Escaping the Archduke of the North’s Obsession - Chapter 88-1

“Your Highness.”

Isabella hurried to Duke Kyar who was sitting on the table chair appearing nonchalant.

“You’re late, Isabella.”

“I’m sorry I overslept. Were you alright this morning?” She asked, concerned.

Duke Kyar nodded his head grimly.

“I had a weird dream as expected but other than that, I’m alright.”

“I’m glad to hear that, but these people—-”

Isabella trailed off as she watched the people standing behind them.

“These people were the ones who  had spread vicious rumors about you.” Duke Kyar said frostily.

The frightened servants shivered under his cool gaze and shamefully lowered their heads.

“It’s up to you to decide what to do with them but I could also freeze their mouths if you want.” Duke Kyar declared savagely. ”That way, they can never utter such wicked gossip again.”

His countenance was too severe for that statement to be a jest all of the tied servants trembled in horror.

“Shall we engrave the dirty names they called you on their skin?” An ice awl materialized in his pale hand.

The servants put their hands together and looked at Isabella with remorse-filled puppy eyes, begging to be freed.

Isabella hated the people who talked bad things about her behind her back but Duke Kyar’s punishment seemed too much.

“You told me to decide what to do with them, right?”

Duke Kyar raised an eyebrow and nodded.

“You aren’t going to forgive them that easily, are you?”

She knew that Duke Kyar always wanted to take revenge on those who did him wrong.

Isabella smiled faintly and replied, “It’s not like that, Your Highness. You can relax.”

She wanted these servants to do labor for free.

While delivering her medicine to pharmacies in the market, Isabella found out that farmers lacked workers during the spring and summer.

A fruit called ‘Alesha’ was most abundant in Rubella Castle.

Even if these fruits were grown elsewhere, the ‘aleshas’ in Rubella Castle were of the finest quality due to their cool climate in the spring and summer.

She wanted to give these servants a chance to harvest the aleshas—a specialty fruit in Rubella Castle.

Isabella’s eyes twinkled as she glanced at all of the servants.

**

Duke Kyar observed Isabella eating with him in silence.

The servants submitted piles of reports next to her and these papers contained all the rumors they had spread in full detail.

As a punishment, Isabella ordered them to volunteer for every letter they had written here.

Each letter was equivalent to an hour of service.

The more rumors a servant had spread, the more volunteer hours he/she had to do.

As soon as these servants finished their work at Rubella Castle, they had to visit the farmhouse to help grow aleshas.

The servants who refused to volunteer had to quit their jobs and leave Rubella Castle, but no one did it.

Isabella knew that the salary at Rubella Castle was high.

Their welfares were also well taken care of so it would be hard to give them up.

“But is this worth it, Isabella?” Duke Kyar asked, pointing to the papers next to her.

“It’s very hard to be a farmer. If they experienced it once, they can deeply reflect on their bad behaviors and strive to do better.”

” I’ll go along with you this time. If these people dared to gossip about you, then I’ll take care of it my way.”

+++

Cold air permeated from his body, sending chills down the servants’ spines as they waited for the final judgment by the table.

“Farmers will love it and they would be grateful to Archduke,” Isabella said soothingly and smiled.

“All I care about is your heart, Isabella. I don’t care what others think of me.”

Isabella smiled at his affectionate confession.

“I respect you so much, Your Highness.”

“Respect?”

He furrowed his brows as if he didn’t like the word respect.

“Is that all?”

“And a lot of—- I like you.” She said honestly and it made Duke Kyar blush.

This time, she was going to express her feelings to him without any regret.

He moistened his throat with the red wine and replied calmly, “Well, that’s a pretty good answer.”

“Hurry up and eat, Your Highness. You barely ate any food.” She said, pointing at the plate that he didn’t even touch.

“You’re just trying to make me feel better, aren’t you?”

Isabella burst out laughing at his suspicious question.

“No, I really like you, Your Highness.”

“More than that one, you— No. Never mind. I’m not curious about that.” Duke Kyar lowered his head hurriedly. “Let’s finish eating.”

Isabella flashed him an awkward smile, knowing who he was curious about.

Will there ever be a day when Isabella could tell him the truth?

Will he believe this nonsense?

She wasn’t ready to tell him the story yet because she hated talking about his death.

**