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Chapter 3




Mrs. Blennon stared blankly at Erin and snorted.
“Dismissal? Lady Erin, on her own? You’re not a Duchess anymore.”
“Yes, I’ m not  the Duchess anymore. But I haven’t lost everything yet.”
Erin opened the drawer and took out a small silver box.
“The Duchess seal, it’s still in my hands.”
It was a square box as big as the bottom of a hand made of silver-blue jewelry.
The blue box was coiled with white flowers.
The petals of the holy water embossed with white jade shimmered in the morning light.
Mrs. Blennon was startled.
She’s been working as an maidin the palace, and she knew exactly what it was.
This was a storage box containing the Empress’s seal.
Just as the emperor stamped a document containing national events with the emperor’s seal, the imperial palace’s work is handled with the seal of the empress.
“Maybe it’s the last thing I’m going to do. You know, firing you.”
Erin said calmly, as if for granted.
“But you got it because you were the Duchess! You’re no longer the Duke’s wife

!”
“It doesn’t matter that If I am  the Duchess, but the Emperor himself entrusted it to me. It’s not what the Duchess would have if it were to be it. It’s the seal of the Empress.”
Erin laid down the Empress ‘s seal on the table and struck with ease.
“But the Emperor ordered me to take care of the Imperial Palace while leaving the seal to the Empress. Your Majesty is not in the capital right now, so the order is still

It’s valid.”
The empress died a long time ago, and the Crown Princess, the mother of Raymond , also died of labor.
Thanks to this, Erin was officially the highest woman in the palace.
The emperor had Erin take care of the palace, leaving the seal of the empress.
In the meantime, I have been in charge of living in the palace, but I have never done what I wanted to do because I have always been wary of people around me.
But not anymore.
“So from this moment on, you’re fired. Get out of the palace right now.”
Shocked on Mrs. Blennn’s face, but the surprise soon turned into a clear laugh
“So you’re gonna fire me? Do you think you’ll be safe if you do something like that without any power? If the new Duchess comes here anyway, I’ll be reinstated.”
“Yes, when the new Duchess comes in, you may be reinstated. But when will that be? Three months? Four months?”
Maybe the new Duchess won’t be able to come in for years.
I didn’t know how the Emperor would react to the situation, who had not yet heard of the Duchess’ divorce.
“It’ll take a long time to get  the permission to marry. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to come to the palace until then.”
Then you’ll be unemployed for years.
Erin’s grave answer contained such sarcastic remarks.
Only then did Mrs. Blennon, who grasped the situation, look astonished.
“Hey, hey, lady Erin
! “
“Mrs. Blennon.”
Mrs. Blennon was once again surprised by the stern voice that spoke firmly.
Erin was pale and thin, but all over her fragile body, but a moment of vividness and intense pressure came from the whole fragile body.
As Mrs. Blennon knows, Erin has lived as a mistress of the imperial palace for nine years, but she has always been quiet and timid.
Never before she has revealed such a determined dignity.
Erin spoke in a dignified manner.
“And now that I’m divorced from the Duke, I’m not Duchess Erin, I’m the lady of, the Marquis of Brecia. On what grounds do you, the wife of a merchant , offer me?”
It was an irrefutable right remark.
The Empire did not recognize the succession of women, so even if her father died, Erin could not be the marquis.
However, it does not change that she is the heir of the marquis and the young lady of the family.
Although it was  a ruined family, the marquis was still marquis. The rank of the knight is different.
“This, this

.”
There is nothing to refute.
Mrs. Brennan was unable to control his anger and trembled.
She couldn’t do anything more, but she wanted to strangle Erin.
Of course, she couldn’t scratch Erin because she couldn’t get angry anymore.
As Erin said, Erin was the young lady of the marquis, and she was just a wife of a simple merchant.
After failing to vent her anger at Erin, Mrs. Blennon looked for a more easy-going anger-pulling partner with hateful eyes.
Melly, who was watching all this from one side.
“You! I’ll see  when I come back!”
“You don’t have to wait and see. Cause she’s coming with me.”
“Yes, yes?”
Melie, who had a bewildered look on her face, was startled at the words.
“Melly, come with me. I’m thinking of running a dessert cafe. I want you to work with me.”
When I said this to Raymond, the duke who was my husband, his face was worth seeing.
I’ve never seen that handsome duke look so stupid.
The expressions of the two people here now were no different from him.
Erin smiled at them.
“Because you will in charge of coffee and tea and doing chores, it will be harder than working here, but instead, I’ll give you twice as much as I get here.”
Originally, to save money, Erin herself wanted to learn more about making coffee and brewing tea.
‘But it would be okay to hire at least one employee.’
Melly made really good coffee and tea. Not to mention his ability to work in the palace.
“What do you say?”
Melly’s cute face was in full bloom.
“Yes, Erin! I’ll work hard!”
Anyway, Melly had been indispensable to Mrs. Blennon’s attention because of Erin.
If you leave her here, she may be avenged by this woman later.
And anyway, I would need an employee later, so it would be better for someone that I know.
When Melie asked me to take her with her, I was embarrassed to refuse, but it’s better for me.
“I’ll leave you alone, then. Mrs. Blennon”
Erin walked past Mrs. Blennon, standing at a distance, and went out the door. Melly followed with a smile.
Just before the door closed, Mrs. Blennon was heard pouring curses at this side.
“Ha! You, you’ll never come back here again
”
This time it was Erin’s turn to laugh.
“I don’t wish to come again.”
*   *   *
Sitting in the Oval Office, Raymond looked out the window and was lost in thought.
The sun was sinking as I worked so hard that the afternoon sky over the glass window was light gray.
Raymond looked at the cloudy sky and recalled his first encounter with Erin. 1
The day we met formally in the palace garden.
Erin, who has light platinum hair and green eyes, was embarrassed by her blushing face in a glamorous pink dress that didn’t even fit her.
“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Your Highness, this is Erin.”
In fact, Erin didn’t do much wrong or do anything to be hated.
Erin looked up at Raymond as if she couldn’t believe the luck she had had since she first met.
She quickly came to her senses and acted gracefully as she was educated, but Raymond still seemed she like an innocent girl who knew nothing about the world.
Even though he went out with hostility to his faceless fiancée, the first impression that Raymond received from her fiancee,
It was “cute.”
There is some regret left when I think about that time.
‘

I could have been nice to you if only you had known  the emperor forced me .’
The emperor ignored Raymond’s opinion and brought Erin to the palace as his fiancee.
“You can’t be the daughter of an emerging aristocrat with nothing but wealth. Marry the daughter of a prestigious Marquis family.”
That was the emperor’s order.
Raymond , felt anger and mortification at his grandfather’s behavior.
But Raymond was only 19 years old at the time. He couldn’t beat his grandfather, the owner of the empire.
After a few clashes Raymond eventually promised to obey the emperor’s orders.
One year later, Raymond married Erin, posing as a friendly person as the emperor wanted.
Instead, he only kept his promise to “marry.”
Raymond left Erin on the first night without hesitation and went outside.
After that, he never visited the Duchess’s bedroom, but Erin did not complain and remained silent in her duty.
However, the woman, who had been ignoring and being abused for nine years, suddenly changed her mind when Raymond pushed the divorce papers.