“Of all things! That fishy thing happened to be Grace? Mother must have noticed the gaze of His Highness, who was drawn to the rather flat-faced thing that was not born with magical abilities and is only a shame to the family!”
“……..Yeah. You were looking at it very explicitly.”
“On top of that, he even stopped her from eating the cake! Ha! How can he do that? Now, because of someone, I even sent an invitation to bring that crappy one!”
“Yeah, it’s all because of His Highness. Sure, sure.”
Patting Marianne, who was venting her anger in her arms, Duchess Alberton also bit her lower lip, recalling what happened a while ago.
‘Grace should have just taken a bite of the cake.’
If she had been, things would have worked out easily. Because inside the cake, there was a magic potion made by Duke Alberton.
If it had entered Grace’s body, it would have given wings to the sluggish curse power. As for Duchess Alberton, it was only a pity to see Grace moving around again.
Duchess Alberton hugged Marianne as if comforting her and revealed her true feelings.
“At least it would have been easy if His Highness hadn’t sided with her who was shaking like a rat in the rain.”
“Yes. If she had just eaten that cake! …..But mother, wasn’t Grace’s reaction so suspicious back then? Seeing the cake and shivering was a reaction that seemed to know what we had done in it.”
Reflecting on Grace’s actions a while ago, when Marianne asked a question with scepticism. Duchess Alberton snorted and replied.
“The incompetent cannot have sensed the power of the magic potion in the cake. It was just luck.”
“……. I guess so?”
“Of course! Or maybe, it would be the influence of the blood of our Alberton ancestors flowing through her body. Even if she weren’t born with any abilities, it’s true that she inherited your father’s blood and was born in my womb.”
“……. That’s true.”
Marianne doubts dispelled, that had risen in her mind, at the words of Duchess Alberton, who answered insignificantly.
‘Damn it, lucky girl…’
Marianne grinded her teeth again, remembering Grace, who had escaped death again.
“It looks like that damn thing was born with an abundance of luck instead of magical power. At the Wedding Celebration, she avoided the curse magic hidden in the blessing spell, and she was fine even after sleeping two nights under the ‘curse amplification magic circle’ designed by ‘him’.”
“I know. Really, I can only say it’s the devil’s luck.”
“…Duke Felix probably didn’t do anything, right?”
“No way. If he had that kind of ability, he would have tried to erase the name ‘Cursed Duke’ from me.”
“In fact. There is no way that a coward who puts on a black mask like a mourning dress will have such the ability to avoid public gaze and pointing fingers. Really, he seems to be the biggest beneficiary of ‘the secret’ that my father revealed. ”
“Yeah. You’re right. My pretty daughter.”
“But I can’t help but be angry because they don’t know the subject and dare to talk to us and reign like a superior! Did you hear that, too, mother? Last night’s party! Seriously, just thinking about it makes me want to kill that damn thing with a curse right away!”
If Duke Arthur Felix had not been the part of the Imperial Family, if he had not been the strongest frontier of this empire with his strong force. She would have made the two disappear from this empire without even anyone knowing it.
Marianne frowned, recalling the annoying things she had to go through over the past two days.
Then Duchess Alberton patted Marianne as if she knew how she was feeling.
“I know your heart, Marianne, but don’t worry. The only thing waiting for her is a vain death and a terrible ruin.”
“…..Mother.”
“I’m sure your father and I will make that happen.”
As she said that, the blue eyes of Duchess Alberton, who smiled tenderly, were filled with old loathing and hatred.
[T/N: Ha! The evil witch finally showed her true face!]
How in the world did something like that come out from inside of her? Hate, hate, and only more hate. Duchess Alberton grinded her teeth through the four-day labor she had to go through to give birth to Grace, which is still vivid even after decades.
The moment when she had to endure the pain of tearing her stomach with a knife without eating and drinking properly.
The reason why she was able to endure the pain, which was so brutal that she wanted to strangle herself with her own hands, was because of the tradition that ‘the longer the labor pains, the more difficult the labor, the more powerful a child is born with magical powers’.
