I Married the Mad Duke Who Killed My Husband - Chapter 31
“Ah, I really don’t want to go.”
“If you’re that reluctant, why don’t you just not go?”
“Do you think this invitation is actually asking for my opinion on whether I’ll go or not? It’s an invitation from the Empress, for heaven’s sake!”
I was busy getting ready, and Cassion standing by the door looking like an idle nobleman irritated me.
I had dawdled as much as possible because I didn’t want to go and almost ended up being late, but once I was more or less ready, I sent Pia out and checked the invitation once more.
The gold-embossed letter that had arrived as soon as the rainy season ended was an invitation from the Empress to attend a tea party at the palace for noble ladies, now that I had become a Duchess.
It was an invitation in name only; it was no different from a duel challenge to see the face of a newcomer.
Moreover, since it was a tea party hosted by the Empress, there would likely be many wives from the First Prince’s faction.
Although I had felt uneasy at the beginning of the rainy season due to the funeral, I enjoyed being able to relax comfortably afterward. And now this, right at the crack of dawn.
“Lili, couldn’t you go in my place?”
As I pressed the nose of the rabbit doll on the bedside table, Cassion suddenly turned his head and covered his mouth. Why? Is it the first time you’ve seen an adult playing with a doll? This is how you’re supposed to play, you know.
“I’m just a small and cute rabbit, so I can’t go to the Empress’s scary tea party. I’m sorry, sis. Please be careful.”
“This is driving me crazy.”
“That’s what I’m saying. It’s driving me crazy.”
As I put on a show, holding the doll’s arm and doing ventriloquism like a half-crazed person, Cassion finally added a word. I changed my voice from the falsetto I had been using for the doll and put Lili down with a thud. If Pia hadn’t braided my hair so artistically, I would have messed it up.
“It’s obviously a battlefield, and I’m not prepared at all. The only shield I have is my innocent face.”
“Try your best to act like you know nothing with that face. Did you wear the ring?”
“I did wear it, but this is a bit… It’ll make me look beyond innocent and just stupid, won’t it?”
It’s a ring Cassion gave me after becoming sensitive to poison following the luncheon with the Emperor.
I thought it was just a silver ring, but apparently, it can detect most poisons, regardless of what it’s made of.
But at the Empress’s tea party, where I already needed to be on my best behavior, the thought of dropping the ring into the tea while saying “Oops! My mistake!” seemed too artificial, even in my imagination.
“This kind of thing should be used when you’re certain there’s poison, showing it to everyone like ‘Look at this!’ Secretly dropping it in would be too obvious.”
“Better to be obvious than to lose your life.”
As I showed signs of not wanting to use the ring, Cassion’s idle demeanor suddenly sharpened. So what if it does? It’s not like you can go and drink in my place.
“Surely I won’t be poisoned twice in a row. I don’t think I’m that unlucky. The Empress is probably just calling me to test the waters.”
“But…”
“If we don’t leave now, we’ll really be late. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back!”
I had the thought that if I’ve been married twice, what’s two poisonings, but I held back from making such a joke, fearing that Cassion might really prevent me from going. If you can’t avoid it, you have to face it head-on!
***
“Thank you for inviting me, Your Majesty the Empress.”
I thought I was ready to face anything, but as soon as I entered the Empress’s indoor garden, guided by the palace attendant, a cold sweat ran down my spine. Several pairs of eyes were staring at me.
The tea party hadn’t started at the time I was told to arrive. They had started earlier and called me in the middle of it.
It was so obvious that they had already greeted each other, said whatever they needed to say behind my back, and were now slowly examining me after catching their breath, that it was almost laughable. But I couldn’t show it.
I entered with a shy and innocent expression on my face.
“I invited you. You’re the Duchess Yeager, correct?”
As the Empress nodded, a maid standing next to her quickly approached and pulled out a chair for me to sit. Everyone’s eyes followed my every move.
“It’s been quite some time since your marriage, so I thought you might be settled enough to attend my tea party. Everyone, please welcome this young lady.”
“I’m just delighted to be able to join such an honorable gathering.”
“I was concerned that since this might be your first time at such an event, you might not be able to keep up, so I called you a bit later. Don’t mind it. Today’s tea isn’t as sweet as its aroma, I’m not sure if it will suit your taste. If you find it bitter after trying it, please help yourself to some refreshments.”
What a killer excuse. If you had cared just a little more, would you have actually killed me?
“I’m sure everyone wants to talk to her, but it would be best to give her time to catch her breath while having a sip of tea.”
As I exchanged eye greetings with a silly smile on my face, pretending not to notice the chilling gazes, the Empress urged me to drink the tea again. She was so insistent as if it really was poisoned, that I was reminded of Cassion’s words to put the ring in regardless of how obvious it might look.
