You Said I Was a Persecuted, Terminally Ill Grand Duchess? - Chapter 13

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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 13

Zenos didn’t even lift his eyes once from the documents he was examining.

“Pardon?”

As the flustered Katarina stood there blankly, only her long eyelashes fluttering, Zenos let out a deep sigh and finally looked at her.

His blue-violet eyes were filled only with slight annoyance, contempt, and irritation.

‘How can he be so heartless!’

In truth, his coldness wasn’t anything new.

Since Katarina had been close to him in childhood and had dreamed of becoming the Grand Duchess.

She knew his cold nature better than anyone.

But currently, Katarina had shocking news that even someone as indifferent as him couldn’t ignore.

Rene Blanche, that fox-like woman had committed adultery!

And the solid evidence for this was…

‘I am the evidence!’

Yes, Katarina herself was that evidence.

Hadn’t she clearly witnessed the adultery scene with her own two eyes!

Normally, witness testimony without evidence would likely be treated as slander.

Unfortunately, Katarina was blinded by her immediate goal of getting rid of Rene Blanche, making logical thinking difficult.

Katarina, who had been pouting repeatedly, mustered her courage again and raised her voice.

“I saw it clearly with my own eyes. Rene Blanche was standing in front of the annex with a mysterious man!”

“Wasn’t it a servant from the Duke’s Castle running an errand?”

“That’s impossible! If there was such a handsome servant, I couldn’t have not known about it.”

“…?”

The gaze that had briefly checked the visitor and remained fixed on documents looked at Katarina again with disbelief.

As if realizing her mistake, Katarina’s face reddened slightly.

“Ahem, ahem! No! That’s not important! The man unusually had green hair. Long straight hair that reached his waist. From what I remember, there’s no servant with that hair color in this Duke’s Castle.”

“Cal, is this true?”

Zenos asked indifferently.

Butler Cal, who had been waiting in a poised stance after guiding Katarina, answered.

“In this matter alone, Lady Hugo speaks correctly. We have no servant in our manor with long green hair.”

“See!”

I told you it was real! Why won’t you believe my words?

Katarina whimpered as if she was dying of injustice.

Given her temperament, she would have stamped her feet or jumped up and down, but she held back because she was in front of Zenos.

“Haah…”

Whether Katarina was restless or not, Zenos on the other side was struggling to contain his irritation.

Katarina Hugo.

The woman he had known since childhood was vain and prone to exaggeration.

She had boasted about becoming the Grand Duchess by herself, but when another woman actually became the Grand Duchess, she couldn’t bear the jealousy and entered the Duke’s Castle under the pretext of being a lady-in-waiting.

Her intention to enter this place and wait for an opportunity was obvious.

Even this was distasteful to Zenos.

‘But…’

Katarina’s family, House of Hugo.

It was a vassal family that had been loyal to House of Celeste for generations.

To Zenos, who had lost his parents early and had only his strict grandmother as a family elder, Count Hugo and the Countess had always cared for him warmly like family.

The problem, if it was a problem, was that their gentle nature had raised their only daughter to be a willful woman.

‘In any case, they are my benefactors.’

Due to that debt of gratitude, Zenos couldn’t harshly cast Katarina away.

Unlike her taciturn grandson, his grandmother had also looked fondly upon Katarina, who acted affectionately despite being somewhat immature.

This was more like cherishing another grandchild rather than favoring her as a potential granddaughter-in-law…

But Katarina believed without doubt that his grandmother wanted to unite Zenos and herself.

Of course, this was quite uncomfortable for Zenos.

He had always thought that ‘marriage’ was impossible in his life.

Naturally, he had never once considered making anyone his Grand Duchess, whether Katarina or anyone else.

He intended to bear all burdens himself and cut off his arduous obsession.

“Haah…”

Thinking of marriage reminded him of that woman again.

Rene Blanche.

The woman who acted docile with wide eyes was just an ordinary noble lady.

‘The problem is her family.’

House of Blanche was also a family that had produced a High Priest.

