Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 32
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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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32.
Puppy ears. Fluttering back and forth.
At those words, the Duke’s drowsiness instantly vanished.
“Truly momentous news indeed. Isaiah. Tell me more. What color were they?”
The Duke’s expression was more serious than ever.
“Yellow, of course. Do you know how much trouble I went through to find something that matched her hair color?”
“Well done. Isaiah. You truly are my right hand.”
A rare smile was directed toward Isaiah.
“What about the fabric? Is it smooth? Or?”
“It’s fluffy. I thought that would suit the Duchess better.”
“Yes. Fluffy. Good.”
The Duke nodded and repeated Isaiah’s words.
Isaiah chuckled.
“The Duchess happens to be going out today. The external greenhouse has finally been completed.”
The Duke hesitated.
“Aren’t you going to go see?”
“Not yet.”
“Really? What if she suddenly loses the headband? What if someone steals it and you never get to see the Duchess with puppy ears?”
He fell into anguish and let out a groan.
“Isaiah. Don’t try to test me.”
“Stop testing yourself alone.”
Isaiah dropped his final bomb.
“Every time the Duchess turns her head, the ears perk up and move along with her—”
“I’ll go. I’ll go!”
“A wise decision. My lord.”
Isaiah whistled.
* * *
The Duke’s Greenhouse.
“It’s been the warmest since I came to the North. Weather like this is rare.”
Annelize gave Pamine a skeptical look at his words.
“This is the warmest temperature?”
“Relatively speaking!”
Even so, it was still below freezing.
Thanks to less snow accumulation, the external greenhouse construction was finished early.
‘The Duke still hasn’t shown his face anywhere.’
Annelize smirked while holding the headband in her hand.
While the Duke was absent.
She spent her time in the greenhouse.
She could think that her inability to meet the Duke was because she was in the greenhouse.
Not because the Duke was avoiding her.
Thanks to this, crop cultivation proceeded smoothly.
The plants that had been struggling were now strong enough to roll around in the snow for over half a day.
‘Thanks to training them through endless competition, comparison, Spartan education, and nutrient injections.’
She had even brainwashed them about time concepts to grow crops in a short period.
[You think only a day has passed. Wrong. Three whole months have already gone by. All you did during that time was sit still and drink water!]
Thanks to Annelize’s words, the plants lived ten times faster than others.
‘This actually works.’
It was difficult, but fortunately everyone followed along well.
Annelize knelt down and whispered to the flower pot.
‘You’ve done well so far. Now it’s the real thing. I believe you’ll all do great. You’re all so precious!’
—That was her inner thoughts.
“Stay alert. I’ll check how you’re doing in a few days.”
—But these were the words she actually spoke.
“If even one of you doesn’t do properly…”
Her touch suggestively brushed across the leaves.
The plants all trembled in unison.
This should be enough.
Annelize closed the box.
“Are you finished, Lady Annelize? I’ll load it for you.”
Pamine quickly picked up the box from the floor.
“Thank you, Sir Pamine.”
“Not at all! Serving you is my great pleasure.”
He bowed his head with an expectant face.
Annelize patted his fluffy crown.
“Yes. Well done, Sir Pamine. Please take care of it.”
“Yes!”
Ever since she patted him once, he subtly does this every time she asks him to do something.
Isaiah’s words about treating him like a dog weren’t so wrong.
‘Next he’ll probably ask me to scratch his chin. He’s just like a puppy.’
Wait. Could it be?
A question flashed through Annelize’s mind.
“Sir Pamine. Was this also your first time eating grapes? Did your former master also scold you never to eat grapes?”
She was just asking out of curiosity. Since Sir Pamine also resembled a puppy like the new servants at the manor.
If the answer was the same. She’d think about that when the time came.
“No? I like grapes. When I was young, I used to secretly pick and eat them from the orchard when I was bored. Why do you ask?”
Pamine looked puzzled.
“It’s nothing. Go ahead first.”
What was I thinking.
‘Even so, I shouldn’t suspect a perfectly normal person of being a dog.’
Let me reflect.