But I thought they wouldn’t go as far as poisoning me in such a tense atmosphere, so I carefully took a sip of the tea.
It’s bitter but with a clean aftertaste, just to my liking. However, I put on a crumpled smile, pretending to be unfamiliar with such tea.
“It seems it was a bit bitter for someone as young as you.”
“Ah, no, Your Highness. The tea is delicious.”
“We’re not going to eat you, so don’t be so tense. Have some cookies.”
It felt like we were filming a skit. Me, pretending not to like the tea even though I did, and the Empress, pretending to be kind. And the married noble ladies observing this skit with great interest.
“How old are you this year, Duchess? Your skin is so fair.”
“Your hair is beautiful too. You still look as innocent as a baby, but to think you’re ‘his’ mistress… Isn’t newlywed life difficult?”
Whoa, they said it was a married gathering, but the level is quite high from the start. Under their gazes, both wary and curious, I established my position in this gathering. As the naive youngest.
“I’m nineteen this year. As for newlywed life…”
As I lowered my head shyly, the ladies chuckled, finding me cute, and the atmosphere lightened. Yes, find me even cuter! Like me more! I’m as harmless as a rabbit!
“Don’t tease her too much. Here, have another sip of tea.”
“I’ve already wet my throat, so I’ll have a cookie.”
“Oh my. It’s not something to say to a married lady, but you’re really cute. If only my child had grown up like this.”
I reached for a cookie topped with strawberry jam, making a show of avoiding the bitter tea. It was choking, but if this was the reaction, it was bearable.
“Still, at nineteen, you’re all grown up. Besides… haven’t you experienced the wedding night twice already?”
Just as I thought I might be able to finish the tea party more easily than expected and smiled widely with an innocent expression, a sharp voice cut in. As I turned my gaze along with the others, I saw a somewhat familiar face looking at me with an unpleasant expression.
“Ah… it’s been a while, madam.”
Fortunately, it didn’t take me long to remember her. She’s a relative of the old man, Marquis Vant, who was my first husband. I recall her looking at me with the same unfriendly gaze at the funeral where I was being driven out.
“Hmph. So you do remember me. I thought you had completely forgotten about our family.”
“Don’t be like that, madam. That was an unfortunate accident. The Duchess was a victim too.”
“It wasn’t an accident, it was an incident! A murder! I don’t understand how you could remarry less than a week after your husband was murdered. Unless you’re out of your mind… Ahem.”
She trailed off, pretending to drink tea, but at the narrow circular table, there was no one who couldn’t have heard her say “Out of your mind.”
Everyone seemed to be pretending to stop her while secretly observing this situation with great interest.
Even the Empress wasn’t stopping her and was looking at me with an inorganic gaze.
She had even taken off the mask of the faint smile she had been wearing when welcoming me.
“You’re right. I was out of my mind.”
“…Pardon?”
However, I stuck to my innocent strategy. The world is won by the innocent.
“I was so shocked after witnessing Marquis Vant’s murder that I had nightmares for days. I knew I shouldn’t as a daughter of a noble family, but I couldn’t bear the fear and turned to alcohol… One day, I was so scared even to be in a room with four walls that I left the house drunk. And… that’s how I met the Duke.”
“Oh my!”
Everyone was instantly drawn into my performance, which was mixed with controlled intensity. Even the Marquis’s relative who was about to curse me opened her eyes wide at the mention of meeting Cassion and waited for my next words.
“Cassion… I mean, the Duke was rough as rumored, but he had the kindness to comfort a woman trembling with fear. I was so scared and drunk… I mean, I was very drunk. The Duke protected me, comforted me, and told me I was beautiful.”
“Oh, oh my.”
“We… oh my. We found our values aligned in that way, so we got married to take responsibility for each other. I really was out of my mind.”
I turned my head sideways, my face flushed from holding my breath, and glanced at the Marquis’s relative. Flutter, flutter, I could see my eyelashes trembling pitifully at the edge of my vision.
“I’m sorry, madam. Everything happened so suddenly as I tried to forget him out of fear, I didn’t mean to hurt or insult the Marquis’s family.”
“Oh, don’t cry, Duchess. Everyone will understand. Right?”
As the ladies, deeply immersed in my stimulating story that condensed thriller, romance, and erotica, urged her, the Marquis’s relative nodded as if to forgive and understand me.
Seeing this, the ladies comforted me, saying, “See?” They stroked my shoulders and back without hesitation as if they already thought of me not as a Duchess but as a younger sister or child.
“The delicate Duchess has been through a difficult time. But it’s fortunate that you met the Duke.”
“It must have been love at first sight. With such a lovely Duchess. Oh my, how romantic.”
While everyone looked at me with relaxed expressions, only the Empress maintained her emotionless gaze, but this seemed to be not a failure at this point.
