Chapter 06
‘My lady is such a kind soul. She even feels compassion for a captured criminal. She’s destined for greatness!’
Hans, the warm-hearted head chef, had been moved by Dioana’s polite request: “Puppy might be hungry. Could you cook something for him? Or maybe let me take some leftover potatoes?”
Hans, who knew the only “Puppy” he’d ever met had crossed the rainbow bridge last year, asked, puzzled, “Miss, who is this Puppy you speak of?”
Dioana responded with perfect clarity.
“Oh! The person locked in the dungeon because my aunt wants to kill him! But he’s a good person! I named him Puppy myself. He said he didn’t have a name!”
At her words, Hans and all the kitchen staff turned pale and stared at her in horror.
“But he won’t die! Because he’s Puppy!”
With an armful of potatoes handed to her by Hans, Dio waddled out of the kitchen.
Outside, Jeremy approached her with a deeply worried expression.
“My lady, Puppy probably isn’t hungry.”
“No, he looked gaunt.”
“Oh my—my lady, you even know the word ‘gaunt’? Should I tell the Grand Duke? He’d be proud.”
“You don’t need to come with me, Jeremy. Puppy isn’t dangerous.”
“My lady, you mustn’t judge someone just by their appearance. He wasn’t even that handsome. His face was all covered in mud or… something. He’s filthy. If he passes any germs to you, His Grace would be devastated.”
At that, Dioana stopped marching forward and sharply turned to glare at Jeremy.
“Jeremy, saying stuff like that makes you a bad adult.”
With that, she turned her head back and headed toward the underground prison where Puppy was held.
Daphne, already used to Dioana’s antics, had sighed and retired to her room for the day, saying she was too tired to deal with it.
Instead, Jeremy and Lockhart had been given a special mission: to follow closely behind the stubborn Dioana, who insisted on personally delivering food.
Escorted by two strong men, Dioana descended to the dungeon. The moment she saw Puppy behind the thick iron bars, she rushed over with excitement.
Of course, Lockhart immediately picked her up and kept her at a safe distance.
“Puppy oppa, eat this!”
She placed the basket of potatoes near the bars and looked at the man with pity in her eyes.
Jeremy and Lockhart, standing behind her, could not understand why she was so concerned about a man she had only met hours ago.
“My lady, calling someone like him ‘oppa’—someone whose status we don’t even know—would surely upset His Grace.”
“If he’s handsome, he’s oppa.”
“Excuse me? Who told you that?”
“Auntie did.”
Jeremy and Lockhart lowered their heads in solemn understanding.
Ah, right. Come to think of it, His Grace does seem particularly lenient with handsome men. Is that why he scolds me so much?
They both silently mulled over that depressing thought.
“…His Grace, really? Ah… So that’s why he’s never once called me anything like ‘big brother’…”
Jeremy was actually related to the Steren family. Technically, he was three years older than Daphne. Lockhart was even seven years older.
The two men exchanged glances, finding bittersweet solace in each other’s company.
Meanwhile, Dioana paid no attention to their emotional wounds. Instead, she peeled the potatoes herself for Puppy, who was shackled and couldn’t move freely, then blew on them and slid them through the bars.
“You have to eat quickly. Oh, but not too quickly—you’ll get indigestion. Eat it with milk.”
Then, after glancing at Jeremy and Lockhart, she subtly gestured for Puppy to come closer.
He leaned toward the bars, and Dioana whispered so only he could hear.
“I know you’re a good person, oppa. You’re the same oppa who saved me before, right?”
“……!”
“You told me to keep it a secret, so I will. But what if Auntie really tries to kill you? Then… I might have to tell the secret. I’m sorry in advance.”
With that, Dioana tugged at Jeremy and Lockhart’s clothes, saying it was time to return to the castle.
Just before leaving, she turned back and gave Puppy a quick wave with her tiny hand.
Puppy raised his hand in return, watching her go. Once the door was completely closed, he murmured quietly to himself.
