Chapter 2: Escape on a Rainy Day (1)

The night before, Terian had a strange dream.

His entire body was enveloped in a pleasant chill. Waves gently tickled his ears, softly waking him.

He suddenly realized he was lying defenseless in the water.

As he slowly raised himself, a rustling sound rippled through the surface. Once the waterfall-like water cleared from his vision, the surroundings came into view.

It was a lakeside he had seen many times before. Only after tracing the brilliant shimmer of the surface did he realize—

It was the Blessed Lake in the Imperial Palace.

‘……’

The sun was rising on the horizon. The Blessed Lake was supposed to be surrounded by forest. Yet Terian did not question the bizarre view in which both the forest and horizon were visible.

As the sun rose, the world around him was bathed in light. The grasses swaying in the breeze were slowly swallowed by the glow.

And then the lake began to shine as if it were an ocean.

‘……Ah……’

It was a breathtaking sight—so vast and beautiful it felt blinding. Terian, completely taken in, stood motionless and stared ahead.

Then came a splash, as something surged rapidly from afar.

A massive shadow cut violently through the water. Though it was a strange phenomenon, Terian simply opened his arms wide—as if he had been waiting.

With another splash and a clear sound of water, what leapt into his embrace was a massive fish.

Its entire body shimmered with a gentle green glow.

“……”

That was the last thing Terian saw before waking from the dream.

Heavy rain drummed incessantly against the roof of the carriage.

It was such a strange dream that he still thought of it on the way back from the palace to the estate.

Unfortunately, the refreshing feeling he had felt in that dream was already long gone.

‘……Please… help me.’

The image of Larie grabbing onto his collar consumed Terian’s thoughts all morning.

He had left her standing outside his room, her face sleepless and drawn—because if he hadn’t, he feared he might have unleashed every filthy thought in his heart upon her.

“Sigh…”

That afternoon, the special noble council that Baron Trompérie had been preparing for was finally scheduled to convene, with the accuser none other than Larie herself. The Baron had been publicly boasting that the Grand Duchess would personally drag Terian to the judgment stand.

So Terian couldn’t help but wonder—what exactly had she been asking him to help with? Was she hoping he’d escort her as she tore him down in public?

He didn’t need to hear it. It was obvious this was another Trompérie scheme, just like the night at the masquerade.

‘That’s not what it was…’

‘I don’t want a child with you… not anymore.’

Even though he’d spat such cruel words and turned away, the slight tremble in her voice still tugged at him. A useless thought to have in the moment Trompérie’s vile ambitions had come to light.

And sure enough, he was proven a fool. She had accused him—going so far as to slap herself in the face to frame him.

With a face like an innocent nymph, she had deceived him without hesitation.

Perhaps she hated him enough to harm herself just to destroy him.

“…”

Maybe he’d been clinging to some foolish hope—that she hadn’t truly wished to go along with her family’s ambitions. That she was somehow different. He must have been deluding himself with misplaced sympathy.

But that night made everything clear: the depth of her hatred for him ran long and cold.

His brow furrowed again. Terian couldn’t place the root of these feelings.

After all, he had made every effort to keep his distance from Larie from the beginning—Trompérie’s daughter, born of a family he loathed.

He had no feelings for her. None.

“Sigh…”

Taking another deep breath, Terian forcibly composed his expression.

Whenever he thought of her, tangled thoughts always followed. Lately, those thoughts—shaped like hatred—had only become more unruly, harder to suppress. Terian shoved the emotion back down where it wouldn’t be seen.

He told himself not to care. Just leave her be, separated by a single wall.

But that fragile calm shattered the moment the carriage arrived at the estate.

“Larie! Why aren’t you coming out? Larie!”

The shrill, piercing voice was unmistakable. Recognizing it as that of Baroness Trompérie, Terian’s mood immediately soured.

The special noble council the Trompérie couple had been so eager for was set to take place soon. Something was off.

As soon as he stepped down from the carriage, the head steward rushed to his side, opening an umbrella over him. That’s when Terian took in the scene inside the estate.

At the entrance of the main residence, the guards had encircled the baron and baroness. A few of their servants struggled to shield them with umbrellas as they thrashed about.

“This is outrageous!”

The commotion briefly stilled at his appearance. With a blotchy red face, the baron broke away from berating the guards and marched toward Terian.

“Grand Duke, don’t tell me you’re imprisoning my daughter!”

Now only four steps away, the man’s repulsive face was clearly visible. Terian, who had been silently listening, struck his staff into the ground before the baron could come any closer.

“—Ick!”

Startled by the warning gesture, the baron let out a squeal like a rat caught in a trap. Perhaps ashamed by his own reflexes, his face flushed an even deeper shade of red.

Terian looked down at him with utter contempt before speaking in an icy tone.

“What is it this time?”

He already understood. This time, they were trying to claim Larie was being unlawfully confined, likely planning to spread the story as they had before.

It was pathetic. Not even worth analyzing. They had already succeeded in having the noble council convened—wasn’t that what they wanted?

“Master, just a moment…”

The steward holding the umbrella leaned in to whisper in Terian’s ear.

“The maids knocked on My Lady’s door, but… there was no response.”

