I Was Marked as the Grand Duke Male Lead’s Stepmother - Chapter 16

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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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Chapter 16

“You may enter.”

“Thank you, Porel. I won’t forget this kindness.”

“I hope the misunderstanding gets resolved.”

As requested earlier, Porel created an opportunity for Marisselle to briefly meet with Morgan.

If she didn’t clear up the misunderstanding today, there was a high possibility that misunderstandings would breed more misunderstandings in an endless cycle.

That’s why the misunderstanding had to be resolved today without fail.

Since she had to prevent being kicked out at all costs, Marisselle was that desperate.

‘Phew. I’m nervous.’

“Your Highness. I’ll be entering for a moment.”

Marisselle announced her presence and carefully stepped into the Drawing Room.

Having made such a big mistake during the day, all her actions had become unnecessarily cautious.

But when she actually entered, she could only see wine and appetizers on the table – Morgan was nowhere to be seen.

She wondered whether she should sit or remain standing.

‘What business does a sinner have sitting down? I should stand.’

Just then, the Bedroom door inside the Drawing Room opened.

He appeared in a nightgown, as if he had just finished washing.

Even at a glance, he had a solid build.

‘He could at least properly tie his gown before coming out.’

With each step, his stallion-like thigh muscles pushed through the gaps in his gown, revealing themselves, and her eyes naturally drifted there without her realizing it.

‘Oh God. Why are you doing this to me today? I came here to prostrate myself in repentance, but isn’t this cheating?’

Marisselle squeezed her eyes shut and quickly turned her head away.

Seeing Marisselle like this, Morgan tightly tied his gown’s belt and chuckled softly.

“Did you see everything?”

“What? Oh, no. It’s not like I was trying to look, it’s just that, …it was visible so I ended up seeing it. You could say it was, …force majeure…?”

‘What on earth am I saying?’

Instead of clearing up the misunderstanding, wasn’t she just adding more charges of harassment?

The situation was taking a nasty turn.

‘Why am I like this, really. I should just keep my mouth shut instead.’

Marisselle wanted to cry at the increasingly tangled situation.

“So you’re not saying you didn’t see anything.”

He approached the table and sat down as he spoke.

“Sit down. Will you have a drink?”

“What? Oh, yes…”

Marisselle was bewildered by Morgan’s unexpected reaction.

‘Could it be… has the misunderstanding already been cleared up?

No way. That can’t be right. His expression back then was so contemptuous and rotten.

It was wishful thinking.

But looking at the current atmosphere, it also seems fine somehow. What’s going on?

Sigh. I don’t know. It’s difficult, so difficult.

‘How could I possibly know my employer’s inner thoughts.’

I just need to humor him well and survive.

Though Marisselle was in a confused state, she carefully observed his expression.

But Morgan was nonchalantly filling Marisselle’s wine glass with graceful hand movements.

Like a true noble, each of his movements was elegant.

His hands were so large that the wine bottle looked small. And surprisingly, though she had thought his fingers would be rough since he was clearly someone who wielded a sword, they weren’t.

His fingers were so clean without a single scar that she wondered if he really was someone who handled swords.

‘Hmm… no, he is someone who uses swords.’

Past his fingers to his wrists and forearms, she could see small scars.

Even a small cut from a blade stings and hurts.

‘It must have hurt terribly.’

Seeing so many small scars on his forearms, wouldn’t there be even larger scars somewhere on his torso or thighs?’

Marisselle carefully observed his lower body that was visible through the gaps in his gown.

But it wasn’t as clearly visible as the forearm.

So she gave up and her gaze moved back to the forearm.

The boldly protruding veins full of wild masculinity.

Just looking at them, they seemed to overflow with vitality.

This had to be her occupational hazard from being a nurse acting up.

Then. A voice was heard.

“How far will those insolent eyes go?”

“Huh! What? Oh, no. I wasn’t looking.”

Maricel was startled.

‘Ugh. This is driving me crazy. Why is today like this.’

You must think I have some ulterior motive, right?

Morgan noticed that Maricel’s eyes were unconsciously following his movements.

