Chapter 8
The moment she saw the people clinging to the gate and shaking it, her fingertips stiffened.
Even after what had happened yesterday, she still couldn’t get used to something like this.
Meanwhile, the crowd only grew more aggressive.
“Come out already! Stop hiding in there like a coward!”
“My goodness. How can she shamelessly show her face like that…?”
Their angry shouts rang in her ears until everything suddenly became muffled.
She couldn’t even force her lips apart to speak, but she couldn’t run away either.
She struggled to say even a single word—
Then, all at once, the noise disappeared.
There was only one person who could silence a crowd that seemed impossible to stop just by appearing.
Duke Tese.
“What is all this commotion?”
“Y-Your Grace…”
As he stepped down from his carriage, the crowd instinctively split into two.
Removing his black gloves one by one as he walked forward, Decarno carried himself with the elegance of a predator crossing the plains.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of surprise in his silver eyes. Instead, it was the onlookers who became awkward under his calm gaze.
“Y-Your Grace, it’s just that we’re desperate…”
“If it was truly that urgent, you could have come to the main entrance to see me.”
“…”
It was a ridiculous thing to say.
Meeting the busiest man in the Empire required powerful connections. But more than anything, what kept them from doing so was the courage to face the Duke of Tese himself.
Just looking at him made people shrink back. There was no guarantee they could even speak properly in front of him.
And Decarno knew that very well.
“If you have something to say, then speak to me now. As much as you like.”
“…But, Your Grace, we’re here to see Lady Ohara.”
“Why can’t you say to me what you intend to say to her?”
“…”
“You can either say it now while we’re both here, or I’ll call my lawyer so we can calculate your losses and settle this reasonably.”
His indifferent gaze made it clear.
Choose one.
After hesitating for a while, the people quietly lowered their heads.
It was humiliating, but if the Duke himself would take responsibility, that was the best outcome they could hope for.
Even though the western gate of the ducal estate was now standing wide open, none of them dared step inside.
“And why are you out here again?”
“…”
Decarno walked in calmly and looked at Evangeline, who was standing at the entrance.
He seemed completely unconcerned by the countless eyes watching them.
When his hand rested naturally on her shoulder, she flinched, and the emptiness returned to her eyes.
“Evangeline.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll go back inside.”
She barely managed to get the words out.
As she turned away weakly, the Duke’s hand moved to support her waist.
Even with creditors surrounding them, he escorted her exactly as he would have escorted her through a ballroom.
Only after they reached the annex did he remove his hand, yet the invisible pressure remained.
“…”
She wanted to look up at him, but she couldn’t.
Just as she had never experienced something like this before, neither had he.
Should she apologize?
For dragging his name into such disgrace?
Her dry lips pressed tightly together once more.
The Duke stood there silently, seemingly waiting for her reaction.
Only after Michael informed him that visitors had arrived did he finally turn away.
Once Decarno left, Evangeline slowly lifted her head.
Even looking only at his retreating back made her chest ache.
It would be better if he’d just throw me out already.
She had nowhere to go, but perhaps that would be easier.
Then another thought suddenly crossed her mind.
Why hasn’t this man driven me away yet?
…
The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Their engagement had always been a transaction—money and power, each providing what the other lacked.
Now that the deal had fallen apart, there was no reason they couldn’t simply break off the engagement.
Especially for someone like the Duke of Tese.
A man capable of making even nonexistent problems disappear.
The fact that he was letting something like this continue felt not only strange, but downright unnatural.
Could it be…
Her eyes narrowed.
“…No. That’s impossible.”
Evangeline shook her head, dismissing the absurd thought that had entered her mind.
She was probably imagining nonsense because she had become someone with neither parents nor a place to go.
Even so, after pacing back and forth for a while, she found herself following the path the Duke had taken instead of returning to her room.
“What brings all of you here?”
By now, there wasn’t a single person who hadn’t heard about the future Duchess’s family’s bankruptcy.
The relatives now standing before the Duke were proof enough.
“What do you mean, what happened? What in the world is going on? We’ve heard that creditors have actually stormed the Duke of Tese’s estate!”
“Honestly! I looked outside and nearly stopped breathing!”
“…So, Uncle, you witnessed all that and simply watched?”
“Your Grace!”
Count Lian inhaled sharply under the Duke’s icy stare.
As the late Duke’s cousin, he was one of Decarno’s closest living relatives.
And he was immensely proud of that fact.
“That’s hardly the important issue! How could creditors possibly come to the Duke of Tese’s residence?”
“So you have no objection to the future Duchess being harassed by creditors?”
“Future Duchess? Surely you don’t mean you’re still going to marry her?”
Really? That woman?
Though he didn’t say it aloud, the contempt was obvious.
Yet Decarno merely lowered his eyes to the documents before him without the slightest reaction.
“Of course I am.”
“Huh…”
Everyone’s mouths fell open.
The moment they had seen today’s newspaper, they had rushed to the estate to discuss replacing that woman.
No one had doubted the Duke would immediately end the engagement.
“…Impossible. The position of Duchess of Tese isn’t an ordinary one. As the representative of our noble families, your wife must be worthy of that status as well! How can the daughter of a ruined count become Duchess?”
“That’s right!”
Several others who had been quietly watching finally joined in.
“To be honest, Count Ohara’s family was never equal to House Tese in the first place. This marriage should never have happened!”
“Then why didn’t you oppose it back then?”
“…Your Grace!”
“I truly don’t understand why you’re saying all this only now.”
At last, Decarno closed the document he had been reading.
His already displeased eyes slowly swept over them before curving into a faintly mocking smile.
“Isn’t it amusing?”
“The very people who gladly accepted countless gifts from House Ohara are only now talking about social status.”
“W-Well…”
“You should first examine where your clothes and jewelry came from.”
His gray eyes settled on the sapphire tie pin decorating Count Lian’s neck.
A sapphire of at least twenty carats, surrounded by diamonds.
It was impossible to miss.
The nobles coughed awkwardly, their faces flushing.
None of them had expected the Duke to know even that much.
“…Count Ohara was the one who kept pushing those gifts on us, asking us to look after his daughter.”
“Then honor your promise.”
“You happily accepted those gifts. That makes it a fair transaction, doesn’t it?”
“Your Grace! How can you…”
Without raising his voice even once, Decarno answered every argument calmly.
Count Lian narrowed his eyes.
Something was very wrong.
A thought suddenly occurred to him.
Leaning one hand on the Duke’s desk, he asked,
“Don’t tell me… you’ve actually fallen in love with that woman?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s the only explanation that makes sense. You’re insisting on a marriage that is obviously a loss for House Tese. Perhaps this is simply a matter of your heart.”
Although he was convinced the answer would be no, Count Lian searched desperately for some clue.
Everyone else stared silently at Decarno as well.
What would this perfectly composed man say?
The room grew tense.
“Of course not.”
“Ah…”
A collective sigh of relief spread through the room.
So relieved were they that none of them noticed the footsteps stopping outside the door.
“Then why are you being so stubborn?”
“Because it’s convenient.”
“…”
“Evangeline Ohara is already a fully prepared future Duchess.”
“At this point, finding another woman would be troublesome, and there’s no guarantee anyone else could fulfill the role as well as she can.”
