Chapter 22
Grace kept staring at the carriage door that had slammed shut with a loud bang.
If she kept looking like this, maybe—just maybe—he would open the door again, return to her side, and come to the frightened her.
But contrary to that hope, as Arthur’s footsteps faded farther away, Grace let out a hollow, deflated laugh.
As if that were the only thing she could do, she sat laughing weakly in the empty carriage before finally covering her face with both hands, tense and restless.
“…How stupid.”
Grace muttered to herself.
Those words were directed both at the man who had poured out his heart and left—and at herself now.
Mocking both him and herself, Grace finally realized the true nature of the feelings she had never clearly identified until now.
At some point, she too had come to hold him in her heart.
Perhaps it was inevitable.
Just as she had been the first person to reach out to him with kindness, he had also been the first person to ever show her kindness.
But once she realized that they shared the same feelings, Grace’s thoughts only became more tangled.
She desperately wanted to jump out of the carriage right now and run after him, yet fear kept gripping her ankles—the fear of listening to his words and fleeing from the lingering afterimage of that horrific curse.
She had come to like the man who had treated her gently for the first time in her life.
But just as much, she was terrified of the curse she would have to endure if she stayed by his side.
She did not want to lose this second life she had barely reclaimed after being abandoned even by her family and enduring countless hardships.
I don’t even know myself anymore… I don’t know what to do, or what I’m supposed to do.
In the carriage now swallowed by darkness, Grace curled up alone, repeatedly wiping away the tears that kept spilling out in frustration.
* * *
The next day, word reached the Felix estate that the Duke and Duchess of Felix had finished the wedding celebration banquet and were on their way back to Felix Castle.
Hearing that both of them were safe, the estate burst into commotion.
Had their master finally escaped the dreadful curse that had been placed upon him?
Unlike the previous duchesses, the new Duchess had shown affection toward the Duke. Surely this time, they would be able to witness the couple living happily together.
That was the hope they carried.
However, the 모습 of Arthur and Grace when they arrived at the Felix estate was vastly different from what everyone had expected.
As soon as Arthur arrived at the castle, he dismounted his horse and immediately led his knights to the tower where his office was located.
Grace, meanwhile, stepped down from the carriage alone with the help of the head butler—without her husband, the Duke, escorting her.
“Sister-in-law!”
Leon called out brightly and ran straight into Grace’s arms.
Grace forced a smile at his adorable, affectionate behavior and greeted him.
“Have you been well, Leon?”
“Yes! Sir Oliver said I had to behave until you and Brother came back, so I did!”
“Really? Such a good boy, Leon.”
“…Sister-in-law?”
Leon tilted his head as he looked up at her.
Normally, she always greeted him with a bright, cheerful smile, but today she seemed strangely drained.
Was she unhappy to see him?
As Leon pouted slightly, Sally, who had approached at some point, spoke to him.
“…Young Master Leon, I think Her Grace is tired from riding in the carriage for so long.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Her Grace needs to rest now. So today, why don’t you go for a walk with Sir Oliver instead? All right?”
“…Okay. I understand.”
“…I’m sorry, Leon.”
At Sally’s explanation, Leon nodded gloomily and stepped back.
After gently patting Leon’s head and apologizing, Grace walked toward the main building where her bedroom was, supported by Sally.
As they passed through the garden, climbed the stairs, and walked down the long corridor, Sally silently watched Grace’s stiff expression.
They arrived at the bedroom door without exchanging a single word.
Letting out a short sigh, Grace turned to Sally and spoke.
“…If it’s all right, please don’t let anyone come here until I say I’m okay. Sally, you too—don’t call for me unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“…Your Grace.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Speaking weakly as she both asked and apologized, Grace stepped into the bedroom and shut the door.
Sally stared at the closed door for a moment before letting out a frustrated sigh.
She had accompanied them to the party, but since she hadn’t been allowed inside the venue, she didn’t know exactly what had happened there.
All she knew was that Grace had collapsed after seeing “something” like the previous duchesses, and that the couple had argued because of it.
There was no doubt that this incident was related to the rift between them now.
Sally sighed again, feeling suffocated.
…So the curse really can’t be avoided.
This was the first woman the Duke had opened his heart to—and who had opened her heart to him.
