10.
“Madam, with a single word from a Supreme Justice, even a perfectly competent lawyer can be stripped of his license.”
Ash straightened his posture, fixing Nina with an unyielding gaze.
That was precisely why he was quietly preparing her grandfather’s downfall.
As long as the old man held his seat, a clean divorce was impossible.
“If your grandfather so wishes, he can turn a notarized pledge from your counsel into nothing more than a meaningless scrap of paper.
And you dare call this a plan?”
At his cutting remark, Nina squeezed her eyes shut, her lips trembling.
So… my grandfather was even more formidable than I ever imagined…
That he could revoke a lawyer’s license by sheer authority
—she had never known.
Which meant that her husband could nullify her pledge through that very power.
The thought had never even crossed her mind.
Damn it…
How could she persuade someone who had no faith she would ever honor her word?
She had never imagined her own disgraceful past would come back to shackle her like this.
Her whole body trembling with suppressed anguish, Nina let out a bitter, mocking smile before slowly opening her lips to the man who was waiting for her excuse.
“…Darling, tell me—what woman in this world could remain unshaken after hearing from her own husband that her body doesn’t stir his desire?”
The faintest crack appeared in his otherwise cold, mocking gaze.
He knew it too
—those words could wound a woman more deeply than any other.
The mercilessness he had shown that day was what had finally driven her to despair, even after she had endured countless rejections with nothing but stubborn defiance.
The bitterness of that humiliation lingered for only a moment.
“You may not believe me, but those words forced me to face reality.
If even my body cannot move you… what on earth could I possibly do?”
She should have taken the time to build trust, but instead she had been too desperate to leave—blurting out a demand for divorce.
Wanting to sever everything quickly and run toward a new life had been nothing more than her own selfish desire.
There’s no helping it now.
A faint, resigned smile touched Nina’s lips as she slowly rose to her feet.
“…All right.
I’ll abide by your wishes.
Still—if, by some chance, you ever change your mind, no matter when it is, tell me.”
It was a step back, meant to take her one step forward later.
One year.
Within that time, she would win his trust, secure a peaceful divorce, and free herself from the world.
As Nina turned away, a quiet resolve flickered through the clear blue of her eyes.
***
The conservatory of the Duke of Norde’s estate.
Built of the finest, spotless glass, this greenhouse was the Duchess of Norde’s most cherished space.
Filled with rare exotic plants and exquisitely beautiful yet temperamental species, it was the perfect place to flaunt her wealth to her guests.
“…By the way, have you all heard the news?”
Rebecca, the mistress of House Norde, with her elegant brown hair pinned up and eyes the color of emeralds,
broke the silence in a hushed tone.
“What amusing tale are you holding back from us this time, Madam, that you leave us in such suspense?”
One lady leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Rebecca, as if she had been waiting for that very question, began her story in a conspiratorial whisper.
“A story I heard not long ago… they say the Duchess of Bayern tumbled down the stairs.”
“Oh my.”
The guests’ eyes widened in surprise
— they’d expected at most a quarrel between husband and wife.
“My heavens, how did that happen…?”
“So that’s why she’s been absent from gatherings lately.
Is she badly hurt?”
As the ladies murmured, Rebecca lowered her voice into a conspiratorial whisper.
“I don’t know how badly she’s hurt.
But I do know how she got hurt.”
Someone else muttered with a grave look.
“You don’t mean to suggest she was pushed, do you?”
Anyone who’d seen and heard the Duchess of Bayern’s rampages would be the first to think so.
It had been her routine to glare at any man who met her husband’s eye as if to kill him, and to brand any woman who happened to speak to him as immoral and try to ruin her reputation.
If she behaved that way toward fellow nobles, one could only imagine the havoc she wreaked upon her servants.
Rebecca savored the aroma of her tea and murmured,
“It would have been far better if that were the case…”
She still recalled her own astonishment when she first learned of that incident.
Even knowing the source was reliable, it had seemed so incredible that she had double-checked it herself.
Surely the ladies gathered here would react no differently once they heard.
“My lady, what do you mean?
How could that possibly have been the better outcome?”
“We’re dying to know—please, tell us at once.”
