Chapter 34…
Not long after Kevin became a count, an invitation to a soirée arrived.
It came from a ducal family known for its gossip-loving lady.
However, she wasn’t the type to invite people just to mock them — rather, she liked to observe how they handled the rumors about them.
It was said that if one wasn’t invited by her, it meant their future prospects in society were bleak.
Whether that was true or not, no one knew for certain.
“Julia, I want you to come with me to the soirée being held at the duke’s residence.”
At that time, Kevin and Julia weren’t yet engaged or married.
Before the scandal involving Kevin’s father and Catherine spread through high society, Julia had already withdrawn her name from her family register at the Clemens Count household.
If Kevin announced he intended to marry her, the Clemens family would surely come begging for financial help.
After Julia’s divorce, her parents had taken only the alimony money for themselves and cast her out.
When it became known that she was Kevin’s mistress, they told her to stop because she was an embarrassment.
If they learned that Julia was going to become a countess, they would surely come crawling back — so she decided to cut ties before that could happen.
The Clemens family had only kept Julia’s name on their registry because they thought she might be useful someday, and if she caused trouble, they could simply disown her then.
To avoid being used, Julia made the first move.
She was to be adopted by her grandmother’s nephew, and the paperwork for her registration under that family name was to be completed soon.
“The soirée, huh? All right,” she said.
“Sorry for dragging you into our family scandal. No matter what people say, I’ll protect you.”
“It’s fine. When I decided to become your mistress, Lady Michely warned me and helped me prepare myself for what was to come.”
“What did she say?”
Since she began visiting the widowed Lady Michely, Julia had grown much stronger.
Once quiet and reserved, she had become bright and forward-looking.
“She told me things like, ‘To a married woman, a mistress is like an enemy,’ or, ‘If false rumors spread, you don’t need to deny or confirm them,’ and, ‘A mistress has no need to read the room.’”
“No need to read the room?”
“She said that when a mistress decides to leave, she should take proper compensation and end things cleanly — there’s no need to worry about what the man or others might think.
Only you know your own feelings. It’s wrong to assume the other person’s emotions and withdraw for their sake.
If you want to end it, say so yourself, and take what you deserve — otherwise, you’ll only lose out.”
Ah, that made sense.
Even if others said, “Your presence is in the way,” and she disappeared thinking, I just want the person I love to be happy, a woman who had been someone’s mistress still had a life to live afterward.
Pretty ideals wouldn’t put food on the table — so it meant she should secure enough to live comfortably before leaving.
For women like Julia — who were not naturally suited to being a mistress and tended to put others’ feelings before their own — Lady Michely had taught, “If you’re going to be a mistress, be bold about it.”
When Michely had said she would “train her,” it hadn’t just meant teaching her housework — it had meant preparing her mentally for the role of a mistress as well.
Now, Kevin finally understood that.
