3.
“Marsha, I need to change.
Bring me something neat and proper to wear.”
“Yes, Milady…”
Looking glum, Marsha disappeared, weighed down by the fact that she had failed to carry out Nina’s orders for three days straight.
It wasn’t even her fault, and yet she drooped so pitifully that Nina found her both endearing and a little sad.
Really… it’s because she’s so hopelessly kind that she could never bring herself to leave me, even at the end…
After the fall of House Taylor, when everyone else scattered to save themselves, Marsha alone had remained by her side to the very last.
“Milady, I’m sorry…”
“What on earth do you have to be sorry for?”
“I just… keep getting so sleepy…”
“…It’s all right.
You’ve suffered enough.
You can rest now.”
“Then… I’ll just… sleep a little…”
“…Yes, sleep well.
Let’s be sure to meet again.”
That winter, the cold was so merciless that even huddling together beneath a pile of discarded blankets, relying on each other’s warmth, had not been enough to endure.
After two years of wandering the streets at her side, Marsha’s blind devotion finally ended in death.
And not long after, Nina followed her into the grave.
Though she had reincarnated and never met Marsha again in the heavens…
“Damn it…”
The old memories welled up, and her nose stung as tears threatened to rise.
Just then, Marsha returned and, catching sight of her expression, rushed over in alarm.
“M-Milady, are you unwell?
Shall I fetch the physician?”
“…No, it’s fine.”
Nina shook her head firmly.
Although the bruises on her body hadn’t fully faded and her limbs ached, it wasn’t physical pain that bothered her.
What stirred in her was the memory of Marsha’s stubborn loyalty — how she’d suffered to stay by her side, refusing to abandon an unworthy mistress even when she could have run away.
In a low, melancholy voice Nina said,
“…Change my clothes.
See to me.”
“Are you sure you’re really all right…?”
Nina nodded, though the truth was she wasn’t all right at all.
Face-to-face with someone who knew the worst of her past and having to speak with them about it?
She wanted, more than anything, to turn into dust and disappear.
She wished, more than anything, that no one knew her — that no one remembered.
But you can’t hide forever just because it’s embarrassing.
To stop her family’s ruin and the miserable end that awaited her and Marsha, she would have to summon courage she didn’t even know she had.
Only then could she change the future.
“All set.
I’ll do your makeup now.”
“Okay.”
With Marsha’s help, Nina changed into a thin silk dress accented with a lace collar at the neckline and lace at the wrists.
For something pulled from her extravagant dressing room, it was a surprisingly simple and modest outfit.
Nina opened a drawer in the vanity and took out a neat pearl hairpin.
“Use this to pin up my hair today.”
“Milady, isn’t that a bit too plain for you to wear?”
“No, it’s just right.
And the makeup doesn’t need to be heavy either.
Just even out my skin tone — that will be enough.”
At her order, Marsha’s eyes widened in surprise.
She had always worn heavy makeup even at home, so her unusual request seemed to catch Marsha off guard.
With a faint smile, Nina said,
“…I’m going to divorce my husband.”
“Wh-what?
Whaaat?”
“I said, I’m going to divorce him.”
She should have done it long ago.
From the very start, their bond had been crooked, like a button fastened through the wrong hole.
How could anyone truly love a man they had deceived and blackmailed into marriage?
Because she was pretty, because her family was powerful — she had thought that one day he would come to love her?
That marriage was irreversible, so he would have no choice but to accept her?
What a selfish, foolish way of thinking.
…It may be late, but I still have to set things right.
Just then, Marsha, trembling as though something were terribly wrong, asked in a worried voice,
“M-Milady… do you feel dizzy, or have gaps in your memory, or… does anything feel different from usual?”
“I thought you’d be happy the moment you heard it, but instead you’re treating me like I’m sick.
That’s too much, Marsha.”
Wasn’t she the one who had wanted this more than anyone — for Nina to end a meaningless marriage that was only grinding her down day by day?
You’re the one who told me a hundred times not to waste another year living like this, until my ears practically bled.
Though she’d given up after Nina refused to listen, hearing her lady finally say she wanted a divorce, only to be treated like a patient instead of greeted with joy, left Nina a little taken aback.
“Milady, I am glad you’ve decided to divorce—truly I am—but you suddenly saying it like this makes me worried and frightened.
Besides, you’re a patient…”
Tears welled in Marsha’s eyes.
All because the back of her head was cracked—yet Marsha looked at her as if she were watching someone on their deathbed, worry written everywhere.
