Chapter 58
Viern, who had buried his face between her legs, uttered words so lewd he would never use in normal times. Her damp underwear clung to her mound, clearly outlining the parted lips. A wet tongue traced the parted shape through the fabric in a long, slow lick.
“Ahh!”
Each time, Diana’s body jolted and trembled. Enjoying her reactions, Viern was about to push her underwear aside when—
Knock, knock.
A knock at the door. Both their movements froze simultaneously. Sitting up and turning toward the door, Viern frowned. He had officially requested leave to spend time with Diana. He’d even given his aide, Eldman, the day off, so no one should be visiting today. Who could it be?
“Your Grace. It’s Sophia.”
“……”
At the forgotten voice, the air in the study froze as if doused with cold water.
“I heard you were here, so I came.”
“Damn it.”
Viern let out a low curse and swept back the hair that had fallen over his forehead. Ever since Diana’s kidnapping, he had been so preoccupied with her that he hadn’t properly settled matters with the Marquis’s house.
He was about to wait for Sophia to leave, but Diana suddenly sat bolt upright and began clumsily straightening her clothes.
“Your Highness…?”
“I’ll go.”
Diana spoke in a cold voice and turned sharply away. Viern quickly caught her wrist.
“I… will go.”
“So I should wait here while you go talk to your fiancée and come back?”
Diana frowned, looking displeased.
“That’s not it…”
“I forgot. You’re a man with a fiancée. The same man who said he couldn’t do these things with me because he’d feel sorry for his fiancée. I thought maybe you had settled things with the Lady Marquis.”
“……”
“Didn’t I tell you? That doing this with a man who has a fiancée makes me feel guilty too. Why are you making me feel sorry for the Lady Marquis?”
“……”
Viern couldn’t offer any excuse. Diana seemed… truly angry. Why? What was she angry about? He didn’t dare even wonder. If she was angry, it was surely his fault.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
So, he barely managed to open his mouth and apologize.
“But meeting the Lady Marquis will be uncomfortable for you. You can use the other passage through the inner room to leave. I’m sorry I cannot escort you.”
Diana, who had been looking at him with chilly eyes, turned away. Viern watched her leave through the door connecting to the inner part of the study and let out a heavy sigh.
“Haa…”
Walking to the door, he opened it with a stiff face.
“Your Grace…!”
As the door opened, Sophia, standing in the hallway, hesitated, stopping mid-greeting with a pleased expression.
Viern was not an affectionate man. But he was not an impolite one either. Yet today, his gaze held an unconcealed weariness and discomfort directed at her.
And unlike his usual immaculate appearance, his attire was somewhat disheveled. His untidy hair, missing cravat, and wrinkled collar caught her eye. Had he been with someone? But there was no one inside…
“What is the matter, Lady Silberk?”
At his voice, Sophia snapped back to attention and quickly dismissed her suspicions.
“You’ve been so busy, I haven’t been able to meet you, Your Grace.”
She began with a hint of veiled resentment.
“I came to discuss the postponed engagement ceremony. Now that Her Highness the Princess has returned safely, you shouldn’t have any other pressing matters, right?”
“That’s good. I was just thinking it was time to settle that matter with you as well.”
He acknowledged her words in a composed yet firm voice.
“I wish to annul the marriage agreement between the Ducal House of Erkman and the Marquisate of Silberk. Since the ceremony was never completed, there’s no need for a formal dissolution.”
“Your Grace…! What on earth…!”
Shocked by his unexpected statement, Sophia raised her voice.
“I will speak with Marquis Silberk separately. I deeply regret it has come to this end. Since we are the ones requesting the annulment, we will ensure the compensation is not disappointing.”
“W-Wait a moment, Your Grace!”
She instinctively grabbed Viern’s sleeve and cried out.
“The western region mines! You wanted those, didn’t you!”
“…….”
“I heard your late mother, the Duchess, received great kindness from the Ershans in her lifetime. That’s why you want the mines, isn’t it? To free the Ershans taken there as slaves. I can give that to you!”
Sophia felt a desperate, burning urgency and fired off the words like rapid shots. However, the eyes staring back at her were utterly calm and devoid of emotion. Even as she offered the very thing he had long desired.
“I never mentioned that to the Marquis. Did you investigate me?”
“I’m sorry. I just thought it was strange. There was no reason for Your Grace to choose me.”
“It’s fine. It wasn’t a secret we kept, and we investigated your side as well.”
Viern detached Sophia’s hand, which was still clutching his sleeve, with a sharp motion as he replied.
“It’s true I demanded the mines from the Marquis because I wanted them. But now, it’s alright.”
“Why…!”
“Because I realized there’s something more important.”
At that moment, as if remembering something, a soft yet resolute light surfaced on Viern’s face, which had been frozen with coldness until then.
Something more important. Muttering the phrase blankly, Sophia asked in a despondent, resigned voice.
“Is that… more important to Your Grace than the will of your late mother, the Duchess?”
* * *
‘No wonder he was so insistent on pushing through that engagement.’
Sitting at a round table, crunching on a chocolate chip cookie, Diana recalled the conversation she had overheard from the room next to his study that day.
‘So that’s what it was.’
Thinking of Viern, who had refused so perfectly without a shred of hesitation, made her lips curl up and a hum escape her nose.
Naturally, contrary to what she had said in anger in his study, she felt no guilt towards the Lady Marquis. The one who should feel sorry isn’t me; it’s her. She tried to take Viern from me first.
However, it was true she was angry at Viern. Diana had naturally assumed that after realizing his love for her, he would have settled all ties with Sophia. After all, the engagement ceremony was ruined because of the kidnapping she orchestrated.
‘But to try and recover my memory before properly cutting off that ambiguous relationship with that woman…’
The humming that had been escaping her suddenly stopped. Furrowing her brow, she muttered softly to herself.
“He really is a bit… unforgivable.”
“Hmm? What’s unforgivable?”
“Stuff like that.”
Aisen tilted his head and asked, but Diana waved her hand dismissively as if annoyed.
“But, Your Highness. Shouldn’t you go out now? His Grace has been waiting for a while…”
“Mmm, I’ll go after I finish this.”
Though they had agreed to visit the Ducal Estate together today as discussed earlier, Diana deliberately kept Aisen in her room well past the appointed time. Naturally, this was to deepen Viern’s misunderstanding.
While she enjoyed the sight of Viern struggling to help her recover her memory, she didn’t comply with his expectations easily.
‘Sorry, Viern. But suffer a little more for me.’
It wasn’t that she found it unforgivable that he thought everything would return to normal once her memory came back. Diana simply wanted him to fight a bit harder to win her back.
‘The more you suffer now, the less likely you’ll ever dare to let me go again once you completely have me back.’
She, too, wanted to become his perfect lover as soon as possible, but this time she was patiently waiting, determined to make him her man once and for all.
‘Besides, I still haven’t heard him say ‘I love you’ yet.’
Leaving a fidgeting Aisen, who was anxious due to her dawdling, Diana lifted her teacup with a light chuckle. The corners of her mouth curled up in a mischievous smile.
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