CHAPTER 36………………………………………
After Irina left the office, a heavy silence lingered in the room. Persephone seemed intent on deciding whether her promise to help was genuine or a lie.
And today, April wasn’t the same as the April Hill Rise they knew, just as Persephone had said.
Whatever effect the carriage accident had on her, the April they knew was emotional, not someone trying to persuade others rationally like she was today.
The April they knew was always anxious, unable to control her own emotions.
“You may leave now.”
Persephone broke the silence with a single sentence.
At the same time, Lerbian’s gaze drifted toward the office window.
With a creak and the rustle of curtains, a familiar face appeared.
As the figure outside the terrace entered the room, Persephone gave a slight backward glance and smiled.
“Damian is lucky, isn’t he?”
When Persephone stood and looked back, she saw a man.
He was the only cousin her age in the royal lineage, with the same black hair as the grand duke her aunt had married.
He was Damian, adopted by Milena Dinia Daus and Daniën Valstein. Since he was adopted, not a drop of blood connected them—so no one in the royal family would consider them true cousins.
Even Lerbian, Persephone’s right hand, would jump back in shock, exclaiming, “Cousins? Impossible!”
“What do you mean?”
Persephone found Damian fascinating.
Though he was a man with no blood relation to Duke Daniën, his actions and deep voice were identical to the grand duke.
If the grand duke hadn’t mentioned his infertility, she might have wondered if Damian was illegitimate.
“If I break the engagement a year from now, you won’t have to suppress your feelings.”
“……”
“And there’s already widespread gossip among noble ladies that Damian likes Princess April.”
“Are you speaking seriously?”
It was common knowledge among peers that April Hill Rise and Damian Valstein were classmates at the academy—and that they maintained a relatively close relationship.
It was natural that their friendship was strong. To Damian, April was his cousin’s fiancée; to April, Damian was her fiancé’s cousin. There was no reason for a conflict between them.
Two years ago, the gossip about them shattered that. Damian came from the north to the capital, met April, and the story went that they quarreled because he had allegedly forced a kiss on her.
Though the story was uncertain, Damian’s side neither confirmed nor denied it. In the capital’s social circles, the rumor that Damian had long harbored feelings for April spread openly.
“Of course I’m joking.”
Persephone smiled brightly at Damian, whose expression had twisted fiercely.
Lerbian watched Damian closely. If Damian lacked flexibility to take jokes lightly, Persephone had the skill to deliver serious words as if they were jokes.
“It feels almost sincere,” Damian said, settling on a nearby sofa and leaning back.
He didn’t want to face April directly, but he didn’t want to know only this private story between the two of them either. And he hadn’t expected that Persephone would demand the broken engagement herself.
“…Are you really going to break the engagement with the princess?”
At his cautious question, Persephone slowly lifted her gaze.
Well… Persephone murmured quietly to herself.
Today’s April Hill Rise was pure confusion. For the past three years, she had never seemed like the April who had spent her childhood with him.
But today’s April was exactly like that April—the one he had loved for so long, once hoping she would be his older sister, and now wishing she could be his lover.
When things shifted so abruptly, he didn’t know how to react. He wanted the April of the past. That was why, when she asked, “Are you from a family rivaling a ducal household?” he couldn’t answer.
“Honestly, everything the princess said is correct,” Lerbian said cautiously, scanning the room.
The two pairs of eyes in the office fell on him. Damian’s sharp gaze could pierce a person, and Lerbian inhaled sharply.
Persephone had said Damian wouldn’t treat noble ladies poorly—but seeing this, it was clear he could.
“Even if we announced the broken engagement now, it would only benefit Roziane.”
“……”
“Everyone avoids marriage proposals because of the ducal family. If Your Majesty didn’t have a fiancée, that would be a different story.”
Regardless of whether April pleased him, Lerbian recognized that having the ducal family’s influence was advantageous for Persephone’s succession.
“True.”
“…….”
“Since she said she will break it a year from now, trusting her words isn’t a bad idea.”
Persephone pressed her throbbing temples.
“Or perhaps, as the princess said, you have someone else in your heart?”
Damian, who couldn’t speak indirectly, asked. Persephone let out a brief, deflated laugh.
“Yes. I do have someone I care for.”
“Who is it?”
“Would telling you make you help?”
Damian pressed his lips together at her refusal to answer.
Damian always hesitated with Persephone, knowing he had to be honest with her, even if he wouldn’t tell others.
April Hill Rise leaving the ridiculous claim, “Damian confessed and forced a kiss on me,” untouched—it was the desperate act of a terrified mouse. She likely feared telling the truth to outsiders.
“But today, the princess seems different than usual,” Lerbian said.
Was it because she was calm? Or perhaps because of the light story from her childhood? Damian wanted to say it wasn’t that.
It wasn’t that she was different.
“That is her usual self.”
It was almost as if he read Damian’s mind, speaking what Damian had thought. His words came from diagonally across the room.
The mischievous behavior he had shown earlier was gone, leaving only the calm Persephone he now acknowledged.
Yes—the April they knew had always been like this.
Damian recalled what he had said to April two years ago.
“Who… are you?”
And the April engaged to Persephone was not the April they knew.
Damian was the only one who knew April’s secret.
When the woman mimicked the smile of the April he knew, a flash of bewilderment crossed his face.
As she continued to mirror that smile, and he tilted his head, the revulsion within him surged.
The way the fake tried to pass as the real thing only added to his disgust.
When the fake reached toward his scrunched-up face, Damian snapped,
“Who are you? Where’s the real April?”
The fake’s cheerful expression instantly turned cold.
Her soft eyes hardened, the corners of her mouth drooped, like seeing the dead come back to life. It was unsettling.
“Damian?”
Persephone’s voice broke his thoughts.
Suppressing the lingering disgust as if it had happened yesterday, he lifted his gaze to Persephone.
His golden eyes mixed concern for Persephone and curiosity about the tension with the April he had just met.
Persephone diverted her gaze from Damian and signaled Lerbian toward the door. Lerbian quietly closed it, and Persephone straightened her posture.
“Why did you fall out with the princess?”
Though he had heard rumors in high society, he couldn’t accept them.
If the adopted grand duke had approached the crown prince’s fiancée inappropriately, the noble circles would surely gossip.
Even if Damian had acted that way, he didn’t think April would feel so uncomfortable.
