The Ugly Wife of the Shady Duke - Chapter 70.2
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As a Saintess, Aria’s power amplifies with happiness. But as the original story unfolds and she interacts with Sylvester, a clear truth emerges.
Love.
It might sound cliché, but it’s an undeniable fact in the novel.
Love made the Saintess’s powers even stronger.
‘Is love a stronger emotion than happiness?’
Grace pondered this.
Loving someone doesn’t necessarily make one happy. Grace had an unrequited love for Benjamin, but she didn’t feel at peace or particularly happy about it.
Loving someone so perfect and beautiful, different from herself, was immensely painful.
Yet, in ‘The Saint’s wish,’ love was placed above happiness.
Grace speculated that this was because the genre of the novel was romantic fantasy.
Whether Aria grasped Grace’s intentions or not was uncertain, but she seemed to understand that it was meant to be a secret.
“Shall we head back then?”
“…Yes!”
“And, um… I hope we can meet again sometime.”
Aria’s face brightened remarkably at Grace’s polite farewell.
“Me too! I’ve always wanted to see you Duchess, but our timings never matched. I was actually considering asking the Crown Prince for help.”
‘Asking for help? How?’
Grace felt a rising urge to ask that question, but she held back.
Sylvester stood next to Benjamin, eyeing Grace with a disgruntled expression.
Glancing at Benjamin beside him and recalling the excuse she had prepared to go and talk to Aria, Grace quickly asked before joining them.
“Oh! By any chance, have you seen the group with the Felton Knights? They consisted of women and children.”
“Yeah, I know them. I didn’t get to spend much time with them, though.”
Aria smiled brightly and nodded.
“I helped them move to the tea fields!”
“Thank you.”
“While on the way, I heard of the good you’re doing. So, I blessed the tea fields to help where I can.”
“…”
Grace felt like cold sweat was about to break out, realizing the scale had become even grander than she anticipated.
‘It’s not a passing blessing, she went out of her way to bless it.’
It meant the quality of the divine power was different.
Grace could foresee that the quality of the tea leaves next year would be incomparably superior to other places.
“Thank you.”
But more urgent than next year was the immediate threat Grace faced. Those who sought her life.
For instance, the ‘mysterious illness’ in the original story that led to the demise of the Duchess of Felton was similar to Sylvester’s curse.
‘And that medicine.’
If all of Grace’s symptoms were due to the curse, why did the person prescribing it keep giving her that medicine?
And did Benjamin truly believe in its effectiveness?
‘My head hurts.’
It was a complicated mess. Grace massaged her temples.
⋆★⋆
“Be careful, My Lady. The carriage step is high.”
“Thank you.”
Grace, now quite accustomed to it, gracefully descended from the carriage with Benjamin’s assistance.
After completing the expedition, as previously discussed, the entourage of the Felton Duchy separated from the expedition party and headed towards the territory of Viscount Linden.
“We’ll take the train from here, then transfer to another carriage. The party that started from the capital would’ve already reached the Viscount Linden’s territory by now, so someone will probably come to meet us.”
“Will it take long?”
“It won’t be as quick as using a gate, but it will be swift.”
The Viscount Linden’s territory was located quite remotely, far from where the gate was situated.
For some reason, Benjamin seemed bothered by this. Even though it wasn’t his fault, he wore a noticeably apologetic expression.
“Don’t look like that, Your Excellency. I’m fine. More importantly, you mentioned we need to catch a train? Then we should hurry. When does it depart?”
“Ah, we need to be on time. Let’s go quickly.”
Jolted by Grace’s words, he briskly nodded and hastened his pace. Their footsteps echoed throughout the train station, drawing the eyes of many people.
“…”
“Who are they? Some kind of knight squadron?”
“Oh my, aren’t they from Felton Duchy?”
“Really? What are they doing here?”
“That western contamination…”
Many murmured about the western contamination and the Felton Duchy. Grace tried to stay inconspicuous, tucking herself amongst the knights.
Should I be scared or embarrassed by all the attention? Either way, she didn’t feel like showing her face.
Note: I have changed the title of Benjamin from His Highness to His Excellency. I’ll slowly edit the previous chapters too.
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