The Miller Duchess's Bitter Words
The Miller Duke and the Miller Duchess had once shared a passionate love. The Miller Duchess, a woman from a lower noble family, had never bowed to her lowly status and possessed an audacious charm that even flustered the Duke during their first meeting.
The Miller Duke had fallen for her in an instant. After pursuing her with fervor—until she finally accepted his advances—the two began dating.
Yet the Miller Duchess’s number-one priority had never been the Miller Duke.
Before the wall of reality known as marriage, she had declared a breakup to him. But when the Duke found he could not accept it, he begged her to spend one last night together before the separation.
Weak of heart, the Miller Duchess accepted. And that night, Noah was conceived.
To the Miller Duke, it had been a farce. To the Miller Duchess, it had been a tragedy.
Eventually they married. The Duke, who would later be whispered about as a cuckold, did everything possible to please his wife. While he basked in happiness, the Miller Duchess slowly began to crumble.
Locked away in this vast mansion, the endless confinement of her imprisonment was hell to someone who craved freedom.
[I’d rather she were dead.]
The Miller Duchess could not accept it. That she had chosen the wrong man. That everything had gone wrong because of it. That it all stemmed from a single choice—spending one last night together the night they decided to break up. She could not bear the thought. Her own foolish choice had led her to kill herself.
The hatred she directed at herself reached out toward the cause—toward the weakest, most powerless creature of all.
[If you disappear, your father might let me go.]
The Miller Duchess hurled the cruel words at Noah once more, and he could endure no longer.
He had vaguely thought she loved him. She didn’t show it, but she worried and was proud of him.
He had realized it was not just a misunderstanding but a delusion. She did not love Noah. She truly hated her own son. The powerless body that had been pushed aside finally collapsed to the floor.
It was then.
[Noah!]
A childish voice cut in. The Miller Duchess, who had been glaring at him as though she wanted to devour him, turned away after spotting the intruder. She walked away without a backward glance. Wanting nothing more than to escape quickly, she had not even noticed the silver-haired figure that suddenly appeared in her line of sight.
Thickly furrowed brows. Shimmering pansy eyes. A face filled with worry had covered up the hatred.
[Noah. Are you all right?]
Just one sentence. A simple, formal word that should have been easy to say. Yet to Noah, it was special. In a world where no one paid him any attention, someone had suddenly looked at him with worry-filled eyes.
A stranger. Not even family.
[What should I do? Your hand is bleeding. It must hurt a lot… Can you get up?]
Adeline reached out as if to help him up. Noah’s vision blurred as he stared at that small hand. His throat itched, and his words stuck in his throat.
Plop.
Tears spilled from Noah’s unconscious eyes, and Adeline’s gaze trembled. A girl with no talent for comforting, she bit her lower lip in confusion. As she tried to say something, she released her lip and nodded.
It was then.
Adeline pulled him into her arms. Noah froze with his eyes wide open. The warmth of her embrace felt unreal. A woman far smaller than him had wrapped herself completely around him. It was too strange, so without realizing, he grabbed her arms. Perhaps thinking he was about to fall, Adeline instead pulled his neck even tighter.
[It’s all right.]
What was there to say?
[Now it’s all right. Noah.]
A pebble had been thrown into Noah’s heart. The small ripples spread through his entire body, so intense they were unbearable. It was right to say he had been overwhelmed by her. He grabbed the sleeve of Adeline’s retreating figure.
Don’t push me away.
Don’t leave me.
Adeline’s brows curved as she looked at Noah’s face. Her expression twisted in displeasure.
On that day, Adeline seemed to have made a decision. She grabbed Noah’s cheek and lifted it. Using her fingers to wipe away the tears from his wet face, she then opened her lips.
[I will protect you.]
The spring water given to a thirsty beast was incredibly precious.
[I won’t leave you. I’ll stay by your side forever. So, Noah…]
[……]
[Don’t cry.]
The face that had been watching him was so deeply etched in his heart that for a long time afterward it floated like a phantom.
* * *
After that day, Noah changed his feelings toward Adeline. She was no longer the annoying girl who followed him around pretending to be a friend. She might actually be a pretty decent woman.
