I Became The Wife Of The Cursed Grand Duke – Chapter 42

Author: Dakku-san

Evelyn, who had expected Max to see her through to the end, fumbled for a moment, forgetting to take his hand.

“Uh, I’m…”

She looked around quickly, but there was no horse for her to ride. No one was making eye contact with her.

‘Oh, no.’

But she couldn’t bring herself to run into the arms of a man who looked like a gutter rat and smelled as cool as if he hadn’t broken a sweat.

“Perhaps Sir Max and I will go together—”

“—We must hurry, for I have a load of luggage to carry.”

Evelyn was interrupted by Max, who poked his head out from behind her. His somewhat exaggerated tone showed his determination not to go with her.

But the bulk of their luggage was in the wagon?

She glanced toward the luggage, wondering if there was more to carry than the deputy captain could handle, and Max gave her a desperate look.

He must be trying to say something, but Evelyn couldn’t make it out.

Fidgeting like a hungry puppy, Max finally gave up trying to make her understand and turned away.

“I’m busy, then!”

The frosty golden eyes rolled toward Max as he stalked away, then landed on her without warning.

“I see you’ve grown quite close.”

Evelyn glanced up at him, feeling a little uncomfortable at his sarcastic tone.

She could read the displeasure in the tilt of his head, but not the words.

In her past life, Kalian had often left her to the other knights when she needed to lead the way or when there were unavoidable circumstances.

She thought she could do the same this time, but apparently not.

Evelyn smiled awkwardly to break the stifling silence.

“I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable traveling so far, but we’re going to the same place anyway.”

“If the destination is the same, do you just take any horse?”

“Of course not, I’m a lady sworn to your lordship, I thought I could ask for such a favor.”

“Remember, you are to be my wife. You must not show your back to anyone.”

Evelyn wanted him to know that she had her own reasons for not wanting to appear unkosher to the man she loved.

“…Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Evelyn sighed and ran the tip of her tongue over her lower lip, wondering if it was too much to hope for.

The tiny tongue moved slowly along the golden eye, still filled with frustration.

But there was no time to argue over nothing.

She tugged at the corners of her mouth to lighten the mood and smiled.

“Shall we be on our way?”

“…Yes.”

With a low sigh, he eased Evelyn into the saddle and swung up behind her.

Evelyn involuntarily straightened her back at the odd tension sent through her lower body.

With his arms wrapped tightly around her waist from behind, he gripped the reins, hooves pounding, pounding, pounding, heavy as a heartbeat.

The road was rough.

“Mmm, cold.”

The biggest problem was the rain, spit up by the suddenly gathering dark clouds.

The rain was light, but the clouds made it dark and, more importantly, he was running so fast that the raindrops stung his eyes like needles.

It even got thicker.

She couldn’t see anything.

‘Shoot!’

My windblown hair slapped hard against her cheeks. The friction of the horseshoe against the puddle was deafening.

Her shoulders, chilled by her wet clothes, shrunk as if her mind had dozed off with tension.

“Suck it up, we’re almost there.”

He spoke into Evelyn’s ear. The growl was eerie, like the sound of a four-legged beast coming from every direction.

She pressed her lips to her ear, as if she didn’t want his voice to be drowned out by the sound of the rain and the rushing waterfall, but when his low breathing reached her ear, she shivered at the familiar sensation.

Evelyn nodded stiffly, trying to ignore the goosebumps.

As if in response, he tightened the arm around her waist. Suddenly, a stabbing pain shot through her back where it met his left breast.

Just like last night, when she’d touched the Guardian’s mark.

“Hmph!”

Evelyn’s upper body buckled in an instant. Her hips bounced up as if they were going to bounce off the center of gravity that had shifted forward.

“!”

Kalian quickly grabbed her body, his voice urgent as he assessed Evelyn’s condition.

“What’s wrong? Are you still not recovered?”

“Oh, no, I’m fine now!”

Her spine throbbed as if branded. Her heart pounded like it was going to explode.

Twisting the reins, Evelyn gritted her teeth and fought through the pain, then sighed in relief as it gradually faded.

‘They say that the flowering of magic is supposed to be accompanied by pain, so maybe that’s why he’s doing this.’

