Chapter 99

It was beyond absurd, but Alexis tried to speak calmly.

“Tell him I will.”

“Yes. We will guide you to where you will be staying.”

The guard bowed his head with a visibly relieved expression. Alexis’ heart swelled at the fact that he had to stay away from Kathleen, but he meekly turned the reins. He didn’t want to make Kathleen uneasy about this.

‘It will be different after the interview.’

With the emperor’s letter and decree, he thought that Cassiel would not be as callous forever, so he followed the guards conveniently.

***

“I knew you would choose him.”

When she said she wanted to stay with Alexis, Cassiel muttered resignedly.

“From the moment you asked me to save him, I expected something like this to happen. I thought you would come back to Carmine if he didn’t wake up, but this is the way it is in the end.”

“Uncle…….”

“If that’s your choice, then I can’t help it.”

Kathleen hurriedly said, seeing Cassiel’s lonely look.

“Even if I stay in Meyer, I will come to see uncle often. His Majesty offered uncle the Margrave title, so you would also be able to come to see me at any time.”

“Yes. Without that title, I wouldn’t have even thought of sending you back to Meyer.”

Cassiel said in a tone full of distrust.

“Without the Margrave title, how do we know if Grand Duke Walten would even make you his Grand Duchess?”

“Uncle, Alec…….”

“Perhaps he is still thinking about how to take you from my side.”

As the head of the House of Usmund, Cassiel seemed willing to accept the emperor’s offer, but was hostile to Alexis, who had come as his envoy.

“Uncle.”

Kathleen spoke cautiously to Cassiel, looking embarrassed.

“Still, I don’t think we should let Alec, no, His Highness the Grand Duke stay outside the castle. I will prepare to receive the guests, so can you please invite him in?”

“There is no room for him to stay in this castle”

Cassiel responded naturally. Eight out of the ten bedrooms in the castle were vacant, and no one else had a separate lounge or drawing room. These facts were completely ignored.

“The lodgings outside the castle are also pretty good. That should be enough for him.”

“But it would be inconvenient for His Majesty the Grand Duke to stay…….”

“They said he left without complaining, so he agreed.”

Cassiel seemed to only think of Alexis as the husband who tormented his niece and not the Emperor’s older brother and Grand Duke of the Empire. Kathleen was embarrassed and did not know what else to do.

Cassiel, whether he knew his niece’s thoughts which were burning inside her, was delighted when Luci, who was in her arms, showed signs of awakening from his sleep.

“Luci, are you awake? We meet again. Why don’t you come to Grandpa?”

“Grandpa?”

The child, who found him unfamiliar for a moment, immediately remembered Cassiel and widened his blue eyes.

“Ah!”

“That’s right. You remember now.”

Cassiel rescued Alexis from the South and hurriedly came to Meyer, and then met Luci a couple of times before returning to Carmine. When he first saw him, he was hesitant because he looked so much like Alexis at first glance, but he also found a corner resembling Kathleen and Juliana on his face.

“You met him last time, remember? He is Grandpa Cassiel. He is mom’s mother’s older brother.”

Kathleen explained carefully. Luci was still young, so he didn’t know exactly what the family relationship was like, but he was glad that he had the same hair and eye color as his anyway.

“Grandpa!”

Luci smiled softly and ran to hug him. Cassiel was also delighted and held the child in his arms.

“Aren’t you going to turn four soon? You’re very strong and lively. You look a lot like your grandmother.”

Cassiel seemed very fond of Luci, overshadowing the fact that he said she could just have a baby again.

“Would you like to go for tea together? Grandfather also prepared snacks for you.”

“Like!”

The two quickly became close. Even though she was relieved by the sight, she began to slowly worry about how to soften his consistently tough attitude towards Alexis.

‘Is Alec resting well by now?’

Alexis did not bring a servant to serve him, saying that there was no need for a large number of people because they had to cross a mountain. However, if he stayed in a lodging outside the castle, he had to handle the work by himself from beginning to end.

Worried about how he was doing, she pondered if she should sneak out, but Cassiel, who was leading the way, turned around and said sternly.

“What are you doing not coming quickly?”

“Oh yes! Let’s go.”

Kathleen followed him with a bewildered look. It seemed that Casiel would need some time to calm his heart.

***

‘I would rather have gone into the castle.’

