There’s No Divorce For You

Theodore treated me very carefully.

“Do you smell alcohol?”

“It’s not that bad.”

I grabbed my ringing head. Not wanting to be seen as a drunkard, I shook my head and tried to calm myself. The place where Theodore’s hand touched felt hot.

“Are you okay?”

“It’s okay.  I put a little whiskey in my tea, but I forgot I couldn’t drink. I’ll just give the butler a letter and go back into my room. There’s no problem.” 

The gibberish was longer than usual. Theodore stared at the letter in my hand. 

“I’ll deliver it for you.” 

I handed him a letter. The envelope in Theodore’s hand was wrinkled and splattered with ink and wax, and it looked really ugly. I said it like an excuse.

“I will send it to the young Duke of Fidez. It was really rude. I don’t think honorifics have been taught! So I decided to be mean, too.”

My cheeks twitched. When I touched the corner of my mouth, it seemed that I was smiling. Just what’s so funny is that I was laughing. I spoke to him proudly, feeling a little flattered. It was something Carla wouldn’t do, but I was excited and said whatever I wanted. 

“She asked me if I was looking for a tutor. How is it, is it fun?”

Theodore looked at me. The corners of his mouth were raised, but he didn’t look particularly amused.

“Lady Carla, if I dare to say it, you’d better send the letter tomorrow.”

“What does it mean?”

“You are drunk.”

I squinted at him. I wanted to scatter my neatly combed hair, but I held it in. Certainly, unlike wine, whiskey was a bit strong. However, it wasn’t enough to be told that I was drunk.

“I am sane.”

“I know. What I’m saying is….” 

He paused for a moment and spoke very carefully.

“It doesn’t seem suitable for a letter to a younger sister.” (t/n: He uses 아우 instead of 동생. 아우 means younger sibling of the same sex) 

I suddenly felt that the words he chose were very outdated and old. Was it because he was a Paladin, or was such a word common in this world? Anyway, more important than that was his expression of the Duke of Fidez. 

“Sister?” 

“Yes. She’s Lady Carla’s…” 

Theodore’s pupils widened.

“Ah… You didn’t know.” 

He looked around him in embarrassment. Fortunately, no one was in the hallway, and the maids didn’t pass either. He lowered his voice and said.

“The Duke of Fidez is Lady Carla’s younger sister.”

I woke up from drunkenness at once. I’ve never seen such a word. This damn novel! What’s with this messy setting? I shut my mouth.

“Wait, say it again. No, not here.”

I hurriedly stepped back, but there was only a door behind my back. All right, let’s put him in the room first.

“Come in.”

I pushed Theodore into the room and closed the door. Then I approached him and asked.

“Since when, since when?”

“I think…since the time you were born.” 

That’s right! I tore my hair out. I could feel Theodore looking at me strangely, but I didn’t have time to pay attention to that now.

“Did you not know?”

“Of course!”

I felt like I wanted to scream. If Carla had been in front of me, I might have grabbed her by the collar and shaken her.

To say that the young Duke was her younger sister meant that she was also a member of the Duke’s family. So all it said was that she had given up her right to be heir and cut herself off from her family. What do you mean, Duke?

‘Why don’t you write down such important things in your diary!’

Of course, since Carla knew everything about it, she probably wouldn’t have written it down.

Then what? I don’t know about it too. Others get cheat keys and status windows when they are possessed or move to another dimension, which makes it easy for them to live. But why do I have such a hard time getting into a novel that is neither interesting nor impressive?

“It’s terrible.”

As I grabbed my messy hair and muttered, I could feel Theodore looking down.

“Shall I call the maid?”

“It’s okay. It’s really okay. It’s because I’m confused.”

“Your complexion is not looking good.”

He seemed worried even though I said it was okay several times. I tried to calm myself down by brushing my hair with my fingers. But it wasn’t easy.

‘If she hadn’t married the Count, she would have been the Duke!…Why do you fight with your family! Can you twist it like this with such a fate?’

The body twisted at will. What has Carla done? It was also the first time anyone had ever properly twisted their fate like this. Theodore’s hand suddenly came close to my face. When I raised my head, his hand fell without touching me.

