Chapter 9
9
==
Meanwhile, Taylor Duke's Castle was like a beehive that had been poked.
“How could the girl who should be locked up in her room be gone?! How are you doing your job, huh?!”
Duke Taylor, who had slapped the butler across the face several times, collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted. The Duchess, already lying on the bed, murmured, tears streaming down her face.
“To pay off the debt, I have to give up all my jewels… How did I collect those sparkling things!”
The Duchess shot up and glared at the butler standing beside her.
“Can’t we sell part of the territory instead?! The wheat fields are so vast, can’t we sell some of that land!”
Selling the territory rather than disposing of her jewels—was that something a lord should say?
The butler, wiping the blood from his lips, replied in a cracked voice.
“According to imperial law, territories cannot be freely bought and sold. When there is no one left to inherit, it is transferred to the temple…”
“Who doesn’t know that?!! Grace…! That damned thing…! How dare she repay the kindness of raising her like this!!”
They had no interest in what kind of person Grace’s husband would be or what her life would be like after the marriage. The Duke and Duchess were only interested in one thing: who would bring the most dowry. In that sense, Grace Taylor was the greatest asset left to the Duke and Duchess.
They never dreamed that she would burn herself to ashes with her own hands. To dare to declare that she had a lover in the sacred chapel where the wedding was being held, in front of Her Majesty the Empress’s nephew!
“She has a hidden man! So her body and mind are not pure!! She’s a girl who stays cooped up all day looking at documents!! She’s never even set foot outside the territory!! That brazen thing lied…!! This will have a huge impact on Rosette’s marriage!!”
Which family would dare to propose marriage to a family whose daughter had declared she had a lover and stormed out of the wedding hall in front of Viscount Sachsen, the Empress’s nephew? The already declining reputation and fate of the Taylor Dukedom had been plunged into the mud by today’s events.
“There must be people who smuggled her out, so catch them immediately!!”
The Duke roared. While some of the servants cowered, Mrs. Cornwall moved. Over the years, she had been the most loyal hand and foot of the Duke and Duchess.
“Calm down, Your Grace. It may be a good thing after all.”
“…What?”
The Duke asked back, and at the same time, the Duchess’s angry voice erupted.
“Where have you been hiding until now, and what?! A good thing! What do you mean?!!”
Mrs. Cornwall quickly approached the Duchess and said soothingly.
“I was late because I was looking for documents related to the debt. I’m sorry.”
“Never mind, finish what you were saying.”
“With what happened at the wedding, Grace has already committed social suicide. She won’t be able to enter a noble family, let alone become a concubine of a wealthy merchant, so there’s no chance she’ll bring a dowry to the Dukedom. Rather, as long as Grace’s name is attached to Taylor, the Dukedom will only suffer losses. So, banish her from the family.”
The Duke got up from the sofa and asked back.
“Are you saying to expel Grace from the Dukedom?”
“Yes. Grace’s scandal will also have a negative impact on Princess Rosette and William’s marriage. Moreover, the Saxon Count Family is Her Majesty the Empress’s family. Publicly humiliating the Viscount and the Count and Countess is tantamount to insulting Her Majesty the Empress. Her Majesty the Empress’s wrath will be directed at Taylor.”
“Th, then what should we do, huh?”
The Duchess’s face turned pale. The butler chimed in, supporting Mrs. Cornwall.
“We must prove to Her Majesty the Empress and the world that the Taylor Dukedom has nothing to do with this. So, cut Grace out of the family.”
The Duke, who had been listening, straightened his shoulders and shouted.
“You heard me say I would expel that bitch from the chapel, didn’t you?! I already foresaw that!”
“Indeed, Your Grace’s insight is extraordinary.”
“Ahem!”
“For now, I will secretly send people to track Grace. I will also find out who helped her, so the two of you should first consider how to deal with the debt owed to the Saxon Count Family.”
At that, the Duchess lay back down as if she didn’t want to think about it and closed her eyes, and the Duke opened a bottle of alcohol. Debt. Just thinking about it made him sick. He couldn’t even remember when or where he had incurred so much debt. The Duke poured the alcohol and shouted irresponsibly.
“Butler! Mrs. Cornwall! Take care of it! And make sure to prepare the documents to permanently expel Grace from the Taylor Dukedom so that I only have to stamp them!”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
As the butler and Mrs. Cornwall bowed respectfully, the Duke drank and muttered fiercely.
“The Dukedom is nothing special. How much did I spend that the assets disappeared in less than twenty years? I can’t even sell the vast land. Ugh, really.”
The butler and Mrs. Cornwall quietly withdrew, leaving him behind.
＊ ＊ ＊
It wasn’t just the Duke and Duchess Taylor who were lying down with anger. The Saxon Count and Countess were spewing all sorts of curses, packing up all the gifts and presents they had brought, and returning to their territory.
“I will never forget this humiliation!! Ah, I want to wash out my ears!! What?! She has someone else she loves, so her body and mind are not pure?! She doesn’t have the confidence to love my son?!”
The Countess lay in the carriage, relentlessly criticizing Grace.
“Honey! When you get back, be sure to tell Her Majesty the Empress about today’s humiliation. Her Majesty the Empress will never let this go!”
The Count also kept twitching his beard and clenching and unclenching his fists.
“I will go to the palace and see Her Majesty the Empress as soon as I arrive.”
“Yes, you must.”
The Countess nodded at her husband’s words, then suddenly sniffled. Then, she shot up and leaned out the window. There was a carriage in the middle of the long procession in which her son was riding.
“How hurt my son must be. He was humiliated in front of so many nobles…!”
The Countess dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief and spat out the words.
“Grace Taylor, I will never forgive that brazen thing. Never!!”
She would send people to find her no matter what. Once she found her, she would not be able to sleep until she had her beaten until she cried and begged for forgiveness for what she had done today.
Princess Taylor? The name of the Taylor Dukedom is no longer scary. Taylor was already a ruined family when the previous Duke and Duchess passed away together. Still, there was no point in attracting people’s attention again with such an incident, so it would be enough to secretly capture her.
The Countess’s eyes flashed fiercely.
Meanwhile, Jack Sachsen was also thinking about Grace. The image of her walking away gracefully after stacking the gifts in front of him flickered like a hallucination. He was mortified that the damned priests had held him back, preventing him from following that woman.
Even the woman who should have been locked up in her room like a criminal had disappeared without a trace. Where could the Princess, who had never been outside Taylor Duke's Castle, have gone?
‘I have someone else I love.’
As he recalled her snow-white profile, his chest grew hot. Jack Sachsen’s lips twisted crookedly.
“She was supposed to be a chaste and demure Princess, but she cleverly hid a lover. So she’s with that guy now.”
The Viscount’s breath grew rough.
Even though he had clearly suffered a great humiliation, he felt a sense of regret, as if he had been robbed of a wonderful dish just before eating it. Whether it was because of her rare beauty, her refined demeanor, or her resolute refusal to love him, his anger toward Grace began to twist strangely.
A ferocious emotion settled in his eyes.
“You pushed me into the gutter, and now you’re flirting with that guy?”
Jack Sachsen roughly swept his face and licked his lips. Then, he lay back on the chair and muttered something like a curse.
“I’ll find him and kill him in front of you, tearing him to pieces.”
Then tears would pour from those round, pretty eyes, wouldn’t they?
Just thinking about it made Jack Sachsen chuckle.
“Then I’ll drag you away, Grace.”
Grace.
Grace Taylor.
“I even like the name.”
A voice tinged with madness uttered Grace’s name several times.
