Chapter 10
Before long, the sun was setting.
The way back to the Enrite Count’s estate was not alone.
And the carriage Chloe was riding in was not the simple carriage she had taken when she went to the Grand Duke’s residence.
Chloe arrived in front of her house in a large and luxurious carriage bearing the crest of the Bloodien family.
Across from her sat the owner of that carriage, the Grand Duke of Bloodien, Karsein Bloodien.
When the carriage arrived, Karsein got down first.
Then he held out his hand to escort her.
The hesitation was only for a brief moment.
Chloe took his hand and calmly stepped down from the carriage.
She wanted someone to clearly witness this entire scene.
And so, the first step between Chloe and Karsein was perfectly set.
“……Sister?”
From the upper window of the main building, Roeni Enrite saw the unfamiliar carriage entering the estate and came out to greet her, thinking it might be Chloe.
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
Even after reading the question on her sister’s face, Chloe calmly thanked the Grand Duke for the escort.
At that moment, Roeni saw Chloe’s cheek and turned pale.
“Sister… your face! What happened?”
The treatment marks were still there—ointment and a small gauze patch—so it was impossible to miss.
“I had a small carriage accident on the main road after leaving the Imperial clinic.”
Chloe answered lightly with a faint smile, as if it was nothing.
“What? An accident? Are you hurt anywhere else?”
Roeni, now very pale, looked ready to cry as she checked Chloe in a panic.
…………If it had been before.
She would have believed that her cute younger sister’s worry and panic were completely sincere.
And she would have been grateful and reassured her that she was fine.
But not anymore.
“I only got a small scratch on my cheek because I fell in surprise.”
Even after Chloe’s calm answer, Roeni said with a worried face,
“Still, we should call the doctor just in case! Where is brother-in-law? Where is he?”
While Roeni was flustered and looking around, a voice cut in.
“I have already treated the young lady of the Enrite family, so there is no need to worry.”
“Excuse me? Oh, come to think of it, who is this……?”
Roeni looked at the man standing beside Chloe, Karsein Bloodien.
His overwhelming appearance made her blush without realizing it.
At the same time, she felt a strange sense of familiarity. After a moment of pretending not to notice, she realized why.
He gave off the same feeling as the unknown man she had once seen at a secret gathering.
“The owner of the carriage I almost ran into is the Grand Duke of Bloodien.”
“G-Grand Duke?”
Roeni’s eyes trembled slightly.
Chloe smiled quietly when she saw her reaction.
“I tried to refuse since it was only a small injury, but he kindly treated me and even insisted on bringing me home.”
When Chloe tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled softly, another person appeared.
Lucian, who had come out from the annex while waiting for Chloe, also saw them.
“Chloe.”
“Ah, you’re here too.”
This was perfect timing.
Now both Roeni and Lucian were meeting Karsein for the first time.
The dazzling man Chloe had deliberately presented as if he were someone she had met by fate.
“Chloe, are you hurt?”
Lucian reached out his long hand toward her cheek.
But Chloe turned her head slightly and stepped back.
She almost said “don’t touch me,” but held it back.
Lucian’s hand stopped awkwardly in mid-air.
……Chloe.
Lucian looked at her with shaken eyes, as if he could not understand why his fiancée was rejecting him.
For him, who always knew Chloe as someone warm and smiling when receiving his touch, this reaction was shocking.
It was the first time she had acted like she did not want even his fingertips to touch her.
“I’m sorry if I startled you.”
Lucian quietly pulled his hand back and continued,
“I was just worried—”
But Chloe cut him off immediately.
“Don’t worry. I already told Roeni, it was a minor carriage accident, and I was treated properly by His Grace. He even brought me all the way home.”
“I… see.”
Only then did Lucian look at the man standing beside Chloe.
Then he politely greeted him.
“You must be the Grand Duke. I am Lucian Edmont, son of Marquis Edmont. Thank you for taking care of Chloe.”
When he heard the polite tone, Karsein sneered inwardly.
Lucian Edmont.
He already knew everything about Lucian—what he ate, what he did with Roeni—through his own network. To him, Lucian’s politeness was nothing but hypocrisy.
But like Chloe, he did not show it at all.
Instead, he looked at Chloe with an unusually gentle expression and smiled.
“Since Miss Chloe was injured because of me, I would like to invite her to my residence soon as an apology and treat her properly.”
Anyone could clearly feel it.
That Karsein’s gaze toward Chloe was not ordinary.
“May I have your permission?”
This was clearly the start of provocation.
“…Are you saying you will personally invite Chloe to the Grand Duke’s residence?”
Lucian’s brows tightened slightly.
The Grand Duke was already aware that Lucian was Chloe’s fiancé.
So they had already talked about this?
Lucian’s light green eyes turned toward Chloe.
He stared at her as if asking whether she truly intended to accept the invitation.
But Chloe did not meet his eyes at all.
Her gray eyes were fixed firmly on the Grand Duke.
Then she smiled brightly—the same clear smile she always showed only to Lucian before—and answered,
“Oh my. An invitation to the Grand Duke’s residence? I am honored.”
A strange feeling of difference began to rise in Lucian.
It was only a simple carriage accident. They had only met today.
So why……
Why did Chloe’s pink cheeks, now slightly flushed with a smile, feel so irritating?
“No… I must be overthinking.”
Lucian told himself it was nothing.
Chloe was simply being polite.
There was no other meaning.
It must all be his imagination.
But he still had to answer the Grand Duke.
“If that is what Chloe wants, I have no reason to refuse.”
Lucian said in a lower voice.
As he spoke, the difference in status between them felt heavy, pressing on him.
While watching Lucian, Roeni also struggled to keep her expression steady.
Lucian was only looking at Chloe, which she already disliked.
But more than that, his expression looked like someone who had stepped into mud on a clean road.
That faint shadow on his face made Roeni feel unpleasant as well.
‘Is it because of that man?’
Roeni looked again at the huge man Chloe had brought home.
‘Our dear sister… born with everything, and even when she meets someone, she ends up meeting someone like this.’
Not just anyone.
A man of the Empire’s highest rank—the Grand Duke of Bloodien.
