The Trash Lady Who Stole the Duke's First Night
Chapter 3
A blue dawn settled over the count’s estate, where the lights had remained burning through a night of chaos.
Having barely slept a wink after the sudden consummation vows, Elio dragged a single small suitcase with her and boarded the Schuppenhardt carriage like a criminal.
Dozens of knights standing on the damp grass shot glaring glances in her direction as they saddled the horses. Just as she was catching her breath under their suffocating stares,
a man draped in a mage’s cloak appeared at the carriage door and whispered in warning.
“The Papacy is going to spread this scandal across the entire Empire. Thanks to you, my lady, our commander’s honor is about to hit rock bottom, so you had better act like you have a normal relationship in front of others. Damn it, stop trembling! Anyone looking would think our commander forced himself on you!”
Elio wanted to argue back—why was it her fault that his honor was in the gutter?—but the carriage door slammed shut the second her trembling lips parted. Swallowing dryly, she did her best to ignore the man outside barking orders for departure.
“The potions.”
Elio flinched and turned around. From the opposite seat, a pair of dark eyes stared coldly at her.
“I—I brought them. More than twenty.”
Carlos’s gaze dragged slowly down her cheek before coming to a halt at her thigh.
Unnerved by his silent, fixed stare, Elio babbled on.
“If you apply the potion, it really heals in no time. Look. My cheek is almost completely healed. It’s not fake.”
Carlos lowered his eyes back to the book he had been reading.
Elio fumbled self-consciously at her bruised cheek and thigh, her face flushing red.
Unlike her, he possessed glowing skin and ebony hair as smooth as silk. His impeccably handsome appearance and relaxed posture as he casually read a book made her feel slighted and bitterly aggrieved.
It felt as though she were the only one who had stayed up all night with her eyes wide open after yesterday’s madness.
Was it a relief, at least, that he did not seem intent on holding her accountable for her father’s sins?
Elio unfolded the newspaper crumpled in her hand. It had arrived just this morning by carrier pigeon. She forced strength into her voice, which was so raspy it sounded like scraping metal.
“…Carlos von Schupenhart completes the consummation vows before the Blue Orb with the daughter of Count Aquitaine.”
Carlos quietly turned a page. Elio pressed on, enunciating every word.
“The Imperial Family has expressed deep regret over this unilateral breach of engagement amid ongoing preparations for his marriage to the Imperial Princess. Meanwhile, rumors are circulating that the young lady of Aquitaine tampered with Sir Carlos’s drink…”
Elio’s pupils shook violently.
“…raising suspicions that she forced herself upon an unconscious Sir Carlos for the consummation…!”
Carlos turned to the next page.
“Hah…”
Elio ran her hands through her tangled hair.
She could not fathom how this had made the papers already. It was as if the article had been written well in advance, prepared with deliberate intent.
And why on earth…
Why am I being painted as the one who violated him…?
“……Excuse me. Look here. Sir Carlos.”
“Yes.”
“What do you think of this front-page article?”
“I think news travels fast in this world.”
The corners of Elio’s lips curled upward in disbelief, trembling with exasperation.
“Aha… Right. How could it possibly have made the papers in less than a day?”
“The security at the count’s estate must be utterly abysmal.”
“Sir!”
Carlos pulled his gaze from the book and looked at her. Elio took a deep breath before slowly speaking again.
“What is your goal?”
“My goal?”
“Even if the Temple stirs up trouble to haul you into a tribunal, they can’t forcibly annul an imperial engagement without the unanimous consent of the House of Lords. Yet you admitted to consummating the union with me. Doesn’t that mean you have another motive?”
Carlos closed the book.
“I don’t understand why you’re insisting on taking responsibility for me. You could have easily charged our family with insult, and you have plenty of other options available to you! Like, for instance, se—secretly killing me on the spot without anyone knowing…”
“You treat me like a bastard who would murder a woman he shared a first night with and notarized before a priest.”
Astounded, Elio’s eyes went round as she cried out.
“That’s because the whole ‘first night together’ is a lie! And right now, I’m about to be treated like complete scum who forced herself on you while you were unconscious…!”
“Don’t worry. I will have it corrected.”
“What? Corrected to what?”
“That it was by no means forced.”
Carlos stretched his long legs and picked up a new set of documents.
“That we enjoyed it together in sound mind.”
Elio stared at him with her mouth hanging open, stunned by the calm voice that drifted into the chilly morning air.
“……Dear Lord. You’ve truly lost your mind…”
❖ ❖ ❖
At that same moment, in the capital of the Lübeck Empire, peals of high laughter echoed throughout the Imperial Palace.
“Ahahahahaha! Hahaha, snort, hahahah!”
“Your Highness. Please, maintain your dignity…”
Letting her wavy red hair spill down, the Imperial Princess shook with whole-bodied laughter before wiping away her tears and straightening her back.
“No, seriously, has he lost his mind? Ahahahaha!”
Her nanny let out a long sigh as she brushed the princess’s hair.
“Losing consciousness to illicit liquor and being forcibly rav—hahaha, hahah!”
With a strawberry macaron in one hand and the newspaper in the other, the princess dissolved into hysterical laughter once more.
After her chest heaved for quite some time, she finally dabbed at the tears clinging to the corners of her eyes. Tossing the newspaper aside, she pulled out a Holy Book.
“By the way, what kind of family is Aquitaine? I’ve never heard of them.”
“They are situated at the southernmost edge of the outskirts, Your Highness. A fallen noble house barely clinging to a name in the nobility registry.”
