Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“Lady!”

Eventually, the carriage arrived at its destination, and Emily, who had been waiting, hurriedly approached and opened the door.

“Are you back? Oh my gosh. You’ve turned pale again. Your hands are cold too!”

“Don’t make a fuss.”

Kathleen got out of the carriage, and clasped her hands together that were wearing lace gloves.

“Did something happen?”

“Well, that’s.”

“What?”

Contrary to the usual, Kathleen stopped and looked back at Emily, who was not sure what to do.

“What happened?”

“The Master has already returned.”

“……Now?”

He was usually away for five days whenever he went hunting in the territory owned by the Duchy. It was his old habit to spend time in a cabin there, only half a day away from the Duke’s mansion.

‘He left yesterday, so I thought he wouldn’t be home today.’

Could there have been a problem?

She was concerned, but Kathleen soon calmed her nerves. It wasn’t her business anyway.

“Okay. Can you draw a hot bath first?”

“That’s, Madame.”

“Later. I’m a little tired today.”

She was exhausted because she cried so much. Kathleen passed her and went straight to her bedroom.

However.

“You are late.”

He was in the bedroom.

“Does an audience at the Empress’ Palace take this long in the first place?”

It was her husband who usually didn’t even appear unless it was the day of their scheduled bedsharing which was once every two months.

“Or did you meet someone else?”

Kathleen had froze due to the unexpected visitor. When Alexis saw this, he slammed the door she was holding roughly, as if it bothered him.

“Why are you here?”

“Did I come to a place I couldn’t go to?”

“It’s not that… I thought you had something to do.”

“I have work, of course. I am here just for today.”

“Are you here to make a decision?”

“What decision?”

“The date I am leaving this place. I am not asking for permission, but I still wanted to know if the Duke had a preferred time-“

“You sound ridiculous.”

Alexis interrupted the conversation.

“I already said I wouldn’t allow it.”

“But.”

“Come to think of it.”

Kathleen tried to protest, but she was blocked.

“I thought there must have been a reason for your insistence on leaving all of a sudden. What is it, and why?”

“That….”

Kathleen couldn’t say that she wanted to collect and protect the last piece of pride that was left of her. The moment she revealed it, this man would laugh at her and trample on her. She didn’t want to look so shabby.

Alexis sighed angrily and ruffled his hair. Then he grabbed Kathleen’s wrist.

“Sit down and talk. I don’t think you’ll tell me soon, so I-“

Then suddenly the words stopped.

“Hah.”

He gave a brief chuckle and pulled the handkerchief sticking out of the hem of Kathleen’s sleeve.

“Is this your answer?”

Alexis’s eyes gleamed like a wild beast’s, gripping the handkerchief that had been embroidered with the Imperial Family’s crest with gold thread.

“It’s a misunderstanding. The Crown Prince lent it to me for a while.”

Kathleen said hurriedly.

“After visiting the Empress’ Palace, I stopped by the outer garden for a while and ran into him. That’s all. I brought it with the intention of washing it and returning it soon.”

But Alexis didn’t seem to believe her. He sneered.

“Did you tell him the time of the audience beforehand? How could the busy Crown Prince be in the Empress’ Palace at that time?”

“That…….”

She had already known for a long time that he hated his half-brother. That they could never be close because of the Empress. The fact that the wall that cannot be crossed had long since separated the brothers.

But did that mean that even the wife would be falsely accused because of a single handkerchief?

Her heart ached as if she had been mutilated with his sword.

“If you ask me to explain the coincidence, I don’t have the talent for that.”

Kathleen said straightaway. She didn’t want to convince a man who wouldn’t believe her even if she said it was a misunderstanding.

“Leaving the Duke has nothing to do with the Crown Prince.”

“Then you don’t mind throwing it away.”

The silk handkerchief fell to the ground from Alexis’ hand. A thin piece of cloth fluttering and falling was soon trampled under the feet of the ruthless man.

“…Yes.”

Kathleen barely answered and clenched her fists.

The handkerchief he was stomping on felt as if it was her. It was definitely a beautiful thing, but to Alexis, it was just trash. It wouldn’t be strange if his judgment was twisted and torn at any time.

“Even if you have eyes for the Crown Prince, stop. I don’t want stories of half-brothers fighting for love to spread among the nobles.”

Laughter came out.

“I told you it’s not like that. How… could you say such a thing?”

“If you insist on leaving, you could throw your responsibilities away.”

“I am not doing anything that violates the contract.”

“That’s a relief. After all, you’re the Duchess of Walten, if you don’t want to be a laughingstock, keep your distance from him.”

It was just a repeat. Kathleen stopped arguing with him and sat down in front of the table.

‘You look like a fool.’

She looked forward to it for a moment.

Feelings of jealousy may be rising from her husband, who suspected infidelity with her brother-in-law.

Even though he was wild and ferocious, she thought she would jump with joy if she could detect even the slightest hint of care and affection from him.

But it wasn’t the romantic feelings that she noticed from Alexis.

Unpleasant.

She could only recognize dark emotions coming from him.

“Anyway, I stopped by today to talk about something else.”

Her husband sat across from her, as if he had not noticed her feelings.

“Did you bring that bottle?”

“…Bottle?”

“The pill bottle.”

“…..”

