Chapter 128

Nerys agonized, over and over. In the end, she made up her mind and knocked on the door. Knock knock.

At the light knock, the door opened immediately. Nerys hadn’t expected Cledwyn to come out so quickly, and her eyes went wide like a startled rabbit.

“Were you on your way out? Oh, from your clothes, I guess not?”

The official business hours of the castle had long passed, and the moon was up. Cledwyn was dressed for the late hour, in linen shirt and pants fit for his room; if he’d tried to visit his office in such attire, he’d freeze to death.

Leaning against the door of his own bedroom, Cledwyn looked down at Nerys with a strange smile.

“I heard footsteps.”

“My footsteps? Ah, I suppose there aren’t carpets in this area. For assassin prevention?”

“That’s right.”

In the busy administrative spaces of the East Wing, and even in the elegant Main and West Wings, there were carpets everywhere.

But the area near the Grand Duke’s bedroom, which should have been the most refined, was just well-polished hallway. Normally, it should have been adorned with the finest carpet.

Cledwyn’s calm face overlapped in her mind with the sixteen-year-old boy’s face. Nerys looked up at him with a pang of sympathy.

Nerys’s attire was also simple. She wore a loose dark green velvet robe over a white linen nightdress. All the buttons were fastened, but she was still in her nightclothes.

Her delicate, slender collarbones showed above the robe. When Cledwyn’s gaze lingered there, his expression soured. Nerys, embarrassed, tried to explain.

“I told my mother I was going to bed, so I had to sneak out like this.”

“Wait a moment.”

Cledwyn immediately turned and went inside his bedroom. Nerys hesitated, standing by the door.

Cledwyn’s room was, as befitted a high noble’s private chamber, quite spacious and furnished with a few dignified old pieces. But unlike the grand, ceremonial decor she’d seen in the Imperial Palace or Elandria House, it was simple.

A few simple clothes draped carelessly on a fancy rack and several swords on the wall reflected the unpretentious tastes of the room’s owner. Nerys found herself smiling.

Cledwyn quickly fetched a black cloak from the rack and briskly returned, wrapping it carefully over her shoulders.

With a fur-lined cloak added to her robe, the weight made her sway a little. She pouted, and Cledwyn leaned against the doorframe and finally asked,

“What’s the matter? At this hour?”

“I came to have a drink with you.”

Even now, Nerys clutched a wine bottle in her arms. This time, Cledwyn looked at her in disbelief.

But he didn’t refuse.

❖ ❖ ❖

Still, sharing a drink in a bedroom at night was improper, so they went to a small parlor nearby.

Cledwyn expertly lit the fireplace and the candles in the small, dark parlor and soon procured wine glasses.

“You said you came to have a drink?”

When Nerys poured water from a small bottle into her glass, he asked in exasperation. She sat on the long sofa, fiddling with her glass, and shrugged.

“A glass of water is still a drink, isn’t it?”

Since her disgrace in a previous life, Nerys had not drunk alcohol, and that hadn’t changed. She had too many secrets now to let her guard down.

Cledwyn sat across from her in a single armchair, poured himself some wine, and raised his glass to her.

“To my capable adviser.”

“To the Grand Duke who trusts me.”

Nerys raised her glass in return, and they both drank almost at the same time.

“It’s pretty good. Where did you get it?”

“From the West Wing wine cellar. Looked like nobody had touched it in ages, so I swiped a bottle. Now, if I admit to stealing right in front of the owner, does that make me shameless?”

“The owner is you. Even if you sold the columns, you wouldn’t need to be ashamed.”

“How strange. Who gives an entire palace to a brand-new subordinate?”

“Here. My lands don’t run on such stuffy rules, Miss Truydd, who is so knowledgeable about how to treat subordinates.”

“It’s just a bit too much, my generous employer.”

The two exchanged a few lines, remembering old correspondence, and smiled at each other.

Suddenly embarrassed at how comfortable she was being, Nerys looked down at her glass. Then she said what she’d meant to say.

“Thank you. For leaving the Marquis’s punishment to me.”

The Marquis of Tipion was, after all, Cledwyn’s enemy. If he hadn’t permitted it, Nerys would never have planned to help the Marquis escape in secret.

Cledwyn stared at her for a moment. Because it was winter, both their seats were close to the fire, and Nerys’s face looked faintly flushed in the light.

Violet eyes deep in thought, rose-tinted cheeks, thin delicate eyelids, and a slender neck. The heavy black cloak highlighted her small face all the more.

His throat felt dry. Cledwyn drank more wine and said calmly,

“You must have a reason. It was your work that set the Marquis and that woman against each other.”

Back in the banquet hall, Nerys had realized he and she were of one mind.

Letting the fake Catherine boast in front of everyone, ensuring the Marquis couldn’t speak out by gathering the staff to witness his disgrace—

None of it would have happened if he hadn’t understood her plan.

“I won’t disappoint you. Don’t worry. I’ll handle it so you never feel lacking.”

