Chapter 15
【 An Offer One Cannot Refuse 】
When Kirie made no move, the Grand Duke spoke.
“Do you require an escort?”
She remained seated on the bed, unable to answer.
“Your Grace.”
A man who appeared to be the Grand Duke’s attendant approached somewhat hastily, calling out to him.
The Grand Duke cast Kirie a passing glance before leaving with the man, seemingly indifferent as to whether she stayed behind or followed after them.
‘As if dealing with mere furniture.’
Kirie, trembling without realizing it, rose to her feet. A coldness crept relentlessly into her body.
She hastily reached for her mother’s pendant, but perhaps because her own hands were so cold, no warmth could be felt.
Mother.
She still had a duty to fulfill, the duty to become happy.
But now that the option named Lexion had vanished…
All sorts of thoughts surged up in her mind only to be blocked once more.
Escape. She would be caught by the ducal guards before she even got a chance to run.
Other men? The only ones willing to take her now would be old men seeking a young second wife, or those infamous for beating their spouses.
Must it truly come to such a wretched choice?
She didn’t want that.
‘Where could I possibly seek happiness now?’
No, was it even possible to seek something one had never known?
Perhaps, even if happiness were to come within reach, she would let it slip through her fingers. After all, she didn’t even know what it looked like, nor how to grasp it.
‘Nothing ever works out properly.’
She didn’t want to crumble over something like this, yet it already felt as though exhaustion weighed down her entire being.
Everything she had spent her whole life working toward had slipped so easily through her fingers.
It felt as though at any moment, something hot, blood, or some knotted mass, might rise up her throat.
“Pull yourself together.”
Kirie murmured to herself, stepping into the hallway as if in a trance.
Creak.
The corridor beyond the door felt as unfamiliar as the room had. A grand, antique mansion, and yet everywhere she looked, it was steeped in an unbearable chill.
The heavy scent of cigars clinging to the air made it clear this place belonged to the Grand Duke.
The silence-shrouded mansion felt like a house where ghosts might dwell. Not just any ghosts, but wealthy ones.
Do they not bother to maintain this place?
If that were the case, it was oddly well-kept. Perhaps only a bare minimum staff had been left behind. No wonder no maids could be seen anywhere.
But this wasn’t something Kirie needed to concern herself with. She merely wanted to walk, to clear her mind.
Barefoot, without even slippers, the same way she used to endlessly pace around her room whenever her heart grew restless.
It was as she was passing through one of the mansion’s lofty-ceilinged hallways.
“You heard, didn’t you?”
A voice whispered from beyond a set of massive doors. Kirie flinched and came to a halt.
‘Should I hide?’
After all, she had left her designated place without permission. She had no idea how the Grand Duke’s people might react to finding her here.
As she hesitated, another voice took up the hushed conversation.
“About that woman.”
“Which one? The one His Grace brought into the mansion this time…?”
“Not her.”
For a moment, Kirie’s heart lurched, certain they were speaking of her. Someone spoke again, their voice thick with fury.
“I mean the damned Duchess of Melur.”
“Oh, that.”
“How could His Majesty do such a thing?”
“No matter what, thinking of selling off the Empire’s First Grand Duke by sending him away under the guise of a diplomatic envoy to a mere duchy?”
‘Diplomatic envoy?’
Kirie stood frozen, then slowly drew closer to the door.
Some instinct stirred sharply within her. Though she didn’t know why, it told her she should hear this conversation.
A man, presumed to be one of the Grand Duke’s subordinates or attendants, whispered in a voice heavy with anger.
“Even if he’s the Emperor, he can’t seriously expect to send His Grace away like that.”
“Exactly. The soldiers on the southern front would all revolt.”
“And not just them, the border territories allied with House Haswell would protest as well.”
“Calm down. No one actually believes His Grace would go quietly, right?”
A brief silence followed. It seemed those speaking were each lost in thought.
“Well, our lord would never be dragged off. He’d be the one doing the dragging.”
Someone replied matter-of-factly, and another added, almost as if to one-up him.
“You never know. Maybe he’ll march straight to the Duchy of Melur next, lop off King Miriam’s head, and be done with it.”
“Doesn’t even sound like a joke. Feels entirely possible.”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
And then came faint, hollow laughter.
“Well, he already…”
“Shh.”