In its place was the steady beat of his heart.

The warmth and vibration of the solid chest pole gave Evelyn a deep sense of security.

As her fright slowly subsided, Kalian’s voice boomed out.

“We are almost to Parminion. Turn left, descend the cliffs, and line up at the checkpoint!”

Evelyn looked up.

Below the sheer cliffs, she could see the harbor of Litchev along the long shoreline and the town nestled outside the impregnable walls.

‘This is how beautiful the original Litchev was…’

She remembered the ruined past and tightened her grip on the horse’s reins.

Boom!

Suddenly, there was a tremendous roar, and the rock formations on either side of her began to collapse like an explosion.

“Take cover! The canyon is collapsing!”

Evelyn’s shoulders clenched in instinctive fear as the tremors seemed to shake the earth.

“Close your eyes, you’ll get dizzy.”

He spoke in a calm voice over the thunderous noise and flying dirt.

“It won’t be long.”

He added, blocking her view with his long cloak, then turned his horse’s head abruptly.

Bang!

At the same time, a huge boulder dropped onto their path.

As if targeting them, the boulder’s movement to block their path sent a chill down her spine.

As she watched the situation with only her eyes, the sound of a magnificent horn trumpet caught her ear.

It was the sound of the watchtower, the signal of an outside invasion.

It was then.

Boom!

The space warped with a violent gust of wind, and a black vortex appeared before their eyes as they raced toward the cliff.

Evelyn’s face went white.

“Gate…?”

Then their eyes locked with a vampire bat that leapt out, wings spread wide.

Oomph!

The ground began to crumble beneath their feet.

“……!”

They crashed at the same time.

Without warning, Calian’s cloak was ripped off, revealing a face of horror through a tangle of silver hair that began to fall in a mess.

“No…!”

Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut as she watched the ground grow ever closer.

But she didn’t feel the expected pain for a long time.

“Werewolves and vampire bats! Form up as soon as we get off the cliff!”

Kalian commanded calmly, and with one hand on her waist and the other firmly gripping the reins, he shot into the air.

Black shadows hung in the air like a thin veil.

The moment she fell off the cliff, she seemed to leap back as she stepped on the shadow, using the aura she had released with such force as a shield.

Using the falling rocks as stepping stones, Kalian skillfully steered his horse to center himself, and finally stepp\ed into the Parminion Realm.

His black cloak fluttering, he loomed over the crumbling rubble of the cliff like a grim reaper from hell.

*Thrummed.*

“How’s that for a welcome?”

With that mutter, Kalian immediately drew his magic sword. The blade resonated with a low roar as the black aura from his right hand coated the blade.

The sound of hundreds of knights drawing their swords simultaneously echoed through the space as if a promise had been made. Evelyn swallowed nervously at the eerie metallic sound.

Meanwhile, swarms of vampire bats filled the sky like a downpour, and a blue, three-headed werewolf surrounded them.

He looked at the sky, which had darkened in an instant, and spoke.

“Let’s keep this battle as quick and clean as possible. I’m a bit tired from the high humidity.”

“Yes, my lord!”

The clash of weapons and armor and the sound of hooves could be heard from all sides.

Evelyn, meanwhile, dismounted from her horse and surrounded by heavily armed apprentice knights, surveyed the situation.

Even in the darkness, there was no hesitation in their eyes as they slashed at their enemies, and no mercy in their hands as they stabbed the creatures in the gut.

Despite their overwhelming numbers, the Blackwood was strong enough that outnumbering was not a problem. In the past and in the present.

It was then that it sent them a glare of respect.

“Argh!”

The knight who had been swinging his sword down the slope next to her lost his footing and tumbled toward her.

A werewolf with a bloodstained mouth charged toward them.

She wanted to help him, but the knights were against it.

“We must not leave this place! We have a duty to the King!”

Healers are supposed to wait in the rear and heal injured knights when they come to them.

But if left to their own devices, knights will lose an ankle or bleed to death.

“You’ll have to wait.”

Better to be dead than to watch helplessly as others die.

“I can’t stand by and watch the Grand Duke’s knight die before my eyes.”