I’m in the Arms of the Cursed Grand Duke - Chapter 8

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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 8

“Slowly… it’s okay to eat slowly. I won’t take it away from you.”

“Ahem, hmm. I showed you an embarrassing side. I have a hab… of eating when I can…”

“You have a habit?”

“Ah! Yes, that’s right.”

“Why? Did you live somewhere with insufficient food?”

“Well… it wasn’t insufficient. It’s just…”

Clemente’s gaze briefly swept to a distant place.

What could she be thinking? But that question was brief. She returned with a bright expression and held out a fork with meat to him.

“Since meals come out every day here, I should change that… habit! now.”

“…What is this?”

“Please eat it.”

His lips twitched briefly at her strange formal speech. Then Zephyrus spoke coldly.

“…Put it away.”

“But it’s delicious?”

Clemente simply changed the direction of the fork and put it in her own mouth.

“It seems you don’t know something, so I’ll tell you.”

“Yes?”

“Offering food to others with utensils you’ve been eating with goes against etiquette.”

“…Even with friends?”

“Even with friends! Besides, you and I aren’t even friends, are we?”

“We can become friends.”

“I refuse.”

“Why?”

“I don’t need friends.”

“Then let’s at least be meal friends.”

“I don’t need-“

“When you make such warm food like this?”

While Zephyrus hesitated, Clemente continued as if singing.

“If I eat with you, the food is warm~ and delicious~ and I feel good~”

“And it would be chaotic too.”

“But it’s warm, isn’t it?”

Clemente leaned her body completely toward Zephyrus.

“It’s good to be warm at least when eating. Right?”

“Get awa-“

“This ice seems to form only a little bit too.”

Clemente wiped away the moisture on the table. The water gradually evaporated and disappeared from her hand.

She was right. As he felt yesterday, his curse weakened when Clemente was nearby.

If he didn’t show any openings, the curse wouldn’t manifest easily. As long as there was no direct contact.

If he were shaken like now in a normal situation, the entire room would have frozen solid long ago.

‘I meditated so much to avoid creating situations like this.’

Even that seemed useless now that he had officially become a Grand Duke and was working.

However, it was true that meals became much more delicious when Clemente was around.

Though it was unfamiliar to have another person existing in the same space, that unfamiliarity was worth enduring. Because even when he wavered, Clemente didn’t get cold or freeze.

But there was one thing that bothered him.

“Do you gain anything from this?”

There was no benefit for Clemente.

At the unexpected question, Clemente blinked her eyes.

“Is that important?”

“It would be troublesome if you suddenly said you didn’t want to do it anymore.”

Having something and then losing it feels more empty than never having it at all.

“So you should also create a reason why you need to be here. If there isn’t one, I won’t allow it.”

At his firm tone, Clemente hummed and raised the corners of her mouth.

“It’s cool next to you, Master. Much cooler than other places.”

“Cool?”

“I can also have peace of mind.”

“Ah.”

If they both found peace of mind in each other’s presence, there was no better motivation than that. It seemed unlikely she would easily leave either.

The corners of Zephyrus’s mouth beneath the fur mask moved slightly. It was a very brief change that even he wasn’t aware of.

‘I want to stay close as much as possible…’

Zephyrus trembled slightly.

He couldn’t help but find having such thoughts unpleasant.

“Then I’ll allow it. Remember that it’s only during meal times.”

“Yes.”

Clemente sat obediently and stared intently at Zephyrus.

“What?”

“Are you going to keep wearing those thick clothes?”

“That’s not your concern.”

“It looks hot.”

She was right. Perhaps because of Clemente’s hot body temperature, his face was heating up as if two heaters had been brought in, and he was wondering what to do about it.

“It’s warm enough just being next to me. That looks too heavy.”

Clemente spoke as if she already knew Zephyrus’s condition. It was something that could be easily inferred.

A light kindness. However, it was comfortable words she could say because she didn’t know him.

“It’s not a matter to speak of lightly. The meal is finished, so take it and leave.”

Clemente was driven out without understanding why.

It seemed like his mood had suddenly plummeted.

Why did his mood turn bad?

No matter how much she thought about it, nothing came to mind. If she considered it in order, it was when she told him to take off his mask.

