I’m in the Arms of the Cursed Grand Duke - Chapter 25

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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 25

“I’m not going!”

Lora whipped her head around.

Ruby frantically tried to soothe Lora.

Since Clemente had asked her to bring them, she had to take them, but Lora was more stubborn than expected.

“B-but the fireplace said it would really tell us a secret.”

“I don’t want to! It’s not my fireplace anymore!”

That monster is pretty? More than Lora?

Lora huffed and tensed her whole body in resistance.

Lu, who had been sucking his fingers while watching Lora, slowly walked over.

“Fireplace. Good.”

“But!”

“Fireplace. We like.”

“It didn’t come. In the end, it didn’t chase after Lora. It stayed there.”

Lu’s two damp hands gently cupped Lora’s cheeks.

“Lu is curious.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah.”

Lora sighed deeply and grabbed Lu’s hands to pull them down.

“Saliva! You just touched me with these hands? I told you we’re big now so you can’t get saliva on me!”

Lora scolded him while wiping Lu’s hands with her skirt.

“Mom.”

“Y-yes?”

“Hug.”

“Alright.”

Ruby picked up the twins, one in each arm.

They were heavy.

When had the children grown so much? She couldn’t help but smile listening to their conversation.

She had been a bit worried because Lu’s speech and behavior were more childish compared to Lora, but his heart seemed to be growing well.

“Mom.”

“What is it?”

“The fireplace… what did it say?”

“Hm?”

“Because Lora got angry… is it upset?”

Now that they were about to meet, Lora seemed scared and mumbled.

“Heave-ho. Should we ask when we meet?”

**

Clemente nodded satisfactorily as she looked at the prepared Zephyrus.

“Perfect.”

“…Will this work?”

“It would be best to show your face. But you said you didn’t want to do that.”

“If this doesn’t work, be prepared.”

“Instead, if the kids like it, you have to do that thing. Keep your promise.”

Soon it would be time for Ruby to come as requested. Clemente took a deep breath and tried to relax her tension.

An effort to appease someone else’s anger. An effort to clear up misunderstandings.

It felt unfamiliar and anxious, but not unpleasant.

Compared to people who got angry just at her existence, Lora’s anger was based on affection.

‘Honestly, her angry face was cute too…’

Now that she thought about it, it was.

Just then, Ruby came up to the 3rd Floor.

She was carrying both children in her arms, and Clemente suddenly had this thought.

If Ruby took off the clothes covering her arms, her muscles would probably be bulging.

“Ahem. Welcome to the Frozen Snowman’s Castle.”

Clemente lifted the hem of her black skirt, dressed to match the theme, and greeted them.

“My little friends. Would you like to come this way?”

Dressed in black clothes with her fiery orange hair covered by a black hood, Clemente looked unfamiliar to the children’s eyes. Even when Ruby put them down, they just hesitated and were reluctant to move.

Clemente smiled brightly and took a step toward them, kneeling on one knee.

“Now. Let me show you this.”

What Clemente showed them from a little distance was a childhood portrait of Zephyrus.

She had obtained it by asking Raisie.

A quiet space filled with dim, colorless tones.

Within it, only Zephyrus’s portrait was glowing faintly.

“A beautiful, smart, kind, and wonderful prince lived in this place.”

“Where the monster is?”

As expected, Lora and Lu began to show interest.

When Lora, who had become absorbed without realizing it, asked, Clemente clutched her chest with a pitiful expression.

“Ah, poor prince. To live a life misunderstood as a monster.”

When she even pretended to wipe tears while sobbing, Lora stamped her feet.

“A-are you crying? Fireplace?”

When Lora made a tearful face, Clemente quickly recited her next lines.

“Someone who was jealous of the too-perfect prince turned him into a monster. So the prince had no choice but to be trapped in this room.”

“Then he can’t come out of here?”

“Yes. The prince can only look outside through the window.”

Lora lowered her eyebrows with a serious expression.

‘He can’t go outside…’

It was a pitiful monster.

“B-but he’s not pretty! He’s scary!”

“Yes, that thought! That’s a very wrong thought.”

When told she was wrong, Lora got indignant and clenched her small fists.

