“That’s right. The Empress also knew about this fact. And Duke Kayman Graft knew as well.”

“Then?”

“Yes, the Crown Prince thinks he’s doing all this alone, but the Empress has been secretly disposing of those women’s bodies. She buried those corpses in her family’s territory.”

“Oh my. So the Empress and the Duke are covering up the Crown Prince’s actions?”

“Yes, that’s why I was thinking of stirring up some trouble.”

“Trouble?”

At Cassel’s words, Ruan whispered in his ear.

“I understand. Duke, let’s do it that way.”

Cassel bowed and left the office.

***

“Wow, this place is really huge!”

Charles exclaimed as she entered the store, looking at the plates and tableware inside.

“Charles, keep it down.”

At Clea’s words, Charles nodded and spoke in a small voice.

“Can I look around a bit, Madam?”

“Sure, but be careful.”

“Yes.”

Mercian, who came to buy plates and bowls for the home party, looked around the unexpectedly large store carefully.

“Madam, I think this plate looks good too?”

At Clea’s words, Mercian nodded and looked around, and the store owner approached Clea.

“Isn’t this the head maid of the Duke’s household?”

“It’s been a while. We came to look at some tableware to use for a home party at the Duke’s house this time.”

As Clea was about to introduce Mercian, the store owner gave her a pitying look and said,

“We’ve just received some nice products. By the way, it must be tough for you these days, head maid. I hear the Duchess is really working the servants hard?”

“What do you mean our Madam is working us hard?”

At the store owner’s words, Clea looked at Mercian nervously and asked, and the store owner looked at her understandingly and said,

“Oh, don’t pretend. I just heard everything from the Duchess’s sister, the Viscountess. My goodness, they say that when holding a tea party, she put defensive magic on all the rooms in case the Viscountess and young lady might steal something, so when the young lady thought it was a bathroom and opened the door, she collapsed and nearly died for over two hours. The Viscountess tried to reason with the Duchess that no matter how poor they are, they wouldn’t lay hands on others’ belongings, but the Duchess said their appearance was too shabby and embarrassing, and drove the Viscountess and young lady out of the Duke’s house, saying never to see them again. How much worse must it be for the servants with someone like that?”

Young lady? Could it be that Lucy is here right now?

At the store owner’s words, Mercian, standing next to Clea, frowned, and Clea burst out angrily at the store owner.

“What nonsense is this? Who on earth said such things?”

The owner, not realizing the person next to Clea was Mercian, replied bewilderedly to Clea who was angry at him,

“The young lady is in a room upstairs right now. She came to buy plates and dishes for this year’s home party and is having tea with other noble ladies, when I happened to overhear her talking about the Duchess when asked how she was doing. The young lady said she was so shocked by that incident that she was bedridden for over two weeks. My goodness, how pitiful she looked with half her face paralyzed. Uh, uh? Ma-madam, you can’t go upstairs. Ju-just a moment.”

.

.

.

“Oh my, how could such a thing happen? Well, it’s a bit awkward to say this to the young lady, but honestly, she did look quite greedy from her appearance. Even when the Viscount’s family was so poor, the Viscountess and young lady were so thin, but only the Duchess was plump. How pitiful I felt seeing that. I’m sure the two of them were so kind, giving away their food like that.”

At the words of Countess Susan Theor, who looked at her with pitying eyes, Lucienne lowered her head with a mournful expression and said,

“No, Countess. After father passed away and the Viscount’s family fortunes declined, I just regret not being able to give more to my younger sister. No matter how much I talked to her about her appearance, she wouldn’t listen. And I couldn’t stop a child who loved to eat, so she just kept eating all day without doing anything, and didn’t lose weight. But she always got angry at mother, saying there wasn’t enough to eat. But it’s okay now. Now that she’s become a wealthy Duchess, she can eat as much as she wants.”

“My goodness, how could anyone behave like that? And I heard the Duke’s family gave a large dowry too. Haven’t your circumstances improved at all?”

Susan asked, looking at Lucienne’s dress, which seemed a bit worn for a noble family’s dress.

Lucienne looked at her own dress and let out a small sigh as she said,

“The dowry is naturally Mer’s, how could I touch that? The Duke’s family agreed to give gold coins every month, but at this tea party when they mistook us for thieves, even the gold coins…”

“Oh my, does that mean they didn’t give you anything? That’s unbelievable. How could they do such a thing?”

Seeing Susan’s shocked expression at her words, Lucienne was inwardly cheering.

Unable to find evidence, the Crown Prince cut off relations with her that very day, as Mercian had said.

No matter how many times she went to see him, she couldn’t even catch a glimpse of his face, and it took about a month before she could finally give up.

And all that resentment was directed at Mercian, who hadn’t given her any evidence, and Lucienne deliberately went out wearing a dress that Mercian had worn when she was at the Viscount’s house, mended, in order to lower Mercian’s reputation.

Lucienne, who had stopped by the dish store to buy tableware for the home party, happened to meet Countess Susan Theor, who was acquainted with Penelope, and took her up to the second floor for a cup of tea, where she began to badmouth Mercian.

