The Devilish Duke Can't Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

It would have been better if Lena was Viscount Ruban’s daughter. Even after making his mind over and over again, evidence swirled in his mind that seemed to indicate that she was the Queen’s heir. It was Dashar’s words that thumped at the end.

“I cannot foresee how Lena will change when that seal is lifted. I don’t know what was sealed inside. But when I saw the mighty power of the seal…… It is certain that something great is going to happen.”

The hand holding the document trembled slightly.

“Your Excellency…… ? Are you okay?”

Gerard, who felt an abnormality, asked, examining Kahel’s complexion. Kahel asked back to Gerard with a noticeable agitation.

“There must have been a search team to find Her Highness Heila.”

“Ah, well, that’s right. All families with a little influence must have formed a search team. The family that finds the Queen’s successor first will gain power. I wonder if the Duchy’s family should also send out some people.”

“I’ll leave it to others to find Her Highness Heila.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Do you think Santella will stand still while we are looking for Her Highness and her daughter? We must first prepare to face the Santella family’s sudden action.”

“But if a direct line of succession is found, even the white faction nobles will not choose Lady Santella as queen.”

“Dozens of monsters popped out near the Sage’s village, and Luahalla was attacked by the monsters. Does that sound like a coincidence? Considering that the Santella family is involved in this case, there is a high probability that the person who released the monster was the Santella family. So you have to be prepared.”

“That is true, too. Understood, Your Excellency. I will prepare.”

Gerard greeted Kahel with a sullen face and turned away quickly. The Santella might have interfered with the search for Heila itself, or they might have rebelled while the search was delayed. Before that, he had to prepare the troops in advance.

With that thought in mind, Kahel struggled to erase the thought that Lena might be the Queen’s bloodline.

* * *

‘I think I’ve underestimated you.’

Lena sighed as she sat on the stone steps in the backyard of the Duke’s residence with a sullen face.

For the past few days, she has been trying relentlessly to spy on Kahel without being detected. His routes were obvious, so she thought at first that it wouldn’t be difficult for her to sneak a peek at him. But Kahel was so thorough, and since the night he went to Hildebrunn, he hadn’t shown his handsome face even as much as a fingernail.

Previously, she was prepared to run into each other and even waited quietly in Kahel’s office, but it was as if he was looking into the inside of it, and there was no news.

‘I wanted to see you…… I wanted to see you…….’

As the days went by, her heart was filled with tears. Even after her mother died, it seems that she did not miss her this much. She felt like she was such a bad child and at the same time too shameless. After suffering for a long time from her guilt, sadness came.

She buried her face in her lap alone and whimpered, when she heard a welcome voice.

“Lena? Are you crying?”

“Si, Sid…….”

It was Sid who had finished her stable work and was going back to her dorm.

“Hey, why are you crying! Who bothered you? Who is it?”

As Sid, who was always strong, was by her side, more tears came out. Lena held Sid and cried for a while longer. Sid patted Lena on the back, waiting for Lena to calm down, and Lena, who barely stopped her tears by the familiar touch, murmured a little.

“Sid…… Actually, I’m a little weird.”

“Weird? What?”

Lena snorted, but didn’t forget to look around. Then she whispered in a lower voice than before.

“I think I’m…… responding to His Excellency’s devilish powers.”

“What?”

Sid’s complexion turned pale. Last time, the servant who tried to stab Kahel with a sword caused a stir among the employees. So, Sid knew very well what Kahel’s devilish power was. What kind of a human being engulfed in that devilish power will be.

“Does it make sense to say that you’ve been okay and now you’re reacting? Your, pe, peculiar, peculiar constitution?”

“Peculiar constitution, it’s a peculiar constitution. Seeing that I react so late.”

“No, let’s not jump to conclusions, Lena. First, explain in detail what made you think that way.”

Lena, wiping away the moisture still on her eyelashes, sighed and began to speak cautiously.

“I feel better when I see him. I was so happy every time he complimented me, and I wanted to be praised every day. Even at the time when I didn’t receive compliments, I just thought it was a pleasure…… From that day…… His Excellency is starting to appear in my dreams.”

Sid swallowed her saliva. Because when she started to pay attention to Abbert, she remembered that Abbert had always appeared in her dreams.

“In my dream, His Excellency compliments me…… At first, it was done only on the forehead, but more and more…….”

“Wa, wait. What was he doing on your forehead?”

“Compliment.”

“What does it mean to give a compliment to the forehead?”

“Like this.”

Lena gently removed Sid’s bangs and kissed her on it. Sid’s face hardened in an instant.

“His, His Excellency…… compliments…… like this…… ?”

“Yes.”

Sid stared blankly at Lena, unable to control her wide-open mouth. What kind of master in the world praised his maid in this way? But Lena didn’t seem to notice Sid’s shock and confusion, and she continued to speak.

