I Seducing the Black-Hearted Duke Wasn't Me - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 17
“Have you heard the rumors? The Duke’s residence in Bernstein has had a constant stream of visitors lately.”
“Visitors?”
Scratch-scratch.
The quill that had been moving steadily across the page stopped with an unfamiliar sound.
Ink splattered from the nib, leaving a black dot, but I ignored it and looked up to see Lora’s grave expression.
“They’re all here for Marriage Proposals, apparently.”
“Marriage Proposals? In this season?”
“There’s no season for Marriage Proposals. Whoever secures the prize first wins.”
Lora sighed and nodded her head.
“Until now it was just a cake in a painting—a very appetizing one, mind you—but everyone thought it only existed on canvas. Now that it turns out the cake is actually edible, they’re all running on pure hunger.”
Lora clicked her tongue disapprovingly as she spoke.
“Even so, they have no sense of decorum. Even knowing that marriage negotiations are actively underway, they show no shame whatsoever!”
“Mm.”
Certainly, this was behavior that violated common standards of propriety to some degree.
But that was only when one acted alone.
When many did the same, shamelessness compounded until no one felt any eye watching them.
“‘Mm’? Just ‘mm’? Do you understand what this means, Marquess?”
“What does it mean?”
“The Duke could be snatched away from you!”
Lora cried out in high agitation, as if I should have understood this already.
“Of course, you do hold the advantage now, but nothing is settled until the ceremony! That’s what I’m saying!”
Not only the young noble ladies who had courted me before, but also ambitious social climbers hoping to forge ties with the Duke’s House.
They were throwing themselves into this bidding war with purses wide open.
‘No wonder I haven’t seen her as often lately.’
She used to appear before me so regularly that I wondered if she had nothing but spare time.
Still, as the master of the Duke’s residence, she couldn’t ignore visitors calling at the estate.
“Other people are doing everything they can to win the Duke’s favor—bribes, lavish gifts, all manner of offerings.”
……
“And here you are, the Marquess, receiving an absolutely overwhelming cascade of gifts from the Duke almost daily!”
There it is again.
Lora gestured to the cartload of gifts and flowers that had arrived today.
Gifts really were arriving almost daily now—as if apologizing for these recent days when she couldn’t visit me in person.
“Don’t you think you should send something in return to show your appreciation?”
“Whatever I send will pale in comparison to everything she’s already given me.”
“Oh, does the cost of a gift matter so much? What matters is the thought behind it, the thought!”
Perhaps.
‘But the gifts I’ve already received are absolutely staggering. At this point I haven’t even finished cataloging them all.’
Still, leaving matters as they stood did leave me with an uneasy feeling.
“……Then I suppose I should give it some thought and send something.”
“Yes! I’ll work it out with the steward!”
Lora straightened up, insisting that as a proper House of Zarherete Marquessate, we couldn’t fall behind other noble families.
Watching her, I couldn’t help but smile.
“By the way, Lora. Still no word from your information network?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“I see…….”
Lora’s expression grew somber instantly, as if she hadn’t been animated just moments before.
I couldn’t blame her. I felt my own sigh rising unbidden.
‘I need to recover that ring as soon as possible.’
The Family Head’s Ring—the foreign presence in my body had pawned it at a pawnshop without knowing what it was.
I’d been searching diligently, but its whereabouts remained a mystery.
As if it had simply vanished somewhere.
‘I can’t just wait idly like this.’
It wasn’t merely because the ring symbolized the head of my house.
It was something deeply meaningful to me.
So I had to find it soon, but…….
“Ah, speaking of nobility, I just remembered—what should we do with these?”
Trying to lighten the mood, Lora brought out a large basket from somewhere and asked.
Inside, invitations were piled so high they overflowed any reasonable capacity.
“They’re all invitations addressed to you, Marquess. You always received quite a few, but lately the number has been doubling.”
“How predictable. You’re trying to fish for information about my relationship with the Dukedom.”
The scandal currently rocking high society.
