Episode 83

【 What Must Be Taken Back 】

A chilling cold filled the Grand Duke’s calm eyes. Even Aria felt a jolt from how frigid his gaze became.

“Your Grace…?”

“You said Lady Mindia is currently imprisoned in the dungeon beneath the ducal estate.”

Pain shadowed the Grand Duke’s face as he spoke. The anguish seemed so deep that, for a moment, Aria felt the urge to weep in his stead.

She wanted to comfort that sorrow. Whatever was tormenting him, she wanted to erase it all.

‘He must be hurt by the realization that her love for him was a lie.’

A fresh surge of anger at Mindia flared up. The fact that the Grand Duke had loved Mindia enough to wear such an expression pierced her to the core. She hated Mindia with a passion—for causing him this pain.

But now, it would be okay. Because she was here.

“Yes. Her crime is great.”

“……”

“My elder brother is probably interrogating her right now…”

But before Aria could finish, the Grand Duke briskly brushed past her. His face was frozen with cold fury. Alarmed, Aria reached out to stop him.

“Your Grace, Your Grace!”

It wasn’t the Grand Duke who seized her—it was Crown Prince Albert.

“Ah!”

His rough grip made Aria wince involuntarily. Unbothered, the Crown Prince demanded,

“Say it again.”

“What?”

“Say it again. What you just said.”

“You mean that she’s being interrogated? That hurts! Let go!”

“No—the words before that.”

His grip on her shoulder tightened. It was clear he had no intention of letting go until she answered.

“Say it again.”

Realizing what he meant, Aria screamed in a shrill voice.

“Mindia doesn’t love His Grace!”

Loud enough for the Grand Duke to hear as he walked away.

“……”

“She only approached him because Father ordered her to!”

Her voice echoed, unnaturally loud for such a small body. The Crown Prince listened to the reverberations as if savoring them, then smirked with one corner of his mouth.

“Good. Excellent.”

He let her go in an instant. Aria barely kept herself upright and watched him follow the Grand Duke into the dungeon.

“She’s a liar!”

Aria shouted, repeating what her father and brothers had always told her. But no response came.

“An ungrateful, treacherous liar!”

Rumble.

The air trembled, heavy with the threat of rain. Her sweet cries reached no one. A deep, endless despair filled her gut.

Unknowingly, Aria collapsed to the ground. Her beautiful dress was stained green by the grass.

* * *

Bang!

A loud crash echoed from the entrance. It sounded like a scuffle had broken out.

“What the… Ugh!”

The dull thuds of the guards collapsing followed, and both Servi and I turned toward the noise at once.

Soon, steady footsteps rang out. My eyes widened at the figure that appeared.

“…Chris.”

His usually neat hair was tousled as if he had rushed over. Chris’s sharp gaze locked onto me—and then shifted to Servi, whose hand was still clamped around my hair.

For a brief moment, it felt as if a spark had ignited in the icy air surrounding him.

Chris spoke in a low, calm voice.

“What lawless behavior is this, Lord Servitan Reinhardt?”

“And what exactly are you doing, Grand Duke Elzerian?”

Servi made no effort to hide his displeasure.

“To barge into the Reinhardt estate like this… Even if you’re a Grand Duke—”

“I sent a formal notice of my visit beforehand.”

Servi’s lips twisted into a sneer.

“A letter sent not even a day before—but merely an hour ago—counts as formal?”

“So you did receive it.”

“Receiving it is one thing. I never said you were welcome.”

Servi mocked him openly and laughed.

“You seem to have forgotten noble etiquette, Your Grace. Then again, you never belonged in the capital, did you?”

Hearing that, fury boiled inside me.

It was this damned ducal house that had ruined Chris in our past life.

They poisoned the ruler of the North, who had ridden tirelessly into battle and cut down monsters, robbing him of his freedom, confining him in the capital, stripping him of his independence and the snowy lands he ruled.

They drove him to death—first suffocating him, then framing him.

They ensnared a man as strong and beautiful as him, trapping him like an animal.

Without thinking, my hand shot out.

“…!”

I reached through the bars and grabbed Servi by the collar, my grip so tight it surprised even me. His body slammed into the bars.

“What are you doing?!”

Startled by my resistance, Servi released my hair. Now that I thought of it, while Seth had provoked me before, I’d never done this to Servi.

