The Military Doctor Excels at Being a Contracted Duchess - Chapter 48

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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 48】

A low voice pressed down on the garden.

“You must have seen what was already installed.”

Blue eyes brushed against the envoy’s neck. The envoy’s face instantly turned pale.

“Th-that…”

“That?”

Victor didn’t raise his voice.

He merely asked back coolly.

The trembling envoy eventually bowed his head and left as if fleeing.

Without even receiving a single meal.

“What kind of statue… did they send?”

I need to pull down the white cloth covering it, but somehow I don’t even want to touch it.

Victor let out a low sigh and gestured to the servants. It meant to pull down the cloth.

“The queen is a rather unstable person.”

“Ah.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll have that dismantled and melted down.”

What was revealed was the bronze figure of a man and woman.

The man could be recognized as Victor even at a glance. But the woman leaning against him like she was clinging couldn’t be identified.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t tell who it was, but there were no eyes, nose, or mouth at all.

‘Could that woman represent the queen herself?’

A hollow laugh escaped.

I’ll have to go to the capital and face her eventually, but it won’t be easy.

“The queen has quite terrible taste.”

“She’s a troublesome existence.”

“Does the queen like you?”

At Ebel’s question, something close to contempt crossed Victor’s face.

“Like… it’s more like she wants to cage me and do as she pleases.”

A handsome man’s life is hard too.

Ebel thought only that much and tried to forget it.

After all, there was no need to keep that hideous thing erected in the garden.

She paused when… she saw the back of the statue.

“Wait, stop.”

Ebel stopped the servants who were about to move the statue again and approached closely, bending her waist.

She rarely had occasion to bend her waist, but this couldn’t be helped.

‘These are the characters I saw on the hourglass. I’m certain.’

Unreadable characters.

Why are they carved here?

“Victor, could we make a rubbing of these characters?”

The writing was so tiny it was barely visible to the naked eye. If you glanced casually, you wouldn’t even notice they were characters.

It felt like the terms and conditions of some contract.

She caught it because she had seen it before.

“Put it down and call Matthias.”

Victor didn’t dismiss her words lightly.

Even if they were going to melt it down, it would be better to thoroughly investigate what it was.

Ebel wasn’t someone who would say meaningless things.

“Hmm… I’m not sure about this either. It looks like ancient script, but it seems to be a type used for a very short period.”

Matthias, who was called over, looked at the original and began making a rubbing while stroking his chin.

“Let’s put this statue in storage for now, and I’ll try to research the characters.”

“Then Victor. How about having Florian and Guevre participate as well?”

Thus, a team of three people was formed on the spot.

“Guevre is skilled with codes, and Florian is good at organizing records. They’ll be helpful.”

When Ebel added this, Victor immediately approved.

“Good judgment. It would be best to move the statue to the lowest level of the storage. And restrict access.”

Soon the servants moved the statue again.

Only after the clattering movement faded away did Ebel exhale the breath she’d been holding.

They were the same ancient characters, but while the ones on the hourglass felt peaceful and warm, that one… that one was different.

‘The letters seem to writhe with some emotion as if they were alive.’

Malice that made her chest tighten just by looking at it.

Burning heart. Sticky obsession.

Even she, who rarely harbored negative feelings toward people, instantly disliked the queen.

“Where did you see those characters?”

After people dispersed, Victor asked quietly. Ebel answered immediately without hiding anything. There was nothing to hide anyway.

“They’re the same as what was written on the hourglass. If no one knows about this, I’m thinking of visiting Baba Elpa after the wedding.”

I have to grasp at any straw.

Fortunately, Victor didn’t particularly oppose the idea of visiting the gypsy old woman.

“It could be dangerous, so it would be better if I go with you. Also, you mustn’t eat anything she gives you.”

He only said this.

Ebel also had no intention of eagerly accepting what someone called a witch would give her.

“Let’s go after the wedding, then.”

“Yes. Good. After the wedding ends, it’s also necessary to go out to the streets once to meet the estate residents and have time to hear their stories directly.”

Mm.

But why aren’t we going?

Victor was staring intently at her.

Persistently, for more than 5 seconds.

Wondering why he was doing that, when she leaned forward and approached, Victor furrowed his brow and reached out to place his hand on her forehead.

“Victor?”

“Ebel, you have a fever.”

“Huh.”

Fever?

Me?

“No way.”

“You do. Your cheeks are redder than usual, so I suspected.”

Though she doubted herself, Victor replied firmly and decisively.

“How about resting without thinking about anything until dinner? We’ll invite Mrs. Eberstain to the house and ask her to take charge.”

This was probably a suggestion tinged with compulsion.

‘Is it… okay for me to rest?’

Rolling her eyes, Ebel realized that the worried face was too close.

When that suspicious man came close before, her heart didn’t… beat like this.

‘Am I crazy? Am I really sick? Or is my heart broken?’

Thump, thump, thump!

Her heart was acting strange.

As heat gradually rose to her white skin and her face reddened, Victor began to worry even more seriously.

“This won’t do. How about closing the clinic temporarily as well? I think the doctor’s health comes first.”

“I… I was thinking of doing that anyway. And I’m not sick.”

“Your heart is beating too fast.”

Victor, who lightly grasped her wrist, frowned and declared.

Though her flutter had transformed into being a patient, Ebel said nothing as if she had eaten honey.

It seemed better to just let him misunderstand like that.

‘I decided not to be greedy.’

Walking toward the bedroom with Victor, Ebel looked up at the distant sky.

The daytime moon catches his eye.

Somehow, it seemed troublesome that in this life, his greed kept accumulating.

If he was going to let go someday, he should be able to let it all go at once.

‘I wonder if that’s possible…’

* * *

The Bavaria Estate was excited like a festival due to the Grand Duke’s marriage.

Even as the night deepened, the laughter from the streets hardly died down.

The House of the Grand Duke sent money to every major tavern in the estate to provide free drinks, and set up large roasted whole pigs in every square so anyone hungry could eat.

With harvest season approaching, hearts would be generous. They wouldn’t have to pay for drinking snacks either.

People gathered in small groups and clinked their glasses.

“Long live His Excellency!”

“Long live Her Highness the Grand Duchess too!”

“Hahaha!”

A man leisurely passed by the men who were dancing merrily while heavily drunk.

He didn’t refuse the outstretched hands asking him to dance together, spinning them around once, and when they put their arms around his shoulders offering beer, he gulped it down too.

The man who had been heading toward the alley while mixing in with his surroundings so naturally disappeared like vapor at some point.

It happened so quickly that the intelligence agents who had been following him felt bewildered.

“Check the walls! There might be a secret door. You go up to the roof. Check if there’s anyone moving up there.”

While those carrying out orders were busy, a group of young boys came running in a crowd, disrupting their view.

Victor’s agent stared wide-eyed and caught an old man who happened to be coming out of a door to check, but he was really just an ordinary old man.

“This is maddening. What kind of trick is he using?”

“…is what they’re probably muttering.”

At that moment, Gaspard was already mixed in among the people on the street again.

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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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