Chapter 30

“No matter what happens, I won’t make things harder… I promise.”

In the early morning, with birds chirping, Floyd spoke. He suggested returning to the Grand Ducal residence together.

She had just heard him say that for the first time, as she sent him to the bathroom, soaked in cold rain.

Floyd emerged from the bathroom, steam rising from his head as he wore a bathrobe, having taken a warm bath as requested.

“Please… dry off completely before you speak. This time, I’ll really listen.”

After Floyd entered the bathroom, Elina wandered around the living room frantically. She hadn’t finished the scarf she had decided to complete.

She had hurriedly given him her usual bathrobe to wear as he entered the bathroom, and seeing him in it was quite embarrassing.

The expression of the lieutenant who brought Floyd’s spare uniform from the carriage was similar.

“Greetings again, Miss. I am Ziegel Retta, the lieutenant of His Grace, the Grand Duke of Rennes. Call me Retta or Ziegel, whichever you prefer.”

“I told you not to come….”

“Yes… hello, Lord Retta.”

Elina, holding the awakened kitten in her arms, could only wander between Floyd and Lord Retta. Things seemed to be moving faster than expected.

Bianca, who had to suddenly receive Floyd upon waking, had now fled to the carriage that Lord Retta and an unknown knight had arrived in.

Since the unknown knight, who had pretended to be a coachman and brought Elina to this house, was said to be Bianca’s lover, it was probably better to be there.

Floyd, having received his clothes from Lord Retta, opened the door to the only empty room in the house. He paused for a moment and asked Elina why this room was empty.

“I was planning to decorate it as a nursery… but I haven’t put anything in it yet.”

“A nursery….”

“Please dry off quickly.”

“Got it.”

Meow. As Floyd entered the room with a lovely smile, the kitten tried to follow him.

It seemed they had a connection, considering how Floyd had greeted the kitten yesterday.

Elina looked at the kitten that soon descended to the floor and then sat down on the floor herself. The floor wasn’t cold, as a soft rug had been laid early on.

“Are you alright, Miss?”

“What wouldn’t be alright….”

She just felt a little dizzy. Maybe it was because she hadn’t taken the iron supplement Bianca had prepared today.

Judging by his title, Lord Retta seemed to be a knight-origin lieutenant. Elina looked up at him standing straight as she sat on the floor and asked something she was curious about.

Now that Floyd was here, she felt she could hear what Bianca had kept quiet about.

“Will Floyd… no, will His Grace marry me formally?”

She got up from the floor, holding the kitten that had circled the living room. Lord Retta, who seemed to have been watching, offered her a chair with a soft cushion.

It was a chair she only sat in when knitting. 

Was he being considerate because I was pregnant…? 

Elina looked at the proffered chair with hesitation but eventually sat down.

“Call His Grace as you please. If you accept, I will also call you the future Grand Duchess.”

“So… Floyd will marry me formally, right?”

“His Grace’s intentions were the same before. It’s a matter of whether you desire it, Miss.”

As the kitten on her lap tried to climb up her stomach, Elina firmly stopped it.

Though her loose pajamas didn’t make it obvious, her belly was more prominent than before. The baby inside would come into the world in a few months….

“I want to… I want to marry Floyd formally, but what if I run away again?”

In just one night, she had a child of the Empire’s sole Grand Duke, a member of the Imperial Family.

Though it was a night of indulgence destined for an unhappy ending, Floyd, the child’s father, thankfully liked her and even offered to marry her formally, yet she fled in this manner.

The countless criticisms related to her and the baby at the Rennes Grand Ducal residence were indeed unbearable.

But could I endure them if I returned, married him formally, and raised the baby? Would Floyd suffer because he wanted to help me?

“Of course, hearing this won’t erase past wounds, but they hated you without reason. Simply… because of what you and His Grace did.”

“That means… if something happens in the future, they might use it against us again.”

That was true. There would undoubtedly be people wanting to bring down Floyd, the Grand Duke of Rennes, and she was a flaw in his life.

She believed she was already causing him enough trouble and was sure it would continue.

Her selfishness for the baby and her safety. And her sincere desire to like and care for Floyd.

She was lost at the crossroads between them. Though time had dulled it a little, she still didn’t want to face the hollow criticism of people.

“Elina. I’ll handle all that. I don’t want you to suffer anymore.”

