Chapter 30

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The Grand Duke’s woman

The carriage prepared by the grand duke for the woman he had fallen for, with slight exaggeration, could turn into a decent room. 

‘The carriage the Emperor had prepared for me was great, but this is too…’

Although Atalante’s feet were outstretched, it didn’t even touch the opposite side, and there would still be quite a distance even if her legs were twice as long. 

The movement of the carriage was also so gentle that she would have forgotten that she was in a carriage if it wasn’t for the constantly changing landscape. 

If she had to name a flaw, would it only be the fact that she felt apologetic towards the horses that are pulling the carriage? 

“Are you uncomfortable

Lionel was seated diagonally to Atalante as if it was a matter of course, and asked with furrowed brows. 

Unlike Rubel and Paul, the grand duke didn’t seem to mind her unladylike behaviour. 

And that attitude of his embarrassed Atalante frequently. She was sure that there wasn’t anyone that looked at her with such a tolerant gaze. 

“It’s just that the carriage is too big for two people.”

Although she had spoken about her thoughts honestly, Lionel gave a faint smile, perhaps finding something amusing. 

“You’d noticed it accurately. I ordered the widest carriage in the Empire.”

“Why did you have to…”

“It’s because I have to spend quite a long period of time alone in an enclosed space.”

Atalante was a little impatient, but the grand duke gave her a mysterious smile.

“It seems that it’s natural for men and women from noble families to keep such a distance.”

Completely not comprehending his thoughts, Atalante forcibly swallowed the words, ‘what a waste of money,’ and pretended to be calm while asking questions.

This time round, his laughter became a little more jovial.

Lionel, whose face is dyed in a cool light, swept up his slightly dishevelled silver hair and replied.

“Let’s just say that’s the case.”

In the first place, there wasn’t a reason for him to ride in the same carriage with another woman. 

“We’ll be arriving at the Warp Gate soon. Please make yourself at home.”

Hiding his innermost thoughts, Lionel turned towards the window and glanced out at the sky that was starting to darken. 

‘What do you mean warp, this person has too much money.’

She couldn’t believe that she’s going to travel by warping, for a distance that could be traversed in 10 days on a horse.

Atalante couldn’t understand his spending at all.

But there was an error in her deliberation, which was that it usually took more than a month to travel to the capital from the West.

Of course, Atalante had no idea that she had been travelling towards her destination at an inhuman speed.

“Aren’t you tired? You can rest.”

“I don’t know what Your Highness will do, so I won’t be sleeping.”

Instead of denying Atalante’s reasonable suspicions, Lionel merely softly glossed over them with a “Hmm…”

“The festive mood is already in full swing.”

“I guess that the Grand Duchy doesn’t particularly celebrate the Empire’s founding?”

“I would send a delegation as per scheduled, but it isn’t special as it’s not the founding day of my Grand Duchy.”

Firstly, the grand duke’s status should also be received from the Thessalia Imperial Family, so his opinion went against common sense. 

Atalante, who gave up on pointing it out, stared at the landscape where the heated atmosphere was rampant.

Lionel looked at Atalante with an intriguing gaze, and whispered.

“But I’m looking forward to this year’s Foundation Festival.”

Even before Atalante could awkwardly ask why, an affable voice entered her ears.

“It’s because I have you.”

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By the time Atalante and her party arrived at Warp Gate, the capital was already in a great mess.

It was because of the rumours that spread quickly.

‘The Grand Duke, Lionel Blanc, is bringing back a woman from the West!’

Families with daughters that were at their prime for marriage pretended to pity that woman, but their hearts ached badly. 

It’s because his power and wealth were more than tempting enough to offset Lionel’s temper and horrible backbiting.

‘Was the position of Grand Duchess being snatched away by a Western hillbilly?’

‘That can’t happen. This was because for each generation, the grand duchesses came from the capital’s aristocracy.’

‘There’s still a chance. As nothing has been confirmed, when the banquet officially begins, his attention must be taken away, no matter what.’

All the noblewomen were of the same opinion, and they did their best to groom their respective daughters.

In the meantime, they couldn’t help but wonder. Who in the world was the woman that the Grand Duke was bringing?

“Does he have any relatives in the West?”

When a young lady carefully revealed her conjecture, the other young ladies used their fans to cover the ridiculing curve of their lips. 

“I’ve never heard of the Grand Ducal family interacting with their relatives. The Blanc family, where offspring were rare and precious, doesn’t have any blood relatives except the current head of the family.”

