Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 29

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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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29.

“Ugh.”

As soon as she heard Pamine’s words, Annelize mercilessly shook off his hand.

“What was that just now?”

“I’m sorry. I was reminded of my former master, sniff.”

Pamine sobbed.

It seemed there had been someone who took him in before the Duke.

“I shouldn’t have mocked Isaiah’s words. I should have been respectful from the beginning. But now it’s too late. The sin of committing disrespect against Lady Annelize. I should indeed atone with death.”

“So you knew you were being rude. Ah, no. That’s not it.”

Annelize gathered herself and extended her hand.

“Sir Pamine. Just do well from now on. I’ll need your help a lot in the future too. Here, wipe your tears with this handkerchief. Not the snot. Wipe the snot yourself.”

“Yes, sob.”

Pamine took the handkerchief and then flinched.

“Lady Annelize! You’re too close!”

“Why? I’m not a plant.”

“My power affects all living beings, I tell you. What if you touch me and catch some disease? You already look as frail as frost-bitten weeds!”

What was that last part? Frail?

She decided to pretend she didn’t hear it.

“When we touched hands grabbing the flower pot earlier, I was fine.”

“Ah.”

Realization crossed his face.

“If you’re done crying, get up now. Sir Pamine. You said you’d grant my request if I brought the flower pot back to life, right?”

“Yes. Lady Annelize.”

He answered readily.

“If you tell me to prostrate on all fours in apology, I’ll do it.”

He suddenly knelt down without even being asked.

If commanded, he really seemed ready to crawl on all fours.

“If you tell me to die, I’ll die. Whatever you command, I’ll follow.”

“If you die, who’ll take care of the greenhouse? Enough, just help me grow plants.”

“Yes!”

Annelize first asked about the plant in the flower pot.

“It’s a subspecies of autumn strawberry that grows in the Northwest Forest. Seeds that came north on the wind adapted to the soil here, making the berries very small.”

“As expected.”

Recently, Anna Rose had sent autumn strawberry seedlings from near the monastery in a package.

‘I should harvest autumn strawberries and make strawberry jam.’

It would be perfect as the first dish to serve the Duke.

“Since it’s flowered, it should bear fruit next. Shall we try growing strawberries first?”

Following Pamine’s guidance, she entered the greenhouse.

She was able to see deep inside where she couldn’t go during her previous visit.

The greenhouse was larger than expected, but more than half the space was broken.

“How did that part collapse?”

“My lord did it.”

Pamine answered with a dejected expression.

“He kept saying the plants I was researching smelled strange, and it ended up like that. The plants burned.”

“Oh my. You must have been very heartbroken.”

“No. It was my fault for not checking beforehand. Sigh.”

Annelize transplanted the autumn strawberry from the flower pot to a small field. Pamine also helped Annelize from the side.

Her skirt was covered in dirt from going around the fields since morning.

When she hurriedly changed clothes and went down to the dining room, the Duke was already waiting for her.

Annelize explained why she was late.

“The flower pot I brought yesterday bloomed, so I planted it anew in the greenhouse. Sir Pamine and I will take good care of it.”

“I see.”

Annelize glanced sideways.

Today the Duke seemed restless somehow.

“When it bears fruit, I’ll cook with it. If Your Grace wishes, you may watch together.”

“How long do I have to wait?”

Without waiting for Annelize’s answer, the Duke continued.

“Call me when it’s ready.”

He looked very frustrated. His long fingers kept moving across the table like playing piano.

‘He must really be looking forward to delicious food.’

Having to wait for fruit to form would naturally make him anxious.

“I wish I could try it soon.”

“Me too.”

The meal time of different dreams passed like that.

* * *

“Now. You’re relatives. This is your first time meeting, right? Greet each other.”

Inside the empty greenhouse, Annelize was whispering toward the field where autumn strawberry plants were planted.

The flower pot in her hands contained autumn strawberries from the Northwest Region that Anna Rose had sent.

