Chapter 30

Episode 30

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If it was Gray’s personality, it was possible that he could not easily leave because he was worried about the lady, but he was not reckless enough to make Viscount Verdier worry because of that.  If so, did Gray really stop working at the Verdier Castle and come back here?

Chloe wanted to go to the train station right now to see Gray and ask him what was going on. It was also followed by concerns about whether he was adapting well in this city where he doesn’t know anyone, or whether he was working under harsh treatment because he was so quiet and doesn’t complain.

“Why, right now, do you want to run to the train station and have a tearful reunion with the servant?”

The Duke sneered at her as if he had looked into her mind, and Chloe breathed in a short breath. She could bear the sarcasm, but she had to prevent the Duke from having any misunderstandings about Gray and her.

“Duke,”

Chloe spoke in a hurry, and Damien buried his upper body deep on the sofa.

“I don’t think you’ve neglected your duties as a Duchess and insulted me.”

Damien pinpointed Chloe’s concern once again.

“It can’t be.”

“Chloe von Tisse.”

Chloe’s small shoulders trembled unconsciously when her name was called. In the kingdom, adultery by women was a reason for divorce.

She could swear that she had done nothing wrong to undermine the prestige of the Tisse family, but she couldn’t help but be nervous in front of her husband, who was quite unpredictable.

The man who could not tolerate even her slightest provocation raised his lips with the most generous expression in the world.

“Walk. In front of me.”

Chloe finally put an end to her hesitation and Damien looked intently as she lifted her nightgown with her trembling hands, and he stared at her bare, white right leg which was like a dry branch.

He didn’t say a word to her, and just looked at her as she struggled to put the strange object on her knee, as she struggled to tighten the screws of the loose orthosis.

At last Chloe, who succeeded in putting on the braces, stood up. She took a difficult step toward Damien, who was still sitting there like a picture. He opened his mouth slowly as she staggered and dragged her legs.

“Lift up your clothes so that I can see it.”

Chloe did what he said. There was nothing more to hide in the situation where her legs had already been exposed. No, rather, as if to show more, she rolled up her skirt and lifted it up to her knee.

Rattle. Rattle.

The Duke’s sharp eyebrows gathered between his brows. He didn’t hide his gaze. The sight of him observing her gait with a rattling brace on her bare legs made him look like a beast preying on his prey.

The leg with the fixed orthosis was as heavy as hanging a stone.  Moreover, with each movement, the screw tightened and dug into her skin, which was terribly painful.  Chloe doubted that the Duke had created this object to torture her.

“Hik….!”

Eventually, she fell to the floor. The carpet, a mixture of beautiful tapestries and fluffy fox fur, could not relieve the pain. It was inevitable that a small groan burst from Chloe’s lips.

The duke finally came to her. Instead of holding her hand as she struggled to get up, he held her skinny ankle in his hand. The hunter’s hand, with bulging blue veins, slowly reached her calf and her braced knee.

Following his hand, the screws loosened one after another. The reddened skin was revealed.

“Let me go,”

Chloe barely whispered, and finally there was a pop and the brace was released. Chloe breathed heavily, feeling free from the shackles. Damien looked at her and asked in a dry tone.

“What was the most uncomfortable thing?”

Chloe’s tiny jaw tightened. She wasn’t so naive as to ask for sympathy from him, who was cruel. But she was so tired of him saying what he had to say, regardless of her pain.

“…It’s something I don’t need.”

“Once you get used to it, it will be the other way around.  It will take some time and effort.”

Why on earth is he doing this to me? 

Chloe was not accustomed to changes. To be honest, just having to bear the weight of the duchess was suffocating. Nevertheless, she doesn’t understand why he tries to knock her down and trample her like this, who is struggling to adapt to this reality.

The brace fell to the floor, but the Duke’s hand remained on her skinny leg. He made an interesting expression as he watched Chloe’s neat eyebrows twitch as he moved his hand over her bare leg.

“It’s just a problem with the bones, but it seems like you don’t have any feeling at all.”

“Duke. Please. Please stop now.”

