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CHAPTER: 20
I’ll Give You My Leash
Celia deliberately lay on the bed, pretending to sleep. There was nothing to gain from anyone discovering she was dressed in a maid’s uniform.
Footsteps that had been echoing at regular intervals stopped right in front of her bed.
She felt a piercing gaze. Peeking through half-closed eyes, she saw Dietrich’s face right in front of hers.
“I know you’re not sleeping.”
His voice was firm, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to be in her room at this hour. Celia opened her eyes fully and looked up at him.
With the pale moonlight behind him, his jet-black hair stood out starkly. His blood-red eyes slowly scanned her face.
Until now, no man had ever looked at her this way. They always had eyes filled with lust.
But the way Dietrich was looking at her now—it was as if she were nothing more than a stray weed on the roadside or a jagged stone at his feet.
His gaze went beyond indifference; it was cold. Celia stared into those crimson eyes.
The two of them remained in silence, simply studying each other’s faces. Dietrich observed her, and she observed him in return.
It was Dietrich who finally broke the silence. After a long pause, his soft pink lips moved slowly.
“You—what’s your relationship with Eleon?”
Celia blinked, puzzled. She hadn’t expected him to show up unannounced in the dead of night and ask this.
“Eleon? You mean Eleon Grederic?”
She knew the name well. He belonged to one of the three major ducal houses forming the backbone of Abelon.
But she had no relationship with Eleon. During the public proposal auction held for her, none of the three dukes had ever shown up.
Wealthy tycoons, high-ranking nobles obsessed with women, revered archpriests—
Even the Emperor, who died by her hand.
Countless men threw their fortunes at her feet just for a glance. But the three dukes never even joined the race.
Celia had often thought it was lucky the Emperor had been a fool. If he had been like the dukes—uninterested in her—she might never have had the chance to kill him.
“Yes. I asked what your relationship with Eleon is.”
The sharp tone of his voice cleared Celia’s head. She sensed strong hostility in Dietrich’s voice.
“I have no relationship with him. I’ve never even met him.”
Her words were entirely true. But Dietrich furrowed his brow deeply. It was as if his whole body screamed that he didn’t believe her.
“Don’t lie. If that’s not it…”
He wouldn’t have saved you in that moment of danger. His words were nearly a whisper, but Celia heard them clearly.
She couldn’t understand. She had no connection to Eleon—not even a glimpse of his face.
A breath escaped her lips in disbelief.
“Why are you so sure I’m lying?”
If he did just a bit of digging, he’d see there was no link between her and Eleon. To her, Dietrich just seemed to be grasping at straws.
He had her locked away in this mansion, completely cut off from the outside world. Now, after a week, he finally showed up—only to interrogate her?
She was seriously considering moving to the Crown Prince’s residence. Better to be with someone whose intentions were visible than a man like this.
Of course, moving there would mean facing the Empress. Celia had only seen her once, but she could tell—the Empress had feelings for Dietrich.
People with experience dealing with many others often developed exceptional intuition.
As if he’d read her thoughts, Dietrich seemed to choose his next words carefully before speaking.
“Recently, Eleon disposed of a few people. He framed them for assassinating the Emperor.”
Dietrich turned away from her.
“Do you really know nothing about that?”
When she said nothing, he continued with his back turned.
“Before you were Celia Brillion… what were you?”
“……”
“For the past week, I’ve tried to find your real parents. But I found nothing. If no one knows—then that must mean everyone who did is already dead.”
He walked over to the window. As he opened it wide, a cool breeze drifted in and tickled Celia’s cheek.
With his back still to her, she couldn’t see his expression. But to her, he looked like a deeply rooted old tree, unmoving and solid.
“Are you really from Abelon?”
Just as Celia had doubted his origins, Dietrich now doubted hers.
“No. You’re not from Abelon.”
He wasn’t just suspicious—he was certain. Celia couldn’t help but be impressed by his deduction. How had he figured it out in such a short time?
She had hidden it so thoroughly that even she could almost forget.
Dietrich turned around and approached the bed.
He leaned over, locking eyes with her. His sharp red gaze didn’t blink, as if trying not to miss a single expression on her face.
