AMOTGD

CHAPTER XVl

Even her slight tilt of the head seemed to irritate him, prompting the Grand Duke to snap at her sharply.

“I told you to watch over her carefully, and this is the result?”

“Don’t twist your own words. You ordered me to ‘keep her close’.”

Look at him? Even if your mouth is crooked, you should speak straight.

The initial promise was to keep his ‘woman’ close to ensure she didn’t run away. And the Grand Duchess did everything she could.

“I wouldn’t abandon you, and he wouldn’t leave you alone.”

Using that ridiculous excuse, she brought her in as a close maid to keep her within his reach at all times.

After that, it was up to him to handle things properly. He was a fool to chase after her and get kicked back. Yet now he wants to blame someone else? How absurd.

The Grand Duchess’s smug response made the Grand Duke’s expression grow even more menacing. Unable to stand it any longer, Marquis Elva quickly stepped between them.

“We shouldn’t be fighting among ourselves. We should focus on finding her.”

Kainri Elva, Marquis of Elva, was the Grand Duchess’s cousin. When Luina married into the Grand Duke’s family, she relinquished her claim to the Elva family inheritance, which Kainri then took over.

Moreover, he was a close friend of the Grand Duke and the biological father of the Grand Duchess’s unborn child.

“That’s why you get kicked by the woman you like.”

Pathetically, you get kicked by a stable boy like Paul too.

As these words continued, the Grand Duke clenched his fists threateningly, and Marquis Elva hastily tried to calm her down.

“You…!”

“Isn’t it true? You couldn’t even confess properly, got kicked to the curb while pretending to be innocent. Not everyone can play the fox.”

“Shut your mouth!”

“Are you going to hit a pregnant woman? Go ahead, hit me. Hit me!”

“Enough, both of you!”

Despite being childhood friends, how did they ever think of getting married with that dirty temper of his? If it weren’t for these tangled relationships, things wouldn’t have gotten so complicated.

Strictly speaking, the problem started with Luina and Kainri.

According to imperial law, blood relatives within six degrees of kinship cannot marry. Luina and Kainri were cousins, and their relationship could only ever be a common-law marriage. The only one who reached out to help them was Ern.

“If necessary, I can act as a proxy in the marriage.”

In situations like this, a proxy marriage was used.

Proxy marriages were often employed by the imperial family, where the emperor would formally marry off his consort to a nobleman to keep her close. He suggested that they use this in reverse.

But in this case, the only ones who would benefit from the proxy marriage would be Luina and Kainri. From Ernst’s perspective, he would never be able to marry the woman he loved. Was he really okay with that?

When Kainri asked him curiously, he answered succinctly.

“It doesn’t matter. She’s someone I can never marry.”

At the time, Kainri didn’t understand what he meant. But when the civil war ended and they returned to the capital, he quickly realized where his gaze was directed. He understood whose heart he held and why he said those words.

“Ah, this guy. How can you be so good at shooting people in the head but can’t even confess properly?”

Kainri rubbed his forehead as he listened to Luina spew vulgarities from her refined lips, but honestly, she wasn’t completely wrong.

The person he liked was, unfortunately, a commoner and a maid.

In short, marriage was out of the question from the beginning. The idea of a commoner, let alone a maid, mixing with the imperial bloodline of the Grand Duchy was absurd. If anything, she might be brought in as a courtesan, but never as a consort.

The reason Ernst set up a proxy marriage with Luina was solely because of this.

If he had entered a political marriage with another woman, even if she would initially deny it, she would eventually desire Julie’s place. This directly impacted the safety of the maid. His overwhelming affection could end up killing her.

So, he spent his life following her, fighting wars, gaining titles, and arranging this proxy marriage.

But why couldn’t he win her heart? Why did she run away whenever she saw Ernst as if he were the plague?

“I’ll make her truly love me.”

Luina laughed at Ernst’s words, but having watched him since the battlefield, she somewhat understood. It was his kind of pure love.

He was a man who was only ever praised. Seeing a maid who adamantly refused him must have been shocking. It must have made him feel unjustly treated. By the end, it seemed like a matter of pride as well.

Then, there was an incident that finally made him snap.

“She wants to get married?”

“Who…?”

“The stable boy, Paul.”

Who the hell was Paul, she laughed, mocking Ernst as he froze over. If Luina had seen Ernst on the battlefield, would she still have laughed like that, clutching her sides?

The more she thought about it, the more she sighed.

Even in the war, not knowing if he would die the next day, he kept his purity, claiming his first time should be with her. And now, another man was taking her away? How could he not lose his mind?

“Oh, he finally lost it. That madman.”