“How long are you going to keep acting childish? Stop this and talk to me!”
“Go ahead. If you think you can keep your voice down.”
Tatiana stifled a sigh and took a fan out of her handbag. She didn’t like having secret conversations hidden behind a fan like this, but at least it could hide the twisted expression beneath her eyes.
“I’d appreciate it if you could keep it brief.”
“Are you really an adult?”
“…It’d be even better if you spoke so I could actually understand you.”
Tatiana’s fan, which had been moving gently, suddenly stopped like a broken clock hand. She’d tried to maintain at least a surface level of decorum, aware of the eyes around them, but even that had its limits.
“You could have just talked it out. Did it feel good to storm off like a child on such an important day?”
“Storm off?”
At least she didn’t have to force a laugh that wouldn’t come. That was something.
“It seems you’re the one who’s misunderstanding something, Your Grace.”
“You’re the one misunderstanding.”
“……”
“Do you think marriage is a joke? I know you’re naïve, but to act so carelessly just because of your mood… Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused me that day?”
“Should I?”
Tatiana’s jewel-like eyes above the fan grew even sharper. The coldness in her gaze, as if he wasn’t even worth her anger, made the agitated Alexei falter. Her look of contempt, fluttering above the fan, made it clear just how far apart they were.
“As far as I’m concerned, everything ended that day. I don’t know why you’ve come all this way to do this, but I don’t want anything more to do with you, so if you’ll excuse me…”
“And yet you threw Natalia out like that?”
“……”
Tatiana, who had been about to bow and leave, whipped around to face him. It was a common enough name, but not one she’d heard in her own circle. Still, if the Duke was questioning her about it so naturally…
A hollow laugh escaped her.
“Ah, so that woman’s name was Natalia?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know! You did it!”
How ridiculous.
He growled like a beast baring its teeth. The more Tatiana looked at him with those violet eyes, the more it felt like she was seeing right through him, exposing all his weaknesses. No, he was a man who had never had to endure anything, never been in a position where he had to.
“Natalia came to me in tears! That poor woman, thrown out of a hotel in this weather—did you really have to do that?”
“…So you’re saying I did that?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Who else in Lebron would do such a thing if not you?”
“Hah.”
Tatiana stared at the flushed and fuming Duke Atlas, then shook her head slightly. Apparently, the woman had been thrown out into the cold in the middle of winter. It was absurd to be accused so suddenly, but if she thought about it, she couldn’t say it was entirely unfair.
‘Those sisters of mine, honestly!’
Tatiana pressed her gloved fingertips to her temple, the faces of the likely culprits coming to mind.
No wonder they’d been so nosy.
Her bitter smile deepened.
“What? Now you’re pretending to remember? If you don’t, I’ll tell you in detail!”
“There’s no need for that.”
She knew better than anyone how her sisters would have acted.
Tatiana drew her chin up. After all, she herself had been through such things, and her sisters weren’t the type to just let it go. Besides, it was simple if you considered who controlled all the hotels in central Lebron.
So what Tatiana was really curious about was something else.
“…So, Your Grace, are you angry because of the broken engagement? Or because your poor mistress was thrown out?”
“Th-that’s—!”
As the Duke hesitated, unable to give a clear answer, Tatiana lowered her fan. She lived in a world where every expression and tone had to be meticulously calculated, but with a man like this, she saw no need to hide her contempt.
“If it’s about the engagement, that’s already over. And if it’s about your mistress, I think you’ve come to the wrong person.”
“Don’t you have any compassion? It’s not like I said I’d marry her! You have everything, and you couldn’t even understand that one thing, so you made this whole mess! Not only did you throw her out, but there wasn’t a single hotel in the city center that would take her in!”
“Then why don’t you take her in yourself?”
“What?”
“The other day, she seemed quite used to coming and going from your house. Is it that you’re too ashamed to bring her into the Ducal residence, but too sorry to leave her out in the cold?”
With a snap, Tatiana closed her fan and gripped it tightly in her palm, raising her chin.
“A man who can’t even take in his own mistress shouldn’t dare to criticize my sisters. Who owns all the hotels on this street? Isn’t it the landlord’s right to decide who to let into their own house?”
“Tiara!”
“Please.”
“……”
“I told you not to call me that.”
A chill drifted through her barely parted lips.
So, was it really not her who did it?
