As soon as Silas took the seat beside Kyla, the carriage door closed, and moments later the carriage began to roll forward.

“Your Grace!”

Startled, Kyla turned to him.

“Riona won’t be coming.”

“What? But…”

She couldn’t make sense of what he was saying.

“That can’t be true.”

She knew better than anyone how desperately Riona had wanted to see the opera.

“She said she’d be a little late and told me to wait in the carriage.”

“Did she?”

There was unmistakable amusement in Silas’s slow, measured voice.

‘If this man is playing some sort of joke on me… I’ll never forgive him.’

“…Don’t tell me. Did you come here in Miss Riona’s place?”

“Well… you could say that.”

His dark eyes sparkled as brightly as Riona’s as he looked at her.

“How could you…? Do you know how badly Miss Riona wanted to go? How could you do something like this?”

Kyla looked at him with open reproach.

“She didn’t want to go.”

“What?”

“Riona has no interest in opera whatsoever.”

“And you expect me to believe that? Just this afternoon she was overjoyed because she thought she was going to the opera.”

Kyla was dumbfounded.

There was a limit to how outrageous a lie could be.

“You believed everything she said?”

Silas asked with a faint smile.

Kyla felt as though someone had struck her over the head.

“Then…”

“I asked Riona to tell Miss Feilding that she wanted to go to the opera with you.”

Kyla’s lips parted silently.

No words came out.

Now that she thought about it…

It was strange that Riona, who had never shown the slightest interest in opera before, had suddenly begged to go.

Because Kyla loved opera, she had unconsciously assumed that Riona would love it, too.

Foolishly…

She had been completely deceived by the Lester siblings.

“I made it perfectly clear that I was refusing. And yet here you are, insisting on seeing the performance with me alone, seated side by side in a private box. Why? Why are you doing this to me?”

Kyla’s emotions welled up inside her.

The opera house was a microcosm of Ashton’s high society.

People stole glances at one another.

Rumors were born there.

Those rumors spread from mouth to mouth until they became something far larger than the truth.

For example, if a duke with a fiancée were seen attending the opera with his piano teacher, all the gossip would turn into an undeniable fact, ruining Kyla’s reputation.

But even more frightening than her own downfall was the shame it would bring upon her adoptive parents and Jayden.

And above all else…

Realizing that Silas was not only inconsiderate of her feelings, but also indifferent and stubborn to the point of cruelty, hurt her more than anything.

It felt as though someone were tightening their hands around her throat.

“What exactly… did you say to Miss Riona that made her deceive me so completely?”

She clenched her teeth, determined not to cry.

“I…”

Silas began to respond, but then fell abruptly silent.

Instead, he reached out and gently brushed her cheek.

The tears she had fought so hard to hold back streamed down her face.

Kyla hated Silas with all her heart.

Every moment that her heart had fluttered because of him now felt unbearably humiliating.

Unable to turn away or slap his hand aside, she watched as her world crumbled around her.

All she could do was bite her lower lip and glare at him.

“I asked Riona for her help. I told her… that I was going to propose to you.”

Still cupping her cheek, Silas gently pressed his thumb against her bitten lip.

“You’re hurting yourself. Stop biting it.”

A slight frown creased his brow.

Kyla doubted her own ears.

She had to have misheard him.

‘A proposal?’

It made no sense.

He was already engaged.

There was no reason for him to propose to her.

Releasing her face, Silas reached into the pocket of his waistcoat and took something out.

A flash of blue caught the light.

But Kyla didn’t look closely.

Whatever he had taken from his pocket…

Whatever he intended to do with it…

None of that mattered right now.

“Miss Feilding, I won’t apologize for asking Riona to deceive you. If I hadn’t, you would have run away before I could say a single word, and I never would have had the chance to speak with you alone like this.”

Inside the dimly swaying carriage, Silas’s beautiful black eyes were fixed on her alone.

“I hope you’ll forgive me for not kneeling.”

He took her hand.

“Will you marry me?”

Then, with deliberate care, he slowly took the glove off her left hand.

Kyla’s mind went completely blank.

She stared numbly as he slipped a ring onto her ring finger.

It was too dark to make out every detail clearly, but she could see that there was a large blue gemstone in the center of the ring.

“What… is this?”

“A sapphire.”

“No, Your Grace. That’s not what I meant…”

Kyla struggled desperately to make sense of the scene before her.

She couldn’t convince herself that it was just a cruel joke.

The look in his eyes was far too sincere.

“What about Miss Rothermere? Your Grace… you’re already engaged.”

“I’ve ended the engagement.”

“You… ended it?”

Kyla echoed the words in disbelief.

“It’s already been settled with Miss Rothermere. Count Rothermere has agreed as well. The announcement has only been delayed because there’s one matter the Rothermere family has yet to finalize.”

It was an unbelievable story.

Yet somehow…

She knew he wasn’t lying.

‘Why did he break off the engagement?’

‘Could it be… because of me?’

“Miss Feilding. No… Kyla.”

The way he spoke her name sounded almost feverish.

“I don’t understand why you’re proposing to me, Your Grace.”

Fresh tears spilled down Kyla’s cheeks.

She felt relieved when she realized that he hadn’t forced her to go to the opera because he didn’t care about her feelings.

But marriage…

Marriage to him?

