Chapter 3

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: A Secret Love
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Considering the circumstances, marrying the Grand Duke was a drastic but mutually beneficial solution. In fact, for Aileen, it was far from a loss—it was an incredible gain.
‘Of course, accepting is the right thing to do.’
Cesare was no longer the abandoned prince. His older brother was the emperor, and he himself was the commander-in-chief of the imperial army and a grand duke. He was now also a national hero, with a triumphal arch to his name.
The chance to become such a man’s wife—it was the kind of proposal any woman would be ecstatic to receive. But Aileen couldn’t bring herself to accept it.
It was because she knew he possessed a cruel nature, incapable of loving anyone.
To Cesare, a kiss or a proposal was an act devoid of any emotional meaning. He had proposed simply out of necessity, and the kiss had been merely to confirm for Aileen that physical intimacy was possible.
If his plans had required a different woman, he would have acted in the exact same way. That knowledge was unbearably painful.
Because Aileen…
was secretly in love with Cesare.
She didn’t want her long-held crush to culminate in a hollow relationship. Better to remain distant, hearing of him only occasionally in the papers, than to become husband and wife in name only.
A throbbing pain pricked at her heart. As Aileen’s expression darkened, Rotan gently chided her.
“You have no choice, even if you don't like it. Why did you have to do it? If it weren't for His Excellency, you truly would have been dragged to the guillotine.”
Rotan wasn’t exaggerating. If anyone else had discovered her first, Aileen would have been sentenced to death on the spot.
Fiddling with the candy and handkerchief on her lap, Aileen muttered dejectedly.
“I wanted to be of help to His Excellency.”
She hadn’t been able to utter a word in front of Cesare, but with Rotan, the excuses came pouring out.
“A powerful painkiller is essential in war. I thought it would be a revolution…”
Her voice trailed off. Just then, a question flashed through her mind.
“But how did you know?”
Morpheus was still in the experimental stage. It was a double-edged sword, a drug she had been researching with great care, and she had never once taken it out of her laboratory.
“It’s more surprising that you thought His Excellency wouldn’t know.”
At Aileen’s question, Rotan looked at her as if she were being absurd.
“How could he not know when you were buying up opium so diligently? At first, we thought you were an addict, Lady Aileen. Or that you were being thoroughly swindled by someone.”
“I’m not that foolish…”
“Have you forgotten the time you were kidnapped over a single piece of candy?”
Aileen’s face turned beet red as she cried out.
“That was when I was twelve!”
It had been more than ten years. And it wasn’t because of a single piece of candy.
The kidnapper had given her a bag of lemon candies and a bag of orange candies, which she’d never tried before. He had said he would show her a rare plant specimen, and that was why she had followed him.
There had been a rather complex reason, but all of Cesare’s men remembered it as Aileen being kidnapped over candy. Rotan muttered in his deep voice.
“Just remembering the chaos back then makes my head spin…”
“I would never do that now.”
Aileen pulled Rotan out of the memories he was about to get lost in. Cooling her flushed cheeks with the back of her hand, she told him.
“Anyway… if there’s another way, I want to avoid marriage as much as possible. I feel like I’d be a burden to His Excellency, and it’s all so sudden…”
Her guilt kept her from speaking confidently, and her words came out as a mumble. Rotan watched her with an understanding expression. In contrast to his rough appearance, his tone was quite gentle.
“It must be overwhelming. But His Excellency is doing all this for your sake, Lady Aileen.”
“…”
“And he is not one to change his mind.”
Aileen knew that all too well. Since Cesare had decided to make her his Grand Duchess, it would happen. Just as it had when he had decided to make his brother the emperor.
Knowing her future was already decided, Aileen still offered a faint, futile protest.
“Please give me a little time. I have to tell my father, too.”
The moment Aileen mentioned her father, a flash of disgust crossed Rotan’s eyes. But he quickly composed himself before Aileen could notice. After a brief silence, he brought up a new topic.
“Come to think of it, it’s been a long time.”
“Has everything been alright?”
“It has. Why did you stop sending letters to His Excellency?”
Aileen asked back in surprise.
“What? Letters?”
After Cesare left for the war three years ago, Aileen had sent him a letter every single day. For nearly a year, she sent them diligently but never received a single reply. She hadn’t expected one, so she wasn’t disappointed. Just a little sad.
“I thought he wasn’t reading them. Since there were no replies, I assumed personal letters couldn’t be delivered to the battlefield… And even if they were, I figured His Excellency would be too busy to have time to read them…”
She hadn’t wanted to be a nuisance to him. So, the following year, she stopped sending letters. For the past three years, her only news of Cesare had come from the newspapers. And now, today, he had suddenly appeared before her and proposed.
“His Excellency was delighted every time a letter arrived.”
Then why wasn’t there a single reply? It seemed Rotan was just saying that to comfort her. As Cesare’s personal knight, Rotan must have seen all her letters being thrown away.
At Rotan’s kind consideration, Aileen hid her bitterness and forced a cheerful smile.
“Now that he’s returned to the capital, letters aren’t necessary. I’ll make up for it in other ways.”
“Yes. You just need to stay by his side.”
When Aileen feigned ignorance at his hint that she should become the Grand Duchess, Rotan grinned. Just then, the car came to a stop.
“We’ve arrived.”
They were in front of her house. The cozy, two-story brick house with a small garden was an inheritance from Aileen’s mother.
According to imperial law, it should have been passed down to her father, but thanks to Cesare’s intervention regarding her mother’s will, Aileen had been able to inherit it.
An orange tree in the garden swayed its green leaves in the wind. The tree, laden with dangling orange fruits, added a touch of brightness to the brick house.
It was a picturesque scene, but in reality, an orange sapling was an extremely expensive luxury. It had no place in the garden of the fallen noble family of Baron Elorde. The orange tree was also a gift from Cesare.
Rotan got out first and opened the car door for her. Hearing the rustle of leaves in the wind, Rotan looked at the orange tree with a pleased expression.
“Have there been any rascals trying to steal the oranges?”
“Of course not.”
There had been a thief once, right after she received the sapling. The brave orange thief was shot and killed by the Grand Duke’s soldiers. After that, no one dared to come near not only the orange tree but Aileen’s house as well.
Aileen glanced up at Rotan as he escorted her. The man with the rugged face broke into a wide smile the moment their eyes met, making the burn scar on his face crinkle.
Like the orange tree that didn’t belong to the Elorde family, the Grand Duke’s knights were figures far above her station. They were not people she could ever laugh and chat with so casually. Let alone the Grand Duke himself…
Aileen forced her sagging spirits up and smiled back.
“Thank you, Sir Rotan. Do you perhaps have time for a cup of tea?”
She didn't want to just send him away after seeing him for the first time in so long. She was also curious about what had happened while he was away. Rotan readily accepted her invitation.
The two had tea together in the small drawing room of the brick house. Rotan rattled off updates about the people who missed Aileen.
“Senon misses you terribly, Lady Aileen. When I told him I was going to see you today, he asked me several times to give you his regards.”
“Sir Senon?”
“Yes. And not just Senon. Michele was making a fuss too. Diego also talks about you whenever he gets the chance, but that fool still seems to think you're a little girl. Can you believe he bought a stuffed rabbit as a gift for you on our return to the capital? I had to smack him one for that.”