Chapter 85
Speaking of proposals…
“You prepare a ring and flowers while thinking of that person, go together to a meaningful place… then kneel and say it. That you love them and want to spend your life together.”
Although Joachim had never even confessed his love, let alone proposed, he was full of dreams and hopes, being a romantic like his father. Moreover, he was completely elated at the thought of his always-troubled younger brother facing a happy and romantic future. Right now, Joachim had half-forgotten who he was talking to.
As a result, Joachim, who usually couldn’t even make eye contact with the Grand Duke, began to pour out his ideas about an ideal proposal in great detail.
From the meaning of flower languages to his thoughts on ideal locations and situation simulations.
The Grand Duke watched with interest as this person, who had been cowering like a cat crawling on its belly just moments ago, suddenly became excited and chattered endlessly. It felt somewhat like… seeing his assistant when they first met, so different between day and night.
Honestly, he couldn’t understand half of what was being said.
Flowers? Why give a gift of inedible plants that are often poisonous? Some of the flowers he mentioned were even extremely dangerous.
And why consider the meaning of plants and give them based on such thoughts?
Moreover, a ring? Wearing cumbersome metal on the sensitive and delicate front paws? The mere thought was horrifying. What kind of courtship was this?
Starting with the kiss, he couldn’t understand human courtship at all. He knew humans were unnecessarily complicated and strange, but he didn’t expect their courtship expressions to be like this too.
But… if that was the courtship expression that could properly reach that guy without misunderstanding. If that was the way to properly convey his courtship to his assistant…
‘I guess there’s no choice. What else can I do?’
That guy didn’t understand cat-style courtship and often misunderstood it. The Grand Duke, as his mate, had no choice but to adapt to him.
Having made up his mind, the Grand Duke quickly summarized the knight’s long speech.
So…
To properly court, you need flowers, a ring, and to say “I love you, let’s live together forever” in a suitable place, right?
‘It seems human courtship requires a lot of preparation.’
It wasn’t like an impressive prey to demonstrate his competence as a mate, and he didn’t understand why the preparation items were such things.
For now, there were several suitable places within his territory. Taking his assistant there was no problem. He could say the words anytime, anywhere.
But.
‘Flowers and a ring will be difficult.’
Even though it was the end of winter, it was still quite cold. In Reinke, where temperatures were much lower than other places even in spring, it would take quite some time for flowers to bloom.
It meant it would be difficult to even see flowers for a while.
The ring was the same. There were some left by the previous Grand Duchess, but… they wouldn’t fit his assistant’s fingers. Moreover, they weren’t “prepared while thinking of that person,” so they didn’t meet the knight’s description.
So he would need to prepare a new ring for his assistant that fit his hand. As far as the Grand Duke knew, while Reinke had many craftsmen making tools and weapons, there were no artisans who made fancy jewelry.
Should he wait until he could get flowers and a ring? In that case, it would considerably delay the schedule.
The Grand Duke, already out of patience, didn’t want to wait for another long period.
But flowers and a ring were the first things the knight mentioned. They must be absolutely necessary items for courtship.
It would take a long time to get them, but without them, he couldn’t court. What would be the best way to handle this?
As the Grand Duke pondered about procuring human courtship preparation items, he suddenly realized.
‘There’s the capital.’
A place where fresh and splendid flowers could be obtained year-round, and all kinds of jewelry abounded.
The Grand Duke was scheduled to go there soon.
‘I can get them there.’
Although it was a journey he really didn’t want to make… if he could get the courtship preparation items there and properly conduct human-style courtship without waiting too long.
‘The situation might feel a bit less unpleasant.’
Although the capital was troublesome, full of dangers, and too noisy, it was certainly a place where he could get much higher quality flowers and rings than near Reinke.
Even if the items were strange, if they had to be given during courtship, they would have a similar meaning to prey shown to demonstrate his abilities. Obviously, the better the items, the better the effect.
Of course, his mate was a weakling who got scared when presented with large prey. But no matter who he was, he wouldn’t be scared of plants and metal pieces…
‘This time, I can show him my mate’s abilities by bringing not just a measly rabbit, but proper prey.’
The Grand Duke’s eyes narrowed with satisfaction as he imagined succeeding in his courtship and the reactions his assistant often showed when courted.
As the Grand Duke organized his thoughts, Joachim, whose excitement was slowly fading and who was beginning to realize who he had been talking to and what he had said, was looking at the Grand Duke.
Because he was too excited about his long-standing worries disappearing and seeing a hopeful future, he seemed to have shown a side of himself that he would never have dared to show in front of the terrifying Your Grace under normal circumstances… He seemed to have made all sorts of sappy comments loudly in front of Your Grace…
Considering that…
‘I’m… alive?’
Wasn’t it usually the case that if you talked nonsense in front of Your Grace, your neck would be snapped?
Of course, Your Grace asked first, but still?
Joachim thought as he felt his perfectly intact neck.
He had rambled on with words that would have made even Magda run away if she heard them…?
Moreover, thinking about it, the Grand Duke had seriously listened to all of Joachim’s near-sappy talk. And now he was even deeply lost in thought about it.
Joachim calmly observed the Grand Duke, who was emanating a serious aura as if pondering a truly important matter with his eyes downcast.
He had asked about proposals and heard the answer, so he was probably thinking about how to propose to Ruan.
To propose to his beloved brother, so seriously and earnestly.
Joachim had never looked at the Grand Duke so closely before, always too busy trembling in fear. But as he watched him like this, for some reason…
‘Somehow… he seems less scary than usual…?’
It was a sentiment he never imagined he would have about the Grand Duke in his lifetime.
But now.
That being from the heavens, that terrifying lord who was like an unfathomable divine punishment, was just… someone who loved another person like himself, who valued that person’s happiness and spent time and heart worrying about it, who thought about a future with that person when they weren’t around…
Just. Was he that kind of person all along?
As Joachim pondered while looking at the Grand Duke, he slightly opened his mouth, closed it, and finally opened it again. Then he spoke in a careful voice.
“Your Grace. I… hope for Ruan’s happiness.”
As if emerging from his thoughts, the Grand Duke’s piercing golden eyes moved towards Joachim. Joachim flinched for a moment at that intimidating gaze, but…
“So do I.”
At the reply that came in a cold, stiff voice from an infinitely stoic face, he felt the tension in his shoulders slowly dissipate.
After giving his brief answer, the Grand Duke turned around and walked away as if he had finished his business. Given his schedule, he was likely heading to his office.
Joachim stood there, watching the Grand Duke’s retreating figure.
Briefly thinking that his steps seemed both majestic and light.
* * *
Time passed, and finally, the day of departure for the capital dawned.
Ruan was lost in thought as he watched the luggage being loaded onto the carriage.
During this time, Ruan had been tremendously worried and concerned about how to handle his relationship with the Grand Duke. But while he had only worried and fretted, he hadn’t found a solution yet.
‘Hasn’t the Grand Duke become… somewhat quiet?’
Honestly, Ruan had expected that something would happen even before departing for the capital, let alone after.
Although the Grand Duke had patience in the top 1% among cats, that was only in comparison to other cats. The Grand Duke never refrained from doing what he wanted to do.
As a result, he thought he might suddenly be caught one day despite trying hard to avoid it. That’s why he had been racking his brains even harder, but…
‘Nothing happened?’