When Chloe sincerely asked him, Damien finally removed his hand that was measuring her legs.

Then he put his hands under Chloe’s arms and raised her easily. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Chloe hurried to find her cane and clutched it. She even had a terrible urge to strike him with her cane, if she could.

“Then good night, Duke,”

It was the moment Chloe greeted with blurred eyes and approached the door of the connected bedroom. Her body swung lightly.  Trapped between the thick door and Damien’s body, Chloe raised her trembling eyes to see him.

“Do you have anything to say?”

Are you still not done insulting me?

Damien tilted his head and looked at Chloe, who bit her lips tightly.

“Are you crying?”

“Why me?”

Damien smiled faintly at her as she responded without any hesitation. Then he raised his hand and gently swept away the tears around her eyes.

“Yes. Whining like a child doesn’t suit the Duchess.”

When Damien tasted her tears from the tips of his fingers, her heart pounded like it was going to explode. Chloe couldn’t hold back her trembling voice and ended up bursting out.

“The Duke is like a devil.”

“Have I not shown you the real devil yet?”

She seemed to be trapped in Damien’s eyes, which was like a lake of unfathomable depth. Chloe raised her voice, clenching her fists to escape from him.

“Then why don’t you show it to me forever…!”

Her words were interrupted by his lips. Chloe’s long eyelashes trembled. Damien didn’t even give her a chance to close her eyes. His sliding hand gripped her tiny hand tightly.

“How does it feel to kiss the man you called the devil?”

Her heart beat fast and she couldn’t breathe. Her lips were dry and her tears were about to burst.

“It’s unpleasant.”

“I don’t think so,”

“It’s unpleasant…..!”

Damien kissed her deeply again. Chloe belatedly realized that it was a question with a definite answer.

“Asking you again. How do you feel?”

Damien asked, placing Chloe’s hand on her chest as her wet lips barely fell. The pounding heartbeat under her thin pajamas passed through her hands.

“My heart is beating.”

“Go on,”

“Beating fast. It’s beating hard as if I’m running.”

“Does your body heat up as if you had thrown a fire into your stomach? Do you feel like your heart is going to pop out when your blood rushes through you and you can’t control your breathing?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Chloe nodded without denying his words, which represented her feelings because it was an intolerable discomfort that she had never felt before with anyone. Instead of getting angry at her words, Damien smiled contentedly.

“Then may I go now? Duke.”

“Of course, Duchess,”

Damien stretched out his arm and opened the door.

“Good night,”

Chloe ran to the bedroom and closed the door as hard as she could and bolted it. She had the illusion of hearing Damien laugh behind the door. Chloe jumped up and flipped the portrait hanging in the bedroom. It was the only timid revenge she could do under the current circumstances.

Chapter 14. The Deepening Winter

A week has passed since the Duke returned.  Except for the first day, he fortunately didn’t bother Chloe any more. Just like Chloe did, he stayed in the study room and looked at the past books, and after finding out the dynamics of the castle, he sent a telegram to gather businessmen and nobles from all over the kingdom.

Although the status of the people with whom the duke was associated was different, everyone was well-educated, quick to grasp the situation inside and outside the kingdom, and did not hide their assertions.

“I have heard that a railway will be built in the Verdier estate.  Now it will develop rapidly.”

“Maybe? It’ll take a long time.”

Damien affirmed lightly, cutting the meat with a knife. Chloe couldn’t do anything but sit silently to his right and smile like a doll. A man with red curly hair spoke in a southern accent and lowered his voice.

“Did you give your wife an extravagant wedding present, Duke?”

“Why can’t I?”

“I am amazed when the Duke sometimes shows such a human side.”

“Hahaha.”

At dinner, whenever there were intimate conversations, Chloe felt like a thorn on the side, but it was her duty as a hostess to entertain guests, so she couldn’t leave hastily.

“The Principality of Carter is terrifying. They have declared the end of the war, but we never know when they will hit the back of our head.”

“We can take advantage of our geographical advantage to join hands with other countries and attack them again at any time, so we’ll have to strike them in the end, Duke.”