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CHAPTER 06……………………………………………
Jerden tilted his head slightly at the sight of Rubelho had vanished in an instant.
She had moved so fast that even Jerden hadn’t been able to track her movements.
Even the empire’s finest knights would not have been able to act that quickly.
“What are you doing there?”
Jerden, who had been looking around to see where Rubelia had gone, wore a dumbfounded expression when he spotted her curled up and hiding under the table.
She looked exactly like a squirrel. How could she fit herself into such a small space as if it were her own home?
At Jerden’s question, Rubelia quietly raised her index finger to her lips. It was a clear “be quiet.”
Not understanding the situation at all, Jerden frowned. Truly, she was someone he found difficult to understand.
At times she was as light as if she might float away, then suddenly serious, and then she would do inexplicable things.
“I never expected you to have the habit of hiding under a table while eating dessert….”
“That’s not it. There was some crazy guy outside.”
Ever since encountering Hassedian and Aria, Rubelia had developed the habit of running away or hiding whenever she saw them. So before even properly assessing the situation, she had instinctively hidden.
With nowhere suitable to hide, she had ended up under the table by chance.
Even she found the situation embarrassing.
Why on earth did she have to go through such hardship because of the male and female leads?
She hadn’t even had the chance to make a good impression on Jerden, and now she was showing him such a ridiculous sight.
“I don’t see anyone like that outside.”
Jerden glanced out and spoke with a puzzled expression.
“It’s usually the ones who look perfectly normal on the outside but are crazy inside who are the most dangerous.”
Thinking of Aria and Hassedian—both outwardly flawless and even admirable—Rubelia said firmly.
“I agree with that.”
Jerden had met quite a few such people himself.
“Did you see a man outside with blue hair and blue eyes, like he’s been hit in the head?”
Others called it a clear blue like lake water, but to Rubelia it just looked like a bruised head.
In a way, it was a fitting color—like it expressed a bruised mind through blue hair.
“I don’t see him anymore.”
He had flickered into view a moment ago, but now he was gone.
At those words, Rubelia let out a relieved sigh. That was a relief.
As she thought about getting up, she realized the space was much tighter than expected. When she tried to rise, she ended up hitting her head hard against the table.
Twice in a row.
Her head bounced off with unintended force—bang, bang.
Jerden’s expression turned strange.
“…Pfft.”
He hadn’t expected to laugh at someone’s mistake like this.
Rubelia was holding her head and groaning in pain, tears welling up, and Jerden found her both cute and funny.
‘She really is a squirrel.’
Her posture itself was just like one.
But Rubelia, who had hit her head hard against the table, was nearly in tears from the pain.
‘I think I’m going to get a bump.’
The table felt like it was made of some kind of alloy. It wasn’t ordinary pain.
And that laughter from earlier was also bothering her.
She felt too embarrassed to even lift her head.
“Are you going to stay there like that?”
Seeing no sign of her moving, Jerden asked flatly.
“It hurts.”
Her head hurt, her heart hurt, her whole self hurt.
She just wanted to stay hidden like this.
“I won’t stop you if you insist on staying there.”
“It’s too cramped….”
So I can’t get out.
With that meaning in her teary eyes, Rubelia looked at Jerden.
At her words, Jerden stood up without hesitation. Thinking he was about to leave her there alone, Rubelia hurriedly tried to stop him.
It would be too embarrassing to be left alone under the table like that.
But instead of leaving, Jerden simply lifted the table with ease. He was moving it aside so she could come out.
As the table that had been hiding her was suddenly lifted away, Rubelia grabbed its leg. She did intend to come out—but disappearing so suddenly left her nowhere to hide.
There wasn’t even a mouse hole.
“Don’t go!”
“Should I put it back down?”
Jerden asked at her desperate voice.
“No, I’m sorry.”
Thinking about it, if she just endured a little embarrassment, she could get out of this situation. There was no need to stop him.
Only then did Jerden move the table aside properly, allowing her to come out.
Rubelia then sat on the sofa with a composed expression, as if nothing had happened. She naturally reached for the tea placed on the moved table and took a sip.
“The tea is really delicious.”
She said casually, as if nothing had happened.
“Your face is red.”
Jerden teased her, clearly seeing through her attempt to pretend nothing had happened.
Her face was bright red with embarrassment.
“Oh my, it’s hot in here.”
