Raising the Grand Duke of the North as a Farmer Behind Dad’s Back - Chapter 49

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 49
“Little one.”
Felix caught my hand and blocked my view.
“Don’t wander too far into the corners. There might be monsters.”
“Okay!”
I’d already confirmed everything I needed to anyway.
I looked around the sparsely wooded area and asked him a question.
“But wouldn’t there be a landslide if the frozen ground melts when this place warms up?”
“Hmm, the Dragon Vein? It tends to bind the ground solid, so the odds of that happening are pretty low, I’d think. Like in Bedel Village. But…….”
“But?”
“We can’t know what variables might emerge, so it’d be wise to avoid this mountain for a while. Wouldn’t you say, Your Highness?”
“Mm.”
Basili, who’d been trailing behind at an easy pace, spoke slowly.
“If we had an accident here, we’d be done for on the spot. Once the Dragon Vein opens, this area’s off-limits for the foreseeable future.”
“Oh!”
I ran up to the Grand Duke and tugged at his heavy coat.
His large frame bent without hesitation, bringing his eyes level with mine.
“Your Highness, I think we’ve checked everything we need to!”
I whispered into his ear.
“Now I can just dash over and purify the pillars with a whoosh!”
The Grand Duke’s expression grew uncertain again.
“……Let’s head back first.”
“……?”
“You seem to have been exposed to the cold wind far too much.”
He lifted me up easily.
Hmm…….
‘Why does he keep making that reluctant face?’
I tilted my head in confusion.
Either way, we descended the mountain.
The problem arose as we headed back toward Bedel Village.
Basili, mounted on his horse, straightened Haniel, who sat in front of him.
“Sit up straight, little one.”
The child, bundled thickly in clothes, kept listing forward for some reason.
“Why do you keep——”
In that instant, Basili’s fingers went rigid.
“Haniel.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Haniel!”
The moment he relaxed his grip, the small body tilted — and fell.
He caught her quickly and turned her to face him. A pale, unconscious face met his eyes. Her breathing was shallow and ragged. When did this start?
“Haniel!”
The faces of Basili, Felix, and Camila drained of color.
Basili placed his hand on the child’s forehead. It burned like a coal.
“Felix! Camila! Back to the village, now! Move!”
“Yes!”
He snapped the reins hard, and the black horse, sensing the urgency, bolted like a cyclone.
Basili wrapped his cloak around Haniel and held her tight with one arm, his jaw clenched so hard his chin jutted.
Why?
Why had this child suddenly fallen ill?
The thick layers of her clothes had masked her fever; he hadn’t detected her body heat. Her flushed face, he’d assumed, was just from the cold.
And above all……
‘If you’re sick, you should say something!’
At least show some sign of it!
Yet Haniel had seemed perfectly fine.
“Today’s exploration was so much fun! Right? Right?”
She’d been more cheerful and animated than usual.
‘Since when?!’
In that moment, the bright red scarf tied around the child’s neck caught his eye.
At the sight of it, his heart sank with a thud.
The child was clever and sharp, but there were certain things she had a talent for keeping hidden.
What if she’d put on a brighter face than usual just to hide the pain?
‘Damn it.’
Good Haniel.
Haniel, who never let her suffering show.
Grrr.
His grip tightened on the reins. Those crimson eyes turned cold and distant.
The wild horse’s charge tore a deep gash across the white snowfield.
* * *
“If you speak plainly of your pain, Miss, it will only grieve Lord Dante.”
The maids and attendants of the Klein Ducal House had always been kind to me.
Though I’d appeared suddenly from the slums one day, they never treated me with cruelty or spoke ill of me.
They simply… worried that I, who hadn’t been raised as a noblewoman, might bring shame upon the ducal house.
“Lord Dante’s wound… you saw it, didn’t you?”
“…….”
“They say he’ll never be able to use his left eye again.”
One of the maids couldn’t hold back her tears and rushed from the room.
“And because of it, Lord Ulios collapsed as well. So if you were to add your own worries to his burden… surely that wouldn’t do, would it?”
I bit back my tears and nodded vigorously.
“Y-yes, I’m… I’m not hurting…!”
“What a dutiful young lady you are. Please.”
The attendant clung to me pleadingly.
