55. The Fall

“The girl was seven years old at the time, and the boy was probably around nine. Though he was just as young, he risked his life by jumping into the sea to save the child’s life.” 

Bianca said, recalling her first love.

“It happened at a resort. Have you perhaps heard about it?”

“Well, I haven’t heard of it as far as I know.” 

Luka shook his head, saying it was the first time he had heard of it.

He had no idea that it was his own story.

That day, after saving Bianca, Luka was found collapsed in the middle of the beach.

The Oblonsky family seemed reluctant to show their youngest son, who might live with permanent language disability, to the outside world, so the servants carried the child back to the lodging before anyone could see.

Luka, who had fainted from heatstroke while wandering outside in his weak condition, couldn’t remember what happened that day after he woke up.

Since the person who left the lodging without a word couldn’t remember, and the Duchess was protective of her youngest son, Duke Oblonsky let the incident pass without scolding his son.

Though he had no memory, perhaps due to the guilt of not being able to call for help loudly for the girl that day, Luka, who had been mute, began to speak some time after that.

“Why are you asking about this? Is there something I can help with…”

“It’s nothing. If you don’t know, it’s fine.”

Though Bianca had asked with a small hope, she responded bravely despite her disappointment.

She could just go up to the North soon and search directly anyway.

At that moment, as the two walked side by side matching their steps, their hands briefly brushed against each other.

Luka startled and unconsciously jerked his hand up.

The spot where her soft skin had touched felt like it had been struck by lightning.

“I-I’m sorry!”

“What? For what?”

“Our hands touched…”

“When walking close together, that can happen.”

“Then I’ll walk further away!”

Luka hurried away before even hearing her response, trying to hide his reddened face up to his neck.

He walked so quickly with his long legs that Bianca, in her dress, couldn’t possibly keep up with his pace.

Looking at him walking so far ahead that one might not even know they were together, Bianca grabbed her skirts with both hands and hurriedly chased after him.

In the process, the ribbon tied loosely at her chin came undone, and her wide-brimmed hat was swept away by the strong wind.

“Huh–?”

The hat that had been floating aimlessly in the wind soon settled among tree branches.

Bianca looked back and forth between Luka’s distant back and the hat before finally moving toward the tree where the hat hung.

Since it was a gift from her sister, she couldn’t just abandon it.

The tree that had taken root on the lake bank had a bent trunk leaning toward the lake.

Thanks to this, she could easily grab the hat by steadying herself with one hand on the trunk without having to climb the tree.

But Bianca overlooked that the grass growing on the lake bank was slippery with dew.

“Kyaaah!”

She fell into the lake with a splash while letting out a short scream.

By then, Luka, who was already walking far away from her, didn’t hear the sound.

Laika, startled at seeing Bianca instantly disappear into the deep water, ran straight toward Luka.

Luka flinched and stepped back at seeing the large dog running toward him.

Knowing that he was afraid of her, Laika couldn’t even bark and whined before finally approaching him with her mouth wide open.

Luka, who had closed his eyes tightly fearing he might get bitten, soon saw that the dog was tugging at the hem of his top.

Like she’s trying to lead him somewhere.

“Lady Bianca?”

Luka finally noticed that no one was behind him.

Seeing this, Laika met his gaze as if telling him to follow her, then ran toward where Bianca had fallen.

Following the dog, he soon discovered Bianca’s hat floating on the water’s surface.

Luka jumped into the water without hesitation as soon as he saw it.

Like on that day 13 years ago, he held Bianca, who was slowly sinking down, with one arm and swam back up.

When he climbed back onto land and laid her down, Bianca was unconscious.

Making a quick judgment, Luka pressed his lips to hers and breathed life into her fading vitality.

Not long after, Bianca returned to normal breathing.

“Cough! Cough!”

As she regained consciousness while coughing up water, the first thing she saw was a boy with light brown hair.

Bianca unconsciously gripped his arm tightly.

As if she never wanted to let go again.

“Are you feeling better now?”

Her first love asked in a low voice.

No, no.

The person before her wasn’t the young boy from that day, but her tutor.

But why did she see her first love overlapping with him?

Come to think of it, Luka was exactly that age back then.

“Thank you.”

Bianca mumbled her thanks while fidgeting with her lips.

There was actually a different question she wanted to ask.

‘Were you perhaps there that day, 13 years ago?’

But that couldn’t be possible.

The resort was a place only accessible to the boyar class.

Commoners couldn’t enter unless they were servants of noble families visiting there.

Legally, all servants had to be adults, so a boy who appeared not even ten years old couldn’t have been a servant.

