Now Come and Regret

Ines was guided to the left wing of the Imperial Palace. She was unaware of it, but it was also a private room where the relatives of the royal family mostly stayed when visiting the palace.

Following the Grand Duke into her room, the maids greeted her, bowing their backs deeply.

“These are the ladies who will attend you while staying in the Imperial Palace. You can handle it however you like. If they behave poorly, they can be beaten.”

The Grand Duke’s tone returned to smooth again. The distance that seemed to have narrowed just a little bit seemed to open up again in an instant.

Ines felt sorry for the distance for a moment, but she suddenly realized it at the sound of his continued voice.

“First, take a bath. Then a meal….”

“Wait a minute, Your Grace.”

She didn’t even know that she had been rude to cut off his words in such a rush to open her mouth. Ines asked, stuttering.

“Are you telling me to stay here?”

“Yes. Do you have any problems?”

A seemingly natural answer came back. But it was not at all natural for Ines.

This was a room that did not suit her because it was as glamorous as the hallway she had passed through. The maids lined up seemed to be twenty.

Besides, if she doesn’t like them, she can beat them. Ines had been on the receiving end of the beating all her life, not the one who does the beating.

It’s not like she wants to be dragged and thrown into prison, but this is also burdensome.

Ines hastily shook her head.

“Your Grace. I think this is too much for me.”

“Too much?”

“If you could give me a less flashy one, just a plain room….”

“In my opinion, this is enough.”

The Grand Duke cut her off and refused her request.

“However….”

“Eleanor does not treat guests poorly.”

His demeanor was resolute, and she couldn’t add anything more. Ines glanced outside the door with anxious eyes.

Her watchman, Lucifer, who had been following her from Genaire, was entering the room.

“It’s a perfect room for the future Crown Prince’s wife. Thank you for the favor, Grand Duke.”

“… Then, rest comfortably.”

The Grand Duke ignored the knight’s cheeky words and bowed to Ines.

He would have turned around. If she hadn’t suddenly stretched out her hand.

“….”

Rayen looked down at her thin hand, which narrowly grabbed his shirt sleeve. Perhaps it was a move that she was not even aware of, Ines took her hand away in surprise.

‘I must be crazy….’

It seemed that the wish of not wanting to be in the same room with Lucifer had popped out.

It was no wonder, that knight was the one who treated Ines harshly all the way here. When she was with him, she couldn’t let go of her tension for even a moment.

But it is unavoidable for him to be her watchman.

Ines took her trembling hand and stepped back.

“Sorry. Without thinking, .. .”

“… well.”

The voice that followed after a brief silence was not so different from the moment before.

The Grand Duke turned away from her.

And he walked towards the door.

No, to be more precise, towards the knight who looked around the room as if giving a review at the door.

“Rezan seems to be saving money for the imperial palace. No tiles, no jewels….”

A shadow fell in front of the knight, who was chattering. Obviously, the Grand Duke who was in front of him was approaching his nose at some point.

He was startled and took a few steps back. Then the Grand Duke took just that much step and narrowed the distance.

“What, what’s wrong?”

“That’s what I want to ask.”

The man who let Lucifer completely to the door without lifting a hand leaned against the door.

“How far are you going to follow her?”

Lucifer was overwhelmed by the intimidation he shed and was unable to move. His hand trembled violently as the bright green eyes.

“I… I am the escort responsible for Miss Ines’ safety….”

“Responsible for safety.”

A bright smile spread across Rayen’s lips. He straightened his body and took a step out the door.

“Isn’t that the purpose of surveillance?”

From behind, Ines glanced over this side with anxious eyes. He closed the door.

“Well… . From my point of view, if she thinks nonsense, you were just about to cut off her neck.”

There was no way they could have sent a woman who was naive just by looking at it.

Perhaps the knight who brought Ines was ordered separately from the Emperor of Genaire.

Watch that woman by her side to make sure she doesn’t think nonsense or run away, and if she does her job wrong, kill her right away.

Seeing him trembling, it was obvious that he would insist on her being the Crown Princess even if she died as long as the watchman was attached.

While he was organizing his thoughts, Lucifer squeezed all the courage he had and protested.

“As a member of the delegation from Genaire, I am the face of Genaire. No matter how it is the Grand Duke, if you treat me like this….”

