Chapter 04
“Tsk.
So it was nothing more than a matter of saving face.
I thought, perhaps, since he called for you first… but no.”
The duke’s eyes bore into me with sharp disapproval.
It was the first time since I entered the room that he had truly looked at Amelia, yet his gaze was pitiless, merciless to the core.
“Useless girl.
It’s been half a year since your engagement to the crown prince.
Yet rather than taking a liking to you, he’s avoided you until the very end.
Don’t even think of denying it I know what I’ve heard.”
There wasn’t much to argue.
The truth was, the crown prince had gone riding just to escape Amelia’s constant visits.
That was when the accident happened.
Still, the prince was laughable in his own way.
That very same man, after turning back time, had summoned me and flirted so shamelessly.
And Amelia hadn’t even found that strange?
“…That being said, Father, what if we were to call off this marriage?”
I half-expected the duke to explode with fury, but to my surprise, he remained silent, as though weighing something carefully.
Then, with a curious look, he regarded me.
“How unexpected.
I thought you were enamored of him.”
“I am aware, Father.
But clinging to something hopeless is hardly a wise course of action.”
Duke Wentworth studied me quietly.
Then, with the faintest of sneers, he spoke.
“When I first took you in, I told you this: if you failed to capture the crown prince’s heart, I would cast you out.
Do you remember?”
His words struck at Amelia’s deepest wound.
“……”
Yes, that had been her greatest fear.
To be cast out of the duke’s household, forced to return to the poverty of the streets that was the nightmare Amelia dreaded most.
And so, apart from her misguided love, desperation had bound her even tighter to the crown prince.
The original Amelia would have broken down here sobbing, begging, pleading.
But I stood calmly.
The duke gave a short, amused laugh.
“So, now that I’ve threatened to cast you out, you change tactics?
Hmph.
Well, I must admit, composure suits you.
Had you shown this before tsk.”
Of course, I knew from the novel that he would never truly cast Amelia out.
Her beauty alone was too valuable a commodity.
Come on.
Say it.
Say you’ll annul the engagement with the crown prince.
Hurry!
My desperate gaze met the duke’s, and at last, with the air of a man bestowing a favor, he spoke.
But his words were nothing I expected.
“I’ll arrange a meeting in secret away from prying eyes.
Start with the young heir of Marquis Moulton.
If things go well there, then perhaps I’ll consider dissolving the royal engagement.”
“Marquis… Moulton?
But before that, shouldn’t we first”
“This is simply insurance.
A precaution.
The crown prince is still the priority, without question.”
Insurance?
He was telling me to court both the imperial family and another noble house at once.
Just how lightly did he regard the crown’s authority, to even suggest such a thing?
Though in truth, it only proved how far imperial power had fallen.
I turned the name over on my tongue, repeating it in my mind.
“Moulton… Marquis Moulton… Father!”
I cried out urgently.
In the original story, Moulton’s house was destined to be destroyed wiped out completely by the very crown prince who had turned back time.
To be tied to them meant courting death all the sooner.
“Please, be cautious.
Investigate the Moulton family more carefully.
Things are not always what they appear.”
The duke narrowed his eyes.
“…Do you know something?”
The Duke fixed me with a suspicious look.
For a moment, my heart lurched, but I quickly forced my mind to spin and spat out the most plausible excuse I could think of.
“Remember that gathering of young ladies the other day?”
“You mean the one where you supposedly caused a scene?”
A bead of sweat slid down my temple.
Amelia… so you really did make a spectacle there, huh?
But judging from how hazy her memories of it are, maybe it happened so often she didn’t even bother to store it away.
“W-well, anyway… I happened to hear a rumor there that the Marchioness of Moulton often disguises herself as a servant to sneak into casinos.”
Of course, I had never heard such a thing.
But there was no way a duke of all people would waste time investigating exactly what idle chatter went on at a ladies’ tea party.
“It isn’t such a grave sin for a noble to step into a casino,” he said flatly.
“But to disguise herself and go there frequently?
Isn’t that rather strange?
Why go to such lengths…?”
“Hm.”
Judging by his reaction, the bait had landed.
And really, whether this was before or after the Crown Prince’s regression, this little tidbit wouldn’t disrupt the grand flow of events.
Before his regression, the Duke of Wentworth eventually unearthed it himself, bled the Moultons dry with usury, and swallowed their lands whole.
