🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 34
“That bad?”
This is serious…
Shuwen thought Eselian seemed to be far more mentally strained than she had expected.
Careful not to get caught spying, Shuwen quietly closed the door.
“Bring His Grace some tea. Something that helps him relax….”
Just then, a passing servant caught her attention, and she stopped him. The servant gave the Grand Duchess a respectful bow and asked, puzzled,
“Tea?”
“Yes. And tell him I sent it because I was worried.”
“Ah, yes. Understood.”
“And keep it a secret that I was here.”
The servant nodded and hurried off toward the kitchen.
Shuwen glanced around the office for no particular reason.
He can’t even hold a teacup…
What if he breaks another one this time?
“Wait—just a moment.”
She called after the quick-footed servant who had nearly reached the bottom of the stairs.
“I think it would be better if you hold the teacup for His Grace.”
“Pardon?”
The servant’s eyes rolled about, clearly not understanding.
“I want you to hold His Grace’s teacup for him. You can do that, right?”
“Y-me?”
“Yes. Why?”
Whenever Shuwen refused the bitter tea that was supposedly good for her, Sophie would personally hold the cup and feed it to her.
Besides, it wasn’t strange for a servant to hold a teacup on someone’s behalf.
“…U-understood….”
With a reluctant expression, the servant continued down the stairs.
That servant probably doesn’t know.
That Eselian was far more fragile than he appeared.
That must be why he reacted like that.
Clicking her tongue in concern, Shuwen went to find Sophie. She needed advice. When she returned to her room, she saw Sophie holding a rabbit’s hind legs.
Shuwen quickly crouched beside her.
“Sophie, what should you do when things get hard?”
“When things get hard?”
Sophie, who had been playing while rubbing the rabbit’s belly, hummed briefly in thought and shrugged.
“There’s a perfect solution for times like that.”
“What is it?”
Though they were alone, Sophie leaned close to Shuwen’s ear as if someone might overhear.
Her answer was playful.
“Eat something delicious.”
“That’s not something that can be solved that easily.”
The overly simple answer only drained Shuwen instead.
Shuwen had rarely struggled in life. Even when something difficult happened, she usually shook it off quickly.
Seeing the normally optimistic Shuwen grow serious, Sophie grew serious too.
“Your Highness… did something happen? Don’t tell me—don’t tell me—you were found out…?”
Shuwen hurriedly covered Sophie’s mouth. There was no one else around, but caution was necessary.
“We agreed not to talk about that. And it’s not that. Someone is struggling, and it seems pretty serious.”
“Who…?”
“Just… someone.”
“Ah….”
Sophie immediately realized who she meant.
The only people the young lady would worry about here were herself, Sophie, and—by chance—her husband, the Grand Duke.
“I don’t know exactly what happened, but it must have been quite a shock….”
When Shuwen clicked her tongue softly, Sophie narrowed her eyes and lightly bumped shoulders with her.
“His Grace is the one having a hard time—so why are you the one looking so serious, my lady?”
“I never said it was His Grace—”
Shuwen stopped herself from finishing, I never said the Grand Duke. It was too obvious a lie. At least Sophie wasn’t the type to go spreading rumors.
“To be honest… I’m worried it might be my fault that His Grace is struggling.”
Nothing was certain yet.
But Shuwen had once hurt Ronnie while wearing Eselian’s face.
If Ronnie truly had cast a spell, as Shuwen suspected…
“It feels like I dug into someone else’s wounds just to keep the fallout from hitting me.”
She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of it sooner.
Shuwen hadn’t taken it seriously when Ronnie handed her the recipe, supposedly to drive a wedge between Eselian and herself.
She should have realized it then.
Ronnie was someone capable of hurting the person she loved.
“Well… I don’t really know what’s going on, but if you’re that worried, shouldn’t you comfort His Grace?”
“I don’t want to ask what happened. It feels incredibly serious. Several times more serious than me marrying into this family.”
Shuwen had never learned how to comfort people properly.
Even when Titiana was struggling, Shuwen tried to comfort her in her own way, but it hadn’t helped at all.
In short, she had no talent for comforting others.
“Does it have to be with words? I heard there’s a famous cliff in Ranied. They say seeing the aurora there makes you feel really good. Why don’t you go together?”
“A cliff?”
That sounded like a good idea.
Shuwen tightly grasped Sophie’s hand.
“Thank you, Sophie. I knew I could count on you.”
Shuwen immediately began baking cookies to eat while enjoying the scenery.
She was extremely enthusiastic.
*****
“Ah. She’s gone.”
At that moment, Eselian murmured with mild regret as he stared at the closed door. He’d thought she would rush in immediately—who knew she’d leave instead?
No sooner had he rung the bell than someone knocked on the office door.
“Come in.”
The door opened, revealing a servant. Seeing the tea the servant carried in, Eselian raised an eyebrow.
“I didn’t ask for tea.”
“Her Highness said she was worried and sent it.”
“The Grand Duchess?”
“Yes.”
Realizing why she had sent a servant instead of coming herself, Eselian let out a small laugh.
When he nodded in approval, the servant stepped closer.
“…What are you doing?”
Instead of setting the cup down and leaving, the servant stood beside him. When the servant lifted the teacup and brought it to his lips, Eselian frowned.
“I asked what you were doing.”
The servant opened and closed his mouth in panic before bowing deeply.
“Her Highness said—”
“Her Highness said?”
“She… she told me to hold Your Grace’s teacup for you.”
