The Devilish Duke Can't Sleep

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Wet lips lightly stuck to Lena’s forehead, then fell off. And Kahel’s hand, which was supporting the back of her round head, gently stroked Lena’s head, which was tightly wrapped with a towel.

“Du…… Duke…… ?”

Lena called out to Kahel in a bewildered voice, but he pretended not to hear her, removed his hand and sank his body back into the bathtub.

“It was a lot of work. You can go now.”

“Yes…… ! That, then…… I’ll just go.”

Lena quickly cleaned the surroundings and got out of the bathroom.

“Hoo, haa, hoo, haa…….”

As she came out of the steam-filled bathroom, she was out of breath for some reason. Lena couldn’t stop thinking about the lips that had just landed on her forehead, even though her body, which had been warmed earlier, suddenly trembled because of the chilling air. And the big, firm hand that gently stroked her hair…….

‘Wow…… Is this being praised?’

She thinks her mother had done it to her before she died, but it was so long ago that she doesn’t remember very well, and when she was living in the Barony, Baroness Fidelia stroked Elliot’s hair like that, or kissed Elliot’s cheek and forehead lightly. On rare occasions, Baron Fidelia kissed Elliot lightly on the forehead.

At that time, she didn’t think much of it because she thought it would never happen to her, but when she received such ‘praise’, her heart seemed to burst.

‘This is very pleasant!’

Lena’s cheeks, which had not yet faded from redness, became plump as she rubbed her eyes and opened her mouth wide and smiled. But she soon realized that she had been standing in the same spot for a long time, and Lena hurriedly looked around and made her stride towards her room.

While changing her wet clothes, arranging her pressed hair again, putting the laundry in the laundry basket and passing her laundry to a maid, Lena kept thinking of one thing.

‘I want to be praised again like before…….’

Desires that she had never known she had until now began to bloom. At that moment, Arder, who was walking down the hallway, called Lena.

“Lena. I forgot to tell you, but the mansion also has to be prepared for winter, so tell the chief maid and ask her to put up winter curtains in the office and bedroom.”

“I told her yesterday. She said she would have the employees take off the autumn curtains and put on the winter curtains tomorrow.”

“Oh my, you’re very quick. Well done.”

Arder smiled curiously, looking down at Lena, who was getting smarter and faster at work. But he sees that Lena wants something. It’s like looking at his hand.

“Huh? Do you have anything else to say?”

“Well, that…… Can you please stroke my hair just once?”

“Yes?”

Arder was surprised, but at the same time, he felt sorry for Lena. He wondered if she would want him to stroke her hair because she grew up without receiving affection, so he raised his hand in embarrassment and patted Lena’s head.

But when he stroked her as much as he could, Lena’s expression became strange. He was smiling, but his expression was somewhat stiff.

‘It’s not it?’

Arder took back his hand, but Lena’s strange expression did not unravel. Then she greeted him with a bright smile and then walked away.

‘Lena is an interesting kid, too.’

Arder smiled without much thought. But Lena, who passed him and went to make the Duke’s bed, couldn’t.

‘Weird. The butler’s stroking is different from the Duke’s stroking. Of course, it feels good, but the Duke’s was much better. Why?’

She wondered if it was because he didn’t kiss her forehead, but strangely enough, she didn’t want to get a kiss from Arder. But when she thinks of Kahel again, she wants him to kiss her forehead or cheek again and again.

‘It’s really strange…….’

Lena was fiddling with her earlobe, which had heated up, while she got chills.

Meanwhile, after taking a bath that was being served by someone for the first time since his devilish manifestation, Kahel dried his hair with a towel, feeling more refreshed and relaxed than ever before. It was quite chilly, but Kahel didn’t mind opening the window and savoring the cold air that filled his lungs. Even then, his head, which had a fever, did not cool down easily.

‘Lena…… What is she?’

Even though he was staring down at the garden, in front of him was only the sight of Lena, who was eagerly attending to him in the bathroom.

Isn’t it normal to think that it’s funny to wrap her hair tightly with a towel? But she was cute even that way. What about her sleeves that are rolled up wildly? It was also surprising that she had an unexpected strength coming out of her small arms and her tiny hands. She knew very well where people ache, and she knew how to massage to relieve it.