However, after enduring the pain, the child that was born was an incompetent one who did not have any abilities.
When she found out about that. The disappointing gaze of her husband, Duke Alberton, and the secret laughter in the sympathetic gaze of the clan were enough to engrave the intense hatred for the newborn child in the heart of Duchess Alberton, who barely survived pain of being in a life-and-death situation.
‘If only that useless piece of blood wasn’t in my stomach.’
If she hadn’t given birth to that, she wouldn’t have suffered that terrible pain.
She couldn’t stand herself having to endure to death to give birth to such an incompetent girl.
So for her, Grace, the child was not adorable at all. It became more and more as she grew up day by day. She hated seeing all the appearance of her trying to get loved by looking at other people’s eyes, like a gutter rat. If it hadn’t been for the public’s attention, she would have done something right away.
‘Well, anyway. Still, it’s a relief that I can use her like this.’
Yes. How fortunate she is to be able to protect her precious eldest daughter, her husband, and the family that will support her at the expense of the life of that useless thing.
Duchess Alberton shone cool blue eyes, thinking that alone was sufficiently compensated for the past pain and humiliation.
‘I just have to endure it for a few more months now.’
Looking at the way the cursed monster duke looked at the useless thing, it seemed that if he endured a little longer, the conditions for triggering the “curse” would be met. Then they would finally end this pain and welcome the glory.
Duchess Alberton smiled coolly, imagining the spectacular moment of happiness that would come to them.
───※ ·❆· ※───
Arthur and Grace, who left the drawing-room, headed to the main gate of Duke Alberton’s Mansion.
Arthur blinked at Sally, who was waiting for them there, and said, gently falling from Grace’s side.
“Please wait here for a moment, Lady. I will tell them to prepare for departure immediately.”
“Alright, I will.”
“Sally, stay with my wife.”
“Don’t worry, sir.”
After saying that, Arthur approached the knights and servants who were standing in a place where the horses they had been riding were tied up. And he seemed to be giving some instructions.
Soon the knights scattered in courtesy, and the servants hurriedly started packing Grace’s luggage and driving the carriage she was riding in.
In the meantime, Grace stayed side by side with Sally and waited for everyone to be ready. Sally spoke to Grace next to her, putting a coat on her shoulder and putting new silk gloves on her hands.
“Did you have a bad time in the drawing-room?”
“……..You see.”
When Grace spoke awkwardly, Sally replied with a dark look.
“I wanted to follow you, but that d@mn old butler of Alberton Castle stopped me, saying, ‘You are going to interrupt the family conversations’.”
“I see.”
“Nothing much happened, right? Did they say something to you there?”
“Haha.”
“…… I could hear something.”
Grace blurred her words again because she couldn’t talk about the fuss there. Sally grasped the whole situation with a good sense of her appearance and said with a bitter smile.
“But the Duke protected you well, right?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“What a relief. If something like this happens again, don’t hold back and respond. Now, Your Majesty, Duke Felix is behind you, right?”
So there’s nothing to be discouraged about, and Sally comforted Grace with a bright voice. Grace nodded and laughed positively at the words.
“What are you having so much fun talking about, Lady?”
While she was chatting with Sally for a while, Arthur approached Grace and talked to her as if he had finished the preparation for the return.
Grace smiled softly and asked Arthur who was approaching her.
“Are you ready to leave already?”
“Yeah. In fact, he had made some preparations for departure before I gave the first instructions.”
“Oh, is it?”
“So since there’s nothing more to instruct, I came here to pick up my wife. I’m going to escort you to the carriage.”
Arthur nodded and held out his hand to Grace.
Grace gladly held his hand, and Arthur clasped his fingers in Grace’s hand and spoke to Sally.
“You must have checked everything in my wife’s luggage, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“If something is missing or something that’s not my wife’s, please check again.”
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“Yes sir, alright.”
At Arthur’s command, Sally nodded and walked towards the wagon loaded with luggage.