Clemente scratched her head and soon headed to the kitchen with the trolley.

Since she knew less about Zephyrus than she didn’t know, such things happened.

She didn’t want to keep worrying about something she couldn’t solve right now.

‘Grandmother said time solves such things.’

She had never lost out by listening to the fortune-teller grandmother’s words since childhood.

When the friends in books fought, to young her who worried about how they could reconcile, grandmother had said this:

“I don’t know why you put effort into such useless things, but they’re fighting because you poked a sore spot. When they know each other well enough, they won’t fight over such things. So how do they reconcile? Tell them not to be prideful and just talk!”

Though it wasn’t the same situation, she guessed that Zephyrus’s anger was something like that. Then she needed to have a conversation.

She had plenty of time. She would slowly and carefully work to make a cool friend.

Clemente burned with motivation.

She was really looking forward to the next dinner time.

The moment she lifted the trolley and went down to the first floor.

“Clemente, over here.”

She encountered Rossia with a strange expression.

Rossia looked at Clemente coming down carrying the trolley.

She showed no signs of difficulty. It was as if she had just brought down a light book.

It wouldn’t be strange for knights to lift things easily, but Clemente wasn’t one, was she?

She had felt it before, but Clemente was quite strong.

‘What kind of training did she do?’

After briefly touching her own soft arms.

She gestured to Clemente, who was waving with a bright face.

“Over here. Just a moment. It’ll only take a very short time.”

“Why?”

Clemente whispered as she approached, having parked the trolley against the wall. As if she had noticed the attempt to act secretly.

“There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

This was something the original Rossia would never have done.

She was voluntarily trying to reveal a fact that should remain as hidden as the Curse of the Grand Duke.

However, the current situation was too dire to dismiss with the word “original.” She would do her best, but she couldn’t help but assume the worst.

And if the worst situation were to come, what Rossia would want to do most then was precisely this.

‘To give Aunt even a little comfort.’

The Dowager Duchess, who worried that Zephyrus, the Grand Duke and her son, might spend his entire life alone in his room.

Just knowing that there was a friend by his side who was immune to the curse would bring her peace.

“I like meeting new people.”

Rossia gestured to Clemente, who looked expectant with her gentle face, and led the way.

The large room at the top of the castle. Two knights stood guard in front of the door.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“Yes.”

“The person we’re about to meet is the Dowager Duchess… that is, His Highness’s mother.”

“Oh.”

Being introduced to her potential friend’s mother!

Rossia stopped Clemente from getting excited, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

She raised her hand to gently grasp Clemente’s shoulder and spoke gravely.

“Her health isn’t good.”

“Ah…”

Clemente became serious.

“She’s spent her entire life by His Highness’s side, worrying only about him. Before she embarks on her long journey, I want to ease that worry a little.”

“What should I do?”

“Please tell her that you’ve become friends with His Highness.”

“…”

Rossia looked devastated. Even as she asked for this lie, she didn’t seem to think the Dowager Duchess would believe it.

Becoming friends in just one day? Wasn’t that absurd? Even Clemente couldn’t believe such a story.

“I can’t tell such a lie.”

“But…!”

“It’s not enough time to become friends. I’ll just say we agreed to eat meals together for now.”

“To the Dowager Duchess- What?”

Rossia’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Meals… did you perhaps just now too?”

Was that why she came down with the trolley!

“Was it, was it okay?”

“Of course. The meal was really delicious. And I’m sorry. About the favor… oh, how about meal friends? That much isn’t a lie!”

Though she hadn’t asked if the meal was okay, she decided to take the fact that Clemente was safe as her answer.

“Do whatever you want!”

Rossia smiled with a flushed face.

“Your smiling face really does look good! You’re pretty!”

“That’s, that’s, that’s unnecessary talk!”

Rossia, her face reddening, soon walked to the door with serious steps and made her request.

“Please announce us.”

“Dowager Duchess, Lady Rossia has arrived.”

The door opened quietly. As Rossia entered, Clemente also bowed to the knights and followed her in.

What greeted her as soon as she entered was a familiar scent.

‘Where have I smelled this before…’

Clemente’s expression hardened as she quickly found the answer.

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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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