Previously
During their dance, Declan insists his request was sincere, while Sienna expresses her fear of the rumors this will spark, especially given her impending marriage to the King of Parma.
How to Break Up with You Perfectly — Chapter 30
Hurrying out of the banquet hall, my breath grew ragged.
The reason I had come here so heedlessly was simple: I merely did not want to provoke Joseph and bring trouble down on myself.
I had not given much thought to Declan. I had never imagined he would approach me first.
After all, before crossing paths at Lopawell, we had shared nothing more than polite, formal greetings. Yet, hearing him speak today, it was as if…
‘Is there some memory I've forgotten?’
I sifted through my faint memories, but nothing stood out. Even on the rare occasions he visited the imperial palace, Marianne clung to his side so desperately that I hardly ever found myself alone with him.
Unbidden questions tangled together like a knot in my mind. Walking with uneven steps, I steadied myself against the handrail.
Nausea washed over me.
Holding the railing, I descended the stairs, only to see people gathered in the hallway below, murmuring in easy conversation. At the sight, my body froze.
They looked peaceful enough, but the moment I showed myself, that warmth would vanish without a trace.
I recalled the chilling silence and the stares that had drilled into me when I first stepped into the banquet hall.
The curious glances, the frigid atmosphere. Merely dredging up the memory tightened my chest.
Muffling my footsteps, I slipped around the corner toward the opposite end of the corridor. While dancing before the crowd, I had fought desperately to conceal my emotions, but now I had no strength left to keep up the pretense.
At the end of the hall lay a terrace opening onto the outdoor gardens. While cutting through the corridors was the quickest route back to my quarters, I was desperate to escape the eyes of others, even if it meant taking a detour.
Fortunately, likely owing to the rain, the terrace was completely deserted.
Breathing a faint sigh of relief, I stepped out onto the terrace. Compared to the sharp gazes and venomous whispers, even the cold rain felt like a comfort.
Moving past the overhang of the roof, the hem of my dress began to soak through.
‘By the time I reach the annex, I'll look a frightful mess.’
A self-derisive laugh escaped me; it seemed I had been caught in the rain far too often lately.
Though the rain was light, it had been falling for hours, leaving the terrace floor slick. To make matters worse, my heels were quite high.
Balancing on wet marble in those conditions was no easy task. I carefully picked my way down the steps.
Just as my foot touched the final stair, my heel slipped on the wet stone, and my ankle twisted sharply beneath me.
Before I could even register the pain, my balance gave way entirely, and I tumbled forward. A short gasp tore from my throat.
Bracing to crash headlong into the mud, I squeezed my eyes shut.
In that instant, a firm hand snatched my arm.
The sudden, unyielding grip arrested my fall just as I tipped toward the mire. Slowly turning back, I froze in shock the moment I saw who held me.
“Why are you…”
He breathed heavily, as though he had run here. His grayish-violet eyes burned with an inexplicable heat. He looked angry, yet somehow faintly sorrowful.
As I instinctively shrank back, a jolt of pain shot through my ankle, forcing out a low groan. Only then did Declan look down. Realizing I had twisted it stepping off the stairs, he let out a faint sigh.
“Forgive my presumption.”
Draping my arm over his shoulder, he swept me up into the air.
“Grand Duke!”
I flailed in panic, but he did not budge an inch.
Though most of the palace staff were attending to the banquet, guards and maids were still stationed throughout the grounds. If someone saw us like this…
The thought drained the blood from my face. My struggles grew frantic.
“There is no need for this. I can simply summon a maid—”
“You will not be able to take a single step in this condition.”
Though he had never received formal training in healing magic, he had spent most of his life on battlefields. In a place where people died every day, one naturally learned enough to perform field triage on nearly any injury.
He carried me down the rest of the steps. The motion pressed me closer against his chest, until I could feel the faint warmth of his breath above my head.
Perhaps because of my quiet fury at him in the ballroom just moments ago, I found this closeness terribly awkward and uncomfortable.
More than that, being this close felt almost suffocating. As I deliberately tried to pull away, his arms only tightened around me.
I put up several more futile struggles, but he subdued them effortlessly.
“If you fall from this height, you may break your back.”
“…”
“Surely that is not what you desire.”
His tone was dignified, yet it was little different from a threat to keep still. Glaring at him in frustration for a beat, I resigned myself and ceased my thrashing.
In his arms, all I could do was pray that no one would witness this spectacle.
* * *
When we reached the annex where I resided, the maids were thrown into utter chaos.
The sight of the Grand Duke suddenly carrying the imperial princess was hard enough to believe, but seeing both of us drenched in rain only made it worse.
Though the light drizzle had spared us from being utterly soaked, the Grand Duke's damp blond hair and the streaks of mud on my hem were more than enough to incite terror.
“Y-Your Grace! What in the world…”
“She injured her ankle. Summon a healer.”
Declan gave the brisk order as he pushed past the flustered maids.
The moment he entered the room, he set me down on the settee, plucked a large piece of ice from the bucket chilling the water pitcher on the shelf, wrapped it in my handkerchief, and returned to my side.
As I watched him blankly, Declan dropped to one knee before me.
Hands far too elegant for a soldier slipped off my mud-spattered slippers without hesitation. My bare, pale foot was laid bare, contrasting starkly with the swollen, reddened ankle above it.
He slowly pressed the wrapped ice against my ankle.
Startled by the biting cold, I winced, then caught his hand.
“Grand Duke, that is enough. You should return now.”
The banquet was still in full swing.
Joseph would certainly not welcome his absence. Moreover, our simultaneous disappearance would be more than enough to fan unnecessary rumors.
Declan surely knew as much, yet he acted as though he had not heard a word. His gaze remained pinned to my ankle.
My naturally delicate ankle was flushed and noticeably swollen with heat. Seeing it, his expression darkened.
“It is my fault.”
“It is not.”
“Allow me to stay at least until the healer arrives. If you wish to punish me, I will gladly accept whatever you decree.”
I let out a silent sigh.
Punishment? While it was true we had been engaged in an untimely battle of wills just before I fell, slipping on the wet stairs had nothing to do with that.
“I misstepped, so do not blame yourself needlessly. And regarding what you said earlier…”
I hesitated, my voice trailing off as his words from the ballroom flashed through my mind. After watching him in silence for a moment, I dropped my gaze.
“I already know you did not mean what you said at the banquet, so you need not dwell on it, Duke.”
I strove for a composed voice, offering him an easy way out, but he remained silent.
After I had gone this far to smooth it over, it was his cue to dismiss it with ‘my jest went too far’ or ‘thank you for your magnanimity.’ Instead, he simply stared at my ankle without a word.
Watching him with a trace of discontent, I followed his gaze down to my foot.
The large ice cube slowly shrank against the heat of my skin. Declan knelt at my feet, gently turning the ice to cool the swelling.
My eyes drifted from the dampening handkerchief to the long fingers holding it.
Perhaps from the cold, his fingertips were slightly flushed, mirroring the red of my swollen ankle.
I blinked slowly.
Holding ice to an ankle was a task any maid could have handled, or something I could have done myself without trouble. It was hardly fit work for a man of his standing.
Yet, even as the thought crossed my mind, why was it?
The chill against my ankle no longer felt painful.
As I watched his fingertips, lost in an inexplicable daze, Declan spoke abruptly.
“Even if Your Highness goes to Parma as queen, you will not lead a peaceful life. Though they maintain friendly ties on the surface, it is common knowledge that the kingdoms of the continent harbor little love for the empire.”
Frowning slightly at the unexpected turn, a faint realization slipped from my lips. “Ah.”