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Chapter 47
“Uh? Why are you drinking alone?”
“…Grand Duchess.”
Setting down his empty glass, Davit rose from the table.
Perhaps it was because he had been drinking while thinking of her all this time, but facing her in person made him feel awkward.
The Grand Duchess, wearing a light sky-blue indoor dress, gestured gracefully with her hands, up and down, signaling for him to sit comfortably.
Watching her elegant hand movements, Davit slowly took a seat.
The Grand Duchess naturally sat opposite him.
“I’ve been meaning to ask, why do you always leave the bedroom door open, Grand Duke? Does it mean anyone can come in?”
“No.”
Davit bit the inside of his cheek.
Leaving the bedroom door open out of habit was also a flaw rooted in his personality.
He answered the Grand Duchess silently in his mind.
I leave the door open because I hate the feeling of being left completely alone.
If the door were closed tightly, trapping me in one space, it would feel as if I were discarded like leftover food on a plate. It would take me back to the time I was trapped as a concubine.
During my days as a knight, I deliberately shared a group dormitory. I didn’t want to fall asleep in silence. Even hearing someone else’s snoring made me feel at ease.
Even now, I rely on the sounds outside the door to fall asleep. The footsteps and hushed voices of servants and knights on duty at dawn reassure me.
Even though the time of being abandoned so cruelly has passed, I still carry such useless fears.
…If I answered honestly like this, would you step back from me?
“What brings you here, Grand Duchess?”
“I just came by. After speaking privately with that maid Polina, I noticed your expression looked very troubled.”
The Grand Duchess replied.
Davit gazed at her silently.
What an unpredictable woman.
From the moment he first saw her at the wedding, he was certain. She was a woman with a brilliance that could never merge with his own. Like trying to dye a wildflower red—it could never compare to the splendor of a rose.
But the more he got to know her, the more his preconceptions cracked.
She unconditionally embraced the people of Blansk who hated him. She cried tears over a simple “good job.” She wore cheap ribbons he had given her, every single day.
Even now, a silver-gray ribbon loosely wrapped around her wrist.
She asked him to become the true ruler of Dvorca and knelt without hesitation at his feet, pledging to serve the sovereign. She smiled loosely, tipsy.
And now, she comes to the room to check on his expression with concern.
A star that once shone aloofly from the highest place.
Why does someone like that keep lowering herself to come closer?
The brighter your light shines, the darker my shadow will seem.
Davit could no longer suppress the question rising from deep within him.
“Grand Duchess…”
“Yes?”
“How far can you tolerate my flaws?”
Was that question too sudden?
The Grand Duchess tilted her head slightly, her lips forming a small, murmured “Are you drunk?”
“Um, you mean how much of your flaws I can endure?”
He nodded.
Davit fiddled with the coaster at the edge of his glass, lowering his gaze to the table. Even after asking, he felt anxious. What kind of answer would she give?
“Everyone has their flaws. Once we’re married, you’d have to tolerate them to some extent.”
“But surely, there’s a limit to what you can endure.”
“Limit? Hmm… If I had to say, I don’t like people hiding things.”
After a brief thought, the Grand Duchess answered.
“Hiding things?”
“Yes. A husband is also a political partner. Trust comes first. Even if it’s natural that you don’t fully trust me yet, I hope over time we can talk openly about anything.”
Her direct, unpretentious tone, her clear and calm voice, Davit thought it was very pleasant.
Trust. A basic requirement. To be someone’s political partner, trust must come first.
Yet there were many things Davit had not told the Grand Duchess. Things he could not tell.
So he asked again.
“When I hide something… would that make you feel the most betrayed?”
“You’ve been drinking a lot, haven’t you? This question is getting a bit deep.”
“I want to know.”
I want to avoid you turning your back on me.
As the Queen said, you seem to be the only one I can lean on.
“Well… I guess a hidden child would be quite troublesome, right?”
“A hidden child…”
Davit mulled over her answer, opening and closing his eyes. He had only just realized it. The biggest secret he was keeping…
The existence of his younger sister, hidden from the world.
Melania’s innocent face floated like a lingering image.
A child born at the death of their mother and abandoned even by their father.
A child who could not be known to exist, a birth not even blessed.
To Davit, she was the only family he must hold close.
Now sold to a colonial land, he could not reach her. Unsent letters and gifts only accumulated at the bottom of his desk drawer.
“Grand Duke, that guilty expression… don’t tell me you have a child at that age?”
