The Cold-Hearted Grand Duke Obsesses Over Me After My Death - Chapter 44

Episode 44. Deep Doubts

“Uh…, I was just… trying to brush off the dust….”

Louid, unable to pull back his hand, made an awkward excuse with a stiff smile. His ears turned as red as ripe tomatoes. Though he slept in Emilia’s bedroom every night, she didn’t know it. He thought now she had completely caught him.

“I beat Count Asher today.”

Emilia suddenly spoke upon opening her eyes. Looking closely, he saw her gaze was unfocused. She was still dreaming.

“…Really? Well done.”

Louid, who had frozen for a moment, whispered softly at her words and patted her shoulder.

As he relaxed and patted her gently, Emilia slowly closed her eyes. Soon she was breathing deeply in slumber.

“Whew… it was just sleep talking.”

Louid let out a sigh of relief. He had truly only meant to brush her hair aside, but she might have misunderstood his actions. And his nightly visits might have been discovered.

He patted her shoulder a few more times and then closed his eyes. As long as he was beside her, both his insomnia and headaches vanished. After a while, the sound of their even breathing filled the bedroom.

A week later. Emilia saw Asher off in the lobby early in the morning as he departed for the capital.

“Your Highness, I’ve rested well. I’ll see you again next time.”

“It’s a shame you’re leaving so soon, Count.”

Emilia couldn’t hide her regret. She had enjoyed his company during the week he stayed, and it felt like parting with a kindred friend.

“I’m sad as well, Your Highness. Next time we meet, please call me Asher.”

Asher also looked reluctant to leave. As the foreign minister of the Richert Empire, he had duties at the imperial palace. He couldn’t remain at the Grand Duke’s castle any longer.

“All right, I will.”

Asher gently took Emilia’s left hand and placed a light kiss on the back of it. Watching silently, one of Louid’s eyebrows twitched.

“Your Highness, I’ll see you in the capital.”

“Very well. Travel safely.”

After greeting Louid, Asher climbed into a carriage marked with the Dalton family crest. He waved from the window as it rolled away from the castle. Emilia kept waving until the carriage disappeared from sight.

“Are you that sad?”

Louid’s blunt voice asked her as she lingered with a forlorn look.

“He seems like a good man, but I probably won’t see him again after a while.”

Answering with a sorrowful expression, Emilia turned back toward the main building in silence.

“….”

By “after a while,” she surely meant after the divorce. Louid quietly watched her as she walked into the lobby.

***

“Your Grace, it’s Simon.”

“Come in.”

The old man seated in a splendid chair looked at the butler. His white hair was thinning, and his wrinkled face was colorless, but his blue eyes glowed sharply.

“How is Damian doing?”

The old man’s voice was ice-cold.

“…The same, Your Grace.”

“One of them should have died, but since Emilia was revealed, Damian will have to be the one to die.”

“….”

At the duke’s words, Simon’s body began to tremble.

“Reduce his meals and make sure he doesn’t go outside.”

“Yes, understood.”

“If he stubbornly keeps on living, I’ll take other measures.”

“O-other measures, Your Grace?” Simon asked with a shocked face.

“Get poison. One that can’t be detected.”

“…Yes, understood, Your Grace.”

Leaving the duke’s office, Simon descended the stairs with a heavy heart and a troubled expression.

He recalled the events of eighteen years ago. Lady Emilia and Young Master Damian had first come to the duke’s mansion when they were two years old.

“Lock them in the tower.”

Duke Berthe gave the cold order with just that one phrase.

The twins’ mother, Marie, was a beautiful woman with pink hair and light blue eyes. Dave, the duke’s only son, had fallen in love with Marie at first sight when he saw the dancers perform at a festival. When his son declared he would marry a wandering dancer, the duke’s rage boiled over.

Dave severed ties with the duke and left the house, marrying Marie. Until Marie gave birth to the twins and died, the two of them had been truly happy.

