CH 2

2. The Duke’s Death

It was clear that he came up to the capital with his wife.

“Please visit Dieren later with the Countess, Sir Yuzef. It would be better to have as many acquaintances as possible to adapt to the capital.”

However, Sir Yuzef smiled meaningfully after hearing me speak.

“Thank you for your kindness, but does it matter if I visit alone? I don’t have anyone to accompany me quite yet.”

“Oh dear…!”

“I can’t afford to think about marriage.”

It seemed that society was going to be quite noisy this year. It was unbelievable that a man like that is still single.

Of course, it has nothing to do with me.

“Of course, it doesn’t matter if you visit alone. Please come when it is convenient for you.”

“That’s a pleasure to hear. If I do, I’ll visit you soon.”

Sir Yuzef then added.

“It’s rude to say to a lady who hurt her ankle, but I feel lucky to have met you here.”

“Lucky.”

“No, truly.”

Just in time, the tune of the waltz that was heard outside the lounge changed. The first dance song seemed to be over soon.

And the people who enjoyed the song will slowly come into the lounge. It’s time for the husband to send a maid.

I put the nearly melted ice pack on the table. Sir Yuzef was also going to say farewell at this point.

However…

“…And I don’t know what the madam will think of this remark.”

He briefly stretched the end of his statement.

When I met his eyes with curiosity, he smiled softly and spewed out vague words.

“If you return home today, I think you’d better put your children to sleep early.”

“Excuse me?”

It was really unexpected and out of the blue.

Why are we talking about the children here?

No, more than that, did I mention the children? Or did Sir Yuzef already know about me?

“I don’t know what you mean.”

But Sir Yuzef did not resolve my doubts. Rather, he spewed out more questionable words in a nonchalant voice.

That…

“Your husband will die tonight.”

“…Pardon?”

I didn’t know how to react to those words, so I just blinked blankly for a moment.

My first meeting with Sir Yuzef was quite memorable, but it was not an event that would have a great impact on my life.

At least until then.

In any case, I left the ball early with my maid as scheduled.

In the carriage homeward, there was time to recall Sir Yuzef’s words for a moment.

‘What does it mean that my husband will die?’

And what does it mean to put the kids to sleep early?

I was curious, but I didn’t think much of it. Isn’t it too far-fetched to be taken realistically? It doesn’t mean Sir Yuzef is a prophet.

But it wasn’t long before something happened that made me want to withdraw my thoughts.

“Hahaha, damn it. Why didn’t my beautiful wife come to meet me.”

“You’re home early.”

My husband returned earlier than expected.

Having been unable to meet my husband due to treatment for my ankle, I had no choice but to sit in the bedroom and greet him.

Now I see that he is drunk. I let out a sigh of relief inside when I saw my husband completely blindsided. It was fortunate that I had the children go to their rooms early just in case.

However, that action seemed to have stimulated something in my husband.

“Kugh!”

It was an act without any premonition.

In an instant, my husband approached me and suddenly grabbed my neck.

“If you adore me, you will act like a pretty doll as you adore me, but my wife is trying to get on top of me more and more.”

Immense power for a drunk person.

No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t overcome him. All I could do was scramble for my life.

“Thanks to you, the nobles are ignoring me very much. They praise you more, not me, and value you more highly. Haha, you’re just a pretty doll!”

I felt like my mind was going to be swallowed up by the increasingly scarce oxygen. It was then that something was caught in my hand.

There was no room for hesitation. I swung it at once.

Thud.

“Ah?”

Funny how even luck wasn’t on my side at this moment. What I wielded was a bouquet of flowers that barely adorned the room.

However, even that seems to have been enough to stimulate my husband. My husband, who looked at the flowers alternately with me as if he was dumbfounded, burst into laughter with his hands relaxed.

“Puhahahaha! My wife, are you using violence against me?”

This son of a bitch?

What a ridiculous response. Who used violence just now?

