The Ugly Wife of the Shady Duke - Chapter 59.2
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“Your Highness, do you happen to have time tonight?”
Benjamin, who was drinking water and catching his breath, choked and coughed at Grace’s question.
“Cough!”
“Y-Your, Your Highness? Are you alright?”
Perhaps due to the aftermath of the coughing, Benjamin’s cheeks and ears turned red. He spoke while patting himself.
“I’m, I’m fine. I’m perfectly fine. I’m very comfortable.”
“Uh, okay….”
Does this environment look comfortable? Grace looked around briefly before deciding to drop the subject.
“I have plenty of time to spare for My Lady. The people here have decided to do some scouting together tonight, as long as we avoid that time.”
As Benjamin brought up the scouting, his voice gradually became more hesitant.
‘Well, it shouldn’t be an easy task for him to take time out for me as he’s the leader of the current expedition.’
There was no need for Benjamin to personally confirm the contaminated area of the forest.
However, what Grace was aiming for was to discover the mine with Benjamin and proceed with the mine purchase plan without unnecessary procedures.
Grace hesitated before speaking.
“Then how about dawn?”
“…At dawn?”
“Yes, I’ll wait for Your Highness until the scouting is over. There’s something I want to discuss with you in detail.”
Crunch.
The sound of something crumpling could be heard from somewhere.
When Grace looked at the source of the sound, she saw that the water bottle Benjamin was holding was slightly deformed.
“….”
Is he this strong? Well, he had a reputation as a knight and had even subdued the northern monsters, so he couldn’t be weak.
However, with such an infinitely gentle face, Benjamin was like a literary youth in Grace’s mind.
‘In fact, I thought he was more fond of flowers and books in the novel.’
There were times, especially when talking with Aria when he would talk a lot, but it was usually about topics related to flowers or books. Oh, come to think of it, he seemed to enjoy talking about Gate also.
Grace couldn’t capture her thoughts.
Benjamin looked at Grace with a red face.
“….Then I’ll finish as soon as possible and go to My Lady’s residence.”
“Yes? …Yes.”
“If I’m too late, please go ahead and sleep.”
Grace swallowed her saliva for no reason.
It felt like she was doing something she shouldn’t be doing.
⋆★⋆
Late at night, Grace held a lantern in her hand.
“…?”
“Your Highness? What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Benjamin took the lantern from Grace’s hand and held it instead.
“I thought we would have a private conversation since you said you had some important matters to discuss.”
“We can talk on the way, right?”
“Isn’t that still a conversation about work? Work and personal matters are different.”
“We’re on an expedition, so isn’t it not a 24-hour official work?”
“….Well, that’s true.”
‘It’s interesting.’
In the novel, the Benjamin, Grace had seen was mature and relaxed until he turned black. But now, he spoke unnecessarily and for some reason, his whining sounded like that of a child.
“More importantly, going into the forest at this dark hour might make us lose our way.”
“You’re busy with other things during the day.”
“But it’s more efficient to see the contaminated area during the day.”
Benjamin kept adding words as if he was really worried.
‘Well, that’s true.’
Grace knew that, but there was no other time to bring Benjamin alone except for this late night or early morning.
Even if she called him at another time, Benjamin would somehow find time for her, but it would be obvious to the members of the expedition and they wouldn’t appreciate it.
“But we won’t lose our way.”
“What?”
Grace looked towards the forest, leaving Benjamin puzzled.
“I told people to tie a ribbon on the way.”
A normal ribbon would not be visible at night. However, the ribbon that Grace had given to the geologists had fluorescent paint applied to it.
It was colorless but emitted a faint light at night.
This was also a product made using magic and fluorescent stones. It had not yet been released to the public, but as the patron and supporter of the Magic Tool association, Duke Felton always received many new products in advance.
Fluorescent paint was one of those new products.
‘Since Duke Felton owns most of the highest quality stones, magical tool makers have no choice but to look out to him.’
Only the best stones were produced on the land owned by Duke Felton. To avoid offending such a family, new products were always delivered to Duke Felton first.
Although, Benjamin wasn’t the kind of person to retaliate privately just because he was in a bad mood in the first place.
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