PMBA | Chapter 19

Immediately, her body was seized, as if bound by chains.

“Let go!” 

Kyrie instinctively struggled, but the force holding her was overwhelming, impossible for her to resist.

“What is the meaning of this?!” 

Kyrie forced her head to the side. 

She saw the Ducal guards pinning her down with all their might. Unlike the person who had carefully held her while she removed her bandages, their hands were rough and merciless. The bandages the Duke had wrapped so meticulously were now disheveled.

“Let go of me!”

As Kyrie thrashed, something was forced into her mouth.

“No!”

Turning her head, scraping her face against the floor, she saw Johansson’s contorted face.

“Stay still!”

His face, much like when he told her to just die, was twisted in a grimace. His trembling hand pushed something into her mouth, held open by the guards. Kyrie recognized the small, round, smooth object. The same thing she had fed to the servants at the Crown Prince’s Palace, the same thing she’d tried to give Lexion.

The same thing that had once been a daily occurrence.

‘Sedatives.’ 

If she swallowed this here, it was over.

“Get… this… out…!”

“Ugh!”

As she bit down hard on Johansson’s hand, the pills spilled into her mouth. Then, a water bottle was pressed against her lips. She couldn’t avoid the cold water flooding her mouth. She swallowed involuntarily.

Veron’s cold voice reached her ears, 

“Rumors are spreading that you pushed Elise down the stairs yesterday.”

“Wha… what…?” 

What was he talking about? 

She was the one who had been pushed, in front of everyone. She was the one who had fallen, discarded like a broken toy.

And they were saying she pushed Elise?

“And that you didn’t return because you were afraid of punishment. His Highness said so himself.”

Lexion?

Kyrie stared at Veron in disbelief, her vision blurring. The movement dislodged the loosely wrapped bandages from her head.

What was he talking about? Couldn’t he see? She was the one who was injured.

“Father has decided he can no longer stand by and do nothing.”

What…?

What kind of rumors had spread in just one day, while she was unconscious? What lies had they concocted this time?

As Kyrie’s consciousness faded, a flash of auburn hair blurred behind Veron.

“Don’t worry, Elise.”

“Brother.”

“His Highness intends to announce your engagement, so no one in the Empire will be able to harm you now.”

‘Elise.’

She couldn’t see Elise’s eyes. Her vision was too blurry.

It felt like an intense déjà vu. As if she had been transported back to her stepmother’s funeral years ago.

Her mother’s pendant necklace, rattling in her pocket amidst the chaos and fading consciousness, slipped out and fell somewhere.

No. 

She had only just gotten it back. 

Why…?

“…ished.”

“…to… be sent…”

‘Why?’

As her consciousness slipped away, parts of their conversation echoed in her ears. She bit her tongue, but all she tasted was blood, and her vision continued to darken.

Help me.

The last thing she saw was a pair of silver eyes looking down at her.

* * *

“Congratulations, Your Majesty.”

A low, emotionless voice echoed across the gleaming marble floor.

“Lexion’s engagement… As his cousin, I’m deeply moved.”

The Emperor showed no reaction to the polite congratulations.

He seemed remarkably calm for a man whose son had announced his engagement overnight, without even consulting him. Less than two days had passed since Kyrie’s fall before Lexion announced his engagement to Elise Ernberg.

Dominique, upon hearing the news the afternoon after returning Kyrie to the Ducal residence, twisted his lips into a smirk. But in front of the Emperor, he spoke calmly,

“Well, Lexion is also of marriageable age. It’s about time.”

Dominique traced the rim of his teacup, his mind searching for the reason his controlling uncle was so calm about his son’s sudden engagement.

‘Is it because of the ledger he expects to gain through the engagement with Ernberg?’

The Duke’s ledger, rumored to contain the list of weaknesses of many nobles.

Dominique was skeptical of its existence, even though it had been mentioned several times during his investigations.However…

‘There’s no way the Emperor would allow a mere noble family to possess such a thing.’

Lexion seemed to believe it, though…

‘Then what other advantage is there?’

As Dominique pondered, the Emperor replied casually,

“It’s just an engagement, not a marriage.”

