Chapter 34
‘It was thanks to me… right?’
The second lady’s illness was probably caused by the string that connected her to the spirit stone.
But since there was no way to explain that, I simply shook my head.
“No, it was probably just good timing.”
“That’s absolutely not true! It was thanks to the cookies you baked, future Duchess! Miss Vanessa regained her appetite because of them, and that made the biggest difference. Even the attending physician said so.”
Apparently, the second lady hadn’t been eating properly. Even a little bit of food would make her feel sick, so she’d often push her plate away.
But now, she was eating three full meals a day. Thanks to that, she’d even cut her medication—previously taken to supplement nutrition—in half.
“I will repay this kindness one day, no matter what. Please, if there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask.”
The butler of Lavender Hall emphasized this over and over before finally leaving with the cookie basket.
With a deep sigh to calm my nerves, I packed another basket of cookies and headed to Lapis Hall.
“Duke!”
“Welcome, Airi. What kind of cookies are they today?”
As if waiting for me, the Duke greeted me warmly and ushered everyone else out of the parlor.
I wished I could smile and say, “Almond cookies today,” as he brewed tea himself. But that wasn’t why I had come.
This time, I had to bring things into the open. I removed the necklace and showed him the spirit stone.
“Your Grace. I think… this isn’t actually a spirit stone.”
The Duke gave me a curious look.
“Why do you think that?”
“Honestly, ever since the plum tree revived after I dug this out, I’ve been suspicious. And then…”
I told him everything that had happened at Lavender Hall.
How the second lady was connected to the spirit stone by a string no one else could see. How I felt it was ominous and pretended to cut it—only for it to actually sever. And after that, the lady’s appetite returned.
“Maybe the plum tree withered because this stone was stealing its life force? And maybe it was doing the same to the second lady.”
I glared hard at the stone in my hand.
“What if… this isn’t a spirit stone at all, but something like a cursed stone?”
At that moment, the stone trembled slightly.
‘Did it move? Or was that just my hand?’
I squinted, trying to determine whether it was real or my imagination, when the Duke shook his head.
“No way. If it were something that evil, why would the plum tree spirit have asked me to give it to you?”
“To destroy it!”
Wait… no matter how I think about it, that has to be it, right?
“Your Grace, Alicia made this into a necklace for me, you know?”
“And?”
“She tried to drill a hole into it at first, but it didn’t work. It was too hard. So she ended up wrapping it like this instead. Don’t you think the plum spirit knew how hard it was? That’s why it gave it to you.”
I went back through everything from the beginning, and my theory held up. I placed the spirit—no, cursed—stone into the Duke’s hand.
“Here! Destroy it!”
“Uh, Airi, listen…”
That was when it happened.
-Paaah!
The moment the Duke held it, the stone emitted a bright light.
‘It’s a curse! It’s activating on him!’
“Your Grace, it’s dangerous!”
I closed my eyes tight and jumped in front of him.
‘If someone has to be cursed, curse me instead!’
But even after some time passed, I didn’t feel anything unusual.
No dizziness, no sense of life force being drained.
‘Did the Duke get hit instead?’
“Your Grace, are you okay?”
I opened my eyes hurriedly and checked on him.
“How do you feel? Do you think you were cursed? Any strange sensations?”
“I feel… something strange…”
“What? What is it?!”
If he were cursed like the second lady, there should be a string or something.
So I started feeling around his body, trying to find it…
Wait.
‘Why is the Duke underneath me?’
The realization must’ve shown on my face.
Lying on the sofa and looking up at me, the Duke turned his flushed face to the side and muttered softly.
“…We haven’t had the wedding yet, but… if you want to…”
That’s when it happened.
“What the—what’s going on?!”
The office door burst open, and Mark came in with several knights.
“What’s the emergency—oh.”
Their eyes all landed on me sitting on top of the Duke.
My face flushed red hot. I jumped off the sofa in a panic.
“W-wait, it’s not what you think! You’ve got it all wrong!”
“Ahem. Ahem. I didn’t see a thing. Ahem. Let’s go, everyone.”
The way he said he didn’t see anything was the clearest proof that he had.
As they left, the knights kept coughing awkwardly, saying things like “nice weather today” and such.
It was painfully obvious what they were thinking. My legs gave out and I collapsed onto the sofa.
“It’s really not like that… It’s a huge misunderstanding…”
“So what if it is?” the Duke replied calmly, like he was teasing me. “We’re already engaged, aren’t we?”
As if the embarrassment was mine alone to carry.
I blurted out without thinking,
“We’re not engaged.”
“Oh, that’s right. Not yet. Thought we were, my mistake.”
Chuckling, the Duke gestured for me to come closer.
“Sorry I kept it a secret for so long. It’s a little late, but I’ll tell you the truth now.”
He held out his hand to me—the same hand I’d given the “cursed stone” to earlier.
“The truth is, that’s not a spirit stone. It’s a divine beast’s egg.”
“…What?”
“The plum tree probably withered because the egg was buried beneath its roots. Normally, like a ripened fruit, it should fall naturally when ready. But 25 years ago…”
Twenty-five years ago, some bad people had infiltrated the Ludian duchy to steal the divine beast’s egg.
They caught the culprits, but the egg was already gone.
“We searched the entire duchy top to bottom, but never found it. It was assumed to have been smuggled out, so Marquis Cheren has been searching ever since…”
The Duke looked down at his palm in disbelief.
On it, a tiny pink larva—smaller than his index finger—was wiggling slightly.
“Whoever buried the egg under the plum tree, we don’t know. But for it to survive and successfully hatch after 25 years underground… it’s thanks to the plum tree.”
“…So it wasn’t cursed, just…”
“It shared its life force to keep the divine beast inside alive.”
The Duke carefully placed the larva on a stack of handkerchiefs laid out on the table.
I looked away and feigned distraction. All those handkerchiefs… were ones I had embroidered and sent to him as gifts.
‘So he kept every single one… even though I sent them to show off we were “in love.”’
“Sorry, Airi. I made up the spirit stone story. I knew from the beginning it was the divine beast’s egg.”
“How?”
“I just… felt it. Maybe it’s the Ludian blood in me.”
At his self-deprecating words, I almost glanced at his silver hair but managed to hold it in.
“Then why did you give it to me? It’s incredibly important.”
He shrugged lightly.
“Because I don’t want to make a contract with a divine beast.”
