Duchess Mecklen’s Elegant Revolt - Chapter 9 Part 3

Night walks with him had become something familiar to Eleanor. She easily agreed and followed him out. The East Palace, where they arrived after a long while, remained unchanged.

As they walked together, Eleanor happened to glance at him under the moonlight. Lennoch seemed deep in thought, prompting Eleanor to speak first.

“You really seem to have a lot on your mind.”

“Do I?” Lennoch responded, as if he hadn’t expected her to notice.

“What’s troubling you?” she asked.

At this, Lennoch naturally came to a halt. Eleanor stopped as well and looked up at him.

“I still haven’t received an answer,” he said.

“An answer?”

“About the divorce…” Lennoch trailed off, feeling awkward about uttering the word “divorce” himself. It was a decision he had made, a result of complicated circumstances. It would have been shameless to go back on his word, but if that choice had hurt Eleanor, then he felt he had to take responsibility.

Lennoch thought of Ernst, whom he had seen at the debutante ball. Ernst had failed to protect Eleanor and had tried to forcibly drag her out of the party.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

“……!”

To Lennoch’s surprise, Eleanor’s response came immediately. He had expected her to at least take some time to think it over.

As Lennoch stood there, bewildered, Eleanor continued, “I don’t think it’s the right time yet.”

“Not the right time?”

“I recently realized why you sent me to the Mecklen family.”

The Duchess of Mecklen was far more formidable than Eleanor had anticipated. At the party, there were only a few people ranked higher than her, and no matter how much other ladies whispered behind her back, none of them could stand against her status as a duchess. Being born a Hartmann didn’t mean she should live in fear. Now, she could see things that she hadn’t noticed before, when she had been trapped by Caroline.

“I’ve come to understand how difficult it is to survive alone in a foreign country with no connections. If it weren’t for Your Majesty’s help, I wouldn’t have been able to clear my name.”

Simply gaining the Empress Dowager’s trust wasn’t enough.

“I still lack a secure foundation,” she admitted.

“Eleanor…” Lennoch called her name in surprise, but Eleanor was too focused on her thoughts to notice.

“I’m learning a lot. It would be a lie to say it’s not hard. I think I’ve been too complacent until now.” Eleanor’s blue eyes shone with determination. “I need more time. There’s a saying in Baden about taking a step back to take two steps forward.”

She had dismissed Adler at first, but now she felt a sense of self-reproach.

Why haven’t I lived as fiercely as he has?

In this life she had been given a second chance, meeting Adler seemed like fate, teaching her something new. He had given up the pride of royalty to carve out his own path.

“I want to become a true person of Baden.”

“……!”

“Far more perfect than I am now.” And then… “I’ll decide on the divorce after that.”

She had chosen a longer path, but she had no regrets. There was no need to rush anymore. Unlike before, she now had people around her who would support her.

“So, I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

A silence fell over them, broken only by the occasional sound of insects in the grass. After what felt like an eternity, Lennoch was the first to speak.

“I regret it.”

Eleanor looked up. The moonlight behind Lennoch cast his face in shadow, making his expression hard to read.

He murmured, “That day, I should have met you first.”

“Lennoch?”

“If I had known it would be like this…”

I wouldn’t have sent you to him.

The rest of his words dissolved into a silent sigh. Instead, he gently took Eleanor’s hand. Her eyes followed his hand as it slowly lifted hers. He pressed his lips against the back of her hand, as if sealing a promise.

“I will respect your wishes.”

Oddly enough, the back of her hand felt slightly itchy. Eleanor, who had been fidgeting slightly, froze at his next words.

“Thank you for coming to Baden.”

“……!”

“You are too good for both me and Baden.”

It felt as though the world had come to a standstill. Then, in a quiet whisper, he added, “Thank you for being here in Baden.”

Looking into his sincere eyes, Eleanor couldn’t help but smile gently.

***

“It’s been a long time since we’ve all enjoyed tea together,” the Empress Dowager remarked with a cheerful tone, basking in the afternoon sunlight. “It’s been so long since I’ve had such leisure.”

Even after the Harvest Festival, the Empress Dowager’s palace had been in an uproar due to a series of incidents, making it feel like a disturbed beehive. The rumors that had been swirling around had only just begun to settle. Eleanor, feeling a bit guilty about the events that had centered around her, spoke up.

“My apologies, Your Majesty.”

“What do you have to be sorry for? It’s they who are at fault.” The Empress Dowager clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Isn’t Childe’s trial scheduled for next week?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Berenice, who was sharing tea with the Empress Dowager, answered. “He will be severely punished not only for slandering the Duchess but also for tarnishing the imperial family’s honor.”

