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“It is better that the child be the one covered in mud.”
Mud.
Ah, so I came to Orturan to be humiliated from the start.
To fall into the mud in place of Ray Crawford's father.
A sudden realization struck her.
That was why her feelings didn't particularly matter.
The more Rose was humiliated, the safer his father was; and since she was already a flawed existence in Orturan, it wasn't an unfair humiliation.
The only thing her husband desired as the price for this marriage was for her to continue enduring this shame.
‘But it’s not as if I blackmailed him.’
She felt a sense of injustice, but she wondered if she even had the right to feel wronged anymore.
Her father and mother had told her repeatedly that this marriage was a miracle and the greatest stroke of luck to ever come to Rose.
She was the one who had married into such a prestigious family without a second thought.
She had been complacent, thinking that nobles and ministers were just people after all, so how different could they be? This must be the price.
A marriage where one party's conditions were significantly inferior could not simply happen. Something more had to be offered; she had thought it was her father's money, but as it turned out, it was Rose's dignity.
Rose stared blankly at her own photograph in the newspaper. Her image now felt like it belonged to a past life.
She was glad it was a black-and-white photo. Otherwise, the redness of her cheek where her father had struck her would have been clearly visible.
She remembered fighting with her father—no, cursing at him—after he had suddenly returned to Bolton and acted irritatingly, and then going to her favorite cafe after receiving a satisfying slap to the face.
The book she read back then had been so interesting that she had almost forgotten the fact that she had a bothersome father, but now she couldn't recall the contents at all.
* * *
Ray Crawford barely showed his face for two whole days. He would leave the mansion at dawn and return late at night.
Rose felt uneasy throughout, sensing that it was somehow because of her, but what was even stranger was that even Agatha said nothing.
Agatha, who had made a comment even about a photo of her eating fruit on the street, didn't utter a single word about this incident.
It was the same now. As she drank tea and read the newspaper in the drawing room, there wasn't a hint of worry on her face.
“This is the maternal grandfather I mentioned before. People call him General Hamilton; Hamilton Square on Capala Street was named after him. There's even a nursery rhyme with his name in it.”
Beth was chattering away beside Rose, showing her a thick scrapbook.
“He must have been a great man.”
“They said he played with the sea. He won dozens of naval battles.”
She had heard that the Crawford family had produced two Prime Ministers.
As if that weren't enough, on the maternal side, Agatha's father was a war hero who appeared in nursery rhymes. It was a truly overwhelming family.
“He was the strongest man in the world.”
Agatha put down the newspaper and gave a soft smile. Infinite pride for her father could be seen in her expression.
“I have to step out for a bit in a moment. Rose, please greet Miss Gordon when she arrives.”
“Yes, I will…”
Rose answered while picking up the newspaper Agatha had set down, but her voice trailed off.
<Welfare Bill for Veterans, Vote Postponed>
It was because of the headline of the article on the first page.
<The bill in question is one that Foreign Minister Crawford has strongly advocated for since four years ago. Its main content is to provide appropriate treatment, vocational retraining, and a pension for a certain period to veterans who struggle to find employment after the war.
However, several members of the Conservative Party strongly protested the fact that Boltonians living in Dunsville were included in the scope of the welfare bill.
With public opinion toward Bolton worsening further due to recent rumors regarding Minister Crawford's wife, who hails from Bolton, there are claims that the bill should be reconsidered…>
After reading the article, Rose was momentarily speechless from the shock. She hadn't realized that something she thought would end with only her being stoned would become this serious.
“…Where is Dunsville?”
“It is a place where Boltonians have gathered and lived for a long time. Since they are people who migrated during the famine long ago, there are likely many mixed-bloods with Antaka or Orturan blood by now.”
Agatha remained strikingly calm.
“Did they also participate in the war a few years ago?”
“Wouldn't they, Rose? Those people were exceptionally proactive.”
As Agatha looked at Rose, who failed to understand, a rare glimmer of pity appeared on her face.
