44. Pandora’s Box

Bianca, who came out to the entrance with Luka, spoke while descending the exterior stairs of the building.

“You were surprised to see me there earlier, weren’t you? You must have thought I was the perfumer.”

“I was curious about what happened that day.”

“Actually, I’m a regular there. While the perfumer went into the storage room to package the items I purchased, a customer came in, and seeing how busy he was, I helped look for perfumes together. Oh right, here.”

Bianca handed the pouch she was holding to Luka.

The perfumer had said that the customer who mistakenly received the cheap perfume never came back to the shop to exchange it.

She had felt guilty about accidentally giving him the wrong product, but now she felt completely relieved.

“I accidentally packaged the one next to it. I’m sorry. This is the product you were originally looking for, Teacher.”

“I thought there must have been a mix-up. You didn’t need to worry about it…”

While Nikolai might have been angry about the perfume errand, truthfully, perfume wasn’t important to Luka.

But… teacher?

Luka blinked in surprise, belatedly realizing he was being addressed by a new title.

Come to think of it, even though she thought he was a commoner, she had been using honorific speech since earlier.

“Teacher?”

“You’re my teacher now, aren’t you? I should properly respect you as my mentor.”

“Ah…”

“Oh, I’m late with introductions. I’m Bianca Smirnov.”

Bianca curtsied slightly, holding her skirt with both hands as she introduced herself.

Luka bowed his head to her in return.

“I’m Luka Tranov.”

The two walked along the garden path in front of the building while waiting for the carriage.

Even though they were just walking side by side, Luka felt extremely tense.

His palms kept getting sweaty, so he repeatedly wiped them on his pants.

While many women in the north admired him, Luka had never felt love for anyone before.

But Bianca was different.

It wasn’t just because she was beautiful—there was something indescribable about her that pulled him in like gravity.

It was an intense attraction, like being swept away in a storm.

“Um…”

As he was about to say he looked forward to working together, Laika appeared from somewhere and came running toward Luka with flapping ears.

“Woof!”

Upon hearing the dog’s bark, Luka stepped backward with a pale face.

Noticing this, Bianca raised her index finger to stop the charging dog.

“Laika, no!”

“Whine…”

Laika stopped with a dejected expression.

It felt unfair being stopped when she had only run over because she liked him.

It seemed the tall man with chestnut brown hair was afraid of her.

Having reached that conclusion, Laika suddenly lay flat on her belly and wagged her tail gently.

Then she looked up at Luka with her large, sparkling eyes.

‘I won’t hurt you. Laika is a good dog. Don’t worry. I want to be your friend.’

Like she was saying that.

Luka smelled like Nikolai, whom Laika loved most after her sisters and Duke Smirnov.

She ran here, drawn by the familiar scent.

After being mistreated by Ivan’s gang, Laika would usually bare her teeth and growl at men, but strangely, she didn’t guard against Boris, Nikolai’s assistant, or the Grand Duke’s knights.

It was because they smelled like Nikolai.

It seemed Luka was also acquainted with him.

Which meant he must be a good person too.

Laika’s data, processed through her sense of smell, was quite accurate.

And the data indicated he was someone she could let her guard down with and freely show affection to.

She felt certain she had even found a potential husband for her second sister.

“I’m sorry. She usually hates men.”

Looking at Bianca’s face, she seemed to be apologizing.

When Laika opened her large mouth in indignation, drool dripped from her tongue that hung loosely over her side jaw.

It was truly strange.

While Nikolai showered her with affection, why was this man afraid of her?

Laika watched the two people talking while tilting her head, pondering with her small brain.

“It’s alright. I’m afraid of dogs…”

“Then I’ll make sure she doesn’t come near your classroom or quarters when you’re here.”

Luka felt embarrassed for showing his fear in front of Bianca when he should have been trying to appear impressive.

Not only was it a matter of pride, but it was understandable for someone who kept and loved dogs to be offended by such a reaction.

“I’m sorry. I don’t dislike dogs. I actually used to like them…”

Luka carefully confessed while watching Bianca’s reaction.

“When I was young, I got bitten by a dog while trying to visit a friend.”

Thirteen years ago, Luka was separated from Nikolai, whom he had grown up with.

No one could meet Nikolai, not just him.

Guards stood at the entrance of the tower where Nikolai stayed, and the dogs they had released roamed the corridors regularly.

After cleverly evading the guards and successfully infiltrating inside, Luka climbed to the top of the tower to meet Nikolai.

Not knowing a dog was waiting at the final checkpoint, he briefly saw his friend’s face for the first time in a while, but unfortunately ended up getting his leg mauled by the aggressive dog.

