The Grand Duke’s Little Lady - Chapter 34
Black, it’s his sword mana.
A noble mana that only obeys those who have reached a certain level of sword skill.
The knight’s sword was surrounded by dark red mana.
The fluttering image seemed to be burning.
Lucian’s sword also emitted mana.
It was not black like his hair, but a dark blue like his eyes that gave a cold feeling.
It stretched out in a shape that as sharp as an ice crystal.
‘Sword mana is amazing…’
Ariel approached the window to get a closer look.
A more interesting thing happened when the mana-covered swords collided.
The moment the two swords touched, a high-pitched sound was heard and a wave of air was pushed violently in the surrounding area.
The momentum caused whirlwinds, that swept the soil and dust in the surrounding area and the grass and trees were torn apart.
The sparring match was only a practice, but it felt like it was completely real just now.
Without realizing the time passed, Ariel stood by the window and watched the training.
Swordsmanship naturally had the charm of stealing people’s attention.
The battle ended with Lucian’s victory.
A big knight grumbled.
“You almost killed me.”
Lucian’s attitude toward the knight was quite informal, unlike when dealing with others.
‘Well, Lucian had a drink with him…’
Ariel speculated that the knight was probably close to Lucian.
By the time Lucian’s sword practice was over, Ariel took a clean towel and walked often toward the entrance of the mansion.
She saw Lucian’s hair soaked in sweat earlier that’s why she thought it’ll be a good idea to prepare a towel for him.
‘I’m his wife so it’s okay I do this, right? ‘
She saw Lucian walking inside the front door.
Ariel quickly approached him and held out a towel.
“Lucian. This.”
Lucian, who saw the towel in front of him, glanced down at her.
‘Is it because I just saw him use the sword?’
His eyes were overflowing with unsinkable violence.
Like a wild beast?
He smiled and twisted his lips.
“Are you trying to be a wife already?”
‘Uh… But Lucian was the one who ordered me to do it.’
After receiving the towel, he roughly covered his head with it and reached out to Ariel.
His thumb came up and swept Ariel’s mouth.
“Huh?”
A small piece of crumb fell from her mouth.
Lucian said in a way that seemed to play with a kitten.
“You should take the crumbs out of your mouth first before you take a towel to me, kid.”
‘Ugh.’
Ariel’s face turned red.
‘I tried to act like a wife as per the contract, but I was completely treated like a child.’
‘How embarrassing. ‘
Lucian, who grinned at Ariel, wiped his sweaty hair dryly and disappeared into his room.
Ariel went straight to the mirror and cleaned up the crumbs on her face.
‘The butter cookies I ate while watching the practice were the source of trouble.’
When eating a butter cookie filled with sugar sprinkled and red raspberry jam in the middle, it was a common practice to get crumbs on the corners of the mouth when you didn’t know it.
‘I must have looked like a fool…’
Ariel lowered her head.
Then she heard Dalton’s voice from behind.
“Young madam.”
“Yes?”
Looking back, Dalton answered politely, looking up his glasses.
“The young madam has a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
“Yes.”
‘No way. What do you mean by a visitor? For me?
“The Grand Duke has given his permission. Will you meet the guest?”
‘Ah, if Sir Mathius allows it…’
If it’s approved by Mathius, then Ariel did not have a reason not to meet them.
‘No, maybe it’s someone I need to see?’
She nodded her head.
“Yes, I’ll meet them in my room. Please send them up there.”
Ariel started wondering as she climbs the stairs.
‘But who’s the guest?’
Mathius, who has been hiding her from the outside world, has suddenly permitted her to meet someone.
That’s why she was very curious about who it was.
*knock**knock*
Allen quietly reported that the guest has arrived outside the door.
“Come on in.”
Hiding her tension, Ariel greeted the guest as she sat still at the table like how she learned from Marchioness Lancel.
The door opened gently and a stranger entered.
“Ah, you are…”
Ariel recognized the stranger immediately.
The person who came in paused when she saw Ariel, and then she greeted her, lifting the hem of the dress finely.
Her hand lifting the dress was pale and trembling.
“Hello, Princess. My name is Diana Monica, the eldest daughter of Duke Monica.”
Ariel’s guest was the violet-haired noble girl she had saved in a carriage.
Lady Diana was an esteemed daughter, who had slightly upturned eyes, giving off a fresh and proud impression. In fact, Diana was a lady with very high self-esteem.
Born as the daughter of a Duke, she was known for her beauty even though she was only 15 years old.
