CH 78

Chapter 78

Damon wouldn’t have known. In fact, Elysia didn’t reveal to anyone that she had bad digestion because she did not dare to reveal her weakness. What if the Countess knew that she would suffer if she skipped meals even for a day?

She would never have just let her go. Caitlin’s family was full of people who would exploit her weaknesses. There was no way she would foolishly open up about her weakness in such a place.

So, how did he know what only she knew…?

“…How do you know that?”

Even if he planted spies, it was difficult to know this. In the first place, as she lived in the Caitlin family, Elysia had a habit of hiding things about herself. In that place, the more she revealed herself, the more disadvantageous she was.

“Haven’t you been examined by a doctor?”

“Doctor…?”

“The Grand Duchy’s personal doctor.”

When she was working hard on bridal classes with Estelle, she remembered being examined by a doctor. Of course, she thought it was a member of the County. Even if not, it was not just some doctor anyone could call. She never expected to be the Grand Duchy’s personal doctor.

At that time, she wasn’t the Grand Duchess yet, so of course, she hadn’t even thought that far. Still, she had memories of getting examined in great detail.

“Besides, when the wife goes hungry, you immediately go to look for digestive medicine, right?”

She took digestive medicine to make it not as apparent as possible though she didn’t think it would all end up in his ears. In the early days, when she was just starting to eat, it was painful for her to eat. As a result, she secretly skipped meals.

But if she skipped one meal, the next meal was difficult.

“I know you took a lot of digestive medicine in the early days.”

“Ah…”

Elysia didn’t even know that it was the Grand Duchy’s doctor, and she had called the doctor several times. She called the doctor once when she couldn’t stand it…

“And at the time, the wife was in very bad shape.”

When she got her first checkup, she could tell that her body was at its worst. At that time, she was too short, and her body was so skinny that she was hardly a grown woman. She still didn’t look particularly healthy, but she was much better than before.

“You need to simply eat fruit or soup.”

“I just woke up…”

It didn’t look like something was going to go right into her mouth now. And since she had woken up from a sound sleep, she had lost her appetite even more. Elysia knew she had to force herself to eat because even the doctor said she should eat a steady diet for at least a year.

“No, you can’t.”

Damon’s determined tone made her feel his will never to back down. Anyway, Elysia couldn’t go against his will. She must have lacked the strength to do so, so she had better avoid going against his heart.

“You need to eat and go for a walk.”

“At night…?”

If the suggestion to go for a walk had come from someone else’s mouth, it would have been an ordinary night’s walk, but it was different when it came to Damon. The moment it came out of his mouth, it was like a dangerous night out.

There was one reason why he usually went out at night.

…Murder.

“It’s not good to lie down right after eating.”

“N, no… Wouldn’t it be okay if I didn’t eat it?”

She’d rather have a stomach ache than take a night walk with him. Outdoors, she could disappear without a single soul noticing. As long as she was with him, any place was dangerous.

“Come on, eat.”

As expected, Elysia forcibly raised the spoon, as he did not pretend to hear her. She had absolutely no appetite, yet she was forced to eat. Even though she knew it was an act for her, she didn’t know why she wanted to deny it so much.

“Your Highness, I’ll take care of it, so you can leave…”

“You won’t eat when I leave, right?”

“No… no.”

She was hit on the head. Elysia was not going to eat when he left.

“I heard you didn’t eat secretly at the Count’s house, too.”

He was talking about when she would not eat a few times because the food she had to eat at every meal was burdensome… even such trivial things did reach his ears.

“If you don’t want to be sick tomorrow morning, go ahead and eat.”

While the words were an invitation, it was nothing more than a threat. It was such a feeling that if she said she wouldn’t eat more here, Damon would put it in her mouth.

“Yes…”

Elysia finally forced her mouth open and took the soup. It was still delicious but didn’t go over well.

“You should eat more.”

Just as she was about to put the spoon down after passing a spoonful, she heard Damon’s voice.

“Empty half the bowl.”

“Because I need to eat fruit, too—”

“You don’t have to eat fruit.”

Although Elysia tried her best to make sure she didn’t have to eat, it didn’t work. In the end, she was forced to eat the soup while Damon watched. She ate the soup, which she couldn’t seem to swallow over though it was somehow emptied. Perhaps it tasted good.

