Chapter 82

The Duke said with a ferocious look.

“You still haven’t fixed that beggarly behavior of yours.”

“I only meant to scare her a little. Well, if she’d drank it all, who knows.”

Right now, I couldn’t make sense of this situation.

‘Right now… he poisoned the tea?’

Was this real? My mind went blank and I couldn’t move from my seat. The Crown Prince in front of me was absurdly calm. Someone grabbed me hard and I was dragged along, powerless to know where I was going.

“…nelia Secretary.”

“Secretary Cornelia.”

It sounded like someone calling me in an echo.

“Cornelia!”

The cold warmth on my cheek finally brought my senses back little by little. A familiar face came into view.

“…Duke…sir?”

“Yes. It’s me. Are you alright?”

He grabbed my face with both hands and examined me this way and that. Bits of what had just happened began to come back.

‘It wasn’t a dream…’

My breathing grew shallow. I got goosebumps. My whole body trembled like a seizure.

“Snap out of it. Cornelia!”

The force shaking my shoulders brought me fully to my senses. Objects around me gradually came into view. It was a place I’d never seen before.

“Where… is this…?”

“It’s my house.”

“…Yes… yes?”

I jerked up in surprise. The body I thought was sitting was lying on a soft bed. No, I had definitely been at the Crown Prince’s palace just moments ago…

“I brought you here. You’d lost consciousness for a bit.”

“…!”

The whole process of coming from the Crown Prince’s palace to the Duke’s residence had been completely erased from my mind. Still, thinking the Crown Prince wasn’t here loosened my tension. I managed to sit up and buried my face in my hands.

‘A poison…’

I thought I’d adapted to this other world. I knew things like this could happen here. But actually being targeted with poison was a big shock.

In my original world, obtaining such poison wasn’t easy, and murdering someone at work? The chances were tinier than a disgruntled boss stabbing someone. So subconsciously I had ruled it out as something unrelated to me.

‘If the Duke hadn’t come in time, I would have…’

A chill ran down my spine. The reason he wanted to poison me was obvious. Whether he had reason to go as far as murder, I didn’t know.

What was certain was that I was marked by the Crown Prince.

“Thank you, Supreme Justice.”

Only when my rational thinking returned somewhat did I have the presence of mind to greet him. The Duke replied bluntly.

“I’m glad nothing happened. I was worried.”

Looking closer, his hair was unusually tousled and his clothes wrinkled here and there. His complexion was pale. He seemed as shaken as I was.

“I can’t thank you enough, Duke.”

“It’s enough that you’re safe.”

“Sorry for the late hour stay. I’ll return home now.”

Because the Crown Prince had called me at the end of the workday, it was already dark outside.

“Stay here tonight.”

“What?”

When I widened my eyes, he spoke so decisively I couldn’t refuse.

“The physician said you should rest and stabilize for a while. I’ve contacted your home, so go back tomorrow. I’ll tell your head to adjust your duties, so take a few days’ sick leave.”

All measures had been taken to the point refusal felt pointless. Come to think of it, there was no need to force myself to go to work.

“Thank you. I’ll take a few days off with this opportunity, then.”

“Good decision.”

The Duke checked with the physician once more that I was okay and left the room telling me to rest. The maids fussed about how it was the first time the Duke had brought a woman to his house, but it didn’t register. I lay in bed, barely eating a late dinner.

“What do I do now?”

Staring blankly at the ceiling, that was the only thought I had. When I acted out, I half-expected he wouldn’t like me, but facing a sudden threat of murder couldn’t be taken so calmly.

I worried they’d mess with my family, and wondered if I’d end my life here without having accomplished anything. It felt like no matter how much I struggled below, one order from above would finish me.

‘It’s like when I first came here.’

Like when I dropped here before joining a big company and lost all motivation. It felt similar in the way my energy was drained.

Unable to sleep at all, I got up and went to the terrace. Opening the door, the cool breeze somewhat eased my suffocating chest. The full moon shone brightly as if demanding attention. I sat in a small chair in the corner and stared up for a long while.