Yet Rubelia didn’t back down.
“But the tea is cold.”
“What kind of ice is this, so hot?”
She almost felt it was pointless to keep pretending, but admitting it now would be even more embarrassing.
“I think there are tears in your eyes as well.”
“Oh my, it’s so hot I’m sweating from my eyes.”
She calmly wiped her tears.
‘He could just let it go.’
Rubelia pouted in dissatisfaction. Jerden looked at her and chuckled.
“Come to think of it, you were being chased before as well.”
He hadn’t cared much then, but today he was a little curious.
For a marquis’s daughter to be running around like that, he couldn’t easily guess what kind of situation or person was involved.
“Yes, there is such a person. Someone who feels like a weapon of mental destruction—just talking to them feels like my mind will break.”
Jerden frowned slightly at her words, not fully understanding. But Rubelia looked completely serious.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about, but if you asked your marquis, I’m sure he would gladly take care of it. It’s well known how much he dotes on you.”
Jerden said casually.
“I know that. But the other side is too powerful.”
Even if she asked her marquis, they couldn’t be fully stopped.
They were a duke and a duke’s daughter. How could a marquis deal with that?
“The marquis can stop almost anyone.”
“Almost. Not everyone.”
Rubelia shrugged, resigned.
Jerden looked at her with a strange gaze, as if she had some deeply complicated story.
“There are many difficult things in the world.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. Don’t you, Your Grace, have at least one or two such things as well?”
She glanced at him.
As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.
If she could understand why Jerden was attempting rebellion, maybe it would help her later when trying to stop him as a friend.
“Do I look like I would?”
Jerden asked back.
“Of course. What in the world is easy? Everyone has their own story, their own struggles.”
“I am a grand duke.”
He answered bluntly, almost out of place.
“So? Do you think being a grand duke means no worries? That the emperor lives happily without concerns?”
“But I hold a higher rank than most.”
“And that probably comes with even more hardship.”
Even the rich have worries; why wouldn’t nobles in this world?
Even she herself—on the surface, she was a marquis’s daughter with nothing to envy. Yet depending on Jerden’s future, her life hung by a thread like a candle in the wind.
“I see…”
Jerden trailed off. He was not used to this kind of conversation.
No one had ever tried to understand his situation. They only envied his power or tried to cling to it.
He hadn’t expected anything. He hadn’t even wanted recognition. Nothing would change anyway.
But hearing it from Rubelia made something in his chest feel strangely ticklish.
She really was different from everyone he had met so far.
“Hm, cheer up. Good things will happen someday.”
Rubelia said, trying to comfort the somewhat bitter-looking Jerden.
“Do you really think so?”
“If you don’t, it’s just unfair.”
Even if it wasn’t true, you had to think that way to keep going.
“I feel a strange sensation whenever I talk with you.”
“I feel the same.”
She didn’t feel like a villain at all.
Maybe because he was her destined counterpart, or something like that, but she didn’t seem like someone who simply wanted to rebel to become emperor. And yet Jerden’s eyes showed no ambition at all.
Even when he said he was a grand duke, he didn’t look pleased—just tired.
“You seem different from the woman I heard about in rumors.”
‘Of course.’
Because I’m literally a different person.
Rubelia thought to herself.
“Well, Your Grace is different too.”
“Is that so? I’m curious what rumors you heard.”
“Just… various rumors. Some even said you were the Crown Prince’s rival…”
She couldn’t openly list all the infamous rumors surrounding him, so she spoke vaguely.
“At least that one is nonsense. I have no interest in the throne whatsoever.”
Jerden’s voice turned cold.
The emperor had always been wary of him. Before becoming Grand Duke, Jerden’s father had originally been the Crown Prince, but he had given up the throne to live as the husband of the woman he loved. Thanks to that, the current emperor—then the second prince—had taken the throne.
Because of that history, Jerden, the former Crown Prince’s son, still held a claim to succession. Originally, he should have been the Crown Prince.
His father had given up the throne for himself, not for his son’s right.
So the emperor feared that his own son might be displaced by Jerden.
Thinking of this, Jerden wore a bitter expression.
Rubelia quietly looked at him.
She had already suspected he had no interest in the throne, but hearing it confirmed it even more.
He truly had no interest in the emperor’s seat.
‘Then why on earth is he starting a rebellion?’
