The Cold-Hearted Grand Duke Obsesses Over Me After My Death - Chapter 24

Episode 24. Consummation

Ten years ago. Imperial Year 912.

The Emperor of the Richert Empire passed away. Crown Prince William succeeded him as the new emperor.

Louid, having attended the coronation of the new emperor, was preparing to leave the Imperial Palace. As the emperor’s younger brother, he was expected to live outside the palace.

But on that day, for some reason, there were no guards to be seen anywhere around the palace.

“Your Highness, you must flee. Quickly.”

At that moment, Louid’s old nanny rushed into the palace chambers in a panic.

“Nanny…”

“Your Highness, hurry.”

“What’s the matter?”

The nanny draped a black robe over Louid’s shoulders, pulled a hood over his head, and covered his mouth and nose with a black mask.

“Your Highness, I have prepared horses and knights at the rear gate. You must leave at once. If you stay here, His Majesty the Emperor will have you killed.”

“What nonsense is this? My brother would never do such a thing.”

William cherished his much younger brother as though he were his own child.

William was the son of the late empress who had died young, while Louid was the youngest child born in the Emperor’s later years to a young empress.

Louid’s mother had once been a palace maid who rose to become empress, but she had died from childbirth not long after bearing him.

Because of her lowly origins and her much younger age, William had never seen Louid as a rival, only as a dear younger brother.

Louid firmly believed that William would never want to kill him.

“The ministers have begged His Majesty to have you removed for the stability of the throne. Please hide for a while, and when the time is right, you may return. Hurry, Your Highness.”

“Then what about you?”

“I will stay here. They won’t harm me.”

She had been like a mother to Louid, raising him from birth.

But she was old and frail, and even the young Louid knew it would be impossible for her to accompany him far.

“Very well. I understand. Please take care of yourself too, nanny.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Now go quickly.”

Louid picked up his sword and entered a secret passage beneath the palace known only to the direct members of the Imperial Family. Yet, from the moment he entered the passage to the moment he reached the rear gate, he encountered no one.

There were no guards even at the rear gate. The eerie stillness made him slow his steps.

‘Strange. Why is no one here?’

As he turned back from the rear gate, a group of masked men appeared and surrounded him at once.

“Who are you?” Louid shouted at them.

Without a word, the masked men swung their swords all at once. They were knights of House Berthe.

At fifteen years old, Louid fought with all his strength against dozens of knights.

Though hailed as a prodigy of swordsmanship since childhood, it was too much even for him to face so many highly trained knights alone.

“Stop.”

When Louid had already cut down half of them, a sharp voice rang out. From behind the knights emerged an old man with streaked blond hair and blue eyes.

“Duke Berthe, what is the meaning of this?”

Even while committing the grave crime of attempting to kill a member of the imperial family, the Duke revealed himself brazenly, as though certain Louid would die here.

“For the great sun of the Richert Empire, His Majesty Emperor William, and the newborn Crown Prince this year. You must die, Your Highness.”

“A twisted loyalty. Do you truly believe this is what my brother desires?”

Despite Louid’s question, Duke Berthe did not so much as blink.

“I only do what I believe to be right, Your Highness.”

“Enough nonsense.”

“Kill him.”

At the Duke’s command, the knights rushed him again. Louid’s body was already slashed and bleeding in many places.

His vision blurred. His sword strokes slowed, and his breathing grew labored.

“Huff… huff…”

Blood trickled from his mouth with each ragged breath.

“Your Highness!”

At that moment, two young knights burst in through the rear gate with swords drawn.

They were Alex and Aaron, who had trained in swordsmanship with Louid since childhood. They had been waiting with horses in the forest near the gate, and when Louid didn’t appear, they entered the palace in search of him.

With the skill of the two exceptional palace knights, the attackers were quickly forced back.

“Don’t let him escape. Kill them all!” Duke Berthe roared.

Just then—

“Stop! Stop at once!”

From the distance, Count Dalton came galloping in on horseback.

“What treachery is this, Duke?”

Moments later, he dismounted and shouted furiously.

“What right have you to interfere, Count?”

Duke Berthe’s voice thundered back in rage.

“By His Majesty’s order. Stop this at once.”

“……”

“His Majesty commands your immediate presence in the audience chamber, Duke.”

Duke Berthe glared at the bloodied Louid with eyes like a serpent.

