I Became The Wife Of The Cursed Grand Duke Chapter 150

That wasn’t all.

There was a real reason for her detention at the Empress’s palace, a reason that had brought her here in her plain clothes.

 

“I’ve heard that Julius is using the power of death to take over the empire. He plans to crown a saint as the next empress.”

 

‘What? Not me, but a saint?’

 

Claudia was furious at this unbelievable news and threw him out. She even slapped Cedric hard enough to cut his cheek. It was a tragedy caused by a momentary lapse of emotion.

 

‘She wasn’t foolish enough to fall for this attempt to divide Julius and her.’

 

But after she regained her senses, she realized that it wasn’t quite right. Whatever the truth was, she needed to see it with her own eyes to feel comfortable with it.

 

So she set fire to the pantry and left the Empress’s palace, out of sight of the knights. Normally, she would have waited patiently for him, but there was nothing she could do in her current state.

 

“Found it! There’s the inn with the purple sign. Hurry over there and let me…!”

 

Barely able to catch her breath, she took a few hard steps toward the inn.

 

Heehee!

 

An ornate carriage whinnied past them, accompanied by a horse’s whinny.

 

“Ew! It’s raining, and there’s some kind of bug running around, and I almost got hit!”

 

The coachman spat at the two of them as they cowered like rain-soaked rats.

 

“You, how dare you think you know who this person is…, eh!”

 

“Hush, I told you to be quiet!”

 

Claudia slapped the maid’s mouth as she cursed at the coachman in a hoarse voice. She’d been too scared to come alone, so she’d brought the maid, but she couldn’t have picked a worse opponent.

 

Whether the coachman spat or not, nothing mattered to her now but meeting Julius.

 

It was time.

 

“Julius?”

 

The door to the ramshackle inn swung open, revealing Julius, looking much better than he had in prison. No, he looked even more radiant and youthful than before—as if he had drunk an elixir of life.

 

‘The urge to run to him and embrace him was overwhelming.’

 

“Is that really you? Juli…”

 

But she didn’t take another step.

 

‘What the hell is that…?’

 

Claudia stared coldly at Julius as he walked toward the carriage, and at the women half-hugging him. Not one, not two, but four women were riding in the carriage, their breasts bare.

 

It confirmed the rumors that he had built a harem and taken women.

 

‘It was only two days ago that she had slapped Cedric across the cheek for daring to tell a lie.’

 

Only.

 

He had even conspired with the nobles to steal the throne from his son, who refused to recognize Julius as his father.

 

She didn’t care if people talked about them behind her back and pointed mocking fingers at her. Only for Julius’ sake—to give the emperor’s throne to the man she loved.

 

And this was the result?

 

“You betrayed me.”

 

A shiver ran down her spine, and a fever rose in her head as the realization hit her.

 

“After all I’ve done to get you to the top…!”

 

A devastating voice echoed through the shabby, empty alley.

 

“No, you were planning on using me all along, you filthy bastard!”

 

She glared fiercely at the back of the receding carriage.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Cardassian Imperial Palace

 

Entering the lightless throne room, Kalian opened the drawer containing the sleeping pills out of habit.

 

Nothing.

 

He frowned, and then, as if on cue, the door opened.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

“Benjamin.”

 

A stern-looking Benjamin leaned against the doorway.

 

“It’s dangerous to increase the sleeping pills any further.”

 

Kalian, still in his robe, wiped a tired hand across his face and pulled out a cigar.

 

“I can’t sleep, so what am I going to do? At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before I’m back to my old self.”

 

Before he met Evelyn, he used to go into a rage whenever he overused his powers. But his contact with Evelyn had eased the symptoms, and now they were completely gone.

 

It wasn’t until recently that he realized it was a “pre-awakening symptom.”

 

And now that she was gone, he was reverting back to his old self.

 

It was natural.

 

Evelyn was the only thing that could help him awaken.

 

As if to prove it, he had recently begun to notice that whenever he got a lot of blood on his hands or was intoxicated, his eyes would glaze over and his breathing would become short.

 

“I think it’s worse than it used to be.”

 

“Give me a sleeping pill, and that’ll take care of it.”

 

Benjamin walked into the office.

 

“But I don’t want you to become dependent on sleeping pills. Didn’t your doctor warn you that you’re getting more and more dangerous?”

