The Search for the Duchess’s Husband - Chapter 118

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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 118

I gazed at the shimmering golden roses and opened my mouth.
“When I was young, I read a book about the Gold Rose Garden with great fascination.”
Emperor Orpheus, the founding emperor who established the Empire.
He was a powerful mage who appeared perhaps once in a century, possessing magical power so immense he could annihilate a thousand enemies single-handedly.
But that was not all.
With his black hair and golden eyes, he was extraordinarily beautiful.
People knelt before him, awed by his beauty and mysterious power.
As a result, Orpheus accomplished the remarkable feat of unifying the fractured lands at merely twenty-three years of age.
People were filled with hope.
They believed the world governed by a god-like, perfect being would be a paradise unlike any before.
Yet Orpheus met his end suddenly.
On the very day of his coronation ceremony, just before he could don the golden crown.
His body could not withstand the successive use of immense magical power, and his life force was completely depleted.
It was a truly tragic death.
The coronation ceremony became his funeral instead.
To honor the wishes of Orpheus, who had loved the Empire he created so dearly, the Emperor was buried within the Imperial Palace, and an altar was erected in his memory.
Though the coronation ceremony was never completed, the retainers and people who had followed Orpheus with all their hearts recorded him as the first Emperor of the Empire.
Then something miraculous occurred.
Above the ground where the Emperor was buried, golden roses bloomed—flowers never seen anywhere before.
Though no one had planted them, the flowers bloomed brilliantly on their own, regardless of weather or season.
“Renowned botanists studied the flowers but could find no matching species. What’s more remarkable is that no matter how hard they tried, the flowers would never bloom anywhere outside the Imperial Palace.”
The golden roses bloomed only in this place within the Imperial Palace.
The Imperial Family came to regard these mysterious flowers as the final gift from Emperor Orpheus.
“To see the mysterious garden I read about in books with my own eyes—it feels like a dream.”
Beneath the pale moonlight, I laughed brightly among the shimmering golden roses.
Killian von Orpheus stared at me intently before murmuring softly.
“You’re the one who seems like a dream.”
Not hearing his words, I spoke up.
“When I learned that only the Imperial Family could enter this garden, I once resolved that I would marry the Imperial Prince.”
I had meant it as an amusing anecdote, but there was no trace of laughter on Killian’s face.
“And now?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, I blinked before answering.
“Of course I don’t anymore.”
“Why?”
“You’ve finally matured, haven’t you?”
“I wish you hadn’t.”
“What?”
Artia’s eyes widened, her brows furrowing at his cryptic words.
Killian von Orpheus had plucked a single golden rose and extended it toward her. Without thinking, she accepted it.
But that was only the beginning.
One bloom, then another, then another.
As Artia found herself holding dozens of the Imperial Palace’s treasures, bewildered and uncertain, Killian von Orpheus spoke.
“Whenever you wish to return to this place, simply tell me. I will bring you here.”
He added softly,
“This is my gift to this year’s Ethereal.”

At that same moment, from a distant window of a building overlooking the Gold Rose Garden, someone watched.
It was Arsen, the First Prince.
This distance was hardly suitable for admiring a garden.
For Arsen, whose vision was far worse than most, it was even less so.
Yet he could still perceive Killian von Orpheus’s presence in the rose garden—and another figure beside him.
Unlike Killian von Orpheus, who appeared with perfect clarity, the woman seemed shrouded in mist, her identity obscured and indistinct.
But one thing was unmistakably clear: the tenderness in Killian von Orpheus’s gaze as he looked upon her.
Arsen’s corpse-pale face twisted as he murmured,
“Killian von Orpheus, why do you wear such an expression for someone else?”
I never granted you permission.
A sinister chill flickered across his lifeless, hazy golden eyes.

