Chapter 37
The Dowager Duchess’s maids quickly tried to comfort her.
“I never thought the Duke would do something so outrageous…”
“And to already have a child on the way. Not with Lady Sepina, but with a woman who looks like a beggar…”
Clara also broke into a cold sweat as she watched the Dowager Duchess carefully.
“You know what you have to do.”
“Yes.”
“If you fail…”
“…I understand.”
Everything had been going well when Clara first approached Lucy under the Dowager Duchess’s orders.
Her first attempt to drive a wedge between Lucy and Edward hadn’t worked very well, but she thought she could slowly influence Lucy over time.
Before she even had the chance…
Edward publicly announced that Lucy would become the Duchess.
“What should I do?”
Now that Lucy had been introduced as his fiancƩe, Edward would surely guard her even more closely.
That would become a serious problem for both the Dowager Duchess and Clara.
Their plan had only just begun, and now everything had become much more difficult.
More importantly…
Clara secretly glanced at the Dowager Duchess’s frozen face.
“So she really doesn’t like this.”
The Dowager Duchess had spoken about bringing Lucy over to their side.
But Clara knew she was an extremely proud noblewoman.
She had repeatedly called Lucy “lowborn.”
Not only that…
The Dowager Duchess took great pride in being the lady of the ducal house.
The idea of another Duchess taking her place was probably unbearable.
Especially if that woman was someone she looked down on so much.
Lucy would likely suffer greatly.
Clara swallowed nervously.
“But still…”
“That must have been difficult.”
“It’s upsetting, isn’t it?”
She remembered Lucy’s kind words.
“…She didn’t seem like a bad person.”
“And she wasn’t as easy to fool as she looked.”
When Lucy had calmly told her to be careful about repeating gossip, her eyes had looked far wiser than Clara expected.
For a moment, Clara had almost felt as though she were speaking to someone who had lived through countless hardships.
“No.”
“Someone who looks that innocent couldn’t possibly be like that.”
She shook her head.
“Right now I should be more worried about getting caught in the Dowager Duchess’s anger.”
She looked down at the wounds covering her hands.
No matter what, she had to carry out the Dowager Duchess’s orders.
Not only because she feared the punishment for failure.
The money she received from the Dowager Duchess supported her family.
The problem was that security around Lucy would become much tighter now that she was the Duke’s future wife.
And no one knew just how furious the Dowager Duchess really was.
Just then…
“Haha… Hahahaha!”
A bright laugh suddenly echoed through the room.
The Dowager Duchess burst into laughter.
As if she had heard wonderful news.
“Hahaha! Really… truly…”
“…”
“This is actually better.”
“Dowager Duchess?”
Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
The Dowager Duchess wiped away tears of laughter.
“The more precious something is…”
“The more painful it is to lose.”
“That’s certainly true…”
“And if that precious thing is the woman you love…”
“Or your own child…”
“How painful would it be if they disappeared in an instant?”
Her face became as cold as ice.
“It’s about time that boy experienced that kind of pain.”
Everyone shivered.
“The Duke is frightening…”
“But the Dowager Duchess is just as frightening…”
After all…
Edward was still her only son.
And the child Lucy supposedly carried would be her grandchild.
Yet she didn’t look at them like family.
She looked at them like enemies.
Everyone knew she had lost her power after her husband died.
But none of them had realized her hatred ran this deep.
The Dowager Duchess’s eyes became bloodshot.
“Good.”
“If they’re truly that close…”
She slowly turned toward Clara.
“Then ordinary methods probably won’t be enough to win her over.”
“…”
“Edward is clever.”
“He’ll place people around her before I can pretend to become close to her.”
Clara felt a chill from the look in her eyes.
The Dowager Duchess tapped her jeweled fingers against her chin while thinking.
“Ah.”
A few minutes later…
She smiled brightly.
“Then we’ll do it this way.”
***
A few days later.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Inside the lavish Duke’s office…
Only the sound of the clock filled the room.
Lucy stared with wide eyes.
Her eyes felt dry.
But she refused to blink.
Instead, she glared back at Edward just as stubbornly.
Edward stared at her and held out the official seal.
“Stamp it.”
“No.”
“You were the one who kept begging me to sign a contract.”
“I still want to sign one!”
Not long ago, Lucy had chased Edward everywhere, begging him to sign the contract.
Edward had ignored her every time.
Now their positions had completely reversed.
Edward glanced down at the marriage contract on the table.
He looked unhappy.
Every time he frowned, Lucy flinched slightly.
But this was one thing she refused to give up.
“You have to include this clause!”
Bang! Bang!
She slapped the marriage contract with her tiny hands.
A new clause she had quickly written was visible.
Edward stared at it sharply and read it aloud.
“So…”
“‘If, after marriage, either spouse decides to end the marriage for any reason…'”
Lucy immediately continued.
“If either of us decides to divorce or end the marriage because one of us is at fault!”
She nodded enthusiastically.
Crunch.
Edward ground his teeth.
“Huh?”
Lucy cautiously looked at him.
His expression hadn’t changed.
After taking a slow breath, Edward reluctantly continued reading.
“‘Neither spouse shall hold the other responsible for things that naturally happen between a husband and wife.'”
Lucy nodded eagerly.
Edward read the sentence several times before narrowing his eyes at her.
“And what exactly counts as something that naturally happens?”
Lucy swallowed.
“Well…”
“Go on.”
“I mean…”
“Even if… even if the Duke and I do something that could result in having a baby!”
She shouted the words while rubbing the spot on her lower stomach that Edward had touched before.
A smile appeared on Edward’s lips.
For some reason, the air between them became strangely tense.
“So…”
“You were thinking about it after all.”
“What does he mean by ‘after all’?”
Before Lucy could think about it…
Edward’s slow voice brushed against her ears, making her shiver.
His red eyes were darker than usual.
They seemed to say, You’re quite bold.
Lucy’s ears turned red.
“W-Well… we’d be husband and wife.”
“So… you never know!”
“…”
“Anyway!”
“When we get divorced someday, neither of us can complain that the other stole our purity or took advantage of us!”
The moment she finished speaking…
Edward’s smile disappeared.
His brows knitted together once more.
The relaxed atmosphere vanished in an instant.
The air around him turned cold and dangerous again.
