Duchess in the Attic: Volume 4 (eBook)

MORI (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Heart (Verlag)
978-1-7183-3683-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Now blessed with her beloved son, Ludrick, who just turned one, the duchess Opal Holloway decides to finally relax a little from her work; nothing is more important to her in the world than her dear son and husband. Unfortunately, poor Opal can't catch a break!

While in the attic of her new home she receives a summons from none other than King Alessandro. The king asks Opal to become chaperone and tutor to his niece, the immature and selfish heiress Princess Ellie of Lumeon. Though she refuses at first, once she sees Ellie for herself, the duchess eventually agrees. Little does she know that doing so will throw her headfirst into a conspiracy that involves serial murders, scammers, and a powerful group looming over Lumeon itself...

Textauszug

2. Crossing the Border

Opal, or Duchess Bocceli rather, was a rather famous business woman. But a vast majority of people assumed that it was all thanks to her financial advisor or her husband, Claude. Still, it was clear that she had a hefty sum of wealth under her belt, and many people with less than noble intentions often tried to approach her. However, Duke and Duchess Bocceli—most notably, Duchess Bocceli—refused to come out into the eyes of the public. As a result, her face wasn’t widely known to the public, making it all the easier for her to act while hiding her identity.

Opal enjoyed the scenery from her carriage window as her vehicle clattered through the mountainous path. Nadja had her eyes closed, as the violent rattling of the carriage only moments ago had given her motion sickness. A bit longer and there was a spot to take a rest, and the path from there wouldn’t be as rough.

“Nadja, can you hang on for just a bit longer?” Opal asked.

“Yes,” the maid croaked weakly. “I’m terribly so—”

“Don’t apologize. You can’t be to blame for this.”

While there were some ways to mitigate the shaking that carriages and trains could experience, it largely depended on a person’s constitution. Likely, one had to also get used to it over time—at first, Opal didn’t like ships rocking back and forth, but she’d gotten completely used to it now. Nadja seemed to respond better to ships, and Opal considered if it would be better for their return trip to be by sea. The duchess breathed a sigh of relief when the lodging on the mountain ridge slowly came into view. Finally, her maid could get some rest.

Opal blamed herself. She was in a rush to get to Lumeon and back, hoping to reunite with her son and husband as soon as possible, but this haste had negatively affected her maid. Opal’s primary goal this time around was to observe the princess of Lumeon, but she was also a bit eager to experience traveling through the mountains, a path that one might consider old-fashioned. But her desires had only troubled Nadja. I can’t be too greedy, can I? Opal thought.

She peered at her maid’s face, reflecting on her actions. Nadja looked a lot better than before, and after some rest, the remainder of the journey would be much smoother.

“Nadja, we’ll stay at that lodge for the night,” Opal said. “You can rest as much as you like then.”

“I’ll be fine, madam,” Nadja replied. “Please stick to your schedule.”

“Don’t worry, Nadja. I just planned to stay at another inn, that’s all. There really isn’t much of a difference.”

She had someone reserve a room for her beforehand, and there really was no issue. While it would delay her journey to Lumeon a little, slight delays were normal when traveling. Even visitors from nations that were close by Lumeon often came via ship, and on top of everything, the mountain road linking Lumeon and Socille was in poor state and in desperate need of repair. Since Opal and Claude were also interested in this problem, she found it to be the perfect opportunity to inspect the path. Both this road and the route via ship are heavily reliant on the weather.

Lumeon, located to the west of the continent, had various mountains along its borders with neighboring nations. It was an isolated, inaccessible piece of land despite being connected to the continent. There were paths that ran along the mountains, developed alongside nature, but they weren’t maintained regularly, and the frequent rain often made the roads slippery, affecting carriage wheels and horse hooves in ways that made travel treacherous.

It was for those reasons that Lumeon largely did not interact with other nations all that much and had developed a largely self-contained political culture. It had only been in recent years that the principality discovered that it sat upon a wealth of natural resources and, as a result, attracted the attention of other countries. Impressive still was how swiftly Alessandro—himself related to the ruling family of Lumeon by marriage—had worked to move in on the news. No doubt the previous monarch had made claims to all the mines in his nation because he had the foresight to see how things would go.

