The Duke of Daiern died.

The cause was falling from a balcony while drunk.

At the unjustly young age of 40, no one actually mourned or grieved his death. Not his young wife nor any of his three children.

‘If anything, I thought he should have died earlier.’

If he was going to receive divine punishment anyway, wouldn’t it have been better to receive it sooner?

The one thinking this is…

…none other than his wife.

Lieselotte Karin Daiern.

With black hair tinged with purple, snow-white skin, and violet eyes, I was once counted among the most beautiful women in high society.

But when has a noble’s marriage ever been decided by appearance?

In fact, for someone born into a baronial family like me to become a duchess was a stroke of luck that anyone would consider excessive.

Even though I was 8 years younger than the duke, and even his second wife.

Moreover, the duke already had three children. Of course, children born between the duke and his first wife, without a single drop of my blood mixed in.

Nevertheless, for the past 10 years since our marriage, I have taken quite good care of the children.

I don’t mean that I did anything extraordinary for them. I just managed to prevent the devilish Duke of Daiern from abusing them.

Although he’s my husband, the duke… no, that bastard was such a piece of trash that even calling him scum would be too generous.

Let’s set aside the fact that he was incompetent and an alcoholic.

He never hesitated to hurl all kinds of verbal and physical abuse at his family, especially the children – the vulnerable ones he should have cherished and loved the most.

During my married life, I often imagined:

‘If some miracle could send me back to the past…’

But such thoughts are just meaningless hypotheticals. In reality, I could have annulled the marriage through divorce at any time over the years.

But I didn’t.

Yes. Even if I went back to the past, I wouldn’t avoid this marriage. And I would live as the Duchess of Daiern again, just as I’ve endured until now.

It’s not because I’m greedy for the position of duchess.

The duchy’s territories and wealth? Those are actually all things I’ve built up since the marriage.

What I can’t give up.

…are the children.

Although I didn’t give birth to them, the three children I’ve embraced in my heart, accepted as family, and come to cherish deeply.

As an adult. And as a mother, I will protect these children.

Just as I have done until now, until they finally become adults and can walk their own paths.

Among those, my current goal is to safely pass on the title of duke to my eldest son.

According to imperial law, the minimum condition to inherit a title is to be an adult, so…

‘Three years left.’

I don’t think it will be easy. The meat called Daiern is tempting enough for anyone to covet.

Moreover, Daiern, which has become practically an empty house with the duke’s death, was certainly prey that would make wolves drool.

In particular, what they were aiming for was me, suddenly widowed and alone.

Because whoever it was, just by marrying me, they would have the chance to take everything of Daiern’s.

The duchy’s territory, the family fortune, even the title of duke.

‘So I hadn’t expected a situation like this…’

I unconsciously rolled my drying lips into my mouth.

“I have no interest in the duke’s title. Daiern’s wealth means nothing to me. And I’m not proposing some childish love affair either. Just…”

The man in front of me now has a beauty so mysterious it’s chilling.

His brilliant silver-white hair, crafted as if from light itself, tickles my vision along with an alluring, languid smile.

“It would be enough to have a relationship where I could kiss your hands, feet, and lips.”

At a distance so dizzying it’s close.

Every time the man’s low, soft voice drops a word, his breath touches my skin nakedly.

“In return, I will protect you and your children as I have until now. Since you’re all destined to die in two years anyway if not for me, I think this is quite a good proposal.”

“…”

“What do you say, Madam?”

Those blood-red, bewitching eyes that so ill-suited that gentle tone seemed to pierce right through my face.

Perhaps thanks to that, I felt an aching pain in my chest.

An otherworldly beauty that makes your heart flutter just by being close, even without any emotions.

It’s troublesome – if I’m not careful, I might lose myself without even realizing it.

I must never forget. I’m a married woman with three children to look after.

The day my trash-like husband died was the start of the social season.

The Imperial Palace ballroom.

Nobles who had come up to the city after months were busy blossoming with gossip to relieve their boredom. Most of it was just trivial gossip about handsome nobles visiting from abroad, or about the territories they owned.