Alexis sat roughly on the bed and looked at the dark sky through the open window, thinking. It felt lonelier because there was no moon.

‘But I don’t know how much colder he would become if I did.’

Perhaps because Cassiel Usmund was a direct descendant of the Winter Fairies, he looked younger than his age and had a beautiful appearance, but his personality was also as cold as midwinter. So, even in the negotiations with the emperor, he would have achieved his goal at once.

Alexis changed the plan to wait until tomorrow afternoon for now. Preparing to read the emperor’s decree was an excuse, and now Cassiel Usmund was expressing his discontent by taking Kathleen. It wouldn’t be good to provoke him in that state.

He let out a long sigh. If he had known that the carriage would disappear into the castle and not come out for a few days, he would have sent them after seeing their faces one more time. It was frustrating because the faces of Kathleen and Luci were shining in front of him.

In the end, Alexis could not easily fall asleep today and woke up and walked around the room. The place where he stayed was not originally prepared for entertaining guests, but rather a house where commoners lived, so it wasn’t particularly spacious, so that was all he could do.

How many hours had passed like that? He heard someone approaching and knocked on the door.

Knock. Knock.

A very cautious sense. Alexis sprinted to the door, dubious at the familiar touch, and swung the door open.

“Kathleen?”

Kathleen, with the tip of her nose all red, stood in front of him, breathing heavily, seemingly to have just ran over. Alexis was overjoyed for a moment, but seeing her delicate body trembling in the cold wind, he quickly ushered her inside.

He took her hand as he closed the door, and it was like ice. A pang of sorrow came rushing in.

“What’s going on? Coming down alone in the middle of the night.”

“I thought you’d be lonely.”

But he said nothing, and she looked around anxiously.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable here? The house is small and there is no one to attend to you.”

“It’s okay. There have been times when I have rolled in a narrower and dirtier place than this.”

“Alec…….”

As he inadvertently brought up the dungeon, her face suddenly became unclear, Alexis added quickly.

“It was boring. I had to wait for news from the castle. Still, it’s fine because you came here.”

“I should have come to you sooner, I’m sorry. My uncle was spending time with Luci, and I forgot because I was with them.”

Alexis imagined Kathleen and Luci with Cassiel Usmund the whole time. All three had the same hair color and eye color. It was worthy of being called the perfect image of a father, daughter, and grandson.

‘When other people see it, even if I’m not there, they can say that it’s a perfect family.’

He felt like he had lost his place, and he was jealous.

“If it makes your uncle feel better, then I don’t mind.”

But Alexis responded calmly, hiding such an appearance. He didn’t want Kathleen to find out about his ugly side of being jealous of her relatives.

She said with a reassuring smile.

“Please wait a little longer. I will definitely change my uncle’s mind.”

“Don’t try too hard. Your uncle will also need time to adjust.”

Alexis mimicked generosity quite familiarly. After all, Kathleen chose him and not her uncle, so the ultimate winner was not Cassiel Usmund. As he looked at Kathleen’s moved face, it occurred to him that he might concede to her for a moment or so.

Since there was only one chair in Grand Duke Walten’s room, they sat next to each other on the sofa. The sofa was smaller than the carriage chair they rode on when they came to Carmine, so they had no choice but to stick to each other.

For the first time, Alexis was satisfied with this cramped room.

“My uncle is already quite close with Luci. He even prepared snacks ahead of time, and put a swing in his garden.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It’s the first time I’ve seen Luci so happy. It seems like he has completely forgotten his mother.”

“Then he must have forgotten his dad too.”

“Oh, no. Of course, Luci was disappointed that he couldn’t see his father, but it was nice to see his grandfather again after a long time, so for a moment.….”

Kathleen quickly made excuses fearing that Alexis might have been offended, but then looked up at him, startled by the hand wrapped around her waist.

Alexis’ golden eyes filled with heat stared down at her.

“Sometimes I think it’s okay for Luci to forget us. Especially right at this moment.”

“Right now?”

“Yes. Just us alone, like now.”

He answered in a low voice and then lifted her waist with one arm and sat her on his lap. Kathleen’s heart, as she was caught in his arms, began to messily pound and beat.

“I wouldn’t be lonely if only you were here.”

Alexis whispered, kissing her blushing cheek.

“It’s been a while since you met your husband, so stay for a little while.”

***

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