CH 58.1

Robert’s face went pale. The one and only Grand Duke in this country had the power to trample their family at any moment.

Then Robert fell flat on the floor. Trembling, he lowered his forehead to the dirt-covered ground like a slave. It was too late for him to realize just how bad the situation would be as long as the Grand Duke made up his mind.

He was so terrified that he was now looking servile and rolled up his back. He was trembling so much . . . Finally, he seemed to remember what the Grand Duke was like..

“Your Grace . . . it’s a . . . Misunderstanding! I’m just . . . trying to correct Angroanne’s habit, she was trying to trick you. Angroanne dared to run away.”

Anne couldn’t help but laugh with bewilderment. Even at this moment, she burst into laughter at his cowardice using her as an excuse. He seemed to think that the Grand Duke would spare him if he said this.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know that?”

The Grand Duke’s voice, so low and cold to sweep the ground, shook the dark forest. A strong gust of wind blew and the birds hiding in the trees flew up. Robert’s face turned pitifully bluish from the gloomy cold energy.

“It’s ridiculous that the likes of you would dare to intervene in a couple’s affairs. Don’t expect to die of old age.”

It was the last warning from the Grand Duke. As he tugged hard on the reins, his horse began to trudge and stamp its feet.

Robert, impatient, jumped up, spread his arms, and stopped the horse. And again he uttered foolish words.

“Angroanne, say something! Don’t you know? Father and I are— for you—”

Looking down from the horse, Robert looked really small. He wasn’t even worth answering, but Anne coldly spit it out as she guessed that it would be the last time.

“Robert Libelois, as of today, I am no longer part of the Libelois family. Don’t even think about seeing my face again.”

Robert’s face collapsed in a mess.

“Angroanne, I didn’t want to do this either. It was for the family . . .”

He didn’t apologize and made excuses until the end. Anne turned her head with a tired face. She would be inclined to live in the public eye all her life that was why she had never been able to definitively cut out her family.

However, seeing the bottom like this, there was no reason to look at them anymore.

This is really the end.

The lovely dream was just a dream.

The Grand Duke grabbed her by the waist and tugged at the reins he was holding in his other hand, kicking his feet.

* * *

Probably taking a shortcut, the horse ran vigorously through the middle of the forest rather than on a well-maintained road.

A fierce wind pierced her face endlessly. The Grand Duke, noticing that she was cold, wrapped a cloak around her shoulder and embraced her.

Anne curled her body and she leaned deeply into his arms as if to hide her face. She wanted to hide somewhere, but in the current situation, all she could do was turn her face away. She smelled the blood on him.

Tears began to flow as the tension was finally relieved. Anne sobbed silently so as not to be noticed by the Grand Duke. She felt ashamed and sad that she had such a family.

The sound was small enough to be drowned out by the clatter of the horse’s hooves, but the Grand Duke could sense the small shoulders in his arms shook slightly and his chest slowly became wet. Perhaps reading her mind, the Grand Duke covered her small body with his cloak even deeper. He must have hated her, but the touch he gave her was so kind that she kept thinking about other things.

The horse ran for a long time.

Anne opened her eyes, which she had closed to avoid the blowing wind. It was still a forest, but an open field opened before her eyes. She didn’t know how long it had been, but as she rode on the horse, her sobs had stopped and she managed to control her chest.

“Wa . . . Wait.”

However, her body continued to shake and she just got a shock, so she was feeling sick. Her dry hand, trying to hold on, gripped the Grand Duke’s cloak with difficulty.

The Grand Duke, who belatedly noticed that Anne’s condition was not good, let go of the reins. He realized that she couldn’t run like this anymore with a pale face that covered her mouth with her shoulders trembling.

He frowned as he realized that he hadn’t taken her stamina into account. The belated regret that if he had known this, he would have stopped by a village, was useless since they had already entered the forest.

When he couldn’t even find a private house to be indebted to, the Grand Duke bit his lip and looked around.

“I think we should rest here.”

The Grand Duke, who first balanced Anne so that she did not fall, jumped off the horse. After that, he stretched out his arms to Anne. Anne thought for a moment, then reluctantly hugged him by the nape of his neck. She felt as if she was a child as she went down, hugged by him.

“There is nowhere to sleep around here. If we can take a short break here and leave tomorrow morning, we will arrive in the North by evening.”

After standing for a while, she nodded. The Grand Duke settled down on the widest part of the flat ground. Afterwards, he gave water to his horse at a nearby lake and rested his horse near a tree.