45.
“Let her go.”
“Are you crazy?” Wendelman’s face crumpled in anger at the baroness’s words. Apparently, she had been eavesdropping on their conversation through the slightly open door. Wait, then she shouldn’t have slammed open the door. She deliberately did that so that I would listen to her. Unsurprisingly, she was scowling at Wendelman.
“She’s a pitiful woman.”
“Pitiful, you say. It seems she’s rather eager to abandon her son and have fun elsewhere.”
Wendelman’s sarcasm made the baroness frown.
“Was it not you guys who prevented Madam from getting deeply involved in the duchy’s matters in the first place?”
“…….”
“When I first heard of her, I heard she was a brilliant woman. That’s why even the strict duke let her be. But you guys stopped her from getting heavily involved with the duchy. And you didn’t stop there. By telling her that she didn’t have to do that much, and that she could just do what she had been assigned, you guys only allowed the Duchess to do petty chores.”
Wendelman was speechless because what the baroness said was true. But how can one trust her? A woman from outside the family. Their doubts had been perfectly reasonable.
Above all, Wendelman did it because the previous duke didn’t want her to do anything major. Suddenly, events of the past flowed into Wendelman’s mind.
‘Sir, I heard that the reason for this year’s low harvest in the southwest Bernhardt duchy was because of the flood. How much relief funds are you going to allocate? I think this amount should suffice…’
‘This matter is not something Madam should involve herself in. Pay it no mind.’
‘Oh… is that so? Excuse me, then. Forgive me, Sir, but I guess I’m not familiar with the Bernhardt family customs yet. I thought I had something to do because Harsen was busy.’
‘Did you help the Marquis like that too, perhaps?’
‘My father used to ask my opinions on what to do. I’ve never heard him disapprove of them.’
The 16-year-old girl turned around, scratching her neck in embarrassment. After staring at her back for a while, he began to read out the documents that Ercella had brought.
They were unprofessional, and the circumstances she considered were quite crude. However, what surprised Wendelman was that the amount she proposed was much closer than he expected to the target the vassals had agreed to.
However, it meant that she knew the extent of the damage which seemed to indicate that she got help from her family. To be honest, I couldn’t think highly of her when I thought that Visaride was involved.
Wendelman frowned as he remembered the past. Come to think of it, she wasn’t like this from the beginning. She was pretty clever for a sixteen-year-old.
“You only assigned basic tasks to a woman who wanted to be cherished. And that too, as little as possible. Why? Because Madam was smart. Were you afraid that she could be a Visaride spy?”
“Even so, it was the Duchess who ceased to work in the end. Who knows, maybe that’s her true self.”
However, this was all in the past. That woman eventually let go of everything. Even her own son. I was dumbfounded. How could she neglect her child like that? In Wendelman’s view, she was irredeemable.
Because of us, the family’s prestige grew day by day, and at a young age, she had risen to the status of the duchess. Even the first child she gave birth to was a boy.
Besides, her husband isn’t going around, how blissful a life she has. Wendelman and the others could not understand Ercella. The baroness snorted at Wendelman’s words.
“Did you say her true self? Did you think this family had no effect on the Duchess? Have you ever thought about why she changed like that? No, you thought you didn’t need to think about that. In fact, to you, a woman is just an existence to give birth to a child.”
“…….”
“Do you know how hard it is for a woman to give birth after bearing it for ten long months? It’s already hard and depressing as it is, and then the doctors treat you like a lunatic saying that there are women who feel like you occasionally. And you said she didn’t take care of her son, right? You’re utterly wrong. You think if she’s a mother, she should love her child? I may immensely love my child now, but I really hated him back then. To put it bluntly, I wanted to throw him out the window! He kept on crying, so I even disliked seeing you!”
Wendelman sighed heavily. His wife always had many complaints. She was particularly sensitive to these issues. How did he fall in love and even get married to such a woman?
