Chapter 2
“……
A novelist.”
“Ah.”
Melissa’s eyes sparkled as if she understood.
“You said your ladyship’s maternal uncle is a very famous novelist, didn’t you?”
“That’s right. Jeremy Dish.”
At the familiar name, Melissa clapped her hands and bounced on her feet.
“A mystery thriller writer! I’ve heard his name so many times! They say he lives in seclusion and never shows his face to the public. What does he look like? Does he resemble you, my lady?”
They were blood relatives, so perhaps he did. And if he did, then he was surely an exceptionally handsome man. Unlike Melissa, who was full of anticipation, a shadow fell over Rowena’s face.
“I’m not sure…… I don’t really know. I may never be able to see him again.”
Her uncle was the one who had raised her after she lost her parents early to an epidemic. —If things become difficult, come back anytime, Rowena. —I will. Thank you, Uncle…….
The last time she had seen him was three years ago, just before she left for the capital with a swelling heart to become a novelist.
If only she had not happened to meet the duke on the train up……
No. If only she had never trusted the friend who had beckoned her to come to the capital in the first place……
It was a useless assumption. Nothing would change, after all.
Melissa, who had been watching Rowena’s expression sink lower and lower, tactfully closed her mouth. When her hair was nearly finished, someone knocked on the door.
“Miss Philone. I have something to tell you. May I come in?”
The stiff, cold voice belonged to Mrs. Gertrude, who managed the townhouse. She was the longtime housekeeper of the Devonshire ducal family and had not hidden her contempt from the moment they first met.
Rowena, tense, straightened her back.
“……
Come in.”
As she watched the door open, Rowena braced herself inwardly.
Because the news Gertrude brought was usually never good.
Mrs. Gertrude.
As the woman who managed three townhouses, she was someone everyone feared. Her nature itself was extremely meticulous and exacting, and she rarely smiled.
Not only maids and footmen, but even the smallest object could neither enter nor leave without her permission.
That was why Rowena was always nervous whenever she stood before Mrs. Gertrude.
In the woman’s eyes, Rowena was nothing more or less than her master’s doll to be managed.
By contrast, Mrs. Gertrude was, in practical terms, an opponent with tremendous power. Enough to manage even her master’s bed. —His Grace prefers women who are experienced and ripe. So you must act seductively, as if it is not your first time.
After Rowena entered the ducal household, the first teacher she received was an experienced courtesan brought in secretly by Mrs. Gertrude. —This should be sufficient. You have aptitude. You will be rewarded well enough for all that you have worked hard to learn, Miss Philone.
Whenever Rowena faced her, the shame and humiliation of that time came to her first. That was why even meeting her eyes was difficult, and it was rare for them to have a conversation like this.
“The reason I have come to see you so early in the morning is……”
At Gertrude’s characteristic tone, drawing out the end of her sentence, Rowena’s heart began to beat rapidly. She tried hard not to let it show that she feared the woman before her.
“…
The reason?”
The teacup she gripped with all her strength was hot. Glancing at Rowena’s trembling cup of black tea, Gertrude began.
“We must move Miss Philone’s residence to Rockford.”
“Rockford?”
It was unexpected. Rowena’s eyes widened as she asked cautiously.
“It is still the social season…
isn’t it?”
“The schedule has been moved up.”
It was early July, when the weather was warm. Even if parliamentary business had ended, they had always returned to the country house only in August every year.
Had something happened to him?
Rowena, who normally found even facing Gertrude difficult, mustered her courage and opened her mouth again.
“Will His Grace be going as well?”
“No.”
At the cold answer, her heart dropped. But she did not have the courage to ask another question.
“I will tell the maid to start packing your things tomorrow, so prepare yourself. We will leave for Rockford around noon the day after tomorrow.”
Having spoken with an expressionless face, Gertrude rose from her seat.
“Ah. And.”
Her hand on the doorknob, she stopped. Then she held something out to Rowena.
“A letter arrived for you. From some publishing house, I believe.”
Rowena’s shadowed face brightened at once.
“Thank you.”
Gertrude looked at that smile with a subtle gaze, then soon turned away.
* * *
Early summer sunlight poured through the study window.
People’s laughter and chatter continued on outside, but it had nothing to do with him.
The Devonshire ducal family possessed many lands and islands. Managing them took more than half a day and still was not enough. Unlike the previous duke, who had employed agents and regents for most matters, Killian Devonshire let everything pass through his own hands, with the exception of a single island.
Watching the countless documents turn beneath his neat fingertips, Gertrude reported with perfect courtesy.
“I have delivered the message to Miss Philone as you instructed.”
“Well done.”
Killian praised her briefly without even lifting his head.
“You may leave.”