Susan, who usually enjoyed gossiping, soon began to focus on Lucienne’s story and before long started joining in on badmouthing Mercian.

Mer, do you know how ridiculous rumors are? They have nothing to do with the truth.

People only hear what they want to hear and say what they want to say.

You dare try to drown me because of a Duke who has less than 4 months left?

It’s all because of you that things didn’t work out with His Highness the Crown Prince.

So taste it for yourself.

What it’s like to have everyone in the empire condemn you.

Lucienne smiled inwardly as she watched Susan get excited as if it were her own affair, and replied,

“Oh my, I’ve been rambling on about useless things out of frustration. Please, I beg you, Countess, just think of what I just said as mere grumbling and forget it. As long as my sister is happy, it doesn’t matter what happens to us. Besides, we’ll have to leave the Duke’s house in 4 months anyway. She’ll need money to survive then.”

“You’re both just too kind.”

“Is what the young lady just said true?”

The elderly lady who had been sitting on a sofa to one side, silently listening to Lucienne and Penelope’s conversation since coming up to the second floor with Susan, looked at Lucienne and asked for the first time.

“Of course it’s true. But I’m absolutely not blaming my sister, so please just forget this conversation here.”

At Lucienne’s words, Susan said seriously,

“That won’t do. People should know about things like this. Don’t you agree, Madam? Especially you should know more than anyone.”

Madam? Who on earth is she?

Her face looks familiar though, have I seen her somewhere before?

Lucienne quietly observed the lady sitting across from her.

Huh? That person is definitely…

At Susan’s words, Olivia took a sip of tea and looked into Lucienne’s eyes that were staring at her, asking in a cold tone,

“That’s right. As the Countess says, this is my niece’s business, so of course I should know about it. But, young lady, if what you say is true, I would immediately confirm the facts with Mer and advise her to share some money with the Viscount’s family out of moral duty since their circumstances are not good. But if it’s a lie, how will you compensate for the damaged reputation of my niece-in-law? When you dare to spread unfounded rumors about the Duchess of Canoloup, you must have been prepared to stake your life at the very least, right? And one more thing, Susan, what did you say about my niece-in-law’s figure just now? As far as I can see, she’s healthy, lovely, and beautiful, so what exactly is the problem you’re talking about?”

At first, I just liked seeing her healthy appearance, unlike other thin young ladies.

After seeing Ruan wasting away day by day due to addiction, I liked Mercian’s healthy appearance.

I thought I wouldn’t get attached to a child who would only be Ruan’s wife for 6 months before leaving…

She’d go out to the city for a bit and come back with cakes or cookies, saying she thought of me. She’d send food through servants, saying she was learning to cook at the Duke’s house and it turned out quite delicious so she thought of me.

She would visit me alone once a week for an hour or two to have tea.

At first, I thought she’d do it once or twice and stop, but Mercian came to see me for two months without missing a single week.

Moreover, the stories I heard from the Duke’s servants were not much different from what I knew.

Even when Ruan was away, she still treated the Duke’s servants kindly and didn’t misuse the Duke’s property.

As a result, after two months, Olivia found Mercian more beautiful and lovable than Ruan.

In fact, although she hadn’t said anything to Ruan, she was considering adopting Mercian as her daughter if she said she would leave the Duke’s house after Ruan’s death.

Olivia thought Mercian, who always smiled and didn’t treat people rudely, was much better than those young ladies who were so thin they looked like wooden sticks.

A month ago, when she heard about the tea party incident from Clea, she was already planning to teach the Viscount’s family a lesson…

Hearing that she was going out to buy dishes and tableware to prepare for a home party that might be Ruan’s last, Olivia had come out early intending to look at dishes with Mercian and give her a gift if she liked something.

Having arrived a bit early, Olivia was sitting in the room drinking tea and waiting for Mercian to arrive.

But out of nowhere, this young lady claiming to be her elder sister came in with Susan Theor, the Countess whom she didn’t like much for spreading baseless rumors, and started badmouthing Mercian.

She wasn’t going to let it slide even if they only told the truth, but this? Who took the dowry? And what? Mercian got fat because she took all the food?

Ha! How much have you two mother and daughter stolen from our Mer until now? To dare try to tarnish Mer’s reputation with such ridiculous lies…

Olivia, who had already secretly investigated the Viscount’s family after hearing about the tea party incident, had been watching Lucienne’s face, which didn’t change at all as she spouted lies, wanting to pour tea on it while enduring to see how far she would go.

Surely she must have seen me at the wedding reception.

It seems she doesn’t even remember my face.

.

.

.

Seeing Lucienne who had been spouting nothing but lies from start to finish, Olivia asked, trying hard to suppress her anger,

“Is what the young lady just said true?”

“Of course it’s true. But I’m absolutely not blaming my sister, so please just forget this conversation here.”

Forget it? That’s not possible. You’ll have to take responsibility for everything you’ve said from now on, so why should I forget it?

Olivia looked at Lucienne, whose expression was changing as if she had realized who she was, and said,