This was why Bianca was certain that boy had been a noble.

All she knew about her savior was his light brown hair and that he was a noble. That was all.

The boy’s face was becoming increasingly blurry in her memories as it was so long ago.

If he had been an adult, there would have been stark differences in appearance between someone from the North or South, but there wasn’t much difference at that young age, and since she hadn’t heard the boy speak, it was impossible to guess his origins from his accent.

Moreover, information about nobles who had stayed at the resort was classified.

At least among the nobles Duke Smirnov had met, none had a son with light brown hair.

‘Right. It couldn’t be.’

Though Luka was trying to act calm, his mind was just as complicated as Bianca’s.

Although it had been done as an emergency measure in a dire situation, he was now belatedly becoming aware of the fact that he had kissed her lips.

By then, Luka’s love was growing deeper day by day.

He had been there the day Katya held the surprise trial.

“Because that medical certificate was mine, not my sister’s. I’m the one who’s infertile.”

“I’m fine, Sister. I can’t watch you suffer anymore because of me. Petrovsky, if you want to point fingers at someone with flaws, point them at me, not my sister.”

“I don’t care if I can’t marry. I’m fine living alone my whole life, even if people despise me. I can’t watch my sister become unhappy…”

Luka fell even deeper for her as she proudly revealed her private matters in front of people for her sister’s sake.

‘I don’t know anymore. How to stop loving you.’

But various circumstances surrounding him were blocking this love.

Duke Oblonsky would push forward Luka’s marriage by choosing the most suitable family at the most appropriate moment, like moving a piece on a chessboard.

All his siblings before him had married according to their father’s arrangements as well.

Though people marrying for love might be even rarer among nobles, at least others could express their opinions to their parents regarding marriage matters.

But even that was impossible in the Oblonsky family.

His father was an absolute ruler whom no one in the family could defy.

Additionally—

“After the honeymoon ends, I’ll have Tia stay at her family home while I finish my covert mission. I’ll entrust my family to you, so please take good care of them.”

You are the family of my lord whom I must protect.

***

As planned, Katya and Nikolai held their wedding ceremony at the Smirnov mansion, surrounded by the blessings of their loved ones.

Luka and Bianca were made witnesses to this marriage and stayed by the couple’s side from the beginning to the end of the ceremony.

No one in the Duke’s household noticed the strange atmosphere that had developed between the two people who stood on opposite sides helping with the ceremony after the incident at the lake.

Baptiski, who had held back his tears until the end of the ceremony, finally showed them during the final feast together before departure.

“To think that you, Katya, are finally getting married. Your mother would have been so happy if she were here.”

“Why are you crying on such a happy day, Father?”

Katya’s voice was also wet with emotion as she said this.

Just then, Nikolai suddenly stood up from his seat, approached his father-in-law, and abruptly knelt down.

“You may kill me the day I make Tia’s eyes shed tears.”

At those words, the tears in Duke Smirnov’s eyes instantly dried up.

“Your Highness, you shouldn’t do this…”

Everyone who saw this scene burst out laughing simultaneously.

Katya, who boarded the carriage while receiving farewells from family members, stared for a long time at her home disappearing through the carriage window.

Even though it was a simplified wedding ceremony that omitted many procedures, she felt genuinely like a bride leaving home, which made her emotions feel complicated.

Perhaps reading the complex emotions in her expression, Nikolai, who was riding his horse beside the carriage, knocked on the window.

Katya opened the window and poked her head out slightly.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“Though we’ll see them again soon after the honeymoon ends, I feel strange somehow. It’s like I’m the only one who’s no longer part of the Smirnov family.”

“Why do you think that?”

“From today on, I can’t call this place ‘my home’ anymore. The Grand Duke’s palace will be what I call ‘my home’ now, right?”

Nikolai, who had been staring at her as she spoke in a lonely voice, touched her peach-colored cheek that had grown cold in the night wind.

“What nonsense is that? This will always be your home.”

“Really?”

“A year will pass quickly. I’ll take good care of you and safely bring you back here in a year.”

Katya felt much better at her husband’s gentle words.

Not because he was the Grand Duke with power, but because Nikolai himself was a reliable person, she felt fortunate that her first and last marriage was with him.

Nikolai’s party continued riding their horses afterward.

Katya fell into a deep sleep lying down inside the carriage.

The problem with the carriage wheel occurred just as they were emerging from a dark tunnel and crossing a steep mountain slope.

As one loosened wheel came off, the tilting carriage plunged straight down the cliff.