Grand Duke Kallan heard a human voice in his sleep.
‘ … Did the servant come to wake me?’
The Grand Duke felt a slight sense of shame.
He usually woke up on his own and tidied himself before anyone could come for him. However, lately, he had been struggling to wake up early because he couldn’t fall asleep easily due to knee pain.
Today, his eyelids felt endlessly heavy. It felt as if it were still the middle of the night and he had only slept for one or two hours. No matter what the servant said, he just wanted to ignore them and sleep more.
“Look at this, Mary. I told you, didn’t I?”
“There really isn’t anyone else guarding him.”
“If the Grand Duke thought Taylor John was roaming around outside, would the security be this lax? The very fact that the Grand Duke is lying right in front of us is proof. Proof that the man is a liar!”
“Shh. I get it, so be quiet. You’ll wake him!”
“Weren’t we supposed to wake him up anyway?”
“Oh.”
“We have to wake him first if we’re going to interrogate him or do anything else.”
‘What? Interrogate?’
His mind snapped awake as if he had been doused with cold water. The Grand Duke bolted upright, but he collapsed in the next instant.
“Ugh… .”
Only then did he realize. He was tied up. Ropes were wound tightly around his upper body, binding him. Collapsed on his side, the Grand Duke barely managed to lift his head.
“Are you awake?”
“Um, hello. Your Grace. I’m sorry to greet you like this.”
Two people were looking down at him.
His fiancée, Mary Mansel, who wore a sorry expression.
And… .
‘That dangerous individual.’
The one who had thwarted the Grand Duke’s plans at every turn.
Hayes.
He was looking at the Grand Duke while holding a dagger with a sharp, blue-tinted blade.
“Ah, this?”
The man tossed the knife lightly and caught it, grinning.
“You don’t need to worry. It’s just a tool I used for the break-in. I have no intention of harming Your Grace with it.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
When the Grand Duke snapped at him, Hayes shrugged as if it didn’t matter. Gritting his teeth, the Grand Duke considered strategies to overcome the situation.
‘Should I shout and call for people?’
No, the man had held a knife to him before. That man would be faster at swinging the dagger than any person would be at running here.
‘The bell pull… .’
However, even when he turned his head, he couldn’t see the cord.
‘Wait, now that I look at it…?’
Looking closer, the rope binding him seemed to be made of a familiar material. That insolent man had used his bell pull as a binding rope.
‘Hah. Double defense?’
It was absurd.
It was an insulting and daring plan.
‘A refined woman like Miss Mansel couldn’t have thought of such a plan, so… .’
The Grand Duke’s icy gaze pierced toward Hayes. He had never encountered someone so ruthless and unscrupulous. Seeing him go this far… .
‘Perhaps Lyman’s advice was right.’
If he didn’t intend to let that man ruin everything, he might actually have to take action.
Just as a subtle murderous intent flickered in the Grand Duke’s eyes.
“Your Grace? You didn’t fall back asleep, did you?”
Hayes spoke in a cocky tone, jolting the Grand Duke back to reality.
“That would be problematic. You need to listen to our story and give us an answer.”
He gnashed his teeth at the insolent attitude, but for now, he had no choice.
“… Speak. Let me hear what your goal is.”
At the reluctantly spoken words, Hayes bared his teeth in a wide grin.
—
Things went easier than expected!
‘Succeeding in infiltrating just by climbing the wall using blades.’
The security of the Grand Duke’s bedroom was far too lax, and he was a heavy sleeper. Looking around the bedroom, I found a suitable rope dangling just at the right moment, so I cut it with my dagger and tied the Grand Duke up tightly.
Every part of the process until now had been smooth.
It was the same after the Grand Duke woke up. Since we couldn’t just harm a high-ranking noble, I had worried about what to do if the Grand Duke was stubborn, but surprisingly, he was cooperative.
“If it’s the marriage certificate you want, it’s in the first drawer of that cabinet.”
“It wasn’t there when I looked last time.”
“You’ve already rummaged through my bedroom? You truly are a grand thief.”
“Stop playing games and answer properly.”
“I haven’t lied. The document is truly in there. There is simply a mechanism so it cannot be found easily.”
“A mechanism?”
“Pull both the first and second drawers all the way out, then turn the knob on the first drawer three times. After 10 minutes, the document hidden at the bottom of the first drawer will fall into the second.”
“If you’re thinking of stalling for time, you’ll regret it.”
“Hah. What do you think would happen to me if I stalled for time against an unscrupulous man like you?”
Deciding to trust him just this once, I moved as the Grand Duke said. As I turned the knob on the drawer.
*Click.*
A sound like something operating rang out.
“So we just have to wait like this.”
