Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 34
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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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34.
“Uh, oh, yes? Uh… Ahem!”
Alriksen made a dumbfounded expression.
The corners of his mouth started to rise as if trying to smile, then hastily stopped.
The old man knew well that he was not in a position to carelessly interpret the Duke’s intentions.
“Hmm… There would be? Of course. There definitely seemed to be. My son may be all grown up now with a full beard, but when he was little, he was absolutely adorable. I don’t know how many times I bit that little nose of his.”
The old man’s eyes quickly became misty with memories as he recalled the past.
“You bit your son? Why?”
The Duke tilted his head.
“Why would you want to bite him?”
“Don’t people say that often? That something is so cute you want to bite it.”
‘There was such an expression.’
This seemed to be more common among humans than he thought.
“Do people usually want to bite when something is cute?”
“That’s right.”
“When is something cute?”
Human emotions were excessively varied.
‘What kind of emotion makes humans want to bite other humans, even their own sons?’
“Well, you see.”
Alriksen flailed his hands in confusion.
He seemed to understand it in his heart but struggled to express it in words.
“Uh, so when there’s something very small, fragile, and precious.”
He rambled on explaining what ‘small,’ ‘fragile,’ and ‘precious’ meant.
“And then?”
The Duke crossed his arms crookedly.
Alriksen scratched his head.
“Perhaps it’s the Creator’s arrangement. You feel ambivalent emotions. It’s the mind’s way of preventing emotions from tilting too extremely to one side. That way you can maintain your reason.”
“Hmm.”
It was quite a reasonable explanation.
The Duke found himself mulling over Alriksen’s words.
Alriksen added in an uncertain tone.
“Uh, actually, my mother used to enjoy saying she wanted to ‘roll it around in her mouth.'”
The Duke snorted.
“A person can’t roll another person around in their mouth.”
“Yes, that’s true… But you can bite, so I bit my son’s nose. Very gently, of course. Without leaving any marks.”
Alriksen, who had been watching the Duke’s reaction, asked cautiously.
“By any chance, has someone you want to bite appeared?”
The Duke didn’t answer.
Without hearing an answer, the old man noticed where the Duke’s gaze was directed.
Alriksen smiled as he looked toward the greenhouse.
“Having such feelings is natural, my lord. Perhaps it wouldn’t be bad to try biting once.”
The Duke lowered his head irritably.
“I don’t want to hurt her.”
“You just need to control your strength very, very well.”
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to control it… Forget it. You don’t understand.”
“No matter how it appears on the surface, the root of it is affection. You would never hurt your lady, my lord.”
“You certainly have a glib tongue.”
He clicked his tongue.
Before leaving the warehouse.
The Duke lightly patted Alriksen’s shoulder.
“That was helpful. More than my useless subordinates.”
And he quickly escaped before the old man could babble his thanks with a moved expression.
Annelize was standing in front of the greenhouse.
Compared to her thick fur coat, Annelize was far too small. She was practically swallowed up by the clothes.
‘Too small. If she got buried in the snow, no one would be able to find her.’
The Duke bit his lips.
Perhaps the old man’s words might be right.
“Your Grace. I’m finished. Let’s return to the manor now.”
When the Duke just stood still, Annelize noticed something strange and looked up at him.
“Duke?”
The moment he saw the pair of large eyes hidden beneath the hood.
A bolt of lightning struck through the Duke’s mind.
‘I figured it out.’
He immediately lifted Annelize into his arms.
“Your Grace? Where are you going?”
“There’s something I want to show you.”
He had finally remembered.
What Annelize Solariccen’s eyes resembled.
* * *
He took Annelize in the opposite direction from the Duke’s Castle.
“Weren’t we going home? Where are you taking me? The sun has already set.”
Instead of answering her question, the Duke said something else.
“You asked me. What color your eyes were.”
Wasn’t that a conversation that ended with him saying he didn’t remember?
“Yes. You said you weren’t sure.”
She couldn’t understand why he was bringing up that topic so late.
“I did.”
“Yes, you did.”
“So now we’re going up the mountain.”
“Pardon…?”
What does mountain climbing have to do with my eye color?
She considered asking for the reason but gave up.
‘Go ahead and do whatever you want. I don’t care what excuse you make now.’
She made an indifferent expression.
How long had they climbed? The horse carrying the two of them stopped.
A cliff halfway up the mountain.
A place where you could see the vast lake at a glance.
Annelize widened her eyes at the scene unfolding from the cliff.
“Wow.”
Beyond the lake that had swallowed the sun, mysterious lights of mixed green and purple appeared in the dark sky.
They began to embroider the night sky like curtains falling.
The rippling lights changed colors in ever-changing ways.
Green, red, blue, pink…
And finally, when they undulated in purple hues.
“That color.”
The Duke, who had been quietly gazing at the sky, pointed to the night sky.
His low voice resonated calmly.
“The color of your eyes.”
Annelize belatedly came to her senses at the Duke’s words.
It seemed she had been holding her breath without realizing it.
That was… an aurora.
‘Right. There was one more natural phenomenon besides snow that could only be seen in the North.’
It was such a rare phenomenon that she never thought she’d be able to see it here.
Annelize opened her mouth in bewilderment.
“This is the first time I’ve seen an aurora in my life.”
At her words, the Duke snorted.
“That can’t be right. You encounter it every time you look in a mirror. It’s the spitting image of your eyes.”
At first, she thought he might be teasing her.
But his words contained unwavering conviction without a hint of falsehood.
“…Ha!”
Annelize let out a small laugh.
“Are you saying that beautiful curtain in the sky is exactly like my eyes?”
“That’s right.”
“Don’t you think that’s far too much of an exaggeration?”
The Duke frowned as if it were insulting instead.
“I only said what I could see.”
He looked frustrated, as if wondering why she couldn’t believe something so obvious.
“Let me clarify so there’s no misunderstanding – it’s not that your eyes resemble the aurora, but that the aurora resembles you. Annelize, you are the true and rightful original.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Do you perhaps have vision problems?”
“My eyesight is fine…”
‘My eye color is exactly the same as that aurora?’
She’d heard compliments about her eyes countless times in her life, but this was among the most absurd.
‘That’s ridiculous.’
If she’d heard it from another man, she would have scoffed and forgotten about it.
But strangely enough.
This time was different. Surprisingly, she didn’t feel bad about it.
Was it because of the sincere feeling she sensed in his straightforward attitude as he showed her the night sky tinged with purple?
A corner of her heart seemed to swell warmly.
Annelize stopped arguing and quietly admired the aurora.
“Don’t you like it?”
The Duke grew anxious at the lengthening silence.
Annelize’s head turned toward the Duke.
Under the brilliantly shining sky, the corners of her eyes crinkled gently.
Her eyes, which looked exactly like the aurora in the sky, sparkled.
“I like it.”
The Duke had been keeping his gaze fixed on her the entire time, so he was able to see it.
The moment when dimples appeared at the corners of her mouth as she smiled brightly.
Thirst overwhelmed the Duke’s body. His throat burned.
Before he could even realize it, his body moved forward.
In an instant, a massive shadow fell over Annelize.
“Thank-”
Before she could finish speaking, Annelize’s vision was completely filled with the Duke.
As she gasped in surprise at his imposing presence.
She felt a hot, tingling sensation on her cheek.
“Ah, damn it.”
As soon as the Duke came to his senses, he groaned in dismay.
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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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