Just two weeks. It had only been two weeks since Elysia began purchasing dresses.

Initially, she thought it would take much longer to acquire every color. However, rumors proved to be frightening. After word spread that Grand Duchess Raphael was hoarding dresses, every boutique started competing to supply her needs.

As a result, she managed to purchase every color in such a short time.

It was quicker than she anticipated, but she didn’t expect Damon to remain silent during these two weeks. She thought he would stop her or take some action before.

“What’s the matter?”

Elysia had no choice but to act even more shamelessly.

After all, initiating a divorce with him on her own terms was impossible. For reasons unknown, Damon wasn’t willing to let her go, so she decided to force his hand. Luxury was always defined by the standards of others. If she made it known throughout the Capital, he could no longer turn a blind eye.

“The budget has already been increased twice.”

She purposely paid a premium while buying the dresses, about 1.5 times the original price. Money was always meant to be spent like water. Initially, she wondered how to spend such an amount, but over time, she became numb to it.

Even after increasing the budget twice, she felt little excitement.

No, to correct that, she was actually quite nervous inside, though there was no helping it. It was terrifying. Every time in her dreams, Sierra and Damon would charge at her. Ever since Sierra became the successor, Elysia hadn’t been herself.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, there’s no problem at all.”

Elysia bit the inside of her cheek at the response. She wondered how much more it would take for it to become a problem, and she was getting tired. She questioned if she had to keep repeating this absurd behavior.

Who would wear all these dresses? It was pure extravagance.

Death, infidelity, extravagance.

Out of the three, the only thing she could resort to was extravagance. And if even this didn’t work, then the method would be…

“Today, you bought red dresses to the point where the dressing room is bursting.”

Although he seemed uninterested, he knew what she was buying.

It would have been strange if he didn’t. The rumor had already spread throughout the Capital. The Grand Duchess was buying dresses in every color of the rainbow. Elysia purposely stirred people up. If she had bought the dresses in a normal manner, the rumors wouldn’t have spread so quickly.

It was juicy gossip. Talks were even circling about the extravagance-obsessed Grand Duchess possibly facing divorce soon.

“Ha, well, there’s no such thing as the same red under the sky, right?”

After ensuring that the servants were around, Elysia uttered an absurd statement, ‘There’s no such thing as the same red under the sky.’ It was a phrase that was bound to stir up controversy. Even though she didn’t show it overtly, she noticed the atmosphere among the servants shift.

She deliberately chose words that were bound to cause a stir.

“….”

“Really, it’s not that all reds are the same…”

Damon didn’t respond to her words.

Elysia racked her brain for the best way to appear utterly frivolous. She drew inspiration from Angelina and Rowena, whom she had observed before, especially using the words she despised to show off an image of extravagance.

Tomorrow, a new rumor would undoubtedly spread. This wasn’t something Damon could stop even if he wanted to. Sometimes, gossip could be more captivating and powerful than life itself.

“I understand what the wife wants.”

What she wanted? The moment Damon referred to her as ‘the wife,’ Conrad came to her mind. He had said he would contact her if he got the information, but there had been no word from him yet, even though she had already paid a hefty advance.

“But, wife…”

“…Have you finally grown tired of my extravagance?”

A smile, impossible to conceal, crept onto her face at the thought of finally getting a divorce. However, he ruthlessly crushed that hope.

“You’re not planning to meet another man, are you?”

* * *

Elysia hadn’t expected Damon to remain oblivious, but she thought he wouldn’t be able to ignore the rumor. It had spread throughout the entire Capital. Being the Grand Duchess who was never truly accepted, this rumor was like throwing fuel onto an already simmering fire.

The original story never explained why he killed his wife. Yet, everyone accepted it because ‘Damon’ was a character capable of killing without reason.

“Why did he kill her…”

She didn’t try to fabricate a reason. To portray him as villainous, it was necessary to have him kill his wife, and she just went along with that. But she wasn’t the original author. She had only slightly modified a character created by a friend.

When she changed Damon’s settings, her friend didn’t accept everything.

Only the acceptable changes were done.

That implied there was a reason Damon would kill his wife… but she couldn’t guess what it could be. It was because him killing his wife was beyond the scope of the story. It was a part that didn’t need to be explicitly written.

Tap. Tap.

The sound of something tapping the window startled Elysia, and she abruptly stood up.

“What’s that?”

She scanned the window, but there was nothing visible, only the persistent sound, which was slightly unsettling.

This wasn’t the County but the iron-walled Grand Duchy. There could be no intruders. Still, the sound came from one particular window. The consistent tapping seemed almost like a signal urging her to open the window.

“…Conrad?”

When she had asked how he would contact her, Conrad smiled and assured her not to worry. The life of the information guild was secrecy. Such skill was to be expected from them, especially Conrad, whose identity remained concealed until the very end of the original story.

The Solar Guild had managed to stay unmentioned by anyone.

Upon opening the window, a black envelope with a sun emblem appeared, seemingly out of thin air.

“The sun?”

The only family officially permitted to use the sun symbol was the imperial family. Even for a guild operating in the shadows, using the sun was audacious, a borderline treasonous act.

[ The requested information has been gathered. ]

The message in white letters appeared on the back of the envelope and then vanished. Why were they delivering the information now? The request she had made was about the County and Edward. It was a relatively simple request and shouldn’t have taken this long.

“Madam.”

“Ah, what is it?”

Elysia swiftly hid the envelope behind her back as she heard someone outside the door.

“Your brother has come to see you.”

Her eyes widened at the mention of Edward. He had never visited or even contacted her before… and now, he chose this moment to come? In her hand was information about Edward, and outside stood the real Edward.

The door opened, and Edward entered.

“Sorry for visiting without contacting you first.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Caught in a dilemma, Elysia felt torn but ultimately chose to prioritize Edward. The documents could be read anytime, but she wasn’t sure when she would have another chance to meet Edward.

“I’ve been hearing some unbelievable rumors lately…”

While the person at the center of those rumors seemed fine, others were making a fuss. Realizing he came because of the rumors, Elysia relaxed a little.

“Did you come because of that?”

“Elysia, what are you thinking?”

“You said you’d come back, but it took you longer than expected.”

She should have read the documents first before meeting with Edward. But how could the timing be so impeccably coincidental…

“There were reasons. I know you must be shocked, but your current actions are risky.”

Why include infidelity and extravagance as grounds for divorce?

The Caesar Empire was sensitive to extravagance. Conversely, although the empire officially only recognized monogamous marriages, making it impossible even for the Emperor to replace the Empress, this principle applied to high-ranking nobles as well.

No matter how powerful or wealthy, it was difficult to replace a spouse once wed.

Hence, those two clauses were added. Compared to the act of murdering a spouse, fabricating evidence of extravagance and infidelity was far more convenient. In a world where photographs couldn’t capture evidence, concocting proof was all too easy.

“Why do you say it’s dangerous?”

“Do you really not understand?”

“It was Brother, who suggested I ran away.”

However, there was a problem.

Spouses accused of infidelity or extravagance often faced grim fates. Not just losing their positions but, in the worst cases, suffering bodily harm. This was especially true for influential individuals. The imperial family, in particular, not only dethroned the Empress but also vilified her as the villain of the era.

As the Grand Duchess, her fate wouldn’t be much different.

“That wasn’t what I meant.”

“It’s not much different, though.”

Facing Edward suddenly became uncomfortable for her now. Ridiculous assumptions in her mind began to surface incessantly.

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