112. Take Responsibility, Grand Duke

On the way to the Spring Palace, Katya felt truly suffocated.

Stuck between two people who seemed to have some history, she was already feeling uncomfortable like on pins and needles, and the carriage at the end of the procession moved at a snail’s pace.

Crawling along like a turtle, she thought it would be faster to get out and walk.

Moreover, the journey was so long it was killing her.

While Katya was trying to suppress the urge to jump out of the carriage in the awkward silence, Prince Norbert suddenly spoke.

“Why are you sitting there when you get motion sickness from facing backward?”

He patted the seat next to him, gesturing for her to come over.

At those words, Klavdia, who was sitting across from Katya and looking out the window, turned her gaze to the prince.

“That was only when I was young.”

“Not anymore?”

“Everything changes with time.”

“It’s not like motion sickness appears out of nowhere, or disappears either.”

“Nothing is eternal. Even promises of forever can vanish in an instant—that’s how the world works.”

Would they think I’m crazy if I jump out now?

In the carriage where cold wind was whistling through, Katya seriously began to contemplate.

It was like a battlefield, just without guns.

If I stay here without jumping out, I think I’ll go crazy.

“Um……”

Unable to bear it anymore, Katya raised her hand as if requesting permission to speak.

The man and woman who had been glaring at each other like alpha wolves turned their heads toward her simultaneously.

“What is it, Lady Smirnov?”

“I get severe motion sickness. Would you mind switching seats with me, if you don’t mind?”

The prince’s lips curved slightly upward at this welcome suggestion.

“How inconsiderate of me. I’d be glad to, for the lady’s sake.”

As soon as permission was granted, Klavdia pulled on Katya who was about to jump up.

“Oh my, what are you doing? She’s a state guest in the Grand Duchy of Hersen. We should be the ones accommodating any discomfort.”

“It’s fine. Someone who doesn’t get motion sickness should sit facing backward.”

This time Norbert pulled on Katya’s sleeve.

Katya ended up stuck in place, with both sides holding onto her sleeves as they engaged in their power struggle.

“Can’t I just get out?”

“What do you mean?”

“What are you saying?”

Looking back and forth between the two who were staring at her with the same expression, Katya heaved a big sigh.

She had a very strong feeling about this.

They say lovers grow to look alike. These two must have been lovers.

And not just any lovers—ones with a messy past full of love and hate.

***

“His Highness the Grand Duke enters.”

Along with the servant’s announcement, the reception room door opened and Nikolai entered.

Katya jumped up from her chair, forgetting in her joy that she was in the middle of a cold war with him.

“Grand Duke!”

He couldn’t hide his bewilderment at his wife running toward him with a smile.

Katya threw herself into his arms with an expression of pure delight.

And for good reason . While the other delegation members were unpacking in their rooms, the prince had suggested tea time to Klavdia, and she had latched onto Katya.

Caught in their chain of persistence like a hostage, Katya had been sweating nervously in the reception room.

Nikolai embraced Katya back as she suddenly threw herself into his arms, not knowing what was going on.

The sensation of her delicate arms wrapping around his waist made him straighten his posture reflexively.

Physical contact with his wife was always an ordeal.

There was a limit to how much willpower could resist when the woman he loved pressed herself against him without warning.

“I missed you, Grand Duke. Sniff.”

She said this while rubbing her soft cheek against his chest before looking up.

Nikolai felt as if his heart had leaped out of his body and rolled far away.

His adorable ‘my Tia’ was expressing affection with pure, clear eyes. Of course his heart couldn’t handle it.

The sniffling sound at the end of her sentence was the perfect finishing touch.

“Tia, what’s suddenly……”

“They keep talking about old stories I don’t know about and I felt left out.”

So she was currently tattling to him.

That the two of them had excluded her.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Nikolai almost blurted those words out loud.

He really was going crazy.

What should he do with this woman who was overwhelmingly cute even when just standing still.

He should coldly push her away again like before.

For her sake, he needed to safely send her to the South.

He didn’t want to separate. He didn’t want to send Katya away.

He didn’t want to be apart from her even for a moment.

If he could have his way, he wanted to live as her husband forever, carrying her on his back wherever they went.

“It’s been a while, Your Highness.”

Norbert’s voice helped Nikolai finally come to his senses.

“Indeed it has.”

