Though he’s a fraud.

They say that your first love wouldn’t come true, but isn’t it going overboard that her first love was a swindler? A man without an identity who left her with only wounds.

Vivian ground her teeth and resolved to retrieve at least her notebook no matter what happened.

“The Black Grand Duke returned to the palace!”

Suddenly chaos was instigated. Vivian looked up with a very confused look. From the opposite side, the maids were gossiping busily like sparrows.

‘The Black Grand Duke?’

If there was anyone in the Astia Empire who didn’t know Black Grand Duke, they were definitely spies. After all, he received the equal treatment of mentioning war and disease.

Vivian had once seen him at the Royal Palace a long time ago. She recalled the memory of that day and shivered her shoulders momentarily. It was as though she had looked at a freely roaming predator whose wilderness could never be tamed by anyone.

Though the Grand Duke had been born with a highly elegant appearance, that seemed as though it was sculpted, that handsome face didn’t even fill the eyes of the viewer, due to the overwhelming atmosphere around him.

With pale skin covered with black clothes and blue eyes that shone vibrantly, he looked like a black panther as he prowled his territory and if he grew hungry, he would swallow any prey on sight.

Of course, there would be no evil intent. After all, for him, it was merely a hunt.

That’s why everyone’s afraid.

It couldn’t be helped that instead of a vague natural disaster that may appear one day, people would be more fearful of the predator in front of their eyes right now. In the same meaning, the Black Grand Duke was, in reality, a symbol of fear.

As the Emperor couldn’t leash him, he was no different than the apex predator that stood at the top of the food chain. No wonder the atmosphere of the entire Royal Palace was gloomy and depressing.

The year Grand Duke Valentine had left for his territory, everyone was at the brink of setting up a feast in celebration…….

However, right now the servants were filled with despair as in the world was on the brink of extinction.  They wouldn’t have on expressions even if Satan had come to steal their souls.

“Why did he return to the palace?”

“It appears the Emperor had forced marriage agreements to proceed. They say when the Emperor sent a bunch of negotiations for engagement from each household with their mark, he immediately came in search of the Emperor and burned the papers with a cigarette in front of his Majesty.”

“……Oh my.”

“As expected of a rascal…….”

One of the maids unconsciously muttered her true feelings and after she realized what she’d just said, she gasped and hurriedly covered her mouth with a hand. Everyone was silent, but it appeared they agreed with her opinion.

“So, what happened?”

“It appears his Majesty was rather resolute this time as well because he ordered him to bring a lover, be it anyone of any background.”

Vivian, who was swept up in waves of betrayal, felt sudden interest and curiosity towards gossip she’d just heard.

The Black Grand Duke was the definition of depravity, pleasure, and decadence. Born of the noblest blood, but fell to the very bottom. The very description of him was that of a man who would stand in opposition to the knights as a sort of final villain boss.

But a lover out of nowhere –  what was this sudden cliche of a development that seemed to pop out of a romance novel?

The genre’s different.

She let out a short grunt as she attempted to fit the Black Grand Duke into the romance genre on purpose.

If the Black Grand Duke was to appear in a romance novel, he would have been at most a side male protagonist who is a roughneck, but reform after being moved by the female protagonist’s sweetness.

She imagined the situation, but not long afterward shook her head.

Yeah, no. If it’s the Black Grand Duke, he wouldn’t be moved by the female protagonist’s sweet nature. Rather, he would use that sweetness and dye the female protagonist’s sweetness with depravity.