The Secret Circumstances of the Fake Ducal Couple

Chapter 4 – The Ghost From Seven Years Ago

“Young Master, I think there is a condition: if you answer five out of ten questions correctly, we will play chess.”

“You’re too strict, Teacher!”

Wolfgang, Jane’s student, pouted his lips. His grumbling was full of affection for Jane.

“Let’s see if you’ve solved it.”

As Jane poked her head out with a red crayon to mark, Wolfgang snapped the paper shut.

“Not yet, there’s still time.”

“Your watch must be broken, because mine is already telling me that time has passed.”

“Ugh, that can’t be right.”

Wolfgang begged for more time. Jane offered to negotiate, looking serious as if it were a very important deal.

“I’ll give you extra time, but only if you read one more picture book.”

“30 minutes?”

As if this hadn’t happened once or twice, Wolfgang immediately responded to the negotiation.

“Two books.”

“Two books in 30 minutes, okay.”

From then on, Wolfgang focused on solving the problem. His enthusiasm was so intense.

“Jane, can I see you?”

As Wolfgang was solving the problem, his mother Merce approached.

She took Jane to one side of the garden and held out a clean envelope.

Jane’s eyes narrowed. “Today isn’t payday.”

“This is a bonus. Ever since you took Wolfgang under your wing, he’s been interested in studying.”

“I just did what I had to do.”

“Thank you, Teacher.” Merce stuffed the envelope into Jane’s pocket when she refused.

Wolfgang was a famous troublemaker. Not just because he hated studying, but because of his lack of manners and spoiled behavior.

But after meeting Jane, he changed.

Wolfgang no longer throws peas at others when sitting at the dinner table, doesn’t shake his legs, reads before bed, and he says goodnight to his parents every night.

He is now a student who looks forward to studying, always asking when the teacher is coming.

All this is thanks to Jane.

‘To be honest, I’ve heard rumors, and they’re terrible…’

It’s been seven years, but the downfall of the Whitneys was such a big deal that even a little digging was enough to find out what happened.

In a noble family where reputation is everything, it’s no wonder that she was initially reluctant to hire Jane, the daughter of the Whitneys.

But everyone who hired her as a tutor said she was the best teacher they’d ever had.

At the time, Merce thought they were exaggerating her skills.

But now, she was even more convinced than they were.

“Jane is the best teacher ever, and if she ever starts a school, I’ll gladly donate a building to it!”

There was, of course, a downside to hiring Jane. The strict aristocrats who were often self-proclaimed conservatives began to ostracize her.

Merce clearly didn’t care. Her only son was all that mattered to her.

“…you don’t have to do this, but I’ll take it. It means I will work harder to teach Young Master Wolfgang.”

Normally, Jane would have left the money envelope on the table.

But Jane’s situation was urgent.

The debt collectors, who had asked her to pay only the interest, suddenly asked her to start paying the principal next month.

It was unfair, but she couldn’t argue. The contract itself was poorly written.

She was already struggling to keep up with her monthly interest payments.

Thinking about it made her chest tighten.

***

Jane went straight to her house on the hill after work.

The small house, with no separation between rooms and kitchen, was ramshackle and shabby, with no yard to speak of.

But it was her only sanctuary and solace.

She unlocked the door and entered the house.

Setting down dinner in the open kitchen, she hung her coat and hat on the wall and searched for an apron.

She skillfully chopped and sliced vegetables to make a decent vegetable soup. As the soup began to simmer, a sense of warmth filled the chilly house.

The soup was ready in no time. Jane put the soup in a bowl and went to the window.

Sitting by the window watching the sunset was a small luxury in this house.

Even though it was spring and still chilly in the morning and evening, Jane opened the window wide.

She picked up her spoon and looked at the hills where green shoots were beginning to sprout.

“This is a real treat, isn’t it?”

She said to herself as she stirred the soup with her spoon.

Two years ago, a special amnesty removed the punishment that kept her in bondage, and she returned to the capital.

The pay was better than in the provinces, and she got a job as a tutor.

Few families would take in a sinner’s daughter, so she began by teaching the children of the merchant guilds.

A former maid of the Whitney family helped Jane.

“I’m sorry I can only help you with this, miss, and… I can’t even give you a long-term contract.”

