Duchess Mecklen’s Elegant Revolt - Chapter 30 Part 4

He, too, was holding a glass of wine, just like Eleanor.

However, he wasn’t drinking it.

As Eleanor’s gaze moved upward from the bottle of wine he had purchased at the auction, she met Ernst’s ambiguous expression.

“Have you had a lot to drink?”

“No.”

She answered briefly while continuing to observe Ernst’s mood.

What was his intention in speaking to her first?

Before she realized it, they had drawn close enough that if she reached out, she could touch his face.

“Did you plan this party yourself?”

“I did, but I received a lot of help from others.”

Eleanor answered honestly.

“His Majesty assisted me greatly. From the initial planning to structuring the business framework and overseeing its execution, he guided me through each step, so I didn’t face many difficulties.”

At that, Ernst’s eyes narrowed noticeably.

“It’s always about His Majesty now.”

“……”

“Do you like him that much?”

At the continued questioning, Eleanor’s lips stiffened slightly.

However, she did not hesitate for long.

“Yes.”

Very much so.

This time, Ernst’s expression turned grim.

That was not the answer he had expected.

A powerful sense of defeat, one he had never felt before—not even when he signed the divorce papers—crashed over him.

“…So, you were won over just because he supports whatever you want to do.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Eleanor tilted her chin upward in confusion, but no further words came.

Instead, Ernst tightened his grip on the wine bottle he was holding.

“Does what you said before still hold?”

“……?”

“The secret my mother has been hiding all this time.”

Eleanor instinctively felt that the time had come to open Pandora’s box.

She had resolved to tell Ernst everything, but now that the moment was upon her, a slight doubt crept in.

She was unsure what decision Ernst would make.

“I’m listening now.”

Even so, she had to decide now.

Once all the nobles involved with the Balkan Trading Company were summoned, she would have no more opportunities to speak with Ernst.

Eleanor looked around.

Even now, nobles eager to speak with her surrounded her.

They observed her tense interaction with her former husband, the Duke of Mecklen, with eyes brimming with curiosity.

Feeling that this was not the right place, Eleanor downed the remaining half-full glass of wine in a single gulp.

“Let’s go out to the terrace.”

***

Lambert Harbor was a mid-tier journalist at Fox.

However, while he may have been an intimidating senior at Fox, at the moment, he looked completely out of place, like a fish out of water.

Huddled in a corner, observing the party, Lambert shook his head inwardly.

‘As expected, nobles are something else.’

They casually threw around thousands of gold at the auction while joking about bankruptcy, as if the term meant nothing.

People like him, commoners, couldn’t even dream of making such generous donations.

As the auction neared its final stages, the party atmosphere reached its peak.

Lambert, silently sipping his wine, glanced down at his attire.

“…Even when I try to dress up, it’s useless.”

No matter how much effort he put in, his clothing still looked out of place in this setting.

He tried smoothing out the creases in his vest, but it was futile.

It wasn’t just his clothes.

Unlike the nobles twirling on the dance floor, their hair gleaming under the lights, Lambert’s brown hair looked dull and unkempt.

After struggling with his vest’s wrinkles for a moment, he gave up.

“Ha, as if someone like me could ever fit in.”

Socializing with nobles was an impossible dream.

He had to face reality.

Though he had been lucky enough to receive an invitation from Director Eleanor, he was nothing more than an uninvited guest in this world.

“Might as well drink.”

‘At least Director Eleanor said I could drink as much as I wanted. Surely, no noble will glare at me for that.’

Lambert recalled the morning interview.

It had been a short discussion about the charity party with Eleanor, a director from Hartmann whom he had only heard about in rumors.

Under the headline A New Wind in Noble Party Culture, Eleanor had eloquently explained the concept of a new donation culture.

“What aspect of this charity party do you particularly emphasize, Director?”

“Noblesse oblige. Nobles are born into privilege. I believe that privilege comes with ethical responsibilities. That’s why making donations for the less fortunate is an honorable duty for nobles.”

“That’s an admirable sentiment.”

“However, I don’t want to force this culture upon anyone. Ironically, I hope that everyone’s happiness will come from voluntary participation.”

‘Graceful and dignified.’

Lambert smiled to himself as he recalled Eleanor’s calm, articulate manner as she spoke.

“When will I ever meet someone like that again?”

She was a person far beyond his reach.

Although he had met nobles before while covering scandals, only a few high-ranking nobles held central government positions, making them difficult to approach.

Yet, not only had he secured an interview with someone of her status, but she had also treated him with extraordinary generosity.

Despite opposition from Brianna of the Marquis of Liege, Director Eleanor had personally gifted Lambert an invitation to the party.

As the first commoner to ever attend a noble party, he knew he had to seize this rare opportunity—if only to drink as much fine wine as he could.

Just as he was eyeing the glasses carried by the attendants, ready to snatch one, an incident occurred.

“Oh no.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Lambert, in the midst of reaching for a new glass, suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and quickly apologized.

Technically, it wasn’t he who had bumped into someone—the other person had walked straight into him without watching where they were going.

However, perhaps due to the alcohol, or perhaps because he instinctively recognized the other person’s noble status, Lambert hurriedly bowed his head.

“I apologize if I offended you. I was careless and did not see where I was going. Please forgive me.”

Fortunately, the wine he had been holding hadn’t spilled on the other person.

The noble who had collided with Lambert glanced at him briefly before narrowing his eyes.

