Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 33
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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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33.
“Well. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what color it is.”
Could it be that the word ‘purple’ doesn’t exist in the Duke’s vocabulary?
‘Do people from the North just pretend purple doesn’t exist? That can’t be right.’
Then…
‘Even though we’ve seen each other’s faces every day, he’s so uninterested in me that he’d forget that quickly.’
Annelize let out a hollow laugh.
A sentence she had once vowed and re-vowed flashed through her mind.
[I absolutely must have a political marriage. I’ll live a cold, barren life with a dead-eyed husband who doesn’t even know what color my eyes are.]
The goal she had wished for since her regression had come true.
‘But why don’t I feel as happy as I thought I would?’
Because she realized that the passionate attention she used to receive was meaningless?
Though she had never wanted that attention in the first place.
Even so, still.
‘Isn’t a husband who doesn’t even know his wife’s eye color a bit too much?’
No matter how uninterested someone is, they’d at least remember eye color.
‘I thought we’d gotten a bit closer though. I guess I was mistaken.’
Right. That’s why he disappeared without any explanation to me, saying he was busy.
Annelize pressed her lips tightly together and lowered her head.
Meanwhile, the Duke was concentrating all his nerves on not embracing Annelize.
‘Maybe because it’s been a while since I’ve seen her, but she’s even more stimulating.’
It was already difficult now, but if she had worn the headband too… he didn’t even want to imagine it.
‘I was right to tell her to take it off.’
The Duke calmly composed himself.
While deliberately ignoring Annelize’s scent that wafted faintly on the wind.
‘Is it because I’ve been feeding her well? Her cheeks have gotten rounder.’
What kind of expression was she making? Annelize’s cheeks kept twitching.
‘Ah. She asked about her eye color.’
The Duke snapped back to attention after staring blankly at her cheeks.
“Your eye color is… difficult to say right now. If you give me time, I’ll answer you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Annelize responded.
“No, Your Highness. Please don’t worry about it. It was a meaningless question.”
Her voice had deflated in that brief moment.
Was she tired? He should take her home early.
The Duke fell into further thought.
‘Annelize Solariccen’s eye color.’
It was a good topic to distract his nerves from the urge to embrace her, breathe in her scent deeply, and bite her cheeks.
It was natural that he couldn’t immediately describe Annelize’s eye color.
‘Purple? Violet? No, that’s not right.’
A single word couldn’t capture that mysterious hue.
‘I’ll definitely find the perfect expression before we return to the manor.’
It felt like an important duty he absolutely had to accomplish at this moment.
In reality, he already knew of a suitable comparison for Annelize Solariccen’s eye color.
He just couldn’t remember it right now.
* * *
Not a single word was exchanged until they reached their destination.
Both were busy processing their respective thoughts and emotions.
Before long, a small building came into view.
It was the outdoor greenhouse that Pamine had designed.
“My lord, my lady! I’ve been waiting for you. I am Alriksen, the village chief of the Village Across the River.”
An elderly man with white hair bowed while wearing fur clothing.
“It’s my first time meeting you, my lady. I heard my daughter-in-law has been in your care.”
He was the father-in-law of Elli, Annelize’s personal maid.
“I’ve heard a lot about you from Elli. Nice to meet you. Thank you for readily accepting such a sudden request.”
“Hehe. Not at all. I didn’t have anything else to do anyway.”
Shortly after, all the luggage was moved into the greenhouse.
Annelize pressed her hat down more firmly and said to the Duke.
“I can handle this alone now. Please wait for me.”
She didn’t want to make eye contact with the Duke right now. She didn’t want him to see her expression.
“Come, my lord. This way please. I’ve lit a fire for you.”
Village Chief Alriksen guided the Duke to the warehouse next to the greenhouse.
Annelize sighed and entered the greenhouse.
“Have you arrived, my lady?”
“The right side is almost completely planted.”