“Can’t sleep?”

The Duke stood on the balcony of the adjoining room in light attire watching me. I smiled wryly.

“A little.”

He stood silently for a moment, then spoke.

“If it’s alright, may I come over there?”

Since being alone or with someone made no difference right now, I agreed, and he jumped over to where I was in a single bound. Being around him only in the office made me forget how skilled he was in martial arts. The distance wasn’t that small, yet his physical ability was impressive. He draped a blanket over my shoulders as if he’d had it ready.

“You’ll catch a cold staying out long in that outfit.”

I was wearing thin sleepwear. I turned awkwardly and he stepped a pace back to stand by the chair I was sitting in.

“May I ask what you’re thinking about?”

Caught in the midnight mood, I didn’t want to hide it and told him lightly.

“I’m thinking about what to do from now on.”

“Just go to the central ministry as usual. Nothing will change.”

Saying that, the Duke seemed as steadfast as a thousand-year-old tree that would remain there forever.

“Do you think so?”

Suddenly I felt like protesting with a lump in my throat.

“The son of the Empire’s ruler put poison in my tea saying he’d personally kill me—how can I live as usual? I don’t have battle experience like you, Duke, nor have I faced noble power struggles, so I don’t know.”

“You dug up all those corruptions without foreseeing something like this?”

His voice pierced coldly like a dagger. It left a bitter taste.

“Yes. I knew… I knew, but I must have thought ‘no way.’ Maybe I could only imagine it ending with a dismissal.”

“….”

The Duke said nothing. I let out a long sigh.

“I should just quit after all…”

“There’s no need to do that.”

The Duke beside me casually knelt on one knee before me and met my eyes. With his messy hair, a shirt with a few buttons undone, the full moon behind him, and his ice-red eyes, he was unmistakably a wolf. When our eyes locked, my true feelings slipped out.

“I’m scared.”

I knew that quitting wasn’t the solution. But at the moment it was the only idea I had. The thought that I could die at any time made me, yes, afraid.

Through my blurred vision, the Duke took my hand and held it gently.

“It’s okay. I’ll protect you.”

Then he kissed the back of my hand. It was solemn, like a knight’s vow.

“So, there’s no need to run.”

The back of my hand where his lips had touched felt burning hot.

I didn’t want to admit it, but my heart raced.

‘I’m doomed.’

That was my impression as I returned to work after three days and saw the central ministry building before me. After that thing with the Duke, I couldn’t sleep even more. It was the same when I went home.

‘The crazy thing is that I forgot the Crown Prince put poison in the tea!’

I thought the midnight mood had been intense already. But the Duke’s appearance then—his gaze, expression, voice—kept replaying. It’s more accurate to say it had been carved into my eyes and wouldn’t go away.

I shook my head as if to drive it out of my mind.

‘Make sense of things, Coco. He might leave at any time. It would be a big wound for the other person too.’

The devilish whisper in my head—maybe this would lead to marriage, maybe not; maybe we’d date a week and break up; let’s just throw caution to the wind—didn’t stop for days.

But what could I do with someone whose future I couldn’t imagine? An anxious relationship would only bring misery to both.

Cooling my head, I laughed off the Minister of Finance’s worried words and tackled my backlog of work one by one.

Still, working was better than sitting at home; it helped shake off stray thoughts.

“It’s already this late.”

Feeling unsettled, I meant to work a little longer but the time had long passed quitting time. Lucan and Elysia seemed to say something beside me, but I couldn’t recall. I turned off the lights in the empty office and slowly left the central ministry building. Looking back, only the Ministry of Justice offices still had lights on.

As the rumors said, it seemed to be the department that worked the latest. Suddenly an image of the Duke staying late to work alone popped into my head. He had often been my overtime mate, staying behind after I left.

Somehow… it felt pitiable.

‘Why am I like this, seriously.’

I forced my reluctant feet toward home.

Hoping he’d finish his work quickly and return home.