friends with Odelite, keeping her company whenever she felt lonely.

However, the person Odelite had tried hardest to befriend—her husband, Duke Adelgart Cherdian—maintained a cold attitude toward her every action. Considering he was the one who had proposed this marriage, this was quite heartbreaking from Odelite’s perspective.

He even frequently left the ducal residence on royal orders. From minor regional conflicts to frontier rebellions—they already had almost no time together, yet even when he returned to the capital, he rarely came home. 

Rumors circulated that this marriage itself was part of Duke Adelgart’s scheme, and that somewhere unknown to anyone, there was a woman he truly loved.

Odelite didn’t believe it at first. Though she had never seen him before the wedding, at least on their wedding day, he didn’t seem like a man who had been with many women.

The man who lifted her veil and kissed her was much larger and more robust than she had imagined, but not as rough as she had feared. 

Seeing him, Odelite thought he was quite a decent man. She even thought it natural for such a splendid and perfect man to have a scandal or two.

But that was all.

On their wedding night, she waited quietly in her room with subtle anticipation and nervousness in her heart, but he never appeared. 

The head maid gently consoled her as she cried, wondering if she had done something wrong, saying His Grace the Duke had urgently departed on royal orders. 

But for Odelite, who had been filled with excitement after hearing tales of the first night from her peers, it was truly devastating.

Of course, they did consummate the marriage later. When he returned from his campaign, he simply lay at the edge of the bed. Unable to bear it any longer, Odelite grabbed his arm and spoke in a trembling voice.

“I-I thought we should at least have an heir.”

At her words, Cherdian narrowed his brow slightly. His expression made Odelite’s heart sink. 

She remembered her governess’s teaching that a noblewoman should never brazenly request her husband’s bed. As she worried he might scold her for being immodest, she could only sigh in relief when he reached out and cupped her cheek.

“If you feel uncomfortable at any point, tell me.”

She had been trembling with her eyes squeezed shut, but at Cherdian’s words, she opened them slightly. However, she immediately shut them tight again as weight suddenly pressed down on her.

He was much firmer and more robust than she had imagined. Suddenly embarrassed, she covered her body with her arms, but he easily pinned her arms to the bed and applied his weight. 

Then, carefully observing her complexion, he gradually began to devour every corner of her body.

Unlike the stories she’d heard from other nobles about terrible first nights, their first night together went surprisingly smoothly and well.

When she opened her eyes in the morning and saw Cherdian’s embrace, her face flushed. At this rate, they would have an heir quite quickly. 

Cherdian’s expression changed strangely as he watched her muttering to herself and then startling. Odelite snuggled into his embrace and spoke softly, almost like an excuse.

“I-I just thought we might have an heir quickly.”

The moment she spoke, Odelite covered her face with both hands in embarrassment.

That’s when it happened. At her words, Cherdian’s face, which had been merely indifferent until just moments ago, turned cold. He suddenly pushed her out of his embrace, sat up, and got out of bed.

“That will be difficult for the time being.”

“What?”

“I’ll need to leave the ducal residence. Last night was merely compensation because your brother complained that we hadn’t consummated the marriage.”

Leaving only those words behind, he left the room. Odelite stared blankly at his retreating figure and burst into tears.

It was utterly humiliating. Her body trembled with shame.

Does he dislike me because I’m too much of a country bumpkin?

All sorts of thoughts filled her mind, but there were no answers. Only the disheveled bedding and the marks left on her body testified to the previous night.

After that, Cherdian frequently left the ducal residence. Despite his cold attitude, Odelite believed that with effort, she could win her husband’s heart. 

More than anything, she thought he was a decent man for helping her family and aiding her brother’s advancement. She couldn’t help but love the man who had saved her and was even handsome to boot.

So after much deliberation, Odelite tried to please Cherdian. 

For their first wedding anniversary, she made him a handkerchief embroidered with his initials. On his birthday, she gave him handmade cufflinks and played the piano—her most confident skill—for him.

Nevertheless, whenever Cherdian received her gifts, he would simply look at them indifferently and repeatedly tell her to leave them on the desk. When she played the piano, he wore a bored expression that left Odelite dejected.

That wasn’t all. After the Duke left, she would write him letters almost daily. She loved reading and writing so much that her letters were like literary works. Yet Cherdian never once replied.

