That Marriage, I’ll Do It in this Life - Chapter 21
Saena quickly looked around and ran toward the terrace railing. There was no time to think deeply. If she couldn’t leave through the door, she had to find another way.
The wide skirt of her dress made it difficult to move. Saena grabbed the hem of her dress and struggled to climb onto the terrace railing.
It was higher than she expected. From the top of the railing to the ground below was at least three meters. The banquet hall was on the first floor, but the structure included a staircase leading up to the main entrance, making it about 1.5 floors high.
Outside the terrace was a garden, with grass covering the ground. It was softer than bare earth, so she might not get as hurt if she fell, but even so, it was too high to jump down directly.
‘I’ll climb over to the other side of the railing and lower myself down slowly.’
Once she reached a reasonable height, she could let go and land.
“Ah!”
…Of course, that plan might have worked if she hadn’t rushed and stepped on her skirt, losing her balance.
Instead of climbing down slowly, Saena found herself plunging at a dangerous angle that could have easily broken her neck. As she fell backward, she braced herself for serious injury and tightly shut her eyes.
Thud.
She tensed up, expecting immense pain, but… she wasn’t hurt. She didn’t feel any major impact on her body.
‘…Tobacco?’
Instead, she smelled a faint scent of tobacco and felt warmth.
Slowly opening her tightly shut eyes, she was startled.
“Ah…”
She was shocked.
‘…The Duke?’
Could it be that he had been there and caught her as she fell?
With a cigarette still in his mouth, he seemed to have caught her reflexively. Soft white smoke escaped from between his slightly parted lips and dissipated. His face, looking down at her, showed no particular expression, as if this situation wasn’t strange at all.
Saena tried to collect herself and opened her mouth to speak.
“Th-thank y–”
But she immediately closed her mouth.
“Oh, Saena? She’s not here?”
Elizabeth’s voice suddenly came from above.
It seemed she had finally opened the terrace door and stepped inside.
“What? She’s not here?”
Following her, George Hollander’s voice and footsteps could also be heard. If they leaned over the railing, they would undoubtedly spot her.
And Saena… was in the arms of that Duke Kramer.
The Duke’s head tilted slightly upward, as if he had noticed something unusual. His lips, still holding the cigarette, parted slightly, as if he were about to call out to the people above.
‘…No!’
Momentarily losing her senses, Saena reached out and covered his mouth with her hand.
She didn’t want to see George Hollander, but more than that, she didn’t want to be caught in this situation—being held by the man who would become Elizabeth’s husband.
In her haste to cover his mouth, however, she wasn’t careful.
“Mm.”
Her hand accidentally touched the tip of the cigarette still in his mouth, and she burned herself.
Thud. The shortened cigarette fell from the Duke’s lips, and Saena’s hand, startled by the pain, momentarily pulled back.
“My lady, your hand.”
However, as soon as words came out of the Duke’s mouth, Saena once again covered his lips with her hand.
Perhaps finding her repeated action of covering his mouth absurd, the Duke’s eyes, which had widened slightly, deepened. Was it because they were outside where there wasn’t much light? The eyes that had resembled a clear blue lake now seemed to hold the darkness of the night.
“Did you hear something?”
“From the garden below?”
But before Saena could even apologize for her rudeness, she hurriedly brought her face closer to his ear and whispered urgently.
“Under the terrace, inside. Quickly.”
Despite her impropriety, the Duke quietly complied with her request. As soon as they hid their bodies in the shadows cast beneath the terrace railing, voices came from directly above their heads.
“What on earth is going on? There’s no one here. Are you sure this is the right terrace?”
“It is! I made eye contact with her right in front of the door.”
“You had quite a bit to drink. Are you sure you’re not imagining things?”
“I’m certain it was here. The door was even shut.”
“Then why isn’t she here?”
“How would I know? Maybe she went to the garden?”
