Chapter 12
“I’ll try.”
Cain answered nervously.
“If you have nothing more to say, then leave.”
After staying with Jane for a long time, his head started pounding. The scent of cigars lingering in the office also became uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry for taking up your time. Let me ask you one more question. It’s about the contract period.”
“… … .”
“You want to enroll Joseph into the academy and make him a top student within one year?”
“Is it difficult?”
Jane remained silent. It wasn’t difficult to get him to study.
But she found out that Cain had no strong reason to come looking for her.
He could have easily found a tutor to teach Joseph in his studies.
The fact that he comes to someone he doesn’t like, marries her by contract, and entrusts his child to her means that he has something to hide. A secret that must not be leaked out.
What is there to hide when it comes to children?
‘Is it something painful?’
If your child is physically ill, treatment will take a lot of time.
But physical illness is not a big problem. Hastings’ doctor was very skilled, and due to his material wealth, he was able to treat any number of illnesses.
The problem was when the child had emotional defects.
They said, ‘He got kicked out of school.’
He couldn’t have gotten into such big trouble that he got kicked out of school on a simple whim.
She believed that the child was likely to have emotional deficits.
In that case, one year might not have been an enough time.
He is maybe increasing the possibility that Jane will not be able to keep her promise.
But she didn’t want to ask Cain for more time.
One year was enough for her to stay by his side. That was enough for her to shake off her lingering feelings for Cain.
‘Let’s try something.’
Jane steeled her resolve.
“No. No problem. I’ll just leave now.”
“Wait a moment.”
Cain caught Jane. She looked back at Jane in confusion because it was he who had been giving her a look telling her to get out of the way the whole time.
“Bedtime is twice a week. I don’t think I said it.”
Jane’s eyes, which were shaking slightly, fell in despair.
She held up those papers again. She then discovered a provision she had not seen before.
It was an additional provision he wrote. The end of the contract that Jane was holding cringed.
“You said you want to do it right as a duchess, so please take care of the social season that is about to start.”
It was Cain’s punishment for Jane.
Jane has already been kicked out of social circles. But when he asked for a social season, he meant that she had to go out and bear others mean behaviour.
I slowly began to get a sense of what Cain wanted from me.
He wants her to despair.
She was desperate, she was full of it, but it seemed meaningless that she didn’t do it right in front of his eyes.
In order for Jane to break her heart from Cain, she willingly accepted his condemnation.
“Of course.”
Strengthening her relationships with other wives would help in Joseph’s friendships.
But where is Joseph’s biological mother? Is there a story behind sending the child here? Is she really dead like the rumors say?
Jane suddenly came to her senses when she heard Cain pounding on her table.
“Sorry. for a moment… … I thought differently.”
“I bet you didn’t hear a word I said. I don’t like to tell anything twice, Jane.”
“I’ll be careful from now on.”
There was a strange sense of rebellion in her obedient attitude, but Cain ignored it. He didn’t need to attach meaning to each of her reactions. He was also tired.
“You are still yet to debut in the social circles. It will be after 2 months from now.”
“Debutant?”
“Yes, Jane. Was she going to marry me without a debutante?”
The debutante was a coming-of-age ceremony for a noblewoman. If a person did not perform a debutante, he or she would not be recognized as an adult in social circles even
when he or she was older.
Because the Whitney family went bankrupt before Jane’s debutante, she was practically a minor in social circles.
“You’re not going to make me a social criminal, Right?”
“No.”
Jane’s throat sank as she remembered the time she had spent with Mrs. Whitney, who was excited about her debutante. Jane asked, while clearing her throat.
“Why two months later? The social season starts in a month.”
“Jane.”
Cain clicked his tongue as if he felt very sorry for her.
“Jane, look at you. What do you look like now?”
Cain raised one corner of his mouth.
“It’s hard to watch.”
“… … .”
“Two months is the time to get rid of your sloppiness. You will have more to learn than you think.”
There was also a thing called fashion in social circles. From the dress, the way you speak, and even the dance.
However, I couldn’t just follow what was popular this year. In order to have a conversation, you had to be familiar with past trends.
This is because the current trend may be a variation of a trend at some point in the past or a backlash against the previous style.
