How Can You Pay Back The Kindness I Raised With Obsession?

That witch was actually a spy who came to destroy the Grand Duchy at the instigation of the Emperor.

 

“I don’t know how to get her to talk.”

 

As the Duke placed his hand on his forehead and pondered, the Duchess opened her eyes and questioned.

 

“Why are you worrying about that?”

 

“Because of you.”

 

“Is it because of me?”

 

“Thanks to you, the Grand Duchy, who carefully chipped away at the Duchy’s trust and ground it to dust, it became difficult for me to speak out.”

 

The lady made a pouty face, but the Duke did not appease her. No matter how generous he was to his wife and her daughter, there was a limit to his patience.

 

“Anyway, what should I do with this?”

 

At a time like this, if he were to tell the truth, the Grand Duke would only think it was a false slander.

 

“Then how about finding the evidence the princess said and presenting it to her first?”

 

The Duke’s eldest son came up with a good idea.

 

“The princess said she would be in the witch’s hut…”

 

“You can’t break into the witch’s hut.”

 

When the Duchess said that she had already tried it, the Duke sighed as if he was tired.

 

“I guess I’ll just have to wait for the right time, so…”

 

The Duke sat forward and leaned his body forward. He made a request while looking everyone in the eye.

 

“It’s something the Emperor is involved in. If it leaks out, there will be bloodshed in the empire again. Even our Duke family can’t avoid it.”

 

Because he had to bear the painful truth.

 

“Make sure to keep it a secret.”

 

While the Duke begged his wife to keep quiet, the princess bit her lip. It was about holding back the joy that threatened to explode. But her happiness lasted only for a moment.

 

“Why is it not possible?”

 

When her mother said that the Grand Duke and she could get married, her father still said no.

 

“If our family openly allys with the Grand Duchy, the point of the Emperor’s sword will be pointed at us as well.”

 

Therefore, an alliance through marriage was impossible no matter what.

 

“I also don’t want to send you to a family that is constantly threatened with assassination by the royal family.”

 

After learning that the previous Grand Duke and his wife were assassinated by the royal family, her mother also changed her position, and Bella despaired as she lost her side.

 

‘But I have lived my whole life trying to be his wife.’

 

Bella lay on her bed, sniffling, and then suddenly let out a soft scream.

 

“The emperor has made an incredible proposal. He wants to welcome you as the crown princess.”

 

In order to appease the lords who had come to view the Emperor in an unfavorable light due to this war, he proposed marriage to the dukedom with whom the relationship had completely fallen apart.

 

‘It’s terrible.’

 

The crown prince was a man who looked flashy on the outside but was empty on the inside. Although he has become more brilliant over the past few years, there are rumors that he may be using a double who looks exactly like him due to his sudden change in appearance. 

She couldn’t believe being the wife of such a man. Bella buried her face in her pillow and whimpered.

 

‘Then I will die.’

 

“The crown princess is like a pawn to the Emperor.”

 

Not wanting to make her daughter a victim of politics, her father said he would find an excuse for her to refuse.

 

‘What better excuse than the fact that I already have a fiancé?’

 

Bella lay in bed and sobbed all day while the sounds of the occupants preparing to leave the duchy were already heard outside the bedroom. Her nanny came to check on her and left her window open so she could get some fresh air. She was feeling upset at the time, but she thought everything was going well.

 

“I heard that Her Majesty the Grand Duchess gave Lady Balea an order to collect only the rings belonging to the previous Grand Duchess?”

 

Her throat felt tight at the sound she heard from outside. Bella got up and went to the window. Behind a nearby wall, the Grand Duke’s maids were passing by carrying laundry.

 

“I think His Highness is going to propose to Miss Hazel.”

 

No! That should never happen!

 

* * *

 

“Try wearing this too.”

 

Luna took her emerald ring off her left ring finger and she put on a large diamond ring.

 

“Hmm… This is pretty too.”

 

“But are you already choosing a ring to wear to the summer prom?”

 

“…I have to order the dress accordingly.”

 

“Well, ok.”

 

But why was she trying on her when Luna was going to wear it? Was she like a model?

 

“Luna has long and pretty fingers, so she looks good on everything.”

 

She said as Luna neatly placed the ancestral Grand Duchess’s ring in her velvet-lined box.

 

“Hazel, what do you think is the prettiest?”

 

“Uh… this.”

 

She pointed to an elaborately crafted ring. But Luna was looking behind her shoulder, not at the ring. She turned her head and made eye contact with the Grand Duke sitting next to her.

 

“What is the prettiest in your eyes?”

 

“You.”

 

“Aaaah!”

 

At that moment, the children screamed at the same time and rubbed their forearms.

 

“Why? Am I wrong?”

 

“It’s true that Hazel is pretty.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“But I can’t stand harsh words coming out of my brother’s mouth!”

 

“You’re right.”

