“The heir to the Duke of Barrington, who has been suspiciously bereaved twice? The eldest son of the Marquess of Thorlane, who is said to have a low intelligence and cannot communicate well? Or the second child, who is famous for messing around with this woman or that woman? The Marquess of Wynn Blair is not even talking about marriage. There is no man to put it in.”
“Mother….”
“Your father will do whatever it takes to get you married into one of the ‘Four Great Families.’ You know that, right?”
Of course it was. She was very tired of her father’s 4th generation family name.
How much trouble she suffered from a young age, saying that one of the four most powerful families in the empire should inherit the marriage.
“I’d say Duke Lancaster’s conditions are preferable. He has a stable government and grown children, so he won’t bother with you unnecessarily. Besides, when the duke passes away, you’ll inherit a substantial fortune. At that time, you can live as you please.”
“Do you even know when the duke will pass away? I’ll probably be over thirty by then!”
“Waiting ten years for a comfortable forty years of life isn’t a bad deal, is it?”
Then, she muttered as if she was talking to herself.
“Once you become a duchess, even your father will have to bow his head. What’s there not to like? Tsk.”
Ethel’s eyes flickered at her words.
Already suffocating under her father’s autocracy and oppression, she clung to the hope of escaping him, barely sustaining herself through a glimmer of optimism.
‘Yes, once this marriage is done, I can leave the Canyan County. If I endure a few more years, I can gain my freedom. So, endure. Let’s endure.’
From then on, she diligently prepared for the marriage as her father wished.
Although she knew there were rumors circulating about this marriage, whenever she attended parties or gatherings, she would smile as if she were happy.
However, from the moment she entered the duchy, Ethel realized that it, too, couldn’t be a ‘home.’
“Your father taught you well, didn’t he? Act like the perfect duchess. Don’t harbor unnecessary ambitions; just exist in that position. That’s your role.”
On the night of the wedding, after briefly visiting her bedroom, Duke Lancaster left, stating that his own chamber awaited him.
Ethel felt a sense of shame, but at the same time, she felt a strange relief.
Not only had the duke not touched her, but the training she had received to become a lady seemed to make living in the duchy not as challenging as she had feared.
However, that was a significant misconception.
She didn’t realize that the duke not touching her meant being treated as little more than an object in the duchy.
Furthermore, the duke’s well-established children were also hostile towards her. Well, they probably didn’t want to share their wealth and power with a sudden arrival.
“What’s so regrettable that Father decided to remarry? And with such an insignificant woman from a minor family!”
“Someone has to sit in the position of the duchess. Father dislikes being called a widower.”
“Widower? It’s been over 15 years since he established the duchy.”
“Even so, he can’t raise that common-born woman to the position of duchess. I don’t particularly like her either.”
“More importantly, Canyan count put in a tremendous effort, right? Trying to get involved with our family somehow.”
The duke’s children, exchanging such words in front of Ethel, laughed and mocked her inability to say a word.
“Just stay quiet and endure. If you don’t want trouble.”
Despite hearing such words, Ethel gritted her teeth and endured each day.
She flawlessly managed the duke’s grand and small receptions, handled dozens of ledgers and over a hundred servants, welcoming guests every day without making a single mistake.
In the social circles, she acted as if everything were perfect, not wanting to tarnish the name of the Lancaster Duke or tarnish her own honor.
‘Just endure a few more years, and when the duke dies, I’ll live freely!’
She clung to that thought and endured patiently.
However, it was all in vain.
The ‘Duke’s Independence Plan,’ which she had no knowledge of, was exposed earlier than expected, and the enraged emperor mercilessly crushed the duchy.
“Escape, my lady! The emperor’s army is approaching! Hurry!”
The day the disheveled servant ran, shouting for her to flee as if vomiting blood, remained vivid in Edel’s memory, like it happened yesterday.
Despite having a force that could stand against the emperor, she must have planned for independence. However, the duke’s army crumbled before the emperor’s suppression forces, unable to achieve a single victory.
