Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 40
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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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40.
What should I say if the servants cleaning the dining hall ask why it’s such a mess?
‘It’s because I’m too cute, nothing to worry about?’
Good heavens. It was obvious what everyone would gossip about.
Annelize quietly observed the Duke.
He was in the middle of smashing the last remaining chair in the dining hall.
Despite his rough actions, the Duke’s expression looked satisfied and comfortable.
‘There’s no point asking him to restrain himself. Right now he’s so overwhelmed he can’t see anything else.’
Rather, couldn’t that violent tendency be used for other productive work? How could I redirect his attention to something else?
‘He could just destroy something other than the Duke’s Castle.’
What should he destroy? Is there anything worth demolishing…?
Annelize fell into deep thought.
A few days later.
A suitable opportunity presented itself.
Elli came to Annelize with a dejected expression.
“My lady. You were supposed to visit our village tomorrow. Would it be alright if we postponed the appointment?”
“Why, is something wrong?”
“Well… a few days ago there was an avalanche on the nearby mountain and snow poured into the village.”
“Oh no. Are the villagers okay?”
“A few households got isolated because of ice chunks that rolled down from the mountain, but there’s no major problem. However, it would be difficult to properly receive guests right now.”
Elli’s voice was dispirited.
“I’m sorry, my lady. I was really looking forward to it too…”
‘So they need to clear away large chunks of ice.’
Annelize nodded and stood up.
“I understand, Elli. Tomorrow’s appointment is canceled. Instead, I’ll go today. Let’s leave right now.”
“What?”
She stared at Annelize with a dumbfounded expression.
It was an opportunity to put the Duke’s violent tendencies to productive use.
Annelize immediately went to find the Duke.
“Your Grace. Do you have time now? I’m going to the Village Across the River right now, would you like to come with me?”
“Wasn’t the appointment tomorrow?”
“I moved it up a day. Elli says she wants to show you around the village.”
The Duke snorted as if it were ridiculous.
“I don’t know what kind of tour a village smaller than my manor could possibly offer.”
“It’s quaint and nice.”
The Duke was right.
The tour of the small village with only a few dozen residents was finished in 20 minutes at most.
And that was originally supposed to be a 30-minute village tour, but they were blocked after seeing only two-thirds of it due to giant ice blocking the path between the square and houses.
Village Chief Alriksen looked troubled.
“I’m sorry. The ice that formed after heavy snowfall last year has already hardened, and no matter how much we pound it, it won’t melt. This is quite a difficult situation.”
It was Annelize’s turn to be shocked.
“That giant ice wasn’t caused by this landslide, but has been there since last year?”
“Ah. The one from this time is over there.”
Indeed, where Alriksen pointed, there was a human-sized chunk of ice.
To think they left a large ice boulder unattended for over a year.
They must have experienced various inconveniences.
“Why didn’t you ask for help? If you had told me earlier, I would have come long ago.”
“We felt bad about making busy people come and go for no reason. Hehe. It’s not really a serious problem.”
Alriksen scratched the back of his head and smiled good-naturedly.
“It’s serious enough, Village Chief.”
What to do with these people who lack safety awareness? Is it because they live in the harsh North?
“I never imagined that ice chunks from the mountain would fall. It must be because the temperature has risen recently.”
Listening to the village chief, Annelize looked around the village.
Roofs sagging under the weight of accumulated snow, already collapsed house sites.
Even in the midst of this, residents were working hard to shovel snow to protect their homes.
“Annelize. Are we staying here?”
The Duke stared at her blankly.
“Please wait just a moment, Your Grace.”
‘That ice is almost the size of a building. It seems too solid to break easily.’
Since heavy equipment couldn’t be used, normally it would take several months to demolish.
‘But there’s heavy equipment-grade Duke right here.’
Trusting in the Duke’s strength, she decided to give it a try.
“Your Grace. Please come here.”
Annelize gestured to the Duke.
“Village Chief. Could everyone step back so they don’t get hurt by debris?”
Everyone moved far away from the ice.
Annelize stood in front of the ice with the Duke.
“Are you going to sightsee ice?”
The Duke asked in a puzzled voice.
“Something like that.”
A distance where the Duke could reach the ice if he stretched out his hand.
Now she just had to wait for the Duke to smash it…
‘Wait. How do I look cute? That’s what will make the Duke move.’
She hesitated. It was an unexpected obstacle.
‘I’ve never consciously tried to act cute, so I have no idea. I didn’t do anything special and the Duke went wild on his own.’
Cute behavior. Cute behavior…
Oh, whatever.
“Your Grace.”
Annelize looked up at the Duke with a shy smile.
She didn’t forget to tilt her head.
“The weather is really nice, isn’t it?”
The effect was immediate.
As soon as he saw that scene, the Duke’s fist rushed toward the ice in front of him at lightning speed.
With a loud noise, the ice was instantly half-destroyed.
Ice powder scattered like mist, blown by the wind.
After the fragments settled.
“The ice disappeared!”
“Wh-what just… happened?”
Residents made shocked sounds from here and there.
‘It worked. I managed it somehow.’
Annelize clapped her hands softly. It was such clean skill that it was admirable every time she saw it.
“Good heavens…!”
Alriksen’s eyes grew enormously wide.
‘I’m glad it worked on the Duke.’
She still had no idea what part of her had stimulated the Duke.
After turning the ice chunk over there into powder as well.
Annelize asked Alriksen.
“Where did you say there were abandoned houses that needed to be demolished?”
“Oh, pl-please follow me.”
The Duke was happy to be able to relieve his destructive impulses that arose whenever he felt cuteness.
She was happy to be able to help the villagers.
It was killing two birds with one stone.
The demolition work that would have easily taken 3 months was completed in just one day.
Under the Duke’s hands, all the abandoned houses in the village were cleared away.
“Residents who have nowhere to go while houses are being built can stay at the Duke’s Castle. Village Chief.”
“Thank you, my lady.”
“Thank you so much!”
The villagers who received help from the Duke continuously expressed their gratitude.
‘Though I didn’t do it myself, it feels rewarding.’
Village Chief Alriksen followed them out to the village entrance to see them off.
While the Duke stepped away to bring the horses,
Alriksen asked Annelize.
“I heard you wanted to see the camellia flowers.”
“Yes. Elli told me they’re flowers that protect the village.”
“Hehe. Those flowers truly do protect this village. They receive the blessing of the first Saint, preventing frost monsters from approaching.”
Alriksen was speaking as if frost monsters really existed.
‘Weren’t frost monsters sealed away long ago by the first Saint? That’s what was written in the scriptures.’
“Frost monsters roam around the Grand Duchy?”
“Ah. You probably don’t know yet, my lady. The Temple is reluctant to speak about frost monsters.”
Alriksen lowered his voice, as if the monsters might be listening.
“Surprisingly, those monsters are still alive. They’re usually sealed, but during blizzards, the seal is released and they wander the North.”
“But it’s been almost a thousand years… I can’t believe they’re still alive.”
“It’s true. Several people from our village have witnessed them. Monsters surrounded by sharp ice, wandering around with glowing yellow eyes.”
As soon as Annelize heard Alriksen’s description, her eyes widened.
Because she had already encountered one before.
‘That’s the monster I saw when I first came to the North.’
“So that monster was a frost monster.”
“That’s right!”
Just as the village chief and Annelize were forming a mutual understanding,
the Duke interjected into their conversation.
“What monster are you talking about?”
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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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