IARMDH - Chapter 58




"What?"

Just as Erne lifted his butt, Judith opened the door and came in. A bundle of keys dangled from her hand.

“I found it in the butler’s room when I first came to this mansion.”

Judith kindly explained to him, even though he hadn't asked, that it would be useless to lock the door again.

“Are you going to let me get sick without any sense of duty?”

Judith expressed her feelings of regret with a pout.

“There’s also a way to drill a hole in the crown.”

“What if I bleed to death? No, I mean, you'll let you put a knife in your forearm because it's going to disrupt the business, but why can't you do this?”

“Is that the same as this?”

“This is better. That one hurts and this one doesn’t hurt.”

It won't hurt, but...

Erne swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue, unable to utter them.

"Get out."

Erne grabbed Judith by both shoulders, spun her around, and pushed her out the door.

“Tch, that’s too much. But you know, Erne, Tan said...”

The sound of the door closing interrupted Judith's speech.

“People are talking.”

Judith bit her lips as she watched the door close right in front of her.

“Erne Rhineland, is this what it looks like?”

Judith's eyes were filled with awe.

***

Erne went to the bathroom to wash up. When he opened the door, Judith was waiting for him in his room, lying flat on his bed.

Maybe it wasn't an inch off from what he expected. It was a good thing he came out wrapped up so tightly.

Erne usually came out wearing only a bathrobe after washing up, but today he came out fully dressed.

And that too with a lot of buttons on it.

It was a precautionary measure, as Judith, caught in the damp steam, might barge into his room.

“Erne, you washed up too? I washed up too.”

Judith smiled bashfully and winked. Her hair was down and she had put some red on her lips from somewhere.

“What are you doing instead of coming in quickly, honey?”

Only see me when you need me, only when you need me.

Erne raised an eyebrow at Judith's opportunistic yawning.

“I’ll give Ms. Harrington a choice. One, you go out on your own. Two, you get dragged out.”

Erne stood in the doorway and spread out his index and middle fingers. Judith then spread out her index, middle, and ring fingers and said.

“Three, just hold hands and sleep.”

“No, get out.”

“I’ll just hold your hand and sleep.”

It's a long-standing trick with a long history and tradition. Just hold hands and sleep? Oh, is the person who just holds hands and sleeps lying down in someone else's bed?

“Erne, don’t you trust me? I’m Judith Harrington.”

“...What is that.”

The credibility just keeps falling.

“Stop talking nonsense and come down quickly.”

Erne walked over to Judith, who was lying on the bed and knocked on the headboard.

“You must have thought that I would panic or fall for you if you did this. What should I do?”

Although he had no experience, Erne had encountered situations like this quite often.

“There were more than a few women who hid in my bedroom. There was even a woman who raided my carriage.”

“Even though she knows Erne's personality?”

“Of course, she knows... why is my personality like that?”

His handsome appearance more than compensated for his dog-like personality. For the women who were completely smitten by Erne's appearance, his personality was of no interest. They threw themselves at Erne.

Some tried to seduce Erne with their looks, others with their wealth, and some with their power. But not a single woman among them was successful.

And Judith was very clumsy compared to them. When it seemed that she could not seduce Erne, Judith changed her tactics.

“But I can really sleep just holding hands.”

It's a pity-inducing operation.

Judith had an expression on her face like a puppy that had been wet from the rain. She had eaten well the past few days since the godmother and her companions came, but she looked even more pitiful because of her small body.

But if he had allowed Judith to do so because he felt sorry for her, would his nickname have been the mad dog of the empire? Erne tried to put Judith on his shoulders. Judith held on to the headboard of the bed and resisted.

“Ouch.”

“My hand is expensive too. Do you know how many women have tried to hold my hand? If you line them up, you can go around this mansion twice and still have room to spare.”

“But isn’t it just me now?”

Erne hesitated. That's true, that's true. At the moment when Erne's hand lost its strength as he was unable to find a word to refute, Judith shook his hand away and pressed herself against the headboard.

“Listen to me. I really want you to just hold my hand.”