She smiled. He really was a strange man. Watching the fake Catherine scream her secrets in public was outrageous, and it would have been easy to suspect collusion between Nerys and the Marquis.

But he trusted her. As if it were only natural.

Perhaps that was why. Something warm and tender spread in her chest.

“Is that all you came to say?”

“No, just… I wanted to talk about all sorts of things. Did Ellen tell you about the ring?”

Saying she’d received the baroque pearl ring from Cledwyn was a lie. Because the Jeweled Eyes worked best on people who were shaken, she’d borrowed it in haste.

She hadn’t used it for personal reasons, but it was wrong to use the late Grand Duchess’s treasured keepsake, so she felt guilty. Feeling sorry, she glanced at Cledwyn, who smiled wryly.

“She didn’t. I guess Ellen decided it was something you should tell me yourself.”

“Is that so?”

Nerys hesitated, then sighed deeply.

“The late Grand Duchess was trained separately by the Marquis. When you weren’t around, she opened her room and I found her ring in the drawer. There was poison inside.”

“Ah.”

He was sharp, so he must have figured out the situation. He’d long suspected the Marquis’s callousness toward the late Grand Duchess and her bloodline.

But ‘ah’ was all? Nerys couldn’t help staring at him. And when their eyes met, she froze, unsure what to say.

She just… wanted to help.

When she had been powerless, burning for revenge, he had been her strength.

Even if she couldn’t return that light from the library, that sense of hope—

She didn’t want him to be alone on a night like this.

Cledwyn seemed to read her thoughts and gave a bitter smile, then spoke gently, almost in a whisper.

“I had my suspicions. I originally thought the culprit was the Imperial Family, but when I saw the ones waiting for me that night six years ago draw their swords, I knew it wasn’t.”

“So that night, you—surely…”

“I was going to attack Abelus. We were supposed to get revenge together, and I stupidly believed it.”

Even the words themselves were treason, but neither speaker nor listener cared about such things.

“Why didn’t you call me!”

Nerys unconsciously raised her voice. She knew there was nothing he could have done back then, but it still hurt.

Abelus had spent his life trying to kill Cledwyn whenever he could. It was understandable that young Cledwyn would risk everything on a plan of revenge and survival.

“I was planning to settle it quickly by force. How could I involve a twelve-year-old child? Besides, if you’d known the plan, you would have wanted in, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course. You know I don’t like Abelus.”

It was too bold a statement for the heir to the Imperial Family, and Nerys knew it. But she didn’t care.

In fact, it was refreshing.

As expected, Cledwyn smiled faintly.

“What a shame. I’ve never been good at choosing partners for a scheme.”

“Truly.”

“But now I’ve found you at last, so it’s fine.”

“…No, it’s fine.”

Cledwyn naturally refilled Nerys’s glass with water. Nerys also filled his glass with wine.

“To a trustworthy partner.”

“Cheers.”

Nerys drained her water at once and murmured as if making a vow.

“I wish you well.”

No matter what, may he always be safe. May he be comfortable and happy.

May he have everything she could give, and everything she couldn’t.

Nerys lowered her eyes. Suddenly, a spark landed close by.

The logs in the fireplace were good and dry, and a safety screen was installed. But just in case, Nerys gathered up the hem of the cloak that was spread wide. The cloak was a very fine one.

Her white, slender foot, wrapped in slippers, was revealed.

Cledwyn’s gaze moved to her ankle. When a second spark landed near her slipper—

Without a word, Cledwyn got down from his chair and knelt on the floor. He slipped Nerys’s feet from her slippers and held them in his hands.

Her small feet were almost completely covered by his large, warm hands. His thumbs pressed gently into the arch of her feet.

Nerys lost her words and looked down at Cledwyn’s face. He was gazing at her feet—as if seeing something precious.

And, if such an expression were possible—as if he longed to devour it all.

This wasn’t right. Nerys shook her head.

“Don’t do that.”

“What am I doing?”

“You’re touching my feet.”

“I know. It’s rude, isn’t it? But is that all?”

No. It was not.

Nerys knew it, too. She knew what he was really asking. No man had ever acted this way toward her before… but there was no mistaking him.

In her previous life, she had always wondered if the people around her really loved her. Sometimes it seemed they didn’t, sometimes they said they did.

She was lonely. So she tried to believe in their love. She blamed herself for not being able to read their love in their confusing signals.

But now, she understood.

Real love never leaves you guessing.

And yet, why did she have to feel so much pain over such love?

“Cledwyn Maindulante.”

Her voice trembled. Cledwyn, suddenly alert, quickly let go of her feet and stood, taking a step back.

“Sorry. I…”

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine.”

“No. I was being arrogant… I must have made you uncomfortable. I’ll call Ellen to take you back to your room—”

“I can’t have children.”

Cledwyn’s eyes widened slightly. Nerys looked up at him and spoke quietly.

“That’s why I rejected you. And why I always will.”

(T/N: ……)