At first I thought he was just following my hand movements, but at some point he was scanning from my upper body down to my lower body.

Then he shifted his gaze back to my forearm, and I caught him flashing a brief but sinister smile.

‘Not looking at the face, but the forearms?’

Morgan was dumbfounded.

Usually when someone has dark intentions, they get distracted by a person’s face, but this woman seemed to be fixated on their arms instead.

Even during the day, it felt strangely off to say he had ulterior motives toward me. That’s why I couldn’t figure him out.

“You saw it. First the fingers. Then the forearm, chest. Next the thigh, and then the forearm again.”

Morgan traced every single gaze that Maricel’s eyes had lingered on, missing nothing.

Maricel froze instantly like someone caught stealing.

This time I’m really in trouble. This is being caught red-handed with no way out?

Maricel paused to catch her breath and think.

“Are you perhaps displeased? I was mindlessly watching Your Highness fill the cup and thought your fingers looked both strong and beautiful. My gaze naturally drifted to your arm, and seeing the small scars there, I thought they must have been painful. Then it occurred to me that since you practice swordsmanship, you might have larger scars somewhere on your body as well. That’s all it was. I had absolutely no improper thoughts whatsoever.”

Maricel thought for a brief moment: Who would dislike hearing “your body is beautiful” or “that must have hurt”?

So I left out the drooling over bulging veins and just presented the rest in a straightforward way.

Morgan unconsciously reacted to the words “pretty” and “hurt,” her eyes wavering slightly and her body flinching for a moment.

“What? I smiled suggestively while looking at your forearm?”

Marisselle placed her hand on her chest and looked up at Morgan’s face urgently.

‘I smiled suggestively while looking at those bulging veins.’

It was so absurd that she couldn’t even laugh inwardly. What could she say about this? That she was just mesmerized by how robust the venous vessels looked?

That wouldn’t work. Believe it or not. She had to push through.

“Perhaps my expression of ‘that must have hurt’ came out strangely wrong.”

‘Sigh. I’m really being pathetic.’

Marisselle felt like digging a hole in the ground and burying her face in it.

But what could she do? If he found out she really smiled suggestively, she’d be kicked out. Being pathetic was better.

“It’s hard to believe, but I’ll try to believe it.”

Morgan snorted and tilted his wine glass.

“You drink too.”

“You should drink some too.”

“Ah, yes.”

Maricel suddenly felt parched and drained her glass in an instant.

‘Does this woman even know this is water?’

Morgan asked as he refilled Maricel’s glass.

“What’s the reason you wanted to see me?”

‘What was bound to come has come.’

Maricel swallowed hard.

“…It’s nothing else, I wanted to apologize for my rudeness earlier today. I had no idea it meant that… I was just so happy to see you…”

Morgan’s hand froze mid-way as he brought the glass to his lips.

Right. She said that during the day too. That she did it because she was happy to see me.

‘Happy to see me…’

‘Nice to meet you…’

He felt a strange yet wistful sensation. Clearly unfamiliar, yet wistful…

He had been experiencing this kind of discord frequently lately.

One thing was certain – it happened when he was with Marisselle.

He pushed aside the unidentifiable wistfulness by closing and opening his eyes, then asked.

“What do you mean by ‘that kind of meaning’?”

“What?”

It’s not that I really don’t know why I’m asking. If you’re going to apologize, do it clearly—is that what you mean?

“I heard from Paul that the behavior I showed during the day is something only a mistress could do. Your Highness. I hope there’s no misunderstanding. I really, truly have no interest in Your Highness the Grand Duke. I swear I have never once seen Your Highness as a man. Really. I’ve never even thought about the position of Grand Duchess. I only think of Prince Fler. Please believe me. I have absolutely no ulterior motives or romantic feelings toward Your Highness! None whatsoever! Absolutely not—”

“Stop!”

He cut off Maricel’s words with a coldly salty tone.

It felt like an inexplicable anger and irritation, mixed with frustration, were erupting like a volcano from the depths of my emotions.

“I get it, so stop talking.”

Morgan was quite hurt in his pride.

To the point where I want to sew shut that mouth of hers for so boldly emphasizing how unattractive I am as a man.

