How the Villainous Consort Avoids His Death Ending - Chapter 5.1
“You don’t need to hand me that letter.”
He had expected the usual exchange of irritated sarcasm. But instead, Ruellin said something completely unexpected.
His face, casually shrugging his shoulders and letting out a small laugh, looked unfamiliar. For a moment, the Grand Duke was taken aback—not just by the rejection of the letter, but by the expression itself.
It was the first time he had seen Ruellin like that.
His light sky-blue eyes shimmered faintly with a trace of a smile. The wavy blond hair resting on his shoulders, his pale almost translucent cheeks, and soft rosy lips all looked radiant.
It was merely a faint, hollow smile that escaped with a sigh, but even that subtle expression made him appear completely different from the Ruellin he had known before.
Yet the other man was still the Second Prince’s spy. There was no doubt he had ulterior motives. The Grand Duke steadied his heart.
Perhaps he had been a little flustered himself.
“To think you’d try to push with your body—how utterly ignorant.”
“I’ve heard rumors that Viscount Elsworth amassed his fortune through disgraceful acts.”
Perhaps that was why. The Grand Duke deliberately provoked Ruellin, cornering him with harsh words to make him reveal his true intentions. His words grew increasingly cutting, harsher than anything he would have normally said.
Before he knew it, he too had gotten carried away—losing his composure, perhaps even his reason, for a moment.
“You damn bastard!”
Ruellin finally exploded in anger.
At that moment, the Grand Duke came to his senses. Only then did he recall the vulgar words he had hurled.
By the time he looked around, Ruellin was already gone. Butler Wilhelm and the other retainers had rushed in and taken him away.
Clicking his tongue softly, the Grand Duke sighed in frustration. He had become far too fixated on Ruellin’s unexpected behavior. His own uncharacteristic loss of composure was proof of that.
Not long after, the Grand Duke found himself heading to the underground prison. He did not even know why his steps led him there.
Ruellin was there—sitting haphazardly on the cold, damp stone floor in disarray.
It was a sight completely unlike the man who was always composed and impeccably neat to the point of suffocation.
The Grand Duke stopped where he stood and silently looked at his consort. He soon noticed the dark circles under Ruellin’s eyes and his pale complexion. He even looked thinner than before.
Come to think of it, he had heard that Ruellin had been muttering to himself all day, skipping his meal as if something weighed on his mind.
“Ah, it’s really cold.”
Just like that, Ruellin muttered. The Grand Duke frowned slightly in puzzlement.
Spring has already come. The weather had grown warmer, and even in the underground prison, there was barely any chill left in the air. Yet Ruellin, unaware of his presence, kept complaining.
Has the Grand Consort always been so sensitive to the cold? The Grand Duke couldn’t be sure.
“I’m going to freeze to death at this rate…”
He was trembling miserably, on the verge of tears. The Grand Duke could no longer pretend not to notice. He let go of his thoughts and spoke calmly.
“Have you cooled your head a little now?”
Ruellin lifted his head.
His swollen eyes glistened with moisture, and his pale blue gaze was filled with resentment. The Grand Duke involuntarily flinched.
“My head hasn’t cooled, it’s frozen.”
The petulant tone made the Grand Duke hesitate again. He nearly apologized without thinking.
“…It doesn’t seem that bad to me.”
“Then touch it yourself. My hair’s turned hard as ice.”
It was clearly an exaggeration. Even at a glance, his silvery hair looked perfectly fine and beautiful as ever.
It seemed his consort was not only sensitive to the cold but also a terrible exaggerator. In just a single day, the Grand Duke learned more about him than in the two years they had spent together.
“What brings Your Grace here? Surely… it isn’t my execution already?”
“Execution? Over something like this?”
And again, his words startled the Grand Duke. What was this sudden talk about execution?
Though some retainers had insisted on severe punishment, he had never intended such a thing. He already felt uneasy for having let things get so far as to lock his consort in the underground prison. Execution had never crossed his mind.
Apparently, that answer came as a surprise. Ruellin widened his eyes in disbelief. The Grand Duke was equally surprised—his consort looked genuinely innocent.
“Over something like this? You were the one who hit me! With your fist—and quite hard, too!”
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