Chapter 10
“What are you talking about? You’re saying she thinks the father of her child is Grand Duke Cassian?”
Duncan stormed into the room and shouted at Catherine, who was following close behind.
“Shh! Keep your voice down!”
Startled, Catherine quickly turned around to check both sides of the hallway, then hastily closed the door.
After firmly shutting the door, she turned back around, her hands trembling slightly.
“Wasn’t she sharing a room with Jerome that night?” Duncan asked irritably, loosening his tie and throwing it onto the bed.
The blue tie didn’t stay on the bed but fell straight to the floor.
Turning around, he pulled a metal pipe from inside his jacket, lit it, and impatiently put the other end to his mouth.
Soon, dark smoke began to rise from the tip of the pipe.
“I thought so too. I was sure Yulia would have been with him, looking after Jerome… and that when the drug took effect, she would have gone into the room with him…”
“But Jerome himself said he was with Yulia, didn’t he? Those two are hardly ever apart.”
“I never thought Jerome would lie to me…”
Catherine brought her trembling hand to her mouth and began biting her long fingernails.
Her beautifully manicured nails crumbled anxiously between her teeth.
That day, Catherine had grilled Jerome after he returned from the graduation party.
She asked if the party was as fun as they said, if he met many friends, and…
…if Yulia was with him.
“Maybe the drug was the problem? What if that shameless bastard sold us a fake? After we paid him so much money…”
“But Yulia definitely experienced the effects of the drug. She said she can’t remember anything after drinking.”
Catherine bit her lower lip.
Of course, the drug Catherine had given Yulia was no hangover remedy.
She recalled a conversation she’d had with a pharmacist from the Cleric Kingdom a few months earlier.
<So, what about this drug?>
<What kind of drug is it?>
Catherine looked at the clear glass bottle the pharmacist was holding out, her expression indifferent.
<Originally, it’s an investigative drug used discreetly to probe hidden intentions or find evidence…>
The pharmacist grinned and continued.
<When taken with alcohol, it makes the person become even more deeply intoxicated.>
<What’s the difference? Isn’t that just speeding up alcohol absorption?>
<If that were all, I wouldn’t be telling you this. This drug makes the person deeply intoxicated, then uses the influence of the alcohol to make them honest.>
…So it was a truth serum.
Catherine picked up the glass bottle and shook it up and down.
The clear liquid sloshed around.
<And finally… it erases all memories of the time they were drunk.>
<Erases all memories…?>
Catherine stopped moving her hand.
<Remember that special drug I made for you before? In my opinion, if used together with that one, it could work quite well…>
The pharmacist’s small eyes sparkled.
Catherine swallowed nervously, her eyes uncertain.
“Haa…”
She had hoped that Yulia’s clingy drunken habit combined with Jerome’s feelings for her would lead to something happening at the graduation party.
Even if nothing actually happened, neither of them would remember anyway. And with the help of the special tonic Catherine had given her, if Yulia could be made to believe she was pregnant…!
Everything would have gone exactly as Catherine had planned.
‘…The problem is, I was so flustered by Yulia’s answer earlier that I couldn’t properly stop her from going to Isheide Castle.’
She had been so sure the father was Jerome that she had confidently convinced Yulia, only to have it all backfire.
The Grand Duke Cassian, all of a sudden?
She had no idea where that person had even come from.
Catherine bit her lip nervously and spat out, “Yulia said she’s going to Isheide Castle tomorrow. I think we need to follow her right away and explain the situation to the Grand Duke.”
“Wait a minute. You want me to go see Cassian Isheide?”
“We have to.”
“I can’t! No, I don’t want to! Just the look in that young Grand Duke’s eyes gives me the creeps.”
Duncan squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head vehemently.
Grand Duke Cassian was Duke Duncan’s number one person to avoid.
Duncan was a man of influence, used to meeting people and manipulating them to his will.
His way was to use his social skills to steer conversations to his advantage and ultimately profit from them.
He was the one who had transformed their ordinary ducal family into the biggest moneylenders in all of Tritan.
But none of that worked on the Grand Duke, who had just graduated from the Royal Academy and was only in his mid-twenties.
Even when Duncan approached with a friendly, smiling face, the Grand Duke would only reply coldly. And before Duncan could even get to the point, the Grand Duke would often ignore him as if he already knew his intentions.
‘I can never tell what he’s thinking…’
He had tried to get close to the Grand Duke, who had been Jerome’s classmate at the Royal Academy, hoping to establish a connection with the Imperial family. But he had repeatedly failed, hitting a thick, impenetrable wall like a bomb shelter.
“Then what are we supposed to do! Are you saying we should just let her marry Grand Duke Cassian?” Catherine shrieked sharply.
