The Monstrous Grand Duke's Fake Lady

“Ma’am, are you okay?”

“Yes, of course.”

Ez drew a pitiful look on his face at her, who was acting strong while being shrouded with such a pale complexion. Even today, he had awakened her from her doze not just once or twice.

“You don’t really look that good, ma’am.”

“I’m sure it must be due to the fact that it’s rather cloudy.”

Ez looked up upon the sky at Vivian’s words. Just like she said, the cloudy sky seemed as though it was going to rain heavily.

“Go on now, don’t you worry about me. It’d be nice to come back before it rains, right?”

Ez was still hesitant even despite her own words.

Out of all the days, they happened to run out of ingredients today itself. They had always bought fresh ingredients from the market in advance, but only spices were excluded. In addition, perhaps due to the upcoming festival, there had been numerous people who rented the rooms until no rooms were left vacant.

He had to go to the market quickly in order to purchase those various ingredients and spices for dinner, but it was rather hard for him to make the first step.

“If something happens while I’m out doing errands, you should ask for help from Aunty Monie next door, okay? I’ve already told her in advance as well.”

“Thanks for worrying about me. I’ll definitely do so.”

“Well, that’s a given for sure. You’re…”

Ez moved his lips but shut them tightly soon enough.

“No-nothing. I’ll get going now!”

After having sent Ez, who was in a hurry along with his fast steps as if he was already sprinting, she then slowly turned her head from the invading somnolence and kicked it out entirely.

She didn’t know how many days she hadn’t slept.

The inn was busy as usual and her child, on the other hand, hadn’t been sleeping nightly, which woke her up everyday. It was up to the point where she would snooze into a nap whenever she leaned against the wall when she went to the restroom just for a mere moment.

“Does my face look that bad……?”

She touched her face before trying hard to lift her eyelids. Her body felt beyond sluggish. Since she couldn’t really sleep, she had no appetite then. These few days, she had only eaten some soup or just skipped her meals.

Rather than eating, she would prefer to have her sleep.

Maybe because of that reason, she didn’t even realize that she was having a mild headache.

“Is there any other room left?”

“Ah, yes!”

Vivian began to move again at the voice that was calling out for her. If she were to move faster than just staying still, she could chase her sleep away. She then moved her body busily on purpose before running towards the guest.

However, her body condition didn’t get any better at all. Instead, the drowsiness was still weighing on her shoulders and the pain that might’ve been her stomachache began growing to the point that her then insensitive senses could actually feel it.

To make matters worse, rain started pouring down from the sky. When she saw the heavy downpour, she began to worry about Ez’s own safety.

I hope that he doesn’t get rained on somewhere. Even while she was working, Vivian’s gaze kept on locking outside the window.

“Oh God, why did it have to rain suddenly!”

The atmosphere of the quiet inn was immediately destroyed at the appearance of someone who opened the door roughly.

The man, who entered while shaking off his drenched body, began looking around before pulling out such unpleasant expressions. He scrutinized Vivian—up and down—as she approached him and instantly made a scornful face.

“Are you the owner of this place?”

“Yes.”

“A woman as the owner, oh my… Do you have a room? I think I have to stay here in order to avoid the rain.”

“Ah…. I’m sorry, sir. We’re already full. Instead, you can stay in this hall until the rain lets up.”

“What? You have no room?”

Bang! Shocked by the heavy thump on the table, Vivian instantly flinched.

“How can an inn lack any rooms to spare? Huh?”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Are you telling me to go back to those rainy streets?”

“No, sir. You are free to stay here until the rain stops.”

“Are you perhaps telling me to just stand in this shabby place?”

His duress was ultimately beyond any coercion. Vivian bowed and denied, but the man just kept on coercing her.

“What are you doing, standing there just like that? Shouldn’t you be preparing a room now, in spite of having to kick your guest out!”

When a strong grip had landed upon her shoulder, Vivian’s body was immediately pushed away like a feeble sheet of paper before crashing into the nearby table. Vivian then collapsed onto the floor without making a single sound even as a heavy blow had hit her back.

It hurt. It was excruciating. The pain on her back had collided with the ache in her upper abdomen causing her body to feel like it was just about to get amputated.

While still holding onto her stomach, Vivian crumbled forward. The fluid that might either be beads of cold sweat or string of tears slowly streamed down her cheeks.

“Ha. Now you’re just sitting down on the floor while doing nothing? If you keep on acting like this, I’ll—”

“I’ll, what?”

The one who snatched the wrist of the person that had been acting up since before was enunciating sonorously. The previous man flinched at the sudden voice and when he turned his head, someone huge cladded in robes was already scrutinizing him like he wanted to kill him off.