I Was Adopted by the Villain Grand Duke Who Killed My Favorite Character - Chapter 22
Gerard shook the blood off his sword.
As soon as he brought Stephanie, the Grand Princess’s birth mother, to the Grand Duke’s residence, he was saddled with a troublesome task.
‘How do you plan to handle this later?’
He didn’t expect to receive an order to eliminate a Marquis family, not just an ordinary noble house. While following the Grand Duke’s orders, he worried about the aftermath.
“This is quite a predicament.”
He sighed deeply as he looked at the captured members of the Marquis’s household.
A Marquis family is high nobility.
He was also angered when he heard that Marquis Heidus had tried to assassinate the Grand Princess. But everything had its proper order.
‘There will be backlash from other nobles.’
The Grand Duke insisted on taking drastic measures to set an example. As a result, he now had to prepare evidence that didn’t even exist at the scene.
He smiled slightly as he watched Marquis Heidus, terrified, hastily writing a letter.
“Have you finished?”
“Almost done! Ju-just wait a moment.”
“As expected of a high noble, your handwriting is excellent. Please stamp your seal here as well.”
Marquis Heidus stamped the letter with trembling hands.
Gerard carefully checked the contents of the completed letter. This level of content shouldn’t cause any particular problems.
Tucking the letter into his chest, Gerard ran his finger along the blade of the longsword in his hand. Finally, it was time to finish this tedious task.
“Excellent, Marquis. Now, any last words?”
“You, you said you’d spare me if I wrote the letter!”
“I don’t recall saying such a thing. As far as I’m concerned, you never wrote this letter, and this is merely something I discovered personally.”
“How dare you…!”
What a pathetic last word.
Gerard clicked his tongue and slowly closed the distance with the Marquis.
Realizing that Gerard had no intention of sparing him, the Marquis desperately looked for an escape route. However, surrounded by knights on all sides, there was nowhere for the Marquis to go.
Soon, the Marquis fell to his knees and begged in a pitiful state unbecoming of a noble.
“Sp-spare me! Please!”
“I do feel sorry for you.”
Unfortunately, the Marquis wouldn’t even be given the chance for a proper trial. The truth in this world was shaped by power and circumstances.
That’s what you get for messing with the Princess.
Even if it became known that the evidence was fabricated, the weak would ultimately have no choice but to remain silent.
“You should have been more careful about who you targeted.”
“I swear I never laid a hand on the Grand Princess! I’ve never even met her!”
“His Grace the Grand Duke said he sensed traces of a curse directed at the Grand Princess.”
“……Ah. Th-that’s.”
The Grand Duke, sensitive to magic, wouldn’t make a wrong judgment. So the fact that this man had tried to harm the Grand Princess was true.
Gerard thrust his sword into the Marquis’s abdomen as he tried to escape. Having avoided vital points, the Marquis died slowly, struggling.
“Kugh! Huh, huk.”
When the Marquis finally breathed his last, Gerard called the knights and instructed them to move the body. His eyes were cold as he looked at the trembling household members.
“Imprison everyone related to the family.”
“Yes! We’ll handle it as ordered!”
Luke, said to be the Marquis’s only heir, was dragged away, tightly bound in chains. His pitiful appearance, full of resentment, evoked sympathy.
‘I can’t understand nobles.’
They could have enjoyed power if they had just stayed put, but instead, they deliberately created trouble. He wanted to leave this blood-filled space quickly.
“I wonder if the Grand Princess is safe.”
When the Grand Duke first brought the Princess, he was there too.
The skinny child in the Grand Duke’s arms looked so fragile, as if her breath might stop at any moment. He kept talking to the unconscious child.
He thought that if he stopped talking for a moment, the child’s breath might cease forever.
“Now all the bad people are dead. The Princess will live a comfortable life.”
“……”
“I will help ensure that the Princess receives proper treatment in the future.”
Unlike my sister, may you be happy.
The Princess often told him he was kind.
He had killed many people and dirtied his hands following the Grand Duke’s orders. However, at least for the Princess, he wanted to be a kind person.
‘Because she deserves it.’
That child, who seemed to have lived more unhappily than anyone, had the right to be happy.
Gerard sincerely wished for the Princess’s happiness.
***
A few days later, when I got up from bed, the Heidus Marquis family had disappeared. I heard that all the household members had been demoted to slaves.
Given their noble origins, it seemed they would likely live lives similar to wealthy commoners, slaves in name only.
‘Is this really okay?’
Despite being a noble family, not even a proper trial had taken place. Rather than feeling relieved at this result, which was beyond what I had expected, I felt uneasy inside.
Gerard, who could explain this matter, didn’t even show up because he was busy. The maids too, perhaps shocked by the Marquis family’s fate, made it the center of their conversations for a while.
I calmed my unsettled feelings while eavesdropping on the maids’ conversation.
“I heard the memorial service was canceled due to the recent Marquis family incident.”
“That might be for the best. The imperial family would have come for the memorial service, right?”
