The Search for the Duchess’s Husband - Chapter 107

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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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In Search of the Duke’s Husband – Episode 107

Until that moment, I had no idea.
That a kiss with a small, adorable cat was entirely different from a kiss with a man three spans taller than myself.
It was sweet and intoxicating.
‘What is this? It feels so good. I want more.’
Without fully comprehending what I was doing, I drew closer to him.
At that, Killian’s reason shattered completely.

* * *

The next day, I opened my eyes only as the sun began to set.
The aftermath of drinking alcohol for the first time in my life was devastating. My head throbbed, and my stomach churned.
“Ugh. Alcohol is terrifying…”
I muttered blankly, staring at the ceiling, before suddenly screaming and bolting upright in bed.
“Did I really kiss His Majesty yesterday…”
And not briefly, but for so long I could barely breathe.
I screamed, my face burning crimson.
“How could I have such a dream, no matter how drunk I was!”
What made it worse was that despite being merely a dream, every detail remained vivid in my memory.
Soft, moist, scorching sensation.
During that endless kiss, when I briefly parted my lips for breath, I saw Killian’s face.
His sharp, composed golden eyes burned with an unrestrained, searing intensity. With a gaze more piercing than a starving black panther’s, he spoke.
[Love me more.]
Merely recalling it set my face ablaze with heat.
“Ahhh!”
I finally regained my senses and thrashed against the plush pillow, burying my face in it.
‘Lately, whenever I see His Majesty, I’ve been conscious of him as a man.’
But that was merely an instinctive reaction to his lethal charm, not affection or love.
‘…Really?’
Could I truly claim to feel nothing when my heart races like this?
Yet I shook my head once more.
I still carried the wounds of my first love.
I did not want to trust men.
I did not want to fall in love.
I would remarry out of duty—because I was nobility, because I needed to bear an heir to the Ducal House—but nothing more. I refused to entangle my heart with a man.
And emotions that threatened to overwhelm her sense of control only made it worse.
Artia murmured to herself as if performing self-hypnosis.
“Killian is someone who has helped me.”
Absolutely not a romantic interest. He was far too precious and worthy of gratitude to be compared to such things.
“I want to maintain this relationship for a long time to come. For that to happen, I can’t harbor any dark intentions.”
Artia, her ears flushed crimson, buried her face in the pillow as she murmured.
“So I won’t have dreams like that ever again.

At that same moment, in the Imperial Palace.
Nocton spoke carefully to Killian, who sat in his chair.
“Your Highness, it is time for dinner.”
“….”
Yet Killian remained motionless, as though he heard nothing at all.
Nocton was at his wit’s end.
‘What on earth is wrong with him.’
Ever since entering the chamber this morning, Killian had been like this the entire time.
Whether he had stayed awake all night or simply hadn’t changed out of yesterday evening’s clothes, he sat staring menacingly at nothing but the pink flower resting on the table.
He had skipped breakfast and lunch both. He had not trained with his sword, nor had he looked at a single document.
Watching Killian sit motionless all day long filled Nocton with an ominous dread.
‘Even if His Highness is mad, it would be troublesome if he truly lost his mind.’
This had gone far enough. Nocton decided to dangle bait to bring Killian’s mind back.
“Your Highness, the Duchess of Edenberg….”
“…!”
The reaction was extraordinary.
Killian, who had been frozen like a statue, turned his head with tremendous speed.
“Artia von Edenberg, what.”
The golden eyes that had seemed vacant moments before now gleamed with an ominous light. It felt as though uttering a single careless word would bring down terrible retribution.
Nocton swallowed hard and spoke.
“T-the trial was won, so the Duchess of Edenberg must be very pleased.”
Only after a long pause did Killian respond.
“So it was.”
“…?!”
Nocton’s eyes widened at a reaction that seemed as though Killian had just seen Artia himself.
Killian, paying no mind to this, murmured to himself.
“So that’s why she drank so much and got drunk. Which means that was… just drunken behavior.”
Intellectually, he knew this to be true. Yet he could not easily calm himself. He could not dismiss it as trivial.
It had been his first kiss.
Young, beautiful, and strong as he was, Killian had received the admiration and attention of countless women. Yet he, a man with a pathological hatred of women, would sooner drink poison or draw his blade against an enemy general than engage in physical contact with a woman.
To him, a kiss had always been nothing but a repugnant act he never wished to commit.
And yet….
Soft, delicate tongue, small lips, tiny hands wrapped around his waist.
Beneath the moonlight, I laughed.
My pink eyes gleamed with the excitement of one who had finally glimpsed the spring blossoms they had waited for so long.
All of it was an assault on him—a devastating, merciless attack unlike anything he had endured on any battlefield in all his years.
My heart shattered, my mind ceased to function, leaving only raw instinct in its wake.
I wanted to keep touching her.
Through the night, and beyond—forever.
As the scorching sensation surged through him anew, Killian clenched his fists and began to glare at Nocton von Alihas with terrifying intensity.
I had to maintain my composure, no matter what.
Otherwise, I would rush to her this very moment and press my lips against those small, sweet lips once more.
Nocton von Alihas, receiving the brunt of Killian’s murderous gaze without understanding why, went pale and tears streamed down his face.
P-please, spare me!

* * *

As expected, the trial’s aftermath was significant.
Those who accepted the verdict and those who rejected it clashed sharply.
“To side with a wife who reports her own husband? Only a deranged woman obsessed with dominating men, or a handful of pathetic men desperate to curry favor with women, could possibly accept such a ruling.”
“What absurd nonsense. Violence is unlawful in the Empire. How much more so when it occurs between spouses who should respect one another? We must support Calvin’s courageous judgment in correcting wrongs that have been tacitly condoned for far too long.”
The man who spoke these words continued with a contemptuous gaze.
“Surely you’re not supporting violence?”
Remarkably, the one who spoke was Count Greg, Dahlia’s Husband.
It was not only Calvin whose name circulated on everyone’s lips.
“A foreign woman comes and stirs up trouble in the Empire. This is why foreign women should only be kept as playthings—we shouldn’t have married her off, and now she’s forgotten her place and running wild.”
Frigia, who had filed the report, and….
“It’s unfair to blame only Lady Elysium. According to Count Elysium, it was Lady Edenberg who manipulated her from behind the scenes.”
“Lady Edenberg?”
“Yes, she apparently coaxed Lady Elysium into leaving home and reporting her husband. She also incited the noblewomen to draft a petition.”
“Hmph. She caused such a stir at the Convent with her divorce, and now, shameless as she is, she commits such acts again. A woman of the utmost impropriety.”
It was in this atmosphere that I appeared at a Banquet Hall.
The arrival of the woman most frequently discussed in High Society recently drew everyone’s attention.
Then a man approached me.
“Do you know what you’ve done? Because of that trial, High Society has become a battlefield.”
“I believe the recent trial is not a matter for dispute. Lady Elysium requested the trial simply because she wished to protect herself from violence.”
At my calm response, the man’s face flushed crimson.

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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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