I’m in the Arms of the Cursed Grand Duke - Chapter 42

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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 42

 

The day after the incident occurred.

 

Harvie left the village with a thoroughly solemn expression, just as written in the note.

 

Since the entire guild had moved, both the vassals and guild staff had quite a few complaints, but seeing Harvie’s expression, no one could say anything.

 

Whether they could deceive Nerhi and obtain the medicine depended on Harvie, so that expression was understandable.

 

After that, the ducal palace was moving quietly but swiftly.

 

Most of the soldiers in charge of tracking, infiltration, and intelligence gathering had gone down to the Imperial Court.

 

They began investigating all the servants to catch any possible internal spies.

 

The person under the greatest suspicion was Clemente.

 

However, she was under Zephyrus’s protection.

 

Zephyrus told Clemente to stay only by his side. And he devoted all his energy to controlling his curse.

 

When he became too exhausted, he called for Airite the physician and Tei, Harvie’s grandson.

 

Now was exactly that time.

 

Zephyrus, who had been watching Tei receive his examination, asked Airite.

 

“Still no particular symptoms?”

 

“Yes. Are you going to keep calling like this? It’s already been three days.”

 

“Haven’t you discovered anything?”

 

“I’m analyzing the medicine the guild master gave us properly!”

 

“How far have you gotten?”

 

Airite let out a sigh.

 

“I’ve roughly figured out what medicines were included. Just one, if I can identify just one more…”

 

Airite already knew the combinations of most common medicines inside and out. Even he had encountered an unknown herb.

 

Airite found even this time precious.

 

“If I had continued researching instead of being called like this, a solution might have come out long ago.”

 

“Haha… Physician, I’m sorry. It would be nice if some symptoms appeared.”

 

Unable to endure the heavy atmosphere any longer, Tei forced a smile.

 

“When it’s time to take the medicine, I gradually lose strength, but that’s all I know.”

 

“Didn’t you say you couldn’t remember well? I remember that.”

 

There was also Harvie’s testimony that he couldn’t breathe properly and had such a high fever that he was drenched in sweat.

 

However, fever itself was a symptom of countless diseases, so that alone wasn’t enough to determine the cause.

 

Airite unconsciously rested his chin on his hand and fell into thought.

 

Come to think of it, he had only been rummaging through rare herbs so far, but hadn’t connected them to the patient’s symptoms.

 

‘There wasn’t any herb with fever-reducing properties…’

 

There wasn’t any among what he had identified. Then should the last puzzle start from there?

 

He wanted to go immediately and search from the beginning again.

 

“By the way, I have something I’m curious about.”

 

Then Clemente stopped reading her book and asked.

 

“I won’t answer. I’d like to withdraw now.”

 

“That hunter. You said there’s a high possibility that person’s death was also due to some unknown medicine.”

 

Airite sighed but answered.

 

“I’m looking into that too. But it’s right to solve the time-limited problem first.”

 

“That’s what I mean. Isn’t there a possibility that the problem is the medicine, not the disease?”

 

All three people except Clemente simultaneously stopped breathing.

 

“Rather than thinking Nerhi really created medicine to cure a disease no one knows about, that’s… what, why?”

 

Clemente felt the gazes directed at her and tilted her head.

 

Airite jumped up and rapidly spoke out the breath he had been holding.

 

“Are you saying he’s poisoned by medicine now? What’s your evidence? Do you know what symptoms poisoned people have? Huh?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“Then isn’t that too irresponsible a statement?”

 

He was also a physician. When examining patients, he asked everything – when the pain started, if they had done anything else.

 

He also knew that everyone had things their bodies couldn’t handle, so he considered that too.

 

So how could he miss something so obvious?

 

“Why are you getting angry? I was just asking. Someone knowledgeable can make the judgment.”

 

Airite glared at Clemente with frightening eyes, then bowed politely to Zephyrus and left.

 

“Do you know why he’s like that?”

 

She asked Zephyrus, but it was Tei who answered.

 

“I think it’s because you suddenly hit the nail on the head.”

 

Perhaps his pride was hurt because Clemente pointed out something he hadn’t even thought of.

 

That’s what Tei thought.

 

“It would be strange if the physician didn’t have that kind of pride in his skills.”

 

Tei understood Airite. All the craftsmen he had met while following his guild master grandfather were like that.

 

“But if what you said is true, Miss Clemente, does that mean I’m poisoned by that medicine?”

 

But no matter how much he thought about it, he had never eaten anything different.

 

“I think Miss Clemente has an excellent ability to piece situations together. If you have anything that comes to mind now, could you tell us?”

