The Secret Circumstances of the Fake Ducal Couple

“Let me see him. Please!”

“He’s not in the house.”

“I’ll go inside and wait for him.”

“Go back.”

Jane argued with the Hastings mansion’s gatekeeper for several minutes, in her hand was a newspaper containing an account of the execution of the Count and Countess of Whitney.

“It’s important, there’s not much time.”

Jane grabbed the hem of her dress and tried to force her way in.

“Go away!”

The angry gatekeeper pushed her. Falling down, Jane screamed.

“What are you doing?”

“What am I doing? Young lady, don’t you really know why we are doing this? Are you just spoiled or are you pretending not to be? You can’t take a step into the Hastings mansion, no matter what.”

Jane’s pupils fluttered. “What… do you mean?”

“That means the Duke has given orders not to let you in.”

“That can’t be true. The Duke told me…”

I did what I was told. They told me to break up, so I broke up with Cain, and I stayed at home because I was told to stay calm because it could affect the court’s judgment if I went out.

Jane muttered in frustration. The gatekeepers looked at her and clicked their tongues.

She is a beautiful, sweet, and kind lady.

Never did they doubt that one day she would become the Duchess of Hastings.

But now she was not even allowed to pass through the gates. Human life is so ironic.

“There must have been a misunderstanding. Please, let me in. I’ll never tell anyone that you let me in. If you need money, I can…”

Jane’s hand fell limply from her pocket. There was no money in her pocket.

The day after the order to attribute the family’s wealth to the country was issued, all the pensions and property of the House of Whitney were returned to the national treasury.

All she had now were the clothes and some jewelry she was wearing.

‘Yes, jewelry!’

Jane took off her earrings. They were ruby earrings that Count Whitney had given her for her 17th birthday.

“It’s not much, but please take these.”

“Don’t do this.”

Jane held out the earrings.

The gatekeepers had had enough. They were allowed to use their swords if necessary, but they didn’t want to.

But if she’s persistent, they have no choice but to draw their swords. The gatekeepers grabbed their hilts.

“Stop.”

A deep bass voice came from behind them. The gatekeepers let go of their hilts.

“Oh! Mr. Aide!”

Jane’s eyes widened. The voice belonged to the Duke of Hastings’ aide.

“It’s been a long time, Phil! I wanted to see the Duke, but they wouldn’t let me in because of a misunderstanding. I’m so glad you’re here. The Duke is inside, isn’t he?”

Instead of answering, Phil looked Jane up and down. Her hair was disheveled, her dress soiled from sitting on the ground, and Phil frowned.

“You’re going to meet the Duke looking like that?”

Jane’s two eyebrows rose.

“I’m sorry, but the Duke is out of town,” Phil added.

The lie was obvious. The Duke of Hastings was always accompanied by his aide when out of town. If his aide was in the mansion, it meant that the Duke of Hastings was in the mansion too.

“Phil…”

“He gave me something to give you instead.”

Phil handed over a heavy pouch. Jane took it with a questioning look.

Phil said with a tone of annoyance, “Still, you’re the one who almost had a relationship with Hastings, so don’t do something as lowly as begging.”

It’s money.

Jane’s hand trembled as she recognized the contents of the pouch.

“Don’t tell me you won’t take it, young lady. You’ll be wandering the streets without it, you’ll need to find a carriage to leave the capital tomorrow.”

“T-tomorrow?”

“Don’t you know? It seems that the article didn’t even appear in the newspaper. The date of your deportation has also been decided: tomorrow. You will have to leave the capital tomorrow.”

“If- if I appeal…”

Phil pushed up his glasses and leaned closer to Jane, his eyebrows arched with a look of pity.

“Who’s going to take your appeal, and do you have the money to do it? It would be in vain, my lady. If it were me, I’d be leaving at dawn tomorrow. No child wants to see their parents’ heads hanging on the castle walls.”

Jane’s body stiffened. It took her a moment to comprehend what she had heard.

“Duke said that he would stop it…”

“You are a naive young lady to believe that.”

Phil laughed. Then he walked away, expecting Jane to hold on to him. But she couldn’t even move to catch him.

In her panic, she felt a chill on the nape of her neck.

The gatekeepers eventually pointed their swords at Jane’s throat after Phil passed by saying, “Take care of it quickly.”

“Go back, lady.”

