I’m in the Arms of the Cursed Grand Duke - Chapter 28
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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 28
Zephyrus tried to calm the heat rising to his face as he spoke coldly.
“Sexual harassment.”
“Whaaaat?”
Clemente opened her mouth in bewilderment.
A compliment had become a crime.
She couldn’t understand it.
‘Grandmother used to be happy when I said she was pretty.’
However, Clemente nodded her head with difficulty.
Unlike the desert where they wore burqas to block the scorching sun but were tolerant of exposure, the Northern Region was rather conservative.
It wouldn’t be strange for the standards to be different.
“I fully accept it. I’m sorry.”
She clasped her hands together in repentance. Zephyrus, still with a red face, bluntly said to Clemente.
“In that case, you say ‘humbly.'”
**
Zephyrus crossed his arms and sat looking down at Clemente. Clemente also straightened her back and slightly pulled in her chin, mimicking his posture.
“How is it, Master? Do I look like a noble too?”
“You look like a monkey copying people.”
“Geez, really! Say I’m a Southern person copying a Northern person! At least I’m human!”
Zephyrus’s lips twitched for a moment before he finally cleared his throat once.
“Then I’ll begin the interrogation.”
“I’ll watch my words.”
“That’s a given. Now you only answer what I ask. Don’t open your mouth otherwise.”
“Yes.”
“Tsk.”
The warning sound she sometimes heard from Grandmother. Clemente almost reflexively raised both arms. When she smiled sheepishly in embarrassment, Zephyrus’s cold words came back.
“Don’t smile either.”
“Yes, ah, no.”
Clemente covered her mouth with both hands and gestured to Zephyrus with her eyes. It meant to start the interrogation.
“A-ahem. …First, your family relations.”
Clemente rolled her eyes around. Did he ask a question? But his intonation didn’t rise.
“Answer.”
“Ah, so I can speak now.”
When Zephyrus let out a light sigh and spoke, Clemente removed her hands and laughed cheerfully.
It was a laugh that could blow away a sigh in an instant.
Someone might call this belated information gathering.
However, for the Ducal Household, this was the best they could do.
They had sent informants to the South, but at the earliest, they would have just arrived now. It took about two months just to get there, so it couldn’t be helped.
But they couldn’t just wait indefinitely, so this was the method they devised.
Since they had thoroughly collected all information related to Clemente in the Empire, they would compare it with Clemente’s words to predict her reliability.
The trustworthiness between them depended on Clemente’s answers that would follow.
“Grandmother raised me. I’m alone now.”
“Your parents?”
“I don’t know. I’m curious too. Come to think of it, what kind of person was your father, Master?”
“What did you do in the South?”
“Um… just…”
Clemente glanced once at Zephyrus who had ignored her words, then looked at the air for a moment.
‘This is the first place I’ve actually worked, right?’
After Grandmother became a star of the desert, she didn’t seem to have done any particular work. When hungry, she would dig through sand and hunt. She drank water from oases and wandered around the desert.
“I just played around!”
“How did you come here without money?”
“I have money. I just didn’t spend it.”
It was the fortune Grandmother had left behind. There were quite a lot of jewels.
She had never seen Grandmother earning money, so she wondered when she had saved up so much.
Anyway, Clemente was quite confused at that time. She felt like she had been dropped alone in the world.
Having no one to stop her when she got angry was quite painful.
In that situation, she didn’t feel like spending the money Grandmother had saved. She didn’t know how to spend it well either.
So she stubbornly endured.
She wandered around various villages with sand as her friend and stars as her guide. She was threatened and nearly died several times.
“The reason you came to the Northern Region?”
“I already told you all about that—”
“Say it again with your own mouth.”
“Because I thought the heat coming from my body would get better if I came to a cold place.”
“Is there no other reason? Is that all?”
Clemente stared at Zephyrus for a moment. Feeling somewhat mischievous, she asked back.
“Would there be any other reason to specifically choose the Northern Region?”
“…I see.”
Zephyrus’s shoulders seemed to droop. Clemente, realizing her mistake, urged the next question.
“Are there more questions? Oh, there’s quite a lot written there.”
The paper Zephyrus was holding was full of writing. Anyone could see it was a list of questions.
