82. Damn Young Masters (3)
Nikolai ran around like a madman looking for Katya after she disappeared.
All sorts of thoughts crossed his mind.
Though he had vowed never to take his eyes off her for a moment, why did this happen? No, why did he involve her in such a dangerous situation in the first place?
Did he deserve to call himself her protector after this?
If anything happened to her, he would……
But at that moment, even self-blame was a luxury.
Finding Katya was the most urgent priority.
When he discovered the magic powder she had scattered behind the building, he tracked it here on horseback without looking back.
The moment he saw his wife’s silhouette reflected in the window, he smashed a window far from her to avoid hurting her and entered the clubhouse.
No one could stop the Grand Duke who had lost his reason because of his wife.
He grabbed and threw the men around indiscriminately, scattering the members in all directions by his hands.
‘Wait, what’s going on here? Why is Brother here?’
As Mikhail crawled on his stomach trying to avoid getting caught by his brother, his classmates were thrown down in front of him.
“Your Highness?”
“Shh, shhh!”
The men whispering to each other finally seemed to make up their minds and ran toward the back door with Mikhail.
Though they didn’t recognize that the crazed man with monstrous strength was Nikolai, it would be disastrous if word got out that Mikhail was at this crime scene.
If Oksana found out Mikhail was wrongly implicated, she would never let them or their families off.
While the historic and traditional Despot Clubhouse had turned into complete chaos, Katya chased after the fleeing members.
“Stop right there!”
Katya took off her shoe and threw it at them as they were getting into the carriage.
The shoe hit the back of the head of the man who was lagging behind.
“Ah!”
The man who took a direct hit to his head turned around with glaring eyes.
As the clouds covering the full moon cleared, the moonlight revealed a face with light blue eyes between strands of silvery hair against snow-white pale skin.
Katya stopped and stared at him.
Mikhail, who met eyes with the woman he had fallen for earlier, was also momentarily entranced.
“Get in quickly!”
The members grabbed Mikhail from both sides, pulled him in, and immediately started the carriage.
“Tia, are you alright?”
Nikolai ran to her as she stood in front of the back door, grabbed her shoulders and checked her all over.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine. Thanks to you coming right away—”
Before she could finish speaking, he pulled her into a tight embrace.
His arms strongly wrapping around her body, his warmth, and the sound of his relieved sigh by her ear put her mind at ease.
Until just now, she had been scared that Nikolai wouldn’t come.
‘What should I do, Grand Duke? I already depend on you this much…… If I can no longer stay by your side, how should I live?’
And she had been afraid she wouldn’t be able to save the commoner children drugged unconscious on the sofas.
She thought she would be unqualified as Grand Duchess if she couldn’t save even these children.
Even if she was only a temporary Grand Duchess, she wanted to do her best.
She wanted to be helpful to Nikolai and his people.
She only wanted to contribute even a little to realizing his noble ideals.
That way she would have fewer regrets after divorcing him.
Though lingering attachments would remain endlessly……
“I can’t trust when you say you’re fine.”
Nikolai said in a slightly complaining tone like a whining child.
“Actually, I’m not fine right now.”
“Why? Are you hurting somewhere?”
“You’re hugging me so tightly I can’t breathe.”
At those words, he was startled and released his arms from around his wife.
He sometimes lost control of his strength like this when he didn’t focus all his attention on this delicate rabbit-like wife.
“I’m sorry, Tia. I didn’t mean to……”
Just then, Boris and the knights who had entered the clubhouse after them to search the scene with the lights on came out of the building.
“Your Highness, we found them!”
It was the Despot Club member list and secret ledgers used for money laundering under the guise of sponsorship, discovered in a hidden space behind the bookshelf.
“Though it would have been best to wipe them all out at the scene, this is still a big achievement. The female students aren’t waking up easily, what did they feed them?”
“Check my wine glass for that. Though I didn’t drink it, it probably contains the same substance. When I used it on another member, he passed out right away.”
“They put such things…… in your wine?”
The knights desperately held back Nikolai as he tried to go back into the building with a cold sneer.
They all sensed that if they let him go, there would literally be bloodshed.
“Grand Duke, let’s deal with punishment later. We need to catch the ones who ran away first.”
Katya said, pointing behind them.
The magic powder that had fallen on the ground was glowing in the darkness.
