Chapter 27 Part 3: I, the Archduchess of Elchen

Rosa and Caron. The two headed to their room, chatting amicably.

“The tea party is postponed..?”

Was it her imagination? She felt a sudden chill in the air.

Rosa smiled awkwardly.

“Yes. But it’s no one’s fault. Everyone has their own schedules.. I understand.”

It was probably unreasonable to set the appointment on the day of, in the first place.

That’s what Rosa said.

“Hmm..”

Of course, Caron’s furrowed brow didn’t relax.

Caron opened the door.

Rosa naturally followed him inside.

“We’re eating together, right..?”

Caron nodded. Dinner would be brought to their room on a tray.

He let out a shallow sigh and stopped in front of his desk. There were still piles of work to be done.

‘First, I’ll have dinner with Rosa, and then I’ll take care of the rest of the work.’

That’s what Caron was thinking when. Rosa approached.

“I’ll help.”

She had a determined look on her face.

Slowly approaching him, Rosa stood on her little tiptoes.

Whoosh-

The two epaulets on his shoulders were lowered. They were fastened with buttons, so it was easier for someone else to unfasten them.

Then, her touch brushed against the scabbard at his waist and the cravat around his neck.

“You look very tired.”

Rosa said. Caron, who had paused for a moment, nodded.

Standing on her tiptoes, exuding a fragrant scent.

Looking down, Rosa, busily moving, looked like a wife waiting for her husband.

Of course, the problem was that she wasn’t aware of it at all.

“All done.”

She felt a slightly cold breath. Caron regretted not lowering his head a little.

Seeing her looking up at him, so pretty, warming his heart.

Caron searched for an excuse.

Knock knock-

Fortunately, a good excuse appeared.

“Come in, Your Grace, the Grand Duke.”

The handmaidens brought in a silver tray.

Naturally, Caron didn’t miss that opportunity.

He embraced Rosa, and she fidgeted in his arms.

It was fortunate that she didn’t push him away.

Everywhere they touched was soft. Holding Rosa filled him with a sense of well-being.

He didn’t want to let go.

The two handmaidens, who seemed flustered, quickly moved the food from the tray and lined up at the door.

“Then we will take our leave, Your Grace, the Grand Duke, and Your Grace, the Grand Duchess.”

Caron just nodded without answering. As if he didn’t want to waste time answering, focused on Rosa in front of him.

Only after the two handmaidens left did he release Rosa from his embrace.

“Let’s eat.”

His usual voice. Then he sat down at the table.

Ahem-

Rosa cleared her throat and sat across from him, and they began to eat.

An awkward air flowed somewhere.

She knew it was all an act.

‘Still..’

Sometimes she felt strange, and Rosa thought it was unavoidable.

Quite an appetizing spread of food was laid out on the table.

The sound of utensils moving could be heard at regular intervals in the room.

Suddenly, Caron spoke.

“You don’t have to do it. The tea party.”

It seemed he was still concerned about it, but Rosa wasn’t a fool.

“It’s better to do it.”

Of course, she knew. The cancellation of today’s tea party was only because she had agreed to it out of courtesy.

She never had the naive thought that everyone would welcome her.

‘Anyway.. I’ll be living here for a year.’

She wanted to build good relationships with everyone, at least during that time.

“So I’ll take care of it myself.”

Reading her will, Caron agreed.

“If that’s what you want. Do as you please.”

He would just help in his own way.

Rosa burst into laughter for no reason.

“You don’t have to worry so much.”

After the earlier embrace, the slightly awkward atmosphere had dissipated like melting snow.

In fact, Caron hadn’t eaten anything and wasn’t feeling very hungry.

He just wanted some time to talk with Rosa.

Because she had been waiting for him all this time.

“So, I want to try growing forget-me-nots. They were quite pretty when I saw them in the capital.”

Caron found Rosa’s sweet voice, chattering on and on, quite pleasant to listen to.

He had a faint smile on his lips, and his cheeks were flushed.

He was in a familiar space, sitting across from her, looking only at him and talking.

“..Are you listening?”