“So let her marry him! Eventually, Yulia’s pregnancy will be proven false. After that, whether she gets kicked out or stays married is her own fate.”
Duncan continued blowing out smoke.
“That’s not the issue right now! What about our Jerome? What about him? Weren’t you the one who wanted to keep her for him, even if it meant using drugs, because he likes her?”
“Ugh… Really! If this is how it’s going to be, why didn’t you just try to convince Yulia to marry Jerome in the first place!”
“No, who in this world would want to marry a man who stut—!”
“What?”
Duncan glared sharply at the shouting Catherine.
“Ah, I mean, Yulia isn’t the type to listen to that kind of talk…! She doesn’t even want to get married, what with her career plans and everything. How else were we supposed to keep her attached to him? Ugh, this is so frustrating!”
Duncan raised both hands and covered his ears against the noisy outburst.
Where was the woman who was so excited, jumping around saying she had a great idea? Now she was yelling at him like this, just because she couldn’t handle one simple task.
Duncan, who had a severe avoidance streak, rose from his chair.
He crossed the large room, went out into the hallway, and slammed the door shut behind him.
Catherine, left alone in the room, fumed and stared at the forcefully closed door.
“What about our Jerome…”
He was a perfect son, with looks, family background, education, and personality – everything. Except for one thing. An incurable disease held him back.
As a young child, Jerome had shrunk from people’s cold, cruel stares and wouldn’t open his mouth to anyone, not even himself.
Except for one person in the whole world: Yulia.
Jerome loved Yulia deeply.
And Catherine wanted to give Yulia to the Jerome she loved.
No matter what it took…
Catherine turned and walked towards the window where the full moon shone.
Under the moonlight streaming through the window, she gripped the windowsill and bowed her head.
“…Tomorrow, I have to find a way to convince Duncan and go to Isheide Castle.”
She could clearly picture Jerome’s face, hurt by this sudden news.
She couldn’t just sit back and let Yulia marry the Grand Duke Cassian.
Catherine clenched her fist tightly as she thought of Yulia’s clear, innocent face.
The next day, Yulia visited Isheide Castle.
‘Whatever happens, I need to at least know who the father is…’
Yulia looked up at the large mansion.
It was the first time she would see him since the graduation party.
In the meantime, their equal status as academy students had disappeared. Cassian was now a member of the Imperial family and a Grand Duke, while Yulia would meet him simply as a graduate of the academy.
“…Should I use formal speech?”
Yulia pondered this small dilemma as she quietly followed the butler who was guiding her to the reception room.
Knock knock.
“Your Highness, Miss Yulia Heibel is here to see you.”
Yulia couldn’t help but feel nervous hearing her own name come from Abil’s mouth.
What would Cassian say? Would he tell her to get lost immediately? Would he be baffled, wondering why she came after telling her to forget what happened?
…What would he say when he heard she was pregnant?
Yulia bit her dry lips and waited anxiously.
Due to all the tension and nervousness of the past few days, she had bitten them so much that her pale lips were in poor condition.
After a long moment of silence, a low voice came from the other side of the door.
“Tell her to come in.”
As Abil opened the door, Yulia saw Cassian sitting on a sofa at one end of the reception room, his long legs crossed.
Cassian raised his head from the documents he was looking at and met Yulia’s eyes.
He looked at her silently for a moment, then rose from the sofa and walked over to a table near the door of the reception room.
“Abil, prepare some warm tea.”
“Yes, understood.”
Cassian said coldly.
Without even glancing at Yulia, who stood there awkwardly, he pulled out a chair on the opposite side of the table and sat down.
“Sit.”
Yulia, who had been standing still, watching his reaction, awkwardly moved and carefully sat down on a long chair opposite him.
The velvet chair was very soft.
“Um…”
Now that she was facing Cassian, her mouth wouldn’t open easily.
“Well… that is…”
“What happened to that boldness from last time?”
Cassian’s low voice reached her.
She knew perfectly well that “last time” referred to the day she had shamelessly run away after they had spent the night together.
Because of Cassian’s unfriendly reaction, Yulia found it even harder to speak.
After repeatedly opening and closing her mouth, Yulia finally managed to speak only after Abil returned to the reception room, filled two small teacups, and left again.
“Hello, Your Highness. The reason I have come to see you is…”
Yulia, who had been constantly agonizing over it, began speaking politely.
Knowing full well that what she was about to say would not be welcome to Cassian, she decided to maintain a respectful attitude for now.
“Make yourself comfortable.”
At Cassian’s words, interrupting her own, Yulia tightly clenched her hands, which were neatly folded on her lap.