In that time, Alex and Aaron carried the wounded Louid out through the rear gate.

Louid’s mother had become empress after receiving the Emperor’s favor only following the death of the former empress, so the Duke was not trying to remove Louid out of personal resentment.

He believed all of this was for the sake of his nephew William, who had just ascended the throne, and the Crown Prince born that year.

The Duke, as if regretful, cast a final glance toward the rear gate where Louid had vanished, then turned away.

That day, Alex and Aaron placed the injured Louid on a horse and rode to the safe place his nanny had prepared.

Louid remained hidden with them in secrecy.

A month after the Duke of Berthe’s attack, the Emperor named Louid Grand Duke and granted him land near the northern border.

The north was a harsh land, teeming with barbarians and monsters, but Louid had no choice but to accept.

For the next ten years, assassins kept coming to the north. Behind them was Duke Berthe and the groups who believed they had much to gain if they succeeded in killing the Grand Duke.

“Now, instead of assassins, he has sent his granddaughter. Greedy old man.”

Louid, recalling the past ten years, thought of Emilia, who so resembled Duke Berthe’s platinum blond hair and blue eyes.

The Emperor was his only blood relative and the one who had spared his life though he might have been a threat to the throne. He couldn’t disobey his brother’s command.

Louid read the Emperor’s letter once more.

[Until you consummate the marriage with Emilia and produce an heir, you are forbidden from taking part in any battles.

If you don’t produce an heir, I will pass the throne to Duke Berthe.]

To forbid the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Army from taking part in battles. That meant stripping him of military command, and that command would pass to Duke Berthe in place of the ailing Emperor. It was a transparent ploy to seize power from the weakening Emperor. And surely the Emperor’s order to consummate the marriage was also the Duke’s scheme.

‘Very well, I will consummate, Duke Berthe.’

With a bitter smile and eyes burning red with rage, Louid looked toward the annex where Emilia stayed.

***

Emilia was drawing dresses, something she had been unable to do for a while because of her injured wrist. Now the pain had gone and the wounds had healed well.

“Your Highness, tonight His Highness the Grand Duke will come to your chamber.”

Without even knocking, Helen burst into the workroom, panting as though she had run. Usually calm, she must have hurried.

Emilia dropped the pen from her hand. Black ink splattered across the paper.

“…Why?”

She turned a dazed face toward Helen, confused as to why Louid would come to her chamber.

“For consummation, of course.”

Helen answered quickly, as if Emilia’s question was foolish. Her face, however, was filled with delight.

“Consummation?”

Emilia repeated loudly in shock.

Consummation? What was this nonsense? Surely he did not intend to spend the night with her as husband and wife.

But nothing happened that time either.

She remembered the first night she and Louid had shared a bed without even holding hands.

It will be fine. His Highness the Grand Duke has no interest in me.

No, not merely no interest—he hated her. There was no way he would consummate the marriage.

“All right.”

Emilia gave Helen a short reply, quickly dismissed her worries, and sat back at her desk.

“His Highness the Grand Duke is coming to consummate, Your Highness.”

Helen repeated clearly, as if Emilia had not understood.

“I understand. Don’t worry,” Emilia replied in a calm voice without lifting her head.

“Yes, then after dinner I will prepare you.”

“Yes.”

Helen left quickly, and Emilia shrugged and immersed herself in her drawing again.

That evening, several maids came in and bathed her in water strewn with flower petals.

‘How excessive. He won’t even come near me, so what’s the point of all this?’

Emilia thought it all unnecessary. Even the petals seemed wasted. Still, sitting in warm water and being attended to by several people eased her fatigue and tension.

“Just for today. After this, I will bathe alone.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

To spend long hours preparing herself for a man who did not even treat her as a wife was a waste of time.

“Your skin is flawless. You don’t need makeup, Your Highness.”

“Thank you.”

After her bath, the maids dried her hair and rubbed scented oil onto her body. Emilia put on a thin slip and gown as they dressed her, then sat in the armchair before the fireplace.

“We should change the bedding, Your Highness. And the curtains too.”

While Emilia was being prepared, Helen bustled about the room, arranging the bed.

“It’s fine. Leave it.”

Emilia, flipping through Madame Bella’s catalog, answered indifferently.

When the wall clock struck midnight, Louid, dressed in a black gown, strode into the annex bedchamber. This time, he entered openly through the annex doors, not the secret passage.