After Luke left, I couldn’t be sure exactly how much time had passed.
It seemed about a day had gone by since I had received meals about three times.
I thought I might be locked up here for much longer, but contrary to my expectations, the Duke came to see me first.
“Claudia, listen to me carefully.”
The Duke, though weak, forcibly made me stand when I couldn’t even muster a proper response.
Then, in a stern voice, he commanded me.
“The prince is here. I’ll let you out for now, but tell him you don’t intend to marry him and that he should leave. Don’t say anything unnecessary beyond that.”
I had wondered why the prince had arrived so soon, but it seemed Nathan had come here.
I sneered at the Duke.
He must have feared that his behavior would be exposed to the public, to the point of forcing me to lie.
It seemed he at least knew how shameful it was to have locked up his daughter like a beast.
“Why should I do that?”
I had no intention of lying in front of Nathan as the Duke demanded.
I only needed to subtly reveal that I’d been imprisoned. If I did, Nathan would help me, as per our arrangement.
“I’ll tell His Highness the truth the moment I see him. I’ll tell him what you’ve done to me and what you think of him.”
“……”
“You don’t need to worry, do you? If you’re confident in your actions.”
I provoked the Duke as much as I could.
No matter what I did, he had no choice but to let me meet Nathan.
‘Nathan won’t leave me behind. I’m the only one who holds the key to breaking the curse.’
At my bold retort, the Duke’s face twisted with anger.
The late rebellion of a daughter who had obediently accepted the marriage contract must have discomforted him.
“Ha… Everything I do is for you.”
Muttering the usual self-righteous excuses fathers tend to use, he rummaged through his pocket.
Then, he pulled out a ribbon and tossed it in front of me.
A black ribbon embroidered with flowers… I knew at once who it belonged to.
“Marie!”
It was the ribbon Marie always used to tie her hair.
“If only you’d behaved, I wouldn’t have had to resort to this.”
“What… what have you done to Marie?”
“I’ve locked her away somewhere no one knows.”
I bit my lip so hard that blood pooled, and I shouted.
“Do you really think this will go unpunished? If it gets out that you took my maid as a hostage to stop our marriage, His Highness… No, even His Majesty will certainly condemn you!”
Of course, Marie had only been my maid for about a month.
And since I wasn’t the real Claudia, I didn’t exactly feel any deep affection for her.
But I was furious.
Because I could imagine those sparkling green eyes of hers filled with tears.
“You’ll regret this.”
“You’re mistaken. I simply punished her for failing to watch over you properly.”
“……”
“And remember, she’s just a commoner. Neither His Majesty nor His Highness will blame me for imprisoning a commoner maid.”
He didn’t forget to let out a final mocking laugh.
“Well, if you don’t believe me, feel free to tattle.”
“……”
Tattle? It was a blatant taunt.
I ground my teeth.
‘…I can’t argue with that. He’s not wrong.’
Nathan wasn’t the type to clash with one of the Empire’s pillars over a mere maid.
We weren’t even close enough for me to make such a personal request.
After all, wasn’t it I who first drew the line, saying this was just a contractual relationship?
Would I now, like a child, run to him and ask him to scold my father?
That would be shameless and humiliating.
…Still, maybe if I asked to take Marie with me when I left after the wedding, he’d help me with that much?
“I’ll marry him and leave, but I’m taking Marie with me. If that’s not possible, I’ll include her in my dowry. That way, you won’t be able to do anything.”
It was impossible to publicly disgrace the Duke.
But I thought rescuing Marie was at least a feasible goal.
The Duke merely sneered in response.
“Dowry? Do you really believe you can take her? You won’t even be allowed to take a speck of dust from here.”
“We’ll see about that…”
“Even if the prince intervenes, it won’t change anything. He doesn’t have the power to help you!”
Though the Duke always claimed to be loyal to the imperial family, there were times when he unconsciously revealed his exception for the cursed prince.
Just like now.
He openly disregarded the prince and seemed unaware of it.
“You have only two choices: leave without caring what happens to your maid, or obey your father’s wishes.”
He must have thought that I couldn’t possibly leave Marie behind.
Even though he knew how much I resented him, he dragged me out of solitary confinement to meet the prince.
