The effects of the alcohol simmered down quickly. Lucia came out of the break room. As she walked along the hallway, a handmaid approached her with hurried steps and bowed her head.
"His Grace the Duke sent this servant out of worry that the Duchess' absence was long."
It had only been 30 minutes since she left to rest. Lucia felt embarrassed because she thought that the people around would see his actions as unusual, that he couldn't wait and sent a handmaid for her.
"Go ahead and tell him that I'm on my way."
The maid bowed and quickly went back the way she came from.
"Master always looks for Milady."
The maid who was following her added.
"Are you poking fun at me?"
"No, Milady. I wouldn't dare. I say so because it looks good. If I get married later, I want to live like Master and Milady."
Lucia didn't mind hearing the maid's flattery mixed with envy. She wondered if they looked that good in other people's eyes and felt a little elated. Her relationship with him these days was definitely good.
Even though she had less time to see his face compared to when they were in the north, they had gotten closer. She tried to consider what exactly was different from when they were in the north but there was nothing specific she could point to. But strangely, anything he said would sound so sweet.
Lucia was walking in high spirits but as soon as she saw a group of men that were conversing some distance away, she paused her footsteps.
The maid who was following after her called out, "Milady?"
Lucia squeezed the shawl in her hand as though it were a shield. She regulated her breathing and began to walk again. When she drew close enough to verify the face, she sucked in her breath. She hoped she could just pass by.
After a couple of steps, one of the men discovered Lucia and his eyes shone with greed. Goosebumps rose all over her body.
"Ooh. Are you not the Duchess? I am more than glad for the opportunity to greet such a beautiful personage."
Lucia couldn't ignore the over-dramatic greeting of the man. The Duchess being rude at her first official social debut would only become the target of gossip. She was forced to stop and look at the face of the sickening man. She focused on controlling her gaze so that her expression would not distort.
The man was barely taller than Lucia. He had a tubby figure with a stomach like a pregnant woman's and his greasy face was thickly covered with greed. His grinning mouth was filled with servility. His cunning eyes showed his anxiety to sponge off someone in power one way or the other. It was Lucia's husband in her dream, the man that she didn't even want to see in her dreams(1). Count Matin.
"I am the head of the Matin family and successor to the Count title, Horio Matin. Alas. I saw you from afar earlier but now that I'm closer, your beauty shines even more. I have great respect for His Grace, the Duke of Taran. It is a great honor to be able give my greetings the Great Duke of Taran's wife."
Count Matin wagged his tongue and rubbed his palms together like a mean merchant.
Lucia could identify her current feelings. Disgust. And fear. In her dream, Count Matin was a wall of despair. Her marriage life was darkness. Nevertheless, the reason why Lucia had been able to endure was because ironically, she had married without knowing anything. If she had known even a little bit about how a normal marriage was, she wouldn't have lived so resigned and in suspense. If the memory of her dream was a nightmare then her marriage now was an illusion she didn't want to break.
So when she came across the Count of Matin, her back broke out in terror like her illusions were broken. Lucia rarely had dark feelings towards others. She was the type to shake off slightly saddening or uncomfortable things. However, with the Count of Matin, she hated him terribly. Which was why she ate mugwort, brought infertility upon herself, and found her husband to propose. All of it was a struggle to get away from the shadow that Count Matin cast on her.
'This man...was he always so small?'
Lucia was prepared to face the Count of Matin at any time. Even though she had become a Duchess, there was a faint fear at the bottom of her heart. However, the Count Matin that she faced in reality was so crummy. He was a dwarf compared her husband whose build outclassed knights.
Her anxiety faded away as she remember his broad chest and his firm embrace. If he were to give this man one kick, he would fly far away. Somehow, the man in front of her seemed very pathetic and her fear gradually faded away.
"Duchess. Would you please give me a chance to give my greetings to His Grace the Duke? There are very distinguished people at his side so a worthless person like myself may not enter his eyes but I am prepared to become the hands and feet of His Grace the Duke. If you just give me the chance, I will never forget this grace."
Often times, Lucia couldn't understand the Count of Matin's abnormal obsession with power. The Matin family had a territory of its own, the family history ran deep, he had enough to live and be satisfied with his current circumstances.
