Chapter 55: 53

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Noah and I took a quick stroll through the Tempshire Palace and the gardens.

We went out into the garden, which was called the Rose Garden, but there were no roses, and walked among the frozen maple leaves. Frost had settled on the dry grass and made the entire ground look white. The red winter berries, barely hanging from the dead branches of the trees, looked as clear as if they had color.

I wore a corset dress and a coat with a cloak. Noah spoke to me, patting me lightly on the back.

“Diana, I know this is inconvenient, but please keep what I just said an absolute secret.”

“I understand.”

Noah said what was on my back, it could never be found out. And I shouldn’t wear anything with strings in the front, not on the back. Or anything that I could do myself.

However, I was curious.

“Noah, can you tell me why?”

Noah saw my curious expression and stopped walking.

“You’re going to marry me, aren’t you?”

My head tilted involuntarily at the sudden question. What does my shoulder’s mark have to do with marriage?

“What? Yes.”

“You may not be able to get married permanently. Perhaps you will marry another man. …No, that won’t happen.”

Noah continued to speak smoothly in a gentle tone.

“I’ll kill that man myself.”

I couldn’t get married and there would be even bloodshed because of this scar-like spot? I frowned, caressing my back.

Ah, it was still a period where people talked about differences in status. In fact, there must be a gap in status in any era, as modern people divide their status by capital differences.

“Is that the kind of situation where I can’t marry someone if they find out about my status difference?”

Noah’s silver lashes danced melancholy at my guess. Convinced that he was looking down on me with pity with his eyes downcast, I covered my mouth.

Was that why the Admiral had treated me like a slave? Was that really the reason Noah couldn’t tell me? I swallowed my breath as I felt like I had the moment when the secret of my hidden birth was revealed.

“……I’m from slavery?” (Diana)

“No, I would rather you did. Then I can buy you.” (Noah)

Noah, recited low, looked over the road at the gray squirrel running. A fat spotted cat chasing it looked foolishly at the red squirrel, who had quickly fled over a tall tree.

“In this day and age, titles are unimportant. All we need is a lot of high positions, power, and money that affect the national government. But it’s not easy to break the difference.” (Noah)

“Difference?”

“Because it’s something that’s been cemented in society’s perception for a long time.”

“Because I’m half-Medean and you’re Progeny.” (Diana)

As a social custom here, I heard that Medea people value their lineage and prefer to marry people in the same country*. I carefully pointed out that the spot on my back might be a trace of a Medean, and held Noah’s hand.

(*Just like a Chinese man just wants to marry a Chinese woman, not a woman from another country. It’s NOT the blood related siblings or relatives who had to marry each other. So the Medean royal family wanted their children to marry people who were born in Medea only, NOT from another country. And they DIDN’T have incest relationship but marrying their own family’s members like a commenter said. I just want to be clear about this ‘A Medean has to marry a Medean’ part. So don’t misunderstand.)

“I don’t care about that. If something like that happens, you can just run away to another country, right?” (Noah)

“Are you sure?”

At that time, when I ran away, it wasn’t bad, like a romantic trip.

“Yes. But you don’t have to run away. I’ll make a place where we can comfortably spend time together and no one will disturb or bother us.” 

“You’ll build me a house? With a swing in the yard.”

I said excitedly as I swung Noah’s hand. But I didn’t know what Noah meant at the time.

The sky was covered with clouds and clouded with an awful color, and it ended up raining. Raindrops fell and wet the winter grass, trees, and soil in the garden, making it smell like a blessed spring rain.

Noah took off his coat and quickly put it over my head.

“It’s raining.”

“It seems to rain a lot in this town.”

Around the time we entered the hallway together to escape the rain, Noah explained why he did not want to come to Tempshire Palace and why he was not happy.

“There’s a lot of distractions here. Look over there. We already run into something that’s bothering me.”

At the end of the straight, porcelain-tiled hallway, a woman, seemingly “Princess Erica,” was approaching. The sound of her heels on the porcelain floor echoed loudly. Her piercing blue eyes turned to me. I remained bowing out of courtesy.

“I didn’t know you would come with Noah.”

