I’m in the Arms of the Cursed Grand Duke - Chapter 10

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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 10

Two days had passed since meeting the Dowager Duchess.

Clemente, who was diligently dusting, heard someone’s footsteps coming up the stairs.

It was a knight bringing a meal.

“Hello!”

She greeted him and paused while trying to receive the trolley.

The knight, who usually disappeared immediately after setting down the trolley, was now looking at Clemente with his lips twitching. He seemed curious about something but found it difficult to ask.

“What is it? Do you have something to say?”

“That… it’s nothing!”

Clemente grabbed the knight who was trying to flee hastily.

“I can’t sleep when I’m curious. Tell me quickly.”

“Well, you see…”

What could he possibly want to say that required such hesitation? Though Clemente was curious and stamping her feet, she didn’t rush him. She felt he might run away if she did.

After what felt like hours but was only a few minutes, the knight’s lips finally opened.

“By any chance… did you also see His Highness’s face?”

“Pardon?”

It was a completely unexpected question.

The knight made a tearful expression seeing Clemente burst into laughter.

“I told you I should just leave!”

“Well, ahem, I didn’t expect that to be what you were curious about.”

“…So, won’t you give me an answer?”

“I saw it.”

The knight’s eyes filled with anticipation. He waited for the next words that should naturally follow. However, what came back to him was another question.

“Why are you curious?”

“Well… the captain keeps teasing us, saying His Highness was incredibly cute and that it’s unfortunate we can’t see the young Highness.”

Since it had come to this, what was there to hide? The young knight rattled off his words rapidly.

“Looking at the portrait, he’s definitely the most beautiful person in the world, but hasn’t it been almost 10 years since then? I used to be called cute when I was little too, but not anymore, right? I’m very curious about what His Highness might be like now.”

Clemente couldn’t help but giggle.

“He’s still cute now.”

“…Excuse me? As a knight, I don’t want to be called cute!”

“Oh, then I won’t say that. And the master of this castle is, well. In a word, pretty.”

“What?”

“Snow-white… with pretty eyes, a pretty nose, and red lips.”

This was the only way she could explain it. Her vocabulary wasn’t good enough to add flowery descriptions. While pondering how to describe him, she came up with a good idea.

“He looks like Rossia.”

Except for having slightly rounder eyes and a higher nose, the two really resembled each other, she explained with all her might.

“Is that so. His Highness the Duke seems to have grown up well. Then why am I the only one…”

The knight, whose shoulders had somehow drooped, soon bowed his head politely.

“I express my gratitude for answering even strange questions so sincerely. I’m apprentice knight Kael!”

“I’m Clemente.”

“Yes, Fire Fairy!”

“…Clemente!”

“Then please enjoy your meal!”

Kael went down the stairs at wind-like speed. Clemente let out a hollow laugh, shook her head, and knocked on Zephyrus’s door.

“Come in.”

When she entered, Zephyrus was looking at documents.

“Clemente, entering!”

Even amid the noise, Zephyrus gestured while keeping his gaze on the documents. It meant to set up the meal.

She reheated each dish and set them out, then sat down. Only then did Zephyrus’s head lift slightly. As soon as she met Zephyrus’s eyes visible through the fur mask, Clemente opened her mouth.

“Did work go well?”

“Why are you curious about that?”

“It’s just small talk. Master, aren’t you curious about what I did today?”

“Not curious.”

“Aw, please listen anyway. Clemente’s first day at work!”

Unlike her bright, bouncy atmosphere, Clemente’s voice was lower than expected and pleasant to the ears.

Zephyrus thought it was fortunate that thick fur and cloth were blocking his ears.

Otherwise, he would have listened intently and responded to those words.

Of course, Clemente would have continued talking about herself regardless.

‘Why on earth was she talking about my face outside the door?’

And she kept emphasizing that he was pretty, over and over. He couldn’t understand why she would say such things when she had barely seen his bare face.

Of course, she seemed to think he couldn’t hear her…

‘I wonder if she’d be flustered if I told her I heard even her humming this morning.’

Zephyrus briefly imagined Clemente’s face reddening with embarrassment.

‘I shouldn’t do that.’

He felt like laughter might burst out, but he ignored it. He repeatedly told himself this decision was merely to remember more of Clemente’s weaknesses.

