CCP Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“Have you really been listening to those idiots all this time? Honestly, you do have a rather peculiar streak.”

“My dear Miss Priestley, people call you an eccentric woman simply because you’ve maintained a friendship with me from childhood all the way to the present day.”

“And why is that entirely your fault?”

Wilhelmina shot back sharply.

“Even without you, I’m plenty eccentric enough, thank you very much. Don’t you think it’s about time you stopped belittling my accomplishments like that?”

“I concede defeat.”

Nate raised both hands and spread them beside his head in surrender.

Only then did Wilhelmina give a satisfied little snort and lift her teacup.

Nate watched her with some measure of affection before murmuring,

“Who on earth decided to ruin your reputation like this? If it were me, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of trying, if only because I’d be terrified of what would happen afterward.”

Wilhelmina shrugged.

“Who knows? Perhaps ruining my reputation isn’t the only thing that idiot is after.”

“You suspect His Highness Edward.”

Nate clicked his tongue.

“Am I right?”

“To some extent?”

Wilhelmina tore off a piece of a perfectly baked scone and chewed it with considerably less grace than a lady ought to display.

“The House of Priestley has maintained a politically moderate and neutral position for generations. That’s why we have a fair number of people who support us.”

“A fair number of people who support you?”

Nate let out a dry, strangled laugh.
He shook his head with a bitter smile.

“You’re being far too modest, my lady. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that His Grace commands the largest voting bloc in the West Winster House of Lords.”

“But he failed to keep his family in line, didn’t he?”

As the very family member responsible for the problem in question, Wilhelmina merely shrugged with perfect composure.

At that, Nate’s amber eyes narrowed.

“I see.”

His expression turned thoughtful.

“So the plan is to shake the Priestley family’s standing with your scandal just after the mourning period ends, then have the Duke of Kingsley step in as the savior and extend a helping hand? With a very ‘suitable’ marriage prospect for a young lady whose honor has been ruined as bait?”

“Correct.”

“And the price would be for the Priestleys to support his side in the Regency Act deliberations.”
Instead of answering, Wilhelmina’s lips curled into a sly grin.

“So that’s it.”

Nate gave a hollow laugh.

“That’s the logic you used to persuade His Highness the Duke of Clifford yesterday.”

“Something like that.”

Watching his friend shrug as though it were nothing particularly important, Nate could only let out an incredulous laugh.

“You had evidence when you said the Duke of Kingsley was behind the conspiracy, right?”

“Of course I didn’t have anything like that.”

“I knew it.”

Nate pressed a hand to his head, looking as though the room had suddenly begun to spin.

“Then how can you be so sure that it was something arranged by the Duke of Kingsley? Both sides need political power. For all you know, the conspiracy could have been orchestrated by the Duke of Clifford himself.”

Wilhelmina grinned.

And before Nate could even sense the impending disaster, she said,

“That’s why I went to find out yesterday. Whether it was him or whether it wasn’t.”

“Oh, good heavens.”

Nate instinctively grabbed his head with both hands.

“Is it really that shocking?”

“Have you no conscience, woman?”

Nate rubbed his face dryly, shuddering.

“Anyway, I take back what I said earlier. The thing that was irredeemably insane wasn’t your little adventure last night, Mina.”

He looked at her with utter exasperation.
“It was you.”

“Oh my, what extravagant praise.”

Wilhelmina wore a triumphant expression.
Nate sighed as he looked at his friend.

“Let me ask you one thing, Mina.”

He looked utterly exhausted, yet there was something more serious—and more genuinely worried—in his eyes than ever before.

“Do you really think your insane plan is going to work? Against the Massacre of the Open Sea, the man who supposedly dyed the entire sea red with blood?”

“It has to work.”

Wilhelmina drained the remaining tea from her cup in one gulp and set it down with a decisive clack.

Her eyes were filled with more determination than ever.

“…No. It will work. I’ve already prepared a method that should do the trick.”

“……”

Under normal circumstances, Nate would have burst into hearty laughter at this point and simply acknowledged, That’s so like you.

But today, the troubled expression on his face refused to disappear.

“Um, Mina. I’m saying this as your closest friend.”

“Whenever you start a sentence like that, you always end up saying something painfully unpleasant.”

