🔊 TTS Settings
CHAPTER 51
“Mmm…”
When I came to again, I saw a familiar ceiling.
It was my room in the annex of the Grand Duke’s estate.
‘…I survived.’
I had briefly regained consciousness right after being rescued from the pond, but it was such a fleeting moment I hadn’t had time to think about anything else.
Now, blinking slowly and exhaling, it finally hit me.
I was still alive.
As I sat there blinking blankly, I sensed someone nearby.
It was Idris.
His eyes trembled slightly in surprise when they met mine, but he quickly regained his usual composure.
He just looked at me quietly, waiting.
Until I spoke first.
“Why aren’t you asleep?”
“I was worried.”
Since the servants believed we were lovers, he probably had to at least pretend to be caring for me.
Feeling a bit guilty, I planned to check a few things and then send Idris on his way—but he stopped me as I tried to sit up.
“You might still be overdoing it. Lie down a bit longer.”
“I remembered something important I need to say.”
Instead of asking what it was, Idris just looked at me curiously.
“What happened to that maid who tried to kill the Crown Prince?”
“She’s dead.”
“And the mastermind behind it?”
If we could find the person behind it, we might be able to stop the Emperor from being poisoned.
‘Then Idris would live… and I might survive too.’
It was a very important issue to me—but Idris looked utterly dumbfounded as he asked,
“You woke up just to ask that?”
“I barely escaped death and caught a lead. I might as well follow it through to the end—to make sure it never happens again.”
“And that’s what you think matters right now?”
Isn’t it?
As I looked at him, puzzled, he let out a sigh, as if admitting defeat.
“…We’re looking into it. But I’m sure they’re already trying to cut off loose ends, so it won’t be easy.”
“I see…”
“So stop worrying and go back to sleep. I’ll leave once you’re asleep.”
His voice was oddly curt as he said that.
Almost like a sulking child?
‘Why is he acting like that?’
Puzzled by his reaction, a blurry memory floated to the surface—of that brief moment when I had regained consciousness in the pond.
The redness in his eyes as he looked at me.
That fragile, on-the-verge-of-breaking expression.
‘I didn’t know… he could make a face like that.’
Even in that chaotic moment, I had thought it strange—because it was a side of him I’d never seen before.
And with that memory came the realization.
‘He was worried about me.’
Even if our relationship was purely transactional, it made sense that someone who’d grown close to me would be shaken if I nearly died.
‘Even after going through war countless times, death never becomes easy.’
He was someone kind enough to worry about others.
And somehow, that thought warmed a corner of my heart.
As I looked quietly at Idris, who was waiting for me to fall asleep, I murmured softly,
“So this is what it feels like.”
“This?”
“No one ever stayed by my side when I was sick. My mother was frail, so I had to be the one watching over her…”
“…”
“So this is what it feels like… when someone worries about you.”
Maybe it was because the accident had weakened my body and my heart along with it—or maybe it was because someone was finally caring for me.
Whatever the reason, I found myself sharing a part of my childhood I never would’ve spoken of under normal circumstances.
After finishing my near-confession, I let my heavy eyelids close.
Through the fading haze of consciousness, I heard Idris’s low voice.
“If you like being cared for, I’ll do it. So…”
“…”
“Please don’t jump into danger alone again.”
There was something about his voice that sounded… earnest.
Half-asleep, I nodded like an obedient child.
“Okay…”
Just as sleep began to claim me, something important came to mind.
“Idris.”
He didn’t answer, but I could feel him listening closely.
I mumbled the words I wanted to say.
“Thank you. For saving me…”
And with that, I drifted into a deep sleep.
Just like that peaceful afternoon long ago, when I dozed off on the shoulder of a child whose name I never learned.
On the way back from the banquet.
The carriage carrying Elysee and Peydan was heavy with silence.
Elysee sat across from Peydan—who was not, as usual, sitting by her side—and glared at him with open irritation.
‘Hah. He’s the one who left me at the estate, and now he’s the one pouting?’
If anything, he should be apologizing to her—but instead, he looked visibly annoyed, and it made her rage simmer.
And in contrast to Peydan’s cold attitude, her mind flashed to the man who had actually helped her in her moment of need.
‘The Grand Duke Zahid treated me like a gentleman would.’
But more importantly…
‘Everyone was looking at me.’
When she appeared at the banquet holding Duke Zahid’s hand, many people had approached her.
Curious about what kind of relationship they had.
It was nothing like her relationship with Peydan, who wouldn’t even hold her hand in public.
In that moment, she had felt like the true star of the event.
…Until the news broke that Leticia had fallen into the pond trying to save the Crown Prince.
Her euphoria had plummeted instantly.
‘If it weren’t for that woman, I could’ve been the center of attention today!’
Leticia always stole the spotlight Elysee believed she deserved.
‘It would’ve been better if she had just died!’
As Elysee seethed with jealousy, grinding her teeth, Peydan finally broke the long silence.
“Elysee. Do you think what I said was a joke?”
“…What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Didn’t I tell you not to come to the banquet?”
Peydan glared sharply at the blinking, confused Elysee.
Their plan to manipulate sympathy and frame Leticia as a wicked woman had failed spectacularly.
Tomorrow, every newspaper’s front page would be about Leticia.
Not as a seductress who went after a Grand Duke while married—
But as a heroine who risked her life to save the Crown Prince.
And on top of that…
‘Elysee showed up holding the Grand Duke’s hand.’
Even people who had suspected an affair between Peydan and Elysee were now sympathizing with Leticia.
‘And I couldn’t even deny it then…’
He had been turned into a pitiful man dumped by two women—and at the worst possible moment, too.
It was humiliating. He was fuming.
And that anger was aimed squarely at the woman before him.
“Where did you even meet the Grand Duke? Don’t tell me… you’ve been flirting behind my back?”
“W–What? You’re accusing me? When you were the one who abandoned me?”
Normally, Elysee would have sweet-talked her way out—but this time, her own pent-up frustration exploded.
“I forgot my invitation and couldn’t enter the palace. His Highness the Grand Duke helped me without hesitation. Unlike someone, who just left me behind.”
“So you happily took another man’s hand and walked into the banquet? Right in front of me?”
“What? I’m not allowed to do that? It’s not like we’re officially anything.”
“…What did you say?”
“We’re not married, or even engaged. We can’t even say we’re dating.”
Elysee took this opportunity to jab at Peydan.
But Peydan wasn’t the kind of man to take that lying down.
“Ha! Elysee, you really shouldn’t say things like that. What does that make the baby in your belly? A bastard?”
The baby.
The forgotten lie suddenly returned—piercing Elysee like a spear.
The child she had made up to secure the title of Duchess had now become Peydan’s weapon against her.
And when she flinched at the word bastard, Peydan believed he had the upper hand.
He pressed on with full force.
“You’re always like this. Your pride, your ambition—everything comes before me.”
“…”
“Leticia was better than you, at least.”
Not only was he using the fake baby against her—he was gaslighting her on top of it.
And it worked, hitting Elysee right where it hurt most.
“…What did you say?”
