Chapter 82

“I don’t know! Aaah, I don’t know!! Sir Gareth, stop the carriage! Stop it!!”

Clutching her face, Elicia practically tumbled out of the carriage.

Edwin neither grabbed her nor chased after her. Instead, he signaled with his eyes for the attendants, who were blinking in confusion, to hurry after their rampaging mistress.

“Madam! What happened, Madam?!”

“Get lost! Don’t follow me!!”

As he watched the duchess and her attendants run off in a rush, Edwin fell into thought.
In truth, Elicia couldn’t run very far since her pace was slow, and the knights deliberately slowed themselves to match her.

Even in the first few lives where Edwin had focused on internal governance, Bellamare had always ended in catastrophe.

The people eventually rose up after enduring tyranny, and there were times when the governor and officials lost their heads, and other times when the streets were covered with the corpses of civilians.

The blood soaked shoreline never truly recovered afterward.

But this Bellamare had reached a completely different turning point in history for the first time.

All because of Eli.

She called herself selfish, but she was someone too kind to turn away from others’ pain.

“You always become someone’s miracle.”

It stung that Eli’s salvation wasn’t his alone, yet seeing her save everyone in the end made his heart waver again.

Truly… he couldn’t help being drawn to her.

“Madam, the weather’s cold! Please at least put on a coat, Madam!!”

“Aaah! Hiss hiss, why won’t you all get lost?!”

The rampaging Elicia, the knights anxiously circling her, and even Edwin smiling awkwardly nearby…

No one knew yet.

That in a few years, beautiful statues of a goddess would be erected all throughout Bellamare.

The face of the guardian goddess, shaped by the united hearts of the people, looked exactly like the Duchess of Lombard.

Part 5. The Duchess’s Somehow Working, Barely Managed Life

This was bad.

A once in a lifetime emergency in my life as a duchess.

“Nero, Mom’s sorry! I’m really sorry!”

“Haaak!”

“It’s not like I meant to leave you alone. I was really just going to the west for a bit, but something urgent came up…”

A jet black tail stuck out from beneath the curtain, slapping hard against the carpet.

My Nero was so upset he wouldn’t even look my way. Ever since we returned to the castle, I hadn’t seen my baby’s face once.

I lay flat on the floor, begging desperately.

“Right, my baby. You were hurt, weren’t you? You wanted to stay with Mom, but I left you alone for so long… That was bad, right? Did you know Mom sent you letters every day? Berry read them all to you, right?”

Thwap, thwap.

“Mom held onto your portrait just to get through each day. I missed you so much I thought I’d cry blood.”

Thwap, thwap.

“Ughh, please forgive me just once. Just look at me once! Just one kiss!!”

At this point, I was practically begging for affection.

Anyone watching might’ve clicked their tongue and said I’d lost my mind at a young age, but I had nothing left to lose.

Determined to beg until Nero forgave me, I poured out everything about how much I loved him and how desperately I’d missed him.

After some time had passed like that, Nero, who’d had his head buried between the curtains, slowly turned around.

Only halfway, but even that made me want to cry.

“My baby…!”

“Nyaak.”

Normally he would’ve accepted the kiss gladly, but this time he quickly blocked my lips with his front paw.

That was still fine. That warm, savory jelly scent. Ngh, ha.

I panted for a while like someone drugged, and then Nero let out a soft sigh, almost like a human’s, and slowly approached, rubbing his body against the back of my hand.

He brushed his nose lightly, then slid past my cheek and along his body.

His long, soft tail gently wrapped around my wrist.

“…”

Bright yellow eyes stared straight at me.

The slow blink seemed to say that just this once, he’d forgive my crime.

Relieved, I finally pulled him into my arms.

Only then did it truly feel like I was home.

* * *

At the very moment the duchess ran straight to her bedroom after arriving at the castle,

The high ranking officials of the Lombard castle office were gathered, clutching their heads.

“This is bad. The duchess is back.”

“And she’s returned as someone we can’t even control.”

They had originally been keeping Elicia in check.

In the name of establishing her authority as lady of the house, she’d rummaged through Lombard and interfered with the vested interests they’d been profiting from for generations.

The mining overseer Patrick had lost his head outright, and the Clayton family was wiped out completely.

The Dorva count’s family of Bellamare met the same fate.

Since the count was the only brother of the previous Duke of Lombard and the current duke’s sole uncle, no one had expected him to be purged even with some political blemishes.

Beyond that, there were so many officials removed over large and small incidents that they couldn’t even be counted.

“Isn’t there some way to deal with this? We can’t just let the duchess keep tearing Lombard apart!”

“But she has the people’s overwhelming support…”

Even they couldn’t recklessly provoke public sentiment.

When even lowly civilians gained momentum and ran wild, the rule was to stay far away.

The fervor that started in Bellamare spread throughout Lombard, and before anyone realized it, the duchess had become a goddess and hero adored by the people.

“Just look at Berthold and Ramon. They’re riding her coattails and living it up!”

“Sir Ramon was always living it up.”

“True. He was never the type to shrink anywhere.”

“…”

The two officials who’d made pointless jabs quickly shut up under the others’ glares.

In any case, the officials were panicking.

Now that she’d returned to the castle, she’d obviously stir Lombard again and make their lives miserable. They couldn’t just let themselves be tossed around like this…

That was when a perfect excuse to attack the duchess came to mind.

“Pregnancy.”

“Yes, exactly! Her relationship with His Grace is good, and honestly it wouldn’t be strange to hear news already.”

“Isn’t it too early to use that as leverage?”

“It’s already been five months since she married in. Let a year pass like this and that’s more than enough justification. Lombard has no collateral lines left, after all. The duchess herself cut them off.”

In great noble families, an heir was the most critical issue.

Especially since the current head was an only son, having an heir as soon as possible was essential to the family’s stability.

Unless the marriage happened at a very young age, it was common to hear news within half a year to a year.

“Good. Let’s start the fire slowly.”

“Waiting for the day that proud little mouse gets cornered and flails. Hahaha!”

The high officials laughed loudly, unaware of the future rushing toward them.

* * *

Meanwhile, Edwin had already grasped the enemy’s plan in advance through spies he’d planted earlier.

He read the report silently, then muttered a short comment.

“This is… awkward.”

It truly was.

You needed the sky to reach the stars, but he and Elicia hadn’t even gotten close to the sky.

Edwin thought seriously.

If the heir issue escalated, Eli would face political pressure, and he himself might someday fail to control his emotions and be swept away by desire.

Despite not having the right to hold her.

And so, Edwin realized that this time, it was his turn to protect Eli.

Perfect timing too. He’d just received word from Eli telling him not to come looking for her since she planned to shut herself in her bedroom for a few days.

Without delaying further, he summoned the highest ranking officials to his office at once.

“We need to urgently discuss the matter of an heir.”