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Chapter 37
“Sit down. Why are you getting up?”
I naturally took a seat by the window.
The Grand Duke hesitated for a moment, then sat down beside me.
I met his eyes once.
Hmm, under the moonlight, he really did look strikingly handsome.
“What brings you out on a night like this?”
“The cat that was sleeping in my room suddenly went out, so I followed it.”
“…So that was the one staying in the Grand Duchess’s quarters. I often see it whenever I go for a walk.”
Korong was rubbing its head against the hem of the Grand Duke’s pajama pants.
“Seems like you’ve played with Korong a lot, if it even knows your room?”
“His name is Korong? Sometimes, when I’m inside, it sneaks in silently and sits on my lap.”
The Grand Duke looked down at Korong and faintly smiled.
So, he knew how to smile warmly like that too.
He bent down and gently stroked Korong’s head. Then, with that soft smile still lingering, he raised his head again.
“I’ve been meaning to ask, Grand Duchess. Why are there so many cats in the castle?”
Ah, well, that would be a natural question.
I hadn’t counted them all, but there were at least twenty stray cats settled within the castle walls.
“It’s kind of a long story. It might bore you. Are you sure you want to hear it?”
“I like long stories.”
The Grand Duke’s attitude toward me had softened somewhat.
It seemed the anger he showed in the memorial park had faded at least a little. Maybe because he’d seen me moving around with many guards since that day.
Korong jumped back up onto the Grand Duke’s lap. I began my story while watching Korong knead at his legs.
“Last winter, a swarm of rats suddenly broke out in Blansk. When we investigated the cause… we found that the cat population had drastically declined.”
“Why did they decrease?”
“The culprits were the Levanteian soldiers stationed in Blansk. After the war ended, with bullets to spare, they started hunting stray cats. If they had that much time, they should’ve gone after wild boars instead.”
“Insane… why would they hunt cats?”
The Grand Duke looked like he had just stopped himself from swearing.
“Levanteians often see black cats as symbols of misfortune, so sometimes they kill them. But it turned into a hunting game for the stationed soldiers. Once the black cats started disappearing, they even began killing cats with black markings. Of course the population dropped rapidly.”
The Grand Duke clenched his fist tight, veins bulging on his hand.
“Were they punished?”
“There were no grounds for prosecution, so they were fined for property damage. I also issued an official order banning cat hunting within Blansk and sent it to the garrison.”
“…I see.”
Not exactly a satisfying conclusion.
The Grand Duke nodded bitterly.
“Fortunately, the numbers increased again over spring and summer. The citizens of Blansk began protecting the strays. Even if they didn’t take them inside, they made shelters in their yards and fed them.”
“And that’s what you’re doing here at the castle too?”
“Yes. The cats must sense it too. They know this place is safer than outside, so they’ve come to settle here.”
Silently, the Grand Duke combed Korong’s fur with his fingers.
Korong kept pressing his little paws into the Grand Duke’s thigh.
That usually stung. Did it not hurt him?
“Oh, right. Grand Duke, I wanted to ask you something too. I was going to before, but the mood was too off.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“You’ve toured Blansk, right? What are your impressions?”
I was curious.
How did this city, struggling so hard to cast off its scars of war, look in his eyes?
It must have been different from the Blansk my mother had described. It had improved a lot, but surely there were things still lacking.
Was my question too difficult? The Grand Duke cleared his throat first.
“I’m not very good with words… I don’t know how to express it.”
“Just say it comfortably. If there’s something you didn’t like, even better.”
“No, it was excellent. So much so that, if I had a family… I’d want to bring them here to live.”
Hmm.
That was a very nice thing to hear.
But there was a bit of a contradiction.
“Don’t you already have family living in Blansk?”
“…What?”
The Grand Duke blinked at me in confusion.
Like he had no idea what I meant.
“They’re right here. Me.”
I pointed at myself.
He tilted his head, as if he still didn’t get it.
“I’m technically the Grand Duke’s legal wife. Don’t I count as family?”
“…Ah.”
