Chapter 10…
Ethan’s Thoughts
Lloyd’s smile, still lingering on his face, was so annoying that Aileen pretended to sit down and turned her head away.
“Did you sleep well? Are you lacking anything?”
“No.”
If anything, she was overwhelmed. So many things demanded her attention that she hadn’t had a moment to think properly.
‘I can finally go home.’
Now that their marriage had been decided, there was no reason for her to stay at the Grand Duke’s residence any longer.
She had even just come up with an excuse — she could say she needed to return home temporarily because she had stayed in the guest room yesterday. In any case, she wanted to get away from this uncomfortable place and think about how she would live from now on.
“Once breakfast is over, I plan to return home.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd cut off her innocent reply as if it were ridiculous.
“Stay here.”
“But I can prepare for the wedding at home. And although I couldn’t say anything before because things were hectic, I should also inform my parents. So I’ll just go home for a bit…”
“Count Claudia is coming.”
Their voices overlapped. Aileen forgot what she was about to say and looked at Lloyd. They locked eyes briefly, and then she suddenly widened her eyes in surprise.
“Who? Count Claudia? Father?”
“Yes. He’s scheduled to come tomorrow morning.”
“Why?”
“You’re marrying me. He should meet me first, shouldn’t he? Were you planning to get married without your parents’ permission?”
His question made Aileen feel wronged—but he wasn’t wrong. She reluctantly nodded. It was true, but for some reason, she didn’t feel good about it. As she thought about why, she looked back at him in frustration.
“Then you could’ve spoken to Father first and come formally. Why did you storm in like that?”
“I didn’t storm in.”
With a shameless look, Lloyd pointed out the events of that day one by one.
“I contacted Count Claudia separately and stopped by to see him beforehand. You were the one who came to greet me, and you accepted my proposal. So what exactly is the problem?”
“You brought me here.”
A crack appeared on Lloyd’s composed face. He lowered his eyebrows and his voice.
“I don’t have enough power yet, so I have to be mindful of the retainers. That’s why I had to bring the person I’m marrying to show them.”
He was trying to make himself look pitiful, but that didn’t work on Aileen.
“You said we didn’t have time—not that you were going to introduce me to anyone.”
“I see.”
He admitted that cleanly. The pitiful expression he had just worn disappeared without a trace. He had brought Aileen along to save the trouble of separate arrangements before his deployment, but he didn’t bother explaining that. Not that Aileen didn’t know.
“Then starting today, I’ll introduce you to them one by one. I’ll prepare separate meetings, so meet them after the meal.”
But she had just said she was going home after breakfast.
Aileen dipped her spoon into the soup but had no appetite, stirring it aimlessly. In short, Lloyd was telling her to stay here quietly instead of going home. She had wanted to leave and come back later, but that wasn’t going to work.
“Please postpone the introductions. I’m still not used to this.”
“As you wish.”
Clearly, the introductions weren’t that important to him. Feeling slighted by his attitude, Aileen clamped her mouth shut and forced herself to focus on her food.
“But…”
This time, Lloyd was the one to start the conversation.
Aileen immediately looked at him. His gaze narrowed slightly as it turned toward her—no, toward someone reflected on her face.
“Isn’t there someone you should meet quickly?”
“Who?”
“Ethan Claudia.”
“Why…”
She trailed off before finishing the question. She had already guessed the reason before he could say it.
“Ethan must have expected it too. It was an agreement between the families. If I were to marry, he assumed it would be him. But things have changed. It’s not him anymore—it’s you, Aileen.”
Aileen forced herself to bring a spoonful of soup to her lips to hide her reaction, but she froze halfway. Some soup dripped back into the bowl, but she was far more concerned about what Lloyd had just said.
“I personally don’t care who I marry, but…”
Lloyd noticed her wavering and deliberately pressed the point.
“I’m not sure Ethan would feel the same way.”
His words trailed off in a suggestive tone.
Back in her room, Aileen couldn’t even sit. She paced around and around on the soft rug.
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
It wasn’t as if she had had time to do anything, but at least she could have said something to her brother before they parted.
“I couldn’t tell him everything about what I experienced after marrying the Grand Duke, but I could’ve said something.”
She ruffled her hair. Her tangled thoughts made her want to scratch her head clean, but of course, that did nothing. It only made her hair messier.
