Why Are You Sorry, Darling?

Chapter 2

I kept my gaze down. Just as I was preparing to leave, someone came up to stand beside me. I snuck a peek and I was surprised to see Seira. Had she followed me?

Her face was slightly flushed and she was glancing at me like she had a lot to say, but she was also trembling slightly under my gaze. Well, no matter how she looked at me, I wasn’t going to do anything.

I kind of wanted to take her shopping for some pretty clothes and use the opportunity to pry some more information out of her, but... I should forget it and just call it a day. I shouldn’t be too greedy to start. I swept a hand lightly under my chin and surreptitiously glanced at the alley. I knew another of my husband’s servants must be nearby, but I couldn’t tell where, so it would be unwise to let my guard down.

I took my eyes off the alley and stepped closer to Seira, leaning over smoothly to whisper in her ear, “Miss Seira. Go see my husband.” We didn’t have that much of a height difference, so I only needed to bend down a little. “I really have no intention of interfering with whatever you do.”

I was going to get divorced anyway, so I planned to pass all the blame to my husband while I was at it. When the corners of my lips tugged slightly upward, Seira’s face stiffened in turn. She now looked like she was trying to tell whether I was serious. Her expression broadcast her uncertainty. Seriously, she didn’t have to look at me like that. Seeing how she opened her mouth to speak but closed it again without a word, she seemed to be having a hard time believing me. Then again, I’d probably feel the same way if I was in her shoes.

“I’m rooting for that love of yours.”

After saying that, I left. I didn’t have time to consider Seira’s feelings at the moment. I was trying to hide my identity as much as possible, so I couldn’t be away from the manor for too long. I passed the byway frequented by the upper middle class and entered the street used by the nobles, spotting my carriage at the end of the empty road. As instructed, the coachman was waiting quietly for me. I calmly climbed into the carriage marked with the DeLov crest and returned to the manor. Of course, I hadn’t forgotten to stop by a few shops earlier to buy some hats.

Officially, Duchess DeLov had gone shopping today to cheer herself up. On top of the carriage, just as I’d ordered, were several dress boxes that a maid and a servant moving on my behalf had bought and placed there beforehand. It was the perfect alibi—at least on the outside.

When I arrived at the manor, Gallen bowed deeply and welcomed me. “Welcome back, my lady.”

Gallen was the butler in charge of the general management of the manor, and the woman bowing alongside him was Rosa, the elderly head maid.

I smoothly took the shawl Rosa handed me and headed inside. “Where’s my husband? He’s usually home at this hour.”

Following behind me, Rosa paused for a moment, but recovered quickly and bowed her head as if it had never happened. “The master has stepped out to attend to some personal affairs.”

“Where did he go?” I asked, trying to look as troubled as possible.

Rosa couldn’t answer that easily. “I apologize, my lady. Of that, I’m not quite sure...” Her words trailed off as she claimed ignorance. There was only one reason why she would do so—the duke must have gone to see his mistress. Good grief. That was fast. Funny how my degenerate husband didn’t even bother to hide the fact that he was going to see her.

Wow. You’re really something else. I was both sickened and in awe. On the inside I was wondering where that shamelessness could’ve come from, but I put on a grimace to hide my true feelings. Thanks to my pallor, even a slight change of expression multiplied the distress on my face. This also reflected the depth of the troubles that burdened the duchess’s everyday life.

How much she must’ve suffered before I woke up in her body. I clicked my tongue and averted my gaze. “I would like some tea.”

Rosa bowed deeply and left, saying, “I’ll serve it at once, my lady.”

By the time she returned, I’d changed into a simple dress with the help of the maids. She placed a teacup with a flower bud design silently down on the table.

“Did you look into it?” I was being vague, but Rosa seemed to understand anyway. Then again, you couldn’t become the head maid without tact.

“Yes, my lady.”

“Tell me.” I didn’t give her time to hesitate. “I’m all right, so don’t hide anything.”

The head maid was the one who spent the most time with the duchess in the manor. Rosa stared at me with a complicated expression for a moment, then replied in a disciplined voice, “His Grace... has gone to Number 3 Lovrante Street.”

Lovrante Street. That was where Seira lived. To be precise, it was the home my husband had bought and decorated for her. Wow. He went after her right away? I tried not to frown. Had he gone there because he knew I’d met with her, or was it just time for them to see each other? There was no way for me to know yet, but I bit my lower lip in a deliberate show of distress.

“I see. He went there today too. All right.”

In the novel, the duchess was a woman of delicate sensibilities who suffered all kinds of stress because her selfish husband who just did whatever he wanted was having an affair. So since I was the duchess now, I should stick to that story. That would be better for me anyway. A woman who’d been left emotionally fragile by her husband’s infidelity was sure to have the upper hand in the divorce proceedings. It would be better to gradually increase the circumstances that would put me in an advantageous position.

“I’d like to be alone.” I sighed, pretending to be disturbed, and Rosa tactfully bowed her head and backed away in silence. As expected, she was very good at her job, and she took the maid who’d been standing behind me with her as well, leaving me alone in the room. Hearing the door close, I relaxed the grip I’d had on my dress and silently counted to three. After staring at the stillness for a moment, I stretched my body comfortably.

Phew. I could finally breathe. I leaned back in a posture I couldn’t possibly take as a duchess and closed my eyes. Honestly, life as the duke’s wife wasn’t well suited for my comfort-above-all personality. It wasn’t just that my philosophy in life was to take the easiest road possible—this situation was too restrictive, and there were too many rules to obey. In exchange, I received wealth and honor—and I didn’t care much about that second thing. I did love money, but it was a rich bum I wanted to be, not a wealthy, elegant duchess stuck in a small chamber all day.

The more I examined the details of this woman I possessed, the more pitiful and unfortunate I realized she was. Because of her timid and quiet personality, she couldn’t confront her husband, even though he was having an affair, and later she was tormented by the fact that her husband paid more attention to the young hero who came to the manor for lessons than to his own wife. She’d longed for his love right up to her final moments… But the husband she’d been waiting for so desperately never came, not even when she was swept up into a political dispute and wound up dead.

It was only natural for me to try to escape. Money was great, and I liked my creature comforts, but I had to stay alive to keep enjoying those things. I wanted to live for a long, long time.

Today had been the day of the long-awaited showdown: the day I, the legal wife of Duke DeLov, handed an envelope full of money to his mistress. I was determined to stay calm, but couldn’t help my nerves. How hard had I struggled to keep my face looking sorrowful until this very morning?

Right. I’d pack up whatever money I could get and blow this popsicle stand as soon as possible! I reflected on what I’d vowed to do in my role as the duchess. For that, Seira needed to get closer to my husband. Having checked each step of my surprise—that was to say, my plans for the two, I returned to a posture worthy of a duchess and leaned my head back, closing my eyes. I was starting to feel sleepy as I thought all this through.

In addition to the paleness of her complexion from constant worry and anxiety, the duchess had a weak constitution due to a lack of exercise. I was also tired from strolling around the gallery in the name of concealing my identity.

Without meaning to, I fell asleep.

What time was it? I felt like I’d slept for a long time, and yet it was still afternoon. I supposed my nap had been pretty short. I was about to let out a big yawn when I realized that there was someone in the room. I swallowed down my yawn, straightening my back as I turned to face him.

There was only one person who could enter this room without permission even after the duchess had expressed her wish to be alone.

“Darling,” I called.

The man leaning against the desk slowly raised his head.