How to Divorce the Male Lead Chapter 1 part2

Chapter 1 (part 2)

The Duke’s staff were busy cleaning and spiffing up the mansion to prepare for the Duke’s triumphant return.

Normally, the Duchess should be supervising them but this generation’s Duchess was unusual. The butler, therefore, took charge, basing the return ceremony on his memories of a previous occasion.

As time went by, the Duchess still failed to make an appearance. The servants were all clicking their tongues, “Tch,” under their breaths. The Duchess’ lazy attitude was well-known to all of them so they didn’t bother to complain at her routine negligence.

Under the butler’s guidance, the mansion was polished to perfection such that the doorknobs all shone brightly. It was then that the Duchess went downstairs, shocking the servants who all stared at her as though they had seen a ghost.

“Du- Duchess?”

“Isn’t this the day the Duke will arrive? Please prepare tea. I must celebrate his return.”

The Duchess didn’t look as splendid as she usually did. She seemed a little wan even with her dark red hair and bronze-colored eyes that change color depending on the light. Her face was pale and her eyes were slightly swollen.

There might be a story in there somewhere, the servants gossiped as they quickly prepared the tea.

“...Tea? Has the Duchess ever volunteered to prepare anything for the Duke herself?”

After the Duchess left, some of the servants went to the kitchen to make the tea. They looked at each other and gossiped as they prepared the tea and hot water.

“Maybe she’s sorry about the fact that her lovers have been in and out of the mansion all this time?”

“No, not the Duchess. Even if everyone is talking about it, she wouldn’t even blink.”

“Ah, that’s too much. The Duke has been risking his life to fight the barbarians for a year, all to bring glory and wealth to the dukedom.”

“That means nothing to the Duchess who didn’t want to marry the Duke of Hilchen. There was a lot of gossip about it when I was hired. It’s a famous story. When she found out that the duke was an illegitimate child, the great duchess slapped his face…”

One of them, who was also quietly sniggering, glanced at a clock and said, “The Duchess is waiting. Go and bring it to her quickly.”

Afraid that the Duchess would be angry enough to stab her with a sword if she was late, the maid took the tea set to the drawing-room.

***

(to be continued)  (The novel has a break in the text here so I'm also stopping here.)

Notes:
This is the free preview of the novel "How to Divorce the Male Lead" (남자 주인공과 이혼하는 법). I fan translated it into English for people to read and enjoy... maybe even buy the novelThe free preview is at Ahem *cough* *hack* my Korean is pretty much non-existent so be warned that this basically edited MTL. I make no guarantees as to the accuracy of the translation. It's just for fun, everyone!I thought twice before posting this part since it's pretty short but I think I'll post a little bit every day instead of one long post after I've finished everything. A relaxed schedule of posting just helps me stay motivated and stress-free.I'll post the next little bit tomorrow. If you don't like the little bits, wait until the end of the month. I should have a translated more by then.

Chapter end