Her hair, combed back, constantly fell into her face. How can you even maintain such a hairstyle? Respect for women arose naturally. While he was wondering how long hair was usually styled and whether it should be tied up, a servant's voice came from outside. Before he could finish his sentence about the arrival of the Marchioness of Conolly, the door swung open. She spoke in an irritated tone.
- Kat! Why did you need to change the room at all? I came to the old reception room, and there was no one there...
But she couldn’t finish.
At first she didn't understand who was in front of her. Familiar red hair, rare red eyes - and yet she could not imagine the familiar Duke of Woodpecker. No, she introduced Duke Woodpecker. Not this boy, but the old Duke of Woodpecker.
A man who reminded her of the younger years of that duke - golden-haired, red-eyed, older than the current one. The boy, who had previously been just above her gaze, suddenly grew tall and was now looking down at her.
- Welcome, auntie.
- Kat?
- Yes.
The Marchioness of Conolly's gaze wavered. At first glance, she thought she saw the Duke of the previous generation, but this face did not belong to the Duke. And it did not belong to the duchess.
- It’s inconvenient to stand. Have a seat.
Yuls said this, pointing to the place opposite him. The Marchioness of Conolly looked at the table where the teacups, teapot and sweets were prepared, and then looked back at Jules. The Marchioness of Conolly, looking at Jules Woodpecker, whose face eerily coincided with the face of that always smiling woman, smiled. The corners of the lips trembled, but neither Yuls nor she paid attention to it.
The marquise sat down. The maids who entered after her stood silently behind her. Although no one said a word and there was silence, from the confusion that reigned between them one could assume that the rumors would spread instantly.
- How...
- Ahh.
Jules responded in a casual tone.
“The killer came to see me.” He had poison.
With these words, Jules raised his teacup and smiled at the corners of his lips, looking at the Marchioness of Conolly.
- I was injected with this poison. Maybe there was something in the poison that lifted the curse?
Could the Marchioness of Conolly do such a thing? It is impossible to say for sure. Even if they are in the same boat, they can betray at any moment. The hand of the marquise, who raised the cup, trembled. There are too many variables to judge by her behavior now. Jules continued.
- Poison is treated with poison, isn't it? The curse is similar to poison, so whether it could be the same is my personal opinion. This seems strange to you too, Auntie?
- The killer, you say, came?
- Yes.
- When?
- A few days ago.
-Who sent the Killer?..
— I don’t know the customer. His tongue was cut out.
But he'll find out soon. Bert had outstanding abilities, and those to whom he turned brought quite good information. There weren't many assassin guilds cutting out the tongues of their people, so Yuls figured it wouldn't take long.
- But why did you invite me to Dinner today? Judging by the fact that you insisted on the meeting, although I canceled due to being busy, you had something important to say.
- It was important, but compared to the fact that the Duke’s Curse was lifted...
Having said this, the Marchioness of Conolly put down her teacup. Because of her trembling hands, she kept tapping the saucer. “What is she so afraid of?” Her reaction was strikingly different from the one she had when communicating with him in the guise of a boy, and Yuls chuckled, saying: “It’s not completely removed.”
- Look at my face. It doesn't look like I'm twenty-six, does it?
At Jules's words, the Marchioness of Conolly glanced at his face and then looked away. The Duke's handsome face reminded her of a beautiful woman. And also about what she herself did.
— The curse has not yet been lifted. But it looks like it can be removed.
She didn't answer. Just wanting to get out of this situation as quickly as possible, Yuls deliberately continued the conversation.
- Isn't that good? At least in this form I am more trustworthy than in the guise of a child. They will no longer refuse me simply because of my young age.
Yuls said with self-irony.
- Young? I'm already twenty-six.
He was trapped in the body of a thirteen-year-old, but he always matured according to his age. At least in spirit.
- So why did you come?
- …Next time.
This is what the marquise answered. She rose from her seat, as if she couldn’t stand it any longer, and looked down at Yuls. Just a few days ago, the child standing in front of her was not like this. There was no man with such eyes. Seeing that red color, as if copied from the eyes of a witch, Marquise Conolly turned around sharply and said:
“Next time I will arrange a meeting through the servant.”
