LI | Chapter 007

Chapter 007

“How did it go?”

Waiting for Theodore after Hazel had firmly rejected him was his secretary, Umberto, his face full of eager expectation.

“It failed.”

Umberto’s expression instantly turned to disappointment.

“What? Failed? Are you sure you spoke to her properly? You didn’t say something like offering her a job instead of marriage, did you?”

“Yes.”

Umberto was just as shocked by the failure of Theodore’s proposal as Theodore himself.

“Did you reveal that you’re a duke?”

“Of course. I introduced myself from the very beginning, and I even came in this luxurious carriage so they would know my status.”

Theodore climbed into the carriage and knocked hard on the wall. The coachman took it as a signal to depart, cracking the whip on the horses’ reins just before Umberto closed the door.

Umberto hurriedly shut the door and readjusted his posture, still stunned.

“She really rejected you? Which of the Easton young ladies?”

“Hazel.”

“Then why didn’t you propose to Miss Charlotte instead?”

A marriage proposal isn’t like offering ice cream—if one refuses, you simply offer it to the other.

“Umbe, what exactly did they teach you in ethics class? Who was your teacher? I need to ask him what on earth he’s teaching children.”

Umberto looked at Theodore with embarrassment.

Theodore, who was accustomed to being welcomed by everyone regardless of age or gender, appeared genuinely shaken by Hazel’s refusal, and his expression was far from pleasant.

“I know my words may sound morally odd, but does that matter right now? There’s nothing illegal about it, is there? Besides, we’re in a hurry, and this marriage isn’t for love anyway. Isn’t any girl from the Easton family good enough? Or am I wrong?”

“You’re right. But shut your mouth for a bit. Let me organize my thoughts.”

Theodore recalled Hazel’s final question.

The reason why he—someone who had never cared about marriage—was now forced to marry someone from the Easton family…

‘Because of Grandfather.’

Theodore was referring to the previous Duke of Bernier, the man who had led the family before him.

The person who raised Theodore after he lost his parents early—though it could hardly be called tender nurturing—and who passed down to him the title of Duke of Bernier along with an enormous fortune.

‘Or rather, the person who almost passed it down to me.’

The former Duke of Bernier, Williams, had been known in his lifetime as an eccentric man.

He had a fiery temper, blunt speech, and his massive frame combined with his stubbornness only made it worse.

He intensely despised any behavior unbecoming of nobility—those who harmed women and children, chased money through vile means, or acted without noble ethics.

Williams never overlooked such actions.

Whether there were witnesses or not, whether the person was an important business partner, a friend, or a stranger, he would reprimand them harshly.

No one likes being scolded in front of others, especially as an adult, even if the words are gentle.

But Williams’s rebukes were never gentle to begin with.

He would say things like “You are a disgrace to the nobility” or “You reek of foulness”…

Who would enjoy hearing such harsh words?

Thus, his final years were spent in loneliness.

His only conversational partners were Theodore, who visited occasionally, and a mysterious pen-friend whose identity remained unknown.

Theodore was deeply grateful to that unseen pen-friend.

Without him, his grandfather’s mood would have been even worse. Corresponding with that friend seemed to soften him, even if only a little.

‘If I ever find out who it was, I should reward him properly.’

Theodore intended to suitably reward the person who had eased his grandfather’s loneliness in his later years. Yet Williams never revealed the identity of his pen-friend to Theodore—not even at the moment of his death, despite Theodore’s polite request as he lay on his deathbed.

“Are you thinking about the former Duke?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“The moment he died.”

Williams’s death, called a “peaceful passing,” was quiet.

He had remained active even in old age. But at eighty, he caught a cold in winter.

Unlike usual, he stayed in bed for a long time, and when he felt his end approaching, he summoned Theodore, who had just finished his military service and was preparing to travel.

That was two years ago, at the end of winter.

Williams patted Theodore’s sorrowful hand and said,

“Cry for just one day.”

And what did Theodore reply?

“I won’t even cry.”

Williams chuckled softly at the sight of the grown man Theodore struggling to hold back tears while speaking gruffly.

It was a gentle smile that Williams showed only to Theodore, never to anyone else.

Just as Theodore became a child again in front of his grandfather despite his age, Williams treated him like one too.

“Mourn for two days. From the third day on, live your life. Don’t cancel your trip either. Whether you cry or cancel your journey, it won’t reach me, and I won’t know.”

It was strange for the dying to comfort the living, so Theodore wiped his tears and answered confidently,

“Even if you beg me in my dreams to come back, I won’t return until I’ve seen the whole continent, old man.”

