# 16 -
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Reagan's puzzled expression made Serret realize her mistake.
Unlike her, who went back in time, Reagan was meeting Seret Enohater for the first time today.
She shouldn't have talked to him like she had known him for a long time.
“My words slipped inadvertently. I heard that you are not engaged, but…don’t you have anyone in your heart?” Siret changed the subject lightly.
“No, not yet.” Reagan replied with a kind smile.
His gaze towards Seret was warm, just as it had been in her previous life.
“The Grand Duke is very kind. You are truly a good person.”
“I'm a really good guy.” Reagan answered confidently.
Seret smiled slightly.
He was as he said—a good-hearted man, unlike Yuan.
It wasn't long before the carriage stopped in front of Duke Frecktwister's palace.
Reagan looked out the window and spoke in a tone of regret.
"It's so close. So close that I wonder if it's always been this close."
“Thanks to you, I arrived in complete comfort.” Seret thanked Regan with a polite smile.
The carriage door opened, and Reagan got out first, then extended his hand to Syrett.
Seret took his hand, got off the carriage, and bowed in respect.
“Come back inside safely, Miss Enohater.”
“Safe journey, Your Highness the Grand Duke.”
Syrette turned away from Regan, smiling.
Finally, the imperial party was over.
Seret exhaled a quiet sigh of relief.
All that's left now is to go home.
The time is approaching when she will live a life separate from Yuan.
***
Inside the carriage returning to the Imperial Palace,
Reagan was lost in thought.
His offer to accompany Seret to her home was purely spontaneous.
Normally, he would have to tell her fiancé, Yuan.
But he did not, and now he rode with her in the carriage to Frecktwister's palace.
“Yuan will kill me if he finds out.”
Reagan laughed lightly.
He himself did not understand what prompted this behavior.
He tried to convince himself that he was just curious to see how Yuan would react.
He deliberately did not look deeper into his other feelings.
His intuition told him he shouldn't.
Moments later, the carriage arrived at the Imperial Palace.
Reagan got out and headed toward the concert hall.
As usual, Yuan was surrounded by people.
Everyone was clamoring to win Duke Frecktwister's favor.
Sometimes it seemed as if House Frecktwister had more influence than even the Imperial Family.
The decline of the power of kings and nobles was not a matter of the Aelon Empire alone.
It was an era in which nobility emerged stronger than the royal family,
A new middle class possessed more capital than the court aristocracy.
An era when ancient structures were slowly crumbling.
However, even if everything collapses,
The Freaktwister House, led by Yuan, would undoubtedly continue to shine.
With a heavy feeling of defeat, Reagan walked towards Yuan with a tired face.
“Duke Freaktwister.”
The crowd quickly stepped aside when they saw Reagan approaching.
“Shall we have a little chat?”
“Yes, Your Highness the Grand Duke.” Yuan replied with a tired face.
Reagan left the hall and headed to the quiet back garden.
Yuan followed him silently, then said in a dissatisfied tone:
“Have you seen my fiancée by chance?”
Reagan froze at his question.
The harshness of Yuan's voice made him feel as if he had committed a grave sin against him.
Regan smiled awkwardly as he turned to him.
He couldn't see Yuan's face clearly in the shadows.
But the cold aura emanating from him suddenly made his throat go dry.
“I wanted to ask you...what happened to your forehead?” Reagan tried to change the subject.
“I can't find Miss Enohater. She's not in the hall either.” Yuan said without answering the question.
“Ah, well... actually...”
“You really haven't seen her?”
Yuan was always meticulous in his dealings with Reagan.
He formally addresses him as “Your Highness the Grand Duke.”
But now his voice had changed, and it carried a hidden impatience.
His eyes, looking at Regan with his arms crossed, were sharp as a blade.
Fearing that he would be severely reprimanded if he continued to procrastinate, Reagan quickly responded:
“She has returned to the Duke’s Palace.”
"What?"
“Miss Enohater said she didn't feel well, so I drove her myself and I've just come back.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Reagan felt a shiver run through his body.
Yuan remained silent, his lips tightly pursed,
But the aura emanating from him was enough to make Reagan feel small.
“She came back... without telling anyone.”
His voice when he broke the silence was like ice.
“She tried to say something, but Miss Enohater said she didn't want to bother you. She's very considerate...yes, very considerate.”
Reagan spoke as he watched Yuan's reaction, completely unaware of his confusion.
“Your Highness the Grand Duke, I think I should go back now.”
Yuan bowed politely and turned away from Reagan.
The roundness of his back was cold enough to freeze the blood.
That was clearly silent anger.
Reagan asked anxiously:
Will Yuan take that anger out on Miss Enohater?
As the idea formed in his mind, Yuan suddenly turned towards him.
“Ah… come back in peace!” Regan stammered with a nervous smile.
Yuan walked towards him with steady steps,
Reagan swallowed nervously.
