CH 54.2

Anne visited the Libelois House the very next day.

Originally, she planned to go only on the day of the succession ceremony, but rumors spread that Grand Duchess Cromund had passed through the gates of the capital, so the messenger arrived and she had no choice but to move her body.

Anne feared that there would be a disturbance if she took Marie, who was known as the Grand Duke’s mistress, so she took a handmaid and two escort knights. Even before the door of the carriage was opened, a familiar voice greeted her.

“Oh my God, my daughter, Angroanne. Welcome.”

It was her mother, adorned with no wrinkles. From her outward appearance, the Countess had the expression of an affectionate mother who had been eagerly awaiting her recently-wed daughter. The Countess approached her at once, gave Anne a hug.

Anne was bewildered by the excessive attention. She was dumbfounded that a woman who had never shed a single tear until Anne was married, now came and welcomed her so warmly.

“How are you doing?”

When Anne awkwardly greeted her, breaking the silence she had been holding on to, Count Libelois approached with a deliberately solemn face.

“It’s been a while since I saw you. You became a Grand Duchess, but your face is very sunken.”

Not knowing that Anne had a brush with death by the avalanche, they added, “Why did you lose so much weight when you would live luxuriously as the Grand Duchess?”

“Things happened.”

“Come in and let’s talk.”

“Guide the people of Cromund to the guest parlor separately and serve them tea and refreshments.”

The Countess gave orders to the maids with rare generosity.

Anne was led by her mother into the living room. Her brother, Robert, was already sitting there.

When he saw Anne, he bowed his head in amazement.

“Angroanne . . . You’re here.”

Robert’s voice was weak, somehow. It was the Countess who spoke first.

“Angroanne, how are you? Seeing this, it’s like a dream for this Mother.”

Her wrinkled hands overlapped the back of Anne’s. She patted her daughter’s hand and smiled broadly.

Anne’s indifferent blue eyes looked down at her hands. The countess was a woman who was stingy with skinship, almost like she was mysophobic. She had never hugged Anne or held her hand like this before. The reason why the Countess welcomed her this way must have been because of her status as the Grand Duchess.

Still, the warm hands were the first warmth Anne felt from her mother, and her face was so kind that Anne couldn’t bear to shake it off. Anne paused for a moment to say what she was trying to say.

“Well . . . Angroanne… . . . Last time I was careless.”

Robert, who had been sitting in silence until then, spoke indirectly.

“It seems that I got a little agitated when I went to the Grand Duke’s castle that day. On top of that, I felt like I was robbed of my sister, so . . . I lost my mind that day.”

To discredit all the vulgarity that had been poured out that day, Robert emphasized the word sister.

Anne wanted to look him in the eyes to see if what he was saying was true, but Robert acted like a guilty man and avoided her gaze. It was hard to tell if he was serious because he couldn’t even hold his face straight and was only staring at the ground.

“Angroanne, we heard about it too. You know very well that your brother is impulsive. I hope that the Grand Duke will not be offended.”

Anne didn’t know how far they had heard, but Anne brought up another topic.

“My father is still here and Brother has not yet married, so why are you handing over the title already?”

“As you know, we are old. After handing over the title, I intend to spend the rest of my life comfortably in the estate.”

“Are you serious?”

“As you may have heard from your brother, a lot has happened in our family in the meantime. It must be because I, the head of the family, is incompetent. If it weren’t for the Grand Duke’s kindness, our family would have collapsed.”

“Yes . . . I heard.”

In the face of her parents, who were brazen enough to sell their daughter to borrow money from her, Anne kept her arguing voice for a moment.

“How can people see me if I continue to hold this position? I decided to wash away the stigma of the family and start anew by handing over the title.”

“What is Father’s purpose?”

After pondering for a while, she asked about her father’s long-cherished wish of re-elevating the family. Then the Count let out a long sigh.

“We can’t do everything we want to do, everyone has their own time. It is already out of my hands.”

With a heavy sigh, the Count spoke grimly. The way he tapped the pipe in his hand to shake off the ashes of the tobacco seemed to shake off something inside.

“How are you going to repay the debt owed to the Grand Duke?”

“I plan to repay him even if I sell all the remaining territory, so don’t worry too much.”

Anne did not express herself, but was terribly embarrassed by her family who treated her as if she had become someone else.