“Even if things are a bit awkward between us, the fact remains—we’re family. We live under the same roof.”
“…True.”
The Grand Duke dropped his head and answered quietly.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Only the bright moonlight filled the heavy silence.
I think I understood why he reacted that way.
Maybe he didn’t like the idea of being tied to me as “family.”
Had I overstepped by pretending closeness when there wasn’t any?
It was a habit from my days in society—always trying to tie myself to others with some plausible common ground. The Grand Duke probably wasn’t used to that kind of talk.
“Haha, you don’t like jokes, do you? I won’t do it again.”
“That’s not it.”
He answered while avoiding my eyes.
Wasn’t he normally someone who clearly said what he disliked? Why was he like this?
Come to think of it, he was still hiding one hand behind his back.
Would he answer if I asked?
“By the way, what’s that you’ve been hiding behind you?”
His broad shoulders flinched.
He took a deep breath instead of answering. His chest rose and fell heavily.
…What was it? Not a rope, just some short ribbon-looking thing.
His slightly parted lips moved faintly.
Finally, he thrust out his hidden left hand before me.
A large fist suddenly appeared right in front of my eyes.
“Whoa! You scared me. I thought you were going to hit me!”
I grumbled and peeked into his palm.
What he held was…
A ribbon. The kind women used to tie their hair.
A smooth silver-gray ribbon, glowing softly in the moonlight.
“I… saw it while passing by, and bought it.”
“Wow. Did I just get a gift?”
He nodded once.
Suppressing a laugh, I gently slid the ribbon from his hand.
I liked it.
It seemed to match my eye color. Usually, ribbons I got as gifts were red, to go with my hair. But I preferred this.
“Thank you. I like it.”
I smiled brightly at him.
Was that why he had been sitting by the window, staring at the ribbon? Had he been debating whether to give it to me?
“…Grand Duchess.”
He stared at my smiling face.
His gaze was meaningful. Why was he suddenly setting this atmosphere again? It felt ominous—like he was about to lecture me again, as he had before.
“Yes?”
“You’ve worked… hard.”
“…What?”
That was so unexpected.
I just blinked at him.
“You told me to share my impression after touring Blansk.”
“Yes.”
“My impression is: you’ve worked hard. That’s it.”
“…Ah.”
He looked at me directly as he said it.
In his violet eyes, glowing with moonlight, there was nothing but sincerity.
It was so strange.
I wanted to say something back, but no words came.
Instead, my eyes grew hot, as if someone had lit a flame under them.
I stared at him blankly, speechless.
My nose stung.
Damn it. Why was I like this? Just because of those words?
“…Grand Duchess?”
He furrowed his brows, watching my expression.
This was crazy. Heat kept rushing to my eyes.
And then, a tear slipped down.
“Ah, what’s going on. Must’ve gotten something in my eye.”
I hurriedly wiped it with my sleeve.
“Why are you crying all of a sudden?”
He reached his hand toward my face, but stopped short, hovering awkwardly.
Flustered, he set Korong down on the floor, then went to a drawer beside the bed and brought out a handkerchief.
I took it and dabbed at my eyes.
But it was too late. The tears just flowed uncontrollably.
“Ugh… I don’t know. I guess… it was what I wanted to hear.”
“No one has ever told you… you’ve worked hard?”
He looked at me with genuine concern.
Honestly, it was embarrassing. I hadn’t wanted him to see me crying like a child.
“That’s not it. Sniff. It’s not that no one did. But… hearing it from a Dvorka native—no, from the Grand Duke of Dvorka himself—it just made something well up in my chest…”
Once the tears started, words tumbled out too.
The Grand Duke gave a troubled smile, trying to make sense of it.
“Grand Duchess. Just now, I wasn’t speaking on behalf of Dvorka or its people. That was purely my personal opinion. It’s true that you’ve worked hard for postwar reconstruction.”
He spoke rationally, trying to comfort me.
Yet, at the same time, he reached out and patted my shoulder gently.
It was a rough but warm touch.
