Chapter 1
thanks so much to Cornflake Gurl for the ko-fi (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)! (1/2)
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“Your Highness! Your Highness!”
“Helena?”
Helena’s voice was heard from outside the door.
It was an unbelievable behaviour from the usually strict and neat handmaiden.
“Your Highness the Grand Duke!”
Adrian, hearing her voice full of urgency, immediately invited her inside.
“Come in, Helena.”
As soon as permission was granted, the door burst open and Helena ran in.
“Your Highness! Please take a moment to look at Her Highness.”
“Why?”
“That…”
At his blunt retort, Helena’s face stiffened at first glance.
She had an anxious expression, even if she tried to conceal it.
Tsk. Adrian, with a small click of his tongue, changed his words and asked again.
“What’s the matter?”
“I went to check on her condition for a moment, but she seemed to be in a bad state.”
‘It was the same question, but why were the reactions so different?’
Adrian, who was, once again, clicking his tongue slightly, narrowed his eyes at Helena’s answer.
Upon hearing that she had a cold, the skillful doctor of the Presse family rushed in to check on her.
Her medicine was administered properly and at the right times, and maids were assigned to her.
But what in the world could be so unusual?
At that moment, a loud voice rang in his head.
‘I will also be working hard for the sake of the grand duchy for the next three years.’
“Ah.”
Adrian chuckled briefly.
This was what she meant by “working hard”.
How mischievous.
“Let’s go.”
It seemed like this was part of the efforts made by his morally deficient wife, so he had to go along with it.
Adrian leisurely left his study.
Little did he know that until he opened the door to the Grand Duchess’ room, this “effort” would be anything but what he had expected…
“What’s this?”
A thin body stretched limply on the bed.
Her complexion was pale, her lips seeming to lack blood.
Overnight, Ione became half of a corpse.
Adrian, who had thought she was pretending to be suffering while having a wet towel on her forehead, hardened his expression.
Helena cried at Adrian’s cold voice.
“What should I do, Your Highness?”
“Since when has she been like this?”
“It has gotten worse since she took the medicine and fell asleep yesterday.”
“What did Benson say?”
“Dr. Benson doesn’t know what’s wrong with her.”
“And what about him?”
“He said he’d find another prescription and went to the pharmacy.”
Helena rubbed her hands together, not knowing what to do.
“Your Highness, could it be the black grass? I mixed some black grass into Her Highness’ antipyretics since she hasn’t been engraved with a seal yet…”
He knew that. He saw it himself.
The black, foul-smelling water that the two of them had fed to the Grand Duchess as medicine.
Currently, the wizard of the territory was gone to inspect the barrier stone.
Adrian himself had to be away soon, too.
There might not be any large creatures capable of invading the ducal residence, but complacency was a bad habit to pick up on.
So, Adrian turned a blind eye to their atrocities.
“Was it a mistake to mix it with the antipyretic medicine?”
“No way.”
Adrian denied Helena’s words.
Black grass. The so-called monster grass was something that grew in the habitats of the monsters and was literally a lump of demonic energy.
Although it was harmless to the human body, it smelled bad and tasted even worse, so it was not used as food.
However, in the North, black grass was often eaten.
If someone were to eat black grass, they would exude a demon-like aura for several days, which would help them avoid being targeted by demons.
In that case, in the North, black grass was often boiled and fed to newborn children who were born while the wizard who was supposed to engrave the seal was away.
The grass was perfectly fine for newborns to consume, aside from how disgusting it was, but now she’s sick?
Adrian, looking down at Ione, reached his hand out.
“…”
His long index finger lightly touched the white nape of Ione’s neck.
He needed to confirm whether the black grass was really causing the problem.
“Is it bad?”
Helena asked worriedly.
Adrian wordlessly increased his strength.
Thump-thump.
He felt a faint, but surprisingly regular pulse on his fingertips.
Contrary to her appearance, her condition was not that bad.
The problem was that her pulse was so weak to the point where only after he exerted force was he able to feel it.
“How is she?”
Helena asked again, apparently quite anxious.
“She’s fine.”
“Really?”
Adrian chuckled briefly at her skeptical tone.
“She’s just in a deep sleep.”
Falling into a deep sleep, where one’s vital responses were severely reduced to preserve stamina, was what animals did to survive the winter.
But Adrian had never seen a human hibernate.
A woman who hibernates.
She seemed perfect for him, considering he was known as the noble beast.
If she knew he had such thoughts, the seemingly lifeless woman would probably jump up and cause a ruckus.
