Petra took a deep breath.

Pedro Reese, that humble bastard… Had he made the wrong medicine, and decided to eat it all himself? Otherwise, how dare a lowly palace doctor, who’d abandoned his nobility, propose a marriage to the great dukedom?

Just because his daughter had caught Gareth’s attention, he dared to try and use this chance to make her the duchess? Petra laughed maniacally. What a stubborn man.

“That bastard… how dare he do this! I’m going to have him beaten, then kick him out. Then he’ll understand what he’s done.”

“Wife, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“What did you say?” Petra frowned at the Duke’s words. It wasn’t like him to stand up to her. Duke Liefer sighed, and grabbed her hand.

“There’s been a lot of talk about Gareth and Adrian after the princess’s coming-of-age. Most of the rumors claim that Gareth tried to rape Adrian, and only failed thanks to the intervention of their highnesses.”

“So? You can’t be implying that the heir of Liefer has to marry a commoner.”

“Wife, it’s true that there’s nothing wrong with a youngster who likes to play around with sex. But that’s only when all the facts are covered up well, and both sides hush up. But what happened in the imperial palace, with the crowd of guests watching, is different.

The Duke was sweating at Petra’s fierce gaze, but he won her over.

“From the perspective of a woman whose purity, and therefore eligibility for marriage, has been lost, it’s a situation that requires marriage. Besides…”

“Besides?”

“Adrian will have to return to the duchy. When that happens, Gareth will be the one who raped a low-ranking yet still noble maiden, refused her marriage proposal, then forced her back into his service. What will people think of him?”

Petra was speechless for a moment.

She’d expected Pedro Reese to surrender his daughter. She’d thought he’d give up if he were a little intimidated. She’d even thought of insisting on Gareth’s punishment for assault and rape. It was a story that could be dropped easily, though. It would be forgotten if she just claimed the two were together.

But even after she’d had such a rough time after what Gareth had done, Pedro Reese still said that the two had exchanged hearts, and he proposed marriage? She realized that if she refused the proposal and brought Adrian back to the duchy, Gareth would be known as a pervert.

Adrian was still noble, even if the public had forgotten. Gareth had tried to rape a noble maiden in front of everyone. It was a symbolic affair.

What would happen if the family accepted the proposal and dragged her back to the duchy? Because no matter how loudly the family rejected the proposal, people of the social world would think the two were a couple. So what would happen to Gareth’s real marriage?

“….Then what should we do?”

It was rare for her to ask her husband’s opinion on any matter.

“You have to persuade the other side to withdraw the proposal. Bribe them if necessary.”

The duke’s advice was realistic and logical. Gentle didn’t mean foolish, after all.

“I see.”

Petra nodded slowly.

“And Adrian…” Petra paused. She’d given up her plans to rest and recovered her spirit.

“For Adrian… It doesn’t matter where you send her, as long as she never meets Gareth alone again.”

The Duke laid his hand on her shoulder, and the couple nodded sharply to each other.

The next day, a notice of dismissal was promptly delivered to Adrian Reese, who was currently staying at the Star Palace. At the same time, a pouch containing 50 gold coins was given to Pedro Reese of the Imperial Palace. It was exactly what Apollonia, who’d summoned Pedro Reese and sat down with him to recite the proposal to Petra, had expected.

Adrian thus became Apollonia’s maid. Of course, Pedro Reese of the Imperial Palace also swore allegiance to the imperial princess for this.

**********

15 days after the coming-of-age ceremony, Uriel was no longer ill.

Apollonia hadn’t been lying when she’d said she could remove his mark neatly, and give him a new identity. She’d found a body similar to Uriel’s, and floated it down the Dean River.

“Won’t it be a problem that the body doesn’t have tattoos?” Apollonia had worried. But the wizard had explained that when Uriel died, the mark would disappear. His voice had been muffled from the cake stuffed in his mouth, but she’d still understood him.