Wilhelmina grumbled.

Nate gave her a wry smile.

“It’s just that I think your definition of ‘success’ might only extend as far as getting married.”

“……?”

A very clear question mark appeared on Wilhelmina’s face.

“What else could there possibly be?”

Looking at his friend, whose emotions were displayed with almost comical transparency, Nate spoke with an awkward expression.

“Listen carefully, Wilhelmina. You’re making a serious mistake.”

“……”

Like most Priestleys, Wilhelmina possessed a formidable amount of pride.

The only reason she did not immediately argue against this provocative declaration was the genuine concern she saw in Nate’s watchful eyes.

“Let me say this first: your calculations aren’t wrong. I agree that if you can persuade the Duke of Clifford to sign a marriage contract, it would be the perfect move. You’d be able to ruin both the person spreading the scandal and whoever is behind them in one stroke.”

He paused.

“But, Mina, think about it.”

“Think about what?”

“This calculation doesn’t end there.”

It was an unusually definitive declaration from Nate.

“If you want to declare this operation a complete success, you can’t do that after the marriage contract is signed.”

His gaze sharpened.

“You can only declare victory after the divorce papers have been signed.”

“…Divorce is obviously included in the marriage I proposed, Nate. Did you think I intended to remain married forever?”
Wilhelmina frowned slightly, bewildered that she even had to explain something so obvious to him.

“Obviously, I intend to become a wealthy divorcee as quickly as possible.”

“What I mean is that this is only your intention.”

Nate patiently continued his calm explanation.

“Just as marriage requires the consent of both parties, divorce requires both parties to agree to it as well.”

“Do you really think I don’t know something that basic?”

Nate stared at his incredulous friend for a moment before abruptly asking,

“What exactly do you think all those men who proposed to you wanted from you?”

“Beauty, wealth, prestige, and a little wit.”

At her utterly unhesitating answer, Nate couldn’t help but laugh.

But he soon said,

“The fact that you answered like that is proof that you don’t understand the situation.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know, all right?”

Wilhelmina’s patience finally ran out, and she snapped first.

“Nate Ashton, you’re a good man and all, but sometimes you say the strangest things.”

“Even if you can’t understand everything, remember one thing.”

Nate leisurely took a sip from his freshly poured tea.

“Your target seems completely indifferent to you right now, doesn’t he? Yesterday, he might even have looked at you as though you were some lunatic.”

He set his teacup down.

“But there’s no guarantee he’ll feel that way forever.”

“Don’t tell me you’re suggesting that he might fall hopelessly in love with me during the term of our contract marriage and then refuse to divorce me?”

Even as she said it, Wilhelmina waved a hand dismissively and snorted.

“That sounds like something straight out of a novel. It’s ridiculous even coming out of my own mouth.”

“Wilhelmina.”

“Fine, fine. So what you’re saying is that, for some reason or because of some unforeseen variable, he might decide he wants to remain married.”

Even as she said it, Wilhelmina looked thoroughly unconvinced.

Her fingers tapped against the teacup, producing an uncomfortable little rhythm.

“Fine. Whatever. I have absolutely no idea what that variable could possibly be right now, but since it’s you saying it, I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Good. For now, that’s enough.”

Nate smiled as he lowered his gaze to his teacup.

It was the sort of smile Wilhelmina would one day remember with a thunderbolt of realization.

Nate Ashton had offered his friend sincere advice, giving her all the loyalty and trust a true friend could give as the beginning of a great upheaval approached.

It would take Wilhelmina some time to understand the wisdom contained in that advice.

But from a broader perspective, that was hardly a problem.

A keenly honed insight would one day pierce Wilhelmina’s life like a dagger, almost like a prophecy.

And Nate knew that, sooner or later, that day would inevitably come.

Resting his chin leisurely on one hand, he looked toward his friend, who was still stuffing scones into her mouth with remarkably little regard for propriety.

“The important thing is that I’m always on your side.”

“Of course, Mr. Ashton.”

Wilhelmina answered while chewing the food in her mouth.

“If you weren’t, I’d kill you.”

“Pfft—hahaha!”

And so, their once cheerful and pleasant tea party came to a peaceful end.