The princess, immersed in paranoia, walked past with her own thoughts. I seized it and corrected it in a calm and high tone.

“Her Majesty’s orders were to come together. She was delighted at the news of our engagement and congratulated me heartily. She even offered us a room to share.”

The sound of the Princess’ shoes ceased on the spot. Raising my head, I deliberately showed her the ring on my hand, and Princess Erica’s eyes opened wide.

After discovering the same thing on Noah’s finger, her face contorted ugly and she burst into a fit of rage.

“You have a good ability. The second son of a Duke in Belford (Jeffrey ) and a Duke in Progen (Noah). How can you be so selective and seduce only ducal men?”

“Second son of a duke?”

Wasn’t he the Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Grenendall? He was already famous in Belford for the affectionate relationship. I heard you went on a date with him every week.”

Noah, who had been standing still and listening to the Princess’ words, suddenly had a fierce expression on his face. His horrified eyes were not on me, but on Princess Erica.

She gave Noah a quick glance with an agile gaze and spoke with strength in her voice with a relaxed face, as if she thought she had successfully made Noah angry by making me a dirty woman.

“I heard that you spent the night with Lieutenant Colonel Grenendall at Count Hunter’s residence. You’re a very thin-skinned woman.”

A chilling air current drifted through the corridor at the same time as Princess Erica’s thorny voice. Noah’s lips closed in a straight line.

The cold eyes grazed past me and stayed somewhere in the void as if pensive. It hurt where his gaze glazed over, even though I didn’t do anything wrong.

I also wondered deeply when I had spent the night with Jeffrey in Belford.

I remembered that I had lost my way in the deep forest of the Count’s vast estate, where I went hunting for foxes. How in the world did Princess Erica know about that?

The Princess’ eyes lit up with triumph when she saw the look of anguish on my face.

It’s very easy and amusing to demean someone one has hated, and spread false rumors.

“Isn’t she awful?”

Despite Noah’s discomfort, Erica lifted her chin proudly.

“Noah, this  woman followed the Lieutenant Colonel herself, didn’t she? She was happy to spend her time with another man while she was in Belford.”

Noah, with a cold expression on his face, spoke informally, unlike when dealing with the Princess.

“How do you know that?”

“You’re so rude to speak informally now. You’re no longer a Duke or anything.”

“I asked how you know about that.”

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“Huh, is that what you want to know?”

Princess Erica put her hands on her hips, looking as if she had succeeded in separating me and Noah.

“Everyone in Belford knows.”

Seeing the Princess who was so upset, Noah let out a cynical laugh.

“How do you know so much about the Lieutenant Colonel of Belford’s personal life?” 

“It’s not strange, is it?”

“Erica.”

Noah called her name in a cold voice.

It was a name that was not princess, nor was it a designation of ‘you’. He had never called her a princess. Princess Erica’s face flushed red, not with excitement, but with surprise and embarrassment.

“You called my name?”

“You asked me to call you by name sometime.”

“I know, but it’s so sudden… ….”

Princess Erica covered her face and avoided eye contact. I was jealous too, so I raised one eyebrow and stared at her.

“Looks like you’re Belford’s spy.”

Noah’s voice scattered coldly. The Princess twisted her face in contemplation.

“What are you talking about? I would never do such a thing.”

“If that’s not communication with the enemy, then what is it?”

Princess Erica crossed her arms with a brazen look of utter disapproval.

“No, that’s not true. Since I am a Princess, it is easy for me to do someone’s background check. It’s all true, and you’ll know it when you see it.”

“Even if it’s true, it doesn’t matter.”

After closing his eyes for a moment, the awakened Noah answered shortly, like a sigh. Suddenly I felt an incredible thirst. My throat was burning and my mouth was parched. I wanted to drink from the many pools of rainwater that had accumulated in the long corridor’s waterways.

“Of course it doesn’t matter because you’re dating her. But I’m telling you because I think you should know.” 

The Princess, under the illusion that it was my fault that Noah had abandoned everything and left his homeland, was still spouting the same old babbling.

