“Try your best.”

Cain replied irritably.

“If you have nothing more to say, get out.”

After being with Jane for so long, his head was throbbing. Even the cigar scent lingering in the office became unpleasant.

“I’m sorry for wasting your time. Let me ask one more thing. The contract period.”

“…”

“You want me to enroll Joseph in the academy and make him top of the class within a year?”

“Is it difficult?”

Jane held her tongue. Teaching wasn’t the difficult part.

But it bothered her that Cain had come to her.

He could have found plenty of tutors to teach academics.

Coming to her, whom he didn’t even like, and even agreeing to a contract marriage to entrust the child meant he had something to hide. A secret that must not leak out.

What could there be to hide about the child?

‘Is he sick or something?’

If the child had a physical illness, treatment would take a long time.

However, physical illness wasn’t a big problem. The Hastings family doctor was skilled, and with material abundance, diseases could be treated easily.

The problem was if the child had emotional deficiencies.

‘He said the child was expelled from school.’

He wouldn’t have caused such a big problem to be expelled from school on a mere whim.

There was a high possibility the child had emotional deficits. If so, one year might not be enough time.

It meant the chances of Jane failing to fulfill her promise were increasing.

But she didn’t want to ask Cain for more time.

One year was enough to stay by his side. That would be enough to shake off her lingering feelings for Cain.

‘I’ll do my best somehow.’

Jane steeled her resolve.

“No. It’s not a problem. I’ll be going now.”

“Wait.”

Cain stopped Jane. Since he had been giving her looks to leave quickly all this time, Jane turned back curiously.

“Bedtime is twice a week. You seem to have missed it.”

Jane’s trembling eyes fell in dismay.

She flipped through the documents again. And discovered a clause she had overlooked.

It was a clause he had added. The end of the contract Jane was holding crumpled.

“Since you said you wanted to do properly as the Duchess, I’m counting on you for the upcoming social season.”

It was Cain’s punishment for Jane.

Jane was already an outcast from high society. Asking her to handle the social season meant he wanted her to go out and get badly bruised.

She was starting to get a sense of what Cain wanted from her.

He wanted her to despair.

She had already despaired plenty, but it seemed meaningless if not done in front of him.

Jane willingly accepted his condemnation in order to cut off her feelings for Cain.

“Of course.”

Building relationships with the ladies would help Joseph’s social connections.

But where was Joseph’s real mother? What circumstances led to only the child being sent here? Was she really dead as the rumors suggested?

Knock knock.

Jane suddenly came to her senses at the sound of Cain tapping the table.

“I’m sorry. I was… thinking of something else for a moment.”

“You didn’t hear a word I said. I don’t like repeating myself, Jane.”

“I’ll be more careful from now on.”

There was a strange sense of defiance in her docile attitude, but Cain let it slide. There was no need to assign meaning to each of her reactions. It was tiring too.

“I said you have to have your debut in two months.”

“My debut?”

“Yes, Jane. Were you planning to marry me without even having your debut?”

The debut was a coming-of-age ceremony for noble young ladies. Without having a debut, one wasn’t recognized as an adult in high society even if they came of age.

Because the Whitney family went bankrupt just before Jane’s debut, she was practically a minor in high society.

“You wouldn’t be trying to make me a social criminal, would you?”

“No.”

Jane’s throat tightened as she recalled the time with Mrs. Whitney when they were excited about her upcoming debut. Jane cleared her throat and asked.

“Why two months from now? The social season starts in a month.”

“Jane.”

Cain clicked his tongue as if quite regretful.

“Jane, look at yourself. Your current appearance.”

Cain raised one corner of his mouth.

“It’s hard to look at.”

“…”

“Two months is time for you to shed your country bumpkin look. You’ll have more to learn than you think.”

There were trends in high society too. From dresses to conversation styles, and even dancing.

But one couldn’t just follow this year’s trends. To have conversations, one needed to know about past trends as well.

The current trend could be a variation of a trend from some point in the past or a reaction against the previous style.

Therefore, Jane had to learn about the past 7 years of high society in two months.