Due to its delayed activation time, it hadn’t been visible when first scattered, but now it was shining with all its might.
“Your Grace, how did this happen?”
“Just in case, I didn’t use all the magical tools at first. I saved half and secretly installed it on another carriage in advance.”
“How did you know which carriage they would take?”
“A troika is difficult to drive without professional coachmen. With amateur skills, accidents are bound to happen. The coachmen had all gone home, and I thought they would flee in that one, which was the only quadriga, in an emergency.”
Katya’s prediction was spot on.
Even among all the neighboring countries, only the Grand Duchy of Hersen used troikas.
Hersen’s tradition had caught the ankles of these precious young masters who had never driven a carriage in their lives.
By now, they would be excitedly racing their horses, not knowing they were leaving traces along their route.
“As expected of your brilliance, Your Grace!”
“Let’s hurry and leave.”
Nikolai urged Boris and the knights who were clapping and exclaiming in admiration.
“Tia risked herself to set this up. We need to catch them before the glow effect fades.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Nikolai expertly helped Katya onto the horse the knights had brought before mounting behind her.
So he didn’t notice his wife’s expression darkening as they rode.
‘It was definitely silver hair.’
Katya thought about the man she had seen earlier.
If so, he must be a member of the Grand Ducal family, at least Nikolai’s relative, but his hair was so light it was closer to white.
It was a very unique shade even among the silver hair that symbolized the House of Vasily.
“If anyone troubles you, I won’t let them off no matter who they are.”
“Even if they’re your family, Grand Duke?”
“Do as you usually would. The Grand Duchess has that right.”
‘Is it really alright, Grand Duke?’
Even if Nikolai’s family was involved in this incident,
And even if his family’s sword point would someday be directed at her, would Nikolai choose her without hesitation?
Katya became confused.
People often said spouses were the closest yet furthest relationship.
Though they became family through the institution of marriage, they were actually strangers when they turned away.
Could such a temporary relationship dare to compare with blood-related parents and siblings?
‘Even if your family becomes an obstacle to the ideals you want to achieve, Grand Duke, can you keep looking only forward?’
If so, even when people throw stones at him for going against heaven’s law, she vowed to stand by his side and take the flying stones together.
‘No matter what anyone says, right now I am the Grand Duke’s family.’
“You crazy bastards, how could you come here!”
Mikhail, who had briefly fallen asleep in the carriage from the tension wearing off, grabbed the hair of two classmates sitting nearby when he saw their destination.
“Aaah, Your Highness! Please let go first and then speak!”
The other classmates carefully avoided looking, afraid the sparks might fly their way too.
Everyone was used to Mikhail having such irritable outbursts.
Since childhood, he had been weak and sickly, and whenever he felt pain or something displeased him, he would break whatever furniture he could grab, hit and scratch anyone he saw, making life difficult for those around him.
Even after pulling their hair for a while, Mikhail still seemed unsatisfied as he breathed heavily while seething.
“Why was my brother there? Do you know?”
“What? So that was His Highness the Grand Duke?”
Hersen’s top delinquents simultaneously blanched at the news of the Grand Duke’s appearance.
No matter how experienced they were in this field, they were no match for the tyrant known as the ‘Bloody Grand Duke.’
“With my brother possibly chasing after us at any moment, you came here? Why aren’t you getting the carriage moving already?”
But if it really was the Grand Duke, they couldn’t go to their homes even more.
If by any chance the Grand Duke really stormed in, it would be the end not just for them but their families.
In such a situation, who would easily suggest going home?
“Calm down, Your Highness. We checked behind us the whole way and no one was following. We definitely lost them.”
“That’s right. We might get caught if we go home now. If we have the servants dispose of this carriage right away, no one will know.”
“And once we get inside, we’ll be safe. It’s a space only members can enter, so they can’t easily come in.”
“Though it’s unlikely, but if His Grace the Grand Duke tries to force his way in, it will cause a commotion, and we can escape again then. Mixed in with people, they won’t be able to find us.”
Persuaded by his friends’ words, Mikhail finally followed them into the large tent.
Though perfectly disguised as a circus on the outside, it was actually an illegal gambling fighting arena.
While the arena staff who had been paid by them moved the carriage, the small amount of magic powder that remained underneath slowly began to glow.
