“The situation seemed to require permission.”
An invisible battle of nerves continued between the two men.
Daphne suddenly felt like the crackers she’d eaten earlier were lodged in her chest.
“I’m fortunate the person nearby was me and not someone else. Otherwise, people would surely misunderstand my wife and the Second Prince.”
“By misunderstand, do you mean romantically? Or politically?”
“I trust Your Highness knows which.”
Daphne shouted at Astaire with her eyes to stop.
Regardless, Astaire ignored her and looked only at Second Prince Phaios.
Smiling, yet not smiling at all.
“Are you looking at me this way thanks to someone backing you up solidly?”
“Please don’t misunderstand. I simply hope my wife won’t needlessly become the subject of gossip.”
“You should be careful. You think someone’s backing you up, but one day they might push and push until they shove you off a cliff.”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
It was like two invisible swords fiercely exchanging blows.
Daphne felt uncomfortable watching the fierce competition between the two men any longer.
“Then I’ll take my leave, Your Highness.”
She spoke while pulling Astaire’s sleeve, feigning naturalness.
Then Astaire pulled his arm free and interlaced his fingers with hers for all to see.
“We’ll be going now, Your Highness.”
His grip was quite strong and suffocating—she tried to pull her hand free. But the Duke wouldn’t let go. Their interlocked fingers clung together stickily like a spider’s web.
Between their tightly pressed hands, sweat seemed to gather somehow.
* * *
“Your Grace, please let go of my hand.”
“…”
“It hurts, please…”
“Are you in a position to ask me for anything?”
Binding her hand like a snare, Astaire had been dragging Daphne along in silence all this while.
When Daphne spoke, unable to bear the pain in her hand any longer, the man finally smiled bitterly.
“Actually, I’m the one who wants to ask something.”
This time Daphne was the one left speechless.
“Be careful with your words and actions. Remember, regardless of your wishes, you are the Duchess.”
“…”
“Our contract is still valid. Do I need to personally recite what compensation you’ll owe for breaching it?”
Astaire leaned in close and whispered, bowing his head just like the Second Prince had earlier.
The breath rushing out with his words was so hot that Daphne couldn’t stand it and turned her face slightly away.
“…I know. Don’t misunderstand. It wasn’t like that at all.”
“Would others think so?”
When she took one step back, Astaire took two steps forward.
“Be careful.”
He muttered, flicking her dress collar with his fingertip.
“I’m worried. About which bastard might undo this.”
“How… do you see me?”
“Well, think about it carefully. With that smart head of yours.”
Astaire whispered viciously.
“A wicked wife seducing her husband’s political rival, or whatever.”
“…It’s a complete misunderstanding. That was the first time I’d ever spoken with the Second Prince.”
“Whether it’s the first time or not doesn’t matter.”
He gripped it tightly, like he might rip the button off. Suddenly afraid he really would tear her clothes, Daphne hastily grabbed Astaire’s wrist.
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Did you fall for him at first sight?”
The Duke whispered, staring piercingly into her ice-blue eyes.
“Like when you fell for me back then?”
“Your Grace!”
The moment she heard those words, she lost her grip on reason.
Smack!
Her hand moved on its own.
Her right hand struck the man’s handsome face with a sharp sound. Only after hitting him did Daphne belatedly realize what she’d done.
She stared blankly at her right hand, then looked at Astaire again.
“…Ha, interesting.”
Astaire looked at her and smiled with a face so clean you wouldn’t believe he’d just been struck.
It gave her chills instead.
Rather than getting angry and asking how she could do such a thing, his uncharacteristically bright smile was more frightening.
“Right, you were always like this. I’d forgotten for a moment.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, you can act that way when you lose your reason.”
Astaire spoke with an incredibly gentle face. Instead of touching his reddened cheek, he caressed Daphne’s face, the one who’d struck him.
Like she was the one who’d been slapped instead.
“You really haven’t changed, Daphne. That’s what I like.”
“…No.”
That alone wasn’t true.
She had changed.
He’d changed too. Compared to seven years ago when they first met, it was natural they’d changed. It would be stranger if they’d stayed the same.
Yet Astaire acted like they shouldn’t change.
“I hate change, Daphne.”
“…People can’t help but change.”
That’s right.
Like stagnant water eventually rots, she didn’t think unchanging people were good.
Daphne realized while harboring an unrequited love for Astaire for so long. That love harmful to oneself existed in this world.
Saying she’d love him, she’d run forward looking only ahead. She didn’t know what scenery passed by her sides.
She didn’t know how much her ankles got scratched and wounded by thorny vines as she charged straight ahead.
Though she knew now.
“Try not to change.”
“That’s impossible.”
“You love me, that won’t change.”
Astaire spoke almost mockingly.
“You still love me. Don’t deceive yourself.”
