Chapter 25

Episode 25

Click. Clack.

Chloe walked along with Eliza, who was ahead. Silent tears flowed down on the cold gray brick floor. The reason why the inside of the castle felt eerie was not just because it was winter.

‘Lady…’

Gray stared at Chloe’s back for a long time, walking along the maid who was reminiscent of a witch. Chloe was walking hard with her cane so as not to fall behind Eliza, who was walking quickly.

The wise and sweet lady, who had always been on Gray’s side, never looked back until she disappeared into the castle. But when she turned around the corner, he couldn’t ignore the fact that her side face, which was peeking out, was terrified.

***

“The Madam is in the chapel.”

Eliza spoke quietly. The long hallway inside the castle was even more splendid than the castle’s exterior. Candles were illuminating the wall with portraits of previous dukes, wives, and family members; the furniture was of the highest quality, as if all the precious things of the whole kingdom had been collected.

It was midwinter outside, but it was so warm inside that she couldn’t guess the season. I couldn’t even imagine how much it would cost to have all the fireplaces lit up in a castle of this size. It seemed unlikely that Chloe would ever be able to calculate the number in her life.

“We have arrived, Ladyship.”

Inside, a calm, slightly high-pitched soprano-toned voice was heard.

“Come in.”

Chloe walked cautiously into the chapel where the door was open. The moment she met Damien’s mother for the first time, it was inevitable that the hands holding her cane were sweating.

“You must have had a hard time coming a long way.”

“The greetings are very late. My name is Chloe. Thank you so much for sending the carriage to the station.”

“Can you raise your head, Chloe?”

Chloe, who had been keeping a low profile with her eyes down so far, slowly raised her head.

The Duke resembled his mother a lot.

Princess Priscilla, the eldest daughter of the previous king and the wife of the previous duke, was such a beautiful person that rumors spread in the kingdom.

“You’re pretty.”

Mrs. Tisse smiled gracefully at her.

“I thought you would be thin.”

Chloe was a little embarrassed by the unexpected words that followed, but hurriedly bowed her head to show courtesy.

“I’m flattered.”

“You are like the first deer Damien caught when he was young.  I don’t know if you know, but he likes to hunt. He’s been a genius since he was five.”

“…….”

Chloe smiled calmly, pulling the corners of her trembling lips. This is because she thought it would be better to just smile calmly when she had nothing to say.

“You probably never had a chance to see it, right?”

Contrary to Mrs. Tisse’s words, Chloe had felt Damian’s hunting instincts pierce her bones.

“You don’t know how dynamic and graceful the child is when he hunts.”

The moment she remembered the scene of him running on a horse while wielding a whip,  the hair on the nape of her neck stood up even though the fireplace was burning warmly.  As Chloe just nodded, her words grew longer and longer.

“He does everything so well that his parents don’t have to talk to him separately. There will be no one who disagrees that he is the best groom in the kingdom.”

The same applies to the princess who was busy bragging about her child.

Seeing the indescribable pride on Madame Tisse’s face, Chloe gently affirmed.

“It’s an honor for both me and my family.”

“Do you have huge assets hidden? Or are you holding on to the weakness of the royal family?”

As the curious question followed. Chloe hesitated for a moment and soon replied,

“…I’m sorry, but as far as I know, that’s not true.”

“Then did Damien really pick you as his bride? Why?”

Priscilla’s face was full of questions. Chloe swallowed dry saliva and took a deep breath. Appearance was not the only thing the Duke and his mother resembled.

“It’s true that you’re a little pretty, but hunting a wounded deer is not his hobby, because he prefers to play around with a beast that he could kill.”

It was the same that they had the talent of stabbing people with a smiling face. In addition, Mrs. Tisse was a little talkative.

“When he recently returned to Birch Castle, I saw my son’s face for the first time in a year. But he didn’t even have a cup of tea with me and directly asked for the family jewellery just because he wanted to propose? You know that it takes more than twenty hours from Swan to here by train, right? He took the jewelry as if stealing it and left for the road again. How I felt when I heard that the bride he chose was a daughter of a humble aristocrat who has a crippled leg, and the family is from a rural area where no one heard of and is on the verge of bankruptcy……”

She, who had been talking nonstop, put her hand on her chest and exhaled for a long time because she was out of breath.