My husband, the Duke of Daiern, and I also entered the banquet hall without delay. As expected, nobles flocked around us.

“I heard the news. The duchy had a good harvest this year too, didn’t it?”

“My, my. The duchess becomes more beautiful with each passing year.”

“How are the three children of the ducal family doing?”

The Duchy of Daiern, with its high status and vast territory.

The duchy’s influence had become particularly impressive recently, attracting attention not only from the nobles but also from the imperial family. My husband, the Duke of Daiern, was in a very good mood because of it.

Yes, he had been waiting for just this day for months. To show off his wealth and influence that had grown over the past year in front of the nobles.

However, that state didn’t last long. It was because of someone’s thoughtless remark.

“But isn’t it true that the ducal family has come to wield such great influence only after the duke remarried to Duchess Lieselotte? I wonder if that rumor about the duchess being the actual manager of the duchy is really true, haha.”

My husband’s face distorted in an instant. His pride was clearly hurt.

I tried desperately to salvage the situation, but I couldn’t suppress the anger that had already begun to flare up.

My suddenly changed husband grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the lounge. Fortunately or unfortunately, it coincided with the start of the waltz, so there was no one in the lounge.

“Let go of this hand…! Control yourself a bit, dear!”

“Control myself? How dare you. Are you giving me orders now, Madam?”

“That’s not what I meant… Ah!”

At that moment, my husband roughly threw me onto the lounge floor. With my high heels, my ankle twisted, and I lost my balance, forced to roll on the marble floor.

“Haha, this one and that one! How lightly they must think of me, the duke!”

Bang, bang! The surrounding walls and doors were kicked by my husband’s rough feet, making threatening noises.

“Who governed the territory in place of whom? The land of Daiern, the duke’s title, all of it is mine!”

I had no intention of denying that statement.

No matter what anyone says, my husband is the Duke of Daiern, and regardless of the process, he will ultimately be the protagonist of all the glory.

I’m just not the type of person to flatter him and cater to his mood even at times like this. Especially not in a situation where throbbing pain was coming from my ankle that had twisted when I fell.

Seeing me keeping my mouth shut, my husband must have thought he had intimidated me, as he looked down at me with a cold gaze and smiled viciously.

“So you’d do well to remember, Madam. It would be best for you to act like a pretty doll while I’m still respecting you like this. You understand what I mean, don’t you?”

What respect? Since when was being treated like a pretty doll considered respect?

Although I didn’t want to agree with anything, the timing wasn’t very good.

My husband seemed quite satisfied with my disheveled appearance, unable to even stand up properly. As if his anger had subsided a bit, he sneered with a slight huff.

“Well, I suppose you’ve shown your face at the ballroom enough by now, Madam. You don’t look well, so you’d better return to the mansion.”

“Wait a moment. I have things I need to do with the nobles today…”

“The only thing you need to do is wait for me, your husband, at home with a smile like a flower.”

“What did you say?”

“I’ll send a maid in an hour, so don’t wander around the banquet hall unnecessarily on that foot of yours.”

It was a statement with clear intent.

He couldn’t bear to see me receive even a little attention instead of him in this place.

As if he didn’t need to hear any answer from me at all, he left that order-like notification and strode out of the lounge.

My husband’s footsteps faded away to the cheerful waltz music of the banquet hall. Thrown down in the lounge, I could only let out a bitter laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Ha, really.

‘What a personality.’

I didn’t expect him to apologize for pushing or acting roughly. Still, I thought I could at least ask for some help getting up, but to think he’d just leave like that.

Anyway, now it seems I’ll have to wait in the lounge as my husband said and return home with the maid. My ankle seems to be swelling more and more, so I should at least rest comfortably until then.

Thinking this, I tried to get up. That’s when it happened.

“Are you alright?”

A man’s soft voice filled the empty space of the lounge. At the same time, long fingers wrapped in white gloves entered my field of vision.

I thought there was no one here?

