The Search for the Duchess’s Husband - Chapter 52

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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 52

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The sun had set, and the Masked Gathering had concluded.
The glittering lanterns in the Banquet Hall were extinguished, and the guests retreated to their designated chambers.
The moment Artia stepped into her room, she tore off the veil she’d been wearing all day.
“Ah, I can finally breathe.”
With an expression of relief like a dog freed from its leash, Artia’s gaze took in the room around her.
Since arriving at Bluerance Mansion, I had been staying in Juliet’s chamber.
Fresh flowers, cut from the Garden each morning, adorned the room.
I gazed at the blooms, arranged even more lavishly for the wedding, and murmured softly.
“Tonight will be my last time sleeping in this room.”
After the wedding ceremony, Juliet would depart the mansion with Count Mizura. It was the final scene of the scenario Humphrey had written.
A perfect conclusion, yet my heart felt heavy.
“Will my aunt be all right after I leave?”
The image of Helen from the past few days surfaced in my mind.
That pitiful woman who had gripped my hand so tightly, gazing at me as though I were the most precious treasure in the world….
‘I’m troubled.’
Unsettled, I opened the window and gasped in alarm. Killian von Orpheus was standing on the Terrace outside.
“W-what are you doing here right now?”
Killian von Orpheus replied to the startled Artia in an even tone.
“You told me to come.”
That’s right, I had.
Just before the Masked Gathering ended, I had whispered to Killian von Orpheus.
“Come to my chamber later. I have something to tell you.”
…But I certainly hadn’t meant for him to come like a thief in the night.
I stared at Killian von Orpheus, who stood awkwardly on the Terrace, my expression one of exasperation.
“Do you have a hobby of climbing through windows?”
A hobby.
Killian von Orpheus recalled the memory of entering my chamber in the form of a black cat.
Back then, I had welcomed him with a bright smile….
‘Now she’s looking at me as though I were some vicious criminal breaking into a place I shouldn’t be.’
Though displeased by this, he answered without letting it show.
“Count Humphrey stationed a servant outside my chamber door.”
“A servant?”
“Yes, on the surface it’s to attend to my needs, but the real reason is different. It seems he doesn’t trust me.”
“So your uncle stationed a servant to monitor Your Highness….”
Killian von Orpheus’s appearance beneath the bright full moon was breathtakingly beautiful, yet simultaneously unsettling.
Like a vampire who pierces a woman’s neck and drinks her blood.
Artia nodded.
“I see. Yes, that’s certainly possible.”
“What’s possible?”
“Nothing. Please, come inside.”
Though Killian von Orpheus stood with such ease that it wasn’t apparent, this was the fourth floor.
Even someone who traversed battlefields as casually as home would suffer grievous injury from a fall at this height.
‘If he had the reflexes to fall, he wouldn’t have made it here in the first place….’
Still, I couldn’t leave him standing in such danger indefinitely.
Killian von Orpheus stared at Artia’s pale hand extended toward him, then turned his head sharply and stepped into the chamber.
His movements were light as a cat’s.
‘Just one person entering, yet the room feels completely full.’
Marveling anew at his presence, Artia lowered her awkward hand as Killian von Orpheus asked her.
“What did you want to discuss?”
Artia spoke carefully.
“I want to make clear beforehand that I have no intention whatsoever of disparaging or condemning Your Highness for not favoring women. People have diverse tastes and inclinations, after all.”
She continued, meeting his golden eyes as he looked down at her.
“But the problem is that we’re having a wedding ceremony tomorrow.”
Tonight was the eve ceremony, so simply standing beside each other sufficed, but a wedding was different.
Even if false, I had to follow the basic formalities. Which meant….
“We’ll need physical contact.”
“…!”
“Will that be possible?”
Her pink eyes were serious and earnest.
Killian von Orpheus, who had been staring at those eyes, slowly opened his mouth.
“I’m not a madman who can’t read situations and acts on impulse.”
He could be cruel and arrogant precisely because he was capable of it.
