Grand Duke, Please Stop Obsessing Over Your Wife! - Chapter 82

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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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82.

“Well? I think you should go and check for yourself, my lady.”

Isaiah grinned mischievously, feigning ignorance.

Annelize left the room in confusion and went looking for everyone.

Anna Rose, the Count, and even the Duke were nowhere to be seen.

“Where did everyone go?”

“Oh, Miss! Everyone is gathered in the garden!”

The maid appeared before Annelize, who had been wandering around the lobby.

“Thank you, Maid. But why does your face look like that? Have you been crying?”

“It’s nothing. Something wonderful happened, that’s all.”

Despite her concerned question, the maid only smiled.

“Please hurry and go. Miss Annelize.”

She couldn’t even guess what was happening.

Anyway, since the Duke had asked to meet in the garden, she obediently headed to the appointed place.

When she opened the garden door, bright lights welcomed Annelize.

“Oh, Sister’s here! Mother! Sister is here!”

Anna Rose made a fuss and turned around.

Then she grabbed the handles of the wheelchair where the Count was sitting and turned it toward Annelize.

“Annelize.”

“Mother. What brings you here?”

The Count looked at Annelize with an awkward expression, then turned her head toward the Duke.

The Duke nodded.

What kind of signal were they exchanging? She was curious, but soon became so absorbed in what happened next that she couldn’t think about it anymore.

The Count, who had been sitting in the wheelchair, stood up from her seat.

Stood up from her seat…?

“Huh?”

Annelize couldn’t believe her eyes.

Was she dreaming? For a moment, she even thought she might be seeing a hallucination because she wanted it so desperately.

But even when she rubbed her eyes and pinched her cheeks, her mother’s figure didn’t disappear.

It wasn’t a dream.

Count Solariccen was walking toward her.

“Mother! Stood up! And walked!”

Fortunately, she wasn’t the only one surprised.

She could hear Anna Rose gasping beside her.

‘If Anna Rose saw it too, then what I’m seeing now isn’t a hallucination.’

But how could someone who had been living in a wheelchair suddenly be able to walk overnight? It was confusing.

“How…”

She couldn’t form proper words.

Count Solariccen slowly approached Annelize.

Though she was relying on a cane, she was definitely moving her legs with her own strength.

“The Duke lifted the curse for me. He said this injury was caused by a curse.”

“…”

The image of the Duke standing before the warehouse ruins yesterday flashed through Annelize’s mind.

The Duke had really healed her mother’s legs. He had made her able to walk again.

“Walking still feels awkward, doesn’t it? I only practiced walking for half a day, but I lack muscle strength so it’s not very smooth. Still, there’s no problem with entering the Founding Conference on horseback sent by Ramiere Kukseo.”

Saying this, Count Solariccen grinned.

It was a mischievous smile she hadn’t seen in years.

Annelize still didn’t know how to react.

Mother and daughter stood quietly for a moment, looking at each other.

“I’m sorry, Annelize. I… I was too indifferent all this time. Trapped in the grief of losing someone I loved, I let my daughters lose their father and their mother too.”

The Count took Annelize’s hand.

“It’s been too long since I celebrated your birthday. Happy birthday, Annelize.”

A brief embrace followed. The Count’s hand gently patted Annelize’s back.

Sniff. Anna Rose had collapsed with weak legs, sobbing.

“…Thank you.”

It still didn’t feel real.

Annelize thanked the Count in a daze.

The Count smiled and glanced at the Duke. She whispered in a small voice.

“The person who should receive thanks isn’t me, but the Duke. He treated me even while injuring himself.”

“He was injured?”

Come to think of it, the Duke’s arm movements were awkward, unlike usual.

“While finding a way to lift the curse, he transferred my curse to his own body. He said he absolutely had to do it for you… I can’t believe his words that he’s fine, so would you check on him?”

Annelize looked at the Duke standing in the distance.

The Duke hadn’t taken his eyes off her since she entered the garden. His large body was tense as if he was extremely nervous.

“The Duke seems to have something to say to you. I’ll go get the birthday cake with Anna Rose.”

The Count left the garden with Anna Rose.

Finally, only the two of them remained.

The Duke, who had been standing by the garden wall, approached Annelize with hurried steps and removed his mask.

“This is the birthday gift I prepared.”

The Duke moistened his lips with a nervous expression.

“Congratulations on the day you were born, Annelize Solariccen.”

“…”

After saying that, the Duke anxiously watched Annelize’s reaction.

You treated my mother’s legs? Annelize’s mouth moved wordlessly. Her throat bobbed up and down as if words wouldn’t come out.

She let out a short breath.

“You took on Mother’s curse in her place. Show me the injured area.”

“It’s nothing serious.”

The Duke unconsciously covered his left arm.

Without even listening to his answer, Annelize rolled up his loose shirt sleeve.

Scars were carved into skin that had originally been smooth without a single blemish.

The wounds looked like they had been slashed with a knife, painful just to look at.

Annelize’s expression hardened further. Her lips tightened as if she were angry.

The Duke revealed his true feelings to reassure her.

“I’m really fine. Really. I actually wanted this. Doesn’t it look similar to the scar on your arm?”

The Duke looked down at his arm and traced the scar marks with his hand.

“I can think of you whenever I see this.”

“…Ha.”

After hearing the Duke’s explanation, Annelize let out a hollow laugh as if she were dumbfounded.

“Annelize?”

The Duke watched her reaction.

“Please, say something, anything.”

The longer the silence lasted, the more anxious the Duke became.

The Duke was waiting for her reaction like a prisoner awaiting judgment.

Annelize, who had been frowning and breathing heavily, began to shed tears.

The moment water droplets fell onto her pale cheeks.

He realized he had completely messed up.

Instead of making her smile, he had made her cry.

‘What did I do wrong?’

It was an emergency.

“Why are you crying? Don’t you like my gift? What’s wrong?”

Annelize had never cried in front of him before.

The Duke knew when humans shed tears.

He had seen far too many souls writhing in pain, begging for mercy while sobbing.

Grief, regret, pain, sorrow.

All emotions far removed from happiness.

‘I thought she would be happy to receive a gift.’

Damn it. It seems I got it wrong again.

“If you dislike it, I’ll change it back. Please, just stop crying.”

It had the opposite effect.

“I’m not crying because you lifted Mother’s curse.”

Annelize said that, then frowned and changed her words again.

“No. I am crying because of that.”

He had no idea what was going on in that little head of hers. He truly wanted to peek inside Annelize Solariccen’s mind.

Damn it. What should I do? The Duke’s mind went completely blank.

First, I need to make her stop crying.

He urgently scooped Annelize into his arms and shouted to the Count.

“I’m going outside for a moment. Don’t start the party until I return!”

“Oh my. Please comfort her well and come back, Your Grace.”

The Count, who had been bringing the cake, replied from afar.

Despite his own daughter crying, he remained carefree. The Duke glared fiercely at the Count, who was looking at them with the fond gaze one might give to lovebirds.

Bang. Due to his lack of control over his strength, the garden’s back door was completely destroyed.

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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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