Chapter 6

The staff began to murmur at Donovan’s declaration. Their faces grew paler still when he spoke again.

“As His Grace imbued Her Grace with all authority prior to his departure for the imperial city, all affairs in the estate will be done according to her will, and her will is His Grace’s will.”

This was Donovan, the man who had maintained the estate’s affairs for years, the man who’d served as the duke’s most loyal aide and butler. If he stated that the duke had given his wife all authority, then they had no reason to doubt that her words carried the power of the duke’s will.

Reina looked over the staff’s pale faces and continued in a calm voice, “I don’t wish to see blood while carrying my child, so I will not punish you for your transgressions thus far.”

Some of the staff let out sighs of relief, but she hadn’t finished yet.

“However, I don’t want to see your shameless faces either,” she said. “I will give you two days. Leave. Going forward, not you nor any of your bloodline will ever be allowed to set foot in Heathvilion again.”

Donovan bowed his head deeply the moment Reina finished. “We can only be grateful for your benevolence, your ladyship.”

The staff, who were all about to be chased out of the place where they had lived their entire lives, stood there in a daze, wondering if they were dreaming.

Reina’s voice snapped them out of it.

“Donovan, if there are any still within the bounds of the duchy in two days’ time, hand them over for the crime of lèse-majesté,” she said coolly.

With that, Reina turned to climb up the stairs.

Donovan chased after her as he answered, “Yes, madam. I will escort you.”

Cries belatedly rang out from the foot of the stairs.

“M-madam!”

“It was a mistake! Please forgive me!”

“Madam! Please spare me!”

Reina didn’t hate them, but she didn’t pity them either.

After returning to her chambers, she sat at her desk instead of immediately getting into bed. She stopped Donovan as he bid her a good rest and turned to leave.

“Donovan.”

“Yes, madam. What can I do for you?”

“I’m not pleased with you. You may believe yourself to be different from them, but you were no more than a bystander.”

Donovan clenched his hands into fists. She wasn’t wrong.

“The reason I’ve allowed you to stay here at the estate is because I believe your loyalty to Heathvilion to be true.”

Donovan carefully looked over Reina, attempting to gauge her intentions.

“Answer me, Donovan. Can I trust your loyalty in the future as well?”

His firm answer came without hesitation. “Madam, I have already devoted my life to Heathvilion. That has been my life so far, and that will not change in the future.”

Reina didn’t doubt Donovan’s loyalty. However, there was still something she had to hear him say.

“Then swear your loyalty to the future heir of Heathvilion as well.”

Donovan was momentarily at a loss for words, but he quickly bowed his head. “Of course, madam. My loyalty will continue from the master to his heir.”

“Good.”

With that settled, Reina quickly moved on to giving her orders.

Her instructions on the matter of hiring new staff were clear. He was to make sure that they would be serious, knew to keep their mouths shut, and would be the bare minimum number needed to run the estate. She would pick her chambermaid herself, so he would narrow down the list of candidates and make a report to her.

Donovan approved of Reina’s unexpectedly decisive actions.

He hadn’t had any expectations, as she’d spent the past two years as though dead, but the things she said and decided now all embodied a duchess’s qualities.

“Yes, madam. If that is all, I will take my leave.”

Reina only answered with a nod of her head.

Once Donovan had left, the tension drained from Reina, and she leaned back in her chair with a sigh. “I’m exhausted.”

But she felt she’d done better than she’d thought she would.

Leaning back in the chair, she looked out the window. The air outside was cold, causing the windows to become frosty.

Winter was approaching.

***

All of the staff at the Heathvilion estate had been fired.

Those who heard the news initially assumed it was drivel.

“Employment at His Grace’s estate is guaranteed for life. And you’re saying that, not just one, but all of the staff were fired?”

“From what I hear, the duchess fired them, but who in their right state of mind would do that?”

“At most, it was probably one or two of them that were caught plotting something and got fired.”

But two days later, those who were employed at the estate left the duchy with their families as though they were being chased, and news spread that the estate had hired new staff.

The rumors had been true.

