SGC 32

CHAPTER 32

Translator: Rae

₊˚ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚

Rozella quietly tightened her grip on the teacup. To address a married woman by her maiden name was a classic form of insult.

It was also a blunt declaration that they had no intention of acknowledging her as the Duchess. 

“Ah, come to think of it, Miss Everett has never formally entered society, has she?”

Before Rozella could even correct the title, another noblewoman seated nearby joined in. She was a lady of refined bearing, with faint lines at the corners of her eyes.

In a tone so composed and dignified, the noblewoman willingly lent herself to the task of insulting Rozella.

“Please don’t concern yourself. Everyone knows that Miss Everett is of common birth, so they will surely forgive a few shortcomings with generosity.”

Her tone was that of someone bestowing favor upon her subordinates.

“If you have any difficulty, do come to me. Ignorance is nothing to be ashamed of.”

Rozella swallowed a deep sigh. She found herself wishing that she had never become so familiar with the language of nobles.

Had that been the case, she might not have recognized every single word they spoke as an insult.

“Thank you, madam. But there is no need for you to become my teacher.”

Steeling herself, Rozella lifted the corners of her lips into a clear smile. She knew well that the more flustered or frozen she became, the more neatly she would be giving them the reaction they wanted.

“If I am lacking in anything, the Duke will naturally appoint a tutor for me. The ducal house is not lacking in capable people.”

A look of keen amusement flickered across the wrinkled face of the noblewoman.

“My, it seems I worried unnecessarily. Surely the Duke would take good care of his lovely bride.”

Wearing a smile of false regret, the noblewoman lifted her steaming darsrine tea to her lips. Her eyes narrowed as though looking down upon Rozella.

“The truth is, we have all been rather concerned for Miss Everett. Unfortunately, certain unpleasant misunderstandings have arisen in society of late.”

Natalie’s eyes gleamed faintly, as if to say that only now were they arriving at the true heart of what they wished to say.

“Most of them are rumors concerning Miss Everett’s mother, rumors so dreadful they are scarcely fit to be spoken aloud.”

Yes, she had expected that this topic would inevitably arise today. Biting the inside of her lip without letting it show, Rozella endured their solicitous insults.

“It pains us to raise such matters ourselves. But then, some vulgar newspaper…”

Natalie shook her head as though even continuing was distasteful. At that, the noblewoman who had set down her teacup signaled with her eyes to a maid waiting at a distance.

Soon the maid brought over a thin magazine and placed it on the table. On one open page was an illustration depicting the face of Catherine Everett.

Beneath it, the prose recounting Catherine’s “past” was plastered with every sensational word imaginable.

Phrases such as “prostitute,” “filthy birth,” and “daughter born in a brothel” made Rozella’s fingertips go cold.

“How anyone could write such coarse and vulgar things, I truly cannot imagine.”

“We felt Miss Everett ought to know, so we had no choice but to prepare it.”

Then the younger noblewoman added further detail to the vicious claims printed in the magazine.

“These malicious rumors have spread far beyond society and throughout the capital itself. Some even claim that Miss Everett’s mother concealed her origins and deliberately approached the Duke.”

Compared to the rumors they uttered so easily beneath expressions of feigned horror, being called the witch who devoured the Duke was almost honorable.

Rozella swallowed down the tangle of emotions boiling up to her throat without a sound.

Catherine had unquestionably been the chief culprit, committing one immoral act after another until she drove the Duchess to her death. Rozella had not the slightest intention of denying her sins.

But that did not make the malicious rumors they spread into truth.

“We worry that such rumors may affect Miss Everett as she makes her entrance into society. Would you kindly use this occasion to set those misunderstandings right?”

The noblewomen, cloaked in faces of sympathy, tilted their heads toward the silent Rozella.

“What sort of woman was Miss Everett’s mother, truly?”

Rozella lifted her long lashes and met the noblewomen’s gazes steadily. She could feel her fingertips turning cold, but at the very least her golden eyes, raised straight and clear, remained calm.

At the academy, Rozella Everett had always been an outsider, a kind of anomaly. The reason they excluded her had been perfectly clear. Difference in birth.

But that had never truly been a problem for Rozella. Birth was merely something decided from the moment one came into the world. It was no one’s fault.

 

If one had done no wrong, then there was no reason not to stand tall. That conviction had been one of the reasons Rozella had endured the hardships of academy life.

“My mother was a maid who had long served in the ducal house.”