“Genaire’s face. It must have been really worthwhile seeing you doing that.”

But that low sarcasm again weighed on him. Lucifer instinctively realized that he was refuting someone he shouldn’t have dared to touch.

In front of him was the King of the Principality, the only thing Genaire feared.

Thousands of Genere’s knights have died at the hands of the Grand Duke over the past seven years.

Had it not been for Eleanor’s raids on the southern and eastern coasts of Rezan, they would have been far from winning a surrender from Rezan.

The principality’s master was called a demon on the battlefield. A demon who protects the West.

A man standing in a wilderness covered with thousands of bodies and thousands of beasts.

Even though he wore colorful clothes instead of armor and had indifferent eyes, he was still the swordsman who swept the battlefield.

“I don’t know why Geneaire sent you with her. It’s none of my business.”

The Grand Duke took one step closer to him.

It was a peaceful step.

But the voice that pierced through was far from peaceful.

“But right now, your mission is in the way. That alone would be reason enough.”

A knight approaching behind Lucifer without a trace slapped him in the neck with the scabbard. Lucifer’s figure helplessly collapsed.

“Put it away. Lock him up so he can’t even get around here.”

Rayen gave dry orders and passed by.

He doesn’t care what happens to him later, but that illegitimate child had to hold her breath, at least until she chose her husband.

He left the door without looking back.

* * *

It’s been days since she’s been in a strange room with strangers.

Meanwhile, Ines didn’t know how the day was going. She didn’t even step out of the room, and she never got bored.

No one in there hit her, no one swore at her, no one looked at her with contempt. The maids had a friendly smile whenever she turned around.

Different things filled the room from day to day.

Dozens of dresses that she had never even touched in her life came in, and jewels emitting a dazzling brilliance that she dared not even open her eyes to see casually piled up on the table.

In addition, a luxurious bath in which hot water and dozens of fragrance oils are alternately used. Even a cozy bed where the cold wind doesn’t blow.

That wasn’t the only thing that changed.

Ines stared at the woman in the mirror with unfamiliar eyes.

Yesterday a maid cut her hair with scissors. The messy ends, splits and unsightly hairs were cut off.

Her hair, reaching up to her chest, was braided so delicately that she couldn’t even dare to pull it out and let it hang to one side.

Both cheeks, which were pure white with no blood, gradually began to come alive.

It was only natural that the clothes she wore had changed.

‘I don’t think it’s me.’

In just a few days, the dirty, shabby illegitimate child had disappeared without a trace.

“Didn’t I tell you? If you take good care of it for a few days, you will become more beautiful in no time.”

The maid with brown curly hair smiled brightly and wrapped the shawl around her shoulder. Her name was Berry.

“You really look good in green. His Grace has eyes to see.”

“His Grace is….”

“Oh, I’m sorry. It was meant to be the Grand Duke. We are the maids who work in the mansion of the Grand Duke in the capital of the Principality.”

Nearly a week passed, and Ines realized that the room she was staying in was called Eleanor’s Room.

All the gentle maids were from the Principality. All the gifts that filled the room were sent in the name of the Grand Duke.

Even the main topics of conversation were all about the principality.

This place, warm and cozy enough to bring tears to her eyes, was like a small Eleanor.

Except for the fact that the master of the place was absent.

After meeting her on the first day, the Grand Duke did not seek her. He actually had no reason to look for her.

‘I will never see him again.’

Ines lowered her eyes a little sullenly.

It was clear that the Grand Duke’s job ended with guiding him here.

She doesn’t know why he’s sending the gift, but….

In fact, she doesn’t have to receive these things, so she hoped to meet them one more time.

‘He also took care of Lucifer.’

Thinking sadly, her expression hardened at the question that suddenly came to mind.

‘But what are you going to do when you see him again?’

Ines looked down at her clasped fingertips endlessly. She quietly answers the question posed to herself.

‘I want to share a story. What kind of place is the real Principality of Eleanor?”

Is it a place open to illegitimate children who harbor darkness like her?

What kind of person….he was.

Ines pressed her left chest with a trembling hand to appease her excited heart.

At the entrance of her heart, Kian whispered.

[You can’t trust anything, Ines.]