This time he couldn’t hide his shock. He dropped the pen he was holding and stared at Veloena, who seemed confident in her thoughts and continued speaking.

“She said she loves you and asked me to divorce you.”

What Veloena was telling him was so absurd that it was confusing. The most unbelievable thing was that Veloena had been shaken by that ridiculous nonsense. After a brief silence, Veloena spoke.

“Should we get divorced?”

Karlien thought she was just saying it casually, so he judged there was no need to comfort her and answered indifferently.

“Do as you wish.”

At those words, Veloena began pouring out raw emotions for the first time. However, Karlien just listened. He thought she would tire herself out and return to her room.

“Let’s get a divorce.”

Veloena removed the wedding ring from her finger and placed it on the edge of Karlien’s desk. Then she continued like she was making an announcement.

“I’ll send the necessary divorce papers by mail.”

Karlien couldn’t gather his wits after the storm that had swept through him. This was the first time he had seen Veloena like this since getting to know her. Veloena had always shown him only obedient behavior.

At Veloena’s words, Karlien felt like his insides were twisting. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going wrong. Nevertheless, Karlien never bowed his head first. Feeling spiteful, he sneered mockingly.

“I thought you were smart. Are you really going to give up everything you’ve gained just for some trivial love?”

“It might have been trivial love to you, but it was everything to me. But not anymore.”

Veloena’s voice carried firm resolve. At that moment, anxiety that Veloena might really leave the marquis residence overwhelmed Karlien. He had to prevent Veloena from leaving the marquis residence by saying anything. As a result, Karlien said words that even he didn’t want to hear.

“You’ll end up coming back to my side anyway. Even if you graduated at the top of the Imperial Academy, you’re still just a slum orphan.”

Even so, Veloena’s decision didn’t change. Her voice, full of conviction, continued.

“I don’t care.”

With those words, Veloena left the study without looking back. It didn’t seem like she was joking. Karlien commanded Julia with a hopeful heart.

“If the lady tries to pack and leave the mansion, tell her she cannot take anything from the marquis residence. Say it’s my order.”

Just like Karlien worried, Veloena was trying to leave the mansion. It was when Julia was about to carry out her assigned task. Veloena came out of her room empty-handed. Because of this, Julia didn’t even have a chance to properly carry out her assigned task.

That was already a month ago. After Veloena left, the marquis residence was busy for a while. Veloena’s absence was bigger than expected. Despite dividing work with his aide, head maid, and others, Karlien had to deal with quite a lot of work.

After spending a month in such a busy routine, Veloena neither contacted him nor returned, and instead only divorce papers were delivered. Karlien put the divorce notice on his desk and tried to recall Veloena’s face, but it didn’t work well.

Only then could he realize it. Since getting married, he had never properly looked at Veloena’s face for even a moment. He couldn’t end things like this without doing anything. Somehow he would make Veloena return on her own. 

Karlien resolved to do so.

* * *

Time steadily passed, and it had been nearly a month since I started working at Madame Diverso’s dress shop. For me, who had managed the internal affairs of the marquis house, billing each family for clothing prices, writing ledgers, and budget allocation weren’t very difficult. 

Early in the morning, when I opened the door to the dress shop, Kate, the apprentice designer, was checking fabrics.

“Good morning, Kate.”

At my greeting, Kate, who seemed to notice me for the first time, brightly returned the greeting.

“Miss Veloena! Good morning. You’re here early. Is there something wrong…?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I just woke up early.”

For some reason, getting up wasn’t difficult today. Since Jane was already awake, I came straight to the dress shop. Kate nodded like that could happen, then belatedly noticed Jane and greeted her cheerfully.

“Good morning to you too, Jane.”

“Good morning.”

Warm greetings were exchanged, and while we were greeting each other, Madame Diverso also arrived at the dress shop. Madame Diverso spoke playfully, wondering what was going on.

“Good morning. Kate being here is one thing, but Miss Veloena, you’re here early too? What’s special about today?”

“I wanted to come early, so I came early. Is that so strange?”

“I’m joking. Just joking. I hope you’re not offended.”

When I pretended to be sulky and grumbled, Madame Diverso coaxed me playfully. Then mischief struck me, and even though I wasn’t actually hurt, I pretended to be disappointed.

“Of course I am. How could I not be hurt?”

When I crossed my arms and turned my head like I was sulking, Madame Diverso caught on to my prank and spoke like she was dealing with a child.

“If that’s the case, I’m sorry. What can I do to make you feel better?”

“Pffft.”

I was about to stop the prank. But this situation was so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but laugh. 

When I clutched my stomach and burst into laughter, Madame Diverso put her hand on Kate’s shoulder, who was standing there dumbfounded, unable to grasp the situation, and smiled faintly. Kate had no idea what was happening.

“I was joking. Just joking.”

“You’re terrible.”

When I confessed the truth, Madame Diverso shot back with a playful voice. Only then could Kate laugh along. After laughing heartily, we returned to our respective places and started work.

My spot was a room hidden behind the stairs. Since silver hair wasn’t very common in the empire, it was Madame Diverso’s consideration, worried that customers might recognize me. 

Something like that had actually happened when I’d only been working for a few days.

“Oh my, aren’t you the Marchioness Borde? Why are you in a place like this?”

A middle-aged woman wearing fancy jewelry recognized me and asked. I thought she wouldn’t know since I hadn’t appeared in high society, but I had been careless.

“You’ve mistaken me for someone else, madam. I’m not that person.”

“But you are. I saw you with my own two eyes at a party held at the Borde marquis residence.”

“You must be mistaken, madam. Vel has been working at our dress shop for quite some time.”

“Is that so?”

If Madame hadn’t come down to greet the customer at just that moment, I probably would have had to give up my goal of entering high society that very day. After that day, Madame Diverso arranged a space where I wouldn’t have to show my face. 

I was grateful. Since then, I didn’t leave that space unless the dress shop staff came looking for me.

I had been organizing ledgers for quite a while. From the rumbling sound in my stomach, it seemed like lunchtime was approaching.

“Miss Veloena! Could you come out for a moment?”

At the sound calling for me, I came out of the room and Kate rapidly poured out words.

“Documents have arrived for you, Miss Veloena! The postman said they had to be delivered quickly, but I don’t know what they’re about.”

Since I had been exchanging letters with Meriel occasionally after meeting her, I thought she had mistakenly called a letter from Meriel “documents.” That is, until I opened the envelope and checked the 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.’

The divorce was finally finalized. The imperial seal stamped at the bottom of the document proved it. From the fact that alimony was charged to Karlien, it seemed the judge who made this ruling had also heard the rumors going around.

‘I hear the Marchioness Borde left home?’

‘The marquis’s former fiancée who had left the empire returned. I wonder if he had an affair with that woman.’

‘In the end, it’s because of the marquis’s woman problems.’

‘But to leave home? The marchioness doesn’t seem to have done well either.’

Nobles and commoners alike all blamed Karlien for my leaving the marquis residence. Some criticized me for leaving home. 

The rumors were half true and half false, but Karlien wasn’t the type to argue about the truth of rumors and refuse to pay alimony. Besides, he was reliable when it came to handling business, so I didn’t need to check on the alimony right away.