Episode 13
Crunch, rustling. The sound of heavy steps on the floor followed.
“Oh, my lord.”
Ashlyn saw a large shadow approaching her with astonished eyes. It was the man who’d kept on a cold look all that time. He still looked unhappy, but a bit softer than before.
In an instant, the duke, having come before Ashlyn, grasped her hand.
He looked down at Ashlyn’s left hand, with his brows knitted.
As he gently unfurled her small, clenched fingers, they revealed a palm marred by a long, horizontal scratch.
The duke kicked his tongue.
“Stay still.”
His sturdy neck moved in a single motion. The corner of his eyes were furrowed. Ashlyn stiffened, unable to respond.
“What are you doing…”
“Shh. Stay still.”
“I’ll only treat the wound on your hand.”
A soothing soft touch followed.
The wound on her hand was made when she put the sword back into its sheath. It wasn’t a deep one, but it was wide.
She hadn’t made it known to anyone, so she didn’t think it’d be noticed.
How the hell did he know?
“It’s because you’re not used to swords. The black one must be too heavy for you to carry.”
The duke let out a long sigh.
“…Of course, I know you didn’t meant to cut yourself.”
Then he took out a box of salve from somewhere and started spreading it on her hand.
‘I was on my way to the treatment room…’
But somehow she couldn’t bring herself to tell him that. The man in front of her seemed to be engrossed in her wound.
“You saved his life.”
Ashlyn spoke impulsively.
Only then did the duke raise his head. Their eyes met.
“……I thought the lord would kill him.”
Ashlyn added in a low voice.
His eyes shook like he had a lot to say. But instead of pouring out all his thoughts at once, he grinned.
“How did you know?”
“It’s… it’s just a guess.”
“You got it right. That’s correct.”
He raised the corners of his mouth gently. His expression, which resembled the northern cold wind, softened a little. It’d been a while since she last saw that gentle smile of his.
“In fact, I wanted to kill him long ago.”
The duke whispered while bandaging her up.
“Should I carve out the eyes that look at you? Pull out that insolent tongue, or cut off the limbs that recklessly touch you without knowing anything?”
“…….”
“I was thinking about it.” said the Devilish duke, living up to his reputation. Ashlyn couldn’t hide her strange expression.
“That was close, then.”
“This is a bigger deal to me.”
The duke pointed to Ashlyn’s wound with his chin.
When their eyes met, her sharp eyebrows furrowed instantly. His nonchalance was so disarming that a lethargic sigh escaped her involuntarily. The Duke’s movements as he was wrapping the bandage slowed down.
“It’s nice to talk to you.”
He murmured softly.
Suddenly, she felt a heat in her hands. The numbness she’d felt to his touch just now evaporated, replaced by the clear feeling of thick fingers, slightly rough skin and the hard calluses on his hands.
The heat reached her head. She remembered how he’d comforted her with his body temperature all night the other day.
“How’s the wound on your leg?”
“What?”
“The wound on your leg.”
Ashlyn, who was immersed in other thoughts, replied belatedly.
“It’s all right.”
“What about your fever?”
“I don’t have one.”
“You look pale… do you have any pain anywhere other than your head?”
He looked nervous. Like someone who wouldn’t get another chance to speak to her again.
“Still….”
He spoke slowly, as if he were talking to himself.
“Do you still hate me?”
Ashlyn felt like she’d become an oasis in a dessert, because the man looked at her like a parched wanderer.
Ashlyn stared at him and spoke.
“My body is alright… and it’s not that I hate you, lord.”
The duke trembled at the words. All kinds of emotions were swirling in his eyes.
“As I said at the time, I wanted to keep a distance until I regained my memories.”
“…….”
“I thought it would be better for us both.”
“Us both.”
A bleak northern wind swept between the two.
“If you meant to torture me, you succeeded.”
He laughed bitterly, his eyebrows wrinkled. The sunken-eyes revealed a jagged, scarred beast.
Ashlyn stared at the wound quietly.
“…….”
The more they met, the more she was convinced of it.
His feelings for this maid were sincere. It was a fact that was hard to ignore or turn away from.
Ashlyn thought it over.
‘Do I want to hurt the Duke?’
Well.
At first, she’d vowed to keep away from him because of her bewilderment and fear of being caught, but she’d never thought of wanting to feel superior by manipulating him and robbing him of what he thought he had in his hand.
Even though she’d died from the poison he’d served her.
Would the duke have expected it, too?
To think that the princess he’d pushed to death would be inside the body of his lover?
“What are you thinking about?”
