I Became The Wife Of The Cursed Grand Duke Chapter 96

“Groping a man’s naked body… No, I didn’t say that.”

 

The front of his shirt fluttered in the breeze as he turned and walked away.

 

He wasn’t as dignified as the other knights, but he was also unusually lightly dressed.

 

‘Is he jealous?’ she thought to herself.

 

Evelyn wondered, feeling a little mischievous, but she gently stepped in front of him as he turned to leave.

 

“I didn’t realize you hadn’t…”

 

She unbuttoned his shirt, which was open to his chest, with a jerk.

 

“Now that you mention it, it sounds like I have a lowbrow hobby.”

 

Or maybe not.

 

As she muttered, he leaned in closer. Evelyn could see the rudely defined muscles of his chest, and he looked like a hungry beast.

 

The tips of her ears flushed as she reacted to the sight of his flesh, which she’d seen every day, even when he’d flirted with her curiously.

 

Gazing at her lovely expression, Kalian’s lips twitched upward.

 

“So there’s a reason the Grand Duchess is in and out of the ballroom every day.”

 

“I’m glad you know now.”

 

Evelyn replied cheerfully, feigning nonchalance.

 

She felt unintentionally flirtatious, but the change in his expression was so amusing that she couldn’t stop teasing him.

 

“And it’s a woman’s natural instinct to be attracted to a man’s body, just like when she sees a delicious fruit… and wants to peel it and eat it, it’s a very natural feeling.”

 

“What, the instinct to eat a man?”

 

But Evelyn had overlooked one thing: He was a serious man, even when he said it for laughs.

 

Even if it did seem like a lot of miscommunication.

 

“Is that what the woman who cries under me every day would say?”

 

Or maybe not.

 

Even with his furrowed brow, he looks handsome, and he reaches for Evelyn’s waist.

 

“If you keep pushing me like that, I’m not going to be able to handle it tonight.”

 

But Evelyn wasn’t taking too kindly to that.

 

“I’m sorry, but I have an appointment with my godmother, so if you’ll excuse me.”

 

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed, and a merry chuckle followed her out the door.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Welcome, little lady.”

 

The escort knight who guarded Charlotte’s bedroom stepped aside to allow Evelyn to pass, holding the door wide open for her.

 

“She’s been waiting for you.”

 

Bright light flooded in. Evelyn entered, bowing to Charlotte, who stood by the window, watching the sunset.

 

“I’m late today, Your Majesty.”

 

“Welcome, I was expecting you anyway.”

 

Charlotte, unveiled, greeted her.

 

Her skin, while still not perfect, had regenerated most of what had been lost. Evelyn smiled at her fresh face.

 

“You’re not here in the morning, so I’m on my way to the rehearsal hall.”

 

“Yes, rumor has it that the only noble who lives in a ballroom rather than a salon or banquet hall is a grand duchess.”

 

Evelyn chuckled at the whispered tone in Charlotte’s voice, as if she were telling a secret.

 

“Not so long ago, I thought I would never speak to my godmother face to face.”

 

It took a very small event to open Charlotte’s guarded heart and heal her wounds.

 

The day she was called to the catacombs.

 

Evelyn smelled Charlotte’s familiar scent of perfumed oil.

 

Evelyn immediately recognized the scent as the same one that came from Kalian’s mother’s office in the Parminion Castle annex.

 

‘My God, do you mean to tell me that you took me to your mother’s office and did such… things to me?’

 

‘That’s too bad,’ he said, ‘because if you remember how hot we were that day, you wouldn’t say that.’

 

Why wouldn’t she remember?

 

The more she thinks about it, the hotter her face gets, but as it turns out, her visit to Charlotte’s office was a very wise one.

 

Evelyn realized that Charlotte was still using the hard-to-find balm, and she sensed that she was longing for the past.

 

With the help of the Duke of Parminion, she began to bring in antiques and exotic furnishings from the state rooms to give to Charlotte.

 

“You’re really mocking me,” she thought, ”do you really think these colorful things are for me?”

 

Of course, Charlotte wasn’t always so open-minded.

 

Charlotte’s wounds were deep, and they weren’t the kind that could be mended with gifts.

 

But Evelyn didn’t give up.

 

First with balm, then with an ornament, and then with quality wallpaper and carpeting, she hoped she could make Charlotte realize how much she cared.

 

She kept coming back for more, even when she tried to talk her out of it.

 

Charlotte, who had longed for human warmth, was overwhelmed by Evelyn’s sincerity and persistence.

 

‘As Helen says, the godfather is a gentle man by nature.’

