I Will Become the Ex-Wife of the Beast - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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3. Your Highness, you must take Rose into your residence

Disposition and Future Arrangements Council for Five-Year-Old Rose Mayfield.
If I had to give this solemn gathering a title, that would have been plenty. Count Mayfield had summoned us quietly with “We need to have a little talk,” but there was no mistaking what kind of meeting this was.
“If you’d like, you may leave the little kitten, or rather, the youngest miss, in her room.”
“No. It concerns her too, so Rose should know. Though she’s forty-eight months old, she’s a full-fledged person, remember.”
“But… very well. I’ll let them know you’ve arrived.”
Having brought us to the front of the conference room, the Count glanced at my composed face and then let his gaze drift to Rose.
“….”
No, as the strategist, I can’t let myself slip like this.
Grandpa, please stop frowning at the ceiling. I pretended not to notice as he cleared his throat belatedly and turned away, and I kept my resolve to the very end.
Thud. Only after he vanished through that door, the kind that looked exhausting just to gaze at, did I hurriedly bend my knees and take Rose’s arm.
“Rose, look at your big sister.”
“Mm.”
Rose, with a red ribbon pin tucked into her hair, turned toward me. The pin I had made for her birthday last year was plain, without a single gem. Yet in the Grand Duke’s Castle, so dark and chilly, it sparkled like a ruby against her platinum hair. Then I dressed her in the cleanest, least worn white linen dress I owned, and she looked like nothing but a doll. If I’d had more time, I would have checked her back for a winding key.
“Rose, what did I tell you my name was?”
“Mm… Big sister Eliya!”
“That’s right. And did we also talk about where we’re going?”
“Mm-hm. To see the Grand Duke!”
“Yes, yes, my little kitten.” When I stroked her head and praised her, Rose shook her head side to side, clearly delighted. Oh, this little one. Knowing nothing, she was simply thrilled to be going somewhere, and her coquettish cheer made my chest grow heavy. But even that was my trump card, so there was no need to sink into gloom ahead of time.
“Big sister, you said the Grand Duke is a beast, so why—”
“No, you can’t say that! Don’t say it anymore! Everything else is fine, but that one is absolutely not! Not even from now on! Got it?”
“…Mm. Okay. I won’t wonder about it anymore.”
Rose’s shoulders drooped as her curiosity, shown without a second thought, deflated. Still, what can’t be done can’t be done. He’s not the kind of man who will excuse something just because she’s a child. No matter how well the plan goes, I had to be careful about that one thing.

“As you said, I am a beast.”

