Chapter 31

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***

Of course, Nelia was the one who made this decision.

The duke recalled the conversation he had with Nelia this morning.

‘I definitely want to continue this relationship. Get married and then become husband and wife.’

‘Oh, get married and then become husband and wife……. Excuse me?’

Nelia was greatly flustered upon the mention of marriage.

She just spent the night with him like a possessed person, so of course her feelings wasn’t ready for that.

Actually, marriage was half true and half a joke.

Nelia answered that she needed time to think. Duke Hart was grateful that she didn’t reject him right away.

He didn’t think he knew her well, but Nelia was actually very sweet. She couldn’t just leave such weak-hearted and miserable people.

Therefore, he wasn’t tempted to propose to her seriously in such an easy way. Just in case she accepted his proposal simply out of sympathy.

Even so, it is his sincere wish to stand by her side, but Nelia will soon wither. If he watched Nelia like that, he would also be tormented little by little.

It was a foolish decision to propose even after knowing how it would end up.

That’s why he wanted to propose confidently when Nelia didn’t feel pity for him at all.

Therefore, the curse had to be lifted beforehand.

He had never tried to think that he would solve the curse, but now he was dead serious. He had an expectation that he would be able to continue his normal life like Nelia and others once this curse was lifted.

Of course, like what he said to his mother, the revenge of his father is still hard to be left behind……

If he could spend a cozy and warm daily life with Nelia, he might not be as obsessed with his revenge anymore someday.

He harbored such a dim hope.

Then the duchess’ concerned voice rang in his ears.

“Is there any way?”

The duke nodded as he halted his deepening thoughts.

“Sigrid’s heart.”

The duchess looked in a daze for a moment. She asked again as if she finally returned to her senses.

“Do you believe…… that legend?”

“Mother, Sigrid’s heart actually exists somewhere.”

Sigrid’s heart.

Sigrid hid his heart before dying and said he would grant the wishes of the person who found it.

The duke actually wasn’t interested in lifting the curse at first. He simply recognized it because the emperor often brought it up.

However, while searching for the information, he thought it was not a ridiculous legend.

Not only the Magic Tower, but the neighboring countries were already on the lookout for his heart as well. Obviously, no one has ever found it.

That is the reason he has a chance to look for it, too.

Being by the emperor’s side gave him a lot of chances to gather valuable information that wasn’t provided anywhere. Because the man was obsessed with finding his heart.

The position of the heart could be narrowed by combining the information.

“Yeah……. As if it can lift the curse, you’d better hope it’s somewhere.”

The duchess still didn’t seem to believe the existence of Sigrid’s heart.

But Duke Hart didn’t mind.

He was confident that he could find Sigrid’s Heart by any means.

No, he had to.

Because that’s the only way to break this damn curse.

***

Nelia met up with the duchess again that evening and they talked about a lot of things during dinner.

There was a prejudice that the duchess, as the only duchess of the empire, would be overly classy and graceful, and edgy.

However, she turned out to be very polite and courteous as they talked by day.

She was troubled when thinking about the scary mother of the male lead in the morning drama.

“Lady Nelia, although it was a short meeting, it was really nice to meet you.”

Contrary to her expectation that the duchess would stay for a week since she didn’t see her son in a long time, the duchess returned to the duchy the day after her visit.

The duke and Duchess Hart had a much more awkward relationship than what she expected. She sketchily expected it like that when seeing Duke Hart talked about his mother, but what caught her off guard was the duchess.

Although Duke Hart was her only child, she had to say that his mother treated him freely…… so, she felt that they were very close and comfortable, but there were moments when they looked strangely awkward with each other.

Nelia thought it was just because she hadn’t seen him in a long time.

“If by any chance Shilian troubles you, send me a letter. I will scold him for you.”

Nevertheless, she was a pleasant person to talk to.

Nelia smiled lightly.

“Yes, I’ll keep it in mind.”

the duchess smiled kindly and turned to Duke Hart.

“Shilian, get along well with Lady Nelia.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

The greeting was very short.

The duchess entered the carriage.

This is off topic but the carriage was very big and nice-looking. There seemed to be more horses compared to the ordinary wagons, she thought this kind of wagon was made so that people could arrive at their destination more comfortably and quickly.

When the carriage departed, Duke Hart’s hand disappeared over Nelia’s shoulder. It looked as if he wrapped it around her shoulders.

“Nelia, shall we go in?”

Turning around, she saw the duke smile affectionately. Nelia replied in a low voice.

“Yes……”

She was very nervous because it was just the two of them now.

“We still have a conversation that couldn’t be continued because of my mother, right?”

As expected, the duke didn’t forget about it.

Nelia knew the duke would attempt to talk about marriage properly with her after the duchess returned to the duchy.

She did ask for time for herself, but he shouldn’t have fallen for that single word.

It came as a surprise to her knowing the duke thought they should get married after spending a night together.

‘I didn’t expect him to be so conservative.’

During that situation, she already knew that she would be the j*rk between them if she answered with, ‘How can we get married after spending simply one night together?’

