Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The duke listened quietly to the owner. Leoness Empire has no spicy food after all.

However, it is naturally something that has ended up distributed in the empire because it is not part of the neighboring countries.

And at the center of the empire, the duchy is located at the center of it. It is a place where various kinds of food are gathered, and the spices are also diverse.

I listened to the owner and grabbed a bottle of black pepper separately. The reason behind it was because I wanted to go home and show it to Lucian.

“I’ll take one separately, so charge the receipt properly.”

“Yes, milady.”

The owner, who diligently packed the spices, gave me a bag of spices, saying it was free service. I then put my hand in the container to grab a pinch and smelled it.

Oh, this is the pepper they have here.

“It’s a good quality pepper. But I can’t help but be nervous as the most powerful Duke, in this country that produces these peppers, is here.”

But the owner of this spice shop actually appealed to me.

The money is being spent by the duke, but he seems to have quickly noticed that I am the person he should actually try to sell to.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The owner had a charming smile and gave me a tip.

“There is a small but fairly spicy restaurant just a short distance from here. Would you like me to introduce them to you?”

What, there is a spicy restaurant here?

I didn’t think that there would be a place that sells spicy dishes in the Empire because I only went to the streets especially for aristocrats each time.

In that area, there were only teahouses, dessert shops, or professional restaurants with course menus on the streets for the aristocrats.

I looked at the Duke right after hearing the owner. The duke smiled when he saw my sparkling eyes.

“I didn’t know my daughter liked spicy food…”

I suppose so. I wouldn’t have liked it if I was originally from here.

But I’m Korean.

If I can’t eat spicy food for a day, I’ll probably get sick!

Shooting a begging look towards him, I pleaded with the Duke with my hands clasped together.

“I was so curious when I read about it in a book.”

The Duke’s eyes closed for a moment as if my cute pleading was too much for him to withstand.

The duke then held my hand. The servant behind us handed the gold coin to the owner and packed the sauce.

“Thanks to my daughter, it’s my first time eating spicy food.”

He said and then we exited out of the store happily. The place the owner told us about was not far away, but it was inside an alley, so we had a little trouble finding it.

But the familiar scent that was stabbing at my nose had already made my mouth water.

I was rushing towards the shop, but someone pretended like he knew us.

“Long time no see, Duke.”

Oh? That’s a familiar voice. Who is it?

I could not remember immediately, but I turned my head to look for the source of the familiar voice.

Then I found a completely forgotten figure who was opening their mouth.

When I looked at my uncle, who still couldn’t control his cunning expression, I frowned slightly.

It is not a busy street, and thus it is very suspicious to run into someone familiar in such a small alley.

How long has it been? A little over 2 years?

I don’t think it has been a long time since I saw him, but my uncle’s face looked strange.

Did he lose weight? He does look thinner than before.

I really thought my father’s brother was more similar looking to him than this. The only thing that actually looked alike was their purple eyes, now that I looked at him closer.

The duke also felt suspicious, and he pulled my hand to move me behind his back. With his hand swiftly moving me, I quickly stepped back.

“What are you doing here?”

“Ha ha, I happened to have something to do, but by chance I’ve met you on the way.”

It makes this situation even more suspicious if he says it like that!

I was also being vigilant and stared at him from behind the Duke, then our eyes met for a split second. I immediately felt goosebumps all over my body after that.

My uncle quickly ran over me with a completely different look than when he looked at the Duke.

It felt like he was evaluating a piece of meat that is on display at a butcher’s shop.

Regardless of the quality of the meat, how much would it cost if it’s this big? To put it simply, it made me feel dirty.

Then the duke replied in a dreary voice.

“If it’s a coincidence, just pass by. Don’t get in our way.”

“……….but you took my niece, how can I just pass by.”

“Now she’s my daughter. Not your niece.”

“Biologically, I’m her uncle. Why are you trying to cut off our blood relation!”

No, why are you suddenly raising your voice? Are you going against my Duke?

As he got closer and closer to us, the more my uncle began to complain.

