CH 2

“What?”

Killian’s eyebrows twitched and moved.

Normally, the Duke of Krembel was a stickler for facial expressions.

To see him like that today.

Ellen found it somehow amusing.

“Well, then… I hope the next time I see you, the papers will have your seal on them.”

Ellen and Killian’s eyes met.

His eyes were filled with questions and bewilderment at this situation.

This was a stranger he had never seen in her previous life.

Are you so embarrassed that I didn’t conform to your ideas?

Why, then, did I spend my entire life living according to your ideas?

Her heart sank. The sensation of something sticky smearing between her breasts was unpleasant.

Ellen tore her gaze away from Killian and without another word, then turned and left the office.

Killian watched her go, and then called out to his butler.

“… James!”

No other words followed, but the meaning was clear.

‘Hold her down so she doesn’t get out’.

James, the Duke’s butler, stunned and bewildered for a moment, heard his master’s shout and rushed out after Ellen, calling out.

“My lady!”

James grabbed Ellen’s wrist.

But that was not the end of the surprises.

The Duchess suddenly flung his hand away and spoke with ferocity.

“How dare a mere commoner lay a hand on a nobleman’s body!”

“… My Lord has called for you. Please go inside.”

“That order, since I don’t intend to be Krembel anymore, I have no reason to follow it. I intend to return to Kryant, so go back.”

“My lady, if you do that…”

James continued to hold her back.

Then Ellen spoke with a look of blatant sneer on her face, a look she had never shown during her stay at Krembel.

“Lady? Have you ever truly served me as a mistress?”

“Ma’am, what are you talking about!”

“I mean that you should drop your pretense and go and tend to Krembel’s affairs as you are meant to do. I’m going back to Kryant, and if you make one more of these grand gestures, I’ll slit your wrists.”

James grimaced at the sternness in her voice.

He shouldn’t let her go, but he couldn’t just grab her arm like he had just done.

But while he hesitated, Ellen was already out the front door of the manor.

‘This is really bad!’

James sighed as he watched her fade into the distance.

* * *

CLANG!

The crystal ashtray clattered to the floor.

“Can’t you do that one right?”

Killian said, his brow narrowed in irritation.

“Tell me what you know about why she’s suddenly gone off the rails, she was so unruffled just yesterday, so why is she suddenly doing that today!”

James bowed his head deeply at the Duke’s question.

It seems that the problems of the servants are quite big, but he couldn’t bear to spit out those words in front of his master.

As much as he wanted to deny it, his guess was most likely correct.

But his master was not one to wait for a slow answer.

“Don’t you have a mouth? If you don’t need it, it won’t be a problem if I cut it off. Yes?”

The urgency in his voice was cold and hard.

James finally spoke up, his voice shaking.

“… It looks like we’ve been having problems with the servants. It was my fault, I’m sorry.”

“With the servants?”

Killian asked with questioning eyes.

A daily routine that is always prepared on time.

A meal that doesn’t go against their tastes and a neatly organized appearance.

As far as he was concerned, there was nothing wrong with his mansion.

Killian snorted and muttered to herself, wondering what creative answer he would come up with.

“Perhaps there has been a slight hiccup in the lady’s service. Apparently, everything in the mansion is tailored for the master, so there are parts that don’t suit the mistress…”

“Enough chatter, to the point. So what is the problem, and why?”

“There were many servants who made mistakes while waiting on the ma’am. Maybe that’s where her anger has been building up…”

James stammered, and Killian rubbed the back of his neck in disbelief.

“Ha, don’t you know it’s my fault to put a guy who’s not good at his work in such a place to take care of her? What a sight.”

James, who had been watching, corrected him in a cautious voice.

“That’s because… The mistress’s suggestions for punishing those servants were all rejected by the master.”

“… What?”

Killian countered, and James quickly recited the answer his master demanded.

“Most recently, the maid slipped the teacup to the lady, and she suffered a shallow burn on her arm. We discussed about punishing her, but you refused.”

Killian, the inquiring party, felt a little embarrassed.

How dare she injure her hostess and still get away with it?

“… Do you mean that I refused the punishment even though such a report was posted?”

Had he not seen the detailed report?

He asked, thinking about it, but the answer was not what he expected.

“Yes. If that’s what you mean, yes.”

Killian rubbed his temples, his head throbbing.

He had been busy with a lot of things.

It was true that, unless it was something he had to deal with, he would either take the decision he had made or set it aside altogether.