The Grand Duchess asked teasingly.
“….”
Davit bit his lips in frustration.
Melania is not my daughter. Yet why do I keep getting stuck for words?
Melania could never be my flaw. She is my most precious family, my tenderest part.
I had to hide her desperately. Being discovered alive would have meant death.
Now, even though the country is lost and my father has gone mad, there is no immediate threat to her life…
But the child would be hurt if she found out she should have died.
“Grand Duke, was it a lie that you’d never been in love?”
Davit snapped back to reality at the Grand Duchess’s question.
“…No.”
“Then let’s imagine hypothetically. If the child had your blood, it could be precious to you. Still, it would be difficult for me to accept.”
“…Yes.”
“Even if illegitimate, the Dvorca royal lineage complicates succession. If the child were born before mine, you might want to pass the title of Duke of Dvorca to them.”
“No. That would never happen.”
Davit had never been interested in romance, then or now.
To have an illegitimate child with another woman—unthinkable. To pass the powerless Dvorca dukedom to them would be cruel to the child.
“Thanks for saying that. You currently have no thought of children, and I can only accept you as family for now. I cannot accept a child I did not bear as family.”
“…Family.”
Davit murmured the word. Could he truly form such a bond with the Grand Duchess?
“By the way, why drink alone? You could have called Sir Kirill in the next room, sleeping soundly.”
“Just… thinking.”
“About what?”
“How to make you continue wanting to protect me…”
Davit spoke honestly. That so-called favor, what does it really mean? He felt ashamed of being so conscious of the Queen’s letters.
“Wow. What a trivial worry.”
“Why is it trivial?”
“Did you forget our contract? You just have to let me use you like now. That’s all.”
Davit shook his head.
“That’s too easy. Donate your money in my name to the weak. Wave hands with dignity in public ceremonies. Be revered beyond reason just because you’re royalty.”
“It’s easy here in Blansk. On future tours, I’ll have to act. Perhaps as a husband who has completely captured his wife in love.”
“…How do you act that out?”
“Maybe it won’t even be acting. By then, I could really be your prisoner. Who knows?”
Heh.
At the Grand Duchess’s brazen joke, Davit laughed without resistance.
“Wow, I’ve never seen you laugh like that.”
“….”
The Grand Duchess gazed at him with pure admiration. Embarrassed, Davit quickly wiped the smile off his face.
“You know, Alisa Lasantia isn’t that untrustworthy. She can take responsibility for such a young and naive husband.”
“Who’s young and naive?”
Davit bristled as if he had never laughed.
Being called young and naive didn’t sit well.
“Then… twenty-one isn’t young?”
“I had my coming-of-age ceremony three years ago. I’ll be twenty-two after my birthday in autumn.”
Davit roughly brushed back his bangs. He felt awkward despite stating a fact.
“Twenty-one or twenty-two, it’s the same. You still haven’t opened your eyes to the opposite sex.”
“….”
Davit exhaled quietly. He could not argue with that.
“And naive doesn’t mean much else. It means that even if you try to hide your feelings, they show on the surface. I like transparent people. Royals and nobles are skilled at lying without blinking, and I’m tired of that.”
Davit clenched his mouth shut.
She means my thoughts are completely visible…
For some reason, he felt like he was being played in the palm of the Grand Duchess’s hand.
Even though he had vowed to willingly play along, now it felt like he was losing.
Hiding one’s true thoughts is one of the virtues of nobility. Davit felt frustrated at not possessing even that quality.
Meanwhile, the Grand Duchess leaned over the table. Her sharp silver-gray eyes scanned Davit’s face thoroughly.
Being stared at up close, his body stiffened strangely. It felt as if invisible threads were tightly wrapping around him.
It felt like someone was gripping his heart tightly. He was anxious, as if some unknown truth would be seen through.
The Grand Duchess’s red lips slowly parted.
“…Grand Duke.”
“Yes?”
“You like me a little more now, right? After spending time together, I’m not that unbearable, am I?”
Davit frowned unconsciously.
Why do you say that…
As if you hold the initiative in this relationship.
You keep saying things that make me want to believe you’re trying to please me.
“I’ve never thought you were unbearable.”
“Hmm, that’s a satisfying answer.”
“….”
“Anyway, I’ll overlook most flaws. I’m full of flaws myself. So Grand Duke, please forgive minor ones as well.”
A smile lingered at the corners of the Grand Duchess’s mouth.
Several seconds later, Davit realized he was faintly smiling along with her.
