Chapter 11

Second method. Recognized as the Duke’s Wife (4)

The Duke took me through the hall without saying a word and climbed the stairs. The smell that was strong enough to make me feel nauseous died down as I climbed the stairs. When he led me into the duchess’s inner quarters, my steps stopped.

“Madam?”

“Oh, well, I haven’t used the Duchess’s room yet. Well, thank you for taking me here. My room is near here.”

When I was in a hurry, I took out Merilyn’s clothes and wore them, but I was not yet using the room where she lived and the bedroom where she slept as my room. At first, it was because I felt strange to take her place shortly after Merilyn left, and then because of my status and the way others felt like a ‘temporary’ Duchess. The Duke shut his lips to my words and went on again.

“I’ll take you to your room. I don’t think I’ll be able to go anywhere right away, and I have something to say.”

With that said, the duke was the most legitimate man that could enter my bedroom, so I took him to my room. Carl was still in my arms until then. When I went back to the room, I thought I should take off the clothes that Carl had dressed.

When I entered my room, the Duke looked around and sat in a rocking chair in front of the fireplace, even though I had not recommended it. The rocking chair creaked back as he sat down. The Duke leaned back comfortably to his head, leaning back against the back, as if the movement were uncomfortable. I glanced at the figure and put Carl on the bed. Carl lounged comfortably on my bed.

“No woman is present at the dinner.”

“I guess so. I vaguely mistook it for something like a dinner at the Count of Petrika.”

“That’s the way it is for a normal dinner. Both men and women attended. But-”

The Duke sighed low.

“I don’t want to make excuses for war. However, since both alcohol and women are prohibited during the war, drunken knights used to commit atrocities at dinners held immediately after returning to the castle. From some point on, women were not present at the dinner at all, and even the maids briefly served at the beginning of the dinner, but from the moment the alcohol started to run, they didn’t even come near the banquet hall.”

The Duke’s explanation was much kinder than I expected. Like the world I lived in, murder, robbery, and rape were all serious crimes in this world, and rape did not consider the status of victims and perpetrators. And it was usually the Lord’s job to decide on punishment for the perpetrator. So when a Knight who came back from the war and drank heavily raped a maid, the Duke was in a terrible dilemma. In principle, whether to punish a Knight who made a contribution in the war for rape or ignore it. The criminal was ‘merged’ as a soldier in the war and was unable to participate. The difference between conscription and participation is huge. The conscripted criminals are not subject to sharing the war’s credit, but the Knight who participated is subject to sharing the war’s credit.

Not to mention the probability that a conscripted criminal will die is higher than that of a participating Knight.

I could conjure up a series of situations like this in the Duke’s account. I understood what he said. That I was mistaken for a place where I shouldn’t be. And he also knew that I went there under an illusion.

The only thing I’m curious about is,

Why didn’t anyone stop me from going to the banquet?

The Duke closed his eyes and hung down, shaking the squeaky chair a few times as if he liked the rocking chair. After the explanation, he closed his mouth again, and I changed Carl’s clothes and took care of him without changing my clothes. When Carl crawled around on the bed, flipped over, and fell asleep again, the Duke also opened his eyes and raised himself. Looking at him getting up, he seemed to be asleep in a rocking chair.

“I’ll be on my way.”

The Duke spoke awkwardly and strode out. Patting Carl on the stomach, I looked at the Duke’s back, which disappeared in an instant, and raised my heavy body. The banquet dress was as heavy as it was fancy, so I couldn’t wait to take it off. I called the maid, changed my clothes, and sent Carl to the nursery.

A few days later, I heard a rumor that I was not mistakenly present at the banquet, but that I was a rare master who went to a place where the Duchess should not have gone. When the rumor goes into the ears of the person concerned, it is already the time when everyone has heard it, and in the ears of the person concerned, it goes into a very gentle expression. The simplified version turned out to be a ‘sweet witch’. People who like to talk know how dirty my rumors are. Honestly, I don’t even want to know more.

I thought I was a Duchess who had managed to do well in her own way and had no exception, but I was a luxurious and empty woman who was lucky to become a Duchess by the death of a friend. In addition to the two years that I have been anxiously waiting for the death of a friend, wanting Duke’s body is also added.

It hasn’t been a year since I became a Duchess, but who knew I would ruin my reputation like this already? To be honest, I felt a sense of shame and weakness. The only thing that comforted me was Carl, who didn’t know anything about my reputation and still followed me the best, babbling mama.

Well, yeah… everyone was supposed to live their lives looking after children.

When I was so hard on myself, I heard a surprising news from the butler. I heard that the Duke wanted to come to my bedroom at night. That is, he wants to sleep with me.

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