“She remembers.”
He hadn’t expected her to recall—she’d been so young.
Puppy’s face darkened.
“Dio remembers… but Daphne doesn’t. Even after twice. That stings.”
Government affairs continued into the early hours of the morning.
I had to work faster and more efficiently—every day counted if I wanted to carve out time to spend with Dio.
I was determined to spend this upcoming break with her, so with the holiday season just ahead, I poured myself into my duties with even more intensity than usual.
By around dawn, I’d taken care of the most urgent tasks and could finally breathe a little.
I dismissed Jeremy—who was staggering like a half-dead corpse—and soaked in the rare silence of the Grand Duke’s residence at dawn.
Beyond the study’s glass wall, the dense forest swayed in the night breeze.
I quietly opened a cabinet and pulled out some whiskey I’d hidden from both Jeremy and Lord Russell, then filled a glass to the brim and savored it slowly.
How many times did I empty and refill it? The growing buzz told me that if I slept now, I’d sleep like the dead.
But I was too lazy to make it to the bedroom, so I collapsed onto the daybed in the study.
After struggling to kick off my long boots, I finally undid the vest and necktie that had been strangling me all day.
Only then, freed from the stiff clothes I wore to maintain my noble dignity, did I feel like I could breathe again.
“Whew—”
The alcohol reeked on my breath, but I was in a good mood.
The quiet of the dawn, the solitude, the warmth of the liquor—it all softened even my typically cynical self.
Old memories began to resurface.
Not just Puppy the dog. Dioana, who once again reminded me of the trials of parenthood.
And the man—Puppy—who stirred up memories of that day.
As I continued to reflect on the past, a particular memory surfaced: the moment I first possessed Daphne’s body. That part was still fuzzy, like a gaping hole patched over with a giant stone.
‘When did I first realize I’d been possessed…? Around age eight…?’
Drunk and drowsy, I watched the swaying branches and leaves of the tall forest outside my window and muttered to myself.
‘Was it in the forest… that I woke up?’
For the briefest moment, a flicker of memory flashed across my mind.
But already too far gone in drink and fatigue, I didn’t even register what memory had come to me.
My heavy eyelids finally dropped shut.
The sound of the glass slipping from my hand and rolling across the floor echoed faintly.
“Oh, my goodness, Your Grace! You’ll ruin your body sleeping here like this!”
Early that morning, Lord Russell, the head of the elder council, bustled in, aghast.
His hair was snow white, and he was the oldest and most senior of the elders. He had been part of the council since Daphne was born.
He had overseen both my and my brother’s education, and once served as an imperial tutor for the Emperor and his children thanks to his outstanding abilities.
After the death of the Steren couple, he resigned from the palace and returned to the Grand Duke’s estate.
He had supposedly been a charismatic figure in his youth who could command the entire nobility—but now he was just a nagging old man.
The way he slapped my back and lectured me felt more like a mother waking up her child who’d overslept and was late for school.
We’d known each other so long that outside formal settings, we often called each other “useless Duke” and “nagging old man.”
“Truly, Your Grace, you’re hopeless. Look at this—bottles, glasses, you even spilled alcohol on the carpet!”
“Old man, people will think you’re the head maid.”
“With how often I clean up after you while you lie around drunk, I honestly don’t know whether I’m your nanny, your maid, your tutor, or the head of the council nearing seventy!”
Still sprawled out on the couch, I made no move to get up. The old man clutched at his chest and groaned dramatically. Not that it did him any good—he was only hurting himself.
“I thought, finally, you were turning over a new leaf and becoming a morning person! But no! If a person suddenly changes, they say they’ll die! You called me in early just to show me this mess, didn’t you?!”
“You seem spry for your age. I am a morning person, you know—since I sleep in the morning.”
“My word, not even one sentence can you say properly! What happened to that small, sweet, clever boy? How did he turn into this drunken rogue who can’t sleep without a bottle?”
“As long as I do my work well, that’s all that matters.”
