~Chapter 3~
“Cecilia. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to pay much attention to you lately.”
“……”
“Still… I’m always grateful to you. If it weren’t for you, our house would’ve already gone bankrupt.”
The House of Hamilton was once among the Empire’s most trusted ducal families.
But in recent years, its reputation had been rapidly deteriorating after corruption among its vassals was exposed.
On top of that, with rising new nobles flooding the capital and a series of failed investments due to their inability to read the changing times, even the family’s finances had begun to collapse.
It was only natural that my father disliked the Hamilton Ducal House.
And yet, because it was his daughter’s only marriage prospect, he had poured in enormous financial support.
The Hamilton Duchy had barely survived, clinging to life by a thread.
Without me, as Kaiden said, the duchy would have fallen.
Maybe… back then, they needed me… and used me to lure me in.
The kiss I witnessed between those two in the daytime had planted countless doubts inside me.
Things I had never noticed before were suddenly becoming visible.
The reason Kaiden once spoke to me in such a honeyed voice, the reason his warmth faded after our marriage, and eventually… the reason he cheated.
Maybe… Kaiden had never loved me at all.
“Cecil. By the way, there’s something I’ve been wondering about…”
Kaiden took a sip of wine, cautiously gauging my reaction as he spoke.
“Tiana.”
“……”
“Why did you suddenly decide to remove her from the ducal household?”
I silently looked at him.
So this is the real reason.
I had expected it ever since he suddenly suggested dinner.
There was definitely a reason Kaiden invited me tonight.
And of all things… it was Tiana.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
Just hearing her name from his mouth made something inside me collapse.
Everything I tried so hard to think positively about… no longer felt positive at all.
My suspicions were turning into certainty.
“Did she tell you that? That she came to you asking you to resolve this matter?”
“Ah… yes. She suddenly came to me and told me.”
“……”
“Hearing her out made me curious too. You were the one who brought Lady Tiana into this household in the first place.”
Kaiden scratched his head, then asked carefully,
“Cecilia. May I ask why you changed your mind?”
I looked into my husband’s dark eyes, the color of the night sky.
…You know, Kaiden.
I used to think you would always be on my side.
Those sweet words you told me, your promises to stay by my side forever.
I love you, Cecilia. I’ll be with you forever.
When you proposed… when we read the marriage vows together… when you whispered those words to me.
I thought they would never change.
But love does change, doesn’t it? Or perhaps it’s people who change.
In the end, you hid your true feelings and took my friend’s side.
My chest tightened painfully, as if reality itself had finally struck me.
I forced a faint smile.
“…There’s no reason. People can change their minds, can’t they?”
“What?”
“Well, there actually is a reason.”
I lifted my fork and poked at the salad.
“Tiana may be my friend, but if she stays too long in the ducal house, it’ll cause gossip among the servants.”
“……”
“I just think it’s time for her to leave. That’s all.”
I crushed the salad on my plate absently. Kaiden’s voice grew more urgent.
“But Cecilia, Tiana isn’t finished dealing with the loan sharks yet.”
“……”
“That’s why you originally brought her here—to protect her until everything was resolved. If you send her out now, it’s no different from throwing her back into their hands.”
Clink.
I set down my fork and looked at him.
“You’re taking her side quite a lot today.”
“…Huh?”
“Are you having an affair or something?”
“W-what? No, that’s not it…”
My words hit the mark, and Kaiden looked flustered.
“I mean… all I’m saying is, you brought her here freely, but now that she’s under our protection, I’m also concerned about sending her out before her issues are resolved.”
“I see.”
“….”
When I gave a short reply and said nothing more, he looked at me as if asking if that was all.
“Sorry, but my decision won’t change, Kaiden.”
“……”
“Tell Tiana I want her gone before your birthday banquet. If I see her, she’ll probably come crying to me again.”
Seeing my husband defend my friend made my appetite vanish completely.
A bitter feeling rose in my chest. I no longer wanted to stay at the same table with him.
I wiped my mouth with a napkin and stood up.
“Then I’ll take my leave. Enjoy your meal.”
With a faint smile, I turned away and walked off.
Kaiden only watched my retreating back.
Several hours later
“Damn it… those rotten bastards.”
I was sitting in a tavern, a hood pulled over my head.
There was no way I could sleep peacefully in the ducal mansion tonight.
I had left a single note behind and slipped out secretly. Of course, I wrote that I was visiting House Whighton.
The place I came to was a tavern in the capital.
A place called Mascarada.
It was a masked tavern—one of the few places where you could drink without revealing your identity. That was also why I had traveled two hours from the duchy all the way to the capital.
“Ah. Raven customer? My, it’s been a while.”
“Oh… hello.”
The bartender greeted me as I entered.
I used to visit this place occasionally when I was still Lady Cecilia of House Whighton.
My father, open-minded for a nobleman, had raised me more freely than most aristocratic ladies. So unlike proper noblewomen, I would sometimes come to places like this to relieve stress.
Of course, after becoming a duchess, I stopped coming here to maintain appearances.
Still…
Because of that, long-time staff sometimes recognized my raven mask.
“Hmm… you don’t look well today.”
“Yes… I’ve had quite a bad day.”
“I see.”
The bartender glanced at my empty glasses.
“Shall I guess what happened?”
“….”
“I’d say… your spouse cheated on you! Am I right?”
I flinched and looked up.
His confident expression made it obvious he had guessed correctly, and he clapped his hands with a grin.
“When you work here long enough, you can read a customer’s story just by how they walk in.”
“….”
“Most noblewomen like you stop coming here after marriage. Then one day they suddenly show up and start drinking heavily? Nine times out of ten, it’s the husband causing trouble. And most of the time… it’s cheating.”
So, in his eyes, I was just another woman betrayed by her husband.
Sigh.
For a moment, I felt pitiful—but he wasn’t wrong, so I couldn’t even deny it.
Tiana and Kaiden were definitely having an affair. I could finally accept it.
“Just give me another drink. You know what I usually drink. Something strong.”
“Yes. This one’s on the house.”
He poured whiskey over a large ice cube in a glass.
Ah… today everything tastes so sweet…
I was about to take a refreshing sip when—
“Raven customer, would you like to hear something interesting?”