It was an expression of assessment.

Soon, after taking in Lambert’s appearance, the noble clicked his tongue in disapproval.

It was none other than Marquis Delph.

“You’re lucky.”

“……?”

“I’ll consider your apology received.”

A commoner not only dared to attend a noble’s party but also blocked his path.

Under normal circumstances, Marquis Delph would not have let this slide.

However, he was in a hurry.

He had to follow Duke Mecklen and Eleanor, who had disappeared mid-conversation.

Marquis Delph had been keeping an eye on Duke Mecklen, quickly sensing that the two intended to have a serious discussion and deciding to trail them.

‘I can’t lose them.’

Fortunately, he caught sight of the hem of Eleanor’s dress in the distance.

Today, she was wearing an enchanting dress that resembled a rose.

Marquis Delph brushed past Lambert in an instant.

By the time Lambert, who had been bowing his head, finally looked up, Marquis Delph had already blended into the crowd.

“What was that?”

Lambert, who had been observing Marquis Delph closely, let out a loud hiccup.

It was an involuntary reaction to his sudden shock.

Even as he struggled to suppress the hiccups, he didn’t take his eyes off the marquis.

‘Something feels odd.’

Twelve years as a journalist.

Sometimes, intuition took precedence over logic.

A noble who should have been angry for being obstructed by a commoner wasn’t just forgiving but seemed rushed, as if he was chasing after something.

“Is something about to happen?”

With another loud hiccup, Lambert’s eyes gleamed with curiosity.

***

Eleanor, having stepped onto the terrace, did not refuse the wine offered by Ernst.

As soon as she finished one glass, another was poured immediately.

Having barely touched alcohol in Hartmann, she had never consumed this much before, yet, surprisingly, it went down smoothly.

“The wine is quite good.”

Ernst silently emptied his own glass without responding.

The wine he had purchased at the auction was gone in no time.

He then ordered a new bottle from a servant standing near the terrace.

“Aren’t you drinking too much?”

“This much is nothing.”

Despite his expression looking as if he might explode at any moment, he held himself back.

It didn’t seem like he was uncomfortable with the setting.

While Ernst drank steadily, Eleanor’s pace slowed significantly compared to before.

“Who knows how much she has deceived us.”

Would Ernst be able to abandon Caroline?

“Soon, the palace will summon your mother.”

“Why?”

“Because she ran an illegal trading company.”

Surprisingly, Ernst did not react much.

The slight movement of his eyebrows was all.

“Do you know about East Harlem?”

“…A little.”

“She has acquired various things from the East Harlem auction house. Art forgeries are common, but there were also poisonous herbs and narcotics whose purpose remains unknown. In addition, there were cases of embezzlement, cover-ups of murder, and inappropriate relations with underground merchants.”

And, of course, slaves secretly purchased.

Eleanor laid out everything she had seen and heard within the Mecklen household.

“But to be frank, there is no definitive evidence yet.”

It was all based on memories from her past life, and even then, she had only known bits and pieces.

“That’s why I didn’t tell you sooner. Even if I did, I wasn’t sure you would believe me. I couldn’t ask you to trust me without tangible proof.”

“Does that apply to the existence of another son as well?”

Eleanor silently nodded.

She was beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol.

However, her hand did not stop moving.

As she emptied another glass, Ernst, who had been watching quietly, spoke, “I haven’t seen my mother since then.”

Once her glass was empty, Ernst filled it again.

“More precisely, I haven’t been able to see her.”

“Because you’ve been busy?”

“No.”

When Ernst suddenly stopped speaking, the surrounding air became eerily silent.

The weight of his words settled heavily upon Eleanor.

“If not for my mother, would you have remained in my family?”

“……!”

Through the haze of intoxication, his unexpected words pierced straight through her.

Even if spoken under the influence of alcohol, the weight of them was immense.

Eleanor unconsciously clenched the tablecloth.

“Then maybe I would have been different, too.”

“In what way?”

“At the very least, it wouldn’t have ended in such a filthy manner.”

“Filthy… manner?”

“I wouldn’t have wasted my days thinking about someone who doesn’t even acknowledge me.”

For a moment, her head spun.

She wanted to focus on the conversation, but her previously unknown alcohol tolerance was failing her.

As Eleanor emptied yet another glass, her vision gradually blurred.

‘I can’t keep going like this.’

Ernst once again reached out to fill her glass.

It felt as though he was waiting for some kind of answer from her.

Fearing she would be caught in his pace, Eleanor quickly grabbed a fan instead of the wine glass.

The fan nearly slipped from her grasp several times.

“Aren’t you cold?”

“Not at all. It’s actually quite hot. It feels like summer already.”

Considering it was only the beginning of spring, her remark was clearly an exaggeration.

However, Eleanor did not stop fanning herself vigorously.

What would she do if she made a mistake or even passed out in front of Ernst?

‘Why did I drink so much?’

Although she had finished explaining, Ernst showed no intention of ending the conversation.

‘Come to think of it, something feels off.’

She had expected him to react strongly upon hearing Caroline’s secrets, or at the very least, show some kind of distinct response.

Although he had always been a composed person who rarely displayed emotions…

Was this truly a situation he could accept so indifferently?

Even through her hazy mind, Eleanor pieced together her growing suspicions.

“Lately, I’ve been having dreams.”

“Dreams?”

“In the dream… you are on the guillotine, accused of murdering my mother.”