Chapter 02
Elisha panicked.
The thing that should definitely have been inside her clothes was gone.
Now that she thought about it, ever since Lila suddenly barged in, the love potion had disappeared without a trace.
She must have left it on the sitting room sofa.
“L-Lila, wait! Just go to your room first!”
“I should change clothes first and… Unni? Where are you going?”
I need to brush your hair!
But Elisha was already running far away.
‘I can’t get caught!’
The love potion was a drug forbidden by law.
Of course it was.
Who would use something that artificially controls emotions for a good purpose?
If Blaine found out about it, she would definitely be punished.
‘B-But I was only going to use it on myself!’
Elisha urgently threw open the sitting room door.
Embarrassment didn’t matter right now—she just had to retrieve the potion quickly—
“Ah, Lady Elisha.”
…But the moment she opened the door, Blaine was standing right in front of her.
When Elisha lifted her head, those mysterious violet eyes looked down at her clearly.
There was a heat in his gaze, something she couldn’t understand.
“Y-Young Grand Duke…?”
“Perfect timing. I was just about to come look for you.”
“Huh? M-Me?”
Why all of a sudden? They had only met today.
While Elisha was still flustered—
“Lady Elisha.”
“Y-Young Grand Duke! W-What are you doing?!”
Blaine dropped to one knee on the floor.
Elisha stepped back in shock, but Blaine suddenly grabbed her hand tightly.
His hand was burning hot, like fire.
But what shocked her even more was what he said next.
“Please marry me.”
“W-What?!”
Elisha felt like she might faint.
Her head started spinning.
“A-Are you… trying to tease me or something—?”
“Not at all. I sincerely want to marry you, Lady Elisha.”
“Oh my…”
So… the Young Grand Duke of Lindberg was proposing?
Seriously? To her?
Why so suddenly?
“Uh, th-then, um…”
Elisha’s confused eyes wandered around, not knowing where to look.
Then, something familiar caught her attention.
‘That is… my potion?’
Next to the teacup Blaine had been drinking from earlier—
the glass bottle Elisha had left behind was sitting there.
And… it was completely empty.
It seemed Blaine had mistaken the potion for syrup or something and drank it.
‘Oh no!’
Only then did Elisha feel like all the pieces in her head clicked into place.
Otherwise, there was no way someone she’d just met today would suddenly propose!
“Gyaaaah!”
Elisha ended up screaming right in front of Blaine’s face.
Thinking it was unladylike, she hurriedly covered her mouth, but the scream had already echoed through the entire mansion.
“What is all this noise?!”
With a loud crashing sound, Baron Burns soon ran inside.
“The Young Grand Duke has honored my humble home with his presence, so what kind of commotion is th—oh!”
The baron, who came waddling in, froze with his mouth wide open the moment he saw the scene.
His eyes slowly moved from Blaine to Elisha—
and then down to their tightly clasped hands.
The baron couldn’t hide his shock.
“Y-Young Grand Duke? Did that child do something rude to you?”
“No. The one who was rude was me.”
“P-Pardon?”
“I was actually proposing to Lady Elisha.”
“…What?”
While Baron Burns blinked blankly,
Lila, who had been rushing in with her dress flying behind her, screamed from behind them.
At some point, she had changed into a loud, fancy dress.
“What did you say?! You’re going to marry my sister?!”
The father and daughter both thought they’d misheard.
Who was marrying who? That grand duke?
But Blaine simply nodded calmly.
“Aaaah, this makes no sense…”
“L-Lila!”
Unable to accept it, Lila screamed and grabbed the back of her neck before collapsing.
The baron hurried over to support his daughter.
“Lila!”
Elisha, startled, tried to go to her cousin too, but—
“Wait.”
Blaine held her hand even tighter.
Even though a lady had just collapsed, he didn’t even blink.
“….”
When she didn’t get the reaction she expected, Lila slowly opened one eye.
And when she saw that the two of them were still holding hands, sparks practically flew from her eyes.
Lila jumped up at once.
“H-How does that make any sense?! Suddenly marrying my sister!”
“Is there any reason it can’t happen?”
“Of course there is! My sister already has a fiancé—”
“…A fiancé?”
At that moment, Blaine’s expression turned ice-cold.
Lila flinched.
Only then did she remember—Blaine was a Sword Master.
‘D-Does he really have to glare like that?!’
