The Duke's Flower is Precarious (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 10
From early morning, maids hurried back and forth between the Grand Duchess’s powder room and dressing room.
“Aidel-sama, please lift your face just a little.”
Feeling the brush sweep across her skin, Aidel struggled to grow accustomed to this routine. Following the maid’s deft movements, a bright vitality accentuated her translucent complexion.
Even at the count’s estate, her personal maid Bien had skillfully adorned her, but the grand ducal household employed far more maids, each notably more experienced and professional.
“Since it’s a banquet at the imperial palace, a dress that adheres to proper etiquette without being excessive would be best.”
The count’s wardrobe, usually neglected due to her lack of interest in clothing, had always left Bien fretting over choices.
In stark contrast, this dressing room—vastly larger—was filled to capacity with luxurious gowns crafted from fabrics brought directly from the Charlotte Atelier.
Among them, a maid approached holding a cream-colored dress intricately embroidered with delicate lace.
Rather than the exaggeratedly voluminous crinoline style, the current fashion favored gowns that naturally highlighted one’s silhouette and used cheerful pastel hues instead of intense primary colors.
“Goodness gracious! Aidel-sama, you’re utterly beautiful.”
Her wheat-gold hair, scented with perfume, cascaded down as softly as honey. Above the floral hairpin securing her locks, a finely cut Turkish diamond shimmered faintly.
“You look just like a flower fairy.”
“His Grace the Grand Duke will surely be smitten the moment he sees you!”
The younger maids’ eyes sparkled brightly at the sight of the future Grand Duchess.
The Grand Duke, usually as cold as ice, visibly melted only in the presence of his fiancée—a topic that had become the most popular gossip among the maids of late.
“Aidel-sama, if you’re ready, shall we proceed to His Grace’s dressing room?”
Marline, watching the scene with a warm smile, gently suggested.
“His Grace’s dressing room?”
“Do you recall the instruction manual I gave you yesterday? It mentioned that before any official outing, the spouse must personally attend to His Grace.”
Aidel recalled the manual from Duchess Roman that she’d studied thoroughly before bed last night. The part about preparation before official outings… Ah!
“Are you referring to tying His Grace’s cravat?”
“Precisely. Now that the Grand Duchess is here, this old woman can finally stop doing what was never truly her role.”
With a kind smile, Marline guided her toward the Grand Duke’s dressing room.
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess’s quarters were mostly interconnected. Opening the inner door of the Grand Duchess’s dressing room and passing through a short corridor led to the door of the Grand Duke’s dressing room.
“Your Grace, may I come in for a moment?”
After a brief knock, they entered the dressing room, where Kaeron stood before a full-length mirror, flanked by valets holding his attire.
He was fastening the buttons of his dress shirt, draped lightly over his shoulders. Through the open collar, his sharp collarbones were exposed, and below them, his exquisitely chiseled pectorals—smooth yet defined—briefly captured Aidel’s gaze.
“It’s rather troubling to be stared at so openly.”
Startled by the playful tone in his voice, Aidel met his eyes in the mirror. His deep blue irises watched her expression with evident amusement.
Flustered, she lowered her eyes and pressed a hand gently against her cheeks. Her entire face burned as though blooming with feverish blossoms.
“What is it? I’m still preparing.”
“Aidel-sama has come to tie Your Grace’s cravat herself.”
“Ah… I see.”
Kaeron’s smile deepened as he watched the woman before him, still flushed and unsure of herself.
Though her freshly adorned, pristine appearance drew his attention, it was her shy expression—like a newly opened flower bud—that held his gaze even more.
“Come here. Closer.”
When Kaeron turned and beckoned, Aidel hesitated briefly before slowly approaching to stand before him. The valet beside him handed her the cravat.
“I… only learned this by rote, so it might be clumsy.”
“That’s fine. The first time is always like that.”
Taking a small breath, Aidel lifted the cravat in her hands. Deliberately avoiding his downward gaze, she reached up and looped the fabric around his neck.
As she wrapped it around him like an embrace, her scent deeply permeated the space between them. Watching her tie the knot with trembling fingers, his gaze grew deeper, more intense.
“My maternal grandmother once told me why dukes have the tradition of their duchesses tying their cravats before official outings.”
His voice dropped slightly as he spoke of the late Duchess Roman. Aidel looked up at him, curiosity bright in her eyes.
“She said it’s to remind the duke never to forget that, even when stepping beyond these walls, he still belongs to his duchess—that by tying this cravat, they reaffirm their mutual bond and devotion.”
His deep blue eyes, filled with longing, seemed to imply something unspoken. Unconsciously, Aidel’s grip on the cravat tightened.
[This is the timeline separator]The carriage bearing the Grand Duke’s crest arrived at the imperial palace gates. The Grand Duke and his escorted fiancée stepped down from the carriage.
“Welcome, Your Grace. And Aidel-sama.”
Isaac, the Emperor’s head steward, who had been awaiting them along with other palace attendants, bowed respectfully.
Though all maintained impeccable posture, they couldn’t help but steal glances at the veiled fiancée.
‘So that’s the future Grand Duchess.’
‘Indeed—she possesses the grace to captivate even His Grace.’
As the couple walked toward the Emperor’s audience chamber, the attendants whispered quietly among themselves.
