My Dear Grand Duke on a Leash - Chapter 8

Chapter 4.2 — Princess Wedding (6)

˚ ·: * ✧ * :· ˚

‘…What do I do? Is there really no way?’

Lariette quickly passed through the corridors of the Princess’s Palace and chewed on her lower lip. Her wheat-colored hair, tied down into a single knot, swayed, fluttering in the air.

Even though she didn’t know who the Prince’s spy was, they must have been very close and intimate with her sister… at least a lady-in-waiting or a royal physician. Furthermore, she couldn’t confide in her sister as she had almost miscarried twice already.

Her older sister had too many concerns for her in comparison to her sickly body. Her marriage, which she had to proceed with hiding the fact of her pregnancy, the media talking about her commoner husband and her health all day long, and the soon-to-be royals from all over the world congratulating them.

Any miscarriage with her sister’s health would surely put her life in jeopardy. Then, her mother… she would completely collapse.

‘Why did I ever trust someone like that?’

The heartbroken feeling of helplessness and betrayal at the fact that the size of her affection had become a weakness crept into her. As she felt belittled, used and there was no way out, emotions ran wild more than the back of a burnt hand pricking Riette’s stomach.

First of all, she needed to put her sister’s matter on hold first. It would be right to inform her mother, at least because she was the monarch of the country…

Taak.

As she opened the door to her bedroom, Riette stopped her steps and stood still.

“Riette, are you here? How’s your hand? Because of me, you…”

Bea, who had fallen asleep drowsily, woke up from her bed.

“What’s that…?”

“Huh?”

“Sister, when did you get that thing by the window?”

At the question, Bea shifted her blank gaze from her sister’s face to the other side of her gaze.

“His Highness Narkissis sent it through an attendant. It’s an imperial lark, isn’t it pretty? He must have wanted to give it as a surprise for you to see when you come back.”

In front of her, she could see an arched golden cage that was bigger than her upper body. A lark with wheat-colored plumage sang an effulgence song from its perch, and a black lark with a bluish sheen on its feathers snooped over the entrance of the cage as if eavesdropping on its sister.

The blood drained from the top of Riette’s head.

“Mother has gone to meet the envoys from the other kingdoms. Are your hands okay? Did you get treatment? Come and let me see, Riette.”

Her sister’s murmuring voice sounded faint in her ears.

A lark in a golden cage.

It resembled her and the Grand Duke… It was a symbol that she couldn’t help but notice if she wasn’t an idiot.

At that moment, the sound of something snapping in her head. As Lariette sprinted across the bedroom and threw the window open, a look of bewilderment flashed across the faces of the maids and Bea.

“Riette, what’s going on…”

“Get out. Get out of here! You… imperial spies!”

When she opened the cage door and shook it, the surprised wheat-colored lark escaped and flew into the sky.

Then, she opened her eyes to the dark blue lark with its head tilted on the perch before putting her hand in the cage and stirring it. The dark blue sky lark chirped and flew away from her hands as if it would never be caught by Riette.

“What? What kind of bird is so good at avoiding hands? Even though it can get out at this point, you’re still cleverly avoiding the door. This… are you really a bird? Are you a real spy, uh?”

Riette eventually managed to catch the lark. It was only after sending it directly through the window that the tiresome struggle was finally over.

Next, it was the cage’s turn.

“How dare you, as a gift… a cage…!”

Bea was horrified by her sister, who, in a sudden frenzy, pushed the golden cage out of the window. Fortunately or not, Riette wasn’t strong enough to push out a golden cage the size of her torso by herself.

Bea whimpered and gently grabbed her sister by the shoulder as she was struggling with the cage.

“Riette, calm down. What’s the matter, huh? It’s a gift from His Highness Narkissis, to carelessly… Hurry up and put it down. Your hand is hurting as well. You’ll be in big trouble if you do that…!”

“Now, anything from the Empire is off-limits to my room!”

She finally succeeded in throwing the cage towards the distant garden.

Claang!

A loud noise rose up through the distant windows.

Meanwhile, Bea frowned and looked anxiously at her sister, who widened her eyes at the remains of the cage. Then, very carefully, she reached out her hand and patted Riette on the shoulder.

“I don’t know what’s going on… but do you want to be with sister? Did you have a hard time today? Yes?”

The sweet voice brought tears to her eyes.

“Sister, don’t drink the tea given by the Empire. Don’t eat food and let someone test first, and don’t let reporters come to the wedding, ung… change all the royal physicians, lady-in-waiting and servants…”

“Yes, yes. Okay, come on. I’ll give you a hug.”

After those words, Riette was dragged along by Bea’s pull and buried in her thin body. Her sister always smelled of warm spring.

The scent rushed into her like sorrow.

‘There’s nothing I can do. To protect sister, I really… the Grand Duke…’

Eventually, crystal-like teardrops fell from her big, round eyes.

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