Chapter : 146
When news arrived that Duke Taylor and his wife had come leading their knights, Eliza hurriedly dressed and ran outside.
“They say they’re carrying a red flag, Madam!”
“What? A red flag?!”
“Yes!”
“Are they declaring war on Richmond?! In the capital, no less?! Are they claiming Rosette Taylor’s death was our doing?!”
Lady Isaac wore an awkward expression.
“I don’t think that’s it.”
Fury boiled in the old lady’s eyes.
“These lunatics—doing all manner of insane things! Tell Grace not to come out. There’s nothing to gain from facing people like them!”
Eliza Richmond strode toward the front gate with terrifying momentum. Black Knights respectfully cleared a path, and when she reached the massive doors, she fixed a fierce glare on the Duke and Duchess of Taylor.
“Open it!”
At Eliza’s command, Sirius cast her a worried look, but she did not rescind her order.
In the end, the gates opened. Eliza stepped through without hesitation and walked straight toward the Taylor couple. The Black Knights surrounded her protectively.
Facing the couple dressed in mourning clothes, Eliza spoke first.
“First, allow me to offer my deepest condolences regarding last night’s events.”
“……”
“However—what on earth is the meaning of this?! A red flag?!”
At the old lady’s sharp rebuke, a deathly silence fell. It was broken by the Duchess of Taylor.
“I’ve come to take my daughter back.”
“…?”
For a moment, Eliza wondered if she had misheard. Or perhaps she had lost her mind.
“What did you say?”
“I said I’ve come to retrieve my daughter, who was taken by Richmond.”
Her ears weren’t mistaken. Nor was her mind.
The one who was wrong was the woman standing before her.
“…Are you out of your mind?!”
At that moment, the Duchess of Taylor’s gaze shifted past Eliza’s back. Alarm surged through Eliza as she hurriedly turned around.
“Ah…!”
She let out a gasp at the sight of Grace stepping through the open gate. Eliza quickly moved to block her and said,
“I’ll handle this, so you—”
She had meant to tell her to go back inside.
If not for the gentle voice that came from behind.
“My daughter.”
A chilling wind swept through. It felt malicious, damp, and foul, sending shivers down her spine.
When Eliza stiffly turned around, the Duchess of Taylor was smiling warmly at Grace.
“My daughter—come to your mother.”
Then, as if flipping her hand over, she screamed viciously,
“NOW!!!”
Eliza truly could not endure it anymore. She shouted not at the clearly unhinged duchess, but at the duke, who at least had kept his mouth shut until now.
“Duke Taylor!”
“……”
“Say something, sir!! You intend to take my granddaughter-in-law—Richmond’s mistress—by force?! Do you think I, Eliza Richmond, would stand by and watch that happen?!!”
At that, the Duke of Taylor suddenly asked,
“Did you obtain my permission?”
“…Permission?”
“I’m asking whether you received my permission for my daughter’s marriage to the Duke of Richmond.”
So he’d been silent—but that didn’t mean he was sane.
The couple were both out of their minds.
“I truly can’t comprehend this. Wasn’t it you who expelled Grace from Taylor? In that situation, whose permission was required, and from whom? Explain it so I can understand!”
“I expelled Grace?”
“……”
“I never did such a thing.”
“You’ve lost your mind.”
As if there was nothing more to hear, Eliza turned sharply and took Grace’s hand.
“Let’s go inside, dear. The wind is cold.”
At that moment, Duke Taylor directly drew the sword from the guard beside him. When he pointed it at Eliza and Grace, the Richmond knights inside and outside the estate all drew their swords at once. And once they did, the Taylor knights had no choice but to draw theirs as well.
A rain of sharp metallic sounds fell, followed by a razor-thin silence. Blades filled the air everywhere—so close it felt as though one might be cut just by breathing.
Staring at Grace as if hunting prey, Duke Taylor spoke.
“I never expelled you. And I never approved your marriage.”
“……”
“Therefore, you are not Grace Richmond, but Grace Taylor—my daughter, under my authority.”
