Chapter 32
The details of the contract established between Raymon and Titania were a matter known to only a few within the Castline Duchy.
Consequently, the low-ranking maids and servants remained ignorant of the fact that Titania had changed or that a new contract had been forged with the Ducal House. They simply watched the procession of goods being sent to the Imperial Palace for the fallen Titania and whispered amongst themselves.
‘Didn’t that damned Imperial Princess use our youngest lady this time too?’
‘It’s possible. Her information is always so fast.’
‘I heard she didn’t even die. Is there really a need to be this generous? After everything that woman has done to Young Duke Raymon all this time….’
‘The talk about her not being able to wake up might be a lie, too. How many pathetic lies has she told before? She’d cry wolf about being sick every chance she got….’
Watching the servants gossiping boldly while looking out the window from the main hallway, Bibi was contemplating how to deal with them to feel truly satisfied.
It was all well and good that she had kicked out the insiders who had been embezzling money and conducted a massive overhaul of the staff.
But how could she have known that the servants hired in a hurry to fill the labor shortage would blabber about this incident in such a manner?
Just as she was debating whether to step in, a cold voice shook the hallway.
‘I did not realize there were so many subordinates who looked down upon the House of Castline.’
The group huddled together murmuring instantly jumped in shock and tried to explain.
‘Young Duke Raymon!’
‘W-we were merely speaking out of concern for you, Young Duke.’
‘That is right. We feared that wicked woman might have once again….’
‘Who decides that standard?’
‘…Pardon?’
‘In whose eyes is she wicked, and in whose eyes is she virtuous? Even if there were stains in her past, she is the fiancée of the current Young Duke of Castline and the savior of the Young Lady. It is astonishing that there are so many retainers who insult every blood relative of the Castline family as incompetent fools dancing to a self-staged drama.’
‘Young Duke, please forgive us!’
‘We shall never wag our tongues so thoughtlessly again!’
Bibi blinked in surprise.
She had intended to step forward herself if her brother hadn’t, but….
Raymon spoke to the butler, who had come running late, in an extremely frigid voice.
‘Send them all to the magic stone mine.’
‘Young Duke!’
‘If you thought you would not be cut down because your sin was committed with your mouth, you are mistaken. Silence yourselves before I regret the mercy I have shown.’
Indeed, Bibi had not missed the way Raymon looked at his scabbard with a hint of regret at that moment.
Truly, Raymon had briefly considered cutting them down right then and there.
There were two main excavation sites for the magic stone mines owned by the Castline Duchy.
One employed ordinary workers and prioritized safety, while the other was a dangerous and rugged place where criminals were primarily sent.
In the past, he might have ignored it or stopped at a simple pay cut. Or rather, nothing would have happened until the Head Butler or the Head Maid took it upon themselves to discipline them for gossiping about their superiors’ affairs.
Raymon was certainly the next head of the House of Castline and had acted accordingly. However, he had never sent servants to a criminal labor camp over a single mistake before….
Clearly, they had questioned the judgment of the Castline family itself. It was no different from insulting everyone in the Duchy by suggesting they were being played by Titania’s act.
But still….
‘If he considers wagging one’s tongue a sin, there’s no way my pointlessly upright eldest brother doesn’t feel guilty himself.’
She had heard about Imperial Princess Titania’s past behavior. She had already been briefed on the basics before heading to the Imperial Palace.
Especially what she had done to Raymon. Those deeds were enough to make one’s skin crawl just hearing them. And yet, Raymon had endured them without batting an eye.
Raymon clearly harbored favorable feelings toward the current Titania.
Though he rationalized it by saying this much was natural for a savior of the Castline family, expressing gratitude officially was different from approaching her personally.
Even Lisianthus, who used to never set foot near the Imperial Palace, was now looking for any excuse to enter since Titania had been confined to the Empress’s Palace.
Whenever Lisianthus entered the palace, Raymon would miraculously find him and come to fetch him under all sorts of excuses, even when he was busy enough to lose sleep.
To Bibi, it was quite absurd.
‘Excessive excitement is not good for a patient.’