The sounds from outside the room were Zephyrus’s only means of communicating with the outside world.

The desire to block door gaps completely out of fear that cold air might leak out, yet still want to hear sounds clearly.

Only magic could solve this problem. There was almost nothing magic couldn’t do.

It cost a lot, but when his father, the previous Duke, was still alive, the Northern Region was quite a decent domain.

The endless stream of monster corpses from the mountains were sufficient goods to trade for food, and there was also Imperial support.

It was support that came in exchange for serving as a shield, taking responsibility for blocking the monsters from the mountain range.

Now they couldn’t afford to hire mages, let alone buy artifacts.

The one who ruined all of this was himself.

Yet he felt pathetically helpless for continuing to put food in his mouth.

“I was helpful somewhere. This is really a good thing.”

It would be wrong to leave food uneaten when she had gone to the trouble of warming it up.

Zephyrus chewed and swallowed the last of his food.

“Master. Are you listening?”

“No.”

After filling his stomach moderately and adjusting the pile of cloth on his face properly, he answered, and Clemente wrinkled her nose.

She thought of a topic that might interest Zephyrus.

“Master. When was the last time you saw Rossia?”

“When I was ten… why are you asking that now?”

“I heard that you and Rossia are cousins.”

“I asked why you’re asking.”

“In case you’re curious about Rossia’s face? I wanted to describe her to you.”

He was slightly intrigued.

He had heard Clemente say that Rossia’s and his own faces were similar, but he didn’t quite understand it.

Rossia, who was about 4 years older than him, had been a tomboy since before reaching adulthood. She preferred pants over skirts and archery over embroidery.

The image of Rossia placing a snowball on top of his young head and shooting arrows was still vivid. Even the scene of her getting scolded by his uncle.

“You’re most alike when blushing!”

“What?”

“And your eyes that get big when surprised look exactly the same! But Rossia looks like an elegant fox and you look like a jerbil.”

Zephyrus, who was pondering whether the words ‘Rossia’ and ‘elegance’ could appear together, tapped the table.

“What on earth is this jerbil?”

“Um… it lives in the desert. Small and timid, with round eyes and fluffy fur! Just like you, Master. Really.”

She couldn’t bring herself to say it was like a mouse.

As they continued talking like this, she thought of a topic Zephyrus might like even more.

The Dowager Duchess.

If he listened this intently to talk about Rossia, he would probably be even more interested in his mother.

So Clemente brought it up casually.

“Right. I saw Master’s mother.”

“Is your mother also in the Northern Region?”

“Huh? I don’t have a mother.”

“Kuk, k, khem!”

She has a talent for answering heavy questions lightly.

His confusion was brief. He belatedly realized who Clemente had met.

“Wait. So you’re saying you met my mother?”

“That’s what I said from the beginning.”

“You…”

Suddenly, a cold air arose.

“You went to see Mother?”

“Yes.”

“How dare you, why?”

Gulp, Clemente swallowed her food and blinked. Though Zephyrus’s appearance was bundled up and invisible, there was an atmosphere, wasn’t there.

Sharp icicles had formed, showing just how angry he was.

‘This atmosphere is no joke, is it?’

Anyway, Clemente quietly listened to Zephyrus’s anger. Thinking of it as fighting with a friend made her heart race a bit.

But somehow it didn’t seem like that anger was directed at her, so she didn’t feel like arguing back.

“You seem to be under the delusion that you’re something special. You just need to do what you’re told.”

Though his voice was somewhat agitated, it was still low and cold.

“Just because I eat meals with you, did you think you could dare enter the inner parts of Pruina?”

Because she could feel tears in that chilling voice.

Not just any tears, but very precarious ones, like those of a small animal with all its fur standing on end.

“Don’t cross the line. You’re an outsider. Suspicious beyond measure.”

And that was very familiar.

‘Just like me.’

Because he resembled Clemente from her childhood.

Like her back then, who hated herself so much and was so irritated that she expressed that anger outwardly.

Of course, unlike her who burned up everything nearby, this fragile Duke seemed unable to properly express his anger.

“Even if Master tells me not to go, I can’t help it. I made a promise with the Dowager Duchess.”

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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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