Chapter 2

“Young Madam.” 

“…Where is he?” 

“Pardon? Oh, Young Lord Rixio is in his room.” 

“Take me to him.” 

“B-but, it’s late. And the Young Lord doesn’t like visitors in his room at night…” 

“Hurry!” 

The maids, serving Diana for the first time today, glanced nervously at each other. Seeing them, Diana grew even more impatient. 

For some reason, she felt she’d regret it if she didn’t go to him. 

Even Diana herself couldn’t understand why she was acting on the words of an unknown man, but she didn’t want to get married with this uneasy feeling. Even if she regretted it, she wanted to get closer to the truth. 

“Hurry!” 

“Ah, yes. Please follow me!” 

Diana urged the maids once again, and, hesitant, they had no choice but to lead her to his room. 

“Rixio.”

There was no time to worry about manners. As soon as Diana arrived at Rixio’s room with the maid’s guidance, she flung the door open.

“No matter if we’re about to be married, what kind of behavior is this without any courtesy?”

“…I came because I have something to ask.”

At that moment, Diana saw Rixio hastily hiding something. She quickly approached him and pulled out what he was hiding.

What she found was a portrait of a woman, so blurred that her features were hardly visible.

“…What is this?”

“You don’t need to know. Just forget about it.”

Rixio snatched the portrait from her hand. Diana was stunned by what she had discovered.

“…Why don’t I need to know? Aren’t we about to become husband and wife? Why won’t you tell me anything?”

“If you find out, you’ll end up getting hurt.”

A blurry portrait of a woman she had never seen before. Diana’s hand trembled as she looked at Rixio, who was hiding it and saying nothing.

“Even if it hurts, it’s fine… just tell me. Who is she?”

“There’s nothing good in knowing or thinking about it.”

“Hah, really… Is she your lover? If you won’t tell me, I’ll ask your mother!”

“…You won’t hear anything good, Diana. I’m saying this for your own sake, don’t ask anything. Forget her, even in your memory, if you want to live peacefully as the Grand Duchess.”

Even in this situation, Rixio looked calm.

That made Diana even angrier.

“Shouldn’t a married couple keep nothing from each other?”

“…It’s for your sake.”

For her sake, he said. What nonsense.

But Diana couldn’t argue back.

She saw the longing, sadness, and other emotions on Rixio’s face as he looked at her. When she couldn’t say anything, Rixio met her eyes, as if he’d been waiting for this moment.

“In the Grand Ducal family, especially in front of my mother, you must never mention her name, Diana. Please, please. I want to stay married to you for a long time.”

“If I know… If I ask about that woman, will something terrible happen?”

“Yes.”

Seeing how firm he was, Diana gave up.

She felt a depth of emotion she dared not approach.

‘I can’t win.’

His words pierced her heart more than usual. So she had to choose. To face the truth here, or to let it go.

And she decided to let it go.

There was too much to lose if she faced the truth and gave up everything right now.

“Fine. Then I won’t ask anything, so you forget her. If you want us to stay married for a long time.”

With those words, Diana snatched the portrait from his hand and tore it to pieces. This was the best choice she could make, marrying him with nothing but love.

“Forget her. About this woman.”

Diana scattered the torn pieces on the floor so they couldn’t be put back together. She thought this would make him come to his senses, that this was the way to protect their newly forming family.

But Rixio’s face hardened more than ever.

“J-just this one thing… Was it so wrong to keep it?”

“It’s not respectful to your partner. We’re about to be married. I don’t care if you miss her in your heart, but this….”

At Diana’s words, his expression changed instantly. As if he’d become another person, he sat on the floor and tried to piece together the torn portrait.

But the already blurry portrait could never be put back together. Rixio stared at it hopelessly, as if saying farewell to an irretrievable memory, and his face hardened again.

“Diana.”

His voice was cold. Diana’s heart sank, thinking the issue was resolved no matter whom he held in his heart.

“Yes, we’re about to become husband and wife. But… shouldn’t we respect each other’s privacy?”

“But this is—!”

“A mere substitute.”

Diana’s words caught in her throat.

“S-substitute?”

“So just stop. We’re not marrying for love, but out of necessity. Don’t interfere. Don’t try to take away my memories.”

Watching Rixio speak so nonchalantly, Diana’s hand trembled. Even if it wasn’t a passionate love, she thought they had feelings for each other. Rixio shattered even her smallest hopes.

Her heart ached.

Still, she thought she loved him. The flutter she felt when his gentle voice touched her ear, the passionate night they spent together. She thought maybe they were in love, but she was wrong.

He saw her only as a substitute… someone to replace another.

“How… how can you say that? Even so, we—”

“A contract couple. A fake marriage. That’s all. You crossed the line first, so I have no intention of keeping up appearances anymore. I don’t even want to hear your voice. You’re rude, and disrespectful.”

“…If you had just told me the truth… if you had—”

“Shh. Quiet. There’s no need to talk or know.”

Just as people lose their words when they’re furious, Diana’s lips only quivered.

“I gave you advice for your own good, but you didn’t listen. So don’t make a fuss. Tomorrow, I’ll become the legitimate Grand Duke with our marriage. So be quiet.”

“…If I become the Grand Duchess… I won’t just sit by. I’ll make you forget that woman perfectly from your memory.”

He approached her in an instant, grabbing Diana’s neck with his large hand.

“Know your place. You’ll be Grand Duchess only in name.”

Rixio’s lips hovered near hers, almost touching, but only his deep breaths reached her; there was no warmth between them. Soon, Rixio pushed her body away forcefully.

“You… you…!”

“If you want, you can sleep here tonight. It seems better than shouting and giving the maids outside something to gossip about.”

A strange, unknown resentment welled up inside her.

No matter what she asked, it was clear he would not answer.

‘He doesn’t love me.’

She never expected love.

But she did think he might love her someday.

His sweet voice when he proposed, she thought one day he would confess his love. Diana, who had dreamed like a girl living in a fairy tale, felt her world collapse. Rixio’s fingers traced Diana’s lips.

“Or do you want to go to bed right now?”

They were still facing each other. Rixio’s emotionless red eyes met Diana’s golden ones in the air. She wished someday love would fill those eyes, but now she realized—

There would never be love in those eyes.

The decision didn’t take long. Feeling she would break if she stayed any longer, Diana turned and left. The startled maids followed her, but unlike when she arrived, Diana quietly returned to her room.

“How… how… can this be.”

She wished she hadn’t checked. She wished she’d left her curiosity as just curiosity.

Diana couldn’t help but regret.

“No… Not a substitute. I’m not a substitute.”

She thought maybe he might love her a little. His gentle voice sounded sweet, as if spoken to a beloved. But he didn’t love her. Thinking that, Diana collapsed weakly onto her bed as soon as she returned to her bedroom.

“But I can’t go back.”

She pounded her chest, pulled at her hair, but there was only one conclusion.

She wanted to go back, but there was no way.

She remembered the man telling her to run away, but she couldn’t possibly run. Her family’s fate was already tied to her. Unable to decide for herself, Diana could only cry through the night.

If she went back, who knows what her father would do to her. Being called a useless child was worse than dying for Diana.

“My God… Is this the right path? Is this the right way?”

There was nothing she could choose. From the beginning, until now.

So she had to stay awake all night with her eyes open.

The wedding had to proceed as planned.