Or perhaps Alessandro had offered this piece of advice. Unfortunately, the previous prince, who had been close with Alessandro, had passed away a decade ago from the plague that had swept over Taisei. And now, His Majesty is suddenly worried over the princess, his niece. Precisely because Opal knew the various plots that entailed with this mission, she reluctantly accepted this role.

Simply put, her time away from Lud was the least of Taisei’s worries, and frankly, she alone might not be enough to fulfill this mission. But she couldn’t ignore the princess, who had lost her mother and father at a very young age. The loneliness, helplessness, and grief that came with losing a mother to an illness was something Opal understood keenly and could not easily forget. She’d only been able to overcome her sadness thanks to the help of Marcia, Trevor, Claude, and everyone else in the earldom.

Of course, she now knew that her father and brother loved her in their own awkward ways, but back then, she couldn’t have noticed it. And if the princess had someone she could lean on in this time, Opal would have never had to travel in the first place.

While Opal had been deep in thought, the carriage arrived at the inn, and Opal was very surprised to bump into an unusual figure. For who could expect to see LeBeau, the very “proper” moneylender, at this mountainside inn?

“Long time no see, LeBeau,” Opal said. “I wouldn’t have dreamed of seeing you here.”

“Ah, yes...” LeBeau replied. “Your name is...Mrs. Kensington, is it? It surely has been a while. I was surprised to see a noblewoman’s name in the guest book of this place and thought that she must be a bit of an eccentric, but now, I can see why.”

Opal had used a fake name to book a room, so LeBeau greeted her by her alias to gently tease her. Opal smiled back, happy to see that her old friend hadn’t changed.

“Oh, I could say the same for your eccentricities, LeBeau,” she replied. “Why are you using this mountain path? I thought you were the type to elegantly sail across the ocean on a fine ship. Are you on your way back from Lumeon, perhaps?”

“My job is to journey across the land, wherever I am ordered to go,” LeBeau replied. “I ask that you keep me in mind when you need me, madam.”

“I shall. Thank you.”

Perhaps LeBeau was in pursuit of someone that he’d lent money to. If that was the case, it was best not to pry much further. And so, Opal bade LeBeau farewell.

After she spent a night in the inn, Opal’s carriage clattered safely into Lumeon the following day, just as the sun was about to set. It was clear that this city had once been the gateway for foreigners into Lumeon, and had prospered for it until ships came into common usage. Now the vitality of the place was long gone, with many inns and stores having closed their doors.

“This city is a lot more desolate than I thought...” Nadja remarked, having regained much of her energy.

“You’re right,” Opal agreed. “I noticed the same at the post town, but it goes to show that people no longer use the roads for travel.”

“It’s much faster by ship. Plus, it’s a quick train ride to the port.”

“Of course, that adds on to the fare, so there aren’t many who can use that route.”

Only merchants went out of their way to travel across nations anyway, so most of the populace would never have the need for these roads in the first place. The duchess observed her environment intently. This city served as the entrance to the nation and to the city roads. There must have been a general decrease over the years in traffic from visiting merchants and travelers. And with the mine being nearby, much of the population must have left the city to work the mines.

Even so, the city is maintained very well.

Cities tended to become dirtier as fewer people remained, but even deserted buildings here were properly maintained and cared for. This was unusual to see, and Opal was quite impressed by it. Is this reflecting some sort of policy of the principality?

The current central figure of Lumeon and its policies was His Highness Prince Eckardt, the younger brother of the previous monarch. This nation cared not about gender, and as per custom, it was the eldest child of the family who would take over. He served as the temporary ruler until the princess reached adult age. Still, Her Highness couldn’t immediately take over the nation once she became an adult—and so people expected Eckardt to be in control for a good while.

Opal stepped into an inn that was still in service and headed into her room, attracting the curious gazes of those around her. Nadja swiftly inspected the room with a close eye and gave a satisfied smile.

“Madam, this room is rather splendid!” she said.

“It truly is.” Opal nodded.

The room was neat and tidy, and while the place had few guests, it still maintained all the dignity of an upper-class inn.

“None of the guests look shady either,” Opal added. “We didn’t run into any bandits on the streets either. This area really is properly maintained.”

...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 5.11.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Duchess in the Attic
• Illustrationen: Komeko Amazio, Huyuko Aoi
• Übersetzer: piyo
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: aristocracy • Contract Marriage • female protagonist • Historical • Light Novel • marriage • Politics
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-3683-7 / 1718336837
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-3683-4 / 9781718336834