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Chapter 7
I stayed up almost the entire night like that and got up.
I couldn’t believe it, but it was morning. The morning I had to leave this place.
There could not have been a more cursed sun than on this day since I was born into this world.
Amidst the servants bustling about with preparations, I too got ready to return.
I had been brought here with nothing but the clothes on my back, so I had no real luggage to pack, but I put back on the dress I had worn here and climbed into the carriage with no markings on it.
Would there ever be another prisoner like this in the world? A prisoner crying bitterly because she didn’t want to go home.
Of course, I couldn’t show such an ugly sight of tears streaming down my face, so I swallowed them down inside. Instead, I just bit and bit again on my poor lower lip.
I couldn’t be a burden to the Grand Duke, so the answer was to obediently return as he wished.
Above all, I was a true fan who loved Raymond Rousselet!
As I was steeling my resolve like that, the Grand Duke joined the crowd seeing me off. He approached and looked at me through the open door of the carriage.
But his expression as he sent me off wasn’t good either. The Grand Duke’s eyes seemed just as desolate as mine.
He had gone through the trouble of kidnapping me but ultimately hadn’t achieved what he wanted, so he must have been bitter.
I thought that was surely the reason, but it was somehow comforting that he didn’t look happy to send me off.
“Travel safely, Lady.”
“Farewell, Your Grace the Grand Duke.”
I don’t want to say goodbye. Sob.
Goodbye. Don’t go. That popular song with lyrics that meant the opposite of what they said came to mind, but in the end I swallowed my true feelings deep down.
“Let’s meet again for sure,” I murmured softly, and the carriage door closed. With the driver’s cry of “Giddyup!” and the sound of him urging the horses on, the wheels slowly began to turn.
And so, I left the Grand Duke’s side.
—
***
—
The manor in the rural territory of Grand Duke Rousselet.
Raymond, who had become the Grand Duke of Rousselet following his father, stood on the terrace, facing the chilly wind. He had clearly brought Aileen Cowet here with a firm resolve and a grand plan in mind, but the meaning behind kidnapping her no longer remained.
No, perhaps he had ended up leaving a different meaning behind.
He had his subordinates blindfold Lady Cowet and drag her here by force. And to torment her with his shameless act, he snatched the blindfold off.
He had expected to see a woman with eyes full of venom, but reality was completely different from his expectations. She had a faint smile at the corners of her mouth and her cheeks were flushed.
“…!”
That sight threw Raymond into great confusion.
*’She’s been kidnapped, so why isn’t she angry? She seems happy?’*
His brain froze in bewilderment, but then he recalled the grand plan he had envisioned for this operation. Pushing the confusion aside, he attempted to force a kiss as originally planned, but even that made him hesitate. He spotted the lady’s red lips protruding forward as if welcoming him, telling him to come ahead.
“…!”
Once again, Raymond felt confused.
*’How did she know I was going to kiss her? Why does she seem to want it?’*
His pupils trembled, and he ended up bolting out of the room. No, he had definitely intended to do it, but for some reason, the bed shook, his body tilted, and his lips ended up brushing against the lady’s cheek.
At that moment, a refreshing scent rushed into his nose. At the same time, as if a stationary train had begun to move, his heart started pounding like a drum.
*’What is this feeling…’*
It was a sensation he had never felt before in his life—tingling yet strangely alluring.
His breathing became erratic, as if his body had malfunctioned.
Judging that if he got swept up any further, he didn’t know what would become of his mind, he tried to leave quickly. However, his steps were halted by the lady who grabbed him and insisted they have a meal together.
Knowing Lady Cowet’s upright character, he worried that she might not have eaten a proper meal since being taken captive, so after a moment’s deliberation, Raymond agreed.
But even afterward, the lady’s incomprehensible behavior continued.
Not only did she eat mushrooms in an absurdly cute way, but she also offered him a mushroom speared on the fork she had been using. She asked him to share dessert with her, and she tightly grabbed his arm when he tried to cover her with a shawl. When she ordered him to stay by her side before she slept, her boldness nearly made him sing her a lullaby.
And what about when Aileen accidentally cut the tip of Raymond’s finger? Without a second’s hesitation, she put his finger in her mouth. Raymond was so shocked, but at that moment, he thought of his late mother and, without even thinking to pull his finger away, his heart grew warm.
Perhaps that was why.
“Beware of Cargo.”
“Cargo Ringer? Why him…”
When the lady warned him to beware of Cargo, Raymond naturally suspected him first. Of course, his trusted aide Melas had also been wary of Cargo, so it was a credible opinion from the start, but he found it amusing that he believed her words so readily.
It seemed her earnest gaze had purely shaken Raymond’s heart.
*’Melas would be disappointed if he knew.’*
He felt sorry as he thought of Melas, who was like his right arm.
Because of his always-cautious nature, he hadn’t readily accepted Melas’s opinions, yet he believed a woman’s words at once.
In any case, since two trustworthy people shared the same opinion, he couldn’t just sit still. Raymond decided to first believe it halfway and verify the facts.
Before taking action, he first tried to send Aileen back home. He judged that he needed to secure her safety first before making any moves.
