Chapter – 25
“Tell me. Why am I here?”
“Is it a problem for a fiancée to be in her future husband’s room?”
“……”
At his indifferent reply, Evangeline slowly turned her head away. It felt stiflingly hot; the fireplace was blazing far too fiercely. Struggling to breathe, she pushed the blanket aside and quietly drew her knees up to her chest.
It seemed she had known this man for quite a long time.
She didn’t know what had happened—but judging from the fact that she could guess what he had done, it must be so.
“……Did you meet Kirion?”
“You said he’s your friend. Why wouldn’t I?”
“What did you say to him?”
“To ask about a friend before greeting the fiancé you’re seeing again after so long—you’re quite an interesting woman.”
“……”
The corner of his twisted lips curved as if in careless jest. That was the end of it. As though he had nothing more to say, Decarno reached for the documents on the table—then abruptly shot to his feet on instinct.
“What are you trying to do, standing up all of a sudden?”
“Ah……”
As Evangeline forced herself to rise, her arm trembled. Decarno immediately caught her by the back. The moment his hand touched her, he could clearly feel how stiff her body became. The faint trace of impatience that had flickered in his eyes vanished just as quickly.
“Will you only be satisfied if you collapse again?”
“……Let go.”
“You know it’ll only be to your disadvantage. There’s no kind friend here who’ll carry you in gently.”
Though his voice was low and devoid of emotion, his hands were practiced as he closed the front of her loosened gown. Even when she flinched, he did not react as strongly as before.
“What? Am I still that frightening to you?”
“No. You’re the same as always, Your Grace.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
He found a sliver of satisfaction in the fact that their hands brushed and crossed without awkwardness. The same went for the way she did not shake him off. But Evangeline’s next murmur shattered that illusion at once.
“Me.”
“……”
“I think I’ve changed.”
Even as he seemed to waver for a moment, Decarno finished tying the knot perfectly. The look in his eyes, however—inviting her to continue—was very different from before.
“Is that so? Then go ahead and change.”
“Your Grace.”
“I can handle one person changing.”
It was his own warning—that no matter what changed, nothing truly would.
But Evangeline merely smiled. Unaware of how that smile churned a person’s insides, she looked at Decarno with a clear, unguarded expression.
“Of course you can. But it seems I can’t.”
“You must be having too many idle thoughts after being ill. The doctor said you need to build your strength, so I’ll summon the chef at once—”
“Stop.”
“……”
He turned back toward her at an angle. Instinctively, he sensed that her words carried another meaning.
“I want it to stop now.”
“Stop what?”
“……Everything.”
Her smiling eyes were hollow. If she had shouted and pushed him away, he might have dismissed it as petulance. But it wasn’t that. Her empty face—wanting nothing—seemed so fragile it might melt at a single touch.
“I don’t regret the past two years I spent here. I did my best in my own way. But if I drag it on any longer, I think I truly will regret it.”
“So now what… you’re asking to break off the engagement?”
“Yes.”
Her answer was bright, almost refreshing, despite his incredulous question. No matter what expression he wore or what words he asked, she looked as though she would not hesitate.
“I’m going to break it off. No—let’s break it off.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Was this marriage something you could discard so easily?”
“You may not believe it now, but more than anyone in the world, I was the one who wanted to maintain this engagement and see it through to the end.”
“Then just do that.”
“……It’s too late.”
Her slightly parted red lips curved into a deeper, bitter smile. When she looked back, there weren’t many memories that were particularly joyful. And yet, thinking of them made her smile strangely.
“I thought if I tried hard enough, it would work. We’ve spent so much time together, and I believed we knew each other that well.”
“Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.”
As if unwilling to hear any more, Decarno rose. He had been perfectly dressed from the start; he could leave just like this.
“I don’t know why you’re acting this way, but—”
“You do.”
“……”
“As much as I know you, you know me. You know I’m not someone who would say something like this lightly. And you know that right now, I mean it more than ever.”
Realizing he could no longer pretend none of this had happened, Decarno glared at her fiercely. But Evangeline simply smiled neatly, as though she understood even that part of him.
“When you’re ready to talk seriously, come find me. I’ll be waiting.”
◇ ◆ ◇
For several days, the Duke of Teje did not leave his office in the Upper Council. Rumors had long circulated that he was obsessed with work—but now he had surpassed even that. He barely ate, barely slept. And yet the most terrifying part was that the speed at which he handled affairs only increased.
“Pass this along. Tell them to resubmit next year’s tax proposal.”
“Please, Your Grace, pace yourself. I’m afraid you’ll truly collapse at this rate.”
Unable to bear watching the Duke flip through yet another stack of documents, Mikael made a miserable face. The proud nobles had even grabbed him and pleaded, “Please, stop the Duke,” as if he had the power to do so.
If only the Duke would make a single mistake, he might seem human. But among that mountain of work, there wasn’t the tiniest flaw to be found. Thanks to one monster, it was the ordinary people who were being worn down.
Still, Mikael held a trump card that might stop him.
“Your Grace. Please take a look at this first.”
“What is it?”
“We retrieved every copy before it could be distributed from the press to the agencies.”
The problem was—it wasn’t a very pleasant card.
“It nearly made the front page this morning.”
“……”
At the mention of a newspaper, the Duke finally paused and lifted his gaze. As he read the headline Mikael held out, his brow twitched.
A Certain Lady’s Secret Outing
Last Friday evening, a lady of noble status visited a townhouse located on Melks Street. According to an anonymous source, the lady was someone anyone would recognize at a glance and appeared to share a close relationship with the homeowner…
“It seems the steward working at that house immediately sold the information. The captain must have thought dismissing him would solve everything.”
“How naive.”
The Duke’s expression as he sneered did not look particularly displeased. In fact, he seemed more relaxed than he had in days.
“Birds of a feather, after all.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“He’s still young. Thinking the world will bend to his will.”
The Duke dragged a fingernail slowly beneath the provocative headline. The nuance of his words was strange—almost too pointed for it to be about a young officer.
“In any case, it’s not a bad thing for me.”
“Your Grace.”
“What about what I asked you to look into?”
“Ah—Count Rebell, father of Captain Kirion, has served as governor of the Addis Islands for nearly twenty years. According to those around him, he’s quite ambitious. It seems he’s been sending his eldest son running about, hoping to secure a post back in Roark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs soon.”
“All the better. If something like this happens again, send it to him instead of me.”
“But if that happens—”
“Then thanks to his son, who doesn’t know his place and runs wild, he’ll spend his retirement hunting in the jungles of Addis. If he doesn’t like that, he can hunt his own son instead.”
His tone was astonishingly calm, as if there were no other options.
Mikael wiped the cold sweat from his brow as he replied that he understood.
He could never say it aloud—but if anyone belonged in the middle of a jungle, it was the Duke himself. Lately, there was something about him that felt beyond human.
Like a beast among beasts—one that would sink its fangs into your very bones if you stepped the wrong way.