“Please don’t speak of your pain anymore…….”
Just stay quietly, won’t you? Please…….
At her whispered words, I nodded again.
The proud Holy Knight House of Klein.
A lineage that produced the Empire’s greatest Holy Knights, beloved by all.
Everyone who worked there possessed tremendous loyalty and faith. Their pride in Klein was equally immense.
And so, with the head of that great house falling to ruin because of me, I thought surely they had every right to say such things.
‘I really am a useless, wicked child.’
I hid beneath the blankets and prayed.
Dear Goddess, please don’t let Father be hurt any further.
‘If that’s too much to ask, then rather…….’
Let me die a little sooner.
So I’m no longer a burden to Father.
So no one else has to suffer.
‘Please help me become a good child…….’
I prayed and prayed.
* * *
“……good……child……please…….”
“Haniel!”
Gasp.
My eyes snapped open.
“Are you alright?”
“I… hack, hack!”
A fit of coughing seized me suddenly. My ribs ached, and my throat felt parched and torn.
“Easy. Slowly now.”
A large hand gently stroked my back. Thanks to its warmth, the coughing gradually subsided.
“Your Highness?”
Basili held me against his chest.
Those crimson eyes swept across my face with meticulous care. Taking a deep breath, he brought a water glass to my lips.
“Drink some water first.”
Gulp, gulp — I drank while looking up at the Grand Duke’s face.
The dark hollows beneath his eyes, the pallor of his cheeks.
…… Was he injured somewhere?
The thought crossed my mind unbidden.
Gulp.
“I… I’ve finished it……!”
As the water settled in my stomach, every cell in my body seemed to come alive and bloom.
‘Why am I here?’
Looking around more carefully, I realized I was in the Grand Duke’s bedchamber.
We were exploring the area around the Beil River, and on the way back.
Sleep came crashing down on me like a tidal wave, and I thought I’d just close my eyes for a moment…….
Did I really collapse?
I glanced sideways at the Grand Duke, gauging his expression.
“…….”
His mouth drawn tight and firm.
Eyes gone terrifyingly dark and still.
This was—this was very bad…….
He was angry because I was sick.
“I’m fine!”
I spoke up quickly.
“Really, I’m perfectly all right!”
My throat was still scratchy, but having spent my past life in and out of sickbeds, a cold like this usually clears up in a couple of days.
So I needed to show him as soon as possible that I could be just as useful to the territory as always.
“Really, I…… cough.”
He pulled me into a tight embrace.
“……This is driving me mad. Truly.”
A long, heavy sigh followed. His broad chest expanded greatly, then collapsed inward—as if someone had finally been able to breathe again.
“Now that you’re babbling away like that…… I suppose you’ll live after all.”
I couldn’t help but blink, stunned by the unexpected response.
“Do you have any idea how high your fever ran? The inflammation spread all the way to your lungs, and for four days you were…….”
Four days? That long?
“But I feel better now…….”
“Haniel.”
The Grand Duke asked me quietly.
“When did you first become ill?”
‘Hmm, I can’t tell him I wasn’t feeling well even before going to the library, can I?’
“……On the way back down from the mountain, suddenly…….”
“You’re lying.”
The Grand Duke laid me back down, then rose to his feet.
I struggled to sit up, but his hand pressed me firmly back into the blankets.
“Rest now. Your fever’s still burning hot.”
“But—”
He turned his back and murmured under his breath.
“……Yes, now I think I know how to handle you.”
“……?”
What did he mean?
In that moment, there came a knock at the door, and Camila appeared with medicine in hand.
“Little one! You’ve come to!”
Only then did Basili turn and walk away with measured steps.
Following the path of his movements, my field of vision widened. The bedroom came into view—a complete disaster.
Countless wet cloths, ice packs, medicine bowls, sugar water, cold rice porridge, various potions…… the remnants of a battle.
As Basili reached the door to leave, he suddenly turned back to look at me and spoke bluntly.
“Haniel, you.”
“Yes……?”
“From now on, the pillar Purification is forbidden.”
“…….”
What did you just say?
It struck like a thunderbolt out of nowhere.
“I’ll handle it myself, so don’t concern yourself with it anymore.”
What…… did that even mean?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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