Chapter 31 Going Home
Early the next morning, Anne boarded the carriage back to Virlet Manor. Looking back, she saw many large trunks loaded on the carriages behind her. The two rows stretched so far that she couldn't even see the end.
Elisa had already retrieved the original dowry list and was energetically weaving through the convoy to make sure everything brought here was being taken back without a single item missing.
As she checked, her mind was filled with bitter thoughts: Damn the Titan family, wasting the most beautiful three years of a woman's life like this. Even if the proud Duchess Anne didn't want to hold it against them anymore, she couldn't just do nothing.
With this thought, Elisa held her head high and walked into the Titan Manor's great hall like a proud peacock, pointing her finger at the wall. "That painting there, and that enamel vase, and this gem-encrusted cabinet set—take them all."
Besides the servants moving the dowry, there were also some people from the Titan family in the hall. She was deliberately putting on this show for them.
But who would dare to stop her?
"Stop! What do you think you're doing to my family? Those are all our things!"
Nina, who had been watching from behind the door, finally rushed out. She wore a light pink dress with pearl jewelry on her wrists and neck. When Elisa saw her, it was like seeing a lamb ready for slaughter, especially when she noticed Nina's gemstone earrings. If she remembered correctly, those were part of Anne's dowry too—Nina had taken them and never returned them.
So she waved her hand, and servants immediately came forward. "Go, hold her down."
Elisa narrowed her eyes. "Take those gemstone earrings off her ears."
"Yes."
Nina shrieked, "How dare you let their filthy hands touch me? Even if your master is a duchess, she can't just trample on the dignity of other lower nobles!"
"Let go!"
Elisa had long been disgusted with this third young lady.
When Anne first married in, this woman would take Anne's jewelry and gems in different ways every day. Later, after Anne took charge of household affairs, she demanded newly tailored ball gowns without restraint.
But even after taking things, she wasn't satisfied. Whenever Anne didn't please her in the slightest way, she would go crying and complaining to the old lady, never showing Anne a kind face.
Now that Anne had not only successfully divorced Holden but also had the king's decree supporting her, Elisa was absolutely fearless in standing up for the grievances her duchess had suffered these three years!
She rushed forward and yanked the gemstone earrings off Nina's ears, then checked off an item on the list.
"I'm so sorry, Miss Nina. My duchess is also following His Majesty's orders to take back everything brought to the Titan family. If you have any objections, why don't you go to the royal city and seek an audience yourself?"
Elisa waved her hand dismissively, and the servants restraining Nina let her go.
As Anne's personal maid, her every word and action now represented the Virlet family and Duchess Anne. The Titan family's people no longer dared treat her like the servant they could beat and scold at will.
Nina collapsed to the floor, her eyes full of hatred as she looked at Elisa. "Don't think becoming a duchess makes her so great. In the end, wasn't she still driven out by Holden? Once all the nobles know her husband wanted to send her to a sanatorium, let's see who'll still want to associate with this duchess!"
"Even if they do, it'll only be for the duchess title. Deep down, they'll probably laugh at her for almost becoming a prostitute!"
"That's none of your concern."
Anne's voice suddenly rang out. Elisa turned around in surprise to see her duchess walking over with a smile.
"Sorry, I got delayed dealing with something here."
"It's fine."
Anne shook her head. She had heard Nina's voice and knew Elisa was in trouble. She took Elisa's hand and tossed the gemstone earrings into a nearby box like trash.
Nina cried out and tried to lunge forward to grab them.
Anne looked up. "Will the old lady continue watching, or would you rather not interfere? Should I have someone help Miss Nina calm down?"
Nina raised her head, crying out to the old lady with a dark expression on the stairs, "Mother, they're stealing my things!"
Elisa scoffed. "Our duchess's dowry doesn't belong to just anyone who takes it!"
"Or has the Titan family fallen so low that they need to steal even a pair of earrings?"
The old lady trembled with anger, her finger shaking as she pointed at Nina. "Let them take it. It's just a pair of gemstone earrings—our family can still afford that!"
"Stand up and stop disgracing the family!"
Nina continued crying. "Mother, our family can't afford any of this anymore. She's trying to kill us!"
But Anne didn't want to watch this mother and daughter anymore. She turned and ordered, "Take everything and leave immediately!"
The convoy that had caused such a stir three years ago with the wedding dowry was just as lively now, three years later, returning home after the divorce.
Anne sat in the carriage as the grand convoy headed toward the Virlet family's territory.
Holden's group never appeared from start to finish. Candy did send a letter, but Anne didn't read it and had Elisa dispose of it directly.
Fortunately, the Virlet family's territory wasn't very far from the Titan family's. After two days and nights of travel, the group finally returned to this place after three years.
When they reached the vicinity of the former Virlet Manor, Anne finally understood what Conor meant when he mentioned he and His Majesty had something to deliver.
Near the castle, she could faintly see craftsmen bustling about.
Anne still remembered that a year ago, she heard that Virlet Manor had been massacred overnight, and the thieves had set a fire that burned the once magnificent castle to the ground.
The moment she heard the news, she had rushed home in a carriage. The fire had been extinguished, but everyone had perished inside. The two-day fire had burned the bodies into a pile of charred remains impossible to identify. Anne had knelt before the castle, crying her heart out.
A year later, returning home, this wasn't the desolate scene she had imagined. Craftsmen were hammering and working, trying to restore the past grandeur to welcome the new master of this land.
Anne looked at the familiar yet strange castle before her, tears falling involuntarily.
"I'm home," she said softly in her heart.