Two years after Marie’s death, war broke out between the Empire and the Kingdom of Billiot. Feeling a sense of duty to his country, Dave returned to the family. He entrusted the children to the duke and went off to fight. Six months later, the only news that came back was that he had been killed in action.

Duke Berthe, who believed the superstition that the birth of twins would curse the family, despised them. Even now, he thought Dave had died because of the twins.

Hoping one of the children would die, the duke locked them away in separate towers. But contrary to his wishes, both children clung to life with their frail bodies.

Some time ago, Lady Emilia became the Grand Duchess and was able to leave the duke’s mansion. That left Damian alone, and the duke now hoped for his death.

‘If the young master keeps living, the duke will order him poisoned.’

To feed poison to the boy he had raised with his own hands… such a thing was unthinkable for any human being.

If the duke gave the order for poisoning, Simon decided he would simply report that he had done it. Except for the time when they had first come to the manor, the duke had never once looked upon the boy, and he never would.

‘He must escape.’

Simon began to plan Damian’s escape. For the first time, he was rebelling against the duke to whom he had always been obedient.

***

These days, Emilia’s schedule was packed every single day. She barely noticed how the hours passed.

She had to practice horseback riding, take Levi for walks, and design dresses. It felt like even if she had multiple bodies, it wouldn’t be enough. As a result, she often found herself dozing off in front of her desk.

She drank tea said to have awakening effects while she sketched designs for dresses.

Late at night, Louid came to Emilia’s bedroom and found her asleep, slumped over her desk. He carried her to the bed. Emilia often fell asleep at her desk these days.

Louid studied her complexion for a while, then lay down beside her.

Not long after he fell asleep, groaning sounds reached his ears.

“Ugh… ugh….”

Louid’s eyes snapped open.

Beside him, Emilia’s face was pale, and cold sweat streamed from her forehead.

“Emilia? Emilia?”

He reached out and shook her. Her forehead burned like fire under his palm.

“Ugh….”

No matter what he did, she wouldn’t wake, so Louid urgently pulled the bell rope. A servant on night duty rushed in.

“Did you call, Your Highness?”

“Fetch the physician. Right now.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The servant hurried out, and soon the physician came running. With a grave face, he examined the Grand Duchess carefully.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“It seems she’s collapsed from overwork. I’ll prescribe medicine to bring down the fever. She’ll need to be watched for several days.”

“…I understand.”

After the physician left, a maid entered carrying a tray with a cup of medicine.

“I’ll give it to her. Leave it here.”

“The physician said to make her drink more than half. Patients often resist, so he sent plenty just in case.”

“All right.”

Louid scooped up the medicine with a spoon and poured it into Emilia’s mouth.

“Mm.”

Though half-conscious, she grimaced at the bitter taste and let it spill from her lips.

“Swallow it. You’ll die if you don’t!”

Desperate, Louid shouted as he pushed spoon after spoon between her lips. But Emilia only moaned and wouldn’t swallow.

“Damn….”

Throwing the spoon aside, Louid filled his own mouth with medicine and pressed his lips to hers, holding them there until she swallowed it all. It was the same method he had often used to save comrades in war.

“You’ve become my comrade now, Emilia.”

With a bitter smile, he wet a clean cloth in the bathroom and laid it on her forehead.

‘Even without all this effort, she could live comfortably as the duke’s granddaughter….’

Even after divorce, she’d be able to live in luxury with what he planned to give her. It wasn’t greed driving her.

Emilia seemed different from other noble ladies.

Noble daughters usually grew up pampered, debuted when they came of age, and chose a husband. To marry into a good family, they adorned themselves, went to countless parties, and worked tirelessly to form connections with young noblemen. That was the most typical life for a noble lady.

After marriage, they became the mistress of a noble house, enjoying power and wealth in comfort.

‘Then why is Emilia working so hard?’

She couldn’t possibly expect to make much money from painting.

In the Richert Empire, painters rarely made a fortune except for a chosen few. While some noble ladies painted as a hobby, Emilia was far too earnest for it to be just that. Louid watched her ailing figure with deep doubts.