Chapter 14

‘Had I known it would come to this, I should never have given up the credit for the Medal of Merit to the end….’

Adel, pale as a sheet, took a few more steps while nursing that futile thought, then soon let out a faint laugh.

‘If I pretend not to know now, what will I do later? Once he receives the dukedom, I will clearly be divorced anyway….’

“Susan.”

“Yes, madam.”

“Would you ever think of living somewhere other than here?”

“Pardon?”

“The place may not be as nice as this, but I won’t let you go hungry.”

“M-madam?”

“I am not forcing you.”

“I will… follow you.”

At Susan’s resolute answer, Adel was rather surprised and looked at her.

“Truly?”

“Yes, truly.”

“Are you really sure that is all right?”

“My parents have done nothing but scheme to sell me off since I was young. I do have a younger sibling, but that child will become a maid in some house as well. There is nothing I can do about it.”

“It may be very hard. We may have to wander for quite a while.”

“Rather than serve that Anna woman as my mistress, I would rather wander.”

Just as she said—it was merely one lowly maid agreeing to accompany her—yet Adel felt courage welling up as if she had gained a thousand troops and horses.

And it happened that the family was to receive the Medal of Merit, so she might be able to ask her sister to ensure she was not sent back to House Millium. She felt a courage she had never possessed in her life surging up from within.

“Let us go again, Susan.”

“Yes!”

When Adel returned to the main house, Ben greeted her with a startled face.

“Are they still together?”

“Yes.”

“Then guide me. I have something to say.”

When Adel arrived at the office, Ethan was holding Anna and patting her back.

“The Countess has arrived.”

When she announced herself from outside the open door, Ethan started in surprise, pushed Anna away, and rose.

“At this hour? Anna, you had better go back now.”

“No. It would be better if she heard it while we are together.”

The sight of the man she had trusted and loved so much, flustered and at a loss as if he had been caught cheating, was utterly unfamiliar. Had that man ever looked so small? She could not believe he was the same person who had always seemed so vast he could blot out the sun.

“You sent for me earlier, but it has grown quite late. I am sorry.”

Adel sat down across from where Ethan and Anna sat pressed close together.

“I will bring tea.”

“No need. My business is short.”

Adel dismissed all the servants who had come to attend them.

“Just now….”

She looked at her own hand resting on the table, let out a short breath, and raised her eyes straight to Ethan.

“I heard everything the two of you just said. It was not intentional, but the door was open and there was no way not to hear. Please understand.”

At her words, Ethan’s face went pale.

“What… do you mean you heard?”

“Annaston demanded that you divorce me, and you said you could not divorce me because of the dukedom you are to receive.”

Compared to how she had trembled before entering, now that she had begun speaking, she felt rather more numb.

“Adel, th-that is!”

In his confusion, he reached his hand toward her, and Anna snatched his hand and held it. Seeing that, Adel’s heart still throbbed and ached.

That was what it meant to be in a relationship of mutual love. To be able to openly place restrictions on his actions. And to receive no reproach from him for it.

Adel could only watch helplessly as her world crumbled.

“Tomorrow I will go up to the capital at once and meet my sister—Her Highness the Crown Princess. And I will ask that even if we divorce, the promised dukedom be granted.”

“What… are you saying?”

Adel flinched at Ethan’s lowered voice, but she glanced down at his hand, held tight like a dog on a leash, and went on.

“If you find it hard to believe, I will ask for a written document. If you draw up the divorce papers right now, I could receive my family’s seal while I am in the capital. Baron Millium will welcome our divorce at any time.”

“Is that true?”

At the woman’s slightly raised voice, Adel finally looked at Anna’s face. The woman, more finely dressed than when they first met, now truly looked like a noble. Her pretty face was enough to instill elegance in her as well. With a little learning, she seemed as though she could manage estate affairs well, too.

‘Ah, Herbron….’

