Chapter 2

The Duke’s servants were busy cleaning and spiffing up the mansion since early morning to prepare for the Duke’s triumphant return.

Normally, the Duchess should be supervising them but this generation’s Duchess was unusual. The butler, therefore, took charge in preparations, basing the return ceremony on his memories of a previous occasion.

As time went by, it was already morning. During that time, the Duchess still failed to make an appearance, and the servants of the mansion were all clicking their tongues, ‘Tch,’ under their breaths. The Duchess’ lazy attitude was well-known to all of them so they didn’t bother to complain at her routine negligence.

Under the butler’s guidance, the mansion was polished to perfection such that the doorknobs all shone brightly. It was then that the Duchess went downstairs, shocking the servants who all stared at her as though they had seen a ghost.

“Du, Duchess?”

“Isn’t this the day the Duke will arrive? Can you prepare some tea? I must celebrate his return.”

The Duchess didn’t look as splendid as she usually did. She seemed a little wan even with her beautiful dark red hair and bronze-colored eyes that change color depending on the light. Her face was pale and her eyes were slightly swollen.

There might be a story in there somewhere, the servants gossiped as they quickly prepared the tea.

“…tea? Has the Duchess ever volunteered to prepare anything for the Duke herself?”

After the Duchess left, some of the servants went to the kitchen to make the tea. They looked at each other and gossiped before they finished selecting quality tea leaves, boiling the water and warming the teacups.

“Maybe she’s sorry about the fact that her lovers have been in and out of the mansion all this time?”

“No way. Don’t you know the Duchess? Even if everyone in the empire is talking about it, she wouldn’t even blink.”

“Ah, that’s too much. The Duke has been risking his life to fight the barbarians for a year, all to bring glory and wealth to the dukedom.”

“That means nothing to the Duchess who didn’t want to marry the Duke of Hilchen. There was a lot of gossip about it when I was hired. Haven’t you heard of it? It’s a famous story. When she found out that the Duke was an illegitimate child, the great Duchess slapped his face…”

One of them, who was also quietly sniggering, glanced at a clock and said, “Oh, the Duchess is waiting. Go and bring it to her quickly.”

Afraid that the Duchess would be angry enough to stab her with a sword if she was late, the maid took the tea set to the drawing-room.

* * *

Meanwhile, Duchess Juliana Auburn was sitting in the drawing-room. This was the first time in her life that her heart pounded so fast and loud. Taking the tea that the maids had respectfully handed to her, she nervously stirred her tea with a spoon then sent them all out.

After confirming that the door was closed and no one was around, Juliana pinched her cheeks.

“Oof!”

Her cheeks quickly turned red after she pinched it too hard. Then Juliana started slapping herself in the face.

“If only this was just a dream!”

But it was no dream. It was real and she had felt everything quite vividly.

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