How to Divorce the Male Lead - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Three days have passed since Juliana Auburn was lying in bed.

Normally, it would have been time for the woman to recover from fatigue, but not this time.

As soon as everyone heard the news that Juliana had been bedridden for so long, the mansion in which her followers usually would have gathered was this time immersed in strange stillness.

For ostensible reasons, the Duke’s return played a part in the cold manner attitude that the Duchess showed at the party the other day.

Perhaps that’s why the enthusiastic, stupid fans of Juliana began to express their love in different ways.

Whoever started it first was unknown, but the newspaper’s advertisement page was filled with articles decorated with countless metaphors.

Perhaps because Juliana Auburn’s splendid appearance was so famous, there were the pettiest poems describing her appearance in metaphors.

And today, Juliana, hearing the news, shrieked and crumpled the newspaper.

“Argh! You idiots!”

“Ughhhhhhhhhhh!”

Anna, who was standing at the sound of the roar, broke the teacup she was holding because the sound startled her.

Pangrang!

However, whether the teacup was broken or not, Juliana did not stop crumpling the newspaper. Anna, who had become the Duchess’s exclusive handmaid, quickly picked up a piece of newspaper and asked.

“The Duchess. Are you alright?”

“Yes. I have a headache. Why did I reincarnate in this world? What did you do so wrong in your previous life?”

“What?”

“…..nothing.”

Juliana buried her face among those torn pieces of paper like a reed swept away by a typhoon.

Anna, looking at the back of the Duchess who collapsed on the bed, asked after finishing the cleanup.

“Have you finished reading the book?”

“…..huh?”

Juliana, with a confused face, frowned her brows.

What book? Anna, who was swollen from following her around for days and listening to all of her requests, said happily.

“I got you a book. It was so hard to get it at the bookstore. In addition, when the maids go out, the head maid checks their belongings-.”

“That’s right. That’s why you said that a gardener who likes you brought it with him. So are you going to date that Thompson guy?”

“Oh my gosh. I won’t date such a jerk. I’m only trying to help the Duchess…..”

“Well, that Thompson guy has a very different idea.”

Juliana grinned.

A blush spread over Anna’s cheeks and she pouted her lips.

“If you knew my hard work, you wouldn’t put it that way. But why did you suddenly look for a romance novel?”

Juliana glanced at the book she had put at her bedside, and her speech was blurred.

“Hmm…….”

“Do you have any concerns?”

“Mochi. How can you guess the concerns of the Duchess, who has a noble hobby of reading humanities books?”

“Oh. But the book I got wasn’t a humanities book-.”

When Juliana looked up, Anna turned her head in a moment. Day by day she was getting more and more used to the convenience of the social status system.

Juliana, who overpowered Anna in one blow, sobbed and buried her face in her pillow before opening the book she had started reading yesterday. The closed book had a good texture and the smell of a new book.

“Anna.”

“Yes?”

Anna, who turned around to bring the new cup of tea in place of the broken teacup, glistened her eyes. Juliana said, still looking through the books.

“Didn’t anyone try to play tricks through you?”

“Ah…..”

Anna shrugged in surprise.

She didn’t say it because she didn’t want the Duchess to know, but frankly, there were many people who wanted to reach her through her maids and servants.

However, the Duchess was different from her former self. She would have enjoyed and used that kind of interest if it had been before, but now she hated it very much.

Anna, who had been struggling for a long time to find the right words, finally smiled.

“Well, there were a lot of people like that. I guess there’s a rumor going around. That I’m there by the Duchess’s side.”

“Isn’t that a little weird? Ordinary people don’t come and go to the mansion often, ah. It’s not normal, but anyway, I was just someone who liked to play and eat. But there is a rumor about who stays close to me? Besides, they’re trying to use her to reach me. Just to prove that they like me.”

Juliana frowned. As if blaming herself from the past who chose to be engulfed by the flames because of the flaming moth rushing towards her.

She wasn’t waiting for Anna’s answer. It was because of the ominous popularity of praise poems that she didn’t even want to go near the new gate of the mansion. If she didn’t say anything, she wouldn’t feel anxious.

Unexpectedly, however, Anna answered clearly.

“Yes, that’s right. It’s weird. The duchess’ past, um-. What should I say?”

“That’s right. I played a little thoughtlessly.”

Juliana admitted coldly before she heard a sound from Anna’s mouth.

Perhaps because of that honest answer, Anna showed the sincerity that lingered in her mouth for a long time.

“Ha, but you’re not like that now, are you? Now you don’t like their interest in you. They are still approaching you, but you don’t like it. I think it’s like the Duchess of Etalina in ‘The Divorce of the Aristocracy’.”

“Ah. You mean this humanities book?”

“It’s a romance novel.”

“…..you’re a maid who really doesn’t lose a word. You.”

Anna continued, pretending she didn’t hear it.

“It was the Duchess of Etalina. There were a lot of followers, and she enjoyed that interest, too. But later, she met true love and tried to get rid of her followers. But she couldn’t.”

“What happened to the Duchess of Etalina?”

Juliana put her chin on her hand and pretended to be quite relaxed. Anna bowed her head and said in a trembling voice.

“She died. It’s because of the guys who were chasing her.”

Later, Anna clapped her hands, saying it was just a romance novel, but Juliana couldn’t get rid of the creepy feeling.

* * *

Translator – DrMementoTiramisu