Episode 34
“Nothing will change, whether it was before or now.”
“…….”
“Without harboring any doubts or questions, simply eat the food I provide, wear the clothes I provide, and do only as I tell you.”
Instead of answering, Rowena looked at the two figures reflected in the mirror. The woman offering her nape without any resistance, and the man dominantly wrapping his hand around that woman’s neck. She felt like a herbivore that had no choice but to expose its vital point. Depending on this man’s whims, not only her situation but Damian’s had changed as well.
Killian was trying to remind her of his position. Of just how different their standings were.
Once she realized it, the faint defiance that had made her raise her head quickly tucked its tail and vanished.
“I understand. Killian.”
Rowena smiled brightly like a doll on display in a department store. She raised her hand and caressed the back of his hand wrapped around her neck. Tracing past the protruding tendon, she tapped the bones leading to his fingers. At the subtle, almost-touching contact, Killian caught her hand with his other hand. The moment they laced their fingers together, the pulse in her captured neck beat rapidly, as if nervous.
Toward Rowena, who stood frozen still like captured prey waiting only for the hunter’s judgment, he—who had momentarily closed his mouth—slowly called her name.
“Rowena.”
“…….”
“This is—”
He was about to continue when a knock at the door split the taut air.
“My lady Rowena.”
“Ah.”
“It’s Melissa. I’ve brought your scarf and coat. May I come in?”
At the welcome voice, Rowena brightened and nodded, moving her lips to answer. Just as she was about to tell her to come in, her head was turned and a hot tongue slipped into her mouth.
“Mmm… ha….”
Only after thoroughly sweeping across the roof of her mouth and teeth, and entwining with her tongue, did Killian’s lips part. He withdrew his hand nonchalantly, as if he had never restrained her at all, and flung open the now-silent door. Melissa, unable to even meet his eyes and keeping her head bowed, politely stepped back. Only after Killian passed by her side and moved away without so much as a glance did the two frozen women finally breathe.
Melissa entered the room, closed the door, and approached Rowena to drape the scarf around her. Seeing Melissa’s slightly trembling hand, Rowena, now composed, spoke first.
“You were quite surprised, weren’t you?”
“Ah, no.”
Melissa, who had been shaking her head, soon corrected herself.
“Actually, a little….”
At the honest answer, the corners of Rowena’s lips curved upward.
“By the way, why were you so late? The dressing room is right next door.”
“There were so many clothes that it took some time to find them.”
“I see.”
Rowena answered nonchalantly and finally put on her coat. Dressed warmly, she looked at her reflection in the mirror and resembled the princess of a northern kingdom from her uncle’s fairy tale she had read long ago.
A princess who lived in a northern kingdom surrounded by cold, fearsome wolves and glaciers. A story about not knowing what spring was, being content in a barren environment, and then one day meeting a prince from the south and opening her eyes to love. It was the first fairy tale Jeremy had written for his young niece, who despised romance stories.
Did that princess in the fairy tale eventually find happiness? Rowena, briefly searching her memory, shook her head. Fairy tales were fairy tales, and reality was reality. Just then, Melissa interrupted her thoughts.
“You’ll be staying for a long time once we go up this time, right?”
“Yes. After spending spring in the capital, I’ll go to the island in the summer.”
“The island….”
“A place you’ve been to once as well.”
At the nonchalant answer, Melissa’s expression clouded. After hesitating, she cautiously asked.
“Will you be alright?”
“Of course. It’s already in the past.”
Seeing Rowena smile despite carrying an irreparable wound, Melissa quietly lowered her eyes. The night of the Christmas Eve festival came to mind. Rowena, who had smiled more splendidly and beautifully than anyone else. Already four months had passed since then. While the snow slowly melted and early spring arrived, the ducal estate was more vibrant and full of life than ever.
Though she held the position of a mistress, unlike five years ago, Rowena managed the estate’s considerable internal affairs and treated the maids and servants without reserve, so the estate’s people were gradually charmed by her.
The nobles living in nearby territories had also begun to feel goodwill toward the completely changed Rowena, so different from the past when she had been somehow dispirited and lacking in self-esteem. Rowena attended the surrounding nobles’ tea parties two or three times a week in a carriage bearing the ducal seal, and when it grew slightly late, the Duke would sometimes come to pick her up himself. The faces of the astonished women were vivid in the eyes of Melissa, who always remained by Rowena’s side.
