Little Golden Duke? - 1
A peaceful holiday, a peaceful Academy, a peaceful dormitory.
Being able to stay in the dorm without having to clock in was pure bliss. Lie down when I wanted, sleep when I wanted.
"Karl. Even on a holiday, you shouldn't stay in bed so much."
"Understood."
Mar's gentle advice as she approached with a teacup in hand. I sat up at once for that precious counsel, and she smiled, clearly satisfied.
Peaceful indeed. Having someone beside me who spoke so softly made the holiday feel even more worthwhile.
"The aroma is lovely. I'm sure you'll like it too, Karl."
Still smiling, Mar held out the cup.
A tea of vivid crimson. Nothing like this had ever been in my room—had she brought it herself?
"Thank you, Mar."
"Hehe. It's nothing."
This, too, was peaceful. A holiday spent savoring a new tea's flavor—how beautiful could a day get?
Yesterday's uproar felt like a lie. A day this tranquil would wash the fatigue away in no time. Tomorrow's commute would even feel pleasant.
Yes. I was happy. I was at peace. I was enjo—wait.
I'm not enjoying this.
The self-suggestion I had been chanting without end finally cracked.
I took a quiet sip of tea and looked at Mar. She only smiled more brightly, meeting my gaze without the slightest flinch of evasion.
"Do you like it?"
"Ah—yes. It's good."
At my answer she opened her arms wide.
The meaning was obvious, so I carefully closed the distance and embraced her; she locked her arms around me at once and held tight.
"Then I'm allowed a reward like this, aren't I?"
"Of course."
Outwardly she was asking permission, but the only answer I could give had already been decided. How could I ever refuse Mar?
If she asked me to carry her on my back and tour the Academy grounds right now, I would have to do it. That was the situation.
I stroked her back with care, and she burrowed deeper into my arms.
"It's warm."
Mar murmured in a languid voice.
"So warm I don't want to share it with anyone else."
My stroking hand nearly stopped at those words, but I forced it to keep moving.
If I had frozen at that exact moment it would have been hell on the spot. Even with limited dating experience I knew that much.
"…And you, Karl?"
Ah.
At the oddly cold tone I squeezed my eyes shut.
So there were two hells.
I was still far too lacking.
Only after several more hours of soothing Mar did I finally get time alone.
My nerves were frayed for the second day running. But what choice did I have? It was something I had to bear.
Mar couldn't have been in her right mind either.
The thought drew a sigh from me unbidden.
Right. No point feeling too wronged. However hard it was for me, it couldn't compare to what Mar had endured. How much pain and anguish must she have suffered, facing the Duke alone?
A rebound, maybe.
Which was why Mar had barged into my dorm first thing this morning.
I hadn't gone to the vice-president's office. Mar herself had come running straight to my room. The same Mar who normally wouldn't set foot near the place unless the business was truly urgent.
"Mar?"
"Karl. Can you stay with me today?"
Anyone who could refuse after seeing that desperate look in her eyes would have been a monster, not a human.
"Yes, Mar. I wanted to be with you too."
So I accepted without hesitation.
At that short reply Mar smiled as brightly as if she owned the whole world. Or perhaps she was only forcing the brightness.
Even if it was an act, I understood. I had been putting on a brave face the whole time I was with her as well.
I'm going insane.
With no one watching I flopped back onto the bed. My head felt ready to split; my brow furrowed on its own.
Why.
I had been turning it over without rest since last night. Why—just why?
Why me—
The thought got that far and another sigh burst out.
Something I truly never could have imagined. If I had told the me of only two days ago, he would have cursed me for finally losing my mind.
Yet astonishingly it was reality. Even now I couldn't make sense of it, but every circumstance whispered that it was true.
Why does she like me?
The sentence I had scarcely dared form finished itself in my head, and I stared blankly at the ceiling. Emptying my mind for a while seemed the only way to calm down.
Of course it refused to empty. Thoughts of the Demon Duke kept dominating my head and showed no intention of leaving.
Maybe—just maybe—I was mistaken. I wondered more than once whether my own inflated self-regard and baseless confidence were turning simple goodwill into romantic affection.
Did this make any sense? Not just anyone—the Demon Duke herself liking me?
It does, actually.
Shockingly, it did. My heart still refused to accept the conclusion, but my reason was shouting that it was correct.
I admitted I was a bit dense from lack of dating experience. Looking at Erich's similar denseness, it was probably a congenital trait of this body.
I'm dense, not brainless.
Still, being slow to read a room because of denseness and being too stupid to understand when the information is right there are two different things.
The way the Demon Duke had behaved at the banquet, Mar's strangely intense opposition to her—at the time I had been too busy watching everyone's faces to notice, but looking back now it was a simple problem.
"My dear. If you don't mind, would you dance with me?"
