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chapter 29
I Only Need the Duke’s Child Episode 29. Beautiful, Damn It
After the nobles surrounding the two of them withdrew, Herdin began by handing Katrina a glass of wine.
“Are you afraid of me, Your Majesty?”
Katrina, who was drinking the wine he handed her, burst into laughter as if she had just heard something amusing.
“Afraid?
Me?
Of you?”
When he looked at Katrina, he saw his wife’s face.
Blair resembled her.
At least that beautiful face once praised as capable of toppling nations.
The moment he realized that fact, the woman before him became even more repulsive.
“Aren’t you trying to brainwash me as if you’re afraid I might discover the truth?
That I’m the nephew of a criminal, and you are the one who forgave me and accepted me into the family.
That this is the truth.”
The sight of her trying so hard to suppress him was rather amusing.
His mother-in-law still seemed to see him as the fifteen-year-old boy he once was.
Herdin placed his empty glass on the table and added,
“But when the intention is too transparent, it only provokes resentment.”
The smile had disappeared from Katrina’s face as she looked at him.
“What you know is the truth.
That fact will never change.”
Katrina’s voice was filled with certainty, but Herdin politely lowered his head and turned away, as if he had no desire to deal with her any further.
Moving to a quiet corner of the banquet hall, Herdin moistened his dry throat with wine while looking around the hall.
His eyes, now accustomed to finding Blair, quickly located her even among the crowd.
Blair was talking with a woman at one side of the hall.
Judging from their expressions, they seemed to be discussing something rather serious.
But what bothered him more were the men lingering around Blair and glancing at her.
Those wolf-like bastards who would rush over the moment she showed the slightest opening, trying to speak to her or at least grab her hand once.
Just imagining what might be going on in their heads made the blood in his entire body turn cold.
At the wedding, Blair had remained by his side the whole time, so he hadn’t noticed.
No matter how much those men had such thoughts in their heads, they could hardly approach a bride on her wedding day, especially when the groom stood right beside her.
But thinking back to the victory banquet, Blair had always been surrounded by such men.
Only she herself had never noticed.
At that moment, someone placed a hand on Herdin’s shoulder as he downed the remaining wine like whiskey.
“Are you enjoying yourself that much?”
Johannes Felix, the second son of the Marquis Felix family.
To Herdin, he was one of the few strange fellows who approached him without fear.
Though Johan himself apparently went around calling Herdin his friend.
Without even glancing at Johan, who had appeared out of nowhere spouting nonsense, Herdin asked,
“What are you talking about?”
“Your wife.
Even at the victory banquet, you said it wasn’t like that, yet you couldn’t take your eyes off her.”
“Nonsense.”
The answer came smoothly.
Not the slightest hesitation.
Johan looked at Herdin with disbelief.
Even at this very moment, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
While glaring at the men sneaking glances at his wife as if he might kill them all.
Unable to understand Herdin’s words and actions, Johan soon reached his own conclusion.
“Well, honestly she is beautiful.
With that face and that figure, what man wouldn’t fall for her?”
He assumed Herdin, like any other man, was attracted to Blair’s appearance.
‘Of course, unlike the others, this one is legally attracted to his own wife.’
Herdin had never shown interest in any woman before, but the woman in question was the imperial princess known as the greatest beauty in the empire.
It made sense.
“With a bit of exaggeration, if she really wanted to, she could make every man in this banquet hall kneel at her feet…”
Johan was still talking as if he understood Herdin perfectly when he met Herdin’s gaze, now even more murderous than before, and hurriedly added,
“Ah, of course not me.
No matter what, I have some sense of honor. I’m not the kind of bastard who has dirty thoughts about a friend’s wife.”
Johan quickly raised his glass toward Herdin’s and laughed awkwardly.
Herdin looked at him with utter contempt.
The way he spoke of something so obvious as if it were proof of a thousand years of loyalty was absurd.
Avoiding Johan’s attempt to clink glasses, Herdin set his own glass down and turned away.
Johan’s glass swished awkwardly through empty air.
“H-hey, where are you going?
Leaving an old friend you haven’t seen in ages.”
Hey, Your Grace!
Ignoring Johan’s voice calling after him, Herdin started walking toward the side of the banquet hall where Blair had been.
Then he stopped.
Blair had disappeared.
* * *
“Haa…”
Blair’s breath spread white into the cold winter night.
