Chapter 2…………………………………………………..
Edwin, Trisha’s husband, had boarded a ship and left after declaring he would invest all of the family’s assets into a business venture—only to go missing.
I used to wonder why Edwin insisted on marrying me when I didn’t even have a dowry.
The reason Edwin gave was “love.” He said he’d fallen for her when he saw her riding a horse at the hunting grounds.
At the time, she thought she believed him. After all, people didn’t always need some grand reason to like one another.
The problem was that Trisha—who had become the duchess with nothing but her husband’s favor and not a single coin of dowry—was treated like leftovers the moment Edwin disappeared.
From the beginning to the end, she was treated as a sinner simply because she had married without a dowry.
But now, having turned back time and thinking about it again, Edwin must have already been promised a dowry by her older brother from the very start.
A hollow laugh escaped her. Her husband—and everyone who had conspired with him—were despicable and hateful.
Edwin will return sometime after noon today.
So then, what should she do first?
The answer was simpler than she’d expected.
The very source of misery that had made the Trisha of the past dread waking up every morning had appeared.
“Your Grace! Are you still lazing ab—”
The head maid opened the door with a displeased expression, then flinched.
“…You’re already awake today.”
Perhaps because the curtains were still drawn even though the sun hadn’t risen yet, the room was quite dark.
It doesn’t even look like it’s six yet.
She couldn’t help but admire the diligence of someone who came at this hour every day just to torment her.
“You should at least wash up and change your clothes fir—”
“I already changed.”
The head maid’s eyes widened as she pulled the curtain aside.
Trisha was wearing a house dress.
The head maid clicked her tongue inwardly. It had been too dark to see properly, and she’d made a mistake.
Unlike other noblewomen, Trisha’s indoor clothing was so plain it bordered on shabby, making it hard to tell at a glance just by silhouette.
The head maid bit her lip.
Still, she soon lifted her chin stiffly.
“I see. Even so, you still need to wash your face.”
At her signal, the maids who had come to attend Trisha followed her into the room.
Without once asking Trisha—the owner of the room—what she wanted, they set a washbasin in front of the bed.
The head maid stood beside it, as if urging her to hurry.
In the end, Trisha sat on the edge of the bed.
The head maid smiled in satisfaction.
The water prepared for Trisha was icy cold. Even so, Trisha had always washed her face and hands with it without complaint.
For a foreign woman who had married in without a single coin of dowry, even this was luxurious treatment—or so the head maid truly believed.
“Come closer.”
When Trisha beckoned, the head maid stepped toward her, puzzled.
And then Trisha, holding the basin—
Splash!
“Eeeek!”
She flung it straight at the head maid.
Soaked in freezing water, the head maid erupted in fury.
“W-What do you think you’re doing?! How dare you act so outrageously all of a sudden!”
“Outrageous?”
Trisha tilted her head.
“You looked like you run here every morning without even time to wash your face, so I gave you the chance.”
“……”
“How is that outrageous?”
“Who would call having ice water dumped on them washing their face—!”
“So you knew?”
The head maid froze.
Trisha set the basin down and slowly approached.
“That the water you brought every day was ice-cold.”
Gulp. The head maid swallowed.
…Something’s wrong.
Trisha Mason.
The duchess in name only, wife of the currently missing Duke Mason.
A foolish, stupid foreign woman.
Why is the woman who was obedient just yesterday acting like this…?
Her thoughts didn’t last long. Trisha spoke again, her posture uncharacteristically confident.
“Did you bring breakfast?”
“Y-Yes! Breakfast is right here!”
“Bring it over.”
At Trisha’s command, given with her arms crossed, a maid hurried over, pushing a serving trolley.
Trisha lifted the lid off a silver tray nearby.
The moment she opened it, a foul stench rose up, and the head maid turned her head away.
Thanks to that, she didn’t see the cold smile forming on Trisha’s face.
After checking all the food on the trolley, Trisha picked up a spoon and scooped up a generous portion of spoiled meat and fruit peels.
Then she shoved it straight into the head maid’s mouth.
“Ugh—! Ghk!”
She managed to avoid the worst by desperately turning her head, but the smell alone was so overpowering that the head maid gagged.
“Take it away.”
At Trisha’s order, the maids hurriedly pushed the trolley out of the room.
Trisha sighed and patted the head maid’s back.
“The wash water is freezing. And the breakfast you brought was nothing but leftover garbage.”
