Chapter 27

“Madam! Are you awake?”

“La-La-Lady!”

Grace slowly regained her consciousness and faintly heard Arthur and Sally’s worrisome voices. Grace blinked and suddenly clasped her head. It seemed that her eyes were not adjusted to the surroundings so her vision was still blurry. After blinking a few times, the surrounding landscape finally became clear. The first thing she saw was the familiar scenery of her bedroom and the appearance of Arthur and Sally looking eagerly at her.

‘Was it a dream that I saw a while ago?’

She mused.

Not expecting his presence, Grace mumbled to Arthur with a blank expression on her face.

“…Duke?”

Arthur bit his lower lip, stretched out his arms and hugged Grace. Then, with a deep sigh of relief, he swept off her disheveled hair.

“….Do you know how worried I was when I heard that you collapsed in the secret garden?”

“…Duke.”

“I thought my heart was going to burst.”

Arthur whispered in an apprehensive tone.

He then reached out slowly and looked at Grace with persistent eyes, as if to make sure she was okay.

Grace felt her heart beat helplessly at the touch of Arthur’s big hands gently caressing her forehead and cheek.

However, the moment Arthur’s hand, which was slowly stroking her cheek, slightly touched her neck, Grace was consternate and pushed Arthur’s hand hard.

“……!”

Arthur, who was thrown out in an instant, opened his eyes wide and stared at Grace.

Grace hugged her knees with both arms, and quivered with fear for no reason.

As soon as Arthur’s hand touched her, she vividly remembered the strong hand that strangled her in the dream she had.

She took a deep breath, suppressing her desire to scream right away.

‘Calm down. That was a dream a while ago. Just a dream… It’s not a curse. There’s nothing to be scared of.’

That’s right. It’s just a nightmare caused by the shock of collapse.

Grace convinced herself that way. How she collapsed, why she collapsed, and why she had such a dream. There was no clear explanation for all those questions except if all of the occurings were part of the ‘curse’.”

‘No, it’s not.’

Grace constantly lied to herself to shake off her fear, thinking that a nightmare could not be a ‘curse’; that she collapsed because she was a little weak and had a nightmare.

‘I don’t want to hurt the Duke again…. I don’t want to see him leave me.’

As she repeated it endlessly, the fear that dominated her mind subsided slowly. Grace calmed herself and spoke to Arthur, who was still staring at her with a mixed look of embarrassment and anxiety.

“…I-I’m sorry. I’m a little shy…”

“…I see. I’m sorry, lady.”

“Oh, no. It’s alright, it’s alright. By the way, where is Leon?…. he must have been shocked. I should have reassured him…

With that said, Grace looked around. Arthur lifted his palm in front of Grace to calm her down, pointing slightly to the side with his finger and said.

“Leon is over there.”

As she moved her gaze along those fingers, she saw Leon sleeping next to the wide bed where Grace was lying, covered by Arthur’s cape.

Leon’s face, which fell asleep while sucking his fingers with his body rounded, was swollen and his eyes were crumpled red. He must have cried a lot because he was surprised by Grace collapsing in front of his eyes a little while ago.

Grace stretched out her arms and stroked Leon’s long bangs, asking Sally, who stood next to her.

“Is Leon okay? He is not feeling well, is he?”

“Yes. He just fell asleep crying because he was very surprised, but there is nothing wrong with his health.”

“……Really? That’s a relief.”

At Sally’s answer, Grace looked down sadly at Leon, who fell asleep. When Leon wakes up, she’ll give him a hug.

At that time, Arthur, who had been looking at Grace with persistent eyes, spoke carefully.

“…If you don’t mind.”

“Yes?”

“May I ask you a question?”

“What?”

“Why did you suddenly fall down in the garden? Did you hear something weird like last time in the imperial palace?”

Grace looked at Arthur in surprise. She felt complicated in her head by his firm gaze.

‘What should I do?’

