Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 41
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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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41.
Throughout Alriksen’s explanation, the Duke tilted his head, unable to accept his words.
“You’re saying such a thing is wandering around the North. Don’t lie to me. I’ve never seen it even once.”
Alriksen chuckled softly.
“You must be very fortunate, my lord.”
The Duke still cast a look of disbelief.
“I’m serious. If such a thing were wandering around, there’s no way I wouldn’t have seen it. Aren’t you making up something that doesn’t exist?”
It was rather strange that the Duke who ruled the estate had never encountered one.
‘Especially considering I ran into that monster when I came here.’
It was a memory Annelize could still vividly recall.
‘For some reason, it didn’t approach me and just watched from a distance.’
So at first, she had assumed it was a monster with low aggression.
“If the frost monster just wanders around, it doesn’t seem like it would cause much damage?”
Alriksen answered Annelize’s question.
“People who get close to that monster lose consciousness and suffer from high fever. And…”
Alriksen started to say something but stopped.
“This isn’t something to discuss here. I’ll tell you when there’s another opportunity.”
As he said this, he deliberately looked at Annelize.
“I understand.”
‘What is he trying to tell me that he’s looking specifically at me?’
Annelize nodded for now.
Even on the ride back to the Duke’s castle, the Duke couldn’t easily believe in the frost monster’s existence.
“You really witnessed it too?”
“I’m not sure if it was a frost monster, but I’m certain there was a similar type of monster wandering around. My carriage stopped because of it.”
“Hmm.”
The Duke frowned with a worried expression.
“Be careful not to encounter it again. Don’t get close, and I’ll protect you.”
“It didn’t seem like it was trying to harm me though…”
“How would you know that? Most things wandering around this place aren’t normal. It’s better not to carelessly mess with them.”
It was a cold assessment of his own estate.
‘Well, how would I know what a monster is thinking anyway.’
“That’s true. Since it only appears on snowy days, I just need to avoid going out then.”
Annelize glanced sideways at the Duke.
‘By the way, did he let off some steam after thoroughly destroying things in the village today? He’s being quiet.’
Contrary to her thoughts, as soon as the Duke returned to the castle, he smashed the stable door, then proceeded to destroy Pamine’s study desk.
“Why are you breaking my desk!”
Pamine wailed.
“The desk was there.”
The Duke answered with a much more relieved expression.
* * *
The Duke had been feeling restless lately.
He couldn’t control his own actions.
He felt like going out to the street to shout, like destroying anything he could get his hands on.
He wanted to see Annelize Solariccen.
‘I should go see her.’
He moved as soon as he thought it.
“I’ll be out for a bit.”
The Duke left his post while repairing the Northern Barrier.
It was already the third time.
Isaiah and Pamine rolled their eyes as they looked at his empty spot.
Even without him stating his destination, they could guess.
“Why is he acting like that again?”
Isaiah shrugged at Pamine’s question.
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s finally gone senile.”
“Can beings like our lord even go senile?”
“They say you become like what you love. He married a human, so maybe he can go senile too. How would I know.”
“Is that how it works?”
Pamine looked confused at Isaiah’s words.
As his subordinates guessed, the Duke arrived near Annelize shortly after.
Annelize was pacing around the lobby wearing her coat.
“Going somewhere?”
“Ah. Your Grace.”
Every time she exhaled, her breath came out as white vapor.
‘She even breathes so cutely.’
How does she maintain life and survive with that small, weak body?
The fact that Annelize Solariccen was breathing every moment.
It was close to miraculous.
The Duke carefully approached her and took her hand.
“Your Grace.”
His hands felt restless. The urge to destroy something was boiling up.
“Your Grace. Are you listening to me?”
“Hm?”
The Duke barely came to his senses.
“I was concentrating on your voice so I didn’t hear any of the content.”
He answered boldly.
‘It’s not my fault that Annelize’s voice is unnecessarily melodious.’
She asked back with an incredulous expression.
“I was asking if you’d like to take a walk with me today too.”
“Good.”
The Duke gladly accompanied her.
As long as he could spend time with her, it didn’t matter what they did.
* * *
Annelize went on several more ‘walks’ with the Duke.
Recently, villages damaged by ice chunks rolling down from the mountain were increasing.
‘I can definitely feel the weather getting warmer. The snow accumulated on the mountain is gradually melting too.’
The innocent villagers were suffering from the damage of rapid weather changes.
‘Should I break up the really big chunks in advance?’
She cleared the large ice blocks so they wouldn’t fall on the village, and carefully collected the ice fragments to dump in the lake.
‘Now the villagers won’t have to suffer because of ice chunks.’
Annelize breathed a sigh of relief.
She was standing on a hill now, with the village visible below at a glance.
‘The collapsed houses need to be rebuilt. I wonder if that’s going well.’
After demolition came the problem of construction.
Even though ice had rolled down, the residents’ houses were destroyed too easily.
‘They say frost monsters wander around when blizzards hit too. Everyone is living in houses that are too flimsy.’
She recalled what she had heard from a maid before.
[Houses are built by gathering mud bricks and rocks. But they collapse when blizzards come, so it would be nice if we could have sturdier houses.]
Of course they collapse quickly when using such materials.
‘Lime bricks made from limestone would be much sturdier than mud bricks. I wonder if they’re available here too?’
The hill she visited today likely had limestone deposits.
While Annelize was pondering over the residents’ housing culture.
The Duke was once again preparing to smash everything within his grasp to pieces.
‘The way she purses her lips while deep in thought is cute.’
The reasons why Annelize was cute were being colorfully updated with each passing moment.
Surprisingly, there had never been a single duplicate reason for her cuteness until now.
The moment Annelize raised her head, the Duke’s hand moved.
“Your Grace—”
A cliff appeared in an instant.
“Why did you call me?”
Annelize’s eyes lit up as she discovered limestone veins in the cliff’s cross-section.
“I’ve solved it!”
‘With that, I should be able to make bricks.’
Annelize’s eyes sparkled.
‘I don’t know the reason, but she’s happy.’
Since Annelize was happy, the Duke felt good too. While he was at it, he threw a few more punches.
Limestone rocks fell with heavy thuds.
A few days later. The Duke’s Greenhouse.
Freshly excavated limestone chunks were piled up nearby.
In the greenhouse, ingredients for beer were growing vigorously.
‘Just a little more time and I’ll be able to harvest them.’
She went to the Right Field and whispered.
“The ones in the Left Field can bear fruit just fine even in such a remote place. Since you’re in a sunnier spot than them, you should be able to do it faster, right? Hmm?”
Then she went to the Left Field and whispered again.
“See the ones in the Right Field? Even though they’re dying from the heat in that hot place, they can bloom faster than you. You can do it too, right?”
Now they would grow well on their own, keeping an eye on each other.
After plunging the plants into infinite competitive hell.
Annelize walked down the First Floor Corridor to stop by her room, glancing sideways at the Stone Door.
At the junction leading to the corridor where Pamine’s Greenhouse was located, there was a room with a suspicious Stone Door.
‘That area feels somewhat eerie every time I pass by.’
She was walking by with quick steps when it happened.
The Stone Door burst open. Inside the room was pitch black.
After a moment, a person tumbled out from there.
A Middle-aged Man in tattered clothes, covered in wounds all over his body, looked around restlessly.
“A, a person…? Is that really a person there?”
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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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