Episode 11: A Secret Rendezvous on the Terrace, and the Beast's Leash
"I will gladly become your sword, Madam."
Caelon Argentus, the Grand Duke of the North and the continent's most powerful warrior, swore his loyalty by kissing the back of the hand of the married Duchess of Castillo.
The ballroom was enveloped in a suffocating silence, silent enough to be heard even by the sound of a needle dropping. It was an unconventional and blatant courtship, unprecedented in the history of high society. The nobles watched with bated breath, wondering how Eleanor would react to this massive scandal. Would she blush in embarrassment and back away, or would she slap the Grand Duke's cheek to avoid the stigma of being an adulteress?
However, as if mocking the public's shallow predictions, Eleanor's response was astonishingly calm and seasoned.
"..."
Eleanor did not hastily pull away her right hand, which had been touched by Caelon's hot lips, but withdrew it very gently and slowly. Then, unfolding her fan to cover her mouth, she smiled with her eyes and spoke clearly enough to echo throughout the entire ballroom.
"As the mistress of Castillo, I express my deep gratitude for the undeserved chivalry of His Highness the Grand Duke of the North."
It was a declaration that perfectly packaged Caelon's impulsive actions not as 'private courtship, but as the 'Grand Duke's noble chivalry' of subduing a ruffian attempting to wield violence and protecting the weak.
"Oh my."
"Th-that's right. No matter how much of a Young Duke he is, he tried to lay his hand on a woman at a ball, so His Highness the Grand Duke must have stepped in."
At Eleanor's seasoned rhetoric, sighs of relief and murmurs of understanding spread among the frozen nobles. The spark of the scandal had been extinguished with a single sentence. Eleanor then coldly looked down at Claude, who had collapsed to the floor groaning, and Vivian, who stood beside him, pale and trembling.
"What are the Imperial Guards doing! Why aren't they dragging those ruffians out immediately, who barged into the sacred Foundation Day ball without invitations and caused a riot!"
The guards flinched in surprise and rushed over in a panic.
"M-Madam. But isn't that His Excellency the Young Duke of Castillo...?"
"I, the mistress of Castillo, command this. Before he is my son, he is a sinner who has desecrated the etiquette of the Imperial Household. Drag him out immediately and throw him into the dungeon of the Duke's mansion! Exile that young lady of the Baron's family standing nearby out of the Imperial Palace as an accomplice as well!"
"M-Mother!! Aaaargh! My arm...!"
"M-Madam! Your Excellency! Please save me!"
Claude, his shoulder blade dislocated, struggled as he was dragged out, and Vivian, sobbing and snotting, was also dragged out by the guards like a piece of luggage. It was the moment when the trash that had been wreaking havoc on the ballroom was completely cleaned up.
The gazes of the nobles watching this entire scene had now shifted from shock to 'awe'. That iron-willed mistress who mercilessly executes even her own bloodline. And Caelon, the beast of the North, silently supporting her from behind. Furthermore, there was Liliana, standing unwavering with a dazzling presence. No one dared to even mention the two women of Castillo or mock them.
Eleanor smiled gently at the frozen nobles.
"I apologize for dampening the mood of the ball with Castillo's lyrics. Please continue playing the music."
As the orchestra began playing the waltz again with trembling hands, Eleanor lightly patted Liliana's shoulder.
"Excellent, Liliana. You didn't back down an inch. Now, you are fully deserving of enjoying their gazes, even without my protection."
"It is all... thanks to Mother's teachings."
Liliana blushed and bowed her head. To Liliana, who stood tall and all alone, young sons of high-ranking nobles, captivated by her dazzling beauty and stature, began to cautiously approach one by one and ask to dance. It was the moment the center of the ball shifted completely to Liliana.
Eleanor, who had been watching Liliana with a pleased look like a mother letting her daughter out by the water's edge, felt a low, lingering male voice penetrate her ears once again.
"To think you would disguise my pure devotion as 'chivalry.' Your way of handling things, Madam, is just as annoyingly perfect now as it was ten years ago."
It was Caelon. Taking advantage of the moment when the hall's gaze was focused on Liliana, he stood behind Eleanor and spoke to her secretly. Eleanor folded her fan and turned her head slightly.
"Follow me, Grand Duke. Although, as a price for chivalry, all I can offer is a glass of chilled champagne."
Avoiding the eyes of others, Eleanor headed to the outdoor terrace on the second floor of the ballroom, where the light of the chandeliers did not reach. Caelon followed silently, stepping on her shadow with his long legs.
