Chapter 30
Adi lay on the bed in the knights’ quarters of the new residence, doing nothing.
When Adi tried to swing a sword to loosen up stiff muscles, Roy called it madness and ordered the patient to stay in bed. When trying to read a book out of boredom, Roy took it away, saying patients should rest. When suggesting a game of chess, Roy insisted patients should stay in bed and took away the chess pieces too.
When Adi said they might as well go get some sun since they couldn’t do anything here, Roy demanded what kind of sunbathing a patient needed and ordered them back to the room.
When Adi protested that they weren’t a patient anymore and had already recovered, Roy arbitrarily declared that no one recovers in less than three days after being poisoned and that the body must still be in pain. He then pushed Adi into the room, closed the door, placed a chair in front of it to prevent escape, sat down, and began reading the book he’d confiscated.
Adi couldn’t open the door, and there was nothing in the room. Therefore, there was nothing to do.
Just when the boredom became unbearable, Joel arrived.
Roy left his post at Adi’s door. Joel was trustworthy. He was a healer, after all. Roy probably thought he was there to check on the patient’s condition.
However, contrary to Roy’s expectations, Joel delivered a message that the Duke had summoned Adi. Seizing the opportunity, Adi quickly put on their formal uniform and went to the reception room where the Duke waited.
And then.
“You kissed me yesterday.”
“Pardon?”
At the Duke’s words, Adi unconsciously covered their lips. If they had known they would hear such words, they would have preferred staying confined by Roy.
“Not on the lips. It was on the back of my hand.”
Whether lips or hand, the fact that they had kissed the Duke was shocking. Why, what, no, how did this happen? As Adi struggled to grasp the situation, Yuls continued.
“While calling out ‘Adi.'”
“…”
“You said you would protect me.”
“…A dream.”
Adi said. In truth, they remembered nothing. Neither kissing the hand nor dreaming of Adrian.
“I must have been dreaming.”
“You seemed to want to protect your sister.”
Of course…
“…”
They had wanted to protect her.
Adrian shouldn’t have died like that. But her body had weakened day by day without reason, and everyone blamed the curse. Everyone had thrown sharp words at them. Adrina had thought that if such words would make Adrian better, then that would be fine. At one time, that’s what she had thought. And sometimes…
“Yes.”
Adrian, I wanted to become you.
“She shouldn’t have died like that.”
This is a curse. Even if it wasn’t a curse, we made it into a self-consuming curse. Myself, Adrian, Grimaldi. Everyone who lives there.
“Do you remember what I told you?”
But Adi’s curse was different from Yuls’s. He had received a witch’s curse, and seemed to have overcome it. Perhaps that kind of curse was easier to break free from?
“The way to break the curse.”
“…You mean Your Grace’s curse?”
“Yes.”
Adi didn’t answer. They remembered. It was absurd. Adi had thought it impossible, and Yuls had seemed to think similarly.
“I said it was a kiss from one who loves.”
“Yes, but that…”
…Wait, is he saying I broke the curse? Adi thought. Rather than finding something in that pile of documents…
“It’s strange, since neither you would love me nor I would love you. Still, it was the first time anyone’s lips touched me.”
…I broke the Duke’s curse? How?
Facing the confused Adi, Yuls extended his hand. Adi took it reflexively. It was a large hand. Though Adi had thought their own hands were large for a woman, not much different from a man’s, the Duke’s hand was much larger.
“Kiss it.”
“…”
How on earth should one react to this? Holding the Duke’s hand and staring blankly, Adi said, “Your Grace.” Though just a title, it carried clear refusal.
“Adi, kiss it.”
“…”
“That’s an order.”
Well, if it’s an order…
Hesitantly, Adi guided Yuls’s hand and kissed the back of it. The sensation was softer than expected. The large hand, seemingly unused to hardship, appeared even prettier than Adi’s own.
As Adi pulled away, Yuls said, “Do it again.”
