Lucia

< — Realization — > (2)

TN: LMFAO, I didn’t realize I left the dancing bunny up. OMG. . Short one. I’ll try to get the next one out asap~

Katherine wanted to tease the Duchess who had an innocent look on her face.

“He’s just caring? Even in bed?”

“Huh?”

Katherine swallowed her laughter as she watched Lucia’s face flush red in surprise. It was a fresh reaction that she hadn’t seen in a long time. Katherine was single but she was a woman that enjoyed the night. Even if she didn’t play around promiscuously, she had a few experiences and didn’t blink an eye at mild dirty talk.

“You didn’t hear this sort of thing at tea parties, did you? There are only stiff noblewomen there.”

Lucia nodded her head. Even though she went to a lot of balls in her dream, she didn’t hear such talk. There was no one she was close enough to have such an explicit conversation with and she usually attended the parties before midnight.

A ball that occurred from late night until dawn was a liberated zone of desire. In particular, a truly wild party began from midnight. Past midnight, the conversation of women who were moderately drunk on alcohol and drunk on the mood were highly inappropriate.

After getting married, Katherine, who was the Countess of Alvin, played her role as a gentle Countess. In the mansion, she held the tea parties she hated so much and did not go out to midnight balls. Even though Lucia attended numerous balls in her dream as a Countess and as a maid, she  had never experienced a midnight ball.

“Although, if you don’t stay in a ball till dawn, you won’t hear such talk. Still, just in case of another time. If you hear such talk, just pass it over with a smile. Like it’s nothing. Don’t blush or look embarrassed.” (Katherine)

“Okay.”

“This is advice for the sake of your husband. If a married noblewoman is bashful, people won’t take it as virtuous. They’ll just gossip away as they like. That’s how rumors are made.”

“…What rumors?”

“His Grace the Duke isn’t able to get it up at night.”

“What? No!”

“No?” Katherine smiled in response.

Lucia’s face screamed red. She remembered the night before and her face heated up. He was never a gentleman. Especially in bed, he was both tender and merciless. The more she thought about it, the redder her face got. Katherine laugh cheerfully as she watched Lucia who was unable lift her head.

“This won’t do. Do you want me to teach you a few things?”

“…What things?”

“It’s all helpful knowledge if you listen.”

Katherine’s knowledge was at an expert level compared to her experience in the nightlife pleasure between a man and a woman. Katherine was not thoughtless enough to have such conversation with just anyone. It was just that she felt intimate affection towards Lucia.

They were both in important positions so they could not be absent and chattering for long. After some time, they left the break room and Lucia’s expression was flushed. She had really learned a lot in a short time today.

As they were heading back to the party hall together, Katherine discovered someone and her eyes grew sullen.

The woman stopped walking, waiting for the Princess to pass and when Katherine approached her, she bowed her head.

“It’s been long time since I saw you, Countess.” (Katherine)

“…Yes. Greetings to the Princess.” (Countess)

“Is it that you don’t know who is by my side?” (Katherine)

Her words were sharper than necessary. Sensing this, Lucia secretly glanced at Katherine’s expression.

“…Greetings to the Duchess. I am Anita Falcon.”

Lucia didn’t know she would end up greeting the woman this way. She hid her deep discomfort and accepted the greeting.

“What brought you out? Did you need a man to warm the bed?”

Lucia felt Katherine’s words were too much. She saw Anita’s lips trembling as she bowed her head.

“Are my words unpleasant?” (Katherine)

“…No. Princess. As a subject, I just wanted to congratulate His Majesty, the King on becoming the Lord of our country…”

“Enough. That’s obvious. Go.”

With her head bowed deeply, Anita quickly walked away.

Lucia was unfamiliar with Katherine’s hostility. It was her first time seeing Katherine explicitly dislike someone. In her dream, Katherine confronted the Duchess of Taran but she did not insult her to her face.

“I don’t think there’s much chance of this happening but that woman. The Countess of Falcon. Her third husband, the Count, is dead so she’s an unmarried Countess. Don’t get close to her. There’s no need to even say a word to her.”

“May I ask why?”

“She is a vulgar woman. Just know that there is nothing to gain from associating with her.”

Katherine didn’t think it was bad for a man and a woman to enjoy themselves freely. Even if the person concerned was a married man, she wasn’t one to point fingers at what others were doing. However, for a noblewoman to throw herself at another to get something was unacceptable to Katherine’s standards. It was the act of a cheap prostitute. The Countess of Falcon was a woman who did such a thing.

It was after Katherine’s 18-year-old birthday that her older brother began to allow her to enjoy late night parties. The woman who was acting as queen bee before Katherine began to earnestly rampage through ballrooms was the Countess of Falcon. Katherine was also unhappy with this fact. She would rather have crushed the woman in a head-on collision but the Countess suddenly fell off the surface one day and did not show up in the social circle after that.

The biggest reason why Katherine was antagonistic towards Anita was because of her scandal with the Duke of Taran. She thought that the woman waved her cheap body around and seduced the Duke of Taran. But she couldn’t tell that fact to the Duchess so she vaguely glossed over it.

‘Don’t tell me the Duke of Taran is still meeting with her?’

If so. Katherine couldn’t do anything to the Duke of Taran with her own abilities but she was prepared to embarrass the Countess of Falcon so much that she couldn’t show her face anywhere again.