The Devilish Duke Can't Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

Luahalla was confident that his business would be successful because of that. Everyone admires Liddell, but the desire to be noticed in the social world is common to everyone. He had to give every woman a chance to wear a dress that suited them, whether their hair was blonde or brunette, whether their body was slender or voluptuous, tall or short. Especially if it’s the Queen!

While the Queen publicly said that she had conceded her socialite queen position to the Lady of Santella, Luahalla and Kahel read the desires hidden deep within the Queen’s heart. Because she has the weakest powers of all the royal, she has always suffered from her qualifications, and although she looks fine, it is clear that she regrets not being noticed in the social world.

He needed Kahel to get a business license from such a Queen. Luahalla made up his mind.

“All right. Then…… Next time, I’ll try to bring some news that will please Sir Kahel.”

With those words, Kahel’s mouth drew a perfect curve for the first time.

After Luahalla left, Lena went back to the parlor and placed the teacup and plate she was about to put away on the tray. However, Kahel’s expression while sitting on the sofa was unusual. Deep in his thoughts, he had even a slight wrinkle on his forehead. Then he turned his gaze to look at Lena.

She couldn’t be bothered with her master’s business, so Lena did her job without saying anything, but Kahel’s gaze did not move away from Lena.

‘I’m in trouble…….’

Kahel was very upset that Luahalla had just noticed Lena. He deliberately mobilized Arder to keep her from being discovered, but he didn’t expect him to come back.

Luahalla pretended not to know, but there was no guarantee that the clever man would really pretend to be ignorant of this fact to the end. No, it was clear that he would one day use it as a hand to his advantage.

The ‘ordinary person’ who did not respond to his devilish powers was really rare, no, it was still unique. His power was a problem that even the royal family could come up with. In order to look for a clue to unravel the curse of the devilishness, they might take Lena away from him.

‘That’s never going to happen.’

In fact, even if Lena was revealed to be a spy of the Santella family right now, he had no intention of letting her go easily. It had only been a month since she attended him, but Kahel never wanted to go back to life without this maid. His body had already become accustomed to a life of being served by someone by his side.

But if he asked Luahalla to stay silent about this maid, he would have thought he had taken Kahel’s weakness right away. It was a pain in many ways.

With that thought in mind, he stared at Lena’s side, and Lena, who had cleaned everything on the table with the dishcloth, hesitantly and then glanced into her eyes.

‘Purple eyes…… It’s not a common color, but it’s pretty…… fine.’

Kahel looked at Lena’s bright purple eyes and felt a sense of satisfaction unknowingly. It was such a bizarre feeling. He must have been too satisfied with this rare woman. He thought she could do anything he asked for.

“Hey…….”

“Hmm? Why?”

Lena glanced into Kahel’s eyes and then opened her mouth with difficulty.

“Is, is there anything you want to order?”

She also seemed to be restless as if she had done something wrong. Even that was cute now. Is this the feeling of taming a small mountain beast little by little? By all means, he only hoped that that meek and timid look was her true self.

“I think I have to get my clothes done. You should help me.”

“Clothes? Really?”

Lena, who had a surprisingly welcoming expression on her face, was puzzled by Kahel. And he seemed to have read Lena’s surprise. She rambled over excuses he didn’t even ask for.

“Well, Your Excellency has too few clothes…… I think…… Of course, you go well with anything you wear, but still…… I thought it would be nice to have something a little flashy…….”

“Is that a shame?”

“Yes.”

In the response, Kahel smiled. ‘Yes.’ He had heard that servants felt rewarded and proud of adorning their master, but he never dreamed that he would have such a maid. It seemed to be tickling Kahel’s stomach for some reason. He felt like he was completely filled with something, so he could feel a little excited about himself.

“Then I’ll call the tailor tomorrow, so take the measurement as they say. The Grand Duke’s birthday banquet will be held in a month, I’ll have to put in some extra effort.”

Kahel showed Lena a sincere smile that was not seen by others. Then, for the first time, Lena also smiled brightly. Vitality and joy gleamed in the pale purple eyes, her cheeks lit up, and the corners of her lips curved toward the sky. It was a pretty smile.

“…… !”

Kahel paused for a moment at that smile.

He had never seen such a pure smile before. It was only the Queen, his parents, and aristocrats of political affiliation who smiled at him. But there was a hidden meaning in their smiles. Worry, anxiousness, though sympathy were better. Sometimes it was a mask to hide their greed or intrigue, and sometimes it was a lustful smile.

