Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 71

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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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71.

That day, the villagers memorized the exact meaning of “to Annelize” without missing a single detail, and vowed to use it only in proper context and never carelessly.

After turning an entire village upside down.

The Duke, satisfied, headed to the next village.

Similar incidents repeated several times.

“But don’t you dare casually speak this name. It’s not something to be babbled about lightly. Just engrave it clearly in your minds and keep it there. Understood?”

If you’re not going to let us use it, why did you create the word in the first place?

At least one person among the villagers who heard the Duke’s command thought this.

But no one had the courage to voice it aloud.

Even if someone had questioned the Duke.

‘So what.’

…that would have been the only answer they received.

Anyway, the Duke busily ran around here and there, spreading the new word he had created.

‘How refreshing.’

Even after visiting all the villages in the north, he still had papers left, so he also delivered them to several noble families he usually exchanged with and to the abbot of Aldeon Monastery.

He was returning home with his great sword slung over his shoulder.

“Duke.”

For some reason, Annelize was waiting for him at the main gate.

His wife, to whom he wanted to gather all the good words in the world and present them.

Her platinum blonde curls fluttered in the wind. The Duke knew how fine and smooth her hair was.

Annelize arranged her hair with her fingers while gazing at the Duke.

She was truly being very “Annelize-like” today as well.

“Annelize. What’s the matter?”

Her light purple eyes, which he particularly loved, turned toward the Duke.

Her expression seemed dark somehow. The corners of her mouth were set in a firm line.

“Did someone cause trouble while I was away?”

Annelize gritted her teeth and replied.

“Someone did cause trouble. Someone.”

“Really? Tell me right now. I’ll handle it immediately. Are you hurt anywhere?”

He quickly looked Annelize over. Fortunately, her appearance seemed fine. There were no external injuries.

Except for the fact that the tips of her ears and neck were tinged pink.

Had she overexerted herself again?

The Duke placed his hand on Annelize’s forehead with displeasure and scolded her.

“You seem to have a fever. Didn’t you promise me after collapsing like that last time? That you’d eat your meals on time and sleep well. It seems we don’t have enough maids to take care of your health?”

“I’m not sick, Duke. And if I am sick, the reason would be because of this.”

Annelize gritted her teeth again.

“Try explaining this, Duke.”

She thrust a piece of paper in front of the Duke’s eyes.

It was familiar paper.

It was the proclamation he had been carrying around until just moments ago.

The Duke looked puzzled.

“Why this?”

“I’m curious why you’re going around forcing innocent villagers to use a word with my name attached to it.”

“Well, that’s because I’m in the middle of finding you adorable. You said so yourself. You asked me to find only you adorable.”

The Duke shrugged his shoulders.

“But looking back, that one flat word wasn’t sufficient to express you.”

Annelize held back a sigh.

“I only asked Duke personally. I didn’t know you’d force it on other people too and spread it widely.”

The Duke tilted his head.

“I thought it was a natural progression. If I find you adorable, then all beings under my protection must follow me.”

“Still, this is too extreme. Creating an entirely new word entry. And it had all sorts of additional descriptions too.”

“Of course, the word explanation is still inadequate. There are many lacking parts, but I tried to express the emotions I feel.”

The Duke was confident. Because he felt no shame whatsoever.

At his words, Annelize’s cheeks grew redder.

She bit her lips and read down the paper in her hands.

“So, um, Duke feels this way every time you look at me – that I’m the most adorable and beautiful in the world, and all that?”

The Duke shook his head.

“I told you it couldn’t contain everything completely. I’d prefer if you didn’t think that’s the entirety of what I feel when I look at you. I had no choice but to compromise due to space limitations.”

“What’s this ‘lovely’ here? There was definitely a condition in our contract that we shouldn’t love each other.”

The Duke shrugged his shoulders.

“What’s the problem? Iskasian Hildegard assured me that ‘to love’ and ‘lovely’ have different meanings. You are lovely. But that doesn’t mean I’ve fallen in love with you.”

Annelize couldn’t argue back. The two words certainly had different meanings.

The Duke’s words made sense. That made her even more annoyed.

“…Fine…”

Annelize didn’t know what to do and pressed her hand to her forehead.

Her head tilted up toward the sky.

Bewilderment. Embarrassment. Annoyance. Finally, resignation quickly passed through her emotions.

“Right. I was the one who asked you to find me adorable first… This is my karma.”

After muttering to herself. Annelize gripped the paper with the Duke’s proclamation and turned around.

“Fine. I’m going to drink some water and try some mental victory.”

The Duke watched her retreating figure and tilted his head.

‘Does she not like it?’

But he had already made all the proclamations. And he had already firmly embedded the meaning of “Annelize” in the villagers’ minds.

“Don’t worry. She’s just acting like that because she’s embarrassed.”

Anna Rose, who had approached at some point, gently patted the Duke’s arm.

“Sister is naturally quite shy. She extremely hates revealing her feelings or emotions to others. She likes it but doesn’t know what to do, so she threw a word at you.”

“Really?”

The Duke couldn’t completely dispel his suspicion.

Still, since it was an explanation from family who had watched Annelize closely for a long time, he could probably feel at ease.

“Then it’s okay not to withdraw the proclamation?”

Anna Rose giggled and laughed.

“Of course. If she really hated it, she would have told you to recall it immediately, right?”

“That certainly makes sense.”

She drank three glasses of cold water in succession, then calmed her mind.

A few days later.

Annelize came down to the stable for today’s schedule.

Among the northwestern nobles who had exchanged with the north several times, quite a few had received invitations to the Foundation Festival.

Most northwestern nobles stuck together among themselves.

‘They’re not very close with the central nobles where House Kukseo is positioned, and they can’t be called the Emperor’s faction either, so their inclination is closer to neutral.’

Their faith in the Temple wasn’t deep either, so they only cooperated with the Temple when absolutely necessary, such as disaster relief funds or major festival events.

The northwestern nobles, who disliked the Crown Prince and banded together even more due to suffering from the Temple’s tyranny.

‘In other words, to move them, I need to make a profitable proposal.’

It was fortunate that Count Cullen’s family, the family of Abbot Selina, had their residence in the northwestern territory.

Annelize had been steadily sending wheat and medicinal herbs to them through Count Cullen’s family. It was an effort to reduce their resistance to Duke Aperhis.

‘Only Count Cullen has met the Duke directly, but it should be fine. This time I’m lending them Foundation Festival tribute.’

Count Cullen’s party was scheduled for this evening.

Annelize’s party had been invited as guests.

The Third Prince planned to attend with them in disguise. Naturally, Anna Rose would be with them too.

He wore a shaggy wig and even glasses. Today his disguised role was Anna Rose’s servant.

As soon as the village-born coachman saw Annelize, he hurriedly removed his hat and ran over. He bowed as if he had been waiting for this moment and opened the carriage door.

“My lady! I’ve been waiting for you. Please get in. Today you really look… Annelize! …beautiful.”

I did well, didn’t I? The coachman wore a proud expression.

‘Ha!’

Annelize pressed her palm to her forehead.

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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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