Carol hesitated for a moment, wondering how to respond.
She didn’t want to explain seriously as if making excuses in a moment like this. But she couldn’t just say nothing when the neighbor had blatantly talked about becoming a secondary wife and such, could she?
“Don’t worry too much about that talk.”
In the end, she had no choice but to brush it off casually.
Normally, her siblings would have accepted Carol’s words without further questioning.
Waiting for Carol to explain everything later or respecting her wish not to talk about it was how the two showed their trust in Carol.
But this time, they simply couldn’t do that. Dylan’s patience wore thin first.
“How can we not worry!”
Carol’s eyes widened at Dylan’s raised voice.
“…Huh?”
“How can we stay quiet when you’re being talked about like that? Why couldn’t you deny it? Say it’s not true.”
“…I just didn’t want to bother explaining myself to every rude comment.”
“There’s a rumor going around that the Duke has someone he’s going to marry.”
Dylan blurted out, unable to hold back.
“Ah.”
She knew about that rumor. The Duke himself was the one who had spread it, after all.
Is it okay to talk about this? The Duke hadn’t explicitly said it was a secret, but the words didn’t come out easily.
[You must never talk about the Duke to anyone. He’s in a position where even trivial daily matters need to be handled with care.]
She had been constantly reminded by Mrs. Wells to be careful about discussing anything related to the Duke.
‘But now the curse has been lifted.’
Seeing Carol’s reaction, the faces of the two siblings hardened.
“…Don’t tell me you already knew about this rumor?”
Dylan asked, looking dumbfounded. Not only did she seem to know about the rumor spreading, but she also appeared unfazed.
“Yes.”
Dylan’s blood boiled at Carol’s nonchalant tone.
“You knew?”
“It’s a false rumor.”
Carol added. She figured it was okay to say this much.
“…Hah.”
Dylan let out a bitter laugh. Kevin patted Dylan’s back, signaling him to calm down as he was getting too worked up.
“Let’s prepare dinner first. I’m hungry.”
Kevin intervened as the atmosphere was becoming tense. He wanted to press the issue too, but he knew it would only worsen the mood if he joined in now.
While Carol seemed unbothered on the surface, Kevin was cautious, knowing that her true feelings might be different since she always held back.
It was Carol’s turn to prepare dinner after a long time. She decided to make their favorite dish – chicken divan with plenty of broccoli and cream.
Although it was usually Dylan’s favorite, he remained silent throughout the meal, lost in thought.
As the meal was ending, Dylan gave Kevin a meaningful look, signaling that they couldn’t let this issue slide even after calming down.
Kevin, seemingly swayed by their earlier conversation, didn’t intervene and just sipped his water.
“How about meeting him?”
“Huh?”
Carol was caught off guard by the sudden suggestion.
“The neighbor lady said earlier she could introduce you, right?”
Carol studied Dylan’s face. He looked quite serious, not joking around.
While he did play pranks occasionally, he wasn’t the type to disregard others’ feelings.
It seemed he had been seriously considering their earlier conversation throughout the meal.
“…There’s nothing for you to worry about. I promise.”
Carol didn’t want to worry her siblings, but she couldn’t discuss details she hadn’t even talked about with the Duke. However, this answer didn’t seem to ease her siblings’ concerns.
“What kind of answer is that?”
Kevin spoke irritably.
The knighthood ceremony and the rare sword were great. He didn’t mind being the last to join the Third Knight Order but the first to advance.
“We didn’t say that to you expecting those things.”
But nothing was more important than Carol.
“…”
“If it’s what you want, don’t hesitate to do it even if it harms us.”
They could even pretend not to know if Carol was happy being a mistress.
Because they were family.
But Carol had always dreamed of a happy, united family. They knew this without her having to say it.
The position of the Duke’s mistress would never make her happy.
“It’s okay to reconsider going to the North.”
They said, placing the swords they received from the Duke on the table.
