The Cold-Hearted Grand Duke Obsesses Over Me After My Death - Chapter 21

Episode 21. The Lost Shoe

“Louid!”

The person who appeared from the forest was Louid.

Goodness.

Emilia, who had thought a wild animal might appear, let out a breath of relief. But unlike her, who was relieved, Louid’s expression was filled with displeasure.

“Who were you trying to seduce by throwing this?”

In his hand was the shoe that had flown into the forest. His hair was slightly disheveled.

“…Pardon? Seduce?”

At Louid’s incomprehensible words, she tilted her head.

“Don’t you know what it means to throw off your shoes?”

“……”

Emilia could not understand what he meant.

“From now on, either don’t ride the swing or ride it without shoes.”

Without explanation, Louid brusquely gave a one-sided command. Yet he didn’t return the shoe he held in his hand.

“Yes, understood.”

She still didn’t understand his words, but since he had her shoe, she answered quietly so as not to provoke him.

“Ah, and thank you for the jewels you sent.”

Since she had run into him, Emilia expressed her gratitude for the jewelry. At her words, Louid’s shoulders flinched ever so slightly.

“A wedding gift is what should be given. They aren’t new, so use them or not as you please.”

“If they belonged to someone before, they must be all the more precious. I was astonished at their beauty. Thank you truly.”

Once again, Emilia expressed her gratitude.

“Enough. That’s enough.”

“Yes.”

The jewels he had given Emilia had once belonged to his mother. Though she had been the late emperor’s second empress, she died young after giving birth to Louid. In the portraits, his mother had blonde hair and blue eyes, just like Emilia.

Louid gazed at Emilia, who resembled his mother’s portrait, for a long while. Then he walked past the swing and began heading back toward the main castle.

“Don’t just leave, give me my shoe.”

Not expecting him to simply leave, Emilia cried out urgently. Having one shoe was better than having none. But without listening, Louid suddenly turned and threw the shoe deep into the forest. It flew even farther than before.

“Fetch it yourself.”

“Oh my.”

Leaving only those words, he smirked and vanished without a care.

“Louid, Louid!”

Even at her cries, he didn’t return.

“Ah, really.”

What an infuriating man. At a time like this, a hundred curses wouldn’t be enough, but it was a shame she knew none.

‘Maybe he’ll come back.’

Emilia sat on the swing waiting for a while. But time passed, and Louid didn’t return.

She had no choice but to walk back to the annex barefoot. Fortunately, the sun had already set, so no one saw her walking barefoot.

“Ah, it hurts.”

She tried to walk along the path with the least obstacles, but in the dark she couldn’t avoid sharp stones. When she reached the annex, she covered her toes with her dress and slowly climbed the stairs. Each place she stepped left behind dusty footprints and a faint trace of blood.

“Your Highness, where were you? It grew dark and you had not returned, I was about to go search for you.”

When she arrived at her bedroom, Helen was pacing worriedly by the door.

“I lost my shoe while on the swing.”

“Oh my, really?”

Startled, Helen looked down at her bare feet. She seated Emilia in a chair, brought a wet cloth, and began wiping her feet and treating the wounds.

“Heavens. There are so many scratches, they’ll ache for days. Shall I call the physician?”

“No, it’s fine. It’s not that bad. Thank you for treating me. But Helen, is losing a shoe supposed to mean seducing a man?”

Unable to understand Louid’s words, Emilia asked Helen.

“Are you speaking of the custom in the Richert Empire?”

“Is there such a custom?”

Emilia’s eyes trembled as though shaken by an earthquake. She knew nothing of the empire’s customs.

“There is a commoners’ custom at festivals. If a girl loses her shoe while riding a swing, she must marry the man who retrieves it. These days, they often agree beforehand and arrange for their sweetheart to be in the direction the shoe is thrown.”

Helen kindly explained to the flustered Emilia.

“I see. I had no idea.”

“It is a custom from the commoners’ festivals, so nobles may not know of it.”

“I see.”

That night, lying in bed, Emilia couldn’t fall asleep out of bitterness. The wounds on her feet stung and burned.

“Bad man.”

He could have simply returned the shoe he had picked up.

