Escaping the Archduke of the North’s Obsession

Duke Kyar’s eyes darkened when he accepted the antidote she gave.

The instant his hand touched the antidote bottle containing the blue liquid, he slowly rubbed his lips.

“If I drink this, will this terrible feeling I have for you end?”

“I think so.
I already performed multiple experiments for this.
I have created the antidote in the safest way possible, so no need to worry.”

“Did you drink the love potion yourself?”

He asked and Isabella nodded slowly in response.

Duke Kyar’s gaze sharpened.

“Who did you experiment with?”

At Duke, Kyar’s forceful tone quickly waved her hand in dismissal.

He appeared like he was about to tear that ‘someone’ to death.

“It’s not a person but a bird, Your Highness.
I experimented with the bird.
I was scared after I drank the love potion.
I’m so sorry for the pain you have suffered for the past few months.”

Duke Kyar’s brows relaxed after knowing that she had experimented with Ignis.

“You have experimented, then.
But if my feelings for you hadn’t changed, do you still remember your promise to take responsibility for it?”

Honestly, she had no idea what responsibility she was supposed to take for Duke Kyar.

Nevertheless, she was confident that it wouldn’t happen, so Isabella nodded without hesitation.

“Keep that promise.”

“Yes, I got it.
Once you take the antidote, that thought will soon disappear.
Go ahead and  try it.” She urged, and he nodded in agreement.

Then, he unscrewed the bottle’s lid and slowly parted his lips to take it in.

Isabella looked at him nervously as he swallowed the liquid all at once.

“What do you think? Your thoughts had cleared, right?”

“Yes.” He murmured, and Isabella exhaled a sigh of relief.

“I told you so.
I told you to trust me.
I must pack up and prepare to leave.”

“Where are you going?” Isabella blinked slowly in confusion.

“Your head is now clear.”

“Right.”

“Then, you shouldn’t feel that way about me anymore.
If you don’t see me again, your heart will stop hurting, right?” Isabella asked nervously.

At that moment, she had recalled what her emotions felt like  after drinking the love potion and seeing Ignis.

Duke Kyar merely shook his head.

“No.”

“So, it must be alright for me to leave this place now.”

“That’s not true.”

For some reason, she could no longer understand and follow through with the discussion.”

Isabella stared at Duke Kyar in bewilderment.

“Why?”

“I felt better seeing you with this clear mind.”

“What? That’s impossible.”

Her blue eyes trembled at how absurd he sounded.

Then Duke Kyar slowly approached Isabella and stopped in front of her.

Next, he bent his neck and closed his head to her face.

Isabella couldn’t breathe from the proximity of Duke Kyar’s face near hers.

He stood right in front of her, appearing as the finest sculptor made him.

“What? What are you doing?”

“In the past, my heart burned every time I saw your beautiful face up close, but now it’s just… good.”

If things didn’t go well as planned, there must be something wrong.

Did she make the wrong antidote?

Was the number of herbs she placed too small?

No, that couldn’t have happened.

If the cloudy thoughts in his mind had cleared, it meant that the cure was effective.

What’s wrong with this guy?

Isabella looked up Duke Kyar with furrowed brows.

“So, how are you going to take responsibility for this?”

He glanced down at her, and a lazy smile spread across his face.

She promised that she would take responsibility.

It was at this moment that she knew.

She f*cked up.

Isabella wanted to rip her mouth off.

**

This is going to be a nightmare.

A terrible nightmare.

Isabella was supposed to lie in bed and sleep, but instead, she was lost in her thoughts.

“Why did he keep on saying he liked me even after drinking antidote?”

She even fed Duke Kyar a spare antidote, but it was no use.

She had completed her task, but all his talks about responsibility and expectations had scratched her insides.

“Why?”  All these unanswered questions continued to pop up in her head.

She told him that they should discuss this again once she woke up so that he wouldn’t put her on the spot, but she was worried that he would continue to do so in the morning.

“I didn’t mean to take that responsibility!”

“Isabella! You are too loud!” Ignis shouted sharply.

Perhaps, her words had bothered him so much.

He must have been angry, knowing that she could not leave Rubella Castle just yet.