A Change of Husband - Chapter 59

“You said you had something to talk about?”

It had been a long time since Lydia had come to see Asilie on her own.
Because Asilie had said it was a very important matter and insisted she come to the office, Lydia had canceled her usual tea time with Baroness Werther and came straight to her.

“Yes, it’s nothing big. I just wanted to let you know that as of today, you’ve been officially registered into the Grandier Ducal House.”

“…What?!”

Lydia’s eyes widened at the completely unexpected news.
As if she couldn’t believe the sudden announcement, she blinked a few times, then shouted so loudly it seemed like the office might shake.

“What are you talking about?!”

“I asked Father for a favor.”

“Without my consent?”

“I knew you wouldn’t like it.”

“Then why did you do it anyway?”

“Because having noble status in this world is never a bad thing.”

It was regretful that she hadn’t asked for Lydia’s permission, but Asilie didn’t feel sorry enough to take it back.
After living two lives, she had clearly realized that even a superficial title made a huge difference.
And she didn’t want her younger sister to experience the same hardships.

Seeing Lydia often speaking with Sir Edgar Villian, Asilie couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if Lydia ever came to want him.
Lydia was still too young to think that far ahead—but Asilie wasn’t.

“…If that’s what you want, Sister.”

Asilie had expected Lydia to protest loudly, but surprisingly, she didn’t say much.

“Does that mean I have to go live at the Grandier estate?”

“No. That part’s already been settled. You can keep living in the Medici Mansion.”

“That’s a relief.”

“But…”

Asilie grinned playfully.

“Starting next week, I’m going to ask Baroness Werther to give you etiquette lessons. You need to have the proper refinement as the Duke’s adopted daughter.”

“What?”

“You’ve been getting along well with her anyway, right? So it’ll be good for you. Oh, and do you have time tomorrow afternoon?”

Lydia thought for a moment, then nodded.

“I do.”

“Then let’s go out. Sophia’s coming too.”

“Okay.”

“Great. See you tomorrow.”

Lydia looked a bit surprised at how quickly she was being dismissed, but when she saw the mountain of papers in front of Asilie, she seemed to understand and left the office.

Asilie smiled faintly as she watched her go.
The reason Lydia hadn’t protested about the decision being made without her consent was probably because she’d grown up enough to realize it was for her own good.

That was a relief.
Lately, even the heat was starting to settle down, and for Asilie, everything seemed to be going well.

‘Should I ask him to take a walk with me this evening?’

Now that the weather was cool enough after sunset, it might be nice to spend time outdoors with Esperad for once.
She thought about the time they could spend together as she put the final stamp on her last document.

Since the day of the Noble Disciplinary Committee’s trial, Esperad had been incredibly busy.
He would skim through urgent documents early in the morning, then go out, only to return late at night to finish his work.

‘Will he be late again today?’

It was strange.
In her previous life, even if Joseph was just a little late, it would make her anxious and irritable. But now, she was so at peace that the only thing she worried about was whether Esperad was overworking himself.

‘Maybe this is what trust between a married couple feels like.’

She also thought that way because Esperad never skipped their morning and evening kisses, no matter how busy he was.

Asilie smiled as she remembered him leaving the mansion in a rush that morning and rose from her seat.
She left her office and headed to the parlor.
Although her schedule for the day was nearly over, there was one last thing she had to do.

When she opened the door to the parlor, Sophia—who had been waiting—stood up quickly from the sofa.

“Ma’am.”

“You could have stayed seated.”

“How could I sit so casually when you were coming?”

Asilie smiled at her joking tone.
Since Sophia had started preparing for her independence, they had been meeting more often, and their relationship had grown much closer than before.

“Have you thought about it?”

“Hmm, I was thinking of offering discounts to customers on the opening day of the boutique. That way, they’d naturally buy more dresses.”

“And?”

“Other than that… not much. I asked some fellow designers, and they mostly promoted their stores in that way.”

Asilie slowly nodded.
But her expression didn’t look very satisfied, which made Sophia nervous as she watched her.

Asilie stayed quiet for a moment, deep in thought, then finally spoke with a firm tone.

“Rather than focusing on promoting the boutique, I want to advise you to focus on promoting yourself.”

“Um, what do you mean by that?”

“Most nobles don’t shop based on price. If the price is lower than expected, they’ll actually suspect that you used cheap materials.”

Of course, there were poor nobles in the capital who only maintained appearances.
But Sophia’s target customers weren’t those people—they were wealthy nobles.
To them, something inexpensive was beneath their status, and they avoided buying it altogether.

No matter how good the quality was, they weren’t willing to go through the trouble of hunting for hidden gems among cheap products.
They preferred to buy expensive items from the start to avoid that hassle.

To them, Sophia’s dresses might just look like “cheap dresses.”

“But if they actually saw the dresses, they’d realize the materials are all top-quality, and the sewing techniques can’t Asilie be copied by regular designers.”

“The people who can recognize that are those who already consume high-end fashion. So the people you need to sell your dresses to… are exactly those people.”

“In that case…”

Sophia furrowed her brows and began to think.
But no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t come up with a good plan.
How was she supposed to get nobles who enjoyed high fashion to wear her dresses?

“Why haven’t you thought of using me?”

“…Pardon?”

“When you open the boutique, don’t advertise loudly. Instead, make the best dress you can with only the finest materials. Then I’ll buy them all and give them as gifts to noblewomen.”