The Grand Duke didn’t answer, and I had no intention of talking to him any further either. In the midst of the flowing silence, only the loud ticking of the cuckoo clock echoed.
Around the time the long hand drew its second circle.
“I’m sorry,” Mary suddenly said while looking at the Grand Duke.
“If Your Grace is a good person, then we are committing a great wrong against you right now. Relying only on the hope that you will forgive us because you are good.”
“There is no need to apologize, Miss Mansel.”
It was a low, soft voice, worlds apart from the one he used when dealing with me.
“I was a bit surprised when I first woke up, but I understood well enough after hearing the explanation. I only regret that I seem to have caused you such agony.”
It wasn’t my place to say anything since I was the one who attacked, but he was being that generous while tied up after an unexpected nighttime assault? With such a polite tone?
‘Is he really crazy about acting out this love story?’
“In any case, the pain in my knees has been so severe lately that I haven’t been able to sleep deeply. So, instead of tossing and turning aimlessly in bed, joining Miss Mansel’s adventure doesn’t seem so bad.”
“My… adventure?”
“From what I hear, didn’t you decide to come and face me yourself even while suspecting that I might be a murderer? You could have left everything to this man named Hayes. I think that was a very courageous act. So much so that I want to know more about the side of you that I’m unfamiliar with.”
“……”
“Of course, it would make me very sad if you really destroyed the marriage certificate you found at the end of this brave adventure and left me all alone.”
Even while tied up, the man managed to lean toward Mary.
“Miss Mansel… do you still doubt me? Do you really intend to leave me like this? Even while leaving all of Miss Elise’s last wishes behind?”
“… I.”
After a long silence, Mary’s mouth opened. However, the words that came out were not an answer to the Grand Duke’s question.
“I am not that brave of a person.”
Mary clutched the hem of her pink skirt tightly.
“So if you get to know me, Your Grace, you will be disappointed too. I didn’t act out of courage, but out of anxiety and guilt.”
There was no need to say any more. Nothing good would come of revealing her inner thoughts to the Grand Duke.
‘Besides, this is the part Mary found hard to talk about.’
Nevertheless, Mary continued.
“Even now, I still have nightmares about my sister. Every night I’m terrified that she might resent me, and I give myself pathetic comfort, saying she wouldn’t be like that.”
“Miss Mansel… .”
“When I’m anxious, it becomes hard to breathe, and then I get even more anxious because I can’t breathe. There are times when I feel extreme terror and collapse. To be honest, that’s why I’ve refrained from outside activities and immersed myself only in my hobbies. If it became known to the world that I had such symptoms, I would become a source of shame for my parents.”
I wanted to tell her to stop, but I couldn’t.
Even though she stopped and inhaled several times. Even though she kept fidgeting with the hem of her skirt and her braided hair the entire time she spoke.
Because Mary was speaking her honest inner thoughts without any hyperventilation.
“Since I’m such a weak and pathetic human being, I keep wanting to believe Your Grace. But because I’m weak and pathetic, I can’t easily believe you either. So Your Grace, may I be so bold as to ask a favor?”
Mary looked the Grand Duke straight in the eye and spoke clearly.
“I want to believe Your Grace. So, give me a reason to trust you.”
At that moment, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘She came here to say this from the beginning.’
She hadn’t just said it on a whim.
Today, Mary had come prepared to honestly confess her own self that even she was reluctant to see, right in front of everyone.
To tell him that since she was being this honest, he should do the same. To clash with the Grand Duke head-on, heart to heart. Finding the marriage certificate was just a secondary goal.
‘It’s a foolish thing to do.’
That was my immediate thought. What good would it do to reveal her weaknesses to someone else, and the Grand Duke at that?
But at the same time, another thought followed.
‘It is a very courageous act.’
Something I could hardly believe Mary had done… .
‘No, that’s not it.’
I corrected my thought internally.
‘It’s very typical of Mary.’
Thinking about it, it was true.
When she found out she was to marry the Grand Duke, Mary had run to the police station on her own even while saying she was scared to death.
When a suspicious outsider tried to climb the wall and break into her house, Mary had been willing to bet on the fact that I was a police officer and lowered a rope through the window.
When she suffered from hyperventilation due to fear and excitement during her testimony, Mary had still said she would go to the Grand Duke alone to seek revenge.
So the words Mary just said to the Grand Duke were extremely typical of her.
A person who doesn’t give up, even if their courage is sometimes so excessive it borders on recklessness.
A person who moves forward without collapsing, even if they stumble and sway while suffering from anxiety.
A person who has the courage to jump toward an abyss where the bottom cannot be seen.
Because that was the kind of person Mary Mansel had always been.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.