RAMHM Chapter 69

Changing Husbands

The moment Doris received my letter, she sent an official notice declaring she would come to mourn the Grand Duchess Adrienne—and then left the palace directly with the Crown Prince in tow.

The Crown Prince, who'd looked uncomfortable the entire journey alongside Doris, seemed startled when I said I had something to tell him. But that lasted only a moment. When he opened the first envelope of documents I'd handed him, shock bloomed in those endlessly docile eyes of his. Doris, who'd been reading the documents alongside him, received the same shock—but soon couldn't hide her excitement, exchanging glances with me.

She seemed unable to control her mouth from splitting wide, as if she couldn't believe that Bliea Acacia had accomplished this much without even being asked. The more the Crown Prince's face twisted, the harder Doris bit her lip to keep from laughing.

The Crown Prince's flawless white hand reached for the second envelope of documents I'd presented. As he pulled them out and read through them one by one, the composure he'd barely maintained began shifting moment by moment.

The first contained evidence that Novian had deliberately sent rebel forces and monsters to the west. The second contained proof that he'd created them to send. The Crown Prince, who'd stopped breathing—hadn't blinked once—flinched violently when Doris lightly touched his arm. I met the eyes of the Crown Prince, who'd fallen into soundless despair.

"I need... I need time to think."

"Your Highness! You've seen it with your own two eyes—what more do you need? What in heaven's name has this man, an imperial prince of this nation, been doing behind our backs! And not just anywhere—he did this to the west, my family's territory! I truly cannot believe it. If Father ever finds out about this..."

At the word "Father" from Doris's mouth, the Crown Prince's expression grew even more ashen. He was already under severe pressure from Duke Castagna.

I already knew the Crown Prince's current situation in considerable detail through Nora. The moment the Duke learned of this, it was obvious a bloodbath would erupt within the Crown Prince's faction.

Bardenaldo, hands trembling as he barely managed to place the documents on the table, quickly dragged his palms down his face. He seemed to be struggling desperately to collect himself. I watched silently, then met Doris's gaze—do something—and opened my mouth heavily.

"Your Imperial Highness. You'll need time to think as well."

"Bliea!"

"He's not just some common noble—he's His Majesty the Emperor's brother and Your Highness's uncle. Someone who wields enormous influence over Your Highness's power base. It won't be easy to eliminate him by connecting him to the rebels."

Bardenaldo seemed somewhat comforted by my gentle voice, slowly nodding his head and downing his stone-cold tea. Even so, as if his mind wouldn't clear, he shook his head several times.

Doris's brow furrowed slightly, then she stood abruptly when the Crown Prince rose from his seat. She looked ready to shake him down to his very soul if he dared to defend Novian again.

"Your Imperial Highness, please finish mourning the Grand Duchess and return to the palace at your leisure."

"Your Highness. Surely you're not going to consult with the Grand Duke after seeing this?"

"Doris."

The Crown Prince called her by name. His voice was so choked that Doris flinched.

"This is a matter of grave importance that could plunge this empire into great chaos. As long as I remain Crown Prince, such things must never happen again."

At his firm voice, we both held our breath simultaneously. The Crown Prince sighed deeply, gazed at the ceiling, then suddenly shifted his gaze to me.

"...I cannot help but thank you. Whatever your intentions, I will never forget that you revealed a truth I could have lived my entire life without knowing."

The Crown Prince spoke as if he truly meant it. Common sense would dictate that simply burying this matter and living in luxury as the Grand Duchess would be the best scenario for me. He even bowed his head slightly toward me—unprecedented—and left the annex with a grave expression.

Gaspar followed him out with a bewildered look. Doris stood watching for a moment, then sat down with a refreshed air. Her expression was utterly satisfied.

Now that she'd essentially caught both Novian—her thorn in the side—and even the Crown Prince in a major weakness, she couldn't hide her beaming expression, as if she already held the world in her palm.

"Ahhh. Bliea. I never thought you'd accomplish this much. How satisfying this is. You'll probably feel this same emotion soon when you witness the Grand Duke's downfall. What do you say? Shall we toast, just us women?"

Doris uncorked the champagne bottle that had been sitting decoratively on the table alongside the flower vase. Her maid, who'd accompanied her from the palace, looked horrified and reached out, asking for the bottle—but Doris lightly waved her off and poured it into a glass.

The champagne, little more than decoration, would be lukewarm and tasteless, but Doris drank it down as if it were sweet nectar, then poured another glass and handed it to me. I was half-forced into a toast and drank the champagne. As expected, it was lukewarm and flavorless.

"I don't know what decision His Highness the Crown Prince will make. I thought he'd summon the Grand Duke immediately and interrogate him after seeing this."

"Huhu. Bliea. You only say that because you don't know His Highness the Crown Prince well yet."

Doris smiled viciously, refilled her own glass, and downed the liquor.

"A husband who lacks the nerve to seize everything yet has pointless compassion to spare—how exhausting is that? If he lets this slide after seeing evidence like this, I won't stand for it this time. Don't worry."

Her expression said this worked out perfectly. I paused, tilting my head in confusion. She'd learned that her husband's strategist had deliberately created and sent rebel forces to the west—and this was her only reaction? I'd expected Doris to explode in fury.

"Oh, this is just between you and me."

She leaned closer to me as if it were a secret from the other maids—though with the table between us, she couldn't get very close anyway.

"If he doesn't abandon the Grand Duke after this, I'm thinking of changing husbands."

"!"

I barely managed to set my champagne glass on the table and stared at her. Doris gazed back at my face directly, the corners of her mouth curling upward. The words she really wanted to say—more than any thanks—seemed to be what was coming next.