That was how the news spread that the duchess known as the Cursed Binochet had drawn her blade.

People were curious about how the duchess had changed. However, the doors to the estate had been closed before winter’s arrival and showed no signs of budging.

Whatever the rumors outside, the estate was peaceful.

The new staff that Donovan had hired after multiple verifications were composed only of those who didn’t enjoy tearing others down.

Now into her fifth month of pregnancy, Reina spent most of her days sitting or lying down, her rest broken only by the occasional stroll.

It was a day like any other. Reina had just finished lunch and was looking around the estate when it happened.

A soft smile graced Reina’s lips as she thought back to the very first movement she had felt from the baby.

Ell really has come to find me again.

The things she had experienced in her past life but had not given much attention felt so new to her now. Before, she had no idea that this feeling, similar to a fish swimming in her belly, was movement from the baby.

I probably would have lived my whole life not knowing what it was if I hadn’t asked a doctor if something was wrong.

She’d thought that fetal movement was limited to kicks, but at five months, it felt like foam popping, like little bubbles.

It was difficult to explain, but it was a warm, ticklish sensation.

If I’m capable of happiness, perhaps that is what I’m feeling now.

Her happiness enveloped the bubbly fetal movements and warmth. It was the first time she had felt this peaceful and safe in her life.

It’s a relief. I was worried that Edgar had some kind of trick in mind when he brought up the duchess’s duties.

It had been three months since he’d returned to the imperial city, but nothing had happened—except for one strange event that she couldn’t make sense of.

“Madam, the air is still cold. It would be best if you wore a shawl.”

“Yes, thanks,” Reina answered in a gentle voice as she draped the shawl the maid handed her over her shoulders.

Reina had approved of the new maid, Yuzu, for her quiet and easygoing personality.

Reina was heading to the greenhouse in the back gardens of the estate. She liked the warmth of the glass greenhouse, so she found herself seeking it out quite frequently.

Once she arrived, she sent the maid back to the mansion. Reina was the only one who could enter the glass greenhouse.

Upon stepping through the door, the warm, gentle air surrounded her. She removed the shawl from her shoulders.

Reina didn’t know why Edgar had built this greenhouse, but she didn’t feel much desire to dwell on anything related to him.

From what Donovan had told her, Edgar had built it in the two weeks that he had stayed at the estate.

This glass greenhouse, built with all kinds of magic and technology, allowed one to look out while simultaneously preventing anyone from seeing inside.

It was also enchanted to repel any outside invasion. Edgar had spent an astronomical budget on recruiting mages on short notice.

Donovan had informed her of all this, but she didn’t feel particularly impressed or interested.

She had given up any expectations of Edgar long ago, and she had also realized that what she had felt for him in the first place had never been love.

I thought I loved Edgar, but it was probably more like dependency.

She came to the realization naturally as she attempted to stand on her own two feet.

“I thought love would feel sweeter.”

Her ambiguous expectations had ultimately been shattered by tragedy.

Reina loved Ell, and what she felt for Ell was sweeter than anything that could ever compare to Edgar.

Reina rubbed her belly and headed toward the center of the greenhouse. There, a tea table and chair were placed as though copied exactly from the glass greenhouse of Binochet.

However, instead of sitting in the chair, she picked up a hand shovel and watering can, then chose a seat by the flower bed sparsely planted with seedlings.

She had recently been enjoying taking care of the greenhouse. For whatever reason, Edgar hadn’t added any plants.

If I take care of this place, Ell might come and see it some day.

That was the thought she’d had as she began to look after the place.

Rather than showing him an empty greenhouse, she thought it would be better to brag a little about the flowers that she, his mother, had planted herself.

“Ell, this flower is a lantana. It’s said that it can only grow in warm climates, so I thought I would try growing it here.”

She gently spoke to the baby in her belly with every seedling she planted.

She gardened, patting the earth, without any sense of how much time had passed.

Eventually, she realized that the watering can was running low and frowned. There was no running water in the greenhouse, so she had to fetch the water from the mansion.

She was just about to get to her feet, when she heard an unfamiliar voice.

-Should I give you water? Do you need water?