“You can stop eating now.”

It was only when the bottom was almost exposed that she was told to stop eating.

Elysia finally put the spoon down at his voice. Still, this was a lot of progress. Even though he was watching, she was able to eat without any problems. Of course, while she didn’t eat comfortably, at least she didn’t seem to get sick.

“Your Grace?”

“Are you not done eaten yet?”

Elysia’s eyes widened at the sight of Damon putting away the food so naturally. She thought he would call the employee.

“I-I’ll clean it up.”

She was horrified that it might have been Damon who brought the food. He had unintentionally pampered her.

To have Damon, no one else, served her…

“Wife, sit down. You’re going out for a walk, so you might want to change your clothes.”

“No…”

“It’s cold outside, unlike indoors.”

Come to think of it, she was now wearing a thin indoor dress. She could have called Chloe or Rachel, but she didn’t want to call them this evening. Elysia realized she had been asleep longer than she thought. At this time, most of the Grand Duchy would have been ready to go to sleep.

She soon headed to the dressing room.

* * *

“Why is it so hard to find a shawl?”

It was good that she barely entered the dressing room, but it was quite a struggle to find a shawl among these numerous piles of clothes. Since she didn’t know where anything was yet, she probably wouldn’t remember even if she was told. That was how many clothes there were.

After searching for a while, she found what appeared to be a shawl.

“A night walk with Damon….”

Even if she tried to hold her heart to the fact that she would be fine, she still wanted to avoid it. It would have been a disaster if it wasn’t a normal night walk. Honestly, she couldn’t imagine him just taking a walk.

“Wife? Are you done?”

“Ah, yes!”

She didn’t wear much because it was just a shawl.

“Why aren’t you changing your clothes?”

“I’m too lazy to change…”

“I’ll call the maid right now.”

“No! It’s okay.”

It was because she was really bothered to change. The lives of nobles were more uncomfortable than expected.

Before, she rarely changed her clothes… well, she also had no clothes to change, of course. However, after becoming the Grand Duchess, things changed. Thanks to the overflow of clothes, she had to change clothes often, so Elysia changed her dress at least twice a day.

“Let’s go.”

While she didn’t know what to say when he asked her to go, she wondered why she was getting caught up in his pace.

“The garden isn’t all tidied up yet.”

“I heard they got a gardener, but I don’t think they started working yet.”

She recalled Julia talking about the garden yesterday, but she couldn’t quite remember. Elysia was so distracted many times that she didn’t even know what she was doing.

“Let’s go to the greenhouse.”

She insisted on going nearby, but in fact, they were going to walk a long way to get to the greenhouse. The Grand Duke’s castle was so large that the size of the garden was also large. It was so big that they had to ride a carriage to get around.

It was a forest, not a garden.

“Oh, Julia said the greenhouse was the worst…”

In fact, she was at a loss as they walked all the way to the conservatory, and she had to spend all the time walking there and back with Damon.

“It’s okay.”

Elysia was the one who was not okay as she wondered what kind of walk this was. Even though she only followed behind him, it was more like training than a walk.

“Wife?”

“Haa… Yes.”

Why did this guy have such long legs? When he took one step, it took her about three steps to catch up. In addition, his stride was so wide that it was difficult to follow. Unlike her, who was out of breath, his expression was so calm.

…It was embarrassing somehow.

“Looks like I was too fast.”

“No, it’s not…”

She said no, but she was taking in rough breaths. Why did he suddenly ask to go out for a night walk… Although she was not feeling well, her strength was not weakened by hard physical labor, but all of them were useless in front of him.

What was even more terrifying was that they were barely even halfway there. To get to the greenhouse, she had to walk further than she had come. Elysia didn’t really want to see the greenhouse.

Originally, while she wasn’t very inspired by flowers, she didn’t have enough time to live looking at them.

“I can go.”

Nothing hurt her pride more than saying she couldn’t do it here. She didn’t know since when night walks turned into exercise on a moonlit night.

“I don’t think it’s impossible.”

“No, I—!”

She was about to say it was okay when she felt her body being lifted. As her vision suddenly rose, she was cradled in his arms.

“Let’s go like this.”

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