In fact, she wanted to say everything she saw a while ago. A man who looked like Arthur cried with a dying woman in his dream. Who was the woman? With that, her belly was also unusually big. If the woman was Arthur’s ‘ex-wife’ or fiance, what happened to the child?

[T/N: Arthur?…. Woman with a child in her belly?… Arthur’s… child…?…ಠ_ಠ]

There were a lot of things she wanted to ask, but she couldn’t say anything. This was because she really didn’t want to confirm with him that the person in the dream was Arthur himself, and that it had really happened to him in the dream.

‘…… If I love someone enough to want him to have children with me and stay with me and not anyone else…. it probably means I’m too narrow minded right?’

She felt funny and pathetic about herself for being childish. If she heard such an answer from him, she wasn’t confident that she wouldn’t be jealous. Grace opened her mouth after contemplating for a long time.

“Can’t we talk about it next time?”

“…….”

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can answer that question honestly now.”

Arthur’s gaze, looking at Grace, shook complicatedly at the answer. Then he sighed briefly and spoke to her.

“……If the reason you collapsed today is because of the curse…”

“I’m fine.”

Grace replied, interrupting his words. Then she reached out to Arthur’s face staring at her and stroked him gently.

“I won’t leave the Duke and Leon because of this curse.”

“…… ”

“So don’t worry too much…. Come on.”

Grace smiled shyly and said to Arthur, who was still looking at her with a worried expression on his face.

Arthur’s blue and red odd eye slightly grew bigger beyond the mask as if surprised. Then, soon after, he gently straightened his stiff mouth and took his lips on Grace’s forehead who was smiling at him.

ㅡKiss

When something warm touched and fell over her forehead with a light sound, Grace was surprised and covered her forehead with one hand.

Arthur looked at Grace, whose face turned red in an instant, and stood up.

“Okay, but if you collapse like this, I won’t fall for it even if you act as lovely as today.”

“Lo-Lovely? What do you mean lovely…”

“Then I’ll take Leon to the annex, so take a rest. Lovely Grace.”

In the end, Arthur went out of the bedroom with Leon in his arms, who was asleep, after saying a word that seemed to melt her whole body in his sweetness.

Grace covered her blazing face with her hands. Sally, who had been watching silently from the side, carefully approached Grace and called out.

“Then, I will also be away so that you can rest comfortably. Please call me whenever you need me.”

“Oh, I will…”

At that moment, one thing came to mind that had been bothering her for a long time. When Leon mentioned the “secret garden,” Sally looked somewhat reluctant.

‘I was curious why you made that expression then.’

Maybe Sally knows something about what she saw a while ago. No, if the “man” was Arthur, Sally would definitely know about it.

“Wait, Sally.”

Grace said, staring at Sally in a low-sinking voice.

“Yes, do you need anything”?

Sally asked with a puzzle expression on her face.

“I have a question for Sally. I hope you will answer me…. will you not.”

Grace said firmly.

“……?”

“I really want you to answer, Sally.”

It was the first time that Grace, who had spoken respectfully, was condescending. Sally seemed nervous at Grace’s cold stare at her.

“…Yes, please go ahead.”

“A while ago, before I collapsed, Leon asked me to go for a walk in the Secret Garden.”

“Yes, he did.”

“Then, why did you look so reluctant? Why? Tell me.”

“….Oh, that’s…”

Sally avoided looking at Grace’s eye, expressing embarrassment. However, Grace’s continued stare which said that she would not step down until she answers, Sally soon replied with a long sigh.

“That place is where the current duke, Duke Arthur, was born…. It’s also where the eldest wife of the former duke died and came back to life.”

[T/N: Thank God, it wasn’t Arthur.ಠ◡ಠ]

“….What?”

The words that came out from Sally’s mouth were completely unexpected. Grace asked Sally back with a blank look.

Sally sighed again and continued.

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

T/N: Sorry for the late update again.(｡•́︿•̀｡) I got sick all of a sudden so I couldn’t translate faster.(´ . .̫ . `)