Chapter 24
At the Grand Duke’s words, Kyrie let out a dry laugh before she even realized it.
For someone who acted like he knew everything and handed out advice so casually, it was ironic how his back was the one holding her up so solidly.
Why did he come to her rescue just when she’d convinced herself to expect nothing?
Swaying slightly atop the horse, Kyrie let the back of her head rest against his shoulder. Her lashes trembled faintly as she closed her eyes, and the Grand Duke naturally pulled her in tighter with one arm.
“Hold on properly, Lady Kyrie.”
“That’s…”
“Unless you’d like to fall.”
His arm, far broader and thicker than hers, wrapped around her entire waist like it was nothing.
Enveloped in the firm hold of his pulse-beating limbs, Kyrie couldn’t help but feel like some hunter’s trophy. The heat radiating from him grew heavier, the scent more intense, so thick she could feel it in her lungs with every breath.
“Go on.”
He urged her. Kyrie did her best to press herself closer, all the while trying to ignore the sensation of her thighs and hips brushing against his. The contact, especially where his firmness nestled between her buttocks, was unmistakable.
As her body finally settled into a more secure position, exhaustion came crashing down on her like a wave.
“You’d better hold on tighter.”
The moment he said it, Kyrie snapped in protest.
“Our deal.”
“…”
“Our deal…”
“I told you, it depends on whether you’ll act the part of a noble lady.”
“That’s if I do.”
“What do you want to do, Lady Kyrie?”
The Grand Duke asked, and Kyrie’s reply escaped her lips before she could think.
“…I want to give it all up.”
Her true feelings had slipped out.
He responded evenly, as though it were nothing unexpected.
“And?”
His voice was calm, like he’d simply heard what he came to hear. Come to think of it, the Grand Duke had always been that way. He responded to her as if she were a piece of furniture, calm, measured, regardless of what she said.
Perhaps that was why, ironically, her honesty kept slipping through.
“And… before that happens.”
The faces of those who had abandoned her, those she’d had to abandon in turn, surfaced and sank in her mind.
She didn’t want much.
“I just want to see them, those bastards broken. Just once.”
Her body trembled faintly. Only then did she realize the Grand Duke was smiling.
“That’s easy enough.”
“Easy?”
“Shall we use the Crown Prince as an example?”
His low whisper spread over her skin, almost seductively.
“If we were to roll around in front of him, for instance.”
He said something so vulgar with such cool composure, brushing his fingertips along her side as he did.
“That twisted face of his would be quite the sight.”
“…Roll around…”
Would you really….
Before she could finish the question, his whisper came again.
“Shall we, Lady Kyrie?”
“…”
“At the wedding, perhaps. So everyone can see.”
The moment she heard him mention a wedding, the tension in her body loosened.
‘He…’
He said it. Wedding.
There was still a chance. The Grand Duke had come all the way here for her. Before she could be sent to the convent. And now, he’d spoken of a wedding.
‘I’m alive.’
Pain flared in her body belatedly. Every bruise and scrape from earlier screamed in protest. Only the warmth of the man holding her provided some semblance of comfort, but her wrists throbbed like they might snap.
As that warmth soothed her enough to feel safe, it didn’t take long for her overstretched nerves to give way.
“The promise…”
She meant to tell him to keep it.
But before she could finish, her consciousness began to fade. The Grand Duke offered more of his shoulder for her to lean on.
“You’d best rest for now, Lady Kyrie.”
With that, he tightened his grip on the woman in his arms. In his other hand, a sword dripped quietly with blood, the steel still cold despite the warmth of fresh violence.
“What… what is this?!”
Bandits trailing behind gasped in horror and stumbled back. One of the closest, seeing the severed neck of a fallen comrade, shouted in disbelief.
“What did you just—?!”
“You’re asking like you don’t know.”
Dominic casually flicked the blood from his blade.
Ever since he’d taken the woman into his arms, the blood in his veins had stirred with unfamiliar intensity. Too much, even for someone about to fight.
Frankly, it was a good thing she had fainted.
