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Chapter 8
“What?”
“The ring. The ring you always wore on your right hand. The ruby ring. I believe it is the head of the family’s ring, isn’t it?”
“Ah, I lost it a few days ago.”
“My goodness, you lost such an important ring? That simply won’t do.”
Sylvia looked at my hand with an exaggeratedly worried expression.
But despite her words, she did not look worried at all. If anything, she even gave me a meaningful little smile…
What is this?
“Then we’ll be going now. Ah, if you happen to change your mind along the way, feel free to contact me anytime.”
I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Anyway, I was simply happy that I had finally gotten rid of those siblings, so I smiled brightly and waved my hand.
It was my way of telling them to hurry up and get out of my house.
“Honestly. She’s so stubborn and impossible to talk to. You saw it too, didn’t you, Jerold?”
After leaving the drawing room, Sylvia asked with an irritated expression.
A servant working at the marquis’s residence bowed his head as they passed, but she paid no attention to him.
“You’re just as hopeless, you idiot. How hard can it be to seduce one woman? You bragged that you could make any woman fall for you with just a snap of your fingers. Turns out it was all talk. Tsk, tsk.”
“Ah, why are you only blaming me! Sister, you have to look at the sky before you can pick a star. What am I supposed to do when that woman never even leaves the marquis’s residence!”
Jerold protested indignantly at Sylvia’s criticism.
And he really had prepared himself quite diligently when his sister told him to seduce the Marchioness of Zaherete.
He had even come up with his own plan and made all sorts of arrangements behind the scenes.
The problem was that the target herself never came outside.
“I should have done something back then, no matter what.”
Jerold clicked his tongue as he glared at the closed door.
“But are you really sure that the person you met outside a few days ago was the Marchioness? It’s strange. I’ve never seen her wandering around late at night.”
“Ah, I told you, it really was her. I even showed you the proof. That’s why we came here today in the first place, to confirm it.”
“Shh.”
At the word proof, Sylvia hurriedly covered Jerold’s mouth.
Her eyes flashed sharply as she glanced around them suspiciously.
“Still, I suppose you were right.”
“See? I told you I’m always right about these things. Haa, instead of this, I really should have forced things back then somehow. If I had just made it into a done deal, that would have been the end of it. That woman is annoyingly quick-witted.”
It wasn’t just her quick thinking, either.
The fists that had messed up his face had packed quite a punch.
“Just wait until we’re married. I’ll teach her some proper manners.”
“That’s right. After you’re married, you can do whatever you want, so let’s just put up with it a little longer.”
Sylvia patted her younger brother’s shoulder, soothing and encouraging him.
Her gaze lingered on the luxurious hallway of the marquis’s residence.
Once the marriage happened, it would be as good as having all of this in her hands.
‘They may be called a count’s family, but the Valentines are so close to bankruptcy that it wouldn’t even be surprising if they went under tomorrow. And yet this woman has all this wealth just because she happens to be a marchioness… I hear her business is doing quite well, but in the end, she only inherited it because she was born to wealthy parents, didn’t she?’
There was no one in the empire who did not know how capable the Marchioness of Zaherete was at running a business.
Even Sylvia’s husband, Count Oscar, was desperate to establish a connection with her.
“What? You were academy classmates? That’s great. Then couldn’t you go and help me get acquainted with her?”
“Get acquainted? How?”
“How do you think? Give the Marchioness a gift she likes, or flatter her and stay on her good side. Do I really have to explain everything to you? Can’t you think for yourself?”
Her husband’s words had wounded Sylvia’s pride.
Back at the academy, she had certainly been above Erna.
Yet it annoyed her that Erna, who was not even married, was now socially recognized and respected.
‘What’s so great about running a business, anyway? She’s still that unfashionable Erna.’
Sylvia recalled what Erna had looked like when she had just returned from going out earlier and managed to calm herself down.
That’s right. What good is having money if you don’t know how to use it?
‘Wouldn’t it be better for someone who actually needs it to have it, rather than someone who doesn’t even know how to spend it?’
That was why she intended to get her hands on the marquis family’s fortune by her own methods.
But first, she needed to do something about Erna Zaherete.
“But, Sister. Are you really sure this has a chance of working? What if the Marchioness already has someone she likes…?”
“What? Pfft. Erna Zaherete? Hahaha. Don’t make me laugh. That bookworm? What does she know about romance? She probably hasn’t even held a man’s hand once in her life.”