“Do you think you’re the only one going crazy when everyone’s living like that? And you don’t even know the Duchess, so why are you siding with her?”
“If I, another woman, won’t understand her, who will?”
What a strange thing to say. Completely unreasonable. Wendelman was getting annoyed now. Even though she saw her husband’s wrinkled forehead, the baroness did not stop talking.
“That’s exactly how you guys are.”
“…….”
“You think that a woman just has to be pretty and docile, taking care of herself while she’s being sheltered.”
“Can’t you shut your mouth?! How could you utter such vulgar words!”
“No, it’s the truth! How is it any different from turning someone’s precious daughter into a whore?”
“Stop! Stop it, I said!”
Whore?! Wendelman freaked out at the word. How can such a vulgar word come out of my wife’s mouth!
He was worried that Ercella might have heard her from the next room, but his enraged wife had no intention of quitting.
“I know just how much you hate the Visarides. I know you had a hard time because of them. To be honest, I don’t like them either. Why do you and His Excellency have to do all the hard work while they reap all the benefits? Hmph! She’s been in Bernhardt for so long, until when are you going to keep treating her as a Visaride? She married at such a young age and was always surrounded by people, don’t you think she’d find it suffocating here?”
“…….”
“I mean, there ought to be somewhere people can breathe.”
Wendelman sighed at the baroness’s words. It was clear that she didn’t care if her husband’s neck was chopped off. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been easy for her to say that a woman of a high status should be left out alone without a guard.
The baroness consistently held eye contact, as if she wouldn’t let this go. Wendelman glanced at her once and shouted while wiping his face dry,
“All right. I got it!”1
“Don’t talk down to me. You’re younger than me.”
“…Okay.”
Even he was intimidated by the baroness.
* * *
Ercella was surprised that Wendelman allowed her to go outside without her attendants. She wondered what caused the sudden change in attitude.
What on earth did he talk to the baroness about? She was curious, but she decided not to ask. Regardless, it turned out well. Ercella smiled softly and thanked him,
“Thank you, Sir.”
Wendelman’s face oddly stiffened at the sight. He brooded over the conversation he had with the baroness earlier. ‘This family is to blame for Ercella becoming like she is now’… I thought I was certainly right to keep her from working. But I didn’t think it would be a problem because women usually like banquets and parties instead of work, so I thought it would all work out well.
His thoughts still hadn’t changed, but after listening to the baroness and comparing the woman in front of him to her past self, he felt uneasy. He felt like he had done something terribly wrong. Wendelman asked reluctantly,
“I… Do you resent me?”
Ercella was flustered by the unexpected question and opened her eyes wide. What does that mean? He was always a strong, confident man, so seeing him hesitating like this was quite strange. However, since she couldn’t understand the question, she didn’t answer it, instead asked another, “What do you mean?”
“For considering the Duchess a Visaride…” He couldn’t finish, but it wasn’t hard to infer what he was saying.
“Oh.” Ercella briefly exclaimed in understanding. She never thought such words would come out of Wendelman’s mouth. He even had a slightly sheepish look on his face. She looked elsewhere, not knowing how to answer.
“No…”Her wandering eyes stopped for a moment, “Actually…I do a bit.”
Truthfully, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hate him. I understood their suspicious attitudes, but I was also saddened by it.
Ercella couldn’t understand why she was having this conversation with Wendelman now. In the midst of it, Wendelman asked another question, “Why didn’t you tell His Excellency?”
It had occurred to Ercella from time to time that the vassals were outwardly polite to her. However, she wasn’t completely unaware of the animosity that they secretly displayed in her absence.
She used to secretly watch their eyes. Even though she could’ve told on them to her husband, she didn’t.
Why didn’t she? Wendelman wondered. She must have known that the Lord would grant her request.
Ercella said hesitantly, “Back in my maiden family…” Ercella paused and looked at Wendelman. He beckoned to continue, and Ercella’s lips reopened, “When we hired a person, we were told to make sure to cast aside our personal feelings.”