“No! Lora isn’t wrong! The fireplace’s eyes are weird!”

“But if you see him, you’ll definitely come to like him?”

“I won’t look at scary things!”

“Really?”

“Really!”

“Hmm… Then what should we do? The poor monster prince is waiting, wanting to clear up the misunderstanding.”

If Lora and Lu thought of him as a scary monster, he would never be able to return to normal for the rest of his life, she said gloomily as she folded the portrait.

“He can’t return…?”

“He has to remain a monster forever. There’s nothing we can do…”

When she pretended to give up and started to move away, hesitant Lora called out to her.

“What if it’s still scary when we look?”

“Lora.”

“What?”

Thinking Clemente had nothing to say, Lora triumphantly lifted her chin.

It was similar to a pose she often made.

“You like snowmen, right?”

“…Snowman castle!”

Lu, who had been watching until then, clapped his hands and his eyes sparkled.

“Snowman!”

“Snowman…?”

“Do you want to see?”

“B-but Snowman isn’t a monster…”

“You want to see him, don’t you?”

At the repeated question, Lora ended up nodding her head too.

Clemente smiled mischievously and knocked on the door.

After a moment, there was a creaking sound, and glass completely filled with white came into view.

The twins looked at the glass with puzzled eyes.

“It’s moving.”

The white thing slowly moved away.

Seen from a distance, it was a snowman. A snowman with a round body and an equally large head.

A cute snowman with eyes and nose made of buttons.

Lora grabbed Lu’s hand to stop him from approaching as if enchanted, and examined the large snowman with suspicious eyes.

Was this the same monster they had seen outside?

The thick body. Yes.

The strangely large head. Yes.

‘That’s right! It was a snowman monster! A snowman!’

“Waaah!”

Clemente gently embraced Lora as she approached the door with sparkling eyes.

“There’s one more sad fact about Duke Snowman.”

“What is it? Let me go first!”

“Lu. Let’s go!”

“He freezes people who get too close.”

As if to prove they were twins, they both stopped at the same time.

“Fre… freeze…?”

This was the important part.

After silently swallowing dry saliva, she pointed at the snowman who was gathering his round white hands.

“So he’s always cold. Because there’s no one to hug him like this.”

Clemente tightened her arms around Lora.

“It’s not that Lora and Lu dislike you. Actually, he likes you. Really. But…”

“He needs a fireplace.”

“Huh?”

Lora interrupted what Clemente was about to say.

Lora’s eyes were glistening as she turned around.

“I like the cold. When it’s cold, mommy hugs me. And daddy’s there. And Lu’s there too. But Snowman has no one, right?”

“Y-yes…”

“He’s just cold all the time. Then he must really hate being cold…”

Lora hugged Clemente back.

“What about a fireplace? Won’t it freeze?”

“…It’s a fireplace.”

“Then I’ll lend it to you. Lora will.”

“Huh?”

“So come often. If Snowman hugs you ten times, Lora has to come hug you once too.”

Clemente covered her mouth as she realized what this meant. So cute, so admirable. What should she do about this?

‘What blessing do I have to meet such adorable children?’

Her throat tightened. She closed her eyes tightly and nodded. Seeing Clemente like this, Lora smiled shyly and whispered in her ear.

“Sorry for getting angry. Lora was upset.”

“No. I’m more sorry for leaving without saying anything.”

While the two were lost in their own world, Lu suddenly started giggling.

It was because Zephyrus, unable to bear the weight of the snowman head, rolled over and fell to the side.

Seeing this, Lora also burst into laughter belatedly.

“Kh, khup…!”

Clemente held back her bursting laughter and waved her index finger.

It was a signal.

Zephyrus, who spotted that signal from afar, bit his lips tightly inside the snowman mask.

Seeing the children greeting him with bright smiles… he had to keep his promise.

Zephyrus got up awkwardly.

And then.

“Huh, huk!”

Ruby’s shock lingered in her mouth.

‘His, His Highness…!’

Thump-chit thump-chit.

He began dancing, spinning round and round.

A dancing snowman monster.

It was the beginning of a fairy tale that every child in the Northern Region would come to know.

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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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