 

While she was lost in thought, Benedict came through the door and placed two cups of well-brewed tea on the table.

 

Two servants with long boxes followed him.

 

“Big lady, this is from the little lady. I’ll leave it here.”

 

Charlotte’s one eyebrow, still a little unnatural in her movements, twitched as she reached for the box beside the table.

 

“What is this?”

 

“Unwrap it when you’re alone. I thought it would go well with your highness, and I hope you’ll like it.”

 

The conversation quickly turned to Evelyn’s wedding, which was just days away.

 

Charlotte seemed much more nervous at the wedding party.

 

Evelyn studied Charlotte’s shadowed face for a moment, then set her teacup down on the saucer.

 

“I think you should take care of yourself first today.”

 

Aside from her acceptance of Evelyn’s mind, Charlotte had refused to have her burns treated for some time.

 

The ostensible reason was that it was a wound that all the flying and crawling healers had given up on.

 

In truth, Charlotte was worried that the grand duchess might be harmed by healing a wound inflicted by a supreme demon.

 

But when the empress and crown prince announced their intention to attend the wedding in a few days, she changed her mind.

 

“Why, without spending more time with me. Do you have other plans for the evening?”

 

“Oh, that’s…”

 

Evelyn blushed, remembering Kalian’s jealousy.

 

Still, she was too embarrassed to say out loud that she wanted to spend some quality time with her husband.

 

Evelyn pressed her lower lip together and lowered her gaze.

 

“I just feel like I have the most energy flowing through me right now, and I was just in the training center a little while ago, and I just got a surge of energy… haha.”

 

Half truth, half lie. She felt a sting in her chest as she turned down Charlotte’s offer.

 

“Sorry, Godmother!”

 

Meanwhile, Charlotte, who had no way of knowing Evelyn’s true feelings, smiled.

 

It was so nice of Evelyn to treat her when she was at her best.

 

“I see, you’re in a lot of trouble.”

 

“It’s all for your protection, Your Highness.”

 

Charlotte smiled wryly at Evelyn’s newfound ability to speak straight, and then slipped back onto the bed.

 

Evelyn, freshly washed, examined Charlotte’s wounds and nodded.

 

“Shall we get started then?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

After Evelyn left, Charlotte nervously unwrapped her gift.

 

“Oh my god…”

 

A full-length mirror with geometric symbols etched into the rim reflected her reflection, the burn marks neatly erased.

 

“I never thought this would come back to me.”

 

The mirror was a meaningful gift her husband had given her when he proposed to her.

 

His handwritten inscription at the bottom of the mirror’s back proved it.

 

Charlotte squatted down and traced her fingertips over her husband’s imprint.

 

<I love you, inside and out, past and future.>

 

By nature, she was a daughter of the upper echelons, interested in exotic goods.

 

Like all imperial children, she also loved to look and feel beautiful.

 

‘I thought I would never look in the mirror again because my burn marks were so hideous…’

 

For Charlotte, it all seemed like a fleeting dream.

 

“Tristan, are you looking at me too?”

 

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Charlotte sat back in her chair and fixed her gaze on the mirror.

 

Then she thought back to the day she’d summoned Evelyn to the catacombs.

 

“My husband, who was stronger than most, was counted as dead in battle with a lowly demon, and our two lovely daughters, Emily and Deanna, left no name in the world.”

 

Evelyn’s face remained unmoved as she vented her resentment for her son, who had been born a Guardian.

 

As if to say, ‘I still love your son.’

 

Or that she would embrace the pain of all.

 

She looked so dignified, acting like a saint.

 

But regardless of her demeanor, Charlotte wanted the women of Orpheus to be spared any more heartache.

 

It was only right that the family line should end here.

 

It was for this reason that she shifted her gaze to the glass casket, irritating Evelyn.

 

“Why, now that you see the situation at hand, do you regret your foolishness in choosing this horrible family?”

 

At once sarcastic and suspicious, Charlotte doubted her own eyes.

 

The ‘relic’ she had hidden in her husband’s mouth glowed faintly, as if reacting to something.

 

She wondered if she had seen it wrong, but the relic glowed once more, proving that her eyes were not mistaken.

 

Alarmed, Charlotte hastily slipped her husband’s body back under the bottom of the coffin.

 

“It haven’t done that since my husband died…”

 

It was purely her husband’s will that his body be sealed in the catacombs.

 

When he was alive, he had told her that there was an object that the Orpheus family must protect, and that one day the owner would come to claim it.

 

“Tristan, do you think the real owner of the object you left behind… could be her?”