A slightly dissatisfied expression. Caron realized he had been lost in thought for a moment.

“Caron. Say what I just said.”

“..I’m sorry?”

Only that word had reached his ears.

“Yes.”

Rosa continued.

She had been working hard, and it seemed like he hadn’t been listening to her.

“At that time.. I didn’t know you were in that situation.”

[..I can’t come next month.]

At that time, Caron had already experienced the battlefield where one walks the line between life and death.

“I should have taken care of you more. I should have understood more. I didn’t know anything..”

Rosa’s voice became bleak.

Suddenly.

She reached out her small hand and gently stroked Caron’s hair.

The two were sitting around a D-shaped sofa.

So her hand could reach.

“..What are you doing?”

Going off track.

Caron was dumbfounded at her attitude, which treated him like a younger brother.

“Praise. Like old times.”

When was she talking about.

“Just one question. Rosa. Do you still think you’re my older sister?”

Caron didn’t realize it, but. His tone had already returned to that of the old days.

“Well..?”

To Rosa, who said that as if it were obvious.

“No. Rosa.”

Caron stated a fact.

“Strictly speaking, I’m a year older than you.”

“It doesn’t matter. I think of myself as your older sister.”

Well, at least she wasn’t calling him her younger brother.

Long ago, Rosa used to tell him to call her his older sister.

‘In fact, strictly speaking..’

Rosa didn’t need to apologize or praise him.

It was all for his own greed.

The path he chose to meet Rosa.

But a thought suddenly occurred to him.

Caron asked Rosa with a serious expression.

“Do you really. Want to praise me?”

Rosa nodded inadvertently.

Caron had half-jokingly, half-seriously thought of something.

It was a statement that could serve as a sufficient punishment for Rosa, who had broken the mood.

‘It’s a bit cringey, though.’

It would be fun. To see Rosa’s flustered face.

He only showed this side of himself in front of Rosa.

With a chuckle, Caron made a shocking statement.

“Then. Call me ‘oppa’.”

“Wh, what..?”

As expected, Rosa’s face turned bright red.

The moon shone brightly in the night sky.

Someone knocked on Caron’s door.

“Come in.”

It was Hamel.

“Here is the list you requested.”

Caron took it.

On the parchment, three names were written.

It was essentially a list of the handmaidens who had declared their absence from the tea party.

“This is the testimony of Head Maid Louise.”

“Good work.”

“What are you planning to do?”

At Hamel’s cautious question, Caron answered.

“Nothing in particular.”

He would just give them minor disadvantages.

‘If the parties involved provide an excuse because of that. That would be good in its own way.’

Caron decided to respect Rosa’s wishes.

The tea party would proceed as scheduled tomorrow.

“I understand.”

Hamel bowed and left. Caron looked out the window again, lost in thought.

Rosa was pouting.

She had turned away after being flustered, as if she couldn’t refute it.

Yes.

Rosa was considerate and kind, but at the same time, she had a strange, incomprehensible pride.

Alone by the window, Caron smiled for no reason.

It had been a long time.

Since he had played around so childishly as if returning to their childhood.

Rosa was indeed cute.

And pretty and kind.

Wasn’t it almost a foul play.

At that time, the fact that he had met Rosa, of all people, sometimes felt like an unbelievable stroke of luck to Caron.

Honestly, it was a little dangerous.

‘If Rosa hadn’t broken the mood earlier..’

He probably wouldn’t have been able to control himself. Of course, it would have been difficult to use the excuse of acting, too.

There was only one thing Caron was worried about.

Lately, it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to hide his feelings.

It had been comforting earlier. Sincerely.

But whenever Rosa acted like she did today, it was also difficult for him.

Slowly, very slowly.

He had to win her heart that way.

‘But she doesn’t seem to want to help.’

Since coming here, everything Rosa did was stimulating him.

Caron had overlooked it.

The fact that her very existence was a temptation to him.

‘Even kissed.. and she didn’t resist.’

There was hope. Rosa definitely didn’t dislike him.

Maybe she just hadn’t realized it yet, but it didn’t seem like she had no feelings for him.