Wondering if perhaps he had nothing to say, she deliberately wrote asking what he’d like to eat when he next came so she could prepare it, but the response she received was that the head chef would handle it, so she shouldn’t bother entering the kitchen. 

Even that wasn’t a written reply, but merely a message conveyed by a knight who had briefly stopped by the ducal residence.

Perhaps high-ranking nobles dislike being bothered by their wives? 

She pondered and pondered, but there were no answers. Whenever she heard news in high society of some noble taking a mistress after his wife became pregnant, Odelite grew increasingly anxious.

Then she read a book saying that a wife should always be beautiful for her husband, and immediately began taking interest in her appearance.

Having inherited the looks of her mother, once famous as a beauty in their territory, and her handsome father, she too possessed remarkable beauty. 

When she wore what was fashionable among the capital’s noblewomen, she became beautiful enough to stand out even in high society. 

Those who had mocked her as a country bumpkin gradually began copying what she wore, and some even deliberately bleached their hair to imitate her cream-colored locks.

Though she had begun dressing up to look pretty for Cherdian, she eventually became interested in the adornment itself and always put effort into her appearance, even when he wasn’t around.

However, whenever Cherdian came home and saw Odelite’s gradually changing appearance, his face showed displeasure. 

Her hair, once simply tied up in half, became increasingly elaborate and ornate. Her rosy pink lips, once merely glossy, grew increasingly flushed. Her dresses also began changing to increasingly splendid and expensive ones.

Then one day, when she returned late in the evening after a tea party with noblewomen, she was somewhat flustered to see him home earlier than expected.

Cherdian said nothing. He watched her silently, then let out a light sigh. Odelite’s heart sank. 

Cherdian then remarked, “You seem to enjoy dressing up more than before these days.”

“I just took special care with my appearance for a tea party with the noblewomen at the salon.”

“It would be best not to return home too late.”

“I brought knights with me.”

“The capital’s security isn’t that good. A woman like you in particular would become a target all too easily.”

For a moment, Odelite wanted to ask what he meant by “a woman like you.” 

But the moment Cherdian finished speaking, he headed upstairs.

Cherdian’s cold gaze and frigid tone seemed to reproach her. His eyes even seemed to hold a hint of contempt. She had only dressed up to please him—did he really need to react like that?

But regardless of her intentions, his complicated yet cold gaze made her feel ashamed, like she was some back-alley woman. Eventually, after thinking and overthinking, tears welled up in Odelite’s eyes.

No matter how hard she tried not to be sensitive, every action and reaction Cherdian had shown her made her believe he disliked and loathed her. 

Even the way he looked at her sitting at her vanity wasn’t the gaze of a man looking at his beautiful, lovely wife. Whenever he saw her dressing up, he would sigh with a displeased face and leave the room.

Each time, she wiped away tears that formed from anxiety and the humiliation that seeped deep into her heart.

After she finished preparing for bed and got into it, Cherdian noticed her swollen eyes and seemed to habitually narrow his brow before extending his hand. 

Taking it as the signal for intimacy that occurred every night they spent together, Odelite coldly swatted his hand away for the first time.

“I’m not a pr*stitute.”

A complicated look flashed through Cherdian’s eyes. Tears welled up again in Odelite’s eyes as she spat out each word, but she immediately wiped them with the back of her hand and pulled the blanket over her head.

Cherdian stared at Odelite like that. Then, when he heard sobbing from inside the blanket, he rarely extended his trembling hand toward the rolled-up blanket. But he eventually composed his expression and withdrew his hand.

After that, Odelite no longer clung to Cherdian.

She still wrote letters out of courtesy, but they were merely formal letters reporting on the family’s well-being, without the sweet greetings, whispered love, or prayers for his safety from before. Even those were drafted by the head maid, so in reality, Odelite had completely given up on the writing she loved.

It was then four years into their marriage.

When her husband returned victorious from a great war, there was an unfamiliar, modest woman by his side. 

She was a woman from a territory at the edge of the continent who had been living alone after losing her husband and son, then summoned by the King. Odelite had heard rumors that the people from that region possessed peculiar abilities, but she wasn’t particularly interested.

However, the woman showed interest in Odelite.

“As rumored, you truly are a beautiful woman.”

She stayed at the ducal residence for a while before receiving a summons from the King, who was interested in her peculiar abilities, and left. 

Afterward, Odelite heard she was giving the King various prophecies, but she had no way of knowing if it was true.

Even after Cherdian returned, Odelite didn’t bother speaking to him.