“…….”
“I know that Visaride, just like any other family, is not infallible. They stand proud and sublime, but deep down, they’re also not spotless. So you were right in being wary of my family.”
“…….”
“I thought Harsen needed you.”
Wendelman paused for a moment. Her eyes were talking.
So I could put aside my personal feelings.
Ercella didn’t say anything special. Anyone could tell that. However, Wendelman couldn’t close his agape mouth, even though it was a perfectly natural statement.
He looked at Ercella. Her blue eyes, which had always been blurry, contained a faint but lively look. Right. I had forgotten about it. There had been a time when those eyes shined like that.
Suddenly, his heart became heavy. I think I’ve done something terrible. Ercella spoke kindly without knowing his heart, “Thank you, Baron. For the first time ever you disobeyed your Lord for my sake. As for Harsen-”
“…I’ll take the responsibility for that.”
Ercella’s blue eyes stared at Wendelman. She looks surprised. She must’ve realized what I meant by taking responsibility.
“Leave a letter before you go. His Excellency might get worried.”
“…Okay.” Ercella hesitantly nodded and smiled. He found her smile to be quite lovely when he removed his prejudices against her. At first, I couldn’t understand why the Duke wanted to marry this woman. She met the perfect conditions needed to reject the princess’s proposal, but this was when Bernhardt was not involved with Visaride.
But what about now? We’ve lost our neutral stance, subjugated many families. Heck, it would’ve been better to marry the princess. Then at least most of the balls wouldn’t have gone to the wrong place. Gradually, as time passed, Wendelman realized that this was not a political marriage.
‘According to the information brought by the spies planted on Roberts’ side, Marquis Robert intends to choose his eldest son as his successor… Milord?’
The man was silently staring out of the window as if he couldn’t hear Wendelman. Curious, he followed Harsen’s gaze and saw a woman.
In the garden with warm sunlight, a woman was smiling brightly with her maid. Every time the woman walked, the man’s gaze quietly followed. It was both indifferent and persistent.
That day, Wendelman was shocked, as if he was hit in the back of his head with a blunt weapon. How come I’ve never thought about it that way? When I removed my lens of political marriage, I found out that it was simply a union between a man and a woman. Wendelman couldn’t recognize this side of his master, which he had witnessed for the first time ever.
“Baron?”
Ercella’s call brought him back to reality. As she stared at him, puzzled, her eyes looked so innocent for her age that he was still reluctant to let her go alone, but he couldn’t go back on his word.
He pushed his uneasiness inside, then held out something from his pocket, “Take this, Madam. You’ll need money.”
It was a purse. Looking at it, Ercella hesitated for a moment, “Sir.”
“Don’t worry…” Wendelman reassured, “I have a lot of money.”
“Oh…”
Wendelman tightly closed his lips.
* * *
Ercella slowly looked around the carriage. It was very strange being outside on her own. She always used to chatter with Lianne on the way. There would be no attendant outside to escort her. She was completely free, without anyone keeping a watch on her.
The air circulating in the spacious ride was a little chilly, so Ercella leaned back. Although she was alone, she was more comfortable than anxious. She knew it was all because of Wendellman’s favor.
What kind of conversation did he have with the baroness that changed the decisive man’s attitude? He even said he would take responsibility.
He said that despite knowing what the consequences were. Still, Ercella didn’t want him to be punished harshly because of her, so she had left Harsen a letter in case Wendelman got into trouble.
[I’m going to cool my head for a moment.
Don’t punish Baron Contar. I was being stubborn.
Don’t worry, I’ll be back safely. I promise.]
At first, she didn’t even know what to write in the letter. It was her first time leaving alone without an attendant, so she was worried about Harsen’s reaction. As her heart was about to become heavy again, the carriage stopped.
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Footnotes
- He uses banmal (informal language) here.
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