That could never happen to someone like her — a mere piano teacher.

Even knowing that…

Why was her whole body trembling?

Why did her heart feel so full and heavy?

Why couldn’t she stop hoping?

That he truly loved her?

Resenting herself for having those thoughts, she quietly broke down in tears.

Silas pressed his lips together in silence and gently wiped away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.

Then he pulled her into his arms.

Holding her tightly against his chest, he spoke as though the words had been torn from the depths of his soul.

“My thoughts have been consumed by you.”

It felt as though his heart might burst.

The emotions he had forced down for so long were erupting like molten lava.

“Even in my dreams… you were all I could think about. Like a madman.”

Without another word, Silas tightened his embrace around her trembling shoulders.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t love me. Tell yourself you’re doing it for Riona if you must. Tell yourself you love the piano I bought you more than you’ll ever love me.”

He gently took hold of Kyla’s arms and slowly pulled her away.

Then he looked into her face.

Her eyes widened in utter disbelief and began to tremble.

Her tear-soaked eyelashes quivered slightly.

Silas gently pressed a kiss onto her trembling eyelids.

“Your Grace…”

She let out a quiet sob.

The fact that she could only cry and not speak was pushing him to breaking point.

There had been a time when he had tried to keep his distance from her.

A time when he had forced himself to stop thinking about her altogether.

But Jayden claimed to love her and had failed to protect her.

She had even come close to marrying someone like Norton.

He would never let her go again.

Even if she rejected him, he wasn’t going to give up.

He wanted to make her his.

Somehow.

Yet if he did that, he might only end up hurting her.

He couldn’t bear even the thought of her coming to resent him…

Or hate him.

So he had no choice but to plead.

“Kyla… stay with me. No… you don’t even have to remain by my side. If you wish to attend the conservatory, I’ll support you in every way I can. Just… allow me to become your husband.”

He had to beg her to accept him.

To not push him away.

Before they realized it, the carriage had turned onto the street leading to the opera house.

Silas looked at Kyla with desperate eyes.

She gazed silently out the window.

Bathed in moonlight, her face looked pale.

The tears that had streaked her cheeks had already dried.

“Your Grace… would you give me some time to think?”

The tremor in her soft voice made Silas’s chest ache.

“Of course. Take all the time you need. I’ll wait.”

As long as she didn’t reject him, he could wait.

In fact, he felt he could wait not just days, but weeks.

Even months.

Yet the uncertainty in her eyes made him uneasy.

“I’ll return the ring.”

She slipped it off her finger.

“Keep it on for now.”

“I can’t.”

“It wouldn’t fit on any of my fingers, and it’s far too large to keep carrying around in my pocket.”

He concealed his growing anxiety with a smile.

The ring was a ten-carat sapphire, which he had specially commissioned for her.

No matter what happened, he wasn’t going to take it back.

Kyla let out a quiet sigh.

“Then… I’ll return it once we’re back at the Lester estate.”

As she reached to place the ring inside her pouch, Silas frowned slightly.

“If you lose it, that would be a problem. I won’t take it as a sign that you’ve accepted my proposal, so just keep wearing it for now.”

He almost snatched the ring from her hand before slipping it back onto her finger.

Kyla glared at him for a moment.

However, as they approached the opera house, she finally gave up and put her glove back on.

There were far too many obstacles for her to decide to marry him simply because she had feelings for him.

Besides, arguing with him in the carriage would achieve nothing.

Before long, the carriage came to a stop and the door swung open.

Outside, the opera house was illuminated by the warm light of countless gas lamps.

Silas stepped down first and held out his hand to her.

After hesitating for a moment, she finally took his hand and allowed him to help her down the steps.

As Silas escorted her into the opera house lobby, countless pairs of eyes turned towards them.

He met each curious gaze without hesitation, returning every greeting with a smile.

He knew exactly what Kyla was thinking.

She was uncomfortable with the whispers, the stares and the rumors surrounding the two of them.

After tonight, scarcely a soul in Ashton’s high society would be unaware of the gossip about the duke and the piano teacher from the ducal household.

And that was exactly what he had intended.

She wouldn’t be able to reject his proposal so easily now.

He knew it wasn’t gentlemanly behavior.

If she thought him despicable for it, so be it.

He had already done far too many ungentlemanly things to her.

And if necessary, he would do many more.

If he were to reveal even half of the fantasies that filled his mind, she would undoubtedly flee from him in terror.

‘I’ve truly lost my mind.’

A quiet chuckle escaped him.

Kyla frowned and looked up at him.

‘A woman who already thinks I’m insane just because I smiled…’

He had a feeling that the road ahead would be anything but easy.

The opera was exceptionally long.

Under ordinary circumstances, he would have become bored and left before the end.

But having Kyla seated beside him filled him with happiness and contentment.

Every time he looked at her, he could feel exhilaration and joy coursing through his body.

It had taken him far too long to finally have her by his side.

If she hadn’t been Count Snowdon’s daughter, he never would have given her up so easily, even if she had been Jayden’s love interest.

But as time passed, his longing for her grew, like waves rising within a typhoon, until it became an unstoppable tidal surge.

Ultimately, it overwhelmed him completely.

That was why…

The past between the Snowdon and Lester families had to remain buried forever.

She could never be allowed to learn the truth.