“Why would she go to the garden? Do you think someone wearing a dress could just jump down from here?”
“If she had someone she was secretly meeting, maybe she would. Maybe she’s the type to talk behind everyone’s back?”
“…Saena isn’t like that.”
Saena momentarily bristled at George Hollander’s remark, but Elizabeth quickly refuted him.
“She might have already gone home. She doesn’t really like parties anyway.”
“Someone who doesn’t like parties? That’s hard to believe.”
“…I’ll introduce you next time.”
The time it took for them to exchange such conversations and leave again was both short and long, depending on how one saw it.
Holding her breath and staring upward as if she could see through the terrace above, Saena finally exhaled slowly once they had left.
The Duke, who had been watching her the entire time, caught her gaze when she turned her head without thinking.
Caught in his gaze, Saena held her breath again.
Have you ever looked into the water of a lake at night?
That unsettling ripple, as if an unknowable darkness lurked within its depths, making you uneasy.
The Duke’s eyes were exactly like that.
– Dangerous…!
Something inside her whispered so.
And at that moment, she became acutely aware of the cool sensation of his skin beneath her palm.
Particularly, the feel of his lips, firm and protruding, pressing against her palm, and the shallow breaths brushing against the back of her hand, tickling her…
Startled by the unfamiliar sensation, Saena quickly withdrew her hand from his mouth. The Duke, moving at an unhurried pace, gently lowered her to the ground. Even during this, his gaze remained fixed on hers.
“Um…”
“……”
“Th-thank you, Your Grace.”
The Duke, after confirming that Saena was standing firmly on her own two feet, bent down. His long arm reached toward the ground to pick something up. It was the cigarette that had fallen from his lips earlier.
“Your dress is damaged.”
“…Pardon?”
Following his gesture, her eyes fell to a small hole in the white fabric of her skirt. It seemed the cigarette had grazed the fabric when it fell, leaving a burn mark. The material was so thin that even a brief exposure to heat had been enough to create the hole.
“Ah…”
“I will compensate for this.”
“What?! No, it’s fine! It was my fault…”
“Is your hand alright? May I take a look?”
The Duke extended his palm toward her. His large hand, clad in fine deerskin gloves, seemed to wait patiently for hers to rest upon it.
“My hand is fine. It was my mistake, after all.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
His tone, subtle yet firm, left Saena hesitating before she reluctantly extended her hand. The Duke gently took her slightly curled hand, opened it, and lifted it closer to his eye level.
As he lowered his gaze to inspect her hand, his white lashes cast shadows once again. For some reason, Saena found herself unable to look away from the sight.
“It’s burned. It might leave a scar.”
“It’s really nothing.”
The Duke looked at her quietly as she waved her free hand dismissively.
“And… thank you so much for catching me. I could have been seriously hurt, but you saved me.”
Saena bowed deeply to express her gratitude.
“If you understand, don’t do anything so reckless again. You could have broken your neck.”
“……”
He wasn’t wrong. She had fallen backward, staring up at the sky.
Still, hearing it said so bluntly made the back of her neck prickle uncomfortably.
‘If I got hurt or died while trying to avoid him, I’d probably die angry all over again…’
The thought genuinely annoyed her.
She had acted purely out of panic, but it wasn’t like she could keep running away forever. She would inevitably encounter him again, so avoiding him wasn’t a real solution.
Saena gave a small nod.
“Thank you again. I’m sure you’re busy, so I’ll take my leave now.”
It had been a strange day. To think she had held such a long conversation, face-to-face, with someone as high-ranking as the Duke.
‘We even danced earlier.’
Her encounter with George Hollander had nearly ruined her mood, but after what happened with the Duke, it all felt oddly trivial.
‘…Let’s go home.’
From morning until now, it had been an exhausting day. Without any lingering hesitation, Saena made her way home.
Duchess_Starlight
Thank you for picking this up. I’m struggling to find a quality translation and this is very good.