Therefore, Jane had to learn about the social world of the past seven years for two months.
That wasn’t all. I also had to study how power in social circles was distributed and which families to keep an eye on.
‘I know that because I keep reading the newspaper… … .’
Since I needed to know secret stories that didn’t appear in the newspapers, studying separately was essential.
“Are you running out of time? Is two months too much?”
“No. It’s enough.”
“If you understand, go out. There will be someone waiting to help you prepare. Let’s take a closer look at the contract.”
It was a contract with only Jane’s signature line blank. Jane thought about signing on the spot, but then stopped.
As he said, it was necessary to read the contract carefully. Even though she doesn’t have the right to change one word of her contract.
Cain returned to his desk without even seeing her off. Jane did not move from her standing position until he sat down and picked up the pen.
“Aren’t you going out?”
“I want to ask you something.”
He gestured her with his chin as if to encourage her to try speaking.
Jane hesitated, but then she seemed to have made up her mind, while holding the contract tightly in her arms.
“Does the sleeping clause also apply after two months?”
Jane’s gaze as she asked the question was very provocative. Cain was not the type to ignore that provocation.
“If you want, we can start it from today.”
He smiled lazily.
* * *
There was a click and the sound of the door closing.
〈Do you want?〉
Jane ran out of his office as if she was running away from his gaze that seemed to crush her at any moment.
She heard that he often goes out at night, so it seems like sharing the affection between men and women is very easy for him.
This is something that requires a lot of courage for Jane.
‘You must have a lot of experience.’
Jane suddenly felt scared. Was it really a good decision to monopolize him?
Cain must have had an unimaginable night with many women.
I suddenly felt embarrassed that he had confidently asked me to dedicate a year to myself. And the night I would spend with Cain came as an enormous burden.
Jane took a slow breath.
“Miss.”
When Jane raised her head at the call, a maid with impressive apricot skin was in front of her.
She was a maid whose nape was quite beautiful thanks to her upturned hair style. Jane’s eyes fell on the sapphire earrings on her white earlobes.
Seeing that she has an earring that even Jane doesn’t have, she must be a resourceful and talented child.
It was highly likely that she received gifts to please her owners or earned money by running other errands.
“My name is Michel and I will be serving you from today. Would you like to go to your room?”
The maid met Jane’s eyes and bowed her head politely.
She was just over 20 years old, she was young and she was a cute kid.
Looking at Michelle, who was in front of her, Jane thought,
‘This place has changed so much in last 7 years.’
It was a rule for the Hastings family’s maids to walk without making a sound, but Michelle’s gait was extremely brisk.
‘Or did I learn less?’
I felt like I should cancel my previous assessment that she was resourceful or capable.
She walked with quite a noise, if it weren’t for the fact that she had a carpet down.
“I almost made a mistake.”
Michelle suddenly stopped.
“The lady’s room is on the 4th floor, the guest room! I almost took her to the duchess’s room. You’re not a duchess yet.”
‘Look at this?’
Jane burst out laughing at her exaggerated movements and tone of voice.
Michelle’s frown narrowed.
Jane knew what her actions meant. She had seen many maids like her in the past.
These are people who act territorially thinking that the power of their master is theirs.
Or maybe she was jealous. There are often maids who love their masters. In that case, she regarded the young woman brought by her master as her rival.
Considering that she was young and energetic, the latter was most likely the reason.
It was not uncommon for maids who loved their masters to ignore their guests when their master was away, and they were as arrogant as Michelle was now.
Her situation doesn’t seem very different, but it’s unfortunate that she’s being treated the way she is.
This was something she experienced occasionally even when she was a tutor.
However, she did not know that she would meet a maid living in her illusions at Hastings, who were quite strict about educating their subordinates.
Jane felt that seven years had passed. So much has changed.
I wondered if the only thing that hadn’t changed was my poor feelings for Cain.
“Michelle, you don’t need to show me the room. You can go on your own.”
“I guess so. You are not even a child. But what can I do since this is what my master told me to do? I have to do it. Master trusts me quite a bit.”
Michelle held her chin high. She boasted that being Jane’s assistant came from Cain’s great trust.
