“I don’t know whether to call it patience or foolishness.”

The Duke frowned and instructed the maid to bring medicine for my foot.

“It’s nothing, it doesn’t even hurt- hic.”

The stinging wound was less bothersome than the Duke’s firm grip on my flesh. His strong fingers tightly grasped my wriggling foot as I tried to pull away.

Hic. Hic. Oh, how embarrassing.

It must be because I was so startled by that crazy emperor’s nonsense that my diaphragm was spasming.

[Come with me to the imperial palace.]

Ridiculous. Why the imperial palace? To take me there and slit my throat again?

[I heard it’s a political marriage without love anyway. If we’re talking pure calculations, aren’t I a better catch than the Duke?]

How dare he say that to my face. Hic. Hic.

The Duke glanced up at me with a resigned look, reluctantly releasing my foot. He stood and pinched my nose tightly between his thumb and forefinger.

Hmm. It’s something I often did for my subordinates when they suffered from hiccups. Now that I’m on the receiving end, it’s quite a blow to my pride.

And that bastard Justin!

The culprit acting outraged. After spewing such crazy nonsense, he kept frowning and glancing at me arrogantly. Then seeing me hiccup, he burst out laughing with a “pfft”.

I peeked at my reflection in the Duke’s eyes and sighed. My cheeks were puffed out from holding my breath and my face was completely red, resembling a bloated pufferfish.

At the sound of Justin’s laughter, the Duke’s fingers twitched. An icy chill flowed from around his neck and collarbones. He seemed ready to summon his ice sword Ielro at any moment.

Even if my child looks like an ugly red pufferfish, it stings one’s pride to hear others call it ugly.

But if the Duke makes a move because of my unsightly face, the shadows guarding the emperor will immediately intervene. Now is not the time.

“Ouch. That hurts, Your Grace.”

I quickly placed my hand over the Duke’s, pretending to be in pain. I thought it was a terribly unnatural act.

But the Duke flinched, removing his hand from my nose and reining in the murderous intent that had enveloped his entire body.

“Ah, sorry… I loosened my grip, but…”

The Duke’s large hand, flustered, couldn’t completely pull away and hovered indecisively near my nose.

“No. Hic. It’s okay. Hic.”

The Duke’s blue eyes, darting busily between my injured bare foot and my hiccuping face, trembled slightly.

‘His Grace is so very kind to those he considers his people.’

And I’m not even a regular employee, just a temporary contract vassal.

A tingling laughter spread in my chest at his gentle demeanor, looking lost over my small injury.

But laughing in this situation would be something only that crazy emperor would do, so I bit my lip hard, barely suppressing the laughter rising in my throat.

“Does it hurt that much?”

Perhaps thinking I was wincing in pain, the Duke’s face scrunched up even more than mine.

Clenching and unclenching his fingers, at a loss for what to do, the Duke personally applied medicine to my wound when the maid brought it.

Even when I said I would do it myself, the Duke sternly shook his head, saying the patient should stay still. Then he loosened the blue cravat around his neck and carefully began wrapping it around my foot.

“Uh… I’m fine.”

When I pulled my foot back in surprise, the Duke grabbed my ankle and pulled it towards him. His touch was soft but firm.

“You say you’re fine when you’re actually fine. Even if you say you are, I’m not fine with it.”

Somehow my hiccups had stopped.

The Duke abruptly scooped me up in his arms and strode across the ballroom with his long legs to stand before the emperor.

“We’ll be taking our leave first. My betrothed is injured.”

Over the Duke’s shoulder as we left the ballroom, I felt the emperor’s gaze stickily following me.

Why does he keep looking at me like that? It’s unpleasant.

I gave a small nod of farewell and sharply turned my head away.

“What did His Majesty the Emperor say? I was wondering if there was any information I should know.”

“He didn’t say much.”

“For not saying much, you two seemed to talk for quite a while.”

The Duke looked at my face as if examining it.

But more than the emperor’s crazy remarks, I was curious about the Duke’s intentions on how to deal with him going forward.