‘Is there really a need to speak so desperately like that?’

Bitter words burst out of him as if driven by spite.

“Am I really that unattractive that you don’t see me as a man?”

He seemed very angry, yet strangely, he also looked sad.

“You’re mistaken. That’s absolutely not true. Your Majesty possesses every charm imaginable—wealth, honor, power, looks. You have everything without exception, making you the number one marriage candidate for every unmarried woman in the empire.”

Sensing that she had somehow touched a nerve again, Maricel frantically explained herself, even counting on her fingers.

“Ha. Then since you’re also an Imperial woman, wouldn’t I be your top candidate for a husband too?”

He asked sarcastically.

“Ah! No, that’s not it. I’m not included among all those women as a woman. The reason is that I was hired as Prince Fler’s nanny and Your Majesty’s employee. So to Your Majesty, I’m not a man but an employer. Ha, haha. I’m also the type who strictly separates work and personal life… Ha, haha.”

Maricel carefully chose her words, trying her best not to upset Morgan.

‘Did it go over well…?’

Then he glanced at Morgan to gauge his reaction.

He sat with his eyes closed in silence. Then he frowned as if trying to suppress something.

And after a little more time passed, the furrow between his brows disappeared and his expression became much softer.

It seems like we somehow got through it.

“Speak.”

He was closing his eyes like someone lost in thought, then frowned.

“Has the misunderstanding been cleared…?”

Instead of an answer, a sharp gaze flew her way.

‘No. Why again?’

Marisselle felt as anxious as if she were standing on thin ice, unable to bear it.

“Misunderstanding aside, I don’t like your explanation.”

“Misunderstandings aside, I don’t like your explanation.”

“Huh?”

What does this mean now.

I’m seriously going to have a heart attack from all this stress.

“…Then what should I do to please you, Your Majesty?”

Once again, a cold, heartless gaze flew toward me.

“That’s for you to find. Do I have to find that for you too?”

Ah, this is power abuse. Complete power abuse.

“Yes… Then, I’ll look for it.”

‘Sigh. The best thing to do right now is to get out of here quickly. If I stay any longer, I feel like I’ll get my energy drained and become dehydrated.’

Maricel felt like she had aged years in just a few minutes.

He regretted the spiteful words that had slipped out when he saw Maricel’s disgusted expression. But it was already too late.

‘Sigh. I have no idea why this is happening….’

It was frustrating how he couldn’t maintain his composure and his emotions ran wild whenever he was around her.

“Don’t worry about it too much.”

“What?”

“I’m telling you, you really don’t need to worry about it.”

“So… you’re saying it’s okay?”

He simply nodded his head slightly in response.

“Then, Your Highness… At that time… did you eat the cookies you received from Young Master Fleur?”

“…?”

What kind of out-of-the-blue comment was this? One of Morgan’s eyebrows shot up sharply.

“Why are you asking that? Are you interrogating me about whether I ate them or not?”

“Not at all. Absolutely not. I was just… curious if they suited your taste.”

“Did Fleur ask you to inquire?”

Morgan’s sharp reaction came flying back.

Marisselle thought to herself.

Today wasn’t the right day. She should bring up the picnic topic next time and step back for now.

“I didn’t mean to displease you. I apologize. Then I’ll take my leave now.”

But unexpectedly, Morgan’s lightning-quick response came back.

“It was the first gift I received from the child, so I’m keeping it in my drawer as is.”

‘He’s telling me not to leave, isn’t he?’

Marisselle stopped trying to get up and quietly sat back down.

“Ah, I see…”

Marisselle smiled gently with her eyes and began to speak.

‘Now is the right time.’

“The Young Master would be very happy to hear that. Young Master Fleur mentioned that he would like to receive a gift too. So when I asked him who he’d like to receive one from, well, he said he’d like to receive one from his uncle. Ha, haha.”

Marisselle quickly blurted out her business all at once, not wanting to miss this opportunity.

“If Your Highness feels the same way, it might be nice to give Young Master Fleur a gift… What do you think…?”

He smiled bitterly with a snort.

“Misunderstanding aside, so this was your purpose.”

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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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