Suddenly, the voices fell silent. Kirie held her breath where she stood.
Seems like a dangerous conversation.
These men spoke of whether to sever a foreign monarch’s head as if it were nothing. And yet, Kirie couldn’t help but agree with them.
The Grand Duke she had met was not a man who would bow, far from breaking under pressure, he seemed the type to snap his opponents instead.
It was hard not to think so when faced with those piercing silver eyes.
In that sense… perhaps they were alike. Except that, unlike herself, the Grand Duke was strong. And strength granted him choices.
‘Still, to speak of a king’s head like that…’
Kirie wondered whether she could use this to accuse them of blasphemy If she went to the Emperor claiming the Grand Duke’s attendants had spoken so irreverently…
Would such a threat work? Would the Grand Duke then help her?
‘Ridiculous’
Kirie scoffed at her own thoughts.
A man capable of taking a king’s head wouldn’t flinch at taking a mere noblewoman’s, especially one already being watched like prey, waiting for any chance to be cast aside within the ducal manor.
She quickly abandoned that thought and focused on understanding what she’d heard.
The idea that the Emperor might try to send the Grand Duke to the Duchy of Melur as a diplomatic envoy was shocking, but not unthinkable, given what she knew of the man.
‘Is there any way I could use this information?’
Even as she strained to gather the words floating through the air, the young men continued their conversation in hushed tones.
“If only His Grace found himself a marriage match first…”
A string of long sighs followed.
Someone spoke, a remark that, to Kirie, rang clearer than anything else.
“…Unless it’s a woman so ruinous that the Emperor would never dare permit it.”
“Exactly. She’d have to be someone people would call mad, just for bringing her in.”
A ruinous match. A woman so mad people would call her insane just for being presented.
A way appeared before her.
Kirie’s heart pounded hard in her chest.
𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆🌷͙⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ
Even in the cold air that lingered at the far end of the corridor, Dominique loosened his cravat slightly. His steward tilted his head in puzzlement.
“Is it so warm, Your Grace?”
“Perhaps.”
It was only upon hearing the words that Dominique realized he had undone his collar. He gave a faint, self-deprecating laugh.
Impertinent girl.
He thought of Kirie Ernberg, who had been lying in his chamber, writhing.
In his bed, no less. All night, she had left her scent and warmth clinging to his bedclothes.
The ducal manor in the capital had not hosted a single external guest since Dominique had become Grand Duke. There had scarcely been a reason for him to even visit the capital.
Which was why, when Kirie had been knocked unconscious after striking her head against his chest upon falling down the stairs, there had been no suitable place to lay her down except the Grand Duke’s own chamber.
All the other guest rooms were little more than barren spaces draped in white cloth.
In short, bringing a woman into his bedroom had been unavoidable.
Though admittedly, it had been my impulse that led me to fetch her.
Dominique recalled the moment he’d brought her to the manor.
𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆🌷͙⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ
He’d first heard the commotion in the imperial villa’s annex as screams and disorder echoed through the night.
At first, he’d intended to ignore it, until someone cried out:
“Come look, everyone! The mad dog’s causing trouble again!”
At that, the nobles in the rear garden had begun to rush over, eager for the spectacle, their faces lit with eager grins.
Normally, Dominique had no interest in court gossip. But the words mad dog changed his mind.
Now that I think of it…
It was near the annex where he had left Kirie earlier.
Without hesitation, Dominique strode toward the annex. The nobles, annoyed at being shoved aside, paled upon seeing his face and hastily parted.
“Your Grace, the Grand Duke?”
As though parting the sea.
And then, at that exact moment.
“I told you to get lost!”
Lexion’s shout rang out as he pushed Kirie Erenberg down the stairs.
Time seemed to slow for an instant. Faces twisted half in horror, half in glee.
Kirie had fallen from the uppermost stair of a steep incline.
If she landed badly, she might die. Or be maimed.
“…..”
And yet Dominique, without thinking, moved to catch her.
Even though the moment Lexion had shoved her, she was no longer of any use to him. A discarded pawn. Whether she died or lived no longer meant anything to Dominique.
And still, he caught her.
He had no reason to. But neither did he have any reason not to.
It was a whim. The kind of whim born from the luxury of power, where any option could be chosen on a whim.
At the time, that was all it was.
