Jealousy Incarnate

Herman Ernst.

A man so far above him in house, rank, ability, even reputation, that Cedric could never so much as summon the will to rival him.

A man who had, in a single stroke, stolen away the woman he loved and dealt him a defeat he could never wash clean.

The one blemish on their otherwise flawless plan, an error no one could have foreseen, a variable no one had reckoned on.

Herman Ernst. Cedric had turned that nightmare of a name over in his mind dozens of times. Just as he’d thought he had finally made Gloria his own, Herman had reappeared out of nowhere, as if in some cruel joke, and left his nerves raw.

“Gloria, how in the world are you so calm about this? Am I really the only one on edge here? Well?”

That House Ernst’s fortunes had collapsed after Herman marched off to war was common knowledge, as was the fact that the ducal castle now held nothing but starving field-mice, a decrepit old butler, and a feeble head housekeeper. No means of isolating Marienne could have been more perfect than casting her out to the ducal domain.

And yet — to think Herman Ernst has come back alive.

For Marienne, what greater chance to strike back could there ever be than this?

“‘Gloria’? Did you eat something rotten this morning? I’m Marienne Drake. Mind your tongue.”
“…You’re right, that one was my slip. Sorry.”
“And stop borrowing trouble over nothing. You’ll jinx us.”

To think she had to sit through such wretched drivel on so bright and beautiful a day. Gloria regarded Cedric with a look that said plainly how pathetic she found him. How a man with so little backbone had ever dreamed up something so audacious, she couldn’t begin to fathom. Shaking her head slowly, as if the whole business gave her a headache, she went on.

“You know perfectly well by now what sort of figure ‘Gloria Ernst’ has become in society, don’t you?”
“I do, of course.”

In society, the reputation of “Gloria Ernst” ran no higher than that of some old duke’s barely-grown mistress. Every time Gloria attended a function posing as Marienne, the genteel ladies she was closest to would slyly steer the talk toward her twin. They offered hollow sympathy while quietly running her down, feigning indifference to her face and whispering behind her back.

There was even talk of a standing wager among the nobility over Herman, bets laid on whether he’d divorce his wife before long. Most were loudly certain the two would split, and a few were already angling to become his next match.

Though of course, the one most convinced of that divorce in all the Empire was Gloria herself.

“Herman Ernst will throw Marienne aside soon enough. No sane man would keep a woman like that for a wife.”

Yes. It had to be so. Gloria repeated the words to herself over and over, drilling them into her own mind.

In truth, Cedric was not the only one whose nerves stayed on edge. Gloria too was wound tight with venom at having to surrender the perfect man who had, by rights, once been her own. She was simply feigning otherwise in front of Cedric.

Enough of these pointless thoughts. I never dreamed it would come to this — but taking Marienne’s place was the right move, a hundred times over.

Considering all the depravity she had indulged in so freely once her husband went off to war, she was in no position to hold her head high before Herman.

Gambling, extravagance, debauchery. And above all else…

Gloria cut the thought short. Whatever came of it now was no concern of hers.

I can lay it all on Marienne. Let her take the punishment in my place.

All at once she glanced down at her own faintly trembling arm. Gloria unclenched the fist she’d been holding tight enough to choke off the blood, and spoke.

“Still don’t see it? Our plan went off flawlessly. If Herman Ernst had truly seen through his own wife, there’s no way he’d have kept this quiet all this while.”
“Even so, it grates on me. There was a piece in the paper saying the bastard even put off his triumphal ceremony to race for the ducal castle.”

Cedric bit down hard on his lip, turning over one troubling sign after another.

“What if Herman doesn’t cast Marienne off after all?”

Having said that much, he shook his head in irritation. Where Gloria strained with all her might to ignore her unease, Cedric was still being eaten alive by worry and doubt.

“Tell me — you really never were in deep with that bastard Herman, were you? You’re certain nothing happened on your wedding night? If there’s anything you’ve kept from me, confess it now. Be honest and I’ll forgive you.”

With a face that looked anything but merciful, Cedric had the gall to speak of forgiveness.

“Cedric!”

Unable to hold her irritation a moment longer, Gloria cried out.

“How many times must I say it! There was nothing between me and that man! Our families passed a marriage proposal back and forth, we held the ceremony, and that was the whole of it!”

Every man she had ever met, Cedric among them, had been desperate merely to brush her fingertips. Every man save her own husband, Herman Ernst.

“On my wedding night I slept alone in a bed strewn with flower petals. All alone, in that great, desolate room.”