At the mention of Larie, Terian’s eyes narrowed. On the surface, it seemed she was flatly refusing to meet her parents.

But he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more going on beneath that.

Had something gone wrong with today’s noble council meeting?

“Tell the retainers to contact the others. Find out if anything has happened to interfere with the meeting today.”

“Yes, sir.”

Terian gave the order, his face hardening. The composure he had tried so hard to maintain was beginning to crack.

What had she been thinking that morning when she came to him, asking for help?

“Bring Larie out at once!”

The baroness’s shrill voice tore through the air.

Terian flinched internally—something about her scream scratched at his nerves in an unfamiliar way. That she dared shout like this within his estate was problematic in itself, but something felt… different.

Thinking it through, Terian came to a conclusion: the dissonance came from the lack of clarity in their motives. They had already gotten what they wanted—a council meeting. There was no real benefit to causing a scene at the ducal estate, away from any watchful eyes. Something was off.

“You people really are fond of deluding yourselves.”

“What are you implying…?”

Terian decided to start by correcting their mistaken assumptions. Even if this was just another pathetic performance of theirs—

“She may have once been the daughter of a baron,” he said flatly, “but that is no longer the case.”

At those words, the baron’s expression turned ice cold. The reaction was almost theatrical, considering his much-professed love for his daughter, and Terian couldn’t help but find it dramatic.

“The Grand Duchess of Avnir has the right to refuse anyone she does not wish to meet,” he continued. “That includes her parents.”

Such arrogant words, and yet, undeniably true.

Even the Emperor himself did not have the authority to force anything upon the Grand Duke of Avnir. The only time Terian had ever heeded the Emperor’s will was when he agreed to marry Larie.

So when Terian recited this simple fact with calm indifference, it was not just confidence—it was absolute peace.

The baron and baroness fell silent, apparently at a loss for words. After sweeping them with a cold glance, Terian turned and walked away, his voice cool and dismissive.

“Remove them.”

“Duke, you’ll regret this…!”

His tone suggested he was merely ordering trash to be taken out. The baron, quick to indignation and slow to read the room, opened his mouth once more.

But Terian cut him off with an icy warning.

“You’ll be made to pay for the uproar you caused in my estate. That, I promise.”

Regardless of the pretext, what they had just done was an unforgivable breach of etiquette. If Terian so chose, he could convene one of those precious noble councils the baron adored and have him formally punished—and no one would dare object.

“……Tch…”

The baron finally stepped back, realization dawning too late.

And yet, it was strange. After all his efforts to drag Terian to the judgment seat, the baron had now practically handed over a perfect reason for retaliation.

“…Haa…”

As Terian stepped back inside, the drumming of rain against the roof softened, yet it still roared in his head like a rising tide. He paused at the base of the stairs leading to the private quarters, staring up toward Larie’s chambers.

Then, with a sharp pivot, he moved forward.

Unlike his reaction to the baron and baroness, the anger now rising in him was hot, crawling up his chest like fire. Why couldn’t they all just leave him in peace? Frustration toward Larie simmered up again, unrelenting.

Perhaps this too was part of Tromperie’s plot—a thought like a thorn pricked his mind with every step he took up the stairs.

His long-suppressed emotions throbbed dangerously as he reached the top.

“My lady.”

Terian knocked firmly on Larie’s door—perhaps a bit too forcefully.

Silence greeted him.

Was she ill again?

So unwell she hadn’t even heard the knocking?

“……Tch……”

That sudden thought sent a chill crawling up his spine. Without hesitation, he swung the door open and stepped inside.

“…”

But the room—where she should have been—was empty. Not even a trace of her shadow remained.

A sharp, biting stillness swept over him, and the room’s cold air seemed to press against his skin.

“My lady!”

A strange dread tapped at him again and again—like raindrops pelting at a window.

Carried by a rising panic, he searched every corner: the modest sitting room within her chambers, the washroom tucked at the back—

She was nowhere to be found.

“…”

He stood frozen for a moment, staring blankly into the empty room, then turned abruptly.

Just then, the head steward appeared at the top of the stairs, looking confused.

“Where is the lady?”

“I—I thought she was in her room, my lord…”

That lukewarm response made the drumbeat in Terian’s chest pound louder—urgent, unrelenting, impossible to ignore.

Could it be that, amid the commotion with the baron and baroness, Larie had simply moved elsewhere?

With that thought, Terian resolved to begin by checking the places she might frequent.

“…”

But then, he abruptly stopped in his tracks.

Was there even such a place she frequented in this estate?

Every time he’d asked the steward, Larie had always been in her room. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t recall ever hearing so much as a passing comment that she had gone for a walk.

A chilling unease clung to his skin like damp wool. After a brief internal battle, Terian finally gave a grim order.

“Summon all the servants.”

It was just that Larie wasn’t in her room. And yet, for some reason, the foreboding sense gnawing at him refused to fade.

He was aware enough to recognize how strange his reaction was—but still, he forced himself to rationalize why he had to find her with such urgency.

The baron and baroness’s suspicious obsession with finding Larie—that was enough to justify it.

And she was supposed to be at today’s noble council. He still needed answers from her about that.

“Yes, my lord.”

“…”

It’s just because of that, he told himself. Nothing more.