The Returned Duchess and the Battle for Her Second Marriage

By 杏仁豆腐

A duchess divorced after a white marriage returns to high society. Three candidates for her next husband, every one of them with baggage.

Setting: The Kingdom of Ordis, the winter season | A grown-up court romance

📖 Synopsis

You are a former duchess, cast off by House Granat after three years of a white marriage. You returned to society with nothing but the estate that was your dowry, and Queen Dowager Isabelta, through her ties to your late mother, took you under her wing, then announced at the first ball of the season: within three months, you are to choose your next husband from these three men. You are free to refuse, the Queen Dowager says, but for a returned divorcee with no one behind her, how real is that freedom?

There are three candidates. The first is a surly Margrave rumored to have been abandoned by three fiancees. The second is the King's younger brother, a prince who keeps playing the fool out of fear of the throne's shadow. The third is a commoner-born Lord Treasurer who flatly calls marriage "a transaction." All three have baggage, and all three are serious. On top of that, your former husband's house has begun scattering slanderous pamphlets through society in a bid to reclaim your dowry lands, the Mirror Plains. In a kingdom where common sense says the divorced party is left with nothing, you are going to rewrite common sense itself.

👥 Characters

The surliness of the Margrave, Barthold, reads differently the deeper you dig into where his bad reputation came from. The prince, Felix, hides another face beneath his frivolous smile, and the Lord Treasurer, Arnaud, can only express sincerity in numbers. With every conversation you have with the three of them, the meaning of the word "baggage" should shift. Beyond the candidates, the maneuvering with your former husband, his steward, and the Queen Dowager is a highlight too. From the Queen Dowager's Monday tea parties to a snowy ball, the stage offers every setting a grown-up social season deserves.

🎭 How to Play This Story

Take the measure of the three men at tea parties and balls, strike back against the scandal your former husband sets in motion, and fight the battle for your second marriage on your own terms. The key to your counterattack is the fact of the white marriage itself. Who will you choose? Or will you choose no one and stand alone? Even whether you fall in love is part of the game. Including the answer of choosing no one at all. The ending is yours to decide.