Duke's wife

Chapter 6

Grace then proceeded to meet Sally, flushed with cold, and returned back to her bedroom in the mansion.

She only smiled awkwardly at Sally who asked her where she had been gazing at for a while. Somehow, she thought she shouldn't be honest about what had happened.

Then Sally, being the wise maid, did not pursue her further.

"Don't ever do that again! Do you understand?"

Instead, she repeated her instructions.

As Grace was tired so much of Sally's ear-pounding nagging for reading a book after a walk, taking a bath after dinner and getting ready to sleep, she said.

"All right, all right. Sally, so stop it now. I'm going to get a scab."

"When I think about the things that get me nervous and antsy, I believe this much nagging is still not enough! I know that of course!"

"......What's the point of doing that? I know nothing about Felix Castle, so why would I go so far?"

"I don't know anything about Felix Castle, so let's know more!"

Grace seemed to end the sermon again, so Sally stopped nagging at her timid counterargument. Then she lowered her voice, staring at Grace on the other side of the dressing table and continued.

"You don't know much about Sir Felix? He was brought up far away from the capital and far from the Imperial secret struggle."

"...Is that so?"

"Even if I use all fingers on both of my hands , no, even with both toes, I cannot count them all. Don't you think so? He is the former emperor's only sister's eldest son and cousin of the present Emperor. Moreover, as the greatest knight of the empire he has countless possessions. Furthermore, he is trusted by the Emperor. Can anyone be free from jealousy?"

"....But everyone is afraid of the duke. That..."

"You mean that ridiculous curse?"

Grace carefully brought up the curse, and Sally said with a snort of laughter.

"The curse, seeing the Duke's 'unfortunate coincidences' over and over again, was only a noise made by those who liked to make a fuss about it!"

"....But the coincidence is that all the women who have been married or engaged to the Duke have gone mad or died..."

"No, the lady who was engaged to him before his marriage to Electra is still alive and well. Isn't she?"

"Haha."

"She just wasn't lucky! Of course!"

Grace smiled awkwardly and pretended to sympathize with Sally. It seemed obvious that Sally would be really angry if she honestly said, "It's wrong to say that four people died by sheer coincidence."

'I'm sorry, Sally. I'm trying to get away with that 'unfortunate coincidence' or 'curse' thing.'

Grace thought so and smiled wryly to herself.

Sally, unaware of Grace's feelings, alone expressed pity for Duke Felix and his brother Prince Leon Felix.

"I don't know why noble people are so spiteful from their mouths! The death of the eldest lady was due to a fever, and with it, everything was cursed for Prince Leon."

".....Was it because of a puerperal fever?"

[T/N: Puerperal Fever - fever caused by uterine infection following childbirth.]