That wasn’t all. She also had to study how power was distributed in high society and which families to pay attention to.

‘I know that from reading the newspapers continuously, but…’

She needed to study separately since she also needed to know the subtle stories that didn’t appear in newspapers.

“Is the time not enough? Is two months too much?”

“No. It’s sufficient.”

“If you understand, you can go now. There should be someone waiting to help you prepare. Look over the contract more.”

It was a contract with only Jane’s signature line empty. Jane was about to sign it on the spot but stopped.

As he said, she needed to thoroughly review the contract. Even if she had no right to change a single letter of the contract.

Cain returned to his desk without seeing her off. Jane remained standing still until he sat down and picked up his pen.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“I have something I want to ask.”

Cain gestured with his chin as if to go ahead.

Jane hesitated, then seemingly resolved, clutched the contract tightly to her chest and said.

“Does the bedtime clause also start two months from now?”

Jane’s gaze as she asked the question was quite provocative. Cain wasn’t one to let such provocation slide.

“If you want, we can start from today.”

He smiled languidly.

* * *

Click, the sound of the door closing was heard.

At his gaze that seemed like he would crush her right then and there, Jane fled his office.

He was said to go out often at night, so perhaps sharing intimacy between men and women was a very easy thing for him.

For Jane, it was something that required great courage.

‘He must have a lot of experience.’

Jane suddenly felt scared. Was it really a good decision to say she would monopolize him?

This was Cain, who had spent nights Jane couldn’t even imagine with many women.

She felt embarrassed for confidently telling him to dedicate a year to her. And the nights to be spent with Cain felt like an enormous burden.

Jane slowly swallowed.

“Miss.”

Raising her head at the call, there was a maid with striking olive skin in front of Jane.

The nape of her neck exposed by her upswept hairstyle was quite lovely. Jane’s gaze lingered on the sapphire earrings on her white earlobes before falling away.

Seeing she had earrings Jane herself didn’t possess, she must be a child with good skills and abilities.

She likely received them as gifts from pleasing her masters or earned money doing other errands.

“I’m Michelle, who will be serving you from today. Shall we go to your room?”

The maid who met Jane’s eyes bowed politely.

She was a young and cute child, barely over 20 years old.

Looking at Michelle who led the way, Jane had the useless thought, ‘So much has changed in 7 years.’

It was a principle for the maids of the Hastings family not to walk without making footsteps, but Michelle’s gait was nothing but cheerful.

‘Or perhaps she’s not fully trained.’

She would have to retract her earlier assessment that the maid had good skills or abilities.

It was fortunate carpets were laid down, otherwise it would have been quite noisy footsteps.

“I almost made a mistake.”

Michelle suddenly stopped.

“Your room is on the 4th floor, the guest room! I almost led you to the Duchess’s room. You’re not the Duchess yet, after all.”

‘See?’

Jane burst out laughing at her exaggerated actions and tone.

Michelle’s brows furrowed.

Jane knew what her behavior meant. She had seen many maids like her in the past.

Those who mistook their master’s authority as their own and acted territorially.

Or it could be jealousy. There are often maids who love their masters. In such cases, they saw young women brought in by the master as their rivals.

Given her young and spirited appearance, the latter was more likely.

Maids in love with their masters commonly disrespected guests when the master wasn’t around, and sometimes acted impudently like Michelle was doing now.

They resented those who seemed not so different from them receiving better treatment.

It was something she experienced occasionally during her time as a governess too.

But she didn’t expect to meet a maid living in delusion in the Hastings household, which was quite strict about educating their subordinates.

Jane felt the 7 years anew. Too much had changed.

It seemed the only thing that hadn’t changed was her own foolish heart for Cain.

“Michelle, I don’t need you to show me to the room. I can find it myself.”

“I’m sure you can. You’re not a child after all. But it’s what the master ordered, so what can I do? I have to do it. The master trusts me quite a bit, you know.”

Michelle lifted her chin high. She boasted that being assigned to assist Jane was due to Cain’s great trust in her.