I whispered quietly.

“What’s got you so scared, Brother?”

“What?”

“Why are your hands trembling?”

Only after I pointed it out did Servi glance down at his hands. Chris’s killing intent was so thick, Servi only now realized his own body was shaking.

“Ha!”

Servi clenched his fists.

“Leave this place immediately, Grand Duke Elzerian.”

“Mind your manners, Lord Servi.”

“Manners? Someone who tramples over noble protocol in favor of military law has no right to speak of manners—”

“Then I suppose you won’t welcome me either, seeing as I didn’t send a letter.”

A new voice rang out, and Servi froze. I, too, looked shocked. Even in the dim dungeon, his golden hair shone.

“…Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

A dreadful sense of déjà vu washed over me.

The dungeon. Chris. And the Crown Prince.

It was an all-too-familiar scene.

Servi, visibly rattled, shook and finally shoved my hand off his collar. As he stepped away, I stared hard at him, then turned to Chris.

“Your Grace.”

“…Mindia.”

Chris’s face looked… pained. As if seeing me locked up here caused him great suffering.

But that expression quickly vanished, replaced by a cold, blank mask.

“On what charge have you imprisoned her?”

“Yes, I’d like to hear that too. What’s the problem?”

Surprisingly, the Crown Prince sided with him. Servi gritted his teeth.

“…Poison… in Aria’s cup…”

“Funny how someone poisoned walks around perfectly fine.”

“…What?”

“I just saw Lady Aria outside, and she looked healthy enough.”

When it came to mocking someone, the Crown Prince was a step ahead of Servi. Servi took a deep breath before continuing.

“…She’s only just recovered.”

“Seemed perfectly fine to me.”

“Your Highness, it’s true she drank from a poisoned cup. The physician confirmed traces of poison.”

Servi glared at me.

“A lethal poison. If it hadn’t been caught in time, she would’ve died.”

“Oh? And how did she end up drinking it?”

“She encountered this wom—no, Mindia—at the temple. Mindia touched the wine bottle Aria was holding, and after drinking from it, Aria fell ill.”

That’s when Chris, who had been silent, quietly spoke.

“That’s strange.”

“What is, Grand Duke?”

“I was right beside my fiancée at that time.”

At that word, I gasped. Both the Crown Prince and Servi’s faces darkened. Chris continued unfazed.

“Her hand barely touched the wine bottle. Before it could, Lady Aria Reinhardt struck it away.”

“Are you accusing Aria of wrongdoing?”

Servi hissed. Chris remained calm.

“Even if her hand did touch it, it’s still strange.”

“And why is that?”

“I’ve been ingesting poison since I was young. I almost did again this past winter.”

Silence fell again. Everyone knew he referred to the feast.

“…….”

“I know how poison is administered and how it works. To my knowledge, touching a sealed bottle’s surface doesn’t contaminate the wine.”

“Then she must’ve poisoned it beforehand!”

“A bottle that’s been in House Reinhardt all along?”

“There were opportunities at the temple to poison it—!”

“That wine was originally meant for me, from Lady Aria.”

Servi’s lips went stiff at those words.

“If I’d drunk it, I’d be the one poisoned.”

“T-That’s—!”

The Crown Prince chuckled again.

“Well, well. The Grand Duke and House Reinhardt sure do love their poison, don’t they?”

“What accusation are you implying—!”

Servi shouted, but Chris’s voice cut through, flat and steady.

“Isn’t it far more likely that Lady Aria Reinhardt poisoned the wine meant for me?”

“Hmm. That explanation makes more sense to me.”

Oddly enough, the Crown Prince kept siding with Chris. Given how he usually viewed Chris as a rival, it was strange. Today, he seemed in unusually good spirits. Meanwhile, Servi looked ready to explode.

“She’d never do that!”

Veins bulged in Servi’s neck.

“How dare you—! She would never…!”

Servi bit his tongue, unable to finish out of pride. Chris stared at him coldly.

“If this accusation is so absurd to you, Lord Servi…”

Chris’s killing intent flared once more. Servi visibly recoiled.

“Then the accusation against my fiancée is equally absurd.”

“……”

“I will not sit quietly while she bears such unjust charges. I’m taking her with me.”

Chris declared, his tone sharp as steel.

“Right now.”