Despite producing a High Priest, seeing the entire family indulging in luxury and pleasure, their bloodline itself must be dissolute.

Perhaps knowing his family’s behavior, the High Priest didn’t hide his desire to erase his origins.

Just as Zenos’s mind was about to work quickly.

“Your Grace!”

At that moment, as if not wanting to give Zenos time to continue his thoughts, Katarina’s whining voice followed.

“Please believe my words. That woman is a dissolute person unworthy of being Grand Duchess. What truly suits a Grand Duchess is, of course, me…”

“That’s enough. Leave now.”

“Zenos!”

It was when Katarina’s shrill voice filled the study.

Zenos’s eyes, filled with intense killing intent, sharply turned toward her.

Katarina could only freeze without saying a word.

‘The… the overwhelming presence…’

As if facing a beast right in front of her, the sensation of all her nerves being paralyzed and every hair on her body standing on end.

As Katarina began to tremble finely, Zenos finally withdrew his killing intent.

It wasn’t easy for a woman’s body to directly receive a Sword Master’s killing intent.

‘This should be enough to frighten her.’

Zenos, having contained his intimidating aura, spoke again in a frosty tone.

“When did I permit you to call my name?”

“…”

“Keep your insolent behavior within limits. Unless you want to return to House of Hugo immediately.”

“…Sob!”

As if she had become a tragic heroine, Katarina scattered tears and ran out.

Since he naturally had no intention of stopping her, Zenos lowered his gaze back to the documents he had been reading.

“Hmm.”

But for some reason, the letters wouldn’t register in his eyes afterward.

In Zenos’s mind, the events of that dim dawn kept surfacing.

The woman’s silver hair that resembled moonlight.

Her two eyes that sparkled like a bright red sun in contrast.

The subtle rose fragrance and her moist eyes disturbed Zenos’s peace of mind.

“I wanted to… take a bath…”

“At this hour?”

“I couldn’t sleep. The cottage where I’m staying doesn’t have a bathtub as large and sturdy as the main residence. I couldn’t sleep at night, so I was just by myself…”

Though he hadn’t paid much attention, he hadn’t known she was in such poor conditions.

In fact, he had never told her not to come to the main residence, so logically speaking, Rene’s words made sense.

He couldn’t really remember what he had babbled at that time.

But strangely, only Rene Blanche’s appearance was etched in his mind, irritating him.

‘I just said whatever came out… Unlike me.’

The woman had looked quite hurt by his words.

Though what followed was rather absurd.

“Taking one bath and causing such a scene! I won’t use it, I won’t!”

A mysteriously forlorn, yet mysteriously spirited small woman.

She was completely incomprehensible.

If he had to choose between like and dislike, he clearly disliked her, and yet…

For the past few days, Zenos had definitely been wavering.

Not knowing the source of this turbulence in his heart was torturous.

Meanwhile, sleepless nights continued.

In the solitary dawn hours he spent alone, just having that woman’s face intrude was exhausting enough.

‘With that innocent face…’

Was it real?

Both Katarina’s absurd words and his own heart that wavered because of them.

Zenos was displeased with everything.

“Your Highness. Is something troubling you?”

The perceptive Butler Cal asked.

Zenos set down the documents on his desk with an irritated gesture.

“It’s obviously nonsense, so why? She clearly just said whatever came to mind because she wanted to humiliate Blanche.”

“That may well be the case.”

“…”

But… it had been strangely specific testimony.

Katarina Hugo wasn’t such an intelligent woman.

Yet the time, place, and even the other party’s appearance… the fact that she had provided such detailed circumstances bothered him.

“Shall I summon the maid we assigned to watch her?”

Cal asked, reading the lingering unease in Zenos’s expression.

Zenos nodded lightly and said.

“Yes. And… I’ll go to the end room of the west tower.”

“!”

At those words, surprise briefly flickered across Cal’s face.

“…Yes, understood.”

But when the composed answer came, that expression had already vanished without a trace.

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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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