Eselian scrutinized the servant’s face, as if searching for a lie.
Finding none, he burst out laughing.
“She told you to hold my teacup for me? Personally?”
“…Yes.”
His laughter grew louder.
He pointed to the floor at the servant, who stood frozen with the teacup in hand.
“That’s enough. Set it down and leave.”
“Yes.”
“And clean that up too.”
“Yes.”
The servant gathered the broken shards and wiped the floor with a cloth.
Eselian stared intently at the teacup.
I’ll protect you.
As long as we’re married, I’ll always be on Your Highness’s side.
As long as they were married.
“Then she’ll be on my side for life.”
He had never intended to let the princess go from the start.
He didn’t understand why such a condition had been attached, but there was no future in which the two of them were not married.
The servant glanced sideways at the Grand Duke, who was suddenly muttering to himself.
Seeing the man who rarely smiled looking pleased at a teacup was unsettling.
Eselian paid no attention to whether the servant finished quickly or not.
He lifted the teacup.
After hesitating briefly, he parted his lips slightly. Soon, his Adam’s apple bobbed.
After drinking, Eselian opened his eyes.
His lazily curved lips parted slowly.
“Shion.”
At the name, Shion—who had been waiting—stepped out from behind a glass bookcase.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Begin your report.”
Since coming to the ducal castle, Shion had been assigned as the Grand Duchess’s personal guard.
But the reason he was here now was something else.
“We found her.”
A task Eselian had given him long ago.
“She appears to be traveling in Kalden. Her hair color, eye color, and gender all match.”
“Kalden…”
Kalden was Ranied’s territory.
“Um… I’ll call the knights. Th-that means you can be alone, right?”
The voice of the girl who had left only questions behind seven years ago echoed in his mind, along with her blurred afterimage.
Eselian did not dwell on it.
“Bring her.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
He changed his mind just as Shion bowed and turned to leave.
“I’ll go myself. You stay and keep watch.”
Rising from his seat, Eselian fastened his cufflinks and muttered,
“What about that maid?”
Eselian had an excellent memory. He remembered nearly everything.
Ronnie was especially unforgettable.
“Th-this is something my lady used to carry….”
Not in a good way.
The day the Grand Duke killed the Grand Duchess.
What that maid had offered as “comfort” was a peaceful past that could never be returned to.
The locket his mother always carried was more than the young Eselian could bear.
When the child Eselian had a seizure, Ronnie had been smiling—a cruel smile filled with the same curiosity one might have when cutting off a butterfly’s wings.
The only reason he had kept Ronnie around was because he had no interest in a mere maid.
He never took the locket from her. As a child, even seeing it triggered his fits, so he never sought it out.
He had even erased from memory the fact that the maid still possessed the locket.
The only person brazen enough to leave it open on a bed was that maid.
“Tell Eden. Kill that maid on sight.”
“I will carry out your command.”
By the time Eselian finished preparing to meet the girl from nine years ago, his expression had already returned to its usual blankness.
*****
Eselian headed toward the kitchen, where the Grand Duchess was.
He intended to retrieve the locket.
He had pretended not to notice when she handed it over so cautiously, but it seemed he would have to deal with it himself.
He hadn’t expected a relapse now—back then, his mental state had been fragile.
I should burn it.
As he neared the kitchen, the servants flinched and bowed.
The Grand Duke had never once come this way before.
Eselian stepped into the kitchen—then stopped.
“I—”
“Quiet.”
Will, who had been taking freshly baked cookies out to cool, panicked at the sudden visit.
At the heavy command, Will immediately shut his mouth.
Eselian stood before the Grand Duchess, who was asleep with her face resting on the worktable.
He looked back and forth between the cookies and the Grand Duchess.
Then he cast Will a look, demanding an explanation.
“She made them, Your Grace. This is already the fourth batch. She seemed exhausted. She threw all the others away, saying she didn’t like them.”
A tray full of cookies in various shapes sat nearby.
“They’re terrible.”
At the merciless assessment, Will felt his heart break. Still, he dared not defend the Grand Duchess.
Eselian picked up a rabbit-shaped cookie with one ear broken off.
As he watched the Grand Duchess frown in her sleep, as if trapped in a bad dream, he gently bit the intact ear of the cookie.
“Tastes terrible too.”
Will rubbed his eyes at the sight of a side of the Grand Duke he had never seen before.
Despite his cold words, the Grand Duke’s gaze remained fixed on the sleeping Grand Duchess.
“Still… it’s kind of cute.”
His previously expressionless lips curved lazily, and his voice was soft.
“Convince her to bring this to me instead of throwing it away.”
He seemed to be looking at the Grand Duchess with affection.
*****
Shuwen rubbed her eyes. She wanted to remake the cookies, but Will had strongly objected, so she had no choice but to start packaging them.
“Sophie, tell His Grace that I need to speak with him urgently.”
“Mm, yes.”
Like Will, Sophie knew the Grand Duke had been there earlier. But she had no intention of telling Shuwen and pretended ignorance as she ran out of the kitchen.
As the packaging neared completion, Shuwen noticed something odd.
The hand tying the ribbon paused as she rummaged through the basket of already packed cookies.
She tipped the basket over, took the cookies out, counted them, and put them back in again.
The result was the same.
“Why is it missing…?”
One was gone.
The rabbit-shaped cookie she had made especially for Eselian had disappeared.
Will, who knew exactly where that cookie had gone, quietly averted his gaze.