It would have been great if the admiration had stopped there. But when Lena smiled happily, Kahel couldn’t help but do something. The feeling of tightness in his chest that seemed to be satisfied only by hugging and crushing the small, pretty maid, tickled the side of his heart. Of course he knew he really shouldn’t, so he restrained himself as much as possible and ended up stroking her hair with a light kiss on her forehead.

It was the most affectionate expression of his mother’s affection for him as a child. The warm memories of kissing and stroking him while complimenting that he was unique and kind remained as a warm memory. The ‘intimate physical contact’ he did not despise was only that much, so he could have done it to Lena as well, but in fact, since the manifestation of his devilish power, Kahel had never allowed such physical contact to anyone except his mother and father. He had never done anything to anyone else. So, this was an event that could turn the mansion upside down.

But what is even more surprising is that even with that level of physical contact, it was not unpleasant, but rather something was missing. Something more…… He wants to feel more intimate, warm, and satisfied….

‘I’m not sure if I’m the one being possessed in this devilish castle……?’

Kahel, who was immersed in thoughts of Lena, was surprised and questioned himself. Come to think of it, didn’t he think the other day that he wanted to suck on the cream on her lips while eating dessert together? At the time, he was so happy that he didn’t recognize it properly, but it was definitely a thought overflowing with sexual nuances.

But, fortunately, he didn’t seem to be possessed by the devilish power, as he didn’t want to have any skin-to-skin contact with anyone other than Lena.

‘I used to think that Lena was less repulsive because she was a child…… Cream on the lips of a child…… No, no, that’s not it. I’m a human, not that beast!’

Fortunately, children before their puberty did not respond to his devilish power. So, Kahel was also relatively tolerant of children’s approaches. Yet he had never patted children before, but there was nothing he couldn’t do if he tried anyway. So he thought that he might be able to treat Lena differently from others, as she is naive and cute like a child.

But he really couldn’t have thought of licking her lips if he had thought of Lena as a child. Besides, Lena would, of course, come of age this year. Far from childish, as the days go by, she will release more and more of a woman’s scent.

She has only been in the mansion for four months, but he can tell that the skinny and terrified look she had when she first arrived was gone. Her frizzy hair was lustrous, and her slender cheeks rose gracefully.

Her bare limbs and her torso were still below average, but she gained much more weight than before. The habit of being startled every time Kahel spoke was almost gone, and she was talking to him quite a bit.

Eventually, his doubts returned to the starting point. Why does Kahel Luave react so differently to the maid Lena?

‘Ha…… Guess I’m going crazy now.’

Kahel couldn’t find an answer to this heart he had never felt in his life, and he stopped thinking. In fact, he didn’t even have to define his mind in a specific word, and he was careful about what to say. He only wanted this to be similar to the feelings that other people feel for their pets and close acquaintances.

* * *

“Lord Kahel! Lord Kahel! Lo, look at this!”

One day, while the gray sky was scattering snow, Gerard ran in with the door of Kahel’s office open wildly.

“Why are you so excited again? You’re full of energy.”

“Now is not the time to say things like that. Here! Take a look at this.”

Gerard placed a poorly bound book on Kahel’s desk.

“What is this?”

“This is a revised edition of the scriptures that will be sold next month. It’s only a small fraction of the pre-printed version, but just by looking at it, you can tell that the Santella family did something close to blasphemy!”

“I didn’t know you were such a devout believer.”

“Who would be like this because of that? The main scriptures are nothing to worry about anyway. The important thing here is the <Biography of Logos> part. I could only get the first part out, but please read it.”

Only then did Kahel show a little interest, and open the part Gerard had marked and began to read. Direct blood relatives of the Duchy of Santella and the Duchy of Luave have already fully learned the <Biography of Logos> part when they are young. So that when they stand before the Queen, they will not be surprised by their will to obey, which they will feel for the first time in their life. And Kahel memorized most of the Biography of Logos.

“Haa…… Now, you are very openly selling the Luave as the devils.”

The two beasts, which were distinguished only by the color of their wings, were clearly represented as angels and devils, contrasting good and evil. However, the front and back phrases were done so smoothly that even Kahel, who memorized the entire Logos biography, could not feel anything awkward about it.

“Who do they think they are? After brainwashing the people with this, they will increasingly criticize the Duchy of Luave as an evil and something to be defeated. These guys have been engaged in the scripture business for generations to do this, and all these guys have painted their images with, are things like angels!”