WHCCP 07

CHAPTER :07

At the resolute tone of my voice, Father’s eyes wavered like a candle flickering in the wind.

After all, Father was the last person to believe idle rumors.

“You were the one who told me, Father. You have to experience a person for yourself before passing judgment.”

“Exactly! Man, but seeing him in person earlier, he really was terrifying, though.”

I was trying to have a serious conversation with Father, but Cesar—who had been cowering quietly in the corner—suddenly chimed in.

At that, Father’s expression, which had seemed to calm down, twisted into a demonic grimace once more, and a thunderous roar erupted inside the carriage.

“You rascals! Just how much did you drink to go completely out of your minds?! One of you gets so drunk he can’t even stand, while the other goes and proposes to a total stranger…!”

I felt deeply wronged for being lumped in with Cesar, but I chose not to argue.

Father was currently thumping his chest to suppress his rage, and his aura was far too terrifying to provoke.

“Cesar. You are banned from touching a single drop of alcohol for the next three months.”

At Father’s swift decree, Cesar gasped and began to whine, but Father remained firm.

Leaving the devastated Cesar behind, Father looked me dead in the eye.

“Dahlia. You will go to the Duke of Valestein first thing tomorrow and apologize.”

He added that if I just apologized and explained that today’s event was a complete mistake, he would handle the rest of the fallout.

“Father!”

“Yes. As you said, the Duke might not be the man the rumors claim he is. But regardless, you know that your behavior today was completely unacceptable, don’t you?”

Unable to refute a single word, I shut my mouth.

“……Yes. I understand.”

Under Father’s stern command to visit the duchy tomorrow, I could do nothing but nod.

However, I silently apologized to him in my heart.

‘I’m sorry, Father.’

I would apologize just as he said, but I had absolutely no intention of leaving it at that.

***

The next day.

I visited Valestein Manor as soon as morning broke.

Led by the butler to the drawing room, I bounced my feet anxiously, trying to calm my racing heart.

Right then.

*Click.*

The drawing room door swung open, and a man dressed in training wear stepped inside.

He walked over and casually sank into the sofa across from me.

Setting down my teacup, I offered a greeting in a slightly trembling voice.

“Hello. I am Dahlia Feldloran.”

“…….”

But when no response came even after a long wait, I gingerly raised my head and locked eyes with the Duke.

“*Hic.*”

‘He’s terrifying.’

Merely being under his gaze, the sharp aura he exuded was so suffocating that a hiccup slipped out of me.

His ash-gray eyes, devoid of any emotion, were so piercing they felt as if they were peering straight into my soul.

Inside the stiflingly quiet drawing room…

“*Hic, hic.*”

The sound of my hiccups echoed loudly and embarrassingly over and over again.

The fierce-eyed man stared blankly at my face in silence before finally uttering his name in a low murmur.

“……Evan.”

Normally, it was basic etiquette for nobles to introduce themselves with their full names.

Otherwise, one was highly likely to be ridiculed behind their back for being uncultured.

But the Duke seemed completely unbothered by such trivialities.

Just then, the Duke reached over, personally refilled my empty teacup, and spoke.

“Anyone would think I’m about to eat you alive.”

My eyes widened in surprise at this thoughtful gesture, which stood in stark contrast to his rough, dry tone.

“Th-thank you.”

I was dazed by the unexpected kindness, but that wasn’t the priority right now.

Since curing these persistent hiccups was far more urgent, I threw decorum to the wind and gulped down the tea.

Fortunately, it worked. Just as I breathed a sigh of relief when the hiccups stopped…

“What brings you to my estate?”

The Duke, sitting across from me, cut straight to the point the moment he saw I had calmed down.

“I came to apologize. I have no excuse for what happened at the banquet. I am truly sorry.”

I bowed my head slightly toward him as I offered my apology for yesterday.

At that, the Duke replied in an indifferent voice.

“I’m glad you are aware.”

Lifting my head slightly, I saw the Duke tilting his head askew, studying me.

I looked at him with wonder and thought to myself:

‘He’s a bit different from how I remember him two years from now.’

In my memories, the Duke was a stone-faced, cold-blooded man—easily fitting the rumors of having ice running through his veins.

Yet the Duke sitting before me was both similar to and different from that memory.

While his domineering aura was just as imposing, he exuded a much stronger presence of a wild, unpredictable beast.

After a brief silence, the Duke spoke again.

“What were you thinking?”

“That is…….”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer his question easily.

Would he even believe me if I told him I did it because I couldn’t stand seeing him become the subject of noble gossip?

As I hesitated, unable to answer, his low voice sounded again.

“It was my first time receiving a proposal from someone who looked like they were about to cry, so I asked out of curiosity. Though seeing you now, it seems it was just a drunken mistake or a prank.”

My eyes went wide at his blunt manner of speaking.

Having been born a noble and trained to control even the pitch of my voice, his unfiltered tone felt incredibly refreshing.

And there was one more thing.

‘Did he ever live in another country?’

I thought I caught a faint, unique accent in his voice that differed from the Empire’s, but—

—as I replayed his words in my head, I realized this was no time to be marveling at his way of speaking.

I tried to speak quickly, but the Duke was one step ahead.

“I have accepted your apology. I will not hold this against you in any way, so you may leave now.”

With those final words, he swiftly walked out of the drawing room.

I stared at his retreating back, utterly dumbfounded.

I hadn’t even said what I came here to say. I scrambled up and rushed after him.

“*Pant, pant.* Wait! Please, wait!”

He walked so incredibly fast that I barely caught up with him as he headed toward the training grounds.

Desperate, I reached out and grabbed the hem of his coat, which finally made his long strides come to a halt.

“Do you have more to say?”

The Duke knit his brows, clearly not expecting me to follow him all the way here.

Judging by his resolute demeanor, I had a strong premonition that if I didn’t speak now, I would never get another chance.

If things continued this way, this man would be forced into an imperial-arranged political marriage within a month.

‘I don’t want him to live that kind of life again.’

Swallowing hard, I looked straight into his clear gray eyes and spoke.

“My proposal was sincere. Please marry me! I’ll take responsibility and protect you!”

I didn’t know what had brought the Duke to me that day.

But one thing was certain: in this life, I wanted to protect him.

Rather than being looked down on for his birth and trapped in a marriage worse than strangers, marrying me would be infinitely better.

*Clatter.*

*Thud.*

*Clang.*

Right then, a series of heavy metallic clangs and thuds rang out nearby.

Turning my head toward the source of the noise, I saw several knights, who had been in the middle of active training, staring at us with wide, gaping mouths, their dropped swords scattered on the ground.