My Dear Grand Duke on a Leash - Chapter 50

Chapter 25.2 — Best Bridesmaid (4)

“Ta-da!”

With a hat on her head, Riette poked her head out of the window frame.

“How do I look? Am I very pretty today? I paid extra attention to impress the Grand Duke. Not too much… just a bit.”

The cloudless, clear sky stretched the dazzling sunlight diagonally across the landscape. Eyes curved into crescent-shaped and wheat-colored lashes. Her blushed cheeks shone even more brightly and brilliantly than a chandelier.

Wearing the elegant dress typical of noble ladies, she appeared dignified, graceful, and lovely. She seemed like a precious youngest daughter of the goddess of the earth raised beautifully in her arms and secretly sent out into the garden on a spring day. A princess of nymphs, fearless in her freshness and curious hunger.

Riette, who had nestled herself in the middle of the window, rested her elbows on the window frame and supported her chin with both hands. She tilted her head slightly and flashed a mischievous smile.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? You’re supposed to marry a woman you don’t love, but are you in trouble because you’re falling for me?”

She chuckled at the ridiculousness of her own words, covering her mouth as she giggled.

Cain simply averted his gaze momentarily, or at least that was how it appeared to Riette. She looked down at him and let out a soft hum in response.

‘He doesn’t give compliments like that.’

“Grand Duke, I have a question.”

It was only then that he glanced up at her. Riette’s expression appeared somewhat sullen.

“I’m asking because you said you heard the call. Is it because of Princess Penthesileia that you’re marrying a woman you’re not interested in?”

Lover.

Was it the shock the word itself carried?

Despite the fact that she tried not to pay attention, honestly, her mother’s relentless rant had been swirling in her head the whole time. If he were in love with another woman and kissed her, and if… he had done that with someone else…

“If not, I’m sorry. My mother heard some strange rumors that the Grand Duke was her love, and she’s under the misconception that you’re a very bad man. I don’t believe it, but…”

“No, absolutely not.”

At the sight of Cain pressing his temples with his large hand as if he were tired as he answered, Riette’s shoulders, which had been tense, relaxed.

“All right. Then, it must not be true!”

If the person involved said so, then that settled it. After all, she had observed firsthand over the past few days that he wasn’t the kind of man who would engage in such hypocritical affairs, so there was no need to dig any further.

“However, my reason for coming to Chalonné to choose the Grand Duchess isn’t entirely unrelated to Her Highness Penthesileia.”

“…Yes?”

Her heart sank.

It was because of the heavy guilt that seeped through his dry demeanor when she faced him once more.

“The reason I came to Chalonné is also related to the scandal that I’m involved in an incestuous relationship with Her Highness Penthesileia.”

It was the scandal that Helios’ third-rate tabloids were still churning out at this very moment. Without even bothering to read them, she could already imagine the content and how they were wasting precious resources like ink and paper.

..If indeed the truth was that two, who were cousins, were engaged in an incestuous relationship, then this directly defied the Helios Empire’s law, which stated that unmarried individuals couldn’t consider each other as lovers. Regardless of legality, it would be considered uncivilized, unethical, and depraved…

Was the Grand Duke’s support for Princess Penthesileia as the next crown princess truly motivated by perverse and immoral desires? In the current state of the Imperial politics of the Helios Empire, where hypocrisy seemed to dance to the tune of the desires of the hypocrites…

It was a base tabloid that had spread primarily through a small newspaper supported by an aristocratic family who favored Narkissis.

If one knew the whole story, the intention behind it was obvious, but as always, the general public didn’t care much for truth or cause-and-effect relationships. Rumors that circulated from mouth to mouth without a clear source were the fastest way to gain trust and attention.

“I don’t pay it much mind. It’s a scandal that I can put an end to by marrying another woman and having a child, and if Her Highness Penthesileia also consistently portrays her engagement with her fiancé in the media.”

That was why, Cain had devised a strategy of marrying a woman distant from the power dynamics of Helios to ensure the transparency of his political choice. The marriage he needed was a symbolic union that would prove to the Empire that Acheron always maintained neutrality and made decisions solely based on rational judgment, just as it had for centuries.

“What I need is a wife who is willing to enter into a contractual marriage of equal exchange, where I would use her politically, and she would enjoy her status, position, and power.”

Becoming his wife meant getting involved and throwing herself into the sordid and debasing mudslinging of Helios’s politics.

“So, Princess, you’re not a suitable candidate for my marriage partner. Furthermore, I have no intention of exposing the weaknesses of the Grand Duchy of Acheron to you, who have already become a target for Princess Narkissis.”

He wanted a companion who would be his comrade-in-arms to fight this ugly power struggle with Narkissis.

He didn’t need a woman whose presence would make his heart flutter like a dog meeting its owner with a smiling face as she looked out of the window.

Want to read more? Up to [15] advanced chapters are available on Patreon: