I’m in the Arms of the Cursed Grand Duke - Chapter 74

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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 74

This kind of preparedness isn’t bad at all.

For the first time since coming to the Northern Region, Clemente was pleased with Zephyrus’s actions.

“Then you must have prepared an answer as well.”

“Yes. Though I’m not sure if this will be the answer you want to hear, my lady.”

“I’m listening.”

“All the rumors circulating out there are false.”

Liriart’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Then…”

“As you thought, it’s true that I couldn’t leave my room.”

Zephyrus’s answer was calm. After pondering with Clemente all night, they had decided to reveal only half the truth to Liriart.

This was possible thanks to Harvie’s precedent.

If you removed the word “curse” and the pain young Zephyrus had endured, his cold power was quite an attractive ability.

“I had no idea it would take that long to learn to control this power.”

Zephyrus held out his palm. Something whiter and more dazzling than his pale hand appeared above his palm.

When the lantern light illuminating the carriage touched it, it scattered and spread in all directions.

It was incredibly beautiful. It sparkled enough to make one want to possess it.

However.

“I don’t know how to prevent you from freezing, my lady, so please keep your distance.”

Frost descended in the warm carriage. Her body trembled involuntarily.

It felt like witnessing a massive, towering snow mountain.

Liriart couldn’t even close her eyes as her body shook.

Clemente quietly watched Zephyrus and Liriart.

The ice created according to Zephyrus’s emotions couldn’t be controlled 100 percent.

The same was true for Clemente, who had been working on it since childhood.

Human emotions, no matter how much you suppress them, eventually pierce through like an awl.

And that protruding awl has tremendous density, unlike the suppressed emotions.

Even the slightest disturbance could turn the surroundings into a frozen sea.

It would be less shocking to tell her in advance rather than let her experience it unknowingly.

“Then… *hic*, are you saying I could freeze if something goes wrong?”

Why do hiccups come when you’re too surprised? Liriart pinched the back of her hand, trying to stop the hiccups.

“I’m just warning you in advance that it could happen if you get too close.”

“But I can’t get any *hic* farther away in here.”

“Oh, really!”

Clemente, who couldn’t stand listening to Zephyrus’s explanation any longer, finally intervened.

“Don’t worry, my lady. Master can control it all. He’s just speaking harshly for no reason.”

“Is that *hic* really true?”

“Yes. And I’m here, aren’t I? I’m the one who melted this ice block and got him out. Whatever happens, I can block it all for you.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Clemente placed her hand over Zephyrus’s hand where the ice crystals were.

With a harsh whooshing sound, the melting ice disappeared before it could even fall to the floor.

Liriart’s hiccups stopped immediately. She covered her mouth and looked at Clemente. That person with the abundant, warm-looking hair possessed a power that complemented it.

Yes, warmth alone wouldn’t have been enough to win the Dowager Duchess’s favor.

It had to be at least this much.

Suddenly everything made sense.

Clemente’s face, which had been classified on the boundary between incompetent and competent, instantly moved to the competent side.

After taking several deep breaths to calm down, Liriart spoke seriously.

“Alright. I understand. That the rumors are false. I don’t know why such rumors spread, but—”

“I spread them from my side.”

Zephyrus interrupted Liriart mid-sentence.

Her annoyance at the rudeness was brief. After understanding the content, she slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

“May I ask why you did that? Just saying what you told me now would have been sufficient.”

“You should remember well, my lady. Why I told you this story. And to whom I told it.”

“Gasp!”

Clemente, who had been listening quietly, was about to pound her chest in frustration when Zephyrus grabbed and held her down, speaking with his eyes.

‘Why.’

‘Why are you saying such things?’

‘What did I do?’

While the two conversed with their eyes, Liriart fell into thought for a moment.

Soon she made a face that was both bitter and chilling.

This story was a test.

Since the circulating rumors and the actual story were different, if the real story were to spread, they would immediately know who had leaked it.

Come to think of it, they might have told similar stories but changed all the core keywords. Then they could immediately tell who couldn’t be trusted.

In Liriart’s mind, this conversation was a process to confirm whether she was truly trustworthy.

“I’ll keep it in mind. But Your Highness won’t have anything to worry about.”

“Mm. Good.”

Was there anything to worry about?

Zephyrus had simply shown his true feelings, meaning to get along well from now on.

He couldn’t understand why she was clenching her fists as if nervous.

Anyway, since she was saying she’d do well, there was no need to dig deeper, so Zephyrus just nodded and looked out the window.

“We’ve arrived. I’ll hear your request on the way back.”

“Ah, you remembered.”

Gwen, who had been pulling the carriage, shouted from outside the carriage door.

