~Chapter 17~
A suffocating silence filled the air.
For a moment, the light vanished from Leonard’s eyes, leaving behind an unsettlingly cold gaze.
Damien, on the other hand, remained as calm as ever.
Like an amethyst glowing silently in a cold cave, he was composed and unmoving.
“Ah, I was just curious since you never introduced her to me.”
Leonard answered with a cheerful voice and smile so bright that I almost doubted what I had just seen.
“You’re married now, so your wife is connected to the royal family too, isn’t she? Yet you hide her away like this.”
He was right.
By marrying Damien, who carried royal blood, I had become connected to the imperial family as well.
‘Even so, Damien never mentioned anything about the royal family to me.’
It showed how much he wished to avoid them.
“I was just curious why you’re hiding her.”
Though he smiled as bright as the sun, it felt like he was merely acting.
Seeing that expression, I understood why Damien avoided the royals.
“Your Highness, forgive me for the late greeting.”
As I spoke, Damien reached out in surprise to pull me behind him.
But I grabbed his arm, shaking my head to tell him I was fine.
Damien stared at me silently before slowly lowering his arm.
“I am Rubiana Maledictus, formerly of House Aristea. I should have greeted you first. Please forgive my rudeness.”
I held my dress and bowed deeply before Leonard.
“I haven’t been here long. My husband was letting me adjust before arranging formal introductions. I hope Your Highness will not be upset.”
“Haha, of course not. We’re practically family now. Why would I be angry over something like this?”
Leonard answered smoothly, his voice dignified yet pleasant.
“I was just curious. And…”
His golden eyes shifted to Damien.
“I have some matters to discuss with the Grand Duke.”
* * *
At Leonard’s request, Damien sent Rubiana back inside and faced Leonard in the drawing room.
Wearing his mask again, Damien looked at Leonard with cold eyes.
“So, what do you want this time?”
Damien’s flat voice echoed in the room.
Leonard looked at him, thinking how consistent he was.
“Still rude as ever. Speaking so informally to a prince.”
“If you don’t like it, report me to the imperial family.”
Damien shot back without hesitation.
Even after being chosen as Maledictus, he never changed that attitude.
Leonard always disliked how this cursed man dared to hold his head high before royalty.
“Well, I won’t report you.”
Leonard answered indifferently.
His pride wouldn’t let him tell the elders that he was insulted by a mere Maledictus.
Damien knew this well.
“But.”
A twisted smile crept across Leonard’s face.
It was more repulsive than any curse within Maledictus Manor.
“What about your wife?”
“……”
“She almost threw a stone at me earlier, thinking I was an intruder.”
He could easily accuse her of assaulting a royal.
Even if it hadn’t happened, he could make it up. Leonard excelled at such deception.
“Well? What do you think?”
Damien’s eyes gleamed coldly.
If anyone else had been in Leonard’s place, that glare alone would have made them faint.
“Do you really want to announce to the world that you were humiliated by a woman who just joined the duchy?”
“Ha, yes. You know me well.”
Leonard stepped closer, standing right before Damien.
“I might not do that, but don’t think I can’t find another reason to get rid of her.”
His lifeless eyes locked onto Damien.
“You married her despite our orders. She’ll never gain the royal family’s favor.”
“I don’t care. I’ve always been disliked by the royals anyway.”
“So it’s come to that, huh?”
Leonard scoffed.
“You forget. We can easily make her life miserable.”
Damien’s eyes darkened for a moment.
Leonard noticed it and smirked.
“With rumors and reputation.”
The royal family, center of all power, always portrayed themselves as noble but would do anything for their ambitions—and usually succeeded.
“It’s sad, really. She probably married you hoping for money, but there’s no way she’ll rise further now. Would anyone else even want to marry her after?”
“……”
“No, she’s already miserable.”
Leonard chuckled as he turned to the window, where moonlight spilled onto the terrace where Rubiana had stood.
“To think she has to live as the wife of a gloomy man like you just to raise her status.”
Throb.
Pain stabbed through Damien’s right eye.
A sensation he had nearly forgotten since Rubiana came into his life.
“Did you know? Ever since marrying you, she’s been surrounded by endless rumors. Worse than before.”
Images of Rubiana’s tear-filled smile as she saw the spirit butterflies flickered through Damien’s mind.
“They call her monster bride, living sacrifice, cursed woman.”
Their marriage had been his stubborn decision.
At first, he felt sorry. Later, her kindness made him want to make her happy.
He had sworn never to let her suffer.
‘I didn’t know the rumors were this bad…’
Doubt gnawed at him.
Had he really protected her all this time?
“And yet she has to pretend to like you in front of your face. How miserable must that be?”
Thud.
Damien felt his brain freeze.
‘Pretend?’
Rubiana was kind.
She could have pitied him enough to play along.
‘Was she ever truly happy…?’
He couldn’t be sure.
He had never known anyone who genuinely enjoyed being with him.
“Still, she’s clever. A low-born girl flattering her way up—”
Crash.
Leonard couldn’t finish.
Damien’s right eye twitched as black curses writhed from his temple.
“What do you want.”
He knew people would say he had no right to speak after failing to protect his wife, but Damien couldn’t forgive anyone who insulted her.
“Speak. Now.”
“Ha. Pulling out your curses now? Don’t forget, you can’t attack a royal.”
Leonard sneered.
“To put it simply, stop playing house with your wife and focus on discovering the nature of fear. Grow the curses and give us more magic power—”
“I refuse.”
“What?”
Leonard gaped in disbelief.
“How dare you refuse?”
Damien stared down at him, unmoving.
But this time, his eyes held a chilling murderous intent.
“Ah… is it because I insulted your precious wife?”
Leonard mocked him.
Damien answered softly.
“Yes.”
“Ridiculous. All this for a worthless girl from a ruined house—”
Smash.
Before Leonard could finish, Damien’s curse shot past his cheek and shattered the window.
If Leonard had been just one centimeter closer, it wouldn’t have been the window that shattered.
“You crazy bastard!!”
Furious, Leonard lunged at Damien.
But Damien calmly picked up a shard of broken glass.
“Wait, what are you—”
He sliced his own left shoulder without hesitation.
Blood gushed out, and Leonard froze in shock.
Before he could react, Damien pressed the bloody shard to his neck.
“Touch her again, and next time, it’ll be my neck.”
Leonard stood speechless.
Damien warned the royal family:
“If I die, one of you will have to become the next Maledictus.”
For the first time since entering the room, Damien smiled.
“That would be… quite entertaining.”
