Duke Ashillean’s Contractual Marriage - Chapter 19

Translated by Bunny

 

Chapter 20

 

‘I didn’t know my grandfather was that kind of person?’

 

Count Graham was always the same. A human who can sacrifice his youngest daughter and grandson in order to gain greater power – a situation in the capital Rubiana was in the dark, who stayed in the North for a long time. 

 

He was still Louismond’s maternal grandfather, and so he can’t seem to give up his hope on him until the very end – a shallow belief that he wouldn’t do anything like this. No, Louismond was blaming himself. 

 

‘My being foolish didn’t change even if I had died seven times and live the eighth time. I trusted my grandfather and no one else.’

 

Haha, he laughed out loud.

 

‘I will never do this again – never. I won’t let Count Graham take control of my life any longer.’

 

Her beautiful, watery eyes bear spite. Count Graham was unaware that Louismond had already renounced his kinship with him. Count Graham coughed while pushing  Louismond back to the bedroom. 

 

“Anyway, this is all for you, so go back and do your duty. A man should cherish his wife and do his best for her.” 

 

“Who, who is my wife!”

 

“Who else other than this Young Lady of Marquis Odill behind you?”

 

“No, she’s not. She’s not my wife!”

 

“Enough, how long are you going to embarrass the Young Lady Odill here? Shouldn’t you get her back to the bedroom and attend to the Young Lady!” Count Graham yelled at the servants who were standing in the doorway. “You, what are you doing? Bring this b*st*rd with you!”

 

“Grandfather!”

 

“Yes, My Lord.”

 

The mournful and scream were mixed. The four servants rushed in and each grabbed Louismond’s limbs one by one. 

 

“Let go. Let me go! I said let me go!”

 

Louismond resisted, but the stout servants didn’t budge. Meanwhile, Count Graham turned around and bowed his head to Lisana. 

 

“My Lady, my apologies. About my grandson… this is embarrassing, but he was a complete dunce so I think he was just being overly shy.” 

 

“Dunce? Dunce?! Who? Me? Don’t make me laugh! I used to touch every single woman in this capi – eup!”

 

The quick-witted servant quickly covered Louismond’s mouth. Count Graham smiled awkwardly as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. 

 

“That bastard, hmph. Since he doesn’t have any experience, he was being embarrassed because this would be his first time. Young Lady, I swear to God that my grandson is pure in that way. I pity him since he entered the House of Scholars even before he learned anything….” 

 

“Stop, stop now. I know enough.”

 

Lisana raised her hand to make Count Graham close his mouth. Her face was pale without any trace of blood, and her hands were trembling as it grabbed on her robe. Nevertheless, she kept her back straight and showed her determined attitude. She is indeed worthy of being the Queen of the country. 

 

‘Is a dragon’s child also a dragon?’

 

Rubiana admired her as she remembered Marquis Odill who always stood upright in front of the Emperor. 

 

Lisa gracefully turned her body, not knowing that there was an intruder watching outside the veranda. 

 

“I hope there are no more problems.”

 

“Of course. Please, have a great night.”

 

Count Graham bowed his head towards her back. It was only Rubiana who could see his wicked expression. 

 

Lisana reached out to Louismond, who was grumbling while being suppressed by the four servants. 

 

“Don’t embarrass me anymore.”

 

Her slender hand stroked Louismond’s cheek. She didn’t wear any ring today on her finger, but Louismond still struggled and avoided her hand. 

 

“Don’t touch me. You are not my wife. That won’t happen. Who? Who will see you as a wife – eup!”

 

Once again, the servant covered his mouth. But this time, Louismond didn’t stay still. He immediately bit the servant’s hand. 

 

“Ahh! D**n!” The servant screamed and shook his hand.

 

“No! Save me! Anyone please! I’m begging you!” Once again without his mouth being covered, Louismond shouted with all his might. 

 

‘Please, anyone is fine. Help me. No more. I hate it.’

 

Even knowing that there was no one who would help him in this mansion, he dared to ask them for help. Tears flowed down from both of his eyes. 

 

“Don’t cry, Louis. Everything will be fine.”

 

Lisana reached out her hand again. Louismond couldn’t avoid her touch. It was because the servant, who had his hand bitten by him, was furious and hardly pressed on Louismond’s head. 

 

‘NO!’

 

Louismond closed his eyes tightly. 

 

‘How could you not know my feelings? What a cruel person.’

 

Lisana sighed sadly as she looked at Louismond’s brilliant silver hair.

 

‘As long as you caught Duke Feltharg or Duke Ashillean’s eyes, you might be in danger if you don’t formalize our relationship as soon as possible. That is why I am doing this.’ 

 

You don’t even know that. 

 

‘It’s alright if I get hated by you. I will do anything if that means I can protect you without losing you. Because that is what I, your wife and your Queen, should do.’

 

Lisana felt like she had become the heroine of a tragic story, bringing tears to her eyes. 

 

Rubiana watched everything outside the veranda. 

 

“…”

 

Louismond’s figure was reflected in her green eyes as she stood by – his figure of resisting until the very end. 

 

“I have no other choice then.”

 

Rubiana took a step back and drew her sword from her waist.

 

“My husband asked to be saved, so I should save him.”

