Kidnapped By The Crazy Duke

***

Princess Erica was beautiful, but she was ordinary.

They say that ordinary is happiness, but it can only be enjoyed when one is born in an ordinary environment. With the special qualifiers of royalty and high aristocracy, mediocrity is only conducive to inferiority and unhappiness.

Of course, she was beautiful enough to be considered special in appearance. But beautiful appearance was not everything. Because times had changed.

These were not the days when all you had to do was marry well, as in the marriage business. Like the aristocracy, they had to lead national projects such as colonialism, oil, mining, and trade.

Embarking on a journey of alliances and diplomacy between nations, royalty hoped to have a wise and intelligent woman as a wife to be their business partner for life.

A beautiful woman was enough to be kept as a lover.

The Princesses of the Spencer dynasty were high-minded, brilliant, and talented women. It was not that Princess Erica’s intelligence was any less than normal, but she was surrounded by the smartest people in the world, so she was always atrophied and compared to them.

She had no aspirations in learning and could only understand that governing was collecting honey from worker bees.

Her knowledge was limited and she didn't even care about how to operate her job efficiently. Like a common girl, she was more interested in romance novels, love songs, dresses, shoes, and adorning her looks than in imperialism and monarchy.

Unlike her rational and wise mother, she was emotional and did not want to be a queen. She wanted to fall in love and get married like in a wonderful love novel.

She fell in love at first sight when she saw Noah, who had once visited Medea on business. When she cautiously asked her mother, the Queen, about him, the Queen smiled fondly as she recalled the past.

When the Duke (Noah) was seven years old, he told the Queen that if the child to be born was a girl, he would protect her like a knight, win her heart and marry her. He was wise and unique.

From then on, it was the illusion of fate that drove Erica into her fantasy. She always imagined being with him. One day she made up her mind that she would make her imagination reality.

From that moment on, she kept visiting Progen and trying to meet Noah. She wrote to him and asked to see him several times, but he refused, saying he had to go to battle.

When they finally met in the past, she sat facing him at a table in a café and mustered up the courage to confess.

“I've fallen in love with you.” (Erica)

Noah lifted his coffee cup, tilted his head at the Princess' confession. He asked with a blank expression, his beautifully formed and superbly shaped features.

“With me? I think it's my first time seeing you." (Noah)

“Yes. I think we're meant to be.” (Erica)

“Everyone has a destiny. If I give ten pounds to a man who pulls a donkey, that's his fate too.” (Noah)

“No, it's not like that. I want to marry you.” (Erica)

Noah had just finished his shift and was dressed in an officer's uniform with medals and aigrettes awarded to soldiers who had distinguished themselves in major combat zones.

Princess Erica had been up since dawn, scolding her servants to dress her beautifully in her most favorite dress and precious jewels. It took about six hours.

Despite the beautiful Princess' confession, Noah looked very uninterested. He didn't seem to be moved at all by the enchanting appearance of her in a dress that showed off her white shoulders and breastbone.

He twirled his silvery hair and spoke in a still uninterested manner.

“I know that the Princess cannot marry anyone outside of the Medea bloodline.” (Noah)

“It will only be a trial. It's just a test. That's what everyone says. Trials and tribulations are necessary for a fateful love.” (Erica)

Noah lifted his glass and drank the coffee, frowning at the bitter taste.

"They burned the precious Chebia coffee beans. Did they think about something else while stir-frying it?" (Noah)

"Are you listening to me?" (Erica)

"Oh, sorry. What did you say? The coffee was too bitter for me to hear it." (Noah)

His manner of speaking turned increasingly rude. Having read many romance books, Princess Erica knew that there were two sides to romance. First, there are times when people express their feelings and find people who approach them boring. This man was probably one of those.

"I mean that if there are trials on the path we walk together, I am willing to accept them. Together, we can win.” (Erica)

Noah's gray-blue eyes narrowed and bent as he looked at her, alone in her solemn voice. He set the glass down with a clatter and traced the glass’s mouth with his finger. 

“I don't see why I should.” (Noah)

“What do you mean?" (Erica)

“I mean, why all of a sudden I have to go through trials and tribulations. Isn’t it like an accident that happened out of nowhere?” (Noah)

The Princess was puzzled for a while by the attitude that was so different from the only prince she had ever imagined. When Noah saw that the Princess could not understand his words, he rubbed his lips for a while and added as if to correct her.

“Why should I sacrifice myself to your deviations?” (Noah)

“Duke. I'm the one who will lose." (Erica)

Noah asked back with a glaring smile.

“You're throwing it all away for me? That's nice." (Noah)

That graceful smile once again captivated the Princess. She misunderstood, thinking that he would be willing to sacrifice himself only after she had given up everything first.

Princess Erica smiled, fixing her hat with the corsage flower.

“Yes, that's right.”

She wanted to be by his side and see that beautiful smile more than she could ever tire of it.

It was the day of Progen's Imperial Ball when Diana and Noah met.

