It is a terrible nightmare. There is no way all the worst situations that could happen to me could occur at once like this.

Elize got up alone, staggering.

If this was a dream, she needed to wake up quickly. Just then, Viscount Aradis, who had belatedly handed over the carriage to his servant, entered the mansion.

Riena covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve as if she had seen filth walking in, and ordered the servants.

“It’s someone we didn’t invite. Drag him out.”

“Yes, my lady.”

The servants approached Viscount Aradis without hesitation, grabbed his arms, and dragged him outside. Viscount Aradis shouted in surprise, kicking and struggling.

“You rascals! Let go of me! Do you know who I am! My daughter is the lady cherished by the Grand Duke! She will become the Grand Duchess!”

Riena sighed as if exasperated, watching Viscount Aradis being dragged away while shouting.

Then she looked at Elize.

“Do you know why I brought not just you, but also those people who claim to be your parents to the villa? It’s because I didn’t want to see a sight like that. If I had only brought you, those loose-lipped people would have spread baseless rumors in social circles. You should be grateful to me. I’ve taken care to ensure you don’t face even greater humiliation.”

“……”

“Why that expression? Surely you didn’t have the ridiculous thought that the Grand Duke would look after the family of the woman who would become his wife.”

Elize couldn’t reply to Riena’s mocking words. Wasn’t that exactly the thought that had brought the Viscount couple along?

Just then, footsteps were heard from upstairs, and the Grand Duke appeared.

“Your Grace!”

Elize called out to him desperately, as if she had found the only way to wake up from this nightmare.

He scanned everyone from the top of the stairs and clicked his tongue briefly. Then he spoke to Riena.

“Do I need to help?”

“No, Your Grace. I can easily handle this much, so please focus on the affairs of your domain.”

Riena answered as if it was a very simple matter, and the Grand Duke turned away upon hearing her response.

As if Elize was invisible.

Elize blankly followed the retreating back of the Grand Duke as he disappeared upstairs again.

No. This can’t be happening. This is a vile prank.

Just a few days ago, he was whispering sweet words to her on the bed.

He told her to say anything she wanted.

And he clearly said he loved her and asked her to become the Grand Duchess… didn’t he?

“……!”

Elize’s body jerked violently as if struck by lightning.

Now Elize realized. The Grand Duke had never once said such things. He had never asked her to become the Grand Duchess, and he had never even said he loved her.

The words he had whispered were always just his impressions of the services Elize provided.

“Ah……”

As Elize let out a groan, a smile of perfect victory appeared on Riena’s face.

“Do you know how the Grand Duke has disposed of the pretty, foolish toys blinded by greed who threw themselves at him recklessly, whom he had kept at the summer villa until now?”

“……”

“They went to old men who wanted pretty toys. And they are receiving a lot of love there. You might have heard the names of those women before. Nellys, Iberlinda, Rochebeau……”

Elize was terrified by the names of the women Riena mentioned.

They were all women who had been renowned for their beauty in social circles.

They were also the names of those who suddenly disappeared one day, and then rumors spread that they had become new wives to old and ugly men in far-off places.

“They have been reborn as virtuous ladies there and are receiving love from their husbands. Oh, did Miss Nellys pass away after continuously giving birth to children? She must have been truly loved.”

Elize’s teeth clashed violently enough to make a clattering sound.

What Riena was describing were the things Elize found most horrifying. It was exactly what she had once whispered to Aelphrida as her future.

“There’s no need to tremble like that, Miss Elize. You are different from those trivial toys.”

“Th-Then……”

“That’s why I made a separate request to the Grand Duke. I asked him not to hand you over to others.”

Elize almost thanked Riena for her words.

If that’s the case, as long as those here keep their mouths shut, no one will know what she did this summer.

Since she was in the forest and no one came to visit, and when she left the capital, she rode in a carriage without any crest, people wouldn’t have known where she was going.

‘Then I must quickly return to social circles.’

If the Grand Duke was wrong, she had to catch another man.

There were many who proposed to her anyway. If she could catch the richest among them and quickly get married……

“But Miss Elize.”

While Elize was thinking, Riena called out to her again.

“When I was leaving for this place, there were many people curious about your whereabouts, so I inadvertently spoke about what I knew. I said that you seemed to be having a very enjoyable time after leaving the capital in someone’s carriage. Strangely, when I said that, everyone stopped asking about you. Did I say something wrong?”

The cruelest smile she had ever seen was on Riena’s face.

‘Crazy b****!’

Recalling that moment, Elize trembled with anger. At the same time, she was suffocated by terrible fear.

How many followers did Riena have? They would have attended every social gathering, flitting about like sparrows and chirping what Riena had said to people.

‘So what happens now?’

Elize imagined what would happen if she attended a gathering.

From the moment she entered the hall, there would be whispers.

Everyone would look at her with contemptuous gazes, as if looking at a street prostitute.

Harsh people would not hide their displeasure, saying it was difficult to be in the same space.

It would be the same for those who had persistently proposed to her until now.

Not a single person among the nobles of Denertum would want to marry a woman known to have spent the night with another man.

Because the moment they married such a woman, they would be laughed at for life.

Even the lowest among those who had proposed to her would surely not even approach to speak, let alone make eye contact.

Even more terrifying are those who would still seek her out.

There are many who would propose to play with her again, since she had already been a toy once.

They would try to obtain a toy that others had played with first as cheaply as possible.

“How dare they……”

Thinking that men who couldn’t even properly raise their faces near her before would now try to order her around with their chins, anger welled up in her chest again.

‘I can’t stay like this.’

Elize now thought about what she should do.

The Viscount couple was making a fuss, saying they couldn’t return to the capital like this and that they would protest to the Grand Duke.

The reason they wanted to stay longer was obvious. They probably wanted to make a fuss to somehow get money out of this, since it was unfair as it stood.

As evidence, as soon as they returned to the villa, they began secretly putting small, expensive-looking items from the annex where they were staying into their bags.

So Elize returned alone first.

Given how things had turned out, staying at the summer villa to protest would only harm her.

She needed to somehow catch a rich and stupid man in the capital who didn’t yet know the situation and leave for his domain.

‘If I cajole and sweet-talk him as much as possible and even have his child to make him completely fall for me, he won’t be able to kick me out. Later, I can insist it was all Riena’s plot.’

But it would be difficult to find such a nobleman. Then is there no other way?

‘A commoner or a foreigner……?’

Recently, many commoners have amassed wealth equal to or greater than nobles. Having filled their pockets, they now desire the status of nobility.

‘Father was going to send the title to the man I marry anyway. So if I offer a title, there will be those who rush to buy it.’

Society has not yet accepted commoners. So the rumors about me probably haven’t spread to them yet.

But what if after marriage, a husband who gained a title tries to enter society?

Unlike other nobles with domains in the provinces, a man of common origin will desperately try to form connections with other nobles.

When he learns what kind of woman he married and what people say about her…… It certainly won’t end well.

Then the option besides commoners is foreigners.

‘It might even be better.’

These days, the Empire’s Ash Group is getting the most attention in the capital.

Although they’re all commoners, even the employees are quite wealthy, I’ve heard. Then what about the executive-level employees there?

‘Moreover, Kalon Ash is coming to Denertum soon.’