Chapter 1: Blenheim, One Year Later
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1: Blenheim, One Year Later
Good heavens.
The eyes of the visitors entering the exhibition hall widened in shock.
They were nobles from the capital who had traveled to the North to attend the Imperial Expo being held in Blenheim.
Sunlight filtering through the glass dome cast a soft glow on the hall’s massive pillars and delicate carvings. The interior was packed with luxurious exhibits from merchant guilds and workshops across the Empire.
The visitors looked around, letting out constant gasps of admiration.
“What is that giant balloon floating in the sky? What? A flying billboard?”
“I heard the famous opera singer Antonel is the promotional model! Did you see that full-body poster hanging over there? It’s life-sized!”
“I heard the author Cecilia is holding a signing event, too! A souvenir shop? Limited edition sales? I have to go there first!”
Ladies, hiding their mouths behind fans, hurried along, chatting noisily and forgetting their usual decorum.
“Did you hear? The owner of the Blois Merchant Guild, which launched this travel package, is Her Highness the Grand Duchess!”
“They say the famous Snow Wine and the hot spring village are also Her Highness’s creations.”
“Wait, I thought it was only the opera that was successful?”
The conversation quickly shifted to the mistress of Blenheim, the Grand Duchess.
That would be me, Annette Blenheim.
“My, that lowly illegitimate child certainly made it big!”
“Only a year ago, she was called the shame of the Marquis’s house.”
“What on earth happened to that unremarkable lady?”
“Shh! Watch your mouth!”
One of the ladies lowered her voice.
“She isn’t someone you can just talk about like that anymore.”
“True. I heard that in the North, the Grand Duchess’s word is practically law.”
“Isn’t that all thanks to marrying the Grand Duke? Ugh, if I’d known it would turn out like this, I would have sent my own daughter.”
Please, I thought. You were all calling him the Monster Grand Duke just a while ago.
‘I can’t listen to this anymore.’
Standing behind them and listening to their chatter, I poked my head between the ladies.
“I didn’t realize everyone was so interested in me. I’m honored.”
“Eek!”
The ladies jumped in fright and hurriedly offered their respects.
“…We greet Her Highness the Consort!”
“I see quite a few familiar faces. Are you enjoying the Expo?”
“O-Of course.”
“I may be a ‘lowly’ Grand Duchess, but I’ve prepared this with quite a bit of heart, so please enjoy your time.”
As several ladies turned pale and began to tremble, a pair of arms gently wrapped around my waist from behind.
“Annette, I’ve been looking for you.”
A young man, a full head taller than the rest with a commanding physique and a face so handsome he looked like a god carved from stone, looked down at me with doting eyes.
“W-We greet His Highness the Grand Duke!”
Ignoring the ladies who were frantically curtsying, the Grand Duke leaned down and rested his head lightly on my shoulder.
“Do you know how anxious I was when I couldn’t see you?”
“Loik, people are watching.”
When I tried to push his face away, he gripped my waist tighter as if refusing to let go.
“What does that matter?”
The Grand Duke whispered in a low voice against my ear.
“You haven’t given me today’s kiss yet.”
“I’ll give it to you tonight.”
“If you keep putting it off, I’m going to tease you even more later.”
Whispering mischievously, the Grand Duke gently gathered the hair that had fallen over my shoulder and kissed it.
Oh my!
“I heard the Grand Duke was head over heels for his wife…”
“Look at the way he looks at her. His eyes are practically dripping with honey!”
I looked back at the people whispering with faces full of admiration and envy.
How did things end up like this?
My plan was definitely to stay quietly in the North for a year, get a divorce, and disappear.
‘My meddling nature is the problem.’
I only intended to help out a little by using my experience from working at an advertising agency during my stay. I didn’t expect every single thing I touched to become a massive hit.
Moreover, I only treated people well to avoid the guillotine ending, but now everyone follows me, calling me the “Sunshine Grand Duchess.”
Even so, I didn’t expect to melt the heart of the Northern Grand Duke himself.
‘Am I actually cut out to be a Grand Duchess?’
To have mastered both work and love so perfectly… being too talented is truly a burden!
* * *
“Annette Frais! Where is your mind wandering!”
Lost in thought, I snapped back to reality and looked up.
I saw a middle-aged man with a sharp, irritable face and veins bulging in his neck. It was Marquis Landen Frais, the head of the Frais family and my father.
“It seems your ears are blocked now, too!”
‘Ah… it’s still not over.’
I lowered my head again, playing the part of the sinner. This hysteria, the purpose of which was unclear even to the Marquis himself, had been going on for nearly thirty minutes.
‘I forgot where I was in my count…’
I began re-counting the grid patterns carved into the corner of the office desk.
“I’ve spent a fortune feeding and housing you all this time; the least you could do is pull your own weight!”
