“Dru, my goodness!”
Shafri rushed to Drushia’s side. Right behind her followed Noah, the physician of the Marquis Maiheller family.
“Are you alright? You must be disoriented? I heard there was chaos at dawn – are you hurt anywhere?”
Her rapid-fire questions were filled with concern for him. However, Drushia’s gaze toward Shafri was cold.
“I’m fine. I heard the Maiheller’s physician has been working hard?”
“I was so worried when I heard the duke’s physician couldn’t treat you.”
“There was no need for you to stay. It must have been uncomfortable here without even a maid to attend to you.”
“How could I just sit still when my fiancé collapsed? I was too worried to return alone.”
“Let’s use the correct term. Ex-fiancé, I mean.”
“Dru! After all my anguish, you bring this up now?”
Her sharp voice flared up. Even Aegonite turned to Drushia in surprise.
‘Breaking the engagement? When did you two break it off?’
Only Kalfman, his closest confidant, had been informed of this fact that no one else knew. That’s why both Talion’s knights and the mansion staff still treated Shafri with the utmost respect as his fiancée.
Despite Shafri’s objection, Drushia’s voice remained unprecedentedly cold.
“That’s why we need to settle this quickly. I postponed the annulment papers and it almost put you in an awkward position. What if I had died? You would have been stuck with gossip, unable to move on.”
“How can you say such things? What about the item Her Majesty the Empress Dowager promised!”
“Yes, that’s the issue, Shafri. The bait you threw to put a leash on me. I don’t care about that. I was planning to at least consult my grandfather, but now my mind has changed.”
The family’s sacred object that the Empress Dowager had promised as a wedding gift. It had been taken by the imperial family before he was born, and they had lived well without it. Even his grandfather Neoren had never mentioned needing to retrieve it.
Still, thinking he should ask about it at least once, he had postponed writing the annulment papers. But then Shafri had used her status as fiancée and their past connection to stay at the duke’s residence.
In fourteen years, including their engagement period, he had never allowed her to stay at the Talion mansion. Shafri knew this, but claimed it was to help him. Still, he couldn’t shake off the uncomfortable feeling.
Drushia had decided that he wouldn’t stake his life on retrieving the family’s sacred object. It wasn’t worth it.
Ignoring the now-pale Shafri, Drushia shifted his gaze to Noah, who had followed her in.
“You’re the Maiheller family physician?”
“Yes. My name is Noah.”
With unusually pale skin and features suggesting he wasn’t from the Empire, Drushia scrutinized Noah from head to toe with a sharp gaze.
“I have quite a deep connection with the Marquis family, yet why have I never seen you before?”
“You’ve hardly visited the Marquis residence, Your Grace. And I rarely leave the Marquis’ house.”
Despite Drushia’s pointed question, the other man answered calmly.
“I heard you worked very hard to save my life. Could you explain how that was possible?”
“If needed, I can prepare documentation of the treatment process and pass it to the duke’s physician.”
“I would appreciate that.”
“You regained consciousness suddenly, so there might be side effects. May I examine you?”
Unconcealed curiosity showed through his respectful tone. Drushia didn’t miss the momentary gleam that flashed in Noah’s eyes.
“No. What you’ve done so far is enough. I’ll leave the rest to my physician.”
“Then, if you could at least allow me to do a blood test….”
“It seems you don’t properly understand the meaning of refusal.”
When Noah didn’t back down, Drushia openly displayed his displeasure. Noah quickly bowed his head.
“I apologize. I overstepped.”
“Instruct the knights to escort these two people to the Maiheller main residence, and tell Kalf to deliver the prepared annulment papers today. Don’t forget to emphasize that they must be handed directly to Marquis Maiheller himself.”
“Dru!”
“Shafri, go back for now. As you can see, the situation here isn’t good.”
“At least postpone the annulment papers. It’s just paperwork. Please give me a little more time.”
Shafri’s voice was desperate. She was genuinely pleading, almost begging.
‘It was supposed to be a casual engagement.’
A thought suddenly crossed his mind. Perhaps this engagement hadn’t been Shafri’s will from the start. If so, this engagement needed to be terminated even more quickly.