 

Benjamin sighed heavily as he watched his lord fall apart at the seams.

 

“It’s been three weeks now.”

 

Silence.

 

“Now… stop it.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“I’m not asking you to stop searching, but don’t you have more pressing things to do right now?”

 

“Nothing is more urgent to me than finding my wife.”

 

“The red moon will be rising in a week, and at this rate, you’ll be dead before you accomplish what you set out to do.”

 

Currently, Kalian was suffering from a severe sleep disorder, unable to fall asleep even if he swallowed several sleeping pills at once.

 

He was unable to return to the capital city, let alone his mansion. Her traces were all over the place, and he couldn’t keep his mind clear.

 

‘What could possibly go wrong?’

 

Benjamin felt a decade older in the weeks since the grand duchess had disappeared.

 

“The grand duchess will return,” he said. “So trust her and take care of yourself.”

 

In the meantime, Kalian had been busy trying to calm the various chaos and disturbances within the Empire. Sporadic fanatical uprisings had broken out in various parts of the country.

 

There were even rumors of an allied army from the continent of Nora planning to attack Cardassian. The outbreak of the plague and the weakening of imperial power due to the emperor’s absence were to blame.

 

With Cedric’s lack of familiarity with the situation, it had fallen to Kalian to quell the riots and conduct diplomacy.

 

Kalian wiped a tired hand across his face.

 

“Any news on my wife?”

 

Benjamin sighed heavily and pressed his deeply furrowed brow.

 

“As you ordered, I have planted men around Count Bernard, Duke Parminion, and Ines, but there is still no sign of the grand duchess.”

 

Kalian clicked his tongue, remembering Leon’s shameless smirk when they’d met in Litchev.

 

Everything he said irritated him, but what he found most disturbing was Leon’s insistence that he was with Evelyn.

 

‘Since when did Evelyn depend on him?’

 

Aside from the self-doubt churning in his gut, Kalian was sure Leon was protecting her.

 

He hadn’t pursued him further, though, because he was worried that Evelyn, frightened by his aggression, might hide herself somewhere he could never find her.

 

‘Better to be protected than to be out in the open, where no one knows.’

 

Part of him wanted to set fire to the city to force her to come out, but Benjamin’s words echoed in his mind.

 

“That kind of coercive behavior will do nothing to improve your relationship.”

 

Still, his impatience was too much to bear.

 

“Damn it…”

 

He sighed in annoyance as he took a couple puffs and put the cigar in the ashtray.

 

Bang, bang, bang!

 

Someone pounded on the door of the Oval Office with the intention of breaking it down.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Kalian, help me, please!”

 

It was Claudia who pushed past the guards and entered the Oval Office.

 

“I’m sorry, I apologize for everything. I don’t know what I was thinking, I must have lost my mind.”

 

Kalian glanced down at Claudia’s shabby appearance.

 

His aunt—one of the few direct descendants of Orpheus. Currently, or at least not yet, the highest-ranking woman in Cardassian.

 

And the woman who had killed his father and younger siblings.

 

The disgusting woman who had gotten his wife into trouble and sent her to her death—albeit in a past life.

 

She fell to her knees at his feet, looking as guilty as if she’d been stuck in the mud.

 

“Kalian, say something to me. You’re the only one who can help me now.”

 

There was only one thing Kalian could say at this point.

 

“Why should I?”

 

Claudia jumped at the eerie, chilling tone of his voice, and then burst into tears like chicken shit.

 

“Well, well, I’m your aunt and your only direct blood relative, and if you won’t help me, who will?”

 

She seemed to be trying to use tears as a weapon to buy sympathy, but unfortunately, Kalian was not the tearful type.

 

Besides, when it came to the Empress, he had already shown enough mercy.

 

“Funny.”

 

Kalian raised one corner of his mouth and glared at Claudia.

 

“You conspired with Julius to put a curse on my wife.”

 

His chest heaved as he took a step toward her.

 

“As if that weren’t enough, you drew her blood once every full moon, and eventually sought to use her as a vessel to carry the soul of a saint.”

 

His shoulders stiffened at the goosebump-inducing bass in his voice.

 

“I don’t think I’d mind tearing you limb from limb and throwing you out as bait for demons right now. Why should I help you with that?”