- Of course, auntie.
She glanced at Yuls's words and then looked away again.
- Not “auntie”.
She said in a choked voice:
“Call me the Marchioness of Conolly, Duke.”
When he was little - no, when he looked little - she constantly demanded that he call her auntie, and now she seemed to find it unpleasant. Jules found the situation funny. The Marchioness of Conolly did not even look back in his direction, but her court ladies seemed to be burning with the desire to glance at him.
Jules smiled at them.
Marquise Conolly left the reception room. The servants opened the doors for her, as if rejoicing at her departure. Their confusion could be seen on the backs of the court ladies lined up in a row. Gossip about superiors easily spreads among servants.
- Bert, don't we argue?
—About how quickly rumors will spread?
- That's bad luck, we think the same way. Then the argument won't take place, will it?
- ....
- Oh well, it doesn’t matter.
Jules said this indifferently. Whatever the Marchioness of Conolly's reaction, it did not matter. Yuls still didn't understand why his curse had partially lifted.
“You definitely remember my mother’s curse, right?”
- Yes, I remember.
- Kiss your loved one.
He thought this was absurd. That the curse could be lifted in this way. It was too fairy tale content, which might appeal to some, but for Jules it was an unbearably terrible curse.
If he was told to kill a dragon, he could do it one way or another. But kissing your loved one? This must be one of the most terrible of the witch's curses. Love. Did such a thing even exist in the world?
— Adi kissed the back of my hand.
Existed. At least Adi Grimaldi loved his twin.
- ...What?
— Addressing his younger sister.
Juls saw with his own eyes such a sublime feeling as love. Something that he believed did not exist at all. True, it was not love between a man and a woman. It was brotherly love.
“He kissed the back of my hand over and over again, saying that he would protect her, that he would help her escape from that place, begging her not to leave.
Tears, flowing in drops to the side, stood vividly before my eyes. How much he cried for his dead sister. Jules had never cried like that. Not when his father died, not when his brothers died.
“I don’t understand what “kissing a loved one” means.
And when the witch died, too.
- The one who loves me, or the one who loves someone?
-...She would choose the first option.
“But in Adrian’s case it was the second option.”
The curse could not be solved by a kiss from someone who loves another. A witch wouldn't cast a curse so casually.
“I also believe that the condition for lifting the curse is a kiss from someone who loves me.” But Adrian doesn't love me.
-...Yes, probably.
“Then how do you explain this growth?”
This was the contradiction. Neither Adrian nor Julius love each other. Moreover, they do not trust each other and remain on guard. And these two? No matter how you look at it, it didn't make sense. Bert opened his mouth: “...Perhaps.”
—If fate is truly predetermined—.
- So according to this fate, Adrian Grimaldi and I should fall in love with each other, but even before we fell in love, we met and kissed, thereby neutralizing the curse?
-...
Bert fell silent, and Jules laughed.
There's a hole in this damn curse. Cause and effect don't always go as desired, meetings have no particular order, and no one knew how her curse would turn out. Even the witch who cast it.
“Does this mean I have to love Adrian?”
Jules said it out loud. The question did not require a different answer.
“Perhaps the curse of my crazy mother was not the inability to grow at all, but the fate of loving a man.”
- Twins.
Bert spoke. It is unlikely that the witch placed such a curse on the Duke.
“Don’t they share the same fate?”
Adrian Grimaldi was born a twin.
“Perhaps she was your ladyship’s betrothed.”
Their souls were once united and then separated, so maybe.
— The deceased Adrina Grimaldi?
It was terrible in its own way. Dead woman. If she had the same face as Adrian, she must have been pretty, but now her skin was probably not just blue, but like humus. Or maybe she has already returned to the ground and only a skeleton remains of her.
- Don't know.
Juls said:
“But how can I get a kiss from a dead woman?”
If Adrina Grimaldi was the one Juls was meant to love, this Curse will never be lifted.
- If Adi Grimaldi shares Destiny with her younger sister.
But part of the Curse was broken.
“So, ultimately, I need him.”