CH 21.2

“He wondered because it was so long, but it was too strange to pass by, so he asked the other people in the castle and he said they were all angry. And . . .”

“And . . .?”

“Sometimes in the west building there were strange noises, like crying.”

This time Anne opened her mouth wide and laughed out loud. It was really absurd. She hadn’t heard a cry, let alone a small sob. Even during the day, the Grand Duke’s castle was enveloped in silence as if the veil of night had descended. If she had heard such a sound, she couldn’t have been unaware of it.

“How absurd.”

There were many resident workers as well as commuting workers in the Grand Duke’s castle. Wherever it was, the number was small, but there were also knights belonging to the Grand Duchy. Among them, she had not even heard of anyone who had heard crying.

“I’m telling the truth.”

Emily tapped her chest in frustration. Even though her shoulders shook as if to protest with her whole body that it was not a lie, Anne did not have any impressions.

“That happened fifty years ago?”

“Yes!”

“Then the scolded maids must have cried.”

Anne spoke casually, like Mrs. Wald, there must have been a stern chief handmaid before her.

“No. It sounded like a beast howling.”

“. . . A beast?”

Her brow furrowed in an instant. The sound of a beast’s cry, from the mountain facing the castle?

“The Miss should have been the Marchioness and lived happily ever after . . .”

As she spoke, sad tears welled up in Emily’s eyes. Even after she came to the North, she kept asking about Anne’s news. She was relieved by the news of her engagement, so she had wept as Anne became the Grand Duchess of the secret Grand Duke’s castle and did not know that they would meet here.

“I can’t help it . . . But did you follow me with such a serious face because of this story?”

It was strange that Emily had followed her just because of these false rumors. The atmosphere was serious, as if for some great reason, but it was because of some fairy tale like this.

“That’s actually . . .”

Just as Emily glanced at the door and opened her mouth, someone knocked on the door.

“Your Grace, it is Ashton.”

“Emily, would you like to go out for a while?”

At Anne’s quiet dismissal, Emily could not finish her words and left the room.

“His Grace invited you to dinner today.”

For some reason, Ashton came and said that the Grand Duke invited her for dinner. When she looked at him, she suddenly thought that he, the Grand Duke’s right hand might have the answer to her doubts.

No . . . Even if he knew, he wouldn’t tell me.

As the Grand Duke’s person, there was no way he would take her side. He was the person who had delivered the Grand Duke’s order himself— which she thought was very rude— on several occasions. A cold-hearted man who told her to take off her underwear without changing his complexion. He was in the same class as the Grand Duke, who didn’t show his emotions properly.

She thought she could try to get him to open up like she did with Marie, but from what she had seen so far, he wasn’t a man easily convinced. In the end, Anne gave up and answered quietly.

“I understand. Please tell him I’ll see him in the dining room.”

“He said that you should eat separately in His Grace’s bedroom.”

Something didn’t feel right. It was clear that he was thinking of bedding her again. Because the Grand Duke coveted her like a beast when night came.

Anne said she would go in time for dinner.

After all, it’s clear that he doesn’t sleep with Marie.

If she looked at the Grand Duke’s face in a complicated mood right now, she wouldn’t know what to say. Why did he deceive her by calling Marie a mistress?

As she looked at Ashton as he left, Anne was lost.

* * *

She called Emily back, but they said that the chief handmaid had taken her. After that, Anne was attended by the other handmaids and finished her grooming, and she headed to the Grand Duke’s room. As she traversed the hallway, she had yet to come to a conclusion.

It’s never too late to act after understanding the situation first.

Anne, who had made a decision, entered the living room. The bedroom, which had been full of heat last night, caught her eye. There were desks and furniture that she couldn’t see in detail because of the dim lighting, and luxurious decorations showing the Grand Duke’s taste.

Among them, there were objects that were so old that their history could not be estimated, and there were also exotic statues that she did not know the origins of. At first glance, they were all expensive items.

Anne walked across the room and found the Grand Duke without difficulty. He wasn’t in the room, but on the wide balcony.

Why did you prepare a meal on the balcony in this cold weather?

In the current weather, her breath frosted just by breathing. Trembling, Anne grabbed her shawl again and stepped onto the balcony.