Had she remained conscious, she might’ve started making demands once things calmed down.
‘Ridiculous.’
Even as he thought it, the bandit stammered, pale-faced.
“Y-You’re the one who hired us—!”
“And you’re the ones who botched the job so badly I had to step in personally.”
He hadn’t even intended to check on them.
After settling matters with the emperor, he’d returned to find that Kyrie Ehrenberg had been imprisoned the moment she stepped foot in the ducal estate. He learned this thanks to Lexion’s muttered complaints during a formal meeting.
‘If she’s dead-set on going to the convent, let her.’
‘…What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘…You don’t need to know, cousin. But Dominic…’
‘Yes?’
‘…Never mind.’
That was as far as Lexion went. From his probing tone, it was clear he wanted to know what had happened the day Dominic brought Kyrie to the Grand Duke’s manor.
The fact that the convent had come up in connection with that day gnawed at him. After digging around, he’d heard the infamous mad dog had been locked away, and would soon be transferred to a convent.
Society was abuzz with rumors that she had tried to push her stepmother and younger sister down the stairs. The nobles couldn’t stop talking.
The scandal wasn’t just about Kyrie, it was a chance to drag down House Ehrenberg.
‘I mean, that mad dog…’
‘How does someone like that come from a noble family?’
‘It’s poor upbringing, plain and simple.’
Dominic showed no visible reaction. He had been there. He knew the truth. As the Grand Duke, a word from him could easily sway public opinion.
But if Kyrie Ehrenberg were to be sent to a convent…
‘It would be the perfect opportunity to spirit her away.’
So there was no need to correct the record.
The Emperor had, after long hesitation, begrudgingly approved Dominic’s wish to take the mad dog as his wife. The only thing left was the marriage itself.
But unlike ordinary noble unions, formal proposals took time, and Dominic didn’t have it.
‘I need to get her under my roof as soon as possible.’
Especially with the Emperor constantly trying to interfere.
As always, Dominic calmly laid out a plan. Bandit raids near the capital were already a known issue. He’d turned a blind eye, since it wasn’t worth his time. But this time, he could make use of them.
‘The girl will be moved to the convent soon. Kidnap her en route.’
‘Hmm.’
‘Do it well, and I’ll pay extra.’
And so, masked and nameless, he met with the bandits.
The weight of his gold purse ensured they didn’t ask questions about his identity.
After that, he had done nothing but sip wine and listen to the nobles’ gossip.
As though none of it concerned him.
‘That mad dog needs to be tamed at the convent. A crazy woman, you see, needs to be beaten three times a day—’
‘Count Heidel.’
‘Y-Yes? Y-Your Grace.’
‘You seem to have a talent for taming things.’
‘An–an honor, Your Grace…’
‘Then why is your family’s business such a failure?’
‘I… I don’t understand…’
‘I’m told this wine is one of your family’s prized offerings.’
‘…’
‘The quality is… disappointingly low.’
He’d cut in when the nobles got too chatty, but never tried to stop the rumors altogether.
In just a few days, a few choice words from him had ruined several noble families’ ventures. It didn’t bother him.
He simply waited. Patiently. Until the girl was safely in his hands.
So this morning, when the moment finally came, he’d felt genuinely pleased. Today was the day Kyrie would be his.
He hadn’t planned to come in person. He’d been with Lexion as usual, fulfilling his role as aide, when his steward delivered the report, and something made him decide to come.
But the moment he saw the bruised and shackled state Kyrie Ehrenberg was in, that good mood evaporated.
Her wrists especially, still marred by restraints, displeased him deeply.
‘They really treated her like a dog.’
Just as they called her.
And yet her eyes were still vividly alive. Even in desperation, she had looked at him as if he were the only one left in the world.
Even now, as he recalled those blue eyes, closed for the moment, his neck prickled with tension.
Dominic glanced back at the bandits and murmured,
“Well then. Didn’t the client give you very clear instructions?”
“……!”
“‘Bring her back without a single scratch.’ Wasn’t that it?”