The workers who had arrived earlier were planting potatoes. The field they had started planting yesterday was almost completely filled.
“Are the beans and carrots finished?”
“Yes. We’ll be done soon. There aren’t many spinach seedlings left either.”
The work proceeded swiftly.
In a small field prepared in the corner, several improved wheat seedlings were planted experimentally.
‘If only the snow wasn’t piled so high, I would have made a field outside.’
She had improved them to adapt anywhere, but snow was the problem.
Once snow covers them, they can’t photosynthesize.
‘They said the North is gradually getting less cold. Then won’t there come a day when all this snow melts? I hope so.’
For now, it was time to take care of the ones that had taken root in this greenhouse.
After the workers finished and left.
Annelize was left alone.
She placed both palms on the ground and knelt down.
‘I haven’t practiced this much, but will it work?’
Annelize tried a new method.
Instead of handling individual plants, she poured her power into the earth itself.
‘If the old method was like one-on-one interviews, this is like giving a speech to the entire school.’
It was convenient since she didn’t have to touch each one. She could also spread her power over a wider range than before.
She quite liked this new method.
Her hands glowed.
“You’ve all survived countless obstacles so far. But if you think that’s the end, you’re mistaken. Life is originally an endless series of hardships.”
Creak. The greenhouse window opened and closed.
It was long enough for the plants to fully feel the cold outside.
“Your mission is to survive here without freezing to death. What do you need to do to survive? You must support each other so you don’t fall to the wind.”
The light spreading from her fingertips rippled and spread across the entire greenhouse floor.
‘It’s like they’re resonating.’
Her nagging seemed to reach the plants in the greenhouse.
“You understand, right? You must help each other. Don’t commit such shameless acts like living together for over a month and not even remembering the color of each other’s eyes, throwing away basic respect for one another.”
Annelize stopped speaking.
The example was wrong. Plants didn’t need to know eye colors. They didn’t have eyes.
‘Whatever.’
As if responding to her anger, the plants trembled.
When she finished speaking and lifted her palms, the light stopped its undulating movement and gradually faded.
She was out of breath as if she had been running for several minutes.
Annelize caught her breath while clenching and unclenching her palms.
It was as natural as if she had known how to move her hands and feet since birth.
* * *
Inside a small warehouse that could barely shelter them from the wind.
The Duke struggled to find answers while searching through his memories.
‘Something that resembled Annelize’s eyes, I definitely knew what it was….’
Retrieving long-forgotten memories was as difficult as rummaging through a garbage dump.
As if they had been deliberately hidden to make them hard to find.
‘Not amethyst either. Something lighter, perhaps like violets sparkling under moonlight.’
The dawn sea and the evening sky were dismissed one by one.
‘How irritating.’
The Duke frowned and leaned back crookedly in the wooden chair.
While he stared at the flames burning before his eyes.
Village chief Alriksen put firewood into the container.
“Though it’s late, congratulations on your marriage, my lord.”
The Duke raised an eyebrow instead of answering.
When he remained silent, the old man began speaking in a quiet voice.
Something about being grateful for saving his life decades ago, something about being happy to finally repay even a small portion of that debt. For the Duke, it was meaningless chatter.
While half-listening to the old man’s words, the Duke suddenly thought of a way to spend this boring time more valuably.
He wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was worth trying.
“You say you want to help me.”
“Yes, my lord. Whatever this old man can do for you.”
“Then… first, swear an oath. That you will answer my questions without a single lie. There must be no deliberately hiding the truth with the intention of troubling me or making a fool of me.”
Alriksen looked at him with a surprised expression. It was a look that said who would dare try to trouble the Duke.
The Duke thought of Isaiah’s sly expression and narrowed his brow.
In any case, he would be better than Isaiah.
Unlike his subordinate who had once been human, the old man before him was a pure human.
After much deliberation, the Duke finally managed to part his lips.
“Have you ever wanted to bite someone?”
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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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