The Devilish Duke Can't Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

Even more strange was the knight who nodded his head lightly and smiled.

“Oh, you are Baronet Lena Belrose. Lady Peregrine is waiting inside. Come in.”

“Is Lady Peregrine inside? Previously, you said this is Viscount Rosenheim’s…….”

“We are just guiding you as ordered. You’ve come to the right place, so please go inside.”

Lena, completely unaware of what was going on, passed the front door of Viscount Rosenheim’s residence and headed towards the mansion.

When she opened the carriage door, she was escorted by the attendant waiting in front of the mansion’s front door. He too knew that Lena was coming, and, unmoved by seeing the bizarre invitation, led her to the parlor inside the mansion.

“Miss Lena!”

When she turned her head to someone’s welcoming voice, she saw Leslie smiling at her with a welcoming smile. Lena almost approached her for a moment, but she managed to stop and, as she had been taught by the etiquette teacher, bent her knees to greet her first and the young ladies who were seated.

“Thank you for the invitation. I am Lena Belrose.”

“Welcome, Lady Belrose.”

Obviously, Leslie had invited her, but it was another lady who greeted Lena.

“I am Alice Rosenheim. I am the organizer of today’s tea party.”

“Yes? But I’m sure from Miss Leslie Peregrine…….”

“Yes. Are you a little surprised? Miss Leslie has never hosted a tea party before, so today I’m demonstrating it. Miss Leslie said she wanted to invite Miss Lena.”

“Ahh…….”

She didn’t fully understand it, but it seemed like another young girl, who had become close with Leslie, was holding a tea party for Leslie. She had no idea if this was common, though.

Lena thanked her for inviting her once again and she sat down next to Leslie. Leslie was really happy, but Lena was feeling some kind of reluctance. Maybe it’s because she just remembered that Viscount Rosenheim was a white faction nobles.

However, Alice pretended not to notice Lena’s embarrassment, and she naturally led the tea party. Fragrant tea, delicious tea food, polite and modest movements of maids, vases full of spring flowers, joyful laughter of the ladies who seem to be still young, the sound of an invited chamber orchestra playing…… Everything went perfectly with the bright spring tea party.

So, just as Lena was trying to calmly relax herself, Alice gently tapped Lena’s shoulder.

“Miss Lena. Would you like to talk to me for a moment?”

The other ladies were engrossed in the chamber orchestra’s performance. Alice’s expression on her face wasn’t too strange either, so Lena nodded her head lightly and followed her out of the parlor. However, Alice took Lena to the second floor guest room.

“Lady…… Rosenheim……?”

“Oh, don’t worry, please come. We’re just moving around for a while.”

But where she moved to was an important issue. In the guest room, which Alice opened to, a middle-aged man who looked nervous was sitting alone.

“You have waited a long time, Viscount Ruban.”

“This, this child…… Is she Lena?”

Her spine stiffened at the sight of the man pretending to know her. But Alice smiled as she lowered her eyebrows as if she knew all about Lena.

“You don’t have to be so scared, Lena. This person is…….”

Alice was about to introduce him herself, but the man opened his mouth first.

“Le, Lena! I am…… your father!”

“What?”

Lena rolled her eyes and looked at the man in his mid to late 40s sitting opposite her. He was a handsome man with brown eyes and dark brown hair similar to hers. Alice patted him on the shoulder, as if trying to calm the man, and she sat across from him with Lena.

“Miss Lena. Were you very surprised?”

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised.”

“Forgive me. However, it was very difficult to arrange a meeting place for Viscount Ruban and Miss Lena without this method. Duke Luave will never allow Viscount Ruban and Miss Lena to meet.”

She had nothing to say. Even Lena thought that Kahel would not like this kind of meeting. After waiting for Lena to calm down a bit, she asked another question,

“Miss Lena. I hear that Miss Lena is the daughter of the dead Baron Fidelia. Have you ever heard of your father from your mother?”

“N, no…….”

“Then, why did you believe Baron Fidelia was Miss Lena’s father?”

“Yes? That’s…… Because everyone talks like that…….”

Alice looked at Lena with sympathetic eyes.

“Miss Lena. This is Viscount Albert Ruban, who belongs to the white faction nobles. And he was the one who promised the future with Eileen, who is Miss Lena’s mother. But at that time, Viscount Ruban’s house was against the union of Viscount Ruban and Eileen, and Eileen, who found out that she had Miss Lena, left the capital. Viscount Ruban has been looking for Eileen for a really long time.”

“What? No way…….”

