The Grand Duke’s Little Lady - Episode 110
Ariel tilted her head, puzzled.
She couldn’t quite grasp it.
“Why is that necessary?”
As Bruno gently waved his hand, the scattering petals swiftly gathered into his hand.
“People have societies, right? They live together like this.”
“Yes.”
“People learn through society. Who they are, what human history is like.
And they feel a sense of connection through their relationships with others.”
That made sense.
If there was only one human being in the vast universe, they wouldn’t know what to call themselves or how to live.
“A thousand years ago, ‘I’ didn’t exist. But through society, you can know that there were people like you a thousand years ago, feeling the same things. That’s how you empathize and connect with others. But…”
Ariel quickly caught the point.
“Dragons don’t have a society to play that role, right?”
As she activated her mana, the petals in Bruno’s hand dispersed, leaving just one.
A solitary petal.
Bruno smiled helplessly and replied.
“Yes. You’re very perceptive. Dragons are the supreme beings. Without a society, they bond with their kind and understand their identity through inherited egos.”
“I see…”
Ariel’s curiosity was not satisfied yet.
“Is that very different from humans?”
Bruno nodded.
“Yes. Dragons’ intelligence and emotions are on a completely different level from humans. Let me give you an example.”
He reached out and summoned a piece of paper.
“If human emotions are like this paper, flat, then the emotions of a Lacartel are three-dimensional.”
Bruno folded the paper into an L-shape.
Flat and three-dimensional.
“Lacartel’s emotions are one level higher, then.”
“Exactly. It’s like a frequency humans can’t understand.”
He added bitterly.
“So, there’s no one in this world that a Lacartel can truly feel joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure with, like human to human.”
Bruno sighed deeply.
“They can’t feel any emotions towards humans. Not love or affection, either.”
Hearing this, Ariel muttered unconsciously.
“That must be… very lonely.”
The corners of Bruno’s mouth lifted.
“Only you would think and feel sympathy like that, Miss Ariel.”
“Really?”
“Most people fear and hate what they can’t understand. You’re unique, Miss Ariel.”
Unique.
It was a bit embarrassing, but it didn’t feel bad.
It seemed Bruno meant it as a compliment.
“Even if I don’t understand, I’m not afraid. I don’t hate it either.”
Then she spoke playfully.
“Otherwise, how could I put up with Heath’s strange behaviors?”
“What? Hahaha!”
Bruno burst into laughter at Ariel’s words.
He clearly knew about Heath’s recent strange behavior.
After he finished laughing, Ariel dropped her joking tone.
“Bruno. Is Heath okay? He seems to have some worries he can’t talk about.”
He gazed at Ariel for a moment before speaking firmly.
“It’s not something you can solve, Miss Ariel.”
“So, there is a problem?”
“He’s just young.”
“What?”
Bruno’s words were hard to understand.
What did Heath’s youth have to do with it?
“He’ll be fine with time. When he learns to distinguish between what he can covet and what he shouldn’t, he’ll become an adult.”
“……”
Though his words were puzzling, she could sense that he was waiting for Heath’s sake.
So, I should wait too.
Ariel smiled gently and said,
“Bruno, you know so much.”
“There are many things I don’t know. For example…”
He stared intently at Ariel’s red hair.
The mana that resisted his stabilization magic…
“It’s hard to give an example. There are more things I don’t know than I do.”
Ariel laughed like a tinkling bell.
“Bruno? That’s impossible.”
She thought Bruno was being excessively modest as she parted ways with him.
She scattered the petal she had been playing with onto the grass.
Walking back to the mansion with a gait as light as a blade of grass, Heath peeked out from behind a tree.
In a low voice that was breaking from puberty, he muttered,
“Why are you so worried about me… It’s unsettling.”
* * *
Lucian returned home for the palace ball.
Now that she was fourteen, Ariel decided not to run out to the stairs but to greet Lucian at the entrance instead.
As Lucian’s carriage arrived and she saw him from a distance, she became a bit anxious.
It had been almost half a year since she last saw Lucian in the fall.
Allen, who was preparing to greet the young master behind her, spoke to Ariel.
“Why don’t you go out a bit further? The young master will be pleased.”
“Oh, no. I’m not a thoughtless child anymore.”
She tried to speak with dignity, but her voice sounded too young to be convincing.
In the meantime, Lucian quickly ascended the stairs and entered through the grand, wide-open glass doors.
“Ah, Lucian.”
Ariel looked at Lucian with a bright smile.
But soon, the smile vanished from her face.
What? Who is this man…?
The man in front of her was not the Lucian she knew.
Ariel was genuinely confused and took a step back.
Seeing her reaction, Lucian, who towered over her, tilted his head in annoyance.
