CHAPTER 64…………………………………………………………
Usually, the summer estates of nobles were either in the north, where the snowy mountains were beautiful, or in the south, where the climate was mild year-round and the blue sea was spectacular. But the grand ducal estate was different.
Because their hometown was in the north, they had instead built their estate in the capital. It had a simple atmosphere, without any notable decorations.
Even though I had gotten a little rain outside, the ducal household staff handed me towels and tea to warm myself.
I gripped the teacup tightly with both hands, offering a brief word of thanks.
I had come here on a decision made on impulse, but now that I had arrived, I couldn’t help feeling nervous.
Where should I start? How should I explain it? And how would Damien look when he heard what I had to say?
I didn’t doubt that he would believe me. Damien had already realized that I wasn’t April.
A loud bang! came as the door was thrown open, accompanied by hurried footsteps.
“You.”
Damien stood there with a stiff, almost angry expression, dressed in casual clothes that I had rarely seen him wear.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came because I have something to say, and I didn’t think you’d meet me otherwise.”
His wine-red eyes glowed fiercely. It was a little surprising — both that Damien had recognized April, and that he was searching for me.
He couldn’t know how much comfort it had been to hear that the real person was the one who had spent time with him, that the truth didn’t matter as much.
Though I had been tense while waiting for Damien, seeing his face now made the tension drain away.
“Bringing this up has a good effect, huh? Let me in.”
“I’m not in the mood for games. Get to the point.”
“….”
“You know where I am, right?”
I had assumed no one would come looking for me after leaving the ducal house. Even if they could tell me and April apart, there was no reason to search.
Damien, who had never approached me beyond a certain distance, came close enough for only a fist to fit between us.
I swiped my dry lips with my tongue and spoke to his slightly softened expression.
“Want to play a quick game of chess?”
“Are you joking?”
“Is it really worth getting upset over? It’ll be nice to remember old times.”
Back at the academy, Damien and I often played chess.
Sometimes it was a wager, sometimes it was a signal of reconciliation after a quarrel.
At the mention of old times, his previously stern red eyes flickered with a strange light.
“I’ll talk while we play, Damien.”
I sat on the sofa as Damien softened slightly.
Honestly, simply bringing up the situation without doing anything else was difficult for me too.
I thought starting like the old academy days would make things easier.
It was hard to suddenly bring up the ducal house, my return here, and my request to protect Alicia all at once.
If I had disappeared without notice and returned to make such a sudden request, it would have seemed incredibly brazen.
I added, seeing him remain silent, neither agreeing nor rejecting my plea.
“After the chess game, I’ll also tell you about the person you’re looking for.”
With that, a heavy sigh fell from his lips.
Damien covered his eyes with one hand and wiped his dry face.
“Rensia.”
“Yes, sir.”
His retainer immediately answered Damien’s call.
“Bring the chessboard.”
“Hmm…”
Damien leaned on his chin and glanced at the board with a short groan.
He had assumed this chess game would end easily with his victory — but it didn’t.
The April he had lost to at the academy wasn’t the one playing in front of him now.
He pondered his next moves while glancing at April sitting opposite him.
Although I had suggested we talk over chess, once the game began, he focused entirely on the game, giving no hint he would speak.
I began to fear that the game might end before I could tell him anything.
“Have you heard anything about the ducal house?”
A blunt question. It was broad enough to cover anything.
Of course he had. Despite being adopted, as the heir to a grand ducal family, I had heard all the major rumors and information circulating among nobles and across the empire.
“It’s well known that the princess was lost as a child and miraculously found again.”
“….”
“Does anyone in the empire not know that the duchess went completely mad before finding her daughter?”
He spoke matter-of-factly, almost sarcastically, and a small laugh escaped from across the table.
Damien froze for a moment. The conversation felt like a return to the academy days when we had discussed such matters over chess.
“The story of finding the daughter miraculously is famous, but how it actually happened isn’t known.”
“I heard the duchess found her while heading to the estate.”
“You know quite a lot, huh?”
I had only heard through the guild that she found the girl on her way to the estate, but the details of how were not public.
No one at the ducal house had ever asked directly. People cared that the daughter was found, not how it happened.
April responded with a short, surprised exclamation, and Damien replied indifferently.
“Because they tried to find her.”
April paused mid-movement. It was clear without asking that the “they” referred to me — Irina Devin.
“I didn’t expect they’d search so diligently.”
I said nothing.
“Not expecting such effort… what a foolish thought.”
Of course it was. April had been his one and only friend, the one he cared about.
Despite being the sole heir of the grand ducal family, adopted, and constantly rumored to be illegitimate due to hair and eye color like Duke Danion, I had always approached him freely.
Saying he liked April from the start wouldn’t have been entirely true. The real turning point was the field trip to the southern mountains.
He had almost gone missing off a cliff, and April had saved him.
Clinging to him in her small, fragile body, she had held on until the very end — not a pleasant memory to package nicely, but still a memory.
I watched April’s light-hearted laughter, remembering the event, even though it was supposed to remain an unspoken rule between them.
That day had also been when her secret was revealed to Damien.
“You…”
What the hell? I had been certain she was fake.
Lately, April Hill Rize had been acting almost like the real April, but I assumed it was just a misunderstanding.
It couldn’t be. If this were the real April, she wouldn’t have remained silent without confirming her identity.
“Damien, do you know the word ‘doppelgänger’?”
“What?”
I swallowed the words that wanted to come out, caught by April’s question.
“It means someone who looks exactly like another person.”
“….”
I no longer asked him to get to the point; I realized what he was about to say was the point.
“You asked where the real one you spent time with went.”
April placed a chess piece on the board. Clack. Yet Damien’s gaze remained fixed on her.
“The ducal house abandoned that doppelgänger, and she went to the real home.”
“Abandoned…?”
“Yes. They found the real princess with her bloodline. So the fake was no longer needed.”
The April in front of him smiled brightly — the very same smile Damien remembered.
And with that one line, he understood.
“The ducal house found the real daughter. And that daughter began living in the noble family….”
“….”
“So the fake was no longer needed.”
His blue eyes, which had been staring at me, moved to the chessboard. The game ended with her statement.
“I won.”
For a moment, Damien forgot to breathe.
He now knew exactly who the woman in front of him was.
“How could I never have won once since the academy days?”
A low laugh came from across the table, and only then did he exhale.