“Even if I want to see my niece, what can i do if you don’t even let me pass on a letter? I can’t even imagine how upset my late brother would be to know about this. I’m Rachel’s uncle. I have every right to see her!”

What does this mean? Did he send me a letter?

I didn’t notice what was happening behind me, as my thoughts were muddled by the words of my uncle, who was talking about things I didn’t know.

As soon as the Duke turned his head away from my uncle, someone covered my mouth.

“Uhmf!”

“Rachel!”

“Hey!”

My uncle pushed the Duke. The Duke was trying not to let go of my hand, but it was impossible.

The servant who was following behind us had already fallen onto the road, holding his stomach. His blood was flowing down his body.

“Ugh!”

The duke is a man who is not that knowledgeable about swords.

However, even if the duke notices this flaw this late, the ability of the person who is trying to run off with me is not normal.

In addition, the duke did not bring a single sword. It was because I always made him leave his sword when we were having an outing.

I was dragged away and didn’t turn my eyes away from the Duke. My uncle was kicking the fallen Duke as if he had lost his mind.

Are you crazy? How dare you attack the Duke of the Empire like that?

“Argh! I feel better.”

My uncle looked at me. He looked so mean.

Then he stared somewhere in the alley and began to grovel.

“I kept my promise. So please keep yours.”

I took my eyes off my servile uncle and looked at the Duke.

He was clearly in pain, but his eyes were clearly stuck on me.

The Duke silently mouthed some words to me.

‘Don’t worry.’

Under the current circumstances, the Duke will not be able to use his hands. I am more worried about him than I am about myself.

It is much earlier than the original, but I already knew about my kidnapping. And the Duke gets seriously hurt when he kidnaps me.

I tried to shake my hand free, but before I knew it, my wrist was restrained. I felt goosebumps when a cold iron thing touched my skin.

Taking advantage of the absence of the hand that was covering my mouth, I shouted as much as I could.

“Run away, Duke!”

The Duke’s eyes opened widely due to my words. At the same time, the man who lifted me cruelly covered my mouth with a damp handkerchief.

A bad scent filled my nose and my mind rapidly became blurry.

I wouldn’t turn on the Duke until he no longer lived.

I hope you don’t get hurt…

I resented myself for not being able to properly prepare for this incident because I was too concerned about my best friend.

[T/n: she regarded spicy food as her best friend]

As I watched the duke as my consciousness faded, he grabbed my uncle’s leg and knocked him down,

Then everything went dark.

Lucian was quietly transcribing in the study.

There are only a few books left on the history of the Leoness Empire, which boasts a long history of a thousand years. It’s been a long-standing well regarded book.

He diligently copied it with the thought that it would be possible to be finished by the end of today. And he often thought of Rachel.

What is that child doing by now?

He knew she went out with his father. At first, he couldn’t stand the child because he was jealous of her.

He wanted to go out with his father too, but he couldn’t bear to speak to his cold hearted father.

Instead, now it was the other way around. Lucian envied his father.

He also wanted to go out with Rachel. It would be really nice to eat delicious food and go see good things with his younger sister.

That’s what Noah, who he met recently at a salon, said.

Younger sisters are weak to cute things. I’m telling you.

Then shouldn’t I give something cute to Rachel as a gift?

He wanted to give her a gift because he only got stuff from his younger sister each time.

“Hmm.”

With only a few lines left in the last chapter, Lucian briefly took his pen off the paper.

It was because he couldn’t quite think of something that Rachel might like.

His younger sister caught on to what he really liked quite easily. Even if he didn’t say anything, she guessed everything from his favorite food to his preferred tea.

Among them, his favorite was the nut cookie that his sister made herself.

He thought for a moment and grabbed the pen once again. He wanted to finish copying it neatly until the end.

When he was concentrating on writing the last line, the outside of the mansion became noisy.

A series of unusual shouts from the knights and horse galloping began to be heard.

Something’s off. It was the first disturbance like this in his whole life.

No, it was similar to the scene when his father went out to kill monsters one day when he was younger.

He didn’t think they’re going to kill some monsters, but still why are the knights moving in groups?