Grand Ducal Couple's After Marriage Love story

It was a strange sight. The two children, who were thrown naked in a beautiful room, were staring at each other with blankets and sheets wrapped around them.

When Kalion – who had wrapped himself in a sheet – moved his body, Erna shouted,

“Don’t come near me! If, if you dare come even an inch near me, I’ll kill you!”

“Hah! It’s you who should keep this in your mind. Don’t you dare come to this side.”

Kalion dismissed this terrible misunderstanding. Then he glanced sideways at Erna. Seeing her shivering and shaking like crazy, he clicked his tongue and said,

“You better not die.”

It was something he had said out of the blue. Seeing Erna about to say something, he clarified so as not to let her misunderstand that he cared about her.

“Because if you die, something much worse than you will come here.”

At those words, Erna yelled at him, forgetting their situation.

“That’s what I should say! The person who seems more likely to die any moment is you!!”

Even though she hated doing something like this, she couldn’t help it. She had helped him earlier, so she couldn’t believe what she had just heard.

‘I really hate him.’

She used all of her energy to say it. She was so annoyed with Kalion that she forgot about their situation for a while. Kalion bowed his head, leaning back on the bed as if he didn’t want to see her anymore. Equally not wanting to speak or move anymore, Erna sat with her back against the bed. She brought her knees to her chest and then buried her face.

‘It’s terrible.’

When she was living in Haband, she lived a life without much hope. She just lived with a vague expectation that she would be a little happy after leaving the royal palace someday. She finally came out of the palace but the world outside turned out to be a more terrible place than she thought.

Erna looked around the room. It was a very luxurious and beautiful room as it was located right at the center of the Grand Ducal Palace. Did they really want the two of them to spend the night together? The fireplace in the room was burning warmly and the herbs on the wall smelled pleasant. So Erna was even more terrified. Her knuckles turned white as she tightly gripped the blanket.

As the night grew deeper, Erna vowed repeatedly that she would never forget today’s disgrace. One day, she would definitely pay everyone back. And when that day would come, she would kick that wretched Kalion out.

Like this, the terrible night elapsed in silence.

Gradually, ten years passed by.

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Chapter 2: Forgotten Duties

 

The Grand Duchy of Hessenguard was a powerful territory that was under the control of not only the Grand Duke but also a powerful Council Body. The Council, which was established about five generations ago, was now an integral part of the Duchy of Hessenguard.

The Council respected and followed the authority and rights of the Grand Duke, and the Grand Duke also listened to the advice of the Council, recognizing the Council as his proxy.

During the chaotic times – caused by the suicide of the 17th Grand Duke and the arrival of the two new Grand Dukes from other kingdoms, the people of Hessenguard were worried whether the Council would disappear. From the perspective of a kingdom with strong royal authority, the Council would surely appear as insolent beings that dared to covet the throne.

However, with the two kingdoms kept in check, the Council still had a strong foundation in Hessenguard.

And Vanessa, who had been serving as the Chairman of the Council for 10 long years, sat in the conference room with a worried face. In front of her were two personal letters in ornate boxes.

Just as she was about to take a sip from a cold cup of tea, she heard the sound of footsteps outside, and soon the door to the conference room opened. Vanessa rose from her seat and cheerfully greeted the person who came in.

“Ah Miss Erna, you’re here.”

It was Erna who had come in through the door. Vanessa looked at her with admiration for a moment. The fine golden hair that reached down to the waist scattered the sunlight coming from the window. With every step Erna took, a beam of light twinkled over her hair.

Erna’s steps, as she walked into the conference room, were steady.

“How are you, Vanessa?”

Erna smiled brightly at Vanessa. Her eyes curved gently and narrowed, but it didn’t hide the twinkling, dark green pupils behind. Erna’s eyes, which people praised for being reminiscent of the summer verdure, were shining more brightly today.

Vanessa looked at Erna and recalled her previous self from a long time ago. Her bright golden hair and dark green eyes hadn’t changed. But aside from that, everything about her had changed.

The pimples that marred her face had now disappeared without any trace. All that remained now was clean, unblemished skin. Now that her puberty had completely passed, the features, which had been out of place for some time while growing up, were now properly developed. Round forehead, straight eyebrows, a high and sharp nose, and small, plump red lips.

The princess of Haband, who was once ridiculed for her ugly and tacky appearance, had now disappeared and now all that was left was a beautiful woman who could leave people awestruck after one glance.