Katya unwrapped her arms from her husband’s waist and stood beside him.

As the two men shook hands, Klavdia approached with a complicated expression.

She seemed torn between wanting to leave immediately and wanting to stay longer.

“The original delegate fell ill, so I came in their place.”

“I see. It’s good to see you again.”

“You two seem to be very close.”

“Ah, this is my—”

“I heard from Ladia. That she’s your fiancée with the royal marriage coming up soon.”

At those words, Nikolai looked at his sister with wide eyes.

He hadn’t expected his sister to introduce Katya that way first.

Technically they were already married in the South, but even this much was a big concession from her.

Given that she said they were ‘engaged to be married’ even without the family’s approval yet.

Klavdia avoided his grateful gaze with an aloof expression.

“I was so caught up reminiscing about old times with Ladia that I neglected Lady Smirnov.”

“No, I was just joking about that.”

Katya blinked innocently as she spoke.

“Please sit and tell me how you two met. This time I’ll listen attentively.”

“Oh my, how embarrassing, but if you insist……”

The prince returned to the table with Klavdia and sat down.

As Nikolai tried to follow, Katya grabbed his hand from behind.

“Oh! I think something got in my eye!”

She suddenly cried out in pain, contorting her face.

Startled by his wife’s pained sounds, Nikolai grabbed her small shoulders and urgently examined her eyes.

“What? Are you okay? Let me see!”

“R-right here……”

“I’ll call a physician!”

“I can’t wait that long. It hurts too much….. If you could just blow some air in my eye somewhere bright, I think it would help.”

She pointed toward the window, stopping him as he was about to run out.

Without a shred of doubt, Nikolai immediately took her out to the balcony.

“Nikolai’s already wrapped around her finger.”

Watching the Grand Duke fret over his ailing wife, Norbert muttered with a smile.

Though they used formal speech now since Nikolai had become ruler and he was here as a delegate, they had actually been quite close.

He had been good friends with Ruslan as well, and had doted on Nikolai who was the family’s youngest son.

“The last time I saw him he was just a child, but now he’s grown up and about to be married. Time really has passed.”

Klavdia merely sipped her tea silently at his words.

Out on the balcony, Nikolai cupped her small face in his large hands and gently pressed his thumb under her eye.

“Where is it? Here?”

“Move aside a bit first.”

Katya who had been thrashing about in pain like a freshly caught fish just moments ago now had a perfectly normal expression as she glanced sideways past him.

More specifically, her gaze was fixed on Klavdia and Norbert sitting together through the window.

“Are you better now?”

“Grand Duke, you’re really clueless. I made a fuss with an excuse just to be alone with you.”

“……What?”

Nikolai looked down at her with the most dumbfounded expression she’d ever seen from him.

He seemed completely stunned.

His heart throbbed again at her bold words.

“You wanted to be alone with me?”

“Yes. There was something I wanted to ask when we were alone.”

“What?”

“Those two, did something happen between them before? They don’t seem like ordinary acquaintances.”

Ah, so that’s what it was.

A hollow laugh tinged with disappointment escaped him.

“You’re right. They used to date. Broke up badly.”

“I knew it. My intuition is really good, right?”

She peeked out while hiding half her face behind his muscular arm as she spoke.

Though she was talking to Nikolai, her eyes remained fixed on the window.

He felt somewhat hurt that her attention was elsewhere.

“The excuse about a noble being sick was probably just that, an excuse. He likely came to see my sister. If that’s what you were curious about.”

Katya finally met his gaze with a bright smile, picking up on the sulkiness in his voice.

“There was something else I wanted to ask.”

“What is it this time. How they met?”

“No. Are you really not going to marry me?”

“……If you won’t get divorced, there won’t be a marriage.”

Caught off guard by the sudden question about himself, Nikolai answered a beat late.

“You’re so stubborn, really.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“Ah! Something got in my eye!”

“You think I’ll fall for that again?”

“But it’s real this time……”

He hurriedly bent down close to his pouting wife who looked ready to cry from the injustice.

“Should I blow here? Is this the ri—!”

Nikolai couldn’t finish his sentence.

Something soft blocked his mouth.

His wife’s heels touched back down after she had risen on tiptoes to capture his lips.

“Grand Duke, you got into my eye and won’t come out. So my eyes hurt. You need to take responsibility.”