Chapter 2
1233words
I put down my quill and looked out the window.
A black and gold carriage stopped under the portico of the duke's mansion, with the Valerian family's flamingo emblem emblazoned on the door.
Sia hurried in from outside, her expression complicated. "My lady, Lady Valerian has arrived," she paused, then added, "And… and she's brought the young master back."
My heart skipped a beat. I quickly walked down the stairs and saw that small figure in the hall.
My son Arthur.
He wore a clean and neat traveling cloak, his little face reddened from the cold, curiously yet timidly surveying this mansion that was both familiar and strange to him.
I walked up to him and slowly knelt down.
Arthur's blue eyes looked just like mine, and he called me softly. "Mom?"
I reached out my hand, gently stroking his soft golden hair, then pulled him into my embrace. It was a warmth that had been lost and found again.
After a moment, I released him and instructed Sia, "Take the young master to his room to rest. Prepare some warm milk and snacks."
Only after the child's figure disappeared around the corner of the staircase did I turn to the dignified Countess.
Valerian was holding a cup of hot tea, sitting elegantly on the sofa.
"The rumors in the imperial capital are not pleasant to hear."
She put down her teacup, her voice soft yet each word distinct.
"Selina is spreading word everywhere, saying you are jealous and cold-hearted, not allowing the Duke to have true love."
I picked up my own cup of tea, the rim at just the right temperature.
"True love?" I laughed softly, as if I had heard some absurd joke.
"She also says that Hector had to send you to the manor to recuperate in order to protect her and the child in her womb," Valerian observed my expression.
"Now, half the noble ladies in the imperial capital are sympathizing with Miss Selina who 'recklessly pursued love.'"
I blew on the hot steam from my cup, saying nothing.
These slanders were well within my expectations.
"The key point is," Valerian leaned slightly forward and lowered her voice, "Selina has allied herself with Her Majesty the Queen's arch-enemy, the First Lady-in-Waiting to the King's mistress—Winterborne."
"Winterborne has been desperately seeking an excuse to attack the Queen, and your being 'expelled' from the Duke's mansion has become a powerful weapon in her hands to criticize the Queen for failing to maintain proper household discipline, leading to moral decay among nobility circles."
So that's it. I wondered how Selina dared to be so blatant; it turns out she found a new patron.
What seemed to be merely a scandal in the Duke's mansion has now been drawn into the power struggle of the royal court.
"Winterborne promised that if they could bring down the Queen, she would request His Majesty to make Selina the new Duchess." Valerian finished speaking, picked up her teacup, and quietly looked at me.
She was waiting for my reaction. I placed my teacup back on the table with a crisp light sound. "Very well." I looked at her. "Then, Her Majesty the Queen must be in great need of an ally right now."
After Valerian took her leave, Hector arrived.
After I left home, the new butler he hired was directing the servants to arrange the trunks and chests in the courtyard.
I had my son Arthur brought into the inner chamber to keep him out of the way.
Hector said to me, "Everything is here, just moved to a different place. If you want them, I'll have people bring everything over."
After saying this, without waiting for my response, he turned and quickly walked away.
I ignored him completely and called for my personal butler, Raven.
He had come with my dowry into the Duke's mansion and only took orders from me.
"Madam."
Raven's aged but upright figure appeared at the doorway. Looking at the mess in the study, his cloudy eyes contained suppressed anger.
"Open all the windows."
My voice had no inflection.
"Hector's perfume is extremely unpleasant."
"Yes, madam."
The cold wind poured in, dispersing that nauseating sweet fragrance.
I sat back at my desk, wiping the surface with a silk handkerchief over and over, as if trying to remove an invisible layer of filth.
"Bring all my personal property inventories."
"Starting with the first dowry list left by my mother."
Raven quickly brought three heavy boxes of ledgers, all with tanned sheepskin covers edged with brass.
This was my confidence as the eldest daughter of the Celeste family.
"Let's verify the jewelry vault first."
I opened the first ledger, where the handwriting was delicate yet strong, written by my mother's own hand.
Raven opened the first jewelry box.
On the velvet lining, the spot where a blood-red ruby tiara should have been was completely empty.
My fingers traced over that indentation.
This was what the Queen Dowager personally placed on my head during my wedding.
"Make a note of it."
"The ruby tiara bestowed by the Queen Dowager, stolen."
Raven's hand holding the quill pen paused slightly, then wrote down the first line on a new piece of parchment.
I continued turning the pages.
"Queen Victoria's Pearl Tears, my eighteenth birthday gift."
In the box, that lustrous pearl necklace had been replaced with a dull, poor-quality imitation.
I didn't even touch it.
"Note it down, replaced."
"The Starlight Sapphire Brooch presented by the Governor of the Southern Continent."
Gone.
"Note it."
"Diamond cufflinks embedded with my family crest."
Gone.
"Note it down."
Selina didn't even bother to cover up with imitations.
She's like a greedy rat that broke into a vault, not hiding her appetite at all.
Hector.
How much nerve did he give her to make her dare touch these things?
These are not merely jewels.
Each one represents my past, my glory, and the intricate power network behind me.
I closed the ledger with a dull thud.
"Where are the land and manor deeds?"
Raven's face looked even more troubled.
"The Duke took the keys from me on the pretext of inventorying the estate's assets."
"He opened your private vault."
I nodded.
"Very good."
I stood up and walked to the other side of the study, where there was an inconspicuous hidden compartment.
I entered the password, and a row of neat black iron boxes appeared.
I opened one of them.
Inside lay another identical set of land deeds and manor ownership certificates.
Only the royal seals and tax official signatures on them were newer than those Hector took away.
I never put all my eggs in one basket.
Especially when that basket could be touched by others.
I took out a blank piece of parchment and picked up a pen.
The ink spread across the paper as I quickly compiled a list.
Not a list of stolen items.
But a list of every single item of mine that Selina had worn in public.
Starting from the first day she stepped into the Duke's mansion.
Time, place, witnesses.
I wrote slowly and clearly, ensuring every letter was impeccable.
After writing the last word, I put down my pen.
The list lay quietly on the table.
Each line was an unforgivable charge.
