I Don't Need the Grand Duke's Regret - Chapter 101
“But Lady Armira…”
“Armilla is…”
Dead.
Mirabel almost let the harsh truth slip off the tip of her tongue.
But she couldn’t bring herself to say it to Luce. Instead, she gently pried Luce’s hands from her cheeks and asked softly.
“Can you keep it a secret that I’m Armira?”
“A secret?”
“Yes, a secret just between Luce and me.”
Mirabel extended her pinky towards Luce. Luce, looking intently at her finger, spoke seriously.
“If I keep the secret, will Lady Armira no longer be sad or hurt?”
Caught off-guard by the question, Mirabel’s lips parted slightly. She felt a warmth in her throat and nodded.
Luce, receiving Mirabel’s quiet answer, spoke solemnly.
“Then I’ll keep the secret.”
Luce hooked her pinky with Mirabel’s and her eyes sparkled.
She squeezed her chin tightly, as if trying to hold back tears.
“Do I have to pretend I don’t know Lady Armira all the time?”
“When it’s just us, it’s okay.”
“So, I can act like I know now?”
“Yes.”
“Hehe.”
With Mirabel’s permission, Luce smiled widely. She clutched at Mirabel’s hand and played with it.
“I missed you so much, Lady Armira. I was angry when everyone said you were dead.”
Luce chattered at Mirabel as if tattling.
“So the master got really angry. He killed all the beasts because they killed Lady Armira, and even asked Luce.”
“Asked what?”
“Where Lady Armira went.”
Luce responded as if it was an obvious question. She wiped her tear-filled eyes and sniffled.
“The master was really scary. He was just…”
Luce clutched Mirabel’s hand painfully tight and shuddered.
“After Lady Armira’s funeral, I saw the master in the red room. It was so scary…”
“The red room? Did the Grand Duke do something to you there?”
Mirabel vividly remembered her terrifying time in the red room. A place eerie enough that anyone sane would even lose their minds.
Mirabel worried if Luce might have been punished just for helping her.
“Tell me everything that happened.”
“The Master was lying in the red room, bleeding heavily.”
“….What?”
“People said he wanted to end it all after Lady Armira’s funeral. They thought he was trying to die.”
Mirabel’s expression turned shocked at Luce’s explanation. She blinked rapidly and swallowed hard.
“Bleeding? Lying there? What do you mean…?”
“The Master cut his wrists. Like this!”
Luce made a slicing gesture across her wrist and then contorted her face in distress.
“They said it would have been too late if they had arrived just a little later.”
“That person… did that?”
Mirabel muttered to herself, releasing Luce’s hand. Her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed in disbelief.
That Ricardo had attempted to take his own life.
Even as she listened to it, it was unimaginable.
Though she had seen Ricardo utterly devastated, that was it.
She thought he lost his mind because he couldn’t accept that not everything could go his way.
Ricardo was a man who liked to have control over everything. With Armilla disappearing beyond his control, he may not have been able to control his temper..
Mirabel had assumed that his kneeling before her was an act of desperation to regain some control.
But.
“Lady Armira?”
Mirabel bit her lip so hard it drew blood. Luce, who saw her blood, was alarmed and called her loudly.
“Lady Armira!”
“….I’m okay.”
Mirabel came to her senses and gave a smile to Luce. She was dazed as she accepted a handkerchief from Luce to dab away the blood.
Her mind felt foggy. The desperate image of Ricardo she had seen yesterday choked her thoughts, and her chest tightened with confusion.
‘Could it really have been genuine?’
Mirabel shook her head slightly.
No, it couldn’t be.
Even so, it changes nothing. The things Ricardo did to Armilla in the past are unforgivable.
Mirabel pressed her forehead, trying to take a deep breath. As she exhaled softly, Luce turned her head to look at her.
“Lady Armira, are you in pain?”
“Call me Mirabel, Luce.”
“Even when it’s just us?”
“Even when it’s just us.”
Mirabel struggled to maintain her composure as she spoke to Luce, who obediently nodded. She hesitated for a moment.
Up until now, Mirabel hadn’t been curious about how Ricardo had been managing since Armilla’s disappearance. She assumed he would have quickly forgotten her.
However, from what she had seen of Ricardo in Renato and heard from Luce, it seemed her assumptions might have been wrong.
Mirabel was conflicted whether to ask Luce about how RIcardo had been doing.
What would be the point of hearing that? It would likely only disturb her more.
Yet, part of her was curious. She wanted to hear that she had meant something to him.
“Princess?”
“Can you tell me more? About how the Grand Duke has been lately?”
In the end, Mirabel gave in to her curiosity. As she listened to Luce’s story, she regretted her own curiosity.
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