Every plan had failed.
Elise had ultimately been unable to change anything.
Marie had entered the Grand Duke’s castle, keeping her guard close by her side.
That alone was enough to make Elise drive herself crazy with anxiety, but the headaches didn’t end there.
The Grand Duke had fallen in love.
“Is this what they call love at first sight?” the Grand Duke asked Elise in a dazed voice. “She was such a bold and honest person. It was difficult when she tried to protect that murderer in front of me, but I found the way she tried to protect her own person to be quite wonderful.”
“My goodness. Are you serious?”
“Of course. Lady Marie’s taste in clothes is also remarkable. From what I can see, she seems to have chosen all the clothes for her party, not just her own. She is so meticulous. Where on earth did she find such wonderful uniforms? She said that once we are married, she will choose my clothes herself. Isn’t that a proposal? I was so fluttered that I don’t even know how I answered.”
Elise was bewildered. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen Your Grace talk so much.”
“Ah…” The Grand Duke’s cheeks flushed as if he were embarrassed. “A Grand Duke is a position that requires dignity. Besides, my voice is quite strange right now, isn’t it? That is why I have kept my words brief.”
He was just entering puberty, and his voice was breaking.
The low bass, much deeper than that of an average man, was certainly unique, but it wasn’t unpleasant to hear. However, it seemed the Grand Duke was very self-conscious about it.
‘Well, he’s cute.’
At first, Elise didn’t take the Grand Duke’s love seriously.
They were a pretty and handsome boy and girl of similar ages, so it was only natural they might fall in love.
Baron Menzel had requested that his daughter be processed as deceased before the wedding no matter what, and the Grand Duke had agreed to it. This relationship wouldn’t last long anyway. So, wasn’t it fine?
That was what she thought. That is, until she heard about the conversation the Grand Duke had shared with Marie.
“Your Grace, have you lost your mind?” Elise shouted in disbelief. “To tell her exactly how I went to see her right after meeting Taylor John, and how I asked Your Grace to look after her because I was worried she might be in danger because of him! And you said all that in front of a man who might be Taylor John himself! Are you in your right mind?”
“But… I didn’t want to lie to Lady Marie if possible. I didn’t mention the most important thing, your survival, so isn’t that enough?”
“Sigh…” Elise placed her hand on her throbbing head.
‘Honest, my foot. If he really wanted to be honest, he would have told her everything, including how he ended up helping me in exchange for the dowry.’
If he had gone that far, he might have actually earned Marie’s trust.
But because he told her everything that was advantageous to him and hid everything that might make him look bad, the story became suspicious to anyone who heard it.
If she were Marie, she wouldn’t have trusted the Grand Duke one bit.
‘What if the Grand Duke keeps ruining the plan because of love?’
Elise’s worries turned out to be exactly right.
Every night, the Grand Duke visited Elise and pestered her to tell him something Marie would like to hear.
Next, he tirelessly asked her to tell him words Marie would like, and then what kind of objects or gifts she preferred.
The Grand Duke, who usually complained that his knees were killing him every night because he was growing so fast, was perfectly fine until late at night when talking about Marie.
“In the end, he finally caused an accident,” Elise said with a deep sigh. “That is the reality of the kidnapping incident that happened last night.”
“My kidnapping?”
“Yes. Marie, you probably realized it by now, but the kidnapping itself was planned from the beginning. We were going to hide you in the room at the top of that tower, and I was going to disguise myself as you and jump off the cliff in front of people to fake your death.”
Lure, who had been listening to Elise’s story while receiving peanuts from Sarah, suddenly started coughing in surprise.
“Wait a minute. The person who jumped off the cliff was you, Elise?”
“Of course it was me,” Elise replied primly. “Who else but me could pull off such a perfect performance as Marie?”
“Well, to call it perfect—.”
‘You got the color of Marie’s pajamas wrong, didn’t you?’ Lure was about to say, but Elise was faster.
“Above all, there is no woman other than me who can jump while entrusting her body to a rope and then quickly climb back up.”
“Ah.” That part, even Lure had to admit. “How on earth are you so good at climbing ropes?”
“I realized my talent while playing on ropes with Marie.”
“That’s right, Sister Lure. Sister Elise really has a talent for it. Even when we played with ropes together, she was like the protagonist of *Scarlet*.”
“That is impressive.” Lure admired for a moment before snapping back to reality. “Oh, but it seems Marie’s kidnapping went exactly as you intended. What kind of accident did His Grace cause, then?”
“The problem was the date the plan was carried out,” Elise sighed. “We had to bring Marie in before the wedding, but His Grace kept delaying the execution date. He said he was thinking of a plausible motive for the fall, but… no matter how I looked at it, it seemed like he was thoroughly enjoying playing the role of Marie’s fiancé.”
It was understandable. Even in Lure’s eyes, the Grand Duke had seemed preoccupied with wooing Marie.
‘At the time, I thought it was all an act to seduce Marie.’
“Then, the night before, he suddenly called for me. When I went, all the key personnel of the plan, including myself, were gathered. His Grace told us that we had to kidnap Lady Marie right this second.”
“My god. Right that second?” It was an incredibly impulsive move.
“I did my best despite the urgency. Though it was eventually found out like this.”
“So, do you think Lady Marie found out about us because of the impulsive plan? Is that why you resent His Grace?”