“I didn't thank you for accompanying my fiancée home.”
“We have no need for that.”
“I thank you, Your Highness Grand Duke Poplaruel, but if something like this happens again, please let me know first, since Seret is my fiancée.”
Yuan bowed solemnly and then turned to leave.
It was only after Yuan had completely moved away that Reagan breathed a sigh of relief.
He was a man who inspired a natural awe in others.
But when he deliberately shows it, it becomes truly stifling.
“Haha…” Regan laughed faintly.
No matter how he looks at it, Yuan Frecktwister is an extraordinary man.
However, for him to give an explicit warning to a Grand Duke… is rare.
Reagan felt that his strength had failed because of Yuan,
He politely warned him not to interfere with his fiancée, and then he left.
Reagan smiled bitterly and started walking towards the hall.
Logically, after that warning he should have stopped caring about Miss Enohater,
But for some reason, he became even more curious about her.
“This is really bad.” Reigen muttered, wiping his forehead.
It seemed like a really big problem had begun.
***
When Yuan got off the carriage,
His steps carried a mixture of anger and hurt feelings.
He was in a bad mood all evening,
He didn't need much thought to know why.
Siret Enohater.
It is his fiancée who is demanding that the engagement be annulled.
“Welcome back, Your Highness the Duke.”
said the butler as he entered the foyer.
The worried look in his eyes silently said:
“You're back early than usual.”
“Miss Enohater?”
“She has returned, Your Highness. She should be in her room now.”
“How is she?”
“She said she was tired, but nothing seemed serious.”
Yuan nodded briefly and walked up the stairs at a brisk pace.
Siret Enohater abandoned me.
She dumped me and went with Reagan.
The corner of his mouth twitched in a sarcastic smile.
He was very upset with his fiancée who tried to run away at every opportunity.
Being unwell was probably an excuse and nothing more.
If she was really sick, she would have told me, not a Grand Duke whom she met only today.
Yuan entered his room, threw his coat on the bed,
Then he reached for his tie.
But his feelings were boiling without relief.
He violently removed the tie and let it fall to the ground.
Then he left the room, heading towards Seret's room.
He stood in front of the door, took a deep breath, and knocked.
There was no response, as if the room was empty or she was asleep.
He was about to turn away,
When he saw Seret walking down the corridor in simple home clothes.
“Your Highness the Duke.” She said with slight surprise as she approached him.
“You said you didn't feel well.”
Yuan studied her face.
There was no trace left on her face from the party.
It turned from a luxurious bouquet of flowers into a white lily that blossomed at dawn.
But her beauty has not changed.
This made him even angrier.
She's a woman who doesn't always need to be pretty—
But only when he sees her.
“The Grand Duke must have told you.”
"Yes."
Her voice as she mentioned Reagan was soft and seductive.
Yuan's eyebrows twitched in annoyance.
“I rode the Grand Duke’s carriage so as not to disturb you, Your Highness.
Did you come back early for me?”
Although she did not say it explicitly,
But her view was that there was no need for him to do that.
She receives the kindness of a Grand Duke whom she has known to-day with satisfaction;
But she sets strict boundaries with her fiancé.
“Miss Enohater seems to be more socially adept than I thought.”
Yuan sneered bitterly.
He was angry at his fiancée who avoided him at every opportunity.
While she easily accepts another man's compliment.
You should have relied on me,
To ask for my help,
To beg me—not to another man.
Seret Enohater, of course, had to do it.
Yuan smiled sarcastically.
“Are you surprised that I'm not the fool who has no taste or tact as they say?” Seret said with a bright smile.
“Yet you seem to have no sense of what is going on around you.”
Seret stopped smiling and stared at him for a long time.
For a while, the two exchanged silent glances.
“Yes, it seems I don't. That's why I accepted your marriage proposal.”
“You mean you regret it?”
“I'm asking to break off the engagement because I regret it, isn't that obvious?”
“You insist you're not stupid, but I think you are.”
"What did you say?" Anger flared in Seret's voice.
“That's why you keep bringing up the topic of breaking off the engagement.”
Yuan was amazed that she could insist on that request so effortlessly,
Even though he knew it would never work.
He almost applauded her naivety.
“I think you should look for a more naive woman... No,
Marry the one you love.
Just don’t ruin another woman’s life.”
Seret said coldly, and looked at him with icy eyes.
Sometimes she looked at him that way—
As if it was the thing she hated most in this world.
But she did not realize that that look was stirring in the man something primitive and hidden.
“No one would think that his life would be ruined by his marriage to the Duke of Frecktwister.”
“That is only if he doesn’t know the dark side of Yuan Freaktwister’s heart.”
“If you were able to truly see the darkness in my heart, you would know that you shouldn’t act this way now.”
Yuan said in a low voice,
Then he took a long step towards her,
Until they were close enough to feel each other's breathing.
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