'He is still the same. Indeed, people don't change easily.' (Lucia)
The Count of Matin had wandered back and forth as if his feet were on fire but he was an empty grain that both the Crown Prince and the opposite side didn't really want. Indeed, he made no difference to either side. Whether it was his power, wealth, or his own capability, they didn't amount to much.
Count Matin didn't want to admit it but he was at the end of his wits. No matter how hard he flung his body out of the water, he couldn't get to the other pond he wanted.
"This is our first meeting but you are being rude. If you have business with His Grace the Duke, talk to him directly."
Lucia spoke with a serious look on her face. Even if she was the Duchess, her opposing tone to an elder noble Count on their first meeting was rude. Lucia did not want the man to ever talk to her again. She hated to even see his shadow.
Her terrible fate with this person no longer existed in reality. So she purposefully spoke in a rude manner.
Lucia could see embarrassment and annoyance flash in Count Matin's dark eyes. In her dream, Lucia would tremble in fear every time the Count's eyes became like this. It was the day when her insides twisted and his viciousness came out.
Lucia straightened her waist. She hoped to look arrogant and she walked past him. Her heart was little nervous but she felt extremely delighted, like something pressing down on her chest had been lifted.
Lucia bit her lips because she felt like she was going to laugh. She realized that from now on, she was truly free from the nightmare in her dream.
'Even if I slap him for no reason, he can't do anything to me.'
Behind Lucia was the Duke of Taran. A reliable husband that held her up as though he would protect her from all the storms in life. He may not be invincible, but he had enough power to get rid of such trash. The person she was in the dream, the person that shook in fear of that man no longer existed.
Lucia suddenly wanted to see Hugo and quickened her steps. Even if she couldn't explain it to him, she wanted to share her joy with him.
'That man will eventually die miserably like in the dream.'
Lucia's steps slowed down.
'...He may not die. The future is changing.'
It was around the time when their marriage was in its fifth year. The King had been keeping a silent watch over those who opposed him then he finally drew his sword. It was the beginning of the ordeal that was later known as the 100 days of blood.
At first, Count Matin tried his hardest to join the royalist party but when he failed to join the ranks, he dipped his feet in the opposing party. There was no way the cowardly Count Matin would have truly planned to revolt. He had neither the guts nor the ability. His intentions were just to ingratiate himself to those in power one way or another.
The opposing forces were also aware of Count Matin's obvious intention. Their relationship was one where they used each other. In such a relationship, the weaker side had no choice but to be eaten up.
Count Matin got caught up in it as if he had actively participated and was unable to pull out. No one knew of Count Matin's false accusations. From the King's point of view, they were dregs that wouldn't be missed even if they were eradicated together. And the people in power that the Count believed to be his backing had all just lost their necks.
The Matin family with its deep history was exterminated overnight. The Count was caught by the soldiers and beheaded without a proper trial. The members of the household were all taken away and not long after, they were sentenced to decapitation. A long while later, it was heard that the youngest son of the Count, Bruno, who was in the Academy had fled to another country to escape the fire.
As Lucia remembered her memories from the dream, her body trembled. The memory of the night when the soldiers came was fear in of itself. She had heard that the one that spearheaded the 100 days of blood at the time was the Duke of Taran.
'If I was caught that night, perhaps I might have died at his hand.'
Lucia didn't know if the Duke of Taran had led the soldiers on the night of the attack on the Count of Matin's residence. She did not see him personally afterall. For her, that night had symbolized oppression and liberation. It was a night of horror, but Lucia had been able to obtain her freedom. She was able to return to being Lucia by abandoning Vivian, the Countess of Matin. The heavens had helped her. If not for that incident, Lucia would have spent her entire life in the dream, suffering until death as the Countess of Matin.
'Forget it. Whether that man dies or not, it has nothing to do with me.'
She didn't have to keep reminding herself of that trash. It was not worth it.
'...Still, it would be nice if he died. Very miserably.'
Although Lucia didn't want the innocent Countess and other household members to be embroiled in the conflict and die, her dark mind hoped for the Count's death to happen like she saw in the dream.
"Duchess."
As soon as she saw the man that was blocking her path with a bright smile, Lucia felt her irritation soar. This was the third unwelcome face in a row, first it was the Countess of Falcon, then the Count of Matin and now this one. This was why she hated parties with a lot of people. Unexpected things kept happening and she kept seeing people she didn't want to see.
"Do you remember me? I greeted you the other day. I am Count David Ramis of Duke Ramis."