“That’s true, but…”

The young lady whose conjecture was completely denied, blushed and stuttered. 

A blonde young lady that looked at her pityingly, Esma, changed the subject by clapping her hands.

In high society, where their reputation can become a mess with a sentence, that young lady could become even more humiliated if someone takes her side for no reason. 

“I heard that he came to the capital to find his fiancée, perhaps he has finally met his other half?”

The eyebrows of the young ladies furrowed immediately, but Esma was the youngest child of Count Evita, who could be safely concluded as the person in charge of funds for the Imperial faction. 

“Well, that could be possible. If that’s the case, then that would be a very romantic story.”

“I think that woman is amazing, too. If it was me, even if he was a grand duke, I would decline a man with such a temperament.”

“He might be different towards the person he loves. He might become more gentle and amiable after meeting his fiancée.”

Esma’s words that were like the spring sunshine, forced the young ladies to stop belittling the grand duke and the woman he was bringing.

“…That should be the case. It’s just that it’s a little disappointing. I was expecting that one of us would become the Grand Duchess.”

Young Lady Milvia from the County of Sera, the one with the strongest desire to win within the circle of young ladies from the Imperial faction, uttered relatively dangerous remarks.

“The current Grand Duke isn’t on friendly terms with the Emperor. It would have been better if such a Grand Duke could be perfectly pulled over to the Imperial faction like the previous generations of grand dukes.”

“Young Lady Sera, don’t talk too much.”

As soon as Milvia finished talking, Young Lady Vanessa, the daughter of a Marquis, who stood at the center of the group gave a warning in an elegant voice.

“I hope that the Young Lady won’t forget the fact that your brother, Young Lord Pietro, was criticised for his frequent slip of the tongue.”

Although she was offended by the words that mentioned her family, Milvia merely glared at Vanessa without adding any other words. 

“Firstly, understanding the situation is very important. As Young Lady Sera had mentioned, it would have been more than a perfect situation if one of us was linked to the Grand Duke… There isn’t anyone that would stand out first, is there?”

In actual fact, other than Esma, everyone present secretly wanted to be Lionel’s partner, but they all hid their innermost thoughts.

It hurt their pride to unanimously say that the person that’s in their hearts was someone that’s criticised. 

“Of course.”

Milvia glanced at the young ladies that couldn’t answer easily with a disappointed gaze, before answering resolutely. 

Soon after, with a satisfied smile on her face, Vanessa whispered such words.

“In that case, first of all, we need to identify the woman that the Grand Duke is bringing and pull her in our direction.”

Before the aristocratic faction moved.

Vanessa’s golden eyes, a symbol of the late artist Elphiorim, were dyed in a strange light, as she surveyed through the seated young ladies like she was looking for a response.

Of course, they had no reason not to nod their heads.

“…Ah, come to think of it, my skin has become a mess because I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”

A young lady brushed against her cheek exaggeratedly and opened her mouth, perhaps to reverse the bloodthirsty atmosphere. 

“Oh dear! What happened? Did something unpleasant happen to you?”

Expression turning worried instantly, Esma asked in a sincere tone. 

“It’s because of the villain Atalante.”

Her reply caused the other young ladies to let out voices of agreement.

But instead of empathising with her, Esma only fiddled with her fingers awkwardly.

‘It has already been a month since she was placed on the wanted list, but there isn’t any news. I’m so nervous that I can’t live like this. 

“That ferocious woman does terrible things to aristocrats, regardless of gender.”

“There’s more than one person around me that was a victim of that villain. She’s actually the garbage that should have been disposed of immediately.”

As the insults towards Atalante continued, Esma’s face turned paler and paler. 

‘She isn’t such a bad person…’

Although she was very scary, she didn’t enjoy brutally killing, and the more she looked at her the more she found her…to be a lovely person. 

The fact that she was aware of this yet unable to speak a line in her defence, made Esma uncomfortable.

“It just occurred to me that Atalante is similar to His Highness in various ways.”

“Right. If they were of the same status, they would have been a fated match.”

The sound of ridiculing laughter grated on her ears. Although she followed them and gave an awkward smile, it didn’t stop grating on Esma’s nerves internally.

“That’s too much… What do you mean Grand Duke Blanc? Atalante is a hundred and a thousand times more precious than him.”

But Esma wasn’t aware. That the grand duke of Blanc was completely bewitched by Atalante, because of the drug she made.

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