In truly important moments when he shouldn’t be (though they were rare in a lifetime), he suppressed his emotions and moved rationally. He had been trained that way.
“I do what needs to be done. Whatever it is.”
“I know. I confirmed it with my own eyes just now.
“….”
“Still, physical contact is a sensitive matter. Especially for Your Highness. So….”
Artia spoke seriously.
“What if we practiced now? Even if something is unpleasant, practice can diminish the aversion and make it more bearable.”
“….”
Silence hung heavy in the chamber.
Artia gripped the hem of her skirt.
‘Have I asked too much of him after all?’
But just for tomorrow, I want to show him a gentle and happy side of myself. For my aunt’s sake, if nothing else.
Artia gazed up at Killian von Orpheus with an earnest expression.
She didn’t realize that his lips had gone dry from the unexpected assault(?)
A moment later, Killian von Orpheus withdrew his lips.
“Fine. Do it.”
“Really?”
“What’s so difficult about it?”
Killian von Orpheus spoke with bravado, his expression arrogant.
Artia broke into a radiant smile.
“Thank you. Then…”
Artia’s gaze fell upon Killian von Orpheus’s hand.
Though she was a virgin who had never even spent a wedding night, she had been married once before.
At least she was better off than that insufferable misogynistic imperial prince(?)
‘Holding a man’s hand shouldn’t be difficult.’
Or so I thought…
‘Why is my heart pounding like this?!’
Was it fear that I might touch him wrong and lose my head?
The terror of touching a snarling beast?!
But having come this far, I couldn’t retreat.
Artia gathered her courage and placed her fingertip against the tip of Killian von Orpheus’s second finger.
A soft touch.
“…”
“…”
A suffocating silence filled the room.
Artia asked in a tense voice.
“How is it?”
Is it as repulsive as if a hundred-legged insect had crawled on you? Do you suddenly want to crush, burn, and obliterate the bug? If that’s the case, please tell me quickly. I don’t want to die young at this age, after all.
After a long pause, his answer came.
“It’s fine.”
His voice sounded as though he were suppressing something, and Artia studied Killian von Orpheus’s face.
His beautiful, arrogant features were subtly tense.
“Are you truly certain?”
“I said it’s fine. Try more.”
“…Then I’ll presume upon your kindness just a bit longer.”
Artia summoned her courage and placed her hand over Killian von Orpheus’s. Gradually, bit by bit, she expanded the area of contact.
‘His hand is truly large. The veins stand out prominently…”
His hand, meticulously maintained yet simultaneously wild, seemed to speak volumes about the man called Killian von Orpheus.
An imperial prince who held the absolute trust of the Emperor.
Yet a man who had spent long years not in the comfort of the Imperial Palace, but on blood-soaked battlefields.
A man beautiful and strong enough to captivate every woman in the world, and yet he despised women with a passion that was almost pathological.
‘What a peculiar man.’
Before I realized it, my hand had completely covered his.
I lifted my gaze slightly.
Killian von Orpheus’s face bore an expression of greater discomfort than before.
Yet he did not appear angry. There was no sign of displeasure.
Rather, it seemed more like…
Bang! The door flew open with a tremendous crash.
“…!”
I spun around in startled alarm.
Helen stood in the doorway, which had swung wide open.
Seeing Helen’s ashen face, I realized she was taking this situation with utmost gravity, and I hastily withdrew my hand from Killian von Orpheus.
“Mother, I assure you nothing improper was happening. Count Mizura said he had something to discuss with me, so we were simply conversing.”
Before I could finish speaking, Helen let out a scream.
“No!”
Helen rushed forward in a single stride, yanking my hand forcefully as she cried out in succession.
“No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!”
Humphrey appeared behind her, his face twisted in alarm.
Humphrey attempted to calm Helen, but she violently shook off her husband’s hands and screamed.
“No, Julie!”
With that final, anguished cry, Helen’s breath caught, and she collapsed like a doll with its spring unwound.

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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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