The Cold-Hearted Grand Duke Obsesses Over Me After My Death - Chapter 39

Episode 39. Because She Is the Bride His Majesty Chose

“Ow, my legs…”

The next morning, from the moment she opened her eyes, her whole body felt as if it had been beaten. Every muscle and joint in her body screamed in pain.

“Ow… Do I have to ride again today when I’m this sore?”

Her arms wouldn’t lift, and her legs were too stiff to move. A sigh escaped her lips on its own.

“Your Highness, His Highness the Grand Duke has ordered you to come to the training ground this morning.”

Helen, who had brought her breakfast, delivered the thunderous news.

“…Why?” Emilia opened her blue eyes wide and asked.

“I’m not sure… He just said to come in light clothes.”

“……”

At those words, even her head, which hadn’t been hurting, began to ache. She couldn’t disobey the Grand Duke’s order. Reluctantly, she put on pants and a blouse and went to the training ground.

Louid and the knights were already practicing there. Emilia sat on the stone steps of the stands and watched their training.

When Louid swung his sword with lightning speed, the knights fell one after another. His sword moved too fast to see, leaving only a streak of blue light behind.

“Wow…”

Her mouth fell open as she watched the sparring. Louid was single-handedly facing nearly a hundred knights.

After the knights all collapsed, Louid turned his head toward the stands without a trace of fatigue. Then he gestured for her to come down. Still stunned by his skill, Emilia slowly descended the steps with a bright expression.

“Emilia, today you’ll practice swordsmanship.”

At Louid’s thunderous words, her face twisted instantly.

“What? Sword… swordsmanship? How could I possibly do that?” She blinked rapidly as she spoke.

“Do you think you’ll survive just by running? You must know how to use a sword too.”

“Wouldn’t it be enough if I just run away well?” she asked with a serious face.

“From today, you’ll do other training too.”

Louid ignored her protests and thrust a child’s wooden sword into her hands.

“Watch closely and follow along.”

At his signal, the youngest knight, a big man, stepped forward and demonstrated with his sword. He was Emilia’s guard knight.

Emilia had no choice but to hold the wooden sword and slowly mimic the knight’s movements. But because of the aftereffects of horseback training, she could hardly lift her arms.

“Emilia, swordsmanship is not dancing.”

When she clumsily followed the knight’s moves in an awkward posture, Louid scolded from where he stood watching.

“I know.”

Emilia barely held back the urge to shout and replied in a small voice.

The knights who had fallen in sparring earlier stood at a distance, watching them with interest.

Louid bit his lip at her posture, looking like a squirrel struggling to hold a skewer.

From what he had observed, Emilia knew nothing of the ways of the world.

She boasted that she would live alone far away after divorce, but she didn’t realize how dangerous that was.

Though he intended to divorce her as contracted, at the very least, he planned to teach her to defend herself.

“From today, you’ll take responsibility for teaching her!”

Louid ordered the youngest knight to instruct Emilia.

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“No, wait, Your Highness, please listen—”

Emilia called after him in a hurry, but Louid pretended not to hear and strode off toward the building beside the training ground.

“Your Highness, spread your legs wide and bend your knees.”

The stance the young knight demonstrated was not at all graceful. Though reluctant, she followed as he did.

“Ow, it hurts.”

Her thighs,  strained from riding the day before, ached terribly.

“Raise the sword in your right hand, spread your left arm, and step forward two steps, then back two steps.”

The knight drilled her in the basic stance for about two hours.

“Advance forward, Your Highness.”

“Step back, Your Highness.”

“A thrust to the upper body.”

“A thrust to the whole body.”

“A slash.”

Emilia had to thrust and slash a wooden practice dummy hundreds of times. Though simple movements, for someone whose only activity had been kneading bread dough, it was far from easy.

“Huff…”

Groans escaped her mouth naturally. Even the young knight, despite being big and still boyish in face, showed no mercy. He didn’t give her a moment’s rest.

“Hah… hah… Let’s do it tomorrow instead.”

