I Was Adopted by the Villain Grand Duke Who Killed My Favorite Character - Chapter 11
The Grand Duke stared at my face intently before accepting the colored paper I handed him. He shook the crumpled paper and tilted his head.
“…Is this supposed to be a gift?”
It was too late to say it wasn’t.
Why did that tissue-like colored paper I used to blow my nose catch my eye at that moment? My heart pounded, afraid the Grand Duke might unfold the paper.
I spread my hands towards the Grand Duke, conscious of the quiet atmosphere.
“If you don’t like it, you can throw it away.”
Please throw it away. It’s trash.
Just as my desperate wish seemed to be heard and the Grand Duke was about to return the colored paper to me, Gerard, who had seen me wipe my nose with that paper, exchanged meaningful glances with the maids.
Gerard praised the paper (read: trash) in the Grand Duke’s hand.
“As expected of the Grand Princess! To give such a precious thing!”
No sooner had Gerard finished speaking than the maids standing in a line each added a word.
“Of course! She spent an hour making it.”
“It’s the Grand Princess’s masterpiece.”
“It’s a work embodying the spirit of creation and harmony.”
You crazy fools!
The Grand Duke furrowed his brow at the maids’ words. He placed the colored paper on his palm and tapped it with his fingertip, giving a strange look.
“…This is?”
That can’t be.
I gaped like a fish, dumbfounded. There was no way such an absurd lie would work on the villain Grand Duke.
‘It’s obviously trash no matter how you look at it.’
Sure enough, the Grand Duke pressed down on my crown as I tried to escape.
“Tell me yourself what you made.”
I examined the Grand Duke’s expression, moving only my eyes.
It was impossible to read emotions from the Grand Duke’s expressionless face as usual. I signaled with my eyes to the maids who had caused this situation.
Why such a lie?
The maids who had been excitedly blurting out various things until just now awkwardly glanced at each other. When the silence became unbearable, Sen stepped forward.
Sen dropped a bomb in an extremely confident and clear voice.
“That is the Grand Duke.”
Sen winked at me, who was in shock as if to say ‘Leave it to me’. Sen first pointed to the sharp angle of the colored paper the Grand Duke was holding.
“This pointed part is the head.”
The other maids, who had come to their senses belatedly, chimed in one after another.
“Yes. The pointed and angular shape resembles the Grand Duke perfectly.”
“It can be called a sculpture filled with complex and scholarly anguish.”
“The Grand Princess must really like Your Grace, the Grand Duke.”
The Grand Duke looked closely at the sharp angle the maid had mentioned. He asked again while touching the colored paper with suspicious eyes.
“This colored paper is supposed to be me?”
“Yes, of course.”
These maids are unbelievable.
The Grand Duke nodded at me as if telling me to explain what this was. I, who had been observing the unfolding situation, swallowed a sigh as Sen’s lie seemed to be working unexpectedly well.
Selling one’s conscience was easier than expected.
“That’s… Your Grace.”
“This is supposed to be me?”
The Grand Duke’s cold voice made my hair stand on end.
“Ah, no!”
“Didn’t you just say it was me?”
“Well, actually…”
“Stop being so flustered. I’ll accept this.”
The Grand Duke called for a servant waiting outside and gave some instructions. I opened my mouth as I watched the servants enter carrying luxurious cushions.
“Then we’ll move it.”
The servants placed the colored paper I had handed over on the cushion as if it were a treasure. Seeing the colored paper being carried as carefully as a jewel, an indescribable sense of self-loathing washed over me.
I felt an unfamiliar touch on my head as I stood there in a daze.
“Are you satisfied?”
The Grand Duke slowly lowered his hand after stroking my hair back and forth. His eyes darkened as he looked down at his own hand for a moment.
Regardless, I was in a state of shock.
The moment the Grand Duke unfolds that paper and sees the sticky snot, it’s all over.
With a clear vision of the impending future, I covered my eyes with my palms, my face crumpling. The Grand Duke walked past me in my dazed state and approached the maids.
“I plan to be away soon, so pay more attention to the Imperial Princess.”
“Yes! We will take good care of the Imperial Princess!”
“Make sure to always address her as Grand Princess. It would be troublesome if her status as Imperial Princess became known outside.”
“Yes!”
As the Grand Duke left, Sen, whose mouth had fallen open, hummed a tune. I marveled at her ability to transform a snotty piece of colored paper into the Grand Duke.
“The aftermath is scary.”
“What’s scary, Grand Princess?”
Gerard lifted my body up high.
His clear and cheerful voice, like the summer sun, was full of joy. I met Gerard’s eyes, which were sparkling with intelligence.
“I told you, didn’t I? That you would soon receive treatment befitting an Imperial Princess.”
You’re seriously mistaken.
The Grand Duke’s gentle attitude was because he wanted me to stay alive until I achieved my purpose. This peace would end the moment it was discovered that I wasn’t the Imperial Princess.
Gerard’s kindness must also stem from the fact that I was supposedly the Imperial Princess.
“I wish it would end quickly.”
This warmth is poison to me.
I felt my heart softening in this false peace of unknown duration. In all thirty-one of my past lives, my childhood had been unfortunate.