He was not a man who gave the same order twice. Gertrude knew that better than anyone. But now, she could not leave.
“Is it not……”
Gertrude clenched and unclenched her fist, then continued carefully.
“Is it not time to cast her out?”
“What do you mean?”
He lifted his gaze from the documents where it had been fixed. At his level voice, Gertrude hunched her shoulders and moved her lips.
“Your aunt, the Marchioness of Essex, gave me a hint……”
Killian set down the quill he was holding.
The Marchioness of Essex.
Though from a collateral line, she was one of the few elders of the Devonshire ducal family.
“They say Her Majesty recently invited the daughter of a foreign magnate who is of marriageable age. She said Your Grace is clever, and surely understands what that means……”
Even as she spoke, her mouth kept going dry. After hesitating several times, Gertrude lowered her eyes.
“The daughter of a magnate……”
Killian tilted his head and smiled.
“She is determined to play the procuress, then. I wonder what she hopes to obtain in return.”
“Your Grace!”
At words she had never heard nor even imagined, Gertrude cried out. But the very person who had uttered such outrageous words remained perfectly calm.
“It seems Miss Philone’s usefulness has run out.”
The royal family was short on blood.
As the Duke of Devonshire, he was no exception.
Three years ago, after the fiancée chosen for him before birth died in a fall from a horse, his next fiancée should have been decided immediately, but the queen could not do so. Because no sooner had the funeral ended than he brought a woman back with him.
Rowena Philone.
On the day she officially showed her face in society, the queen was horrified.
Hair that shone like pure gold and green eyes. A high-bridged nose and full lips.
Because everything about her resembled the dead woman.
To the horrified queen, he had asked only one question. —Do you intend to kill my mistress as well? —How…… did you know? —There are rats everywhere.
At his calm answer, the queen, seated upon the high dais, gripped her fan tightly. Her face remained expressionless from beginning to end, but the meaning he intended to convey was clear.
A warning that if she tried to control him any further, he would not remain still.
The air, taut as a stretched thread, constricted around the two of them. Only after a long time had passed did the queen, who had been glaring at him sharply, yield one step. —If she offers even a brief comfort to my noble nephew……. —……. —Then I shall gladly turn a blind eye to one woman.
That day, Rowena Philone was acknowledged as the Duke of Devonshire’s woman.
“It is an issue that can no longer be postponed.”
His thoughts were brief. A cautious voice cut across the heavy silence.
“And……”
Gertrude wet her parched lips with her tongue and continued.
“They said that person, too… has blond hair and green eyes. The marchioness, who saw her in person, said she resembled the deceased more than Miss Philone does……”
“Haha!”
A laugh sharp enough to send chills down one’s spine cut her off. Killian crumpled the document he had been reading without mercy and called her name in an ominous voice.
“Gertrude.”
“…….”
“I do not even remember the dead woman’s face.”
To cherish and be unable to forget a woman he had seen once as a child. It was an absurd melodrama. Something that would appear in a third-rate magazine serial. And yet he had welcomed that misunderstanding. Because on the train returning from the funeral, he had met Rowena Philone. —I-I’m sorry…! I mistook the seat……. —It’s all right. I was just growing bored. —Thank you…….
Her cheeks, tinted like a midsummer peach. —Since this, too, must be fate, how would you like to keep me company during the journey, Miss…… —…
Philone. It’s Philone.
Her long lashes spread like a fan, and the scent of lily of the valley that had brushed faintly past the tip of his nose.
As he tried to recall when he had last seen that shy smile, a disappointed voice pierced his ears.
“So you mean… even if she has outlived her usefulness… you will not cast her out.”
“She is mine.”
She was a cute pet. There was no reason to throw her away.
“So moving her residence early to the country house in Rockford was for her sake as well.”
“…….”
“Even so, if she remains, the marriage proposal……”
“Gertrude.”
Killian cut off the tiresome conversation.
“I thought my mother died long ago. Was I mistaken?”
It was a question asking whether she dared presume to act as his mother. The nape of her neck went cold. Gertrude’s lips trembled.
“Y-Your Grace.”
Cold sweat ran down her back. Before the flustered Gertrude could offer any excuse, Killian waved his hand as if shooing away an annoying insect.
At the dismissal, humiliation surged through her. But she could not back down here. Just in case, how hard had she worked from the beginning to sow distrust of Miss Philone, that woman? She was not the only one bound to this place. Gertrude forced the corners of her mouth upward so hard they nearly spasmed.
“May I say… one last thing?”
“…….”
“It seems Miss Philone has a man.”
The air froze in an instant.
Snap. The tip of the quill broke. The moment she saw the duke’s face as he slowly lifted his head, Gertrude could no longer smile.