Duke Alex Brown, who went missing during the war. Olivia insisted that until she found her husband’s body, she could never acknowledge his death. Others pointed fingers at her, calling her mad, but Olivia believed that was the only way to protect her name.
And so, over the past three years, Olivia ultimately kept both positions: the ducal title and that of Young Lady.
“The drawn-out fight is finally over, Madam Brown.”
“I’ll consider it a benefit of becoming an imperial citizen after the war. You must have a lot to worry about, but one of your tasks has lessened.”
The northern conquest war and Olivia’s fight ended around the same time. In the meantime, the Kingdom of Betia led the war to victory, assumed the imperial title, and declared itself an empire. Perhaps it was thanks to that. Today, Olivia had finally been granted the position of Acting Duke with the council’s approval.
“But becoming Acting Duke through such a stroke of luck will likely end with you.”
The nobles seated in key posts did not welcome Olivia’s coming and going here under Brown’s name. One empty chair. After all, they were people desperate to have that seat for themselves.
“Yes. I know that as well. Perhaps next time, instead of a deputy, I will receive a true title. There are more than enough ladies smarter than I am.”
Leaving the frozen nobles behind, Olivia went outside and immediately ran out to find the ducal family’s car. People murmured as they watched Olivia run while clutching the hem of her dress. But Olivia paid no attention at all and kept running. What did she care for etiquette, when today was such a day!
“Olivia!”
“Mother!”
Just by seeing Olivia running toward her, she could be certain of the result. The woman, now called Old Madam rather than Duchess, embraced Olivia.
“Good heavens, Olivia. I am truly so proud of you!”
“It’s the work of two noble ladies with nowhere to return to.”
Olivia grinned and got into the car with Madam Brown. She wanted to hurry back to the ducal residence and tell everyone this news.
“Not only the Lambert Count’s House, but the other cadet branches will no longer be able to do anything. If by any chance such a thing were to happen…”
“If it were to happen?”
“Then perhaps the only answer would be to kill me?”
“Olivia!”
“It was a joke.”
“Truly, I cannot even imagine a life without you now.”
“I am in Alex’s place now. I will protect your honor, Mother.”
It was then, when she thought peace had finally come. When Olivia arrived at the ducal residence, she thought she would probably never forget the strange atmosphere that hung about the drawing room.
“…Olivia, am I seeing things right now?”
“…No. It really is Alex.”
Behind the living, breathing Alex, Olivia discovered a woman holding a young child.
“And…”
The child had a face exactly like Alex’s childhood.
* * *
The woman’s name was Rose. A maiden from a small rural village in the kingdom that had been defeated in this war. According to them, after she had devotedly nursed the dying Alex back to life, they fell in love, but Olivia let that story go in one ear and out the other.
That was only natural, for the returned Alex immediately restored his ducal title and demanded a divorce from Olivia, who had become Duchess. For the price of having fought fiercely against the council and the cadet nobles for the past three years to protect the ducal title, it was a rather miserable affair.
“Old Madam is going too far. How, how could you do this? Hmm?”
“Masha, I’m sorry, but could you please be quiet?”
Olivia lay on the bed and pressed her head. It had already been several days, but Masha was also in great shock at Madam Brown’s sudden change.
“…I’m sorry. But I’m so upset!”
No matter how rotten he might be, Alex was the legitimate heir to the ducal title and Madam Brown’s son. From the moment he was said to have set off on a road of no return, until now, Madam Brown, who had relied on Olivia so much, now became one with Alex and consistently ignored her.
“I know exactly how you feel.”
The coldness of none other than Madam Brown was also a little hard for Olivia to endure. She did not think all the smiles shown to her until then had been false, but to cast her aside so suddenly like this. In many ways, the wind Alex had stirred up made Olivia’s situation flow in a very bad direction.
“But what can be done? That woman has brought back an heir that I do not have.”
“Even so, she’s just a mistress! And a commoner!”
“To no one now does that fact matter.”
Naturally, Madam Brown did not approve of Rose, a commoner. Enough to say in front of Alex that if she was not to be kept as a mistress, it would be better to drive her out. But the next day, beneath the front-page news of Alex’s return, the situation changed rapidly because of an interview containing the story of their love.
“The problem is that more than half of the imperial citizens want the ending of this romantic story to be the two people’s marriage and happiness.”
“But still, still, Old Madam is such a stubborn person. After relying on Madam so much all this time…!”
“Even if she is stubborn, she is not my mother. When the son she thought dead has returned alive, how could I catch her eye?”
Olivia, who had been quietly watching the trembling Masha, slowly raised herself. Then she handed Masha the newspaper lying on the bedside table.
“Read the newspaper and you’ll understand. Public opinion is on their side.”
Whether noble or commoner, everyone alike, it was an editorial telling Olivia, who was holding the current position of Duchess, to give up that seat now.
“It was a passage that showed just how much of an eyesore the eccentricities I committed over the past year to protect my and Mother’s home had been.”
Even if she had received some criticism for taking an unusual path, vulgar writing that openly despised her like this had not been published until now. But as Alex’s voice demanding divorce grew louder, as if they had been waiting, all arrows turned toward her.
“People like special stories. Not peculiar stories.”
“Madam…”
“To the people here, the one now staining the family’s honor is me, Olivia Brown, who refuses to give up this position and holds on.”
* * *
It had already been half a year since Alex returned. At last, Olivia, wrapped in the scandal of being the greatest femme fatale of the age, laid down the name of Duchess.
“I have served you for a long time, Madam—no, Young Lady—but I truly cannot understand what you are thinking.”
“Of course. Even I do not really know.”
“Madam—no, Young Lady—you must not say that! After letting things grow this far!”
At Masha’s outcry, Olivia slightly lifted her hat and quietly gazed at the high walls of the Russell House. The grand mansion visible beyond the wide garden could not have looked more desolate.
“Hmm, indeed.”
At the same time as the divorce, Olivia bid farewell to the servants of the ducal house she had grown attached to. She heard that her parents had returned from the capital to the Russell mansion and headed straight there, but the gates of the count’s residence did not open for her, who had returned as Olivia Russell.
“To be turned away at the door. This is a development I never even imagined.”
“What will you do now?”
At Masha’s words, Olivia thought for a moment and felt that it was rather for the best. Since it was her parents who had cast out their daughter who had returned on her own feet, now whatever she did, they could not blame her, could they? It was a freedom she had gained inadvertently.
“Masha. You see, for the past three years, as a noble lady, I have done all sorts of things to protect my position.”
“Yeees. I know that very well.”
“And so I think there is nothing in this world I cannot do.”
“Um, of course! Young Lady can do anything!”
“Let’s go to the North.”
At Olivia’s words, Masha tilted her head as if she had misheard.
“…What?”
“If my family—that is, House Russell—will not take me in, then I am simply Olivia.”
“What does that have to do with going to the North…”
“I need to make my status.”
Damnably, the only deviation she, who had been raised like a flower in a greenhouse, could handle was this much. Just deciding her own course. Olivia thought it was a rather shameless thing to say even to herself, but heading to Libien seemed like quite a good choice.
“I think I will go propose to His Highness the Grand Duke.”
“Whaaat?”
Not only going to the North, but a proposal? To the Grand Duke, no less? Masha was appalled and grabbed Olivia’s shoulders. She examined her face, wondering if her young lady had finally lost her mind, but there was no such sign.
“Since I have become the greatest femme fatale of the age, proposing to the empire’s finest man might not be so bad.”
The only way to protect fallen honor was to place a better trophy beside herself. The best groom available in her current position was the Grand Duke, and conveniently, she held a good card to offer him.
