Chapter 12
The moment Adriana saw Teresa inside the bedroom, her expression hardened.
No one knew how long she had been there, but the entire room was thick with cigarette smoke from the pipe Teresa held between her lips. Teresa always smoked enough to cloud the air itself.
When Adriana narrowed her eyes, Teresa exhaled another stream of smoke and smiled.
There was something strangely provocative clinging to the curve of her lips. Even though winter had already arrived, she wore a dress cut deeply enough to expose her chest, making her seem almost bewitching.
“I have matters to discuss alone with the Grand Duchess, so close the door.”
“Yes, Madam.”
The maids who had never once obeyed Adriana so promptly immediately followed Teresa’s command.
As the two maids shut the doors from either side, only Adriana and Teresa remained inside.
Through the thick haze of smoke, Teresa’s face drew closer. It had been a long time since Adriana had seen her from such a close distance.
Though they had fought endlessly ever since Adriana arrived in the North, they had not actually faced each other directly very often.
Judging by appearance alone, Teresa looked young enough that one could believe she was Dietrich’s mistress rather than the former Grand Duke’s.
There was no way to guess her age from her appearance, and the same was true for everything else about her.
Adriana had investigated Teresa countless times, yet she could uncover nothing—not her birthplace, not her age, not even her relationships.
It almost felt as though she were dealing with someone who had never truly existed in this world.
As Adriana was thinking that, their eyes met.
Ugh.
A sharp headache struck Adriana, and she pressed a hand against her forehead.
Her vision blurred for an instant.
Was her body remembering the humiliation she had suffered on the very first day she arrived in Hielo?
The overpowering scent of Teresa’s perfume mixed with pipe smoke churned Adriana’s stomach unbearably.
As though she had been waiting for exactly that reaction, Teresa smiled seductively and ran her fingertips across Adriana’s bed. Then, with one finger, she hooked the shawl resting there and let it fall to the floor.
“So you still play around with such crude little things. You truly have not abandoned the customs of the South.”
Among the noble families of Trakia, there was a tradition in which mothers wove a shawl from a special fabric called coral silk for their daughters when they married.
Adriana’s shawl had been made by her nanny in place of her deceased mother.
Normally, bridal shawls from the South were made of thin lace to help endure the region’s scorching summers, but Adriana’s was so thick and long that it resembled a robe.
Her nanny had spent months sewing through sleepless nights, worried that the young lady marrying into the distant North might catch cold in the unfamiliar chill.
After Dietrich forbade southern-style clothing, Adriana had thrown away most of her garments. But she could never part with this shawl that carried her nanny’s warmth.
To survive the endless northern winters, she desperately needed something that still held traces of home.
For three long years, it was not her husband who guarded Adriana’s lonely nights, but this shawl.
Adriana walked past Teresa and picked it up. Even while dusting it off carefully, she refused to look anywhere else.
At Adriana’s indifferent behavior, Teresa’s brow twitched.
Complete disregard.
Past and present alike, that was the only way Adriana had ever treated Teresa.
Adriana spoke freely even with commoners and welcomed people of uncertain birth into her service, yet there was exactly one exception: Teresa.
From the very first moment they met, Adriana behaved as though Teresa did not exist, never offering so much as a greeting even when standing face to face with her.
She invoked the noble custom that only the higher-ranked person could speak first—but only against Teresa.
“No matter how much you ignore me, what difference does it make? I know every single thing that happens from the moment you open your eyes until you close them. Yesterday you dismissed your maids, and today you dined with my son.”
Even though Adriana had spent the entire day without the maids who served as spies, Teresa still knew her every movement.
That meant Teresa had eyes watching every part of Adriana’s daily life.
And not merely watching. She possessed enough real authority to enter an unoccupied bedroom and act as she pleased. It was also a warning that there was nowhere in this castle where Adriana could rest peacefully.
But what bothered Adriana now was not the usual threat, but the phrase “my son.”
Teresa referred to Dietrich—who shared no blood with her—as her son, as though claiming ownership over him.
Even though everyone knew the two were worse than enemies.