Adel thought of the estate’s people, whom she had momentarily forgotten in the press of her emotions. She had arranged to provide a scholarship to Jackson the orchard keeper’s son, who was to enter a commoners’ school in the capital in a few days. Besides, she needed to check once more on Hena, who had given birth at the unwed mothers’ facility not long ago, and the children’s library she had decided to build on the estate’s outskirts had not even had its foundation stone laid.

“I am asking if that is true!”

But Adel was soon able to pull herself from her thoughts at Anna’s question. If she instructed Ben well, he would handle the small matters on his own, so Adel resolved to think only of herself from now on.

“I know that since this divorce comes because I could not bear a child, I cannot receive living expenses or alimony. But please allow me to take and dispose of the things I own.”

“I am asking you. Is what you just said true?”

When Anna shouted, Adel sprang from her seat. Even if she was to be cast out of this house empty-handed, she did not want to suffer any more humiliation.

“And, Count.”

Adel’s gaze as she called Ethan was fixed on Annaston. And she received full in return the gaze that struck at her provocatively.

“I am still the mistress of this household, so for the sake of the family’s discipline, I will punish this woman.”

“Wh-what did you say?”

“Annaston Lowell, you are not yet a noble, nor even a mistress. For you to dare behave so insolently toward me, the mistress of House Devryan, can no longer be tolerated.”

Adel called the butler in a loud voice and ordered Anna confined in a building in a corner of the family grounds.

Even on the day Duke Sonnier left Herbron, Annaston had pressed Adel, saying she had deliberately taken her to a rough place to humiliate her. At the time, as the mistress of a highly esteemed family, she could not bear to be spoken of as jealous of her husband’s woman, so she had let the matter pass without punishment. But now there was no need for that.

“For three days, give her only water and let no one see her.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Ben accepted Adel’s order quickly, without even checking the Count’s mood. Matters concerning the women of the household were, after all, under the Countess’s authority. With that, Adel paid her respects to Ethan and walked to the door. Only then did Ethan come to his senses and rise to follow her.

But Anna did not let him go.

“Ethan, say something. That woman is trying to lock me up right now.”

“Let… go.”

“What?”

“I said let go of this!”

Ethan shook off the hand he had not even realized was holding him and began running after Adel. Since Adel had walked quickly from the office, he could only see her just before she passed through the front gate.

“Adel!”

She was the woman who had always turned back with a smile whenever he called. But she only kept walking and did not look back at him. He ran like mad and seized her wrist.

Their eyes met, but the eyes of the woman who had always held a warm light and tried to meet his gaze were utterly empty. He could not read her thoughts at all, and Ethan was thrown into confusion.

Adel’s voice, her expression, and her tone in the office just now had all been unfamiliar and distant. Was this woman really the Adelaide he knew?

“It hurts. Let go of this hand.”

“I’m sorry, but this is so sudden.”

“Sudden?”

“Yes. What on earth did you talk about with the Duke earlier?”

“Why are you asking about that all of a sudden?”

Adel thought his beautiful blue eyes had turned pitch black. His gaze was of a kind she had never seen before.

“If it were not that, you would never do this to me.”

“What on earth does that mean?”

“How could you say farewell to me? How could you even speak of divorce?”

“The one who spoke of divorce first was not me, but you, Count.”

“The Duke must have said something to you. Did he tell you to divorce at once and come to him? That he would take you in?”

Adel looked at the unfamiliar man spouting unbelievable words. If he had raised his voice and reproached her, she would not have felt this chilling sensation. But his muttered accusations continued.

“That must be it. Otherwise, Adel, you could never even think of leaving me. No wonder he wanted to be alone with you.”

“Count, what on earth are you….”

“Tell me straight. Did he whisper to you? That if your sister dies, he will give you the position of empress.”

In that moment, Adel raised her free right arm and struck Ethan’s cheek hard. But though his head turned fully aside, he did not back away.