Adrian raised his hand to cover his twitching mouth.
“She’s not going to die, so don’t worry.”
“…But-”
Helena looked like she was going to cry at any moment.
But he couldn’t explain that she was simply hibernating.
First of all, he wasn’t a doctor, so he wasn’t sure if he could even say this was hibernation…
“…”
Adrian glanced at Ione, who slept as if she were dead, and clenched his lips tightly.
Although the emperor had forced this marriage, Ione was now officially the Grand Duchess.
He didn’t want to say anything that could make her even the slightest bit “blemished” as the companion of “van”.
Adrian looked at Helena’s face and added sharply.
“Leave her like this.”
“…”
“She’ll wake up on her own when the time comes.”
Helena’s face crumpled at his words.
It was obvious even without hearing what she was thinking.
It was probably along the lines of ‘it’s too much, it’s heartless, this is certainly useless’.
“My poor Grand Duchess…”
As expected, it seemed like there was the same misunderstanding as always, but Adrian’s indifferent face remained the same.
***
“I told you to report the statistics from the previous fourth quarter, did you do it or not? How many times did I tell you!”
She was yelling so loudly it felt like my ears were going to bleed.
“I put out the statistics for the fourth quarter, but it seems like I forgot to tell you before submitting the report.”
I tried to smile without turning red in the face.
I would definitely face retaliation if I stood up against a witch’s outburst.
If I said even a word, it would be confirmed overtime work for me.
I hadn’t been home for four days already, so I wanted to leave work today.
Once I realized that it wasn’t a fear of retaliation, but my natural instinct to want to get some rest, it came out a little easier.
“I’m sorry, I still have a lot to learn!”
The witch’s furrowed brow softened slightly as she glanced around.
There was nothing wrong with blaming me for the witch’s behaviour when she hadn’t even bothered to check her paperwork properly.
‘So stop now.’
I felt like the corners of my mouth that were being forcefully pulled up were twitching.
Just when I thought I couldn’t smile anymore, the witch burst into laughter.
“Are you waking up from hibernation now?”
Hibernation?
I was momentarily dazed by a low, soft voice that was easy to hear, rather than the sharp, high-pitched voice that made my head split.
The witch’s face faded.
“The expression on your face right now is very worth seeing.”
“What…”
“What in the world were you dreaming about that made you smile like that?”
A dream?
The scenery had changed before I even had a chance to ask any questions.
My eyes were definitely open, but it felt like my vision was finally clearing up.
“Ah…”
Seeing the non-modern interior filling my vision, I realized that I had a ‘dream’.
Who was this man, who perfectly fit in with this luxurious yet haunting estate, that was looking down at me?
“Adrian?”
He was so handsome that I couldn’t help but be distracted.
But I didn’t understand why this handsome man suddenly appeared by my bed.
My head, not yet awake, could not continue thinking properly.
I’d been blinking before opening my eyes and letting out a small gasp.
“Ah.”
He came to visit.
As the thought passed through my head, before I could say anything, a loud voice rang out.
“Are you alright?”
I had to stop myself from laughing at his words.
The message itself was mundane, but I was flattered that the Grand Duke was so concerned about me.
However, it was scary when those polite and friendly greetings came out of Adrian’s mouth.
Whether it was due to his inhumanly exquisite beauty, the way this moment felt even more alluring, or simply the icy demeanour in his gaze, I couldn’t figure it out. But one thing was for certain, I felt ‘fear’.
“Who makes you worry so much?”
“Worry?”
I couldn’t stop laughing at Adrian’s questioning expression.
How funny. Even if he was so smart and noble, what could he do? He didn’t even know how I felt.
‘Pathetic, isn’t it.’
Perhaps because I wasn’t quite sober yet, I didn’t feel as wary around him as I should have.
As a result, I was treating him with a much more relaxed demeanour than usual.
I crossed my arms and looked at him.
He was dressed casually, in a light shirt, vest, and pants.
He must have stopped by while on break from work.
He was so meticulous that he took time to check on his ‘ex-wife’ even though he hadn’t met the female lead yet.
A seemingly unconscious act of affection…
I stared at him before speaking impulsively.
“I’ll be better soon.”
“That’s right.”
It may have been an answer he gave without knowing anything, but seeing him nod as if it was obvious made me feel grumpy for a moment.
“Do you know what I’m talking about?”
[TL/N]: at this point i think he’s called both the noble beast and noble slaughterer @__@ but the beast was intentional this chapter too!
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