I Became The Wife Of The Cursed Grand Duke Chapter 149

They soon arrived at the mansion, where Reah greeted them with a hand pressed to her chest.

“Oh thank goodness! I was about to have a heart attack worrying you’d be caught.”

 

Reah’s complexion had turned ashen from anxiety. Evelyn shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m sorry. You two keep helping me—first during the escape, now this…”

 

‘I’m just burdening their future,’ she thought guiltily.

 

Leon, hanging up his coat, turned to her with understanding eyes.

“Helping a benefactor in need isn’t ‘help’—it’s basic decency.”

 

Though he brushed it off casually, Evelyn disagreed. Without them, she’d still be trembling under Kalian’s watch—or worse, captured by bounty hunters or the High Priest’s agents.

 

“No words can repay your kindness.”

 

‘In the past I would have suffered alone. Now at least I had allies.’ Yet she worried her choices might endanger them.

 

“What if the continental blockade traps us here indefinitely?”

 

‘Did Kalian suspect my plans?’ The plague and emperor’s assassination provided plausible reasons for travel restrictions, but…

 

“Why send Leon to a plague zone?”

 

Sitting in the cozy parlor, Evelyn pieced together the likeliest explanation.

“He must think ordinary councilors can’t handle this plague.”

 

“By ordinary, you mean non-magical ones?” Reah asked.

 

Evelyn nodded grimly.

“The timing after the High Priest’s disappearance is suspicious. I suspect black magic involvement.”

 

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Later in bed, Evelyn reconsidered Leon’s warning:

“This isn’t just a blockade—it’s a trap to force you out.”

 

She tended to agree. With the blockade declared, escape seemed impossible.

 

Raising a child with distinctive black-and-silver Orpheus features in a foreign land without support would be disastrous.

 

And once Kalian escalated threats, Leon couldn’t refuse imperial orders forever.

 

“I can’t keep burdening Ines and Duke Parminion either…”

 

As night deepened, Reah changed into a nightgown and joined her. They lay staring at the ceiling until Reah broke the silence.

 

“You know, ninety percent of our worries never happen.” She turned toward Evelyn. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Babies sense their mothers’ stress.”

 

“You’re right. Thank you.”

 

“Anytime.” Reah soon drifted off, but sleep eluded Evelyn.

 

‘Tomorrow the seas close completely.’ Leon had mentioned covert fishing boats but braving rough waters in such vessels while pregnant was unthinkable.

 

“What options do I have?”

 

Her restless fumbling prompted a sudden kick.

 

“Ah!”

 

Evelyn slipped a hand under the covers, stroking her belly.

“Sorry for disturbing you, little one. Sleep well.”

 

She wiped away a tear. ‘I must stay strong for you.’

 

 

* * *

 

 

Meanwhile, news of Evelyn’s disappearance reached Julius.

 

“What? After all my patience, she vanishes again?”

 

He flung the newspaper aside, lighting a cigar amidst his scantily clad harem. Though wanted for the emperor’s murder, fanatics still sheltered him.

 

His perfect plan—using the plague to lure Evelyn, then exposing her as a witch—lay in ruins.

 

“That damned woman!”

 

Now Deborah had gone to Bellatra for purification rites. Julius sneered at the pass his lackey presented.

 

“Does that fool think her past ‘miracles’ were real?”

 

Claudia’s daughter was as delusional as her mother had been. Worse, another failed purification would only bolster claims that Evelyn was the true saint.

 

“Useless bitch!”

 

At least he’d secured Babel’s death magic. Now he had to find Evelyn before Kalian did. Snapping his fingers, he ordered a henchman:

 

“Prepare my carriage. We ride north immediately.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Torrential rain provided unexpected cover as Claudia trudged through muddy alleys.

 

“Your Majesty, you’ll fall ill!” her maid pleaded. “Where are we going in this weather without even a carriage?”

 

They’d reached the capital’s dangerous northeast slums. The terrified maid couldn’t fathom why the Empress would abandon her guards for this place.

 

“Silence! Just follow!” Claudia snapped, scanning the shadows.

 

‘This should be the place.’

 

Having cultivated connections with Julius’s fanatics during her time with him, she’d received updates—including recent reports of his harem-filled days. Two days ago, an informant had visited her palace with Cedric…