Chapter 10

Violet got off the train at the capital and sighed.

She felt sorry for telling Winter off for fidgeting inside the train. Sitting in the second-class seats with his long legs in cramped quarters had been very tough. She’d had to get up a few times during the trip.

Sharon got off the train with her.

“Where are you headed, Lord Blooming?”

“I’ll be visiting House Filice.”

Ella Filice, Violet and Ash’s mother, lived on Filice lands after her husband died and the Royal House was dissolved. She loved her son much more than her daughter, but she was kind enough to create a little refuge for her daughter. On condition, of course, that it didn't bother Ash.

Violet suddenly remembered something and turned to Sharon.

“I heard that the Duchy of Doss... offers new identities.”

“Ah, yes. We have such a small population that newcomers are immediately granted citizenship and a new identity. Unless they're criminals, of course.”

“I see,” Violet nodded.

Now that she was set on getting a divorce, she needed a plan. If she couldn't get a proper divorce, she was going to run away in the dead of night.

Death continued to evade her, so she would leave instead.

She’d leave this heavy heart behind and travel, light of foot.

Her husband would not be overly concerned even if she went missing. Violet thought bitterly to herself that her husband was the sort of man who’d take at least three months to notice she was missing.

Violet had arrived at the capital around 4 a.m.

Most of the arrivals sat in the station, enjoying coffee and a light snack while they waited for the sun to come up. Violet thought it would be rude to visit her so early in the morning, and decided to wait at the station as well.

Sharon, on the other hand, went out to the front of the station to wait for the hotel carriage that was coming to pick her up. Violet went with her to see her off.

Sharon seemed relieved.

“Anyhow, sir, you really seem very knowledgeable about Violet.”

Violet simply smiled. Sharon seemed to debate for a moment whether to continue.

“Actually, Violet has had huge fantasies about marriage from a young age. I heard these rumors that you two didn't get along very well... and I was worried.”

“...Is that right?”

Had she entertained such fancies?

While Violet tried to figure out if this was true, Sharon nodded.

“You know how it was. King Lawrence was very occupied with the failed policies before he passed, and Her Majesty the Queen doted only on her son...I'm sure we all do as children, but Violet had so many hopes about starting her own family. No child could have loved playing house more.”

Violet could faintly remember the fact that she’d like to play house.

Sharon joked, “I didn't like how I was always the baby. I wanted to be the daddy, you know? Or the doctor!”

Violet remembered that Peren Doss, Sharon's brother and older than her by two years, would play along with them. And because Sharon had the latest birthday, she’d always played the baby.

Violet missed those times. She smiled. Sharon smiled along with her.

“I'm so glad Violet met a great person like you.”

The carriage pulled up in front of them. Violet hurriedly told her as she got on the carriage, “I’ll tell my wife to get in touch with you.”

“Please do! My brother was asking how she's been as well!”

Sharon made her promise multiple times before leaving.

Violet considered that it was a good thing she hadn’t died yet. She'd forgotten some people would remember her from time to time.

That gave her some energy. She stepped into the station.

A constable approached and diffidently removed his hat.

“Excuse me, sir. May I see some identification?”

“Yes, certainly. What's this for?”

“We do random checks at this hour.”

“Ah, I see,” Violet nodded and removed the identification card from the wallet. The constable's eyes widened.

“Gods! You’re Lord Winter Blooming. I'm sorry I failed to recognize you. A hundred apologies!”

“There’s no need to be so sorry—”

The constable had paled. He dashed off before Violet could finish the sentence. Violet looked on in confusion, and a young man who was passing by spoke to him.

“I guess you were unlucky this morning.”

Violet stared.

The man shrugged, “My dad’s also an outlander. Fortunately for me, I made the cut. My eyes and hair are all black. My dad, on the other hand, still gets these random identification checks every now and then.”

Violet went still when she realized what it meant to “make the cut.”

The outlanders living in Lacround, those of Conic blood, had conspicuous gray hair and eyes. Winter had his father’s black hair and his mother's gray eyes.

Violet's husband was now powerful enough to scare a constable away, but his looks hadn’t made the cut.

* * *

Winter's mother had left Winter in a restaurant when he was five years old and never returned.

Winter worked as the restaurant owner's servant after that.

Not a day went by without him getting a beating. The beatings carried on until he was twelve. Around that time, he ran away from the restaurant and headed for the Vaidellin Mountains, which he’d overheard people talking about. He spent what little money he’d managed to save up to buy a cartful of coffee beans there. He made the precarious trip back over the Vaidellin Mountains and headed for House Blooming, since that was where his mother had told him his father lived. The Bloomings were shocked when Winter appeared at their doorstep, but they smiled when they saw the coffee beans piled up in his cart.

After his lone trip over the mountains, the value of the beans had been multiplied by ten. Winter had a knack for making money from a young age.

Lacround was undergoing an economic upheaval in those days, and noble status wasn't the magical remedy that it once was. In order for Duke Blooming and his wife to remain at the head of the Wohossen (a name the southern aristocrats called themselves), they needed money.

All they knew how to do, however, was spend money. They needed someone in the family who knew how money worked.

The two decided to take Winter in with open arms, and the stability they offered, which Winter had never experienced before, was intoxicating.

He continued to buy their love with money, since his new parents sold him their love in that fashion.

Winter was twenty-seven this year. Not once had there been a hiccup in this arrangement so far.

Today, however, the Bloomings were very nervous.

They’d always feared what would happen when Winter started his own family. Though Ash was against it, for them it wasn't such a bad thing for Winter to divorce Violet.

The worst-case scenario was for their relationship to improve to the point where they moved out of Blooming land to strike out on their own. And if Violet were to ask her husband why Winter paid for all his parents’ partying expenses….

Catherine tried to shake the anxiety away and spoke to her husband.

“Violet is late.”

“You're right,” James tutted disapprovingly.

“I knew she's always pretending to be ill, but I didn't imagine she’d be late to my birthday party.”

“She’ll be here soon. And she is actually a bit frail, isn't she?”

“The doctor says it's hogwash.”

“But for three years she’s been….” Catherine slurred at the end of her sentence.

A noblewoman nearby whispered to her, “The two can't seem to have a child, now do they?”

“I'm worried about that as well.”

Catherine sighed. Others around her began to chip in, claiming they were certain there must be something wrong with Violet.

A strange silence suddenly fell around the entrance of the banquet hall.

Violet had walked in. She was wearing a dress, so white it seemed to light up the space around her, and a huge diamond necklace.

She approached and greeted the couple, “I’m sorry I'm late. I was making sure I looked alright for this special occasion.”

After a brief silence, Catherine spoke in confusion. “Violet, this party today is for my husband. Don’t you think this... a little excessive?”

“That's exactly what I think,” she answered. “My husband bought me all these so I could wear them today.”

Violet raised her left arm for them to see. It had three tinkling bracelets on it. “My husband gets upset if I forget even a single one, so I didn't have much of a choice,” she continued.

Ash had told the Bloomings that Winter was likely to have heard about the little closet incident. Catherine felt threatened by Violet's fearless attitude and confident eyes. This was completely unlike her.

She decided to back away for now and smiled. “Well. If Winter asked you to do so, I guess that's alright.”

“Happy birthday, Fa—Duke Blooming.” Violet gave a brief smile and immediately turned away.

Rules of etiquette demanded that it was proper to wait for a response after offering a greeting. There must be a reason Violet had turned away like that without listening to the Duke speak. She was also dressed like a completely different person.

The couple felt that something had changed. Something had given her confidence. A deep apprehension gripped them.