“….”

“There are other families interested in Lexion, so you never know.”

‘Aha.’ 

An engagement and a marriage were different. An engagement could be broken at any time. He was implying that it wasn’t a big deal. It seemed other families vying for Lexion were offering the Emperor bribes, hoping he would reconsider the engagement. And it was proving quite profitable.

Dominique hid his amusement with a smile.

‘In any case, thanks to those two getting together…’

Kyrie Ernberg had made him an offer. So, from Dominique’s perspective, their engagement wasn’t bad news for him.

The Emperor changed the subject.

“Duke. I heard you were disrespectful to the Duchess of Melua.”

As he spoke, a sound came from one of the numerous birdcages lining the walls of the Emperor’s study.

Flutter, thud.

Dominique glanced at the cage. The Emperor, watching him intently, spoke in a stern voice, feigning concern like a caring uncle, “Aren’t you the one who’s more in need of marriage, Duke Haswell?”

“….”

“You’ve missed your prime marriage years, running around on the battlefield.”

He was pretending that he hadn’t been the one obstructing Dominique’s marriage prospects, but Dominique didn’t bother pointing it out.

“I’ve been neglecting your marriage, it seems. So I’ve been searching for a suitable partner, someone who would be beneficial to you in many ways.”

“Is that so?”

It was somewhat amusing that the “beneficial” partner he’d chosen was the Duchess of Melua. He must have been afraid of the backlash if he’d offered a commoner, considering Dominique’s royal blood.

“But since you’ve been so disrespectful, why don’t you meet with Duchess Melua again to have a chat and apologize?”

“Actually, I’ve already sent her a gift. She seemed pleased.”

The Duchess of Melua loved jewels as much as any man. And among the jewels rolling around Haswell, there were many that the Duchy of Melua had difficulty possessing.

Smoothing things over wouldn’t be difficult. That was one of the reasons why he hadn’t been careful with his words in the first place.

Chirp.

The sound came again. Inside the cage, he saw the silver bird whose wings he had clipped off. Dominique’s gaze had been drawn over there for a while.

The bird, oblivious to its predicament, or perhaps aware and refusing to accept it, continued to flutter its clipped wings, repeatedly trying to fly. Then, unable to balance properly, it would fall to the bottom of the cage with a chirp.

The sound triggered a memory.

To the woman who, with slightly dirty white feet, had walked down the mansion hallway and closed the distance between them.

The sound of the bird hitting the bottom of the cage was similar to the sound of the woman’s footsteps. The sound of her soft skin sticking to the marble floor and then peeling away slightly stickily.

Dominique’s memory returned to the moment when her bold, clear eyes, filled with a palpable desire for him, had met his. 

The Emperor placed his teacup on the saucer.

“Will it be resolved with just a gift?”

“Your Majesty.”

“Why don’t you visit her this time and ask for forgiveness? It’s the Duchy of Salt, no less, that’s considering the Duke as a marriage prospect…”

“Regarding that marriage proposal,”

At the Emperor’s blatant words, Dominique slowly smiled.

“I have something I’d like to discuss.”

* * *

After losing consciousness due to the sedative, Kyrie was confined to her room for several days. Her attempts consistently failed.

“I already feel like I’m in a convent.”

As she spoke self-deprecatingly, she often overheard the servants’ conversations outside.

“How could she do something like that to Lady Elise?”

“She shouldn’t be allowed to stay here any longer.”

“Flovel should be that woman’s grave!”

Kyrie quickly understood the meaning behind their words.

‘They’re preparing to send me to a convent.’

She had anticipated this would happen sooner or later, but she didn’t expect it to happen so suddenly.

‘Did Lexion…?’ 

Could he have given false words?

There was no word from the Duke. Perhaps he didn’t know she was confined, or perhaps he knew and didn’t care.

As time went by, the hope that had filled her heart gradually turned into doubt.

‘What should I do now?’

As she wrestled with her turbulent thoughts for a long while, a headache pounding in her temples, someone barged into her room without even knocking.

“…Your Highness.”

It was Lexion, unexpectedly.