ONE NIGHT STAND WITH HOT DUKE-Chapter 192: Ivanka dead?

"That’s not it!" the Marquess snapped, but his voice no longer carried its former strength.

He looked at Ivanka again, longer this time.

"I want you to live," he said quietly. "And for now... living means staying away from the Duke."

He stepped closer.

"Get into the carriage. We will send you to the southern border. You will be safe there. After this storm passes, we will decide the next step."

Ivanka stood still.

She knew this was no longer about choice.

If she refused, her father would be driven further into a corner. And a cornered man could do far more terrible things.

Slowly, she nodded.

Without another word, she turned and walked toward the courtyard.

The carriage was waiting.

Four black horses stamped their hooves, breath steaming in the cold morning air.

The Marchioness embraced Ivanka before she stepped inside. Her sobs broke free.

"Forgive me..."

Ivanka offered a faint smile.

"Do not worry."

It was a small lie she gave her mother.

The carriage door closed.

The wheels began to turn.

The Marquess stood motionless until it disappeared around the bend in the stone road.

For the first time in his life, he felt he had no control over anything.

The northern cliff road was always dangerous.

Narrow paths. Sheer drops. Fierce winds rising from the valley below.

Inside the carriage, Ivanka sat in silence. Her hands rested in her lap. Her gaze was empty.

Was this exile?

Or sacrifice?

Suddenly the front horses shrieked. The carriage jolted violently.

Ivanka was thrown sideways as a wheel struck stone.

"What’s happening?!" one of the guards shouted from outside.

The horses panicked. The reins jerked wildly.

The carriage swayed.

One wheel lifted from the ground.

Ivanka gripped the seat as the world outside the window spun.

A scream.

Splintering wood.

And then the ground vanished.

The carriage fell.

Down.

Down—

And an explosion shook the air.

Flames erupted from the bottom of the ravine.

Black smoke billowed into the morning sky.

Hours later, a single guard returned alone to Kosler Castle.

His face was pale as a corpse.

The Marquess and Marchioness waited in the hall, gripped by an anxiety they could not explain.

"My lord..." the guard’s voice trembled. "Lady Ivanka’s carriage... fell at the northern cliff bend."

"Fell?" the Marquess repeated.

"The wheel broke. The horses lost control. And when the carriage struck the bottom of the ravine..." He swallowed hard. "...there was an explosion."

"An explosion?" The Marquess’s voice sounded unfamiliar even to himself.

"We found traces of gunpowder beneath the carriage frame."

Silence.

The Marchioness screamed and collapsed to the floor.

The Marquess remained standing.

Not moving.

Not blinking.

Because deep inside he knew.

It was not merely an accident.

It was not misfortune.

It was a decision.

And at Morvex Castle, when a guard knelt to report that the carriage had fallen and fire had erased everything Demian simply stood before the tall window.

Dawn had fully broken.

The sky turned gold.

He did not smile.

He did not show triumph.

Only one sentence crossed his mind No one stood between him and Valerie anymore.

And somewhere in the darkest part of him, an empty space grew wider.

Smoke was still rising from the bottom of the ravine when the guards finally managed to descend.

The smell of burnt wood mixed with gunpowder filled the morning air. The remains of the carriage were nothing more than a fragile black skeleton. Twisted iron. Shattered glass. Scorched earth forming a charred circle among the cliffside stones. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

One of the guards covered his nose with his sleeve.

"Search... for anything that remains."

They searched.

But what they found was no longer a figure that could be recognized as a noble lady.

The body lying among the splintered wood had been burned beyond recognition. The once-luxurious gown was reduced to strips of blackened cloth. Her hair always carefully combed and gleaming had vanished into ash.

Her face no longer held any shape that could be identified.

One of the guards slowly knelt.

"This... is Lady Ivanka," he whispered, more to himself than to the others.

The Kosler family ring, half-melted onto a charred finger, was the only mark left to identify her.

And it was enough.

That afternoon, Kosler Castle became a house of mourning.

The Marchioness screamed when the news was delivered.

"No! Impossible! That’s impossible!"

She struggled as the maids tried to restrain her. Her body weakened, her voice breaking into sobs that had lost all form.

The Marquess stood in the center of the grand hall while the guard knelt before him.

"The body... was severely burned, my lord. It was difficult to identify. We only found remnants of jewelry and the family crest."

Difficult to identify.

Those words struck harder than the report of the cliff or the explosion.

Difficult to identify.

As though even death had not granted the dignity of a proper farewell.

The Marquess did not answer at once.

His face was pale, but there were no tears.

Only emptiness.

He had considered this possibility.

He had stood before Demian and heard the condition clearly.

Only when she is dead... can you negotiate with me.

Was this an accident?

Or the consequence of his hesitation?

The Marchioness sobbed on the floor, striking her husband’s chest with trembling hands.

"You said it was only temporary! You said she would be safe!"

The Marquess did not resist.

Because inside him, a voice whispered,

You sent her away.

That night, there was no dinner at Kosler Castle.

No warm candlelight.

Only black cloth hung at the gates as a sign of mourning.

And in the capital, the news spread quickly Ivanka Kosler is dead.The carriage fell into a ravine.Her body was burned and difficult to identify.

The angry citizens fell silent.

Tragedy has a way of silencing even the loudest hatred.

But in the Imperial Palace, when the report reached the Emperor, he frowned.

"An explosion?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Traces of gunpowder were found."