After leaving the underground tavern, I headed straight to the bank. I wanted to exchange the gold Karlien had given me for silver to make money more manageable. This was part of becoming independent. 

Afterward, my thoughts turned to Madame Diverso’s dress shop.

Madame Diverso was the designer who handled all my clothes during my time at the marquis residence. Even with an amicable divorce, it would take about a month, and I couldn’t survive that time with just one dress. Madame Diverso would be able to provide me with clothes that fit my measurements reasonably well.

I took a carriage to Madame Diverso’s dress shop. It seemed her shop was closer to the bank than I had thought, because we arrived at Madame Diverso’s establishment before long. 

I opened the door, went inside, and spoke to a woman who appeared to be an apprentice designer.

“I’m here to see Madame Diverso. Tell her the Marchioness Borde is here and she’ll know.”

The designer looked me over with suspicious eyes, then reluctantly headed upstairs. Soon after, I heard the sound of Madame Diverso coming down the stairs. When I turned my head, Madame Diverso confirmed my face and spoke warmly.

“My lady! If you were coming, you should have contacted me in advance. What am I to do when I haven’t prepared anything?”

During my time at the marquis residence, I never wore ready-made clothes under the pretext of maintaining dignity, so Madame Diverso, who knew this, was troubled. She rushed over to me and I spoke soothingly to calm her flustered state.

“Today I’ve come to find a few reasonably priced dresses. Ready-made is fine, so don’t worry.”

“You look pale. Please sit here first. I’ll bring the catalog right away.”

At my words, Madame Diverso seemed to calm down, stopped her flustering, and headed upstairs to fetch the catalog. Meanwhile, the designer who had first greeted me brought down a cup of coffee, set it in front of me, and spoke.

“I’m sorry for not recognizing you. I haven’t been working at the dress shop for very long.”

“It’s fine.”

Just when I took a sip of coffee, Madame Diverso, who had gone upstairs, came down to the first floor with the catalog. She placed the catalog on the table in front of me and spoke in a gentle voice.

“Please take your time looking and let me know when you’ve decided.”

The catalog included several dresses that didn’t require corsets. My eyes naturally went to those dresses. They seemed to be dresses for wealthy commoners, so the designs weren’t particularly special.

‘How many should I buy…’

When I remained silent for a while, lost in thought calculating dates, Madame Diverso asked in an anxious voice.

“May I recommend a few for you?”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Madame Diverso recommended a cherry blossom-colored dress with long sleeves and a low-saturation sky blue dress. Besides the dresses Madame Diverso recommended, I purchased several more. These included a khaki dress and an apricot-colored dress without corsets.

Since this was the first time buying so many dresses at once, Madame Diverso was puzzled. However, she soon seemed to dismiss it, thinking that wealthy nobles might do such things. That is, until I went to pay.

“So what’s the total?”

“You’re paying directly instead of billing the marquis residence?”

Madame Diverso’s voice rose in surprise. Most nobles typically bought clothes and had the bill sent to their family, so I must have looked suspicious to her, taking out a money pouch and saying I’d pay directly.

“Is that a problem?”

“No. It’s not that… The person who was managing the books quit recently. I don’t think calculation is possible right now.”

When I asked like I couldn’t understand, Madame Diverso answered looking troubled. Hearing this, though I felt sorry for the troubled Madame, I could only think I had found a good opportunity.

“Have you found a replacement by any chance?”

“No. Why do you ask…?”

“How about entrusting it to me? I happen to be looking for work.”

“Aren’t you busy enough with the mansion’s affairs? I’m sorry, but no. What trouble would I face for employing you?”

Madame Diverso was firm. She tried to dissuade me, saying a marchioness was absolutely out of the question, so I had no choice. I had to tell the truth.

“I’m only telling you this, so listen carefully.”

At my voice, the surroundings suddenly became quiet. Soon a calm voice echoed softly through the dress shop.

“I am no longer the Marchioness Borde. I’ve requested a divorce.”

* * *

Time passed quickly, and it had been nearly a month since Karlien submitted the divorce papers. The marquis residence after Veloena’s departure was as peaceful as usual. It even seemed more peaceful than when Veloena was there.

Karlien was busy with imperial palace affairs like always, and even on the rare occasions when he stayed at the mansion, no major disturbances occurred. On a very rare day when Karlien didn’t go to the imperial palace, a servant came looking for him in his study.

“It’s Andy.”

Andy Correo. He was a servant who managed invitations and correspondence for the marquis residence.

“Come in.”

With Karlien’s permission, Andy carefully opened the door and entered the study. Then he held out a document envelope containing correspondence.

“A letter has arrived from the court. Please check it.”

“Understood. You may go now.”

If a letter came from the court, it was obviously about the divorce. Karlien casually pushed the document envelope to the edge of his desk. He didn’t want to trouble his mind. However, after a moment, Karlien brought over the document envelope and checked the letter’s contents.

‘Karlien Borde. Veloena Risto. We declare that these two people are no longer in a marital relationship. In recognition of Veloena Risto’s efforts to maintain the marriage, Karlien Borde is ordered to pay Veloena Risto 50,000 gold as alimony. Failure to comply will result in Karlien Borde paying a fine of ten times that amount.’

At the very bottom of the letter was the imperial seal. The two were no longer married. With that single letter, Karlien recalled memories of Veloena.

“You’re home?”

Veloena always greeted Karlien brightly no matter how late he returned to the mansion. 

Receiving that greeting always filled Karlien with unnecessary guilt. He had prevented Veloena from holding gatherings both inside and outside the mansion, while he himself lived enjoying gatherings enthusiastically. 

However, Karlien had reasons for blocking Veloena’s external activities.

“I hear the Marchioness Borde is a considerable beauty with silver hair. But she never shows her face in high society.”

“What good is being beautiful? She’s just an orphan of unknown origins. She knows it too. That it’s not her place to appear.”

“What on earth was the Marquis Borde thinking when he married such a woman?”

“Maybe he was smitten by her beauty. Or maybe she had something on him.”

The nobles giggled and whispered when they saw Karlien, who had come to high society with his mother. If Veloena had entered high society, words worse than those would surely have poured down on both Veloena and himself.

Moreover, Princess Leonora, who had so eagerly anticipated meeting Veloena, rarely appeared in high society. Because of this, there was no means or method to confirm that Veloena was Princess Leonora’s daughter. He only learned later that Princess Leonora’s mental state was unsound.

With the situation different from his plans, Karlien decided to restrict Veloena’s high society activities. He intended to prevent talk from spreading among the central nobles about whether Veloena might be Princess Leonora’s offspring. He planned to hide Veloena within his fence and bring her out into the world when the time was right.

Karlien felt superior just from the fact that he had obtained someone who might be the Emperor’s niece. Especially, he couldn’t give up the pleasure that came from being able to control and manipulate that person. 

But that day was strange. It started when Veloena said something unexpected.

“I heard you visited the Litension Count’s house.”

Karlien had visited the Litension Count’s house for a specific reason. To confirm whether the news that Lady Litension had returned to the empire from the Kingdom of Fortin was true. 

Karlien thought there was no way Veloena, who lived cut off from the outside world, could know this fact, but Veloena knew.

More in detail than Karlien had thought. He didn’t know what kind of misunderstanding Veloena was having, but Karlien was simply flustered by the unexpected appearance of that name. 

Perhaps the problem was that he answered a bit more stiffly to hide that emotion. Veloena spoke in a voice that sounded resigned.

“Lady Litension came by this afternoon.”