A Mad Lady’s Confession - Chapter 25

This incident, which would later be given the rather grotesque nickname “the Blood Dining Room,” turned the white stone mansion upside down.

Despite the butler and head maid handling matters swiftly and enforcing strict control, they couldn’t stop the servants from whispering after seeing the dining room smeared with blood.

Miss Sorelson stormed out of the mansion screaming. Even those who hadn’t witnessed the scene could guess something had happened, from the sticky red droplets scattered across the lobby.

“Throw her out immediately!”

The booming shout split through the drawing room.

Alicia seriously wondered if Lady Jules might lose her voice at this rate.

“Aunt, please calm down first—”

“In all the hundreds of years of Nielsen’s history, there has never been such an improper mistress! If we leave her as she is, she’ll ruin the name of Nielsen!”

The wrinkled hand wearing a sapphire ring trembled as it pointed at the woman standing in the center.

Alicia’s gaze, tinged with sympathy, turned toward the fragile figure at the center of it all.

For someone with such a notorious reputation, her first impression was gentle and kind. There was none of the terrifying aura she had heard about, the kind that would make one shudder at the mere sight of her.

The Duchess she met for the first time had a face far more beautiful than Alicia expected. Even soaked through by the rain, she didn’t look shabby, but rather like a flower kissed by dew, delicate and pure.

She didn’t look like a woman who would commit ‘such madness,’ and in reality, her speech and behavior were calm and composed.

Judging by her first impression, Alicia found herself leaning toward liking Eleanor Brynhill.

That was why she felt pity. Her aunt, Lady Jules, could be cruel in certain ways.

Lady Jules was extremely elegant, yet she had a talent for wounding others with nothing but indirect speech.

Alicia glanced between the two and thought.

‘Will she cry? She probably will.’

Just as she was about to offer a quiet, sympathetic look to the Duchess she’d only met today—

Alicia suddenly felt the urge to rub her eyes. It seemed like what she was seeing must be wrong.

The Brynhill she expected to be standing meekly, head lowered like a sinner, trembling under the pressure, was instead digging at her ear, frowning slightly as if it itched.

A stunned sigh escaped the old lady.

The situation was too entertaining. Alicia wanted to check Matthias’s expression across from her, but before she could, Lady Jules’s anger erupted first.

“What is that improper behavior in front of me right now?!”

Say it’s a mistake. You can still fix this. Alicia tried sending all sorts of signals with her wide eyes, but the person in question replied in an infuriatingly natural tone.

“You’re shouting too loudly. My ears hurt. I was checking if they were bleeding.”

“…Wow.”

Who made that sound? Even as a princess, Alicia still remembered how intimidating her aunt had always been, so she quickly shut her mouth again.

Lady Jules, meanwhile, seemed too focused on the woman before her to notice anything else.

With a clear, innocent face that would’ve looked completely harmless if one hadn’t seen what happened in the dining room, Eleanor continued speaking.

“Lady Jules, I’m saying this out of concern. At your age, raising your voice like that… well. Dr. Milton at the clinic I stayed at said sudden agitation is very dangerous for the elderly. It could rupture something like a thin ‘path of blood’ under the skin. And if that happens… you know, don’t you? I’d like to see you for a long time.”

“Ha?”

It was the first time she had ever heard such a dumbfounded, hollow sound come from Lady Jules. Alicia turned her gaze toward Matthias, who was seated across from her.

Say something. Do something. Take your wife upstairs at least. She tried to signal him with her eyes, but failed again.

For some reason, he didn’t take his serious gaze off the Duchess, staring at her intently.

Matthias found the woman unfamiliar.

He’d thought she had some eccentric traits before, but the woman before him now felt like an entirely different person from the one he’d known these past several days.

She showed open displeasure, saying her ears hurt in response to an elder’s reprimand, and even spoke of wishing she would live long instead of dying.

It was absurd, yet strangely, he couldn’t take his eyes or ears off her. His gaze persistently followed her words and gestures.

The woman, who had overturned what he thought would be just another routine dinner he’d experienced thousands of times in his tedious life, in less time than it took to drink a cup of tea, suddenly caught his interest. Unexpectedly.

The woman with bloodstains splattered across her dress spoke calmly toward the butler waiting at the side of the drawing room.

“Could you bring me some chamomile tea? Not too hot, just warm enough to drink right away.”