“I know, Laura. I’ll do my best. I won’t make you feel uncomfortable.”

“Miss, I still can’t believe what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Whitney…they were good people…”

Laura cried in Jane’s arms.

Jane looked up at the sky and thought, ‘At least I’m alive because of my parents.’

Once word got out about her skills, nobles contacted her. Thus Jane became a tutor for a noble family, and a year ago she was able to get a small house for herself.

Even though it was borrowed, Jane was proud of herself for building this life on her own.

A few years ago, she couldn’t dress herself.

But now she could sew, cook, and do simple home repairs.

Her childhood friends would be appalled.

If she continues to work hard like this, she will be able to pay off her debts one day.

Jane did her best to preserve her parents’ last shred of honor.

When that time came, she would shake off all her regrets and make a life for herself.

The only regrets she had left in her life were her parents.

“No.”

It would be nice to be done with it, but a name buried deep in Jane’s chest popped up.

Her spoon dropped back into the bowl. Jane stared blankly out the window.

The sky was turning pink. Leaves rustled in the wind, making a pleasant noise, and the smell of flowers drifted in.

It was a beautiful sight, and Jane felt tears welling up in her eyes.

She tried to forget him, she wanted to, but he would eventually pop up in her mind without fail.

Is this my punishment?

Or is it just a ghost of my own making?

The part of me that loved him was dead. I killed him, that was for sure.

Still, he came back to her, and every time he did, something in her body broke, much to her distress.

Her appetite gone, she put her soup bowl away and closed the window. The sound of the window rattling in the wind sounded like Cain’s knock on her door seven years ago.

Jane sank to the floor and curled into a ball.

His cold eyes, the ones she’d seen the moment they’d parted, pierced through her mind.

She shed the tears she hadn’t shed then. Where Cain would never see them.

-bang, bang, bang!

I wonder when I fell asleep.

Jane’s eyes flew open at the sound of pounding on the door. It was dark everywhere. The sound of rain hitting the window was loud.

-bang!

“I know you’re in there! Stop pretending you’re not and come out. Miss Jane, if this door is broken, you need more money, so open it while I’m being nice.”

The uninvited visitors shouting loudly in the middle of the night were debt collectors.

Victor and Hamlin, the loan sharks.

Forcing her creaky body to its feet, Jane approached the door.

As soon as she unlocked it, the door swung open. Victor and Hamlin shoved her out of the way and burst in.

“Jane, you got me all wet, are you going to pay for the laundry?”

It was clear why they immediately brought up the topic of money even though they knew she could barely pay the interest.

“Or do you want me to take it off here?”

It was a low-quality joke. Jane remained unmoved and glanced at where they were standing.

A puddle formed where Victor and Hamlin were standing, and she thought, ‘The carpet will get wet.’

“Why did you get a house on a hill? I’m tired every time I come up here. Will you massage my tired legs, Jane?”

‘If it’s hard, you don’t have to come.’

Jane goes to their office in the back alley of the city to make regular interest payments, so they don’t have to come.

But they often came to her, and not for any particular reason. They would come with no purpose and leave with a barrage of lowly words.

Before, their words had made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. But now it didn’t matter. Jane stood stoically, listening to them.

“You got a good one. I guess they’re worth buying.”

Victor and Hamlin paced the carpet, not bothering to dry their wet shoes.

“More than that, why did you go to bed so early today, you should be earning money, not sleeping.”

Victor, who was as big as a bear, looked at the vegetable soup Jane was eating and clicked his tongue. “You shouldn’t be eating this.”

Victor threw Jane’s bowl of soup into the sink. Soup splashed everywhere, making a mess of the sink.

Jane didn’t say a word, just stared at Victor and Hamlin’s cruelty.

The more she reacted, the more vicious they became. It was an ugly thing, the pleasure they took in watching others suffer.

Jane let out a sigh. “What’s the matter? I paid off the interest not long ago.”

There were still two weeks until the next month’s interest was due.

“Jane, we’re in a hurry, and I need you to pay back the money your father borrowed.”

Jane glared at Victor. “I thought we already agreed that I’d pay the principal back starting next month.”

“I’m not asking you to pay it off right now.”

“…how much?”

“Half of it.”

“Half?”

Jane was taken aback.