Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 78

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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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78.

“I figured it out! Now I understand perfectly.”

Anna Rose jumped up and down.

“What?”

Annelize looked puzzled.

“I understand why Sister is angry.”

Anna Rose said once more.

“It’s simple. The Duke is totally Sister’s ideal type. He’s her type, but he doesn’t actually love Sister! Of course she’d be angry.”

“Why should I be angry that he doesn’t love me? What does that have to do with-“

‘No way.’

Annelize’s eyes widened with realization.

“Why, because-.”

She froze in shock.

“Because, I…”

Annelize’s face filled with horror.

“I! The Duke?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

She asked as if she couldn’t believe it.

“I! The Duke!”

“Yes.”

Silence fell.

“…That’s ridiculous.”

Annelize clenched her fists and shot up.

“Oh my.”

In the now empty room after her master left, Anna Rose sipped her tea and shrugged.

“Isn’t it a totally easy problem? She wants him to love her but he doesn’t, so of course she’s angry! She’s totally furious. She probably wants to grab him by the collar right now and ask why he doesn’t like her!”

She shook her head as if she couldn’t help it.

“Anyway, you have to understand Sister’s pride.”

If she pushed just a little more, she’d completely fall…

“I wonder if the Duke has any strategy to cheer up.”

Anna Rose’s gaze swept over the calendar.

‘Come to think of it, does he know Sister’s birthday?’

* * *

“What’s going on?”

Fortunately, the Duke was alone.

Anna Rose looked around and then scurried over to the Duke.

“Your Highness! Do you still want to see Sister smile brightly? You made a contract with our Sister, right?”

“Of course.”

The Duke answered immediately, but soon a skeptical look crossed his face.

“But seeing Annelize today… it seems like it’ll take quite a while. I’m not expecting anything for the time being.”

The Duke’s reaction was understandable.

‘Oh no. What if the Duke gets tired first and gives up on Sister?’

Of course, the Duke was prepared to destroy the world rather than give up on Annelize, but Anna Rose had no way of knowing that fact.

“I’ll help you, Your Highness. But I have a condition.”

“What is it.”

Anna Rose asked shyly.

“Can I call you brother-in-law?”

The Duke made a reluctant expression.

“Your sister too. You sisters make trivial requests into conditions. I don’t care what you call me.”

Yes! Anna Rose clenched both fists in joy.

“Right. One more precaution. You can’t say I told you this. Sister will get angry. You have to keep it secret.”

Anna Rose held out her pinky finger.

When the Duke just stared blankly, Anna Rose went “Oh!”

“You don’t know about this. It’s a way to make promises. Please hook your pinky with mine.”

The Duke clumsily followed Anna Rose’s demonstration. Their fingers interlocked.

“Now tell me.”

Ahem. Anna Rose cleared her throat.

“Actually, Sister’s birthday is coming up soon.”

“What is a birthday?”

The Duke really lacked common sense, just as Annelize said. But that was fine. Even being clueless could become a charming point when you’re smitten.

“Everyone has a day they were born into this world, right? People in the Empire gather with friends and family to commemorate their birthday. And they give birthday presents to the birthday person!”

Anna Rose chattered about birthday parties.

The Duke interrupted.

“Then will you also throw a party to celebrate Annelize’s birthday together?”

“Oh, about that. Your Highness. Sister hasn’t held a birthday party in quite a while. Actually, she hasn’t celebrated her birthday since she was sixteen. Because…”

This was actually the main point.

It was also a problem Anna Rose had always wanted to solve but couldn’t with her own power.

Somehow she felt the Duke could do it.

“There was a fire in the warehouse on Sister’s sixteenth birthday. Father said he had hidden Sister’s birthday present in the warehouse, so we went to look for it together, and, uh, Father passed away… Mother also injured her leg.”

Anna Rose swallowed hard. The memories of that day flickered before her eyes like smoke.

Black smoke filled the area around the manor.

The blazing warehouse slowly collapsed.

[Count! You mustn’t go in! It’s dangerous! Please!]

[Let go! Lorel! Annelize!]

Mother shook off the maid’s restraint and stubbornly entered the burning warehouse.

A moment later. The servants dragged Mother out of the warehouse, unconscious with an injured leg.

No matter how much water they poured, it was useless. The fire wasn’t extinguished until the warehouse burned down to its frame.

Three days passed like that.

Annelize walked out of the completely burned ashes.

In perfect condition except for burns on her left arm, without a single other injury.

Clutching an old box tightly in her hand.

[Lorel, your father…?]

At Mother’s question, Annelize shook her head.

She couldn’t properly remember the three days she spent inside the warehouse, and the Count couldn’t ask her daughter anything.

The three mother and daughters tacitly avoided talking about that day.

Because it was too heartbreaking to speak aloud.

‘But Sister said she told the Duke about her scars. About the warehouse fire too.’

That was truly something special.

So the Duke could do it.

“So Sister hasn’t celebrated her birthday since that day. She probably even forgot when her birthday was.”

Mother didn’t hold Father’s funeral, using the excuse that his body was never found.

That’s how Sister’s birthday, which was also Father’s death anniversary, became a day of nothing.

But Anna Rose still remembered.

How happy Annelize used to be on her birthday.

“I still remember how happy Sister was on her birthday. I think it would be good if brother-in-law celebrated Sister’s birthday this time. With a surprise gift prepared too.”

“A gift…”

Anna Rose’s suggestion definitely caught the Duke’s interest.

“But I don’t think your sister would be purely happy just because I give her a gift. Looking at her reactions when she received gifts before… What should I give?”

The Duke looked skeptical. She shrugged.

“Sister is a bit like that. She hides what she really wants and doesn’t tell anyone. She hides it so well that even she doesn’t know what she wants. So you have to observe very carefully. It’s difficult, but it’ll be rewarding when you see Sister’s happy face. When you really hit the mark, Sister gets incredibly happy.”

Anna Rose also succeeded just once.

‘It was a scarf she knitted by hand.’

Annelize wore that scarf until it was completely worn out. She even brought it all the way to the North.

“Everyone goes through trial and error. But brother-in-law, you’ve been with Sister for a long time, haven’t you? Try observing Sister and thinking about what she needs, what kind of gift would make her happy. I believe in you, brother-in-law. You can do it! Fighting!”

“….”

The Duke hesitated before opening his mouth.

“Thank you.”

A smile spread across Anna Rose’s face at his words of gratitude.

“I should be the one thanking you, brother-in-law. Thanks to you, Sister is living happily.”

“Is there anything you want?”

“Nothing. If I had to pick something, I’d want Sister to be happy?”

The Duke stared at Anna Rose as if he couldn’t understand.

“Is it because you’re Annelize’s sister? You’re quite strange too.”

The Duke examined Anna Rose carefully once more. Finally, he made his judgment about Anna Rose in a solemn voice.

“Your sister is the cutest in this world.”

“Right, right. Sister is cute.”

“Perhaps… if this matter goes well, I might be able to acknowledge Iskasian Hildegard’s comment that you’re ‘cute and charming like a squirrel.'”

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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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