The Duke's Flower is Precarious (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 7
The carriage heading to the Grand Duke’s residence moved more slowly than usual. It was because of Aidel, who had closed her eyes and fallen asleep the moment they left the Count’s mansion, as if all her energy had been drained.
Kaeron gazed silently at the woman who had fallen asleep leaning slightly against his shoulder. Wrapped in his large coat, she looked particularly smaller and more delicate. She appeared pitiful, like a newborn baby animal.
His lingering gaze touched in turn her graceful brows, the long and dense eyelashes extending from them, and the slightly parted lips as she breathed evenly. Tension entered Kaeron’s jaw.
“Your Highness…”
Gregory, sitting across from him, called out to the Grand Duke with a small sigh-like tone. His face was filled with questions. Not only had a prospective Grand Duchess suddenly appeared, but it was also the first time he had seen the Grand Duke looking at a woman with such intense eyes.
“You must have a lot of questions, but let’s talk later.”
Speaking in a low voice in case she might wake, he slightly opened the carriage window. He cooled his heated body with the cool night air.
After a long period of patience, the carriage finally arrived at the Grand Duke’s residence. Kaeron lifted Aidel’s body, which was deep in sleep. It was a body so light that he barely felt any weight.
Upon hearing that the Grand Duke’s carriage had passed through the main gate, the servants lined up in front of the entrance all widened their eyes in surprise. It was because the carriage door opened and the Grand Duke personally stepped down holding someone in his arms.
‘Oh my goodness…!’
It was a dark night, with only the gas lamps illuminating the entrance, but the person in the Grand Duke’s arms was clearly a woman. Even though her face was not properly visible wrapped in the Grand Duke’s coat, her small frame and the long wheat-colored hair flowing down suggested she was a woman.
In particular, Marline, who had served him since his days as a prince, was more flustered than anyone and momentarily lost her usual composure, but she quickly regained her expression upon seeing the Grand Duke looking at her.
“Marline, is the Grand Duchess’s room prepared?”
“…!”
At the word ‘Grand Duchess’ coming from the Grand Duke’s mouth, the servants once again gasped in surprise. Marline’s eyes shook violently, but she soon answered in a neat voice.
“Yes, Your Highness. It is prepared.”
“Good.”
Kaeron moved his steps toward the Grand Duchess’s room prepared next to his own. The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess’s rooms were connected with one door in between, but it was the first time the Grand Duke had stepped into that room, which had no owner.
Seeing the Grand Duke carrying the mysterious woman up the stairs, all the servants opened their mouths and wore blank expressions.
“Sir Gregory, what on earth is going on? Who is that woman?”
As the Grand Duke’s figure disappeared to the second floor, Marline urgently asked Gregory, who had returned with the Grand Duke. The other servants also looked at him with the same eyes. Their gazes demanded an explanation of who the woman was that the Grand Duke had taken to the Grand Duchess’s room.
“Well, that woman is…”
Gregory scratched his head with a troubled expression. He could reveal the woman’s identity, but he himself didn’t properly know why the Grand Duke had suddenly decided to take her as the Grand Duchess.
“Don’t dawdle and tell us quickly. This is the first time I’ve seen His Highness holding someone else, especially a woman, in his arms!”
Marline urged the hesitating Gregory in frustration. At her words, the other servants all nodded in unison.
“She is Lady Aidel from the House of Count Fleur.”
“The House of Count Fleur? I knew of Lady Rozeline, but that’s the first time I’ve heard that name.”
“Lady Aidel is the eldest daughter of the House of Count Fleur. I heard she hasn’t participated in any social activities until now.”
“I see. But how did she and His Highness meet? And moreover, for him to carry her to the Grand Duchess’s room…”
“Today, there were circumstances, so we stopped by the Count Fleur’s mansion. Afterward, His Highness had a private audience with Lady Aidel. I didn’t hear what the two of them discussed.”
Gregory continued, looking meaningfully toward the second-floor stairs where the Grand Duke had gone up.
“However, what is certain is that Lady Aidel is the prospective Grand Duchess recognized by His Highness.”
“…!”
Everyone in the Grand Duke’s residence stiffened. Their widely opened eyes in disbelief showed how shocked they were.
[This is the timeline separator]Entering the Grand Duchess’s bedroom, Kaeron carefully laid Aidel on the bed. Soft moonlight entering the dim bedroom fell on the sleeping woman’s face. The sight of the woman lying alone on the large bed was in itself a captivating subject.
