Chapter 9
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Sponsored by Ftamy. Thank you ?
***
Noah was sitting at his desk in his office early in the morning, deep in thoughts.
There were quite a few formal reasons and triggers for Noah to bring Diana here, contrary to his existing plans.
He thought of Diana’s soft, yet unflinching, gray-green eyes that seemed to have given everything up.
Her face under her pitch black hair was so pale it looked like a blank sheet of paper. It couldn’t be separated by cold or warm, as it seemed to lack something, an impression of apathy without even a motive.
Even though she was kidnapped, she made formal requests with a lukewarm attitude and lukewarm eyes, without crying or fear.
She seemed to be unconcerned and didn’t care if she stayed or left.
She was crying, and it was beautiful. Maybe it was because she was crying for him. He remembered the tears trickling down her doll-like face with an innocent expression.
For the first time, she showed tears and needed him to protect her, who had not cried or pleaded even though she was held at gunpoint or left unattended for several days.
It stimulated joy, as if he had acquired a unique work of art that meant something different than its outward appearance. It also gave him a sense of accomplishment.
In any form, he wanted to see the real expression on the pale, dull face, to be emotionally upset because of him and not others.
He liked her. Because he was self-centered and unkind. Noah felt strange, as if he had found a clue to what he had been looking for a long time. He knew what he wanted.
Fortunately, the mad Duke’s desires took a gentlemanly turn. If it had been the other way around, the two of them would have had qualifiers like exhaustion, thriller, and horror. She had nothing, and all he needed from her was herself.
He also liked that possibility that she could be the one and only. Of course, there were quite a few people striving to be special and unique to Noah. But no one gave him enough satisfaction, no one was perfect. Not even his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Rothsilde, could do it.
‘I got her first, and now she’s mine. It’s a promise.’
Noah’s mouth relaxed as he thought of a promise he had once made to someone else.
“Vincent.”
“Yes, sir.”
Vincent, the secretary standing in front of Noah, looked nervous, wondering what kind of serious conversation he was going to have.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
Vincent’s eyes, which were very serious, became vacant.
“I’m too busy with work to be in a relationship.”
“I see.”
“You’ve been in love before, haven’t you?”
“I only met her a few times because you asked me to. What kind of love is that?”
Vincent sorted through a set of papers, tapping them on the desk with a fuming expression. He gazed out the window for a moment, reminiscing about something.
“You’ve made them all cry. Even the Princess of Medea.”
The words “You bullied Claire at gunpoint to make her cry too,” came to his mouth, but he swallowed them.
“Her? I only met her to say no because she kept sending me troublesome courtship letters.”
“What do you mean? Medea’s successor to the throne is only allowed to marry Medea, so you should meet her. If you marry another nation, you will lose your eligibility for succession.”
“The princess is Diana.”
Vincent pretended to listen roughly, as his head hurt from trying to understand Noah’s peculiar thought.
“Yes.”
“What can I do to keep her from running away? In a good way.”
“Are you talking about Miss Claire?”
“Yes.”
Vincent remembered that there were a lot of books on romance in the recent assortment list. There was no way the man would read them, Diana must have requested them. Stories about bonding and romantic feelings? It must be a means and method to keep her here.
“Do what women like.”
“What should I do?”
“You don’t know?”
“I’ve never given a woman a gift before.”
Noah nodded and smiled. Vincent, who hadn’t even had time to fall in love and had been alone for quite some time, spat out a few words that he remembered at random.
“They like jewelry, accessories, and dresses. They like men with ability. She won’t run away. Don’t worry.”
“I know that. Don’t answer randomly.”
Noah narrowed his eyes and tapped his cheek. Vincent, who was caught, looked embarrassed.
“I’m sure she’d like something she’d never received before. They discriminated against the eldest daughter.”
“So I tried to give her one of the things the Admiral’s eldest daughter has, but she didn’t want it. I said I will make a carpet out of bears’ skin.”
“A woman who likes animals might not like it.”
