Chapter 14: Crest Bearers with Dragonmates Are a Pain
IN a room decorated with magnificent sofas and tables, a group of hurried royals, a servant, and a sacred beast filed in one by one. Sounds from the reception in the nearby palace ballroom ceased as the door closed.
Claude and Gerome sat on either side of Cesar on one sofa, and Agnes and Therese sat on the other, with Ciel nestled in between. Normally, servants would prepare and serve tea, but this was not the time—answers were needed.
“I-I’m sorry to surprise you so suddenly,” announced Cesar calmly as he bowed to Therese.
Usually, it would be unthinkable for a duke to propose marriage to a servant. Or even apologize to her reverently.
Therese was stunned, her eyes fixed on the man in front of her. “Um, it’s all right… But I think you’re perhaps in some sort of delirium. You had better lie down… Even if it’s just here, on the sofa.”
“My thinking is clear. In fact, I’ve never been more clear-headed in my life. Please, marry me!” The duke’s voice grew louder and more emphatic, and Therese blinked and trembled.
“It’s too sudden. You’re frightening the poor girl,” Gerome said, patting Cesar’s back soothingly, who was usually so calm. Agnes was taken aback by his sudden, frantic demeanor.
“I suppose it’s obvious by this point, but just to clarify… You’re saying that this woman is your Dragonmate, Uncle?” Claude questioned, to which Cesar nodded emphatically.
“Right. There can be no doubt. The cakes Agnes brought had a magical effect on me. I knew it wasn’t just the spirits; it had to be Dragonmate power.”
“Then…the crest has…?” Claude prompted.
“Oh right,” Cesar blinked, quickly stripping off his gloves. “I forgot to check.”
As the gloves came off his shaking hands, everyone could see the black birthmark on the back of his left hand, the same as Claude’s, was tinged with red.
“Yes, I knew it… Ah, I had almost given up hope. To find you now, here, of all places…” Cesar’s eyes filled with tears as he squeezed his gloves in his hands.
Currently, there were four Dragon Crest Bearers. Cesar, the only one who didn’t have a Dragonmate, waited for so many years. After not being able to find her, he had given up, accepted his weakness, and prepared for death. Agnes felt her own eyes well. Finally, he had found her…
“Judging from my uncle’s reaction and the look of the crest, there can be no doubt about it,” exclaimed Claude, whose eyes were filled with joy as he looked at his uncle’s crest changing color.
It was clear he was delighted for his uncle. As a Dragon Crest Bearer who had some experience of that same weakening, Claude probably knew better than anyone present what his uncle had been going through.
“Um…did I do something wrong?” Therese was the only one who didn’t understand what was going on. No wonder she was frightened, being suddenly ushered into a room of royals like this.
“Therese, please listen to me as I explain,” Agnes began, squeezing Therese’s hands and holding her gaze. “The royal family has dragon blood, and the proof of that is this birthmark, the Dragon Crest. When they meet their Dragonmate, that birthmark turns red. You are Duke Granier’s Dragonmate, his soulmate, in other words.”
Agnes thought she’d summed it up succinctly. Therese, however, looked around anxiously at those present and sighed.
“Lady Agnes… I’m happy to see that you’ve become more playful, but you can’t go roping members of royalty into your girlish pranks,” Therese spoke kindly, like she was scolding a small child for naughty behavior.
Ah. Oh well.
“Oh, I understand completely how you feel,” Agnes said. “You don’t have a clue what’s happening, right? It just all seems so out of left field, that it must be a joke, right? I’m right there with you. I completely get it!”
“You get it…?” Claude paused, sucked in a breath, then hung his head in despair.
“Argh! That’s not what I’m saying! I mean, I am, but—” Agnes stammered. She had found Claude’s sudden proposal impossible to accept at first, too, but that was because she was still shocked from being dumped by Philip. And by Claude’s obvious mushroom fetish. Still, he looked so frazzled that Agnes felt a bit sorry.
“Claude, don’t confuse the matter even more…” Gerome interjected. “Um, Therese, was it?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Gerome! Don’t speak to my beloved so casually!” Cesar shouted.
“Oh, be quiet, Dragonmater! Claude, rein him in.”
Taking his cue from Gerome, Claude clapped his hand over Cesar’s mouth. Cesar did not protest. Clearly, he understood how tense the situation was. Even so, to have his Dragonmate within his grasp who didn’t understand or even agree to marry him—he was clearly frantic.
“What Agnes said is true,” Gerome explained gently. “But it’s not as romantic as just being someone’s soulmate. Being a Dragonmate means being an object of complete devotion and obsession.”
The bare truth had been revealed. Phrased simply like that, the reality of it was slightly sobering to Agnes.
“Are you saying that the duke wants me to be his wife? That he has romantic feelings for me?” Therese asked in disbelief. Gerome nodded, and she shook her head. “Goodness. That’s impossible. I’m a commoner, a servant. Besides, I’m too old for marriage, AND I’m plump, AND I’m no beauty like Lady Agnes. I have nothing to offer a duke.”
“You’re wrong!” Cesar shouted as soon as he shook off Claude’s hand. He got on his knees in front of Therese and looked beseechingly at her. His dukedom, his Dragon Crest, his status—they were all counting against him. “Just looking at you is enough to rend my heart asunder! I don’t care about your status or anything else! You’re perfect to me, Therese.”
The duke continued to gaze into her eyes, completely solemn. If this was a play or story, it would be very romantic. Yet, no matter how much the duke entreated her, a servant like Therese would not be able to suspend her disbelief.
Anyway, Therese wasn’t a young, starry-eyed girl; she was a practical, grown woman. She wasn’t one to be swept away. At the same time, could she ignore the words of a duke?
“Lady Agnes…” Therese began weakly, turning her sights to the girl whom she had known and served since before they joined the Lefort residence.