What is he doing?
Adi reluctantly kissed it again.
“Nuzzle it with your face too.”
“…Your Grace, this is harassment.”
Bert intervened from the side. Adi looked up. Seemingly uncomfortable with Adi’s grateful gaze, Bert avoided eye contact. Yuls withdrew his hand and quietly examined his nails. He had hoped they might grow even a little, but nothing had changed.
“Perhaps it doesn’t change within a day?”
“…”
From the start, Adi didn’t believe they had broken the curse. Someone who loves, really? The Duke of Woodpecker and themself? Besides, they were a man—no, dressed as a man.
Of course, something non-physical like a curse would probably recognize the original gender rather than the outward appearance, but setting that aside, Yuls and Adi could never become lovers. If anything, they were closer to distrusting each other.
Adi would do other work once the Duke left, and the Duke likewise had no intention of taking Adi to his territory. Moreover, there was…
“Your Grace, if I may ask, what is your intention?”
Spencer Grimaldi.
The relationship between Woodpecker and Grimaldi didn’t appear good. Moreover, from what Adi had heard through Roy, wasn’t Kenneth Marx, the Second Knights’ Commander, trying to keep Gaillard away from Woodpecker? In other words, both of them were in positions opposing Woodpecker.
…Could one love the child of an enemy? Another man?
While Adi wondered just how open-minded the Duke could be, the Duke pondered what was different from that time.
Was it the lack of love?
Adi’s emotions then had contained so much love that even the unfeeling Yuls could sense it. Adrian Grimaldi seemed to have cherished their sister Adrina Grimaldi so much that it made one wish to experience such love.
To ask for such love for himself…
It would be like a bolt from the blue for the other party.
But Yuls had no intention of giving up. Whether lightning struck from a clear sky or the sun rose in the west, Yuls had to end his curse.
“Adi.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Kiss me every morning.”
“…”
Adi was speechless. Not just Adi. Bert too was at a loss for words.
Even the servants watching the situation were speechless. Though they were people who normally wouldn’t speak in such situations anyway, their minds went blank, and they looked around unable to hide their questioning glances about what the Duke was saying.
Unable to even ask each other why he was acting this way or what he was thinking, their faces showed fear about what nonsensical statement might come next. From this, Adi realized this situation wasn’t something everyone had planned, but rather the Duke’s unilateral action.
“And consider coming to my territory.”
“…Why are you doing this to me?”
Adi spoke without thinking. Originally, they wouldn’t have dared to say such things. The words escaped before they could hold them back in this unprecedented, confusing situation, and Yuls smirked.
“You seem to be what I’ve been looking for.”
Adi rolled their eyes to look at Bert.
“You’re the clue that came to me within a week.”
Yuls said. The last witch of Dalkatir had said so. That he would know within a week. It was exactly that day. The day Adi had kissed his hand.
Until that day, Yuls had been angry at not finding anything to counteract the curse. He hadn’t slept properly at night. He had even made plans to send people to Lamels to capture her, insisting that the witch hadn’t left but had surely fled.
“The first is an order. The second is a suggestion.”
But the witch’s words had been accurate. Yuls had definitely found something.
“If everything is resolved with the first, you won’t need to come with me.”
That it would be a man was unexpected, but…
“But if that doesn’t work.”
What did it matter whether it was a man or woman in breaking a curse?
“Try to love me.”
“…”
For a moment, Adi was struck speechless. They weren’t the only one. Bert, who stood guard-like by the Duke, and the servants nearby all squeezed their eyes shut as if unwilling to believe the Duke’s words, some even covering their faces.
“Did I hear wrong?”
Surely not. Unless the Duke had gone mad.
“If my curse doesn’t break.”
That’s what they thought.
“You’ll have to love me, Adrian Grimaldi.”
They were wrong.
“And I’ll try to love you too.”
It seemed the Duke had indeed gone mad.
