Chapter 18.2

The Grand Duke had a hardened expression. His mouth, tightly closed over his stiff jaw muscles, as if restraining something, gave off an intimidating force.

“Take the Grand Duchess.”

When the Grand Duke gave the orders to Marie, who was standing not too far away, the frozen woman came close to her in an instant.

“Madam . . .  let’s go to that lake.”

At the same time, the Grand Duke released Anne’s hand completely. A glimpse of her wrist stretched over her glove. A red band was engraved on her thin wrist as if to prove how hard he had applied force to it.

As Anne rubbed her sore wrist, Marie hurriedly wrapped her arms around Anne’s shoulders and grabbed her, forcing her to hurry her steps.

“. . . Yes.”

Anne left the two of them to their strange confrontation and followed Marie. She realized she wasn’t in the position to involve herself.

She could not contain her curiosity, and she looked back several times, but the Grand Duke never turned her head. Luciel muttered something behind her, but she couldn’t hear it because of the wind.

* * *

“It’s Anne . . . She’s pretty.”

Luciel, who looked sadly at the back of the woman who was moving away, licked his lips. She looked back a few times with anxious eyes, but now that the other woman had taken her away, she no longer looked at them. He didn’t take his eyes off of it until the slender appearance turned around the corner of the building and disappeared completely.

Finally, when the woman’s figure was completely gone, Luciel turned his head to the Grand Duke, who was staring at him with a frightening expression. Luciel’s slender eyebrows fell down pitifully at the icy glare that was pouring down on him.

“It doesn’t matter to me, Daymond, but if you look at me with such a scary expression, Anne would be scared too. And what if she runs away again?”

“Why did you come back?”

A low growling sound came from the Grand Duke’s lips. If anyone saw his face now, they would be terrified, but Luciel continued speaking naturally, as if familiar.

“Are you thinking of talking to me now?”

Can you see me now? Luciel raised his chin.

“Daymond, I never left. But you did something interesting.”

“Get out of here right now.”

It was like Daymond was spitting at Luciel’s face, who was playing the innocent one.

“What to do? I think that would be difficult . . . I really like this woman.”

Luciel, who was rubbing his red lips with his white index finger, slowly blinked his eyes.

* * *

She asked about Luciel all the way, but Marie spoke vaguely and deflected. She had a face that Anne couldn’t tell whether she really didn’t know, or whether she knew. She thought Marie was the type to show her inner self in her face, but this time, Anne couldn’t read her properly.

Instead, Marie devoted herself to guiding Anne around the castle, which was the original purpose.

“It is frozen now, but in the summer the water is very clean and beautiful.”

“Over there, there is a nice tree-lined road, and in autumn, the colors of the leaves take on different colors like flowers.”

As she left the Grand Duke, Marie’s rigid expression was relaxed as if she had returned to normal. She had been shaking a little while ago as if she was afraid of something, but she seemed to have calmed down a little.

However, as soon as she saw the Grand Duke and Luciel, she could not easily forget Marie’s image. In retrospect, she found that Marie was always shy in front of the Grand Duke and in front of anyone else. She looked uncomfortable even in front of Mrs. Wald. She would be treated well, if not as much as the Madam, with the affection of the Grand Duke, but she acted just like the other maids.

Even if it’s because of her timid personality, she’s overreacting. Why is she so afraid?

She wanted to ask, but Marie wasn’t likely to give an answer. So she decided to tour the castle instead. The place they came from now was a vast forest that passed through the castle’s backyard.

After passing the lake, a small trail appeared. After that, there was nothing but the same winding road. Maybe it wasn’t properly managed so far, or it was different from the well-maintained paths of the garden. At one point, the passing servants or the knights standing guard were nowhere to be seen.

Anne walked, pressing her toes heavily against the fallen leaves, which were rolling in the unmelted snow. She kept stepping on the snow even though she was wearing boots with sewn-in fur, and her toes began to tingle.

She thought she’d seen almost everything. When she was about to tell Marie to return, she saw a building in a secluded place not far away. It was more conspicuous because it was not a place where there was likely to be a building.

“What is that over there?”

Anne asked, pointing to the thick glass building next to the frozen lake. What was clearly visible through the glass wall did not look like a space where people lived.

“That’s a greenhouse. It’s not managed right now . . . It’s just about abandoned.”

“Abandoned?”

Anne’s feet turned that way. She wasn’t even that interested, but she walked strangely.