Chapter: 128
“It seems the Duke has gone so far as to send someone here, so we can no longer keep Lady Ancy here. Everyone, you may return.”
Having said that, Her Majesty the Empress held onto the Young Lady.
“Will you stay for a little while, Young Lady? There is something I would like to discuss with you regarding the banquet.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
“It is getting rather late, so why don’t you stay for dinner as well?”
At that suggestion, Seraphina’s expression became even more sour.
It was called dinner, but wasn’t this essentially an opportunity to have a private audience with His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress?
‘That must be how much Their Majesties adore the Young Lady.’
It was a relationship that money could never buy, no matter how much one offered.
The Young Lady glanced sideways at Seraphina before soon giving a relaxed smile.
“I would be honored to accept, Your Majesty.”
A short while later.
The Duke arrived at the Empress’s Palace.
“Lady Ancy!”
Taking into consideration the eyes of Her Majesty the Empress and Seraphina, he politely addressed me as ‘Lady Ancy,’ as he had been instructed to do.
However, the Duke’s face was filled with a bright smile that he could barely conceal.
But that lasted only a moment.
“Eva, will you come back with me?”
The expression on the Duke’s face as he turned toward the Young Lady was positively sullen……
The Young Lady stared at the Duke incredulously before replying,
“No, thank you.”
Her response was utterly indifferent.
“I have something to discuss with Her Majesty, so you should take Larina back with you, Brother.”
“All right. I understand.”
He could have at least made one more attempt to persuade her out of courtesy.
Instead,
“Let’s go, Lady Ancy.”
The Duke promptly turned around and took only me with him.
“Oh, what a hopeless fool.”
The Young Lady’s disapproving clicking of her tongue sounded unusually loud……
I followed behind the Duke with an embarrassed expression.
The Duke and I headed toward the carriage waiting area, where the carriage had been parked.
“Haa.”
I let out a deep breath.
The cold yet crisp air filled my lungs.
Patches of snow that had not yet melted remained scattered throughout the neatly maintained garden.
“So, did you enjoy your tea time with Her Majesty the Empress today?”
The Duke looked down at me with a gentle gaze.
I answered excitedly.
“Well, Her Majesty asked Eva for a favor this time.”
“She asked Eva for a favor?”
“Yes. You know how she successfully hosted the salon this time? Apparently, Her Majesty had been watching it very closely.”
I continued chattering away.
“So she asked Eva to help with the banquet welcoming the delegation.”
“Oh, really?”
The Duke immediately became uninterested, but I was too excited to notice.
“Isn’t that amazing?”
“Ah, yes. Well……”
“Honestly, our Eva is pretty, lovely, and adorable, and on top of all that, she’s even capable!”
If the word ‘perfect’ were ever given human form, wouldn’t that person be the Young Lady?
I continued showering the Young Lady with praise.
Then, the Duke’s expression seemed to grow strangely dejected.
“……It seems you didn’t miss me at all, Larie.”
Gasp.
Only then did I realize my mistake.
Duke, are you really sulking right now……?
No, right?
This must just be my imagination, right?
At the same time, the Duke gave me a slightly pouty sidelong glance.
“This is truly too much. I spent the entire meeting thinking only of you, Larie.”
“What?”
“I know they say the one who loves more is the one who loses, but how can you be this cold?”
The Duke lowered his eyes dramatically, pretending to be hurt.
His long eyelashes trembled.
“Even though you toy with my feelings like this, I still can’t give up on you. Surely, Larie must really be an enchantress……”
Really, just how far are you planning to take this?
At this rate, I felt like I was genuinely going to be treated as some seductive woman who had a poor man’s heart completely under her control.
So I hurriedly took the Duke’s hand in both of mine.
“T-That can’t be true. How could I be toying with your feelings?”
“……”
But the Duke merely kept his lips firmly shut, still looking sulky.
I hurriedly tried to soothe him.
“You’re the person I like the most, Duke.”
“The Duke?”
The Duke’s eyes immediately widened dangerously.
Startled, I quickly corrected myself.
“Dietrich!”
