Episode 9
The duke grabbed my hand and practically threw me into the carriage.
My back slammed straight into the seat, and I was still wincing in pain when the duke stepped closer and bent down.
As the shadow covering his face lifted, I saw his expression, one that couldn’t hide his anger.
“Negotiation, deal, whatever you want. I’ll go along with it. So tell me right now.”
His voice was terrifying, like the roar of a wild beast, breaking the silence.
“The future you said you heard.”
That was the sound of a successful negotiation.
There would’ve been plenty of time to talk once we returned to the duke’s estate, but the fact that he came for me the moment the match ended showed just how shocking today’s loss had been for him.
After all, his son, who was supposed to be born as a child of God and become an absolute transcendent being, had almost surrendered to a commoner knight.
The duke, who had no idea that this whole thing was my doing, agreed to negotiate because he wanted the future I knew.
“You really mean it? You’re serious about negotiating with me?”
“Yes. As long as it’s not something unrealistic, I’ll give you whatever you want.”
By “unrealistic,” he probably meant things like stopping the experiments.
Even wishing to be spared later would be useless. He’d pretend to agree now, but once I outlived my usefulness, he’d kill me without hesitation.
‘Death… I’ll deal with that somehow in my own plan.’
So for now, it was better to ask for something that could actually be fulfilled.
“Treat me like a real daughter.”
“…What?”
The duke asked back as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.
“And like I said before, I’ll be the one who gives Aphelion his abilities.”
At my words, the duke’s eyebrows twitched. Clearly displeased, he delayed his answer for a while.
He bit his lip repeatedly before finally nodding in reluctance.
“Fine. But if I see you pulling any cheap tricks, that matter will be handled entirely by the ducal family.”
“Do whatever you want.”
I snorted at his warning. Maybe my indifferent response gave him some strange sense of trust, because he didn’t say anything else.
After a while, the duke tilted his head toward the door, telling me to leave.
He dragged me here when he needed me, and now that the conversation was over, he wanted me gone?
I didn’t want to stay with him either, but leaving quietly like this felt unfair somehow.
When I hesitated and didn’t move, the duke finally reached for the door himself.
At that moment, I stretched out my leg and firmly blocked the passage.
Stopped in front of the door, the duke glared at me as if I’d done something shameless.
Wow. Who looks at their daughter like that?
“No. I’m staying here. I have to go home too.”
“Go back with the coachman you bribed.”
“No. That servant carriage is small and dirty. I want to ride home comfortably in a big carriage with my ‘dad.’”
I deliberately put extra emphasis on the word dad.
The duke, finally remembering my earlier demand, froze with his mouth slightly open.
“You’re not planning to abandon your daughter in a place like that, are you, Dad?”
That was the final nail in the coffin.
In the end, the duke pulled his hand away from the door.
I really didn’t want to call someone like him my father, but seeing his twisted expression made it feel like I’d been properly compensated.
Serves you right.
The duke didn’t say a single word the entire way back home.
He kept his eyes closed the whole time, probably worried I might try to start another conversation.
“How about you stop pretending to sleep and we talk about the deal?”
The moment I spoke, the duke sitting across from me scowled deeply.
I didn’t particularly want to talk either, but while I still had the upper hand in this negotiation, I wanted to finish it properly.
I raised one finger and showed it to him.
“I’ll tell you about the future once a month.”
“Once a month?”
He asked back in annoyance, and I shrugged as if it didn’t concern me.
If I told him everything, I’d be showing all my cards. There was no reason to take that risk.
“How do I know you’re not lying? A month is plenty of time to make up a fake story.”
“There’s something you’re misunderstanding. Every time you change the future, the farther future inevitably changes too.”
If he tried to bring forward our meetings that way, it would be troublesome.
I flicked my eyebrow and snapped back at the duke, who was trying to be sly.
“If you doubt me, then fine. Let’s do this. To prove I’m not lying, I’ll mix in the futures of other people too. Your distant future will slowly change depending on your current choices, but other people’s futures won’t be affected by that.”
“That sounds good.”
Apparently satisfied with the suggestion, the duke didn’t argue any further.
Then it was time to state my demands.
“When we get home, change my room first. Put it on the same floor as Aphelion’s.”
Aphelion, who enjoyed the duke’s favor, was using an entire floor by himself.
If he and I used the same floor, people would see it as me being treated on equal footing with the young master.
“And assign me a personal maid and a private tutor. For reference, I want both of them to be from prestigious families.”
“Hah.”
Three demands were enough for now.
The duke clearly looked displeased, but he reluctantly accepted them.
By the time we finished talking, we were almost back at the ducal estate.
Only then did Aphelion’s absence cross my mind.
Normally, he would’ve ridden in the same carriage as the duke, but today, after earning his displeasure, it seemed they were returning separately.
“Where’s Aphelion?”
“He’ll come on his own.”
A gray shadow crossed the duke’s face as he thought of his defeated son.
Just earlier, he had been proud of him. Now, he looked at him as if he were trash on the roadside.
“What kind of punishment are you planning to give him?”
“He needs to be made into someone who can never lose again. At the very least, someone who can’t even think about surrender.”
The deep anger in the duke’s eyes made me feel inexplicably sorry for Aphelion.
I pressed a hand to my aching chest and tried to erase the guilt.
But the more I tried, the clearer the image became of Aphelion lifting his trophy with a lonely expression.
The duke ordered the butler to move my room to the same floor Aphelion used.
The butler informed me that all my belongings would be moved during dinner and hurried off the moment the duke’s attention waned.
After ordering the chef to prepare the finest dishes, the duke claimed he was tired and went up to his bedroom first.
Since it was already late, the other siblings staying in the mansion had already finished their meals.
Whether intentionally or not, Aphelion didn’t show up in the dining room either.
‘Honestly, it’s better when no one’s here.’
After finishing a satisfying meal, I followed the butler up to the third floor.
“This will be your room from now on. We intentionally placed it far from Young Master Aphelion’s room, so you shouldn’t be uncomfortable.”
The moment I saw the room the butler introduced, admiration slipped out naturally.
‘Wow…’
My previous room had already been astonishingly large and luxurious, but this one was on a completely different level.
My room’s living room.
My room’s bathroom.
My room’s dressing room.
This was basically an entire house.
No wonder the third floor had fewer rooms than the others. Each one must be much larger.
“In one hour, a temporary maid will come to assist you. His Grace asked you to wait until he finds a more capable maid.”
“Please have her come starting tomorrow. I want to rest alone tonight.”
“Then I’ll have her sent up tomorrow morning.”
With a final wish for a comfortable night, the butler left the room.
As soon as I was alone, I jumped straight onto the bed.
It was so soft it felt like a marshmallow, and wide enough for five people to lie on comfortably.
‘I feel all my fatigue melting away!’
I could die here happily…
After enjoying the feel of the bed, I lay flat on my back and stared blankly at the ceiling.
‘Even zoning out feels better when you’re staring at a chandelier with thousands of jewels.’
As I started counting the number and types of gems, my body slowly relaxed.
‘I didn’t even change my clothes…’
I tried to shake off the drowsiness, telling myself I couldn’t ruin the first use of this bed with dirty clothes, but…
In the end, I fell asleep.
Knock, knock.
The sound of knocking woke me up.
‘Who could it be at this hour?’
The room lights were on, so maybe they thought I was awake.
Rubbing my barely open eyes, I got up, grabbed a candle, and headed for the door.
“…Aphelion?”
When I opened it, there he was. Aphelion.
He stared at me with a gaunt face, then finally spoke.
“…I’m sorry, noona.”
He apologized, unexpectedly.
