Chapter 8

Translated by XyeHeart Edited by XyeHeart

When Meriel noticed Klaus was still perplexed, she pulled out the words she had prepared.

“I just want to live.”

“Everyone desires to live.”

“In order for me to live, I must marry you. You are the only person in the entire empire who can protect me from the emperor.”

“It appears that His Majesty is attempting to harm the princess?”

“That is correct.”

Meriel forced a smile as she noticed Klaus’ frown on her.

“His Majesty is terrified of me maturing into an adult. I’ve been threatened numerous times in the palace, but it’s recently gotten worse.”

“Is there a reason for this? The reason he would want to harm the princess.”

“The reason is…”

Meriel’s mind wandered. The previous princess, unlike herself, did not forget what she had seen. The original princess wiped her memory and lived as a fool.

But not after she had taken control of her body. She understood why the princess had erased her memory and forced her to live as a fool.

The reason why the emperor wishes to harm the princess…

Both causes resulted in a single memory.

“Are you willing to marry me?”

“What?”

“I will tell you if you promise to marry me.”

“……I’m not particularly interested.”

“You appear to be interested.”

Meriel pressed her lips together, aware of her suspicious feelings as well as the Grand Duke’s annoyance.

He has a blank expression on his face and his words are cold. However, he was far too open about his emotions.

Meriel, on the other hand, didn’t feel like he was a stranger to her. Meriel noticed a familiar sensation somewhere when she tilted her head.

“It sounds like you want to make a deal with me.”

“Yes.”

“You say marriage is a done deal? With a man you don’t even care for?”

“Right.”

“Will the princess find it easy to marry a stranger?”

“Sure.”

Meriel was perplexed as to why he spoke with such solemnity.

Because she was born a princess, marrying the man she loved was like a fantasy. This world was still a nobility and class society. If you have a class, it is unusual to have a fixed marriage to a family.

She was a princess first and foremost. It was also implicitly used as a tool for a war truce.

Of course, it was an ‘imagination’ that she, who had previously only lived in the Imperial Palace, had understood in her previous life and had listened to and inferred from the Imperial Palace.

“Are you familiar with the concept of marriage?”

He finally sighed and spoke as if he were speaking to a child.

“That’s correct. Don’t men and women spend their entire lives together and rely on each other?”

“…Did you hear that somewhere?”

“A relationship that snoops on each other’s bed every night to see the fruits of their labor.”

“What? Wait!”

Klaus slammed the table down with a thud. Meriel’s words came to a halt as she blinked her eyes open.

“Well, you’re not required to say that!”

“Isn’t that the most important story in the history of marriage?”

“No!”

“I doubt I’ll ever be able to please the Grand Duke.”

“No, no, no! That’s not it!” Indignantly, he stated.

Klaus quickly raised his hand to cover his flushed face and turned his head away. Meriel, who looked at him with a blink of an eye, thought his actions reminded her of someone else. His red ears, along with his turned head, caught her attention.

‘Him and Kiyan share a lot of similarities.’

He drank water to try to calm himself down. Meriel felt embarrassed and ashamed of herself.

She couldn’t find the Monster Grand Duke, who blushed at her words and had heard a lot of rumors about him.

‘His personality does not appear to be that of a monster.’

She was perplexed as to what had made him the Monster Grand Duke. His hand, which was wearing white gloves and had white skin, drew her attention. Meriel rolled her eyes over the gloves he was eating with.

‘Is he afraid of mysophobia? Or should I say… scar?’

It occurred to her as she looked at the scar on his left eye. She was puzzled as to why he was referred to as the Monster Grand Duke.

Klaus, whom Meriel noticed while eating, was hardly a monster.

“If the Grand Duke does not agree, I will have to live a difficult life and put my life in danger. It’s perfectly fine, you have the right to refuse.”

“……are you threatening me with your life?”

“Oh, my goodness! Does my life threaten the Grand Duke?”

Meriel was amused by his naive and candid reaction, which was unusual for a so-called Monster Grand Duke. She had the impression that he was a fine man.

The appearance was completely different, but she felt at ease, as if she were with Kiyan, somewhere friendly with his genuine feelings.

It was incredible that she was so relieved simply because she had traveled with him for more than a month, or perhaps because they were so similar.

“I stand by everything I say.”

“……..”

“I apologize if you already have someone in your heart, but….you were my last hope.”

“……Why?…Why are you obligated to marry?”

He inquired, his scowl still on his face. He couldn’t raise his head to meet Meriel’s gaze.

He was still perplexed in some way.