It wasn’t just her face that had changed.

When she first arrived here, her height barely reached Vanessa’s shoulder, but now Erna had grown so tall that she had to look up at her. Her chubby body also lost all its fat, and now she had long, thin limbs. But she wasn’t exactly skinny, she had all the curves that an adult woman should possess.

“What’s wrong?”

Seeing Vanessa stare at her, Erna cocked her eyebrow, asking whether there was any problem. Vanessa smiled and shook her head.

“It’s nothing. Please have a seat. As you may have heard, a letter has arrived from Haband.”

“……It’s not only from Haband, right?”

Erna said in a sharp voice, as her gaze moved towards the table at Vanessa’s words. The two letters on the table were sealed with different emblems. One which had a dragon as the emblem was from Haband while the other was from Aether which used bears as their emblem.

“That means…….”

Erna’s face quickly distorted. Just then, she heard heavy footsteps of someone walking down the hallway. The person soon opened the door without knocking, just like how Erna did when she came in. Aside from Erna, there was only one person in the whole Hessenguard who did not need to knock before entering anywhere.

“Sir Kalion, you’re also here.”

Vanessa smiled and bowed to Kalion.

Erna was not the only one who had changed over the course of 10 years. Kalion, who came in after opening the door, was so tall that it was hard for Vanessa to look at him even if she broke her neck. When he opened the door, his head almost hit the top.

It wasn’t only his height that had changed. His whole physique had undergone a drastic change over the passage of time. Now, he had wide shoulders, thick forearms, and strong chest muscles that peeked out even when he wore his robes. His waist was a little thinner compared to his chest, but his thick legs, which supported his firm body, were as strong as that of a wild horse.

Seeing his big, firm body standing in front of her made her feel threatened. No one could ever think that this person 10 years ago was a boy who was so thin that he seemed as if he was going to die.

As soon as Kalion approached Vanessa, Erna, who had moved far away, murmured with a frown.

“………The earthworm is also here.”

At her words, Kalion greeted Erna without batting an eye.

“Long time no see, pumpkin.”

A lot had changed in the past 10 years, but the relationship between the two still remained the same.

Erna and Kalion sat down at the two ends of the table which could easily seat a dozen people. Erna took the seat on the far left while Kalion took the one on the far right.

Now, whenever Erna and Kalion had to sit together in the Grand Ducal Castle, it became a rule for Erna to sit on the left and Kalion on the right.

People said that it was because the room used by Erna was on the left and Kalion’s was on the right to the Ducal Couple’s bedroom, which was located in the middle. The two Grand Dukes, whose seats had been so naturally determined, were now indispensable to Hessenguard.

It had already been 10 years since the two became one through marriage and took the position of the Grand Dukes of Hessenguard.

With Hessenguard becoming a vassal state of the two kingdoms, the people of Hessenguard thought that Haband and Aether would exploit Hessenguard as they pleased. But in the end, that didn’t happen.

After they got married, some nobles stayed behind on the pretext of supporting the two. Their heads were filled with the thoughts of intimidating the Hessenguard’s Council and using the names of the new Grand Dukes to siphon off Hessenguard’s resources. But that year, a terrible plague hit Hessenguard’s capital.

The whole capital reeked of burning corpses. Even the Grand Ducal Castle could not escape from the clutches of the plague.

“I must return home now. There’s a lot to report!”

When a person died from the plague inside the Castle, Marquess Canavan, who had planned to stick close to Erna for a long time, returned to the kingdom of Haband faster than anyone else.

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It was the same on Kalion’s side. When the healthiest knight in their group died a few days after collapsing from a high fever, everyone made up some excuses to leave the castle. They quickly packed their luggage and returned to the Aether Kingdom.

Because of this, only Erna and Kalion were left in the Grand Ducal Castle. This became an opportunity for the two to escape from the interference of the two kingdoms.

It was a good thing, but at the same time, it also could not really be said so. The people of Hessenguard knew they would have to wait for another person to come if any problem befell the two. So they took great care of them. With their oppressors now gone, the two began to change quickly under the care of the unfamiliar but kindhearted people.

First of all, the biggest change was in the appearance of the two. Erna no longer tormented herself with binge eating and ate only a set amount of food at a set time.

Kalion did the opposite of Erna. The person, who could not even properly bring water to his mouth, now began to eat several times more than others as if he was eating to fill up what he hadn’t been able to before.