Chapter 23

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Most importantly

A loud noise rang out when Atalante’s head bumped into the wall. 

The grand duke’s expression, which had been calm from the beginning, cracked for the first time. 

“Are you all right?”

Lionel murmured to himself, “Why was there a wall present in such a place”, and examined Atalante’s head with anxious eyes. 

Although a stranger, who happened to be her target to assassinate, touched her, her eyes were still locked in a daze. 

What did that crazy grand duke just say?

After confirming that Atalante’s head was fine, Lionel removed his hand reluctantly. 

After Atalante finally managed to come to her senses, she pushed the hand that was in the air roughly and asked. 

“Are you kidding me?”

Lionel wasn’t embarrassed, even though the back of his hand being hit by a woman was quite the awkward situation. 

He gracefully folded his hands behind his back and spoke with gleaming eyes. 

“I’ve always been serious. Ah, do you prefer playful men?”

“It’s not that!”

Unwittingly clenching her fist, Atalante struck her chest a couple of times. 

With a look of surprise, Lionel’s lips opened and closed, as if he wanted to say something again. 

However, Atalante was a little faster to ask again.

“Right now, you’re…proposing to me. Are you out of your mind?”

“Of course. Both my mind is intact, and my heart is sincere. Please marry me.”

A commoner, who was also the boss of the underground organisation, and His Highness the Grand Duke.

It made an overly ill-matching picture. 

Rather, a match between a lower aristocrat and a higher aristocrat, or a middle-class commoner and a nobleman, a marriage between individuals with such a huge difference in status had never happened before. 

Oh, I see. It might be possible if it was ‘unofficial’.

Laughing dryly, Atalante immediately opened her mouth. 

“You mean for me to become your mistress?”

As she spoke of the most plausible method, her eyes narrowed. 

No matter how much love he held due to the drug, a barrier known as reality exists. 

Lionel was speechless for a moment. ‘So that’s it,’ just as she was about to speak these words out aloud, his face that entered her vision was noticeably distorted. 

Just like a person that’s angry.

“Mistress?”

“Yes. There’s a world of difference between our statuses. Even if your words of love were sincere, it can’t be improved…”

“Haha, a mistress?”

Atalante’s retort was buried behind a despondent laugh.

Brushing his hair away with a slightly irritated gesture, Lionel looked at her with a determined gaze. 

“How can such a title be placed after your name, when it’s so dirty?”

“What?”

“Atalante, I’m telling you that I want to officially marry you.”

“…….”

“Please become the Grand Duchess of Blanc, and not some mistress.”

Grand Duchess?

The unfamiliar term rendered her mind blank. There were only three cases where ‘–bi’ was used in the continent. 

The Crown Princess of the Empire, the Queens and Princesses from vassal states, and the Grand Duchess from the Grand Duchy. 

[T/N: all of these terms are referring to the spouses of the men holding the corresponding title, and in korean their titles are denoted with the character ‘비’ which is ‘bi’. For example, the grand duke is 대공, while his legal wife is ‘대공비’]

‘Are you being serious?’

While the thought of mocking him for being unable to manage his feelings due to such a drug crossed her mind, for some reason she couldn’t even move her lips, let alone laugh. 

“Now and hereafter, there won’t be anything like a mistress. There’s only you.”

Holding Atalante’s hand once again, Lionel kissed the back of her hand in a reverent manner. 

It was the first time that Atalante realised a gesture like kissing could be so elegant and genial.

It was hard for her to protest because the contact was brief and fell immediately.  

The first marriage proposal that she had ever received was both plaintive and ardent, that she couldn’t bear to trample on it. 

But when has she ever done things with something like affection in mind?

“Everyone will scorn you.”

With a deliberately stern gaze, Atalante spoke with the intention to frighten the man that was holding her hand.  

However, her words didn’t frighten him and instead seems to have caused the Grand Duke to become confused. 

Letting out a short snort, Lionel interlocked their fingers with a gentle gesture. 

It felt strange when the warm and firm hands touched each other. 

There was an odd feeling, akin to a flutter…

It feels like strange excitement.

“It doesn’t matter to me, but if anyone dares to point their fingers at you, I’ll cut their hands off.”

‘I’ll take back everything I just said.’

All of a sudden, his warm skin seemed to turn into a cold blade.

Thanks to that, a dizzy sensation of a different kind became inscribed on each finger that was connected with his. 

“…That’s very kind of you to say so.”

Just looking at his face made him seem like an angel that descended from heaven, but all the words that came out of his pretty mouth were quite gruesome. 

“What’s important isn’t status or the standards of others.”

He’s quite adept at speaking such carefree words. 

On the contrary, the higher his position, the more he has to lose.

