The Duchess - Gruvia

Chapter 18

AN: Just to remind you that Juvia is heavily pregnant, hence: hormonal. Those hormones can make a woman go havoc. HAHA Just a small update so they can address somethings.

#

Gray put an arm around her shoulders and guided her inside the castle and he was shaking in anger and fear and all he wanted to do was to take his wife out of everyone's sight and hold her. But he also wanted to scream at her for hours for being so stupid.

Inside his office, Gray let her go and closed the door behind them just to turn around to look at her. "What on earth were you thinking?"

"I-" The blunette tried but he cut her off.

"What, Juvia? What would be so important for you to leave the safety of the castle? Please, enlighten me." Gray was so angry he didn't even realize he started to yell.

Juvia took a deep breath. "I told you we needed answers, that we needed to speak to your fa-"

"Don't call him that, he hasn't been anything to me for more than ten years." He hissed and he saw her look away. "It doesn't matter now. You left without telling anyone, Juvia, not even a maid to say a word after we noted you were gone! Do you have any idea what I thought? What I felt when I couldn't find you?"

Her expression softened and she took a step closer to him. "But I am fine. Both of us are fine."

Juvia's words did little to "What if you were not? You got yourself in a situation with no information whatsoever about it and with no idea of danger."

"There was no danger and Juvia had Gajeel-kun with her." Juvia shook her head. "And your..." She stopped for a moment. "Silver-sama has no plan of hurting us, he just... I think he wants to come home."

Ignoring her last words, Gray, instead, focused on her first sentence. "No danger? Do you think Gajeel could've stopped ten men or more? You couldn't possibly know if you were safe or not! You know nothing about the danger you are in, Juvia! You should've listened to me!"

Juvia looked confused for a moment. "What danger?"

"Do you really think the threats on your life stopped? The common people love you, but there are powerful families that still don't like that you are the Duchess." Gray told her, his voice still loud. "Why do you think you only go out with four or five guards at least when you go to the village? As far as I know, they could've used him to get to you."

"What?" She paled and put her hand on her stomach. "What are you talking about?" Gray's jaw was tight and she could see his words were true. "Were there attempts to...?" The way he looked at her said it all. She put a hand over her mouth and her eyes widened. "How many times?"

Calming down slightly, Gray took a deep breath. "Juvia..."

"How many times?" Juvia was the one almost yelling, then.

The Duke weighted his options and decided to tell the truth. "Four times in the past seven months alone."

"Four?" She blinked and started to walk around, worried, heart beating fast and her thoughts running wild. "You never told me. People have tried to kill me and you never told me."

"The doctor said you shouldn't exert yourself and worry too much because of the baby." Gray passed a hand through his hair. "Certainly shouldn't have said anything now."

"You never told me." Juvia whispered to herself. "People were after me while I am pregnant and you didn't tell me."

"That's not the point right now, Juvia, but the fact that you-"