The heartless words pushed her away again. Jane’s vision went black.

***

The sun rose again. Sitting dazedly in bed, Jane woke up to the sunlight streaming through the window.

She’d spent all afternoon yesterday trying to find a way to stop her parents’ execution but had found nothing let alone success.

Fortunately, in the midst of her misery, she heard her parents’ last words from the guard who was changing shifts.

“Jane, you must live. I love you, Jane.”

The moment Jane heard those words, she forgot that she was on the street and sobbed, her sobs so desperate and heartbreaking that they brought tears to the eyes of anyone who heard them.

She sat on the floor in front of the detention center where her parents were held until late at night. It was well after midnight when she returned home.

She stayed up all night and packed her things.

It was time to leave.

“Miss, I’m sorry I can’t accompany you.”

“I’m the one who’s sorry. You didn’t even get paid this month, and I’m leaving you in a bad way.”

Elle and several other servants who remained loyal to the Whitneys shed tears until the end.

“We’ll survive somehow, but what about you, miss?”

“I’ll find a way. For now, I’ll go to a distant relative of my mother’s.”

I’d probably get turned away, but it was all I could think of.

“It’s not much, but take this, miss.”

Elle held out a pouch. It looked similar to the pouch she’d gotten yesterday in front of the Hastings mansion. It was much smaller, though.

It was money the servants had pooled together from time to time when they realized Jane was penniless.

It was about the same amount of money she gave them for occasional pocket money.

Jane clenched her fists tightly.

“Thank you, but I couldn’t even pay last month’s salary, so I can’t accept this without shame.”

“You have to take this so we can go, miss,” Elle urged, the sight of Jena’s cloudy face keeping her on her feet.

Elle placed the pouch on the nightstand. Jane’s gaze lingered on the pouch for a long moment.

“Elle, instead of money, could you do me a favor…?”

“A favor? Sure, anything!”

Jane pulled a letter out of her desk drawer.

“I want you to give this letter to Cain.”

Last night, after some hesitation, Jane wrote the letter. It wasn’t a shameless request to see him again as a sinner’s daughter.

It was an apology for the words that had hurt him and a blessing for his future.

“Yes, I’ll be sure to deliver it.”

Elle held the letter and Jane’s hand tightly. She bowed deeply to Jane one last time.

Jane was left alone.

The bustle of morning preparations, the warm smiles, all gone, leaving only silence in the mansion.

But even this silence must now be let go. Jane’s heart burned black. The end of the child God loved was so miserable.

***

Jane Whitney is a woman who has lost everything– no, actually, she still has a lot: the shackles that put her in the mud.

Parents who died because of betrayal, huge debts, humiliation, and disgrace because of the breakup of her engagement.

Jane’s days were miserable.

She was kicked out of a relative’s house after only a month.

She had no choice but to spend the money the Duke of Hastings had given her, hoping to return it one day.

Every time she spent it, it felt like a knife scratching at her heart, but it was necessary to survive.

She used the money to settle in Rouen, a small city with a thriving maritime trade.

Settling in was not easy. Not long after she arrived, a rumor from the capital spread.

A traitor’s daughter. A traitor to the nobility.

It made her difficult to find work, and when she did, she often didn’t get paid.

“You want to get paid for working like this? Instead, you have to pay for this. Look at this damaged fabric. Don’t you know how to do it properly?”

“Do you have glue in your mouth? Answer me. What do you want me to do if you just keep your mouth shut? Do you have a complaint? Do you have any complaints?!”

If she spoke, she was cursed; if she kept her mouth shut, she was scolded.

Nevertheless, Jane tried to stay strong and bright.

Living as a lady of a fallen family made her understand her parents’ choices.

The world is not fair.

From then on, she regained her will to live. She struggled to live like a human being.

Seven years have passed since then.

A lot has changed since then.

The 18-year-old girl is now 25 years old, and the special amnesty has lifted her deportation, bringing her back to the capital.

With her deportation lifted, she began working as a tutor.

She made a name for herself as a fairly competent tutor.

“It’s a nice breeze.”

Jane was teaching a lesson in the garden in the cool spring breeze.

“Oh, Teacher, you’re supposed to play chess with me today, remember?”

The little gentleman, who was sitting opposite her and working hard to solve the problem, looked at her with his eyes twinkled.

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