Bang!
At the sound of Mikhail slamming his desk, Noel flinched slightly.
Mikhail loosened his shirt, which felt tight around his neck, but he still couldn’t calm down and started pacing around the desk.
“…Noel.”
“Yes, young master.”
“Why did you also get caught up in Natasha’s schemes?”
“…I have no excuse. I’m sorry.”
Noel bowed deeply.
To think that the person they assigned to watch Natasha lost a bet with her and ended up being dragged around, unable to pull himself together. Truly, this was a disqualification for a lawyer.
Noel wasn’t usually the type to make such mistakes, but strangely, whenever Natasha was involved, everything went awry.
“Are you sure Natasha acted alone? Was there anyone inside the dukedom who helped her?”
“We’re still investigating, but for now, it seems to be a solo act. It looks like the problem was that she could freely move around the dukedom while helping during the merchants’ association event.”
“…I thought so.”
Mikhail laughed bitterly.
“Should we try again? Ha. What a joke.”
It had all been a setup for this. He couldn’t figure out when Chloe and Natasha started conspiring together.
‘No. To begin with, why on earth would that woman…’
Mikhail clutched his throbbing head.
Chloe, why would she scheme something like this? Did she suspect an affair and want a divorce?
‘But she was cold to me from the start… I thought, like many noble couples, she just wanted us to each keep a lover and live our separate lives.’
It wasn’t uncommon among noble couples with bad relationships, even if they didn’t show it due to moral considerations.
When he thought of Chloe, he remembered her always pale, lips pressed tightly together, and the last time he saw her face.
What she had coughed up was definitely a dark red clot of blood.
“…Can a person cough up blood when they’re extremely angry?”
“Excuse me?”
“No. It’s nothing.”
He realized his question was absurd.
No matter how angry one is, how could a person cough up blood? Then what exactly did he see?
‘Was that another one of Natasha’s tricks? Trying to confuse me like this? If so, it’s working perfectly. Damn it.’
Mikhail ruffled his hair in frustration. He couldn’t shake off the feeling of unrest.
Noel looked at him for a moment and then asked for his thoughts.
“What should we do, young master?”
“What?”
“The divorce papers will arrive soon. A trial will be scheduled quickly. The legal team will do their best, depending on your intention.”
Though he spoke in a roundabout way, he was asking Mikhail directly.
‘Should we prepare to block the divorce, or should we prepare to agree to it?’
The materials needed would be entirely different depending on the goal.
Mikhail was silent for a moment.
He himself didn’t know what he should do.
“…What should I do?”
“Even if you ask me that…”
“Noel. If it were you, what would you do?”
Noel gave a slightly troubled smile. But if his employer wanted him to roll, he would roll.
“…If it were me, I think I would agree to the divorce.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ve already shown a fatal weakness. There aren’t many ways to prevent a divorce. The only thing you can do is somehow appease Lady Chloe and beg for forgiveness. Since you’ve become the guilty party, it’s hard to take a favorable position in a divorce lawsuit.”
“Is there no other reason?”
“If you look for reasons, there are plenty. First of all, don’t you already have a lover you cherish? Even if not as a legal spouse, you could keep her as a mistress. After divorcing Lady Chloe, you could find another noblewoman whose interests align with yours and remarry.”
Although divorce and remarriage were taboo in society, they weren’t entirely condemned.
Especially for Mikhail, the young lord of Petrov. People would line up to be his second wife.
It wouldn’t be a match as prestigious as Lady Chloe from the Duke of Richard’s family, but he could find a decent enough bride.
“…You’re right.”
Mikhail agreed with his reasoning, at least intellectually. Yes, after all, it wasn’t a marriage of love with Chloe, either.
He had no reason to forcibly stop the divorce she herself wanted. While it was a pity to sever the connection with the Richard family, he wasn’t so desperate as to hold onto someone who wanted to leave.
But why, then?
Why this unsettling feeling?
‘I feel like I’m missing something important.’
Mikhail slowly lowered his gaze to his hand. The red color that had clouded his vision earlier and the image of Chloe, being half-carried by Natasha, kept flashing before his eyes.
‘Did she come all the way to Mosqueche despite being ill?’
Such random thoughts cluttered his mind.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and the butler, with a polite demeanor, handed over a piece of mail.
“Young master, it’s a letter from the court.”
Mikhail and Noel immediately recognized what it was.
An elegant envelope with a red wax seal, held by the butler.
It was the divorce petition.
***
Yawn.
Natasha yawned lazily.
As the warm sunlight streamed down, her whole body felt languid, and sleepiness crept in. Perhaps it was because she hadn’t slept well the night before.
Ivan, who was cleaning the office floor, asked her quietly.
“Shall I get you a blanket?”
It was a question of whether she wouldn’t take a nap. Natasha shook her head vigorously.
“No. I have to work.”
Instead of trying to sleep, Natasha took a deep puff from her pipe.
When Ivan frowned, she hastily made an excuse.
“Didn’t they say it was herbal?”
“Are your headaches still bad these days?”
“Yeah. It’s because of overwork, you know.”
“I told you to take it easy.”