“I had no idea the Duke was such a romantic person.”
“Indeed. He’s like a different person. Someone with such a cold atmosphere that it’s hard to even approach him….”
The whispered words from behind the folding fans were steeped in surprise, slight envy, and acknowledgment toward Rowena.
Everything was stable and peaceful. To the point where she wished these days would continue on forever.
However, on the other hand, the anxiety lodged deep in her heart made her restless. The cause was not only Rowena, who overflowed with excessive vitality, but also the Duke, whose thoughts were impossible to read.
She vividly remembered his face on the first day back at the estate, listening to all the circumstances without the slightest change in expression. ‘Act as usual.’ ‘…
Yes?’ ‘And report your every move.’ ‘Your Grace….’ ‘Don’t speak carelessly before me.’ Though his voice was flat and dry, a chilling shiver ran down her spine.
There was none of the punishment or interrogation she had expected. Duke Killian Devonshire had completely defied her expectations. Contrary to her expectation that he would take action immediately, there had been no significant changes until now.
“By the way, Melissa.”
“Yes?”
Rowena, who had been quietly watching Melissa’s face gradually darken without realizing it, suddenly asked.
“Do you… perhaps have any troubles?”
“Troubles?”
“Yes. If there’s any way I can help….”
Seeing Melissa’s wavering eyes, it seemed she did have something weighing on her. If what Joan had said was true, Rowena had planned on subtly raising the matter with Killian. However, what came back to the waiting Rowena was a denial.
“No. I don’t have any.”
“……
Really?”
“Yes. Lately I just haven’t been sleeping well? But even that has been fine since the day before yesterday.”
Melissa quickly erased her agitation and naturally changed the subject.
“Anyway, it’s about time to leave, so you should come out.”
“Mm.”
Melissa took Rowena’s arm and hurried her along.
* * *
With this news splashed across the front page of an influential newspaper, the social circles of Eselwood’s capital buzzed with a scandal after a long time.
He was a man who had remained abroad all this time under the pretext of an extended honeymoon immediately following his marriage. For such a man to return after his divorce was enough of a topic in itself; add to that the fact that he was bringing along his mistress from five years ago again, and it was like adding firewood to a blazing fire.
And the place where gossip burned brightest was undoubtedly the ladies’ lounge in the banquet hall.
“Rowena Philone, you know. I heard it from a relative living near the Devonshire territory, but truly, it’s astonishing. How does that woman have the exact same face as she did five years ago?”
“Exactly. I was so startled. As if the events of five years ago never happened, she’s going around the banquets smiling so cheerfully… How surprising, and even chilling.”
“Chilling?”
“No. I mean, of course he was a man none of us could even look at, but still, to be miserably abandoned by a man she was with for three years, and then to shamelessly snatch at the opportunity just because he reached his hand out again—speaking of having no pride.”
“That’s true. No matter how much I loved money and power, I would never take his hand.”
Between the ladies waving their hands, a subtly insinuating voice cut in.
“This is just my thought, but… I heard the Duchess is barren. Could he have secretly had and raised a bastard?”
Bastard.
It was a secret yet openly acknowledged existence. At the unexpected word, the group stirred.
“A bastard?”
“Heavens.”
“It can’t be….”
“No, it makes sense, doesn’t it?”
The one who dared to voice this dangerous topic was Viscountess Estelle, who had been sitting quietly the whole time. Normally, this was a gathering where she wouldn’t dare interrupt, but with everyone’s ears perking up at the tantalizing story, her shoulders straightened. Emboldened by the attention focused on her for the first time, the Viscountess spoke up loudly.
“Think about it. It’s not as if such cases are rare…. If he secretly had and raised a bastard, that’s why the Duke sought out the woman he had discarded after the divorce, and the woman, without a shred of pride, readily sat back down in the mistress’s position. If she intends to rise in status as the mother of the future Duke….”
Just as the ladies exchanged meaningful glances at these plausible words,
“Hohoho!”
Countess Rachel—the hostess of the gathering and the center of the group—fanned herself and burst into laughter. The affronted Viscountess’s eyes twitched.