I Became The Wife Of The Cursed Grand Duke Chapter 139

The stem, hidden beneath the petals, had sprouted thorns.

“At least it’s not completely wilted.”

Evelyn pulled out her handkerchief and wrung her fingers tightly together before pushing herself up and looking around. 

 

As her eyes took in the white, snow-covered garden, she felt as though something large that had once filled her had been hollowed out.

 

“No, I’m not alone anymore. Let’s not be lonely.”

She mumbled to herself, wrapping her arms around her stomach. She was barely the size of a pea, and it broke her heart that she had to hide herself to avoid being seen.

 

“Mommy will protect you.”

Evelyn pulled her gaze away from the garden, trying to calm herself.

 

“It’s cold. What are you doing out here?”

 

A large coat fell over her shoulders like a blanket. Evelyn turned around, noticing a familiar scent.

 

“What were you thinking?”

Kalian’s voice was soft as he swept her windswept hair aside. 

 

Evelyn looked up into her husband’s face. He was as handsome as always, and it made her heart ache just to look at him. She closed her eyes to hide the redness in them.

 

Mistaking her gesture for a request for a kiss, Kalian didn’t hesitate. He tilted his head and kissed her softly.

 

“Hah…”

It wasn’t long before Kalian relaxed his hold on her. He wrapped one hand around her back and cupped her cheek with the other.

 

“I’m suddenly reminded of the day you asked me to marry you.”

 

Evelyn stared at him wordlessly. The corner of his mouth lifted gently as he spoke.

 

“Now that I think about it, even if you hadn’t asked me to marry me, we’d probably still be married.”

The words were out of character for the situation, but Kalian was struggling to deal with the sudden introduction of the government. 

 

‘Perhaps he was just trying to make me feel better,’ Evelyn thought.

 

“What makes you think that?”

Evelyn asked, her face expressionless. Kalian replied with a short kiss on her budding lips.

 

“In the past and now, you always drive me crazy. My patience is terrible, as you know.”

 

Evelyn looked up at him, her eyes blinking lazily. Kalian added with a mixture of regret and apology.

 

“So I suppose it was my part that was begging to be your last man somehow.”

Marrying her had been a calculated decision, but at the bottom of it all was a blind attraction he’d felt from the moment their eyes met. 

 

He just couldn’t admit it easily because he wasn’t in a position to afford it.

 

Evelyn, who couldn’t possibly know his true feelings, smiled bitterly in disbelief.

 

“But you treated me like a spy at first, saying you were going to throw me out as bait for the devil…”

Kalian was speechless, for she was right. ‘He had been rude to her from the beginning. 

 

In my defense,’ he thought, ‘my mind is ruled by the Aether when my eyes are red. It was the Demon God, not me, who coveted her in the Count’s manor.’

 

“I apologize.”

But there was no turning back now. A haggard Kalian gripped her unmoving shoulders and fixed his gaze on her.

 

“I’m the only one who knows how much of an asshole I’ve been in the past, so please forget about that day.”

She was silent for a moment, then nodded with a smile that looked a little wry.

 

“You’ve agreed to stay with the saint in the outbuilding.”

 

But what came out of her mouth next was more uncomfortable.

 

“No matter what, it’s not good form for the lord to be away from his home, so I’m going to the outbuildings.”

 

“…What?”

Kalian’s brow creased, wondering what kind of nonsense this was. 

 

Unsure where to begin, he recalled the contents of the telegram he’d received that morning. 

 

The sender was Deborah, and she’d written to say that she wanted to share the master bedroom in the main house.

 

“You’re asking me to give her the master bedroom.”

‘How dare she suggest such a thing when I have no intention of touching her,’ Kalian thought.

 

“Do you think I’m unscrupulous enough to do that to you?”

He intended to keep Deborah in the outbuilding, to watch her, to observe her. She would have to see him every day, even if she didn’t want to. 

 

He needed to see her every day, even if he didn’t want to, to check on her physical and mental changes as he fed her the cure he’d falsely called regenerative blood.

 

So he chose to move Evelyn to an outbuilding. The outbuilding was to be minimally staffed to avoid any strange rumors about Deborah.

 

“I know you’re upset about whatever happened, but…”

 

Just as he was about to offer an apology or an excuse, Evelyn cut him off.

 

“I heard that you summoned her to your mansion in the capital as soon as I left for the North.”

Technically, he hadn’t invited her; he had made a spectacle of her. But he couldn’t elaborate yet.