‘The sin of suspecting a person of being a dog. I’ll repay it by becoming a dog myself.’
She put on the headband and raised her head.
That’s when it happened.
The Duke peeked his head through the greenhouse door.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Your Grace? What are you doing there?”
The Duke instantly approached and stood before Annelize.
He stared at Annelize in a daze as if he had received a great shock.
“…Your Grace?”
Annelize tilted her head. The fluffy ears on top of her head swayed gently along.
“Ugh.”
The Duke squeezed his eyes shut with a pained expression.
It was the Duke she was meeting after a long time since he disappeared claiming to be busy.
‘I wanted to grumble about something. But seeing his current state makes me lose the motivation.’
Just how busy had he been. He looked mentally very unstable.
‘He probably couldn’t even groom himself properly. Look how disheveled he is. Did he just wake up?’
The Duke reached out and grabbed the fluffy ears.
He examined the fake puppy ears like he was playing with their texture and clicked his tongue.
“I imagined what it would look like. But reality is indeed more shocking.”
Was the headband really that unsightly to look at?
‘A grown adult wearing animal ear headbands does look childish. She’s not even a child.’
Annelize readily admitted it.
“Should I take off the headband?”
Her hand reaching for the headband was immediately caught and held.
“No.”
The Duke firmly shook his head.
“Keep wearing it.”
“Alright.”
After thinking for a moment, Annelize suggested that the Duke accompany her.
“Your Grace, I’m going to see the new greenhouse now. If you have time, would you like to come with me?”
“Yes.”
The Duke, who had been watching the fake ears move in rhythm with her walking pace, grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“Take off the headband before we go.”
He spoke with an expression filled with defeat.
“I thought I could handle it, but I think I misjudged.”
“You’re being unnecessarily dramatic over just a headband…”
“Don’t judge me. I’m desperate in my own way too.”
Whatever.
When they went outside, a cargo wagon ready to depart was waiting.
Annelize glanced at the horse loaded with cargo and approached the Duke.
“We’re short on horses, so it looks like you’ll have to ride together with me.”
“Alright.”
Annelize mounted in front of the Duke.
The moment she unconsciously leaned her head against the Duke’s chest to maintain her balance.
She heard the sound of him sharply inhaling.
‘What?’
Before she could turn around, the Duke hastily moved the reins.
Annelize had no choice but to quickly grab the saddle handle.
For a while, quiet time continued with only the sound of hoofbeats.
After some consideration, Annelize was the first to speak.
“Your Grace.”
No answer came, but she could feel the wrist holding the reins tense up.
‘Why are you sitting so far away from me? You’re going to fall off the horse.’
—is what she wanted to ask, but.
“Would you like some candy?”
Instead, Annelize took out candy from her pocket.
“It’s sweet and delicious. I made it with honey a few days ago, but I haven’t had a chance to give it to you.”
‘Since you avoided me like the plague and didn’t show your face at all.’
It was a statement laden with subtle reproach.
The Duke replied in an indifferent tone.
“I was busy.”
“I figured as much. Do you know what honey is?”
Annelize also continued her words nonchalantly.
As if she truly hadn’t minded his absence.
“No.”
She thought so. There’s no way bees could live in this cold place.
“There are insects called honeybees. They go around flowers collecting honey. Honey is a transparent yellow color like Your Grace’s eyes.”
She heard rustling sounds from behind as he unwrapped the packaging.
The Duke muttered as if suspicious.
“It doesn’t look similar to my eye color.”
“It’s frozen opaque because of the cold, but originally it’s a very pretty yellow light. It’s the complete opposite color of my eyes, so I’ve always thought it was beautiful.”
The Duke expressed doubt at a completely unexpected point.
“Your eye color?”
Annelize was momentarily speechless.
“…Your Grace. Just to check, you do know my eye color, right? We were just looking into each other’s eyes and talking a moment ago.”
The silence was long.
“You really don’t know? Really?”
“…Hmm.”
The Duke let out a contemplative sound.
‘This bastard?’
Annelize waited for the Duke’s answer with a sharp gaze.
Finally, the Duke’s mouth opened.
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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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