The man in front of her asked. He looked as if he was trying to understand what Ashlyn’s expression meant. Ashlyn shook her head.
Then the Duke pulled out something from his clothes and handed it to her.
“Take it.”
Ashlyn, who subconsciously received the item, widened her eyes.
“This is…”
“It was something I planned to give to you as a gift, but I could never get the timing right.”
She could tell just by the texture of the wrapping paper. It was none other than the tea leaves of the platinum plant, which had been the center of attention just a moment ago.
“Don’t you like tea?”
“I can’t accept anything so precious.”
Ashlyn shook her head and held out the gift. Naturally, the duke did not budge.
“If you don’t keep it, I’ll throw it away.”
“You’ll throw it away…?”
He was kidding, right?
Ashlyn looked at him in disbelief, but the duke’s expression didn’t seem like he was joking.
Ashlyn was well aware of the value of the Southern Diamond.
At this weight and amount…
The staggering amount of money almost made her dizzy.
“If you don’t keep it, it’s nothing but worthless trash.”
Looking at Ashlyn, who couldn’t do this or that, the duke murmured with a smile. Ashlyn shook his head once more.
“The servants saw this earlier in the hall.”
“I know.”
“But if I keep this, they’ll think I really stole it this time.”
The duke said nothing for a moment.
After staring at Ashlyn for a moment, he spoke.
“This time?”
Their eyes met. His face looked as friendly as ever, but there was a subtle tension that she caught.
The realization came very suddenly.
“…My lord.”
Ashlyn wrinkled her brows.
She paused for a moment and took a deep breath.
“…You knew. That I took advantage of the Southern Diamond.”
The Duke only smiled, with no answer.
“Ashie, do you know how to store platinum tea leaves?”
It was a strange question.
“What do you mean, all of a sudden…”
“It’s basic knowledge to keep them in a cold place, away from sunlight.”
“Of course….”
It was something she knew. But Ashlyn ceased speaking at once.
Ha, a short breath escaped her lips.
“…You left it in your bedroom on purpose.”
The duke’s bedroom was always warm and basking in the sun. It was far from the ideal atmosphere to store the leaves in.
But he proudly displayed the southern diamond in the center of his bedroom.
From the time Ashlyn started being in charge of his bedroom.
“Yes. So that you can take it whenever you need it.”
The duke replied cheerfully and smirked.
“Although I hadn’t expected you to use it this way.”
She briefly recalled the situation in the lobby. A brief yet intense torrent of emotion flashed inside her momentarily.
“Why on earth……?”
It was incomprehensible. The duke seemed rather curious about seeing Ashlyn’s reaction.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t be interested in anything that involves you?”
“That’s…”
“I wanted to meddle, but I held it in.”
– Although I don’t know if I would’ve been able to keep it in longer, he muttered under his breath. Although his tone sounded more like the growl of a beast as he kept his gaze on Ashlyn’s feet.
“It was easy for me to step in, but that wouldn’t have been what you wanted.”
“…”
“Tell me if I’m wrong.”
He wasn’t wrong.
If the Duke had come forward and dealt with Jason himself, she wouldn’t have appreciated it at all. She wanted to take care of Jason herself, and she was fully capable of doing so.
‘Above all, I didn’t want help from Duke Laperion.’
The duke knew her mind strangely well.
But in the end.
‘I received his help.’
In fact, there were many other ways to deal with Jason, but this was the fastest and easiest way, so she chose it.
She almost wanted to laugh. Her situation was absurd.
‘I didn’t want to be helped by him… what a joke.’
When you think about it, one of the reasons why she could gather funds to attempt to leave the continent was because she was working at the Laperions’ Estate.
More than that, she was the one person who was relying on the Duke more than anyone here…
She was overwhelmed with a strong sense of hopelessness and futility.
“I went overboard.”
Ashlyn said coldly. The Duke raised his eyebrows.
“Overboard?”
“If you hold me responsible for touching your things at will, my lord, I will gladly serve any punishment.”
“What are you thinking about to reach that absurd conclusion?”
A reproachful voice sprang.
Bro why are you so respectful, what if I fall for you?
He been known she da Princess. I can put money dat he made her drink the poison so she transfers bodies or sum and he can have her. Cuz how does he know her so well?? Like boi we can see through ya get ya sht togetha
I think the same. I yhink yhe magician in her memories changed her appearance, and that the “poison” caused her to forget. Then the Duke used that other house keeper (the letters from the prologue) to get her hired in a less suspicious way then if he intervened himself.
When she had the fever, the effects of whatever she was originally given partly wore off and her original memories returned.