Lure in the Box - Chapter 2

Breaking off the engagement.

As soon as the awkward topic was brought up, an uncomfortable silence filled the room.

The High Priest exhaled the remaining smoke in his mouth, snuffing out the half-burnt cigarette in a silver ashtray.

“Were you about to get married?”

“With only a month left, I ran away. And accounting for the travel time I took, the wedding was supposed to be next week.”

“Why didn’t you settle it through the courts?”

“If that was possible, I wouldn’t have come here! My so-called fiancé is completely insane!”

Mentioning her fiancé, Sianne became visibly agitated.

“You seem very angry.”

He responded indifferently, waving his hand dismissively. At his gesture, the priest who had been standing nearby left the office. The door clicked shut, leaving just the two of them.

“Calm down and tell me about this insane man.”

“…If you promise to keep everything a secret.”

“I swear. From this moment on, no one but the gods will hear what is said here.”

It’s not a grand story.

The precious only daughter of a ducal family, and the sole princess of the principality.

Sianne Heartperion had lived a comfortable and happy life owing to her noble status. However, she had no desire for power and wasn’t fit for the role of ruler, so she had no interest in becoming queen.

Her father, the duke and king of Sedin, understood Sianne’s nature and didn’t force her to become the next ruler. Instead, he adopted a child from a distant relative to be raised as the heir and suggested an engagement for Sianne. He believed that even after his passing, Sianne would need the safety net of a family.

Sianne fully agreed with her father’s thoughts. The child who would be the heir wasn’t a bad person, but they weren’t someone she could completely trust either. Sianne needed her own source of support.

That being said, she hadn’t expected to be engaged to someone as grand as a duke…

“Greetings, Princess.”

A blond, handsome man approached her with a smile.

The head of the empire’s only ducal family, House Hertese.

“I am Dion Hertese.”

He politely extended his hand for a handshake. When Sianne offered hers, he gently took it, pulling it toward him and placing a kiss on her hand. His movements were perfectly elegant.

“I am delighted to be engaged to you, Princess.”

Beneath his golden eyelashes, his green eyes looked at Sianne.

“Would it be presumptuous of me to hope that you feel the same?”

Sianne quietly shook her head. Even though her answer wasn’t particularly warm, he smiled brightly.

It was an innocent and pure smile, one that was impossible to refuse.

That’s what made it even more burdensome. His personality wasn’t particularly strange, and she wasn’t concerned about his status, but being engaged to the favored duke of the empire felt overwhelming. Sianne had no interest in politics and simply wanted to live a quiet life without responsibility. The role of a duchess, constantly in the spotlight of high society, didn’t suit her. Marrying into an unremarkable, nouveau-riche family would have been far better.

She felt suffocated. Every time she saw the duke’s smiling face, she wanted to run away.

That night, after meeting the duke for the first time, Sianne had a terrible nightmare. In the dream, the golden-haired, impossibly handsome man chased her with a marriage certificate. After he caught her and made her sign it, Sianne found herself collared and trapped in an unfamiliar room.

Maybe it was a prophetic dream.

She had been seeing Duke Dion Hertese for about two months. They hadn’t shared any intimate moments… Sianne wasn’t interested, and he was careful. Their relationship was essentially a political arrangement, after all.

“May I call you by your name?”

“Me?”

“Yes, Sianne.”

Dion didn’t wait for her permission.

After two months, Sianne began to understand his personality. He was kind and elegant, but there was a subtle stubbornness about him. It wasn’t enough to irk her, but there were times it left her with a cold, unsettling feeling. Maybe it was the aftermath of that nightmare.

‘It’s just my imagination.’

Even as she tried to dismiss it, she couldn’t shake the unease. His reputation was excellent, his words and actions were flawless. He wasn’t rude or harsh to anyone. He treated his subordinates with appropriate respect, and those close to him spoke highly of him.

Everyone told Sianne she was lucky. She had found the finest partner in the empire, they said.

Because of that, she couldn’t tell anyone about the uneasy feelings she had toward her fiancé. It would have sounded like she was being ungrateful. Besides, her social circle was small, so there wasn’t anyone to confide in. The anxiety she felt seemed baseless anyway.

There was no one she could tell, and no one would understand.

Honestly, Dion had never been rude or threatening to her. On the contrary, he was kind, and despite their political marriage arrangement, he often acted like a considerate lover. Slowly, he closed the distance between them. He treated her like a genuine partner, sometimes even like a close friend. Little by little, he dismantled her guard.

One month, two months, three months passed. Gradually, the terms they used to address each other became more affectionate, and the formalities that had once created a sense of distance disappeared.

Everything was going so smoothly, it made her earlier worries seem foolish.

