“……What?”

“Since the Torres Weekly newspaper published the Duchess’s background, there’s no one in the empire who doesn’t know that the Duchess is a commoner from Smichen. It seems your blood is even lower than mine?”

“What did you just say……”

“I wonder if there are any daughters of high nobles who would want to marry a Duke with half the blood of a lowborn Duchess? In their eyes, even the Duke would be seen as lowborn.”

“You crazy bitch!”

Riona Klaus jumped up from her seat and swung her hand to slap Yuri Anesis’s cheek.

But Yuri grabbed the Duchess’s wrist.

“Let go of this!”

“I won’t! You’ll hit me if I let go!”

And she began to fiercely berate the Duchess.

“And you’re the crazy one! What did I endure all this for, supporting Esika and being your maid!!”

Deep anger was swirling in Yuri’s eyes.

Now she had nothing to fear in the world.

“How dare you, you lowborn thing!”

“Give it back! Return all of Klaus’s assets!! They’re mine!! All mine!!”

A scream mixed with despair flowed from Yuri’s lips like a shriek.

She had decided ever since receiving Esika’s letter asking her to come to the mansion.

That she would make Callian Klaus hers no matter what.

And the beautiful Klaus mansion she had seen on Esika’s wedding day…

She swore she would become the queen of that place.

But in an instant, everything she had built up for that goal came crumbling down.

“You’re… still the Duchess, aren’t you? Huh? Ask the nobles for help, and beg Her Majesty the Empress… beg for money… do that and get it all back!”

Yuri’s eyes were half crazed.

“Klaus must not fall! I haven’t enjoyed anything yet. There’s a Klaus child in this belly, what… what am I supposed to do!!”

What she wanted was not an empty shell of Callian.

It was the honor, wealth, and status that Callian would bring.

“Completely insane! You crazy bitch…”

Riona barely managed to pry off Yuri who was trying to cling to her.

Then she brushed off her body with her hands as if something dirty had gotten on her.

Being imprisoned on embezzlement charges was mortifying enough to die from, but to have to share a room with this crazy woman…

The entire situation was hopeless.

“……Aha….. Hahaha….. Hahaha….. No. No…… I… I couldn’t have failed……”

Yuri, collapsed on the floor, was muttering.

“I have to defeat Esika and take the position of Duchess. But if Klaus falls……”

The reality she had been denying now seemed to be crashing down on her clearly.

The reality that the position of Klaus Duchess she had wanted to obtain had become a complete illusion.

“……This isn’t how it’s supposed to be… This is too unfair for my life……”

Her hands on the cold floor were trembling endlessly.

**

‘These are extremely difficult ingredients to obtain.’

Esika Klaus sighed softly as she received the booklet from Panix.

A book listing the ingredients for a mysterious medicine that would give tremendous strength to drink even a single drop, enough to defeat a hundred strong men at once.

She had no choice but to try mixing the most effective ingredients she could.

The problem was that the ingredients were things like ‘fifth claw of an ancient dragon’ and ‘elixir of the high priest of the Aurin tribe’.

Dragons were said to have gone extinct a thousand years ago, and there were only a few preserved dragon corpses or fossils.

The Aurin tribe’s whereabouts were unknown, and as for the other ingredients… it was hard to tell if these were written down to be made, or just written randomly knowing they couldn’t be made.

“You look very worried.”

Hans, who had brought warm tea, sat down in front of Esika.

And he looked at those lists.

“Do you think we can get them?”

“My lady… do you really intend to make medicine with such ingredients?”

Esika nodded.

“I know you’re already drinking strange things that taste terribly awful, but I can’t understand it… Well, I suppose you’re drinking it because you need to.”

Hans, who had been frowning at the scale of the ingredients, continued while watching Esika’s reaction.

“A few of these can be obtained. But they are extremely expensive.”

“So a lot of money is needed?”

“Yes, that’s right. Just one spoonful of the spices that go in here costs 50,000 ling. With Klaus’s current finances… it can be said to be impossible.”

Hans looked around the garden where the two were sitting and talking with a bitter expression.

This place, abandoned by the maids and servants, will be overgrown with weeds and desolate in less than a month.

“Don’t worry about money.”