If he were to marry Atalante, while he was blinded by love… no, by drugs, he would obviously stand to lose a lot.

“Then what is it that’s important? Isn’t Your Highness an aristocrat?”

Staring at her sharp face blankly, a radiant smile appeared on Lionel’s face immediately. 

Lionel, who was staring at her sharp face, immediately smiled brightly.

“Of course it’s how you feel.”

“What?”

“The most important thing to me is whether you want to marry me.”

Although she thought that his words were absurd, her heart couldn’t help but pound. 

That her feelings were most important… Has anyone told her something like that?

There wasn’t anyone that understood Atalante’s feelings. To be more exact, it never happened.

She couldn’t even afford to take care of the feelings of those around her, as waking up the next morning was more important. 

Was it because of that? Unfortunately, she never took care of her own feelings either. 

An odd sensation that Atalante has never felt before coiled in her abdomen.

It was a strange feeling, both warm and numbing, that seems to have started boiling over from within. 

Struggling to shake off the sensation, Atalante uttered a sharp tone.

“…If I’m unwilling to?”

“If you’re unwilling to… Does that mean that you don’t want to marry me?”

There was puzzlement in his eyes. However, there was only puzzlement in his gaze, and not a domineering feeling of ‘how dare you’.

Thanks to the grand duke’s attitude, Atalante nodded her head slowly. 

It wasn’t a lie that she was unwilling.

Apart from the difference in their statuses, she didn’t intend to marry a man that she had a bad relationship with. 

The fact that his love doesn’t stem from his own will but from the ‘drug’ made it even more so. 

Lionel blinked for a moment, before the corners of his mouth formed a gentle line. 

“If that’s how you feel.”

“……”

“I’ll just have to make you feel inclined.”

His persistence could be felt from even the breath that he exhaled along with his words. 

She felt suffocated for a moment when she met those chilly eyes, as if she had run out of oxygen. 

“You will come to like me.”

Without fail.

The words he added contained groundless conviction.

Just as she was about to tremble inadvertently, Atalante managed to make a calm expression.

That’s a ridiculous story.

‘Why would I, towards you? The villain that tried to kill…’

Atalante had every reason to not like him. Even if they spent the whole day arguing about this. 

Noticing her rejecting gaze, Lionel took the initiative. 

“I’m not asking for an answer right away. However, I can expect a little room as payment for my favour, right?”

The man asked in a suppressed tone and an enthusiastic gaze, as if he was hoping for an immediate answer. 

Taking a step backwards to not ruin things, he even seemed anxious.

Should she thank the Grand Duke of the North, who was famed for doing as he pleases, for his patience? 

It was right for her to use whatever that was available, putting aside her embarrassment. 

No matter what, as long as she remains by Lionel’s side, she’ll be safe for the time being. 

With a smile, Atalante replied without hesitation. 

“Of course.”

Then, Atalante had no idea.

The kind of ‘effort’ will Lionel put in for her to marry him.

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It has been a long time since she went to bed comfortably.

When she starved during her childhood, she feared that she wouldn’t be able to open her eyes the next day, and after she became Argo’s boss, she was always wary of someone aiming for her neck, so she couldn’t let go of her tension and guard. 

As such, Atalante could count on one hand the number of days where she could close her eyes without worries. 

“I couldn’t sleep well most of the time.”

Due to her ‘occupation’, she was usually active at night. 

Additionally, it was such a soft bed covered in soft and white sheets that smelled good. 

Like she was melting, Atalante fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

When else would she be able to live in affluence? While her plan to run away didn’t go as planned, there was no reason that she shouldn’t enjoy it when such an opportunity came. 

As the small villain was sleeping, Paul’s pleading poured out of the Grand Duke’s bedroom. 

“Your Highness, do you really intend to take that person as the Grand Duchess?”

Paul glanced in the direction of the room Atalante was asleep in before asking in a strained voice. 

However, his Lord responded without even looking at Paul, who was desperate.

“Seventeen times.”

“What?”

“The number of times that you’ve asked whether I’m going to take her as my Grand Duchess. If I hear the same question again, I’m really going to get angry.”

Extremely.

At the words he added coldly, Paul’s shoulders shrank. 

“…B–but I can’t step aside on this matter. As the 341st Lord Chamberlain of the honourable Grand Duchy of Blanc!”

Lionel frowned, but Paul gathered all of his remaining courage and continued to speak.

“Isn’t it obvious what will happen if you take her as the Grand Duchess? Your Highness’s reputation isn’t good in the Empire as it is, a commoner…not to mention a criminal in the wanted list, as your partner! This is ridiculous. Your Highness’ position would be further narrowed than what it is currently.”

After speaking impassionedly, Paul caught his breath while looking up at Lionel. 

With the most desperate and pitiful expression he could make.

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