Chapter 172: The Secret Revealed
This friend, like Camilla, had also lost her soul to Lord Dominic.
In fact, there were quite a number of young women in society who had fallen for him.
Sometimes, these admirers even gathered together to hold secret salons devoted to him.
They called this gathering The Society of Life Devoted to Lord Dominic.
It was a secret circle, composed of a dozen or more young women—daughters of nobles as well as daughters of wealthy merchants who had recently gained noble titles.
Every one of them longed to be Dominic’s number one, yet at the same time, none of the would allow another to take that place.
So they gathered, circling each other like hunters, openly sharing their devotion while secretly watching for weakness.
It was a dangerous place.
But it was also where information flowed—someone might know something you did not.
To fall behind, even by a single step, was unthinkable.
That was why Camilla would never consider skipping such a meeting.
It was also a place to boast about how many portraits of Dominic one had collected, or what keepsakes had been obtained.
Dangerous, yes, but still, they were comrades in their shared devotion.
The girl who had invited him this time was herself a rival for Dominic’s hand.
For her to reach out so suddenly in this delicate period—Camilla could not possibly ignore it.
Something might have happened on her side.
Perhaps she had gained an advantage.
Camilla stood in front of the mirror while carefully checking the red hair she had inherited from her mother.
She truly believed her face resembled hers in a beautiful way.
The green eyes she had received from her father stood out brightly against the vivid red of her hair.
After inspecting her appearance in every detail and convincing herself that everything was perfect, she picked up a cake decorated with nuts as a gift and made her way to her salon.
When she arrived, all the members of Lord Dominic’s fan circle were already gathered.
As she entered, sbe could feel their gazes—smiles masking the different emotions beneath them, eyes full of meaning.
From that alone, Camilla realized that everyone already knew about her marriage talks with Dominic.
She had always known they were jealous of her, since she was the one who had known Dominic from childhood.
"Oh, I heard your dinner with Lord Dominic was canceled. How unfortunate," one of them said.
Camilla could almost hear the hidden laughter behind her words.
"He is a busy man, so it cannot be helped," Camilla replied smoothly. "My family, in fact, likes him very much. They are so fond of Lord Dominic that sometimes they move things forward without even telling me. It really is troublesome."
She raised her fan to hrr mouth and laughed lightly, as if it were nothing at all.
Watching the other girl retreat with a frustrated look gave Camilla a little satisfaction.
Perhaps it was a bit cruel, but she could not allow herself to lose.
"Everyone, the reason I gathered you today is because I discovered something very important!" the host of today’s meeting announced suddenly.
The whole room grew still, every face turning toward her, waiting breathlessly.
"Lord Dominic has..."
She deliberately paused, letting the silence stretch, then looked around at everyone’s eager faces.
"Well? What is it?" demanded the girl who had taunted Camilla earlier, her impatience plain.
"He has left his family’s mansion and made a new home of his own!"
Gasps filled the salon.
Many of the girls let out a shocked, "Oh my!"
But Camilla kept her face calm, pretending it was something she already knew well.
Yet the host wasn’t finished.
"One of the merchants who deals with my family recently bought a new house. And do you know what he told me? Lord Dominic has moved into the house right next door with his wife! He even told him himself, in confidence!"
This time the outcry was louder.
"What?"
"Impossible!"
"No way!"
"He has a wife?"
Screams of disbelief echoed through the salon.
Camilla, too, could not stop her own body from trembling.
She had heard nothing about this in all the marriage talks.
If Dominic already had a wife, then what was all of this?
So that was why he refused the dinner?
That was why he left his family’s mansion?
What sort of person was this supposed wife of his?
Camilla clenched her hands tightly in her lap, fighting against the pain in her chest so that no one would notice how close she was to tears.
"Is his wife a beauty?"
"Is she a sweet or a cute type?"
"How did they even meet?"
The questions came flying one after another, all aimed at the girl who had dropped the shocking news.
Camilla herself wanted to grab her by the collar and shake her hard for an hour and demand every single detail she knew.
"Well," she said, lowering her voice dramatically, "what I was whispered in secret was this—"
But the others jeered at her stalling, pressing her to go on. Flustered, she finally blurted it out.
"His wife is a man! A young beautiful little boy they say!"
"Kyaa!!"
The high-pitched shrieks shook the room.
It was chaos—shouts, cries, disbelief, the sound of hearts breaking.
The salon was drowned in a storm of wailing.
Lord Dominic, with a boy? Impossible!
Camilla’s whole body trembled. She could not believe it.
And yet—
"Oh my! That’s so beautiful, so decadent!"
Several of the ladies sighed dreamily, they were clasping hands with one another as though they shared some secret spell.
Their eyes gleamed as if they had seen a vision.
"Lord Dominic and a beautiful boy... oh, how wonderful!"
"They must be doing... all sorts of things... ahhh!"
Some moaned aloud, others blushed furiously and one girl even burst out with a nosebleed.
The hysteria spread like a fever, infecting even those who had sworn they would become Dominic’s wife themselves.
Camilla shot to his feet, her voice shaking with indignation.