“Ah…!”

Only then did Sophia realize what Asilie was suggesting.
But she couldn’t bring herself to accept it right away.
She knew it could be a burden on Asilie.

Among nobles, gift-giving was done carefully to maintain face.
But Sophia was still a no-name designer.
A noblewoman could feel insulted receiving a gift from an unknown designer—she might ask how someone could gift such a thing.

Asilie seemed confident in Sophia’s skills, but Sophia herself didn’t feel confident.
She had only been recognized within the Medici Mansion.

Even when she’d worked at the dress shop, she’d mostly done chores.
She had barely been allowed to make one dress a month, and she hadn’t even known who ended up buying them.

If not for Asilie, she’d probably still be stuck doing all the grunt work at the shop.

That’s why she was scared.

“…Ma’am, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“I might damage your reputation. I don’t want to ask you to do something that could be risky for you. I’m not that greedy.”

Considering how strong her desire was to become the best designer, one would think she’d jump at the offer—but Sophia had completely let go of her ambition in this moment.

“I’d rather become a moderately known designer at a reasonable pace than put you at risk. But thank you so much for the offer, ma’am.”

“I didn’t make the offer for your sake.”

“…What?”

At Asilie’s words, Sophia opened her eyes wide.

“You must have forgotten that I invested in opening your boutique. I simply found the fastest and easiest way to recover the money I put in.”

“But—!”

Sophia tried to say more, but Asilie shook her head.

Then she gave a firm command in a confident voice.

“Make the best dresses you can. Just three will be enough.”

“My lady…”

“Believe in yourself. I believe in you, too.”

Asilie quickly stood up so Sophia wouldn’t have time to come up with an excuse to refuse her order.

“My lady?”

Surprised by Asilie suddenly standing up, Sophia called to her.

“Tomorrow we’re going to look at the location for the boutique, so be ready by 3 p.m. Lydia will come too.”

But Asilie left the sitting room with only that notice.

Sophia, completely stunned, just stared blankly at her retreating figure.

Every day, the political situation made her nervous.

Cordelia was young, but that didn’t mean she knew nothing about the internal and external affairs of the kingdom.

At the very least, she understood that the conservative nobles followed Count Mirk, who was on her side, while the progressive nobles supported Duke Camedici, who could threaten her child’s claim to the throne.

And in the recent trial led by the Noble Ethics Council, the Bonaparte family—a symbol of the conservative faction—had lost too much.

The enormous fine was one thing, but more than that, the Count of Bonaparte had lost all his trust and honor.

Cordelia knew this outcome was not going to benefit her in any way.

“Hah! Nothing ever goes right!”

Her sharp voice rang out as Lady Avent, her personal maid, carefully poured tea into her cup.

“Your Majesty, please calm down. There are many eyes and ears watching.”

“How can I be calm, Odette?! Nothing is working out!”

Cordelia screamed like a banshee and, unable to control her anger, ripped the tiara from her head and threw it.

“This is ridiculous!”

“Your Majesty, please…”

“When is he visiting again?”

“Pardon?”

Cordelia lowered her voice for the first time as she asked.

“When is he coming? Him.”

“Well…”

Lady Avent looked troubled.

Count Mirk usually sent word to Lady Avent before visiting Cordelia’s bedroom.

But lately, there had been no news from him at all.

It felt as if he no longer expected anything from Cordelia.

And that drove her mad.

She had been the one to push him away, but now his cold behavior made her suspect that he was planning to seize the throne without her.

“Still no word?”

“Not yet… I suppose it’s because of the recent major trial by the Noble Ethics Council…”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Pardon?”

“It wasn’t his trial! He wasn’t directly involved, so why would it matter?!”

“Well, he must still be concerned about it…”

Lady Avent’s answer clearly didn’t satisfy Cordelia.

Watching her tremble with rage, Lady Avent gave a signal to the maids, hoping to calm her down.

“Let’s eat first. You skipped both breakfast and lunch. If your health suffers…”

“What’s the point?”

“Pardon?”

“I probably can’t even give birth to an heir anyway. What’s the use of all this?!”

“What are you saying, Your Majesty? You are the only one in Astel who can bear the heir to the throne. Please take care of your precious body.”

After hearing Lady Avent’s words over and over again, Cordelia finally grew tired of yelling and nodded weakly.

Only then did the maids begin to busily bring out the food. But at that moment—

“Ugh!”

Cordelia covered her mouth and began gagging.

“Ugh!”

“Y-Your Majesty! Are you alright?!”

“Your Majesty? Are you okay?!”

“Uuugh…!”

“Call the royal doctor at once!”

Even after the maids removed all the food, Cordelia didn’t improve.

Soon, the royal doctor arrived to examine her.

Since Cordelia was too weak to speak, Lady Avent asked on her behalf.

“Why is Her Majesty like this?”

“…Please dismiss the maids.”

“Pardon?”

At the doctor’s request to send the maids away, Cordelia’s eyes snapped open.

She exchanged a glance with Lady Avent and then waved her hand weakly. The maids quickly left the room.

“What is it?”

As soon as they were gone, Cordelia asked with a hint of hope in her voice.

She tried not to show it, but it was clear she couldn’t hide it.

The doctor glanced around once more, then whispered in a low voice.

“You are pregnant, Your Majesty.”

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