After the regression, the Crown Prince personally crushed the Moultons’ illegal gambling dens to cut off the duke’s growing influence early exposing far uglier crimes in the process.
But that wasn’t my problem right now.
The duke seemed to mull it over, then rang the bell on his desk.
A short while later, the butler James entered and bowed.
“You summoned me, Your Grace.”
“Bring me Viscount Layton.”
“As you command.”
Alfred Layton one of the duke’s closest aides, and a man with a nose for information.
Summoning him meant only one thing: the duke intended to verify my claim.
“If it proves false, we’ll proceed as planned,” he said.
So he believed me yet not enough to act blindly.
Which meant my hopes of breaking this engagement were slipping away again.
Was this really the end of it?
There had to be something anything that would push him toward calling off the betrothal.
I hesitated by the door, loath to leave, when the duke’s voice halted me again.
“Wait.”
I lifted my head to meet his gaze.
Had I been acting too meek, too unlike Amelia?
Should I have mimicked her brazenness just a little?
“On your way out, call for Aiden,” he ordered.
At that name, I couldn’t help the faint curl of my lips.
It wasn’t especially important, but perhaps I could use this moment to nudge forward another troublesome matter.
Just a small seed today, nothing more.
“Oh, if it’s Brother Aiden you mean… I’ll mention it to Kate.”
“Kate?
You mean the maid?
She’s not even his personal attendant why her?”
“Well, they seemed unusually close, so…”
The Duke of Wentworth’s brow creased ever so slightly.
For now, he would likely brush it off.
But someday, when he happened to see them together, this little suggestion would return to him.
I was just about to finally retreat when the butler James burst back into the room, breathless.
“Your Grace!
Duke, Your Grace!”
“I told you to fetch Alfred Layton why have you come running back already?”
“Someone has arrived from the Imperial Palace!”
“The palace?”
The duke’s expression sharpened.
“Bring them in.”
At the mention of the palace, a wave of unease crashed over me.
My steps faltered, but I did not leave.
Instead, I lingered watching, waiting to see what storm was about to break.
Soon, a royal attendant arrived, bowing politely first to the Duke of Wentworth, then to me.
The sight of him only made my unease grow sharper.
“What is it?”
the duke asked.
“His Highness the Crown Prince bid me deliver this letter to Your Grace.”
While the duke unfolded and read the letter, I found myself unconsciously retreating a step at a time.
I already knew what it must contain.
But to send it the very next day so soon?
When the duke finally lifted his eyes, there was a smile tugging at his lips.
That smile chilled me to the bone.
“It seems best to move Amelia’s residence to the Crown Prince’s palace,” he declared.
“Yes, Your Grace,” the attendant replied.
“The order is to escort her there at once, as soon as preparations allow.”
The moment both the duke and the attendant’s eyes turned to me, I clutched my head and swayed.
“Ahh… suddenly, I feel so dizzy…”
“My lady?”
“Amelia!”
Summoning every damsel-in-distress I had ever seen in plays and novels, I launched into my most desperate performance.
I had no choice.
There was no way I could be thrown into the Crown Prince’s palace without warning no way I could face a vengeful regressor when I was this unprepared.
“Amelia, are you unwell?
You’ve gone pale.”
The duke’s tone softened at once as he moved toward me, mindful of the attendant’s watching eyes.
Whatever the truth, he had to present himself as a father reluctant to part with his cherished daughter.
I leaned weakly against him and nodded feebly.
“My body… it’s not well.
I can’t possibly go now… cough, cough!”
“Oh dear, my lady.
Not in that condition.
It would be impossible,” the attendant murmured, concern on his face.
Good.
He was buying it.
I pushed the act even further.
“Cough, cough! His Highness… please tell him… my deepest apologies… cough!”
Then I collapsed forward in a dramatic fit, coughing violently until the duke shouted in alarm.
“James!
Take Amelia at once lay her down in bed!”
“Y-yes, of course, Your Grace!”
James quickly lifted me onto his back.
As he carried me off, I heard the duke speaking to the attendan
t.
“As you can see, Amelia’s health is poor.
It would be unwise for her to enter the palace immediately.
Do relay this to His Highness.”
“Of course, Your Grace.
I shall convey it at once.
My lady, please take care of yourself.”
I gave a faint nod.
And with that, still draped over James’s back, I was carried away to my room.
