Your Grace, It Was a Mistake! - Chapter 2

‘Let’s think about why the Grand Duke is acting like this, Vivian.’

I tried my best to calm my racing heart. They say even if you’re dragged into a tiger’s den, you can survive as long as you keep your wits about you. The only problem was that this wasn’t a tiger’s den, it was my bedroom and the one who had been “dragged in” was the Grand Duke himself!

‘First, this room… my bedroom.’

I took a slow look around. What on earth must the Grand Duke have thought when he saw a room decorated entirely with his portraits?

‘He definitely thinks he’s been kidnapped by a hardcore stalker.’

A voice in my head seemed to chime in with, “Correct!”

‘If that’s the case, he must be pretending to go along with his kidnapper’s demands just to buy time!’

Your Grace, it’s a misunderstanding! I wanted to make an excuse, but no matter how I looked at it, what I had apparently intended to do to him was utterly shameless.

‘To think I tied him up to do something lewd!’

What kind of object was that marble anyway? It was enough to drive me mad. How could I possibly explain that this wasn’t intentional?

‘I was perfectly happy just watching him from afar.’

But in a single night, I had become a brazen kidnapper.

‘I would have been content just being remembered as a cute young lady who gave him polite greetings!’

Perhaps it was the sheer unfairness of it all, but my eyes began to sting. I looked at him with a tearful face. Should I try to explain? It probably wouldn’t be very effective, but surely it was better than staying silent.

‘Maybe Marina can testify about that black marble later.’

Then maybe the misunderstanding would be cleared up? Please, let it be so. I opened my mouth timidly.

“Excuse me, Your Grace.”

“Yes?”

The Grand Duke gave me a faint smile, as if encouraging me to speak.

“About me kidnapping you, it wasn’t intentional! It was a mistake! Earlier today, I broke a strange marble and—”

The Grand Duke sat in silence, listening to my long-winded excuse. He kept that pleasant smile on his face the entire time. Your Grace, please say something! The silence is even scarier!

“I see. I understand perfectly, Vivian.”

“R-really?”

I clasped my hands together and looked at him with desperate hope. He smiled softly at me. Even in the dim light of the night, his beauty was dazzling.

“To summarize: you broke a strange marble left behind by your mage friend, black smoke enveloped you, you lost consciousness, and when you came to, you found you had kidnapped me?”

“Yes! Exactly!”

As expected, my Grand Duke whose brain was as handsome as his face, understood my story perfectly. My eyes sparkled with the hope that the misunderstanding was finally over. I felt like I had just cheated death.

“And how am I supposed to believe that story?”

Pardon? My smiling face froze instantly.

“For all I know, you could be lying after kidnapping me, couldn’t you?”

“No! It’s the truth!”

I shook my head frantically. It’s true! It’s not a lie! Please believe me! I pleaded with all my might, but the Grand Duke’s gaze remained skeptical.

‘Oh, no!’

Am I going to be branded a kidnapper and thrown into a dungeon?

‘No! Anything but that!’

I had rambled on about not wanting to get married and wanting to be a fan for the rest of my life, but I still wanted to enjoy normal happiness like everyone else.

‘I just liked him so much that I drew a few pictures—well, hundreds of pictures and decorated my room!’

To anyone else, it would look creepy, but until now, no one besides my family and Marina had ever caught me! My secret hobby was perfect. I had never harmed anyone, least of all the Grand Duke!

‘It’s so unfair!’

I was beyond frustrated. If I could, I would turn back time to the moment before I opened Marina’s bag. In novels, protagonists jump through time all the time, so why couldn’t I? I was desperate for a regression!

“Sniff.”

The tears I had been holding back finally began to fall. The Grand Duke looked at me with what appeared to be genuine pity. He reached out and, with a kind smile, wiped away my tears. Perhaps because he was being so gentle, the dam broke, and I began to sob uncontrollably.

“It doesn’t make sense! Waaaaah!”

“My goodness. There, there. Be a good girl, Vivian.”

He pulled me into his arms and patted my back. This only made me more confused. Your Grace, why are you being so kind? You just said you were sure I was a kidnapper!

I asked in a voice thick with sorrow, “Your Grace, you really think I’m a kidnapper, don’t you? I really didn’t do it on purpose, sniff.”

He gave me a bright smile. “The fact remains that you kidnapped me, does it not?”

“It was a mistake! It was because of that black marble!”

When I burst into tears again, he stroked my back and soothed me with a gentle, “Yes, yes.”

‘This man!’

If you’re going to frame someone as a kidnapper, then just do that! Why are you acting so sweet? A surge of indignation rose within me, and I snapped my head up to ask impulsively, “Your Grace! You’re enjoying this situation, aren’t you?”

I was about fifty percent sure. However, he only gave a pure, innocent smile.

“Enjoying it? Perish the thought. I’m scared to death. To think Vivian would kidnap me.”

“It wasn’t a kidnapping! It was the misuse of a magical tool! It was an accident! That black marble!”

I tried my best to argue that I was innocent and that the marble was to blame, but he didn’t listen to a word of it.

‘Mean Grand Duke!’

I can’t believe he has this kind of personality!

‘But he’s so handsome!’

Even now, looking at me and smiling, he looked less like a human and more like a god from mythology. His beauty was a sin!

‘There are so many ladies who love the Grand Duke. If they ever find out I kidnapped him—the mere thought is horrifying.’

Being exiled from society would be the least of my worries. I’d be rotting in a dungeon first.

‘I’m doomed.’

My mind was filled with nothing but a bleak future. Since the Grand Duke wouldn’t believe me, there was no way out.