 

“Isn’t that what I told you to listen to?”

 

“Then do it when it’s just the two of you!”

 

The library, where the three people’s voices rang out, soon became quiet. After calling Lady Balea to take away the ring, Luna did her homework with Luca, and Hazel read the magic book. It was a return to the original peaceful daily life.

 

Watching the Grand Duke sitting next to her and doing his work made her feel happy, but also sad.

 

“As soon as I arrived, I was immersed in work.”

 

The Grand Duke, who had been writing a letter, raised his head and smiled brightly.

 

“Compared to the battlefield, it’s heaven.”

 

She closed the magic book and started helping him. When the Grand Duke read the letters packed in the basket and wrote a reply, she melted sealing wax, sealed the reply, and stamped it. From the corner of her eye, she saw that the letter was almost an invitation. Balls, banquets, hunting competitions… The contents of the invitations sent by lords from various places were different, but the Grand Duke’s reply was consistent.

 

“Why are you rejecting everyone?”

 

“Because the purpose is obvious.”

 

When she tilted her head, Luna, who was sitting across from her, answered.

 

“Solo talk.”

 

“Ah…”

 

This man was coveted everywhere. She heard that there were originally many families who had their eyes on him as a son-in-law, but after he faked a relationship with her, marriage talks stopped. However, now that he has become a hero for saving the country, it would not be a fault that his ex-girlfriend was a witch.

 

‘But why does he decline the invitation?’

 

Wasn’t it time to get married? Moreover, now was the time when stock prices would rise the most. Wouldn’t it be a shame to miss this opportunity? She asked the Grand Duke, who scrawled the same excuses in each reply.

 

“Marriage… Wouldn’t it be nice to do it?”

 

He looked at her intently, as if he was thinking deeply, and then asked again.

 

“Wouldn’t it be nice to do it?”

 

She nodded. Of course that would be good. Now that he could have a Grand Duchess who would run the estate and mansion together, the Grand Duke would be relieved of his burden. If she was a girl from a good family, he would have allies. The Chestnuts would gain a family. It was also about gaining a reliable supporter who could lead Luna in the social world. Of course, she would lose her job and her lover.

 

This love affair was over as soon as it began. It would be a lie to say it doesn’t hurt. But love was love, and marriage was marriage. This was especially true for nobles for whom marriage was business, not love. No matter how far they have come between them, she was determined that this road would end one day.

 

“Should we do it within this year…?”

 

The Grand Duke muttered that and scribbled a reply with a happy face. So she had eight months left at best? As she was making such bitter calculations and stamping the envelope of her letter, Luna asked sulkingly.

 

“Why are you sleepy?”

 

These were the words spoken to Luca, who was sitting next to Luna. Luca yawned and looked at her with her sleepy eyes.

 

“Hazel jumped on the bed last night and I didn’t sleep well.”

 

“…”

 

At that moment, both the Grand Duke and she stopped their hands. Her room was sandwiched between the children’s rooms. Now that she thought about it, the bed happened to be touching the wall dividing Luca’s room and hers.

 

“I guess I ate too much at the banquet yesterday. I can’t sleep because I’m full. So, do some gymnastics…”

 

When asked why she was screaming, her head turned white and she said anything. The Grand Duke, who was an accomplice, was not allowed to say anything. Because he had to be someone who wasn’t in her room.

 

“I’ll be careful tonight, haha…”

 

The children started doing their homework again, and while they were quietly doing their own thing, the Grand Duke, who had folded up the written reply and gave it to her, whispered in her ear.

 

“Go to my bedroom tonight.”

 

“Oh, tonight too?”

 

“No? I liked it last night…”

 

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Not at a knock level, but at a bang level.

 

“Please come in.”

 

The person who appeared when the door opened was Princess Monette. The princess bowed briefly and then approached the table and stood facing the Grand Duke. It was unusual to see her tightly clenched fists shaking. The Grand Duke glanced at the princess, then wrote the letter again and asked her indifferently:

 

“What brings you here?”

 

“Well, today I…”

 

The princess, whose voice was even shaking, took a deep breath and shouted.

 

“I came to protect His Highness, even risking my life to that witch.”

 

Behind the sound of the quill pen being roughly placed…

 

“Ha…”

 

The Grand Duke’s sigh continued for a long time.

 

“Guards!”

 

The Grand Duke called the guards standing outside the door without even paying attention to the princess.

 

“Duke Monette right now…”

 

“Yes, it would be good for your father to be here too.”

 

The Grand Duke would have called the Duke to personally show the princess’s over-the-line behavior and throw her out, but the princess instead came out proudly, as if everything had gone well. When the soldier went out to look for the Duke, the Grand Duke asked without hiding the look of boredom on his face.

 

“Princess, how should I speak more clearly…”

 

She exclaimed, cutting him off.

 

“Your Majesty wants to marry your parents’ enemy!”

 

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Translator Note: