I Was Adopted by the Villain Grand Duke Who Killed My Favorite Character - Chapter 6
After a while, the Grand Duke asked me in a bewildered voice.
“You want me to kill you?”
“Yes. Kill me painlessly.”
The Grand Duke’s lips moved silently.
Seeing his expression that seemed to ask why, I pulled his fingers firmly. The Grand Duke’s hand, which had wandered in the rain, was cold.
As I placed his palm on my neck, I felt the hair on my nape stand on end.
The Grand Duke, leaving his hand to me, stared intently at my face. The rainwater that wet his fluttering silver eyelashes flowed down his cheeks.
“Do you want to die?”
“No. I don’t want to hurt. If I live, there will be more pain to come.”
“What if I say I won’t hurt you?”
“I don’t believe you.”
I couldn’t trust the words of the Grand Duke who mistook me for the Imperial Princess at all.
I was curious about the Grand Duke’s gaze as he looked down at me as if he couldn’t understand. Unable to resist the impulse, I asked the Grand Duke.
“Do you regret saving me?”
An emotion similar to remorse fleetingly clouded his purple eyes. But the melancholy feeling in the Grand Duke’s cold eyes soon disappeared without a trace.
‘Will the Grand Duke grant my request?’
It was okay if he came to resent me, whom he mistook for the Imperial Princess, far in the future. Just as I resented the Grand Duke who never came no matter how long I waited.
Because sometimes there are times when you can’t endure without resenting someone.
I just didn’t want to die miserably as the target of the Grand Duke’s anger when he learned the truth.
He blinked slowly and answered in a firm voice.
“I don’t regret it. It was my choice.”
“I see.”
“So I’d like you to cooperate with my choice to save you as well.”
As I looked up at him with a dumbfounded expression, he forcibly pulled his hand away from my neck.
The Grand Duke’s palm carefully touched my forehead and then pulled away.
“I see how dangerous it is to leave you like this.”
“It’s not dangerous.”
“A state of mind that wanders barefoot in the garden without even knowing you have a fever?”
The Grand Duke seemed to have decided to interrogate me instead of granting my request. His sharp voice pierced through me.
“Tell me why you came out here.”
“Well…”
I wanted to feel the rain.
Thinking this life would end soon anyway, I gave in to the momentary feeling. Hesitating, I spread my fingers and pointed to the sky.
Following my gaze, he looked up and then turned back to me with a puzzled expression.
“Rain.”
“What about the rain?”
“I wanted to feel the rain. Outside the iron bars.”
Neither the rain nor the rising and setting sun could be seen from inside the iron bars. It would be nice if I could show this scene to Juno too.
After a pause, the Grand Duke spoke in a low voice.
“I was told that a sick child could die if exposed to heavy rain…”
He seemed to realize that this wouldn’t work on me, as he slowly rubbed his face.
“I don’t know if this means anything to you, but the knights were mobilized to find you alone.”
“I won’t do it again. I’m sorry.”
The Grand Duke’s mouth, which seemed about to pour out more scolding, closed at my immediate apology.
‘It wasn’t a bad outing.’
All living things that had been rained on shone with a fresher color. To me, who had become accustomed to those dying in iron bars, it felt quite special.
“Thank you for coming to find me.”
The Grand Duke said nothing to my sincere words.
His gaze fell on my feet as he picked me up with a troubled expression.
“You really… This is.”
Blood was flowing from my soles that were lifted into the air by the Grand Duke. It seemed that a wound from stepping on a sharp stone while walking in the garden had opened up.
I managed to move with these feet.
I found useful herbs and refreshed myself in the rain after a long time. Objectively, it was a very satisfying day, and a smile formed on my lips.
I rested my weakened head on the Grand Duke’s shoulder.
‘It seems it would be troublesome if I died.’
From the fact that he personally came out in this rain to find me. I wonder what will happen to me on the day the Grand Duke discovers that I’m not the Imperial Princess.
It seems I won’t be able to die peacefully in this life either.
***
A week later.
I sat on the edge of the large bed, resting my chin on my hand, seriously pondering.
‘Why am I still in this luxurious room?’
I suffered for a few more days with a bad cold from wandering in the rain. Now that I’ve recovered, I should be able to return to my original room.
For some reason, my quarters remained the same.
As I puffed my cheeks in dissatisfaction, the maid who was cleaning the room hurried over.
“Is there anything you need?”
The new maids assigned by the Grand Duke constantly watched my mood.
‘While disliking me, the Imperial Princess.’
Although their attitude was different, the new maids also seemed to dislike me, whom they believed to be the Imperial Princess. From trying to control everything, that was evident.
All I had heard from the new maids so far was ‘No.’
“I want to see the garden.”
“No, you can’t. It’s dangerous, you must stay here.”
“Can’t I walk in the hallway?”
“No, you can’t. If you get hurt, His Grace the Grand Duke will be angry.”
Do they think I’m some expensive glass doll?
‘They’re definitely keeping me confined on purpose.’
The only improvement was the clearly better meals. How could I get back my original comfortable room and the laissez-faire maids?
If it had been the previous maids, they would have just left food and gone.
I expressed my desire as concisely as possible.
“Why not go back.”
“Pardon?”
“This not Liat’s room.”
“This is indeed Liat’s room.”
Frustrated, I thumped my chest. How can communication be this difficult!
The maid, rather, spoke as if she couldn’t understand my reaction.
“You should like the room, shouldn’t you? His Grace the Grand Duke specially prepared this room for the Imperial Princess.”
It certainly looked expensive.
Even the Emperor’s drawing room I visited in my thirtieth life didn’t sparkle as much as this room. The touch of a skilled craftsman could be felt in each piece of furniture.
‘That’s precisely the problem.’
I, who wasn’t the real Imperial Princess, didn’t need such a luxurious room. I only felt out of place, as if abandoned alone in an unfamiliar space.
How could I rest comfortably in a place like this?
“…Sigh.”
