Chapter 2: 2

NY

Episode 2

TL: Jasmine

A small round table was seen over Alice’s shoulder. A card placed beautifully in the middle. When she saw the birch pattern on the stamped seal, Chloe closed her eyes tightly.

The invitation to the party sent by the Duke was so simple that it was embarrassing to call it an invitation. There was no such thing called boring but a formal invitation that nobles deserve. It was just that the place and time of the party, and the name of the invited person were written. It was also true that he (Duke) was frowned upon at this attitude but he was well aware that there would not be anyone in the kingdom who had the courage to refuse this invitation.

“He must be more brutal now, right….?”

When Chloe muttered to herself, Alice lifted her head from her arms.

“Huh? What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Chloe shook her head in a hurry. Alice continued to speak slowly with her eyes half closed with a sleeping

face.

“Even if it’s not because of rumors. I don’t like Tisse.”

“….. Why?”

“After the duke’s army left the castle in a mess, sister became very ill. I remember, when I came back home because it was vacation, but the castle was in such a mess and you were in severe pain, that father wouldn’t even let me enter your room.”

Uncle Chester said Lady Chloe, who was weak, must have been infected by the injured soldiers. To make matters worse, natural disasters began to occur that year, and the harvest of crops also decreased by one-tenth. So, the feud between Verdier and the Duke started from that time.

“Is that why you didn’t want to go? You were afraid that something unlucky would happen again if we got tangled up with Tisse.”

After reaching her own conclusion, Alice managed to lift her eyelids, which were getting heavier, and looked at Chloe.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go to the party tomorrow and behave like a lady. So I need to find a groom enough to bend the nose of Duke Tisse.”

Chloe smiled at her younger sister, thinking whether it would be possible to find someone comparable to the power of the Tisse family in the kingdom.

“Yes, I feel reassured because of you, Alice.”

Alice muttered in a determined voice for a long time to surprise her aunt with the number of guests visiting for herself and fell asleep before she knew it. Chloe carefully stepped out of bed after confirming that Alice’s breathing sound was deepening.

A river breeze flowed in through the slightly open window. It’s a summer night, but she was worried that Alice might catch a cold. After closing the window, Chloe sat with her legs stretched out in the chair and pounded her clenched thighs. Her legs hurted because she walked for a long time. She wondered if she should apply poultice, but she quit because it would be cumbersome to call a maid.

(T/N: Poultice- a soft, moist mass of material, typically consisting of bran, flour, herbs, etc., applied to the body to relieve soreness and inflammation and kept in place with a cloth.)

“… Let’s not be afraid.”

Unlike Alice, Chloe had never left Verdier castle except when she was young enough that her memories were faint. She tried not to show her sister, but it was natural that she was still nervous from the two days before arriving at Swan.

As soon as her aunt looked through her trunk on the day of arrival, she urged her to go to the most popular dressing room in the downtown area the next day, saying there was no proper dress.

“Does he have any intention in marrying off his daughter?”

The dress Alice wore last year still seemed new, but Mrs. Talbot openly scolded her, saying she was far behind the trend. As a result, they went around the dressing room five times to find dresses, and eventually bought a customized dress for young ladies who were unable to attend due to illness for a high price.

“You won’t be able to dance, but as long as you follow Alice, you have to be formal.”

As Mrs. Talbot said, Chloe was not happy to buy a dress for herself, who couldn’t even dance. However, after being told that showing up in shabby clothes was not polite to the person who invited her, and she could not disgrace the person she was with, Chloe took out a gold coin from the pocket she was holding like a treasure. Chloe tried to hide the slight trembling of her paying hand, but in vain.

“I can see why the Viscount sent you two without an escort. Are you completely out of money in the house? It must be hard to go on a trip.”

Mrs. Talbot’s eyes were sharp. Verdier estate has been suffering from a series of natural disasters in recent years that have led to poor harvests. To make matters worse, the stock invested by her father plunged and the misfortune overlapped. Chloe knew about it. Still, she believed that they could overcome it by tightening the belt a little more, but the family’s financial status was worse than expected. It was shortly after the Duke sent a party invitation that she learned of her father’s hidden debt.

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(T/N: “tightening the belt”: it means to reduce miscellaneous spendings and etc),

“I should have thanked him… Right?”

