Extra! The Duke Remarries
Before Herman returned, Riena inspected the study of the mansion for the first time in a long while.
“Everything’s still exactly as it was?”
The bedroom had been the same. The study, too, remained precisely as she had left it after her final tidying. The spacious guest table and sofa, even the ink and quill she had used so often—everything was in place, ready for her to resume work without the slightest inconvenience.
“My lady.”
At that moment the summoned head maid bowed her head, her face flooded with emotion. She, too, had been one of those who had given Riena her full loyalty.
“To be able to serve my lady once more like this… this one has no further regrets in life.”
Her voice trembled thickly with the longing and happiness of the intervening time. Riena smiled quietly and shook her head.
“I heard that while I was away you took charge of part of the household affairs.”
“That is correct, my lady. In fact I came precisely because I have something to report on that matter.”
Riena nodded, inviting her to speak freely. The head maid glanced at Melissa, the maid standing beside her. Receiving the signal, Melissa hurried from the room.
While they waited for the relevant documents, Riena indicated the guest sofa. The moment the head maid settled onto the plush velvet cushions she began.
“As you know, my lady, during your absence I managed a portion of the internal affairs.”
Yet the head maid’s authority had been limited. In a lesser household she might somehow have managed, but this was Bertis. In a ducal house it had been all but impossible.
“Overall responsibility for the household fell to Lady Peasant.”
“……I had suspected as much.”
Of all people, that rigid woman. Riena’s expression darkened slightly. Lady Peasant was Herman’s aunt, sister to the late duke—and one of those who had opposed Riena’s becoming duchess most fiercely.
“She must still hold the seal as well.”
“The instant I learned of my lady’s return I sent a letter to Lady Peasant, but—”
The head maid deliberately let the sentence trail away. Riena, who had already grasped the meaning, laughed silently.
“She’ll ignore it, of course.”
The woman she had so thoroughly despised was once again to become mistress of the house. Lady Peasant, an aristocrat to her very bones, would never hand anything over willingly.
“I’ll have to go myself.”
Any other aide sent in her place would be turned away at the door and driven off without ceremony.
“Perhaps you might speak to His Grace? Even as his aunt, she would not dare refuse an order from him.”
“True enough.”
In the meantime she would have seized real power while managing the household. Merely recovering the seal would not be the end of it.
I need to pull the roots out completely.
“Head Maid.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“While you’re bringing the materials, bring the ledgers as well. And fetch the finance aide.”
“The ledgers……?”
Riena’s lips curved in a sly smile.
“Time to start reclaiming things one by one.”
“Extra! Extra!”
From early morning little boys raced through the streets.
“Duke Bertis remarries!”
“His Grace has finally remarried!”
Those two phrases alone were enough to sell papers. Pedestrians walking without a thought, clerks hurrying to work, noble ladies setting out for morning salons—everyone thrust out a copper coin and snatched up a newspaper in a flash.
“Has this child gone mad?!”
A noble lady snapped the newspaper shut in one motion and flung it onto the table. The front page and the next two spreads were plastered with enormous articles; her head was already spinning before breakfast.
“Of all the countless young ladies, why that bitch?!”
To the nobility marriage was never simply the romantic notion of a man and woman sharing eternity. It was business. It was a weapon capable of expanding a family’s influence—a golden lifeline.
Bertis stood in a position to pick and choose among every eligible young lady in society!
“And he throws it away like this again?”
Ha! Once before he had stupidly allied himself with a fallen house and turned everyone’s stomachs. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined he would make so dull-witted a choice a second time.
“W-what are we to do?”
The terrified aide stammered.
Lady Peasant’s dislike of Riena stemmed not only from her fallen-noble origins but also from the fact that the girl was far too sharp-eyed. Moreover her temperament resembled Herman’s; nothing ever slipped past her casually.
Should she return and reclaim full authority over the household……
“If we’re careless, the things we’ve diverted might come to light……””
“No!”
Lady Peasant clenched her fist and spoke with iron resolve.
“That will never happen.”
How hard-won this power had been. Hand it back already? There was still so much left to squeeze dry!
She had no intention of stepping aside. She ground her teeth.
“In any case the seal remains in my hands.”
It would neither be seized nor surrendered.
“I shall go and call upon the Duchess.”
She immediately ordered paper and quill. The aide who had been fidgeting in place hastily prepared the writing tools. Pen in hand, Lady Peasant clicked her tongue.
Having to look at that detestable face again.
Already she felt nauseated.
“Wow……”
They really went all out……
Riena, reading the newspaper, murmured in admiration.
“The reporters are having an absolute field day.”
In any other house the story would have filled a single front page; this time it sprawled across three or four pages in exhaustive detail. The circumstances of their first marriage, the political advantages, the state of their marital relations—even past incidents had been dredged up.
“It will be noisy for several days at least.”
“I expect so.”
Firepower of this magnitude would not quiet overnight.
“Society will be quite stirred up as well.”
“Because you’ve returned?”
“Hmm—well, that too, of course, but……””
Riena lifted her teacup and slanted a glance at the husband seated across from her.
“Because Your Grace has remarried.”
“Me?”
Herman echoed blankly.
“You didn’t know?”
At her words he tilted his head slightly. Whether he truly had not known, his face was plastered with open bewilderment. She had known he took little interest in society, yet she had never imagined it went this far.
“Your Grace was society’s most eligible bachelor. After our divorce I heard the young ladies sent marriage proposals every other day……””
“Ah.”
Only after the detailed explanation did something seem to click; Herman made a short sound of recognition.
“Proposals did arrive, yes.”
But—
“I never even opened them.”
“What?”
“I didn’t open them. I didn’t even know where they came from.”
Whenever a proposal arrived he had Tristan send a refusal; Herman himself had never once examined the contents. After all, he had never intended to marry anyone else.
“Th-that’s…… alright?”
“Better to draw a clear line from the start than give false hope. Kinder to them as well.”
“That’s true……””
He was not wrong. Better a firm refusal at the outset than to let someone nurse vain expectations.
Yet that was only from an external point of view.
When I go back into society it’s going to be absolute hell……
By now there could not be a soul who did not know that the woman he had chosen after rejecting countless proposals was her. Already she could feel the icy stares of society’s young ladies pricking the back of her neck.
“There’s going to be rather a lot to do from now on.”
By tomorrow every sort of invitation would flood into Bertis. She had no intention of attending them all, yet having returned to society she would inevitably be far busier than before. And the household affairs still needed to be settled one by one……
“Your Grace.”
“Herman.”
“Yes?”
Riena’s eyes widened as she echoed him.
Herman nodded toward the newspaper lying on the table.
“By now there isn’t a person left who doesn’t know the rumor that I’m passionately devoted to you.”
“……””
“If the form of address remains that stiff, it’s a bit odd, don’t you think?”
He was not wrong.
“Even in official settings call me by name now and then. In private, use it whenever you like.”
“Is that truly alright?”
“Of course.”
Gradually close the distance.
The books said the same thing.
Begin by calling each other by name, then steadily draw nearer. Herman, who had read Tristan’s romance novels cover to cover ten times overnight, nodded firmly.
“Alright.”
After a brief hesitation Riena finally nodded as well. Instantly Herman’s face brightened.
“It would be rather strange to love each other and never even use each other’s names.”
Even if “darling” was still too much, at least their given names ought to come easily. Finding the reasoning sound, Riena moved straight into practice.
“Herman.”
“……!”
In that instant the hand holding his teacup slipped.