So what was there to be anxious about?

Sianne suppressed the cold, creeping feelings that occasionally surfaced inside her. She dismissed her unease as baseless paranoia.

‘It’s fine. It’s just because of that nightmare.’

‘There won’t be any problems.’

With no reason to refuse, Sianne went ahead with the engagement to the duke.

Then, about two months before the wedding…

He brought his mistress.

Her hair was a bright pink like cotton candy, and she had an innocent smile. Though her origins were unknown, her appearance was as beautiful as that of a noble lady raised in luxury.

Sianne saw them walking side by side in the duke’s garden. She had visited that day to discuss their wedding plans. The sight of them walking arm in arm through the early summer garden seemed so natural, as if they weren’t meeting for the first time.

Sianne stood silently, staring at the affectionate couple. Betrayal…

No, it wasn’t betrayal—it was disgust.

A gut feeling told her that her fiancé was engaging in something immoral. She stared hard at his face, walking so confidently with another woman.

It was only then that Dion seemed to feel her gaze. He slowly turned his head toward her, and without a hint of surprise, greeted her naturally.

“How have you been, Sianne? I’m sorry for the late introduction. This is the woman who will be my mistress.”

He introduced his mistress to his fiancée with a calm, if not brazen, demeanor.

Sianne’s eyes widened with indignation. She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms.

While it wasn’t illegal for nobles in the empire to have mistresses, it certainly wasn’t common.

The temple’s influence emphasized a life of chastity and loyalty to one’s spouse. Keeping a mistress was considered shameful, and having one before marriage was an act of blatant disrespect.

Dion’s behavior was an enormous betrayal and insult to Sianne.

As a princess raised in nobility, it was treatment she never could have imagined.

Furious, Sianne walked straight toward Dion. The woman he had introduced as his mistress blinked nervously and hid behind him. Dion stood protectively in front of her, facing Sianne.

Sianne scoffed at his ridiculous display.

“What? Are you scared I’ll go after her and pull her hair?”

“You never know.”

His smug reply almost made her laugh bitterly.

“So you know you’ve crossed a line, Duke?”

“Just call me by my name.”

“Alright, Dion. I thought your intellect had declined from being too busy with your mistress, but it seems you still remember that we’re supposed to be getting married?”

She asked, hoping for an explanation.

But instead of explaining, he laughed. Brazenly.

“Our marriage is nothing more than a political arrangement. We’re tied together for political reasons. It’s hard to expect love in such a situation, isn’t it?”

“Is that supposed to be an excuse?”

“You don’t have much to be upset about. You don’t love me either.”

“And so?”

“I’m not asking you to love me. I know my place. How could I expect love while marrying a princess?”

“So what’s your point?”

“I’m telling you I’ll seek emotional fulfillment elsewhere.”

Whack!

Sianne, her fist clenched, slapped the arrogant duke across the face.

Who knows if it’s just emotions he’ll seek elsewhere? Maybe they’ll rub their bodies together as well. Maybe they already have. Maybe he’s been sleeping around the entire time they’ve been preparing for the wedding.

For openly declaring he’d cheat, slapping him was her being lenient.

The woman hiding behind him peeked out, her eyes wide.

“P-Please, talk it out…”

But her hand already flew.

Dion covered his reddening cheek, laughing it off like it was no big deal.

Feeling disgusted, Sianne left the duke’s estate immediately.

It wasn’t as if she had deeply loved him. He wasn’t someone she cared for. She felt no heartbreaking sorrow. But the feeling of being disrespected and belittled left her furious. The whole way back to the royal palace, her mind seethed with anger.

‘Oh, sure. Bring in a mistress. What a perfect household we’ll have.’

‘I have to break off the engagement.’

Why bother holding onto a marriage where she’d be treated like this?

As the princess of the principality, Sianne had nothing to lose. Neither her father nor her mother had placed any major expectations on her. They just wanted her to live comfortably and thought a family would be good for her. Sianne had simply followed their wishes. Since she planned to live a quiet, purposeless life, she thought she might as well honor their desires.

But with things as they were, there was no reason to continue the engagement. Her parents had proposed it for her happiness, not to gain anything from her marriage.

Sianne informed her parents of the situation and told them she wanted to break off the engagement with the duke.

Her parents listened with serious expressions, then sighed deeply as they spoke.

“Do what you believe is right.”

It was an indirect approval.

With her parents’ stance confirmed, Sianne had no more reservations. She immediately prepared the annulment papers, signed and sealed them. All that was left was to get Dion’s signature.

Sianne headed straight to the duke’s estate, this time bringing her knights with her in case he tried any tricks.

“You prepared this already?”

