Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 77

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

77.

“This nameplate is rusted, I’ll go clean it.”

The priest disappeared with the nameplate.

Ramiere unconsciously swallowed and approached the column.

It felt strangely as if someone had prepared a trap just for him.

The priest holding the box opened the lid to show him.

The moment Ramiere saw the clothes inside, he nearly stopped breathing.

He knew these clothes.

He knew who owned them. He knew how that owner had died.

“…Your Highness Ramiere? What’s wrong? Your Highness?”

From afar, the priest came running with the nameplate in hand.

‘The name written on that nameplate is.’

“I’ve figured out the name written on the nameplate!”

[ R. V ]

It was his initials.

“Your Highness Ramiere?”

That was the last voice he could hear.

Because he fainted after those words.

“He’s fainted? Someone carry him to a room!”

The priests watched with bewildered faces as he was carried away on a stretcher.

“By the way, does Kukseo usually have trouble seeing blood? To think he’d faint just from seeing bloodstained children’s clothes.”

“That can’t be… His hobby is actually hunting. There must be another reason.”

Among the puzzled priests, one picked up the nameplate.

“Um, children’s nameplates usually have the father’s initials written on them, right?”

“That’s right. What does it say on there?”

“It says R. V., could this possibly be…”

The priest trailed off.

Bloodstained children’s clothes. A child’s nameplate with the same initials as Kukseo.

And Kukseo collapsing the moment he saw it.

They all exchanged meaningful glances.

“Shh! Don’t spread idle rumors inside the temple.”

Of course, that meant it was fine to talk about it outside the temple.

The next day. Rumors spread about Kukseo fainting at the sight of bloodstained baby clothes.

* * *

The priests panicked and moved the unconscious Kukseo to a guest room in the temple.

He regained consciousness shortly after.

After sending away all the priests who asked if he was alright, he trembled alone in the room.

The scene he saw just before fainting wouldn’t leave his eyes.

Someone knew his secret.

‘How did they find out.’

Surely no one, absolutely no one should know.

He had dealt with everyone who knew.

It was just a momentary mistake.

During his courtship of the Emperor, frustrated that she wouldn’t accept his feelings, he briefly had a light affair with another woman.

‘A few months later. I never dreamed that woman would come looking for me just days before my wedding to the Emperor.’

In her arms was a child created from that ‘momentary mistake.’

‘If the Emperor found out about the illegitimate child, it would be over.’

The Emperor’s spouse must not have children with other people. It was only natural.

If he had been caught then, the engagement would have been broken immediately, and even now it would be grounds for unanimous deposition.

To place those clothes in the temple he frequented?

This was meant as a warning.

The problem was he had absolutely no idea who had sent it.

‘Who the hell is it. Who knows about this!’

Ramiere screamed silently while clutching his head.

* * *

‘Think all you want about who sent it.’

No matter how much he speculated, he could never know that Annelize was the culprit. Timing-wise, she shouldn’t know this information.

‘The loose-lipped priests are probably already spreading rumors linking the child to Kukseo.’

Then naturally Kukseo’s arrows would turn toward the temple.

Since it happened in the temple, Kukseo would have no choice but to grill the priests thoroughly, and eventually clash with his brother, the high priest.

“I should ask Isaiah. Whether there are any prisoners in the underground prison who know Kukseo.”

“Miss Annelize, did you call for me?”

The maid entered the room where she was.

“How is mother?”

The maid sighed.

“The same.”

After receiving the malicious verbal gift from Kukseo, the Count suffered severe aftereffects.

‘It hasn’t even been a day yet, so let’s wait for mother to have time to collect herself.’

While the Count was holed up in her room, Annelize skillfully handled the household affairs.

“What should we do about the carriage loaded with supplies for the Kingdom Conference?”

“We’ll have to wait and see. If mother doesn’t want to go, we can’t force her.”

While Annelize discussed with the maid whether to call for more carriages.

Anna Rose, who had been behind the column, peeked her head out.

‘Sister… looks sad.’

The atmosphere of the manor had instantly become gloomy due to Kukseo’s misdeeds.

‘Indeed, sadness and pain must be overcome with love.’

Since hearing Crown Prince Iskassian’s confession, Anna Rose’s thought process had turned somewhat excessively toward love-solves-everything ideology.

‘Sister, no matter how much you deny it, I know your true nature. That you’re an ordinary girl who likes handsome men just like me!’

It was obvious to Anna Rose’s eyes.

There were always many men around her sister.

People who brought her expensive gifts, people who made sweet confessions and begged for love.

‘What was sister’s reaction then?’

She showed not an ounce of interest. She probably doesn’t even remember such things happening.

Her sister was someone who could become extremely indifferent to things that didn’t interest her.

Yet that same sister was paying attention to the Duke’s every word and action.

‘Sister says she’s not particularly interested in love and such, but actually she just hasn’t met someone who’s her type.’

It had been that way since childhood, when they talked about ideal types.

[I like pure, blonde princes who seem like I should protect them! What about you, sister?]

[I like black hair. And I’d want golden eyes. Like a full moon floating in the dark night.]

It was such a firm preference that even Anna Rose was impressed.

[He should be as tall as that door, and strong enough to lift me with one hand.]

[Sister, that’s really specific. It sounds like you’re describing a real person.]

[Would such a person exist? I’m just talking.]

[I see. Keep telling me!]

Listening to her sister’s ideal type stories gave the illusion that such a person really existed.

Annelize, who had been rambling, hesitantly added.

[It’s okay if he lacks some common sense. …And I’d want him to like me very, very much.]

[How much?]

[Well. Enough to pluck even the moon from the sky? There. That’s enough, right? I have to go work now.]

Her sister might have forgotten, but Anna Rose remembered that day clearly.

She even sometimes had dreams. Dreams of her sister meeting her ideal man and living happily.

‘I never thought the Duke would actually look exactly like sister’s ideal type.’

It was truly an amazing coincidence.

So ever since coming to the Duke’s castle, Anna Rose had been watching their relationship with great interest.

But there was an unexpected obstacle.

‘Why doesn’t sister recognize her own feelings?’

Annelize’s love sensor wasn’t working properly.

* * *

A few days later, Anna Rose realized the reason.

Annelize’s love sensor wasn’t broken. It was working very well.

It just operated in a slightly different way.

Annelize paced around Anna Rose’s room. She looked somewhat anxious.

“I tried to look with an open mind like you said. Anna Rose.”

“Yeah. How was it?”

“Everything’s good, but why do I get so angry at the Duke every time he does something for me?”

Annelize confessed in a serious tone.

“It’s not that I dislike it. But still, I just want to grab him by the collar and demand why he’s acting this way toward me.”

Annelize looked down at her own fist.

“Though I don’t know what exactly I should be demanding.”

Her face was extremely serious.

Oh my. A look of realization crossed Anna Rose’s face.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————