The affectionate life I’ve been enjoying recently kept reminding me of a wish I had forgotten.
‘I want to be loved.’
Before my possession, when I was reading the book “The Saint’s Kiss of Happiness,” I certainly had such thoughts. If that wish had brought about this endless life…
I would be fine without receiving anything like love.
***
Gerard obtained the Grand Duke’s permission for me to go on walks whenever I wanted. My range of movement also expanded on the condition that I was accompanied by maids.
‘Finally, things have become a bit more comfortable.’
Just as I was getting used to the bustling days with the maids and Gerard’s collaboration, Gerard suddenly announced that he had to leave.
Having to leave the Grand Duke’s residence less than a week after returning. It seemed that his duties as the Grand Duke’s confidant were quite busy.
Gerard said his farewell with a smile.
“I’ll be able to bring you a gift when I return.”
“A gift?”
“Yes. There’s someone who wants to see the healthy Grand Princess.”
Someone who wants to see me.
That meant someone who wanted to see Juno, the Imperial Princess.
‘Finally, the truth will come out.’
But my curiosity about this ‘someone’ who wanted to see Juno was much greater than my fear of being discovered as not the Imperial Princess.
‘What kind of relationship did they have with Juno?’
Did that person love Juno very much too? Would they be sad to learn that Juno had died?
‘I want to talk with them.’
I lay on the bed, pressing down on my rapidly beating chest. The sound of my heartbeat in my ears was so loud that I couldn’t fall asleep.
The Grand Duke, who was working beside me, took off the glasses he was wearing, placed them on the table, and asked me.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“What about you?”
“I don’t sleep here. You should know that.”
The Grand Duke had been sleeping in another room since I started staying in this room.
“Can’t you sleep because Gerard left?”
“No.”
“I heard you quite like Gerard.”
He chuckled as if he had heard something ridiculous. A faint mischievousness clouded the Grand Duke’s eyes as he looked at me, who was just blinking while lying down.
“Who do you dislike? Is it me?”
“…I don’t dislike you.”
His previously emotionless purple eyes widened slightly before quickly settling back.
Thinking the Grand Duke hadn’t heard, I spoke in a louder voice.
“I don’t dislike you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re kind to me.”
The purple eyes sank beneath the long, dense eyelashes. His silver hair flowed down, tracing a trajectory as the light fell on it.
‘What is he thinking?’
He often made such a perplexed expression when looking at me. The kind of bewildered reaction one might show when caught off guard unexpectedly.
Was what I said strange?
Still, I couldn’t straightforwardly say I disliked him.
If Gerard returned with someone who knew Juno, it would soon be revealed that I wasn’t the Imperial Princess. It wouldn’t hurt to gain his favor before then.
‘And I don’t actually hate him either.’
Since the day we went on a walk together, it had become difficult to simply dislike the Grand Duke. Especially knowing his miserable end as the original villain.
I gave up on trying to sleep and threw off the blanket.
“I don’t want to sleep.”
“Going to bed on time is your job.”
“I don’t want to sleep today.”
“What would make you sleep?”
I turned my head to avoid the Grand Duke’s hand trying to forcibly close my eyes. Just then, something the villain Grand Duke would never do came to mind.
“Sing me a lullaby.”
“……”
“That’s how Juno used to put Liat to sleep.”
This was the first time I had mentioned Juno’s name in front of the Grand Duke. The name of the real illegitimate Imperial Princess who should be here instead of me.
After a moment of tension that proved to be unnecessary, the Grand Duke asked in a calm voice.
“Who is Juno?”
So you really don’t know anything.
I had thought as much, but it was still disappointing.
I placed my hand on the Grand Duke’s unbuttoned pajamas. A heavier pulse than the sound of my own heartbeat transmitted through the thin skin.
“When I think about it… this part flutters.”
My precious person.
As I removed my hand from the Grand Duke’s chest and tried to go back under the blanket, my body was pulled.
The Grand Duke lay down on the bed with me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Do you feel like sleeping now?”
The warm sensation on my back and the sound of another’s breath in my ear. As my tense body relaxed, I could see the Grand Duke’s face up close.
He looked very tired.
A Sword Master’s body doesn’t tire easily.
For such a body to show clear signs of fatigue, he must have been overworking himself recently. I remembered what Gerard had told me when I asked about the Grand Duke, who seemed busy all day before Gerard left.
“It’s almost the death anniversary of someone dear to the Grand Duke. “
“But why is he so busy? “
“His Grace barely sleeps right before the anniversary. “
I covered the Grand Duke’s mouth as he opened it, seemingly about to actually sing.
Ignoring his discontentedly furrowed brows, I patted the Grand Duke’s back. I opened my mouth and softly hummed the only lullaby I knew.
“Hush-a-bye…”
“Why are you putting me to sleep?”
“There are times when you can’t get up if you don’t sleep.”
“Where did you pick up that saying?”
“It’s my life motto.”
My clumsy lullaby continued until the Grand Duke closed his eyes. Who would have thought there’d come a day when I’d try to sleep in the arms of the villain Grand Duke.
The warmth of another person, which I hadn’t felt in a long time, was comforting.
