54 - The Duke's Bride is a Warrior from Hell
“In Touraine, it was impossible to get anyone near the Marchioness Luaire, so we changed our approach. We started by gathering superficial information. A long-time resident of Jaime said that the Marchioness Luaire, who rarely goes out, looked like a very old woman, around 80 years old? He said she had a very frail appearance. Then, by chance, we found a caregiver who had left the Great Temple due to illness after caring for the Marchioness. She served the Marchioness Luaire about ten years ago, and at that time, the Marchioness looked to be in her 80s.”
Judith looked at Alisha as if to say, isn't that strange?
“Maybe it’s because appearances don’t change much as you get older…”
Judith shook her head vigorously at Alisha’s words.
“From the point of contact with the caregiver, we learned that the Marchioness Luaire traveled between Jaime and Touraine. According to residents living around the villa in Touraine, the Marchioness Luaire had spent the winter there for about 20 years, and at that time, she looked to be in her 80s.”
It was bizarre that a face changed by aging hadn't changed in the present, ten years ago, or twenty years ago.
“That’s definitely strange.”
Judith nodded at Alisha’s dazed words.
“It seems difficult to find various information about the Marchioness Luaire. I thought it would be good to trace her history along the timeline. As I dug, I was able to find someone who saw the Marchioness Luaire when she first visited Touraine about 20 years ago. Almost 26-7 years ago, he went to help at the Marchioness’s residence, which suddenly needed help, and at that time, the Marchioness looked to be in her 80s. He said that he remembers the Marchioness Luaire, who looked like an old woman when he was young, is still an old woman now that he is in his 50s.”
Alisha’s eyes shook dizzily.
“That’s…”
It was truly strange.
“Going back and back, there was a rumor that the Marchioness Luaire was in Orie before coming to Touraine, so we sent agents to Orie, but Orie is near the western border, so there is a lot of traffic, and we couldn’t find any traces.”
A bitter sense of defeat floated on Judith’s face as she finished speaking.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Alisha said with a deep frown.
Orie.
Orie was between Tessen and the inland.
Strictly speaking, it was land ruled by Grand Duke Tessen.
“Lady Alisha, are you alright?”
Judith said cautiously.
Alisha’s eyes were open, but her face looked like she was dreaming, as if her soul was somewhere else.
The Marchioness Luaire was a mysterious figure.
Her age didn't match the current scandal with Grand Duke Tessen.
It was also difficult to say that she was an Imperial Concubine hidden by the Emperor.
However, the Marchioness Luaire clearly had some relationship with the Imperial Family.
An Imperial Concubine of the previous Emperor?
An Imperial Concubine or member of the Imperial Family from the era of the Emperor before the last…
…Or of the previous Grand Duke Tessen…
Complex, tangled thoughts bounced around.
Imperial Concubine. Imperial Family. Marriage.
Grand Duke Tessen’s late marriage. The Grand Duchesses’ short lives. The Grand Duke’s numerous subsequent marriages.
Herself, the seventh bride.
A man who hated the current marriage.
Ironically, the numerous marriages that would follow.
Many things swirled in her head, and she came up with a hypothesis.
“Judith. Find out what kind of relationship there is between Tessen and the Marchioness Luaire. Be careful when approaching the Marchioness, as she is cared for by the Great Temple.”
Alisha wasn’t sure even as she spoke.
It was a vague request, but Judith didn’t refuse.
Judith also found the secret of the Marchioness Luaire unbelievable and wanted to find out.
“Yes, I will take my leave.”
Alisha gave only a small nod to Judith’s greeting.
Once a thought came to mind, it wouldn’t leave.
“…So that’s why…”
If this hypothesis was correct, everything would fit.
Above all, Reikart’s actions were understandable.
And if the hypothesis was correct, she didn’t even want to imagine how cruelly he would treat her in the future.
Recently, Alisha often had time to herself.
The Lady had many things to do, but she minimized external activities.
She declined Marquis Reine’s banquet and postponed outings and meetings with outsiders.
Only Marinne, the Marchioness’s visit was brief.
She used to change dresses at least three times a day, morning, afternoon, and evening, but with reduced activity, she only wore one dress a day.
Alisha mostly stayed in the study, but she didn’t read books or write letters as before.
There was no activity at all.
She was just lost in thought.
In the meantime, time passed quickly.
The subtly started spring had already become a full spring.
It was a day when the warmth was clear in the air touching her cheeks.
Alisha went out for the first time in a while.
It had been almost a month.
A celebration was held at the Imperial Palace.
It was a celebration commemorating the birth of the Emperor’s first child, Princess Dorothea.
Alisha, who would become a member of the Imperial Family, couldn’t be absent from the party celebrating the Princess’s birth.
For several weeks, there had been various rumors about the strained relationship between Grand Duke Tessen and the prospective Grand Duchess.
The eyes that saw Alisha getting out of the carriage she had come in and getting into the carriage prepared by the Imperial Family quickly moved their mouths.
Alisha didn’t care at all.
She was just lost in thought.
“……”
Alisha had established one hypothesis.
The Marchioness Luaire appeared in the noble registry about 30 years ago.
At that time, both the current Emperor and Grand Duke Tessen were children. So, it was safe to assume that there was no relationship with either of them.
The possibility of her being a hidden Imperial Concubine of the previous Emperor or the only Imperial Concubine that the previous Emperor spared.
It couldn’t be completely ruled out, but the previous Emperor was as political as the current Emperor.