When it looked like Ivan’s nagging would intensify, Natasha intentionally made a loud noise as she rustled through the documents.
Ivan, too, let out a showy sigh and went back to cleaning.
“Give me the mail. I think it’s about time we heard when the trial will be.”
“Hold on a minute. We’ve been getting a lot of mail these days. Let’s see….”
As Ivan rummaged through the mail, he muttered to himself.
“Oh? I accidentally brought the downstairs mail too. I’ll have to return it later.”
“The bakery downstairs? Perfect. While you’re there, buy some bread.”
“Okay. But… something’s odd.”
“What is?”
“The recipient isn’t Jeanette; it’s Lowell.”
Natasha looked up sharply. That crafty kid was definitely up to something!
“Lowell?”
“Yeah. It’s even a letter from the Kingdom of Hamond.”
“Has that brat got a pen pal overseas or something?”
“Seems like it.”
Ivan shrugged it off, but Natasha couldn’t let it go.
“No way. Give it here. I have to take a look!”
“Are you crazy?! It’s not even Jeanette’s, so why would you open it?”
“What money would he have to send letters overseas? He must’ve used the money I secretly gave Jeanette. It’s my money, so I have the right to see it.”
Ivan firmly said no to her ridiculous argument.
“Didn’t you learn not to read other people’s mail?”
“I grew up without parents, so I never learned that! Hand it over!”
“Hey!”
Natasha lunged to snatch the letter while Ivan struggled to keep it away from her.
The fight almost ended in Ivan’s easy victory, given his height advantage, but Natasha kicked him in the shin, making the struggle quite fierce.
“Not listening to your employer, are you? I’ll fire you!”
“Go ahead! See if you can handle your temper on your own! Remember when you brought in an intern, and they ran away after exactly three days?”
“That’s because they threw up from your tea!”
“That’s because you locked them in the Supreme Court to search for precedents for two days straight!”
Amidst their fierce and fruitless battle, Natasha quickly seized the opportunity.
Snap!
“Got it!”
When she finally snatched the letter, Natasha was practically standing over Ivan.
“Move ouuuut…!”
“You should say ‘please move.’”
“Move out of the way!”
“You really have no manners with your elder sister.”
Humming a tune, Natasha glanced through the letter she’d taken.
“Judging by this seal, it really is from the Kingdom of Hamond. Let’s see who the sender is….”
Bang!
Just as she was about to check the letter, the office door swung open.
“Welcome to the divorce speciali— What’s this?”
Natasha gave a crooked smile at the unexpected visitor.
“Jerome. What brings you all the way here?”
Jerome, with a serious face, glared sharply at Natasha.
Though he had always bickered with Natasha whenever they met, he had never come directly like this.
“Ugh…”
Natasha naturally stepped down from atop Ivan.
“Is this what you had in mind when you did that? To backstab me?”
His tone was quite sharp. Unlike his usual snappy speech, he seemed genuinely at a loss for what to do with his bubbling anger.
Even Ivan, who was holding his belly, where footprints were clearly imprinted, was cautiously watching.
However, Natasha was as calm as ever.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Since when…!”
“From the start. Going to the dinner party following Denis, volunteering to help the Merchant Guild with all those memories—everything.”
Her tone was almost bold.
“What? Upset it didn’t go as you expected? Are you terribly sad? Angry?”
“What?”
“You were the one who wanted to get along like before. You seemed so pleased to see me getting along with Mikhail. Even made me feel a bit guilty.”
“You knew everything…”
Jerome was startled by Natasha’s knowledge of every detail he had wanted to hide.
“Jerome, Jerome, Jerome.”
Natasha smiled softly.
“You’re really naive, you know? Or should I say you haven’t changed?”
“This is ridiculous. Who’s the one acting all friendly and then suddenly betraying?”
“You always wanted me to bow my head and come crawling back.”
Jerome stared intently at Natasha, but as always, he could read nothing from her.
Facing a seasoned lawyer, Jerome was too transparent.
“You say you want things ‘like before’ and to ‘get along,’ but you just want me to crawl back, kowtow to Mikhail. Is that what you call ‘getting along’? It’s just me playing along.”
“…”
“Have you ever confronted Mikhail like this? ‘Why don’t you just give in a little to Natasha?’ ‘Can’t we just get along like we used to?’ Have you?”
“…”
Jerome kept his mouth shut. Natasha chuckled, as if she had expected that.
“Fine. What do I expect, anyway?”
“…”
“Just go. Before I call the guards. Unless you want the headline on the Romanov Weekly to read ‘The Second Son of the Petrov Dukedom is Dragged Off by Guards in the Market Square.’”
Jerome, who had been listening quietly, spoke in a small voice.
“…But…”
“What?”
“…You were the one who did wrong first.”
Rubbing his red, tear-stained eyes, he continued.
“So, can’t you bow your head a little…?”
“…Wait, are you crying?”
“You made them divorce by driving a wedge between them…! So, can’t you just apologize, admit you were wrong, and bow your head…?!”
• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •By Esraa• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •
If you want to support the translation and the translator, you can buy a coffee~
