So I Was the Persecuted Grand Duchess Destined to Die? Chapter 67

Chapter 67

“Can’t you hear me? I’ve lost my memory. So of course I wouldn’t recognize you, right?”

“W–What did you say?”

Bianca stared at Renée with utter disbelief.
She’d said she’d lost her memory—but it seemed Renée had also lost her fear, or even her sanity, along with it.

There was a faint gleam of madness in her eyes. She clearly didn’t look right in the head.

What? What on earth happened to make her so brazen…?

As Bianca swallowed dryly, a plausible assumption suddenly flashed through her mind.

“Oh, I get it now!”

A cruel smile spread across her doll-like face.
In Bianca’s aquamarine eyes pooled thick hatred and malice.

“Congratulations, sister!”

Wearing the face of an angel, Bianca folded her fan and stepped closer to Renée.
Perhaps sensing something amiss, Renée’s brow knit slightly.

Not missing that tiny change in expression, Bianca exaggeratedly reached out and stroked Renée’s shoulder.

“Just like your lowly maid of a mother seduced our father with her body, did you seduce the Grand Duke the same way?”

“…What?”

“You really can’t deny blood, can you? At this point you’re not a maid’s—”

“Enough.”

At that moment, a large shadow fell over Bianca.

She turned her head without thinking.

“…!”

With the blazing afternoon sun at his back, the man’s face was hidden at first.

But only for a moment.

As Bianca’s eyes adjusted to the light, the first thing she saw were sharp, violet-blue eyes burning with restrained fury.

The instant their gazes met—

“Hk…!”

It lasted only a split second, but Bianca felt it clearly.

Killing intent.

A ferocity she had never once experienced in her life.

The massive man—twice her size—could end her existence with nothing more than a fingertip if he wished.

Bianca knew that overwhelming difference in power all too well.

She had always been uncannily good at distinguishing the strong from the weak.

“I-I greet Your Grace the Grand Duke. I am of the Blanche Marquess family—”

“No need for introductions. Move.”

“…Pardon?”

“Take your hand off my wife. Are you deaf?”

Bianca yanked her hand away from Renée’s shoulder as if burned and bent deeply at the waist.

“Xavier.”

Renée’s voice came from behind—deliberately weak and trembling, loud enough for anyone nearby to hear.

Crushed by the pressure, Bianca began to shiver despite the early summer warmth.

She couldn’t even straighten her back.

If she met those icy eyes again… she couldn’t imagine what would come next.

Even without doing anything, the Grand Duke’s mere presence bore down on her.

“If you continue these insulting remarks toward the Grand Duchess…”

“……”

“I’ll cut out your tongue and personally send it to the Blanche family.”

The bustling street froze in that instant.

This was no empty threat.

“Now get lost.”

The low voice sounded like the growl of a beast.

As Bianca staggered back instinctively, attendants and maids—who had been watching from afar—hurried over to support her.

“H-Hmph! Let’s go!”

In the end, Bianca left in her carriage without a single word of apology.

Xavier let out a breath and turned to Renée, who was still standing stiffly in place.

She’d been strangely quiet since earlier.

“Renée.”

Thump.

It felt like his heart dropped.

Xavier hurriedly grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him.

“Oh! You startled me. Yes?”

“Why weren’t you answering?”

You scared me half to death.

He didn’t say that out loud—it sounded uncool.

“I was just taking a moment to calm the anger inside me. That little thing really gets under my skin. If you hadn’t shown up, I might’ve grabbed her by the hair and seriously tarnished the Celeste name—so your timing was perfect, I suppose.”

“Next time, do whatever you want. I don’t care if the Celeste name gets tarnished.”

“Oh my, how affectionate.”

Renée let out a hollow laugh, looking oddly drained.

Just then—

“Miss! Oh—actually, Your Grace the Grand Duchess? And the Grand Duke too? Wow, this is amazing.”

“…?”

The ice-cream vendor—who had been standing there like part of the scenery—suddenly spoke up.

It seemed Renée had been trying to buy ice cream when she got caught up in all this.

“Here—this is a gift. For you, Grand Duchess. You’re brave. And for the Grand Duke too. A gift, a gift. Please take it.”

“Oh… thank you so much!”

Even now, Renée politely accepted the two ice creams.

“Live happily, both of you.”

“Oh, we are—very much so.”

With a rather shameless smile, Renée held out one ice-cream cone to Xavier.

He took it awkwardly, glancing at her face again and again.

Thankfully, the incident didn’t seem to have shaken her much.

Perhaps the sweets lifted her mood—Renée soon returned to her usual self, chattering nonstop.

As Xavier responded halfheartedly, they somehow found themselves sitting by a fountain.

As if by unspoken agreement, they sank down onto its edge.

“You lived in the North and never even tried ice cream?”

“I had desserts a few times as a child, but I didn’t enjoy them. This kind is new to me.”

“It’s good, right?”

“Well… it’s all right.”

After speaking, Xavier popped the last piece of cone into his mouth.

Seeing that, Renée burst out laughing.

“Haha! You say that, but you ate it really fast.”

“…Ahem.”

“You’re really not honest. We call that ‘liking it,’ you know.”

Renée’s red eyes curved gently as they disappeared beneath her smiling lids.

As she leaned slightly closer, the distance between them closed.

Along her moonlit, stream-like hair, a faint floral scent drifted toward him.

In that moment—

“……”

Xavier’s heart plunged—then rebounded at an unfathomable speed.

Time seemed to stop.

All he could hear was his pounding heart, leaving his mind dizzy.

…This is strange.

Yes. It was strange.

Losing himself over a small woman smiling with ice cream on her lips—

That wasn’t like him at all.

But…

When have I ever been myself in front of her?

Ah.

At that small truth, a quiet smile spread across Xavier’s lips.

It felt as though he’d finally opened his eyes.

That’s right. I…

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

Renée tilted her head, looking at him curiously.

“You’re smiling to yourself again…”

The woman who had completely changed his life.

The feelings he’d stubbornly refused to acknowledge finally clicked into place like a completed puzzle.

All the beliefs that once governed Xavier now felt trivial.

The sensation was liberating.

“Going for one bath and I see all kinds of nonsense! I’m not using it, I won’t!”

Contrary to her first impression, she constantly surprised people.

She effortlessly resolved the long-standing madness no one could handle—

only to then sleep soundly, unaware of it all.

“…I—I’m not someone who suits the title of Grand Duchess of Celeste.”

She was hurt by her own clumsy words.

Even so—

“Xavier!”

The woman who called his name with a bright, careless smile.

Xavier etched every part of her into his eyes, his memory, his heart.

Before he knew it, that heart had grown full—

and kept swelling, again and again.

“…Renée.”

A name that now came easily.

In return, his guard lowered.

At some point, he realized he smiled often around her.

And even the way she fidgeted, then smiled shyly upon seeing him smile—

it was unmistakably her.

“Haha!”

Xavier laughed out loud.

“What is it, seriously? You’re weird.”

An incredulous smile spread across Renée’s face as well.

Xavier quietly watched her.

Shattering droplets from the fountain.
Tiny rainbows in the spray.
Sunlight pouring down.
A lukewarm breeze.
Children’s laughter ringing through the square.

And before him—

a woman who made all of it insignificant.

“Renée.”

Yes.

My wife.

Renée Celeste.

“Yes?”

You, who have settled so deeply into my heart—

I will gladly embrace you.

“Yes. I like you.”

Standing before the gods, awkward-faced, swearing a false eternity—

Perhaps from that very first moment.