I realized anew that the Marquis had excellent projection. Even though I was trying my best to let it go in one ear and out the other, it wasn’t easy to ignore a voice that felt like it was being hammered into me.
“You pathetic thing! How exactly did you behave to receive such treatment from your marriage prospect? There’s a limit to how much shame you can bring upon this family!”
Spittle from his shouting flew onto the corner of the desk. I took a small step back.
To begin with, nothing he said made any sense, but asking how I had behaved… that was truly unfair.
I genuinely hadn’t behaved in any way at all!
‘I’ve never even seen the man’s face, so what was I supposed to do? Should I have entered his dreams to flirt with him?’
The target of the Marquis’s current fury was Grand Duke Loik Blenheim, the Emperor’s nephew. It was because the Marquis had been humiliated by him during the marriage negotiations.
The Blenheim and Frais families were long-standing enemies.
When the Monster War broke out in the North, the previous Grand Duke of Blenheim had requested support from his brother, the Emperor. However, Marquis Frais, acting on the Empress’s orders, had interfered with that request.
In the end, the previous Grand Duke was forced to make a blood contract with a dragon to protect the North, and he passed away not long after the war ended.
It was only natural for the current Grand Duke, who had become the head of his house at the age of ten, to loathe Marquis Frais.
The problem began as the Grand Duke reached marriageable age.
Upon learning that marriage talks were underway between the Grand Duke and a princess of the Kingdom of Rondoris, the Marquis was incensed. If the Grand Duke gained the backing of Rondoris, the Marquis could no longer guarantee his own superiority in power.
Scheming, the Marquis had the audacity to propose a marriage to the Grand Duke. It was a match with me, Annette Frais, the third daughter of the Marquis.
His intention was to marry off a useless daughter and remove the Grand Duke from the marriage market.
Naturally, the Grand Duke rejected the Marquis’s proposal flatly.
However, the Marquis did not give up easily. Soon, all supplies heading to the North were blocked. For Blenheim, which had barely survived the winter, this was a cruel blow.
As the Marquis pushed the marriage proposal, the Grand Duke countered by saying he would marry the Marquis’s eldest daughter, Ladriel.
It was a fact known to all citizens of the Empire that the Marquis intended to marry Ladriel to the Third Prince. Knowing this, the Grand Duke had simply set an impossible condition instead of giving a groundless refusal.
‘As the one who was rejected out of the blue, I felt like I’d been slapped while just standing there.’
But in the end, an imperial order from the Emperor was issued, and the Grand Duke had no choice but to accept the marriage with me. Enraged, he announced he would send a proxy to the wedding and sent 500 Danir for the ceremony expenses.
The budget for a typical noble’s wedding usually starts at 5,000 Danir. For a family like the Frais, spending 10,000 Danir wouldn’t be unusual.
It was a blatant act of mockery.
‘So, anyone can see that the one who was insulted wasn’t you, but me, because of your unreasonable gamble.’
However, seeing the Marquis’s expression, I kept my mouth shut.
The best course of action with this kind of hysteria was not to react. If I talked back, I might get slapped like last time.
“How dare he send a proxy while forming an alliance with the Frais family? That green brat!”
“Is that Annette’s fault?”
My older sister, Ladriel, who had been standing by as if it were someone else’s business, spoke up sweetly.
‘Why are you acting out of character?’
Her golden hair, quite different from my dull, almost white-blonde hair, shimmered above her waist.
“It’s unavoidable, since she’s a child of dirty blood.”
‘Ah… of course.’
I wondered why she was taking my side for once; it turns out she was just building momentum for a bigger blow.
But I couldn’t entirely deny her words.
I was an illegitimate child, born from the Marchioness’s affair.
The Marchioness had even died in childbirth while having me.
The Frais family kept the late mistress’s infidelity a secret, but the fact that I was not the Marquis’s biological daughter was already an open secret in society.
“That’s probably why the Grand Duke kept pestering you for me instead, isn’t it?”
“How dare he aim so high? You already have a master waiting to take you!”
The Marquis, rubbing his temples as if a headache were coming on, glared at me.
“I will postpone the wedding until I receive proper ceremony expenses. Know that and get out.”
The order to leave was given, but instead of exiting, I spoke the words I had practiced for a long time in front of the Marquis.
“Father, must we postpone the wedding?”
At his daughter’s presumptuous remark, the Marquis flared up in anger.
“How dare a thing like you interfere in the family’s affairs!”
It’s my affair, I thought.
Clicking my tongue inwardly, I forced my lips into a smile.
“It’s because things have come to this due to my shortcomings.”
I lowered my head, feigning humility and acting as docile as possible.
On the surface, it was a marriage where the individual had to be sacrificed for the benefit of the Marquis’s house.
But I had also decided to use this marriage as my opportunity.