“Aidel.”
Kaeron, calling her name in a low, locked voice as if savoring it, bent down and brought his palm to the woman’s cheek.
Her small face fit in one hand. The sensation of her smooth skin was vivid. His thumb slowly stroked over her soft cheek.
‘Dangerous.’
As in the carriage, the fragrance smelled in the enclosed space stimulated his lungs even more deeply. He wanted to leave the deeply sleeping woman to rest comfortably, yet contradictory emotions arose wanting to wake her immediately.
‘Not yet… It’s not the time.’
He gathered the fingers stroking her cheek into a tight fist and straightened his bent body. If he couldn’t avoid the woman’s fragrance that evoked blind desire like an addiction, he decided to smell it until he got sick of it… But now was not the time.
Kaeron covered Aidel with a blanket and turned his body. As if trying to erase the image of the woman etched in his retina, he slowly closed and opened his eyes before leaving the room.
“Your Highness.”
“Follow me.”
Gregory, who had been waiting in front of the Grand Duchess’s room, followed behind the Grand Duke heading to the office.
Arriving at the office and sitting on the sofa, Kaeron sharply scrutinized Gregory’s face sitting across from him. In the carriage, his face had seemed relatively calm, but one never knew the circumstances inside.
“Did you… perhaps smell it too?”
Gregory rolled his eyes for a moment to interpret the Grand Duke’s question about smelling something. Ah! That’s what he means.
“Yes. I smelled it too.”
“As expected, you too…?”
Kaeron’s eyebrows twitched. He had expected it, but Gregory nodding as if he had also felt it was irritating.
“How could I not notice when the smell was so strong?”
“…Right. Are you unaffected by it?”
Unlike himself, who was struggling to control the impulses evoked by her fragrance, Gregory’s relaxed expression was displeasing.
“That’s not the case. It was hard for me too.”
“As expected… I wasn’t the only one.”
With faint relief, thinking that Gregory felt the same emotions toward Aidel as he did made his insides start boiling.
Should I send him to the Grand Duke Elyos’s territory… Various ways to deal with the capable and loyal chief aide of the Grand Duke’s house quickly flashed through his mind.
“Y-Your Highness? What’s wrong?”
Gregory made a flustered expression, surprised by the cold glare directed at him. Cold sweat formed on his forehead as he tensed under the Grand Duke’s beast-like eyes.
“Are you perhaps angry because of that smell? The suspicious smell rising between Countess Fleur and Marquis Chale!”
“…What?”
“Isn’t it obvious they were scheming to somehow hand Lady Aidel over to Marquis Chale? They were trying to make a marriage deal.”
Gregory said angrily in an indignant voice. At his words, Kaeron realized there had been a misunderstanding in the conversation so far.
“So, what you smelled wasn’t a real fragrance-like smell, but the smell of suspicious circumstances?”
“Fragrance? What fragrance are you suddenly talking about?”
Gregory tilted his head as if he didn’t understand the Grand Duke’s words, then clapped his hands as if remembering something.
“Ah! If it’s fragrance, earlier at the Count’s mansion, another young lady from Fleur had a rose scent. It gave me a bit of a headache…”
Was it Rozeline? She was beautiful, but she felt like she had doused her entire body in rose perfume, with a somewhat overpowering fragrance. Gregory slightly frowned recalling that strong scent that had given him a headache.
From his words, Kaeron clearly realized.
‘Am I the only one reacting to her fragrance…?’
Even if the carriage was spacious, there was no way the intense fragrance wouldn’t reach Gregory sitting across. Judging from him smelling another woman’s fragrance, there was no issue with his sense of smell.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
Feeling the Grand Duke’s sharp aura toward him soften, Gregory sighed in relief. Instead, seeing the Grand Duke seemingly deep in thought, he asked worriedly.
“No. It’s a relief.”
Completely unaware that the Grand Duke had been considering distancing him, Gregory brought up the question he had been curious about.
“Rather, why did Lady Aidel suddenly become the Grand Duchess instead of an aide? Do you know how shocked I was? The others in the Grand Duke’s residence are also in shock right now.”
“As you saw earlier, she wanted complete independence from the House of Count Fleur. That’s why she took the imperial university exam.”
