Chapter 1
A Position Befitting a Widow
Cecile pulled her old friend Julia into a tight embrace.
Julia, dressed in mourning clothes, was so thin it was pitiable. Her green eyes, which used to sparkle shyly, had lost their light and looked hollow.
Still, her appearance itself was flawless. There was likely no maid to attend her, yet her dark brown hair, though slightly disheveled, was twisted up neatly and secured without a single gap, and there wasn’t a wrinkle in her mourning dress.
Anyone could see she was the perfect noble lady observing proper courtesy toward her departed husband. Even in a situation like this, Julia’s impeccable composure struck Cecile as both cruel and heartbreaking.
The misfortune that had befallen Julia wasn’t limited to her husband’s sudden death alone.
“You even lost the mansion?”
Julia nodded with a pale face.
“To pay off my husband’s debts…”
Cecile lowered her head with a horrified expression.
“What are you going to do, Julia… This is terrible.”
Julia’s now-deceased husband had accumulated an enormous amount of debt without her knowledge.
Before his funeral had even ended, creditors swarmed in and swept away every valuable item like evil spirits. There was even a loan shark who produced a mortgage note on the mansion itself.
At the time, Julia hadn’t panicked or fallen into despair.
‘Ah. So that’s when I simply came to a realization.Not long before he died, my husband was terribly hysterical. Even during ordinary conversations, he often snapped in irritation.’
Reduced to pennilessness in an instant, Julia was driven out of the mansion as well. Because of the loan documents her husband had signed at will, Julia had no legal claim to the estate.
She tried to ask her natal family for help, but they treated Julia coldly all the same. From the start, her family was one that had sold off their young daughter to an elderly remarried man for money.
Even after losing the mansion, it was still beyond her means to repay her husband’s debts.
The loan sharks threatened her, demanding that she pay off the remaining debt in full within three months. One threat after another followed, saying that if she didn’t, they would sell Julia to a brothel.
Julia was seized by sudden fear, but out of shame, she had nowhere she could properly ask for help. Just then, her longtime friend Cecile happened to contact her.
It was timing as good as divine intervention.
* * *
“Cecile. I’m really sorry, but… could you possibly lend me a place to stay for a little while?”
Julia asked with great difficulty, her lips parched and dry.
Cecile didn’t ask Julia anything. She simply offered her husband’s villa and let her stay there. Julia was deeply grateful for Cecile’s thoughtful behavior.
“Thank you, Cecile.”
“It’s nothing. We’re friends, so of course.”
Cecile smiled primly and gently stroked Julia’s arm.
“If you run into any troubles at all, make sure you tell me and lean on me.”
Cecile spent several days together with Julia like that.
After much deliberation, and once she had steadied both body and mind, Julia told Cecile everything from start to finish. Hearing her friend’s pitiful circumstances, Cecile held Julia’s hand and cried.
“Have you… thought about what you’ll do from now on?”
Cecile asked, her eyes red.
“I don’t know.”
Julia’s expression darkened even further.
“I suppose I’ll have to work as a private tutor.”
Even as she spoke, she felt heavy-hearted.
It wasn’t a matter of ability. For an intelligent widow like Julia, a live-in tutor position was a perfect fit. The problem was whether there would be any household willing to take her in right away.
No family would want to hire a tutor who was being hounded by creditors.
Cecile quietly looked at Julia’s pallid face.
Even after becoming a widow at the end of a deeply troubled marriage, Julia was still beautiful. In fact, her bloodless, gaunt face gave off a strangely bewitching allure.
After moistening her lips for a moment, Cecile whispered carefully.
“If it’s a private tutor position, there is a place where I could write you a letter of recommendation.”
Julia lifted her head with an expression of disbelief.
“Really?”
Cecile tightly clasped both of Julia’s hands.
“My beloved Julia, don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say, and listen. As your closest friend, I would never say or do anything toward you with ill intent.”
Julia nodded like a naïve young girl.
“I trust you.”
Cecile quietly gazed into Julia’s eyes.
Since childhood, Julia had been proper in her conduct and rigid about formality. It was uncertain how someone like her would receive Cecile’s proposal.
“It’s…”
“…Cecile, why are you dragging it out like this?”
“Well, you see.”
Cecile whispered softly.
“It’s the house of Duke Drexton.”
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