“But in my dreams, he did it to my cheeks and to the tip of the nose. I know. It’s like I have a disrespectful mind.”

“No, look, the cheeks and the tip of the nose are disrespectful, but the forehead is not?”

“Of course. The forehead is a compliment. Cheeks…… It has to be like a mother.”

“Why the hell did you have such an idea?”

“Sid may not have seen it in the stable, but Madam Fidelia often complimented Miss Elliot that way. After stroking her hair like this, she strokes her forehead or cheek. Baron Fidelia also kissed Miss Elliot’s forehead from time to time. I guess nobles do that when they praise you.”

Sid now laughed beyond absurdity. In the past, Sid would have been skeptical, but now that she and Abbert were in a relationship, she seemed to be able to roughly guess the true nature of Kahel’s favor toward Lena. Come to think of it, Lena didn’t know more about relationships than she did. Maybe it was because her mother was tormented by men, and she was a child who avoided men.

‘Then, you are the one who started it. I think you flirted with our Lena first.’

He was always cold and dry, so Sid didn’t think of it that way, but when she heard about it from Lena, the first person to seduce her was Kahel.

“At first, I didn’t know why I had such a dream, but I found out about his devilish powers in Terra Luave. From then on, the dream becomes more vivid. Even the li, li, lips…….”

“You mean you dreamed of His Excellency kissing your lips?”

“Your voice is too loud, Sid!”

Lena hastily covered Sid’s mouth and looked around again, holding her breath for a moment. Still, as she did not feel a presence, she continued her confession in a voice that became smaller than before.

“After I have had such a dream, somehow I keep wanting to see him, I want to stay with him for a long time, and I hate that he had to leave…… Is this an obsession? No, is it a monopoly?”

“Uh…… Well…….”

“If this gets worse, my eyes will turn over like the last servant, and I will try to kill His Excellency. What should I do? If this gets worse, I’m going to do something dangerous to him, so I think I should stay away, but the problem is…… It is very painful not to see him.”

Tears welled up in Lena’s eyes again.

Sid rubbed her temples, contemplating how to explain this. To Sid, it was just falling in love. Of course, people who have been possessed by the devilish powers claim that they love Kahel, but Lena’s condition was just an ordinary “first love” symptom.

However, it is a little difficult to say so simply because Sid’s honest feelings were that she wanted Lena to get away from Kahel this time.

‘Why, of everyone, the Duke? There would have been no problems if it had been the knight of this house…….’

Since Lena was given the rank of Baronet, she had no trouble dating or marrying knights. But the Duke is different. The Duke and the Baronet may be classified as nobles together, but in reality they are completely different statuses. What is the probability that the Duke, close to the king, and the Baronet, close to commoners, will have a happy ending? In the end, it would be Lena who would be left behind after being hurt.

“Lena. It seems to me that you are not yet completely ruled by the devilish powers yet.”

“Re, really?”

Lena looked up at Sid with hopeful eyes. Sid swallowed her saliva and then comforted Lena.

“Yes. Right now, it’s a bit, uh, if I had to say it, it’s like a normal fall in love, right? So, if you fall in love with another man, I think you will be able to defeat the curse of His Excellency.”

“Love…… ?”

“No, that doesn’t mean that what you feel for His Excellency right now is love! Could it be that you have fallen into some kind of illusion because of his devilish power?”

“Is that so?”

“Of course! So, meet another man.”

“But I’m not interested in anyone else…….”

“Hey, you have to meet to be interested! Do you know how many knights want me to introduce them to you? Take some time out. I’ll choose a really good person and I’ll set up a meeting for you.”

Lena’s shoulders drooped at the story that would have made her cheeks blush if she was any other person.

“I’m not very…….”

“In order to escape the devilish powers.”

Lena sighed heavily. She doubted if she could get out of this feeling that way, but she thought it would be good to try something. Because it was getting worse day by day.

“Starting tomorrow, one person a day, I’ll bring three people for you to see.”

“What? Oh no! That’s a bit…….”

“Lena. So, what do you do if you are possessed by the devilish power and make a big fuss out of it?”

At Sid’s serious face, Lena retreated in the end.

“No, I’ll see them. But meeting one person every day is too burdensome. Can’t we meet one person first tomorrow and think about it?”

“Well. Others will be anxious to not be able to meet any more knights of the Duchy…….”

Seeing Lena in trouble, Sid also felt heartbroken. It’s a shame that she couldn’t support Lena’s first love, and that it didn’t even start properly yet. She had to work hard to break her heart, so it didn’t feel so good. Especially when she thinks about the way Lena supported her so that she could get along with Abbert.

But she couldn’t stand watching Lena leap into the fire like a moth.

“Then why don’t we see them here tomorrow at 3PM?”

“Okay…….”

Lena answered with a sigh and wiggled her hand.