The princess hummed as she took a crisp bite of her macaron.
“Aquitaine. Aquitaine. Aquitaine. Hmmm. Why on earth did he pick this place?”
“After all, he had to consummate with a noble lady for it to be properly recorded in the Blue Orb and break the marriage with Your Highness. And with a fallen noble family, cleaning up the aftermath would be far easier.”
At her nanny’s textbook answer, the princess raised an eyebrow and lightly tapped the Holy Book.
“I don’t know… Knowing my brother, I suspect there’s more to it.”
Startled, the nanny dropped the brush.
“Your Highness! Please, stop calling him your brother!”
“Oh, come on. A bastard or not, an older brother is still an older brother.”
“Your Highness! What if someone hears…!”
Unbothered, the princess rolled her shoulders and burst into uncontrollable giggles again.
“Nanny. Isn’t my brother remarkably clever? To think he came up with this kind of scheme to call off a wedding with his half-sister.”
Clutching the Holy Book and the nobility registry in her hands, the princess curved her eyes in a brilliant smile.
❖ ❖ ❖
Elio anxiously rubbed her thumbnail.
The carriage rattled, splashing mud against the windows. As they passed through dense thickets, the terrain grew increasingly rugged, signaling their approach to the Ogre Mountain Range.
Should I cross the Ogre Mountain Range with them and run away immediately? But even if I flee, how will I make a living…?
Once the scandal of the depraved noblewoman who ravished a Schuppenhardt spread across the Empire, what sane person would ever hire her?
Should I try selling potions…?
No… Brewing high-grade potions day in and day out would probably kill me from mana exhaustion…
Swoooosh.
The rustling sound of leaves swaying restlessly drifted in. The canopy was so thickly woven that barely any sunlight filtered through, leaving the surroundings dim despite the early morning hour.
She needed to figure out a way to survive, but her mind felt as dark and hazy as the woods.
As she slowly lowered her head, the shabby ash-gray dress caught her eye. Tracing the worn linen and flimsy sleeves, she let out a bitter laugh.
She could hardly believe she was to become the Young Duke’s fiancée.
And to think it was because she supposedly ravished him… breaking his engagement with the Imperial Princess just to marry her.
Had it truly been a scheme orchestrated solely by her father and the priest? Elio glared at Carlos with suspicious eyes.
It seemed glaringly obvious that this man had ulterior motives. Otherwise, why would he acknowledge a fabricated consummation and even offer a bride price as though it were a legitimate marriage?
As Elio tried to fathom the inscrutable man’s thoughts, her hands clenched tightly.
Whatever his aim might be, she could easily end up dead—either at the hands of the Imperial Princess for stealing her betrothed, or executed by His Grace the Duke for ruining his son’s marital prospects.
A wave of emotion surged in her chest. She had never asked for much. All she had ever wanted was to live freely, without being beaten…
“What… What is it? Did you just laugh?”
“No.”
She had clearly seen the corner of his mouth tilt upward, yet he answered with an entirely blank face, as if wondering what on earth she was talking about.
“Are you mocking me right now? Seriously?”
“You keep framing me for things.”
Carlos brushed the slight curve of his lips with a long finger.
“I’m… I’m being completely serious here!”
“Yes. You look serious. Try to relax a little.”
“Wow, you sure talk easily when it’s someone else’s problem!”
“It concerns my fiancée. It’s hardly someone else’s problem.”
“Your fiancée is about to be thrown into prison!”
Watching the man who showed no sign of standing up against the Imperial Family’s wrath, Elio slapped her thigh in frustration. Carlos leaned back against the seat and nodded.
“It is a plausible outcome. Blackmail, insult, illicit solicitation. If they throw the book at you, you’ll easily get at least three years.”
Just a moment ago he complained about being treated like a bastard, and now he was saying she deserved prison? Isn’t he an actual bastard…?
Elio’s lips trembled as she shrank back into the corner of the carriage. Rain began to blow in through the open crack of the window. With no presence of mind to wipe away the moisture, she blindly tugged at her sleeves and muttered in a rush.
“That was my father’s doing. I was not an accomplice. I truly had no idea my father would do such a thing. Let me say this once more: I do not expect you to take responsibility for me. To my father…”
Clack. The window was shut.
The rain that had been soaking Elio’s shoulder was cut off.
Pitter, patter. Only the dull drumming of rain resonated.
At the deafening silence, Elio anxiously lifted her head, only to lock eyes with a gaze like that of a beast.
The man’s bottomless eyes were fixed squarely on her. When Elio’s lips parted slightly, he curved one corner of his mouth and muttered,
“Right. A child bears no guilt. I do not hold a child accountable for sins not their own.”
His voice sounded like a hollow, cold soliloquy. She felt like a criminal all over again.
As the downpour grew heavier and the man’s latent hostility deepened, Elio swallowed a silent breath. With the rain lashing against the fogged carriage windows, the air felt humid and suffocating.
“My wife seems to find me frightening. Turning so pale is quite the sight.”
“…Is it not only natural to be afraid when I have no idea what kind of person you are? Besides, we are not husband and wife yet. We merely made a false vow.”
“You certainly have a sharp tongue.”
He let out a strangely twisted sneer, and Elio moistened her dry lips.
In the confined space of the carriage, he drew a cigar to his lips and lit it. Exhaling a wisp of ash-gray smoke, he raked a fierce gaze down her figure—a look as menacing and ravenous as a hunting hound ready to tear its master apart.
Just like their very first encounter last night.
The vivid intensity of that first impression—an indelible memory—came flooding back.
