A Divorced Evil Lady Bakes Cakes

Erin asked what he came for, to finally get it over and done with because she was exhausted, and she has been through a lot today.

However, Raymond didn’t answer for a while.

Instead, he studied Erin’s face for a long time, then blurted out,

“Nothing… It’s no big deal.”

At a loss for words, Raymond turned to Calix, who was sitting next to him.

“Why are you here?”

Calix, who was nibbling on a cookie that came with his tea, replied nonchalantly,

“It’s a dessert cafe.”

“So?”

“I’m here for desserts.”

Raymond looked at his younger brother in disbelief, then rose from his seat, not wanting to continue the meaningless conversation.

“I think we should both head out first.
You seemed exhausted.”

Erin didn’t argue, because she was really exhausted.

“Yes, thank you.
Your Highness, and the Archduke, take care.”

“Sister-in-law, I’ll be again back tomorrow.”

Calix waved his hand before heading out the door.

He saved her life, but now all she wants is for him not to come back but she was helpless.
She could only smile and reply,

“Yes, come tomorrow.”

Raymond watched the two of them for a moment, then turned and walked back outside.

⚘

“Hey.”

Calix called out to Raymond as soon as they were out the door.

“The robber who attacked my sister-in-law today didn’t look like an ordinary one.”

Raymond was silent for a moment as he listened to Calix’s words.
He doesn’t understand what he meant.

Raymond stared at Calix with dark eyes for a moment.

They weren’t real brothers, but he’d gotten along well with him when they were younger.

He was a cute kid, and he was very small.

With the age difference between the both of them, there was no need for them to fight and argue.

He was the Emperor’s grandson, and by custom, he was a duke, and Calix became an archduke by virtue of his inheritance from his father.

But that didn’t matter when he was younger.

Raymond, the real imperial family member, was always in a higher position than Calix.

But as the two grew older he started disliking him, and even grew wary of him.

With that, the two drifted apart rapidly.

It was all because of a letter he found from one of Calix’s belongings.
It was a letter written by his father to Calix’s mother, Tierra, who was the only descendant of the Archduke family.

There was affection on it.
It wasn’t a shameful relationship as well.

After all, Raymond’s mother had died for a long time, and Calix’s mother was still unmarried at that time.

But it was a relationship nonetheless.

Tierra was the only child of an archduke, so if she married into the Imperial family, the lineage would be severed.

So Calix’s maternal grandfather, the former Archduke of Royten, had never wanted that outcome.

If Raymond’s father, the crown prince, and Calix’s mother, Tierra, had a secret affair, Raymond would not have been so wary of Calix.

But the dead prince’s letters had indicated that they had been lovers until shortly before Teira’s marriage.

And Calix was given birth to by the Archduchess exactly nine months after her marriage, though officially it was said to be a premature birth…

Raymond stared at Calix in front of him and asked.

“Where is the body?”

“In a back alley off Bay Yard Street.
Maybe it’s still there.
Just keep looking.
Also…”

Calix said, looking straight at Raymond.

“You’d better pay attention to that woman of yours, brother.”

With that, Calix turned and walked away.

Raymond turned westward.

Within a block away, he saw a carriage and a knight on horseback.

a brown-haired, intelligent-looking man hurried up to him and offered a greeting.

“Your Highness.”

Jed looked at Raymond, who had returned alone.

“Your Highness.
Weren’t you trying to get Lady Erin?”

He asked the duke curiously.

“I was.”

Raymond replied briefly and climbed into the carriage.
He had originally intended to take Erin to the palace.

But when he saw Erin, who was wearing long dirty outer clothes in the aftermath of an attack.
He changed his mind.
He couldn’t bring her to the palace after what she just went through.

Raymond sighed.

“We’ll have to talk to her later.”

He ordered, then called Jed to come over before the carriage pulled away.

“There’s a robber’s body in the back alley of Bay Yard street.
Send someone to call the guards to make sure he’s identified.”

⚘

The next day, Erin rose before daylight and put on a light green dress.

The light green fabric made her look fresh and young, it goes well with Erin’s platinum hair.

Erin slipped quietly out of the shop with a finished cake in hand.