“Tell Lady Cowet that I will send her back home tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, Your Grace the Grand Duke.”
Raymond delivered this news through his subordinate.
He could have told her directly, but for some reason, he felt like his lips wouldn’t open if he looked into her eyes.
No matter how many times he thought about it, it was the right decision… but why did sending her away feel so empty? Why did he want to ask if she could stay longer?
He suddenly looked at the tip of his finger that had been cut by the lady’s knife. The wound had healed cleanly.
Feeling like a fool, he went out to the training ground to get some night air to relieve his frustration, but his mind only filled with more thoughts of her. He smiled faintly as he looked at the cherry tree in full bloom, reminded of her pink hair.
Then he looked up at the room where the lady was staying.
It seemed as though her voice was carried on the wind, and her gaze was reflected in the moonlight. It was a beautiful illusion, but because it wasn’t real, he felt lonely.
What mirage was he chasing?
Realizing his own foolishness, Raymond decided to end his night walk, soaked in delusion, here. He turned around and trudged back into the manor.
—
***
—
After sending the lady back, Raymond immediately set his plan in motion. He needed to hurry and confirm his subordinate’s betrayal.
He secretly summoned Cargo to his room.
“Cargo. You need to deliver this note to Luke at the tulip tree tonight at 10 o’clock. You must not tell anyone.”
“Understood, Your Grace the Grand Duke.”
The note contained a schedule of when Raymond would visit—but it was actually a fake note.
Unaware of this, Cargo opened the note beforehand and tried to pass the information to the Emperor’s side, and Melas’s surveillance team was able to catch him in the act of communicating with the Emperor’s man.
As prearranged, Cargo placed the note in the woodpecker’s nest and moved to a nearby area. An open clearing where the moonlight shone brightly. Cargo went to the spot with the third-largest rock and knocked on the ground five times. Then a figure descended from a tree.
“The Grand Duke’s schedule.”
Just as he was about to hand over the note—
*Rustle, rustle.*
The Grand Duke’s men sprang out from the bushes surrounding the clearing and immediately surrounded the two.
Cargo, bound from behind, felt his heart sink. Flustered, he called out in a trembling voice to the man approaching him with a fierce glare.
“Me… Melas.”
“I no longer wish to be addressed by you, Cargo. To commit treason despite all the grace the Grand Duke has shown you.”
“Th… this is a misunderstanding.”
“Whether it’s a misunderstanding or not will be clear once we investigate.”
Melas tried to drag away the two successfully captured, but there was one thing he hadn’t been able to anticipate.
“Eternal glory to the Empire!!”
“Huff. Sir Melas. This man has bitten his tongue.”
“Tch. Damn.”
The Emperor’s man collapsed, spitting blood at that moment.
Cargo grew even more fearful at the sight. It seemed that dying was better than betraying the Emperor and living. But Cargo, who had neither prepared nor resolved himself for death, was simply dragged away as told.
Melas returned and immediately reported to the Grand Duke.
“Your Grace. We captured the Emperor’s man, but he committed suicide.”
“Committed suicide?”
“He bit his tongue and collapsed as soon as he was caught. It seems he had poison hidden in his mouth beforehand.”
“I see. He must have been highly trained. Just as expected of the Imperial Special Task Force.”
“Yes. It appears so.”
It was regrettable that they couldn’t extract any more information, but it was enough that they had caught a lead.
Melas, who had been unable to shake the feeling that information was leaking, let out a huge sigh of relief now that Cargo had been caught. It was a great relief that they had caught him before he could make any major moves. He was grateful that the Grand Duke hadn’t dismissed his advice.
“Your Grace. By the way, will Lady Cowet truly keep her silence?”
Now that the traitor’s identity had been revealed, the next concern quietly raised its head. Melas brought up what he had been holding inside.
Originally, he was quite concerned that the Grand Duke had revealed his face to the lady and then let her go freely. Why did the Grand Duke choose a path that could endanger everyone the moment she opened her mouth?
“Yes.”
But the Grand Duke affirmed it as if it were his own conviction. It was strange, but since nothing had happened so far, perhaps there was something trustworthy about her.
Melas thought back to Lady Cowet.
He had heard rumors that she was tight-lipped… but honestly, having seen her here, he had been half-doubtful because she was so different from what was known. The evaluations that she was an elegant swan, the very embodiment of grace, made his head tilt involuntarily.
Rather, if he had to compare her to a similar animal…
“Like a squirrel.”
At the Grand Duke’s soft mutter, Melas slapped his knee and said, “Yes, a squirrel!”
“Hm? What did you just say?”
“Oh, nothing. Your Grace.”
Melas cleared his throat with a “Ahem.” It seemed the Grand Duke’s cheeks had turned a peachy color, but he casually thought that perhaps the room temperature was a bit high.
Even to Melas, the way Lady Cowet followed the Grand Duke around closely and ate her food enthusiastically looked more cute than elegant.
In any case, it was now a fact that the lady had kept silent about the kidnapper’s identity.
But why hadn’t she spoken?
That was something he couldn’t know. The astute Melas didn’t let his guard down, but based on what he had observed, he thought the lady could be trusted to some extent.