Lena remembered the words Kahel had said. He said that since she made her social debut as Kahel’s close maid, all kinds of flies would be clinging to her. Lena thought that the man named Albert Ruban in front of her would also be like that. Father, the excuse was ridiculous.

However, such doubts were shaken sharply when she saw the items Albert had taken out of his arms.

One was an old locket with a portrait of a woman on it. Although the impression was not accurate due to the small size, the silver hair and dense appearance closely resembled her mother.

And the other was a few letters that looked very old. Although it is old, the edges are not worn out as if it was carefully stored. And Lena recognized at a glance that the writing on the paper was the same as that of her mother.

“I gave your mother a locket that looked just like this one. Of course, the portrait painted in it was mine. These letters are from our relationship days.”

The letter was whispering love to a man in a romantic and desperate language. No matter how many times she looked at it again, it was the same as her mother’s handwriting. Even the habit of gently pressing at some spot.

“Oh my God…… Unbelievable…….”

The man said to Lena, who bowed her head to get a better look at the portrait inside the locket.

“Your mother’s real name is Helena Arzew. She is the only daughter of the fallen Baron Arzew.”

“Helena…… ?”

Lena tilted her head. Her mother’s real name, as her mother told her, was not that. But as she listened to the man sitting in front of her who seemed sincere, she even thought, ‘Am I remembering something wrong?’

“You look a lot like your mother, Lena…… You don’t know how much I really missed you…….”

He looked at Lena’s face as if looking for something he missed, then quickly pulled out the handkerchief and tapped his eyes.

“Mother…… No, me…… how did you find me?”

“Wasn’t there a tea party in Luave during the New Year’s Celebration? Then, I was there and I saw you. As soon as I saw you, Helena came to mind, but I was confused at first. So I made a request to Luave to meet you and check it out, but I was turned down. Even if I asked to meet you for a short time, it was rejected every time. It was then that I thought that even the Luave family would be aware of my existence.”

“And Viscount Ruban, who was thinking about it, did a background check on Miss Lena. He went to Kerouac and he showed a portrait of Helena, and everyone said that she was Miss Lena’s mother.”

Lena’s mind was dizzy at the sudden thread of information about her. But Albert didn’t give Lena a chance to calm down.

“Have you ever thought of something strange? The Duchy never puts a commoner in the Duke’s maid position. But Duke Luave made you, who was a commoner, his close maid. I knew from the beginning that you were a noble. However, since I, your biological father, was a white faction noble, he kept it a secret from you and the people around you. It will be difficult to get a maid again that doesn’t react to his devilish power.”

She listened and thought that it was plausible. It was something she had never understood before, but when she heard Albert’s explanation, it seemed that it was right.

“I heard you had a hard time in Kerouac. If only I could have found you sooner…… I’m sorry, Lena…… But don’t get me wrong. Me and your mother truly loved each other. Whatever the family objection, I was going to marry your mother. I didn’t know that Helena found it this hard. I…… I should have thought of her a little more back then…….”

Albert started crying again. It was a sobbing that seemed to break the hearts of the viewers.

“But…… I honestly can’t believe this is happening.”

“Yes. If the person who suddenly appeared claimed to be your father, you might be suspicious. So, would you like to go see your maternal grandmother with me? There is also a portrait of Helena in your maternal grandmother’s house. And if it was you, she would definitely recognize you.”

“A maternal grandmother? You say I have a maternal grandmother, too?”

“I prepared her a small house on the street where commoners live. Because she was the one who lost her daughter forever because of me. Now that the words came out, would you like to go with me today? Your maternal grandmother really wants to see you, too.”

Lena’s heart fluttered. She couldn’t believe the fact that the blood ties, whom she had missed so much throughout her life, were still alive in Ardennes, which she thought was not possible for her any more. But at the same time, she was very happy. It was something she had dreamed of throughout her childhood. Maybe her real father was alive somewhere, and maybe one day he will pick up her and her mother. And maybe there will come a day when her mother won’t have to suffer anymore because her father is actually very rich…….

“Well then……I’ll ask the butler once…….”

“What do you mean, Lena? Do you mean that you had to get permission from the butler of your family to go to every place you went, even though you got the title of Baronet? Are you being oppressed by the Luave family?”

“What? Oh no, it’s not like that… … .”

“Lena. You are a free person, a noblewoman, you can go anywhere, at any time you will! If anyone sees you now, they can’t help but doubt the tyranny of the Luave family.”

It was a sensible thing to say. Even though she was the close maid, Lena was a free person and a noble. She made it seem strange to others that she had to ask permission whenever she tried to go anywhere herself. She didn’t want Luave to be misunderstood because of her attitude.

But she couldn’t grab someone she couldn’t even quite trust yet.