“Lady Carla.” 

He called me softly, no, Carla’s name. The blue eyes that stared at me were filled with worry.

I thought the drunkenness was completely gone, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. My face blushed. I straightened my back and lifted my chin lightly.

“It’s okay. I’ve shown you such a disgrace. It’s a completely unexpectedly thought of.”

Theodore returned the letter to me. I clenched the letter. The envelope crumpled in my hand. Only then did Theodore straighten his back and straighten his posture. I ignored the flushed cheeks and gave him a congratulatory order.

“See you tomorrow. I’m not going out anymore today.”

“Yes.”

Then, suddenly, it occurred to me that Theodore was standing in front of the door with too much good timing.

“Have you been standing outside the room all the time?”

Theodore answered with a smile with his eyes bent.

“Because I’m an escort.”

* * *

I couldn’t sleep at all when I heard that Theodore was standing across the door. I thought I could barely close my eyes until dawn, but I woke up to a loud knock on the door.

“Lady Carla is sleeping.”

“Does her husband need her knight’s permission to see his wife? I’ll open the door right now!”

I got up and opened the door.

“What did you do?”

As soon as I opened the door, the Count shouted at me. My head was dizzy because I couldn’t get enough rest due to the loud noise that made me deaf.

I grabbed my fiery hair and glared at the Count. He staggered backwards, then raised his shoulders again and smirked.

“The young Duke is here! From this early morning!”

I couldn’t understand what he was saying, so I narrowed my brow, and Bell grabbed my forearm lightly. It seemed that I was staggering without knowing it. Her hand quickly fell as I stepped on my foot. 

“The Duke of Fidez wants to see you, Madam.”

She whispered quickly in her ear.

“She stays in the drawing room. She said she wouldn’t go until she saw Madam, so the Count was trying to wake you up, but he was in a confrontation with the knight.” 

I quickly grasped the situation. As soon as that happened, I straightened my back and greeted Theodore with a nod. Then, looking at the Count slowly, I opened my mouth. I tried to smile, but because it was morning, my muscles were less relaxed, so I could only raise one corner of my mouth. 

“How can you make such a loud noise in the morning when it’s just guests coming?” 

The Count’s face turned red with anger, but I didn’t stop talking.

“Don’t tell me you left the guest alone in the drawing room.”

“It can’t be helped because the young Duke doesn’t want to talk to me. So hurry up and—!” 

I shrugged. I vaguely understood why he was in a hurry, but I didn’t want to rush to prepare for him.

A guest who arrived without notice at dawn would have to wait a little longer, and it wasn’t my business if the Count, who was weak to the powerful, was restless.

“Bell, let’s get ready.”

I ordered Bell, who was only watching from the side.

“Y, yes! Lady.”

Then she followed me with joy.

“Since when have the guests been waiting?”

“It’s been two hours.”

“Really? Then you can prepare slowly.”

Carla probably wouldn’t rush out just because a family member who said she was isolated came. Bell struggled, saying that she hadn’t warmed up enough water yet. I laughed at the Count, soaking in the lukewarm bath. 

‘That punk only a Count in name only…’

He should have had a maid call me and serve the young Duke, but he was in a hurry to knock on the door. I didn’t know if he was stupid or if he had no guts. How is he going about having an affair with such guts?

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Unmute

“Madam, what should I do with the hair?”

“Just make it simple. There’s no one to look pretty.”

“Yes.”

I had just washed, picked out my clothes, straightened my hair and put on my jewelry, and it was time for lunch. I leisurely headed to the drawing room.

It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t nervous. It wasn’t even Carla’s friends who were waiting for me in the drawing room, it was her family. Perhaps, at a glance, she might recognize that I am not Carla. Although she was being estranged—.

‘It’ll be okay, right?’

I straightened my back like an arrogant noblewoman. Even though she is a young Duke, I had a king as my support. So, isn’t that why she sent such a strange letter? 

The informal language could be her sister’s complaints about wanting to reconcile with Carla. I opened the door of the drawing room and looked at the person sitting relaxed on the sofa.

“Long time no see, Sister.” (t/n : the Duke said ‘언니’ means Older Sister.)