“I told you already.”

“……”

“Marriage is living together for the rest of our life, relying on each other.”

“……”

“I just assumed I could count on you.”

There were additional reasons as well. Dustin was the empire’s only direct intervention. He reigned as the East’s king, defying the emperor’s orders, and not even the world’s emperor could stop him.

That meant he couldn’t send troops to the Dustin Estate to find her.

It also contributed to the fact that everyone was hesitant to refer to him as the Monster Grand Duke.

He was hesitant to be called a Monster Grand Duke, just as she had become the target of people shunned simply because she was an idiot.

They, too, feared him and tried to avoid him. She suspects there’s something going on between everyone who avoids him.

She was also curious about how he felt and how he would live in secret without becoming greedy.

“I believe I can survive with you, Grand Duke Klaus.”

In the content, Meriel’s words appeared to be a confession of love, but there was no hot emotion. Meriel had a brilliant sense of other people’s emotions.

She had a special ability to feel other people’s emotions, such as his, but she was insensitive to her own emotions and didn’t know what she was feeling.

It could be because of her previous life, the princess’s life, or a life that was cold.

And, while she smiled more than anyone else, it was always unintentional.

Meriel, on the other hand, was able to smile for the first time on a difficult journey out of the palace.

It’s not a forced smile, it’s a genuine smile from her heart. She was aware that she was having a good time.

Meriel had to take a breather after thinking so far. This was due to the fact that she was experiencing unbearable feelings coming from the Grand Duke, who was only a short distance away.

Her stomach churned.

“…if you’re going to live, so be it. I’ll provide you with a reason to live.”

It was the most pitiful sensation she’d ever experienced.

‘You’re Kiyan!’

* * *

Meriel returned to her room after bidding him goodnight halfheartedly.

She was pleased because their marriage proposal appeared to have gone well. But one question lingered, as cool as a hole in the chest.

She was puzzled as to why the Grand Duke was hanging out at the mercenary guild, but she was also saddened by Kiyan’s deception.

‘How come he pretended?’

Meriel reasoned that it couldn’t have been done on purpose. His demeanor was sincere throughout the trip.

‘I’m not sure how he changed his appearance, but he remained shy.’

She reasoned that while his expression and words were false, his emotions were not. It was uncommon for anyone to openly express their emotions.

Meriel looked down in her nightgown, which she had changed into before going to bed.

She doesn’t mind if she goes out in this manner. She sneaked out of the room, believing that no one else would notice.

She didn’t know where the Grand Duke was, so she couldn’t go see him, but she did want to get some fresh air. Meriel took a deep breath to clear her mind of feelings and thoughts that were both satisfying and upsetting. The dinner with the Grand Duke was enjoyable, and she understood the thrill of believing he was Kiyan.

With familiarity and ease.

“Wow!”

Unlike the beauty she saw during the day, the garden she saw with the sky full of embroidered stars provided her with another beauty.

The sound of water from the small fountain delighted Meriel’s ears.

“What if someone sees you in that outfit?”

A disappointed voice could be heard. It was a garden she thought she’d be alone in, but he showed up unannounced.

“Kee…”

He looked at me like he hadn’t seen me in a day as we ate together not long ago.

“Did you have a chance to meet the Grand Duke?”

“……yes.”

“How did it go?”

“For one thing, I believe he accepted my proposal.”

Kiyan’s brows twitched oddly. Meriel, with her brown hair and sparkling eyes, gazed at Kiyan in the moonlight.

‘An ordinary face that can be seen anywhere.’

Nobody would have guessed if it hadn’t been for what she senses from the Grand Duke himself, who is breathtakingly beautiful.

But what if she’s mistaken?

Meriel had a flash of insight into the possibility that two people were not the same. Although they have similar personalities and emotions, they could be brothers or distant relatives.

“Did you say anything to the Grand Duke?”

“I was surprised when the carriage picked me up in the morning.”

“All I could say was that the princess was visiting Grant and wanted to meet with the Grand Duke.”

“Really?”

“Are you surprised?”

“Certainly.”

“Oh, and I also stated that the princess is not a fool.”

Kiyan shrugged, saying, “I don’t think it’s a secret.”

Naturally, he didn’t resemble the Grand Duke she’d seen in the dining hall as he sat next to her on the bench.

Adding the possibility seemed to confirm the speculation that the two were in fact very different.

Translator’s Note:

* Grant – a town located within the Dustin Estate.

** Dustin Estate – an extensive area of land in the country, usually with a large house/palace/manor, owned by the Grand Duke.

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