“But didn’t you say you would take on the debts along with the mansion? To save the mansion, we need to pay off the debts, and the amount of those debts… We would barely be able to pay them off if we sold all of Elmur.”

“I have something else to rely on besides that.”

From the information she had read in the original work, 3 years from now, a secret fund storage room created by the first Duke Klaus somewhere in a cave in the territory would be discovered.

With that money, Klaus would not only recover from the investment losses in Tzuchen, but also achieve a revival.

That time was after the original Esika had divorced.

It was the reason Esika had thought of taking the mansion from the beginning.

“Something else to rely on…?”

Hans looked at Esika with a puzzled expression.

In fact, Esika had gone to see that treasure room yesterday.

She had hidden so much gold that selling it could repay most of the debt.

Esika was practically getting the Klaus mansion and territory for free.

With the rent from the Elmur land she owned and the profits from operating the Klaus territory, this mansion could flourish as before.

The only difference is that now it would be Esika Klaus’s mansion, not Callian Klaus’s.

“Anyway, we need to get the Duke’s divorce agreement before the lawsuit between the Klaus brothers ends. Can the butler help with that?”

“You’re asking me to persuade him, I see. Understood.”

Hans was skilled at sweet talk.

Callian would probably try not to divorce, thinking he could somehow rise again with Brigitte’s help, but Esika thought that everything would eventually go according to her will.

“Ah, it’s so nice and quiet now that everyone’s gone.”

Esika smiled as she stretched.

She had sent away all the employees except for Cella, Hemos, and Hans, who were on her side anyway.

No matter how much the Duchess had fostered such an atmosphere, they were all perpetrators who had abused the previous Esika.

Strictly speaking, the three could not be said to be without sin, but they had become her hands and feet in difficult times, so Esika now considered them like friends.

**

“I have delivered the book.”

Panix spoke while watching Resban Deon Lucein’s reaction.

Resban took off his bloodstained shirt.

Broad shoulders, a chest toned with muscle, and a sculptured upper body with fine muscles were revealed.

Resban put on a new shirt with an expressionless face.

“As you ordered, I did not tell her… that you had obtained it with great difficulty.”

He had single-handedly slain a thousand enemy soldiers in hostile territory to obtain that one book.

“Well done.”

A flat, low voice of praise was heard.

Panix found Resban’s behavior puzzling.

Though he didn’t show his emotions and didn’t act excessively, at a glance one might not notice, but Resban clearly had a great interest in her.

Interest, no, not just that. What he was doing was something only a man who considered a woman his destined partner would do.

The Resban that Panix had observed had never treated any woman like this before.

He was a cruel and cold man to everyone, but he was different only to her.

As he buttoned up his shirt, Resban recalled Esika’s words.

“Your Highness desires me, but.”

“……”

“I still have things I need to remember.”

Esika seemed to deliberately look elsewhere.

Her eyes were slightly red.

“Please wait.”

Should I kiss those lips?

Resban had considered it for a moment.

Afraid that she would disappear like the fantasy he had been chasing for over a decade while thinking of her, Resban could do nothing but caress that cheek.

He judged himself to not be a patient man.

‘In the end, you will choose me. Esika.’

Though he didn’t know what the basis was, all he could do was wait with the fateful certainty about her that had been building since the moment he met her.

Hoping it wouldn’t take too long.

**

The fall of Klaus was a foregone conclusion.

The investigation revealed that all the embezzlement of military supply loan funds was true, and this was originally equivalent to treason and could have resulted in the death penalty, but only the revocation of titles was imposed due to the Empress’s plea.

No one could have known that Klaus, one of the most prominent noble families in the capital Torres, would come to this in a day.

“My lady……”

There was a visitor to see Esika today.

Sitting across the table in the desolate garden, the expression of Baroness Helenia Merhin was not bright.

This was because she was sincerely worried about Esika.

Just two weeks ago, the mansion where such a grand party was held was falling into disarray as soon as the employees’ hands stopped touching it.

Weeds were growing among the flowers, and one of the roof structures had fallen and was stuck in the ground.

Esika was drinking tea with a noble expression as if this had nothing to do with her, but Helenia’s heart ached.

“Our family received great grace thanks to your advice, my lady.”

Helenia continued, clasping her hands together.

“If it weren’t for you, we would have suffered great losses like the other nobles.”