At that, the Duke seemed to examine my expression for a moment before asking,
“More than Eva?”
“……”
He had suddenly hit the nail right on the head……
For a moment, I was at a complete loss for words.
After stammering for a while, I hurriedly opened my mouth.
“W-Well, among men, I like Dietrich the most, and among women, I like Eva the most……”
“That’s enough.”
As though my flimsy excuse had not even registered in his ears, the Duke indifferently turned his head away.
I was about to coax the sulking Duke when I had to suppress the laughter threatening to burst out.
‘They really are siblings.’
Just look at that haughty expression.
He looks exactly like the Young Lady, doesn’t he?
But then.
The Duke lowered his gaze and glanced at the hand I was still holding tightly.
“……At last, you’re the one who reached out and held my hand first.”
His voice was a little softer than before.
“Ah.”
When I instinctively tried to let go, the Duke tightened his grip on my hand.
“Your lover is sulking, and instead of comforting him……”
The Duke gave me a reproachful yet somehow endearing look.
“Are you even going to let go of my hand?”
“……”
Was that really how it looked?
His dazzling way with words was making my head spin……
The Duke stared intently at me before suddenly grinning like a boy.
“I’m only joking.”
My face turned bright red, and I raised my voice.
“Honestly, stop teasing me!”
“Ahahaha!”
The Duke finally couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.
His clear, refreshing laughter spread through the cold air.
I blinked, forgetting even that I had been getting worked up.
“I think this is the first time I’ve seen Dietrich laugh out loud like that……”
The Duke looked somewhat sheepish as he asked me,
“Is it strange?”
“No.”
I shook my head and smiled brightly.
“It looks very nice.”
“……”
At my answer, the Duke suddenly turned around.
“It’s cold. Let’s go.”
The Duke kept a firm hold of my hand as he began walking briskly forward.
The tips of his ears had turned bright red.
His back, his flushed nape, even that adorable way he tried so hard to hide his embarrassment……
……It was so unbearably lovely that it took my breath away.
I felt incredibly happy.
Meanwhile.
Seraphina also left the Empress’s Palace.
“Haa……”
Her sigh dispersed like smoke.
The last scene she had witnessed was Her Majesty the Empress and the Young Lady leaning their heads together and chatting affectionately.
“……I really hate her.”
Seraphina ground her teeth.
There was no way she could misunderstand it.
The Empress was only interacting with Seraphina for the sake of maintaining friendly relations with the Grand Temple and out of consideration for High Priest Evans.
Seraphina herself was of no importance to her whatsoever.
The proof was that even when the Empress brought up the banquet welcoming the delegation this time, she did not even speak to Seraphina about it.
No, more precisely……
‘There isn’t even the slightest bit of affection between us.’
The few kind words the Empress offered Seraphina, her faint smiles, her light compliments.
All of them were nothing but illusions.
Seraphina felt pathetic for desperately scraping together such illusions and struggling to raise her own reputation by any means possible.
“……”
A profound sense of emptiness washed over her.
She remembered the days when she had once been the darling of high society, freely striding through it under Gregory’s protection and Larit’s sacrifices.
Larit had always put Seraphina first, never hesitating to wait on her hand and foot.
Gregory had paid attention to her every move.
Whenever she went to any kind of event, he would immediately send a carriage to pick her up.
But now……
‘Enough. Don’t think about useless things.’
Seraphina desperately tried to calm herself.
‘High Priest Evans should be at the Grand Temple by now. How could he possibly send a carriage for me?’
……Although the Duke of Claudius had come personally to pick up Larit as soon as the noble council meeting ended.
When she recalled how those beautiful blue eyes had passed over her indifferently, as though she were no more important than a cow or a chicken, Seraphina felt her insides twist.
All the men in the world had once loved her.
She had never doubted that the Duke would love her too……
But what was reality like?
While Larit was living a splendid life under the protection of the Duke’s family,
Seraphina was still trapped here, shackled to this wretched shared townhouse!
‘Why?’
Seraphina bit down on her lips until they bled.
‘Why, of all people, me!’
