Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3

It’s cold.

Chloe murmured to herself as she breathed over her freezing hands.

Snow was pouring outside the window.

White, flawless snowflakes piled up and covered the world like a serene blanket.

Chloe, who grew up in the warm South, was delighted when she first saw snow.

‘So much snow! I can’t believe it!’

She couldn’t believe that the snow she’d only read about in books was right in front of her.

’The other girls from the south won’t get to see this for the rest of their lives, will they? I’m so lucky!’

She used to run around the snowfield saying this.

But the joy she felt was extinguished in an instant. Chloe soon suffered from the severe cold of the North.

‘It’s cold.’

Chloe rushed to her feet and pulled on the shawl on her shoulders. As always, the fourth floor’s hallway was empty. No one at all came and went.

The servants didn’t come here except for when they brought her meals or when they served her. So there was no chance for anyone else to see her.

For Chloe, who didn’t get along with the other people in the estate, this was the butler’s consideration for her. But now that Chloe saw it, he wasn’t being considerate at all.

She was a young woman who came to the North alone with no one beside her.

In her head, she thought she’d be able to lead the servants and get close to them as the Marchioness, but she couldn’t do it because she was afraid.

In the South, people would come to her on their own even when she didn’t do anything.

It wasn’t like that here.

In the South, everyone treated her with a friendly smile, yet in this place, everyone was full of contempt.

She tried to talk to them a few times, but because they were feeble attempts, their conversations did not continue. There, a clear line of boundaries had been drawn between her and everyone else.

Naturally, a distance had been formed between them, and Chloe herself as well detached herself from them.

Eric might have been able to help her adapt well here if he had taken care of her, but he was a heartless husband who never returned home for months on end. He never even looked for her.

And so, Chloe was completely isolated.

It had been five years.

‘What if I had gotten attached to this place? Even if Eric didn’t love me, the people in the mansion could care for me and love me.’

If that had happened, she might not have made the same decision now.

Chloe thought this, but it was really just an idea.

She had already made up her mind, and she still had enough drive in her to put her thoughts into action.

‘I need to find the butler.’

She couldn’t find him on the third floor, so she had to go all the way back to the first floor hall.

Huu. She sighed as she rounded the corner.

“She’s sick again, isn’t she?”

At that moment, she heard a familiar voice. It was her personal maid.

Chloe reflexively hid herself even though she wasn’t at fault. Gasp. A cold breath came out.

“Of course. The Madam is always sick during winter.”

“Gosh, why is she so weak.”

“Well, that’s the appeal to southern women I guess.”

Sarcasm was evident in her voice. Chloe pursed her lips.

“She’s a noble lady. I’m sure she’s having a hard time in this humble place.”

“Hey! What are you talking about! I did everything she asked me to do! I set up a stove in every room because she felt cold, and every winter, I lugged around all that expensive fur and plastered it all on the walls of her room—but what? Huh?”

“Just think of the Madam’s family. Do you think a Duke’s precious youngest daughter would be satisfied with just that?”

“Ha! Did you mean a Duke drowning in debt? Who do you think is paying back all that money? If it weren’t for the Marquis, they’d have gone bankrupt, bankrupt! That’s all there is to it!”

She was right. Everything she said was right.

But Chloe wanted to defend herself. It really was cold. And it was painful. She couldn’t help it.

And the Duke’s debt was…

There was no excuse for it. Chloe dropped her gaze despondently.

“It would be better for them to just get divorced. They couldn’t even be called a husband and wife, now could they?”

“Lily, stop it. What will you do if someone hears?”

“But did I say anything wrong? We’re all thinking the same thing anyway! Milord isn’t even coming back to the estate because of her!”

She didn’t know that.

Chloe froze, forgetting how to breathe.

“That’s how bad their relationship is. It’s been five years, and there’s not even a sign of a successor.”

“It’s a problem, I know…”

“I heard about it. They’ve never slept together.”

“What?”

Even the maid who was trying to defend Chloe vaguely had asked back in a clearer voice.

“But then… What? Is Milord holding it in? Does that even make sense?”

“I don’t know. He might have a lover. Well, anyway. They don’t even hold hands. What kind of husband and wife is that? They’re worse than strangers.”

“That’s really amazing. I didn’t know it was that bad. Why isn’t she getting close to Milord?”

“Do you think I could understand how a noblewoman’s brain works? She never even tried to talk to us, did she? Gosh, it’s all so annoying.”

Their voices grew farther and farther away.

It could be that they’re walking away, or it could be that Chloe had fallen deaf to everything around her.