“No. Rather, I was deceiving myself. That I loved you, Your Grace.”
“So you’re deceiving yourself again this time? That you fell for Phaios, the Second Prince, at first sight?”
“Your Grace!”
“I don’t trust you, Daphne.”
A rock seemed to crash down with a thud.
Those words somehow hurt more than him saying he didn’t love her.
That he didn’t trust her.
Not someone else, but how could he say such a thing?
This time she couldn’t hold back the heat rising in her eyes.
* * *
The reason Daphne came to have an unrequited love for Astaire might have been something very trivial and insignificant to some.
It happened not long after she entered the Imperial Academy.
“I’ll get you into the Imperial Academy. After enrollment, you’re thoroughly on your own.”
After buying Daphne from the count, Astaire first enrolled her, then a young girl, in the Imperial Academy.
But that was it. He thoroughly kept secret from the school that he was sponsoring Daphne. He even added not to dream of using him as backing to gain any advantage.
“Don’t worry. I can do well on my own.”
“Let’s see.”
Back then, young Daphne gritted her teeth and looked straight at Astaire.
Astaire smirked like the girl was cute, turned his back, and went about his business.
Academy life wasn’t easy.
“Viscount Brandley’s family? Where’s that family from? Pfft.”
At the Academy where children of prominent families gathered, they didn’t acknowledge Daphne’s family, which had luckily bought a title with money during the past economic boom.
Moreover, the viscounty no longer even had funds from that era. Needless to say how much she was looked down upon.
“Someone to do homework with?”
“Me.”
When Daphne quietly raised her hand, everyone ignored her, pretending not to see.
“…Someone to do homework with?”
An invisible person.
Treating someone who clearly existed like they weren’t there at all was crueler than openly bullying them.
It didn’t matter anyway.
She hadn’t come to the Academy to make friends. Her ultimate goal at the time was to study well, earn a scholarship on her own merit, gain the Duke’s favor, and eventually repay all debts and become independent from him.
Then one day.
“What do I do! Someone stole my ring!”
A theft occurred on campus.
“It was definitely you, Daphne, right?”
“No! It wasn’t me!”
All evidence pointed to Daphne as the culprit.
When they finally opened Daphne’s bag, the ring appeared as if to prove it.
Dozens of eyes all turned toward Daphne.
Deep contempt and hostility, disgust at being in the same space with her.
No one believed Daphne.
Daphne instinctively knew a female student who usually disliked her had done this to get her in trouble. But no one believed her. No matter how much she protested.
“Thief!”
“Did you want it that badly?”
“This is why lowborns are no good.”
No!
Even when she shouted until her throat was hoarse, no one believed Daphne.
To make matters worse, even the other lower nobles who’d been friendly with her started avoiding her.
Within days, two labels were attached to Daphne.
Thief, outcast.
“Student Brandley, can you come to the principal’s office for a moment?”
The female student whose ring was stolen was a count’s daughter whose siblings and parents had graduated from the Imperial Academy for generations.
Naturally, a disciplinary committee was convened regarding Daphne.
Everyone put Daphne on the execution stand, hoping she’d cry and beg.
The students wanted to bring Daphne to her knees.
They disliked how Daphne acted aloof, like she was shunning the world, no matter how much they bullied and ostracized her.
They wanted to make her submit.
That there was clearly a class system in the world.
That someone like her couldn’t associate with them.
They wanted to teach Daphne definitively.
“All evidence points to Daphne Brandley’s theft.”
Theft.
Something that wasn’t fact had somehow become fact.
“Our Academy committee absolutely cannot overlook this matter. Student Brandley will receive appropriate disciplinary action.”
Disciplinary action.
The moment she heard that word, Daphne’s vision went dark. Proving herself to Astaire through excellent academic performance and conduct would be far from enough, yet now disciplinary action?
At this rate, Astaire would surely cast her out.
Daphne trembled with anxiety and tears fell. Her heart pounded so hard it seemed ready to burst through her skin. Blood rushed from head to toe.
She felt so wronged she could die.
“How dare you shed crocodile tears!”
People mocked her tears and hurled insults.
“Now, Student Daphne Brandley will receive punishment.”
With Daphne in the center of the room, committee members seated in a line on both sides declared.
Imperial officials, the principal and teachers looked down at her with cold eyes.
Before countless blades, Daphne was powerless.
She stared blankly at Astaire’s empty seat, where he should have attended as her guardian.
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bluemoon238
The fact that FL still cares about her standing and position in society is a problem. ML is everything FL has in society. She cannot trust the legal system of the Kingdom, debt goes by the legal ssystem. She shouldn’t care about the means anymore. Either ruin him or whatever but find a way to leave. Better off causing him to be hooked up with charges of treason or something and faking her death. Why do FL feel they can trust the words of these lying MLs?