Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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17.

Annelize’s expression crumpled.

“Risk my life for love? That’s ridiculous. What exactly did you see in me to think that?”

“Is that so? Then I apologize. I really don’t have a good eye for people. You can tell just by watching me suffer under my lord, can’t you?”

Isaiah chuckled.

“By the way, didn’t the first saint say, ‘Only love shall make you live in this meaningless world’? What a delinquent descendant you are.”

What was he talking about? He was quoting scripture.

How unexpected. I didn’t know he read the scriptures. He doesn’t particularly look devout.

With his angelic appearance, delivering the saint’s words piously would suit him quite well.

But since I absolutely couldn’t agree with the content, the impact was diminished.

She wasn’t particularly devout either.

‘Especially when I think about how all the empire’s citizens are obsessed with love because of that passage.’

“I practice the first saint’s words well with my family and friends. Do I really need to add spousal love to that?”

Annelize sighed.

Isaiah shrugged his shoulders.

“If you have a heart, it’s something you dream about at least once, isn’t it? A soulmate. Your other half. Something like that.”

[Only those with hearts can love, they say. Then Annelize, my heart belongs to you!]

Remembering the Crown Prince’s words, goosebumps rose on Annelize’s arms.

Soulmate, my ass.

Originally, life is about being born alone and living alone.

“You really don’t have a good eye for people. I’m a delinquent descendant who doesn’t resemble the noble Saint Annellarion at all.”

Isaiah laughed as if Annelize’s words were amusing.

“Anyway, you were able to see my lord’s bare face, weren’t you?”

“I don’t see what connection those two factors have.”

“My explanation was insufficient last time.”

As if pondering how much to say, Isaiah lowered his eyes.

“My lord’s face is, well, a kind of barrier, you could say. Hidden away so others cannot see it.”

Isaiah’s words continued.

“Lady Annelize saw through to what lies beyond. Just as Annellarion Solariccen did.”

I had read about this in scripture too.

A person who could see beyond ordinary people’s perception.

That was said to be the reason the first saint could discover the northern monster’s weakness.

‘So that’s what it meant when they said I resembled the first saint.’

Even so, this was a bit much. Annelize’s expression became subtle.

“I’m grateful for the flattery, but my conscience is pricking me for being treated on the same level as the saint just for staying sane after seeing Duke’s face. Anyway, I understand the meaning.”

“No. It seems I spoke carelessly about Lady Annelize.”

Isaiah answered nonchalantly, his eyes crinkling gently.

Annelize turned her head to look toward the other side of the carriage where the Duke had disappeared.

The Duke still hadn’t returned.

‘He’s later than expected. I wonder if he’s alright.’

“In that sense, you could say you found the right person to make a vow not to love with.”

Isaiah’s low voice brought her back to attention.

“Since our lord happens to be someone who cannot feel the emotion called love.”

What could this mean?

Isaiah poked his own chest with his finger. He put on a mournful voice.

“Because he lost his heart long ago.”

Was there some power that allowed survival even after losing one’s heart?

‘What am I seriously thinking about? It’s nonsense to begin with.’

Powers or whatever, humans couldn’t live without a heart in the first place.

A hollow laugh escaped at the absurd joke.

Anyway, even a hollow laugh was still a laugh.

The corners of her mouth, stiff with tension, relaxed gently.

“How unfortunate. I hope he can find it soon.”

“How thoughtful of you. Ah. There’s my lord coming now.”

In the direction he pointed, a familiar large figure was visible.

* * *

As soon as the Duke returned, Annelize first examined his hands.

It seemed like a lie that they had been burned. His hands were perfectly fine without a single scratch.

Annelize felt embarrassed.

‘That’s what powers are like. Looking back, it wasn’t really that surprising. Maybe it was because it was fire.’

Perhaps due to past events, she particularly disliked fire.

‘It’s already been several years since the fire, but I’m still like this.’