Ugh. What a petty grudge. Just thinking of the words he left last night still sent a prickle down my spine. A Grand Duke, and yet so narrow-minded. The more data I collected on him, the more tangled my head became. But for cursing, it’s more than enough to keep our necks attached first and do it later.
“Then, Big Sister, what am I supposed to do once we’re inside? Do I have to say ‘Please spare us, we won’t eat much’?”
“No. You don’t have to do that either.”
“…Then what?”
“You don’t have to say anything at all. Just… do whatever our Rose wants to do.”
Finally, the main objective of today had been revealed, so my expression brightened considerably. Rose let out a long breath, not understanding, and pushed her lips out.
“Hmm, what I want to do?”
“Mm-hm.”
“What I want to do… I don’t really know. I just want to stay by Big Sister’s side.”
“….”
I should have asked her what she wanted to do, at least once. If it were a young lady from another noble house, she would have been thrilled by such a question and eagerly named something she’d had her eye on. But our Rose was different. All she had ever done, through mountains and fields, was trot along behind me, so she had no wants and no wishes of her own.
I pressed down my sorrow and smiled brightly.
“Just think of it this way: inside there’s no one, not the Grand Duke or anyone else. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“…Not scary? Really?”
“Mm. Not one bit. Remember you said you once saw a chessboard at Arianne’s house? Think of them as those wooden figures.”
The moment I summoned something as familiar as possible, Rose bared her little white teeth and laughed.
“Ah, I see. They’re dolls, aren’t they?”
“Mm. If Rose wants to stay by her big sister’s side, she can. If she wants to wander around, she can wander. Eat whatever she wants, and look at whatever she wants to look at.”
“…Really?”
“Of course. There’s no one but me. What did everyone else say they were?”
“Wooden dolls!”
Rose, not forgetting and saying it clearly, grabbed my hand. Her steps were already bouncing, as though she couldn’t wait to go inside.
“Wooden dolls! Big sister, wooden dolls!”
“Good, Rose!”
When I stepped forward, gripping her small hand tightly, the knights guarding the entrance bowed their heads without even meeting our eyes.
“….”
Wooden dolls indeed! So many of them! Seeing Rose cover her mouth with one hand, overcome with uncontainable emotion, I knew she had been thoroughly taken in. I drew a deep breath and squared my shoulders with composure.
“Would you open the door, please?”
“…Your Grace the Grand Duke, Lady Eliya has arrived.”
As the great gate swung open at the guard’s booming call, more than ten knights in black formal coats with silver epaulettes turned to look at us all at once.
So it really was this many. I had expected it, but the sight still caught my breath for a moment. Every face was as expressionless as their master’s, and discipline hung sharp in the air. They must have wondered what a meeting over something like this could possibly be for. Most of them had served the Grand Duke for years, which meant they had spent nearly their whole lives on battlefields. It was no wonder they looked dazed at such an unexpected summons, men who had lived with blood smeared across their faces.
Pretending not to notice, I walked past them, and my gaze settled on the man seated at the very center. The beast among beasts, the one who had conquered the entire continent and now held our lives in his hands: Valencia, the Grand Duke.
“Eliya Mayfield, I greet the Lord of the North, His Grace the Grand Duke.”
“…Rose, too.”
Rose glanced up at me, then bent her knees just as I had. Her curtsy wasn’t as perfect as mine, but she bent both knees and tilted her head to one side. *Like this, right, Sis?* Her eyes were fishing for praise, and I smiled at her. When I lifted my gaze again, Kiers, who was seated with one leg crossed over the other, narrowed his eyes as if he’d been squinting at something.
“…Please, take a seat.”
“Yes, Your Grace. Our Rose is—”
“Sigh. Have a chair arranged for—”
“Oh, no need. She’s a well-behaved girl. She won’t cause any trouble.”
I saw that flicker in your eyes. Hiding a smile of triumph, I looked around the room. When I pointed to the chair in the middle of the knights, Rose hesitated for a moment before dashing over to it. Some of the knights squeezed their eyes shut right away at the sight of the fidgeting child.
“I trust you know why I’ve called you here today.”
“Of course, Your Grace.”
When I lifted my head, seated across from him, his posture grew a little more relaxed. An arrogance seeped from his whole body, as if to say, what could you possibly do about it anyway?
“If it’s about yesterday’s matter, I believe it’s something we must clear up thoroughly.”
“…I can only do as you wish, Your Grace. Would you wait just a moment? I forgot something.”
I broke the taut tension by rising to my feet and asking his permission. Silence meant consent, and though he likely didn’t like it, the Grand Duke raised no real objection. I quietly approached Rose and pulled from my pocket the paper bag I had prepared in advance.
“Rose, would you like to eat this? It’s your favorite.”
“Yay!”
Her small but spirited reply warmed me, and I smiled as I returned to my seat. Though I knew every eye in the room had turned toward me, I pretended not to notice and smoothed the creases of my worn gown. Beneath all those gazes, a pair of crimson eyes, stronger and more unbending than all of them combined, slowly began to gleam.
“Well, first, let’s start with an explanation of yesterday’s—”
Crunch!
“…”
In the suffocating silence, Rose bit into a candy. *Mm-hmm.* Whether or not she realized she had just cut off the Grand Duke mid-sentence, she looked utterly enraptured as she pushed the candy to her other cheek and bit down again.
Crunch!
“…”
What a cutie. Swallowing a meaningful smile, I lifted my head with confidence. I’d have bet my entire fortune that behind that mask of his, his face was thrown into confusion.
Though I had resolved to wrest the land from him, I wasn’t reckless enough to rely on that alone. When had anything ever gone my way? And it’s not as though I’d have brought our Rose here, of all people, stuffed into a crate, without having considered this much.
“…Your Grace, is something the matter?”
I pretended not to notice the twitch beneath his mask. Acting as though I knew nothing at all, I wore a sweet smile and got ready to listen.
“Please, go on. Wouldn’t that be the only way I can give you my answer?”
“…Sigh. Today, in this place—”
Crunch!
The sound of Rose resolutely crunching her candy filled the hall once more. Even though that formidable Grand Duke had stopped mid-sentence, everyone’s attention drifted not to him but somewhere else entirely.

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