* * *
‘What’s the relationship between the Duke and Anna that they’re together?’
The market alleyways were lined with the homes of the townspeople.
Duke Rukanosa and Anna were standing in front of one of them, talking.
“Um, Makia, would you like to go buy the cake first? I think I’m going to meet someone I know.”
Makia, who had been looking in the same direction as Cynthia, smiled and nodded.
“Don’t worry, I won’t eat it on the way.”
‘How did he figure out my psychological anxiety?’
After Makia left, Cynthia and the soldiers hid and watched Anna and the Duke.
The soldiers, who always followed her as if they were there and not there, were loyal to their orders and followed her without question.
‘So, that’s Anna’s house.’
Duke Rukanosa left first, and Anna went inside.
Cynthia instructed the soldiers to wait nearby and knocked on the door of the house Anna had entered.
“Duke, did you forget some… Ah!”
Anna, who had been beaming, was startled as if she had seen a grim reaper.
Cynthia quickly went inside, slammed the door shut, and faced Anna.
“Anna! You’re safe?”
“Cindy? No, Lady Cynthia?”
“It’s the first time you’ve seen me since they dolled me up at the mansion, right? Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you.”
Cynthia didn’t know what the relationship between Anita and Anna was, but she didn’t have any particularly good memories of her.
‘She was vain and a master at framing people.’
Anna had once embezzled leftover silk from making dresses and, when she was caught, blamed it on Cynthia.
“Let’s skip the pleasantries. Why were you with Duke Rukanosa? Tell me.”
Her face was bright as if she were talking about a friend’s love life, but her tone was not very friendly.
Sensing that Cynthia wasn’t going to kill her, Anna straightened her shoulders, which had been hunched over.
“Why else? It’s exactly what my lady is thinking.”
“What I’m thinking is that you’ve suddenly become confident.”
Anna smiled leisurely.
What else could it mean when a man saved a woman’s life, provided her with a house and funds, and visited her every weekend?
“And why are you asking about my relationship with him? Is it because he’s the husband of the sister who treated you like a maid your whole life?”
Cynthia looked dumbfounded.
“Huh? I thought you were being used or threatened.”
At this, Anna retorted.
“No, I’m not! The Duke helps me and visits me every weekend. Maybe I’ll become the Duchess instead of Lady Helene?”
Watching Anna act arrogantly as if she had a backer, Cynthia was lost in thought.
‘How did they even meet? I can’t find any point of intersection…’
“Why would he hide the woman who’s going to be the Duchess in a backwater village and come to see you in secret?”
At Cynthia’s pointed question, Anna’s face turned bright red.
Due to the nature of the class system, hoping for upward marriage was natural for both men and women. In this era, marriage was a transaction for a better life.
‘But breaking up a family is unforgivable.’
Cynthia sighed and rubbed her forehead.
There was no point in lecturing her that adultery was an outrageous act.
Wasn’t the other party, who was subtly using her with false hope, also a problem? She was secondarily disappointed in the Duke.
“If you’re doing well while having an affair, then there’s nothing to worry about. But wrong is wrong, so it’s best to sort things out as soon as possible. I can’t help you if problems arise from this.”
Anna’s face gradually turned to dismay as she stared at Cynthia, as if trying to figure out her intentions.
She suddenly remembered Cynthia helping Anita in the market.
Realizing that Cynthia had no intention of harming her and was actually worried about her, Anna asked awkwardly.
“By the way, did my lady take Anita with you? I saw her at the market before.”
So, Anna had seen Anita that day too.
It would be troublesome if it was revealed that Anita was alive, but there was no reason for Anna to go around talking about Anita.
Thinking to herself, Cynthia shook her head and turned away.
“No. I’m leaving.”
There was nothing to gain from holding onto Anna, and she decided to ask the Duke directly.
How he met Anna and what his intentions were for hiding her here.
* * *
“There’s someone you come to see in this neighborhood every week, isn’t there?”
Cynthia asked Duke Rukanosa directly.
He felt disconcerted at the sight of her eyes, which were filled with disappointment.
‘Did she happen to see me with the maid? Chance seems to be an everyday occurrence for that Princess.’
At this rate, he was sure to be treated as a womanizing pervert, let alone with respect.
The Duke nodded to the soldiers, signaling them to leave.
“…”
But seeing that they didn’t move, he finally asked Cynthia.
“I’d prefer it if there were no eavesdroppers.”
“Sergeant Chae, Corporal Piti. He says he’s going to tell a secret story from now on, so don’t listen! No, I don’t mean stand there and cover your ears…”
After the soldiers, who needed more precise input, left for a moment, the Duke looked around and finally spoke with difficulty.
“I have no intention of troubling the Princess. Please don’t misunderstand.”
“…Troubling me?”
At Cynthia’s question, the Duke hesitated for a moment and met her with a serious face.
“I know your past. A servant had a desire for lineage and stole you when you were a baby, which is why you lived as a maid.”
In fact, he knew the secret that she was a fake, but he decided not to say everything.
The Duke turned his eyes as if recalling a memory.
“The maid the Princess saw, her… was her name Maximilia?”
‘Who is that? It’s completely wrong! Not a single syllable is right!’
The Duke, who couldn’t even remember Anna’s name properly, and Anna’s excited expression, dreaming of becoming the Duchess, crossed her mind.
‘What’s going on?’
Confusion and doubt gradually appeared on Cynthia’s face.
“So, what happened?”
Cynthia asked with a rather stern expression.
The Duke didn’t want to miss this golden opportunity to receive her gratitude.
“There was a purge of servants at the Count’s residence, I heard. I was worried that she would be killed if she was discovered to have survived or that she would be used as a weakness against the Princess, so I hid her here, where I happened to come to volunteer every weekend.”
“Why?”
Cynthia asked with a bewildered expression rather than a moved one.
The Duke coughed awkwardly and averted his gaze.
“Because I didn’t want the Princess to be troubled.”
“Really, why?”
“I don’t know why.”
He couldn’t bring himself to say, “Please don’t take back your respect for me.” And he didn’t know why he was clinging to such a trivial acknowledgment.
At that moment, Cynthia grabbed his arm.
“Ah, watch out!”
At the same time as Cynthia’s warning, soldiers on skis patrolling the village were seen rushing towards them at a very high speed.
“Aah! I can’t stop!”
“Me too!”
They left behind only a faint scream-like cry and afterimages, passing by the two of them.
“…”
The Duke looked back at Cynthia, who had pulled him away and saved him from the collision.
Cynthia had the face of a princess on a white horse who had saved a prince in a fairy tale.
The snowflakes scattered around her, glittering, left behind by the soldiers who had just passed by. Coincidentally.
‘The goddess of fortune…’
Cynthia looked closely at the Duke, who was lost in thought, with a worried expression.
“Duke, are you okay?”
Duke Rukanosa’s face flushed red in an instant.
A feeling he had never felt in his life struck him like an unexpected accident.
So into this story it’s so cute
So glad you’re enjoying it! TYSM for reading! 💖
Thanks so much for not paywalling the latest chapters