“Yes, Madam.”

The butler moved quickly, far more briskly than expected for his age.

Perhaps worried that the ‘path of blood’ might really rupture, Lady Jules composed herself for a moment and spoke in a solemn tone.

“There’s no need for a long discussion. Make your decision and have her removed from the estate today. The divorce can proceed afterward.”

“I won’t divorce, Lady Jules.”

Eleanor added her opinion immediately, as if tagging onto Matthias’s reply before he could even speak.

“And His Grace won’t want to divorce me either.”

Isn’t that right? As if asking, Eleanor turned her gaze toward Matthias.

He gave no answer, only continued to stare at her as he always did.

For the first time in her life, Lady Jules felt something like bewilderment. Had there ever been such a thing, in any era, in any family?

After causing a scandal that would shake the entire capital, the fact that she was calmly exchanging words like this in the drawing room was incomprehensible. That incomprehension turned toward Matthias.

“A proper noble lady of a great aristocratic house has poured animal filth over a young lady. If this story leaves these walls, you know perfectly well how the name of Nielsen will be dragged through the mud!”

What was the point of saying more? They wouldn’t dare speak of it openly, but this would cling like a shadow for a long time.

Especially since the one who caused it was the Duchess!

How could she possibly watch that happen? Lady Jules felt dizzy.

She cherished her birth family, Nielsen, more than the title she gained through marriage. It was the name she was born with, her pride. She couldn’t allow such a noble Nielsen to be chewed over by idle tongues, spattered with spit and dirt.

The nobles of Lemren, especially those of the highest ranks, were obsessively attached to honor. A certain distinguished philosopher once said this.

『The great nobility has no scandals. They bury them before they can even take root.』

Conversely, failing to properly bury even a single rumor meant one lacked the qualifications of a noble. Lady Jules had no intention of letting this matter become known to the world.

She pressed her forehead briefly as if she had a headache, then gave a quiet command, “Offer Miss Sorelson a formal apology. With ‘a lady’s honor.’”

Alicia, who had been watching from a distance, furrowed her brows slightly. An apology made with ‘a lady’s honor.’

It was one of the most formal forms of apology described in the etiquette books for young ladies of Lemren. The one apologizing had to kneel before the other, kiss the back of her hand, and ask for forgiveness three times.

At that time, five noblewomen were to be present as witnesses to the apology and forgiveness. If even one of them judged that the proper form hadn’t been fully observed, the apology had to be repeated hundreds of times until all of them accepted it.

For the nobles of Lemren, it was one of the most formal methods of apology, but for the person involved, it inflicted extreme humiliation and shame, so it was rarely carried out.

What had happened in the dining room today was certainly shocking and bewildering to Alicia as well. However, on the other hand, she felt that it wasn’t entirely the Duchess’s fault.

It was the kind of understanding that came from a simple, common-sense thought. How far must things have gone for her to do something like that?

Even so, she couldn’t stop Lady Jules, who was urging such a humiliating reconciliation. That, too, was a thoroughly noble way of handling things.

With no other choice, Alicia’s brown eyes, filled with a hint of comfort, turned toward the Duchess.

“I won’t apologize.”

Her voice was unexpectedly firm. It was the clear, steady tone of someone who felt no guilt or wrongdoing.

“I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong, so I see no reason to apologize.”

As she spoke, Eleanor placed the small bottle she was holding onto the drawing room table. As everyone’s gaze turned toward it, she added, “Recently, the scented oil bottle bestowed by Her Highness the Princess went missing. Today, Miss Sorelson gave me that empty bottle. If the one who handled someone else’s belongings, and even touched an imperial gift, is Miss Sorelson, then why should I be the one to apologize?”

Matthias, who had been looking at the nearly empty, ordinary-looking perfume bottle, spoke for the first time in a low voice, “Is that glass bottle your only evidence?”

“Of course, there were also the maids’ testimon—”

“You’re rambling on unnecessarily.”

Matthias muttered and rose from his seat. He spoke evenly to Lady Jules, who was watching with anticipation.

“Aunt, please retire for now. This is a matter between my wife and me, so I’d prefer if you refrained from further interference.”

“Duke!”

Ignoring Lady Jules’s sharp cry behind him, he passed Eleanor with a cold glance.

“Come, madam. It seems we have much to discuss.”

The eyes that met hers were as sharp as a blade.