TGDWDS 09

Chapter 9

“This is my proposal.”

A radiant smile unlike anything Anais had ever seen appeared and disappeared across his face, illuminated by the moonlight.

Even in the darkness, his expression had been unmistakably clear, and somehow, it seemed to reveal his true feelings.

Anais quietly looked at him before eventually nodding.

At least for this moment, she was reassured by the fact that he was genuinely happy.

“I want to have the wedding as soon as possible.”

“That is exactly what I was hoping for.”

The ring the Grand Duke slipped onto her finger fit Anais perfectly, almost as if it had been made for her.

While Anais stared blankly at the engagement ring, the Grand Duke continued holding her hand, refusing to let go.

When Anais looked up at their joined hands, the Grand Duke’s eyes curved gently.

Anais blinked at his tender smile, then suddenly felt embarrassed and turned her head away before speaking.

“As for the detailed clauses of the contract…”

“We can draw them up together before the wedding.”

At last, they had finished discussing everything, and Anais thought it was time to return before it got any later.

Then the Grand Duke asked,

“What is that?”

“…Ah.”

His gaze had fallen on the box of poison Anais had been clutching in one hand all this time.

She had taken it with her after receiving it from Lady Jade, intending to ask her father about it.

Having completely forgotten about it, Anais hurriedly answered,

“It’s nothing.”

“You’ve been holding onto it tightly this entire time. Is it precious to you? Precious enough to take all the way to the Grand Duchy?”

“No.”

The Grand Duke raised an eyebrow, looking curious, and asked again.

“Then do you need it?”

“…No.”

Watching Anais shake her head repeatedly, the Grand Duke tilted his head.

“Then let’s leave it here.”

He held out his hand as though asking her to give him the box.

“If it’s really nothing, there’s no reason to carry it around. Throw it away.”

His casual words struck Anais’s ears.

She silently looked down at the box in her hand.

“……”

He was right.

The box contained nothing but poison that had been forced upon her. It was of no use to her.

Once she reached that conclusion, there was no reason to delay.

Anais immediately acted.

She threw the box beneath the bench.

“You made the right choice.”

As one of Anais’s hands became lighter, the Grand Duke gently tightened his hold on her other hand—the one he had been holding ever since he put the ring on her finger.

Feeling his support through their joined hands, Anais smiled at him.

The Grand Duke shrugged and said,

“Shall we go inside now?”

Anais nodded and rose from her seat with a lighter heart.

Leaving behind the box that had once bound her, she walked away hand in hand with him.

Since it was a place the servants rarely visited, it would probably take several days before anyone discovered the box.

By then, Anais would no longer be here.

That calculation had been behind her actions.

But it was the Grand Duke who had helped her take that step.

As Anais returned to her room, grateful to him, she found herself once again thinking about the thought that had refused to leave her mind ever since their first meeting.

Could this man… really be the one who is supposed to kill me?

Early the next morning,

the Grand Duke informed the viscount, Nectar, that he would be taking Anais to a townhouse owned by the Grand Duchy.

The viscount had already signed an agreement stating that he would not interfere in the marriage and had pocketed the money he received for it, so he had no choice but to agree.

Before boarding the Grand Duke’s black carriage, which stood in the modest garden of the viscount’s residence—a garden without even a single flowerbed—

Anais stood in front of the old, small mansion with a single small piece of luggage in her hand.

She wanted to say goodbye to everyone one last time.

Yet despite Anais being the viscount’s daughter and a member of the direct line who was leaving the estate forever, the only people who had come out to see her off were Nectar and Lady Jade.

Even then, it was obvious they had come out not to say goodbye to Anais, but to show proper courtesy to the Grand Duke.

“Your Grace, thank you for staying at the viscount’s residence. Please visit us again anytime.”

Nectar looked greedily back and forth between the Grand Duke and Anais, the corners of his mouth lifting.

Instead of offering his daughter, who was about to marry, words of concern or advice, he pushed several servants toward her.

“These are your maids. Take them with you.”

Several maids stood in front of Anais carrying large bags packed with far more belongings than Anais herself had brought.

“I trust the Grand Duchy will accept at least a few of Anais’s personal attendants. Ahem.”