Of course it would seem wrong to Marsha that her obsessive mistress suddenly declared she wanted a divorce.
But don’t worry, Marsha.
I’m not going to die.
In fact, her mind was clearer now than it had ever been.
“Marsha, do you know why I fell down the stairs?”
“…Pardon?
Well, that is…”
“You know it too—the rumor’s all over the house.”
Marsha’s pupils shook as if struck by an earthquake.
Just as Nina said, there wasn’t a single soul in the mansion who didn’t know she had been thrown out of the Duke’s bedchamber in the middle of the night.
Whenever the servants gathered in twos and threes, they whispered about the real reason their lady had gotten hurt.
“If anyone dares gossip about that, Milady, I’ll tear their mouths apart.
If I rip them all one by one, no one will remember anymore…”
Marsha’s light, birdlike figure clenched her fists in fury at those frivolous people, and Nina snorted.
“Oh really — you’ll tear them all with those tiny hands of yours?
Let’s hope you don’t end up the one who gets hurt instead.”
“If I at least grab them by the hair and pull, won’t they learn to mind their manners?
I would do anything for you, Milady.”
Of course, Marsha would do exactly that.
She had faithfully served the lady who had helped bring about her family’s ruin, stayed by her side until the end, and finally closed her eyes.
“Well, the rumors are out, and honestly I’m sick of living like this.
That’s why I’m going to divorce my husband.”
“You truly mean it, Milady?”
“Yes.”
“…Very well.
If that is your wish, then I’ll do everything I can to make you shine.”
Nina gave a faint laugh at Marsha’s sudden enthusiasm and tossed out a teasing remark.
“So you weren’t giving it your best before?”
“Oh, Milady, you know that’s not what I meant!
Anyway, I’ll show you the full extent of my skills, so be prepared to be amazed.”
“W-Wait, there’s really no need to go that far…”
It wasn’t as if she were going out.
After several days, her face was a little haggard, so all she needed was to look presentable enough not to embarrass herself in front of others.
Startled by Marsha’s determined tone, Nina’s eyes went wide.
Though she had been weighed down with worry for days, Marsha now smiled brightly, as if to say Nina need only trust her.
A short while later—
“How is it?
Do you like it?”
“It’s… wonderful.”
Pale, luminous skin.
Eyes faintly reddened, as though she had just wept.
Lips smooth and pink, free of any roughness.
The haggard face, once marked by dull skin and hollow under-eyes, had been remade into that of a delicate, sickly beauty.
Nina stared, entranced, at her own reflection in the mirror.
Then she rose, eyes filled with newfound resolve.
With such a pure, fragile appearance, surely even her husband would believe she was no longer the obsessive madwoman she had once been.
Nina shut her eyes tight, drew a deep breath, and opened the door.
I can do this.
It’s nothing.
Once she hurried through the divorce, changed her name, and started anew, even this sordid past would be nothing more than yesterday’s story.
Lifting her trembling eyelids, she straightened her back and took her first step forward.
***
The people of the Nesman Empire loved tea so much that they held as many as eight tea times a day.
Ash was no exception.
In his study, he sipped a light luncheon tea while reading a letter from his nephew.
Now just ten years old, Ian was living in the academy dormitory.
He wrote that he had done well on his first semester midterms and that he had grown taller.
…He must have grown a lot.
The last time Ash had seen his nephew’s face was two years ago.
After winning the third trial, he had sent Ian straight off to the boarding academy.
He knew all too well that the woman who had meddled in his trials just to marry him would never leave his nephew alone…
And more than that, he no longer felt he had the right to look upon the boy’s face.
His eyes darkened—but only for a moment.
“…Step aside at once.
I must see my husband.”
“His Grace has given orders that no one is to be admitted.”
“Then at least tell him this will only take a moment.
I have something important to say—five minutes, that’s all I ask.
Otherwise, I’ll stay right here until he comes out himself.”
Ash pressed a broad palm against his forehead and rubbed hard.
Throb.
Throb.
The faint sound of his wife’s voice drifting in from outside the door was enough to give him a headache.
After days of being refused an audience, she had finally come herself.
If his wife had appeared, it would be quicker to deal with her directly.
That wretched woman had the habit of relentlessly tormenting the servants until he showed his face.
But wasn’t that precisely why one paid servants—to endure such troubles in his stead?
Ash carried on with his work, as though whatever scene was unfolding outside had nothing to do with him.