While Lila hesitated, Baron Burns stepped in.
He rubbed both hands together in a servile way.
“Yes, Young Grand Duke. Unfortunately, Elisha is already in talks for a marriage with Marquis Montis. She will soon be leaving for the marquis’s household—”
“Marquis Montis?”
Blaine’s eyes sharpened even more.
He let go of Elisha’s hand and turned his body toward the baron.
“You’re going to sell my niece off to such a pathetic man?”
“I-I’m not selling her off… hiiik!”
As Blaine took one step closer, the baron, terrified, stumbled backward.
Facing the overwhelming pressure coming from Blaine’s large, solid build, he couldn’t even open his mouth properly.
“How dare you try to deceive me.”
Marquis Montis’s terrible reputation was widely known throughout the empire.
It was also common knowledge what kinds of conditions the marquis demanded as the “price” of a bride, since he was desperate to marry.
Blaine’s gaze gleamed sharply.
Baron Burns and Lila couldn’t say a word. They just clung to each other, trembling.
Blaine suddenly grabbed Elisha’s arm and pulled her.
“Eek?!”
“Let’s go. I don’t want to leave my bride in this house any longer.”
“B-Bride?! N-No, wait!”
Panicking, Elisha planted her feet firmly.
Of course she didn’t want to marry Marquis Montis!
But this was way too sudden!
“I-I still need time to think! Marriage is too sudden! And why me, of all people…?”
“I fell for you the moment I saw you.”
“What? B-But we haven’t even known each other for an hour…”
“…Do you really think that?”
Blaine’s eyes turned cold.
Seeing that, Elisha felt her heart drop in fear.
‘Scary!’
Did he think she was mocking him for falling in love in less than an hour?
Elisha trembled like a puppy caught in the rain, carefully watching Blaine’s expression.
“A-Anyway… I need time to mentally prepare too…”
“Mentally prepare.”
Blaine repeated her words as if tasting them.
After thinking for a moment, he admitted to himself that he had been too hasty.
“You’re right. I acted based only on my own feelings and failed to consider your position, my lady. I apologize.”
“I-It’s okay!”
When Blaine bowed his head, Elisha hurriedly bent down too without thinking.
After watching her quietly for a moment, Blaine nodded.
“Then I will take my leave for today. Let’s discuss marriage slowly, step by step.”
***
“Unni! What in the world just happened?! You have to explain it to Lila!”
After Blaine left, Elisha went toward her room with a blank expression.
Lila followed right next to her, still extremely excited.
“When did you seduce the Young Grand Duke, huh?! You were always sitting in the corner at every ball and salon!”
“……”
“I seriously don’t get it. Lila has to hear the truth from you—Aah!”
After talking nonstop, Lila slammed her nose right into the closed door and stopped in place.
Elisha had slammed the door shut without even realizing Lila was following.
“Unni! Where is your mind—Kyaaah! L-Lila’s nose is bleeding!”
Lila screamed when she saw blood running down her philtrum.
She collapsed to the floor, and the maids came running in a panic.
Because of Lila’s dramatic behavior, the mansion stayed chaotic for quite a while.
“Haah…”
But Elisha couldn’t hear any of it from inside her room.
She flopped face-down onto her bed.
“Ughhh, what do I do?!”
Elisha grabbed and tugged at her hair.
The Young Grand Duke drinking the potion…
She had never expected that.
‘And he didn’t even leave a single drop…’
He had finished it so completely.
Elisha stared gloomily at the empty bottle.
She had secretly taken it from the sitting room earlier, avoiding everyone’s eyes.
‘I’m doomed. If they find out… it’s an immediate execution…’
Elisha wrapped her arms around her head.
In her mind, a terrible future played automatically, as if it were a nightmare playing on repeat.
‘No matter how amazing the Young Grand Duke is… a love potion? How could she dare?’
‘She acted quiet on the outside, but she’s rotten inside.’
‘Instead of doing something like that, she should’ve worked on her looks or her conversation skills. She’s a total nuisance.’
Under the cold whispers and stares of people gossiping, Elisha was dragged to the execution platform.
The executioner forced her down as she trembled.
And then the heavy blade would—
Thud!
“Noooooo!”
Elisha suddenly shot up from her bed.
She couldn’t stay like this.
“An antidote! I have to find an antidote!”