Just what terrible sin had her master committed for such a persistent and cruel curse to cling to him?
Cursing the gods in her heart, Sally let out yet another sigh.
It was unbearably frustrating.
* * *
Grace finally emerged from her room a full day and a half later.
During that time, she had refused even Leon’s visits under the excuse of being ill, sinking into long and agonizing contemplation.
And after reaching her own conclusion, Grace slipped out alone at this hour when the night had deepened and everyone was asleep.
She wore the same modest dress she had worn when she first arrived at the estate after the wedding, with only a thick coat thrown over it.
Quietly passing through the silent corridors, she constantly checked her surroundings, afraid of being seen.
She went down the stairs, reached the garden, pulled up the hood attached to her coat, and walked along the snow-covered path.
After walking for some time—
Grace arrived at a side door that led from the estate to the deep, vast forest.
Because it was old and dangerous and practically unused, even the guards didn’t watch over it. The surroundings were so quiet that even her breathing felt intrusive.
Grace stood in front of the old, shabby door for a long while, lost in thought.
Then, cautiously, she reached for the doorknob.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
At that moment, someone roughly grabbed her hand.
Startled by the strong grip, Grace turned—and the person she saw was, unsurprisingly, Arthur.
She looked quietly up at him as he glared at her, tightly gripping her wrist until it hurt.
Arthur shouted at her as if pressing her.
“At this hour, where on earth do you think you’re going?!”
“……”
“Answer me!”
But despite Arthur’s sharp demands, Grace merely looked up at him with an indifferent gaze.
Then, in a voice as calm and detached as her eyes, she spoke.
“Who knows? Do people who are secretly running away in the middle of the night usually decide on a destination before they flee?”
Arthur’s expression went blank, then twisted into disbelief and shock.
The impact was so great that his hand trembled as he held her wrist, and he asked again.
“…What did you just say? You’re running away?”
“Yes. That’s what I said.”
“…Does that mean you’re leaving me? Like this? This way?”
At Grace’s calm reply, Arthur’s voice rose.
Grace forced herself to meet Arthur’s wounded, desperate gaze with feigned indifference.
Her chest tightened painfully at the sight of him hurt again—but she could not retreat.
There was something she had to hear from him.
Biting her lower lip briefly as if to suppress the aching pain spreading through her chest, Grace spoke to him.
“Before I answer that, let me ask you one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Why are you stopping me, Your Grace?”
“…What?”
“You said we should live as if we never knew each other. You said we would never again face each other and have conversations. If that’s how we’re going to live… do we really need to stay in the same estate? Wouldn’t it be faster for me to just leave?”
“…!”
“Don’t you think so?”
Arthur’s blue-and-red heterochromatic eyes shook violently.
Seeing Grace treat him with such indifference, Arthur felt as if his heart were being pierced straight through by a sword.
He knew her words weren’t wrong. He also knew that, given his situation, he had no right to stop her.
But still.
Even so—
He couldn’t let her go.
Gripping her wrist even tighter, Arthur spoke in a desperate voice.
“…Still. Still, I can’t allow it.”
“Why?”
“…Please…”
“Then what—are we supposed to live like this forever? Avoiding each other’s eyes and words until we grow old and die? How is that possible? Can you do that, Your Grace? I can’t. I don’t want to.”
“I—! …If only you could live safely, happily, smiling within the distance where I can see you, then I could spend my entire life just watching you from afar.”
“Your Grace.”
“…Of course, there will be days when my heart aches terribly—remembering the times we took light walks together, and the moments we danced and talked at parties. But that’s fine. It’s a hundred, a thousand times better than losing you forever—than you dying or going mad and never being able to see you again!”
“…How could I possibly do that?”
Arthur’s voice, clinging desperately to Grace’s hand like it was his last thread of hope, was unbearably sorrowful.
As Grace turned her head away to avoid his gaze, Arthur struggled to meet her eyes and continued.
“…I’m fine. I—I can endure it all. Even if my heart burns and rots away. …If I say I’m fine, if I say I’ll endure it, why can’t that be enough?”
“Because I don’t think I could just stand by and watch that happen!”
Unable to hold back any longer, Grace shouted.