 

After a long moment of silence, unsure of how to respond, he sighed low and excused himself.

 

“As you know, I was investigating corruption in the temple. Deborah needed a protector.”
Evelyn froze at his reluctant words.

 

Deborah.

 

The sound of his voice calling her name was so natural. It was a sign of how close they had become.

 

“You don’t have to make excuses.”

Evelyn smiled awkwardly, feeling a new psychological distance between them.

 

“I got the telegram, and it says you’ve been wrapped up in the saint’s skirts and can’t think straight.”

Evelyn swallowed a sigh and looked up at Kalian again.

 

“Is that why you didn’t tell me about the Black Forest?”

Leon knew she had cleaned up the tainted land. There was no way he hadn’t noticed that she had purifying powers after being with her for so long. 

 

There was only one reason he had entrusted the mages of the Tower to cleanse the Black Forest.

 

‘Of course, she wanted to take all the credit for it, as she always does,’ Evelyn thought.

 

“So that you could protect her?”

Their gazes locked. A deep furrow dug into Kalian’s brow, as if he were angry.

 

“I don’t know where you’ve been hearing such ridiculous rumors, and you don’t actually believe you’ve cleansed the land of pollution.”

 

Apparently, he was going to lie all the way to the bank. Evelyn’s breath caught in her throat as she saw his expression turn fierce for a moment.

 

At the same time, it was clear today. He knew she was a fake, but he was determined to keep her in the dark.

 

‘My child, you must flee this place with your grandfather right now.’

 

The moment she closed her eyes, Dante’s voice in her head shouted.

 

‘You must trust no one but me, for the grand duke has brought you here for a reason! This is no safe zone, and there’s only one reason the grand duke wants to keep you tethered to him, and that’s because you’re the one who’s going to make Babel… curl!’

Blood splattered across the pure white snow. Even though she knew it was an illusion, the hairs on her arms stood on end, sending chills down her spine.

 

“Stop, stop!”

Evelyn screamed, feeling the last vestiges of her faith crumble away.

 

“Why can’t you be serious? I saw it with my own two eyes—the energy from my hand purified the polluted earth!”

Kalian was speechless, like a man who had been rendered mute. After a moment, he let out a heavy sigh and lifted Evelyn by the small of her back and the golden collar.

 

“Put me down.”

“Hold still, unless you want to look even more miserable in the eyes of those who already feel sorry for you.”

He shrugged off Evelyn’s protests and strode straight into the lobby. The chatter and glares of hired hands from all directions tore at her cold lungs.

 

“No, I’m not fake.”

But who would listen to her when even her husband didn’t believe her? Evelyn shivered sweetly, chilled to the bone. Kalian pulled her into a tight embrace.

 

* * *

 

Stepping into the bedroom, he set her down on the bed and left for a moment. When he returned, he held a round jar of ointment in his hand.

 

“Come here. Some medicine.”

He was going to put some ointment on her broken heart.

 

She burst out laughing, then wiped the smile from her face when she saw the handkerchief tied around his index finger. She’d forgotten about the thorns in her heart.

 

“That’s enough. I want to be alone, so please leave.”

But he grabbed her hand without answering. Unable to fight it off, Evelyn sighed loudly in frustration.

 

“Do you have no intention of telling me the truth?”

“What truth?”

His unwillingness to finally admit his wrongdoing snapped Evelyn’s self-control. She asked calmly, her voice rising in anger, forgetting that she had vowed not to show her true colors.

 

“You know that the saint is not real!”

 

“I told you so!”

Kalian raked a hand through his hair.

 

‘I was to blame for allowing the misunderstanding to grow, but it’s not like she didn’t know anything to begin with. I hadn’t realized that the truth I thought I’d accepted was so deeply embedded in her, eating away at her emotions.’

 

He knew he had to calm her down unless he could tell her the truth, but his heart wasn’t in it.

 

“What I say is the truth. What more do I need to say?”

 

His mouth twisted in disbelief, and he looked at Evelyn with fierce eyes. Her voice trembled low.

 

“…I don’t believe you.”

“Evelyn, what you know is not the end of the world. Someone has to do the dirty, dirty work so that common sense and order are maintained.”

 

There was a gleam of madness in Kalian’s eyes. Evelyn shivered slightly at the look in them.

 

He wrapped an arm around her back and swept her hair back from her face as she backed away.

 

“I don’t want to drag you down into that filthy muck, so trust me. I’m doing this for you.”