“Then, giving her the imperial university acceptance certificate and bringing her as an aide to the Grand Duke’s house would suffice. Perhaps Your Highness… fell in love with Lady Aidel at first sight?”
It was a reasonable inference based on the Grand Duke’s gaze toward Aidel since the carriage. If he had intended to scout her as an aide but fell in love at first sight upon meeting and proposed, it would at least make sense.
Even to him, Aidel was a beauty with no rival in the empire. Of course, the Grand Duke had shown no interest in such beauties before, but with her scholarly knowledge to enter the imperial university at the top, she had enough charm different from other women.
‘Fell in love at first sight’…
At Gregory’s words, Kaeron recalled the time he first met her in the library archives. Even without the captivating fragrance, her appearance trembling slightly yet steadfastly looking at him had been quite impressive.
Was it an illusion caused by the interest and curiosity felt toward another person for the first time? This unfamiliar thirst evoked only by him from her fragrance…
The reason would become clear in time. However, Kaeron concluded that the interest he felt toward her was not the kind of romantic emotion Gregory mentioned.
“It’s a contractual relationship based on mutual needs. Because noble women can only engage in independent livelihood activities after divorce.”
“A contractual relationship?”
“Yes. She agreed to handle the Grand Duke’s house administration as the Grand Duchess for the three years attending the imperial university, and in return, I would write a divorce paper. What she does will be similar to an aide, so both can get what we want.”
“But…”
Gregory trailed off. To call it merely a contractual Grand Duchess by transaction, the Grand Duke’s gaze toward her was unusual. But the Grand Duke’s expression, having already concluded, was very firm, so he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
“It’s a temporary contract, but keep this fact to yourself only. Instruct the other servants to treat her respectfully as the Grand Duchess. You also help her from the side so she can properly manage the Grand Duke’s house administration.”
“…Understood.”
He couldn’t go against the Grand Duke who had already made up his mind. However, what influence her presence would have on the Grand Duke in the future… Gregory’s eyes deepened in contemplation.
My Arch-enemy Sealed My Memory and Said That He is My Husband
This is an incredibly captivating story that you absolutely shouldn’t miss! I’ll give a brief introduction here, and below you’ll find a detailed synopsis of the plot.
The female lead is a fierce and powerful demon king. The male lead is a once-in-a-millennium celestial lord, admired by the entire cultivation world.
They are equally matched, legendary rivals who have battled for centuries.
In the final duel, the female lead is gravely injured. The male lead saves her, seals her memories, and hides her true identity. He tells her that he is her fiancé. His entire life has been flawless—except for the one thing he never expected, never controlled, and never wanted to control: falling for his greatest enemy. She is his inner demon, his obsession.
When the female lead regains her memories, she is furious at his deception.
She makes his life a living hell.
And somehow, the male lead—possibly a total masochist—doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s happy she’s paying attention to him.
Yep, we’re back to my favorite trope: male lead suffering. If you love this kind of story, jump into the pit with me now!!!
Intro
Dong Xia lost her memory.
Her handsome and extremely powerful fiancé Li Qing comforted her: “It’s okay if you can’t remember. I’ll always be with you.”
Everyone thought Dong Xia’s ancestors must have burned incense to get such a perfect fiancé. He was the number one person in the immortal realm, yet he remained chaste and only loved her.
…
The day before marrying her fiancé, Dong Xia finally remembered everything.
She wasn’t suffering from memory loss at all.
Her arch-enemy had made her fake her death, destroyed her cultivation, replaced her memories, and pretended to be her deeply in love fiancé.
No wonder he said, “It’s okay if you can’t remember”!
Dong Xia laughed coldly as she pulled out her long knife: Li Qing, prepare to die 🙂
*
Li Qing, as the supreme being of the immortal realm, was the people’s shining beacon.
The only unknown stain in his life was his affection for Dong Xia, the ruler of the demon realm.
In the final battle of the war between immortals and demons, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered. The ruler of the demon realm was finally slain under the sword of the supreme being of the immortal realm, and everyone in the immortal realm applauded.
The cultivation world lost a ruler of the demon realm.
And in the back mountain of Li Qing’s cave dwelling, he secretly hid away a fiancée.
Notes:
1. The female lead is white on the outside, black on the inside, and the queen of flattery; the male lead repeatedly tests the edge of darkness, a VIP guest at the crematorium.
2. Fantasy cultivation world setting.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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.