“The reason you killed the Emperor…”
He stopped mid-sentence, then leaned even closer, placing a hand on the edge of the bed. His breath nearly brushed her skin.
When Celia didn’t pull away, he whispered in her ear:
“It’s related to your origins, isn’t it?”
Celia shot upright.
The blanket fell from her shoulders, revealing the maid uniform underneath. Dietrich didn’t even flinch. It was as if he had known all along that she planned to escape the mansion that night.
Celia grabbed him by the collar, crumpling his perfectly neat uniform in her grip.
“…Dietrich.”
Her voice was low and laced with amusement. Her breath danced against his ear.
“You’ve been the Emperor’s lapdog your whole life, and now what—suddenly you want to be my lapdog instead?”
She released his collar with a smirk.
“Too bad. I don’t keep dogs that might bite their owner someday.”
“……”
“You’ve picked the wrong person to mess with. You should go find yourself another master.”
She smiled—clear and fresh, like morning dew on grass.
“…So you really don’t have any ties to Eleon.”
Dietrich seemed… relieved? At seeing her angry? Celia couldn’t understand the man in front of her.
“What is it you’re really trying to say?”
“What I mean is—”
He reached for her hair. Undoing the loose tie, he tucked her disheveled strands gently behind her ear.
The gesture seemed more about clearing a nuisance than affection. It felt utterly detached.
“You killed the Emperor for nothing.”
With that, Dietrich straightened up. Celia pulled him back down, toppling him onto the bed.
He didn’t resist as she climbed on top of him. Now it was Dietrich looking up at her.
She glared down at him, eyes full of hostility.
“What the hell do you mean by that?”
“……”
He said nothing, but Celia read the expression in his eyes.
It was pity. Sympathy. As if to say, You really don’t know anything, do you?
“I asked what the hell you meant.”
“Do you want to know?”
She stared at his neck as if debating where to strike.
“You’re not going to tell me anyway. You want something from me, don’t you?”
“……”
He didn’t deny it. And now, Celia felt she understood him a bit more.
Dietrich was not a man who did anything without a reason. She could commend his intuition for figuring out part of her identity—but she was sure he didn’t know the biggest truth of all:
That she was the princess of the Kingdom of Shan.
And there was one more thing Dietrich didn’t know—Celia had also learned something about him.
She leaned down, placing her ear to his chest. His heartbeat—steady, not too fast, not too slow—changed rhythm drastically after her next words.
“You’re not from Abelon either. And yet, you’re the Commander of the Imperial Knights.”
He said nothing. She hadn’t expected an answer anyway.
“More than that… you hate Abelon, don’t you?”
She sat up, one hand still on his chest, lifting a corner of her lips in a half-smile.
Her mouth smiled, but her eyes were icy cold.
In that maid’s uniform, with her slender frame, Celia looked more royal than any member of the imperial family.
Dietrich could easily subdue her with one hand—but didn’t.
Because he didn’t want to.
She was both foolish and not. Cautious and reckless. Such a combination was rare.
To Dietrich, Celia was exactly that. She might seem like a fool—but she absolutely wasn’t.
She might stab him in the back one day—but that was a problem for the future.
“You’re not even from Abelon, yet you sit in the highest military position. What are you really after?”
He hadn’t expected her to uncover his identity. Even trapped in a mansion with no information, she had come this far. If she learned more…
Her talent was something to be acknowledged. In this game of mutual blackmail, the one with the upper hand had to be her.
She was sharper than expected—and possessed powers no one else had.
She was the only one who had figured him out. If left alive, she could be dangerous. If the wrong information got out, it could threaten his entire plan to bring down the empire.
He might have to kill her.
But better than openly threatening her was to pretend—at least for now—that he was on her side.
That way, there’d be no backlash later.
Over the past week, Celia had come close to death more than once. He’d kept her confined for that very reason—the Empress had already sent assassins and poisoned gifts multiple times.
He couldn’t let someone else kill her. Celia and her powers belonged only to him.
Dietrich took her hand and placed it on his neck.
“I’ll give you my leash.”
That way, you’ll get exactly what you want.
