🔊 TTS Settings
~Chapter 62~
“Thank you for your reservation, my lady. I’ll see you then.”
The owner of the dress shop, Laria, personally came out to see Riden off.
Soon the story’s heroine, Maria, would arrive. Since quite some time had passed since the original story began, there wasn’t much time left to prepare her debutante ball gown.
So Riden had booked Laria’s entire shop for several days straight—safe!
Riden climbed into her carriage, hesitating.
‘Since I’m already in the shopping district, should I stop by Sunset Cream too?’
The hesitation didn’t last long.
The carriage rolled a short distance and soon stopped in front of Sunset Cream.
Riden had Glenn relay a message to Madame Madeleine and waited inside the carriage.
Then, voices from another café terrace across the shopping street drifted into the carriage.
“Her name’s Riden McCurry, isn’t it?”
Huh? Me?
Riden slid across the seat to get closer to the sound and perked her ears.
“They’re keeping it quiet, but isn’t she supposed to be the future daughter-in-law of the Kenwolf Duke family? …Do you think it’s true?”
“I heard that too.”
“But Lady McCurry denied it. I heard her myself!”
The other ladies gave that woman a look that said, “You’re so clueless.”
But she didn’t back down.
“The rumors started because the Duke’s first son helped Lady McCurry at Hagens, right? I asked her about it, and she said she’d paid a huge retainer fee to the Count, who’s a lawyer, to get legal advice.”
“Ugh.”
The faces of the other ladies practically said, “How can you be this dense at your age?”
One lady stepped in.
“Do you actually believe that? That’s ridiculous.”
“Why?”
She clucked her tongue before answering.
“The Count is a lawyer, yes. But he’s the Duke family’s personal lawyer!”
“……”
“Have you ever seen him take on cases for other families? He only handles Duke family matters!”
“Oh my.”
“Exactly.”
Oh no.
Listening from inside the carriage, Riden smacked her forehead.
“Shallow lies get exposed so easily, huh. Hahaha…”
But whatever, she had already decided to let it go.
If rumors spread that I almost got engaged but was dumped, so what? I’ll just live happily in my territory. It’s fine!
The ladies kept gossiping.
“Who is it then? The first son or the second?”
“Yeah, who’s the fiancé?”
“She seemed so close with the first son… maybe it’s the second son?”
“That’s disappointing.”
“Why, is the second son not disappointing enough?”
“The second son seems like the type to laugh if you tried to make him act like a proper son-in-law.”
“That’s true.”
The ladies grew gloomy for a moment but soon perked up again.
“But why the McCurry Count family of all families? I’m even more curious about that. Oh right, you saw her yourself, didn’t you? What was she like?”
The woman who had been labeled clueless answered confidently.
“She was pretty.”
“Hmm.”
“But the Duke family wouldn’t choose someone just for their looks…”
“Because it’s the Duke family, they can choose just for looks.”
“Anyway.”
One lady changed the topic with a prim expression.
“Whoever she is, the new daughter-in-law had better not ‘eat up’ her husband this time.”
Eat up?
Now Riden was listening even more intently than when she first heard her name.
“They say the princess from the Western Empire ‘ate up’ the Duke of the Eastern Empire. It’s an old story, but the next daughter-in-law mustn’t do the same.”
Another lady suppressed her laughter and added,
“Even if someone similar comes in, could they ever outshine the Duchess while she’s alive?”
Kyahaha!
“Those women!”
Yes, previous Dukes had suffered from the curse, but they usually lost their minds late in life.
William Kenwolf, however, had succumbed much earlier.
The Duke family had officially listed him as missing, but gossipmongers whispered that his strong-willed wife had “eaten him alive.”
“They don’t even know what they’re talking about.”
Riden let out a quiet sigh and glared at them.
The Duchess might speak bluntly, but she wasn’t someone who deserved this kind of slander.
One lady picked up an invitation.
“Anyway, it seems the Duke’s sons will definitely attend this season. They’re hosting the opening ball! How amazing is that?”
“I’m so excited I can’t stand it!”
“And the Duchess’s jewelry collection… only a tiny bit has been made public. She’s sure to show off something new this time! I’m dying to know.”
“Everyone will be there.”
The ladies’ conversation wrapped up on the topic of the Duke family’s upcoming ball.
“The Duchess really is like a celebrity, huh.”
People’s fascination with the Duchess, who had stayed in seclusion for five years, was intense.
They wanted to know what she ate, what she wore, and what interested her.
They feared her, envied her, and judged her.
“She’s like a celebrity who drives both fans and haters crazy.”
Not that they would ever dare say a word to her face.
Just then, Glenn climbed back into the carriage.
Riden, making sure she couldn’t be seen from outside, pointed discreetly.
“Glenn, do you see those ladies talking over there?”
“Yes, I see them.”
“Do you know their names?”
“I might know one of them.”
“Tell me the name.”
Riden pulled out a small notebook she always carried.
It was her “kill list.”
This habit of making a kill list had come from her timid days. Whenever someone made her blood boil, she would write down their name—and the reason.
“Talking trash about the Duchess, saying she ‘ate her husband alive’ without knowing a thing.”
Just writing that down made her feel better. After suitable payback, she would cross the name out.
Riden glared out the window at the ladies.
“Do you know your name just went on a very dangerous list? No, of course you don’t.”
She closed the notebook and ordered Glenn,
“Find out who the others are too. Tell me later.”
She wanted to tell them off immediately, but she couldn’t.
“Yes.”
Glenn answered out of habit but then blinked.
“Wait… right now?”
“Of course right now. Could you really remember all their faces and find their names later?”
“…No?”
“Then get down.”
The carriage took off, leaving Glenn behind.
Standing alone, Glenn shot a subtle glare at the gossiping ladies.
“Yes, my lady…”
When Riden arrived at the Duke’s mansion, servants waiting for her unloaded the carriage.
There was a lot of luggage.
She had packed heavily, thinking she might get bored if all she had to do during the training expedition was stay near Ethan.
“But why does it feel like they’re taking my luggage to my room at the Duke’s mansion?”
Wasn’t it supposed to be loaded onto the expedition carriage?
Merrick, who had come to greet her, smiled and led her.
“For now, shall we go see Mother?”
“…?”
“Not training but a festival?”
“That’s right. For the knights’ morale, what they need most isn’t training but rest and reward.”
The Duchess’s message was short and clear.
The expedition would be replaced with a small internal festival at the Duke’s mansion.
Riden only needed to stay at the mansion for a few days.
“The story is changing from the original again.”
Standing outside the Duchess’s office, Riden tilted her head.
A new maid carefully approached her.
“My lady, I’ll guide you to your office.”
Riden blinked.
“I… have an office?”
She could understand being assigned a personal maid since she’d be staying a few days, but an office?
“The Duchess ordered that you should be as comfortable as possible during your stay. Even if it’s for a short time, you need a proper space to work.”
“…I suppose that’s true.”
“Then please follow me.”
The maid, Victoria, led Riden out of the main building and through the garden to an annex.
The private office was on the third floor at the very end.
When the door opened, Riden was greeted by a sunlit, beautifully arranged office.
One wall was lined with bookshelves full of books of various sizes. In front of the fluttering lace curtains sat a gleaming, luxurious desk just for her.
“It’s so cozy and nice.”
Riden smiled as she gently touched a small olive tree on the desk.
Then her eyes scanned the bookshelf.
“Huh? What’s that…”
Something caught her attention.
