The Virtually Exiled Duke’s Daughter Is Troubled When Her Fiancé in a Neighboring Country Says, "I Will Never Love You" - Episode 26

“Good morning, Lady Deborah!”

“Good morning, Shelly.”

When the maid Shelly entered the room, Deborah had already dressed herself in a simple one-piece dress and was sitting in front of the mirror, brushing her hair. It was a familiar sight by now.

“Shall we try a slightly different way of tying your hair today?”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yes. You’ve already learned the method I taught you before. That is, if you’d like to learn a new way.”

“Of course, I want to know! Please teach me!”

“Ah!”

“?”

“Lady Deborah, just now, when you said ‘please teach me,’ you had that polite smile again.”

Shelly gave a wry smile, and Deborah lowered her gray eyes awkwardly, saying, “Oh my.”

She had told Lady Lauren and Shelly what Marquis Sisley and the gardener had pointed out to her the other day.

“I’ll try to stop using my polite smile as much as possible from now on,” she had declared. But it wasn’t easy to change old habits. And today, she had failed again.

“It really is a habit when you’re asking for something, isn’t it?”

“It’s not such a bad thing, though. Instead of forcing yourself to stop, maybe you should focus on not going expressionless right after.”

“Yes… I do understand that, but…”

Deborah looked into the mirror. A red-haired woman with a stiff expression stared back at her. She let out a small sigh.

After finishing her preparations while learning a new way to tie her hair from Shelly, Deborah headed to the dining hall for breakfast. By the time she took her seat, Marquis Sisley arrived.

“Good morning, Lady Deborah.”

“Good morning, Marquis.”

As always, the marquis greeted her with a gentle smile. Seeing that, Deborah allowed a faint smile to appear on her lips, but soon, her gray eyes returned to looking like lifeless glass beads.

“…Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

She said that and forced a smile, but her heart was conflicted.

Just now, she had realized how comforting she found the marquis’s kindness… and then she thought, if only my father and brothers were like him, breakfast every morning would have been so much more pleasant…

After spending time in the warm atmosphere of the marquis’s household, she couldn’t help but compare it to the stark contrast of the Mauzy Ducal family. And she felt envious.

(But I can never be a part of this family…)

Her marriage to the marquis was a marriage in name only. And on top of that, she was hiding the truth—that she had no real value as a hostage. Because of that, she felt guilty.

She could never truly be part of the marquis’s family or his household. That reality chilled her heart, and once again, her expression hardened into something cold.

Ahem.

A small, refined cough pulled her out of her thoughts.

When she turned to look, Lady Lauren was watching her. Next to her, Ashley wasn’t even trying to hide his puzzled expression.

“Did I… do it again?”

“Fufu, yes. You smiled politely, then went completely expressionless.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Well, it’s not something you can fix overnight. Take your time. Oh, that reminds me—Swallow will be coming this afternoon, so you might want to talk to him about it.”

“Who is that?”

“He’s the former head butler who has supported this household since the previous marquis’s time. Though he’s retired now, I’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning, so I asked him to watch over things in my absence. You can rely on him for anything.”

“Understood.”

“Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry, but while I’m away, I need you to stay in your room as much as possible. It may feel restrictive, but it’ll only be for about a week until I return from the capital.”

“I understand…”

“It will also be difficult for you to take walks in the garden, so you should enjoy it as much as you can today.”

“Yes.”

Following the marquis’s advice, Deborah went for a walk in the garden.

Lady Lauren was busy preparing for the marquis’s absence, so Shelly accompanied her today.

“Hmm…?”

Deborah murmured as she noticed a young boy walking toward them from the main gate, carrying a package even larger than his head.

“Who is that boy?”

“Oh, that’s Tom. He works at the butcher’s shop, delivering meat to the customers.”

“Such a small child…?”

He looked no older than nine, maybe eleven at the most.

Of course, Deborah was aware that there were children in such situations. She had seen children working in her duchy and had even visited the orphanages run by the Mauzy Ducal family.

This wasn’t a new sight to her.

Yet, looking at him still filled her with indescribable feelings.

Perhaps it was because, in Mammut Kingdom, she had devoted herself to assisting the prince and preparing to become a future queen—someone who could help save as many poor children as possible.

“He’s a hardworking boy! He never makes mist—”

Shelly was just about to finish her sentence when—

“Ah!!”

Right at that moment, Tom, whose vision was blocked by the large package, tripped over a small stone step in the garden path and fell.

The package slipped from his arms, spinning through the air.

The cloth wrapping the meat caught the air and fluttered open, completely unwrapping mid-air.

With a thud, bounce, bounce… sound, the whole, raw chicken rolled across the ground, completely exposed.

“Ah! Oh no…”

The boy scrambled to his feet, ignoring the bl00d on his scraped knees, and ran to the fallen chicken.

His face turned pale as he stared at the dirt-covered meat. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he bit his lip and held them back.

Shelly hurried over to him.

“Are you okay, Tom?”

“Shelly… what do I do…? The meat…”

“Your injury is more important than the meat. Let’s treat your wound first.”

They both turned toward the voice—Deborah had approached them and was pulling a handkerchief from her pocket.

“Use this.”

It was a fine, white silk handkerchief with delicate embroidery.

Seeing such a luxurious item, Tom’s face turned even paler, and Shelly quickly shook her head.

“That’s far too valuable! Use my handkerchief instead—”

“But then you’d be left without one, wouldn’t you? I have plenty, so don’t worry about it.”

The two hesitated at first, but in the end, Deborah’s polite smile won them over.

They went to the garden’s well, washed the wound with clean water, and wrapped it with Deborah’s handkerchief.

“Why not wash the meat too? That should solve the problem.”

“Huh!?”

“After all, Peter washes onions to remove the dirt.”

Deborah’s suggestion left both Shelly and Tom standing there with their mouths open.

It was something completely unthinkable for someone of noble birth—especially a former duke’s daughter.

Of course, Deborah herself only saw this as practice…

(If I get thrown out of the marquis’s house in the future, I might have to eat food with dirt on it. In that case, I should learn to wash it properly!)

This was, in her own way, a very practical and logical solution.