She went out last night, just to get the supplies for an upcoming order but now that she was suddenly attacked and lost the supplies, she doesn’t know what to do anymore.

She was thinking of ways on how to explain the situation to the client and ask them if she can send it at a later date, when there was a sudden knock on the door of the first floor of her house.

Erin quickly got up, threw on a thin shawl, and went downstairs.

She then found a small basket lying on the doorstep of the two-story house.

The basket was filled with chocolate, apricot jam, and other ingredients needed to make sachertorte cake.

It was easy to guess who had sent it.

Raymond and Calix were the only two people who knew about what happened yesterday, and Raymond couldn’t have sent something like this.

Nor could the person who paid the killer.

“No wait.
But how did it get here?”

Erin looked around the garden under the light of dawn.

Sure enough, there was no one in the garden.

The shop door was securely locked, and there were high stone walls on either side of the garden.

“Should I build a higher fence?”

But in any case, the ingredients in the basket were all high-quality products that were a little steamed.

She tested it for poison, but there was nothing suspicious about it at all.

With the ingredients finally in hand, Erin spent the entire morning baking the sachertorte cake.

She carried the box with the cake and walked westward.

This neighborhood was inhabited by a lot of prestigious noble families.

It was lined up with a lot of old mansions, all of them were well kept.

The prestigious nobles of the empire, foreign nobles, and great tycoons lived in this neighborhood.

It was already broad daylight, but few people were walking around.

It was a suitable time for tea.

The nobility mostly stayed in the tea room of the mansion around this time of the day.

A few steps ahead was the mansion.
The flag on the gate depicted a silver eagle on a black background.

An Eagle.
It was the coat of arms of the Levonce family.

Erin went to the gates of the mansion.
She also showed a box of cake in front of the guard who was guarding the gate.

“I have brought the cake that your lady ordered.”

When the guard saw this, he immediately sent someone to inform the people inside.
Soon, a maid came out to lead Erin to the mansion’s great hall.

Beyond the hall was a small, pretty gazebo.
The whole scene was like a garden painting.

It was a small, well-appointed gazebo that served as the mansion’s tea room.

Surrounding it was a garden
filled with warm sunlight, and the breeze carried by the wind was a sweet scent of flowers in its wake.

The inside of the tea room was also beautifully and luxuriously decorated.

There were also cute, and delicate furnitures as well as colorful porcelains.

“Oh, my.
Welcome, Lady Erin.”

A beautiful young woman with dark hair rose from her seat to greet Erin.

The young lady was Lady Caterina, the granddaughter of the chancellor.

She was dressed in a pale blue dress, She looked as refined and elegant as a rose.

Lady Caterina smiled at the cake box Erin was carrying.

“I see you brought the cake.
We’ve all been looking forward to it.”

She smiled and looked at the seated guests.
She then sat down at the tea table with the bright sunlight streaming into the tea room and the young ladies in their various dresses.

Their colorful eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Erin immediately realized what was going on,

‘Ah, so everyone wanted to know if the rumors were true, but couldn’t come due to their status, so they decided to call me here.’

The young ladies gathered here were all noble ladies who were currently one of the popular ladies of the social circles centered around Lady Caterina.

When these ladies heard that Erin was opening a shop and doing business.

They were very curious to see what she was selling.

Of course, noblewomen can’t come to buy cakes in person, so Lady Caterina took it upon herself to gather her friends and order a cake from Erin’s shop.

As expected, the red-haired young lady sitting to one side asked in a curious tone,

“Did Lady Erin really bake the cake herself?”

“Yes, I did.”

Ordinarily, a noble lady, not to mention a divorced Duchess would have been well enough to live without working or providing any service.
However, here she was now, as the owner of a cafe.

So she answered the question of the client, politely.

“Oh, my God…”

Everyone looked shocked.

They seemed surprised that Erin, who was a young Marchioness and who also used to be a Duchess, was making and selling cake.

So Lady Caterina asked with her eyes lighting up.

“I can’t wait to try it, can you bring it out for us to see?”

(T/N: I really don’t understand the need for Erin to come forward herself, she’s still a Noble lady.
I don’t like the way these people are treating her like she was simply an ordinary shop owner.)