A smile as pure as a child was never in his memory. So Lena’s smile was somewhat touching. She seemed to be giving back one by one what he had lost due to the devilish curse.

“Le…….”

“Ah! I was dazed. I will clean it up quickly.”

Just as Kahel was about to call Lena for no reason, Lena hurriedly got up and grabbed the handle of her tray. The dazzlingly beautiful smile suddenly disappeared beneath her polite face.

“Rii…… ght.”

Kahel clenched his fists for no reason in regret. For the first time, he didn’t like that he was perceived to her as a fearsome being.

* * *

On the birthday of the Queen’s husband, the Grand Duke, a smaller banquet, comparable to the birthday of the next queen, the princess. Unfortunately, however, Queen Fabian Ardenia did not have any daughters, so the birthday banquet of her husband, Grand Duke Valerian Rufelio, was slightly larger than that of his predecessors.

And Kahel was planning to definitely push Luahalla at this banquet. In order to support him as he wants to start a fashion business, Kahel also needed to be a little careful.

“Your Excellency. The tailor visited. I took them to the parlor, but what should I do?”

There was a hint of excitement in Arder’s voice. Arder, who had been watching fashionable people since he was a knight, was the one who was most upset by the deplorable dressing room of his master. Then the master suddenly gave the order to call the tailor, so he couldn’t help but be excited. However, it was also true that he was a little worried, since measurement had always been troublesome.

“Tell the tailors to measure you. Lena will learn from watching it and measure me. She said she had measured women before, so if they teach her a little bit, she will understand quickly.”

“Ah! That’s the way!”

“I told Lena that I was using this method because I don’t want unidentified people to touch me, so you should be careful not to talk about the curse.”

“Yes! I see, Your Excellency.”

Arthur’s expression brightened. That expression somehow resembled Lena’s expression, proving that the two were thinking the same thing.

‘This time, you will have nice clothes that will definitely suit you……!’

Arder struggled to hide his excitement, trying to step back from Kahel. Then Kahel added one more word to Arder.

“Tell them to take Lena’s measurements and keep it for the record.”

Arder was a little curious as to why, but he gave a quick “yes” and turned to the tailor who was waiting.

Amandine, the tailor who drank two bottles of purification potion before coming to the Duke’s house, was sweating while silently handling the rising burps.

“I’m so happy that you called me again. My name is Amandine, the tailor.”

“Ah, don’t be too rigid. You know, since you’ve been here before, His Excellency the Duke hates it when ordinary people touch his body. So this time, if you measure me and this maid, and tell her how to measure, she will measure the Duke herself. Is it possible?”

“Well. It’s probably more error-prone than a skilled tailor’s measurement, but it’s probably unavoidable. I will explain in as much detail as possible.”

Amandine looked a little embarrassed, but prepared to take a quick measure. One of the assistants who followed him opened the bag and took out a long wooden ruler and a tape measure. Meanwhile, Arder stood upright in front of them.

“Men’s and women’s wear are slightly different in terms of sizing. First of all, for men’s tops, take the width of the shoulders from here to here. Women’s dresses are shorter than this.”

Amandine carefully explained to Arder and Lena. The tailors’ work was more detailed than expected, so there were many places to measure, and Lena quickly rolled her eyes and learned the points she picked up. Fortunately, Lena had helped the seamstress several times before, and she had done Elliot’s measurements, so she quickly got the hang of it.

Having received a piece of paper on which to write Kahel’s measurements for them, Arder and Lena entered the dressing room where Kahel was waiting. Kahel, sitting in a simple robe to have his body measured, soon gave his body to Lena, who was holding the tape measure.

“Shoulders 57, back…… 70, from the shoulder to the upper neck 6…….”

Hearing Lena’s meticulous measurements, Arder sat down at the table next to him and wrote down the measurements. This time, the anticipation that she would be able to help make a nice outfit that fits Kahel well was creeping up. The crisis came while he was negligent.

“The chest measurement…….”

Lena, who was still innocent, measured the circumference of Kahel’s chest with the tape measure, moved her body in an appearance as if to hug him. At that moment, in Arder’s head, the appearances of the maids who rushed to embrace Kahel passed by.

They could not save their lives under any circumstances. Kahel’s devilish power provoked an intense longing for him to the point that even their life was taken lightly.

Arder, who had already liked Lena quite a bit, was afraid that he might lose even this maid, and his throat burned.