“Nervous?”
Kaeron, sensing the slight tremble in the hand he held for escort, glanced toward her.
“It’s my first time visiting the imperial palace—and my first audience with His Majesty.”
“There’s no need to be so tense. Let me remind you once more—you are now of the Grand Ducal House. Never shrink back, not even before the Emperor himself.”
Though his words bordered on arrogance, they felt perfectly natural coming from the Grand Duke. Feeling an inexplicable calm from his presence, Aidel relaxed her shoulders and straightened her spine.
“It’s been a while, brother.”
Emperor Pascal greeted Kaeron as he entered the audience chamber. Soon, his gaze shifted to the woman standing beside the Grand Duke.
“So you are the future Grand Duchess.”
“I pay my respects to Your Imperial Majesty. I am Aidel of House Fleur.”
Aidel offered a flawless bow. With her veil lifted, the future Grand Duchess revealed beauty even more refined than expected.
‘So this is my brother’s taste,’ Pascal mused inwardly as he seated himself across the table from the couple.
Next to the Grand Duke’s broad, sturdy frame, the fiancée appeared even more delicate—but her calm, steady expression bore a curious resemblance to his own.
“I’ve been very curious, brother—what made you announce your marriage so suddenly? I barely restrained myself from rushing straight to your manor.”
“Your temperament hasn’t changed at all.”
“Not even a word to me—you let me learn about your wedding from a newspaper article! That’s so like you. Honestly, I was a bit worried you might skip tonight’s banquet altogether.”
The Emperor spoke with a tone tinged with wounded disappointment, almost like a petulant younger brother. Aidel was inwardly surprised by the Emperor’s unexpectedly informal and cheerful demeanor.
Unlike Kaeron—whose raven hair resembled the late Empress—Pascal had inherited the late Emperor’s blond locks and handsome features. Yet both shared the same deep blue eyes, the hallmark of the imperial bloodline.
They resembled not so much Emperor and Grand Duke, but rather affectionate brothers from some noble house. Seeing the younger Emperor pout like this felt oddly endearing.
“Now that I’ve met your fiancée, I understand. Even you—a man who always kept his distance from women—couldn’t help yourself before such extraordinary beauty.”
At Pascal’s whimsical assumption, Kaeron responded only with an ambiguous expression—neither confirming nor denying. Aidel offered an awkward smile and remained silent.
Though their bond was merely contractual, it seemed the Grand Duke had no intention of revealing that truth—not to the household staff, and certainly not to the Emperor.
Noticing Aidel’s expression dim slightly, the Emperor gave a meaningful smile.
“No matter how wonderful the future Grand Duchess may be… it was rather harsh to separate her from her family even before the wedding.”
At the word “family,” Aidel’s eyes flickered. Kaeron’s gaze also sharpened subtly.
Despite the shift in atmosphere, Pascal continued speaking as cheerfully as ever.
“As it happens, one of my aides recently attended a salon hosted by an acquaintance’s family and met Rozeline of House Fleur.”
At the unexpected name, Aidel’s shoulders twitched faintly. Pascal watched her reaction closely.
“He said Lady Rozeline was deeply saddened by her sudden separation from her older sister and nearly shed tears—lamenting that she couldn’t even say a proper goodbye.”
“Nearly shed tears” over parting? Aidel bit the inside of her lip. If Rozeline had truly wept, it must have been for reasons far different than that.
“So, what exactly are you getting at? You know I don’t enjoy hearing things secondhand.”
“I was just about to get to my point. Since the future Grand Duchess was coming, I prepared a little surprise for you.”
Unfazed by Kaeron’s indifferent expression, Pascal beamed broadly and called out to his steward.
“Isaac, please have her come in.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
As Isaac opened the audience chamber door, a woman entered. Her gown, as brilliant as a fully bloomed flower, rippled with each step. The familiar scent of roses grew stronger with every footfall.
“I greet Your Imperial Majesty and Your Grace the Grand Duke.”
Her voice sounded like birdsong—yet Aidel knew well this woman, who could so casually push others to the brink with such a sweet tone.
“Do come in, Lady Rozeline.”
“Thank you for inviting me, Your Majesty—especially for arranging this reunion with my sister.”
“I, too, understand the longing to see one’s siblings.”
With an enigmatic smile, Pascal turned to Aidel and introduced the unexpected guest.
“Surprised? I summoned Lady Rozeline specially. I thought the future Grand Duchess might miss her younger sister.”
“…Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.”
Kaeron watched Aidel closely as she replied in a stiff voice.
He knew she pressed her lips firmly together and set her jaw whenever she felt wary. At that sight, Kaeron’s brow furrowed slightly.
“I’ve missed you, Sister.”
Rozeline beamed warmly at Aidel, eyes crinkling with affection. Outwardly, she appeared genuinely delighted—
—but within those eyes lay unmistakable hostility, clear enough only to someone who’d spent over a decade alongside her.
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
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Well it appears in this novel the emperor is a gullible fool.
Can’t wait for second prince to die . How dare he touch grand Duchess with his filthy hand.
I hope Kareon kills first prince . But maybe that’s not going to happen because of diplomatic relations between kingdoms. If at that moment aidel would have remained unconscious ,second prince definitely would have died .It’s unfortunate , that bastard should have died on spot.