“If she likes animals, why wouldn’t she like that?”
“Because she wouldn’t want her favorite animal to die.”
‘She wears fox fur well though.’
Noah raised his chin and sighed. Vincent looked out the window at the mountain ridge. This place was surrounded by mountains and forests and was quite far from the city.
“She can’t escape anyway.”
“She doesn’t even want to run away.”
“Anyway, just give her something she likes. Women like men who come by every day and ask if they’re okay, and women like men who care about them. In fact, if it’s heartfelt, women even like flowers picked on the street.”
Vincent’s polite answer made Noah chuckle.
“Then go out and buy something. I’ll write it down for you.”
It took at least two hours by car to get to the city, but four hours round trip. Vincent nodded with a gloomy face at the thought of another confirmed night shift today. Noah, his face tilted at an angle, asked.
“Vincent, where can I get some flowers? It’s winter and there are no flowers on the streets.”
“Then you will have to wait until spring.”
“Is it possible? You can buy them at the florist and say we picked it on the street?”
Vincent sighed at Noah’s words and put his hand on his forehead.
***
I could feel the warm rays of the sun on my eyelids. I seemed to have fallen asleep as if I were passing out. Noah told me he was going to tell me something, but I couldn’t ask him what it was. It was too much of a shock and I was too tired to think. My whole body was still sore and heavy as cotton after drinking so much water.
“Is it morning?”
I looked out the window and was surprised. The red sky was not a sunrise, but a sunset. I slept for a very long time. My head felt like it was going to crack and I gulped down some water. I pulled the string and called Molly, and she brought me a meal.
After dinner, I got up slowly and took a hot bath. I immersed myself in a bathtub filled with warm water, I felt that the remaining fatigue was relieved. Molly, who had melted the bath salts for me, asked me a personal question for the first time.
“Did you injure this on your wing bone?”
“What? What’s there?”
“It’s a butterfly-shaped scar. It’s been there since I first saw it, did you know?”
There was no way I would know every single thing about this body. The owner of this body was a side character who died early in the story. Did she happen to have a hidden birth secret and wasn’t a runaway slave? This was stigmatized.
“I don’t know.”
Molly didn’t ask any more questions and silently helped me with my bath. After I washed and dressed, Vincent came in, looking very tired. Behind him, there was a line of maids with their hands full of something.
“What is it?”
“Anything you like.”
“What do you mean?”
Molly and the maids peeled off the wrapping paper, opened the box and took out the goods.
There was a hint of joy on their faces. Hats with elaborate corsages, gowns, dresses made of various high-quality fabrics, coats with fur, and all kinds of jewelry and accessories are piled up like Christmas presents.
“The Duke gave them to you.”
“Ah.”
I looked at them with an uninterested expression on my face. I just took out the thick pajamas, woolen knitted socks, and fluffy indoor shoes. Vincent’s brown eyes wavered a bit at my tasteless reaction. He cleared his throat considerably.
“Don’t you like it?”
“There’s no place to wear any of that.”
The maids, who looked excited for no reason, became quiet and the room was engulfed in cold silence. I added in a calm tone.
“And there is no mirror in this room.”
There was a saying that one of the ways to torment people is to decorate them glamorously and not show them a mirror. This must be an elegant harassment of an educated person.
“I’ll bring it to you in a moment. This is where we keep trophies of war and artifacts.”
Am I among the trophies of war? It seemed that the many death flags and hardships have turned me into a pessimistic person. I felt a little queasy and pouted my lips.
“Yes, yes, I’ll dress up like a trophy.”
“What are you so negative about? You’re living a life of luxury as a hostage.”
Vincent replied in a clerical voice, confirming that he had purchased the goods and ordering the servants to organize them.
“I’ll report the inconveniences you’ve mentioned to the Duke.”
“Yes.”
After Vincent and the maids left, I lay down on my bed again. I don’t know why he kept trying to be nice to me when he was going to throw me away if he lost interest anyway. Would this body have a century of beauty?