The Duke, realizing things weren’t going as he’d thought, huffed and cleared his throat.
“Well, at least it wasn’t you. I suppose you wouldn’t be that lacking in judgment. But as for Countess Levoni and Marchioness Ante—no, your oh-so-perfect sisters—I’ll hold them responsible.”
“Responsible? For what?”
“…What?”
“If you had any sense at all, you’d be grateful that all that happened was her being thrown out in the middle of the night. If it had been my sister Regina, that poor woman would have been found floating in the Sarthe River by now.”
“……”
Tatiana’s voice and smile, without a hint of exaggeration, were colder than the Sarthe’s icy waters.
“Do you know what’s even luckier?”
“T-Tiara.”
“That I never loved you.”
“……”
“If I had, you’d be right there with that woman in my mind.”
She pushed the Duke’s shoulder aside with the tip of her fan and called for Anne. Anne, startled, hurried to open the door, and the noise of the bustling street rushed in. Tatiana wished she could just run out into that noisy world, but the Duke, still frozen in place, was an eyesore.
“I hope we never meet again. If my mother ever finds out you came looking for me over something like this, it won’t end as well as it did this time, so please—”
“Ah, your mother?”
“……”
At the sound of his clearly mocking laughter, Tatiana’s head snapped toward him. She’d heard plenty of malicious remarks about her mother before, but the glint in the Duke’s eyes was different this time.
“So naïve. Who do you think told me you were here?”
△▲△▲△
Viscountess Cartien’s residence was bustling for the first time in a while. As the social center of the city, it was usually filled with people, but ever since the last ball at the Duke’s estate, its doors had been closed. Officially, the Viscountess was said to be bedridden with a severe cold, but no one really believed it.
After all, she was a woman who had never so much as coughed during the social season, even in weather colder than minus thirty degrees.
“Viscountess, how can you be so beautiful even after being ill?”
“Oh hoho, isn’t that the truth. How are you feeling now? Are you recovering?”
But no one could openly contradict her. There had been rumors that the engagement with Duke Atlas’s family had fallen through, but perhaps those were just idle gossip.
So why had things been so quiet for a while? Any lingering doubts were swept away by the dazzling dresses before their eyes.
“Thanks to your concern, I was able to rest well for a few days and now I’m perfectly fine.”
“That’s such a relief!”
“I actually invited you all to help choose fabric for our Tatiana’s dress. I’m so grateful you agreed, since you all have such discerning taste.”
Of course, they were even quicker with their words than with their hands.
The Viscountess, half-reclined, watched the ladies gaze at the fabrics as if hypnotized and let out a small laugh. She hadn’t mentioned the word ‘engagement’ herself, but anyone with eyes could guess the purpose of a dress made from such dazzling silver fabric.
Last time, she had prepared things subtly, so that only those in the know would understand. This time, she was determined to make it obvious to everyone.
“I’m thinking of making it as extravagant as possible. And to match the jewels Her Majesty the Empress sent…”
“Mother!”
Before the butler could announce her, Tatiana’s footsteps echoed through the hall as she entered. The ladies turned in surprise, but the Viscountess simply smiled and welcomed her beloved youngest daughter.
“You’re here? You must have been so bored, stuck in bed with a cold. Why not take your time, get some fresh air, and enjoy yourself a bit more—”
“What is all this?”
“…Tiara”
“I imagine you have a lot to say to me, Mother.”
Tatiana’s eyes swept over the mannequins and dresses filling the grand hall, the piles of fabric, her gaze simmering with quiet anger. The ladies, caught in the middle, glanced nervously at the Viscountess, unsure what to do. A strange tension spread through the room like the flames in the fireplace.
“……”
Gulp.
Finally, someone swallowed dryly, breaking the silence of the mother-daughter standoff. The Viscountess, with a gentle smile, looked around at the ladies beside her.
“Countess Conrad, Viscountess LeBien.”
“Y-yes?”
“I’m sorry, but perhaps it would be best if you returned for today. I’ll be sure to contact you again soon.”
Sigh.
The Viscountess set down the sample book of fabrics she’d been holding, rested her arm on the chair, and leaned her forehead against it.
“But, Viscountess, we’ve only just begun… Are you feeling unwell?”
“A cold.”
“……”
Did they not understand?
“I just have a feeling my cold is about to come back, right now of all times.”
“…Ah, yes, of course.”
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