They had likely known from the beginning that the rumors were false. Even so, they had started with those slanders for one reason only: to hear the “clarification” directly from Rozella’s own lips.

They wanted her to say it herself, that Catherine had been a maid in the ducal house, and that Rozella was nothing more than the daughter of a lowly servant.

“My heavens, how tragic!”

“To think they would spread lies calling you the daughter of a harlot, lowborn though you may be! How you must have suffered all this while.”

Natalie and the noblewoman clutched at their chests in noisy outrage. As a result, the attention of those who had been conversing in their own seats turned completely toward them.

Now everyone was waiting for Rozella to speak again. Even Vanessa, who had pretended no interest in the conversation, was now watching her closely, the corners of her mouth beginning to curl.

Defying their expectations, Rozella began in a steady voice.

“I am grateful for your concern, but I consider it fortunate that I have at least been given the chance to clear away this misunderstanding here.”

Then, just as she had done whenever she felt shame or humiliation at the academy, she lifted her chin and kept her eyes straight ahead.

“My childhood was a warm and fortunate one. The late Duke was always kind even to me, the daughter of a maid, and he never withheld his support.”

The target of their insults was Rozella and Catherine, not the ducal house.

And so, in this moment, Rozella had no choice but to invoke the name of the ducal house.

“It was by the grace of the late Duke that I was able to become a member of the Oblite Academy.”

As Rozella continued speaking with calm composure, the reactions of the noblewomen gradually subsided. They hesitated, wary that any misstep might be seen as an affront to the ducal house.

Toward those noblewomen, Rozella offered a small yet unmistakable smile. Having chosen of her own will to stand here, she would not allow Edmund to be disgraced.

“As you all well know, Oblite is a distinguished institution founded upon the ideal of noble honor. Without the ducal house, would I ever have dared to enter such a place?”

As though moved by the memory, Rozella continued speaking and lifted her now cold teacup to take a sip. The darsrine tea, fragrant and refreshing, held a peculiar charm even after it had cooled.

“Is there anyone here who is also from Oblite?”

She looked around as if sincerely curious, and among them, some frowned as though struck, while others averted their gaze.

It could hardly be otherwise. As the most venerable academy in the kingdom’s history, there was no noble present who had not passed through Oblite. Rozella lowered her brows with a look of quiet concern.

“It would be most unfortunate. If the malicious rumors surrounding me were to spread as though they were truth, the honor of Oblite would soon be tarnished.”

“...”

“It would lose all trust as an institution, accused of failing to properly examine such an immoral lineage.”

The women did not speak at once and exchanged glances instead. Even Vanessa did not step forward rashly, merely biting her lip as she stared at Rozella with piercing amethyst eyes.

“Indeed. Oblite is not a place just anyone may enter. Regardless of birth, all must undergo strict examination.” 

It was the very noblewoman who had been attacking Rozella all along who brought the exchange to an end. The ease with which she resumed a gentle smile, as though nothing had happened, was almost worthy of admiration.

“Miss Everett, do not concern yourself with the misunderstandings spreading through society. We shall do our utmost to help drag them down.”

As the noblewoman spoke with an affable expression, Vanessa finally composed herself and added gracefully, though her smile was forced.

“Indeed, this is our shared duty. When a person’s honor is at stake, we cannot simply stand by and watch.”

Though she spoke thus, it was with the air of someone grinding her teeth. Meeting Vanessa’s gaze, Rozella placed a hand lightly over her chest and bowed her head.

“I sincerely thank Your Highness for your thoughtful words.”

With their attempt to attack Rozella using Catherine as a pretext having failed, the conversation seemed to settle for a moment.

Soon, the women returned to their own private topics as though they had never spoken to Rozella at all. Natalie and the noblewoman seated at her table no longer addressed her either.

In truth, being treated as though she were invisible was easier to bear. Though Rozella felt a small measure of relief, a single intuition quickly took hold of her mind.

This was nothing more than the prelude to all the trials yet to come.

*** 

As she rode in the carriage leaving the palace, Rozella drew forth a memory from long ago.

The day she met Catherine had been spring, exactly one year after her grandfather passed away.

The monastery where Rozella had come to stay at last, after drifting from one relative’s house to another, was filled with pale wildflowers in bloom.

On that day, a woman more beautiful than any wildflower came to the monastery.

The woman found Rozella at once among the many children, and Rozella, too, instinctively knew who she was.

They resembled one another so closely that even a stranger could have seen it at a glance.

***

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