Chapter 11
Grand Duke of the North
Selen turned her head when she heard a door open from a completely different direction than the one Anna usually used.
The man emerging from a small room beside the corridor looked as though he had just come back from digging in the dirt all day.
Only four people were allowed to enter the inner keep: Selen, Baras, Jart, and Anna.
Unaware that everyone else’s access was restricted, Selen simply assumed he was someone repairing the outer walls or tending the gardens.
She quickly looked away from him and said to Baras,
“By the way, I can’t ride a horse.”
Baras lowered his gaze slightly, closed his eyes, then opened them again. His expression suggested he couldn’t understand what he’d just heard.
“Did you just say… you can’t ride a horse?”
This time, Selen wore a similar expression.
“Is it strange that I can’t?”
The reaction completely caught her off guard.
Can all commoner women ride horses here or something? Why? Ah… because there aren’t many carriages?
Just then, the gardener-looking man approached her and suddenly dropped to one knee in front of her.
Startled by his abrupt action, Selen tried to stand up, only to catch herself on the table in front of her and the hem of her long dress. She fell backward onto the floor.
“Ow…!”
She fell hard enough to let out a groan.
Baras clenched his fist tightly, forcing himself not to leap forward.
His eyes remained fixed on her face as though he couldn’t afford to miss a single moment.
Then, suddenly, the pupils of his red eyes widened.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of recognition in her expression.
Only surprise. Confusion. Nothing more.
Selen realized that the kneeling man wasn’t approaching her further and slowly got to her feet, watching him with intense caution.
Then she carefully moved to what she considered the safest place available.
Behind Baras.
Baras thought that the woman now standing behind him might attack him at any moment.
Perhaps she would take advantage of a brief opening to knock him unconscious and escape with that man.
Perhaps she would merely buy enough time for her lover to flee.
Even so, he allowed her to walk behind him until she disappeared completely from his sight.
If it was this sugar-rabbit-like woman, he felt he wouldn’t mind whatever she did from behind his back.
Even if she had hidden a hammer beneath that voluminous dress and smashed him over the head.
It wasn’t trust.
He simply didn’t care.
No matter what choice she made.
No matter what actions she took.
He didn’t think it would change how he felt.
In the end, he would never let her go.
Never.
A face floated through his mind—the face of Selen, who had brushed past him moments ago.
He had always thought she was small, but standing beside him, her height had been nearly the same as his while he sat in that chair.
Seeing her face at eye level felt different.
She looked even younger than when he looked down at her from above.
Fresh. Youthful.
Like a flower bud.
The thought made him smile.
She’s right behind me, yet I’m acting like this just because I can’t see her face.
Still, he didn’t turn around.
If she intended to do something to him, she would need time to prepare.
He was willing to wait.
Meanwhile, Robin felt as though the sky had collapsed.
He had considered the possibility that she would be angry at him for appearing after all this time.
As expected, she looked at him and immediately turned away.
So he dropped to his knees.
Even if she slapped him across the face in rage, he wouldn’t have had the right to complain.
Before entering this enormous castle, he’d heard she had married into great wealth.
He’d assumed it was some rich merchant family.
But this was different.
That man appeared to be a noble.
From Selen’s perspective, it seemed like a highly satisfactory marriage.
Having grown up as a commoner, Selen had always carried a hidden inferiority complex.
If she had become a noble lady, she might not welcome seeing him again.
His mind understood that.
His heart, however, apparently had not accepted it.
He hadn’t expected her to run into his arms now that she was married.
But he’d thought they could at least exchange a few words.
If she became angry and asked when he’d ever promised her a future together, he intended to brush it off as the foolish words of a man who had loved her alone.
As long as she was happy, he had planned to carry their memories by himself.
But this…
This reaction was too much.
She looked at him as though he were a complete stranger.
And seeing her hide behind that frightening man made him wonder if she had ever truly loved him at all.
Despair gave way to anger.
“Selen!”
Robin’s shout startled her.
Selen instinctively moved even closer to Baras.
Clinging to the back of his chair and hiding behind it, she couldn’t understand what was happening.
Who is that guy?
Does he know Selen?
I don’t remember anyone like him in the original novel. Did he appear later?
The uncertainty frustrated her.
Watching everything unfold, Baras spoke quietly.
“They say he was your lover back home. The one who promised you a future.”
Selen’s mouth fell open.
