Episode 4
As Charlotte walked, the thin chemise dress fluttered and swayed. The fabric, almost translucent, revealed her gaunt arms and legs.
Moving her slender legs, Charlotte approached Lily and lifted the maid’s chin. She gazed deeply into the girl’s trembling eyes.
“Your role is to make me insignificant—not to make people look down on the ducal house.”
“I-I had no such intention at all…!”
“In this ducal residence, is there anyone who acts without intention?”
Charlotte let out a faint laugh.
“If that is the case, then you are not someone this household needs.”
“Th-that…!”
At this very moment, Lily felt a fear greater than anything she had ever imagined.
She could not clearly explain why, but she instinctively sensed that the Charlotte before her was not the Charlotte she had known.
She understood that she must not act as she used to. If she showed even the slightest resistance now, she might be thrown out or beaten without question.
Having survived for years among nobles by carefully reading the room, Lily’s instincts warned her. She barely managed to open her mouth.
“I-I will bring a new dress.”
The corners of Charlotte’s lips curled upward.
“A wise choice.”
Before long, Charlotte found herself holding a beautiful silver dress—something she had never once worn, touched, or even dared to approach before.
It was the very dress she had always admired from afar, stretching her neck to steal envious glances.
“W-Will it please you, my lady?”
Charlotte’s blue eyes scanned the dress before shifting to observe Lily, who had quickly grasped her place.
In her previous life, Charlotte had lived by giving up many things.
Telling herself it was not her place, not hers to claim, something she could never reach for—belittling herself and defining her own limits.
But now, things were different.
“I like it very much.”
And because she liked it, she would not remain still.
She would claim everything.
She would make it all hers.
Richard paced anxiously around the drawing room.
He gnawed at his nails, showing clear signs of agitation, then took a deep breath and dragged a hand down his face.
Suddenly, he felt as if a small insect were crawling across his palm. Damn it! With nails deliberately kept blunt, he scratched furiously at his hand.
But the sensation did not disappear. It felt as though thousands of grotesque insects were crawling all over his body. The itching grew worse by the second. He wanted nothing more than to roll across the ground to shake the creatures off.
He wanted to pull out the medicine from his inner pocket and inhale it immediately, but with the last shred of reason he had left, he restrained himself. His mother’s words echoed in his mind.
“You being a drug addict is already a rumor spreading through society. But must you turn rumor into fact? A rumor is best left as a rumor.”
“Let it remain slander spread by trash who covet the title of the Cosmo Count’s second son.”
“The ducal house must think of it as mere gossip. Let it seem like smoke without a fire. Otherwise, I’ll drive away every single one of your addict friends.”
No. No!
Something similar had happened before.
The day after he broke his promise to his mother.
In the blink of an eye, every dealer who supplied him vanished.
Since then, Richard obeyed the Countess like a dog that would bare its belly and wag its tail at her command.
Yes. So he had to endure it now. If he inhaled the drug here, the same thing would happen again, and he would be left writhing for days without supply.
He was the second son of the Cosmo Count’s family. Even if addicted, he still had this much self-control.
Richard withdrew his hand from his inner pocket and dropped onto the sofa. He loosened his tie roughly and ground his teeth.
“When is she coming?”
Before his withdrawal grew worse, he had to show his face to Charlotte as promised to the ducal family and then leave. He had to—had to rush back to the carriage and inhale the drug. But the damned woman was nowhere to be seen!
A girl who had risen in status merely by catching the Duchess’s eye, yet dared to act like a noble. She had nothing—nothing but a pretty face—yet dared to look down on him, the second son of the Cosmo Count.
And she always acted like the victim. Like some pitiful woman. If only he could slap those pale cheeks, he would have no greater wish!
The more his anger toward Charlotte grew, the worse the itching became.
Scratching over his sleeves, he eventually rolled them up and clawed at his bare skin. If he could, he would dig his nails into his flesh and tear it apart.
Damn it, damn it…!
Richard grabbed a glass of water and gulped it down, but his thirst would not subside. He sat, stood, paced, and clutched his throat.
Then—
“Lady Charlotte has arrived.”
The drawing room door opened slightly as a servant announced her.
Only then did Richard collect himself somewhat. He straightened his jacket and inhaled deeply.
“Let her in.”
The door opened wide, and Charlotte entered.
The moment he saw her, Richard’s eyes widened in shock.
Who was Charlotte Aubrey?
A lowborn girl who, through sheer luck, had taken the position of a duke’s daughter.
Thus, everyone in the ducal house—the duke and duchess, the servants, the maids—looked down on her.
Her usual appearance made that obvious: dresses that looked worn and loosened after use, stained scarves, shoes with worn-out toes, and unkempt hair.
Charlotte always behaved as though appearances were beneath concern, but Richard had despised that.
She was his fiancée—why would she not even bother to dress properly? He had once shouted at her, accusing her of deliberately trying to insult him.
But after learning that her shabby appearance had been an “inevitable” arrangement ordered by the ducal household, he had no choice but to swallow his complaints.
But what about today’s Charlotte?
She wore a dazzling silver dress studded with dozens of diamonds.
Her flawless makeup and meticulously styled hair showed that she had made more effort than ever before.
And Charlotte was not plain. No—she was a beauty, with silver hair that shimmered like the Milky Way and clear sky-blue eyes that seemed to hold the heavens. Properly dressed, she shone more brilliantly than countless women of high society.
Richard, who had hesitated for a moment, cleared his throat and, more politely than usual, gestured to the sofa opposite him.
“Sit.”
With her usual expressionless, cold face, Charlotte nodded and sat down.
The door clicked shut, and silence settled between them.
“You must have waited long.”
Charlotte looked at the dark circles under Richard’s eyes.
“I’m sorry. Marlene said she was coming, and while waiting for her, I quite forgot about our appointment.”
It was a blatant lie, but Charlotte deliberately let Marlene’s name slip.
Before dying, she had seen Marlene and Richard kissing. It was obvious they were lovers.
But she did not know when they had begun holding hands and exchanging kisses.
So she had to find out. Only then could she properly plan how to dismantle them piece by piece.
Lifting her teacup, Charlotte quietly observed Richard’s reaction.
“Marlene or whatever—are you saying you made me wait because of that girl? You sisters always know how to infuriate me.”
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—it did not seem that Richard had yet joined hands with Marlene.
The displeasure written plainly across his face was too genuine for a man like him to fake.