“Vivian, what are you going to do now? My knights will be bursting in soon, and then you’ll be headed for prison.”

“No!”

When I clutched my head in despair, he gently took hold of my wrists and said, “Now, why are you ruining such pretty hair?”

His hands were so large that he could hold both of my wrists in just one of his. I stood there, wrists caught as if in handcuffs, trembling. Stroking my cheek, he whispered to me.

“It’s not as if there’s no way to fix this situation.”

“!”

I pricked up my ears. A way? What is it?

“Vivian, you could become my lover.”

“Your… lover?”

“Yes.”

He whispered from a very short distance. His voice was so sweet it made my head spin. His blue eyes crinkled into crescents as he looked at me. He was breathtaking. Why were his eyes so beautiful?

‘No, that’s not what’s important!’

“Your Grace? Did you say lover? You’re telling me to become your girlfriend?”

“Yes, my girlfriend.”

“Me? Yours?”

“Yes. Is that a no?”

My mouth hung open. A “lover” meant someone you date for a while and then break up with—not a fiancée or a wife.

‘Even for me, this is a little hurtful.’

I began to tear up again. After all, the Grand Duke was the only Great Noble in the Elpidius Empire, a powerful man who owned half the Empire’s territory. There was no way a man with wealth and power rivaling the Emperor would ever marry the daughter of a lowly Count.

Besides, there were rumors that marriage negotiations were underway between him and a princess from a neighboring kingdom. That princess would eventually become his formal wife. I would be nothing more than someone he dated briefly before being tossed aside.

‘Sniff!’

How did my life end up like this? That bag must have been Pandora’s box. I never should have opened it.

“Will you be my lover, Vivian?”

I kept my mouth shut and lowered my head. I needed a moment to think.

‘My answer is already decided anyway.’

This was a classic case of “the answer is set, you just have to say it.” The Grand Duke knew I couldn’t refuse his proposal. To clean up the fact that I had kidnapped him, claiming we were in a relationship was the most effective excuse.

‘Marina isn’t from a powerful family either, so I doubt her testimony would hold up in court.’

In the end, there was only one choice. However, I decided to try one trick.

“Fine. I’ll be your lover. But!”

“But?”

I looked him in the eye and said, “Let’s write a contract!”

“A contract?”

“Yes. In other words, this is a contract relationship!”

A contract relationship! I felt like I should praise my brain for coming up with such a brilliant idea. If we had a contract, we could break up cleanly later without any lingering trouble. I could even set boundaries on how far we would go with physical affection.

‘I doubt he’d want anything more than a kiss from me anyway!’

But you never knew. He looked pretty, but he might actually be a lecher!

“A contract relationship. Does that mean you have no intention of dating me seriously, Vivian?”

Your Grace, this is the first time I’ve ever spoken to you for this long! How could I think about a serious relationship?

“Don’t you think this meeting is a bit too sudden to think about a serious relationship?”

“I suppose so. Since you did kidnap me so suddenly.”

“Ugh.”

Stung by the truth, I clutched my side with teary eyes. No matter how many times I said the kidnapping wasn’t intentional, he wasn’t going to accept it. To be labeled a kidnapper by the Grand Duke I loved most! I was the most miserable person in the world.

“How long were you thinking for the contract period?”

“Oh, well, I’m not sure.”

I hadn’t thought that far ahead. The idea of a contract relationship was purely impulsive.

‘A contract period. How long do people usually set these for? Months? Years? Argh, I’ve never done this, so I don’t know.’

My face was fairly pretty, and I often heard that my pinkish-blonde hair and light green eyes were lovely, but I had never actually dated anyone. Why? Because I was too busy following the Grand Duke around.

‘But even my feelings for him eventually turned into resignation.’

Until I was about sixteen, I had fantasies about falling in love with him. But as I got older, I realized the reality: a man like the Grand Duke was not someone a lady from a humble family could ever dream of.

‘So, I gave up on serious feelings and just liked him on my own!’

And yet, I had committed a crime! I had kidnapped him! Did I have such wicked desires in my subconscious? Did that black marble just bring them out?

‘My parents and Cassian will be so horrified when they find out!’

My parents would be heartbroken, thinking they had raised me wrong, and my younger brother Cassian would have that “I knew it” look on his face. That disrespectful brat!

‘But it’s okay! The Grand Duke seems to be thinking positively about the contract relationship!’

Yes, there was still hope! He just had to accept my proposal. I cleared my throat and spoke.

“Let’s make the contract period… six months!”

“Six months?”

The Grand Duke’s silver eyebrow arched. He didn’t seem to like the six-month term I suggested. Was it too long? I quickly changed my mind.

“T-then four months!”

“Four months?”

He didn’t seem to like that either. How many months was I supposed to say?

‘Is four months still too long?’

“I’m sorry. How about two months?”

The Grand Duke looked at me with a complicated expression and then let out a sigh. I began to fret, not knowing what to do. Then how long was it supposed to be?

‘Or does he just not like the idea of a contract relationship at all? But he was the one who brought up dating first!’

The Grand Duke knew as well as I did that my status was not high enough to marry him. Therefore, the “dating” he spoke of had to mean “let’s see each other for a bit and then break up.” That was why I thought a contract was the ideal arrangement.

‘Did I get it wrong? Does he have a rule against contract relationships?’

As I watched his reaction, his blue eyes glittered with a strange light as he stared at me. I held my breath and waited for him to speak. After a moment, the Grand Duke spoke in a very serious voice.

“One year. Let’s make it one year.”

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