Karina continued speaking, unable to see Jeremiah's stern expression.
"I told you before. I'm preparing for a divorce. Come to think of it, I only said I was preparing, but I didn't say anything specific about what I was preparing."
"..."
Jeremiah raised his hand, pressed his furrowed brow, and asked.
"How can you divorce me? Our divorce won't be that easy."
In contrast to Jeremiah's somewhat heavy voice, Karina's voice was light.
"The New Year's celebration will be held in the capital soon. It will be a special year, as it will mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of the empire. All the nobles of the empire will attend the banquet that day. At that time, I intend to ask His Majesty the Emperor for our divorce."
Karina calmly revealed part of her plan.
"Are you going to ask for a divorce in front of all the nobles during the New Year's festival?"
Jeremiah continued speaking in a slightly weary voice.
"So you really thought you could get a divorce? How naive of you to think that."
Karina answered quietly to Jeremiah, who was laughing in vain.
"I didn't think it would be that easy. After Marquis Millainer, the person who most wanted you and me to marry was probably His Majesty the Emperor."
No. Maybe it was what the Emperor wanted the most. Jeremiah knew that too. Knowing that he may have decided that divorce was realistically impossible and given up on it.
'Well, divorce is impossible without some very good reason.'
Moreover, the reason could not have been an unpleasant reason or something that could be considered a weakness or a vice of the Grand Duke's family. From Jeremiah's perspective, there would have been no way to get a divorce even if he wanted to. However, this was not the case for Karina. Since she had no intention of returning to the Marquis of Milliner after the divorce, she did not need to worry about her parents' feelings.
Karina continued speaking indifferently.
"If I tell His Majesty the Emperor that I cannot have children, then His Highness the Grand Duke will have no reason to refuse a divorce."
Jeremiah's eyes, who had been listening calmly, opened wide.
"...What?"
Jeremiah looked at Karina with an extremely bewildered expression.
"I will reveal to everyone that day that I am a woman who cannot have children."
This was the excuse that Karina had been thinking about all night after returning to the past, and it was also the most plausible reason for divorce.
In an aristocratic society, the fact that a woman could not give birth to a descendant of the family was extremely fatal. It was a huge weakness that could even lead to social ostracism, especially for high-ranking nobles. People would gossip and point fingers at her until the day she died, and she would live her entire life with the dishonorable label of a slut. It was such a big flaw that it could be said that it would be difficult to live as a noble, let alone remarry. However, it was not a problem for Karina at all. She planned to divorce anyway and go live somewhere where no one would know her.
"And later, if you petition His Majesty the Emperor for a divorce on that ground, you can get what you want."
After leaving, she had no intention of revealing her identity as the Marquis of Milliner, Young Lady, or the divorced former Grand Duchess, in the new place she would settle down. That was also the reason she asked Selena to create a fake identity for me called 'Mysterious Investor Carly'.
Since Karina planned to live her whole life with this new fake identity, she didn't really care about what rumors were going around about her or what people thought of her.
'After I leave, I have absolutely no intention of getting married again in this kind of shitty way.'
Anyway, before her return, she had been branded with even worse rumors and low-quality gossip and had followed her around. She was confident that even if a few more of those gossips were added, she wouldn't be affected at all.
"What... what does that mean? You can't have descendants?"
Jeremiah, his expression hardened in surprise, asked Karina back.
"The doctor who examined you said there was absolutely nothing wrong with you. Could it be that you are not fully recovered?"
Karina shrugged and said.
"That's not what's important now. What's more important is that I publicly stated that at the New Year's party."
As Karina changed the subject, Jeremiah gritted his teeth and spoke as if he was growling.
"Why is that not important? As soon as we get to the capital, I'll find a female doctor who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology and bring her to you, so you can come back for another examination."
"There's no need for that."
Although Karina refused, Jeremiah did not back down easily.
"Get a proper diagnosis. If the doctor says so, I will believe it."
"..."
Karina looked puzzled at Jeremiah's words. She was saying that the Emperor would not be able to simply oppose their divorce.
'But why...'
Karina didn't understand why Jeremiah was so insistent on confirming that part.
'Anyway, wouldn't it be okay if you could just divorce me?'
If she thought that divorce would really be possible only if it was true that she couldn't get pregnant, then she understood.
'The royal family will try to confirm whether I am truly infertile. If not, they will bribe a doctor and have him prescribe me some fertility medication.'
As she was thinking that, Jeremiah broke Karina's thoughts and spoke in a low voice.
"And. Even if that's true, how could you possibly say that out loud in front of people during New Year's Day? Are you in your right mind?"
Karina chuckled.
"Wouldn't there have to be at least this level of reason to get a divorce?"
Jeremiah's brow furrowed at her indifferent answer.
Jeremiah felt a sense of utter frustration.
He could not understand Karina's behavior at all. Divorce does not mean that life is over. However, Karina's behavior now seemed as if divorce was the final goal of her life. It seemed as if everything would be over once the divorce was over, and she did not think about what would happen after that at all.
"If you reveal it in front of the nobles, don't you know what will happen to you later?"
