My Dear Grand Duke on a Leash - Chapter 51

Chapter 26.1 — Best Bridesmaid (5)

Emotions were fleeting, but choices were eternal. In other words, decisions made based on emotions often lead to incorrect conclusions.

Right rules. Wrong choices.

He learned the way to discern them.

His father, and his father’s father, always sculpted their sons in this way—minimized trial and error and avoided the wrong paths from the start. The damage this value system had brought him has been negligible, so this decision would never cause any harm either.

As time passed, there would come a day when he took pride in today’s decision, just as always.

There was only one regret.

“I’ve come here to apologize for what happened yesterday. I shouldn’t have committed mistakes that I couldn’t take responsibility for. The sin of yielding to impulse and laying hands on a woman of the royal family, whatever compensation you demand, I’ll unquestionably accept.”

He respectfully bowed his head to her, with a guilty heart, sincerely.

“Compensation…?”

Riette’s voice trembled slightly as she asked as if she was dumbfounded.

“I’ve pondered all night about what would be an appropriate compensation. I’m considering proposing the establishment of a manufacturing facility in Chalonné for either the Acheron-owned munitions company, Raytheon or Krupp Steel. Would that be sufficient?”
[ T/N: Like I mentioned, although most of the time, authors rarely use real-life references or names, it seems like the author of this book is basing locations, brands or other things on real-life things. Raytheon (레이시온) or Krupp/Krupp Steal (크루프 철강) are brands that existed in real life as well! ]

“…That’s—”

Was he implying that the value of her first kiss was roughly equivalent to the cost of establishing a munitions factory?

A question she couldn’t bring herself to voice circled endlessly in her mouth.

Mistakes, impulses, and sins. Responsibility. Compensation…

The words he listed struck her heart like an unrelenting fist. Riette could intellectually acknowledge that the situation had been impulsive, but nevertheless, her heart twisted and contorted.

Did he spend a stiff and uncomfortable night while she shivered with heat and shameful anticipation that tickled her chest until dawn? The vivid memories that had tickled the dawn were now nothing more than grounds for demanding appropriate compensation. Her gaze dropped deeply to the window sill. The pale sheen of the pink dress and silk gloves suddenly felt unnecessarily cumbersome.

“You don’t have to offer compensation or an apology. After all, the reason I proposed marriage to the Grand Duke was because I was under duress. It was what I wanted, so you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Blaming the Grand Duke would be unfair, as she herself wasn’t entirely blameless.

Initially, he never wanted to marry her for a single moment, and so the one who should be disappointed was herself since she had to protect her sister and her country. Honestly, the Grand Duke was the kind of man who could marry any woman he desired.

She knew it.

No, she knew it well enough.

Still, it seemed like her head and heart always played separately.

Just the day after her first kiss, she had to face such rejection, and it felt like she had spent the entire night checking off the wrong answer and inadvertently crossing it out with a red pen.

“Nevertheless, we still need to resolve the situation. Well, even if we don’t get married, we could be friends who are trying to figure out how to do this together… No, you said you don’t want to be friends, so we’ll just have to remain as colleagues.”

In other words, a relationship where they would hardly meet for the rest of their lives if everything would be resolved.

Riette forced a smile, curling the corners of her lips to create a mischievous expression. It was a stiff smile, clearly and laboriously crafted.

“My second kiss will be with someone else. Thanks to you, I’ll look a little less inadequate next time. Um… Grand Duke, please be sure to send me an invitation when you get married, alright?”

Someone else.

Those words struck his mind like a harpoon as his vision split into a radial fracture.

If he turned around like this, the man who would capture her gaze would be someone other than him, like a less refined gentleman of Chalonné who would seize any opportunity to talk about Princess Beatrice and spew nonsensical complaints from their gaping mouths. Or the obscure prince from a distant kingdom whom she had never even set eyes on

Or someone like Narkissis, who concealed his moldy feelings behind a facade…

“….”

His blood boiled in reverse.

“I’m afraid I have to say goodbye now, Grand Duke. Thank you for making my first kiss a happy memory.”

Saying so, she reached out as if to close the window. Her pale white hand caught the soft morning sunlight, emitting a faint ivory glow. Despite the farewell and being sent away from the castle walls, he couldn’t leave and found himself rooted in place.

“Princess.”

Riette’s hand, which was about to grasp the window handle, froze in place.

Cain felt the palm of his clenched fist becoming damp. It seemed as if the gears inside his skull were overheating, unable to keep up with the speed at which they turned. Being by his side wasn’t safe, yet he was captivated by the compulsion to find a valid reason why she shouldn’t give her second kiss to another man.

It was the workings of a terribly inscrutable, contradictory mind that he himself couldn’t fathom.

Only one thing was needed. One slender thread of gold that would make him make the irreversible choice to willingly destroy himself…

“Do you know what color the Helios lark is?”

Riette furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head in response to the question that seemed to abruptly cut through the conversation.

“A lark? Why all of a sudden…?”

“Pprik!”

As if he had just memorized a summoning spell, her words were followed by a lark’s chirping.

Cain distinctly witnessed the sight of a black lark flying in from outside her window. It was a black lark adorned with radiant, iridescent feathers that shimmered turquoise depending on the angle.

Next came her voice.

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