“That’s enough for me.”

With those words, Williams drifted into sleep.

Theodore stayed by his side all night, watching his quiet breathing without sleeping or dozing off.

Williams had lived a full life and enjoyed it to the utmost, so there was no regret in his passing.

Theodore honored his will.

“I thought that was all the old man wanted.”

“Indeed. Right after the former Duke passed and you inherited the title, you left immediately, earning a lot of criticism—people didn’t know it was his dying wish.”

“That’s true. I’m really a dutiful grandson, aren’t I?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“That’s why, when I received Grandfather’s will, it felt like a blow to the head.”

Theodore had returned after two years.

Not of his own volition—his grandfather’s lawyer had summoned him.

He was told it was time to reveal his grandfather’s will.

Theodore was bewildered by the call.

He had never heard of a separate will, and revealing it after two years felt perfectly in character for his grandfather, so he couldn’t ignore it.

Wasn’t this exactly the kind of thing his grandfather would do?

Setting the deadline at two years had been his grandfather’s consideration for Theodore.

He had played enough; now it was time to return and fulfill his duties.

Theodore felt a slight regret, but he smoothly ended his travels and returned to the kingdom.

He waited with his aunt Michelle for the lawyer who would bring his grandfather’s will.

Conflicting emotions swept over him.

Expectation and anxiety about what his eccentric grandfather might have left him, and whether he was brave enough to face those memories after so long…

But all of it shattered the moment the will was revealed:

[Theodore Caron Bernier, marry a daughter of the Easton family. Should you fail to produce an heir with her before the age of thirty-one, the title and all assets shall pass to Oscar Sterling Bernier.]

The will was so bizarre that even the word “eccentric” wasn’t enough; Theodore nearly blurted out “that crazy old man.”

Lady Michelle was horrified and repeatedly asked the lawyer to confirm it was truly Williams’s will.

The lawyer affirmed several times: “This is the will of the former Duke Williams Caron Bernier.”

The handwriting was unmistakably Williams’s, and the royal seal was stamped on the document.

That strange old man had written a ridiculous will and even used the king as a witness. Doubting it would be challenging the royal family itself.

Theodore obediently accepted his grandfather’s will.

He had a secret venture built without his grandfather’s knowledge, so he could live comfortably without the ducal fortune, but he couldn’t bear the thought of someone else inheriting what his grandfather had worked for.

All of Theodore’s relatives had hated and mistreated his grandfather; just imagining their triumphant faces as they squandered everything the old man had built enraged him.

Oscar Sterling Bernier—a very distant cousin.

The grandson of Williams’s eldest nephew, he had always looked at Theodore with jealous eyes at every meeting. Theodore ignored his petty envy, which only made Oscar behave more despicably and underhandedly.

In any case, Theodore would not hand over even a single coin of the ducal fortune to him.

“What do you plan to do?”

Lady Michelle asked with a sorrowful sigh.

“I’ll go to the Easton family.”

That was the context in which he had told Macason he intended to do something “resembling marriage.”

Theodore believed marriage should be based on love, yet his own began with Williams’s will.

Williams’s will was also the answer to Hazel’s question.

It was the reason the girl absolutely had to be an Easton.

‘Because Grandfather said it must be an Easton.’

It had annoyed him a little, but after meeting Hazel, all irritation vanished.

He even began to vaguely understand why his grandfather had insisted on a daughter of the Easton family.

Hazel was intelligent.

A short conversation was enough to realize that.

She did not waver before temptations and possessed a firm will. She also had a transcendent, elegant beauty.

Theodore knew it the moment he saw her.

The “Easton daughter” Williams had spoken of was undoubtedly Hazel.

He had no clear or objective proof, but his intuition told him so.

And even if it weren’t true, he chose to believe it.

The dead old man couldn’t climb out of his grave to deny it anyway.

“So, what will you do now? You said Miss Easton rejected you. Are you really going to give up the ducal title and fortune just like that?”

Theodore frowned at Umberto’s question as though he had tasted something disgusting.

Unlike Hazel, Theodore was not good at freely controlling his facial expressions.

“Didn’t I tell you I’m a dutiful grandson? Would I give up after just one refusal? Of course…”

“Of course what?”

“I’ll seduce her.”

Theodore lifted one corner of his mouth in a charming smile.

It was the very smile that, it was said, once made a princess in a certain kingdom cling to his trousers, begging him not to leave after catching only a glimpse of it passing by.

A dazzling, enchanting smile.