My Dear Grand Duke on a Leash - Chapter 37

Chapter 19.1 — How to create a child (7)

Regardless of the recent terrorist attack, the morning dawned with its usual brightness, and the relentless routine of daily life carried on. In the face of such adversity, the preparations for the wedding went forward as scheduled.

In times like these, it was crucial for the royal family to present a strong and unwavering facade to the public.

Having taken a day off, she had fallen quite a bit behind on her work, so Riette had to spend today diligently catching up.

‘Alright, I should get up now and stop lazing around…’

As Riette reluctantly rose from her bed, her expression involuntarily furrowed and a groaning sound escaped her lips.

“Ugh… my body.”

Although feeling heavy with muscle pain, her heart felt light.

“For the time being, please refrain from approaching His Majesty Narkissis. It would be best not to show any signs to Queen Chalonné either. If the Princess suddenly changes, it’ll raise suspicions. I recommend you to spend the remaining days as you have done so far.”

Although it meant that she had to continue seducing Cain as she had for the past few days, now it was no longer a solo performance but a duet between him and her.

…Narkissis mistakenly believed he was sitting at the back of the stage, but the seats had been reversed to the first-floor parterre.

The fact that the target she had to deceive had changed to Narkissis alone brought a tremendous sense of relief. It felt as if the slightly misplaced puzzle pieces had finally fallen into their rightful places, aligning perfectly.

“Still, it’s too early to be relieved. We’re just getting started…”

The starting point of Narkissis’s plan was Helios. It meant that the scale of their revenge alliance between Cain and Riette wasn’t easy to thwart. So, for now, they needed to deceive others, so they had to act as if they were on good terms.

There were things she could do, too.

‘Just like he said, I’m also a princess!’

Riette jumped up from the bed.

“You’re sleeping well. This sister will do her best, Shushu!”

Saying so, she gently pushed open the crumpled cage door and slipped her pale, slender hand inside. She carefully stroked Shushu, who was still half-asleep, before getting off the bed.

“Princess, the Grand Duke of Acheron is currently training riding with the guards. Shall I inform him of your visit?”

“Ung! Let him know I’ll arrive within half an hour and have the limousine ready.”

Upon hearing those words, the lady-in-waiting returned her attention to the telephone while Riette gracefully took a seat at the vanity. Her attire consisted of a pristine white silk blouse paired with a knee-length yellow skirt that elegantly cascaded to the floor.

The color closely matched her eyes.

It was a rare sight to behold a member of the royal family adorned in anything other than the customary navy blue or burgundy attire.

The choice of forsythia, a bright and lively color, would have likely caused consternation for Ceres. However, with her mother’s focus solely on the safety of her eldest daughter amidst the recent terrorist incident, Riette was able to discreetly slip away from the confines of the Princess’s Palace. She pressed her hat firmly to prevent it from flying off as she descended down the center staircase of the Princess’s Palace.

Standing by the passenger side of the waiting limousine at the bottom of the stairs, she waited for an attendant to open the door.

“Thank you… huh?”

Just before climbing into the passenger seat, she glanced back at the chauffeur, who opened the door as if he had been waiting for her.

A question mark popped up in her puzzled eyes.

“Why do you, the chauffeur, open the door? Where is the attendant?”

“Hello, Lariette.”

“Kyaak!”

Startled by the languid greeting emanating from the driver’s seat, Riette jumped slightly in her place.

Narkissis raised his driving cap as if greeting her. In the slanting afternoon sunlight, his blonde hair glimmered brilliantly, and the shadow cast by his long eyelashes graced his ruby-red eyes. He playfully folded his eyes at her.

“Why did you take so long? I waited all day yesterday. You weren’t too preoccupied with another man, were you?”

With a swift motion, he tossed his driving cap to the ground and gestured to the chauffeur.

The observant chauffeur quickly retreated before Riette could even give the command. After fifteen years of knowing each other, and considering the frequent private conversations between Narkissis and the Chalonné sisters, circumventing the presence of attendants and maids, their current interaction felt like the natural course of action.

A spark flickered in Riette’s gentle green gaze.

“You’ve got quite a lot of nerve. What are you doing here? What if I kill Your Highness now?”

“Haha!”

It was a refreshing laugh. To the extent that if a stranger saw it, they would mistakenly think that Riette was telling a cute joke.

“Who taught you such words? I wonder who around you would carry such harsh and murderous expressions on their lips… Oh, right. You’ve gotten quite close to Cain, haven’t you? To the point where he lost his reason and rushed to you like that.”

Even though the corner of his mouth curled upward gently, sure enough, his scarlet eyes were chilling and cold.

“It was the first time I saw that expression from him. Quite intriguing.”

Lost in a reverie, he squinted his eyes and idly grazed his chin, an expression of discontent etched upon his face.

Kaisaros Acheron, a mechanical man whose lust was no different from a pile of stones, brazenly ran off with a woman in his arms. It was an incident so incredulous that even his bloodline would struggle to fathom its veracity.

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