He really didn’t know anything about people. She was even worrying about the villain. As she walked while losing herself in her thoughts, she arrived at the familiar room.

The study, the room only for Duke Hart and Nelia.

Nelia sat on the sofa anxiously. This fluffy sofa felt hard today.

“Nelia, you don’t have to be too nervous.”

The duke assured Nelia with a light smile. He was too aware of my mental state at times.

“I don’t intend to push the marriage.”

He knew what was on her mind.

But it was weird.

It was yesterday that he pressed her to get married, but his attitude changed a lot in just a day.

Did the duchess say something else to him?

“Like Nelia said, marriage is something we should be careful about.”

“……. That’s right.”

“Yes, I was too hasty. I didn’t mean to blurt it out rashly.”

“Then……. You mean the marriage you talked about the other day is never going to happen?”

“I think it’s better to postpone it for now, rather than treating it as something that will never happen.”

She welcomed the decision for now, although it sounded vague.

Nelia was a bit suspicious of his attitude, which changed in just a day, but it allowed her for a while.

In the meantime, she told herself to not fall for Duke Hart’s tricks again……

“Then, Nelia. Please take good care of me tonight.”

“Yes……?”

As soon as she resolved her anxious mind, dangerous words tumbled out of Duke Hart’s mouth.

He’s saying to take good care of him tonight……?

As if knowing what’s on Nelia’s mind, he calmly added an explanation.

“I have to run a test with you to see if I return to my human form. I have to go to the palace starting next week.”

“Oh…… I understand.”

Then he should have said it earlier. She almost remembered the dizzying and pleasurable night they shared the other day.

From now on, she had to be careful as to not fall for the duke’s seduction.

“Nelia patted my head yesterday and I returned to my human form after that.”

Nelia remembered the moment when Duke Hart returned to his human form yesterday. She was stroking the snake’s bald head out of pity and he changed back to his human form.

“Yes, I also thought the same.”

“Let’s do it the same way today.”

Nelia nodded.

It wasn’t a difficult thing to do, and it would be such a relief if he was able to return by just that.

Nelia replied with a lighter mind.

“Good idea.”

***

After work, Nelia and Duke Hart finished their dinner.

The dish for today was veal steak with oysters, which has a wonderful taste.

Due to that, the dish disappeared quickly from the plate.

The capital of the Andrian Empire was originally located inland, thus making it difficult to get seafood. Oysters are high quality ingredient.

But it was a lot easier to get when she stayed in the duke’s mansion. Sometimes, she wondered if he had something like a magic pocket and everything immediately came out of it.

She knew Duke Hart was rich, but she felt as if she couldn’t measure the depth of his wealth at times. It was because when she stayed in the mansion, she sometimes found out things that were exorbitantly expensive. Although she had no idea about expensive stuff, she often overheard people, who came as Duke Hart’s guest, opened their mouths in awe as they admired stuff around the mansion.

Even now, paintings were hung all over the wall on their way upstairs.

Nelia asked Duke Hart, her eyes trained on the painting.

“Do you like to collect paintings?”

“It’s not for fun, but……. I just buy it regularly at auction.”

Then, what is it, if you go there to buy those on a regular occasion?

I don’t particularly like paintings, but I buy stuff that I think are worth buying.”

“Is it some sort of investment?”

The duke shook his head.

“No. If I have to explain it, I might say it’s like…….. An instinct.”

Nelia pondered about his vague explanation.

……She thought it’s just like a shopping addiction.

Nevertheless, it didn’t matter because he did it all for himself.

Nelia, who reached the fourth floor, quickly put aside the thoughts about how much fortune the duke actually had. She pulled the duke on his arm right before they walked past her room.

“Your Grace, please do it in my room today.”

She couldn’t be alone with the duke in the room where they spent a hot night together.

Actually, she was perturbed at the thought that they have to be alone, but she thought it would be better to do it in her room.

The duke nodded without hesitation.

“Yes, that will do.”

Nelia nodded and opened the door. Although they were in a different room, she felt anxious again seeing the bed.

She sat down at the table in the corner of the room, attempting to pretend to be fine.

She waited for the duke to turn into a snake in the bed yesterday, but now that she thought about it, she didn’t have to wait in the bed.

But the duke didn’t seem to agree.

“Why aren’t you in bed today?”

“I prefer to sit here. It has nothing to do with the duke anyway.”

Duke Hart obediently took a seat across from Nelia, thinking that she probably felt wary around him.

A moment of silence engulfed them.

Nelia hurriedly started a conversation as she didn’t want to remain quiet while waiting for the duke to turn into a snake. The topic was still related to earlier.

“I want to hear about Your Grace’s ancestors.”

She was wondering with that question in mind while looking at the painting earlier.

What the h*ll have they done to accumulate so much fortune?

“You want to hear about the Hart Family’s ancestors?”

“Yeah. Such as, how you got the title of a duke.”

She couldn’t ask directly how they had become so rich, so she attempted to ask about the history of the duchy first. From there, she could gather the information related to it.

She wasn’t extremely curious about the secret behind the duke’s fortune, but it was a great story to pass the time.