The two were more serious than Carol had expected.
‘Did they hear something else outside?’
Explaining that she was seriously meeting the Duke here seemed like it would backfire. But she couldn’t say she was thinking about marriage on her own either. She had never discussed such things with the Duke.
“As you know, I’m not meeting him against my will.”
“But you couldn’t deny it when she said you’d become a secondary wife.”
“That’s because I was surprised since we’ve never talked about such things.”
Carol slowly rubbed her brow. Where should she start explaining?
Carol had initially wanted to run away too. She went to the Duke’s townhouse to give up.
But after her possession, what she regretted most was not telling her loved ones “I love you” one more time because of distrust and doubt.
Like this world’s mom and dad.
Even if she had avoided it more, she would have ended up holding the Duke’s hand anyway.
“Even if I get hurt, I’m meeting him because I’d prefer it if the person who hurts me is the Duke.”
“…”
Carol smiled bitterly, looking at the sword placed in front of the empty bowl.
She was touched seeing her siblings willing to give up even the swords they cherished every night out of consideration for her.
“And about the engagement, I asked the Duke directly and confirmed it wasn’t true. As for talks about the future, well, I couldn’t say anything yet because it’s still too early.”
It felt awkward and embarrassing to talk about these things with her siblings. But she didn’t want to leave them with misunderstandings.
The reason she sometimes held back was that she didn’t want them to worry.
But if not speaking made them worry more, Carol was willing to swallow her embarrassment and talk about her love life.
However, the conversation didn’t end peacefully. Dylan and Kevin’s expressions darkened further at Carol’s words.
“We saw it.”
“…Huh?”
“We saw it ourselves!”
“…What did you see?”
An uneasy feeling crept up from her ankles.
The two were acting like this because they had seen something. It wasn’t just because of what the neighbor said. Why was Dylan acting so excessively? What exactly did they see?
“We saw the Duke giving a gift to another woman, and that woman smiling and kissing the gift.”
Why do bad premonitions always come true?
Her lips felt parched. It felt like she had been living in a fantasy and suddenly faced with cold reality.
“And that person…”
“…”
She wanted to drink water, but her hands were shaking so much she thought she might drop the glass. So Carol couldn’t drink.
She wanted to tell them not to say it. But her dry lips wouldn’t part.
“It was Lady Elisha Chesworth.”
“…”
“I heard he’s taking her as his partner to the princess’s upcoming banquet.”
The heaviest blow struck Carol’s solar plexus.
****
Carol went back to her room with a cup of warm tea. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she sighed, looking out the uncurtained window that let in bright light.
She hoped her coughing would stop as much as possible.
It seemed sleep was out of the question anyway.
After taking another sip of warm tea, Carol buried her face in the bed.
“Sigh…”
It was a topic she had never discussed with the Duke. Though they were serious and had imagined a future together, they had never talked about anything specific.
Especially not about marriage.
She wasn’t doubting his feelings right away. But a commoner’s marriage and a noble’s marriage were different.
Carol furrowed her brow.
Maybe it was time to have the conversation she had intentionally avoided, wanting to talk only about good things.
After all, if you only take the sweet, it becomes harder to endure the bitter later.
****
Knock knock.
Knock knock.
“…Sigh.”
Her siblings must have left early, as there was no sign of anyone in the house.
Which meant she was the only one to answer that knock.
Carol got up unsteadily from the bed.
“Good weekend morning.”
“…Yes.”
The delivery person, seeing Carol’s haggard face, awkwardly pointed to the stamp on the letter and said,
“It’s an express mail that needs to arrive as soon as possible, so I came early in the morning.”
She should have slept a bit more in the morning, but of all days, a letter had to come this early.
Carol received the letter with an annoyed look, but upon seeing the sender’s name, she couldn’t help but soften her expression.
“Thank you.”
Carol sat in a chair, carefully opened the letter, and quickly read through the neatly written message.
