The Ugly Wife of the Shady Duke

Grace was the daughter of a poor viscount with a long history of nobility, but whose only claim to fame was a territory with a lake which had a strange legend attached to it.

Grace has come this far because of the power of Duke Felton, who has the power to turn down any offers except that of the Emperor.

Throughout the past, the men of the Felton family were the only ones who could efficiently confront the northern monsters and supply the highest quality magic stones to the empire. 

In the long run, it’s the Empire, not Benjamin, that’s in trouble.

It’s obvious that if Duke Felton withdrew his military support, the monsters would inevitably descend upon the capital with a loud “Rawr”. 

However, Duke Felton even married to show his loyalty to the Empire and to protect his innocent subjects. 

Grace thought that Benjamin’s loyalty was very high.

As in the original story, he almost always agreed to the Crown Prince’s proposals. 

‘I wonder if the festival is something the Crown Prince is hosting this time.’

And he had invited Benjamin there.

Grace nodded her head, realizing the reason behind it all.

‘So that’s why.’

He proposed it, just to appeal to the royal family that his marriage which was arranged by them is going well.

Grace felt relieved after all the long thoughts.

‘It could have been a big problem.
I almost thought Benjamin had feelings for me.’

There was no reason for him to like her.

I almost hurt myself by saying ‘We should get divorced later’.

Grace took a deep breath.

‘Now that my thoughts are organized, I should get some sleep.’

Feeling much more relieved, Grace put her diary in the drawer of the bedside table.
It felt comfortable to think that she was slowly separating herself from all of this.

The reason Benjamin was affectionate towards Grace was to show his loyalty to the royal family and to demonstrate that he had no intention of rebellion.

Whenever he seemed to like her, Grace felt suffocated, but now that her thoughts were organized, she felt comfortable.

‘But what if he goes crazy because of Aria and tries to kidnap her?’

If a loyalist of the empire kidnaps the saintess, wouldn’t he become an enemy not only of the empire but also of the world?

Grace closed her eyes tightly under the covers and thought.

‘He’s my husband, but he’s really crazy.’

Yeah, but where can you find a character who appears as one of the main characters in romance novels but is not crazy?

Love is a crazy thing in itself, Grace muttered.

‘But he’ll soon be my ex-husband.’

⋆★⋆

As Grace organized her thoughts, her personality brightened a bit and her speech became more neat.

It was just that she had learned to separate the previous Grace and her own emotions, but everyone thought she was excited because of the mask festival.

‘Well, I feel light.’

Until the mask festival, Grace didn’t have much to do.

The date was being counted down every day by the staff of the annex, and the maids were thinking every day about which cloak and mask would be best for her to wear on that day.

Grace stretched her body, feeling lighter after adjusting her diet.
Maybe she could do some light exercise now? She even had positive thoughts about it.

‘Definitely, the first part of a diet is the easiest to lose weight.’

When Grace looked at Sally, it seemed that the original Grace herself didn’t have a particularly good memory.

Trying to recall all the memories of a person who originally had a poor memory, only emotional events came to mind…

It was inevitable that she would feel depressed as she kept reminiscing about the emotions of the person who had a crush on someone.

It wasn’t just any crush, but a crush of someone who had the habit of self-loathing.

No matter how many times she told herself that it wasn’t her own emotions, she couldn’t help feeling depressed.

‘Emotions are contagious, you know.’

“Madam~ How about this color?”

When Grace stopped stretching, Sally approached her as if waiting and asked her.

“Huh?”

In Sally’s hand was a thick cloak in navy blue.

“Wouldn’t it be hot?”

“It’s okay.
It’s made of the fur of a creature called Rehton.
It absorbs heat, so it’s not hot during the day and blocks the chilly air at night.”

That’s a really convenient effect.
While listening to Sally’s explanation, Grace responded at one word.

“Creature?”

Grace widened her eyes and looked at Sally.

“Why is there fur from a creature here?”

Unless it’s the lowest grade, fur from the creature was usually sold first at the auction house, then divided into the Mage Tower and Magic Tool Union, and finally at the dress shops.

‘Although, it doesn’t look like a low-grade one.’

The fur was undamaged and had a glossy sheen.
And such a cloak was not suitable for just a village festival.

“I happened to find it!”

“By chance?”

“Yes!”