***
On the second-floor terrace, where a cool autumn breeze blew, the noise of the ballroom subsided, creating a space for just the two of them in the deep darkness. Leaning against the terrace railing, Eleanor quietly looked up at the massive man approaching her. Although Caelon had been suppressing his emotions in the hall out of deference to the nobles, now that they were alone, a fierce, unmistakable thirst shone in his golden eyes.
"It has been ten years, Grand Duke."
Eleanor broke the silence first.
"I never imagined that the young man who used to cough up blood in the mud would appear as a beast commanding half the Empire. Was that rude intrusion on the first floor just now a Northern-style greeting to a benefactor of the past?"
Undeterred by Eleanor's chilling question, Caelon closed the distance to within noses of hers. His massive frame blocked the moonlight as he looked down at Eleanor, trapping her between the wall and himself. At a distance close enough to touch breath, a thick scent of the winter forest wafted from Caelon.
"If I were to pay my respects to a benefactor, I would have beheaded that incompetent husband long ago and laid his head at your feet."
Caelon's red lips moved slowly.
"There was only one reason why I have waited in this rotten empire, holding my breath, for ten years without going mad. Eleanor Castillo."
"..."
"It is because I waited for the day you would tear down those wretched walls yourself and walk out."
His voice was low and hoarse. It dripped with the longing he had suppressed for so long.
"But your eyes were always bound by the shackles of 'Castillo.' If I had reached out, you would have treated me like an uninvited guest and pushed me away. So I waited like a beast. Until the devotion to the family completely vanished from those beautiful eyes of yours."
Eleanor's eyes widened slightly at Caelon's sharp insight.
Indeed. Before her regression, she had been so obsessed with sacrificing her own bones to protect the family that she had tried hard to ignore the secret support and assistance Caelon offered.
"But tonight, your gaze was different."
Caelon raised his hand and carefully tucked the silver hair that had fallen over Eleanor's cheek behind her ear. The moment his fingertips touched, his body heat was scorching hot.
"Your gaze, Madam, was not that of a mistress trying to protect Castillo. It was the gaze of a ruler determined to completely shatter that rotten trash can. The moment I saw that beautiful murderous intent, I could no longer hold onto the reins of reason."
It was the desperate confession of a beast. A blind and dangerous devotion, built up solely to possess this woman, even to the extent of his Grand Duke status and military might.
Any ordinary young lady would have collapsed under such dizzying obsession. But Eleanor was an iron-willed ruler who had lived forty years. She remained unshaken by Caelon's intense pheromones and confession; instead, she smiled coldly and lightly tugged at his tie.
"You have quite the observational skills, Caelon. You are right."
"..."
"I intend to destroy my husband and son, tear Castillo apart in its entirety, and toss it at Liliana's feet. Casting off the Castillo name tag, I will seize perfect freedom."
Caelon, his head bowed as his tie was pulled, his golden eyes trembling with ecstasy.
"That is why I need a weapon. A ruthless and perfect 'shield and sword' to stand in my way, preventing the Imperial Household and the Imperial nobles from coveting Castillo's fortune when I file for divorce and destroy those bastards."
"That is me, Madam."
Caelon whispered earnestly, placing his large hand over Eleanor's hand that was gripping the tie.
"I will become your most perfect sword. If the Emperor stands in my way, I will smash the Imperial Palace; if the nobles wag their tongues, I will sew their mouths shut. So..."
"There is no such thing as a free lunch. After all, the foundation of a merchant is trade."
Eleanor stared straight into Caelon's eyes.
"What is it that you want from me in exchange for borrowing the military power of the Grand Duke of the North, who holds half the Empire?"
Caelon took a deep breath. Then, like a beast craving its master's touch, he slowly rested his forehead against Eleanor's white shoulder and let out a groan like an animal.
"Your side."
Through the cold breeze on the terrace, Caelon's desperate heartbeat was transmitted directly to Eleanor's body.
"So that when you escape that trash can, no other bastard would dare look at you. Please let you settle only by my side, in my arms."
Eleanor quietly felt the warmth of the massive man, his face buried in her shoulder, as he slowly closed and opened his eyes. Her life before the regression had been terribly lonely and cold. In a life where she had always lived only protecting and feeding others, a beast had appeared for the first time, vowing to shatter the world solely for her sake. Deep within her chest, her frozen heart began to beat faintly. Eleanor slowly and gently stroked Caelon's rough black hair
"Very well. I accept that contract."
Eleanor's red lips curved alluringly under the moonlight.
"However, if you wish to hold my leash, you will have to be prepared for a rather arduous path, Grand Duke Caelon."
The night of the Imperial Foundation Ball. The desire for revenge and the most dangerous intensity that would shake the Empire were rising simultaneously.
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