TGDWDS 40

Chapter 40

The Grand Duke held out his hand from below the carriage.

“I was waiting because I have something to give you.”

He was wearing only the same black shirt as before, apparently unaffected by the cold.

Just then, a chilly wind blew fiercely. It whipped through the Grand Duke’s black hair and shirt before reaching Anise.

Surprisingly, Anise found that she could endure it.

Although she had dressed more warmly than the day before, the cold against her skin no longer felt unfamiliar.

It had only been yesterday that she had shivered from the bitter cold.

I’ve actually gotten used to this place. And in just a few days.

Anise was inwardly amazed, but soon her expression hardened.

All of this stability—even the warm clothes—had come from the Grand Duke.

It wasn’t difficult to imagine what would happen if he withdrew his kindness.

“……Aren’t you getting down, Anise?”

The Grand Duke was waiting for her.

As if putting on a mask, Anise drew a smile over her face. She hid her true feelings and firmly steeled herself.

“Thank you.”

Only then did she take his hand as though she knew nothing.

Before the Grand Duke’s true face, hidden behind his kindness, is revealed, I need to safely distance myself from him.

“Let’s go up to my study for a moment.”

Anise entrusted Hayang to Sara.

“Go rest in the bedroom. I’ll be there soon.”

“Peep.”

Tall bookshelves, a large desk, chairs—everything in the study looked as though it had been stained completely black.

The moment Anise entered, the scenes in which she had encountered him in her dreams vividly resurfaced.

“……”

His cold tone and icy expression were crystal clear.

The harsh words the Grand Duke had spat at her echoed sharply in Anise’s ears.

“You sold your body to the Grand Duke’s family, but left your heart somewhere else. Is that it?”

“Troublesome? No. If anything, I’d call this utterly tiresome.”

Anise remained standing and closed her eyes for a moment.

Please, let the same thing not happen again.

Her anxious violet eyes slowly opened and immediately searched for the Grand Duke.

But he was already looking at her, his gaze seemingly having been fixed on her for some time.

“Are you all right? Ah. I wasn’t thinking. How about we rest today and talk tomorrow?”

The Grand Duke’s eyebrows drooped with concern.

As though trying to calm her unsettled heart, Anise shook her head.

“I’m fine, so tell me now. But please keep it brief.”

The Grand Duke watched her condition carefully before asking,

“……Would you like some warm tea?”

“No.”

Anise’s expression instantly hardened, and she gave him a sharp answer without hesitation.

“Forget the tea. What is it you wanted to give me?”

Her voice came out harsher than she intended.

Extremely sensitive at the moment, Anise didn’t even realize it.

The Grand Duke looked anxious.

Unable to answer immediately, he simply stared at her.

But Anise didn’t have the energy to worry about his state of mind.

She was tired from walking around the estate, and the scene from her dream had frightened her.

Considering every possible scenario, she spoke stiffly.

“If you have something to say, then say it. I’ll listen and go back to rest.”

“Ah…… yes. Understood.”

With a troubled expression, the Grand Duke took something out from inside his coat.

Anise’s brows drew together slightly.

“I was waiting to give you this.”

“What is it?”

In his hand was a thin bracelet.

Tiny magic stones had been set at intervals along its band.

“It’s an artifact bracelet that protects you from being affected by magic.”

Fortunately, things were unfolding differently from her dream.

But Anise still couldn’t let down her guard.

She slightly furrowed her brows and tilted her head.

“……Why are you giving this to me?”

She couldn’t understand why he was constantly so eager to give her things.

Nor could she figure out what he wanted in return.

Anise endured the pressure weighing down on her and looked at him.

The Grand Duke answered in a serious voice.

“You collapsed when you used the teleportation scroll, so I thought it would be best for you to be careful around strong flows of mana. That’s why I prepared this.”

“……”

Anise listened silently and thought over his words once again.

When she considered it objectively, he was right.

She had collapsed a few times, though she had never lost consciousness to the point where she couldn’t get back up.

Apparently, she had caused him quite a bit of trouble back then.

Perhaps that was why he had even gone so far as to give her an artifact.

The Grand Duke added an explanation.

