Did Marie’s heartfelt plea ripple through the Grand Duke’s heart? At her request to let her believe in him, the Grand Duke hesitated for a long time before answering.
“I…”
Finally opening his mouth, the Grand Duke suddenly shifted his gaze to me.
“You. Close the first drawer and take out the certificate that fell into the second drawer.”
“Ten minutes haven’t passed yet.”
“Ah, ten minutes. That was a lie.”
What?
The Grand Duke spoke nonchalantly.
“If you turn the knob on the first drawer the designated number of times, the hidden object is designed to fall down immediately. If you go and open it, you’ll find what you’re looking for.”
“Telling me to leave the second drawer open was…”
“Naturally, it was a trick to hide the falling object.”
*Drrrr.*
I suppressed my irritation and closed the first drawer. Just as he said, the marriage certificate had fallen into the top part of the second drawer.
As I approached Marie and handed her the document, the Grand Duke spoke as if he had been waiting.
“You asked for trust. However, I do not have the courage to be as honest as you, Miss Marie. I need time for that.”
Disappointment clouded Marie’s face. She thought the Grand Duke was going to end everything right here.
“So —”
But the Grand Duke continued without stopping.
“Can I not buy your trust with that certificate I gave you?”
Unless my ears were mistaken, it was a plea that sounded quite desperate.
“I swear on my name that I will not lay a single finger on that certificate. I will not try to take it back, so whether you cancel the marriage or go through with it is entirely up to your will, Miss Marie.”
“Your Grace…”
“If you wish to cancel the wedding, I will take full responsibility for the aftermath. I would be very sad to be rejected by you, but it would be better than having a wedding while you are afraid of me.”
Marie seemed to waver. I couldn’t blame her.
‘The murder motive Lour and I guessed for the Grand Duke was the dowry.’
Even if the Grand Duke was a thrill killer like Taylor John, the same applied. The motive for his accomplices was surely the brides’ dowries.
If the decision-making power over the marriage shifted to Marie, that motive would be shaken.
Marie’s safety would be guaranteed.
Of course, he might be planning to win her over and force the marriage anyway, but the important thing was that the choice was ours.
‘Why is he saying this? Does he really love Marie? Or is it just a lie to reassure her?’
“There is still time before the wedding, so please think about it carefully. I will simply be praying for you to choose me.”
Leaving the Grand Duke’s sorrowful words behind, we left. We held the marriage certificate tightly in our hands, our minds filled with all sorts of confusion.
***
Marie was silent all the way back. When we finally returned to her room through the window.
“About the marriage certificate…” Marie began hesitantly. “I think it might be better not to destroy it right away. I mean, the certificate could be a fake. I’ll compare it with the one I received from my uncle after daybreak, and if it’s confirmed to be real, then…”
Marie’s voice trailed off.
It didn’t seem like the omitted words were “let’s destroy it.”
“Sure. Let’s think about it then.”
I answered lightly on purpose. I didn’t want Marie to feel unnecessary guilt over this.
“For now, don’t think about anything and get some sleep. It’s already late.”
“Yes. *Haaaam*, now that you mention it, I am sleepy.”
It was indeed late.
It was natural to be tired.
“I should change into my pajamas and go straight to sleep…”
Seeing her mumble as she collapsed onto the bed, it felt like I should leave immediately, but I couldn’t do that.
‘I can’t leave a window that anyone could enter like this.’
I closed the window and locked the latch.
Just in case someone forced it open, I leaned some silverware against the window so it would make a loud noise and let me know immediately.
I looked around the room and nodded.
“Then I’ll head out. Goodnight, Marie.”
“Yes. Goodnight to you too, Sir Heise. See you tomorrow.”
After saying goodbye, I left Marie’s room.
Unlike the window, I didn’t worry much about the door.
That was because I planned to guard her door all night.
‘I have to be faithful to my duties as a guard.’
I thought the possibility was low, but the Grand Duke, resentful of losing the certificate, might try to harm Marie. I couldn’t leave her alone.
‘She might have another hyperventilation episode too.’
Usually Lour was there, but not now. I had plenty of justification to stay in front of Marie’s door all night.
Sitting down in front of the door, a chill rose from the floor.
I looked at the large window in the hallway. Stars twinkled in the dark sky.
‘Well, if nothing else, the view is great.’
I figured I could spend the night counting stars.
***
“Heise, Heise?”
“Ugh…”
“Wake up. If you sleep in a place like this, your face will get crooked.”
I struggled to regain consciousness and opened my eyes.
Then, what I saw was…
“Ugh, gah!”
A pitch-black mass.
Terrified, I reflexively tried to jump up.
*THUD!!!*
I hit my head on something and slumped back down.
“Ow…”
Clutching my throbbing head, I looked around.
What hit me was the doorknob.
‘Oh, right. I was definitely guarding Marie’s door…’
Did I fall asleep?
While leaning against this door?