“Shafri, if you don’t withdraw now, I won’t maintain my courtesy any longer.”
Shafri’s face became desperate. The moment she tried to use the Empress Dowager’s power to gain control over him, their trust had plummeted, and Shafri had been pushed outside Drushia’s protection.
“Aegonite. See these two out.”
His voice was cold to the point of being frigid. Drushia would never open his door to Shafri again.
Aegonite, who stood in front to escort them, was respectful but intimidating. Shafri reluctantly turned away and left the bedroom with Noah.
“Sigh.”
Drushia exhaled a long breath. He had awakened just a few hours ago after being unconscious for a long time. His head was spinning from everything that had happened in the meantime.
He got up and carefully stretched his feet to the floor.
‘I have more strength compared to before.’
The medicine was definitely working. Right after waking up, even sitting had been difficult, but now he could clearly feel sensation returning to his body.
Drushia slowly walked to the door connecting to the adjacent room. In the brief moment he grabbed the doorknob, many thoughts crossed his mind.
And what remained at the end was the image of one woman. A woman he never imagined would be in his space.
“Gasp.”
Click, the door opened, and Ashika, who had been pressed against the door, stepped back in surprise. Drushia suppressed a laugh that threatened to escape. Her startled look reminded him of a fawn with its ears perked up.
“Do you understand the situation now? No matter how crazy I might be about women, I wouldn’t fool around with another woman while having a fiancée. The breakup was decided long ago.”
The word “breakup” seemed particularly emphasized.
“I no longer have a fiancée.”
Since it wasn’t a real engagement to begin with, Drushia had been alone all along, from the beginning until now.
Ashika couldn’t close her gaping mouth. With just a door between them, she had heard Shafri’s shouting and Drushia’s harshly determined voice.
‘This man is truly cold-hearted.’
She had already known he showed no mercy, but thought it applied only to Igraine.
“Why do you look like I’m being too harsh?”
There was much to say, but Ashika forced herself to swallow her words. Who was she to comment on this man’s engagement? However, Drushia seemed quite curious.
“If you have something to say, say it. Don’t hold back like that.”
“I heard she was an old friend… Aren’t you being too heartless?”
“Is someone who uses imperial power to force an unwanted marriage a friend? Do you think so?”
“Ah….”
She recalled the brief mention of the Empress Dowager she had heard earlier. Only those involved truly know what happens between a man and woman. She thought Drushia must have his reasons for being so cold.
“I wasn’t going to mention this because you might find it strange.”
“But?”
“Lady Maiheller came here right before Your Grace woke up.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was hiding so I didn’t see, but she checked on Your Grace and then left immediately.”
Drushia’s brow furrowed sharply.
“She came here alone and then left while the mansion was in chaos because of an intruder?”
He had already been unable to shake off an uneasy feeling. The small detail Ashika shared made the situation even more suspicious.
But first, he needed to organize the current situation. Drushia quickly scanned Ashika, who was tensed as if ready to dash out of the room.
“I’ll send someone to attend to you right away. Rest in your room.”
“Just let me go. I promise I won’t run away.”
“You should know from experience. Have I ever reversed a decision based on a few words?”
His face, now regaining its color, looked like his usual self. The same shameless and arrogant attitude as always. Had she ever once won against this man who never backed down?
‘I brought this on myself. I dug my own grave. Sigh….’
As Ashika’s face slightly crumpled, Drushia closed the door in front of her. Just as the door was closing, she saw the corner of his mouth curl up into a smirk, which infuriated her.
“This…, this shameless man.”
She couldn’t shout out loud but released her suppressed anger. However, the closed door didn’t open again.
‘How can I escape when I don’t even have Nile?’
Somehow it didn’t seem possible, which made her sigh.
Perhaps because the tension had eased? All strength drained from her body. Without even the energy to stand, she collapsed onto the edge of the nearby bed.
And a little while later, seeing the girl who came to the room, Ashika blinked quietly.
“You….”
It was a familiar face. The maid who had guided Ashika to the tent at Baroness Isna’s salon.
