Märchen For A Villain - Chapter 4

***

“I’ve heard rumors of the Grand Duke for some time. This is a proposal that I understand all too well.” (Isabelle)

“It sounds like you chose me because you wanted to die.” (GD)

The Grand Duke slowly took off his hat, lowered it to the table, and swept his hair.

As his face fully appeared, Isabelle stared at him as if possessed.

This man was accustomed to the gaze of women, judging by his indifference to her reaction. Did he just drop honorifics?

“I asked you to marry me. I didn’t say I want to die.”

Isabelle sneered at him.

Her eyes narrowed, and the Grand Duke chuckled, then went back to his blank expression.

“When you proposed to me, you meant to die. Please leave now, stubborn princess.”

The response of the Grand Duke was even rougher than expected.

Isabelle gritted her teeth.

“I met the Grand Duke for the first time today, and I’m sorry that I looked stubborn.”

‘Are you the only one good at making facial expressions? I’m also a well-known evil woman in that field.’

Isabelle also responded with a cold expression.

“I am destined to die in exactly three months, Grand Duke.”

Despite the shocking statement, the Grand Duke did not even change his expression. He only stared at Isabelle’s left cheek, which was swollen from the king’s beating.

“They say the Grand Duke married twelve brides. They all died on their wedding night.”

“Princess.”

“You must be heartbroken every time a bride dies…”

Isabelle looked down at the table in the commander’s office, which was devoid of any decorations.

“And yet, you continued to hold the ceremony because you had a purpose in mind.” (Isabelle)

The Grand Duke’s eyebrows twitched.

He thought she was just a woman who saw his status and face and jumped on him, whispering about her fleeting love.

‘What are you up to?’

She searched the blue-green eyes closely, but could not find an answer.

It was like a deep sea hidden inside.

“I don’t care what your purpose is. You can use me. I’ll be your thirteenth bride.”

“What is it you want, princess, that makes you propose to me?”

“Let’s say it’s to die well.”

“To die well?”

“Yes. If you are destined to die anyway, shouldn’t you be a good corpse?”

Isabelle used the word gracelessly and her thumb and forefinger making a circle. It meant that she wanted the money to be well paid. The Grand Duke, who was watching this absentmindedly, could not help laughing.

“I don’t understand.”

“What I need now, Grand Duke, is not an understanding, but an answer. I don’t know why the person who even sent me the portrait hesitated so much.”

The Grand Duke’s brow wrinkled at these words. Who on earth would have sent the Princess the portrait of himself? A courtship portrait is no different from a marriage proposal, so you have to be very careful when sending it.

‘Snow, it must be him.’

The Grand Duke swept his forehead in annoyance.

“I need time to think, Princess.”

“The man with the big warship is more indecisive than I thought.”

Isabelle deliberately provoked him. She must have his answer by the end of the day. If she goes back to the palace now, she will meet the Prince and her father will sell her to him.

“I’m sorry, but that kind of provocation doesn’t work, Princess.”

But the Grand Duke was colder than she expected. Though the one with the scowl was cautious. Isabelle grasped the bunch of wild flowers she was holding tightly and stood up.

Then she walked around the table to the other side of the sofa where the Grand Duke was sitting. Her big shoes rattled loudly as she walked, but she didn’t care. Isabelle knelt down at the Grand Duke’s feet.

“Princess?”

“Please marry me, Grand Duke.” (😂)

Isabelle grabbed the flowering plants she was holding with both hands and pushed them down on the Grand Duke. How can she not get a definite answer after all this?

As expected, the panicked eyes of the Grand Duke shook quickly.

“Stop joking around and get up now, Princess.”

“Please answer me.”

“Princess.”

‘Should I say more words?’ Isabelle sang the line she had been preparing for the meeting.

“Grand Duke Karl Bashke, I fell in love with you the moment I first saw you.”

“….”

But there was still no answer that came back.

He must have heard that word a lot.

“If the Grand Duke marry me, there are two things I can promise you.”

So Isabelle spat out her pledge like a student president election. ‘Oh, it’s been a long time since I’ve experienced this.’

“I won’t bother the Grand Duke until the day we get married.”

Maria said the Grand Duke is a very wealthy man.

He gave the bride a lot of money before she died. Then she can eat well and live well by herself. She didn’t have the slightest intention of hanging around the Grand Duke.

“And on the first night, I will not resent the Grand Duke at all even if I face a foreseen death.”

Isabelle put in his frozen hands the flowering plants she had picked on the beach. The flowers, which had been wilting for some time, drooped helplessly. It seemed to be his willingness to marry her. He looked at the lifeless flowers and sighed again.

“It’s my side that sent the portrait, so if the Princess chose me, I have no choice but to get married anyway..……”

Then why did he wait for her to kneel like and say his cheesy words? It was his skepticism about marriage as well as his curiosity about her that hastened his decision.