So I whispered in the Duke’s ear.

“Your Grace, about His Majesty the Emperor.”

I wanted to ask if I could kill him myself since I was already a treacherous subject. I’ll do a good job of it. But I couldn’t say it so directly.

As I was choosing my words carefully, my lips accidentally brushed right against the Duke’s ear from the swaying motion of being carried.

Startled, I stiffened. But the Duke showed no reaction.

Did he not feel it?

‘Oh no! Has he lost sensation in his ears because of the demonic poison?’

Worried, I quickly reached out and touched the Duke’s earlobe, asking,

“Your Grace, can you not feel it? Do you have no sensation? Can you feel this?”

As I pressed firmly on his earlobe and outer ear in turn, the Duke let out a deep sigh.

He must be feeling it now. But did I press too hard? Why is his ear red?

“Yuriella Grande. Are you always this reckless- no, first take your hands off.”

Huh? He’s even stumbling over his words. Is stuttering also an aftereffect of the demonic poison?

Whew… I heaved a deep sigh.

It’s an unprecedented demonic poison, so who knows what the aftereffects are. Even if we did know, there’s no complete cure.

As my sigh touched his ear, the Duke stiffened and let out a sigh as big as mine, then nodded his head largely as if he had no choice.

“Keep touching, my lady.”

“Pardon?”

“You sighed so heavily just because I told you not to touch. I’m saying you can keep touching.”

The Duke permitted me to keep examining him with a solemn expression, as if he were giving me half the northern lands saying “Here, take it.”

I touched the Duke’s reddened ears, checking his health condition.

Oh, it’s hot? He must have caught a cold from overworking lately.

It seemed I would have to go to the inn to see my father-in-law-to-be. If we don’t bring down the fever, it could negatively impact the demonic poison treatment.

“Your Grace. I think I need to go to the inn to get some medicinal ingredients.”

“Our wedding is the day after tomorrow. On top of that, His Majesty has brought a horde of his lackeys. Both my knights and I will be too busy to escort you there.”

“I can go alone.”

“Absolutely not. Aren’t there ruffians near the inn who get drunk and harass women even in broad daylight?”

“I can protect myself.”

“Going alone is out of the question.”

“Then I’ll have Rion come get me.”

“Rion?”

Suddenly the Duke’s expression turned icy.

“Ren knows the way to Rion’s place. You know Ren, right? The parrot you personally named. He came this morning with a letter tied to his ankle. Isn’t he wonderful?”

“You seem quite close with this Rion fellow?”

“Yes. Though he has little, his heart is generous. And while his education is lacking, he seems truly wise. Oh! And he’s incredibly skilled with his hands, he makes anything well. Like a magician!”

Grit. I thought I heard the sound of the Duke grinding his teeth.

Oh no! Could it be an early symptom of a seizure?

“Your Grace, are you alright?”

Forgetting to remove my hands from the Duke’s ears in my worry, I pressed my face close to his.

His ears are still red, and now even his face is flushed and his fever seems to be rising. The Duke’s condition is really not good today.

“This is serious. We have a wedding and a wedding night to get through in two days. For a groom to have such a frail body-”

“What? Frail?”

Suddenly the surrounding temperature plummeted.

“Pardon?”

Oh. Did I just blurt out what I was thinking?

“What you just said.”

I shouldn’t have been criticizing Justin for his crazy remarks.

“I have committed a mortal sin…”

It didn’t seem like a mortal sin, but I unconsciously bowed my head deeply at the murderous air he was emitting.

The Duke did not say a word until he set me down on the bed formerly used by the previous Duchess.

Did I poke at an extremely sore spot for him? I had just brushed it off as trivial since he’s been in a passionate romance with Shavell for 3 years. Could there be some issue?

What should I do? This isn’t my area of expertise. Should I ask my father-in-law-to-be about it?

*

Stomp, stomp, stomp.

[This is serious. We have a wedding and a wedding night to get through in two days. For a groom to have such a frail body.]

Frost’s feet, heading towards the room where the emperor was waiting, abruptly stopped.

