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Chapter 38
“Of course. Please wait a moment.”
When Lydia asked to see her wedding ring, Seret answered with a smile, then rose from her seat and stepped out of the parlor.
She could have just asked Hanna to bring it, but she needed an excuse to step away—being in the same room with Lydia made her feel suffocated.
As soon as she exited, Hanna, who had been standing in the hall, came running over.
“My lady.”
“Hanna.”
“Are you all right?”
Hanna peered closely at Seret’s face.
Hanna did not like Lydia. She found her smiling face insincere, and the way she looked Seret up and down made her skin crawl.
Realizing that, Seret grew even fonder of Hanna. As expected, Hanna really knew how to read people.
“Of course I’m fine.”
Seret replied as she started toward the stairs.
“If Lady Elliot behaves rudely, you mustn’t endure it—talk back to her at once.”
Hanna followed after her, saying.
“Do you think that’s allowed?”
Seret chuckled as she answered.
“Of course it is! She may be His Majesty the Emperor’s daughter, but she isn’t a true princess. And you, my lady, are to be the Duchess of Frectuster.”
Hanna lowered her voice to a near whisper.
“How impertinent.”
Seret chuckled softly as she entered her room. Though she scolded Hanna lightly, inside she was delighted to have her so firmly on her side.
Once in her room, Seret opened a drawer and took out the case holding her wedding ring. Hanna’s eyes widened.
“What are you going to do with the wedding ring?”
“Lydia asked to see it.”
“And you’re really going to show her?”
Hanna narrowed her eyes.
Her expression seemed to say, My poor, naïve lady, how could you… which made Seret smile faintly. I’m not as innocent as you think, Hanna.
“She asked, so I should show her.”
Seret wanted to give Lydia the stage so she could spout nonsense. After all, Lydia was a crucial piece in ensuring a clean divorce.
She opened the case, checked the sparkling sapphire ring, and stepped back out of the room.
“She might nitpick at it. If she does, don’t you dare just sit quietly.”
“All right.”
Seret was genuinely curious. What would Lydia say when she saw the ring? Would she sneer because it wasn’t a diamond? Call it proof of a sham marriage?
I’ll have plenty of material to write in my diary tonight. Seret walked back to the parlor, full of anticipation.
Lydia, who had been waiting primly, sharpened her gaze as soon as Seret returned. Her face was like a freshly blooming rose, but her eyes were sharper than rose thorns.
“Here it is.”
Sitting down opposite Lydia, Seret opened the case and showed her the ring.
“Oh my, how pretty.”
Lydia admired the ring. Then, without hesitation, she plucked it from the case and slipped it onto her own finger.
This was supposed to be my ring anyway. With that thought, Lydia felt no qualms about wearing Seret’s wedding ring. To her, it was the most natural thing in the world.
But Seret’s smile faltered slightly. There really exists a lunatic who tries on another woman’s wedding ring…
“It’s very beautiful. But is this really a wedding ring?”
Raising her hand to examine it closely, Lydia asked with a puzzled look.
Seret, guessing what Lydia was about to say, put on an innocent expression and replied.
“Yes, Yuhan said he wanted sapphire, so we chose sapphire.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Lydia’s lips curved upward. She looked positively delighted.
She must be happy, thinking Yuhan chose sapphire as a secret sign that the marriage was fake. Seret smiled faintly, too.
Not only for Yuhan—it’s a fake marriage for me as well. She itched to say it aloud.
“Sapphire is so wonderful.”
Instead, she acted the part of the gullible, easily duped fiancée.
“Oh, Seret.”
Lydia looked at her with pity.
Seret almost burst out laughing, hearing the silent scorn beneath Lydia’s expression: How foolish you are.
“Why? Is something wrong with it?”
Seret widened her eyes and blinked innocently.
“No, not at all.”
But Lydia’s expression was still that of someone gazing at the most pitiful creature in the world.
In her previous life too, Lydia had often looked at Seret that way—with the sympathetic eyes reserved for a wife unloved by her husband.
Each time, Seret had shrunk back, feeling both envious and resentful—because she knew her husband’s affection lay with Lydia.
“Tell me, Lydia. It’s fine.”
“I don’t want to stir up unnecessary trouble.”
Lydia slipped the ring off her finger and put it back in the case.
“So there is something wrong. You see, my mother passed away early, and the only family I have is an unmarried elder brother. I don’t know much about marriage customs. Tell me, Lydia. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Seret looked at her with pleading earnestness.
Stop dancing around it and just say what you want to say, Lydia. Seret stared straight at her until Lydia, pretending reluctance, finally opened her mouth.
“All right, I’ll tell you. It just worries me a little.”
“What does? What part of it?”
