Chapter 12: 7.1

Cherryl was surprised that she had voiced out the thoughts in her head.

“What do you want us to check?” It wasn’t a question born out of curiosity. Still, Cade continued steadily. “Didn’t you just say that, Lady Cherryl? A male-female relationship—-”

“No! It’s all right, Your Grace.” Cherryl hurriedly cut him off.

She had to interrupt him at the cost of her dignity.

Cade tilted his head at her.

“It’s better to get rid of your worries early.” He spoke clearly as if he was willing to provide answers to each of her minor concerns.

His bluntness almost drove her out of her mind.

“That would be the case if I married you, Your Grace.” Cherryl was adamant about her values. “-—but I don’t want to get married if it isn’t out of love.”

She meant it.

She didn’t want a marriage if it was anything but that, especially if she knew what Cade was truly like.

No matter how rampant arranged marriages are, it was a brutal reality for Cherryl–who had experienced a free-spirited past life–to accept.

“I want to get married once. I will spend the rest of my life with the man I love.”

She wondered if her opinion truly mattered on this forced marriage according to her father’s will.

Yet, she just couldn’t comply without doing anything.

“I don’t mean to offend you, Your Grace. But it’s just too much for me to  have a sudden relationship with a man I don’t love.”

After listening quietly, Cade asked back in a weighted voice. “Do you think there would be no love in this marriage?”

Cherryl blinked curiously at the unexpected question.

The Duke already made his intentions clear that theirs was a marriage without consideration.

Both of them hadn’t even talked to each other until now so there was no way love would exist between the two.

“You and I just met for the first time. It’s impossible.”

“Ah.”

Cade went silent as if taking her opinion seriously.

In turn, this made her gain the courage to prove her point.

“I hate to be involved in a loveless marriage, Your Grace. There’s a lot at risk if the person you’re sharing your life with is a total stranger.”

“…….”

“I also hate being handed over like a bought object. Just a while ago, I was determined to run away and escape.”

As he continued listening to her with downcast eyes, Cade’s face suddenly darkened. “Run away?”

Cherryl shrugged her shoulders in surprise.

His amber eyes, which were fixated on the floor, rose to meet her gaze.

The intense probing made her feel like three hundred pairs of eyes were watching her every move.

Exhaling a quiet sigh, Cade opened his big hand as if trying to hold something back.

“I didn’t know you planned to run away, Lady Cherryl.”

Thick veins at the back of his hand burst into existence.

“You must have hated me bit by bit as you imagined things blowing out of proportions.”

Cade’s low-pitched voice seemed  unusual.

There was also a cool madness reflected in his stare as if something was about to happen.

“That’s not the point, Your Grace.”

Cherryl tried to smile.

“Of course you can’t marry a man you don’t even know.”

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“…….”

“It only makes sense that you want to run away—-” The man’s unwavering gaze on Cherryl cooled into frost.

Was he still listening to her?

Cherryl felt goosebumps on her pale skin.

Why did it suddenly remind her of the many murders he had committed in the original novel?

Apart from that particular situation in which Cade had gone emotionally numb, he had become so cruel that it was too much.

As the warning bells rang on her head, Cherryl stood up from the chair and stroked her arms.

“It’s already late at night. I didn’t even notice.”

The window made her purposefully conscious of the time.

Cade’s watchful stare followed her as if it had been nailed shut on  every inch of her skin.

His eyes were a beautiful shade of gold but she couldn’t get rid of that eerie persistence in them every time she faced them herself.

Everything that happened today was both mysterious and confusing that it made Cherryl’s head throbbed.

“Your offer of marriage was all too sudden that I needed time to think about it. It’s late, Your Grace. I must return to my room now.”

She needed to calm down and organize her thoughts.

To do so, she must get out of his sight.

“I hope you have a good night’s sleep, Your Grace.”

At the end of the greeting, Cherryl turned around and quickened her steps.

“Lady Cherryl.”

A sweet low voice held her back.

She turned around to see the Duke strolling towards her.

As he waited for her to look back at him, their eyes met.

“I want to give this back to you.”

Without further explanation, Cade stuck his large hand out and handed over her mother’s silver ring.

After hitting him with it in the forehead, Cherryl assumed she had lost it when it rolled somewhere.

She didn’t expect him to pick it up and keep it.

Cherryl smiled from the unexpected favor, her eyes turning into down-turned crescents.

“This thing is precious to me. Thank you very much, Your Grace.”

Cade, staring at her as if he were possessed, lowered his gaze.

Cherryl blinked slowly as she stared down at her pale hands.

“I didn’t throw the ring out on purpose. I originally wanted to get a good look at you, Your Grace. But I accidentally… What?”

He carefully grabbed Cherryl’s fingertips with his big hand and slowly inserted the silver ring into her finger.

Was it a coincidence?

The ring landed on Cherryl’s left middle finger.

The sudden physical contact was unexpectedly warm.

It felt friendly and affectionate, somehow.

Surprised by the deep emotion evoked from that short interaction, Cherryl pulled her hand in surprise and withdrew from him.

“I’ll take my leave, Your Grace. I hope you have a good night.”

As she drew the line the Duke must not cross, Cherryl rushed out of the room.

The chaotic thoughts in her head had made a mess.

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