Chloe sighed quietly as she looked at the invitation she tried to ignore. Upon hearing the news in advance, the face of Mrs. Talbot, who was making a fuss as soon as the sisters arrived, came to mind. She had been hearing for nearly two days that it’s an honor to be invited to the Rose Castle party hosted by Duke Tisse.

Of course, Chloe had no intention to deny her words either.

In the southwest of the kingdom, sending a party invitation to the daughters of the poor Viscount, who is a landlord of a small estate, can be seen as a consideration to pay back the debt during the war. It was not known whether Duke Tisse knew about Alice’s incident in Swan last year. However, the fact that she was invited by him alone will raise Alice’s reputation. Many nobles would be interested if it was known that she had a relationship with the Duke, and Alice was likely to meet a really good groom tomorrow.

However, Chloe was anxious. Swan’s summer breeze, which contains the scent of roses, left a strange residual feeling instead of freshness. She fastened the lock of the hinged window[1] and turned around.

“Look at the condition of your legs. Is it hereditary?”

Her cane, which had been gently placed on the wall, fell on the floor. Chloe gently bit her lips as she saw the rolling cane. Even after a long time, she couldn’t forget his cold voice.

“If you play by your emotions, you have no choice but to lose. Likewise, if you refuse to comply emotionally with orders, you can’t win a fight.”

“I’m not a war soldier, duke.”

Chloe, who missed the basket, staggered up. The duke, who approached while stepping on the fallen petals, bowed his head and made eye contact with Chloe.

“The day a person is born, life itself becomes a war. Especially for people like you.”

“Even so, there is no reason for the Duke to interfere in my life.”

“Interfere. I’m giving you advice, but seeing that you can’t thank me, you must have been very twisted.”

The Duke smiled at Chloe, who opened her eyes wide not to cry. He was beautiful as if God itself had made him, but his cold smile made her not want to see him again. Chloe for the first time understood that the devil is beautiful.

Chapter 2: That winter.

3 years ago.

A small estate in the southwest of the Swanton Kingdom suddenly became busy. It was because the 3rd Royal Army, which retreated from the war, stayed there to reorganize the battle lines. Viscount Verdier, the lord of the small castle, was willing to open the gates for the soldiers and commanders.

The soldiers were very tired of the longer-thanexpected war and they were sensitive and rough because the battle was difficult. In the castle, the voices of the wounded soldiers were constantly being heard, and even those in good health would walk around the castle threatening their opponents with their half-beard faces. Verdier Castle had suddenly become a hospital and barracks while the Viscount provided supplies and food for them as much as possible.

The Viscount had two daughters. Alice, his younger daughter, was studying at a monastery in Swan, the capital city, but his eldest daughter Chloe was ill and had never left the castle since childhood. With the Viscount trying his best to help the soldiers with his benevolent demeanor, Chloe also took on the role of nursing the wounded soldiers.

The injured soldiers mistook her for a servant, and spared no effort in their mischief towards her, and sometimes uttered insulting words. When someone called her “sluggy,” servant Gray, who was helping Chloe, grabbed the soldier by the collar.

“Don’t do that, Gray. Isn’t that true?”

Chloe stopped him not only because those who uttered sharp words were sick and sensitive patients but her mother emphasized to her until her death. “It is the duty of a noble to help the poor and sick, Chloe.” Although she was uncomfortable, Chloe, who learned the qualities of an aristocrat from an early age, had learned how to hide the agitation of emotions and maintain calmness.

“Chloe, why don’t you leave nursing to other servants?”

However, when Viscount Verdier carefully spoke with a mixed face, she decided to follow her father’s words. It was heartbreaking to see her father’s expression noticeably darkened when he heard the soldiers were ignoring her.

The army stayed in the castle for about fifteen days. Chloe spent the last five days quietly reading in her bedroom. The noise outside could not be completely blocked, due to which she was not able to concentrate. She would occasionally close her curtains completely and play the piano whenever she heard vulgar swear words about their enemies or erotic jokes that made Chloe’s face flush red.

That night.

The first time she saw Duke Tisse was an exceptionally quiet night. Usually, it was normal to be noisy until the campfire of the barracks, which was lit at night to avoid the cold, went out, but for some reason, strange silence began to flow between the soldiers from noon.

“Attention, everyone!”

Chloe, who was reading a book by the window, raised her head at the voice of someone shouting. When she slightly lifted the curtain and looked out the window, she could see someone walking out of the backyard of the torch-lit castle.

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