"For example, what about His Highness the Second Prince Rhodness?"

I had to clench my teeth before a groan could escape. What absurd nonsense was Doris about to spout?

"Lord Rhodness has accumulated far too many achievements to be discriminated against over something as trivial as eye color. Especially in my homeland, the west. Didn't the Grand Duke's greed end up giving him wings? Moreover, he's the legitimate bloodline of the late Empress Letina. Father seems to have the Ninth Prince in Ellaconia in mind rather than Lord Rhodness, but still. Compared to such a green young prince, someone more manly..."

"What are you saying right now, Your Imperial Highness?"

When Doris's face—which had been grinning until just now—went slack, I grew so flustered that I cut her off. Fortunately, Doris didn't seem to mind my interruption.

However, she seemed to be carefully observing how I reacted to those words. Doris, who'd been staring at me as if to pierce through me, smiled with the expression of a madwoman.

"It's a joke. Though there is that possibility. Everything depends on whether His Highness the Crown Prince abandons the Grand Duke or not. Whether he abandons the Grand Duke and rises higher, or drowns on a sinking ship together with him—the judgment is His Highness's to make. The daughter of Castagna couldn't possibly stay with a husband who can't even make that level of rational judgment, could she?"

She drained the champagne glass she'd been holding lightly and rose gracefully. I couldn't even think to stand with her. Doris, who'd donned her fur with her maid's assistance, smiled with a face flushed rosy from the alcohol.

"Oh, now that I think about it, I came here as a mourner today, didn't I? It feels wrong to be leaving after popping open celebratory champagne. Bliea, write this in the guest book for me."

I lifted my trembling head.

"Good riddance, Adrienne Trovika."

Doris continued, looking directly at my face as if Adrienne were still alive.

"Death makes everything meaningless."

Even after Doris left—saying not to see her out—I couldn't rise from my seat for a long while. Until Marge and Yona, who'd been waiting outside, came near and hovered around me, I chewed over Doris's words countless times.

Seeing Doris express her hostility toward the dead Adrienne without filter was, in a way, my gain. That she'd shown me her true face beneath the façade of playing the decent Crown Princess meant her trust in me had grown that much. But... if the Crown Prince couldn't bring himself to abandon his uncle, she'd just change husbands?

'She could make Rhodness her husband?'

My hands trembled. Just imagining Rhodness standing beside Doris with a miserable expression made my heart feel like it was tearing apart. Even knowing he wouldn't be taken down so easily, part of me also thought that if Doris and Duke Castagna set their minds to it, they could probably manage that much.

Having Rhodness entangled in this filthy muck was absolutely out of the question.

'Everything depends on the Crown Prince's decision?'

The Crown Prince, who needed the west's power. But the Crown Prince who couldn't let go of his uncle due to sentiment. If even this level of pressure wasn't enough...

"Yona, bring Annie to the Grand Duchess's office immediately."

"The office?"

"The dead Grand Duchess's office."

Annie had been having a miserable time lately. Who knew that living like a frightened mouse in the Grand Ducal Estate—where she used to strut about as if she owned the place—would be this suffocating? The silver lining was that she wasn't working in the laundry room, the most grueling assignment. And that the damned Countess Acacia wasn't looking for her.

'After saying she'd use me for something important.'

The memory of being locked in that closet for so long made the Countess terrifying, but the person who'd said she'd use her for something important had completely shut her mouth and was pretending not to see her—which was eating away at Annie.

It was a ridiculous mix of emotions. She was too scared to go near her, yet the fact that the woman said she'd use her for something important and then ignored her made Annie anxious.

'Is that woman really going to become the Grand Duchess like this?'

The famous Second Prince, the Grand Duke, and now even the Crown Prince and Crown Princess. Seeing them meet with that woman directly under the guise of condolences, maybe her confidence wasn't all hot air after all.

Unable to snoop around here and there, it had been quite some time since she'd last reported to Duke Castagna. Annie, who'd been gnawing at her nails, soon pressed the Grand Duchess's seal hidden deep in her bosom against her clothing.

How many countless fantasies had she entertained while pressing this seal onto blank paper? Becoming Duke Castagna's pawn, moving as he directed, and if she could just share a bed with the Grand Duke when he was drunk—couldn't this seal become hers? She'd indulged in so many delusions.

She knew full well that Bliea Acacia's origins weren't good either—so there was even less reason why she, once a noble though now fallen, couldn't do it. She was about to throw down the rag she'd been nervously pretending to clean with when she heard someone approach.

"Annie. The mistress is calling for you."

It was that woman's young maid.

"You, speaking down to me?"

"Is there a reason I should speak up?"

Yona was quite a gutsy child. Enough to leave Annie dumbfounded after underestimating her because of that cute face. Glaring at the tiny maid's head, Annie followed her—and felt something off. They'd stopped in front of the dead Grand Duchess's office.

"Why here...?"

"Go in."

Yona opened the door far too easily and gestured to her. That this place, always kept locked, would open without the owner's permission—and moreover.

"You're here, Annie."

The woman she'd been constantly thinking about was sitting in that office with surprisingly proper posture. She'd discussed the office with the butler—had she actually claimed the dead Grand Duchess's office?

The moment that thought crossed her mind, the door closed behind her, and when Annie startled back to her senses, Bliea had already approached right in front of her.

Annie, who'd instinctively flinched back, felt goosebumps rise at the sensation of the cold door touching her back. And at the woman's following words, her breath stopped.

"How long are you planning to keep the Grand Duchess's seal for yourself?"