I Became The Wife Of The Cursed Grand Duke Chapter 133

Julius chuckled, then suddenly stopped laughing.

“It’ll take a little while, given the low number of Primal Stones… Unexpected, but not without a solution.”

His eyes flashed in the darkness as he gazed out the window.

“This must go smoothly. I must hurry!”

 

With a grunt, the High Priest pulled himself to his feet and retrieved a well-hidden portrait of someone.

This would be a great loss to him, but for the sake of the Empire’s well-being, he steadied himself.

“Even the Guardian will not be able to stop my grand plan. No one will dare!”

 

Julius bit down on his index finger, making a gash, and scrawled an unknown language on the portrait. 

 

He then placed a bloodstained cloth over it and lit the candles arranged in a circle. Staring at the portrait, a wicked smile curved his lips. 

 

Through the flickering candlelight, the face seemed to cry out for life.

“Very slowly… die in agony.”

A low, eerie muttering began to echo through the chilly prison.

 

* * *

 

The sound of a magnificent pipe organ echoed through the chapel. 

 

As the Requiem for the Dead solemnly played, the priest, standing before the great coffin, drew a holy sign and spoke.

“We will now proceed to the funeral mass of Viscountess Erze Fairfield.”

 

Evelyn stared straight ahead. 

 

Erze, who had always been a bitter critic of hers, lay wordlessly in a coffin surrounded by flowers. 

 

She was only twenty-one—far too young to turn her back on the world. 

 

As her eyes took in the unreal sight, Evelyn remembered Erze’s last moments.

 

In the early morning hours of the day after Evelyn’s arrival in Fairfield, Erze had passed away.

‘Please, just a child…’

 

Despite Evelyn’s desperate plea and the healing powers she poured into Erze until she nearly fainted, she could do nothing to save her. 

 

The mother, who had just become pregnant and was addicted to harmful herbs, was unable to pass on her life force to her child. 

 

Worse still was the immoral behavior of the viscount, who hadn’t raised a finger until the moment of his wife’s death.

‘Rumor has it that he was surrounded by the skirts of brothel women… I don’t understand it at all. How can a man be so depraved as to do such a thing? Maybe I’m reading too much into it.’

 

“Ah…”

Evelyn’s brow furrowed beneath her black veil.

‘What’s wrong with her again? I thought she was fine.’

She swallowed hard, trying to calm the burning sensation that never left her. She felt dizzy, her body breaking out in a cold sweat, and her stomach churned. 

 

But she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. Even now, she could feel the gazes of many people staring at her.

‘Just hold on.’

She kept repeating the words to herself, but the pain was getting worse.

 

It was then that Viktor, who had been standing behind her, leaned over and whispered, “Your Highness, are you unwell?”

 

Evelyn couldn’t answer. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead and traveled down her spine, suddenly dampening her entire body. 

 

Evelyn had never admitted to being sick, even when she felt unwell.

‘Just as the Godmother and Helen mistook me for being pregnant…’

She didn’t want any rumors to circulate that the grand duchess was pregnant. 

 

She didn’t want people to get their hopes up and be disappointed. But she didn’t have to lie to Viktor. He was the only one she could turn to now.

 

Evelyn nodded, running a hand down the back of her damp neck. With a low sigh, Viktor spoke softly.

“Perhaps you should have Sir Matthias examine you.”

 

There were no more words of protest.

“The grand duchess’s symptoms now are exactly the same as my wife’s in the first trimester of her pregnancy.”

 

“But…” Evelyn began weakly.

 

“I know you’ve been seen by your physician, but I think you need a more thorough examination.”

 

Evelyn let out a long, paused breath.

‘Yeah, I feel too weird to just say no.’

She tried to hold it in, but the pain cycles were getting shorter and shorter. Suddenly, her crotch began to feel unpleasantly wet. 

 

For some reason, the image of the Marquise of Saxony in labor pains came to mind.

 

“Viktor…”

Her vision blurred. Startled by the intense dizziness, she clutched Viktor’s arm in panic.

 

“Your Highness? Your Highness?”

 

‘It’s strange. Viktor shouldn’t look so small.’

Her body sank to the floor, as if someone had grabbed her ankles and was pulling her down.

“My stomach, my stomach is so…”

 

Her ears were deafening, and her stomach felt like it was being churned by sharp rainwater.