He smiled with a sickly curl of his lips.
“If you defy your father’s command and cross the threshold of Richmond, this place will become a sea of blood.”
“……”
“No matter the sacrifices required, I will take you back to Taylor today. So come here at once, Grace.”
Grace’s gaze moved to the Taylor knights pointing their swords at Richmond. Beneath their helmets, she saw their shadowed, conflicted eyes, their tightly clenched mouths, the faint tremor at the tips of their blades.
She gently removed Eliza’s hand that was gripping hers. Eliza tried to grab her again, but Grace had already taken a step forward.
Passing the Black Knights of Richmond who had their swords trained on Taylor, she reached the fragile line between them and looked at the nearest Taylor knight. His eyes and lips trembled violently as he looked at her.
Grace slowly raised her hand and softly grasped the sharp blade he was pointing at her—with her bare hand.
“!!”
“Grace!!”
Both Richmond and Taylor knights flinched at her action.
Grace pressed the sword downward. The Taylor knight did not resist—because if he did, her hand would be sliced instantly.
After giving him a faint, almost invisible smile, Grace walked toward Duke Taylor.
Even as she approached, the duke did not lower his sword. The blade of a father who claimed to have come for his daughter rested against his daughter’s neck.
At the sight, Eliza cried out as if she’d lost her mind.
“Lower that sword at once—AT ONCE!!!”
Duke Taylor shouted back at her, veins bulging.
“Then order the Richmond knights to sheath their swords first!!”
At his shout, Eliza immediately commanded,
“All of you, lower your swords and step back!!”
The Richmond knights sheathed their blades, but their hands remained on the hilts, their eyes fixed on the duke’s sword at Grace’s throat.
When they lowered their weapons, Duke Taylor threw his sword to the ground. At the same time, the Taylor knights also sheathed theirs.
Duke Taylor glared at Grace with malicious eyes. Grace met his gaze head-on and spoke for the first time.
“You say you never expelled me… then does that mean I’m still Grace Taylor?”
Duke Taylor’s lips curved upward.
“Of course.”
“Is that so?”
“Come back.”
“……”
“To your family—Taylor.”
Grace’s eyes sank deeply.
Come back.
To Taylor.
She looked past the duke’s back.
The Taylor banner, embroidered with wheat stalks, fluttered in the wind. And there were bonds that stretched back a very long time. From behind the duke, they gazed at her with desperate eyes.
Their eyes were speaking.
Is it still not time?
How much longer must we endure and wait?
Grace let out a long, deep breath and nodded faintly.
Let’s go back.
To Taylor.
“Please wait a moment.”
The instant her words fell, screams erupted from the Richmond ducal estate.
“Madam!! We can win—please reconsider!!”
“We’ll bring His Grace at once!!”
The knights protested fiercely.
“Milady!!”
“No, please!!”
Servants and maids cried out with reddened faces. But when Grace turned toward them, even the protesting knights fell silent.
She was astonishingly calm—not emotionally shaken by the sudden turn of events, but rationally looking ahead, preparing her next move with precision. It was as though she had anticipated something like this might happen.
When the knights fell silent, the servants grew solemn as well.
Grace walked along the path between Taylor and Richmond and approached Eliza.
Eliza’s face was filled with deep rage and sorrow. Grace gently took her hand and crossed back into the gates of Richmond.
“I’ll wait until you come out!!”
Duke Taylor’s voice rang out behind them.
Regardless, Grace went deep into the Richmond ducal estate with Eliza. When they reached the entrance of the main building, Eliza asked in a tightly choked voice,
“Is it today?”
Only then did Grace turn to her.
“My child.”
“……”
“Is it today?”
The tomb-like annex where Eliza had once stayed flashed through Grace’s mind—the woman who had lost all will to live, slowly wasting away. A cold fear crawled up her spine, and Grace quickly clasped both of Eliza’s hands.
“This isn’t the end. It’s not the last.”
Then she spoke firmly.
“It’s just that what was bound to happen someday… is happening today.”