Only the Dowager Duchess knew that Zephyrus had written it all himself.
“I’ll proceed quickly.”
“Yes!”
“How did you get to the Northern Region?”
“I walked here!”
“Didn’t you take a carriage?”
“The horses wouldn’t have been able to handle it, right?”
She had tried to ride a camel once but failed.
“It doesn’t seem to be that severe.”
“I said it got better after coming to the Northern Region. A lot of the hot stuff disappeared.”
Zephyrus wrote down her answer.
“Next, what happened at the Magic Tower that caused you to start a fire?”
“Oh.”
Clemente rounded her lips.
“Why are you surprised? Were you planning to lie?”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
When she left the Magic Tower, thinking about what the mage who was studying her constitution had said about the Pruina Duchy, she just thought that even if nobles were in difficult circumstances, nobles were still nobles.
‘He said they would never know who started the fire.’
Clemente explained simply.
“I went to the Magic Tower because I was curious about my body. A mage did research. A fire broke out during it! And I got kicked out…”
“You’re telling me to believe that the Magic Tower just let you go after you caused a fire?”
“You said you investigated everything. They robbed, extorted all my assets! They took everything. I became penniless!”
Grandmother’s jewels were all taken away there.
“I definitely said it wouldn’t work.”
But that mage urged her, saying he needed to see the limits to know more details.
Eventually, a fire broke out in the research lab and she collapsed.
The mage must have had some conscience as he didn’t demand compensation from her, but he did charge for treatment. That was almost all of her fortune.
“So did you find out anything?”
“No! Nothing!”
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Zephyrus gestured to Clemente, who was thoroughly furious.
A hand hotter than usual touched Zephyrus’s hand.
Zephyrus pulled that hand toward him and held Clemente on his lap.
“There’s still something important left.”
“What!”
“Do you have any favorite foods?”
“Bear meat was delicious— wait, is the interrogation over?”
“I’m still doing it, aren’t I.”
Clemente looked puzzled as she twisted her waist to look at Zephyrus. His face was serious without even a hint of playfulness.
“As I said, it’s an important question. What foods do you dislike?”
“…I just don’t particularly eat bugs, I guess?”
“Bugs…”
Zephyrus felt dizzy and briefly closed his eyes before opening them again.
“What about favorite books?”
“All the books I’ve read so far?”
“Why does everything end with a question mark?”
Clemente scratched her head.
“I’ve never thought about it before.”
“I see.”
Zephyrus handed the pen he was holding to Clemente.
“This is your assignment.”
“Eh!”
An assignment order fell upon her without an ounce of mercy, despite her obvious reluctance.
“From now on, whenever you find something you like, write it down and make a list of ten things.”
“Ten whole things?”
“Yes.”
“Bear meat, potato salad, uh, potato bread…”
“One per category. One book, one food, one color. Like that.”
Clemente’s lips moved wordlessly. She couldn’t express her current feelings in words.
She didn’t like it, somehow she didn’t like it! But she couldn’t figure out how or why she didn’t like it.
In the end, she whispered and passed the same thing back to Zephyrus.
“What about you, Master! What do you like!”
There was no particular reason why Zephyrus had asked about Clemente’s preferences. Eating meals and wearing clothes. He simply hoped Clemente wouldn’t be uncomfortable while living in the Northern Region.
Clemente had said she wouldn’t leave, but people’s hearts change, don’t they say? It was a simple thought that if he catered to her tastes, she might stay in the north longer.
“Hmm. Yes, let me think about it once.”
However, when he received the same question in return. He realized.
That he had never once been curious about himself.
“What are you planning to do after finding out what I like?”
“Um… I’d make you feel good, I suppose?”
“You would?”
“Yes. If Master is happy, I think I’d feel good too.”
Zephyrus’s eyes widened. Then he slightly raised the corners of his mouth.
“I can’t compete with that.”
“Wow.”
“Wow? Why are you saying that?”
Clemente’s expression was blank for a moment, then she burst into a big laugh.
“No! Then I’ll go try doing the assignment! Hahaha!”
Clemente immediately jumped up and left the room. Zephyrus didn’t even have a chance to stop her.
“…”
He silently looked down at the paper on the desk and slightly moved his lips.
“What… did I do wrong?”
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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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