The Devilish Duke Can't Sleep

The more he learned about Lena, the more he couldn’t understand Lena.

80% of her past was filled with poverty, loneliness, wounds and labor. Although she was loved by her mother and the stable keeper family was close to her, she spent most of her time doing the labor that would have been daunting for her size, and on top of that she was smeared with slaps and shoves.

Her father was absent in the first place and she even lost her mother at a young age. She did not eat well and her sleeping area was not warm. She never had anything in abundance, and she had to sell her labour for a bargain, and she wasn’t even a slave, and she was almost sold to a perverted man.

‘But how can you smile like that?’

It was something he could never understand. Although Lena lived such a harsh life, she smiled brighter than anyone Kahel knew. If it was so hard, she should have dreamed of revenge on the humans who had hurt her, and if it was so poor, she would have coveted jewels or money. The only thing Lena wanted from the Duke was the safety of Theo and Sid. She even begged that she didn’t need any more jewels, so Kahel didn’t have much he could give Lena.

If he knew about Lena’s past, he might have figured out a way to win her heart, but it ended up making him even more gloomy.

Then someone knocked on the door of his office. At the knocking sound that was neat but not as strong as Arder’s, Kahel quickly recognized that it was Lena.

“Come in.”

Lena, dressed as the Duke’s residence’s maid, cautiously opened the door and entered. Now that she knew of the devilish curse, she may not like him but the good Lena still prepared his meal with a usual expression.

Kahel thanked Lena for not avoiding him blatantly, and headed to the dining room. Lena’s meal was still set at the far end of the table. In the past, it would have been nice to see Lena having a meal together even there, but now the sense of distance has bothered him.

“Lena.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

When he called Lena, he didn’t know what to say. Come and eat with me? Doesn’t it sound like a very childish grumbling? Besides, even now, Lena must have been very considerate of him, but asking her to come closer seemed too shameless. Kahel, who couldn’t utter many of the words he wanted to say, and only his lips twitched, eventually shook his head.

“It is nothing.”

Because of his heartache, his spirit was numb, so Kahel was not willing to touch the fork and knife, and his thirst for wine choked him.

“Your Highness…… Is it not to your liking?”

“No. I just have no appetite.”

Kahel smiled faintly at Lena. But what Lena felt from that smile made her ask again cautiously,

“Are you feeling down?”

Kahel, who didn’t even think about exactly how he felt himself, realized he was depressed only after Lena spoke.

“Looks like that. How did you know?”

“Probably…… It must be a little bit difficult to meet your family members and then eat alone again.”

In fact, he ate only with his father in Terra Luave, so it wasn’t crowded at mealtime, but Kahel couldn’t speak his mind, so he just nodded his head.

“I don’t know.”

Then, Lena hesitated again, and then asked,

“I…… I will be…… by your side……during meals…….”

Lena, who had said it found her face growing warm, but Kahel, who was unaware of the fact, raised his head with eyes full of anticipation. He thought he was too happy, but he couldn’t miss this opportunity.

“If only you are not uncomfortable…… please.”

Even though he’s not even five or six years old, she seems to be pampering him because of his loneliness. Kahel was embarrassed at himself, but Lena worked hard to open her mouth to keep him happy, and she immediately moved the tableware to the seat next to him.

“You accepted even a grown man’s grumbling.”

Lena shook her head as Kahel berated himself with a shy face.

“I think I know how you feel. That’s why I always went to the stables to eat. Eating alone is too lonely.”

The phrase ‘too lonely’ broke Kahel’s heart. She was always smiling, but just imagining how great the loneliness and sadness Lena must have felt inside made his heart ache.

Lena came by his side and waited for Kahel to eat first. Kahel, who had not had much of an appetite until recently, suddenly found the barbecued chicken in front of him looking delicious. He took a large knife and shredded the whole chicken.

Lena’s meal consisted of a piece of grilled chicken breast. It was also a delicious meal for Lena. But Kahel moved the pale lump of chicken breast to his plate, then cut out the juicy, crispy chicken leg and placed it on Lena’s plate.

“Your, Your Excellency! I am okay!”

However, for Kahel, who had been studying Lena for a while, this refusal was a piece of cake.

“When I was young, I had a stomachache from eating undercooked barbecue. So you try it first. Whether it is cooked properly, or whether it is well seasoned.”

“Ah…… Well, then, I will taste it first.”

Lena held a knife over the crispy chicken skin and she sliced ​​the chicken flesh and skin together. It was such a chubby chicken that the oil formed between the grains of the chicken as the knife pressed it down. On the surface, the color of the meat was also white, so it didn’t look like it was undercooked.

