“What do you mean you need a marriage contract all of a sudden? Are you getting married?”
“Tomorrow.”
He’s crazy.
Isn’t this too much even if he is apart of the La Carte family?
The son of the Grand Duke was getting married tomorrow, and he was the only person who knew about it!
“What about your bride? The bride at least knows about the marriage, right?”
Lucian was someone who could just not tell the bride and drag her into the ceremony on the day of the ceremony.
“It’s the girl we brought in earlier.”
Dalton remembered the little girl with red hair he had moved to the guest room on the 4th floor.
“Marquis Lucilleon’s daughter?”
“Yes.”
“So did she agree…….?”
“You talk too much.”
When the Grand Duke’s son waved his hand like he was annoyed, the st.u.r.dy oakwood desk broke down like a thin biscuit.
“Hurry up and give me the contract.”
Fear rose up out of instinct at the trained fourteen year old’s immense destructive power. It was a fear that would make anyone obey.
But Dalton stood up against him stubbornly. He didn’t work at the La Carte family for a long time for no reason.
“Wait, how can you just get married like this? Does the Grand Duke know about this?”
Because the Grand Duke’s son was just minor, it was his duty to inform his father about the marriage.
“I’ll tell Matias. You just get the papers ready.”
“But marrying a lady you met for the first time…….”
The Grand Duke’s son sat on the broken desk and crossed his legs. He looked like a predator who was in a good, relaxed mood.
“Let’s just say I fell in love with her at first sight.”
Love at first sight?!
Dalton’s jaw dropped to the floor.
Is that what the Grand Duke’s son, Lucian just said?
Was he dreaming?
“Shouldn’t you already be going?”
Dalton hurried to get the marriage contract ready at the threat. The Grand Duke’s son could not be described as someone who had patience.
But, wait.
“The little lady from earlier is ten years old?”
Dalton had seen the young lady from the marquis’ family as he let the doctor in.
“Perhaps you mistakened it? Even if you are the son of the La Carte family it’s illegal to marry someone younger than ten!”
“Then go look into the matter yourself.”
He took the marriage papers from Dalton’s hand and flicked his fingers to open the door.
“If she is indeed ten, I’ll break the rest of your desk.”
After the Grand Duke’s son left, Dalton quickly looked through the information he had gathered and found the girl’s profile.
“Born in year 801……?”
She really was ten!
“…….”
Dalton looked at the st.u.r.dy, half-left oakwood desk with sad eyes.
It was time to say goodbye to his precious desk.
* * *
Ariel returned to the bed and sat down after the Grand Duke’s son left. All the tension in her body went loose and her energy drained.
‘I did it.’
She did it. She changed my fate. Her heart pounded loudly.
She didn’t know how the future would change because of this, but it was an unbelievable change for her. It was hard to believe that she had finally escaped the Marquis’ family.
‘The Marquis’ family must be in a frenzy trying to look for me by now.’
The fat butler and the two gatekeepers who fainted must’ve also joined in on the search and should be looking for all the places Ariel could be in.
Jerome’s hunting dogs may have been called out as well.
‘But they won’t be able to find me.’
Being a Marquis was definitely a high position since there were only seven in the country, but it wasn’t enough to go searching in the Grand Duke’s mansion.
Ariel realized how she felt more safe in the Grand Duke’s mansion than anywhere else despite having never been here before.
‘If I get married……. Will I get to live here?’
Ariel wrapped her cheeks with her hands after thinking.
Oh my, I can’t believe I’m getting married.
She still couldn’t believe she had come to the Grand Duke’s mansion to ask his son to marry her. She hadn’t hit reality yet and was in a daze.
‘I didn’t think he would accept so easily.’
He had accepted the marriage proposal even though she hadn’t showed him how she can attack using her magic. It seemed like he wasn’t interested in her strength.
‘And he didn’t treat me strangely even after seeing my face.’
Just by that, Ariel developed positive feelings for the Grand Duke’s son, who had behaved as he pleased.
He was as arrogant as what a Grand Duke’s son should be, but the arrogance didn’t seemed to be directed at Ariel. He was probably arrogant towards everyone.
‘I wonder what he looks like…….’
She became a little disappointed that she couldn’t see his face because of the dark room and the moonlight that shined behind him.
Speaking of, she just got engaged without even seeing her fiancé’s face! Even though Ariel showed him her strange looking face and red hair. Ariel puffed her cheeks because she felt that it was unfair.
“Yawn”
She had only been sitting for a short while, but sleep came easily to a young girl.