“It must have fallen into the hands of the Empress. Didn’t she say anything when you had an audience with her today?”

Did he know?

The shock hit her whole body. She recalled how a few days ago she was wondering why he came to her bedroom even though it was not the designated bedsharing day. They had separate bedrooms so they usually did not enter each other’s rooms other than during bedsharing days. At that time, he gave her the blue pill bottle..

With the increasing pressure regarding the succession, the Duke of Walten’s first recommendation was a contraceptive pill, which would have served as a shield for her. However, it was medicine that was useless to her in the first place.  Even if it was the day of their bedsharing, they only ever slept in one bed, nothing ever happens, so the medicine was unnecessary.

‘The contraceptive pill is not to hide my infertility…’

It was because he needed a bait to provoke the Empress.

No matter how harshly Kathleen was treated by the Empress, Alexis never asked the Empress to stop. Kathleen endured even though she was exhausted and tormented because she thought it was something she had to endure. She thought that it would get better someday, that the Empress would give up too.

But rather, it was her husband, not anyone else, who incited the Empress.

With trembling hands, Kathleen took the little bottle out of her handbag and handed it to Alexis. He took it with a nonchalant expression and stood up.

“There is a person in the Duke’s residence who handed this to the Empress. I’ll contact you soon, so I’ll let you know as soon as I find out. This time, we have solid evidence, so they can’t get away with it.”

“…….Yes. Okay.”

As soon as he heard her answer, Alexis left the bedroom. As if that was all he needed from the beginning.

Sitting alone in her empty bedroom, Kathleen’s vision blurred. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed. Hot tears flowed down her cold hands.

‘I was st*pid.’

She couldn’t even say it was a betrayal.

She was the one who had false hopes in the relationship that was already established from the beginning.

***

“Madame, I received a call from the annex.”

Kathleen couldn’t sleep all night so she skipped breakfast, and walked in the garden early. Emily informed her with a perplexed face.

“The nanny wants to see you for a while.”

“When?”

“Right now……”

It was obvious why the nanny had asked to meet her early in the morning.

‘It must be for the same reason as the Empress.’

Kathleen let out a sigh.

“Please guide her to the drawing room in a moment. I will go up now.”

“Well, that’s.”

“Is there a problem?”

Emily hesitated, then confessed.

“The nanny asked Madame to go to the annex.”

“Ha.”

Laughter erupted.

Emily, who had shared her words, also fiddled with her hands in embarrassment. The back of her hand was swollen, as if she had already protested that she couldn’t do that in the annex. The nanny’s long nails must be the cause of the scratch marks.

“Tell her I can’t do that.”

Kathleen said calmly.

“It’s rude enough to ask for an audience at an early hour, but she won’t even come in person? It doesn’t matter if she is the nanny, please tell them clearly that it is rude to order the Duchess.”

“M-Madame.”

Over the bewildered Emily’s shoulder, Kathleen gestured to one of her maids.

“You there.”

The maid, as if her mind was in a different world, looked like she had been burnt by fire.

“Yes? Me?”

“I told you to go to the annex and tell her, are you listening?”

“Uh, but.”

Until now, it was up to Emily, her close maid, to pass on the words of the Duchess to the nanny. So she was the one who suffered every time.

The maid’s face that contorted as she wanted to spit out her words was clearly visible. But Kathleen turned around coldly.

No matter how powerful the nanny’s authority was, now was the time when the Duke of Walten woke up. As the nanny was not rebellious in front of him, in the end, she arrived at the main drawing room, showing discomfort.

“You said you wanted to see me.”

“Yes, Madame.”

Although the title was extremely respectful, her tone and demeanor were belligerent. She, who had appeared with a loud noise from the hallway, screamed at all the employees to return and entered without closing the door properly. She then sat face to face in front of Kathleen and greeted her.

“Did you take contraceptive pills?”

“…..”

“Huh, seeing you don’t deny it, it seems that it’s true. How can you be so thoughtless? Even if you try to relieve Her Majesty the Empress’ worries by bearing a successor right away, it’s not enough! Even if you’ve been a maid for six years, I thought that Count Winston would have at least taught you basic etiquette, but I guess that’s not the case?”

“Baroness Duroc. You talk too much.”

Kathleen spoke her words coldly. The nanny had always been referred to as “nanny”, but when Kathleen addressed her by her title, which the Duke had granted, the nanny’s eyebrows rose and she raised her voice.

“What am I doing too much? This is something I can do. The Master’s mother passed away due to an accident, and I raised him like my own child. I’m like his mother, so of course I can say something like this……”

“Although you were a commoner, I thought you would have at least been equipped with basic etiquette after receiving a noble title, even if it was for an honorary post. But I guess that’s not the case.”

“I beg your pardon?”

The nanny’s face turned red and blue as Kathleen returned the words she had said to her. She was so angry that her lips trembled. But Kathleen was not agitated and spoke calmly.

“You thought that a Baroness was the kind of status that could reprimand a Duchess. The st*pidity is so amazing that I don’t even know where to start teaching.”

“N-Now…!”

“But that aside. Ignorance is not a sin.”

Kathleen got up from her seat with her arms crossed and looked down at the nanny.

“How did the Baroness know there was a pill bottle in the bedroom?”