The Ugly Wife of the Shady Duke

She looked at the annex, which seemed to pour out cursed words toward her. The beautiful building appeared menacing as if it would open its jaws and devour her.

‘It feels like it’s just me.’

Perhaps it was a bad space for Grace? To others, it would be just an ordinary mansion.

Feeling the annex as a dreadful place all alone, Grace couldn’t help but doubt herself again, thinking that it might be her fault.

‘It’s really strange…’

Recalling her memories, apart from her inexplicable self-loathing, the situation wasn’t actually bad.

‘It seemed like everyone was considerate of Grace.’

Could there be distortions in her memories? If not, this doesn’t make any sense. That’s what Grace concluded.

Certainly, the annex often made her feel suffocated…

Whether it was a delusion or not, she heard “strange sounds” more frequently inside.

“…My Lady?”

“…Ah.”

Benjamin called out to Grace. Snapping out of her thoughts, Grace turned her gaze, desperately searching her mind for a suitable topic of conversation.

“By the way, speaking of which, did His Highness the Crown Prince return safely that day?”

“…He returned safely.”

However, Benjamin’s reaction seemed a bit off, as if she had chosen the wrong topic.

“Did I ask something I shouldn’t have?”

“No!”

Grace asked, concerned about Benjamin’s cool response. In response, Benjamin immediately answered hastily.

“There are no questions you shouldn’t ask, My Lady!”

“T-Then…”

“Just that His Highness the Crown Prince was a bit annoying this time.”

Benjamin expressed that the Crown Prince was “annoying.”

Grace pondered whether to consider that expression bold, an insult to the royal family, or simply typical of a sub-male-lead.

Regardless of her thoughts, Benjamin grumbled to Grace with a slightly annoyed face, as if venting his dissatisfaction.

“He inquired about you and me.”

“His Highness?”

“Yes. It appears that he was at the Imperial Court office. He asked questions like, Why are you getting divorced? What’s happening? When I mentioned that you don’t even have a fiancé and yet you seem quite interested in other people’s married lives. He said he asked to prevent things from turning out this way.”

“…”

Grace was deeply curious about how conversations between Sylvester and Benjamin took place.

Benjamin, who had been blathering on and on about Sylvester, stopped and looked at Grace.

His face turned as red as a tomato in broad daylight. Beads of sweat streamed down his forehead as he opened his mouth to make excuses to Grace.

“…Th-this is…”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“…”

“If you speak elsewhere, it could be considered a crime of insulting the royal family.”

“That’s not the issue, but…”

Benjamin rubbed his heated face with his hands and shook his head anxiously. 

Grace asked him, “Then what’s the problem?”

“…I’m worried that you might misunderstand me and think of me as a childish person for speaking about such trivial matters.”

“…Should I forget about it, then?”

When Grace asked, Benjamin simply fell silent. Grace pursed her lips, nodded her head, and turned her gaze toward the garden.

It was an act of consideration, waiting for Benjamin to calm down.

While waiting for Benjamin to calm down, Grace also pondered what she would do next.

‘Even if we eventually end up getting divorced, I want to make an effort before that.’

She roughly knew the content of the original work. And she knew that Duchess Felton didn’t directly appear in the original work.

However, Grace, a character who didn’t appear in the original work, was now living and breathing.

‘Since I’m a real person, it doesn’t mean I can’t do anything.’

Another negative voice echoed in her mind, saying that it was futile because she wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway. Grace furrowed her eyebrows, trying to negate those thoughts.

Of course.

That was never Grace’s thought or what she desired.

She didn’t want to make assumptions without making an effort or reaching a conclusion. It was never what Grace wanted.

Because all the pessimism and criticism that continuously circulated in her mind felt inseparable from her breath, Grace considered all that pessimism to be inevitable.

But where can you find a pessimistic person from the very beginning?

It was all because of the time she had lived and the memories she had. 

Those memories kept interfering with her ability to recall what Grace truly desired.

They made her forget everything that the current Grace and the original Grace had wanted, tormenting her.

“…”

Grace, leaning her back against the bench, spoke while gazing at the garden.

“…I said I would make an effort starting from yesterday.”