“……”
“Our head maid seems to be doing her job very carelessly.”
Isn’t that right?
The added words sent a chill down her spine.
Is this really the same stupid, foolish duchess I knew?
No one in this mansion had ever truly regarded Trisha as the duchess.
She was merely the lowborn daughter of a foreigner, with ominous black hair and red eyes.
A woman who could be cast out at any time once she fell out of the duke’s favor.
And considering she’d married without a dowry, it was obvious her own family—the House of Rosenthein—had abandoned her as well.
Even her husband Edwin hadn’t cared when his aunt, Marchioness Devon, and the servants openly looked down on Trisha.
So the head maid herself had felt free to treat the duchess however she pleased—
“Head maid, Grace Emilott.”
At Trisha’s cold voice, the head maid flinched and bowed her head.
“…Yes, Your Grace.”
Her teeth trembled with humiliation.
To think she would bow her head to a duchess she’d always considered beneath her.
But Trisha herself felt little emotion about the situation.
She looks like she’s suffered a great insult.
Compared to what Trisha had endured in the past, this was nothing.
Besides, the head maid had once falsely accused her of being jealous of Lizaina.
I’ll deal with the head maid someday too.
But for now, there were more urgent matters.
Trisha spoke gently.
“You understand by now that I have no intention of being nice, don’t you?”
The head maid bit her lip in frustration.
It was hard to act stubborn as usual after what Trisha had just done.
She looked like someone with nothing to fear.
To the stiff head maid, still bowing her head, Trisha gave another order.
“Jane Lumen.”
“……”
“Where is my maid right now?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Around noon that day, a letter arrived at the ducal estate.
The entire household was thrown into an uproar.
“The master is returning?”
“That can’t be true!”
Though no one said it aloud, most had believed Edwin Mason—the head of the house—was dead.
“My goodness, the master…!”
The butler nearly burst into tears.
Edwin had stormed out of the estate with a trade ship, declaring he would start a business—then lost contact after barely a month.
At first, people held on to hope. But after one year, then two, they came to believe he had perished.
And yet—
“He’s alive!”
And not only that—he was coming back today. There could be no greater joy.
The servants bustled about, gathering in the lobby an hour before the time Edwin had announced.
Finally, Edwin entered the lobby.
“Your Grace, you’ve returned safely!”
“To see you back in such good health—this old man has no more regrets!”
As the longtime servants each greeted him, a presence was felt behind them.
“Eddy? Are the greetings over?”
“Oh, Lizzy.”
The woman who had stepped down from Edwin’s carriage looked over the gathered servants, then smiled.
“Your Grace, this lady is…?”
“Oh, she’s my business partner, Lizaina Solten. A princess of Solten, and also the niece of Her Highness the Seventh Empress.”
“Ah…”
The servants’ expressions turned strange.
The Seventh Empress was an empress in name only who had died several years ago.
She had wielded almost no power, as she came from Solten, a weak and minor kingdom.
Moreover, the distance between Ephelberno and Solten was vast—once someone crossed over, very few ever returned.
Bringing a princess of such a country all the way here could only mean one thing: their relationship was special.
The servants exchanged glances.
Between Trisha—a woman of foreign blood—and a princess who, minor kingdom or not, carried royal blood, it was obvious whom they should side with.
“I’d prefer it if no one tarnished the dignity of this house with pointless gossip.”
Edwin spoke in warning as he wrapped an arm around Lizaina’s shoulders and pulled her close.
Lizaina leaned into him naturally, smiling as if accustomed to it.
“Edwin.”
At that moment, Trisha—who had been standing quietly while the servants made a fuss—called his name.
Edwin released Lizaina and smiled at Trisha.
“It’s been a while, Trisha.”
He slowly approached her.
By then, Trisha’s gaze was fixed on Lizaina.
“And this lady is…?”
“This is Princess Lizaina, the one who saved my life.”
Lizaina bowed gracefully.
“Hello, Your Grace. I am Lizaina Solten—”
“Did you bring a lover back with you from outside?”
Trisha cut her off and looked straight at Edwin.
Edwin let out a sigh.
Women really are troublesome.
That was exactly why they were such a bother.
He tried to smooth things over with a smile.
“Trisha, I’ll explain everything, so—”
“Edwin.”
Trisha interrupted him coldly.
Then—
“If you don’t want to get hurt, shut your mouth.”
She drove her fist straight into his face with all her strength.
