Chapter 72
***
When the butler asked if he should lead the guest to the parlor, Elisa firmly shook her head.
“Just leave him in the hall.”
“Pardon? But the guest—”
“He’s not a guest.”
If anything, he was an unwelcome intruder who deserved to be thrown out immediately.
The only reason she didn’t do so was because she needed to know why Derek Grenville had come all the way here.
After leaving Noah in the care of a maid, Elisa descended the grand staircase into the central hall. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, but her expression was as cold as a frostbitten winter morning.
Denied the courtesy of a parlor, Derek Grenville waited for her in the middle of the hall.
“Elisa.”
The moment he spotted her descending the stairs, Derek smiled smoothly and waved, his demeanor polished and gentlemanly—just as everyone praised him for being.
But to Elisa, that smile had always felt wrong. She used to not understand why. Now she did.
It’s all an act.
Like an actor performing his lines on stage, Derek Grenville followed his own script perfectly—
and the final scene of that script was clear: to marry me and inherit the Leslie title.
The conversation she had overheard at Derek’s trading company had made two things clear: her father’s deep love for her, and Derek’s true intentions.
When his younger brother was born, Derek had been completely pushed out of the line of succession. The only way for him to reenter high society was to marry a noblewoman and claim a title through her.
Of course, he could have risen through business connections alone—but without noble blood, he would always be limited, never truly accepted by the upper class.
Elisa didn’t particularly mind that Derek had once wanted to marry her for ambition’s sake; she herself had accepted the engagement only to protect Noah.
She could understand that.
But you went after my family. That, I will never forgive.
She still didn’t know exactly who had spread those vile rumors, but in her heart she was certain—it was Derek. Who else would bear such malice toward Ethan?
From the landing, Elisa silently glared down at him. Derek tilted his head slightly, feigning confusion.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Anyone would think I’ve come somewhere I shouldn’t.”
How brazen. Elisa gripped the railing tightly and replied coldly,
“You shouldn’t be here. No one in this house welcomes you.”
“My, what a pity,” he said lightly, though his face shone with the warmth of a spring morning long gone.
“Why are you here?” she demanded.
“Must we talk about that here?” Derek asked, glancing around the hall—subtly suggesting they move somewhere private, like a parlor.
“I’m only a guest in this house myself,” Elisa cut him off. “I have no authority to receive you in the count’s absence. And besides,” she added icily, “you’re an uninvited guest. You won’t be admitted anywhere.”
At her open mockery, Derek’s smile vanished. He took a few sharp steps toward her—but the servants quickly moved to block his way. He had no choice but to glare up at Elisa from below, his face twisted with irritation.
“Is this how you intend to treat me? You’ll need my help soon enough.”
There it is. So he was the culprit. Elisa’s knuckles turned white as she clenched the railing.
“I don’t need your help,” she said flatly. “Leave. Now.”
“Are you sure about that? You’ll regret it.”
“No,” she said, her tone unshaken. “I don’t regret anything.”
“Even if I tell everyone?” he hissed.
Everyone already knew—what more could he possibly say? Elisa narrowed her eyes, and Derek smirked.
“You haven’t seen Noah’s name in the papers yet, have you?”
Her heart stopped. Just hearing that name made her pulse pound in her ears.
“Be reasonable, Elisa,” he crooned. “You have to protect Noah.”
His voice—light, almost singsong—grated against her nerves. Hearing him say Noah’s name made her skin crawl.
To use her child’s life as leverage, then act as if he cared—what a sick joke.
Still, the fear was real. The thought of seeing Noah’s name splashed across the headlines filled her with dread.
“Trust me and wait for me, Elisa.”
Ethan’s words from that morning echoed in her mind.
He had said the same thing once before—four years ago, the night they had finally confessed their love and shared their first night together.
Back then, she hadn’t believed him. She’d thought his sweet words were lies, that he had deceived and abandoned her.
Not anymore.
I won’t doubt you again.
With that thought, her fury began to cool, replaced by a calm determination. Derek’s threats suddenly felt laughable.
And so, smiling brilliantly, Elisa said,
“If it’s truly for Noah’s sake—then leave this house. Right now.”
***
The king had said he would consider it, but Ethan knew his proposal would be accepted.
There was no other solution. It removed a political burden and a moral dilemma in one clean stroke.
After his audience with the king, Ethan went straight to see Prince Howard. Together they discussed every detail—the conversation with the king, the nobles’ reactions, and contingency plans for unexpected turns.
By the time they were done, the sun had already set and the gas lamps throughout the palace glowed softly in the dusk.
The prince offered to lend him a carriage, but Ethan declined.
As he left the palace, cane tapping against the marble floor, a young maid suddenly blocked his path.
“L-Lord Estevan.”
Her voice trembled with fear. She didn’t even meet his eyes, her hands clasped so tightly they shook.
“I… I have something I must tell you. Please, just a moment of your time!”
Ethan gave her a cool glance and moved to walk past. The tap of his cane echoed heavily.
Thinking she had been refused, the maid’s shoulders drooped.
“What are you doing?”
Ethan stopped and looked back.
“Didn’t you have something to say to me?”
“Huh? Y-yes?”
“Can we talk here?”
“N-no! Please, this way!”
Realizing he hadn’t rejected her, the maid sighed in visible relief and hurried to lead him away.
The palace glowed bright under the moonlight, its lamps glittering like stars. But the place she brought him to was shrouded in darkness, far from the light.
She chose her spot well, Ethan thought—
and then he sensed another presence behind him.
“Ethan…”
It was Princess Camilla.
He had already suspected as much the moment the unfamiliar maid had approached him, so he turned calmly to face her.
“I’m sorry for calling you out here,” she said softly. “I wanted to summon you to my quarters, but Father and Mother forbade me to see you. They said they wouldn’t let you leave alive if I did.”
“You should have listened to them,” Ethan replied flatly.
Her eyes widened, filling with tears.
“Do you… resent me?”
“I do not.”
“Liar,” she whispered. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t look at me that way.”
My eyes?
He almost laughed. He truly bore her no resentment—only resignation. But he wasn’t surprised. Camilla had always been like this.
And now, he finally understood. This whole incident—she was behind it. Not alone, of course.
Derek Grenville. He was the hand pulling the strings. Ethan lacked proof, but his conviction was firm.
“Now you see, don’t you?” Camilla murmured, stepping closer to clasp his hand.
“There’s no place for you here, in Petra.”
She looked up at him, eyes glistening.
“So come with me—to the Kingdom of Raus.”
