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Rubica wanted to get her head out of the duke's hand, but his white and long fingers were stronger than they looked, so she couldn't.
Unlike before, the duke looked down at Rubica with his eyes full of anger. She thought that expression looked better as it was livelier than the early face which resembled a marble sculpture.
"You don't have any intentions of becoming the duchess. What does that mean? You don't want to marry me?"
"Yes, " Rubica answered plainly, trying to soothe her inner anxiety. Soon, the anger grew bigger. Duke Claymore wasn't used to getting rejected. He trembled in anger and lifted his hand.
Was he going to hit her?
Rubica instinctively closed her eyes and raised her hands to cover her face. However, she didn't feel the pain. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the duke through her fingers. He was looking down at her, dumbfounded.
He had lifted his hand not to hit her but to call his servant. He came to his senses when his gaze met Rubica's.
He muttered, "Carl."
The voice was low, but it was enough. An old man, who seemed to be his butler, immediately came to his side.
"Where's the messenger?"
"I'm sorry, Your Grace. He is not here right now."
"I thought he said Ms. Rubica Berner has agreed to this marriage."
"... it must have been a misunderstanding."
Butler Carl bowed his head, and the atmosphere felt like freezing. Nevertheless, Rubica found hope in the situation. Judging from their conversation, the duke seemed to think she had accepted his proposal.
Wouldn't he cancel it if she told him her story?
Even though the man's face seemed merciless, apart from its beauty, Rubica found the courage and was about to speak.
"Oh my, Rubica!"
Unfortunately, Mrs. Berner found her before that. She was coming out of the main gate herself with the servants to find the missing Rubica. The moment she spotted her, she ran to her to grab her hair.
However, her merciless hand couldn't find its target.
"What are you doing?"
Stephen, who had been kneeling next to Rubica, quickly stood up to grab that hand. Mrs. Berner saw the splendid mana stone carriage only then.
She thought she had seen that emblem before, but she couldn't recall to whom it belonged to.
And although the man who was tightly holding her hand was wearing a mask, he seemed to be noble. She immediately realized that things were going wrong.
Was it a nobleman of a high rank who had happened to be passing by the mansion? She feared that Duke Claymore would get to hear the rumor of her grabbing Rubica's hair.
"Oh, um, it's, I was just so surprised and worried."
"I guess it is a merchant's manner to grab a person's hair when surprised and worried."
The man was most certainly scolding her, and Mrs. Berner could feel her face heating up. She then turned her head to see the face of the man who spoke so rudely. First, she could see that he was extremely handsome. But differently from Rubica, it didn't give her any thrill at all. What moved her heart were the clothes he was wearing.
The Berners were not rich enough to live on the revenue their land gave them, so as the wife of a merchant, she had seen all kinds of precious goods. His clothes were made of invaluable fabric. Additionally, the buttons on his sleeves were clearly diamonds.
"I wasn't going to grab her hair, good sir."
Edgar coldly looked at the woman who bowed down as soon as she checked his clothes.
He was neither disappointed nor disgusted.
To him, that kind of attitude was one of the things he experienced every day. He thought about scolding her more, but he stopped when seeing Rubica's fierce glare.
She had been glaring at him, clearly accusing him, from when he started to mock the woman's action.
'... it was rude of me to mock her occupation. '
However, it was interesting. Everyone he had met till now never pointed out even if he acted rudely. They always smiled at him as if Duke Claymore was right to act so.
But Rubica was different, and she even said she didn't want to marry him. That was truly unexpected. He had only met women who were eager to get married to him.
Additionally, there was something that he had to know. The messenger he had sent to the Berner Mansion had told him Rubica had 'accepted' his proposal and her patrons, her uncle and his wife, had 'given their permission'.
However, the Rubica in front of him didn't want the marriage.
'The consequence would have been the same, anyway. '
Edgar coldly stared at the woman bowing at him.