In terms of the character I saw in the original, he did well as a hope advisor. He was also someone who enjoyed inflicting despair. It was the mischievous indulgence of only those who had it.
As the sun completely set and a quiet darkness was setting in, I heard a light knocking.
“Come in.”
Has Molly come? I stretched out to the bed in a very lazy manner and roughly answered.
“Are you going to sleep again?”
Noah, wearing a navy blue lounge suit under a long black coat, walked in and tilted his head.
The atmosphere was so fraught it was like watching a scene from a movie. He took off the gloves he was wearing, put his bare hand on my forehead and measured my temperature.
“It’s not a cold.”
This man…..Unlike the original, he came here often. I put on a grim face and raised my upper body.
“What’s the matter?”
“I heard you were sad because you had pretty clothes but nowhere to go.”
The secretary seemed to have a tendency to exaggerate.
“I wasn’t sad…………”
“Vincent said your expression was sad.”
“I was born that way.”
“Yes. It’s pitiful.”
Noah looked at me with a sympathetic, sorry expression. I sighed and ruffled the bangs that covered my eyebrows.
“Yes, yes, I admit it.”
“I’m here to go out with you. I’m going to make you a place to wear it.”
“…. Wow, I’m excited.”
I clapped my hands a few times in a soulless reply. Going out was one of the things I hated most about being an indoor person.
“But I have shaggy hair.”
“Molly will make you pretty again, I’ll wait outside, so come out when you’re done.”
I went out of my way to induce him to cancel the outing, but it didn’t work. Noah went out and Molly came in to help me change my clothes and straighten my hair with a heated iron rod.
As she took out the powder, I waved my hand in rejection and applied only lipstick, which was made of beeswax and flower petals.
“Looks like I’m going on a date, huh?”
“Yes, you’re.”
Molly replied succinctly, her hands sincere in comparison to the heartless, cold expression on her face. I don’t know what she did, but she put her best effort into it, and sweat beaded on her forehead. Molly made a low hissing sound as she brought me the emerald necklace and a set of earrings.
“Your ears are not pierced.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“I’ll pierce it for you now.”
“No, wait!”
I screamed in fear at the sight of Molly’s strong arms, but fortunately she pierced my ears quickly and painlessly, and even disinfected them.
“I’ll get you the small earrings. I’m sure the big earrings will hurt.”
Molly, who had put on my earrings and necklace, led me to the full-length mirror she had brought earlier. Her face looked subtly proud. I looked in the mirror and was a little surprised to see a strange woman I hadn’t seen often in a long time.
Her dry skin, crow-like figure had gained some flesh. Her cheeks, which had been pale and hollow, were now plump and pink. Her dark hair, which had been dry now turned silky, and the shadows under her eyes, tired from hard labor, faded away.
“It looks good like this.”
“Yes, you’re beautiful.”
Molly responded to my monologue with a blank expression, but she did look a little excited. I was dressed in a dark purple velvet dress with a coat of fine fabric on the outside and a brooch fastening at the collar. The lining was coyote fur.
On top of that, I wore elbow-length silk gloves and high heel shoes that made me look like an urban conglomerate woman. After all, the fashion was complete with short hair. Noah, who was reading the newspaper downstairs while waiting for me, took a moment to admire my figure and nodded.
“It looks good on you. You look beautiful no matter what you wear.”
“Haven’t you seen me in white pajamas day and night?”
“They’re all different. Different laces, different buttons, different materials.”
I didn’t understand such small differences. I just wore what I was given.
I saw a classic black car parked at the entrance of the mansion. Vincent was sitting in the driver’s seat with an expressionless face. A somewhat apathetic look of impending world destruction.
“Please get in. Princess.”
Noah opened the backseat door and smiled prettily.
“It’s our first date, just like ordinary couples.”
“A date? Lovers?”
Did I end up dating this man without even knowing it? With one fake word, “I love you” ?
As if I had been hit in the head, I stared blankly at Noah’s face.