Chapter 6
I dropped to the floor, pressing my body against the cold stones once more.
“Grandfather, once I have settled my accounts with Uncle Lilius, I promise to vanish from your sight! I will stay here at Randel Castle, managing the staff and conducting myself with the quiet grace expected of a minor lady of the house!”
Despite its size, this structure was ancient and riddled with biting drafts. Keeping it warm required a fortune in timber.
“I will be no further burden to you, so I beg of you—please end this endless isolation!”
Silence followed. No verbal confirmation met my plea.
Lifting my gaze with extreme caution to see how my words had landed, I found the Grand Duke staring down at me. He was reclined in his seat, his eyes sharp and unforgiving.
“Lilius.”
“At your service, Father…!”
I cut a glance toward my uncle. Lilius had gone as white as a ghost. Even so, the stern mask of Grand Duke Frazier remained frozen.
“Was it not your responsibility, along with your wife, to oversee the private matters of the younger generation?”
“It was, Father… truly…”
Lilius’s voice shook as he spoke.
As the youngest son of the Grand Duke, he held the rank of viscount. He and his spouse were effectively the administrators for half of House Frazier’s internal affairs. Considering the family’s wealth was rumored to rival the crown’s treasury, managing such a portion was akin to possessing an endless supply of gold.
I wondered why the Grand Duke was suddenly putting Lilius in the crosshairs. What could he have possibly done?
The answer arrived with blunt force.
“Tulia Frazier’s punishment was decreed three years ago. Why has a thirty-day sentence stretched into years?”
“That… well…”
“And why have you termed it ‘indefinite’?”
The realization hit me like a physical blow.
Hearing Assis Grand Duke Frazier’s interrogation, I stared at Lilius in shock. It was true that Tulia had been confined three years prior following a major scandal. Yet, the doors had never officially opened for her. Because of that lie, Tulia had grown increasingly desperate and subservient to Lilius, believing herself a prisoner. It had all been a fabrication.
Lilius was currently too busy drenched in a cold sweat to spare me a single look.
“Have you been misappropriating Tulia Frazier’s stipend?”
“There has been a terrible lapse in communication, I assure you!”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, Father!”
“Then explain why Tulia Frazier is under the impression that this storage facility is Randel Castle.”
My jaw dropped. I was just as stunned as anyone else in the room. This wasn’t a castle at all—it was merely a warehouse?
Lilius went completely silent. The tension in the room was so thick it felt as though the air itself had vanished.
I marveled at the sheer scale of the family’s riches. If they used a building this massive simply for storage, the rumors of their wealth were clearly understated. But a nagging thought remained: why would a man of the Grand Duke’s stature sit through an entire meal in a common warehouse without saying a word?
“Your wife informed me that Tulia Frazier was the one refusing to leave. She claimed the girl was throwing tantrums and insisting on staying in this warehouse out of spite, even after her sentence ended.”
Lilius remained mute.
“She told me Tulia would fall into fits of rage whenever she was summoned to the main estate.”
The pieces clicked together. That was the cover story they had used to bury me here.
Lilius was now visibly trembling, his skin slick with sweat.
“It is a misunderstanding, Father. Neither my wife nor I ever suggested to Tulia that this place was Randel Castle.”
He turned toward me, forcing a strained, ghastly smile.
“Tulia, dear, how did you come to such an odd conclusion? Who filled your head with these lies? Tell us, and I will see that they are punished for deceiving you!”
“Do you mean that?”
I responded with feigned excitement, catching Lilius off guard.
“Of… of course,” he stammered.
I had been waiting for him to walk into that trap.
Turning my focus back to Grand Duke Assis, I felt my courage waver under his lethal stare. However, the hunger and the biting cold were stronger than my fear. This was my moment. The Grand Duke was known to loathe family bickering and tattling, but my instincts told me this was the only window I would ever have to speak the truth.
It was time.
I bit down on the inside of my cheek until I tasted the sharp, metallic tang of blood. Then, I let the words spill out.
“Why are you staring at me with those bulging eyes, you little parasite?”
The room went still.
“It is common knowledge your father threw you away.”
I kept going, channeling the venom I had endured.
“What right do you have to be angry about the banquet? You deserved to be locked away forever by Grandfather.”
The terrifying gaze of Assis Grand Duke Frazier shifted. The darkness in his eyes changed into something unreadable but profound.
I was simply repeating the cruelty Tedrick had spat at me that very morning.
“Everyone knows your mother was unfaithful and that you’re a mistake. A girl like you should never have been allowed to stand above me…”
A sudden crash echoed through the hall as a chair hit the floor. I glanced back.
Tedrick Frazier’s complexion was a fluctuating mess of crimson and sickly blue. When our eyes met, I gave him a small, mocking flick of my tongue. That was the breaking point. He lost all composure and jabbed a finger at me in a rage.
“You! How dare you—!”
“Tedrick Frazier!”
The Grand Duke’s voice was like a physical shockwave, loud enough to make the walls tremble.
I ducked my head instinctively, but Tedrick’s reaction was far more severe; his legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the floor. Grand Duke Assis Frazier had stood up and was now looming over the boy with a look of pure coldness.
“G-Grandfather…”
“I do not need to ask if you truly said those things.”
“It’s not what it sounds like…!”
The Grand Duke walked over and grabbed the chain around Tedrick’s neck. With a swift motion, he tore the ornament away.
“Father, no!” Lilius screamed in terror.
It was the Direct Lineage Necklace.
In high society, jewelry functioned like a uniform. For House Frazier, these pendants were the ultimate symbol of belonging, granted to direct heirs upon their sixteenth year. To have it confiscated was a public stripping of status.
“Your privileges as a direct heir are hereby suspended,” the Grand Duke declared, his voice like ice. “Is that understood?”
Tedrick couldn’t find his voice. He merely shivered and gave a frantic nod.
The decree seemed as final as a prison sentence. Guards arrived immediately to escort Tedrick out. Lilius, distraught over his son’s disgrace, offered a few hollow apologies before scurrying after them.
Seeing my chance, I bowed deeply to the Grand Duke and made a quiet exit. I lived in terror that he might call me back for a private interrogation, which I surely wouldn’t survive, but he let me go.
I had won the day, but the cost was total exhaustion. I needed to collapse. Reaching my room, I buried myself under the covers and fell into a heavy, dreamless sleep. No one came to disturb my rest.
The following morning.
I looked at the dining table and found it completely bare. They weren’t even feeding me now?
Instead of fear, I felt a spark of defiance. Now that my stolen budget was likely to be restored, the glares of the staff meant nothing to me. However, when I marched toward my bedroom door and swung it open, I nearly jumped out of my skin.
A man was waiting for me.
“Are you awake, Miss Tulia?”
“Ruk?” I blurted out.
The man, a middle-aged figure of refined grace, studied me with intense interest. “You are familiar with my name?”
“I am,” I managed to say.
I had seen him enough times in my previous lives to know him by heart. This was Ruk Kelfosher, the primary counselor to the Grand Duke. He was in his fifties, still carrying the legendary good looks of his youth and an air of unshakable nobility. He was a master tactician—brilliant, icy, and devoted solely to the Grand Duke.
But there was one detail that mattered most.
In the narrative of ‘That Honey Bread,’ he was the one person Tulia could actually win over.