“It’s all his own doing,” Norah added, with a tone of satisfaction, as she had been concerned about Eleanor’s reputation being damaged by Childe.

As she listened to their conversation, Eleanor glanced at Brianna, who was seated across from her. By now, Brianna would usually have chimed in with a sharp comment, but today, she remained unusually silent. Countess Lorentz, who was nibbling on a biscuit beside her, also noticed Brianna’s quiet demeanor.

“Your Majesty, I have a request,” Eleanor said cautiously after some contemplation. “May I visit Lord Childe?”

“You?” The eyes of everyone gathered immediately turned to her. The Empress Dowager hesitated for a moment. “Well, I doubt you’ll gain anything from it.”

After Eleanor’s last visit, Berenice had gone to see Childe again, but it had been fruitless. Childe truly seemed to know nothing. It would be far more productive to interrogate one of the people connected to Eros that the Emperor was secretly investigating. Although the Empress Dowager was skeptical about the visit, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse Eleanor’s request.

“Hmm, very well. If you feel strongly about it, go ahead.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Is there a reason you wish to see Lord Childe?” Countess Lorentz asked with curiosity after the Empress Dowager granted her permission.

Eleanor sensed the subtle disdain in Countess Lorentz’s gaze. After a brief pause, she answered offhandedly, “I just want to offer him some comfort.”

“Comfort?” Countess Lorentz scoffed, incredulous. “What reason do you have to comfort a man who caused such a scandal involving you?” she asked in a reprimanding tone.

Eleanor didn’t feel the need to respond to her and simply continued sipping her tea, ignoring the comment. The conversation among the ladies-in-waiting resumed. After a while, when the Empress Dowager suddenly remembered something important, she lightly slapped her forehead.

“Oh, my! How could I forget these days?”

“What is it, Your Majesty?”

“Eleanor, there’s something I’d like you to take on.”

“Please, command me, Your Majesty.”

“Do you remember the slum you visited last time? Hadum?”

Eleanor nodded. “Yes, I remember.”

“I’d like you to oversee the preliminary research for a new poverty relief project we’re starting.”

“Me?”

It wasn’t just Eleanor who was surprised; all the ladies-in-waiting, except Berenice, made strange noises of disbelief. The Empress Dowager, still smiling, continued her explanation, “The relief method you mentioned before received a favorable response at the noble council. We can’t keep draining the national treasury indefinitely, so your idea, with its long-term perspective, was something everyone could agree on.”

“Ah…”

“And so, I strongly recommended you as the chief overseer of the project.”

Naturally, there was considerable opposition. The first reason was that many questioned how a woman could be placed in charge of such an important project. The second reason was her Hartmann lineage, which was another point of contention.

The Empress Dowager’s firm stance met resistance from both Ernst and Duke Nestor, which caused tension in the council chamber. Once again, it was the Emperor who mediated between them.

“How about we first assign her the task of conducting a thorough investigation before the policy is implemented? We can decide whether to assign her the project based on the results.”

Despite the loud opposition, there were a few murmurs of support from those who had begun to speak positively about the Duchess of Mecklen, especially among the nobles who had seen her in a favorable light at the debutante ball. After a fierce debate, the Empress Dowager emerged victorious.

“Do you think you can do it?”

“…Thank you. I will do it.”

There was no reason to refuse. Success here would bring her one step closer to her goal. The Empress Dowager smiled warmly at the determined Eleanor.

‘My goodness. Does she really intend to return to that filthy place?’ Brianna thought silently to herself as she listened to their conversation.

Unlike the others, who had never been there, Brianna was well aware of how dirty the slums were. Just thinking about the mysterious soup she encountered there still made her stomach churn. She had thrown away the cream-colored dress she wore that day as soon as she returned.

Just then, the Empress Dowager called out to Brianna.

“Brianna.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“You should go with her.”

“Pardon…?” It felt like a loud crash resounded in Brianna’s head, though no glass had actually shattered. The sound was purely in her mind.

“It will be a good opportunity for you as well. Go with Eleanor,” the Empress Dowager said with a smile, oblivious to Brianna’s inner turmoil.

‘Go back there…?’ Brianna barely managed to swallow the curse that almost escaped her lips. Her pale cheeks trembled slightly.

“Use this time to build a strong rapport. You two seem to get along well, but sometimes you behave like rivals.”

It was like pouring fuel on the fire. For the first time, Brianna saw the Empress Dowager’s usual composed demeanor as sly. Her mother’s words came to mind:

“You can never truly know what’s going on in the Empress Dowager’s mind.”

‘How true that is.’

Eleanor shared similar thoughts. She wanted to argue against the notion that they got along well, but both she and Brianna remained silent, unsure of what else the smiling Empress Dowager might say.

***