If I Disobey the Duke - Chapter 276

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“Don’t worry, they left at noon.”

“They left… Are you saying the two left Cadis?”

“That’s right.”

It was the reaction of chasing out insignificant flies with a broom. His face, which had been changed in a short time, once again quenched Lily’s anxiety.

Lily replayed the events in her head each time Vlad met the royal siblings. There were only things that could not be described in a positive way.

“What did you do?”

“The purpose of the prince is to visit the princess, so there is no reason for them to stay any longer. What they did just reminded me of it again.”

When his wife couldn’t relax, he detailed what happened while she was asleep. He only provoked Marius very calmly. Marius, who was weak to shame, couldn’t do anything.

After years of waiting, he invaded Cadis and was defeated by Vlad. He stabbed someone’s back in a duel and flirted with a woman with a husband. No matter how ignorant of his contradictions, he was in a situation where he could not accept it without embarrassment.

Marius, with his ass figuratively on fire, and Ingrid, who urgently needed to return to the castle in order to seize the position of the crown princess, both raised the white flag without much fuss. The procession to transport them had been prepared before sunrise, so they left quickly.

“Then everything… Is it done?”

The princess and her brother who overturned Cadis disappeared. Maybe it was because she hadn’t seen them leave, but she didn’t feel her spirit yet. But, it was really good news, despite her apprehensions

Vlad hesitated in answering like that. He clasped his hands between her comfortably spread legs and lowered them, narrowing his eyes slightly, “For now, yes.”

Lily felt alienated by his answer. “For now… huh?”

“…”

Most of the words that came out of his mouth were affirmations. Even when there were some unfinished sentences that he never talked about in front of her. He never confessed most of the things about himself to the woman he was supposed to protect. It was an act that completely went against her values.

For a brief moment, thoughts ran through Lily’s head.

Is it because he has changed only a little? Or is it because he thinks that there’s still something dangerous left that he doesn’t want to mention?

Vlad, who was staring at his wife, spoke softly, “The princess did not resist. She didn’t bring up the emperor, and she didn’t insist on looking for you. Judging by that temper of hers, she must have done something that… I haven’t figured it out yet. We will find it and finish it soon.” His thumb twitched several times in their interlaced hands.

They did not know what dangers remained. He confided that to his wife. As if she had entered into an unfamiliar world, the moment he spoke his words, her whole body felt awkward. He felt like he was confessing his incompetence.

Still, the reason he shared this with her was so she wouldn’t worry too much.

“Vlad.” Unlike him, who was covered with dark clouds, Lily’s face was permeated with a soft light. She grabbed her husband’s clothes. “Thank you.”

He turned his head slightly to face her. Her bright green eyes twinkled. She reached out and touched his forehead, then the rest of his face. With his straight eyebrows, she descended down to his eyelids, which were densely set with long, dark lashes. His eyelids trembled, ticklish.

She captured every expression on her husband’s face. “I like you talking about it. It’s okay to be anxious like that.”

Vlad frowned slightly, as if he had heard something quite strange. “Aren’t those things you struggle with quite a bit?”

He knew well how vulnerable his wife was to uncertainty.

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand his question, but Lily couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes. It’s really hard…. Enduring it alone.”

He was silent for a moment. He grabbed her hand and lowered it slowly. His eyes were not very bright. He lifted his head every time she looked inside his iron armor.

When you show weakness, you become weak.

He didn’t even reply to her again this time. He lightly kissed the back of her hand. That was the best answer he could give.

* * *

The quiet sunlight, signaling the end of the evening, poured into the garden where summer flowers were in full bloom. Four people were seated around a table under the domed ceiling of a white marble gazebo. It was the family of the lord of Arcadia.

Lily has recently been more excited than ever. It was the first time in her life to have a peaceful family meal. Her father was not around who watched how much she ate, and there was no Rocus who would smash the table with his fists in anger. Vlad, as always, was reticent. When someone asked a question, he answered it, but he did not speak first. He took a step back and contemplated the conversation so that the reunited siblings could catch up after a long time.

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