The Ugly Wife of the Shady Duke - Chapter 127.2

‘The fact that he regains his composure so quickly means he isn’t truly calm—he’s just hiding it.’

And more than that, it meant he was used to it.

While Grace had shut herself away in the annex, Benjamin must have been enduring his own lonely, desolate time.

‘Come to think of it, that makes sense. Benjamin truly loves Grace.’

Not her, but Grace.

That was how she saw it. Even if the woman who came before her still existed in memory, it was difficult to consider her the same person anymore.

Was it right for me to take Benjamin’s Grace and stand here in her place?

As that thought surfaced, a high-pitched ringing slowly began to fill her ears.

‘…Ugh.’

Grace recognized it as a warning. If she let this continue, she would be dragged back into those irritating, maddening voices again.

‘I can’t.’

Not after coming this far.

She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them and looked straight at Benjamin.

“Your Grace, there’s something I need to tell you. It’s about what happened at the Magic Tools Association earlier.”

She didn’t know if the Grace of today could shoulder all the pain Benjamin had accumulated over the years. But perhaps she could at least clear up this incident.

‘It might make things worse.’

But surely it was better than saying nothing.

“If you’re referring to that matter, wasn’t it simply an accident caused by mana stone overload within a magic tool?”

Benjamin looked deeply displeased even bringing it up.

The old Grace might have backed down at his reaction. But now, even as a dull, needle-like discomfort pierced her chest, she continued.

“No. That incident was actually caused by me.”

“…What?”

Benjamin stared at her in disbelief.

“If I’d known it would affect you this deeply, I wouldn’t have done it. But at the time, it was the only option I had… and I didn’t expect it to escalate that much.”

As she spoke, Grace took out the ledgers and documents she had taken from the Magic Tools Association.

“If the contamination in the western region was artificially created, what would you do?”

“…!”

As Benjamin turned the pages one by one, his face drained of color.

“This is… No—how could this possibly…”

But that wasn’t all Grace needed to tell him.

“Your Grace, while investigating this, I met someone. He introduced himself as an artificer unaffiliated with the Magic Tools Association.”

At her continued explanation, Benjamin snapped his gaze away from the documents and looked straight at her.

“He told me that many of the laws governing artificers are being abused. He came to me to ask for your help and he caused that disturbance in order to help me. So really, I’m fine.”

“So that’s what happened…”

Benjamin opened his mouth, then closed it again, as though there were words he couldn’t bring himself to say.

“…I acted rashly. I should have thought of another way. But I was afraid someone would arrive, so I moved quickly.”

“No—no. That’s not it.”

Benjamin shook his head firmly.

“Thanks to you, I learned the truth. If it weren’t for you, I would have remained ignorant.”

“What are you planning to do now?”

Grace asked, watching Benjamin while feeling slightly nervous, unsure how he would respond.

“I’ve never dealt with something like this before, but… I believe we should request assistance from the Mage Tower. And I need to meet the artificers you encountered first. I think we can help one another.”

After saying that, Benjamin let out a quiet breath.

“What is it?”

“No, nothing. You should rest, Wife. Even if this was part of your plan, experiencing it firsthand is another matter entirely.”

He lowered his gaze to the documents for a moment, then stood and handed the box he’d brought to Grace.

“This is a gift for you. I’m sorry I dropped it earlier.”

“Oh—no. That was my fault, really.”

Normally, Benjamin would have lingered by her side, or at least added a few words before leaving.

But today, he departed without saying anything more.

‘I really hurt him.’

Grace watched his retreating figure, then turned her gaze to the gift box left behind.

She brushed her fingers over it, then carefully opened it and gasped for breath.

Inside were a pair of shoes adorned with delicate decorations, along with a card. Grace picked it up and read slowly.

[I noticed that you’ve been favoring clothing that allows for better mobility lately. Ordinary shoes wouldn’t suffice, so I asked an artificer to prepare these for you.]

“….”

[Wherever you go, I hope you’ll be comfortable.]

His thoughtfulness made her heart flutter, and yet it felt as though a heavy weight had been placed upon it.

Guilt.