“Don’t resent me.”

The Grand Duke said, staring down at the dead flowers in his hands.

‘The proposal is accepted!’

Isabelle smiled broadly at ease.

His gaze, which had been on the dead flowering, turned to Isabelle’s lively smile.

“I’m rather glad. Thanks to the Grand Duke, I will be able to live my own life until the moment I die.”

***

After Isabelle left the commander’s office.

Grand Duke Karl Baschke called Snow White.

“Is it you?”

“What are you talking about, my lord?”

“The one who sent my portrait to Princess Isabelle Desar.”

“Oh, you found out.”

Ack, Snow quickly dodged the flying shoe at his shin.

“I could have a broken leg if you hit me like that!”

“Why did you do such a useless thing?”

“So you’re not going to get married?” Snow’s question was not immediately answered by the Grand Duke.

“You see, I think you are going to find someone to endure.”

“….”

“Rumors of my lord are bad in the empire right now. Even the foreigners know about you.”

Lifting his glasses, Snow looked upset. The rumors can’t be good. In the past five years, twelve brides had died.

The finger pointing at the Grand Duke became more and more intense as they saw him married several times a year.

The reason why he still went ahead with the marriages was partly because women wanted him, but also because he suffered painfully from the curse every night.

“There must be a bride who will lift the Grand Duke’s curse.”

Cursed and turned into a beast every night, the Grand Duke roamed the fields and mountains in his ugly form. One day the livestock in his domain died, then someday people died.

At first he didn’t care much, because he wanted to sweep away all the Imperials he hated.

His heart froze cold when every woman who had looked at him collapsed. But the self-loathing that grew stronger as time went by broke him little by little.

“How many more times do I have to get married to meet that d*mn bride?”

“Wait a little longer. Even if the high priest is a fool, the oracle is brilliant. Even my father remarried.”

He didn’t think there was anyone in the Empire who thought that corpse of his father would remarry. Snow laughed it off.

“You’re not worried about the bride-to-be, are you? They calculate everything before they take on a challenge. My lord.”

Snow shook his head, thinking of the brides in the past.

Only the arrogant women whose greed for the Grand Duke was greater than their fear of death, or who believed they were special, pounced on him like moths to a fire.

The Grand Duke lavished a material price on the brides and her family, and they lived a life of luxury no less than the royal family until the wedding night came.

“It’s a path you’ve already chosen to walk. Are you going to give up?”

Snow’s words were met with a self-mockery from the Grand Duke. Why was he hesitating about when there was already a river of blood under his feet?

“I won’t begrudge the Grand Duke one bit if I meet my foretold death on the first night.”

A bright smile appeared on the Grand Duke’s face as he thought of the stubborn Princess who had prepared to die.

“Get a bouquet of flowers, Snow.”

“When?”

“Now. Not dying like this.”

The Grand Duke tossed the weeds in his hand to Snow.

“Huh? This was what the Princess picked on the beach. Why does my lord have this?”

Snow asked, but the Grand Duke didn’t say anything and just left the commander’s office quickly.

“He must have received a very romantic proposal.”

Snow looked at the back of the Grand Duke and burst out laughing.

***

At the same time, King Dejar was having tea with the Prince in the parlor.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Prince.”

“I can only thank you for welcoming me in this way.”

“There have been many visitors to the mainland lately. I heard that the First Princess’s stepson also went to the magic Tower.”

“You mean Snow White, right?”

Why would that guy visit the magic Tower? The Prince’s eyes narrowed.

“I hear that Grand Duke Bashke’s warship will be arriving soon. The Prince will be able to return to the Empire safely.”

King Desar smiled haughtily as he stroked his white beard.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. But may I ask one more favor?”

“Anything.”

“I would like to find a woman.”

“A woman?”

“It was a beautiful Lady. Blonde hair and unique personality….”

Clink. The king put his teacup down loudly.

“Are you all right, Your Majesty?”

Concerned for King, the Prince held out a handkerchief.

“It looks like the king knows the woman.”

As expected, she was a woman of high status enough for the king to know her. It was natural that she recognized him as a Prince as soon as she saw him for the first time. Blonde hair was rare, the Prince thought.

“Did that woman cause trouble for the Prince?”

“No, on the contrary, she saved me.”

At these words, the king lowered his tense shoulders in relief.

“I’m glad.”

“She ran away quickly, but I want to return the kindness.”

“That’s kind of the Prince.”

“Please help me to formally invite the lady to the Empire. “

It was not common for a Prince to formally invite a woman from another country.

‘I guess he likes Isabelle. If he’s the Prince, we will receive a lot of gifts.’ (King)

It was finally time that useless thing (Isabelle) to do her part. King Desar’s eyes lit up.