‘What happened over the past six months…?’
The eighteen-year-old Lucian looked like a completely different person.
His height was now almost the same as Matias’s.
He had grown much taller than when she last saw him, and it was clear he was still growing.
He was so tall that he stood head and shoulders above the male servants, yet his body was flawlessly balanced.
His slender figure was still the same.
What made him look different wasn’t just his height.
Lucian, now an adult, exuded a completely different aura.
There was a strong masculine energy added to his characteristic arrogance.
The aura was so intense that it created a momentary effect of being intoxicated by pheromones.
Anyone facing him, regardless of gender or age, would find their mouths shut and their bodies frozen, unable to move.
Moreover, Lucian’s face, which grew more handsome by the day, was so extraordinary that it was hard to describe without invoking the existence of a god or a demon.
It felt as if one could be enchanted by just looking at him.
His physical strength was now cloaked in the garb of beauty, transforming into an overwhelming charm.
The previously violent aura that compelled everyone to submit had transformed into a seductive force that drew voluntary submission from all around.
The current Lucian was, quite literally, a dangerously beautiful monster.
‘He doesn’t seem like Lucian.’
Ariel blushed unconsciously and averted her gaze.
Her heart pounded loudly as if it were in her throat.
Her fingertips stiffened with tension.
The boy she once knew had turned into a man who exuded a foreign aura.
Seeing him in person made her feel that her desire to be taller than Lucian was utterly meaningless.
They were entirely different from the start, both as individuals and as genders.
“Ariella.”
He called her name in a pleasingly deep, low voice.
Ariel flinched, startled, and her shoulders jerked.
“You, you’re here, Lucian…”
When Lucian suddenly took a step closer, her already racing heart pounded even faster.
Lucian leaned down slowly, as if to kiss the top of her head.
Ariel squeezed her eyes shut.
‘Ugh… I can’t take it.’
Just before Lucian’s lips touched her, she jumped back hastily.
She spoke rapidly without pausing for breath.
“You must be tired. Go inside and rest. See you at dinner.”
Then Ariel hurriedly left the scene.
It was more appropriate to say she fled.
Left at the entrance with the old butler Allen, Lucian frowned.
“Why is my wife acting like that?”
Allen, who had been watching the young master and mistress with warm eyes, chuckled.
“It’s the heart of a young girl.”
Naturally, Lucian couldn’t understand such things.
He immediately began to unbutton his sleeve cuff, growling.
“I must bring her back right now.”
He was extremely displeased with the small creature who had evaded even a single kiss.
But Allen, braving his fear, stepped in front of him.
“Please leave her be for now.”
“Why?”
“You’ll be attending the ball together anyway. Don’t you have plenty of time?”
Convinced that bringing her back now would only backfire, Lucian decided not to go after her.
As Allen said, there was plenty of time.
Meanwhile, Ariel, who had fled far away and locked herself in her room, threw herself onto her bed and flailed her limbs wildly.
“Crazy, crazy, Ariel.”
Why did I run away? I know perfectly well that running away only makes things worse.
How am I going to face Lucian now?
She couldn’t understand why she felt like running away earlier.
It was just Lucian coming back.
Her heartbeat echoed loudly in her ears, as if answering her confusion.
* * *
This imperial ball was a grand event that would last for three days.
Madame Helen of the dress shop had created three beautiful dresses for Ariel.
One for each day of the ball.
The dress for the first day was emerald green.
Helen designed a dress that accentuated Ariel’s delicate frame, evoking a protective instinct.
Although she looked fragile, the emerald dress complemented her red hair, adding vibrancy.
Everyone who saw Ariel in the dress was left speechless.
“Miss Ariel, you look stunning!”
“You’ll attract more attention than the princesses.”
“Anna, did you see? I’m having trouble breathing!”
Blushing at the maids’ fussing, Ariel held up her dress slightly and slowly descended the spiral staircase in the central hall of the mansion.
She saw Lucian waiting below, his back turned to her.
Ariel took a deep breath.
After some time since she had fled from Lucian, her courage had returned.
Even though he had grown a lot, Lucian was still Lucian.
There was no need to be so nervous.
Just then, Lucian sensed her presence and turned around.
When he saw her all dressed up, his eyes widened slightly, and a gleam appeared in his blue eyes.
‘Ugh.’
Ariel flinched.
Whenever she made the impatient Lucian wait, he would always lift her up by her ears like a rabbit.
Sure enough, seeing her, he took a step toward the stairs.
‘I don’t want to end up like that today, especially when I’m dressed so nicely…’
At that moment, Ariel’s nervous foot stepped on the inner hem of her dress.
At the edge of the stairs, her body lurched dramatically.
“……!”
Oh no, I’m going to fall…!