Chapter 18

“Go on now. The Grand Duke must be waiting for you.”

Still, Anais didn’t take a single step. When she stood frozen in place, she felt Nectar plaster on a friendly expression and tried to soften his tone.

“I’ll write often, so don’t feel too sad. I’ll come by to visit as well. I’m sure His Highness won’t mind something like that.”

Anais, who had been silently listening until now, finally spoke in a calm tone.

“I’m glad to hear how much you care about me.”

Despite her words, there wasn’t the slightest trace of a smile on her face.

Her silver hair caught the morning light like frost, and her pale complexion only made the calm glow of her violet eyes more striking. With a cool, distant gaze, she looked straight at Nectar, whose irritation was barely masked by her lack of obedience. Her words flowed smoothly, but carried undeniable resolve.

“However, I’m no longer an Orelcian. I’m now a Lisandro. Just as you said, I’ll adapt well to the Grand Duchy and make sure not to cause any trouble for His Highness.”

She glanced at the maids standing in front of her, then turned back to Nectar.

“I won’t be taking the maids. The Grand Duke’s household undoubtedly has its own attendants.”

“….”

“And please refrain from contacting or visiting me. If you must, I ask that you seek the Grand Duke’s permission first.”

Nectar’s face flushed with rage.

He had always considered Anais his property and commodity, something to train and sell, yet here she was, firmly rejecting his words without hesitation.

Seeing him like that, Anais gave the same graceful, polite smile, embodying the very etiquette he had always demanded so insistently, and continued speaking.

“I trust you understand better than anyone, Father, that where I belong now is no longer Orelcian.”

At last, Anais bowed her head to her father.

It was a gesture she considered her final farewell, the bare minimum of courtesy to the man who had, at the very least, fed and raised her.

“May all your wishes come true.”

She offered those words not out of affection, but because she didn’t want to become like him, a man who had driven both her and her mother to the brink.

‘Let us never cross paths again.’

Without looking back, Anais walked over to the Grand Duke, who had been waiting a few steps away.

As if he had been waiting, he held out his hand to her.

She turned her back on the viscount’s estate, and without so much as a glance behind her, walked straight toward the Grand Duke’s carriage. Moments later, the Grand Duke and future Grand Duchess departed, leaving the viscount standing alone, clueless about what was to come.

“You said you’d handle her by giving her poison and lecturing her! Why did she end up like this? How dare she talk back? What were you thinking, sending her off so poorly managed?!”

The target of his fury was none other than his mistress, Madam Jade, who stood beside him but couldn’t respond.

Rex had appeared outside the mansion without a sound and now stood glaring at her with open contempt.

“What exactly did you give Anais? Don’t tell me you meant the poison you used on the Viscountess?”

“R-Rex, it’s not like that, your father—”

“You must be mistaken. The only one here who isn’t an Orelcian is you, Madam. Who are you to decide who lives or dies?”

Rex’s icy words made Jade go pale. He had never once called her ‘mother,’ and Jade, for all her faults, had always been helpless when it came to him.

As usual, Nectar ignored their exchange and stormed into the mansion, his face twisted in a scowl.

“How dare that little wretch defy me?”

He only cared about his own wounded pride.

However, that wasn’t the end of it. Another major commotion soon broke out at the viscount’s estate.

“It was definitely there yesterday, but this morning it’s gone.”

“How is that even possible? It’s a royal heirloom! I told you to keep it secure!”

“M-My apologies.”

Nectar seethed with fury, unable to contain his rage.

The pendant that once belonged to the Viscountess, an heirloom he had flaunted as a symbol of prestige, had vanished. He terrorized the servants, tearing the mansion apart as if hunting for rats, but no matter how hard he searched, the pendant was nowhere to be found.

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

Inside the quiet, jet-black carriage, its interior as dark as its exterior, mirroring the color of the Grand Duke’s midnight hair, Anais sat still. She slowly pulled out the pendant necklace she had hidden beneath her dress.

Opening it revealed a small portrait of her mother.

A beautiful woman with lustrous silver hair and soft, clear amethyst eyes. Once a princess, her mother’s serene smile still shone within the locket.

Closing the pendant, she held it tightly in her hand and made a vow.

‘I’ll survive. No matter what.’