“No! It is regrettable, but I don’t resent His Grace for that. What really makes me angry is the cause of Marie’s death that His Grace came up with at that time!”
Lure could understand what Elise was trying to say.
‘The Grand Duke tried to give validity to her death by making Marie out to be mentally ill.’
“That certainly is—.” Just as Lure was about to say something.
“What on earth does that mean?” Marie cut into their conversation with wide eyes. “I understood up to the part where His Grace tried to fake my fall off the cliff. And that Sister Elise took on that role. Isn’t that the reason for my faked death? What more is there?”
“Ah, that’s… Marie…” Elise was greatly flustered. She seemingly hadn’t considered that Marie might not know.
Lure was equally flustered. ‘I couldn’t explain anything to Marie because things were so urgent.’
However, she couldn’t keep treating Marie like a fool by saying nothing.
“…I will explain it to you. Don’t be too shocked, Marie.”
As she listened to Lure, who spoke reluctantly, Marie’s complexion gradually hardened.
***
Turning back time to the present.
“…Are you saying I am a vile coward?” the Grand Duke asked in a bewildered voice. “What on earth does that mean?”
“It means Your Grace does not know how to show sincerity to others,” Marie said in a low voice. “I heard that you decided to kidnap me in a hurry last night. I think that decision is related to the fact that I visited Your Grace’s room with Sir Heis in secret that night. Am I right?”
The Grand Duke slowly nodded.
“I knew it. Listening to Sister Elise’s story reminded me of what happened then. How I told Your Grace everything honestly, and asked if you couldn’t be truthful with me as well.”
That day, the Grand Duke had replied:
[‘You asked for my trust. But I do not have the courage to be as honest as you, Lady Marie. I need time for that.’]
“I thought that meant you needed time to prepare your heart. But that wasn’t it. When Your Grace said you needed time, it meant you needed time to kidnap me. Wasn’t it?”
Marie’s voice trembled with a sense of betrayal.
“That is, Lady Marie…” The Grand Duke stammered in panic.
He felt he had to soothe her somehow since she seemed angry, but in truth, the Grand Duke did not understand what he had done wrong until this very moment.
“If I had spoken to you in that state, you wouldn’t have believed me. At the time, I was thinking that Sir Heis was dangerous. So, after moving you to a safe place first, I intended to have a conversation—.”
“A safe place?” Marie repeated his words as if in disbelief. “Is that safety for me, or for you, Your Grace?”
“That is…”
‘It was obviously for your safety, Lady Marie!’
The Grand Duke, who was about to answer like that, could not believe his own hesitation.
But somewhere deep in his heart, his sincerity—which he had forgotten even existed while continuing his obligatory acting—was shouting that it wasn’t the truth.
“Your Grace, that night, I told you the story I least wanted to share. The fact that I am different from others, that I am a strange person.”
That was Marie’s most shameful secret, one she didn’t want to speak of. It was her weakness.
“The reason I readily revealed my weakness even though I thought Your Grace might be a murderer was because I wanted to believe in you, and I wanted to show you my sincerity.”
Sincerity could only be answered with sincerity.
But how had the Grand Duke responded?
“Your Grace imprisoned me. So that you could tell the truth, and so that you would be safe even if you told it.”
Because Marie had no way to reject his sincerity inside this small room. Because there was no worry that the conversation held in this room would leak elsewhere.
“That is a cowardly thing to do. It means Your Grace wasn’t willing to take even a little bit of risk.” Marie spoke with conviction. “Above all, Your Grace used my sincerity for that without a second thought.”
Marie roughly rubbed her reddened eyes.
Lure had omitted as much as possible out of concern for Marie, but Marie was no fool.
She could clearly see how the Grand Duke would have treated her like a madwoman, and how people would have gossiped about her after hearing those words.
With eyes brimming with tears, Marie said, “I trusted the wrong person.”
“Marie…!” The Grand Duke called her name in desperation, but he couldn’t say anything.
He had never learned how to handle a situation like this.
Grand Duke Callan had become the Grand Duke at an absurdly young age. From that moment on, he was an actor performing the role of the [Grand Duke of the North].
The tone appropriate for a Grand Duke, the vocabulary appropriate for a Grand Duke, the attire and gestures appropriate for a Grand Duke.
The mask had gradually thickened within the twenty-four hour play, and soon Callan had forgotten that a fragile human existed beneath it.
He lived without caring for his honor at all.
Whether he was a bloodstained Grand Duke or a madman who killed his brides, it didn’t matter.
That was a blade stuck into a thick mask, and it was no different from a character in a play being stabbed.
Since it didn’t hurt at all, it seemed fine.
So when Marie showed him her real face without a mask, and when he was asked to take off his own mask in return…
The frightened Callan, instead of readily taking off his mask, threw the knife in his hand for his own safety.
Without knowing what kind of wound that blade could inflict on a fragile body without a mask.
Even if he regretted it now, it was already too late.
The blade the Grand Duke threw had hit its target, and tears dripped from the cut.
“I am grateful that Your Grace tried to save me from Taylor John. Truly.” Marie looked at the Grand Duke with tearful eyes, then turned her head away. “But… I think it will be difficult to continue a deeper relationship with Your Grace.”
They say first love doesn’t come true.
At this moment, the first love of the two teenagers came to an end.