“… That means there are other things going on, too. Tell me.”

“Due to the accumulation of similar events, all of the veterans among the family’s servants who were familiar with the job were assigned to the master’s service, while those who were inexperienced and still in need of adjustment were assigned to the mistress’s service.”

Basically, everyone in his service was immaculate.

Because of that, he also remembered reading the documents his wife had sent a few times, but the memory of throwing them away thinking that she was a woman who’s too sensitive and tiresome only then slowly came to mind.

Of course, he assumed that the butler would educate and crack down on it, but he didn’t realize that something like this had happened.

“… You’re not saying that in front of me because you think you did a good job, right?”

“I’m sorry.”

At this point, all James could do was apologize to his master.

But there was also a part that was unfair to him.

If the master had taken care of his wife a little better in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.

There was bound to be a priority in everything, but here the Duchess was only slightly relegated to a lower priority.

Of course, just because he said so doesn’t mean he’ll tolerate it, so for now, he’s just crouching down.

At a loss for words, Killian washed his face dry once, then spoke.

“… Negligence is grounds for dismissal. Starting with you now, and all the maids who worked for you. I will change all the personnel, so know that and investigate everything!”

Killian shouted, and at the Duke’s command, James stormed out.

***

Ellen stared blankly at the people milling about.

The city was alive, as it always was.

She had come back from the dead, and both this miracle and this rage were confusing.

She stared at the street for a moment, mesmerized, but then came to her senses and tapped herself on the cheek.

“No, it’s a waste of time. We need to think and act first…’

She walked over to the coach house to arrange for a carriage.

‘Where to? First of all, to meet my father… a social gathering? No. It’s too obvious. It’s too obvious, and if I go straight down to the manor, he’ll… surely unleash his men to get me, and that’s a no-no too.’

Killian was extremely reluctant to let the commotion in the house become known outside.

So she wasn’t going to do anything reckless that would be exposed to the outside world right now.

But that also meant that if she made a public spectacle of herself, he would immediately spring into action.

‘Somewhere out of the Krembel, but not too far out of sight.’

Trying to stay away would only give Killian an excuse to act.

For now, she pretended to be taking a breather, a small hiccup that would be best dealt with quietly.

“The capital would be a good place to start, since we have access to it from our lands without having to go through Krembel.’

But she didn’t want to go to the capital.

Killian would find him too quickly.

‘Then where?’

‘Ah, yes, the hotel.’

The one he’d stopped at with the Prince.

In the years that had passed, the prince had occasionally wandered out of the palace for some reason.

When he was in the mood, he would invite the Duke to come out with him, and that’s where they stopped.

The crown prince at the time seemed to think it was a pretty thorough disguise to go around posing as a servant to the duke and duchess.

Dressed in clothes of unknown origin, he would wander around outside pretending to be their servant, but he never looked like a servant in any way, as he would crack jokes and make faces at them from the sidelines.

Ellen blew out a sharp, hollow breath.

‘It’s the only place that comes to mind outside of my hometown in this vast land.’

The place where I stopped by with the person who was eventually killed at the hands of my husband.

She walked away with a self-deprecating smile.

Fortunately, there was a coachman waiting for her at the coach house.

The coachman glanced at her, noticing that she was alone, and asked.

“Where are you going?”

“To the capital. Here’s the money.”

Ellen pulled out one of her wedding bundles and held it out.

When the coachman took it and saw that it was indeed gold, his face lit up and he quickly climbed into the wagon.

As he hurriedly took his seat, he glanced at her attire with greedy eyes.

“I see you are a noblewoman, so what business are you going on alone?”

“… Knowledge is sometimes poison.”

At Ellen’s words, the coachman rolled his eyes.

“If I arrive in good time, whoever is waiting there will pay for it. Do you understand?”

“Aye, aye, of course, let’s go.”

The carriage started, and they hit the road, heading straight for the outskirts of Krembel.

The view over the canal that bordered the outskirts was dazzling.

The dazzling reflections bobbed and swayed, and the wind blew across the river.

A strange excitement began to bubble up in Ellen’s chest.

She was happy to see a view of the river and the sky open and unobstructed.

“Why didn’t I do this sooner…”

It was so easy to escape.

The foolish woman who mistakenly believed that loving someone was equivalent to doing something for herself was murdered.

Now she’s Ellen Kryant.

A woman who will build a new life.

For the first time in her life, she felt her breath return to her chest.

Ellen chuckled to herself.