CH 20

“S–save me.”

Only the mouths of these frozen women’s faces moved as they pleaded to Archduke Kyar.

“I don’t think I’m the one you should be begging for to save all of you.”

Archduke Kyar’s gaze turned towards Isabella and the women’s eyes followed him, watching her with tears leaking at the corner of their eyes.

“Save us.”

“You don’t even have the common sense to know not to disrespect her. To me, she will always come first.”

These arrogant women’s lips trembled from Archduke Kyar’s frosty words.

This was what they get for ignoring her.

“I’m sorry for being rude. Please save me.”

“I’m sorry. Please save me.”

Isabella quickly glanced at Duke Kyar after hearing their fearful apology.

“Stop it now. I’m perfectly alright.”

Isabella said, and the cold air permeating from the Duke’s body disappeared.

Only then did the frozen women return to normal.

“Oh, my. Archduke Kyar must have been upset.”

At that moment, she heard Prince Victor’s deep baritone behind him.

Smiling lazily, he looked around the ruined banquet hall.

“I should better look forward to the next time we meet.”

Captivated by his charms, the women quickly left the banquet after it ended.

Before she knew it, only four people remained in this spacious banquet hall, except for the butlers and maidservants.

“You never disappoint me, Allen. Just as I expected.”

Victor grinned widely as he settled a hand on Duke Kyar’s shoulder.

“You forced me to be here on purpose.”

Duke Kyar’s teeth were clenched as he spoke to Victor.

“Are you aware that my sister, Her Majesty, is having a hard time getting married? It was a hassle for me to send aristocratic sons to visit my castle at will.”

Victor smiled as he glanced around their surroundings again.

“I was busy thinking about strategies on how to make you mad. But my dilemma was solved quickly, thanks to this pretty woman in front of me.”

Now Isabella understood why only women loitered the Banquet Hall because Prince Victor’s goal was to ruin his banquet all along.

Prince Victor was a strange man.

Maybe, this was the reason why Duke Kyar didn’t like him much.

“If you use me like this the next time, I would freeze the entire castle.”

Archduke Kyar warned.

Prince Victor merely smiled and waved his hand in dismissal.

“Okay, I got it, alright? I see that Allen still has a bad temper. Anyway, should we start enjoying the party now? The four of us–”

Ignoring Victor’s words, Duke Kyar turned around to reach Isabella’s hand so that he could get her out of the banquet.

Kyle hurriedly followed the two.

“Do you remember the names of the women who ignored you?”

Archduke Kyar asked as he dragged her back to the carriage.

Isabella shook her head ‘no.’

“Arinne Viktor, Lilia Casas, Luna Lipetto.”

Kyle answered on her behalf as he trailed after them.

How on earth does Kyle remember all those names?

“The atmosphere was tense, so I listened from behind you.”

Kyle’s dark eyes glittered with anger.

“Good job, Kyle.”

Duke Kyar’s hand reached out to pat Kyle’s black hair and stroked it lightly.

Kyle looked up at him in surprise when he felt his touch.

It was the first time Duke Kyar stroked his head, and Kyle’s blush was adorable.

“I can’t let this issue go. I have ignored you. I shouldn’t have left you with Kyle to find Victor.” Subdued, Prince Kyar muttered, and Isabella winced.

“I don’t want to.”

“You have to make them pay the price,” Kyle said coldly, and  Isabella’s eyes widened.

How can such a cute boy say such a scary thing?

Isabella was devastated.

“Young master Kyle, that’s not—”

“That’s a good idea, Kyle. Those who ignore my people should not be forgiven that easily. They have to pay me back twice, no, several times.”

She didn’t know what the hell Duke Kyar was teaching the child.

As Isabella looked at the two angry men, she felt the urge to knead her aching temples.

“I’m fine.”

This was only natural in a society with a status quo.

She, a commoner, wasn’t supposed to go to the party in the first place.

Nevertheless, Duke Kyar should have refused Kyle’s wish.

He noticed that she seemed to be having regrets from her expression, and Duke Kyar looked at her sharply.

“But we are not okay with it.”

Dazed and speechless, Isabella could only face the window as she kept in mind not to mess with these two.

++

The party ended without even the three of them enjoying it properly.