Teresa’s greatest weakness was her uncertain origins, so she constantly used such expressions in a desperate attempt to bind Dietrich to herself and gain legitimacy.
For the same reason, she also constantly tried to act like Adriana’s mother-in-law.
“No answer? Do you still not understand the language of the North? Or are you frightened of me?”
Of course, Adriana had never once acknowledged Teresa as her mother-in-law, and Dietrich had never accepted Teresa as a mother either.
“What exactly are you plotting? I asked you a question!”
Unable to suppress her irritation any longer, Teresa shouted.
Adriana let out a long sigh.
“Divorce.”
How many times had she repeated that word today alone?
“I simply intend to divorce him. You claim to know everything I do, yet somehow you missed that rumor?”
“That is precisely what is strange. Why would you suddenly decide to leave? What wind has blown through you to make you speak of divorce?”
Teresa’s eyes gleamed as though trying to see straight through Adriana.
Only a few days earlier, Adriana had adamantly refused divorce, so Teresa’s suspicion was natural. Still, that did not justify barging into someone else’s bedroom to interrogate them.
“Were you not the one who constantly urged me to divorce him? I am merely giving you what you wanted, yet you seem angry instead. Should you not be celebrating?”
Teresa had gone to endless lengths trying to make Adriana sever ties with Dietrich and return to the South.
Without an official Grand Duchess, Teresa—the unofficial one—could fully reign as mistress of the castle.
But Adriana had never been someone who retreated easily, and the hostility between them only deepened with time.
“I will divorce him, exactly as you wished. After that, whatever happens here will no longer concern me, and I will not interfere. So until the divorce is finalized, I suggest you stop interfering with me as well.”
“Your manner of speaking truly has not changed. You still do not know how to show respect to your elders.”
Teresa tightened her grip around the pipe.
It looked as though she might summon people and cause a scene at any moment.
“Must you be publicly humiliated before everyone in this castle before you learn proper manners toward me?”
“That is a strange thing for you to say. Do you understand what it means for me to decide upon divorce?”
Adriana unsheathed the sword at her waist.
“It means I no longer need to maintain peace with the likes of you, Teresa. It means that even if Glück Castle falls completely into your hands, I will no longer care.”
Everyone in this castle had once stood together in trying to kill her.
Even if the place were destroyed, she would feel no sorrow.
“So I would appreciate it if you stopped provoking someone who is still trying to end things peacefully before this turns into a war.”
Teresa burst into laughter.
“What? Are you saying you would kill me right here?”
“There is no reason I could not. I just finished sparring, so my sense for the sword has returned. Enough that killing someone might calm me down.”
This was the first time Adriana had ever spoken so directly.
Teresa still looked entertained rather than alarmed.
Because she had faith in one thing: everyone in this castle stood on Teresa’s side, so Adriana would never dare do anything reckless.
At that moment, the bedroom doors flew open.
There was only one person who could casually open the doors to a room occupied by both the highest-ranking lady and the woman with the greatest power in the castle.
“What is this commotion?”
The moment Dietrich opened the door, the sight of Adriana pointing her sword at Teresa became visible outside.
The two maids standing by the entrance, along with the gathered servants, all witnessed Adriana threatening Teresa with a blade.
“Your Grace the Grand Duchess, what is the meaning of this?!”
“Lady Teresa!”
At the sight of a real sword gleaming before them, everyone erupted into panic.
Everyone knew Adriana and Teresa despised each other, but until now their conflicts had never escalated this far.
Usually, Adriana simply ignored Teresa, and those who witnessed it assumed Adriana had admitted defeat and backed down.
The people who subconsciously ranked Adriana beneath Teresa could barely process the sight of her physically overpowering the other woman.
At this moment, Adriana alone remained calm.
“I am merely dealing with vermin that crawled into my bedroom without permission. In fact, I believe every person responsible for allowing just anyone into the Grand Duchess’s chambers should be found and punished as well.”
Katrin and Dorothea—the very culprits who had allowed “just anyone” inside—collapsed onto the floor.
They clearly understood whose turn would come next.
Standing among the servants, Dietrich met Adriana’s gaze.