“It’s similar to the temperature-control artifact I gave you before, so you should be able to use it without any difficulty.”

Anise stared quietly at the bracelet he held out.

It was made by delicately cutting rough magic stones into tiny beads and threading them together.

Small, softly glowing violet crystals were set at intervals along the silver chain.

The bracelet he had prepared looked expensive even at a glance.

Anise’s brows furrowed again.

Why is he taking care of me this much? What is he plotting……?

While Anise hesitated suspiciously, the Grand Duke suddenly looked troubled and cautiously asked,

“……If you don’t like it, I can have another design made.”

“No. There’s no need for that. It’s pretty. Thank you.”

She didn’t want to make the matter any bigger than it already was.

Reluctantly, Anise quickly accepted the bracelet.

“Then, are we finished now?”

Anise asked as though she were about to leave immediately.

The Grand Duke hurriedly spoke.

“There’s one more thing. I think this requires some explanation. Would you sit down for a moment?”

Anise, who wanted to leave the study as quickly as possible, remained standing.

“It’ll only take a moment. I’ll finish quickly.”

“……”

After the Grand Duke urged her again, Anise had no choice but to sit on the sofa.

Although she was sitting on something soft and comfortable, she didn’t lean against it.

The Grand Duke watched her silently before taking a small medicine bottle from inside his coat.

Anise’s expression immediately went completely rigid.

……Could he already be trying to kill me?

She stared at the Grand Duke warily.

Perhaps sensing her suspicion, he quickly added an explanation.

“Ah. This is an antidote potion. It can prevent most of the poisons known to be in circulation.”

Anise had heard of it as well.

Some high-ranking nobles and even the Emperor had expensive antidote potions prepared and consumed them regularly.

Still, the explanation had come completely out of nowhere.

Anise narrowed her eyes slightly and tilted her head.

“Yes. And?”

A cold tone naturally slipped from her lips, but her hardened expression didn’t soften.

She didn’t know why the Grand Duke was showing her that potion, nor whether she could even trust his claim that it was an antidote.

Strangely, the colder she acted toward him, the more restless the Grand Duke seemed to become.

Then he spoke very slowly.

“Um…… do you remember the honey tea I gave you when we had breakfast at the Imperial Palace?”

“……”

For a moment, Anise squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment before opening them again.

She remembered getting drunk and making a scene in front of the Grand Duke, as well as the morning after.

The warm honey tea she had drunk that morning had soothed her stomach.

Her sharp expression softened slightly, and she gave him a short answer.

“Yes.”

“The truth is…… there was an antidote potion similar to this mixed into it.”

“……What?”

Anise’s eyes widened in shock.

The Grand Duke lowered his head.

“I’m sorry for telling you so late. There have been occasions when poison was mixed into food served at the Imperial Palace, so I did it to prevent something like that from happening.”

“……”

“I apologize for not telling you beforehand. It won’t happen again. That’s why I’d like to ask for your permission.”

The Grand Duke pointed toward the medicine bottle and spoke seriously.

“Unlike the potion I gave you back then, which was only effective once, this medicine retains its detoxifying properties for about a year.”

Anise felt as though she understood why he wanted her to take it, yet at the same time, she couldn’t understand it at all.

The unfortunate member of the Imperial family who had fallen out of favor with the Emperor and was forced to remain confined in the Grand Duchy every day.

As he had said, poisoning his food would probably mean nothing to the Emperor.

And now that Anise had become his wife, it meant she would no longer be able to avoid that danger either.

But Anise still couldn’t understand.

Why…… why would he go this far to keep me alive when he intends to kill me anyway……?

She couldn’t find a clear answer.

He continued speaking with an expression devoid of even the slightest trace of a smile.

“Living in the Grand Duchy means that, to some extent, you need to develop a resistance to poison.”

In the end, those words meant that she could be killed by poison at any time.

“But Anise has no resistance to poison, so I think it would be best for you to take an antidote potion. That’s why I’m telling you this.”

The Grand Duke spoke carefully, as though genuinely concerned for Anise’s safety.

Looking at him, Anise suddenly asked,

“What if I…… say that I don’t want to take it? What happens then?”