It must be because we are not in love that he refused to give it back.

Emilia recalled the empire’s custom Helen had explained. Only then did she understand Louid’s actions. Because he did not love her, he did not want to return the shoe.

Why does he make such an issue of that when he will not even grant me a divorce?

The pain in her feet wasn’t severe, but tears welled up from sheer sorrow. Hugging her pillow, she lay on her side and quietly sobbed.

Tears that had fallen one by one soon streamed down her pillow in a line. After crying her heart out, she drifted off to sleep as though fainting.

‘She sleeps so well. How can she sleep without waking even once?’

That dawn too, Louid slipped into Emilia’s bedroom like a stray cat and marveled at her sleeping form. He had come to her bedroom every night until now, but not once had he seen her wake.

Louid gazed at Emilia’s face reflected in the candlelight. Having suffered from insomnia since childhood, he found someone who slept so soundly to be astonishing.

‘Why’s her face so swollen today?’

His face drew close to hers. For some reason, her eyes looked red and swollen.

In the forest earlier, they had not looked like this. Was it the candlelight?

Perhaps the flickering candle created the illusion that her face was swollen.

“You won’t lose it again once you suffer for it.”

Glancing at her bandaged feet, he muttered under his breath.

The thought of her walking barefoot all the way through the vast castle made him feel a slight pang of conscience, yet he still found himself smirking.

‘She must have lived comfortably all her life, so such suffering will do her no harm.’

Lying on the bed, he no longer avoided her. He placed her head upon his chest and fell asleep. By now, it felt empty if he didn’t have her head resting on his chest.

Before dawn broke, the quiet bedroom echoed with the sound of two steady breaths. Dreaming of falling from a swing, Emilia suddenly grabbed at something and opened her eyes wide.

“Ah.”

Confirming what she was holding in the dark, she gasped in shock. Her hand was on someone’s lower body. And that place was abnormally swollen. What she was lying on was hard abdominal muscles.

Raising her upper body and slowly turning her head, she saw the face of the man she had been lying against.

“……?”

I must still be dreaming. This is a nightmare.

With drowsy eyes, she checked the man’s face, shook her head several times, then lay back down on his stomach. And she fell asleep again.

***

“Helen, will you come with me to Madame Bella’s boutique?”

“Yes, of course.”

A few days later, Emilia decided to go to Madame Bella’s boutique with Helen. She didn’t urgently need clothes, but it was because of shoes. Though she could have simply sent her measurements, she wished to go out.

The wounds on her feet had nearly healed, and perhaps because she was eating well, her body had grown stronger.

“The weather is lovely.”

“Yes, it is.”

At her words of admiration, Helen agreed. Now spring had fully arrived in the north. Colorful flowers bloomed along the roadside, and even the trees high in the mountains were covered in lush green leaves.

Emilia felt refreshed at the rare outing by carriage. Two knights escorted her carriage front and back.

“Welcome, Your Highness.”

When she arrived at the boutique, Bella and her staff greeted her kindly.

“I know the clothes I ordered last time are not finished yet, but I came because I need shoes.”

Seated calmly on the sofa she was shown to, Emilia spoke. On her feet were shoes much too large, borrowed from Helen.

“Yes, we were informed in advance. Would you like to look through the catalog and choose?”

“Yes, I will.”

At that time, a suspicious shadow passed by the Grand Duke’s carriage parked near the boutique. It was a shabbily dressed man wearing a black hood pulled down to his nose.

The two knights were inside the boutique, and the coachman had stepped away to buy a new whip, leaving the carriage unattended.

The man lingered briefly near the carriage before slipping away like a shadow.

About an hour later, Emilia left the boutique with a pleased expression and boarded the carriage. After she climbed in first, Helen sat across from her.

Once the two were seated, the escorting knight closed the carriage door, and it slowly set off.

Then suddenly the carriage began to shake violently.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Ah!”

With a deafening crash, as though the carriage was breaking apart, Emilia’s body was thrown into the air and then slammed sideways to the right.

Dust poured in through the carriage window, and the tilted carriage lurched forward a little before coming to a halt.

“Kyaah!”

Right in front of her, Helen screamed.

“Your Highness!”