“The princess who married the prince lived happily ever after.”
“…”
“That’s the end of today’s fairy tale.”
Viscount Argyle’s home. Edith was reading a book with her niece Sophia. Sophia Argyle, seven years old this year, looked a lot like her father, so she was a cute girl who looked pretty much like her aunt Edith.
“But Auntie.”
“What?”
“Where will the princess live from now on?”
“Well, well, since she’s married, she’ll live in the prince’s castle.”
And she was very smart. More than Edith was at her age, maybe much more.
“The princess also has a country, so what will the country do if she follows the prince?”
Edith trembled with deep emotion and heavy embarrassment. It was really good that her little niece, who was still learning about the world, came up with quality questions day by day. But it was hard for her to be the one who had to answer that.
“Does the princess have a younger sibling? A brother?”
“It’s not mentioned in the books, but one would hope so.”
“Even with a younger sibling, she could still become the ruler. Was it because of the prince that she couldn’t?”
“No, it’s not so much because of the prince, but…”
It may have been to take on this excessively intelligent daughter that Viscount Argyle gave the room without asking anything to his sister who had rushed in without notice.
“Why didn’t she become ruler then? As a princess, she could have.”
“That’s true. The book is a bit strange.”
“Does aunt think the same way? In our country, the princess became ruler.”
Yes, Edith nodded. And she realized the underlying cause of her little niece’s objection to the happy ending of the romance fairy tale book.
“Are you curious about Her Majesty’s story?”
Sophia smiled and nodded.
Indeed, it was the first time in 200 years that a queen had ascended to the throne in the Dunkeld Kingdom.
“Not even aunt knows much.”
“The marquis, who lives with aunt, and the queen are cousins.”
“Yes, they are.”
She didn’t think about it, but she felt like she was attacked unexpectedly. It was very similar to the feeling of an upset stomach. Edith replied, slowly caressing under the solar plexus. But Sophia’s attack, who did not forget what she had heard once, was not the end.
“The marquis is handsome. Is the queen pretty, too?”
“Well, I don’t know because I’ve never seen her.”
“I wish I had the same silver hair as the Marquis.”
“I don’t think it works that way…”
Was he curious about the marquis, not the queen? Normally, she’d give a rough hint about him, but now it was a bad time. For her now, the word niece was aggressive in itself. Edith looked at her niece with doubtful eyes.
“What about the marquis?”
“Ah, I saw a picture of a crown, but I thought it would look pretty with silver hair.”
Fortunately, Sophia’s attention was on the queen’s side. Edith was sorry for being sensitive for no reason, even if she didn’t show it. Edith began to respond sincerely to Sophia’s words.
The story moved to things like why the two daughters of the previous king had a different mother, or why the dowager queen, the aunt of the Marquis of Rodian, lived as a half-queen.
Edith had a hard time explaining around it. What happened to the royal family recently was not a good topic for a child to hear or an easy-to-understand topic.
After Sophia went to bed, Edith came out of the room exhausted.
‘Oh, my goodness.’
She stretched her body. It felt strange to be so tired when she had hardly done anything compared to usual. Being the marquis’ treasurer had a pile of work to do from morning to evening.
Due to the Marquis being passive in recruiting new people, there were not enough people to do finance work compared to the size of the territory.
So, during the two days that she was absent without a word, the financial executives of Lord Rodian must have endured days that felt unbearable.
‘What should I do? I feel so sorry.’
Since she had no intention of going back for a while, her apologies for her subordinates who would be overworked by excessive work deepened.
Two days ago, Edith, who had left the marquessate before dawn, came to the Argyle mansion. The viscount, who just came out of bed, looked at his sister with bewildered eyes, but before he could ask why she wasn’t sleeping at this hour, Edith preemptively silenced him with a defensive response. Edith declared that she would take a rest for now, and opened an empty room and threw her luggage in.
The viscountess and Sophia welcomed her, asking if she was on vacation. If she said no, she would have to explain everything. Edith nodded, saying, “Just like you said.”
In fact, Edith had never taken a proper vacation. For six years. So this level of deviation would and should have been fine.
Even if the document was not officially made and approved, her years of work would have guaranteed that much.
‘The problem was how things would turn out. No, whether we could even return to how we were.’
The thought gave her a headache.
The marquis would have received reports of the changes occurring in his estate. He probably heard the news about young Duchess Galloway first. He must have been furious, vowing not to let young Duchess Galloway off easily, but upon hearing that she* had fled, his anger would have intensified even more. Forgetting all about hoping for Duchess Galloway’s swift departure, his focus would now be on pursuing her relentlessly.
[*TN: Edith, not Viola]
It was best to forget their desire to make the young Duchess Galloway leave so soon.
‘Well, there is no one to point out that fact but me. Instead of chasing after her and causing a scene, I shouldn’t say such things. I should rely on Sir Dart’s abilities.’
Nevertheless, with the presence of the knight commander, she could rely on him to intervene if necessary, even if it meant throwing herself in harm’s way.
As Edith thought about the unpredictable knight commander with seemingly unbreakable loyalty to the marquis, her head swirled with anticipation. She could clearly envision how the marquis would react to the young Duchess Galloway’s situation, but she couldn’t even begin to fathom how he would respond to her own actions. Would he get angry, be puzzled, burst into laughter, sulk, or remain blank-faced? There was no mental image, just darkness.
