My Dear Grand Duke on a Leash - Chapter 18

Chapter 9.2 — The dog, the lark and the Princess (2)

Besides, contrary to the Princess’s misunderstanding, it wasn’t the first time he had come to Chalonné, but during that time, he hadn’t encountered her so there was really no convincing reason.

‘Did I fall in love at first sight? Me?’

“….”

No way. Rather, it was far more persuasive to say that the demon of lust that lurked on the border of Chalonné had jumped out of the railroad tracks and cast a curse on him.

He had never felt any ardency towards the opposite sex in his entire life. He wasn’t interested in it at all, to the extent that he wondered if he had sacrificed his sexual desire in exchange for releasing the curse that came down to Acheron’s lineage.

So maybe, this really was a product of a curse…

Ring, riiinnng~

At the sound of the phone ringing, Cain removed his hand that was blindfolding his eyes and glanced back at the wall. The wall-mounted phone was ringing.

˚·: * ✧ * :·˚

Ppyoroongg—*
[ T/N: 뾰로롱 is an onomatopoeic word used when something vanishes magically, or magically changes in condition or shape. ]

Riette awoke to the chirping of a lark.

As the morning sunlight tickled her eyes, she saw a disheveled sight of the skylark showing off a black opal-like light permeating at the same time. She frowned slightly at the lark hovering from the window sill. It kept coming back, so she sent it back to the sky several times…

“You tenacious spy…”

Her long hair fluttered in the air as she got out of bed.

Crawling down from the bed, Riette approached the window and the lark jumped up as if it had been waiting. It then naturally landed on top of her palm as she held out her hand. The feeling of the soles of its feet touching her was strange, but it… was quite cute.

After lifting the unique lark to eye level, in her gentle green eyes, a lark as round as her eyes were clearly captured.

“Why do you keep coming back? There’s a very terrifying ruse going on here. You have to find a way to live before the fire starts. Did you happen to have a crush on me? Do you keep coming because you want to be friends with me?”

She must have had a hard time last night. All sorts of things were flowing out of her mouth.

“Ppik?”

The lark tilted its head.

To be honest… it was cute.

There was a reason for her oversleeping today.

After the Grand Duke ran out of the bedroom like that, Riette was gripped with an immense sense of shame and guilt.

Honestly, was marriage usually a big deal?

Even if the Grand Duke’s negligence would allow them to get a divorce, the next woman to marry him would be labeled as a second wife, while he would also be labeled as a divorcé, which was no different from a stigma in aristocratic society. Moreover, even though it would be a year, shouldn’t he live as a family with a woman who used him?

While she continued to think about it, in the end, Riette felt sorry and upset, and tears welled up in her eyes. She had slumped on the bed and sniffed for a while, only to fall asleep at dawn.

“Hey, lark. I’ll believe you if you swear on your beak that you’re not Helios’ spy. You’re from Helios, but I think you look like the Grand Duke, not His Highness Narkissis.”

Especially the pretty black feathers.

“Pprik!”

It was both funny and cute to see it chirping as if answering, so Riette ended up laughing. She lowered her voice to the lark like a strict instructor.

“Great. Since we’re a team from now on, I’ll give you a name. What’s your original name? Come on, tell me.”

When she stroked its stomach as if tickling it, the lark twisted its body while making a chirping sound to let her know that it was happy.

Now, tell me. You’re making me laugh.

Riette, who muttered to herself as if nagging jocularly, tilted her head while resting her chin on her hand.

“Well… Since you came from the wealthy Helios, how about Minos?”

“Pprik! Ppprriiiik, ppiiiik—!”

“Ah, I see. I’m sorry. Why are you flapping your wings and getting angry? Have you lost to an enemy named Minos wherever you live… Then, how about Shushu? Because you are as cute as candy.”

“Pprik!”

Only then did the lark puff up its feathers proudly as if he was satisfied.

‘This is really a strange bird…’

As she put Shushu on her shoulder, it neither walked nor flew away but sat down on Riette’s small shoulder as a perch. She was pretty proud that she’d come up with a name, it seemed like they had become close friends.

“All right. Let’s go on an operation together. Sister* is going to make a huge decision from now on.”
[ T/N: Riette is calling herself sister here~ ]

She placed the lark on her shoulder.

Riette, who approached the wall-mounted phone, turned the handle as she was leaning against the wall. The lark looked curiously at her hand, turning the knob. When she picked up the phone, she could hear the operator’s voice.

｢ Princess. Where can I connect you to? ｣

“Yes. Connect me to the bedroom of the annex. To the bedroom of His Highness Narkissis.”

If she wanted to seduce the Grand Duke, she needed to ask Narkissis about him. There was no way it would be possible to get a marriage proposal from such a man without any countermeasures.

Click.

Lariette hurriedly spat out at the ringing sound.

“Are you awake? I’ve been thinking about it all night, but I thought I should ask, so I called you in the morning.”

｢ …. ｣

“Why aren’t you answering me? Even if you are half asleep, try to wake up.”

However, at the unexpected voice that came soon after, Riette jumped up from her place.

｢ I’m fully awake. Please feel free to speak, Princess. ｣

“Kyyaak!”

“Pppriiiik—!”

As the startled Riette screamed, the lark jumped up from her shoulder as well.

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