Before she knew it, Floyd, having dried his body and wet hair, came into the living room. He was wearing a loosely tied cravat over a shirt.

The kitten, unable to leap up, circled on Elina’s lap but ran to him as soon as it saw him.

It was more accurate to say Floyd picked it up rather than it jumped into his arms because of its small size. Elina watched the scene intently and spoke.

“Words from people can’t be easily stopped, no matter what method is used. And I know that well.”

“Elina, but….”

Worried that Elina might reject him and disappear again, Floyd couldn’t hide his anxious expression.

He had secretly helped her since she left the Rennes Grand Ducal residence, and he had come a little late after expressing his wish to meet her through Bianca.

“I’m not trying to question that now… what exactly have you been doing?”

Her words came out strangely. Elina just wanted to tell Floyd not to do it if what he was doing was truly impossible.

“He’s sorting out the reasons you had to leave the Grand Ducal residence… it’s a bit intense, so he’s not coming to you directly. Just wait a little….”

If it was ‘a bit intense’ as Bianca had persistently told her a few days ago.

“Handled it like a Grand Duke of Rennes while you were away. Though I don’t particularly like being like the Grand Duke of Rennes.”

“What… did you threaten the vassals?”

“Do you think I only threatened them? I made something visible too.”

At Floyd’s words, Lord Retta’s gaze shifted to him. His eyes seemed to say not to say such things.

But Elina misunderstood because of Lord Retta and asked if he had killed someone for her.

“No!”

“We didn’t kill anyone!”

Elina was startled by their loud voices. When the two large men raised their voices, the living room, which seemed large when she was alone with Bianca, suddenly felt small.

What followed was something she hadn’t imagined: Floyd had obtained written agreements from the vassals.

He said he would try his best to eliminate the rumors circulating inside and outside the family, and at least the vassals wouldn’t oppose the formal marriage.

“I should have done it all in advance. It was something I could have done.”

Floyd’s face looked much brighter than when she last saw him at the Rennes Grand Ducal residence. Not the face that was so apologetically exhausted before.

For a moment, she felt relieved.

“Ziegel. Go to the carriage first.”

Whether he knew his cravat was crooked, Floyd buttoned the cuffs of his shirt before putting on his jacket.

He wore a deep blue uniform, which suited him very well.

“Wait a moment, Your Grace….”

At Floyd’s words, Lord Retta went outside, leaving only Floyd and Elina in the room.

As she stood on tiptoe to reach his cravat, which was much higher than her head, he bent down deeply.

“Elina, be careful. I’m sorry to show up like this after so long.”

Because of that, she could see Floyd’s face up close. His face, filled with sadness and then beautifully smiling.

It was a smile so beautiful that it was on a different level from the one he showed the woman next to him when she arrived at the Rennes Grand Ducal residence, determined to take responsibility for the baby and find Floyd.

“Why do you keep apologizing, Your Grace… It’s me who should be sorry. Sorry for misunderstanding, sorry for lying….”

“Lying…?”

Floyd looked a little surprised at her words.

Elina delayed her response as she struggled to untie and retie his crooked cravat. The cravat, once retied, looked neat.

“I asked you to abandon me, Your Grace…. And I said I’d forget you, but that was all a lie. I never thought that once after meeting you, Your Grace.”

“I said I’d let you go, but I never did. See, I’ve been chasing you all this time.”

“How can you do so much… just for liking me?”

Even if she coldly drove him away, saying she wouldn’t return to the Rennes Grand Ducal residence, he seemed like he would answer with a lonely smile and say he understood.

Of course, that wouldn’t happen.

After leaving the Rennes Grand Ducal residence, realizing Floyd had secretly helped her, and finally, today, when Floyd found her.

Elina had countless thoughts in her head.

How many things in the world can’t be solved with just the feeling of love? Can I fully rely on that indescribable emotion and stake my life on it?

But Floyd had done countless things relying on that feeling of love. Beyond solving difficult problems, he conveyed his heartfelt sincerity.

“I like you… I like you, Floyd. I want to like you as much as I can. No matter what, I won’t regret liking you.”

And… as long as she liked Floyd, she was convinced that giving up her feelings for him because of others’ views was a foolish thing.

There would always be things to regret in life, but wouldn’t it be better to regret less?

Elina decided not to deny her feelings anymore.