‘Ah, hyung! Hyung! Why are you being like this! I’m really just going to visit her!’
‘Do you truly believe your visit will be of any help to the patient? Even during the last Rose Palace arson incident, you treated the sick Princess….’
’No, I told you! That was a set-up! Wow, she’s really something else. But wait, wait…. Come to think of it, she seemed a bit… in the palace…. No, never mind….’
‘In the palace?’
’No, well. Is she not being treated well? Surely not…? But she said something that bothered me, about embezzlement or something.’
‘…Embezzlement?’
‘Yeah…. She said something like, “To hell with that Ministry of Finance official who’s pocketing money.” Man, looking at her clothes and all, you’d think she lives a super luxurious life. Is she not? Or is the budget so big that people are skimming off it?’
‘…….’
Raymon fell silent for a moment, then persistently grilled Lisianthus on every single detail of the conversation he had shared with Titania during the infamous Rose Palace arson incident.
Lisianthus answered obediently, yet he seemed to sense something instinctively.
‘…I really thought she was living the high life.’
‘…….’
‘It leaves a bad taste, damn it. It makes me wonder if she couldn’t even feel safe in her own home.’
Raymon remained silent as he listened to Lisianthus, but Bibi, standing right there in the hallway, could tell.
Raymon’s face was exceptionally paler than usual.
That was why she had provoked Raymon by bringing up marriage, hoping he would at least vent some of the emotions pooling in his heart or try to resolve it somehow.
Unlike the flustered Titania, Raymon had pursued the marriage with an extremely calm yet blind determination.
Seeing that alone, Bibi felt she understood Raymon’s true feelings all too keenly, but….
‘So, stop trying to interfere with me any further using the excuse of being a savior.’
He had been rejected quite cleanly.
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“The answer to my actions.”
Unlike his usual self, Raymon kept his eyes fixed on the floor of the carriage. He couldn’t even look at Bibi. His voice was very low.
“…Her Highness Imperial Princess Titania is right. If she wishes to substitute grace with debt, I do not mind. My relationship with her isn’t bad either…. And the engagement was merely nominal to begin with….”
As if someone were pricking his chest with something sharp, Raymon furrowed his brow.
“Furthermore, because I was too late, truly….”
Whenever he thought of the moment Imperial Princess Titania’s breath had flickered out in his arms, Raymon felt as if his own breath were stopping.
He had been present for the deaths of many wounded. He had often brought comfort to those with fatal injuries.
But to watch something so fragile that it felt like it would break just by holding it tight—to see that life thin out and snap in his arms… it was a first.
When he saw the corners of her mouth lift in a faint, relieved smile, as if she were thinking, It’s for the best, this time it’s okay, his heart felt like it was tearing apart.
It was a sensation he had never experienced before.
The moment her breath vanished, and then returned.
He thought instinctively.
That something had gone wrong.
That he was indeed too late.
That by that fact alone, he might remain a sinner before this person forever.
“…Because I almost failed to save her.”
So it was only right for her to resent him and keep her distance. While thinking that, his golden eyes shook helplessly like a small boat caught in a storm.
“So you’re saying you’re doing this because you’re pricked by guilt, right, big oppa?”
“…….”
Bibi sighed as she looked at the silent Raymon. Sometimes, things were clearer to those around than to the person involved. Raymon couldn’t refute the claim that it was just guilt, but in Bibi’s eyes, it wasn’t. Raymon wasn’t such a fool that he would force a marriage out of mere guilt.
“Phew, I don’t know, I just don’t know. Lisianthus oppa is all excited. If you just took the two of you and split the difference, it would be perfect.”
“…Did Lisian say something to you directly?”
The eldest brother, digging a hole for himself because he was suddenly shaken to the core by Titania—whether it was guilt, responsibility, or regret for the past.
The second brother, who had gone to the Imperial Palace, set a fire while holding her hand, and then suddenly started raving about Titania as if she had set a fire in his heart too.
And the eldest brother reacting sensitively to that second brother’s reaction….
Bibi’s eyes grew hazy.
Ah, for some reason, she suddenly felt like telling Titania unnie to just run away.