“Really? That’s good. I don’t like women who’ve already been touched by someone else.”
And yet you’ve been sleeping around with one woman after another…
But Sylvia kept that thought to herself.
Even though he was her younger brother, he was truly the worst possible marriage partner.
If she had been in the other woman’s position, she would have wanted to run away before even entering the wedding hall.
But the person marrying that man was Erna Zaherete.
It had nothing to do with Sylvia.
And it would be nice to knock down that pride of hers, too, the way she acted as if she were someone important.
Just imagining Erna Zaherete after an unhappy marriage, completely crushed and humbled, made Sylvia feel incredibly pleased.
“But, Sister. Why do you hate the Marchioness so much?”
“I don’t know. I just never liked her. Ever since back then, her attitude annoyed me. She subtly looked down on me just because she was a marquis’s daughter… Ugh!”
Thud.
As Sylvia turned the corner of the hallway while answering, she collided with something coming from the opposite direction.
Rubbing her forehead from the sudden pain, she sharply raised her head.
“What the hell! Don’t you know how to watch where you’re going…?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
The first thing she heard was a pleasant, low-pitched voice.
The rich, soothing voice struck her ears like a beautiful song.
Then came the sweet scent of flowers.
Huh?
Her gaze, which had been fixed on the enormous bouquet of flowers, slowly moved up to the face of the man holding it.
Sylvia’s mouth fell open.
“Gasp! G-G-G-Grand D…!”
“Your Highness! So you were here. The Marchioness has gone up to her office. I’ll show you the way.”
“Please do.”
While Sylvia stood there stammering stupidly, the man holding the bouquet simply ignored her and walked past.
He had only brushed past her, yet Sylvia’s heart was pounding like crazy.
Her breathing became ragged and heat spread through her body, as if she had shared a passionate kiss with him.
That was how extraordinary this man was.
A man with such irresistible charm that once you saw him, you could never escape his spell.
“S-Sister. Wasn’t that just the Grand Duke?”
Jerold also looked shocked as he repeatedly shook Sylvia’s shoulder, as though he could not believe what he had just seen.
Sylvia felt exactly the same.
At the same time, an inexplicable irritation began to rise inside her.
‘Why is the Grand Duke of Bernstein at the marquis’s residence?’
Just what kind of relationship do those two have?!
Then, several newspaper articles suddenly flashed through her mind one after another.
Sylvia’s face was filled with shock.
Gasp. No way!
‘Why is the Grand Duke here again?’
I stared at the man in front of me, then closed and opened my eyes.
Maybe I was hallucinating.
But Laura, standing beside him and gesturing toward me with her eyes, ruled out that possibility.
‘Wow, he really came. This is driving me crazy.’
“We meet again, Marchioness.”
“Indeed.”
I hadn’t expected to see him again in less than a week.
Perhaps he knew what I was thinking, because the dazzling Grand Duke was smiling brightly again today.
‘Come to think of it, he isn’t wearing the white priestly uniform today.’
Maybe that was why I felt strangely unsettled.
He had merely added a layer of black fabric to the body that normally wore nothing but white, yet somehow it felt completely different.
It was as if his clean, noble appearance had been covered with a dark and dangerous scent.
Dangerous. This man is just far too dangerous.
“I believe you asked me to give you some time to think. Surely you didn’t mean that your time was only two days?”
“Of course not.”
He smiled gently, as if to say he wasn’t such a narrow-minded person.
At that one smile, the maids who had brought the tea blushed and did not know what to do with themselves.
Oh dear. They’re going to get themselves into trouble.
I gestured for them to leave quickly, and Laura startled before hurrying over and taking them outside.
Through the gap of the slowly closing door, Laura’s gaze looked rather unusual, but I deliberately ignored it.
That wasn’t what mattered right now.
“So, may I ask what brings you here?”
After hesitating for a moment, I carefully asked.
Unfortunately, I still hadn’t solved a single one of my problems. That was why I had been planning to go down to my estate for a while, to buy myself some time.
‘I got so caught up dealing with everything from the past and finding the ring that I completely forgot about this. I should have left the capital as soon as possible.’
What if he demanded an answer right away in a situation like this?
My palms became sweaty from anxiety as I waited for him to speak.
And then…
“You weren’t planning to run far away, were you?”
Gasp.
