“I guess I was completely asleep.”
She whispered softly, and the Duke’s gaze, who had been patting the child’s chest, turned to her.
“…yes.”
The Duke answered slowly and lowered his gaze back to the child.
“Duke, about the dream Lian had earlier. Was it just a nightmare?”
“I’ve been worried about Lian having bad dreams since last time. I think it might be bad for the child’s mental health.”
Although the content of the dream was a dream, she was worried about the child who would continue to be shocked.
“Is it okay if I leave it like this?”
The Duke, who had been listening in silence for a while, suddenly said something.
“Then let’s just keep sleeping like this for the time being.”
“…yes?”
“It might bring on another nightmare, so we’re talking about the three of us sleeping together like this for the time being.”
“…No way, there are three of us, me, the Duke, and Lian?”
“Then who is there?”
She just blinked in embarrassment. She didn’t know how long it would be, but were they going to sleep together like this every night?
“What if Lian always has bad dreams?”
“Then we’ll continue to sleep together until he stops having them.”
She knew that’s the best for now. But she was honestly embarrassed because the Duke spoke so casually. Even though there was a child between them, he slept with her too, so he didn’t mind at all?
As she looked at his usual confident face, she realized that the distance between them had become closer.
“Ah.”
It seemed like she was looking at his face without realizing it. The moment she urgently pulled her body back, the child who was sleeping holding my hand suddenly turned over in the direction of the Duke. Because of this, her body was tilted forward instead of backward.
Thinking that she was going to crush the child like this, she closed her eyes tightly and rushed away. After a while, she slowly opened her eyes when she felt an unidentifiable solid texture on both her palms.
At that moment, dark red eyes were visible right below.
She took a deep breath at her current position. All of a sudden, she ended up falling on top of the Duke. And it looked as if she was attacking them,
“No, this is so…”
“What?”
“I-I fell because Lian was holding my hand. There was no other meaning at all, so don’t misunderstand.”
As she was trying to get off the body in a hurry, she forgot that the child was still holding her hand.
Slurp!
This time, she buried his face into the Duke’s torso. With one of her hands she held the Duke’s chest very firmly.
“…Your taste for touching other people’s torsos is still the same.”
“No, it’s not like that…!”
She got agitated for a moment and raised her head, but her mouth fell shut when she saw his lips. He was much closer than before. So much so that she could feel the Duke’s breath on her face.
As she looked at the dark red eyes right below her, she felt like she was being sucked into a black hole. He was staring at her without even blinking. The Duke’s breathing was loud enough to be obvious in her ears. It was a time when they looked at each other in silence.
Her eyes widened when she suddenly felt a soft touch on her lips.
“…!”
She was stunned because they were separated in an instant, so before the Duke could even decide to put his lips on hers, her body moved over to the other side, next to the Duke, instead of next to the child, where it was originally from. Before she knew it, the child’s hand had loosened.
“Stop, go to sleep.”
After hearing a low voice, she slowly raised her head. The Duke’s eyes were closed. It seemed like it was already too late to talk about the situation just a moment ago.
She was just guessing, but it felt like the Duke was intentionally avoiding her first so as for his reaction not to be seen.
…Did he do it impulsively?
She gently touched her lips with her fingers. The thought of having touched the Duke’s lips just moments before made her feel feverish. Her face seemed hot, so she fanned her hands and then twisted her body.
She was very nervous because there was a Duke right next to her. However, if she left the current situation, it would be obvious that she was conscious, and in the end, it seemed like there was no other way than to sleep like this. If so, let’s go to sleep quickly.
With her eyes tightly closed, she hypnotized herself.
‘Please fall asleep quickly. Please, please…’
But even though quite a bit of time had passed, she couldn’t sleep at all.
‘Ha, I’m going crazy.’
She was still dying of worry about the Duke next to her, so how could she possibly fall asleep? The Duke was already asleep, so why was she the only one like this…
It was a moment when she felt aggrieved and lifted her body.
“Omg!”
She took a deep breath the moment she met the dark red eyes. The Duke’s eyes, which had been closed just a moment ago, were suddenly opened.
“W-what is it?”
“Can’t you sleep?”
“So can you sleep now?”
“Why?”
“Of course, it’s because the Duke suddenly gave me a ki…!”
“…umm.”
She was yelling without realizing it, but she quickly shut her mouth when the wrong child started whining. She was so upset for a moment that she forgot for a moment that the child was sleeping.
She glared at the Duke with a feeling of resentment.
“Are you that worried?”
“Then it doesn’t bother you? I can’t sleep because of someone right now.”
“Why do you care?”
“Of course…”
As she was about to reply, she suddenly closed her mouth. Then the Duke asked again.
“Of course?”
“…Isn’t that Duke so worried that he can’t sleep?”
“You are avoiding the answer.”
She avoided looking at the words that hit the nail on the head. Still, the intense gaze she felt took her breath away.
“…don’t look at me like that.”
“How do you think I’m looking at you?”
“With eyes that look like they’re going to eat me…”
She quickly covered her mouth with her hand. What did she just say? It’s crazy, it’s crazy.