She sat down and pressed her forehead. She had proposed to the Grand Duke to save her brother, but she hadn’t considered his feelings at all.
Aileen collapsed face-down on the table.
To others, it would look like she had stolen her brother’s place by marrying the Grand Duke out of love. She didn’t care what others thought—but it hadn’t occurred to her that her brother might think so too. The fact that she couldn’t return home right away didn’t bother her anymore.
“How should I explain it? Will he believe me if I tell him I did it for him?”
She buried her face in her arms and mumbled, unaware that the maids weren’t around as usual.
“Your Grace. What are you doing here—”
“Shh.”
Lloyd signaled Sir Jeremy to be quiet, and the knight promptly closed his mouth. Instead, he looked at Aileen, still collapsed on the table, and nodded. In silence, Jeremy followed Lloyd out.
They walked some distance from the room before Lloyd stopped, and Jeremy halted as well.
“Your Highness, are you sure about proceeding like this?”
“About what?”
“I’m… concerned.”
Lloyd crossed his arms and looked at him as if to say, go on.
“You’ve never interacted with her before, and now suddenly she’s talking about having a child. Doesn’t that seem strange? Couldn’t she have some other motive?”
In the meeting, Lloyd had said that Aileen Claudia wanted a child.
Jeremy’s face twisted in unease.
“I suspect she may have hidden the fact that she’s a superior omega because she learned she could marry Your Highness.”
He recalled Lloyd’s words from before—how Aileen had shamelessly pretended not to know while hiding her brother. In other words, she had deliberately hidden her brother to secure the position of Grand Duchess and was now trying to have a child as quickly as possible.
“Sir Jeremy.”
“Yes, my lord.”
At Lloyd’s address, Jeremy’s demeanor changed at once. He fell silent and stared at Lloyd with a heavy, knightly presence. Satisfied with the gravity of the atmosphere, Lloyd relaxed his furrowed brow slightly—though he still looked stern.
“You know what happens when you throw around baseless suspicions, don’t you?”
Jeremy stiffened at Lloyd’s ominous words.
“People love to gossip about me. They say that because I’m a superior alpha, I indulge in omega pheromones every night, or that I neglect my ducal duties. Sure, my personality is awful—but the rest? Not really.”
Even with his joking tone, Jeremy couldn’t easily reply. Most of the rumors surrounding Lloyd were exaggerated; only a small part was true. But people treated them all as fact. Lloyd was pointing that out.
And despite knowing this, Jeremy realized he’d been doing the same—judging Aileen negatively based only on suspicion.
“I apologize. I spoke thoughtlessly.”
Hearing the sincerity in his tone, Lloyd didn’t press further.
“Just keep an eye on Aileen. Someone might target her. She can’t leave.”
That was why Lloyd wasn’t letting Aileen return home. Now that she was to marry him, she would attract attention both inside and outside the estate. He couldn’t risk some predator targeting her during the journey home.
“Understood.”
“If she insists on going home, then discreetly assign people to her.”
Jeremy, who had been accepting the order seriously, suddenly froze in confusion at the last part.
The next day, Aileen stood beside Lloyd, watching her parents approach. They walked steadily, marveling at the imposing grandeur of the Grand Duke’s residence.
“Grand Duke Rihast, how have you been?”
It was Count Claudia, with his blond hair neatly swept back, and the Countess, her brown hair pinned up tidily. The couple bowed respectfully to Lloyd.
Among nobles, hierarchy was strictly observed. And although they were counts, the Claudia family’s influence was closer to that of minor barons—they were no match for a Grand Duke.
“It’s been a while.”
Lloyd inclined his head slightly. Even that small gesture highlighted the vast difference in power, leaving the Count and Countess at a loss for what to do.
Father, Mother…
Standing beside Lloyd, Aileen pressed down the sudden surge of emotion. She clenched her lips and tried to hold herself together, but seeing her parents again made her heart tremble uncontrollably.
Her father worked as an administrator in the imperial capital, and her mother was a lady-in-waiting. They were rarely home. She still remembered vividly the day her brother Ethan died and her parents passed away after. The mere fact that they were alive and breathing now made her throat tighten with emotion.
And then…
Ethan…
Her gaze shifted behind her parents. Ethan, who had been standing there, stepped forward.
