Chapter 2
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Princess and the Grand Duke (1)
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Luhan opened his eyes in a new world swept by a frigid blizzard.
A massive castle loomed before him.
This was the Grand Duke's Black Iron Castle, located in the northern reaches of the empire.
"So, your name is Luhan? Any experience as a gardener?"
"Ah, I can trim whatever's in front of me, no problem."
The butler in charge of the castle's affairs eyed Luhan suspiciously.
'For a gardener, his hands look way too refined...'
But with the castle short-staffed as it was, he couldn't just turn the man away.
"Fine. You're hired. Just stay out of the Grand Duke's sight, and whatever you do, don't go near the annex."
"Don't worry. I'm the type who keeps my head down and does my job quietly."
Once the butler left, Luhan slowly raised his head and peered into the castle with his special eyes.
He wondered what kind of couple he was meant to protect in this world. Anticipation bubbled within him.
Soon, his vision caught a red thread stretching from one man to the heart of a woman in the castle's innermost depths.
Those two threads were destined to intertwine as one, shining brilliantly.
But now, that light was nowhere to be found. Confirming this, Luhan furrowed his brow.
"Ah, it's one of those tragic ones..."
Deep within the Black Iron Castle lay an annex.
Before the eyes of the woman confined there—not staying, but imprisoned—a lavish meal sat untouched. She hadn't so much as lifted a utensil.
"Disgusting."
Her name was Erin Luna.
Erin was the princess of the fallen Duchy of Luna.
The reason a princess like her was locked in the empire's castle was simple.
Several months ago.
The empire had invaded her duchy.
Under orders from the war-mongering emperor, soldiers bearing the empire's banners had trampled everything in the duchy.
The memory of that day still burned vividly in the princess's mind.
Especially the image of her childhood friend, leading the vanguard and calmly declaring that he had brought her nation to ruin.
An overwhelming sense of betrayal surged through her, but Erin could do nothing.
Her country had simply lost the war, making her a spoil of the victors.
As Erin recalled those bitter memories.
Bang-!
The door flew open violently, and a man stormed into the annex.
Tall with fierce eyes, his name was Kasian.
He was the empire's Grand Duke—and the one who had imprisoned her here.
"Your meal's gone cold, Erin. Afraid it's poisoned?"
Kasian's low, intimidating voice questioned the woman confined in the annex.
To hide her trembling hands, she gripped the tablecloth beside her.
"It'd be better if it was poison. Anything from you turns my stomach."
Even at Erin's sharp retort, Kasian's expression didn't change.
Instead, he reached out and roughly seized her chin, tilting it up.
"Erin. Have you forgotten her remaining subjects are being held hostage?"
"You devil... You killed my parents, trampled my country, and now you mock me too? Just kill me! Kill me, I said!"
Despite Erin's scream laced with desperation, Kasian ordered her with an impassive face.
"Don't you dare die. Just stay here and wait obediently."
The Grand Duke turned and left the room. As the annex door slammed shut, Erin collapsed.
Bang-!
Alone in the annex room.
Erin could no longer hold back her tears.
"Why... Why have you changed so much, Kasian?"
Erin recalled memories from their childhood.
She and Kasian had been childhood friends.
He was the one who made her happiest during the most boring times in the world.
Though the man from those memories seemed to have forgotten them all.
They remained crystal clear in her mind.
"...What good is it if only I remember?"
Erin thumped her chest in frustration.
The person who had shared those memories with her had become someone entirely different.
He had killed her parents, razed her country, and now used the surviving subjects to threaten her—a utter scum.
That's all he seemed now.
At first, she'd thought he was acting, but months of this hellish life had worn her down completely.
She scratched at the floorboards with her nails, unleashing the rage boiling inside her.
"Now... I wish you'd just drop dead, Kasian."
At the same time, beyond the annex door.
Kasian leaned against it.
Erin's sobbing reached his ears.
Her curses against him echoed in his mind.
"I wish you'd just drop dead, Kasian."