“He promised me… what?”
Despite how differently things had gone from what he expected, Baras was in a surprisingly good mood.
She had hidden behind him to avoid that man.
That was practically the same as choosing him.
And he had found no affection whatsoever in her eyes when she looked at Robin.
It seemed she had already cast him out of her heart.
Baras snapped his fingers.
At once, Jart appeared from nowhere and dragged Robin away.
The sounds of Robin shouting and struggling reached Selen’s ears, but her mind was too overwhelmed to process them.
She wasn’t even looking at him anymore.
She was too busy worrying about her own future.
The developments were completely unexpected.
Baras Bellias… arranged a reunion between the wife he bought and her former lover?
If Selen truly had a past, Baras was the type of man who would bury it forever, not allow a scene like this.
Something was wrong.
There had to be a reason.
A hidden motive.
Honestly, he could have dragged any random man in here and claimed he had known Selen in the past.
She wouldn’t know.
Even if he brought in her so-called father, she wouldn’t recognize him.
Did he notice something strange about me?
Did he investigate Selen’s past?
Did he realize my personality and way of speaking were different?
Was there food at dinner that Selen normally hated but I ate anyway?
When I went outside the keep, was there someone I should have recognized but didn’t?
What exactly gave me away?
Her legs lost all strength.
She collapsed onto the floor.
The sound was as soft as dry grass settling.
Only then did Baras turn around.
His expression remained as calm as ever.
Staring blankly into his eyes, Selen couldn’t even guess when he had first begun suspecting her.
So that’s why he said he’d seal off the inner keep.
To investigate me.
A strange despair and sense of loss washed over her.
While she had been growing fond of him, he had been doubting her.
Suspecting her.
The moment Baras saw her vacant expression, alarm bells went off in his head.
Something was wrong.
He stepped down from his seat and crouched in front of her.
As their eyes met, tears began gathering in hers.
Slowly.
Painfully slowly.
They filled her eyes until they overflowed and fell.
He watched every moment of it with terrible clarity.
Baras clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
He had no idea what to do.
His mind turned completely blank.
He couldn’t think.
Couldn’t act.
Her voice trembled with tears.
“What is all this?”
He couldn’t tell whether her tone held sorrow or resentment.
Only after seeing her cry did he begin to wonder if he had made a mistake.
“Were you… trying to send me to that man?”
Her next words made his heart plummet.
“I never thought such a thing.”
“Liar.”
Yes.
It was a lie.
He had intended to let her meet the man…
And then kill him right in front of her.
But he didn’t say that.
“He only asked to see your face once.”
Seeing her frown, Baras immediately realized he had made yet another mistake.
But he couldn’t take back the words.
“So whenever someone asks to see my face, you’ll show it to them? Wouldn’t it be easier to paint a giant portrait and hang it on the castle gates?”
Though she spoke calmly, she was obviously angry.
Baras’s voice dropped lower.
“He said he was your lover.”
“You believed that? You didn’t even ask me first? You just took his word for it and arranged for me to meet him right outside my room? A man whose identity you didn’t even know?”
Disappointment had begun to seep into her voice.
Baras couldn’t understand why he felt cornered, but he ended up confessing something he had never intended to reveal.
“I used a drug.”
“What?”
“There are substances like that. If someone drinks it, they cannot lie. I investigated him as well. Considering everything together, his story seemed credible.”
So this was his defense.
That he hadn’t believed Robin blindly.
The moment he realized she felt nothing for that man, something hard and solid inside him melted away.
And into the space left behind came anxiety.
He wasn’t even sure what he was anxious about.
Only that he was.
He felt he should say something.
But he didn’t know what the right answer was.
Nothing had gone according to plan.
His excuses sounded pathetic.
She mocked him almost immediately.
And now she even knew he’d drugged her former lover.
…
He should have started locking her up on their wedding night.
He should have done that from the very beginning.
* * *
In the end, Selen kept her mouth shut.
Of course a place like this would have everything.
A truth serum. A love potion. Whatever.
Those things didn’t really bother her.
This was a fantasy novel.
What kind of thing wouldn’t exist here?
Considering that the original story was a dark, miserable one, even more outrageous drugs wouldn’t surprise her.
After learning that the man from earlier had truly been the real Selen’s former lover, one thought quickly dominated her mind.
Baras was so uninterested in her…
that he didn’t even care if she reunited with a man from her past.