Inside a glass greenhouse, Dion sat with his soon-to-be mistress on his lap, lazily responding.

“You’re more exhausting than I thought.”

“Just stamp and sign. Then you won’t have to deal with anything tiring anymore.”

Sianne pushed the documents across the table towards him.

To her surprise, Dion picked up the pen without a word and signed. Without a moment of hesitation, he stamped the document as well.

The annulment was complete. Once it was submitted to the court, the engagement would be nullified.

So, he must not have liked this engagement either.

Seeing their signatures and seals side by side, she felt a sense of relief.

Sianne smiled in satisfaction, but at the same time, he let out a mocking laugh. It was clearly meant to be derisive, but she decided to let it go, after all, they wouldn’t be seeing each other again. Calmly, she reached out to retrieve the papers.

But he pulled the papers away. As her fingers brushed the documents only to have them pulled out of reach, Sianne’s composure began to crack.

“What are you…?”

“I’m afraid the annulment won’t be happening, Sianne.”

He cut her off, speaking so brazenly that she felt her reason begin to slip away.

Sianne’s brows furrowed and she bit her lip, barely holding back the curses that wanted to escape. Rather than lose her temper, it was better to remain calm and steer the conversation in her favor. The annulment papers were still in his hands, so there was no need to provoke him unnecessarily.

“Why can’t we annul the engagement?”

“Well… you’re the princess of Sedin, aren’t you?”

His tone suggested it was an obvious question. As he held his mistress affectionately on his lap and kissed her pink hair, he condescendingly offered an explanation.

“Unfortunately, my dear Shaina doesn’t have the proper status, so I need Sedin.”

“You bas—”

The moment he suggested she become nothing more than a decorative wife, Sianne’s patience snapped, and she was on the verge of cursing him.

Something wet splattered across her back. The sensation of it soaking into her clothes was utterly repulsive. The sticky, hot smell of blood filled the air. Horrified, Sianne turned around. One of her two knights had been decapitated.

The headless body fell to the ground with a thud. The other knight she had brought was holding a sword.

The knight she had trusted had just killed his comrade. He then turned, sword still wet with blood, and pointed it at her.

“It would be best if you didn’t try to run or resist.”

It didn’t take long for Sianne to understand what was happening.

He was a spy. This is a betrayal.

An external force had infiltrated the royal palace.

Sianne had no desire to become queen, but that didn’t mean she had skipped her training. She had received a thorough education on succession and, realizing the burden, had chosen not to take the throne. So, she knew exactly what this situation meant.

The royal palace had been infiltrated by spies planted by Dion. The fact that her most trusted guards had been turned into agents for the duke showed just how dire the situation was.

If she had merely sent a letter instead of bringing the documents herself, he would have invaded the palace. To maintain their engagement, Dion’s bloodied sword could have been pointed at her parents instead of her.

Perhaps it was better that she was the one being threatened alone.

How pathetic her situation had become.

“Just when did this all begin…?”

Sianne barely managed to stop herself from trembling as she looked at him. She couldn’t control her expression; her face had gone pale as a sheet as she faced him.

He was carefully shielding Shaina’s eyes with his hand.

“You know, Sianne.”

He had been smiling the entire time this was happening. A creepy, repulsive smile.

“I need you. Young, beautiful, and powerful. I absolutely need you, the proud princess.”

‘For my family. And for me.’

“You bastard.”

Shaking with anger, Sianne cursed at him, her voice trembling with fury.

“Don’t insult Dion! Violence… like last time, you slapping him… violence isn’t right! Please don’t act like that!”

The woman, still nestled in Dion’s arms, cried out.

A person had just been killed, and this was all she had to say…

Sianne didn’t even know how to respond. That girl didn’t understand the gravity of the situation or her own predicament. Dion was committing violence far worse than a slap.

Dion patted Shaina soothingly while Sianne stood speechless in disbelief. Shaina whimpered, burying herself deeper into his chest.

Once Shaina calmed down, Dion sighed deeply and looked at Sianne.

“My Shaina is so clueless and innocent, which is why I need you, Sianne Heartperion.”

His eyes, murky like algae-covered water, focused on Sianne.

It was a gaze that filled Sianne with humiliation.

“Just go along with it, Sianne. I need the power of the Heartperion family; I don’t want to turn you into an enemy. The spies were only placed here in case you pulled stunts like today. If you quietly go through with the marriage, I won’t have to use the pawns I’ve placed in the palace.”

With that, he called for maids to bind Sianne.

They dragged her away like a criminal, locking her in the deepest part of the duke’s estate. Until the moment she was confined to a room lined with chains and locks, a sword hovered threateningly over her neck.