ONE NIGHT STAND WITH HOT DUKE-Chapter 53: It’s none of the duke’s business

Valerie fell silent.

Demian always informed her if he was going to be occupied. Even on the most tense days, he usually made time to see her if only briefly. This time, he had not.

Valerie clasped her hands together, trying to read the situation.

"How long has it been?" she asked again.

"It has just begun," Sera said. "But from his expression... it doesn’t look like an ordinary meeting."

Valerie nodded faintly.

She returned to her seat, but her thoughts were already racing through countless possibilities.

The Emperor.

The capital.

The rumors.

And... Ivanka Kosler.

Sera hesitated before speaking again. "My lady, would you like—"

"No," Valerie answered quickly, though her voice remained gentle. "I won’t disturb him."

Sera nodded, though she was clearly not entirely convinced.

Valerie stared into the small fire in the hearth, its flames flickering softly. In her mind, Ivanka’s voice echoed again cold, assured, laden with threats left deliberately unspoken.

Demian was under the same roof as she was. Yet that night, the distance between them felt vast.

And for the first time since arriving in the capital, Valerie truly realized,

There were battles that even Demian could not or had not yet allowed her to enter. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

That morning felt far too quiet.

Valerie woke not to sunlight or the sound of servants moving about, but to a realization that crept slowly into her chest, that she was alone. Her hand moved to the other side of the bed by reflex, yet all she touched were sheets that were cool and neatly arranged. There was no imprint of another body. No trace of Demian’s coat. No sign that he had returned to the room at all during the night.

Valerie sat up slowly.

Her chest did not ache with anger, nor with jealousy. What settled there instead was something heavier and far more dangerous, understanding. The quiet knowledge that her suspicion from the night before had been correct.

Something was happening.

She dressed without haste, then stepped out into the corridor. Sera and Lira were already waiting there. From their expressions alone, Valerie had her answer before she even asked.

"Has the Duke left his study yet?" Valerie asked softly.

Sera shook her head."No, my lady."

"Since last night?"

"Yes."

Valerie nodded. That was all. No outward reaction, no complaint. She walked a few steps, then stopped by the large window overlooking the inner courtyard. Morning light spilled across the marble floor beautiful and cold, much like the capital itself.

Sera looked restless. She opened her mouth, closed it again, then finally spoke.

"My lady... shouldn’t you tell the Duke about what happened yesterday?"

Valerie did not answer immediately. Her gaze remained fixed outside, on the pale sky hanging over the castle towers.

"For what purpose?" she asked at last.

"So the Duke can protect you," Sera said quickly, as if afraid Valerie would refuse again. "Lady Kosler... she truly is cruel, my lady. Not only to you."

Valerie turned slowly."Not only to me?"

Lira let out a small sigh, then said, "She once caused serious trouble... with the Emperor’s daughter."

The words struck harder than Ivanka’s threat the day before.

"The Emperor’s daughter?" Valerie repeated, her voice barely audible.

"Princess Anabela," Sera replied.

The name seemed to still the world for a moment.

Princess Anabela.

Valerie knew that name. Everyone did. The Emperor’s daughter, so often praised in courtly tales whose beauty was compared to classical paintings, whose grace was held up as the standard for young noblewomen.

"Princess Anabela..." Valerie murmured, more to herself than to them."The princess said to be the most beautiful... and the most virtuous?"

Sera and Lira nodded in unison.

Something tightened in Valerie’s chest."I didn’t know," she said honestly.

Seeing her expression, Sera stepped closer, her voice now softer no longer that of a servant, but of someone speaking out of concern.

"Once," Sera said, "there was a great rumor in the capital."

Valerie sat down slowly in the nearest chair, as if her legs had suddenly lost their strength. Her hands folded neatly in her lap, her posture composed yet inside, her thoughts were racing.

"Duke Morvex," Sera continued, "was said to be close to Princess Anabela."

Valerie did not interrupt.

"The Duke has been very close to the Crown Prince since childhood," Lira added. "They were raised almost like brothers. So the Duke was often at the palace."

Valerie swallowed.

She could picture it clearly Demian in his youth, standing in the palace corridors beside the heir to the throne. And somewhere in a garden corner, a princess the world never stopped praising.

"Many people said," Sera went on hesitantly, "that the Duke had feelings for the Princess."

The word feelings sounded simple. But in the capital, such a word could ruin lives.

Valerie lowered her gaze to the folds of her gown."And Lady Kosler?"

Sera hesitated before answering."Because she was the Duke’s fiancée... she felt entitled."

"Entitled to what?" Valerie asked softly, though she already knew.

"To remove anyone she deemed a threat," Lira replied quietly. "Including Princess Anabela."

Valerie lifted her head, her eyes widening slightly."An Imperial Princess?"

Sera nodded."Never openly. Never with direct accusations. Only whispers. Invitations that suddenly stopped arriving. Smiles that turned cold."

Lira continued, "Until eventually, Princess Anabela was pushed out of social life."

The words felt unreal.

The Emperor’s daughter.The most beautiful.The most virtuous.

Cast aside.

Valerie fell silent for a long moment.

If someone of such rank could be erased so subtly then what did that make her?

"I truly didn’t know any of this," Valerie said at last.

Sera offered a small, bitter smile."It wouldn’t have reached you, my lady."

Valerie looked at her."Why not?"

Lira answered honestly, without pretense."Because noblewomen like you are often kept... unaware."

"Unaware?" Valerie frowned.

"Unaware of how cruel this game truly is," Lira continued. "Unaware of who has already fallen. And unaware... of just how fragile your position really is."

Valerie closed her eyes briefly.

All this time, she had believed herself cautious enough. Careful enough. Aware enough that she was merely a woman standing at the Duke’s side not the holder of his future.

But that morning, for the first time, she truly understood, She was not merely facing Ivanka Kosler. She was standing within an old circle that involved the imperial court, an emperor’s daughter, the heir to the throne, and one man whose very presence was enough to provoke lethal jealousy.

And if even Princess Anabela could be brought down,

Valerie opened her eyes slowly.

She knew, without anyone needing to say it aloud, that she was not standing at the edge of a cliff.

She was already inside it.

Valerie remained seated after the story ended. The morning grew brighter, yet inside her it felt darker not from fear alone, but from the bitter awareness that there were far too many things she had never known.

She slowly lifted her gaze, looking at Sera and Lira one by one.

"Tell me everything," she said calmly.

Sera looked startled."My lady?"

"Everything about Lady Kosler," Valerie repeated. Her voice did not rise, nor did it tremble, but there was a new firmness in it. "I don’t know her. I know only her name. Nothing more."