My gaze reflexively followed the glove upwards. And soon I couldn’t help but be more surprised than I had prepared for.

He was a man with dazzlingly brilliant silver-white hair.

How could a person be born with such a color of body hair?

As if finely ground diamond powder had been sprinkled on him, a mysterious radiance flowed from the man. Even his long eyelashes, which fell like curtains as he bent down, were the same color. His features were as delicate as if God had meticulously crafted them for years.

Only his eyes had a slightly different atmosphere.

A bewitching, dangerous red color.

“May I help support you?”

But that eerie color completely disappeared the moment the man smiled with his eyes curved. Was it my imagination?

As I quietly observed the man again, he looked a bit troubled, as if embarrassed.

“I’m sorry. I was resting due to a headache, so I missed the timing to stop your husband.”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, he would have heard and seen everything.

Only then did I realize what I should have checked first as soon as I became aware that there was someone else in the lounge. Judging by the man’s reaction, I seemed to have gotten an answer without even having to ask.

What an embarrassment because of my ill-mannered husband.

“…It’s nothing. Rather, I would be grateful if you could lend me your arm so I can get up.”

“Gladly.”

Then, surprisingly, the man acted in a way completely different from what I expected.

The moment I felt his arm supporting the back of my knees and back, my feet left the ground and quickly moved away.

“…!”

There wasn’t even time to react. When I came to my senses, I was already being comfortably moved to the wide couch in the lounge, cradled in the man’s arms.

“Please wait a moment, Madam. Your ankle seems quite swollen.”

And that wasn’t the end of it. After checking the condition of my ankle once more, the man scooped out some of the drinks provided in the lounge and made an ice pack.

“May I take a look for a moment?”

“No, that’s alright.”

No matter how much help I received, it wasn’t right for a married woman to show bare skin to a strange man.

I politely declined the man’s kindness. Then, as if he had expected this, the man smiled gently and handed me the ice pack.

Just putting that on my ankle eased the pain a little. Oh, my.

To think I’m receiving the consideration I should have gotten from my husband from a man I’ve never met before.

“By the way, I don’t believe I’ve seen you in the imperial capital’s social circles before.”

Once the situation had calmed down a bit, I spoke to the man again.

“I am Lieselotte Karin Daiern, the Duchess of Daiern.”

Only after introducing myself could I hear the name of the man who had taken a seat about a step away.

“Pardon my late introduction. I am Joseph Obreim Alperon, the Count of Alperon. Please call me ‘Lord Joseph’. As you said, this is my first time in the imperial capital.”

Though he was from a foreign country, it seemed the manners of high society were quite similar. Lord Joseph followed the imperial custom by lightly kissing the tips of my fingers as a sign of etiquette.

“Alperon. Judging by the unfamiliar place name, I suppose Lord Joseph must be that incredibly handsome visitor from abroad the ladies were talking about.”

“Handsome, you say. I’m embarrassed, but such words… I have heard them often.”

“And you’re not the modest type, I see.”

“If I were to be modest, it would rather be disrespectful to those around me. I think you’re in a similar position, Duchess.”

Now that I look at him, not only is his face incredibly handsome, but he’s also quite witty. Even I almost forgot about the discord with my husband earlier and nearly smiled without realizing it.

Moreover, looking at him from a bit of distance, Lord Joseph not only had a pretty face but also quite broad shoulders and was quite tall. His smiling face was handsome too.

“By the way, if this is your first time in the imperial capital, you should probably start mingling with other nobles in the dance hall soon. Is your headache better now?”

“Thanks to you, Duchess, it’s much better.”

Even with the pleasantries.

The man smiling with his eyes curved was more charming the more I looked at him. So much so that I couldn’t help but compare him to my husband.

No, it’s too unfair to my husband to compare him with Lord Joseph, isn’t it? Unlike my husband, who always has a crooked posture from putting on airs despite his passable face, Lord Joseph’s back is incredibly straight.

‘I wonder if he’s in his mid-20s?’

If so, he would naturally be married already.