‘Well, if I have to marry someone anyway, Adeline isn’t a bad choice.’
[Young Master, do you know who is currently in the Duke’s study?]
Albert, the aide who had watched his young master’s love affair with his own eyes, began. Albert, who was not much older than Noah, had been itching to tease him.
[I heard recently that Lady Billet is there?]
[Really? Well then.]
Noah pretended not to care, shaking his head. Yet his mind was full of her and thoughts of their engagement.
After Adeline had declared she would protect Noah, she had been working hard to persuade the Billet Duke. At the time, the two families had a matching interest and were discussing the engagement when the Duke, exhausted by his daughter’s passionate persuasion, quickly pushed for the wedding and persuaded the Miller Duke.
As a result, their engagement had almost been decided.
[Aren’t you curious about what business brought her here?]
[No. She probably came for whatever business she has.]
Thud!
Albert, who had been sparring with him, struck Noah’s head. Noah, who had never had his head hit before, felt the dull pain and realized he had been daydreaming.
[The Young Master’s head is already cut off by me. Why can’t you concentrate? Are you perhaps worried about Lady Billet?]
Albert’s face twisted wickedly as he teased his young master. Noah glared at him before slamming his head against the floor. Even if he wanted to ignore it, all his nerves were focused on the mansion. Noah honestly admitted the fact and began running toward the mansion.
Yeah, I’m curious.
What was Adeline wearing today?
Was her hair tied up or loose?
What business did she have coming to this mansion?
Was she here to see me?
Noah was curious about Adeline. He wanted to meet her right away. Without knowing the nature of those feelings, he simply ran toward her as his heart led him.
[Huff…]
Noah, who had run hard, caught his breath for a moment. He pressed his face against the window in the corridor and tidied his appearance. His heart was beating pleasantly.
As he walked slowly down the corridor as if he had just arrived, he tilted his head in confusion.
‘Why is the door open?’
The door to the Miller Duke’s study was slightly ajar. It seemed the maids had not fastened it properly.
Noah stepped closer quietly, intending to close the door. His hand touched the handle, but his eyes naturally scanned the inside of the study.
‘Ah. There she is.’
He had no lowbrow habit of eavesdropping on others’ conversations, but his body reacted first upon realizing Adeline was there.
‘Today she has her hair tied up.’
The high tie-up revealed her neckline. Her skin was quite pale. Had it always been like that? For no reason, his mood felt strange. Just seeing her neckline made him feel like he had peeked at a secret part of her, and Noah’s ears turned red.
It was then.
[A few days ago, Noah met the Miller Duchess.]
Adeline began.
[And she rejected him.]
Her voice was businesslike and dry, as if it belonged to someone else. Noah replayed what he had heard for a while. He had not been able to understand the meaning immediately.
Finally, once he grasped the meaning, Noah’s hand stiffened tightly. He forgot to close the door and stared at the two. The Miller Duke sat on the chair, gesturing for him to continue. Since he faced away, Noah could not see Adeline’s expression. His throat burned.
[Noah looked very sad.]
What…
[So?]
[Yes. He seemed to have been badly hurt.]
[I see. Thank you for telling me.]
A flicker of anxiety lit up inside him. Too late, he realized the two had not spoken separately. Yet Adeline was telling the Miller Duke everything that had happened a few days ago. The embarrassing memories spilled from someone else’s lips, and Noah’s face heated up, his eyes burning.
[Are you going to see her face today?]
[……Yes. I’ll come back around tomorrow to tell you what we talked about and what Noah was thinking.]
Noah bit the inside of his cheek to swallow a bitter laugh. The faint hope that had lingered amid the wavering anxiety shattered.
Adeline reported every move of Noah to the Miller Duke.
‘Why…‘
The heart that had swelled with the desire to meet her shriveled like a balloon with the air let out.
[I will protect you.]
On that day, perhaps the thoughts inside Adeline’s head as she had hugged Noah were different. Maybe at the moment Noah had first leaned on someone else’s arms for the first time, Adeline had been secretly laughing at him.
He felt ashamed of his own foolishness. An unknown nausea surged up, and Noah hurriedly left the room.
‘Never again.’
Noah made a decision.
[I will never trust someone like Adeline again.]