Ariel crawled back into the soft blanket after yawning with her small mouth. She felt like her body could melt at the difference in texture from the blanket she had used till yesterday.
‘I’m tired…….’
Not only had she been tense the whole day, but the aftereffects of using magic was pouring in and Ariel’s mind began to lose focus.
Without knowing that the boy who she had gotten engaged to had already set up the wedding for tomorrow, or that a kind maid would come in in the morning to get her ready.
The small girl curled up her small body and fell asleep.
* * *
The air became colder as the night deepened.
The cold wind was howling on the outside, but it was quiet in the Grand Duke’s mansion.
Lucian Desmond La Carte frowned as he headed towards the Grand Duke’s office.
If it was just some marriage he would’ve told Dalton to inform the Grand Duke and left it there. But this one was a complicated one.
Lucian put his dark hair back to get rid of his disgust for the Grand Duke.
The Grand Duke’s office was open.
When he entered the room, the man with long black hair at the desk lifted his gaze slightly from his files.
Lucian and the Grand Duke’s cold gazes met.
“What is it?”
“Matias. I don’t know what you had in mind to let them in.”
The Grand Duke was silent for a moment, and replied.
“How could I not? An injured little girl was lying in front of the house.”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“…….”
The mood between the Grand Duke and his son got more and more tense with each statement.
The Grand Duke spoke first.
“……You’re right, I had to let the crimson heart in since it came to us with its own feet.”
“Don’t you find it strange that it did?”
“Of course I was suspicious. It’s not normal for a child like her to come find us coughing up blood.”
“But you still put her in the guest room.”
“I wanted to ask her why she was here when she woke up.”
The Grand Duke switched the subject after replying.
“But you got to her before me. I’ll ask you since you went to see her. How was it, is she worth being suspicious of?”
“…….”
Lucian glared at the Grand Duke and dropped his gaze to his right hand.
The touch of grabbing the red haired girl’s chin was still in his hand. He thought of the sweet eyes he saw close up. And the wish the girl had desperately asked him.
‘Please marry me.’
Lucian clenched his teeth.
“……It doesn’t seem like she knew anything. If she did, she wouldn’t have come to this monster’s den.”
After speaking as if he was making fun of himself, he lifted his gaze.
“And even if she did know, it doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t?”
Lucian’s eyes became dark.
“It said it would become mine. Since it reached its hand out to me first, I don’t plan on getting my possession stolen. Of course, I won’t leave it to die either.”
He placed the marriage agreement contract down loudly on the Grand Duke’s desk after he had finished speaking.
The Grand Duke calmly looked over the contract and signed.
“I’ll allow it. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep her around.”
The ink the Grand Duke used to sign let out a strange light and stained in blue.
Right, you and I are monsters like this.
He held the signed marriage agreement contract as if he was crumpling it.
“I’ll take care of the rest.”
The air from the Grand Duke’s son as he walked out the room was cold enough to freeze all the air in the world.
To the Grand Duke, Matias, Lucian’s last words came off as terrifying.
“Once I become an adult, I’ll kill you.”
After the door was shut closed, the Grand Duke, who was left alone, spoke with a drained expression.
“He’s not cute at all.”
* * *
The blackout drapes that were on top of the white curtains opened and the morning sun shined brightly into the large room.
“Please wake up, little miss.”
“Uuung…….”
Ariel covered her face with her arms and pushed herself into the pillow because of the bright light.
The pillow was large and soft enough to hide Ariel’s entire head.
“Miss.”
The unfamiliar calling was what woke Ariel up.
A soft, kind, voice of an adult woman.
Ariel woke up immediately due to her lack of experience waking up to such a voice.
When she woke up, the middle aged woman in front of her made a warm smile.
“What a good girl you are, not making a fuss.”
The woman put a cushion behind Ariel’s back to make her sit up straight while Ariel blinked, trying to figure out the situation.
“I heard you were from a n.o.ble family. How did you normally eat for breakfast? Did you have a simple soup? Or would you like an egg, white bread, and thick bean soup?”
Finally realizing she had come out of the Marquis’ house and was at the Grand Duke’s mansion, Ariel spoke.
“Um, Who are you?”
The woman smiled as if Ariel was the cutest thing ever. Because everyone in the house was a male, having a girl around was extremely rare.
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“I’m the head maid of this mansion, Madam Susan.”
Head maid……?
Ariel’s eyes widened. She knew how much power a head maid had in the house. The head maid was like the right arm of the mistress.
If there was no mistress like Ariel’s family, the head maid had even more power.