Chapter 12 – Part 1

The servants clicked their tongues as they glanced in the direction Elena had stormed off, slamming the door behind her.

They shook their heads, forgetting that Kristin could see them.

Even among the servants, Elena was famous. The fact that a commoner’s daughter became a countess and lived in luxury was something unique.

Those who were of similar status to Elena envied her.

To be the daughter of a Viscount and live a luxurious life as a noble was the most unattainable dream for them. While some servants looked at Elena with envy, others clicked their tongues at her uncouth behavior.

Kristin addressed the servants,

“I’m sorry. My sister is still ill-mannered. I won’t be coming back to this ducal residence either. So, you can all rest assured. You won’t have to face Elena anymore.”Next to Kristin, Lenci carefully opened her mouth.

“My Lady, His Grace seemed to be quite injured earlier. Will he be alright?”

Lenci had noticed Raphael’s hand as he passed by.

Even though he had wiped the blood with a cloth handed by a servant, the sharp glass had cut deeply, and his hand continued to bleed.

After hearing Lenci’s words, Kristin lost her appetite.

The dining situation had been further ruined by Elena’s visit.

In the now heavy atmosphere, it was hard to even drink a sip of water.

Moreover, Raphael had injured himself in a fit of rage because of her sister, so she felt compelled to check on his condition.

Kristin decided to go to Raphael.

“Lenci.”

“Yes, my Lady?”

“I should probably go, now that you mention it, I’m worried about the Duke’s condition.”

When Kristin spoke to Lenci, one of the nearby servants, after a moment’s hesitation, offered,

“I’ll go and check where he is. Please wait here for a moment.”

With that, the servant, who had been clearing Raphael’s dishes, quickly left the dining room.

Watching the servant leave, Kristin placed her hands together on the table.

Why were things so complicated? Why had she collapsed and ended up here?

Kristin felt so foolish for even attempting to dine at the Duke’s mansion, a place she never wanted to be. She clenched her dress tightly in frustration.

A few minutes passed.

The servant, who had gone to find Raphael, returned and spoke. “H-he’s outside.”

“What?”

Kristin had expected him to be receiving treatment from the mansion’s resident physician.

But he was outside?

“His Grace is in outside? Isn’t he receiving treatment from the physician?”

The flustered servant quickly answered Kristin’s question,

“I thought he was receiving treatment too, so I checked his office, bedroom, and study, but he wasn’t in any of them. Moreover, the physician was having his meal in his room. So I asked the other servants, and they said he was outside, fully dressed.”

The servants around them murmured to each other, tilting their heads in confusion.

Kristin couldn’t understand this either.

In the past, the Duke would have been upset even by minor injuries.

He would get very angry if a servant stepped on his cloak or if his face got brushed by a leaf while riding.

He used to be someone who only cared about his safety, so his current behavior is baffling. If he had been injured by broken glass, his hand must be in terrible condition.

Worried about Raphael, Kristin asked the servant,

“If he’s outside, is he in a carriage?”

The servant quickly replied,

“No, he said he was waiting for you outside. He insisted that knowing he was outside would make it hard for you to finish your meal, so he asked not to be told. But the head maid outside told me to inform you, my Lady, so that he could receive treatment.”

The servant was out of breath from speaking so quickly.

Feeling pity for the servant, Kristin stood up and spoke to her,

“That’s enough. I’ll go see him.”

After speaking to the servants, Kristin hurried out of the mansion.

* * *

Raphael regretted his actions.

If he had just held back a little longer, he could have asked Kristin various things during the meal. But he couldn’t control his anger and ended up breaking the glass.

Still, he couldn’t smile while looking at Elena.

He thought that using Kristin alone would be enough.

Not only did he dislike the way Elena treated Kristin, but he was also incredibly irritated by the audacity of a commoner daring to confront him.How lightly must she have taken him, the Duke, to come to his mansion early in the morning?

Moreover, when he saw her shyly handing the bouquet to the butler, he could no longer hold back his anger.

If one were to look for a suitable candidate for the duchess in the Union Empire, Kristin would be the first name to come up.

As for the second candidate?

Raphael had no interest in the other noble ladies.

Seeing noble ladies who were always interested in dresses and jewelry and filled with vanity made him uncomfortable.

Still, Kristin was different from those ladies.

He had learned that since last year. Kristin liked embroidering and enjoyed living quietly within the mansion. She didn’t participate in tea parties or spend much effort on adorning herself.

Rather than being envious like other noble ladies sitting in cafes, Kristin, who was a bit naive and innocent, was better.

Above all, Kristin Edith was the only one who could make the Marquis of Winston’s heart melt.

That was why Raphael had no choice but to obsess over Kristin.

Despite the clear class difference between the ducal family and the viscount’s family, he was using her, but his eyes and heart were strangely drawn to Kristin.

This emotion was something he couldn’t help but have.

Perhaps it’s because he died and was reborn, so he hastily tried to sort out his emotions in this life.

Useless emotions were poison.

The feeling of loving someone was not something that suited him.

At that moment, he felt pain in the palm of his hand that was cut by the glass shard.

Even though it was just a cut on his palm, the pain was unpleasantly strong.Normally, he would have gone to the resident physician in the mansion for treatment.

But it was more important to take Kristin to the lakeside.

He had a place he wanted to show her, and she might return to the viscount’s mansion if he took time to get treated.

Therefore, he had no choice but to wait for Kristin to have the carriage ready. Because he hadn’t been able to have a proper conversation with her, he needed time with her.

Hence, Raphael ignored the pain from his injury after looking at the wound.

At that moment, something caught Raphael’s eye.

And just by looking at her face, the excruciating pain was subsiding.

When Kristin came rushing towards him with a worried expression on her pure, clear face, not a look of dislike, it was the first time in his life that his heart was pounding so rapidly.

Raphael was finally able to rationalize these feelings.

This emotion was not simply a feeling of gratitude towards someone who cared for him, but a genuine feeling of affection for her.

And with that realization, Raphael could only laugh bitterly at his injured hand.

‘I like Kristin? If this emotion is one of affection, why did it come now? I can’t even give up on it.’

* * *

Kristin met Raphael’s gaze, which was continuously fixed on her.

When their eyes met, he quickly turned towards the carriage.

But Kristin was not hurt at all by the Duke’s actions. There was no longer any room for her to be hurt. To be hurt was to have expectations of the other person.

Now that she had no expectations, she had nothing left to feel hurt about.Rather, she was grateful that he was keeping his distance.

Kristin carefully approached him and spoke.

“You were injured by the glass earlier. Are you alright Your Grace? ”

Her tone was worried, but it was purely formal. It was just the tone of a viscount’s daughter worrying about a higher noble. That was it.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing serious. I’ve been in numerous battles. It’s just a cut on my palm; no need to freak out.”

But Kristin didn’t believe him. In the past, he wouldn’t have said something like that. Despite her doubts about his words, Kristin looked at his injured hand.

Seeing the blood still dripping from his wound, Kristin took out a handkerchief from her pouch and said,

“Let me see your hand.”

“What?”

When Kristin spoke to Raphael, he looked at his hand, which was dripping with blood. Then, he glanced at Kristin, shook his hand, brushed off the blood, and replied with a blank expression.

“I told you, I’m fine! Don’t do unnecessary things.”

Unnecessary?

Kristin, holding the handkerchief, looked at Raphael.