Chapter 93 — His Care
"I am— was a princess, Your Highness," Cynthia simply responded to her soft tone from earlier, turning as cold as the man who sat before her.
Lucian stared at her, unable to find words to say. His mind had turned blank. It had been happening for the past few days whenever he thought of her; however, it only worsened whenever Cynthia stood in front of him.
The young woman sitting before him exceeded his comprehension. At times, she seemed to be the most elegant, king lady and the next, she would turn into an emotionless, cold-natured woman— almost as if the rumours about her were not lies but the truth. Yet, instead of believing those, he for once wanted to know her— her true self. She had masked her true self behind the mask of kindness or evilness because surely, she couldn’t be both at once.
"You are now the Duchess of Erion," Lucian finally said, breaking the unbearable silence which had begun to strangle him as if the air had been polluted with the scent of blood. For a reason he couldn’t understand, he did not like the sound of her calling herself a princess, which was in the past, compared to using her new title– duchess. Despite initially being against others’ calling her grand duchess, he had started to prefer the sound of that compared to ’Princess Cynthia’.
Cynthia’s eyes widened at his unexpected statement.
He had never— never acknowledged me as the Duchess of Erion...
At a loss for words, Cynthia merely stared at Lucian. Her mind was filled with questions she couldn’t articulate.
"Uhm... yes," she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I haven’t denied that fact."
The two exchanged glances, only to quickly avert their eyes. They remained silent for a moment before Lucian spoke up.
"I saw the document you prepared for the cost of repairing the market."
"Is that so? How was it?" Cynthia’s tone shifted to a softer register.