 

“Uh…”

 

Clemente scratched her cheek and closed her book.

 

“It doesn’t have to be something different, does it? The medicine Nerhi gave didn’t even have a smell.”

 

“I’ve never met any strangers either.”

 

“It doesn’t have to be a stranger.”

 

“Ah!”

 

That’s right. What was the reason the ducal palace was so chaotic beneath the surface?

 

If even the authoritative duke’s manor was like this, not all the people in the guild where countless people came and went could be the same.

 

He didn’t want to be suspicious, but it couldn’t be helped.

 

“I’ll look into it for now. Thank you.”

 

Tei bowed politely and left.

 

“…In the end, you chased away both of them.”

 

“I was really just curious.”

 

“It was a reasonable observation.”

 

Being buried in the fact that Zephyrus’s mother Raisie had nearly died from disease was a big reason they hadn’t thought of it earlier.

 

Clemente shrugged her shoulders.

 

And opened her book again to concentrate.

 

Zephyrus rested his chin on his hand and looked at her.

 

She seemed fine on the outside, but was she really fine inside too?

 

Ever since seeing Clemente quietly organizing her emotions a few days ago as if she might disappear, he had such doubts.

 

“Aren’t you frustrated?”

 

Clemente had helped Pruina. She hadn’t helped easily either. She stayed up all night helping the domain’s people endure the cold. She caught spies even while getting injured.

 

It wasn’t strange that Clemente had the ability to catch spies.

 

She hadn’t hidden it either.

 

He still remembered the report Gwen had left the day she brought Clemente.

 

It said she brought her thinking she was a fire fairy after seeing Clemente face monsters in the mountain.

 

But now treating her as suspicious because she didn’t waver even when seeing people die – even he thought that was ungrateful.

 

In Clemente’s life, how often were people and monsters different?

 

“I didn’t expect even Gwen to be like that. Look how much you’ve done in this short time.”

 

Reading the hidden concern in his cold voice, Clemente burst out laughing.

 

“It’s not like they’re kicking me out. Julay keeps taking my side too. And you’re sticking close like this to comfort me. Why would I be frustrated? I’m rather happy.”

 

She even joked that she was disappointed because she had prepared what to say expecting to be interrogated, but they didn’t.

 

“If you’re going to say things like that, practice again.”

 

“Right. Since meeting indoors was fine today too, I’m thinking of trying outside.”

 

“Oh!”

 

Clemente walked with big steps and threw the door wide open. She went outside and extended her hand.

 

“Give it a try.”

 

Zephyrus slowly stood up and walked. With each step, he steeled his heart.

 

One step, the determination to move forward without fear.

 

Two steps, the responsibility to never give up.

 

Three steps, the resolve to not let go of the hand reaching out from beyond the door.

 

He could escape from all the despair that had been holding him back.

 

‘If I’m with that warmth—’

 

Just as Zephyrus’s hand was about to touch Clemente’s fingertips reaching out beyond the room.

 

His body came to an abrupt halt. Intense memories and emotions pierced through his mind like lightning.

 

The pain of the past, which he thought he had already overcome, ensnared him.

 

His unfocused pupils turned toward Clemente.

 

‘The light…’

 

Is far away.

 

His hand that couldn’t cross the line dropped with a thud.

 

The door was open, but the invisible wall within remained solid. The determination and hope he thought he had carefully built up one by one crumbled like a sandcastle, pushed back by that transparent barrier.

 

He had thought he could grasp that warmth if he just reached out, but it felt like the ground beneath his feet had given way.

 

“Master!”

 

Clemente caught Zephyrus as he collapsed like a puppet with severed strings.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

“…How pathetic.”

 

Zephyrus, gritting his teeth, struggled to his feet.

 

“I’ll see it through to the end.”

 

Because he couldn’t waste time wallowing in despair. Because he had decided not to do that. They say even when the sky falls, there’s a hole to rise through.

 

He would find that hole. Without fail.

 

A venomous glint appeared in Zephyrus’s eyes.

 

Clemente quietly smiled as she watched Zephyrus stand up on his own.

 

Just then, Rossia appeared.

 

“Oh my. What’s going on here?”

 

Finding Zephyrus standing in front of the open room glaring at empty space, she asked Clemente.

 

“Master is practicing coming outside.”

 

“Goodness.”

 

In Rossia’s hands, as she stamped her feet in delight, was an elegant letter.

 

Zephyrus’s fiancée.

 

It was a letter from the Duchess of Demeter.

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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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