5. Breaking Free from the Shell

Exhausted from the midnight stroll with Killian von Orpheus, I didn’t open my eyes until nearly noon. But then I squeezed them shut again.
The room was overflowing with golden roses.
‘Dazzling!’
They shimmered with such brilliant radiance.
It looked less like flowers and more like a pile of gold heaped inside the chamber.
‘His Majesty really is something, giving such an extraordinary gift….’
But it was wonderful.
My cheeks flushed crimson.
The initial burden of such generosity quickly faded, replaced by overwhelming joy. These were the flowers I had longed to see since childhood.
Beautiful from every angle, no matter how I looked at them….
I turned the roses in the vase this way and that, murmuring softly.
“They resemble His Majesty’s eyes.”
The moment I recalled the man whose golden gaze radiated such luminous brilliance, my heart ached with a peculiar tenderness.
Before, my heart would only race like this when Killian did something to catch me off guard, but now merely thinking of him set it aflutter without reason.
“This shouldn’t be happening….”
I crouched down, resting my chin in my hand with a troubled expression, when Bibi entered the room and spoke.
“My lady, it’s nearly time for your guest to arrive. Shall we prepare?”
In that instant, the girlish expression vanished from my face, replaced by the dignified bearing of a noblewoman.

I stood in the hall, impeccably dressed. Shortly after, my awaited guest arrived.
It was Evangeline.
I bowed in greeting.
“Welcome, Aunt.”
Though we had met several times since then, this was Evangeline’s first visit to the Edenberke Estate.
As I led her toward the reception room, Evangeline’s eyes grew distant with nostalgia.
This was the house where she had been born and raised.
Compared to those days, the building had grown more weathered, and the passage of time was evident in every corner. Yet despite this, a warmth now permeated the space that had never existed before.
‘Could it be the atmosphere this child has created?’
Evangeline gazed at me, whose expression held a serene smile.
Once we reached the reception room, we took our seats across from one another.
Evangeline spoke first.
“May I come straight to the point?”
“Of course.”
“As you’ve likely anticipated, the reason I’ve sought you out concerns Crank von Edenberg.”
Crank von Edenberg.
My second uncle and Evangeline’s second younger brother.
He was currently imprisoned, implicated in my abduction.
Count Elysium, who had directly committed the crime, had long since completed his trial and been exiled, but Crank’s trial as an accomplice remained suspended.
Unlike Count Elysium, whose own house had demanded his punishment, the House of Edenberg had desperately petitioned for leniency.
[As this matter arose between blood relatives, we humbly request the opportunity to resolve it within our own house.]
Calvin accepted their petition, but an unexpected problem arose.
Artia refused all meetings related to Crank von Edenberg.
Evangeline stopped requesting meetings and quietly waited for Artia to permit a visit. Only today had they finally met.
Evangeline bowed her head toward Artia.
“I apologize, Artia.”
“…!”
“I should have managed my siblings better, but I failed. It is entirely my fault.”
Her voice carried genuine sincerity.
But Artia shook her head.
“You need not apologize, Aunt. The one who wronged me was not you, but Uncle Crank von Edenberg.”
“…Then, would you accept an apology if Crank offered one?”
A firm answer followed.
“No.”
“….”
“Those who commit wrongs must receive appropriate punishment. Regardless of whether they are nobility or blood relatives who share the same name.”
It was not merely a desire for retaliation for what I had endured.
“Only through punishment do they truly understand the gravity of their actions and learn that such behavior must never happen again.”
There was no trace of anger in Artia’s voice. It was calm and composed.
As if she were speaking a universal truth of the world—that stealing another’s possessions or striking another is wrong.
And so Evangeline understood with absolute certainty.
No matter what I do, even if I kneel and beg, this child’s resolve will not waver.
Surprisingly, she felt no regret.
Rather, the heaviness in her heart lifted.
Evangeline spoke with a noticeably lighter expression.
“I understand. I will not speak of Crank again. I shall also speak to my siblings so they do not trouble you.”
Evangeline spoke to Artia, who nodded in acknowledgment.
“And though my congratulations are somewhat belated, I wish to celebrate your ascension to Ethereal.”

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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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