“Well then~ I’m opening the door~”

Whoosh—

Cold wind swept into the warm carriage.

As she squinted her eyes to block the cold air, Clemente stepped forward and stood in front of the door. The bone-chillingly cold wind warmly embraced Liriart.

“…”

Liriart, who had been watching Clemente lightly jump down from the carriage, extended her hand.

“Yes, my lady.”

Gwen extended his hand for escort, but Liriart gracefully shook her head.

“Not Sir Gwen. Clemente, would you lend me your hand?”

“Yes!”

Clemente extended both hands. A posture that went against etiquette. Liriart shook her head again.

“Do it the way Sir Gwen did just now. That’s the proper etiquette.”

“Yes. But my lady.”

Clemente, who had roughly copied the posture after just a brief look, blinked her innocent golden eyes.

“Why did your speech become… um… ele, eleg… ah! Elegant! Elegant again? You spoke casually in the carriage.”

“…This is my real way of speaking.”

Liriart, who had come down holding Clemente’s hand, looked around.

It was snowing. Large snowflakes that obscured visibility were falling very heavily and rapidly.

Nevertheless, where she stood was clean. No snow or rain fell. Instead, she was sweating a bit. No, a lot.

“My lady, let go of that hand now that you’re down.”

“Ah.”

When she let go, Clemente this time extended her hand toward Zephyrus. Her movements were much more natural than the first time.

“…You don’t need to do that for me.”

“Oh, then like this!”

Clemente suddenly spread both arms wide. Her intention to carry him down was obvious.

Zephyrus grimaced and came down by himself.

Though it was quite high, since Zephyrus was tall, he didn’t come down in an unseemly manner.

Clemente asked blankly.

“Why don’t you receive an escort from your personal maid?”

“Originally, escorting is a male etiquette. You don’t have to do it.”

He said this while staring intently at Liriart. It seemed mixed with resentment for teaching unnecessary things.

Liriart wiped the sweat from her hands with a handkerchief and retorted.

“In times like these, where are the distinctions between men and women? It’s an era where women can hold titles if they want, and men can do embroidery.”

“What a wonderful era!”

When Clemente clapped, Zephyrus sighed. As the atmosphere became strange, Gwen stepped in.

“Now, now, we don’t have time for this. We need to tour the village today and visit another wonderful place before sunset.”

At Gwen’s urging, Zephyrus briefly lowered his gaze.

He couldn’t believe that the marquis’s daughter and Gwen were included in going to that wonderful place.

If they were going to such a place, he wanted to go on a picnic alone with Clemente.

Going together would be fun too, but there would be more things he’d need to worry about. And also…

Zephyrus kept coming up with reasons why he should go alone with Clemente.

“Since it’s both of your first times, I’ll guide you! There’s the most interesting man in the village.”

“No! This Gwen has already planned out the entire course, so Clemente just needs to follow along!”

“Gwen seems like she’d take us to weird places.”

“Would Clemente, who’s been in the Northern Region for barely a year, know better, or would I, who’s lived here my whole life, know better? Hm?”

“Still, Gwen is less friendly with the villagers.”

“Before I got my scar, I was this village’s darling! Does Clemente know about those times?”

“I don’t know, nobody ever called Gwen a darling!”

“How could this be!”

Zephyrus stopped thinking about Clemente and Gwen’s conversation. To show such childish banter in front of an outsider.

He couldn’t bear to look at Liriart’s expression, so he kept looking only at Clemente.

Then their eyes met. The moment they met, Clemente smiled brightly, and she had a vitality that made it impossible to look away.

Clemente seen in the village, not at the manor. It was unfamiliar, and equally wondrous.

‘When the fire spirit first brought fire to humans. Was this how people felt back then?’

Blocking the falling snow, warming the surroundings, and instantly melting away the already accumulated snow.

He fully understood why the village called Clemente a fire spirit.

Then Gwen suggested the first course.

“Since we’re in the village, we should visit the glass workshop. It’s a place that keeps running whether it snows or thunders. Clemente probably hasn’t been inside, right?”

“Ah, I think I know where that is. They kept preventing me from entering.”

“Before, it was because outsiders were prohibited from entering. But now… hehehe.”

Gwen looked at Clemente with a sinister glance.

Zephyrus blocked Clemente’s front, cutting off that gaze.

“Let’s go quickly. Didn’t you say we need to visit everything before sunset?”

“Aw. Then we’ll go see the interesting man together, master.”

Clemente leaned slightly against his shoulder and whispered as if making a secret promise.

Zephyrus’s slightly hunched back straightened up completely.

“Then let’s go. Since I know where it is from looking at the village map, I’ll guide you.”

They headed toward the glass workshop like that.

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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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