ONE NIGHT STAND WITH HOT DUKE-Chapter 170: Playing victim

Demian said quietly, his voice low and controlled. "Because if it is—"

He paused, letting the silence fill the room.

"Then you will learn exactly what you will receive in return."

Ivanka opened her mouth, then closed it again. A thousand words crowded her mind defenses, accusations, demands but all of them felt brittle before Demian’s composure. For the first time, she truly understood something she had long ignored, the man before her could not be forced by guilt, nor moved by public opinion.

"You want the world to stop talking about you?" Demian went on, his voice now nearly cold. "Then stop giving them material. Do not stand as a victim, and do not allow anyone to use you as a tool."

He turned back to the window, as though the conversation had reached its end.

Ivanka stood rigid. Her chest rose and fell not with tears, but with anger laced with fear. All her life she had believed that position, status, and her father’s plans were enough to conquer any situation. Yet before Demian, all of it felt... fragile.

She realized something that sent a chill down her spine.

She was not facing an absent husband. She was facing someone who could not be controlled.

Outside the study, the whispers continued to live on. But the story was beginning to shift. No longer about Ivanka being abandoned but about Demian choosing to walk away. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

And in their world, that was far more dangerous.

Meanwhile, Morvek Castle usually governed by a quiet, measured order fell into an unspoken chaos.

It began with something deceptively simple: Valerie’s chamber was empty.

The curtains were drawn back, the bed neatly made, no sign of struggle and most terrifying of all, no message. No cloak, no important jewelry, nothing but an absence too clean to be coincidence.

Within less than an hour, the news spread like fire touching oil.

Valerie was gone.

The castle no longer breathed evenly.

It choked.

From the moment the word spread Valerie could not be found anywhere the massive stone structure seemed to hold its breath. There was no formal command, no emergency bell, yet everyone moved as if they already understood: this was no ordinary disappearance.

This was a catastrophe.

The door to Valerie’s chamber stood wide open, guarded by two rigid sentries. Inside, everything appeared... too normal. The bed was made. The windows were shut. Nothing lay overturned. No marks of resistance. Even her favorite shawl still hung neatly over the back of a chair.

An absence too clean that was what frightened them most.

Sean stood at the threshold, his jaw set hard. As head steward, he had witnessed countless crises: death, intrigue, betrayal. But this was different. Valerie was not merely a resident of the castle.

She was its fragile point of balance.

And now that center was gone.

"What exactly were you thinking?" Sean’s voice cracked sharply through the servants’ hall, slicing through the suffocating silence. His cane struck the stone floor once more. "How can someone disappear from this castle without a single soul noticing?"

Lira and Sera stood before him, pale as candles about to gutter out.

"We—we did not neglect our duties," Lira stammered, tears pooling in her eyes. "Lady Valerie only said she wished to take a short walk. As she often did."

"And you let her go alone?" Sean shot back.

Sera nodded faintly, her shoulders trembling. "She did not wish for company. We did not want to force her."

"That is not an excuse," Sean snapped, no longer restraining his anger. "At a time like this, there is no such thing as ’as usual.’"

Sera broke into sobs. Lira lowered her head further, as though hoping the stone floor might swallow her whole.

In the corner of the room, Bianca stood motionless.

She did not cry. She did not shout. She defended no one.

Her face was empty, yet her eyes were red and dry the kind of eyes that had already cried too much before, until no tears remained. Her hands clutched the skirt of her dress tightly, her breaths shallow.

Valerie would not leave without reason.Valerie would not leave without a word.

The thought spun in her mind like a desperate prayer.

Elsewhere, in the eastern wing of the castle, Noel moved quickly nearly running. He rushed through the corridors with his coat still half-fastened, his face pale with a single, shared fear, Demian did not yet know.

He found Gordon in the inner courtyard, issuing instructions to several soldiers.

"Gordon," Noel called, his voice low but urgent. "We have to find her. Now."

Gordon turned at once. From Noel’s expression alone, he knew this was no small matter. "What happened?"

Noel stepped closer. "Valerie is missing."

For a moment, even Gordon a general hardened by battlefields fell silent.

"Since when?"

"This morning. No trail. No witnesses." Noel drew in a sharp breath. "If the Duke learns of this not from us, but through gossip... or an external report—"

"We won’t have a chance to explain," Gordon cut in firmly.

He turned immediately to his soldiers. "Spread out. Check every gate official and hidden. Search the forest, the old paths, the nearby villages. Quietly. No panic. Not a single word leaves this area."

"Yes, General!"

The soldiers moved at once, scattering like shadows.

Noel dragged a trembling hand down his face. "She’s not the type to run away," he murmured, as if trying to convince himself.

"Exactly," Gordon replied softly. "People like her... rarely leave because they want to. They leave because they are forced."

The words landed heavily.

Back inside the castle, fear curdled into something darker. Servants whispered in strangled voices. Some spoke of abduction. Others of political retaliation. A few dared to whisper of curses of a wrong marriage, of a night that should never have happened.

No one dared speak Demian’s name aloud.

But everyone was thinking of him.

At last, Bianca stepped forward, her voice breaking yet resolute. "She wouldn’t leave us," she said. "Not without saying something."

Sean looked at her for a long moment. The anger on his face faded, replaced by something heavier the same fear.

"We must find her before the day advances," he said at last. "Before the Duke returns... or before the world finds out."