The Tears Wasted on Him
There is no way that man would ever say something like that.
If the superior officer she wanted to beat senseless had been the sort of man capable of saying something so sweet, she would never have thought of him as the superior officer she wanted to beat senseless in the first place.
Buying her a house, was he?
The money the Grand Duke had spent on her today was more than the stipend for maintaining dignity he had promised her.
He had said he would show them what was what, but still. Chloe had nearly screamed the moment she saw the bill; her hands had trembled.
She had never bought anything for herself at that price.
No, not even a quarter of that price... No, no, no, not even an eighth of it...!
Of course, compared to the scale of the Grand Duke’s fortune, it was hardly a great sum—but Chloe did not know that yet.
That was why she had deliberately said she would go back home.
A delicious meal. Magnificent jewels and dresses.
They dazzled Chloe’s eyes, but they frightened her too.
This was, after all, only a contract.
All of this was merely incidental to it.
Once her role ended, there would be nothing more for Chloe.
I can’t get used to this.
They said it was easy to expand one’s spending habits and hard to shrink them back down. Even the indoor dress she had just chosen and tried on again at the dress shop clung so perfectly to her body that she felt she could live in nothing but things like this for the rest of her life.
But these were not things suited to her station.
Later...
The end of this marriage was, ultimately, divorce.
Of course, the Grand Duke had promised her a large sum of money, but surely it was not enough to spend lavishly for the rest of her life and still have plenty left over.
She did not want to become shabby once the party was over.
“Your Highness, we have loaded only the items you may wish to wear immediately into the carriage. The rest will be delivered to your residence within the day.”
It did not take long for the designer to inform them that the garments had all been packaged.
Against a sky where the sun had already begun to sink, the two of them boarded the carriage.
The gazes of passersby were still painfully sharp, and the heap of boxes loaded atop the carriage rose as high as a castle spire, too many to count.
But Chloe was far too exhausted to pay attention to every bit of it.
As soon as the door closed, Chloe slid bonelessly across the seat.
Surprisingly, Curtis said nothing about her lax posture.
“Draw the curtains properly.”
That was all he said as he pulled the inner curtains of the carriage shut.
His wrist slipped naturally out from his sleeve, and Chloe’s eyes caught on the bandage wrapped around it.
A wound he had inflicted on himself.
The brownish blood that had dripped onto the bedding bearing the royal crest came back to her.
How should she put it?
It was a memory terribly at odds with the cold face of Curtis Shan Berk she was looking at now.
What a confusing man...
“You seem to have managed the role of Grand Duchess well enough today, one way or another. But it can’t always be like that.”
At the voice that swept away her idle thoughts, Chloe narrowed her eyes.
“Are you suddenly giving me a performance review? Now?”
“Isn’t that why you sent your family away?”
Curtis, who had abruptly reverted to his crooked manner of speaking, turned his head toward her.
Ah, yes.
Chloe remained sprawled at an angle and crossed her arms in a pointed display.
“Agathe is insolent, but she’s also simple. Other people are different. Women especially.”
“You speak as though you’ve lived as one.”
“If you have complaints, you’re welcome to insult men too.”
She was dumbfounded.
“For the time being, don’t have any contact with Warrant Officer Dubois.”
“That’s...”
Chloe tried to explain the unexpected remark, but Curtis shook his head.
“I don’t care what the reason is. You’re my wife now, so it would be inconvenient for you to become needlessly entangled with another man.”
“...Pardon me, but may I ask how much you heard?”
She had guessed well enough that Curtis had heard her conversation with Miss Montpis earlier. She simply did not know from which point he had been listening.
“It’s nothing anyone should misunderstand, and Warrant Officer Dubois and I are only friends. And if we’re being precise, it isn’t such a tremendous matter that others should be gossiping about it...”
As she spoke, Chloe suddenly felt something strange and stopped.
No, we didn’t marry because we were actually in love, and we’re going to divorce anyway. Why am I explaining this?
But Curtis dismissed her answer as though he had no particular interest.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m telling you not to stir up trouble where there doesn’t need to be any.”
“Yees.”
“...And what friendship is there between a man and a woman?”
Hearing that from a man with no friends annoyed her more than she expected.
It was hardly something the Grand Duke, who had few male friends, let alone female ones, ought to say to her.
Wrong, actually. Ezra is like that too, you know?
She wanted to snap back, but she stopped herself.
Instead, she merely looked out beyond the carriage window and grumbled inwardly.
I’m tired.
Well, it was fine.
Once she got home, a delicious meal would be waiting for her.
Now that she was Grand Duchess, that one happiness at least was absolutely guaranteed.
The thought brightened her mood at once.
Meanwhile, Agathe, who had fled, was busy tormenting Second Lieutenant Noel.
