Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 80

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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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80.

Although the Count was covering his leg so she couldn’t be certain, something seemed off.

‘I should go check out the warehouse that caught fire.’

* * *

“Annelize.”

“Duke? Why are you standing here?”

Instead of answering, the Duke tightened his arms around her in an embrace.

“You won’t meet with me.”

“What?”

‘Look how naturally he hugs me. How annoying.’

Annelize replied nonchalantly.

“I was busy handling some business.”

‘And processing my emotions too.’

Though she still hadn’t properly processed them.

She didn’t want to admit it yet. Especially not when the Duke was clinging to her like this.

“Do you have time now? Then give me a reward.”

The Duke boldly demanded a reward.

“What kind of reward.”

“I’m being patient just like you said. I’m holding back from wanting to follow you around every day, and I haven’t been hugging you freely here since you said not to. I didn’t even tell the Count or servants that you’re cute.”

The Duke pouted as he rested his forehead against her head.

‘Good grief.’

She felt irritated again.

Anna Rose’s words kept coming to mind.

‘No. Stay calm.’

She tried to calm her feelings as she asked the Duke.

“That definitely deserves a reward. What would you like?”

“If you’re giving a reward, I won’t refuse.”

The reward he requested from Annelize was.

“You want to go to the warehouse where the fire happened?”

Annelize looked deflated. She had been prepared to even let him kiss her cheek if necessary. It was anticlimactic.

“You don’t need to request that as a reward, I can do that for you.”

“Really? Then.”

The Duke boldly held out his hand.

“Hold my hand while we go.”

Ugh. Really.

Annelize suppressed her surging feelings and grabbed the Duke’s hand.

She deliberately squeezed hard, but the Duke was delighted instead and gripped her hand even more firmly.

* * *

The warehouse was located at the bottom of a hill, a little distance from the manor.

As Annelize had said, it had burned down completely without leaving even a single pillar, so only a few foundation stones remained sitting there alone.

“See? If I didn’t tell you this was where the warehouse used to be, no one would know.”

The Duke approached carefully and bent down.

He took off his gloves. The Duke’s bare hand touched the foundation stone.

The moment his hand made contact, the spot flashed.

“It was indeed a curse.”

The Duke stood up.

Startled by the ominous light, Annelize quickly examined his hand. Fortunately, his palm was completely unharmed without a single scratch.

“A curse?”

Could it be that the cause of the warehouse fire was actually a curse?

“When I met your mother, I sensed a faint aura. That’s usually a curse targeting someone.”

The Duke carefully examined the warehouse site.

“…Interesting.”

He placed his hand on Annelize’s left arm.

“That curse was originally meant to activate only when bound to one target. But somehow it activated simultaneously on both you and your mother, which weakened its effect.”

Is that what happened? No wonder the scar hadn’t faded even after all this time.

“What effect would it have had if it activated properly?”

“It would burn your entire body black.”

“My goodness… we were lucky.”

“I wonder about that.”

The Duke fell into thought.

He was a powerful being who could even pluck the moon from the sky.

‘Then couldn’t he easily resolve a curse too?’

“Then could you possibly lift the curse?”

A glimmer of hope sparkled in Annelize’s eyes.

The Duke saw it too. He hesitated, unable to answer immediately.

“That… I can’t tell you yet.”

Whatever was so difficult, the Duke kept his eyes tightly shut throughout his answer.

“Ah. I see. It’s fine. I was just asking.”

It can’t be helped.

Even if he’s the Duke, he can’t solve everything.

“Then could you at least find out who cast the curse?”

“I’ll look into it.”

“Thank you.”

‘Even if knowing who cast the curse won’t bring Father back from the dead.’

Still, she was happy that they seemed to have found a clue to the warehouse fire that had remained an unsolved case.

Meanwhile, the Duke had overcome a major hurdle in his own way and breathed a sigh of relief.

‘I almost said I would lift the curse.’

The Duke barely managed to stop the truth from spilling out of his mouth.

‘Anna Rose Solariccen definitely said it was a surprise gift.’

The gift had to remain secret until her birthday. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be meaningful, would it?

Keeping secrets really didn’t suit his temperament.

‘Her expression brightened for a moment when she asked if I could lift the curse.’

The gift he found might be the right answer.

The Duke tried to suppress his twitching lips.

Ahem. He cleared his throat to get Annelize’s attention.

“I found this in your old room.”

“It’s a birthday wish note.”

Annelize took the paper the Duke handed her.

Though it had been a very long time, she could immediately remember when she had written it.

The Duke asked her with an unreadable expression.

“Do you still wish for the same thing?”

Annelize shrugged calmly.

“The situation is very different from back then.”

If she made a wish now, it would be different.

‘I wish Mother wasn’t sick.’ Something like that?

It was a wish she had made every year since the warehouse fire.

There was a time when she had actually sought out gods, praying desperately for her dream to come true.

Now she knows. How meaningless it is to wish for the impossible.

‘It’s not possible. Stop thinking useless thoughts and focus on what I can do now.’

The most urgent matter was Mother’s problem.

‘We’ll need to leave the day after tomorrow to not be late for the Founding Conference. Will Mother be able to recover before then? Maybe it would be better to leave Mother behind.’

The Duke’s gaze was directed toward her.

“Do you have something to say?”

“I have somewhere to go briefly. It won’t take too long. I’ll be back by tomorrow afternoon.”

Where could he be going?

She was curious, but the Duke seemed unwilling to reveal his destination.

She didn’t bother to pry either.

“Have a safe trip. We’re planning to leave the day after tomorrow, so you can spend your time however you want until then.”

“No. I’ll definitely return by tomorrow afternoon.”

Well. Whatever.

“Are you busy tomorrow?”

“No. I’ll probably just roll around in bed. Once we get to the capital, I’ll be incredibly busy, so I thought I’d catch up on sleep.”

Every year on this day, she felt strangely tired and her body felt sluggish. She wouldn’t be able to do anything productive.

The Duke looked relieved.

“That’s good.”

He licked his lips with his tongue.

His Adam’s apple moved once as if his throat was parched.

“Then could you come to the garden tomorrow afternoon?”

‘Why the garden?’

Annelize hesitated.

She hadn’t been to the garden even once since she turned sixteen.

The garden was Father’s space, and it was also where the family’s birthday parties were held every year.

‘Why does he specifically want to meet in the garden? Is it because I’ve been holed up in the greenhouse when I’m at the Duke’s Castle?’

It probably doesn’t mean anything.

Annelize ignored her reluctance about having to go to the garden and answered nonchalantly.

“Alright. Contact me when you return. Let’s meet in the garden.”

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

There was a strange tone mixed in the Duke’s response.

He seemed both excited and nervous.

He’s been acting strange lately. Why is he like that.

Normally she would have questioned him more, but lately Annelize didn’t have the mental capacity for that.

More than anything, she didn’t want to stay near the warehouse ruins any longer.

* * *

In the night when everyone was asleep.

The Duke waited for Annelize to fall asleep, then knocked on the Count’s room.

“Duke? What brings you here?”

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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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