Isabella never wanted to hear the word ‘party’ ever again.

It was a very tiring day for her— physically and mentally.

Exhausted,  she fell asleep the instant she returned Duke Kyar’s villa.

She felt a little refreshed after sleeping so well.

“Isabella, are you alright? You look exhausted!”

Isabella nodded slowly at Ignis’ concern.

“I’m fine today, but last night was terrible.”

Isabella sighed inwardly when he recalled Victor’s party.

It was a bad memory she didn’t want to dwell on anymore.

“—but I’m still looking forward to the events today. I’m going to the market.”

When she came to Arpeon, she wanted to visit the most was Foyna Market.

All these medicines were gathered in the largest market in Arpeon.

Isabella hurriedly finished her preparations for the visit, and he prayed that she could find the herbs she needed for the antidote there.

After descending downstairs, she saw two men waiting for her at the Ding Hall.

“Did you sleep well?”

Both men didn’t sleep well, and their anger wasn’t relieved yet.

“Hurry up and eat so that all of us can go to the Poina Market. Stop asking me if I’m all right.”

Kyle smiled lightly, and she could tell that he was fine.

Isabella didn’t attempt to gaging Duke Kyar’s mood further and focused on eating.

He said he didn’t want to stay alone in the villa, so Duke Kyar tagged along.

She rode a carriage to get to Poina Market, and a huge crowd had already gathered there since this morning.

Isabella got off the wagon and looked around the Poina Market excitedly.

“It’s noisy.” Duke Kyar frowned, hating to see such a large number of people.

“You can just stay in the villa.”

Isabella found his presence bothersome after the Duke gave her a hint and followed him here.

“I hate not seeing you more than all this noise.”

Isabella learned from experience that it is best not to respond.

It’s already been more than a month since she was with him, and the second month was fast approaching.

Perhaps because many things seemed to have happened in such a short time, it felt like a year had already passed.

“Well, shall we drink tea first? There’s a perfect tea house here.”

At her suggestion, the two men nodded silently.

The three passed through the central street where a giant statue of Prince Victor stood, and then,  they entered the tea house.

She ordered a cake and paired it with high-quality black tea.

Duke Kyar’s villa manager said that this tea house is trendy.

Isabella heard conversations from the people sitting in the back.

“Have you heard about the first princess of the Lillit Kingdom?”

“I heard she tried to poison the prince.”

“—and then she ran away from the Lilit Kingdom. She was on a wanted list here, too.”

The story of the Lilith Kingdom seemed to have interested a lot of people, maybe because the Kingdom was directly adjacent to Arpeon.

Isabella was also curious to hear more.

The princess who tried to poison the crown prince and ran away from the Kingdom was Seria, the female protagonist.

The events had happened because of their Queen’s conspiracy, the stepmother of Seria.

The crown prince was the son of the stepmother, the queen.

The foolish king perfectly fell into the queen’s grand scheme and considered Seria as a thorn in her eye.

In the original novel, Archduke Kyar had avenged Seria because of this, but that was in the distant future.

Isabella felt sorry for the female protagonist, who had turned into a fugitive, wandering around the Acnis Empire by herself.

“Your Highness.” She called Duke Kyar carefully and one of his eyebrows lifted.

“Do you know about the Lilit Kingdom?”

“I’m not interested in such a small kingdom. Why? If you want it-”

“No. I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

She had no idea why the story continuously flowed like this, and it was her fault to expect a normal conversation with him.

In the meantime, the black tea and cake they had ordered came out.

“Wow, it’s so delicious.”

Kyle exclaimed.

His eyes had widened the instant he tasted the food.

“Right? It suits my taste.”

It seemed to fit with Duke Kyar’s taste even though he was picky.

He ate the cake and the tea she chose without any complaints.

After enjoying the delicious desserts, the three people came out of the tea house and walked to a nearby medicine store.

Isabella’s eyes grew as big as saucers as she stared at different kinds of herbs on the medicine table excitedly.

“Oh, this herb is here.”

She never thought she would find a precious herb that resembles the ginseng over here.

It was a herb that was hard to acquire, but it seemed like unexpected luck had followed me.

“How much is this herb?”

Isabella asked the owner of the medicine shop for the price of herbs.