In addition, the house of Monica was the only one of the three dukes who had a daughter of the prince’s age, so she grew up hearing that she will be the prince’s bride.
Although she was not interested in the crown prince.
However, her pride, which was so high, was horribly shattered when she faced a life-threatening event.
Neither her father’s sincere love nor her status as a princess, or even his Majesty, who regarded her as a daughter-in-law, saved her life.
The one who saved Diana was the courage of a girl much younger than her.
Diana heard from her father that the one who saved her was a young lady and that she had fallen ill while saving her.
Duke Monica asked Diana to take care of herself.
“For the time being, you should never be seen by the Prince and the Grand Duke.”
“….father.”
“No human who touched a Lacartel has been safe so far, even a member of the royal family faced some consequence before. Father will apologize and thank them. They saved you, and I willing to pay for anything.”
Duke Monica’s voice was firm.
Diana could see that her father was very determined.
It was the one who held resentment to the Duke of Monica who drove Diana’s carriage in an accident.
That person has already quietly dealt with, but Monica had to properly apologize to the heavenly Grand Duke.
It means that she was swept away by the fight of the Monica family and even injured someone from the Grand Duke’s house.
Diana was also familiar with the notoriety of the Grand Duke Lacartel.
The Grand Duke was famous for making anyone who touches them pay the price.
There have been so many cases in history, that the people of the Empire even started calling them ‘Lacartel, the punisher’.
However, Diana, who has pride, could not hide behind her father.
She personally wanted to thank the princess and ask for mercy.
So she came here without her father knowing.
For her, it was almost like risking her life.
“Come in.”
Of course, she thought she’d be kicked out of the door, but Grand Duke Mathius let Diana into the house.
The interior of the house was more luxurious than the imperial palace, which she frequented from time to time. And when she was escorted into the room of the Princess…
Diana was shocked by the appearance of a girl who looked only eight years old.
‘Oh, my God. She’s too small!’
The princess she imagined was young, but she was a wizard with tremendous mana.
But Ariel, whom she met in real life, was a very lovely little girl with shiny ruby-like hair.
Despite her great surprise, Diana did not forget her purpose in coming here.
She greeted her by lifting the dress in the lowest position she ever did all her life.
Her hands trembled with tension and fear.
“Hello, Princess. My name is Diana Monica, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Monica.”
Ariel was glad to see Diana.
She was curious about the girl she saved, but she came to see her personally.
Ariel looked to see if Diana was hurt.
‘My magic must have worked properly.’
Diana looked healthy without any injuries.
‘Wait, she’s the daughter of Duke Monica?’
Ariel was surprised inside.
It was because it was the name of a family that she had heard of.
Having not even made her social debut in the past, she did not know much about many noble families.
But the only family she knew about was the house of Monica.
‘Marquis Lucillion and the Duke of Monica were close.’
The two families were partners.
The Marquis was very groveling to the Duke during his business with him.
When Ariel escaped from the Marquis before, the one who saw her was the Duke and Duchess of Monica.
‘And…’
Ariel remembered. One of the faint memories of her past life.
‘Diana Monica was dead.’
‘Come to think of it, it was around this time when that happened.’
The only daughter of Duke Monica suddenly dies in a carriage accident, and after her death, the duke and his wife went down to the estate in grief.
‘I remember that the Marquis was quite annoying that time.’
‘Did I…change it?’
At this time in the past, Ariel was still trapped in the cold attic.
The fate of her and Diana’s had nothing to do with each other.
But it’s different now.
She saved Diana’s life.
Ariel thought she had no power to change the future so far.
There was no change in that idea even now.
That’s because she didn’t know anything about the outside world before she went back.
She had no intention of intervening in anything other than changing her life.
However, when she saw Diana alive in front of her, a calm wave hit my heart.
‘I’ve changed the lives of other people besides me.’
I saved a person who almost died.
It’s not because she saved a high-ranking noble. The joy she felt was because of saving the life of a young girl with a bright future.
“Nice to meet you, Diana.”
Ariel spoke in a different voice.
But Diana’s face turned red in front of her, and suddenly went on her knees at Ariel’s feet.
“Princess, please show mercy! I apologize on behalf of my family.”
‘Yes…?! ‘
Ariel was surprised because of Diana, who suddenly kneeled in front of her.
She tried to raise Diana, but Diana was helpless.
“I heard you got hurt saving me. You’re my benefactor. I have also grown up as a princess, so I know how difficult it is for the princess in a high position to sacrifice herself to save others. Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, I would be dead!”