According to the information about Rubica he had received, she had to be Mrs. Berner. However, he decided it wouldn't do him any good to show Rubica that he knew everything about her.
"Tell me who you are."
"I am Irene Berner, sir. This is my husband's niece who we are raising. The child got wrong thoughts for a while and ran away, so we were looking for her... I was, I was too worried that I lost my reason."
She was going to use her unique way of talking, which she sometimes used to convince customers, to get away with this. If it had been any other occasion, Edgar would have let her be, even if he could plainly see what she wanted. However, he had just heard his fiancé say she didn't want the marriage. Edgar didn't like it.
He had already gotten the special permission from the king. He didn't want to get humiliated. He didn't want to look at Mrs. Berner who couldn't even convince Rubica properly.
"My fiancé is way too old, both to be raised and to be punished like that for running away."
Mrs. Berner's eyes shook.
Only then, she realized who the nobleman was.
"Sir, no, Your Grace!"
She quickly bent down to grab the duke's foot. However, he didn't want any contact with her and moved his foot back. Stephen wasn't going to let her take the duke's foot, either. He held her hand even tighter.
"I, I can explain."
"I don't need your explanation."
Rubica looked at the man who didn't even look at her aunt and came to her to offer his hand.
"The only person who has the privilege to explain now is my fiancé."
'Oh, his eyes are like a cold ocean, ' Rubica thought so as she looked up at the man with the cold smile. She was enchanted by his beautiful blue eyes and put her hand on his hand.
Then, the cold smile turned slightly warmer. Before Rubica could realize what she had done, he grabbed her hand tightly and escorted her into the carriage.
The interior was literally a nobleman's room.
Unlike stagecoaches driven by horses, a carriage that moved through the mana stone's power didn't shake. Because of that, there was a carpet on the floor instead of fluffy wool. There were even a table and chairs.
On the table, there were documents the duke had been looking at only a while ago. The butler quickly removed them and had Rubica sit down on the opposite chair of the duke.
"Your Grace, I will go out and take care of things."
"... do it quietly, so that it won't be heard here."
The voice was so cold that it woke Rubica up. She wondered what they meant by taking care of things, but at the same time, she didn't want to know. The butler lightly bowed and went out, closing the door behind him.
Even the carriage was bigger and better than a stagecoach, but it was still a carriage. Rubica felt uncomfortable at being left alone with the beautiful man in there alone. She couldn't dare to look into his eyes and looked down. Then, she saw the duke's long fingers.
'They're long, about 1. 5 times longer than normal people's fingers. Oh, and his fingernails are neat. Does he have them trimmed? And his skin is also clear and smooth like marble. '
What kind of gem would look good on those fingers? Warm rings like gold wouldn't fit his fingers.
Differently from what suited Rubica, warm jewels were not for him. Cold jewels were going to match his hands. Like sapphire... no, such beautiful hands would be better without any splendid rings.
She had thoughts like these, from time to time, about pretty girls, but never about a man. She suddenly thought she wanted to feel his hands, but her face turned red because of that. Then, one of the hands suddenly moved to grab and lift Rubica's chin.
"You don't even want to look at my face?"
He didn't know that Rubica had been imagining about his hands, so his voice was quite ruff. However, he was surprised to see her red cheeks. He let go of her chin.
"I was just feeling awkward, Your Grace."
"... call me Edgar."
"I don't deserve to call you by your name, Your Grace."
"Yes, you do."
He took out an envelope from one of the table's drawers and offered it to Rubica. The envelope had the king's symbol.
Rubica's hand shook while taking it. She didn't even have to open it. The special permission issued by the king had to be inside.
She just threw it on the desk without opening it. Then, they could tell the king that there had been a misunderstanding and cancel the marriage.
Of course, the king could be angry and have her name erased from the aristocrats' list, but she didn't care. Her title was nothing more than a useless name to her.
"Your Grace, I have something to tell you."
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