Before buried memories could surface, she quickly shook her head to shake them off.

She didn’t want to show others her disturbed mental state.

A shadow fell over Annelize as she stood there blankly.

“What’s wrong?”

Annelize unconsciously stepped back, avoiding the Duke’s face.

She was afraid her expression would be discovered.

“It’s nothing.”

“…”

Annelize felt pressure to say something.

“What are you planning to do with the sacred object?”

“I’ll seal it somewhere no one can touch it. It’s dangerous if it falls into someone else’s hands.”

“Why is it dangerous?”

“You don’t need to know.”

Ah. It must be quite a sensitive secret.

“I apologize. Um, are your hands alright? They don’t hurt, do they?”

“They don’t hurt.”

Right. As long as they don’t hurt, that’s fine.

Annelize let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s a relief.”

Even though he should have heard her words, no response came.

“Duke Aperhis?”

When Annelize raised her composed face, the Duke narrowed his eyes and ran his hand over his forehead.

He looked worse than when he was in the crowded ballroom.

“What’s wrong?”

“You… you’ve been acting strange since earlier.”

An observing gaze poured over her face.

The furrow in the Duke’s brow deepened further.

His lips twitched.

It was the face of someone holding back a question they were curious about but didn’t want to hear the answer to.

Wondering what he was trying to say, she silently waited for his words.

“Are you afraid of me right now? Is that why you’re acting like this?”

Huh?

The unexpected question left her unable to respond immediately.

“No. Never mind. Don’t answer.”

Before the misunderstanding could be cleared up, the Duke turned his head away with a dry response.

‘What if he just leaves like this! He should at least hear my answer!’

Annelize urgently grabbed the Duke.

“It’s because of this!”

She rolled up her dress sleeves to reveal her arms.

Dark burn scars that didn’t match her snow-white skin were revealed.

“I was injured in a fire a few years ago. I was just startled because the memory came back. It’s absolutely not because I’m afraid of Your Grace.”

Annelize’s sixteenth birthday. Due to a fire that broke out in the warehouse, her father died and her mother was injured.

The cause of the accident still hasn’t been revealed.

‘It was a terrible accident, but at least thanks to that we discovered the Sacred Object of Aldeon. Thanks to that, I’m marrying the Duke too.’

Her trauma wasn’t what was important right now.

Annelize grasped the Duke’s hand and looked into his golden eyes.

‘To ask if I think he’s scary just because I flinched a little. What kind of treatment has he been living with all this time.’

Of course, Annelize knew too. What kind of terrible things the Imperial Nobility said about him.

[They say Duke Aperhis’s appearance is so horrible. Isn’t the northern monster from the scriptures actually the Duke?]

[Who knows what he’s plotting while holed up in the North?]

Curses that hurt to hear even as an outsider were rampant. To the people of the Empire, the Duke was that kind of existence.

A frightening and disgusting monster.

Of course, she knew the Duke was rude and didn’t care about others, which made him easy to misunderstand.

‘But he became like that because he was holed up due to his power. It can’t be helped, right? Everyone talks without even knowing properly.’

She was different from other people. Annelize wanted to let the Duke know that fact.

“It’s natural for Your Grace to worry like that. I apologize for my thoughtless attitude.”

The first principle of a contract was trust.

‘I’ll see you properly, unlike other people. Please trust me.’

Annelize didn’t want to disappoint her business partner who would be responsible for her future from the very beginning.

“I’ll say it again—Your Grace is absolutely not scary or disgusting. If you were, I wouldn’t have proposed in the first place.”

The Duke focused on Annelize’s words with a blank face, not even blinking.

As if only Annelize remained in this world.

“No matter what anyone says, Your Grace is a good person. I’m happy to marry Your Grace. I’m glad that Your Grace has become my husband.”

At those words, the Duke suddenly narrowed his eyes.

His expression looked caught off guard, as if someone had suddenly stabbed a knife into his chest.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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