She wants to know the truth of it, but can hardly touch the Duke himself—the principal figure—so she’s grown impatient, settling for me, the easier target, locked away in the mansion as I am.
“Just refuse as you always do. You’ve skipped most social functions anyway, so there’s no additional damage to your reputation now.”
“True enough. A Marquess has no need to cultivate connections.”
I nodded.
More people clustering around only meant more headaches.
‘Information gathering is essential in business, but that’s only when you need a stepping stone.’
Not when you’re already at the pinnacle.
Words from my mouth become currency itself, and I stand to lose more intelligence than I gain.
‘And a garden party, of all things.’
I picked up the invitation and frowned at it.
I was a Marquess, certainly—but being invited to a gathering of matrons felt awkward.
I wasn’t a married woman, after all.
These days, wives do bring their daughters along, or so I hear, but I fit neither category.
“If I go, both sides will tear into me.”
“That would be the case, I’m afraid. Oh, but what about this one?”
“Hmm?”
“It’s an invitation from the Countess Evrel.”
“Evrel?”
I reached for it, and Lora handed me the letter.
“Evrel—you mean the one who owns the Eldbrèl Hotel at Number Seven Roden Street?”
“Exactly. And she’s one of the places I’ve been working to supply my brand tea to.”
Countess Evrel, like me, had inherited her title as a woman.
But her earldom was not wealthy; she’d torn down the family estate to build a hotel, launching herself into genuine entrepreneurship.
‘She now operates three hotels across the empire.’
Being self-made, she tended to avoid entangling herself privately with the powerful.
Yet she was the first to send an invitation?
I tore open the letter and read it quickly.
[We cordially invite you.
We would sincerely honor your presence at a modest reception being prepared by the House of Evrel.
Your distinguished attendance would be a great honor to us.
Furthermore, we hope to share valuable insights regarding the business partnership proposal you previously presented to me.
We earnestly request your attendance to grace the occasion.
— The Countess Evrel]
“What will you do?”
At Lora’s question of whether I’d attend, I folded the invitation without a word.
No matter how I looked at it, she seemed to be making a deliberate play.
“This is troublesome.”
* * *
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
The lounge of the Eldbrèl Hotel at Number Seven Roden Street.
“Goodness, how mortifying. It’s something you can barely speak of in polite company.”
“I know. The quietest young lady, and now this scandal.”
“Strictly speaking, she’s not a ‘young lady’ at all. It’s rare, but she’s legitimately inherited a title.”
“Well, never mind. It slips out anyway. Besides, it’s just us talking.”
The matrons laughed and sipped their tea with practiced elegance, their gossip flowing freely.
Everything they wore, everything they consumed,
was perfectly suited to refined society women—yet the words spilling from their lips were decidedly vulgar.
‘Tch. All they know how to do is tear others down.’
Doresa Evrel, seated at the corner of the table, let out a quiet sigh.
The Eldbrèl Hotel lounge was meant to be exclusive—available only to guests and annual members.
Yet she found herself worn down by these shameless women who seized any opportunity to drop her name and waste her time.
‘If they at least paid, it would be different. But they come every time, shamelessly take up space, and nothing more.’
The Countess’s eyes narrowed as she regarded them.
There had been one occasion when she’d finally said something, and their reaction had been remarkable.
“Oh my, I’m so sorry. How thoughtless of us. Still, I must say it’s disappointing. I thought we had quite a friendship.”
“This is exactly why a businesswoman doesn’t belong in society. She sees people as nothing but money.”
That day, they’d left without paying a single coin.
‘I thought they’d have the decency not to return.’
Yet they continued to come and go from this place as though it were their own home, and each time they did, they invariably summoned Doresa Evrel away from her work and planted her down to gossip with them.
‘Perhaps it would be better to entangle myself with the Marquess instead? Young though he is, he manages his own affairs and seems to have a knack for moving money around quite well.’
The Countess swallowed a sigh, thinking how much more advantageous that arrangement would be, just as she was about to take a sip of tea.
“Now that I think of it, has anyone here received a reply from the Marquess to an invitation?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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