 

Break, the glass door was smashed with a single stroke of her sword. Smash, she literally smashed that. The iron frame was bent and the thin glass shattered. The deafening noise and sharp shards of glass poured inside. 

 

“Wh, who’s there!”

 

“Kyaaaah!”

 

“Pr, protect the Count!”

 

“Bring the lady inside. Hurry!”

 

People in the living room made a fuss. The servants and maids took care of their Master, Count Graham, and Lisana, their valued guest. They are enthusiastic in their service, but Rubiana didn’t want to rate it very highly. It wasn’t enough for her, as she saw how they ignored Louismond, whom they should take care of, too. 

 

“Ugh.”

 

Louismond rolled on the floor. Fortunately, no shards of glass were thrown in his direction. 

 

“Louis!”

 

Lisana shook the maids away and ran to Louismond. Of course, that doesn’t look good in Rubiana’s eyes. 

 

“M, move away from me. Don’t touch me!”

 

It was nice to see that Louismond was shaking off Lisana even in the midst of a frenzy. Shatter, the debris on the floor shattered horribly under his feet. 

 

“Wh, who are you?” Count Graham shouted while being surrounded by the servants. 

 

‘You don’t know me?’ Rubiana was puzzled. ‘Ah.’ She smirked when she remembered that she was wearing a deep black hood. 

 

“I’ll let you know if you’re curious.”

 

The hood was pulled back, revealing a torch-burning red hair and vivid green eyes.

 

“Heok.” Count Graham’s body fluttered in awe. 

 

“Ah, Duke of Ashillean? Why, why… no way!” 

 

Realizing something, Lisana turned her head and looked at Louismond. 

 

“…!”

 

Cough, cough, barely managing to raise his head, Louismond opened his mouth wide when he saw Rubiana. He blinked and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He then opened his eyes widely again and looked up at Rubiana. 

 

“H, how…?”

 

An unbelievable voice, eyes filled with hope welling up with tears – before the tears rolled down his cheeks, Rubiana reached out her hand to him, and not a sword. 

 

“I’m here to save you, my husband.”

 

“Ah….”

 

Louismond stared blankly at the hand that reached out to him. 

 

‘Has anyone ever reached out to me?’ 

 

He couldn’t think of anything. He was never a human. He was a puppet to gain more power, a decoration to show off to other people, a tool for a night of pleasure – it was the same with his blood related family. No one saved him nor helped him. No, he didn’t even know he needed help. Because of this, Louismond had long given up asking anyone for help. 

 

He didn’t expect anything from anyone. He always struggled alone. Even though he failed every time, he didn’t ask anyone for help. And then, Rubiana reached out to him. She told him that she will save him. It was the first time. 

 

It was the first savior he met for the first time only after he died seven times and lived for the eighth time. The savior had blazing red hair and green eyes like a grass leaf. Her red hair stood out anytime, anywhere, so it was always quick to find her. But he was unable to see what she looked like, and so he couldn’t remember the details of her face. Her image was always faint. 

 

Even when he proposed to her, clinging to her with a desperate heart, he dared not take a closer look at her face. Finally now, Louismond could see her face closely. Her slightly tanned face was expressionless. It must have been tanned by the Northern snowfield, but is her expressionless face also a result of the Northern snowfield? She had a very handsome and neat face that he started to wonder why he was never able to remember. 

 

She wasn’t as cold or cold-hearted as he thought. His tightly closed lips were red, and her sharp jawline was soft. Her green eyes were deep and calm. Looking at those pair of eyes, he was captivated. Emerald? ? No, its color was incomparable to those common gems. 

 

Green diamond. Louismond remembered the green diamonds he had seen a foreign lady had worn on her neck in his earlier years. Her jewel-like green eyes had no lust nor greed. She was just casually looking at Louismond. In that indifference, Louismond had fallen in love. Deng, deng, deng – the bells rang loudly inside his head. He felt like he was short of breath and his heart was beating against his chest as if it was going to explode. His face heated up. 

 

‘What is this? I didn’t even drink a drop of that milk. Did I eat some kind of medicine during dinner?’

 

He was terrified at the thought that the drug might be taking effect too late.

 

‘Let’s calm down. Calm down. Calm down first.’

 

Louismond pressed his left chest with both hands. That wasn’t enough to suppress his crazily beating heart, but if he didn’t do that, then he thought that his heart would pop out of his throat. He was beyond embarrassed by that so he couldn’t hold Rubiana’s outstretched hand. He had unintentionally ignored it. 

  

 

It was rude to ignore the hand of a person who asked for a dance in a ball. How rude was it not to hold the hand of the person who came to rescue him? 

 

‘Why, why is my heart beating like this!’

 

Bewildered by the deafening sound of his thumping heart, Louismond hasn’t thought that far yet. 

 

“…”

 

Rubiana looked at him in silence. She was also waiting. Her hand was still outstretched to him. She wasn’t embarrassed with her hands mid-air. It was quite fun to watch Louismond who seemed to have forgotten the existence of her hand. 

 

Gaping at her, Louismond suddenly flapped like a fish that was out of the water. His face quickly turned red and didn’t know what to do, but he suddenly raised his hand. She thought that he would hold her hand but instead, he suddenly pressed his cheek and took a deep breath, hoo-haa, hoo-haa. 

 

‘If I live with him, I won’t be bored.’ Rubiana chuckled.