“Why didn’t you tell me that fox of a woman had seduced Lord Curtis? You were right there beside him!”
“Agathe. I’ll say it again: I didn’t know either.”
“Does that make any sense? You’re an aide too!”
“I told you, being an aide doesn’t mean I know every intimate detail.”
Being the beloved youngest daughter of Count Montpis’s family meant, if one turned the phrase around, being spoiled.
This was the result of everyone indulging Agathe because she had been born frail.
Noel let out a long sigh.
Ever since she had stormed out of the jewelry shop, Agathe had refused to go home and had been crying and raging inside the carriage.
Apparently, she could not go home like this.
Well, the Marquise of Flandre’s scolding must have hit hard.
At least Agathe had believed that the Marquise would be on her side, which was why she had dared to behave so outrageously before the Grand Duchess.
For Agathe, there could have been no greater humiliation.
“I should have known from the moment a woman came as his aide! I told you I would be his aide!”
Agathe was now chewing on her handkerchief as she insisted that she should have become Curtis Shan Berk’s aide.
Of course, she had applied for Curtis’s aide position long ago.
Noel had disqualified her.
Naturally, that was a secret from Agathe.
“Agathe, how about giving up now? It’s already been three years...”
“No!”
“You already know Mother has been wringing her hands over this. Since you refuse to marry, she can hardly sleep at night.”
“Tell her to take medicine!”
The spoiled youngest sister shouted with utter stubbornness.
Mother’s complaints about insomnia could be solved by taking medicine.
But there was no such medicine that could make her marry the Grand Duke...
Why was it?
At that moment, what rose in her mind were the pink eyes of that hateful woman who was tall as a beanpole.
“Because your tears are wasted on him.”
“...”
Agathe rolled her lips inward and bit them.
It was clear.
She could tell from those words alone.
Chloe Amboise.
That semi-noble woman from the navy did not love Curtis Shan Berk.
People were chattering that the two had married for love, but Agathe had sensed the truth instinctively.
That made it even more infuriating.
She loved Curtis enough to die for him.
Yet she, who loved him so much, could not even reach him.
It was unfair.
At the same time, it made her angry.
Who are you to look at me like you’re worried about me?
A low-ranking semi-noble, no less. She must have married him for money...
But there were a few things that caught at her before she could say that.
For example, that woman’s words had been far too unvarnished.
If she did not love him but was pretending to, there would have been no reason to say such things to Agathe, an outsider.
If anything, how should she put it?
That woman’s tone had been...
As if she despised Curtis Shan Berk.
As though the Grand Duke had begged her to marry him, leaving her no choice.
Of course, Agathe did not know that her thoughts had pierced unexpectedly close to the heart of the matter.
But in that woman’s position, how could she despise the Grand Duke instead of being grateful to him? And Lord Curtis, of all people!
If Chloe had heard it, she might have dismissed it as “the sort of nonsense a young lady in love might say.”
After all, Curtis Shan Berk was the one who had made her unable to sleep on top of everything else, driving her into an even worse situation.
Then what on earth is it?
But Noel did not let her sink into thought.
“Agathe. Enough. Let’s go. Curtis never had feelings for you to begin with.”
Agathe screamed.
“Stop annoying me!”
“You already knew that three years ago, didn’t you? Even after being humiliated like that...”
“I’m sincere! And don’t call it humiliation!”
She flung away her brother’s hand as he tried to pat her comfortingly and shrieked once more.
Then she promptly opened the carriage door and leapt out.
Noel sprang up in alarm, then sat back down and pressed a hand to his forehead with a sigh.
That was how many years he had spent being pushed around by his youngest sister.
In his experience, his sister would do this, then come back crying before long.
As proud as Agathe was, she hated letting strangers see her in a weak state.
I hate them. I hate everything.
Of course, Agathe, who knew nothing of Noel’s thoughts, ran down the street in tears after climbing out of the carriage.
Whatever else might be said, she was a young lady who had barely lived twenty years.
Not only had her brother interrupted her thoughts, but bringing up what had happened when she was seventeen again, in this situation, felt humiliating.
I shouldn’t have done that back then...
But it was all long past.
If he wasn’t going to marry me, he shouldn’t have been so wonderful.
The man who had returned after ending the war with the Three Kingdoms by armistice was still beautiful.
She had longed for those cold purple eyes to turn toward her.
It felt as though the world had abandoned her.
Her brother said Mother was worried about her too, but she knew the truth: both of them simply wanted Agathe to find a good match quickly and marry.
“Just watch me never get married.”
Mother always said, Keep this up and you’ll end up like Aunt Flandre!
Just wait and see.
That was exactly what she would become.
What was so wrong with Aunt Flandre, anyway?
Agathe sniffled and repeated the thought as though making a vow, then abruptly came to her senses.
But where was this?