She scolded herself and completely twisted her body. She was so embarrassed that she couldn’t show her face.
She quickly pulled the blanket over her head and closed her eyes.
‘Please, get some sleep. Please.’
Was it because of her persistent empty stomach? The beasts that had not been flocked in before suddenly flocked in. At some point, she lost consciousness.
* * *
She gradually began to come to consciousness due to something tickling her face.
“Ugh, Eli…?”
When she opened her eyes, she smiled at the sight of her chubby arms. The child was sleeping with his arm over her face. While carefully lowering the child’s arms, she suddenly thought of the Duke.
Now that she thought about it, where did he go? He must have fallen asleep next to the child, but he was nowhere to be found.
She looked around, but there was not even a trace of the Duke in sight. Did he get up first and leave the room?
“Hmm, Elia?”
When she looked down at the voice she heard again, she saw the child wake up and rub his eyes.
“Did you sleep well, Lian?”
“Yes, what about Elia?”
“Of course I slept well.”
After stroking the child’s head a couple of times, she stood up.
“Now shall we take a quick shower and go have breakfast?”
“Yes. I still woke up hungry.”
She smiled slightly at his cute words and pulled on the rope on his ceiling. The maids who came inside took the child straight to the bathroom. She also passed through enough and went over to her room to wash up.
It was time to go into the bathroom, wash her body, and dry herself.
While unconsciously looking in the mirror in front of her, she noticed something strange.
“What is this?”
There was a grayish black stain on the once smooth skin without a single scar. Did something get on the area near the heart while she was washing it earlier? She rubbed the black stain with her finger, but instead of disappearing, it stayed there.
“What the hell?”
It wasn’t just a bruise; it looked like the skin was contaminated wherever she looked.
She pressed the stained area, but fortunately there was no pain.
“But, I feel really bad.”
She looked down at the black stained area for a long time and then changed into the new clothes provided in the bathroom. Should she see a doctor?
As she left the bathroom while thinking about this and that, she heard a knocking sound.
“Is it you, Lian? You can come in.”
Soon the door opened and the child’s face stuck out through the gap.
“Elia, are you ready?”
“Yes. Almost done. Just sit here and wait.”
“Yes.”
The child walked over to the sofa, sat down, and watched her get ready. She sat in front of the dressing table, brushed her slightly dry hair, and applied some oil to her face. Even if she didn’t have to put on makeup, her skin was so perfect that she simply applied oil.
It was easy to do this because her appearance was perfect. It didn’t matter if she managed it roughly.
As she stared at her flawless, pretty face for a moment, she heard a child’s voice.
“Elia is so pretty whenever I see her.”
“Thank you, Lian, you’re pretty too.”
She smiled at the child and got up from her seat.
“Now, shall we go eat now?”
“Yes.”
She held the hand of the smiling child and walked out together.
* * *
As always, the Duke came and sat down in the dining hall.
Yeah, that was good up to that point. But why was the fire guest sitting here? She looked at Allegro, who was eating with a calm expression, in bewilderment. Why was a person who should have returned to the Magic Tower still here?
“Good morning.”
Allegro came out, looked at the child, and said hello.
“Good morning!”
Was she the only one who felt uncomfortable with this human being whose child walked to his seat and sat down while laughing loudly? As she glanced at the Duke, she saw that he was feeling uncomfortable, so it seemed like she wasn’t the only one.
“I guess you didn’t have a good morning, my lady. I see you didn’t even reply.”
‘Just move on.’
She forced the corners of her mouth to smile brightly.
“That can’t be right. I was just surprised because I thought he would have passed away right away in the magic tower.”
“I still have work to do, so I decided to stay a few more days. The Duke also told me to stay a little longer. Isn’t that right?”
The Duke completely ignored Allegro’s question and just ate in silence. Allegro smiled casually, perhaps because he was used to such situations.
“If you say so.”
Anyway, he was so shameless that he shook his head and picked up a fork.
She was a little hungry, so she started eating the food in front of her. Then she glanced at the Duke eating. Then, at some point, her gaze went towards the lips.
Suddenly, she was reminded of what happened last night. So yesterday, the Duke suddenly grabbed her and placed his lips on hers…
“Stop thinking!”
For a moment, he realized what she had shouted and quickly shut his mouth. But all eyes were already focused on it. The child asked with a surprised face.
“Elia, what’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
When she answered as if nothing had happened, the child tilted his head slightly and started eating again. The Duke and Allegro’s gaze soon fell. She was barely able to take a breather, but this time Allegro exploded a bomb.
“Rather than that. If a war breaks out soon, Your Excellency will naturally participate, right?”
Cheonggang!
She lost the fork she was holding in her hand.
Why was he suddenly bringing that up in this situation, that crazy person! The child who was happily eating was suddenly staring blankly at Allegro.
It was the moment when she was about to say something to Allegro.
“Get out.”
A cold voice penetrated her ears. The Duke was glaring at Allegro with murderous eyes.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on August, 11.
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