CH 9

As I walked down to the ground floor lobby, I saw a familiar face.

It was Alvin, who was in charge of cleaning the third floor where the Duke’s office was located.

The reason she was able to spot the familiar face in the bustling lobby was simple.

But Alvin just stared at her until she was right in front of her, and didn’t say a word of greeting.

And he hadn’t said a word of greeting until she was right in front of him.

Alvin’s behavior was always rude, but today was particularly worse.

Finally, Ellen reluctantly spoke up.

“What are you doing standing there, not leading us to the carriage?”

Suddenly, Alvin’s head snapped up.

His eyes widened, and he bounced up like a spring, and said.

“Sor, so, I’m sorry, ma’am, I’ll serve you then.”

Alvin couldn’t help but feel as if someone had kicked him in the stomach.

As the seductive woman in the red dress approached from the distance, he wondered what family she belonged to, what attendant would serve such a young lady at every party, and other unseemly thoughts, but he tensed inwardly as she drew closer and closer to him.

Gulp. He was parched, and he could not help but be impatient as the beautiful woman approached him as if she had some business with him.

No wonder he was so surprised when she started talking to him.

But it wasn’t the fact that she was talking to him that made him jump.

What surprised him most was that she was none other than the Duchess of Krembel.

Alvin was puzzled.

He wondered if this was the woman he knew.

But then again, she was definitely the Duchess he was serving, walking with a smooth, graceful stride.

It took Alvin a long time to recover from his embarrassment.

Luckily for him, he wasn’t the only one to react with such disrespect.

From the moment they arrived at the ducal estate, everyone he encountered, from the guards at the gate to the maids in the manor, reacted similarly.

In retrospect, it was understandable.

The Duchess had always been a cultured woman, a sophisticated hostess, dressed in austere neutral colors, never wore heavy makeup, and only wore simple shoes.

So it wasn’t unreasonable that the woman in front of him now looked like a completely different person.

No one would recognize the gorgeous, high-heeled woman as the Duchess of Krembel.

The Duchess they knew was always a neat and restrained person.

But whatever his impressions, Alvin, who was still quicker to rise to the embarrassment than most, escorted her up to the Duke’s office on the third floor.

“Your Grace, the lady is here.”

He reported, and the Duke’s voice called for him to come inside.

As Alvin opened the door, Ellen pushed past him and into the Duke’s office.

Once she was fully inside, Alvin quietly closed the door, leaving Ellen and Killian alone in the room.

Ellen stared straight ahead.

Killian looked up.

His eyebrows furrowed and his mouth set in a tight line.

There was an uneasiness in the air, and Ellen had a vague sense that he wasn’t going to give her the answers she wanted today.

She waited a moment to see what he was going to say.

“…?”

Something was wrong.

He raised his head fiercely, as if he were about to shout at her, but for some reason he remained silent, saying nothing.

Ellen and Killian’s eyes met as he stared at her in wonder.

For a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of agitation in his eyes.

‘…I thought you were going to scream right away. Did you really have the paperwork ready?’

Ellen took a moment to scan Killian from top to bottom.

His hands. His desk. The bookshelf. Her gaze traveled everywhere around Killian.

But there was nothing that looked like divorce papers anywhere.

“Why on earth did you call me in today–”

“I got rid of the bastards who had problems. I’ll admit there was a problem, and I didn’t take care of them.”

… What?

Ellen’s train of thought paused.

She hadn’t thought of him.

‘This guy, really…?’

She stared blankly at the man in front of her for a moment.

What followed was an explosion of question marks.

Why this time? Why so easily? Why now? Why all these years…!

Overwhelmed by the tidal wave of emotions, Ellen stared at Killian in bewilderment, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, she doubted that the man in front of her was the one she knew.

Perhaps some kind of miracle had befallen him.

Or maybe he was always capable of changing so easily, and it was his own foolishness as a child that caused such a tragedy.

And what about me?

It was Killian’s voice that brought her out of her thoughts.