"That is not a matter for Your Highness to worry about."
Karina drew a clear line between Jeremiah and her.
"If we get divorced, we'll still be strangers anyway, so what does it matter?"
"...!"
Jeremiah was speechless when he saw
Karina's cold gaze.
Knock knock.
At that moment, someone knocked on the carriage window outside.
"Your Highness the Grand Duke."
It was Ron.
"There's a problem."
"What's going on?"
"Not long ago, there was a large-scale collapse of the mountain range in the southern part, and the road changed a lot as a result."
"..."
Karina was startled, as it was not something unrelated to her.
"They say the road we used to take is blocked and carriages can't pass."
"So is there a new way?"
Ron shook his head at Jeremiah's question.
"They say you can pass by horse, but not by carriage. I guess we'll have to take another route."
"I see. Then how much longer will it take?"
Ron glanced at Carina and continued.
"Since the Grand Duchess is here, we will probably have to stay in the village for two or three days longer than originally planned."
If it took three days longer than planned, it meant that they would arrive right on the day of the banquet. The imperial family had sent a letter to come up to the capital in advance, and they had originally planned to leave a little earlier. However, Karina was involved in a hostage situation, so the schedule was delayed. Revals were captured, and the investigation into the incident also played a part. Jeremiah's expression was not good.
"I'm fine."
Karina said.
"It doesn't matter if we don't stop in the village and just sleep outside. Just take the route that will get you to the capital as quickly as possible."
"Ah."
Ron looked at Jeremiah with an expression that said, "Is that really okay?"
Jeremiah, however, was looking at Karina with an expression that said it was ridiculous.
"You're going to sleep outside?"
But Karina was sincere. She had a dream and remembered it, but Karina spent several days kneeling on the street in front of the mansion after the divorce. She had a carriage and a blanket. It was a much better situation than then.
"What's the problem if I say I'm okay? Are other people saying I can't sleep on the streets?"
In a situation where the Grand Duchess wanted to sleep out, there was no way anyone could say no.
"I want to go to the capital as soon as possible. It would be better to go quickly, get some rest, and then attend the New Year's festival."
Karina wanted to go to the capital quickly and make all the necessary preparations for divorce. She was in a hurry.
Jeremiah reluctantly gave his consent because of Karina's firm attitude.
***
The knights prepared to sleep out. Jen, who followed Karina, made a place for Karina to sleep in the carriage. In the meantime, Karina came to see Mikhail.
"Aren't you tired?"
"Are you here because you're worried about me?"
Mikhail greeted Karina with a big smile.
"You suddenly became homeless. Are you okay?"
"I used to be a homeless person. I've been homeless a lot, so I'm used to it"
"Ah..."
It was as he said. Karina made a puzzled expression.
"I guess so. It was a needless worry."
"Still, I'm so glad you were worried about me."
Mikhail smiled happily. Karina felt a little relieved at the sight of Mikhail smiling as usual.
"Didn't you have a hard time while you were in the carriage? Didn't you get motion sickness?"
Mikhail was worried about Karina. She laughed a little at the situation. She came comfortably in the carriage. Mikhail must have been more tired than she was.
"I'm fine. You're more tired than I am. But when did you learn to ride a horse?"
"I know how to do a lot of things like this."
Mikhail answered with a shrug.
"I see. Maybe I'll learn how to ride a horse later too."
Karina said with a smile.
"Don't you know how to ride a horse?"
"Yeah. I never learned how to ride a horse."
Karina received only the basic education that a noble lady would normally receive: embroidery, flower arrangement, tea time etiquette, social conversation, etc. Horseback riding was not included.
"Then shall I teach you?"
Mikhail suddenly suggested.
"Yes?"
"I am confident that I can teach you very well."
Seeing him speak so confidently, Karina wondered how well he would teach.
"Okay. Okay."
Karina answered with a big smile. The conversation between Mikhail and Karina continued amicably for a while.
***
While the knights were preparing to sleep out, Jeremiah walked away from the group to sort out his complicated thoughts. He was very embarrassed and confused right now. The things Karina had said filled his head. At first, he was annoyed and displeased that Karina was thinking about the escort. So he brought up a different topic. A topic that Karina would be curious about.
However, Karina wasn't as interested as he thought. So he asked if she had anything to say instead. As he said that, Jeremiah thought Karina would tell him about her trip to the mine. Or maybe it was about Caroline, or the Croana poison, or something she was hiding from him. There were more than one or two things Jeremiah wanted to hear from Karina.
However, his expectations were all wrong. The story about their divorce came out of Karina's mouth. He was dumbfounded as if he had been hit in the back of the head by an unexpected topic. That alone was embarrassing, but what Karina said was even more absurd.
'You're going to tell His Majesty that you can't bear a child? And in front of those disgusting nobles of the capital who enjoy gossiping about other people's stories?'
Jeremiah never dreamed that she would even consider such a thing to divorce him.
'You're going to such lengths to divorce me?'
Jeremiah realized then that he may have unconsciously been letting his guard down, believing that divorce was impossible anyway.
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