Those words tore at his heart, shaking him to the core, but all he could do was clench his fists.
In truth, he remembered his time with Erin all too well.
Perhaps even more vividly than she did.
For a hound that only hunted at the emperor's command, those brief, precious memories were unforgettable.
Yet he couldn't speak of them.
Under the emperor who monitored his every move, he was doing his utmost best.
He wanted to tell her that his cruel words were all an act to protect her.
But he was afraid.
Afraid of losing, to his emptiness.
The last precious thing he had left.
The next day.
Luhan stood in the annex garden—the one the butler had strictly forbidden him from entering.
"Hmm, does no one tend this place at all?"
Snip, snip—.
The sound of shears echoed through the quiet garden, and with each swing, the overgrown bushes took shape.
As Luhan trimmed away.
"Who are you...?"
A delicate voice came from behind him.
Luhan paused his shears and turned. Erin, who had been sitting by the terrace window, was now down in the garden.
She eyed him warily.
This annex was off-limits without the Grand Duke's permission, so she wondered how he'd gotten in.
"Ah, new gardener here. As you can see, too many weeds."
Luhan flashed a light smile and plucked a single pale pink rose from the freshly trimmed bushes, offering it to her.
Erin's eyes widened in shock.
"This is... a Luna... rose...?"
It was a rose native only to her duchy, one that could never bloom in the empire's harsh cold.
"How is this here...?"
"Someone must've planted it already. It was just hidden by the overgrowth."
In truth, Kasian had planted it, but of course, Erin had no way of knowing that.
"Who on earth would plant this here? Anyone come to mind? Someone who could enter freely, maybe...?"
Only one person could enter this place at will.
'No way... him...?'
For a moment, the Grand Duke crossed her mind, but she quickly shook her head.
"No idea..."
The man he'd become would never plant her duchy's rose for her sake.
'If he really did plant this...'
People always cling to hope, even in the depths of despair.
As Erin brought the rose to her nose to inhale its scent.
Thud.
Thud.
"Who dares enter the annex without my permission, you mad fool!"
Kasian appeared, black cloak billowing, his killing intent slicing through the garden.
In his eyes, it must've looked like Luhan was handing Erin something dangerous.
"Step back. How dare those filthy hands touch her!"
Frightened by the menacing Kasian, Erin clutched the rose to her chest and retreated.
She had no choice but to abandon the fleeting hope she'd harbored for even a moment.
"State your identity."
As Kasian moved to fully draw his sword, the man opposite him acted first.
In an instant, Luhan shifted position and clamped down hard on Kasian's shoulder.
"Just a gardener. No need to be so on guard."
At that moment, Kasian's overwhelming aura—that seemed ready to devour everything—vanished like a lie.
The killing intent dominating the Grand Duke's body evaporated, leaving him frozen in place as if it weren't his own.
"What did you...!"
Kasian's pupils shook violently. In his life, he'd faced countless powerhouses, but none had rendered him this powerless with one hand.
"Here's a bit of advice."
Luhan leaned in close to the immobilized Grand Duke's ear and whispered softly.
"To protect a cherished flower, don't hide it—cut away the weeds around it."
At those words, the Grand Duke stared at him in astonishment.
But by then, the man had slipped past him and vanished completely from the garden.
As the intruder departed, Kasian's rigid body relaxed. Gasping for breath, he glanced at his shoulder.
"What in the world..."
A man who stood above him without even exchanging blows.
His cryptic words gnawed at Kasian's mind.
Then his gaze fell on Erin.
Exquisitely beautiful face.
Though she'd suffered greatly since the war, in Kasian's eyes, she still shone dazzlingly.
'A cherished flower...'
Kasian didn't fully grasp what the man had meant.
But he had a feeling he knew what flower he'd been referring to.
'Just... hold on a little longer, Erin.'
Meanwhile, Erin—unaware of his inner thoughts, having met his gaze—twisted her face in disgust and retreated into the annex.
Two people fated to connect, yet running parallel, never meeting.
That was the current state of Kasian and Erin.