—
Afterward, I was forcibly dressed up.
The maids roughly scrubbed me clean and put me in a new dress.
To hide the fact that I’d been locked up.
“……”
I remained expressionless as they groomed me, and finally, I stood in front of the parlor where Nathan would be waiting.
The Duke, who had arrived earlier, straightened my crooked hair ribbon.
Despite pushing me to this point, his touch was surprisingly gentle.
“Smile in front of the prince. Act as if nothing happened.”
I ignored him, finding no value in responding. Instead, I asked something else.
“I’m curious. Why are you going this far?”
“What?”
“I heard that you used to be a knight with a strong and righteous heart.”
“……”
His hand, which had been fixing my ribbon, momentarily stopped.
I looked him straight in the eye.
“But now, you’re using a powerless maid as a hostage to threaten your own daughter? No matter how much time has passed, why have you changed so much? What are you doing all this for?”
After a moment of hesitation, he repeated the same excuse like a parrot.
“It’s all for your sake. You wouldn’t understand the heart of a father with a daughter.”
“……”
He dared to invoke fatherly love, all while consumed by his own greed.
Again, I felt it wasn’t worth replying.
I walked past him and into the parlor.
“I greet Your Highness.”
I entered first and greeted Nathan, and the Duke followed, bowing his head.
‘He’s not leaving?’
It seemed he planned to stay and monitor our conversation.
He must have been worried I’d say something unnecessary.
‘I won’t be able to explain my situation properly to Nathan like this.’
Just as I was feeling frustrated, Nathan spoke up with a welcome statement.
“I would like to speak with my fiancée alone.”
Since it was the prince’s command, I expected the Duke to bow and leave.
But no.
The Duke instead turned to Nathan and asked, “As her father, I wished to stay with my daughter. Am I in the way?”
Nathan answered with silence.
More precisely, he responded with cold indifference.
I regretted standing in front, unable to see the Duke’s expression.
“…Understood. This old man will step back, so please feel free to talk.”
Though the Duke disregarded Nathan behind his back, he didn’t dare act that way in front of him.
Thanks to this, I had the chance to talk to Nathan alone.
Hiding my now rough hands behind my back, I spoke to him.
“I didn’t think you’d come.”
“Well… it’s been a while since I’ve heard from you.”
His tone was dry, not quite fitting for a man seeing his fiancée after a long time.
‘So cold. Not even a warm word.’
It was so like him not to offer any words of concern, even as a joke.
When I gave a faint smile, he awkwardly cleared his throat.
“It’s time to return to the palace. We’re not really husband and wife, but since we’re pretending, we should at least make it look convincing. Well… wife.”
He still didn’t know anything.
He must have thought I’d managed to secure the Duke’s approval for the marriage.
Telling him the truth felt difficult, but I forced myself to speak.
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can go with you…”
He suddenly sat up straight, arms uncrossed.
“What did you say?”
“My father’s opposition is too strong. It doesn’t matter that His Majesty has approved. He intends to personally go to His Majesty and ask to have my words annulled.”
“Is it because I sent you alone? Is that why the Duke is opposing?”
He looked genuinely shocked, perhaps regretting having sent me alone.
But the shock soon turned into a self-deprecating smile.
“No, no father would want to marry off his daughter to a cursed man.”
Hearing him speak so poorly of himself was painful.
Knowing how much he struggled with the curse on a daily basis made it even harder to bear.
I shook my head immediately to refute his words.
“It’s not because of the curse. My father wants me to become the empress.”
Of course, the curse was part of it, but I had no intention of telling him that.
He responded with a firm tone.
“Either way, we can’t back out of this marriage now. We’ve come too far. I… I can’t give up.”
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of backing out of this plan either. One day, I’ll achieve what I want, even against my father’s opposition. But right now…”
“Right now?”
I wanted to be honest and say, “I can’t
leave without Marie.”
But that wouldn’t be the right thing to say.
“I need more time,” I said, lowering my gaze.
“No, I can’t wait.”
Nathan cut me off abruptly and stood up.
Then he held out his gloved hand in front of my eyes.
“I have to get you out of here right now. As your husband.”