Rebecca’s chest rose and fell in a little laugh, and when the room’s curiosity swelled to the point of bursting, she finally whispered,
“Well, it seems the Duchess of Bayern crept to His Grace’s bedchamber in the middle of the night… only to be turned out.”
Shock flickered openly in the ladies’ eyes.
“Oh, heavens…”
“No—that cannot be…”
Their cheeks flushed with embarrassment as they raised gloved hands to cover their lips.
Rebecca, affecting a sorrowful air, lowered her gaze and went on.
“I heard she went so far as to demand her wifely rights,” Rebecca murmured, “and when he refused her, the wound to her pride was so deep she ransacked the bedchamber, drank herself insensible, and tumbled down the stairs.
Oh, how pitiable it all sounded when I heard it.”
“Even so… to think she would try to entice him with her body…”
In the world of noble ladies, where modesty was prized above all, using one’s body as bait was the province of courtesans—crude and shameful.
And to be cast out on top of it all…
If such talk spread through society, the Duchess of Bayern’s dignity would plummet to the floor, her name whispered with derision as unchaste, her every step dogged by scornful fingers pointing her out.
As expected…
Just as Rebecca had foreseen, the guests’ brows knit in distaste, and they began neatly carving up the duchess’s reputation on the spot.
“The Duchess of Bayern was once the most envied woman in society.
With her family name and her beauty, there wasn’t a thing lacking.
When news broke that she was to wed His Grace, we all thought the world most unfair…”
“Indeed.
Who could have imagined that the illustrious daughter of such a house would be reduced to begging for her husband’s affection?”
As the ladies shook their heads and clicked their tongues, Rebecca lowered her eyes, letting a demure smile play at her lips.
Outwardly, she looked the picture of sympathy, but not a soul in the room failed to sense the mockery behind it.
After all, it was these very women who had spent the past two years chipping away at the duchess’s honor, piece by piece.
Soon enough this tale, too, will sweep through every drawing room, Rebecca thought with quiet satisfaction.
And when it does, the Duchess of Bayern’s reputation will plunge beyond saving.
Nina Bayern.
Of the same generation as herself, she was the illustrious daughter of the House of Taylor—an ancient and esteemed family, no less venerable than Rebecca’s own birth house, the House of Wessler.
Rebecca had despised Nina for as long as she could remember.
They had made their debuts in society at nearly the same time, and with that came the inevitable comparisons.
Yet it was always Rebecca who was found wanting.
And then…
Ash D.
von Bayern.
The very man Rebecca had quietly adored for years—Nina had gone so far as to marry him.
How bitterly she had wept when the announcement of their union spread through society.
And worse still, when her parents, harboring their own rivalry toward the Taylor family, forced her into a strategic marriage with the Duke of Norde, Rebecca’s resentment toward Nina grew into something monstrous, beyond all control.
“The daughter of the Taylors has wed the Duke of Bayern.
You must find a match of equal weight.
We have secured a proposal from the House of Norde—see that you accept it.”
The Duke of Norde.
Unlike the flawless Duke of Bayern, he had nothing to boast of but his title and his family name.
Short in stature, with a stomach that bulged unseemly over his belt—
and yet, everyone knew how he delighted in rating women and tossing off coarse jokes.
Arranged marriages were the fate of every noblewoman, true.
But this?
To be forced to wed such refuse?
Rebecca had gone so far as to wage a hunger strike in protest.
It was bad enough to be endlessly compared with Nina Taylor, and now even their husbands would become points of comparison!
But in the end, like every other young lady of rank, she could do nothing but bow to her parents’ will.
And then—it happened.
The once-proud, untouchable Nina began to unravel with shocking speed after her marriage.
An unloved wife.
A jealous shrew, clinging to her husband.
A vicious woman, whispered of as mad.
At last, Rebecca could shake off that clinging film of defeat that had coated her heart.
Even so, one look at her squat little husband still turned her stomach—
But surely that was better than being denied a husband’s love.
Nothing gave her more satisfaction than Nina’s miserable marriage.
I wonder what sort of face she must be wearing now…
As Rebecca sipped her tea, a base, malicious gleam flickered in her eyes.