Chapter 99
I stared intently at the man holding my wrist.
I noticed Lerdin, who had been about to move with me to the conference room, stiffen as he spotted the Grand Duke nearby.
“…What kind of rudeness is this?”
I lifted a hand to stop Lerdin, who was stepping forward.
“I have nothing more to say to you.”
Strangely enough, the Grand Duke wore an expression that looked like he was about to cry.
Not once during that dreadful marriage had I ever seen him make such a face.
Perhaps he had saved it for the mistress whose name I could barely remember now.
His dull blue eyes, different from Lerdin’s, wavered as they looked at me.
“Please, just a moment. It won’t take long, just hear me out a little. Just once, okay? We… we were married, weren’t we?”
“…Hah.”
A reflexive, bitter laugh escaped my lips.
“…Asila.”
Lerdin pressed my hand firmly. My heart thumped rapidly, but not in a pleasant way.
The man who had condemned me as the daughter of an enemy was still vivid in my mind. He had thrown me into the abyss—yet here he was talking about us being married. Married.
I steadied my emotions and forced a bitter smile.
“Were we married?”
His lips moved, as if expecting me to listen to him, but no sound came out.
“…Then what was it? We were married, weren’t we, Asila? I—I could even get the divorce papers back from His Majesty if I just asked. Asila, I finally realize what I’ve done to you. I am truly sorry. Sarsha… that woman—whatever she did to me, I had no idea. Really, I knew nothing.”
Watching him ramble, helpless and panicked, I forcibly opened my lips to show him he was mistaken.
“The word ‘married’ is only valid when both people respect each other. In that sense, I am ashamed that you were even once my husband on paper. I don’t know what changed your mind, or why you came here in the first place. Perhaps you should return to your dearly beloved. Ordinary people here only get in the way.”
The Grand Duke’s eyes trembled dangerously, as if he never imagined I would say such things.
“…What… what are you saying, Asila? I came here to take you with me. Let’s go together. Your place is beside me, isn’t it? Yes?”
It felt like he was talking to a wall.
I sighed irritably, the sensation in my chest like sand being poured inside. Lerdin’s large hand, still holding mine, twitched slightly.
I lifted my head from the Grand Duke and looked at Lerdin. His lips were set in a straight line, staring forward.
His blue eyes blazed intensely at the Grand Duke.
I sensed that something was about to happen—and Lerdin pushed me behind his back.
“You keep saying ‘married,’ ‘wife,’ ‘by my side’… it’s incredibly annoying.”
“Yes, very annoying.”
I was first surprised that Lerdin dropped his usual polite tone, then flinched at the familiar voice behind me.
Kalios, like a predator circling its prey, slowly approached the Grand Duke with a blank expression.
I, now pushed to the background, watched the backs of the two men blocking my path.
“…Kalios?”
“I came because the guy who was supposed to pick the girl up was taking too long. Lucky for me, I found you.”
Unlike Lerdin, who had patiently endured the Grand Duke’s nonsense for several minutes, Kalios immediately approached, growling.
“I was talking with Asila. I don’t know who you are, but if you’re unrelated, step aside—”
A vine shot out from somewhere, wrapping around the Grand Duke’s legs.
[The nymph is angry.]
[We’re angry too.]
[It’s rare for a nymph to get mad. This is the first time I’ve seen it.]
[Especially his nymph. Wasn’t it one of the gentlest among nymphs?]
[Right.]
I heard the butterflies, which had multiplied to stay near me, whisper that the nymphs were angry at the sudden vines.
The nymph is angry?
In this empty corridor, only Lerdin could control the nymphs.
I noticed the faint green glow of the spirits around him and blinked.
“Unrelated?”
A voice, much deeper than Lerdin’s usual, echoed down the corridor.
The Grand Duke struggled against the vines, trying to break free.
The more he resisted, the more the vines writhed as if alive.
His movements were violent, but my eyes weren’t on him.
Lerdin smiled coldly as he watched the Grand Duke bound in the vines.
Angry people can be beautiful.
I watch him, stunned, even though it’s a face I see every day and a thought that shouldn’t have come to mind in this situation.
Perhaps I, too, subconsciously avoided the Grand Duke and looked at Lerdin because I was angry.
“Do you even deserve to say Asila’s name? Married? Tell me, in that marriage, did Asila ever truly smile happily? Did you ever respect her as a human being, even if not love her?”
The Grand Duke, seemingly deaf to these words, thrashed against the vines.
“I am the person who values Asila most in this world, and I am her lover. I cannot tolerate someone who has been tormenting her as a lover, so I speak now. You are the one unrelated here. Understand?”
Kalios’s arm wrapped around my shoulders, and he said proudly, “He is my brother,” with equal confidence.
“…What are you saying?”
The Grand Duke, who had built a wall against any words until now, stopped struggling and lifted his head.
His dull eyes alternated between me and Lerdin.
“What are you talking about? Are you deaf? You seem stupid, anyway.”
Kalios, who had been silent until now, stepped forward.
“During the first year, you deceived the princess with false kindness. In the second year, you brought in a local noblewoman you impregnated outside and treated her like the Duchess. The real Grand Duchess was left humiliated. You never tried to hide the mistress. You even manipulated your subordinates to accept it as normal.”
I gasped reflexively at the sudden recounting of the past.
The Grand Duke’s face grew pale as Kalios’s words pierced through, especially after the mention of ‘lover.’
“The last, third year was the most absurd. You locked the Grand Duchess in an attic for over a month without evidence. Then you even moved the Chelcia royal family to issue a public warrant. And now, you appear here, suggesting returning to Asila? Ridiculous beyond words. I cannot understand how you dare stand so boldly in front of anyone.”
“…Daga.”
As soon as Kalios finished, the Grand Duke’s face twisted in the vines.
“What?”
“Do you think being an Elementalist excuses this? Such rudeness cannot be forgiven! Ordinary people are attacked by your Elemental powers? And who are you to judge Asila’s opinion? Asila loves me! You’re the one making absurd claims about being her lover!”
Kalios’s sharp questioning was met with the Grand Duke’s red-faced shouting.
It was truly pathetic—the man I once liked, the man I had been helplessly infatuated with.
I closed my eyes briefly, recalling Kalios’s recounting of the past. The emotions I had once felt—the swelling anger and longing—had long vanished.
When something is utterly ridiculous, it ceases to anger you. That was my state.
Any emotion toward him now felt wasted. Looking back at my obsession with such a pathetic man, I felt the overwhelming stability from Lerdin and Kalios.
I slowly approached the Grand Duke, bound in vines by the nymph.
I had once sought even a fragment of his gaze—how humiliating.
His final struggles were laughable. He had remained my villain, plunging me into endless emotional turmoil. He had stirred feelings that once made me wish for death. And now, he was simply pitiful.
“You seem mistaken. Our relationship ended the day you threw the divorce papers at me, and I returned them to you.”
I could say that confidently, having overcome the past.
Two precious people—one with black hair, one with silver—stood firmly behind me, supporting me. I no longer needed to dwell on the past.
I curved the corners of my lips.
“So… I hope I never see you again.”
One of the ropes from my past that had held me down snapped softly.