Truthfully nothing else was needed. What more decisive proof could there be than an unmarried Demon Duke requesting a dance?
And the moment I realized she had feelings for me, words I had heard before flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern.
"I thought we shared a special bond, my dear, but it seems my courtship was one-sided. How it pains me."
I never imagined that "courtship" had been an actual courtship.
A courtship the recipient himself never recognized.
For an instant I resented the Demon Duke. What kind of courtship in the world leaves the person being courted completely unaware that it is courtship?
If I had known from the start that she held feelings for me, at least I wouldn't have been hit with a shock like this.
…Would anything have been different?
I scrubbed my face roughly and exhaled yet another endless sigh.
Right. Even if I had known earlier, what would have changed? Knowing the Demon Duke's heart didn't mean I could just say, "Well then, let's get married!" I would only have spent my days dodging her this way and that.
The more I did, the more her patience would have been tested, and sooner or later it would have exploded. No woman stays calm when the man she… loves keeps avoiding her.
Not much left.
My hands trembled with tension. Sadly, even now the Demon Duke's patience was running low.
Whether I noticed early or late, the fact that she had been nursing a one-sided love alone never changed.
"What a pity. I had hoped to spend the evening with you, my dear."
Right after I had been rescued by His Highness the Crown Prince's timely intervention at the banquet, the Demon Duke had looked at me with genuine regret.
"Still, as His Highness said, the New Year's Audience is coming. I suppose I must wait for that day."
She had smiled more brightly than ever, yet in that moment she had never looked more terrifying.
The New Year's Audience—the day every titled noble gathered to celebrate the new year. That commemorative occasion had become my execution date.
Damn it.
It was stifling. Why did the Demon Duke have to like someone like me?
Someone who had lived alone for more than a hundred years. That someone, in this era, had chosen precisely me.
Would I even register properly in the eyes of someone who lacked for nothing? When a being with a different lifespan took someone into her heart, didn't only a tragic future await?
A difficult problem.
I had drunk heavily for the first time in ages. Without it I simply could not endure.
And never had I resented this body more than now. I had wanted to get properly drunk, yet a body that had reached such a realm refused to grant even that.
All I got was the searing heat burning down my esophagus and stomach, enough only to cool my rage a little.
"Mar. Are you all right?"
But the anger I had barely managed to settle flared up again the moment I saw my precious youngest daughter.
A face forcing a smile, pupils trembling with unease, lips quivering.
Of course she looked like this. I had hoped that giving her time might let her settle her own heart, but calming down in a single day was too much to ask.
"I'm fine, Father. I'm sorry for worrying you."
Those words felt as if they were tearing my chest open. Where, in any of that, was she "fine"?
It had always been this way. Mar had grown up far too early. It would have been fine for her to act a little spoiled, to lean on others, yet she always tried to resolve everything herself.
I had heard that coddling a child too much produces a spoiled brat. Why was Mar the opposite?
Because of the Valenti name, perhaps.
Mar knew her position well. Knew it so thoroughly that she wrapped her tender heart in thick armor?
But among fellow Valenti—among family—couldn't she show her true self? It was almost enough to make me feel left out. I had seen Mar behave like a girl her own age only once.
"Waaaaaah! Daddyyyyy!"
And the problem was that the one time I had seen it was because of that damned bastard.
Last year, when that scoundrel had rejected the marriage proposal and Mar had sobbed her heart out—remembering it set my teeth grinding again.
It's you again this time.
Once more Mar was hurting because of him. They weren't even married yet and he was already making his wife suffer—could he still call himself a husband after that?
If he were in front of me right now I would drive him straight into the ground. Bury him up to the neck and leave only his head sticking out. Hearing an apology from his mouth was the only thing that might cool my temper.
How exactly has he been conducting himself?
A man who already had a heaven-sent match in Mar. What in the world had he done to enchant the Demon Duke?
The Demon Duke, who had spent her entire life alone, had taken a fancy to that very bastard. Didn't that mean the problem wasn't the Demon Duke but him? That was how I decided to see it.
"Mar. Don't worry yourself too much. The boy has a head on his shoulders—would he turn his eyes to another woman when he has you?"
I calmed my twitching fist and opened my mouth. What mattered now was not punishing the bastard but comforting Mar.
"Love is not one-sided; it is mutual. No matter who the other party is, they cannot force their way into the relationship the two of you share."
At those words Mar carefully nodded.
Fortunately this was the right answer. She had wanted to hear something that would give her certainty.
"And is that boy the only man in the world? If he strays, that simply proves he was never worth more than that. You need only find someone better."
But the relief of having chosen the correct words made me add one unnecessary remark too many—
"……"
Mar said nothing, only glared at me with tears welling in her eyes.
This was all that bastard's fault.