My Dear Grand Duke on a Leash - Chapter 53
Chapter 27.1 — Best Bridesmaid (7)
If it wasn’t a dream, it might be a delusion.
Riette had a rich imagination.
She had only one older sister as a friend, but since her childhood, Bea was so fragile that it would be difficult to compare her to the present. Since there was no one to properly engage with her, Riette would often unfold her wings of imagination by repeatedly reading fairy tales her mother had read a long time ago.
Perhaps even the puppy she rescued from the fountain might have been one of the delusions from that time.
It was like that every time her stress became unbearable, and it was probably still the same now.
She was betrayed by a friend of fifteen years, almost lost her pregnant sister, and pushed a contract marriage to a man she had only met a week ago and even had her first kiss, but he coldly rejected her.
‘Yes. This angel-faced boy in front of me, like a little angel, was my escape fantasy…’
“Aeacus. Show proper manners to the Princess and sit properly in your chair.”
She paused at Cain’s cold command.
Similarly, Ian, who had been held in her arms, froze like a sparrow caught in cold water. As she got up from her slouched position, the towel that had draped over her forehead fell to the side of the bed. She finally saw Cain when she sat up with her head leaning forward. He had his elbows on his thighs and was touching his forehead with clasped hands as if in prayer.
At the same time, a feeling of despair flowed from his body like a black vapor.
….
It was neither a dream nor a delusion.
This was, indeed, a reality.
Riette turned her head towards Ian, who was frozen stiff. He couldn’t even relax properly in the face of his brother’s cold demeanor and just sat there rigidly. When she thought that he wasn’t a figment of her imagination but a real child, it made her feel even more sorry for him.
She reached out her arm towards Ian.
“Shu, no, Ian. Would you like to sit on the bed here?”
“Just leave him be. He shouldn’t go on the Princess’s bed carelessly.”
“….”
“I must have warned you so many times not to go outside the country house… I’ll hear the details when we get back, Ian.”
He rubbed his eyebrows irritatedly. His expression appeared much more obsessive and sensitive than it had been for the past few days. In the meanwhile, Ian’s expression, which had momentarily flushed brightly, froze again in response to his brother’s words.
After briefly glancing at Cain, she simply picked up Ian and sat him on her lap. As Riette gently stroked Ian’s back, she smiled slightly in his direction.
“It’s okay if he gets on the bed. We’ve become friends in just a few days, right?”
Ian nodded vigorously while keeping his mouth tightly shut. Looking at it this way, he seemed to resemble Shushu in some way. In the meanwhile, perhaps because Cain was a very strict older brother, the child kept glancing at his brother while he buried himself in her arms.
But she understood him. Maybe the reason he was so sharp was…
“Are your other siblings like this too… changing?”
“….”
It was a silence that implied agreement.
It meant there were two more people in this world who could transform into animals…
She thought that the era of legends and magic was thought to have ended with the advent of coal and steam, but it seemed that not all miracles had disappeared into history. Conceivably, was it because they were the descendants of the most ancient lineage in the thousand-year empire of Helios?
“So, the Grand Duke as well?”
“Not me.”
It was a rough and heavy voice. Cain continued with his explanation, avoiding her gaze persistently.
“It’s only my younger siblings, not me. We haven’t yet determined the cause of the illness.”
A deep sigh escaped from Riette.
It was definitely a secret that had to be kept hidden from Narkissis at all costs.
“I understand now. The Grand Duke… you made such conditions for the Grand Duchess candidate to protect your siblings.”
As soon as she heard about the illness, everything began to fall into place. It was much easier to accept this concept rather than bizarre notions like magic or curses. It was probably an incurable disease. If there had been a cure, the Grand Duchy of Acheron wouldn’t have left it alone.
Three sick siblings…
Three family members with a disease that couldn’t be cured no matter how much money and power was poured into it.
Surely, it must have been a difficult life. Even her childhood was full of sorrow, and she had only one older sister who was sick… so how could it have been for him, who was the eldest son? Cain had been leading the Grand Duchy of Acheron from a fairly young age. While the details were unknown, it was clear that the position of an adult who can be relied on had been vacant.
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