“I’ll leave you in charge of your own management from now on, and if you ever have a complaint like this again, you can talk to me directly at the mansion instead of making all this tiring noise.”

With that, Killian sank deeper into his chair, as if he had said all he had to say.

But Ellen didn’t say anything else, she didn’t even leave her seat, she just stood still.

When Killian glanced at her again, still in place after what would normally have been a long time, Killian said.

“I don’t know what you’re still doing out here, I don’t even know what kind of clothes you’re wearing. Unless you have a complaint about that too… I’ll turn a blind eye to it within this mansion, so take care of yourself.”

Killian flicked his hand once, gesturing for her to leave now.

And with that, Ellen came to her senses.

She saw the gesture she’d always seen, the way he’d cut her off.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to give that authority to the new Mrs. Krembel. And if you’re not going to be able to put your stamp on it today, I’ll have to take my leave.”

There was no way he would change so easily.

He would eventually solve the problem in a self-centered way, and it would not reflect her wishes.

Frowning at herself for glancing around him for a moment in vain, Ellen turned and reached for the door handle as she said goodbye.

“What the hell is wrong with you, and why don’t you just tell me!”

Suddenly, Killian slammed his hand down on the desk, jolting her out of his seat.

With a half-hearted yell, he jumped to his feet and glared at her with a piercing glare.

But Ellen merely stared back at him with deep, pensive eyes.

Now, even looking at that face, she found it surprisingly uninspiring.

She realized that even though she was looking at the same thing as before, her feelings for him were unrecognizable.

“I’m speaking straight to you, and you’re the one who can’t understand.”

“Do you think talking about divorce is the right thing to do? Now I see that it was the head that was crooked, not the mouth.”

“I told you straight out that I was unhappy, but you must have crooked ears. Don’t point fingers but review your own behavior first.”

Her unexpected words left Killian speechless.

He ruffled his bangs in disbelief.

“Ha, ha… What? Say that again.”

“Since you ask, I’ll say it again: my grievance is with you, and since, as you say, I have no right to be at Krembel House because I am uneducated, I suggest you do the noble honor of divorcing me.”

“Is that a fact that the Earl of Kryant is aware of? I don’t think you know who it was that pushed for this marriage.”

Killian spat the words out, his voice thick with sarcasm.

“There’s nowhere for you to run anyway. I’ll admit I didn’t care enough, and I’ll admit I was wrong, so let’s leave it at that.”

But Ellen just stared at him, then turned and walked away.

“… I hope the papers are signed the next time I see you.”

“Ellen Krembel!”

When Ellen left the room unmoved by his shout, Killian immediately called for his butler.

“James!”

“Yes, my lord.”

“This is an order from the family head, who has to take responsibility for the family members. See the lady to safety!”

Ellen realized what was about to happen.

As her father had feared, and as she had feared, Killian had decided to confine her to this manor.

The butler quickly summoned the family’s knights, and Ellen was led away under their watchful eye in the name of protection.

“… This is how you think of me in the end. I’m ashamed of the old me.”

To love someone like you.

She uttered those words for the last time, and was again imprisoned in that dreadful mansion.

* * *

Knock knock.

A small knock on the door caught Killian’s ear as he sipped at his cold drink, trying to calm his rising anger.

“… Come in.”

“The Earl of Kryant is here, Your Grace. For now, I took him to the reception room on the first floor.”

“What?”

Killian repeated in an irritated tone.

Kryant, Kryant. The name couldn’t be so annoying lately.

“Did he say what he’s here for?”

“That is, that he have come in the matter of his daughter… and here are the ones that have just come from the post office.”

As far as Earl Kryant was concerned, his daughter was one Ellen Krembel.

He took the things James handed him.

“… Kryant?”

On top of the pile was an envelope with the seal of the Kryant estate.

“Yes, I was wondering if this might be related to the purpose of his visit today…”

Killian broke the letter’s seal with a touch that was tinged with annoyance.