Lena put the forked meat in her mouth in front of Kahel, who was looking at her with anticipatory eyes. The crunchy chicken skin preserves the texture, and the salty seasoning and various herbs used to get rid of the chicken odor were amazing. The well-cooked chicken meat was chewy and soft, without the slightest bit of dryness.

“So delicious!”

“You may be thirsty, so have a glass of wine.”

Kahel quickly threw the water in her water glass into the bowl for washing his hands, then poured the wine into it and handed it to Lena. Lena was a bit bewildered, but as Kahel took the glass of wine and offered to toast, she said, ‘Uh-uh,’ and toasted the glass, and she drank the wine with Kahel. It was her first time drinking wine.

“Cough, cough, cough!”

She thought it would taste like grapes because it smelled good and the color was the color of crushed grapes, but the wine tasted completely different from grapes. It had a bitter, sour, and rough taste.

“Oh no…… The wine must have been too bitter for you to drink.”

“Yes? Do you have any wine that tastes different from this one?”

It was a subtle question. It’s like someone who’s never drank wine. But in the Logos, even poor commoners drank wine. Even if it was mixed with water, they drank it anyway. This is because wine was recommended by the Limon faith.

It is said that the wine, made by aging grapes grown by the sun and the earth for a long time, contains the providence of the universe and the grace of God. Thanks to this, even a poor person could get a bottle of wine a week if they went to the temple, so there were very few people who did not drink wine at the Logos.

Kahel thought it wouldn’t be.

“Have you never drank wine?”

“Yes…….”

“You never tried it? Does that mean that wine was not well distributed in Kerouac?”

“No. The other maids used to drink a glass of wine at dinner.”

“Then why didn’t you have one?”

“I am a child born unclean…… They said I didn’t deserve to drink wine.”

Kahel lost his words and looked at Lena. Lena lowered her head with an awkward smile in her eyes as if embarrassed. Anger slowly rises in Kahel.

“Is that also what that woman named ‘Mrs. Marvin’ said?”

“Huh? How do you know Mrs. Marvin?”

“Things happened.”

Kahel smiled slightly at Lena, who looked at him with round eyes.

The start of the conversation was not very good, but other than that, it was a much more enjoyable meal time than usual. Kahel, who normally listened to Lena, spoke first, and Lena, who gained her courage thereafter, continued her words. In fact, looking only at the present Lena, she showed no sign of reluctance to his devilish curse. But Mrs. Marvin pissed off Kahel to no end.

“…… So, whenever I could, I dug up herbs, dried them, and sold them. It made quite a bit of money.”

“What did you do with that money?”

“I wanted to leave Kerouac and travel someday. I was curious about a different part of the world.”

“Well, the process wasn’t very good, but that wish has come true.”

“Yes. With just Ardennes, I was so excited, I went to Sharden and Terra Luave…… I am very grateful to Your Excellency.”

“Thank you. I just took you as a maid…… Anyway, then you must have saved the money after selling medicinal herbs.”

“Oh, no…… that…… When I was brought here, I didn’t have it in my mind to bring the money, so maybe Mrs. Marvin took it.”

“Well…… I see…….”

Again, a vein bulged out on Kahel’s forehead.

“How much was that roughly?”

“Yes? Huh…… It must feel like a small sum to your Excellency…… But I had raised over 300,000 luans.”

300,000 luans was quite a lot of money for commoners. Mrs. Marvin, who stole the precious money that Lena would never have spent while she was struggling, was very disgusting. Well, that wasn’t the only reason he was upset, though.

As soon as the pleasant meal was over, Kahel returned to his office, pulled out the letter paper and pen, and began to scribble a letter. It was a letter to fire Mrs. Marvin, without recommendations, who was rude to Theo, the Duchy’s investigation team, and to give back the 300,000 luans money she had stolen from Lena.

* * *

The next day after arriving in Ardennes, Kahel got ready early in the morning and headed for the Regina Palace. The letter, delivered hastily to Terra Luave, was predominantly stating that the Queen’s power was on the verge of extinction, but in fact the Queen’s greatest concern was her succession. All the nobles as well as the two Duchies were well aware of that.

“Kahel Luave, greets Your Majesty.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt your time with the Duchess, Duke Luave. But because it’s a matter…….”

Fabian sighed a little and offered Kahel a seat. At the New Year’s Celebration, the face that was shining brightly was full of sorrow.

“I don’t have time, so let’s talk right away. Duke may already be feeling it, my power…… it’s disappearing fast. If I have a successor, it is often thought that the power of the successor is growing, but if I don’t have one, it’s probably just because I’m born with weak powers.”