“I’ll do as I please, so don’t get involved in other people’s love affairs. And don’t insult my fiancée. If you were someone else, I would have shot you right away.” (Noah)

“You wanted to shoot me? However much I like you, there are limits to what I will tolerate. Do you think you are safe with such a statement?” (Erica)

“Do as you please. You’d better watch your mouth from now on. Unless you want to be locked up in a monastery for the rest of your life and die of old age on suspicion of having communicated with Belford.” (Noah)

While Princess Erica’s anger was rising, Noah warned her in a calm tone. Her lips closed sadly. Noah’s murky blue eyes glanced at her and then at me.

“Let’s go.” (Noah)

“I still have some things to say.”

Just as I was about to explain to the princess that it wasn’t true, Noah’s hand wrapped coldly around my wrist. He whispered softly in my ear.

“She only listens to what she wants to hear. She may interpret it however she likes and delusionalize another story.”

Was he telling me not to feed the seeds of interest? I nodded in acceptance. Princess Erica’s pale face looked at me resentfully.

Unlike the Queen, there was a bluish tinge to her complexion. She seemed to have applied a lot of cosmetics containing white lead and mercury. She was clutching the hem of her purple satin skirt tightly.

“I’ll be on my way now. Princess.”

I greeted the Princess and was led away by Noah. He held my wrist tightly, not my hand.

He didn’t say anything as we walked back to our room.

It was hard to keep up with his fast steps because of the considerable difference in our heights. I was so engrossed in walking like him that before I knew it, I was in my room. Nonetheless, Noah did not let go of my wrist. His silver-gray hair swayed and he slowly turned around to look at me.

Noah smiled uneventfully. I looked down at my captured wrist with a blank face. This will leave a bruise, I thought.

“Noah, don’t get me wrong. It’s not like that.”

“What happened with you and the Black Dog?”

Noah’s face suddenly came close.

It was a gentle tone, but his cold eyes that looked down at me were too fierce. I asked, struggling to meet his eyes.

“What’s a black dog?”

“The Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Grenendall.  There is a Progen breed called Grenendall. It is a black shepherd often used as a military dog.”

“I met him every week.”

“Yes. I know that. I didn’t know about the other thing.”

It seemed that a nanny at the Admiral’s residence gave him the information. She was a spy for Noah, that was for sure. But Noah did not seem to have heard of what had happened in the hunting ground. No, maybe he knew it, but he was asking to test me.

I answered honestly with a shrug of my shoulders.

“I think you mean about the time I went fox hunting in the Count’s hunting grounds. I lost my way then, but the Lieutenant Colonel came to my rescue. It was too deep into the night so we stayed there and we finally made it back in the morning.”

“I see.”

Noah nodded his head and relaxed his lips. I felt a sense of foreignness as he seemed to distort a glimpse of it.

“We didn’t sleep together if that’s what you’re thinking. He just came to help. I asked him to come see me every week so I could survive from my father.”

I did my best to explain. Noah’s brow gradually unraveled as it narrowed at the “He came to help.” He sighed faintly and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I should have gotten rid of him sooner.” (Noah)

By my standards, there was nothing more wrong than killing.

“Even if he took me away with a desire for honor, he made an effort to protect me after he took me. He was not a bad person.” (Diana)

“That’s the problem.” (Noah)

It was a reasonable defense, but it seemed counterproductive. The more I spoke, the angrier he seemed to get, so I shut up and kept quiet. I didn’t want to upset an angry man. If I put myself in his position, my mood will be tainted.

I’ve heard stories of women who risked their lives to infiltrate enemy territory, only to spend the night with men every week.

I remembered when I followed the Lieutenant Colonel on the day of our engagement ceremony.

I think Noah was still stuck in the memories and insecurities of that time. That was why he was so nervous and couldn’t trust me. I never once asked him why and it never occurred to me.

“The reason I followed the Lieutenant Colonel was because I thought that you might get hurt by the Belford army who had sneaked into the garden.”

“Yes, I understand.”

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He still had a tight grip on my wrist. Force was applied. It hurt as it kept unraveling, but I didn’t even pretend to care.

He grazed his lips over my ear and whispered softly.

“I don’t care if you sleep with another man. It will be that man who dies. Then it won’t mean anything and it won’t be worth worrying about. Right?”

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