Nectar pretended not to notice the Grand Duke’s sharply furrowed brow and waved his hand toward Anais.

“Go on. His Grace must be waiting.”

But Anais didn’t move an inch.

When she stubbornly remained where she was, Nectar put on a pleasant expression and fabricated some words.

“I’ll contact you often, so don’t feel lonely. I’ll visit frequently as well. His Grace should understand that much.”

Anais listened silently before calmly speaking.

“I’m glad you’re thinking of me so much.”

Contrary to her words, there wasn’t even a trace of a smile on her face.

Her silver hair shone white in the morning sunlight, while her violet eyes gleamed calmly against her almost unnaturally pale face.

With a cold expression, Anais looked directly at Nectar, who was clearly displeased by her refusal to obediently follow his orders.

Firm words flowed smoothly from her lips.

“But I am no longer an Orelsian. I am a Lisandro now. Just as you said, Father, I will adapt well to life in the Grand Duchy and make sure I don’t cause His Grace any trouble.”

Anais glanced at the maids standing before her before looking back at Nectar.

“I won’t take the maids. There will naturally be attendants for me at the Grand Duke’s household as well.”

“……”

“And please refrain from contacting me or visiting me. If you really wish to do so, I ask that you obtain His Grace’s permission first.”

The face of Nectar, who had thought of Anais as his property and merchandise and had trained her to obey him as such, flushed with anger when she firmly rejected his words.

Looking at him, Anais gave him the gentle smile he had always emphasized as the proper way to show respect.

Then she said,

“I believe you know better than anyone that the place where I belong is no longer with the Orelsians.”

At last, Anais bowed her head to her father.

It was an action she considered a final farewell.

The minimum courtesy she could offer the person who had, at least, fed and raised her all these years.

“I sincerely hope everything goes according to your wishes.”

Anais wished him good fortune because she didn’t want to become someone like the man who had driven both her and her mother toward death.

She hoped never to see him again.

Anais withdrew her gaze from Nectar and walked over to where the Grand Duke was standing.

As though he had been waiting for her, he held out his hand.

Anais turned her back on the viscount’s residence without hesitation.

She never looked back as she walked straight toward the Grand Duke’s carriage.

Soon, the future Grand Duke and his bride departed, leaving the viscount behind, completely unaware of what the future held.

He stood there fuming.

“I told her to give her the poison and make sure she understood her place! So why is she acting like that? How dare she talk back to me? What kind of upbringing is that? How could you send her off like that?!”

The anger that should have been directed at Anais was instead unleashed on the person standing beside him—his mistress, Lady Jade.

But she couldn’t say a word.

Rex had already emerged from the mansion and was staring at her with contempt.

“You gave Anais something? Surely you mean the poison you gave to the viscount’s wife?”

“R-Rex, that’s not what I—your father…”

“You seem to be mistaken. The only person here who is no longer an Orelsian is you. Who exactly is telling whom to die?”

Rex’s cold words made Jade’s face turn pale.

Rex never called Jade his mother, while Jade was always weak when it came to her son.

As they always did, Nectar ignored their exchange and entered the mansion with a frown.

“How dare that little thing ignore me?”

He cared about nothing but his own anger.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Another great commotion broke out at the viscount’s residence.

“It was definitely there until yesterday, but when I checked this morning, it was gone.”

“How is that possible? I told you to guard it carefully because it was a royal family heirloom!”

“I-I’m sorry, sir.”

Nectar was furious and could no longer contain his anger.

A pendant that had belonged to the viscount’s wife—a keepsake he had treasured because it looked impressive to others—had disappeared.

He interrogated the servants mercilessly and searched every corner of the mansion, but ultimately, he couldn’t find the pendant.

Inside the quiet carriage, even the seats were a dark color resembling the Grand Duke’s black hair, matching the carriage’s pitch-black exterior.

Anais sat quietly and took out the pendant necklace she had been wearing beneath her dress.

When she opened it, a portrait of her mother was inside.

Her beloved mother, with beautiful silver hair and gentle, clear violet eyes.

The woman who had once been a princess was smiling softly.

Anais closed the pendant and held it tightly in her hand as she made a vow.

I will survive. No matter what.