It was just that, for some unknown reason, Rosa seemed to think that she couldn’t be a romantic partner.

To be precise, the fact that that someone was Caron was the problem.

‘What could it be..’

Caron agonized. In fact, it was a 고민 that had continued for years.

If he knew the reason, he would have done something about it.

He couldn’t act rashly without knowing.

He didn’t want to miss anything. He wanted to eliminate even a single element of uncertainty.

He was also a man, so he couldn’t help but hesitate in front of Rosa, his first love.

But at this moment.

Caron instinctively sensed it.

‘This feeling.. I can’t hide it for long.’

It was none other than Rosa, who was by his side, making it impossible.

So, he didn’t have much time left to maintain this state.

Caron thought.

Isöynak.

It was once the name of a renowned hunter, and now it was the name of the second largest merchant house in Elchen.

Fur, lamp oil, and even armor and weaponry.

As a merchant house that dealt in important goods in this land, its prospects were naturally bright.

The eldest daughter of that family, Bella Isöynak.

She had lived a life of luxury that others couldn’t even dream of.

Her appearance was also so beautiful that everyone admired her, and she had never failed to catch a man she truly aimed for.

Except for one man, the Grand Duke of Elchen.

She had been excited from the first moment she saw him. She had fallen in love.

His appearance, his ability, and on top of that, he was a rising power.

Of course, what attracted Bella the most was his promising future.

But before she could sincerely act, some other woman had snatched him away.

“What exactly is the problem?”

Bella was genuinely frustrated.

“Have you.. lost your mind?”

Her father trembled his beard.

“Because of you..!”

He grabbed the back of his neck as he said that.

This morning, a major deal had fallen through.

“Do you know how many years of our company’s effort were riding on that?”

The one that had taken that place was, surprisingly, a merchant house that had appeared overnight.

The head of the family, Moldin Isöynak, was no ordinary merchant. As soon as he learned that the deal had fallen through, he investigated the background of the newly appeared merchant house.

They weren’t even trying to hide it. In an hour, the source was revealed.

Overnight, the Grand Duke’s household of Arnad had made a move.

Thanks to that, the branch manager of the merchant’s association had to go to work at dawn, it was said.

‘What on earth..’

Moldin felt his vision go dark.

He knew his daughter’s foolishness, and he remembered the complaints that had filled the letters she had recently sent.

‘The timing, too…’

It was too precise.

[She was trying to have a tea party, so I made an excuse that I had a prior engagement.]

“Just yesterday evening, didn’t you tell me that?”

Bella couldn’t keep her mouth shut, dumbfounded. But her father’s face was so red with anger that she couldn’t bring herself to argue.

“In any case, apologize politely.”

To the Grand Duchess, of course.

“Father!”

“After you go to work later. Or at the tea party in the afternoon. Do it without fail. There’s nowhere else I can think of.”

In fact, Moldin, the head of the Isöynak family, was already half-convinced. Hamel, the chief steward of Arnad, had given him a subtle hint.

“I don’t want to. I have no intention of doing so.”

Moldin let out a deep sigh.

“Bella. Isn’t it time for you to grow up? I’m tired of talking about this, so do whatever you want.”

It was almost like a warning, and Bella was genuinely surprised.

‘Has something this big happened because of that woman?’

No. There was no way.

She couldn’t understand it with her common sense.

Why would the Grand Duke do that.

Even if it was true that she had ignored the Grand Duchess.

‘Wasn’t it a political marriage..?’

Then. Why?

Wasn’t this a losing proposition for the Grand Duke?

Isöynak was a family with deep roots in this region.

Why would he exclude Isöynak for a woman he didn’t even want in a political marriage.

Bella overlooked just two things.

One was that the power of the Grand Duke was far greater than she thought.

The other was that Rosa and Caron’s relationship wasn’t just a political marriage.

But Bella, who didn’t know anything, just thought that the Grand Duchess must have used some unknown means.

That afternoon.

Bella went to work.

This time, all seven handmaidens attended the tea party without exception.