A man accidentally approached Princess Erica, who was out in the garden because of frustration, and handed her a secret letter. 

It was sent by Admiral Winston Claire of the enemy nation of Belford, and she made a choice that was pure at best and foolish at worst.

A Princess of Medea, in alliance with Progen, she joined hands with Admiral of Belford, who was at war with Progen.

She was so blinded by love that even her judgment was clouded.

She did not want the woman Diana to take her place even for a short time. She began to constantly urge the Admiral to pass the trials and tribulations to Diana.

***

“Zelda. What did you think when you saw the girl Diana?"

Baron Zelda Mason, who was standing neatly in her white knight's uniform, raised her chin as Queen Grace asked.

Diana had pitch-black hair, pale, white skin, and a pretty little face with a small nose and lips. Foreigners called her ‘Medean doll’.

This was not only because she was cute and adorable, but also because she had a peculiar and strange atmosphere that was elegant but cold, giving the illusion that they were looking at a doll.

Baron Mason secretly got the feeling that Diana had the same kind of atmosphere as the Queen.

“As I said before, for a half-breed, she has distinct Medean features.”

"There is a high possibility that her maternal side is close to pure descent."

“I think it’s probably one of the great aristocrats of Medea. There was a noblewoman* who went to Belford a long time ago, and I heard that she married the eldest son of the Duke of Belford. He’s the current Prime Minister, and she became a Duchess.” (*the woman they are mentioned is Jeffrey’s mother)

“I need to know who Diana’s mother is.”

‘Why is the queen so curious about Diana?’  The question flashed across the Baron's face for a moment, but she did not question the Queen’s intentions.

The Baron bowed down and accepted the order.

“Yes, My Queen.”

Queen Grace felt a surprisingly heightened agitation the first time she saw Diana.

When a girl with pitch-black hair and a pale face looked at her with an expression that did not fit her age, she felt a shiver run through her whole body.

The tears shedding on her infinitely expressionless face felt alien, as if her body and spirit were playing separately. The color was different, but the cynical eyes, like her own, confused her mind incessantly.

At first she was a little curious. Diana was Admiral Claire's daughter, so she wanted to meet her. However, after meeting the young lady, her heart sank heavily, despite her initial light-hearted intentions.

She (Diana) was the daughter the Admiral despised, she (the Queen) should be more thrilled at the fact, but it bothered her to no end.

Diana’s appearance was close to Medea's pure bloodline, but her rough hands were not like a noble girl's. The short, blunt nails came to her mind, and strangely enough, a mixture of pity and sadness made her heart tingle.

***

The clouds that covered the dark sky were scattered and the hidden stars appeared one by one.

Every now and then I heard the rustling of the fallen leaves of the winter trees in the wind. I was sitting on a bench holding hands with Noah and was in a conflict.

He had always been a naughty boy and had asked me to marry him, and now he officially proposed to me.

The words were in no way, shape or form, but they glowed as beautifully as the meaning of the ring on my hand. At least for this moment, I know that his words are sincere.

I was horrified to imagine that if I later went back to where I came from or, assuming it was unreal, back to reality, the world I came from.

If all of this was just a dream, I am confident that the loss and emptiness would be unbearable. And I can't rule out the possibility of him changing his mind in the future.

I didn't completely give him my heart or expect him to give me everything. I always lived while calculating and left a corner to escape when I was hurt.

I replied in a serious but concise manner.

“Thank you."

My eyes studied his eyes more closely than the ring. Noah, who sat taller than me, stared down at me with dark blue eyes.

“Do you believe me, princess?”

"Yes. What about you?”

"I don't."

Noah smiled mischievously. He sounded a little too serious and I felt uncomfortable.

"You hold grudges.”

"Yes. So I hope there are only two of us in the world. No one will bother you or try to take you away from me.”

Who is going to take me away from him? As hedgehogs spoil their young, so this man looked at me in a rare way.

“Are you worried?" (Diana)

His soft hair began to itch my neck and chin as Noah leaned slightly against my shoulder and nodded his head.

I wondered if this guy was trying to be charming because I wasn't.

Just as I thought he was cute, he pulled my hair weakly and gently brushed his lips against my earlobe. The touch of his soft lips and hot breath made goosebumps on my skin.

Then his eyes suddenly narrowed as he carefully studied my reddened face.

"So I'm going to monopolize you and get rid of the rest."

I asked him why he had to do that.

"Noah, do you love me?"

He looked troubled. His beautiful lips closed and there was silence. 

After pondering for a while, Noah quietly shook his head with an expressionless face.

“No.”

The shallow swaying of his black dyed hair told a clear denial.

The fallen leaves from the dry winter trees around me grazed my shoes and rolled somewhere in the air. The warmth I had transparently in the air dropped cold again. It was winter.

I didn’t get angry, I didn’t ask questions, I didn't cry. I just faced him with the same expression on my face. Somewhere, something frozen in the depths of my heart falling apart.

He didn’t lie to me. Fortunately.