During the chaos, the maids who stayed in the duchy quickly packed their belongings and returned to their families, while the astute servants stole whatever they could from the duke’s estate.
Yet, she held onto the castle. She had to.
‘I am the mistress of this castle; I have nowhere else to go!’
Despite not gaining a piece of power and enduring inhumane treatment, Ethel was determined to fulfill her duty as the duchess.
However, the steward pulled her out, insisting he would guard the duchy’s affairs.
“It’s all wrong! The duchy is finished! The young master and the ladies have already escaped!”
The one pushing Ethel’s back had rushed away the moment he heard the sound of the castle gates breaking, but he was the only one who had shown her kindness until the end. No one else even bothered to tell her to escape.
Standing on the third-floor corridor overlooking the chaos unfolding below, Ethel realized she had been abandoned. There was no way to save her life.
The path leading outside was blocked, and the duke’s family hadn’t revealed the secret passage within the castle to her.
Unable to stand still, Ethel sprinted to the attic used as a storage room, where she decided to hide.
‘Why has the heavens forsaken me? What path did I go wrong?’
In the dark corner, huddled against the wall, she pondered questions with no answers.
She had endured her father’s harsh education since childhood, striving to become an impeccable lady, recognized even in high society.
But being praised for a facade created by her father’s plans felt futile and painful. Living like this, it seemed that someday she would vanish completely.
‘Could all this suffering have been a warning from the gods, urging me to escape from behind these walls?’
Outside, the dreadful screams and the incessant clash of blades continued.
‘I’ve merely lived a life as a tool, a tool to bring more wealth and power to my father and family, a tool for the reputation of the duchy…’
It was still the same at that moment.
While the imperial troops searched the castle for Ethel, the duke’s children must have escaped far away.
‘I am the bait. Perhaps they deliberately let it be known that I am here.’
Realizing once again that death was inevitable, hiding in the corner seemed utterly meaningless.
‘Yes, if I was born and raised only for the sake of being a duchess, then even in the end, I must be a duchess.’
Ethel, determined not to make her last moments ignoble, stretched her cramped body.
She delicately arranged the worn-out chair she found in the corner in the middle of the warehouse, sat down quietly, and tidied her disheveled hair. Using the handkerchief in her pocket, she gently dabbed her face, wiping away the cold sweat.
Meanwhile, the sound of knights rushing up the stairs drew closer.
‘Omnipotent and merciful Lady Fara, please take me without great suffering.’
In that moment, as death loomed ever closer, she sought a deity she had never known to grant her final wish.
Creak, creak.
The door shook.
“This door is the only one locked!”
“Captain! I think it’s here!”
The suppression force, having searched every room in the castle, gathered in front of the last storage room at the top of the castle.
Ethel, who had been praying, clenched her fists tightly as her joined hands trembled.
“Face adversity with grace. Endure in the embrace of the divine. Pain is fleeting, and the fruits of endurance are sweet.”
She murmured the scripture passage she always recited with her parched lips. Even if enduring imminent pain and gaining from it only led to death.
“Break down the door.”
Along with a man’s voice, something thudded against the door. The worn hinges of the door shattered with a few impacts, and beyond the fallen door, a indifferent-looking man stood.
There were other knights beside him, but the presence of that man was so overpowering that others seemed faint in comparison.
‘Rasto Christceros… the Emperor’s hunting dog?’
Having never tasted defeat, he once again carried out his master’s command without failure.
“Duchess Ethel Lancaster?”
Unwiped bloodstains adorned his cheek and hands as he inquired. Not that he didn’t know, of course.
“Impressive, as rumored, such a beauty.”
“Even if she’s a second wife, is this because a duchess still a duchess? Remarkable amidst all this chaos…”
Despite the snide remarks from surrounding knights, his expression remained unchanged. With sharp eyes visible through disheveled black hair and a prominent nose extending over sporadic stubble, he was an impressive figure.
“I am Ethel Lancaster. Will the execution take place here?”
Ethel asked, almost hoping for the end right there.
Despite the stunned reactions and whistles from other knights, Rasto, with emotionless eyes, looked at her and answered succinctly.
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