“I don’t know if he was crazy,”

Chloe once again thought that she wouldn’t really get along with Madam Tisse. She felt like she was being hit by verbal arrows in front.

“Was it curiosity? That kid sometimes enjoys the thrill.”

However, unlike Damien, Priscilla seemed to treat her without malice, but to be honest, she was even more afraid of that. Chloe tried to calm down and struggled to open her mouth.

“I don’t know why the Duke chose me, but I don’t think he chose such an important thing of marriage out of curiosity.”

Priscilla nodded, making eye contact with Chloe.

“Right.”

Chloe spoke carefully to Priscilla, as if she were reading a book whose contents were completely unimaginable by looking at the cover.

“The duke told me to fulfill the duties of the duchess. So I’m going to take care of him as well as I can and strive for the prosperity of Tisse.”

“You must be smart.”

“…Thank you.”

Chloe, unable to rejoice at the sudden compliment, blinked. Priscilla put her hands on her chest, and she nodded as if she knew now.

“Demien likes to have smart people around him. Wouldn’t he be hated by the royal family if he treated people unconventionally, regardless of their status? But he would do it if the person’s skills were good when he was in the military”

As if she had come to her own conclusion, Priscilla looked at her with eyes, which seemed to be enlightened.

“I’m getting help from Eliza, but really, managing this huge castle is too hard for me alone. That’s why he chose someone who would be perfect for this kind of work.”

“…Ah.”

She felt like she was losing her mind.

“You can’t go out and play because your legs are uncomfortable. You are the perfect person to work as a secretary at a desk.”

Chloe’s face turned red and then the blood disappeared repeatedly. Did the mother and son plan together to harass her?

“I like you. First of all, your face is pretty, so I think my jewels will look good on you.”

“…….”

“I think you’re smart, so I think you’ll help me manage the castle well. As expected of my son, Duke Tisse. He’s a filial son who values his family the most in the world.”

After wrapping up the last conversation saying how she is proud of her son, Priscilla personally led her to the dinner table.

Chloe had to listen to Duke Damien Ernst von Tisse’s perfection as she ate the food that filled the table. After dessert was over, she thought she could write the Duke’s autobiography.

“Haa…”

Chloe followed the maid who guided her to the bedroom with a candle in her hand, and only then could Chloe have time to think alone. On the wall of the hallway, portraits of the previous Duke of Tisse and his family were hung.

Seeing pictures of Priscilla pregnant with her child, her moments with the predecessor, who died in the war, and Damien’s childhood picnicking with his mother, Chloe realized what she had expected before coming here was wrong.

Because the Duke’s character had been so twisted, Chloe implicitly assumed that his home environment must have been strict or rigid.

‘It’s definitely a bit odd, but…’

It was clear that Madam Tisse loved her son. When she thought it was really amazing that humans could become strange even though they were loved and raised without lacking, the maid stopped.

“This is the place.”

The duchess’ bedroom was attached to the Duke’s bedroom with a door in between. According to the schedule, the duke will arrive here a week later.

After getting ready to sleep, Chloe approached the window and gently rolled up curtains. She quietly looked through the snowy window, the red roofs over the Tisse estate were covered with the snow.

An unfamiliar landscape.

Looking at the scenery of Tisse, which she had to get used to now, she turned her head toward the wall she had been trying to turn away from.

Her eyes met with the duke in the portrait hung on the red wallpaper. It was probably drawn when he was in military school. Did the evil tree (ego, arrogance) sprout from the beginning?

He must be about seventeen, but the confident boy’s expression seemed to have reached the height of arrogance already. Whenever she made eye contact with the Duke in uniform, she felt bad.

She whimpered and climbed onto the chair. She removed and turned the heavy portrait upside down, causing the centre of gravity to be shifted and it almost fell down.

Barely turning the picture upside down again and lying on bed, she jumped up again while thinking about what to do tomorrow morning.

A maid came to greet her in the morning, and when she saw the portrait of the castle owner overturned, and informed Mrs. Tisse, Chloe didn’t want to imagine what would happen after that.

Eventually, Chloe put the portrait back to its original position and lay down on bed, catching her breath. His face, with a subtle smile in the portrait, seemed to be really laughing at her, so she pulled her duvet over to the top of her head.