Chapter 64
Luna raised her arm and covered her eyes.
She couldn’t sleep. The rain was still pounding outside, and all she could clearly hear above it was the racing beat of her heart.
What would have happened if I hadn’t run away earlier? Would I still be spending the night with His Highness even now?
“You’re my wife now. You can do that anytime with me.”
Liar. You said when I purified you the contract would end, and you said you never intended that from the start. Yet you come at me so casually every time—bad man!
“It’s my fault for falling for it, though….”
Luna’s cheeks flushed as she grabbed the pillow beside her and hugged it tight. A blush seemed to rule her from head to toe.
On a normal night like this she would have pulled the covers over her head and shivered alone, but now whether she opened or closed her eyes, all she could see was him, and that made everything awkward in a different way.
If I had just let it happen…
“Ugh! I don’t know!”
Was she paying for being spoiled? A thirst she couldn’t speak of burned in her throat and a dull ache in her lower belly made her fidget.
The imagined splashing of water and the memory of how his lips had felt kept surfacing, making her miserable.
“This is dangerous. If I keep going like this I’ll actually be in danger. Pull yourself together.”
Luna felt a faint dizziness and checked the back of her hand. The mark on her skin gave off a soft purple glow in the dark.
His mark looked like that too.
“Why does that whole thing keep coming to mind?”
Now even his relaxed smile and the shape of his tight, muscular body were starting to appear.
“Sigh.”
Luna ripped at her hair and tossed and turned. In the end she couldn’t sleep until the clouds cleared and warm sunlight poured in.
A week passed.
As soon as Luna settled down, she was handed over the duchess’s duties and guidance, and her days turned frantic.
Khalid’s purification had been dismissed as “fine for the time being,” and he too had so much backlog that finding time even to eat together became hard and repetitive.
“So, please make this place lovely, milady.”
“Hm? What did you say?”
Luna had been counting the days she hadn’t seen him and missed the steward’s remark.
Gérard pushed up his glasses and watched the lady sitting at the tea table among the desolate garden. She had adapted well from day one, so it was odd she seemed unable to focus.
“My, you’re not acting like yourself, milady. Could it be that you’re worried because you haven’t met with the lord for several days?”
“Oh, no! I just thought this tea spot looked unusually charming today. I didn’t know there was a place like this inside the castle. Ha ha. Ha.”
Luna waved her hand and forced an awkward laugh. Her behavior looked like she’d been called out.
Gérard closed his eyes lightly and carefully poured the tea.
“There’s no need to worry too much. The lord has been away from the castle for a long time, and with the new theatre being built in the domain, that’s why. It isn’t something that happens often.”
“I wasn’t worried! You don’t have to tell me about him if you don’t want to. Oh! Right, did I ask whether I’m supposed to attend the theatre’s opening ceremony?”
“Yes. His Highness ordered us to ask because he’s adjusting his official schedule, but he thought you might enjoy a performance.”
“Oh….”
Gérard, faithful to a fault, set down a plate of freshly baked scones as if to ask, “How considerate is our master?”
When Luna hesitated, the perceptive steward quickly added his opinion.
“It’s the largest theatre in the empire, so I’m sure it will please him.”
“Not just the north, but the largest in the empire?”
“Well, His Highness plans cultural assets that everyone in the domain as well as the nobles can use, so it came to be that way. Our master only needs patience; scale doesn’t matter to him.”
“I suppose that’s true. With His Highness’s wealth, he could do it easily. Alright. I’ll go with you.”
Luna curled the corner of her mouth and took a sip of the fragrant tea.
While receiving the handover, she kept realizing anew that what the duke had splurged on in the east wasn’t senseless waste—each time the realization shrank her tightened heart a bit with that cup of tea.
“Thank you, milady. As I was saying, we ask you to restore this place.”
“Hm? This falling-apart place?”
“Actually, this garden used to be said to be more beautiful than the temple’s promenade. If you personally tended it, the master would be pleased.”
“Come to think of it, you said this garden was important. There are plenty of gardeners—why is only this spot neglected?”
Gérard’s face fell as Luna asked. He had been bright moments ago.
“After the previous duke and duchess passed away, no one—not the master nor anyone in the castle—came here as if by agreement.”
“…Is it okay now?”
“Yes. I feel at ease because it’s you, milady.”
Luna scratched her cheek awkwardly. There was a reason the steward had left all the servants behind; and she suddenly became curious about the death of the previous duke and duchess. No one had explained details to her.
But Luna kept her mouth shut. There might be a sadness attached to it, and she didn’t know what pain His Highness carried either. It would be better to wait until he told her himself.
“I don’t know if I can do it well. But I’ll try.”
“Really?”
“Well… with the steward’s help, I think we can manage somehow?”
“Of course! Just tell me whenever.”
Seeing Gérard’s delighted face, Luna softened. Just as she had once imagined His Highness while on the promenade, a small wish took root that perhaps someday he would think of her in the garden she had tended herself.
“Milady, there is one more reason I suggested having tea here. I need to ask you something important.”
“Hmm. An ask?”
“Yes. Now that you know most areas in the castle, I will point out the only place that is off-limits. It is the last room near the master’s study.”
“May I ask why I can’t go there?”
Gérard nodded.
“It’s the study that the previous duke and duchess frequently used. His Highness has strictly forbidden anyone from entering.”
“I see. If that’s the reason I’ll be careful.”
Luna felt that he was similar to her. Like the study her parents left at the Adérette mansion, he must have a forbidden study that was precious to him.
While she was duchess, she felt she should treat him well.
“By the way, Gérard. Since the mood’s gotten heavy… about the magic stone we discussed earlier, I’d like to know more. To avoid making mistakes with His Highness, I should understand it well.”
“…….”
Gérard’s face grew solemn at Luna’s request. Though he had wanted the matter to quietly pass, she was meticulous and persistent.
The unflappable steward hesitated, glanced around, then murmured.
“The achievements written about the magic stone in books are not false. But for the ducal bloodline, it is also a tragedy. What I can tell you is that the curse placed upon His Highness is a curse that has flowed down from the previous generation.”
“You mean the magic stone passed along a hereditary curse?”
“I don’t know exactly. But the terrible curse that followed the magic stone’s appearance is certain. To tell you specifically, the current master actually tried to end his life when he was a child.”
That the master had attempted to die—that fact weighed on Luna as she listened.
“Perhaps if the line had ended, he might have escaped the curse. That selfish old man couldn’t stand by and watch; he worked to stop the young master from dying. How could we, as his retainers, let the child master be left to die?”
“…You did well.”
Luna felt as if she had been struck; polite words slipped out. The master had apparently lost his parents early and was cursed.
She, who had become cursed overnight, suffered, but he had been fighting a painful battle for far longer.
The vague sense of his suffering tightened her chest. Suddenly, she missed him.
“I will purify His Highness. I’ll do it somehow, so please help His Highness and me a great deal, steward.”
“I’m prepared to risk my life. So please, milady, allow me to drop the formal speech—this whole conversation will sound too stiff otherwise.”
Gérard’s words gave Luna another headache.
“Gérard. Then I’ll issue orders right away. You must obey them.”
“Command anything, milady.”
Gérard smiled with a look that suggested he would follow any order from his lady. Indeed, she had succeeded in diverting the lord’s icy gaze from treading thin ice. That alone raised her expectations for the future.
Unaware of Gérard’s inner thoughts, Luna found his excessive excitement oddly calming.
She took a deep breath and smiled.
“From now on, please don’t say things like ‘I’d give my life for you’ or ‘I don’t care if I die.’ I want everyone to live long and well.”