“Even if they were born here and lived here for a long time, they are still treated as Boltonians. So, wouldn't they want to prove their patriotism and sense of belonging to Orturan?”
To be treated as an Orturan only after risking one's life.
No, looking at the current situation, weren't they failing to be recognized even after risking their lives?
“I don't understand. Just because the people of Dunsville receive benefits doesn't mean others can't.”
“Rose.”
“But, just because they hate the idea of those people receiving them, to oppose the bill entirely just for that reason is simply…”
Agatha let out a small sigh.
“There is no need to be so grave. This is no different from punching the air. It's a postponement, not a rejection, isn't it? Avery is likely just trying to sell newspapers, knowing full well that the bill will pass eventually.”
Agatha's words strangely bypassed what Rose was worried about. Agatha was speaking only of the result.
But what about the people from Bolton who were hurt by such an article? What about this irrationality that hated Boltonians to the point of reconsidering benefits they could receive?
Even if the bill passed again, this fierce hatred would not disappear.
“Ray will handle it well. I must be going now.”
Unlike Rose, who was still in shock, Agatha finished speaking with a light attitude and rose from her seat.
“What are you going to do, Mother? You look like you're off to fight someone.”
“Oh, indeed. Even a woman like me has her own battlefield. I may lack a sword, but you have no idea how fierce it is.”
Agatha, smiling at Beth, looked triumphant. She truly seemed not to be worried about any of this.
“But I have never lost once, just like my proud father.”
Leaving behind words as solemn as a soldier going to war, the daughter of the great general left the drawing room.
“Mother was a frontline nurse. Maybe she's going to a meeting of the National Nurses Association.”
Beth, looking at the spot where Agatha had left, spoke in a bright voice.
“At first, she heard all sorts of things because a noble was doing such work, but her stubbornness is no joke, so they say she even went to the front lines. She said she came back after finding out she was pregnant with me, but…”
Beth stopped talking mid-explanation when she saw Rose, who was still reading the article with her nose practically buried in the newspaper.
“Rose, don't trust the Daily Oakley too much. There are many exaggerations. The Daily Oakley isn't the only newspaper in Orturan.”
Only then did Rose lift her head and look at Beth.
Kind brown eyes were looking at her, filled with worry.
“It's true that Orturan people have strong prejudices against Bolton, and there are truly mean people, but people these days aren't all like that. Bolton novels are so popular among people my age lately.”
Rose always thought that Beth didn't resemble Agatha or Ray. Neither in appearance nor personality.
Perhaps she resembled her father, who was said to have died from the aftereffects of the war.
When the previous Duke Crawford died, Beth was only two years old and had no memories of her father, but she loved him through the stories she heard from her mother and brother.
That pride could be felt in the scrapbook. Rose thought that even Beth might not know about her father's history of mental illness.
She felt pity for a man who was already dead, whom she had never met.
“Thank you, Beth.”
Rose managed to force a smile for Beth by gathering all her strength, but she could not take her eyes off the newspaper.
<Mr. Colson, president of the ‘True Orturan Soldiers League,’ welcomed the postponement of the vote.
“The reason Boltonians cannot find employment is due to their antisocial nature and overall lack of competence. It is unfair for the same welfare benefits to be given to those who mostly served short-term in the rear,” a growing number of voices are agreeing with Mr. Colson's opinion.
However, excluding the people of Dunsville from the target is also expected to face difficulties.
Along with the progressive party's opinion, which asked, “How will the parliament set the criteria?” and “Will they draw people's blood to measure Bolton mixed-blood?” fierce opposition continues to follow.>
Rose could not believe that these people were swept up in such criticism because of her.
That she had become the spark.
Because of her, because she was a Boltonian, because everything she did became 'something a Boltonian would do.'
What if they truly suffered damage because all of this became an issue?
Suddenly, she felt suffocated.
Until now, Rose had inwardly looked down on Orturan, thought they were excessive, avoided them, and even regarded Orturan people as laughable, but she had never thought about all this seriously.
It had merely been a simple reaction to the hostility they showed her.
But from this day forward, she truly began to fear the country called Orturan.
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