The current Emperor was under pressure because he couldn’t have a legitimate heir, but within the Imperial Family, the Emperor was using his brothers and nephews as pawns with the heir position as bait.
Duke Ririn, Duchess Belz, Marquis Manard.
There were countless puppets of the Emperor.
It was the previous Emperor who gave the Emperor, who was to be, his imperial education.
It didn’t seem likely that the previous Emperor would leave behind someone who would be a burden to his son, who would become Emperor.
At the end of her thoughts, Alisha suddenly had a suspicion.
The previous Grand Duchess Tessen.
What if the Marchioness Luaire was the previous Grand Duchess Tessen? Everything made sense.
Reikart repeatedly expressed his refusal to marry Alisha.
Did she know the horror of the marriage vow?
Another marriage.
That damn marriage.
He was disgusted by the word marriage, as if he were enemies with marriage.
The current Grand Duke Tessen, Reikart Tessen, was tied to the land of Tessen.
The previous Grand Duke wouldn’t have been any different.
The Grand Duke felt hellish pain when the second moon, Lua, rose.
There were no rumors that the current Grand Duke or the previous Grand Duke were suffering from the same curse-like pain.
The previous Grand Duke was too much of a person from the past for Alisha to know.
Alisha had the memories of the first timeline.
It was known that the Grand Duke stayed in Tessen to protect the western border at certain times, but that wasn’t the case.
Reikart’s severe pain was only bearable in Tessen, so he had no choice but to return to Tessen.
But at some point, the Grand Duke had been away from Tessen regardless of the period.
That was when he got married.
Even in the first timeline, Reikart had his first marriage very late among the Imperial Family men.
And after his first marriage, he married six times, and he was scheduled to marry Alisha as his seventh bride.
He hated marriage.
Such Reikart got married.
Perhaps, for some reason, his pain had reached a point where he could no longer bear it.
And if this fact was said in reverse, the pain inflicted on Grand Duke Tessen could be resolved through marriage.
It was understandable that the Imperial Family had sought a marriage partner for Grand Duke Tessen several times.
Even now, the Emperor and the Imperial Family were constantly encouraging Grand Duke Tessen’s marriage.
Reikart hated marriage for some reason.
What if the Marchioness Luaire was the previous Grand Duchess Tessen, and she became her current appearance through her marriage to the previous Grand Duke Tessen?
As a child, Reikart would have seen the Marchioness Luaire’s appearance.
Then it was understandable that he strongly refused marriage.
If the Marchioness Luaire was the previous Grand Duchess, the questions related to the marriage vow between Grand Duke Tessen and the Grand Duchess would also make sense.
Grand Duke Tessen suffered from mysterious pain at certain times.
Through the marriage vow, the Grand Duke was freed from the pain, and instead, the pain was added to the Grand Duchess in a different form through the marriage vow.
In the case of the Marchioness Luaire, it was aging.
She had the appearance of an 80-year-old woman 10 years ago, 20 years ago, and 30 years ago.
The Grand Duchesses of Tessen in the first timeline died strangely young.
Strictly speaking, it was closer to misfortune than premature death.
People who were originally sick became weaker faster. They had unfortunate accidents when they left Tessen. They suffered from poor health as they longed to escape from living in Tessen.
If the Marchioness Luaire was the previous Grand Duchess, everything made sense.
But was that possible?
Alisha couldn’t let go of the question.
Could it be possible for such absurd pain to be transferred just by writing a marriage vow?
There were various curses, but since she was expected to be around 50 years old now, for someone who was about 20 years old at the time to become an old woman just by a curse.
It made sense, but it didn’t make sense.
Alisha questioned and refuted her hypothesis and confirmed it.
A woman with reddish-brown hair approached Alisha, who was lost in thought.
“Oh my, who is this? Alisha!”
The woman, who had decorated her hair to highlight the reddish tint, pulled up her carefully painted red lips.
“It’s been a while, Lady Alisha.”
A woman with an arrogant expression was standing next to the reddish-brown-haired woman.
Hair as black as charcoal and pale skin. Angular jaw and eyes as black as her hair.
Even the fact that she had applied a lot of shiny oil to her hair to style it in an attempt to erase her cold and chilly impression.
The appearance of the woman who greeted her second revealed the characteristics of the northern region to anyone.
“Alisha, I’m so disappointed. I thought that after the Lady started to do well, she would visit us first at least once. How could you not even give us any news?”
“I know, right.”
The two women exaggeratedly showed off their friendship with Alisha.
The brown-haired one was particularly exaggerated.
But both of them seemed to have blocked Alisha’s path without hesitation.
“Seeing you like this reminds me of the old days. You used to say, Alisha, that you had nothing you were good at except being the only Lady of the Marquis Reine. I didn’t say it back then, but the great power of the Marquis seemed too much for Lady Alisha.”
“You look good now.”
Alisha’s expression, which had been lost in thought until just now, had sunk indifferently.
Alisha belatedly realized the identities of the two women who had suddenly appeared.
“Of course. Aren’t you the prospective Grand Duchess? And the Count of Echeveria. It was unimaginable in the past. I guess women have to meet the right man.”
The woman who was laughing and acting friendly was Cynthia Brenell.
“I don’t want to admit it, but that’s probably the reality.”
Angela Miller was adding fuel to the fire next to Cynthia.
“……”
The two of them were the Ladies from the vassal families that the Marquis Reine had assigned to Alisha when she had difficulty making eye contact with people.
In the days when she was full of timidity.
The grateful people who took care of the Alisha of that time, who couldn’t go on roads where there were people and just fidgeted.
…Grateful, my ass.