Chapter 5
“Miss, are you all right? Maybe you’ve been out in the wind too long?”
Martha, the maid who was combing through Arte’s wet hair, asked with concern.
“No, I’m fine. Just tired.”
Arte forced a smile, trying to reassure Martha.
Even she wasn’t sure how she’d made it back to her room.
After Dimion’s sharp departure, Arte had remained seated, unable to move for quite some time.
The cold fury radiating from Dimion had frozen her in place—and the shocking story he’d revealed left her too stunned to even think of standing.
“Could it be you’ve caught a cold? You don’t look like someone who’s just tired…”
“I told you, I’m really fine. Completely fine.”
Of course, it was a lie.
Dimion’s eyes and voice as he spoke of Peria—his dead lover—continued to linger in her mind.
But Arte couldn’t very well tell Martha the whole story, and she didn’t have the energy to explain even a shortened version. She could only hope Martha would believe her lie and let it go.
“Oh! Miss, is this about the Duke of Rocata? You must’ve drained all your energy worrying about him, right? Someone in the dining room earlier said the way he looked at you wasn’t normal. And they said you looked at him too! Our lady, looking at a man! But I totally get it. It’s not just anyone, it’s the Duke of Rocata! He’s the most handsome man in the Empire!”
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, Martha not only believed Arte’s lie but enthusiastically added her own assumptions.
“He’s even better-looking than in the newspaper photos, and the maids were all in a frenzy today. There’s a girl in the kitchen named Terry—she absolutely adores the Duke. She’s memorized every piece of gossip about him from the tabloids. Because of her, I’ve ended up memorizing all of it too!”
“You know everything about him?”
“Yes! Everything! His tastes, his family, past lovers, stories from the front lines…”
Arte had been half-listening to the chatter, but her eyes lit up at that last part.
Lovers.
As soon as that word was mentioned, she remembered Dimion’s incredulous question—asking if she really didn’t know who Peria Darton was.
He clearly hadn’t believed her. As if it was unthinkable that she wouldn’t know. As if anyone and everyone would know.
“Martha. Do you know someone named Peria Darton?”
“Oh my! Of course, Miss. How could I not?”
Martha didn’t hesitate at all. She reacted as if Arte had asked whether the sun rose in the east—utterly obvious. In fact, she even looked a little taken aback that such a question would be asked.
“How could anyone not know about Lady Darton, the Duke of Rocata’s former lover?”
That “anyone” included Arte, who now found herself at a loss for words.
“Wait… don’t tell me… You really don’t know? About the Duke and Lady Darton?”
Arte’s lips parted slightly, but she only gave a slow nod.
Martha looked genuinely shocked and launched into an explanation.
“Really? You’ve never heard about it at all?”
“No. Is it that famous?”
“Famous doesn’t even begin to cover it. I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t know! Honestly, there are even romance novels based on their story—oh, but you don’t read romance novels, do you?”
Martha nodded, now realizing something important.
Unlike other women her age, Arte had no interest in romance between men and women.
She didn’t believe in love at first sight, or passion like a moth to flame, or eternal love.
Especially the idea of “eternal love” always made her scoff.
A never-ending emotion? The ultimate illusion.
Arte was convinced that love always came with an expiration date.
That’s why she couldn’t understand Lisa or Peter, who were waiting to meet their one true love.
Even in the capital, many nobles had taken to declaring they wouldn’t marry unless it was for true love—but Arte thought the traditional aristocratic marriage was far more rational.
What was so wrong about approaching marriage as a contract, finding someone who matched you in status and temperament rather than being led by emotion?
When she voiced such thoughts, even the count and countess were speechless, let alone Lisa. But Arte didn’t mind at all.
So it was perfectly reasonable that someone as emotionally detached as Arte wouldn’t know about Dimion and Peria. In fact, it would be stranger if she did.
“Would you like me to tell you, Miss? I really do know it all.”
“Yes, Martha. Please do.”
Arte nodded quickly. Normally, she would’ve been appalled by the idea—but right now, she needed to know.
She had to understand who Peria truly was and what history she and Dimion shared if she was ever going to make sense of the questions swirling in her mind.
“The story begins with a strange rumor.”
“A strange rumor?”
“Yes. That the Duke of Rocata was hanging around the National School of Arts.”
Martha began her tale with the gravity of an actress on stage.
Dimion and Peria’s relationship began on a summer day six years ago.
The capital was turned upside down when word spread that Dimion—who had been labeled cold-blooded from a young age—was lurking awkwardly around the art school.
People argued back and forth. It wasn’t him, it was someone who looked like him—no way, no one else in the Empire looks like that.
Then, Dimion himself was seen escorting a young lady back to the Rocata ducal residence.
That caused another stir in society, and debates erupted over who the lady might be.
Her name was Peria Darton.
The youngest daughter of House Darton—a noble family nearly as prominent as the Rocatas.
Not long after her identity was revealed, news broke that Dimion and Peria were engaged.
It was an arranged engagement—a long-standing promise between the Rocata and Darton families.
“When people first heard, they were disappointed. An arranged engagement is nothing new. But!”
“But?”
“The Duke of Rocata changed.”
Dimion had always been known for having no interest in women.
So much so that rumors spread he might prefer men instead.
But that cold, calculating man suddenly turned into a boy in love.
He was seen more often around the art school than at the military academy. He began buying jewelry and clothes for women. He even started building a greenhouse just for Peria.
“They say he even spent a fortune to bring over something from beyond the continent that usually takes a year to obtain—he got it in three months, just because Lady Darton wanted it.”
Martha spoke with genuine emotion, as if she’d received the gift herself.
That’s unexpected. No wonder everyone was shocked.
It was indeed sensational. For such a frigid man to be so openly, passionately in love—how could it not be a scandal?
Sure enough, the entire social scene became obsessed with Dimion and Peria.
Gossip papers ran endless stories, even dubbing them “the couple of the century.”
They published interviews with Dimion’s fellow cadets, even with Peria’s roommates at the academy—all to confirm their passionate love story.
That’s how massive the commotion had been.
“People were even making bets on the wedding date—before they’d even held an engagement ceremony! That’s how crazy it was. But then…”
Martha, who had been telling the story like a giddy schoolgirl, suddenly looked somber.
“She… died, didn’t she?”
“Yes, Miss. Did you already know that much?”
“…Yeah. I heard that part.”
Dimion’s voice as he told her of Peria’s death still echoed clearly in her ears.
His icy eyes as he spoke of Peria’s corpse flashed in her mind, and Arte reflexively shut her eyes tightly.
“What happened? I heard the Duke handled… the aftermath himself?”
Arte let out a quiet sigh and tried to compose herself before asking. She needed to know why Dimion had been the one to retrieve his lover’s body.
“It was a tragic incident. Do you remember the military academy explosion five years ago, Miss?”
“Yes. I remember.”
“Lady Darton got caught in that accident. She was visiting the Duke and ended up dying there.”
