My Dear Grand Duke on a Leash - Chapter 23

Chapter 12.1 — The dog, the lark and the Princess (7)

Riette’s round green eyes swayed back and forth, adrift.

At such an unexpected timing… all of a sudden like this…? Even though she didn’t know why he was saying this out of nowhere, it was a remark of such great consequence that even she forgot the entire conversation for a moment.

The Grand Duke of Acheron…

Wasn’t he an ecosystem disruptor who destroyed his generation’s bachelor hierarchy at once and a spark that reignited the aspirations of unmarried women who had turned their hearts to the brutal and wooden attitude?

“Th-that’s… a rush. Uh, do you have someone in mind?”

“There’s no specific person in mind, but there are criteria.”

…Criteria?

As the sunken, murky eyes stared back at her, Riette felt a sudden sense of distance from those eyes. The kind of distance that could be expected to be seen in a man who had withdrawn for a very long time…

“There would never be love between me and my partner. I’ve come to find a woman who will be my wife for the rest of our lives.”

“….”

“So, for the next five days, I’d like you to refrain from approaching me. Princess Lariette.”

His voice which uttered as if cutting through her was very low yet beautiful.

It was bitter.

˚ ·: * ✧ * :· ˚

While leaving her hair to the handmaiden, Riette was in a daze.

It was now five days until her sister’s wedding…

Thankfully, yesterday’s fight ended without any incident. No one was injured, and Narkissis took responsibility for causing the situation, offering a full apology and promise of compensation. Her mother, not wanting conflict with the powerful country that would be ahead of her sister’s marriage, also let it go quietly, for it wasn’t Bea who was caught in the crossfire.

Riette glanced down blankly at the back of her hand, which was once again bandaged.

The Grand Duke had also come to Chalonné to seek a marriage partner. Of course, the reason so many royalty and nobility attended as guests were to put themselves out into the marriage market.

…A woman who would be married to him as wife and husband forever.

So, he was looking for a woman to be that ‘show-window couple,’ which was a popular phrase in the newspapers these days…?

It wasn’t actually that surprising, it was just that no one had ever spoken so blatantly about it. It was the essence of an ordinary high-society marriage. Rather, it was more unconventional for her sister, a princess, to have a love affair with a commoner.

A time of peace with dazzling abundance… it was also a time of high society envy among the wealthy middle class. Naturally, the higher the status, the greater the desire to marry into noble families, lest the blood of the family be diluted. In other words, it was a very ordinary, aristocratic way of thinking for him, a man who was a great nobleman, to want a woman who would be thoroughly suited for a grand duchess.

…The problem was the timing he said it. It was very abrupt to want to bring it up in the middle of a conversation about meeting a puppy, wasn’t it?

Pprriikk!

As Shushu flew through the crack in the door and perched on the dressing table mirror, when Riette held out her hand, it landed on her fingers as naturally as if it had been waiting.

“Shushu. Tell me why he suddenly did that… You’re also from Helios, too, after all.”

“Pprik?”

“Don’t try to get away with being cute. No matter how cute you are, I won’t let you go.”

“Pprik…”

Seeing Shushu drooping his beak sullenly as if he didn’t like the firm tone, Riette smiled mischievously and gently stroked the top of Shushu’s head with her fingertips.

‘Oh, he’s really cute.’

“I’ll find a woman to be my show-window couple. So please, Princess, don’t approach me in the future.”

That meant he liked her a little bit… didn’t he?

“Okay. Thinking based on that statement alone, I think he had developed a little bit of a crush on me. I guess I’m good at making first impressions, Shushu!”

While she knew nothing about relationships, Riette wasn’t a tactless fool.

She thought she had made a mistake right from the first day, but to think it was okay. Normally, even though she would’ve just been happy, it wasn’t that simple. Given his character, who had a clear line to make and break everything, there was a good chance that Cain had already put her away as just a girl he’d developed a crush on. The closer she got, the less likely they were to get married. Still, she must receive a marriage proposal in five days…

“What should I do? This is too difficult to solve alone. I’m not that smart…”

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