The scar from that day still remained on his calf.

“Why are you apologizing? I completely understand. If there are people who like dogs, naturally there are people who are afraid of them too. That’s just how it is.”

Bianca reassured him with a gentle voice.

Luka’s heart raced again at her understanding and considerate tone.

Just as he was about to part his lips to say thank you, Bianca turned her head and coughed repeatedly.

Seeing this, Luka reflexively took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders.

“Oh my, you need to leave soon, how can you give this to me? I’m fine. I just need to go inside– cough cough.“

“I’m fine too. You can return the coat when I come for work.”

“…Thank you.”

Bianca whispered in response, unable to refuse further.

The carriage that Bianca had called finally arrived in front of the young couple who were giving off a shy atmosphere.

“Then I’ll see you next week.”

Luka kissed her hand before getting into the carriage.

Bianca watched the carriage disappear toward the main gate for a long while.

As she turned to head back with Laika, she saw Gregory and Olen running toward her from afar.

“Lady Bianca! What a pleasure to see you again!”

“Have you been well?”

Laika growled and blocked their path as they tried to kiss Bianca’s hand.

Seeing her nose wrinkle like a wild beast’s, Gregory fell back in surprise and landed on his bottom.

“Haha! So this is Laika? How cute!”

Unlike Gregory, Olen boldly placed his hand on Laika’s head to show off both his courage and love for dogs.

When he pet her with a friendly smile, the dog bit his hand, displeased at being touched without permission.

“Aagh!”

“Laika!”

Only at Bianca’s voice did Laika finally spit out the hand she had bitten.

With the Smirnov sisters who were all beautiful and kind as her masters, the dog couldn’t let her guard down.

All these men were suspicious, one way or another.

Except for exactly two people—Nikolai and Luka.

***

That night, Katya pretended to go to bed early but secretly slipped out of the house without anyone knowing.

This was possible because Nikolai was staying in the west wing with his knights.

Though she felt guilty about deceiving him, she had no choice since he would have stopped her if she had told him in advance.

Outside, the Duke’s knights who had received word from the butler were already waiting.

The carriage carrying Katya departed for the Petrovsky family villa.

When the carriage that had been traveling through the night reached its destination, she entered the building that had once felt like an inescapable cage, accompanied by the knights.

Ivan smirked as soon as he saw the knights who followed her to the reception room.

“Why so cold? Coming to see a friend but bringing all this baggage?”

“How could I trust you enough to come alone?”

“We have important things to discuss just between us. Is it okay for them to hear?”

Katya stopped the knights who were drawing their swords and taking defensive positions, telling them it was fine to wait in the corridor.

She met her enemy’s gaze with grave eyes.

Let’s settle this today, Petrovsky.

***

At that same time, Bianca, who had changed into her nightgown to sleep, was suffering as her cough wouldn’t subside despite drinking hot tea several times.

“This won’t do. Should I call the physician?”

Alyona, who had brought the tea, asked worriedly.

“No, it’s bedtime. We can’t make him come and go. I’ll go myself. You should go to bed too, Alyona. I’ll get some medicine and take it.”

After sending Alyona back to her quarters, Bianca went to where the physician stayed.

The ducal physician resided not in the servants’ quarters but on the same floor as Duke Smirnov’s bedroom, in case of emergencies.

Before she could even finish knocking, the physician’s voice came from inside.

“Is it about that again? Please come in.”

Again? Bianca opened the door, puzzled.

There was no one inside.

Hearing movement from the attached workroom, it seemed the physician was doing something in there.

Though he served as the house’s physician, he also ran his own practice in Padovangrad’s commercial district.

He usually spent 4 days at his practice and 3 days at the Duke’s residence.

“My lady, I’ve told you repeatedly that the medicine cannot be imported and there’s no way to obtain it. It would be easier to give up. I shouldn’t have mentioned it before.”

“What medicine do you think I’m looking for?”

Bianca asked in a hoarse voice.

The sisters already had similar voices, and with her cold making her voice husky, they became almost indistinguishable.

It seemed he was talking about her sister.

“Aren’t you here again for that East Continent fertility treatment? As I’ve said, since the Hersen Medical Association hasn’t yet acknowledged its effectiveness in research results, we cannot import…”

Hearing this, Bianca staggered in shock and grabbed the table for support, knocking over the vase on it.

Crash!

At the sharp sound that could pierce ears, the physician rushed out only to see her and turn deathly pale.

“L-Lady Bianca!”

“What do you mean? Why is my sister looking for fertility treatment?”

Bianca’s face twisted in despair at the thought that something was wrong with her beloved sister’s health.