“Oh, seriously.”
Edith, who returned to the room, paced around the room without being able to sit down. She had thought that she might need to have a conversation with the marquis, even contemplating it inside the carriage on the way to Argyle. However, not a single word or idea came to mind, and in the midst of her mental anguish, she found herself already in front of Argyle Manor.
She already ran away, but she couldn’t go back without a number of sharp moves. However, her brain, paralyzed by the tremendous work, did not work properly.
As her sister-in-law and niece said, it had been two days since she gone down and avoided reality, insisting that it was a vacation. Two days would soon be three days, and three days would be a week again. She didn’t know how to fix it, and she didn’t know if she could fix it. Edith let out a sigh. Then there was a knock.
“Edith, are you inside?”
Edith, who was surprised, was relieved to understand the voice. Outside was Viscountess Argyle, sister-in-law of Edith, and Sophia’s mother. When she answered briefly and opened the door, a friendly smile stood out first.
“Rose.”
“I’m sorry for the late hour.”
“No, I wasn’t even sleeping. What’s going on?”
“Well, do you mind if I come in for a moment?”
It was unsettling, but she couldn’t refuse. If it were her brother, he would have closed the door without even answering, but things were different with Rose. Awkwardly, Edith smiled and stepped aside at the door.
“Please have a seat here.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Rose Argyle was a woman who was about a centimeter shorter than average and looked much younger than her age with dense features.
However, in fact, she was bright and deep-minded, and she was also actually the one that led Argyle Viscountcy.
She was not the one to knock on the door for a chat late at night. Edith noticed the purpose of her sister-in-law’s visit when she sat down and looked at her with a smile. And Rose also knew Edith had realized.
“You know why I’m here, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
This has never happened in six years. Edith, who did not reply well to letters of greeting because she was immersed in her job as a financial officer, and it was difficult to meet her even if they visited.
Then she came in with a bloodless face without contact ahead of time. It is strange not to be able to guess that there is something serious.
“I thought about waiting another day, but I didn’t think that an extra day would be helpful to Edith.”
“Is that so?”
“Furthermore, in my view, Edith, it seems like you have a need to speak to someone, no matter who it may be.”
It was a turning point. Edith realized that she couldn’t find any answers by suffering alone. Wasn’t she just trapped in endlessly tangled thoughts until a moment ago? Edith weakly smiled, but as she tried to smile, she felt her lips contort and shrugged her shoulders. Seeing this, Rose spoke with a compassionate look in her eyes.
“Tell me. What happened.”
“Well, Rose. The thing is.”
She couldn’t move her mouth. However, as Rose said, deep down in her heart, she wanted to tell her everything. Edith took countless deep breaths, punched her chest with her fist, and cleared her throat with a vain cough, and opened her mouth.
“Actually, the day before I came here…”
The more she talked, the more she remembered that day. On that day, even parts she thought had been blown out flashed before her eyes. Edith’s voice grew increasingly subdued.
By the time she finished the story, it was difficult for her to understand herself. However the thoughtful Rose didn’t say that she couldn’t hear well or to ask her to say it again. Anyway, it wasn’t to the point where she couldn’t understand the context. Rose said with a nod.
“I see. That’s why you were so distracted that day.”
“It’s like that.”
“But Edith, you should not have run away from the marquis.”
“What? But Rose…”
“I’m not blaming you. It’s understandable. It was a good decision to come to Argyle instead of going elsewhere. But you know as well, the best way is to have a conversation with His Excellency.”
Her tone carried a sense of ‘You know it too.’
Edith couldn’t refute and turned her head.
“Edith. I know how proud you are of being a vassal of Silverglen. As treasurer, you’re very loyal to His Excellency the marquis. So after the thing you told me about, you must have been very surprised and afraid.”
Rose, in a calm and clear voice, pointed out the real inner thoughts that Edith herself could not bear to say.
“Because we can’t continue our relationship.”
Tears filled up in an instant and the front was blurred.
Edith sighed, covering her face with her hands. A man and woman went into the same bed. It would have been irreversible even if they were all dressed in formal attire and lying side by side.
In addition, she clearly showed places that should not be seen by people other than her spouse. Not only that. She did something breathtakingly obscene.
She took the aphrodisiac unintentionally, and it was too much to say that it was first aid. If it was something that would harm each other’s honor, there was a way to cover it up by swearing mutual silence.
The oath included absolute oblivion, oblivion until you laid your head in the coffin. But she couldn’t forget it. Because her opponent was Alpheus Rodian. Her feelings for him were very complicated.
Undoubtedly, her sense of duty as a loyal vassal overshadowed her emotions as a woman, but the feelings she had cherished in the past remained like seeds waiting to sprout.
Until now, she had been satisfied with living in the same castle, worrying about the same problems, and trying to achieve the same goal, but now she couldn’t be. So Edith couldn’t pretend nothing happened while talking to Rose. No, she failed to pretend to be okay very spectacularly.
The situation where she couldn’t go in either direction seemed absurd to her as well.
Of course, it was also impossible to go back brazenly and sit at the desk in the office. Edith Argyle, the treasurer of the Marquis of Rodian, hated to admit it, but this was the end of the story. Edith whispered in a deep voice.
“Keep it a secret from my brother.”
“Of course I will. But Edith.”
“Let’s stop here for today.”
“…”
“Thank you for listening, Rose. But let’s end it here today.”
