The Grand Duchess Escape

“If it’s Romaine…”

Asella had heard of this name before, as it was one of the major vassals of the Benvito family. Along with the Kadan family, it was a historic and prestigious noble family that had produced outstanding military officers over the generations.

Reading Asella’s expression, Margo nodded in response.

“Yes. My husband, Richard, is one of the aides, serving His Excellency the Grand Duke.”

“Ah, you must be the countess.”

“As of today, I am only a subject of Your Highness. Please speak to me comfortably.”

A model noblewoman. Even if it was only for a moment, Asella was able to see through it.

Her tone was formal and polite, and her demeanor was so confident that there was no room for error. It was not difficult to guess her character from her appearance, which did not allow even the slightest deviation.

‘Probably for monitoring purposes…’

She wasn’t accompanied by a single servant from the Chartus household, so whether Asella wanted it or not, she had to choose a lady-in-waiting to attend to her from the Grand Ducal residence.

“I have selected a dozen or so more maids to serve Your Highness. Would you like to select one in person?”

“No need, I trust that you did a good job in selecting them.”

It didn’t matter much to her who would be her maid, after all, they would all be the eyes and ears of Calix Benvito, monitoring her and Mariel’s every move.

This place was a huge and brilliant prison; a place designed to make the prey within feel calm and at ease.

It was seemingly comfortable and peaceful, yet they would never be able to take a step outside the transparent iron bars.

Recalling the heavily armed soldiers who guarded the walls, Asella let out a low sigh.

“Then, may I proceed with selecting attendants for Lady Mariel as well?”

“That would be…”

Unlike earlier, this time Asella pondered for a while. The overall purpose was probably the same, surveillance, but if possible, she didn’t want Mariel to notice it.

She would have preferred to assign a maid with a bright and compassionate personality, but it was difficult to find out such a point just by looking at them for a while.

“Then how about this, I’ll put the children I’ve selected into several pairs and take it in turns to serve the young lady. How about you watch and make a decision after that?”

Margo, who read Asella’s hesitation, continued quickly with her words. Reassured at last, Asella nodded, her expression relaxing.

“That would be great. Thank you.”

“Of course.”

Margo responded with a gentle smile. After that, the conversation proceeded a bit more smoothly, and as time went on, Asella gradually became more relaxed.

As Margo skilfully led the lively conversation, she managed to identify Asella’s food preferences, her favorite outfit styles, her hobbies, and so on.

The butler, who was watching them, was frankly amazed.

‘She’s just an impressive woman indeed.’

Before marrying Richard Romaine, Margo was the second child of the Blair family.

With her fine looks, brilliant speech, and excellent academics, at one point in time, she was one of the most brilliant figures in the social circles. But today, the nickname that followed Margo’s name was.

‘Blair’s eternal gem in the rough.’ 

People outside who did not know her circumstances might regard it as a compliment, but for Margo, this was an insult and humiliation beyond comparison that she couldn’t even bear to hear it.

An eternal gem… A gem that can never be transformed into a jewel.

‘Hiding this precious talent in the mud. I couldn’t think of anyone who would do such a thing, unless of course, they had to be crazy.’

There were even rumors that the previous Count Blair was intimidated by her.

Margo was a talented young woman who had graduated eight years ago at the top of her class from the Political Science Department of the Royal Academy. Her achievements were so outstanding that one of the professors in that department openly wanted her to be their successor.

Had Margo’s goal not been set to succeed the Blair family, she would probably be a professor at the Royal Academy by now.

However, the position that Margo so much desired went all the way to her brother. When Margo strongly objected to this, the previous Count Blair forcibly arranged the marriage of his daughter to Richard Romaine and threw her out of the family.

‘Although the family turned to a disastrous failure because of this.’

Margo’s brother, the current Count Blair, was not capable or qualified enough to lead the family house, so much so that he was known as a stupid promiscuous man, and sometimes labelled as a “foolish clown.”

He was obsessed with drinking, and because of his awful drinking habit, he managed to waste a lot of his family’s wealth in a matter of few years, not to mention, due to his continuous nightly adventures, he had two illegitimate children in less than five years.

His wife, unable to take it any longer, filed for divorce, which she had been granted right away, and even his few remaining possessions were taken and paid to his ex-wife as alimony, leaving him penniless.

The name of Count Blair, which had been praised for so long, was tarnished beyond repair. This was the end of the story as the world had predicted it would be.

‘I knew it would happen eventually.’

He shook his head unconsciously as he recalled the past, and then there was a knock on the door.

“Your Highness, the priest has just arrived at the castle gate.”

A servant announced the priestess’s arrival.