From the very first time she met him, Herman had been as lofty and untouchable as a glacier crowning a snow-clad peak. Which was, she supposed, precisely why the willful urge to have him had only burned the hotter.

“I’m telling you, Herman Ernst was in love with that wretched war. Whether he’s impotent or has some peculiar tastes I couldn’t say, but that man is fated never to want a woman.”

And to think how pretty, how beautiful she had been on her wedding day. Swallowing her private bitterness, Gloria pressed her lips shut. A humiliation, she supposed, if it deserved the name. Though now that things had come to this, perhaps it was just as well she had never bedded Herman. He had, in effect, handed her the very excuse she needed to hold her head high in front of Cedric.

“You swear it?” Cedric asked, his voice noticeably calmer now.

“I swear it. On this flawless face of mine.”

Guilty as she might be of any number of things, in this one she was innocent, so she said it without flinching. Seeing her so resolute, Cedric could finally set his mind at ease and lower himself back into his chair.

“Then it’s settled. Let’s have some tea.”

Cedric lifted his teacup, and soon Gloria did the same.

“Let’s think of it as a toast, Cedric. A touch overdue, I’ll grant you.”

No. Or perhaps she should call it a touch premature.

Once the triumphal ceremony is over, Herman will have no choice but to cast Marienne aside. Because I’ll make certain of it.

As she tipped her teacup with elegance, Gloria’s eyes glinted dangerously.

“My lady, are you meaning to sell this one too?” Tess asked, drawing a water-blue gown from Gloria’s wardrobe.

The gown was showy enough on its own, being cut for parties, and its extravagantly full skirts made it a chore to keep besides. That it had survived in flawless condition until now surely meant it had been one of Gloria’s most treasured dresses.

“Mm, go ahead and sell it,” I answered evenly, watching the maid we’d taken on a few days back wrap up Gloria’s dress.

“I’d like them sold as quickly as can be — do you think that’s possible?”

“I’ll look into how it’s done. But, my lady—”

Tess handed the water-blue dress to the maid, then asked, “Are you quite sure you won’t regret this? These were things you were so fond of.”

A soft, wry laugh slipped out before I could stop it, and I let it come.

“I’d best be all right with it. If I’ve any conscience at all.”

Tess only looked baffled, so I flashed her a bright smile. “Once you’ve finished sorting the dresses, take the jewelry too.”

“Whew. That looks to be all of it.”

Having cleared out the wardrobe, Tess let out a sigh. “But what’s brought on this sudden wish to sell it all?”

Patting the dust from her hands, she still couldn’t quite scrub the suspicion from her face, as if worried I was about to get up to something again.

“Because His Excellency will be setting off for the capital soon.”

Keeping my smile fixed in place, I let my gaze drift naturally away from Tess’s. I did in fact have designs of my own, and a small twinge of guilt pricked at me.

Since it seems Herman Ernst has no intention of taking me to the capital…

How wonderful it would be if I could only talk Herman Ernst into letting me go up to the capital. False wife though I was, no pretext was more convincing than attending my own husband’s triumphal ceremony, and no way of traveling was safer than at his side besides.

But Herman seemed to have not the slightest intention of bending once he had made up his mind. The moment I so much as breathed the first syllable of the word “ceremony,” his eyes would narrow to slits.

Then I’ll just have to find a carriage and go up to the capital on my own.

I knew it was reckless. But neither could I sit meekly caged in this place, attempting nothing at all.

I looked down at Gloria’s jewelry box in my hands. The sleek, costly pieces seemed to have been carried off already, but a few set with large stones still remained.

If I sell these, I should be able to raise the money.

I handed Gloria’s jewelry box to Tess. “It’s only that I’d like to at least see to the clothes His Excellency will wear for the triumphal ceremony. There won’t be time enough for anything tailored, I’m afraid.”

At my words Tess’s mouth fell slightly open. She looked as though some great shock had struck her.

“My lady…”
“Yes?”
“And here I never realized you’d been giving it such deep thought…”

Tess took the jewelry box, her voice thick with emotion. “I’ll get word to the trading house as fast as I can. Please don’t you worry.”

Her reaction pricked my conscience a little, but I soon gave a gentle nod. “Thank you.”

After all, I could hardly come right out and tell her I was assembling a secret escape fund.

“I’ll be sure to put in a good word with the master, too.”

Judging by the emotion brimming in Tess’s eyes, my slapdash excuse had clearly moved her deeply.

I hadn’t the faintest idea what it was Tess meant to praise me for, but figuring it could surely come to nothing, I told her that would be fine.