“Honestly, I don’t want to see the imperial family. Except for the Grand Princess, of course. How long until the Memorial Day?”
“I heard it’s about two weeks away.”
The memorial day the maids were talking about seemed to refer to the death anniversary of the late Grand Duchess and Grand Princess.
The reason why the Grand Duke had been holed up working.
I felt uneasy knowing that such an important event was canceled because of me. The maid who had been sighing deeply continued with a tone of regret.
“Still, His Grace the Grand Duke had spent days and nights preparing for this event.”
Is it really okay for that to be overturned?
The image of the Grand Duke silently staying by my side when I was sick from the grass flickered in my mind.
‘Should I do something?’
I was already feeling fearful of the Grand Duke after witnessing the Heidus family incident. Perhaps I would be next in line to face the Grand Duke’s anger.
I got up from my seat and tugged on Sen’s apron.
“Sen, do you have money?”
“Huh? I have some savings, but…”
While contemplating how to extract money from Sen, I decided to take a direct approach.
“I need money to buy a gift.”
“For that, we could use Your Highness’s discretionary funds. Who is the gift for?”
“The Grand Duke. As a farewell gift.”
Because the day when the truth that I’m not the princess would be revealed wasn’t far off.
Sen seemed to take the mention of a farewell gift as a joke. She winked and left the room, saying she would get the Grand Duke’s permission.
A few minutes later, the person Sen brought back with the permission for an outing was none other than the Grand Duke himself.
‘Why bring the person who’s supposed to receive the gift?’
The Grand Duke, dressed in a shirt and pants that a commoner might wear instead of his elaborate uniform, stood at the doorway. Sen, oblivious to any problem, said,
“His Grace says he’ll accompany you.”
“Weren’t you busy?”
“It’s dangerous outside. You need a guardian.”
And why does that have to be the Grand Duke?
I barely managed to swallow the complaint that almost burst out. The worst task of buying a gift for the Grand Duke in front of the Grand Duke himself had suddenly appeared.
It was too late to say I wanted to go alone, as that would be disrespecting the Grand Duke who had made time for this.
Reluctantly, I accepted the outing to town with the Grand Duke. As he boarded the carriage with me, the Grand Duke looked out the window and asked,
“So, why did you want to go out?”
“There’s something I want to buy.”
The Grand Duke showed unexpected interest in my desire to buy something. He turned his gaze to me and asked,
“Shall I buy you jewels?”
“No.”
“A building then?”
“No.”
I imagined a scenario where a building named after me suddenly appeared in town. I didn’t want such a problematic gift at all.
“If not a building, what do you need?”
“It’s just a walk.”
I emphasized the word “walk” to cut off the uncomfortable conversation.
The Grand Duke looked at my face for a moment, then lowered his eyes without saying anything. His pale eyelashes cast a faint shadow on his cheeks.
Even though he was wearing ordinary clothes, the Grand Duke’s beauty wasn’t concealed at all. I turned my head away from the Grand Duke, who could rival a celebrity photoshoot.
‘Is this my first outing in this life?’
Through the carriage window, I could see well-maintained roads and clusters of houses. The faces of people walking the streets were full of smiles.
“Everyone looks so happy.”
“Outsiders call this place the Golden City.”
The Golden City of Bellucia Regent.
It was the territory of the Astarote family, the Grand Ducal house, and was known as the flower of the North.
‘I never thought I’d actually come here.’
The North was more heavily guarded compared to other regions, making it difficult for outsiders to visit. As I was marveling at the well-maintained roads that surpassed even the capital, the Grand Duke spoke.
“Shall I give you this city?”
“Are you crazy?”
The words left my mouth without passing through my brain.
The Grand Duke’s straight eyebrows twitched slightly before settling. While the Grand Duke seemed oddly discomfited, my heart was racing.
‘Why would he give away a city?’
Anyone listening would think a city was as trivial as cookie crumbs. The villain Grand Duke’s joke-telling skills were abysmal.
If I heard another joke like that, I felt my heart might not survive. Perhaps it was my imagination, but the Grand Duke, looking more sullen than before, lifted me up.
“It’s time to get off.”
The Grand Duke, carrying me, stepped into the sunlit streets of the town as if melting into them.
‘There are so many people.’
Feeling somewhat nervous, I gripped his arm tightly. The Grand Duke, who had clumsily adjusted my robe, whispered so that only I could hear.
“It’s alright. As long as I’m here, they can’t harm you.”
Those words made me relax.
I let go of his arm and buried my face in his shoulder. It seemed I had tensed up out of habit due to my experiences in the prison.
There, an increase in unfamiliar people usually meant someone was being dragged away.
‘How did the Grand Duke notice?’
To buy a gift for the Grand Duke, I needed to walk alone, but I didn’t want to do that right now. I was unaware that I was finding comfort in his embrace.
“Let’s go to my destination first.”
The Grand Duke entered a large clothing store in the center of the city. As if he had contacted them in advance, the staff lined up to greet us.
Guided to the drawing room, the Grand Duke seated me on the sofa.