Normally, I would have raised my body and slapped him, but for now, I had no choice but to focus on receiving oxygen needed for survival. I collapsed on the spot, sitting down after losing all my strength in my legs.

Cough, cough.

“Hahaha, I never thought I’d go through something like this in my life. How dare you, you young little bitch!”

I don’t remember what happened next very well.

“How dare you! How dare you! How dare you… Argh!”

My husband, who was shouting loudly on his own because he couldn’t overcome his anger, stumbled and lost his balance on the railing of the terrace.

“…”

And a long silence.

What happened?

Forgetting the pain in my ankle for a moment, I crawled to the balcony where my husband fell. The voice I heard in the lounge of the banquet hall was repeatedly playing in my head.

〈Your husband will die tonight.〉

No way…!

Astonishingly, the prophetic words really came true.

My husband, Duke of Dieren, Carlos Nikolai, died so absurdly that day.

It was ten years ago that I joined the Dieren Duchy.

I was twenty-two years old at the time.

Considering that the marriageable age for a noble young lady was around sixteen to eighteen, it was a time when the marriage period was long overdue. Of course, the marriage that came to me had no choice but to be at that level.

Among them, the place with the best condition was the second wife of the Duke of Dieren. Even though the duke was eight years older than me and already had three children.

The marriage contract was quickly concluded by agreement between the two families. There was no room for my opinion to be reflected.

The process was not particularly unsatisfactory. For a noble, arranged marriages are natural.

After my marriage, I fulfilled my duties and responsibilities to my husband and three new children. I was not negligent in my duties as a duchess.

Then one day, I found out that my husband had been abusing his three children.

〈I can’t believe a father has done this to his children. I didn’t know you were a man who didn’t even have the pride to be ashamed of your actions.〉

However, I didn’t expect that one speech would spread my husband’s violent nature to me.

Still, there was something fortunate. Unlike the underage children, I had the power and foundation to protect myself.

My husband couldn’t inflict as much direct violence on me as he did on the children. Thanks to this, I was able to widen the physical distance between my husband and the children to some extent.

That alone has brought the children up well over the last ten years without straying anywhere.

The relationship with me, without a drop of blood shared, was quite strong.

The time when the late afternoon sun sinks below the black roof of the Dieren mansion.

My husband’s funeral was also slowly coming to an end.

No matter how much the husband deserves punishment, the atmosphere was very quiet because death was a solemn thing. Mourners laid lilies on my husband’s coffin to console me and my children, who lost their father overnight.

I also did my best to express my sorrow throughout the funeral.

‘I’m not actually that sad.’

I’m more serious than sad. The things I have to deal with in the future and the things that will happen around me.

Let’s think about it a little bit right now.

A ducal title that has been lost because it cannot be succeeded to a child who has not yet reached adulthood. My life as a ducal stand-in. The inevitable collateral checks…

From now on, countless people will attack me and my children for what I have and what they will have.

‘How can I protect these children from now on in that storm?’

My eldest son approached me, as if he knew my troubles.

“Stepmother, I heard that your ankle is still uncomfortable. It seems that there will be no more mourners, so please go in and rest even for a short while.”

This courteous and mature boy is Kardiel Diark Dieren. His nickname is ‘Kar,’ and he is fifteen years old this year.

My eldest son is still underage.

The boy with clear blue eyes, who has a face that looks very similar to my husband and has long platinum hair tied neatly, is very mature as the eldest. Or should I say he is more blunt than the others?

He will be Duke of Dieren after the coming-of-age ceremony in three years, so it would be good to have a thorough and cool personality between public and private affairs to a certain extent…

‘But he’s still a child, so it’d be nice to be a little lively.’

I met Kardiel for the first time when he was five years old. Even then, the child was already thoughtful and mature, unlike his peers.

afterword

i put Kardiel instead of Cardiel since his nickname would have literally been Ca