CH 236

Chapter 236: Not Dimitri

Danil Lyurik. Eldest son of Duke Lyurik, and closest advisor to the crown prince of Chrichton. The man standing at the lake was not Dimitri, but Danil Lyurik.

Even when she was back in Chrichton, she never really had any conversation with him. Dimi hated more than anything when Rihannan mingled with people who worked for the crown prince while going in and out of the palace, so Rihannan made sure to avoid those kinds of people as much as she could. Yet this man was standing here, in Arundell.

While Rihannan wasn’t able to speak for a moment due to the shock, Danil quickly closed in and covered her mouth with his hand. He then dragged her to a boat that was prepared beforehand. After losing consciousness due to the shock during that process, she woke up to find herself here.

“Just what are you planning? Why have you brought me here?”

Danil simply nodded without making up any excuse or denial. His smug attitude made her even more angry.

“Duke Lyurik. Did you perhaps forget who I am?”

“No, I know very well. Queen of Arundell.”

Shuffling towards her, he quickly reached the front of the bed. His large body structure towering over her was enough for anyone who became frightened. Rihannan hid her emotion of fear by getting rid of her expression of nervousness. She didn’t want to show any sign of weakness right now.

“You know well, so why have you kidnapped me here? I will not ask you again after this. Let me go free immediately. If you do so, then I will not tell anyone else what you’ve done.”

“Rihannan Allesin. No, perhaps I should call you Rihannan Cessca from now on.”

He suddenly grabbed Rihannan’s chin with his hand. Due to his immense strength and rough handling, she couldn’t get out of the way. Rihannan’s expression became filled with anger immediately. Her blue eyes that were always calm and serene now looked as if it was a storm brewing in the sea as her lips trembled as well. Looking at her that way for a moment, he let out a comment from his mouth.

“…So you can make this kind of expression now, huh.”

“…What?”

He let go of her chin, then put the candle holder down onto the small bedside table next to the bed. He then crossed his arms and looked down at her.

“Whenever I saw you next to Princess Helena, you always looked like an emotionless doll. Like someone that had no hope for the future at all.”

Those words were similar to what Helena had once said in the past. She once commented to Rihannan that she looked like she was someone that wasn’t curious as to what tomorrow could bring. Realizing that someone that wasn’t by her every moment like Helena could study her this much to the point of making the same kind of comment, Rihannan felt shivers go down her spine.

“But to my surprise, it looks like you look like someone that’s alive here.”

“How is it that you know of that song?”

Rihannan ignored his comment, and threw him a question. The song that was written on the piece of paper was a song that Dimi made by altering the lyrics of a Chrichton folk song. It was definitely not a song that someone that she never really talked to at all in her childhood should know.

“That’s the song that Dimi used to sing to me when we were young, so why do you know!?”

“I heard from Princess Helena.”

Rihannan’s expression became filled with shock. Did Helena agree to help out with this kidnapping?

He stared at Rihannan’s confused expression, and slyly lifted the end of his mouth in a grin.

“I’m only going to say this since I don’t want to make any unnecessary awkward misunderstandings. Princess Helena simply answered the crown prince’s question without any particular thought, that was all.”

“If that’s the case, were you using information you’ve gathered from Helena in order to capture me?”

“It’s not easy to trick the queen into leaving the palace after all… We had been thinking of a variety of ways to achieve that. At first we were thinking of using Count Clovis, but that plan went out the window when the king suddenly put him in jail. Your sister from another mother was there by coincidence, so we made use of her instead.”

“…My sister from another mother?”

“Did you not know? Your sister is currently in jail for trying to take your life not long ago.”

Rihannan stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. It was honestly the first time she was hearing about this.

“Judging by your expression, it looks like you didn’t know about it at all. You brought merchants to your place because of your birthday celebration not long ago, right? During that time, Leticia hid amongst the merchants and tried to kill you. The king immediately captured her and put her in jail.”

“How could she do such…”

“The king had ordered to capture both Count Clovis as well as Leticia after all. The woman was only able to barely escape with her life thanks to me but became a fugitive. That woman wished to enact her revenge, and I used that emotion to my advantage. After laying some Arc’s Stones around the queen’s palace while they were distracted trying to capture Leticia, the king immediately sent you out to the royal villa just as I had expected.”

Only then Rihannan learned of the reason why she was suddenly sent to the royal villa. Her safety was the reason why she was being sent.

But why did he not tell her that reason to her? While thinking of why he would act in such a way, Rihannan soon realized how she had been treating him this whole time. Whenever he wished for her to listen to him, she would always vehemently go against doing such a thing. She also once lashed out in anger telling him she didn’t want to hear anything about Leticia as well. Which was why he wasn’t able to tell her even if he did want to tell her.