The steps of Lord Commander Leo, following behind the Duke, also came to a halt.

Frost seemed to be chewing over some sort of curse inwardly, then shook his head vigorously and strode forward.

Leo followed the Duke with a puzzled look, but he couldn’t take more than a few steps before the Duke’s feet stopped again.

“Ha!”

The Duke let out a scoffing laugh as if dumbfounded.

“Your Highness? What is the matter?”

“Matter? What matter?”

Leo flinched and took a step back. Why is he acting like this again today?

It seemed his temper had been twisted after witnessing the emperor making advances on Lady Yuriella earlier.

Frost would walk two steps and exclaim “Ha!”. Walk three steps and exclaim “Ha!”.

Letting the emperor wait due to his slow pace was of no concern, but Leo worried that His Highness’s repeatedly souring mood would take a toll on his health damaged by the demonic poison.

“I don’t know what’s troubling you, but please ease your mind, Your Highness. They say an illness of the heart becomes an illness of the body-”

Thud. The Duke’s fierce steps halted once more.

“I am healthy!”

“Pardon?”

“Is there any way I seem different compared to before I was addicted to the demonic poison?”

Leo rolled his eyeballs, instinctively checking escape routes. He no longer wanted to know the reason for the Duke’s fouled temper.

“Yes! I collapsed a few times. And I hovered between life and death with a raging fever. So what? Has there been anything I couldn’t do among my usual duties? Even if a horde of demonic beasts were to attack right now, the North will remain strong! Because I am strong!”

Leo determined it was too late to flee and sneaked a glance at the Duke.

“Answer!”

“Well, that’s…”

Leo activated the survival instincts he had gained from tumbling through bloody battlefields for many years.

The answer was found surprisingly easily.

Since the moment Lady Yuriella danced with the emperor in the ballroom, you had been emitting a sharp murderous air, Your Highness. The reason you’re irrationally flying into a rage like this must be because of the lady.

Lady. Anger. Health. Need to assert superiority.

Combining a few words, he could readily come up with a model answer.

“Did you notice how Lady Yuriella kept stealing glances at you, Your Highness, while dancing with the emperor? She couldn’t take her eyes off you!”

“That was not my question. So, what about it?”

“Why else! It’s because she can’t help but compare the scrawny emperor to you, so robust and manly, Your Highness.”

The emperor was absolutely not scrawny. His towering height and well-muscled physique were as beautiful as an angel’s sculpture in a temple.

But it was true that the Duke was robust and manly.

“She looked like she detested the emperor so much she could die.”

This too was a stark fact.

Leo puffed out his chest and met his lord’s gaze with confidence.

Frost recalled Yuriella’s expression as she looked up at the emperor, suppressing his murderous intent.

Her milk-white cheeks flushed red as she gazed straight at the emperor. As if addressing a long familiar face rather than the stern emperor she had just met today.

[Come with me to the imperial palace.]

Spreading his senses wide to overhear their conversation was not for the purpose of tasting this shitty feeling. He was merely curious if any useful information would be exchanged.

Justin Della Ponti had asked a woman he just met to become his woman. To a woman who was to be his bride.

And what did Yuriella say in response?

[He didn’t say much.]

Was she hiding something? Or did she find it too distasteful to even mention?

Were her reddened cheeks from the difficulty of the dance? From anger welling up? Or from being fluttered by the emperor, handsome only on the outside?

The woman who answered one question with more questions gave Frost yet another matter to be curious about today.

Frost swallowed a shallow sigh and stomped, stomped, again towards the room where the emperor was.

Leo followed behind his lord again, tilting his head and wondering, ‘Was that the wrong answer?’

Aaron and the imperial knights stood guard in the corridor and opened the door.

As Frost entered the room and bowed his head slightly in greeting, the sharp blade of a dagger thrown by the emperor grazed past his cheek.

Drip, drip. Blood droplets flowed down Frost’s cheek.

Lord Commander Leo following behind the Duke drew his sword.

At the same time, Aaron and the imperial knights also drew their swords.