“Oh my. Heise, are you okay? That was a huge sound.”
I looked forward again.
Beyond the black shadow leaning in uncomfortably.
I saw the scenery through the large window.
The stars were definitely out before, but now it was dazzlingly bright. The sky wasn’t dark at all; it was deep blue without a hint of red.
‘I’m crazy. It’s not even dawn; it’s morning.’
It seemed I hadn’t just dozed off, but slept soundly.
“Heise?”
The shadow asked urgently.
By now, I could roughly guess his identity.
“Leman.”
“Yeah, it’s me. Are you awake now?”
I nodded vaguely.
The shadow burst into laughter.
“Haha, that’s a relief. I was worried. Why were you sleeping there?”
“Just… did you wake me up?”
“Yeah. Of course, because I was worried. But reacting like you saw a monster when you saw my face… I’m hurt.”
“Ah, sorry. I wasn’t fully awake…”
While answering, I suddenly caught a strange scent.
“Leman. Do you wear perfume?”
“Huh?”
A strong scent of perfume was coming from Leman.
‘I’ve smelled this somewhere before.’
Yes. This was definitely…
“It smells like the scent from the Grand Duke’s bedroom.”
“What? Ah, I see what you mean.”
The shadow nodded nonchalantly.
“It’s probably the scent of sleeping incense.”
“Sleeping incense?”
“Yes. A scent that makes you sleepy when you smell it. Since His Grace hasn’t been able to sleep at all lately, I’ve been preparing it for him myself. The scent must have rubbed off on me.”
The smell in the Grand Duke’s room was sleeping incense?
‘Is that why I fell asleep without even realizing it?’
Come to think of it, Marie looked exceptionally tired after returning from the Grand Duke’s room. It wasn’t just because it was late.
“But you prepare sleeping incense for His Grace? I didn’t know you were a pharmacist.”
“It’s nothing that grand. Unlike the others in the Grand Ducal house, I’ve spent a long time roughing it outside. So I have a lot of miscellaneous knowledge. His Grace is just making good use of it.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Recently, he asked me how to get rid of pests, so I helped with that too.”
Since it was a topic I had no interest in, I just nodded.
‘But do bugs crawl around in this cold?’
“He asked how to get rid of a persistent pest that’s hard to shake off. He said it keeps rummaging around here and there, even entering places it shouldn’t, which is quite troublesome. Apparently, it was quite an eyesore.”
At those words, laced with amusement, I paused.
‘…Is he really talking about bugs right now?’
I slowly raised my gaze to Leman’s face. Even so, all I could see was a black shadow.
There was only one piece of information I could read from it: the person standing before me was not innocent.
A sudden sense of vigilance surged within me.
‘…Why wasn’t Leman surprised when I mentioned the Grand Duke’s bedroom?’
Isn’t it strange that I know what scent is in the Grand Duke’s bedroom? But Leman passed over that part calmly without even asking.
As if he already knew what had happened the previous night…
Looking back, everything about this conversation was strange. In fact, it had been wrong from the very start.
“Why did you talk to me?”
“Huh?”
The black shadow shrugged as if asking why I would ask such a thing.
“We’re friends! It’s only natural to wake someone up if they’re sleeping in the hallway and talk to them!”
No, it’s not natural.
The friendship between Leman and me ended on that train. Since then, we hadn’t even looked at each other, let alone spoken a word.
He wouldn’t have spoken to me unless he had another purpose.
“More importantly, aren’t you curious? What advice I gave His Grace on how to get rid of the pest?”
Leman turned the topic back to the one he had brought up. Like someone desperate to tell that specific story.
I had a bad feeling.
“I told him that if it’s such a troublesome pest, there’s no point in playing complex mind games. It’ll just keep sticking to him, and if he’s not careful, the pest might even get the better of him, which would be quite unpleasant.”
He wouldn’t play mind games?
Then what would he do?
“So, I told him to just burn it all down.”
His voice was full of laughter.
“You know that proverb about burning the house down to catch the fleas? That means if you burn the house down, you’re guaranteed to catch the pest, right? Of course, you have to accept some loss, but would His Grace really be unable to handle that much? What if he ends everything before the pest can even predict it? Then what could a mere pest do? For a mere pest.”
With unbearable joy, he watched my reaction and asked.
“What do you think, Heise? Do you think His Grace followed my advice?”
I couldn’t listen any longer due to the rising anxiety.
*BAM!*
I threw Marie’s door wide open and burst in. It was a rude act that only a gambling-addict uncle would do, but I wasn’t in my right mind to care about manners.
“Marie! Are you inside? You’re okay, right?”
No answer came back.
I saw a scene that was expected, yet entirely unexpected. There was no one in the room.
In the place where Marie had been, all that remained…
Were two.
Marriage certificates.
[I swear on my name that I will not lay a single finger on that certificate.]
The words I heard from the Grand Duke last night rang in my ears like a mockery.