‘Ah…’

Evelyn collapsed helplessly, a muffled roar filling the air. Blood began to pool around the hem of her black dress as she curled into a ball around her stomach.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, at the palace, an emergency meeting of the nobility was called. Kalian had left the Star Palace after a sleepless night. 

 

The mood in the room was tense. 

 

The Empress and the Crown Prince were exuding an unusually sharp energy, glaring at each other as if they were going to chew each other up.

 

When Kalian walked into the room, both their gazes turned to him at once. 

 

The stares were piercing, enough to make his skin tingle, but he couldn’t afford to pay them any mind. 

 

In the silence of the room, Kalian sat down, not even bothering to greet them. 

 

He wiped the scowl off his face and got straight to the point.

“Last night, His Majesty the Emperor fell.”

 

The great hall erupted in an instant.

“What, what?”

“No, I mean, what has happened to the man who was so robust until yesterday morning!”

“The condition, I mean, tell us at once what His Majesty’s condition is!”

 

Kalian replied quickly. “His Majesty is currently unconscious.”

 

There was a long sigh in the hall. Kalian scanned the faces of the chatterers, each speculating on the cause. 

 

Some had already heard rumors, but the official announcement was enough to stun them all.

“Be quiet.”

 

Few of them, of course, were truly concerned for the emperor.

“I understand your despair, my lords, but at a time like this, we must keep our wits about us.”

 

Kalian pursed his lips, which were as dry as rice paddies, at the nobles who were asking aloud what the problem was.

“At the very moment His Imperial Majesty was complaining of physical and mental distress and the High Priest escaped.”

 

He rose to his feet, drawing everyone’s attention to him. 

 

In his raised hand, he held a blood-soaked piece of the Emperor’s robe and a portrait with an unintelligible inscription.

“This,” he said, “is the evidence of an assassination attempt, left on the scene by Julius the Criminal, who, with his dark arts, sought the Emperor’s life.”

 

He turned back to the still-murmuring nobles.

“What this tells us is clear. It means that there is a High Priest in the Imperial Palace.”

 

Boom!

For a moment, the Empress’s face became pensive. 

 

Her gaze fell on her dropped goblet, and Kalian turned to the servant at the door.

“Get the maid at the door now. It would be a great shame if the noble Empress’s jade body were broken at such a time as this.”

 

Soon enough, a maid with tears streaming down her face entered the room. She was an apprentice maid at the imperial palace.

 

“Wait. I have a question.”

Kalian called out to the maid, who stooped to clear the goblet. She nodded, her eyes wide with fear, and he asked her a question.

“Why did you leave the imperial palace at dawn, about five days ago?”

 

Kalian was certain that the Empress was behind this.

Of course, Cedric could be the culprit, but given his recent behavior, that seemed highly unlikely.

 

Once the culprit was identified, it was easy to orient the investigation. 

 

As soon as he heard the news from the Emperor, he summoned his knights and gave them stealthy instructions.

‘Find the handmaiden who has a secret that is difficult to tell. Preferably a child untainted by the Empress’s hand.’

 

Most of the maids in the imperial palace were the Empress’s retinue. 

 

No matter how many times he called upon them, no matter how hard he questioned them, he could never find out the truth. 

 

Most of them had mortgaged something precious to the Empress in exchange for her favor. 

 

But what about the apprentice maids who were not yet under the Empress’s spell?

 

“Sir, I’m sorry, I’ll never leave again, if you’ll forgive me just this once…!”

‘That’s right. That’s how you end up on your hands and knees confessing to a sin you didn’t commit.’

 

“Okay.”

Kalian smiled inwardly at his conversion and held up his hand, motioning for her to rise.

“Your absence from duty is of little consequence.”

 

The apprentice maid in front of him was having a secret affair with a knight of the imperial court. 

 

Whether or not she was actually off duty was none of his business. 

 

Kalian just wanted to play on the woman’s fears that she would be framed and that the repercussions of this would be passed on to her lover.

“It would be a different matter if the Emperor’s life were in danger while you were away.”

 

The handmaiden’s face turned a deep shade of blue. He paused for a moment, then added with a raised eyebrow.

 

“So, if you want to live, confess your crimes. Every single one of them, if there is one, who has had a private audience with the Emperor since you were sent away recently.”

 

And the result was exactly what Kalian had expected.