“Seret.”
With a look of regret, Lydia clasped Seret’s hand. Seret resisted the urge to pull away.
“When you said you were making the wedding ring with sapphire, did Lady Oxenbury say nothing?”
“She asked if I was sure about sapphire. I said yes.”
“Oh dear, how do I even put this… Seret, wedding rings are supposed to be diamonds. Sapphire is a bit…”
“But sapphires are beautiful, too. This one is of the finest quality, as valuable as any diamond.”
Seret maintained her innocent façade.
“No, that’s not the point.”
Lydia sighed heavily, as if exasperated, before continuing.
“If you make a wedding ring with anything other than diamond, people will question the sincerity of the marriage. A ring with another stone practically declares, This marriage isn’t real.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Seret widened her eyes in shock.
“If people hear this is your wedding ring, you’ll be laughed at by all of society.”
“Truly?”
Seret put on a sorrowful expression. She wished she could summon tears, but that was a bit too much to manage.
“Yuhan couldn’t possibly not know this…”
Lydia let the words slip deliberately.
“Then why did Yuhan insist on sapphire? What does this ring really mean?”
Seret stared at the ring with a stricken face.
“Yuhan always has his reasons. He wouldn’t have chosen sapphire for no reason.”
“Should I ask him directly?”
“You must. When Yuhan returns this evening, show him the ring and demand an answer.”
“I’m afraid to ask.”
Seret muttered gloomily.
“Poor Seret.”
Though Lydia’s tone was sympathetic, the joy on her face was unmistakable.
Seret feigned sorrow, pretending not to notice that delight. Then she thought—perhaps it would be good for others to see her in this state.
The image she wanted: the future duchess, bursting into tears after a talk with the duke’s first love. Servants whispering that the ducal couple’s marriage was troubled from the start because of that first love.
“I’m sorry, Lydia. I can’t calm myself. I should excuse myself now. Please forgive me. Take care on your way.”
Speaking in a trembling voice, Seret gathered the ring and left the parlor.
Covering her mouth, she made sobbing noises as she walked toward her room.
“My lady! What’s wrong?”
A worried Hanna hurried after her.
Not only Hanna—other servants passing by stared curiously at the scene.
Still pretending to weep as she climbed the stairs, Seret spotted Lydia’s maid, Anita, whispering with one of the Frectuster maids.
As soon as they saw Seret, the two startled, pulled away from each other, bowed hastily, and disappeared.
Suspicious.
Seret looked back at the retreating figures with narrowed eyes.
“My lady, what’s the matter?”
Hanna studied her worriedly. Only then did Seret remember to resume her act, hurrying into her room with exaggerated sobs.
“My lady!”
Hanna stamped her feet and rushed in after her.
The moment the door shut, Seret dropped the act. Acting wasn’t as easy as she had thought. Still, humming to herself, she placed the ring back in the drawer.
“My lady?”
Hanna stared at her in disbelief.
“Hanna, how was it? Did I look sad?”
Putting the ring away, Seret glanced back with a sly smile.
“You were pretending to cry?”
“Mm-hm.”
Seret grinned. If even Hanna had been fooled, her acting couldn’t have been so bad.
At that moment, there was a knock, and the maid who served Lady Oxenbury entered.
“Lady Oxenbury requests your presence.”
“All right.”
So word reached Aunt already. All that acting paid off. Seret hid the satisfaction on her face and replied.
Once the maid left, Seret forced out a few yawns. Thanks to that, a bit of moisture welled up in her eyes.
She hurried off to Lady Oxenbury’s room before the hard-won tears dried.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
“Seret.”
“Aunt.”
Seret approached her with a sad face.
“Oh, child. What has happened?”
Lady Oxenbury studied her expression.
“Nothing at all.”
Seret answered weakly.
“I heard you went up the stairs in tears. Was it something with Lady Elliot? I heard she visited.”
“Of course not. Lydia is a dear friend.”
Seret shook her head, then added,
“We were talking, and it reminded me of my mother… who passed away so early. Lydia lost her mother young as well.”
“How sad. And Yuhan, too, lost his mother early.”
Lady Oxenbury looked at her with tender eyes.
That’s right—Yuhan’s mother had died when he was about eight years old.
For a fleeting moment, Seret felt pity for him. At least when her own mother had died, she still had Jeremy by her side.
But then she caught herself and shook her head sharply. I’m insane. Why pity the man who killed me?
“There is no greater sorrow for a child than losing a mother.”
Lady Oxenbury said softly.
“You’re right.”
At those words, Seret thought of her own child. Her baby had lost its mother far too soon as well. My poor, dear baby.
Her face clouded with grief—grief that would never fade.