‘I’m dizzy…’
She had stepped out onto the balcony to sober up in the cold winter wind, but instead it felt as if the alcohol was rising further as heat spread through her body.
Her head felt hazy.
Blair lightly slapped both her cheeks and let out a deep sigh.
“What should I do?
If I go back into the hall like this, rumors will spread that I’m a drunk…”
She normally had a low tolerance for alcohol, and while dealing with people she had unknowingly drunk more than she could handle.
Even though she didn’t feel completely drunk, she couldn’t return to the hall in this state.
Among nobles, even at banquets, getting so drunk that one lost control was considered disgraceful.
That was why the wines served at banquets were usually light and low in alcohol.
Yet she had gotten drunk even on that.
‘I should return quickly.’
But contrary to her intention, sleepiness overwhelmed her.
Just as Blair was about to drift off—
Click.
The door opened and someone stepped onto the balcony.
“…Lina?”
Blair had thought Lina, who had gone to get water, had returned, but she froze when she saw who was approaching her.
“Well, well.
Isn’t this our Princess?”
It was Wesley, the heir of the Marquis Baldwin family.
He had always been friendly since the days she was a princess, but the smell of alcohol from him was strong as he approached.
“They say a woman becomes more beautiful once she knows a man. You’ve become even prettier after marriage.”
The staggering steps and half-lidded eyes of Wesley filled her with a sense of foreboding.
“…I should return now.”
Blair forced strength into her tangled tongue and spoke clearly.
It would do her no good to let someone approaching with ill intentions know that she was drunk.
But Wesley had no intention of letting her go easily and blocked her path.
“Come now, we’ve met like this. Don’t be so cold.
Spare me some of your time as well.”
“I’m sorry, but I’ve been away from my seat too long…”
“Playing hard to get, are we?”
Wesley grabbed Blair’s wrist roughly.
Unable to keep her balance due to the alcohol, Blair was easily pulled by his hand.
Startled, Blair tried to pull her wrist free, but the only result was pain from his grip.
“Let go!”
“You’re not even a maiden anymore. Why pretend to be such a pure lady?
Let’s be honest about our desires, Madam.”
Just as Wesley was roughly dragging the unsteady Blair—
A hand from someone who had entered through the open balcony grabbed Wesley’s wrist.
The grip was so strong it felt as if his wrist might break.
Unable to endure the pain, Wesley released Blair’s wrist.
“Ghk…
Which bastard—!”
Wesley rushed forward to punch the owner of the hand but froze when he saw his face.
Before him stood Herdin, his expression colder than the winter wind.
“You ask which bastard…”
Herdin kicked Wesley in the stomach.
Wesley rolled across the balcony floor in an undignified heap.
Herdin walked toward the groaning Wesley.
Wesley struggled to rise, but instead of counterattacking, he tripped over Herdin’s foot and rolled across the floor again.
Herdin crouched down to meet his gaze and added in a low voice,
“This woman’s husband.”
Then he raised his fist and warned him.
“Clench your teeth.”
Just as Herdin was about to strike the terrified Wesley—
Hic!
The sound burst from Blair’s mouth.
Startled by the situation, she had been unable to say anything until that moment.
Herdin’s fist paused.
“….”
“….”
In the silence, only Blair’s hiccups echoed rhythmically.
Herdin lowered the hand he had raised.
Instead, he grabbed Wesley by the hair and whispered into his ear.
“If I hear you barking one more time, you won’t be able to taste anything with that tongue again.”
His voice was so low Blair could not hear it.
Herdin released Wesley’s hair as if throwing it away and stood up.
Blair was still hiccupping.
Even then, she was beautiful.
Large watery eyes that seemed ready to spill over with the slightest touch, pale cheeks flushed slightly by the cold wind, and small lips parted in surprise.
Looking at her, he suddenly remembered what Johan had said.
“Well, honestly she is beautiful.
With that face and that figure, what man wouldn’t fall for her?”
Yes, that was it.
Because she was damnably beautiful, this entire mess had happened.
Thinking that every man in the banquet hall looked at her with the same obscene desire as Wesley made him want to gouge their eyes out.
Before that could happen, he wanted to lock this woman somewhere within his sight.
Somewhere no one else could see her.
Of course he knew it was a mad thought.
Suppressing that madness and the boiling emotions within him, Herdin grabbed Blair’s hand.
“…Follow me.”
