Chapter 23: 22

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Grace kept looking at the closed door. Maybe if she looked at it long enough, he would open the door again and come to her side.

But contrary to her hopes, Grace laughed at Arthur’s distant footsteps.

Smiling helplessly in an empty carriage, the only thing she could do, she soon covered her face with her shaky hands.

“…What a fool.” Grace murmured.

This was directed to him who went out alone, and to herself now. Laughing at him and herself, Grace realized her position for him, which had never been clear. Before she knew it, she also had him in her heart. Perhaps it was natural. He was the first person to give her a friendly touch. But when she realized that he felt the same way, Grace’s mind became more complicated. The desire to get out of this carriage and hold him immediately was immense, but the fear of just running away from the horrendous afterimage of the curse caught her back.

She liked the person who treated her kindly for the first time. However, she was afraid and scared of the curse that she would face while staying with him. She didn’t want to lose her second life again after being shunned by her family.

‘Now I don’t know myself at all. I don’t know what to do or what not to do.’

Grace, who was left alone in the carriage where darkness had fallen, curled up, wiping away tears that burst out of frustration.

***

The next day, a message was delivered to Felix’s mansion that the Duke and his wife were returning after the wedding celebration party.

The news of both of them being safe made a scene in Felix’s mansion. Did they finally get rid of the terrible curse that had been put on the master this time? Unlike the others, the new Duchess was affectionate to the Duke, so they may be able to see the couple live happily ever after. They had such expectations.

However, the appearance of Arthur and Grace arriving at Felix’s mansion was quite different from their hopes.

When Arthur arrived at the castle, he immediately got off the horse, led his knights to the tower where his office was located, and Grace got off the carriage on her own instead of her husband, the Duke’s escort.

“Sister-in-law!”

Leon jumped into her arms, calling Grace with a bright face. Grace greeted the cute and friendly figure with a forced smile, “How are you, Leon?”

“Good! Oliver told me that I should stay calm until you and Brother get back, so I did!”

“Really? Leon’s a good boi.”

“……sister-in-law?” Leon tilted his head as he looked up. Originally, she would welcome him with a bright look, but she looked strangely weak today.

‘Aren’t you glad to see me?’

As Leon pouted at the thought, Sally, who approached him, mentioned, “……Prince Leon, she must be tired from riding for a long time.”

“Is that so?”

“You should rest now, ma’am. Let Oliver take the Young Master for a walk today. Okay?”

“……yes, I got it…I’m sorry, Leon.”

At Sally’s explanation, Leon nodded back with a sullen look on his face. Grace apologized, stroking Leon’s disappointed head, and then walked home with Sally’s help. As she walked through the garden and up the stairs, Sally looked at her with a stiff face without saying a word.

They arrived in front of the bedroom. Grace glanced back at Sally with a short sigh and said, “… if you don’t mind, don’t let anyone come here until I say it’s okay. And don’t call me unless it’s necessary.”

“…ma’am.”

“……I’m sorry,” Grace, who handed Sally the order and apology in a weak voice, went into the bedroom and closed the door. Sally stared briefly at the closed bedroom door and sighed frustratedly. She also went to the party, but couldn’t get in there, so she didn’t know exactly what happened there.

But from what she heard, Grace collapsed and they both had an argument. Perhaps it might have been something to do with whatever had happened between the two of them. Sally sighed again in frustration.

‘..as expected, the curse can’t be avoided.’

The Duke opened his heart for the first time.

‘Just what did my master do so badly that he was cursed this cruelly?’

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Sally let out a breath again, resenting God. It was so annoying.

***

It was only a day and a half later that Grace, who had been locked up in her bedroom, came out again. Until now, she had been agonizing over Leon’s visit under the pretext of being sick. And after much thought, Grace, who had given her own answer, came out of the room alone at this time when the darkness sank deeply and everyone fell asleep.

Wearing the same modest dress and thick coat as she first came to the mansion after the wedding, she passed a quiet hallway. Grace, who came through the stairs to the garden, passed the snow-covered path with a hood on her head.

How long did she walk like that?

Grace arrived in front of the side gate leading from the mansion to a deep, wide forest. Because there was no one coming in or out since it was old and dangerous, she didn’t have a guard, so her breathing was so quiet. Grace stood and gazed for a long time at the old, shabby door with a lost look. Soon after, she carefully reached out to the doorknob.

“Where are you going?”

Someone grabbed her hand roughly.

It was, of course, Arthur who caught Grace’s eye. Grace stared up at Arthur, who was looking back with a tight grip on his wrist.

Arthur asked, “At this late hour, I’m asking you where you’re going!”

“Answer me!”

However, despite Arthur’s fierce words, Grace looked up at him with indifferent eyes. Then she spoke to him in a nonchalant voice, “I don’t know. Does a person who runs away in the middle of the night secretly set a destination?”

Arthur’s expression became blank again, and soon he was distraught with astonishment. Like the size of the shock had been enormous, he asked back at her, shaking the hand holding her wrist, “……what did you just say? You want to run away at night?”

“Yes, that’s what I said.”

“….that means, you’re leaving me now? Like this? Like this?” Arthur raised his voice at Grace’s nonchalant response again. Grace peered indifferently at Arthur’s eyes, which had a hurt look.

Again, his wounded figure had been heartbreaking, but she couldn’t back down. Because there was something she had to hear from him.

Grace chewed her lower lip as if suppressing the pain in her heart that was spreading, and said to him, “Before I answer that question, let me ask you one thing.”

“What?”

“Why are you holding me back?”

“……what?”

“You told me to live as if we didn’t know each other. You said there’s no way we’ll ever have a face-to-face conversation with each other, and if we’re going to live like that, do we really need to live in a mansion? Wouldn’t it be faster if I just left this mansion?”

‘Don’t you think so?’

Arthur’s blue and red odd eye shook violently when he heard it. Arthur still felt pain as if his heart was being penetrated with a sword by Grace’s indifferent attitude toward him. He knew what she said was not wrong, and he knew well that he had no right to dare to stop her.

But, he couldn’t let her go. Arthur held her wrist tighter and said in a mournful voice, “……but, still, no.”

“Why?”

” ……please……”

“So, we’ll just live like this forever, avoiding eye contact and talking to each other until we get old and die? How could you do that? Can you do that, Duke? I don’t like it. I can’t do that.”

“I… I can live my whole life looking at you from afar if you can just live safely from where I can see you and smile happily.”

“Duke…”

“……Some days, of course, I’ll be heartbroken when I see you walk, dance and talk at a party. But it’s okay. It’s a hundred and a thousand times better than seeing you dead or crazy or just missing!”

“….How could you do that?”

Arthur’s voice, grasping Grace’s hand, holding on to the last string of hope, was desperate.

As Grace turned her head and asked back, Arthur replied, trying to make eye contact with her somehow, “……I’ll be fine. I can take it all. I don’t mind if you’re fine, so why is it not possible?”

“Because I don’t think I’ll be able to wait!” Grace, who was listening to him, shouted loudly, unable to stand it any longer.

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