This was the original, so to speak. What grew in the North was an improved variety.

“Since it’s winter here, I should call them winter strawberries instead of autumn strawberries.”

Unlike the Temple’s improvement methods based on numerous books and systematic techniques, her method was more practical, or rather, rough and ready.

The so-called ‘your cousin studies so well, what about you’ strategy.

The method was as follows:

1. Prepare two plants. One should be a plant with advantages you want to improve.

2. Bring the two plants close together, praise the advantages of one plant while criticizing the shortcomings of the other.

However, provide nutrients and water according to preference so they don’t wilt from being too dejected. Use carrot and stick appropriately.

3. The plant, brainwashed by repeated education, improves itself. The end!

Strictly speaking, it should be called gaslighting rather than improvement.

‘It’s funny that this works on plants. It doesn’t make sense.’

She was controlling plant growth speed and genetic improvement solely with her three-inch tongue.

If the Temple knew, they would immediately burn her at the stake as a black magician who manipulates plants at will.

Anyway, whether it made sense or not, the important fact was that it actually worked.

Annelize lowered her voice and opened her mouth.

“Forget about the fruits you’ve made so far. If you have the will, you can make strawberries bigger and more substantial than this. I believe in you.”

Was she being too kind?

Annelize scooped snow from a bucket with a shovel and brought it in front of the plant.

“You grew well even on snow-covered roads. Now it’s much warmer than then and there’s more food, so naturally you should do better than before, right?”

With each word she uttered, the grass planted in the field turned pale with fear.

“The future of all northern plants depends on your stems. Remember that.”

And so one day passed.

“Hey! Straighten your stems! You’re the pride of northern plants!”

Another two days passed.

A few days later, morning.

Pamine greeted Annelize warmly when she came to the greenhouse prepared with what lines to deliver today.

He was kneeling politely.

“What are you doing? You’ll get dirt on your clothes.”

“Lady Annelize. Our efforts have finally borne fruit.”

Strawberries were ripening abundantly in the field.

She was so happy she forgot to object to Pamine’s posture.

“It’s faster than expected! This is really great!”

As Pamine said, the winter strawberry plants were overflowing with clusters of strawberries.

It was worth pouring in all that fertilizer.

The plants brought from the Northwest Region also bore fruit along with them.

Once the harvest was finished, the basket they brought was filled to the brim with winter strawberries.

“This is truly amazing. As expected of Lady Annelize. I believed in you.”

Pamine clapped his hands.

Annelize paused as she stood up holding the basket.

“But Sir Pamine. How long are you going to keep crawling around on your knees?”

“I dare not look at the world from the same high eye level as Lady Annelize—such are my feelings.”

“I see. You’re working hard.”

He’s really the type to create his own hardships.

Still, being able to harvest fruit this quickly was thanks to Pamine.

The fertilizer he made had very good effects.

Annelize picked up a winter strawberry from the basket and held it out.

“I tried one earlier and it was very sweet and delicious. You should taste one too, Sir.”

Since it was fruit touched by her hands, there shouldn’t be any worry about it spoiling when it touched Pamine’s mouth.

“Ohhh…”

Pamine bit into the strawberry held in her hand with his mouth.

“How is it? Delicious, right?”

“Yes. It’s really… Huk! K-khuk! Kuk!”

Pamine, who had been chewing the strawberry in his mouth, suddenly grabbed his throat and collapsed to the floor.

He made choking sounds.

“Sir Pamine!”

Could it spoil even just from touching his mouth?

Just as Annelize urgently set down the basket.

Pamine raised his torso with a nonchalant expression as if nothing had happened.

“What?”

“I was expressing through action my impression that it was delicious enough to die while eating.”

“Ah…”

Annelize nodded soullessly and changed the subject.

“Ah. This isn’t the time for this. I should hurry and go make strawberry jam. I’ll prepare the ingredients and go to the kitchen, so could you tell His Grace the Duke to come to the kitchen?”

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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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