Lucia only nodded her head with a stiff expression. David's eyes did not see her uncomfortable expression. To him, she seemed to give him a shy nod as her radiance dazzled his eyes.
"In a humble measure, I have put Duchess's beauty into a simple poem. Please, I would appreciate if you took a look at it."
Since the day of the rose garden, David had always carried a love letter with him. After the fantastical first meeting of that day, David's eyes always shimmered when he thought about her. He had found out her name which he was unable to hear from her beautiful voice that day.
Vivian. What a noble and beautiful name.
It was a name born for her. What can be said if she was married? If a man and a woman were sharing their heart, such perfunctory conditions could not obstruct them. Right now, he wasn't greedy for much. He just wanted to get to know each other a little as he exchanged letters with the Duchess.
Lucia looked at the envelope. Regardless if one was married or not, exchanging love letters was treated as a simple occurrence. There were a few rules. It was okay for a man to give it to a woman, but the opposite case would cause tongues to wag. When receiving a love letter from a man, a woman should not receive it personally, the maid or the person by her side had to accept it on her behalf.
The maid looked at Lucia as though asking, 'Should I accept?'. Lucia shook her head in return.
"Sir. Ramis. Please take back your heart for I cannot accept it. I have already made a vow to grow old together with my husband."
David was caught off guard. Because love letters represented a measure of the external charm of a noblewoman, there were very few cases of rejections. For the nobility, it was not dignified to be offended because one's wife or lover received such a thing. On the contrary, it was typical to be proud of it.
"Duchess. By any chance...I'm saying this in case you misunderstand, but I only wrote a few verses. It will not hurt your virtue as the Madam."
"You don't need to teach me about customs. It isn't a sin if I don't receive it, is it?"
"...Well that..."
"I do not want to have a private conversation unless my husband is a part of it."
Lucia spoke bluntly because she was in a bad mood. Unfortunately for David, his timing was bad. David's gaze followed Lucia as she said her goodbye and went past him. His face was red with humiliation and he clenched his fists, crushing the envelope in his hand. His followers, who were always following him around, watched from a few steps away and they awkwardly turned away their gazes with a sheepish expression.
In the aristocratic society where human relations were complex, one had to be careful with their words and actions, at all times and one had to try not to create enemies. In the aristocratic society that took face very seriously, it was a rare thing for someone to refuse another so bluntly to the extent it was humiliating, like Lucia had done. It was indeed humiliating.
'Why did such a woman marry the Duke of Taran?'
David's stomach was twisting with jealousy. Even her heart wanting to maintain fidelity to her husband made her seem nobler than ever.
David had arrived late to the party. The Ducal Taran couple had already arrived and were talking to other people separately. As soon as David saw the Duchess, he couldn't control his fluttering heart. The Duchess was more beautiful than when he last saw her in the rose garden. If at the time she was like a fairy, this time she was like a goddess.
He could not approach where the Duchess stood surrounded by noblewomen. His sister stood beside the Duchess and had discovered him some distance away. She gave him an explicit gaze and shook her head. David could not ignore his sister's warning.
Be as it may, he didn't want to join the crowd of people that treated the Duke of Taran like a protagonist. With no other choice, he aimlessly hovered in the vicinity of the party venue with his followers. But he could not ignore the signs that his followers were bored for very long. He reluctantly entered the party venue and then he discovered the Duchess. He felt happy like he was on top of the world.
But now, he felt like the king of a ruined country that had lost everything. David felt both humiliation and sadness and stood with his head hanging low. It was his first heart-break.
'The more one cannot have something, the more one is anxious about it. Sir. Ramis.'
Anita watched from a distance and gave a cold smile. A good idea flashed into her mind.
'A scandal surrounding the Duchess...'
The more unattainable one's position is, the more uncontrolled a rumor could be, if one was involved. Rumors that spread like wildfire had greater embellishments.
If the Madam of the Taran family was at the center of a scandal that shook the social circle, how would the Duke of Taran react? For Duke that took and abandoned women as he needed, he would abandon his wife.
'One of the many princesses of the previous king became the Duchess and then fell to become the divorced former Duchess.'
Anita quite liked the sound of that. It was a scandal that could be milked for 10 years in the social circle. Anita looked at David and gave a meaningful smile. No matter what, there would be a chance to take advantage of the Duke of Ramis' heir.