Chapter 9

Second method. Recognized as the Duke’s Wife (2)

The Duke was approaching without saying hello, without a wink, or without any expression. He was so big that it felt threatening just to come close. I had no idea what the approaching Duke meant without a word.

In the confusion, I thrust out Carl at him. With the green eyes of Merilyn, Carl saw his father, who gave him his black hair. The Duke, who was approaching, stopped walking when I put the child out in front of him.

“Give him a hug!”

The Duke held Carl in his arms vaguely, as if he were not a fool. The Duke’s outfit, dressed in hard armor and cape, seemed to make Carl puzzled by the stiff chest as usual. Carl’s brackish hand felt the Duke’s cold armor, and the fur wrapped around Carl loosely flowed down because the Duke clumsily hugged him.

Oh, no, no matter what, people who watch know how to do it. I quickly approached and closed up Carl’s fur a little tighter. When he felt my touch, Carl opened his arms toward me and hugged me without any hesitation. The Duke lowered his hand awkwardly and glanced at me and Carl.

“Why didn’t you hug your father a little when he was going far away. Huh? You have to say goodbye to your father.”

Carl just smiled brightly. Indeed, I don’t know if Carl had the idea that the Duke was his father. Maybe he’s a stranger. I had to raise my head to see the Duke’s face up close. The duke, who had seemeda little scary for a while, that I couldn’t even see his face properly due to my status.

Um…

He was much more handsome than I thought. His skinny, long neck and a hard, clear jawline were visible. The sculpted handsome man, who had no embarrassing features frome head to toe, also had a high nose.

“Well, then, Duke-”

The Duke lowered his upper body and suddenly thrust his handsome face into me. I stepped back half a step without realizing it, but a cold, hard hand wearing a gantlet wrapped around my shoulder.

“Ah,”

“I’ll be back, Madam.”

The Duke’s face came very close to my face. I made eye contact with his face close enough to know what color his eyes were. The Duke’s eyes were violet-like, pretty purple. Merilyn’s green eyes are also very pretty, but it was such a beautiful color that it was regrettable that Carl did not inherit them.

“You can call me Gellerhard in front of others.”

It didn’t really mean much for a wife to call her husband’s name, but it meant a lot between me and the Duke. Everyone in the Duchy knew that we were just a couple on paper and that I was here to raise Carl. The fact that I could call the Duke by his name, that I could call the Duke’s name affectionately in front of others, was a sign that he cares about me and respects me.

“Yes.”

Maybe it’s the advice of an aide who whispered to the Duke before I approached him. Until he heard my answer, the Duke did not lift his face, and the breath he exhaled touched me. He slowly raised his head from me, I stopped breathing for fear that my breath would reach him, and he left me frozen close to him.

“Sigh.”

I breathed out the last breath and hugged Carl. The Duke turned back to the horse and mounted it nicely, and I slowly moved away from him and into the castle.

My heart pounded loudly and my cheeks flushed for no reason.

Oh man, my heart is squeezing.

Entering the castle angily, I was surprised to hear that the Duke and I looked like we were kissing. Maybe that’s what he meant. Though in actuality his lips didn’t even touch my cheek, what others knew as a kiss was better for me.

* * *

Before leaving for the border, the Duke personally established my prestige, and thanks to the maid and two nannies who saw how devoted I was to Merilyn during the winter, and how well Carl followed me, the castle where the Duke left was hierarchized around me, the new Duchess.

However, those who had bad thought about me disapproved of me showing my face to the ceremony, wearing Merlin’s clothes, and showing off my affection with the Duke on the spot. They accused me of being an insidious woman who waited for Merilyn’s death to take her place.

The second Duchess, Carlos’ stepmother, was a position cursed in many ways. Doesn’t matter you’re good or bad. If you do well, they will nitpick, and if you can’t… Your position will be criticized.

But I had no choice but to try. For Carl, who smiles brightly in my arms, looking for my arms more than a nanny or others, and smiling at me. For Merilyn, who had no choice but to leave this pretty child behind.

As soon as I became a Duchess, Count Petrika recommended a Countess as my lady in waiting with a letter of comfort to me who was cursed from all sides. It is said that her husband was the late Count Blone, a noble lady of a County on the border. She was an old woman who had a great knowledge of preparing and organizing for wars that broke out on the border side, and was still in the border area helping her daughter-in-law and son. Count Petrika said that there would be no one to teach and help the Duchess as well as the work to do in wartime and to set up a castle.

A young girl who was born as a Viscount’s daughter, and who had only learned the level of homemaker her mother raised, I did not have the talent to raise the household of a Duke. Furthermore, the Duke of DeMancier was on display every year. Therefore, I gladly accepted the recommendation of Count Petrika and asked Lady Blone to teach me and brought her to the Duke’s castle. Lady Blone, who was difficult to bring at the recommendation of Count Petrika, sometimes showed disapproval of my lack of knowledge as a Duchess, but she actively helped me. Because she also understood the situation that the Duke and I were in.