“His Highness ordered me to teach you intensively…”

At her words, the young knight trailed off.

“Of course, there’s a limit. How can someone who has never exercised in her life learn swordsmanship in a single day?”

“That’s true… Then, shall we practice tomorrow morning at dawn?”

“Um, excuse me, Sir Knight.”

“Please lower your words, Your Highness. And my name is Jamie.”

He had become Emilia’s guard knight not long ago, but due to his taciturn nature, he usually stayed silent when the other knights spoke. This was the first time she had had a proper conversation with him.

“Sir Jamie. I absolutely cannot wake up at dawn.”

She had always needed her sleep. Even if Louid commanded, there was no way she would rise at dawn to train.

“Then what time would be suitable for you?”

“From ten to twelve in the morning, just two hours. I can’t spare more than that.”

“Yes, then I will see you tomorrow at ten, Your Highness.”

Jamie accepted her suggestion bluntly, then politely bowed to her.

“Harsh.”

Emilia shook her head as she watched Jamie walk away.

Louid stood on the third floor of the building beside the training ground, looking out the window. His gaze was fixed on Emilia.

Alex, who was watching beside him, asked, “Don’t you think you’re being too harsh? Has Her Highness ever even held a fruit knife before?”

“That’s why she must be taught. She mustn’t get hurt…”

“Because it would be troublesome if she got hurt?”

“…She’s the bride His Majesty chose, isn’t she? She must not die,” Louid answered with a cold expression.

“Is that the only reason?”

“…That’s all. There’s no other reason.”

He spoke as if vowing to himself, staring at Emilia returning to her quarters.

***

“Levi, Levi. Come here.”

That afternoon, Emilia went to see Levi, holding a bottle of milk and shaking it before his eyes. She had given the name Levi to the creature born from the monster egg.

“Kki… kki…”

Levi waddled toward her. It looked like a red duck walking.

“So cute.”

According to Aaron, Levi was slow to grow for a monster. Monster hatchlings usually grew quickly, but Levi was still the size of a large duck.

But even in its small body, it had a fierce temper, intimidating the soldiers with surprising aggression. Yet when Emilia approached, it cried pitifully as if it were a different creature altogether.

‘Couldn’t I raise it as my companion monster?’

Emilia wanted to take Levi with her when she left the Grand Duke’s castle after divorce.

These days, Levi was being trained to leap onto wooden posts. Flapping its small wings, it would almost reach the post but slip down again and again. Its lack of athletic ability seemed just like hers.

Emilia watched Levi’s training for quite a while.

***

A few days later, Emilia visited the boutique to deliver the clothing designs she had been working on.

“Welcome, Your Highness.”

Bella greeted her warmly. The two sat facing each other on the sofa in the reception room.

“How have you been?”

“Well, thanks to Your Highness, I’ve been busy. Orders have been pouring in. I’ll need you to design more from now on.”

Since nobles never wore dresses of the same style, each design had to be different. Bella hinted with a laugh, subtly pressing her.

“We needed more seamstresses, so I hired more, and the townspeople are pleased that jobs have increased.”

“That’s good news.”

At the report of more jobs for the townspeople, Emilia’s expression brightened.

“And this time, we distributed the catalog to all the noble families in the Empire.”

“Really? I’ve caused you trouble.”

“Not at all. It’s also a profitable business for us. Here is this month’s earnings, Your Highness.”

Bella handed her a heavy pouch of gold coins.

“Thank you.”

Emilia received the pouch with a gentle smile. Though the endless work was tiring, she felt happy. She asked Helen to deposit the coins at the bank under an alias.

While Helen went with a knight to the bank, Emilia sipped tea and looked through the catalog. Seeing her own designs featured there made her shoulders lift and her mood brighten.

***

A few days later, on a day when the northern air—where winter lingers for half the year—was slowly beginning to warm, a large gray carriage bearing the Dalton family crest stopped in front of the Grand Duke’s castle.

A moment later, a man with shoulder-length golden hair and light purple eyes stepped out of the carriage. Asher didn’t enter the castle, but stood where he was, staring at it.