GDPSW 1

The Melancholy of the Grand Duchess of Aperhis

<Anneliese-like>

[Adjective] A term used to describe something so cute, beautiful, and dazzlingly lovable that merely looking at it is blinding.

[Noun form] Anneliese

By imperial decree, a new word has been registered. It is to be widely announced.

※ Notice ※
If used with meanings of belittlement or mockery, contrary to its dictionary definition, immediate punishment will be carried out. Regional elders are advised to monitor their residents carefully.

“…What on earth is this?”

Silence.

Anneliese stared intently at the paper clutched in her hand, as if trying to bore a hole through it.

Even seeing it with her own eyes, she couldn’t believe it.

“…You’re saying this is an official notice that was distributed across the entire Grand Duchy today?”

“Yes.”

The handsome blond man standing beside her replied, his silver eyes gleaming.

He was Sir Isaiah—the Grand Duke’s right-hand man and Anneliese’s personal guard.

Still clinging to a shred of hope, Anneliese asked again.

The hand holding the paper trembled with humiliation.

“…There’s no way to revoke it, is there?”

“That would be difficult. What do you think?”

“What do you think I’d think?”

“I assumed you’d be pleased.”

“Are you kidding me? Who would like something like this?!”

At her outburst, Isaiah raised both hands up to his shoulders.

His attitude was like that of a trainer calming an enraged beast, which only made her more irritated.

“Please calm down. Frequent anger shortens one’s lifespan.”

“…Where is His Grace right now?”

“He said he’d personally go out with a greatsword to catch anyone not complying with the decree.”

“Ha!”

Of course he did.

Anneliese collapsed into her chair.

The Grand Duke’s behavior was exactly as she had expected. A sigh escaped her lips.

As she sat there in silence, the servants waiting nearby began to murmur.

They were attendants the Grand Duke had assigned to her after she coughed once during a seasonal change.

Their mission: to ensure that the Grand Duchess lived safely past the empire’s average lifespan of eighty.

To an excessive degree.

“Milady, are you alright? Shall I bring more dessert?”

“Should we call a healer?”

Hearing their concerned voices, Anneliese squeezed her eyes shut.

When would they ever realize it?

That she was not a three-day-old newborn, but a perfectly healthy adult woman.

‘Then again… even if I told them, they wouldn’t understand.’

Shaking her head weakly, she dismissed the murmuring servants.

“I want to be alone. Leave for now. I’ll call you later.”

In the now-quiet room, Anneliese let out a deep sigh.

A handsome husband, wealth so vast she could never spend it all in a lifetime, power that even the emperor couldn’t easily challenge.

And the honorable title of Grand Duchess.

On top of that, loyal servants willing to risk their lives at her command.

A perfect life with nothing lacking, one might say.

And yet, even Anneliese von Aperhis—the Grand Duchess herself—had a problem.

‘My husband’s insane, over-the-top doting is too much for me!’

—Even if she said that, no one would believe her.

Every time she heard rumors that she ruled over her love-struck husband, she felt her temper flare.

‘I never once told him to make an adjective out of my name.’

She had never asked to have her beauty praised, nor demanded constant adoration.

She had simply… existed.

‘Honestly, those beauties in history who supposedly ruined nations… maybe they never intended to, either.’

Maybe all they did was exist quietly.

And then the people around them went mad—offering kingdoms, proposing empress titles—until everything collapsed.

Lately, she found herself thinking that more and more.

Anyone would, if they had a husband who went insane claiming she was adorable and lovable just for breathing.

“Are you alright, Milady?”

Sir Isaiah had been smiling the entire time.

Anneliese looked at his slick, ever-cheerful face with a dull gaze.

What was so amusing to him all the time?

Her head felt like it would split from worry, and yet—

“Isaiah.”

Sadly, he was the only person in this mansion she could somewhat communicate with.

“Yes, Milady.”

“Answer me honestly.”

“…What are you going to ask this time?”

Isaiah’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“Am I really that pretty?”

Anneliese’s face was more serious than ever.

“…Pardon?”

Isaiah blinked.

“Do I look so beautiful it drives you mad just by looking? Am I flawless from head to toe, and does my scent alone make you lose your senses?”

The guard, who was always smiling to the point of annoyance, fell noticeably silent.

“Hmm…”

Ignoring him, Anneliese poured out her long-held frustrations.

“Do you feel like granting me anything I want? Like saying embarrassing things without hesitation? Are all of you like that?”

“Well… I wouldn’t call it common.”

“Right? Exactly, right?”

Bang!

Anneliese slammed her fist onto the desk.

A glass vase at the corner lost its balance and fell.

“Then why on earth is your lord like this with me?!”

“Hmm.”

“This isn’t even funny! Is he trying to wear me down and sacrifice me or something? Did he invent some kind of new ritual?!”

Isaiah casually caught the falling vase as if it were nothing.

His silver eyes curved gently.

“No, Milady. Forgive me for saying this, but…”

He paused for a moment, smiling as if he found this all highly amusing.

“My lord truly believes there is no creation in this world more beautiful than you.”

It was the kind of answer that made a sigh inevitable.

“…Ha…”

Isaiah added,

“He means it sincerely.”

She pressed her hand to her forehead.

That’s exactly the problem!

“Do something about it. He’s your lord.”

“My lord believes you are the most adorable and lovable being in the world, and insists that everyone else believe the same. That is hardly my fault, is it?”

Even so, this was too much. There should be limits to affection.

‘Why is he acting like this… when he doesn’t even love me?’

Anneliese swallowed her words.

“…You know the condition under which we married.”

“Ah, that ‘condition’? The promise that he would never love you?”

Isaiah shrugged.

“There’s no issue, is there? It’s not love. He simply adores you excessively.”

“….”

“You told him not to love you—not not to adore you. Isn’t that right?”

So why didn’t you make the contract clearer from the beginning?

Even though he didn’t say it out loud, Anneliese could read the unspoken words easily.

He was annoyingly expressive with his face.

‘How irritating.’

“Even if my lord goes mad over his wife and turns the entire duchy upside down… well, that’s not my concern, is it?”

“Isaiah.”

“Yes, Milady.”

“Be quiet.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Isaiah mimed sewing his lips shut.

Watching his shameless act, Anneliese dropped her forehead onto the desk.

The marble surface was cold against her skin.

It cooled her overheated thoughts slightly.

Slowly, she began to retrace her memories.

How had her life turned into such an unsolvable problem?

‘That damn contract marriage.’

No matter how she thought about it, there was only one cause.

‘Was it really the right decision to propose a contract marriage to the Grand Duke?’

It had been necessary to inherit her title… and it had helped her fend off the Crown Prince’s persistent proposals, but—

She had never imagined their mutually beneficial arrangement would turn into this.

‘If I’d known, I would have added more specific terms to the contract.’

Still, Anneliese felt deeply wronged.

‘When he used to say my very existence annoyed him!’

How was she supposed to prepare for something she had never even imagined would happen?

He had said she was too thin and unattractive.

That he didn’t understand why she was called the empire’s greatest beauty.

And most of all—

He had said he would never, ever come to like her.

‘At first… he really wasn’t like this.’

It was true.

Anneliese remembered her first meeting with the Grand Duke perfectly.