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Chapter 25
Knock, knock.
“Your Grace, did you cough? I will assist you with your morning wash.”
The polite voice of a valet who had arrived in time for the morning schedule at the imperial palace was heard.
“……!”
Licht reflexively pulled the blanket up and covered his body.
“Your Grace, excuse me, but may I come in—”
“Thirty minutes!”
“Y–Yes…?”
“…Come back in thirty minutes.”
“A-Ah, understood.”
Realizing how disgraceful his condition was, Licht abandoned all thoughts of dignity befitting the head of the house and urgently shouted, turning the valet away.
“Haa. I should douse myself with cold water right now.”
In a situation this damnable, what did a little cold matter?
Filled with rising self-loathing, Licht awkwardly got up and headed for the bathroom.
After finishing his preparations amid many twists and turns, Licht headed to the imperial palace with Logan.
“His complexion looks worse by the day.”
Waiting in silence for the carriage to stop, Logan glanced at Licht sitting across from him and let out a sigh.
Perhaps because of his sharper jawline and dark circles beneath his eyes, the duke, sitting with his eyes closed in silence, looked extremely on edge.
“You look tired.”
At Logan’s probing remark, red irises appeared between Licht’s closed eyelids.
“Is it because you haven’t found any leads on the badge?”
“…….”
Licht did not answer right away.
It was true that he received reports every day from the knights he had sent out to investigate and issued orders accordingly, but in reality, what had exhausted him this much was largely because of Luciana.
“…Yes.”
But he couldn’t honestly say that, so Licht vaguely agreed, sidestepping Logan’s question.
“So the atmosphere at the estate might be brutal for a while.”
Had there ever been anyone who made his lord this irritable? There had been the occasional wildcat that thought itself a tiger and dared to pounce, but even those all ended up submitting before long.
“To offend Your Grace’s nerves to this extent… if they’re caught, it won’t be easy for them to die peacefully.”
“…!”
Flinch.
Though he knew Logan wasn’t talking about Luciana, Licht frowned at Logan’s somewhat violent choice of words.
“Like last time, will you turn them into a pulp?”
“Logan.”
Contrary to Logan’s intention of lightening the mood with a joke, the noticeably lowered voice cut him off.
“…Yes?”
Why suddenly like this? Did I say something wrong without realizing it?
No matter how he thought about it, he hadn’t done anything particularly problematic.
Seeing Licht looking quite displeased, Logan swallowed dryly.
“…Let’s stop that topic here.”
“Yes… my apologies.”
Since digging further would only put him at a disadvantage, Logan wrapped up the conversation. Fortunately, he seemed to sense the duke’s irritation and didn’t open his mouth again.
“Your Grace, we’ve arrived at the imperial palace.”
Just as the atmosphere was about to turn awkward, the carriage arrived at its destination at perfect timing, and Licht headed straight for the audience chamber.
“I should have just ignored it.”
Logan’s words made him recall Luciana being brutally tortured, and he couldn’t help but waver.
What did it matter to him whether that woman ended up like that or not?
Licht felt truly pathetic for reacting to every little thing.
It had been the same this morning too—why was his composure so shaken today?
“I have no feelings for that woman. She’s just bothersome and annoying.”
As usual, he denied Luciana, but unlike before, his words didn’t sound very convincing.
And that was because—
“!”
That hair color…!
Spotting a familiar figure from behind not too far away, Licht moved his feet without realizing it.
“Your Grace?”
Logan’s flustered call from behind reached Licht’s ears, then disappeared.
Licht simply approached the woman who had just turned the corner and vanished—someone who might have been Luciana.
“Lu—!”
“…?”
Halt.
Sensing someone following her, the person turned around to check the uninvited pursuer.
“Hm? Aren’t you Duke Cassio?”
“…Marquis Leslie.”
Damn it. It wasn’t Luciana.
“…!”
What did I just say?
Hearing his own unfiltered inner voice, Licht snapped back to his senses.
“Damn it. Why is my body moving on its own….”
It felt as though he had lost himself in an instant, like being possessed by a ghost.
He had often been swayed by his instincts before, but never had his body moved of its own accord like this.
Licht let out a restless breath, clearly flustered.
Krebian studied the duke closely before speaking.
“Duke?”
“Ah.”
“Did you have something to say to me?”
“Well… it’s been a while.”
“…Yes. I believe this is our first meeting since His Highness the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet last year.”
As Krebian was also a high-ranking noble, he had exchanged a few words with Licht from time to time.
“Were we close enough for the Duke of Cassio to greet me privately?”
From what he had seen of Licht in high society, the man loathed socializing to the point that he seemed to cut off almost all interactions unrelated to official matters.
For such a duke to suddenly strike up a conversation first—especially when there were no shared interests in business or politics—made the situation feel all the more peculiar.
“Whatever it is, the duke doesn’t seem like his usual self.”
His breathing was strangely uneven, like someone in distress, and his wandering gaze felt awkward, as though he were hiding something.
“Come to think of it, it sounded like you said ‘Lu’ just now.”
“You must have misheard.”
“…Did I?”
“Yes, Marquis.”
That couldn’t be right.
Krebian found Licht suspicious for immediately denying it.
“Did he mistake me for Lucy?”
There were nobles who occasionally mistook her for Luciana just by seeing her from behind—usually those who weren’t acquainted with either of them. At first, Krebian thought Licht had made a similar mistake.
“Well, then again, he is the Duke of Cassio.”
Among the noblewomen Krebian knew, there were often complaints about daughters suffering day and night over the duke’s blade-like demeanor.
A man who seemed to have not even the slightest interest in women having feelings for Luciana was practically impossible.
“…No, it seems I must have misheard.”
Though a lingering doubt remained, Krebian chose to think realistically.
“If you don’t mind, may I take my leave? I need to return to my estate.”
“Of course, Marquis.”
“Then.”
After giving a brief bow, Krebian left without hesitation.
“Why did you suddenly seek out Marquis Leslie?”
“…It wasn’t anything important.”
For something unimportant, you walked over in quite a hurry, didn’t you?
Logan found Licht’s inconsistent behavior puzzling, but with instincts honed by long social experience, he wisely kept his mouth shut.
“In any case, we should head to the audience chamber now. If we delay any longer, we may be late.”
“Let’s do that.”
Yet even as he hastened his steps, the stiffness in Licht’s face showed no sign of easing.
“I really…”
It was bad enough that he had reacted after dreaming of Luciana—now he was even running after anyone who merely resembled her.
A harsh inner voice berated him for not keeping his wits about him, but it had happened so suddenly that he hadn’t even realized it at the time, let alone had the presence of mind to control himself.
Once you imprint, you come to love your mate regardless of your own will.
The dreadful truth he had tried so hard to ignore settled heavily over his heart.
The curse of imprinting had already begun, and he, too, could not escape it.
Licht had poured all his focus into resisting his instincts as best he could, but now he had no choice but to gradually confront the changes within himself.
After finishing his morning schedule, Licht had a simple lunch at a suitable restaurant and immediately began his afternoon work.
By the time he inspected a plot of land he had had his eye on for some time and drafted the purchase contract, it was already well past three o’clock.
“Is that the end of today’s schedule?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Let’s return to the estate.”
“Please wait a moment. I’ll have a messenger prepare the carriage.”
Logan took a few coins from his pocket and approached a boy lingering on the street, hoping to earn money by running errands for nobles.
