Chapter 19

‘I’ll definitely survive.’

Anais was clutching her necklace pendant, repeating her vow to herself. The Grand Duke, who was sitting beside her with a hand’s breadth of space between them, asked.

“That’s your mother’s keepsake, isn’t it?”

She remembered explaining the pendant to him when she was showing him around the estate. Anais tucked back inside her dress and replied.

“Yes, it is.”

“I suppose it’s found its rightful owner at last.”

It was a remark only the Grand Duke, who knew she was the princess’s illegitimate child, could make. However, he likely never imagined she had stolen the pendant.

Since there was no need to tell the truth, she only nodded.

The distance between them was the same as when they had sat together on the garden bench the day before, but unlike then, Anais now turned her face away from the Grand Duke, fixing her gaze out the window. Then, the Grand Duke broke the silence again.

“After the wedding, we’ll head to the grand duchy from the imperial palace.”

“Yes.”

Anais replied flatly, her eyes still trained on the window.

“…There are only a few days until the wedding, so we can finalize the contract before then.”

“Alright.”

After a brief silence, the Grand Duke spoke again.

“For the time being, we’ll stay at the townhouse in the capital, so if you need anything, let me know.”

‘“I’m fine.”

Her answer was curt, as she had no intention of engaging in conversation with him as she had the day before. Yet this time, after a longer silence than before, the Grand Duke abruptly posed a question, his voice strangely strained and uncertain.

“…Did I do something wrong?”

“No, not at all!”

Startled, Anais quickly turned her head and met the Grand Duke’s gaze as she hurried to reassure him.

“….”

“I’m just… a little tired. I’m sorry.”

She forced a small, casual smile as she spoke, but the Grand Duke’s pupils were strangely trembling. His eyes seemed to flicker with fear, perhaps, or unease. When Anais tilted her head in confusion, he quickly schooled his expression and spoke again, this time with concern.

“Rest your eyes. It’s still a long way to go before we arrive.”

“I will.”

Anais ended the conversation there, turning her face away from him.

They were on the road, leaving the viscount’s estate behind. Even though she ought to feel relieved after escaping those dreadful Orelcians, she still felt tense. Outside the carriage window, the dense summer foliage swept past the window, filling the carriage with cool, shifting shadows.

“….”

Leaning closer to the deepest part of the shade, she closed her eyes, afraid that, if she didn’t, the worries from her troubled dreams that morning would be written all over her face. Yet moments later, as she drifted off to sleep, her efforts to hide her feelings proved futile as she found herself right back in the middle of another prophetic dream.

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

Rows of tall, deep brown bookshelves stretched up to the ceiling, making the room so dim that barely any sunlight could filter in.

Anais stood alone inside.

‘Ah…’

She wanted to say something, but the words never made it past her lips. Across from her, the Grand Duke cocked his head, looking at her with a hint of impatience.

“What brings you here?”

He sat behind a huge ebony desk piled high with paperwork, his blood-red eyes fixed intently on Anais. The man before her was a completely different person from the one who had proposed to her the day before.

“….”

When she remained silent, he crinkled his eyes, tossed the papers onto the desk, and crossed his arms. His posture clearly conveyed that she should speak up, as if he were deciding whether the conversation was worth the time he was wasting.

“It would be better to get to the point quickly. As you can see, I’m busy.”

Pressed by his brusque tone, Anais finally opened her mouth.

“I wanted to ask if I could invite some people to the grand duchy.”

“People? Surely you don’t mean those damned Orelcian who rats loose in the grand duchy to steal information?”

“….”

Seeing his scowl, she shut her mouth.

It seemed she had inadvertently provoked him with a thoughtless question. As Anais regretted her words and felt herself shrinking, the Grand Duke cut through the silence with a cold, sharp remark.

“Oh, or perhaps you mean that count who bombards you with love letters like a lunatic, the one you claim isn’t your lover?”

At the unexpected accusation, the color drained steadily from her face.

The Grand Duke twisted his lips in a sneer, piling on,

“So your body’s been sold to the Grand Duchy, but your heart is somewhere else? Is that it?”

His hostile tone pushed Anais to the edge. Through his insults disguised as questions, she realized once again how he truly viewed her.

She pressed her trembling hands together and answered with as much composure as she could muster.

“…That’s not what I meant.”

Her words held sincerity, though they meant nothing to him.