“Don’t lie. You’ll do it while I’m sleeping.”

“What on earth do you think I am? Tan said I just have to hold hands with Erne and sleep.”

About an hour ago, Tan, after Erne stormed out of the room while talking to the godmother about her strange dreams, Tan scratched his head and said,

“Oh, but Sir Erne has such a strong aura that I was going to tell you that you could just hold hands and sleep...”

“What does that mean?”

“The ultimate goal of the witchcraft solution is to absorb the yang energy into the body. Since most people’s yang energy is not that strong, I recommend sleeping together.”

But Erne was said to have a very polarizing energy. Like the sun.

“You can tell just by looking at Sir Erne that he is extremely handsome.”

Blonde hair reminiscent of sunlight, green eyes like lush summer foliage, muscles that can't be hidden even with a shirt on, tireless stamina, and a fiery temper.

Erne was nothing but a collection of positive energy.

“Then, just by sticking close to him, you can drive away some of the damp air. It’ll take a long time, though.”

That's why Judith wanted to ask Erne to just hold her hand and sleep.

However, Erne felt disgusted just by looking at Judith. Judith also felt a little embarrassed when she saw the gaze of the world's most extraordinary pervert.

So instead of explaining to him why she could just hold his hand and sleep, she decided to try to seduce him. Judith even found some lip balm and put it on.

But there was one thing Judith overlooked: she had never seduced anyone before.

Unfortunately, despite all the effort put into washing up and applying lip balm, Judith just looked like someone lying sideways in someone else's bed. Her clumsiness was kind of cute, though.

“Lie down, Erne. Do you really need to see me drill a hole in my scalp?”

Judith clung to the headboard of the bed, almost as if she were one with it, expressing her determination never to leave.

“What if I really want to see it?”

Erne was slightly embarrassed by the fact that they could just hold hands and sleep. It seemed like he was the only one imagining things and making a fuss about it.

“Are you going to look for another yang energy?”

Maybe that's why words he didn't mean came out of his mouth.

“Where is the other yang energy, to me?”

Judith answered incredulously.

Judith's mind seemed to be completely blank on the single men around her, like Henry or the Marquis of Mosley.

Erne, for some reason, felt a subtle upward curve in his mood.

“That’s true, I’m the only man Miss Harrington has.”

“If you know, please help me.”

Although it was a very rude attitude to ask for help, Erne decided to be generous to her.

Yeah, I'd rather sacrifice my hand than watch you die with a hole in your skull.

Erne sat on the bed as if he had no choice as if he were a saint sacrificing himself to save lives. As he reached out, Judith reached out as if she had found a lifeline.

But just before he could touch her, Erne pulled his hand aside.

“Did you wash your hands thoroughly?”

“I told you I just washed up!”

Because sacrifice is sacrifice and hygiene is hygiene.

***

Erne's bedroom was the room used by the head maid of the Rhineland Manor.

This was because when Judith first arrived at the mansion, she was seated in the butler's room on the first floor. The rooms used by the Count's family were larger and better, but they were all on the second floor.

Judith, who had no need to use the second floor when the mansion was empty and cleaning the stairs was burdensome, chose the largest butler's room on the first floor.

After that, Erne also naturally chose the second largest room on the first floor, which was the maid's room.

As a result, the bed was for one person. It was wider than the other beds, but it was still too small for two people. Furthermore, since she was sharing it with someone as big as Erne, Judith ended up sleeping almost right next to him.

“Stop fidgeting.”

“It’s narrow, what should I do?”

“So I made this thing for the sake of dreams.”

Erne clicked his tongue. But he still gave one of his hands to Judith. Judith's small hand was hidden by Erne's large grip.

“Did you know it would be a dream like this?”

Judith pouted.

“But Erne, the Marquis of Ferney. Do you know anything about him?”

“I don’t know him personally, but I know one rumor going around. I heard he’s a very successful man.”

“I’ve heard that rumor too. I’ve heard that the Marquis of Ferney’s family is very wealthy. I guess they’re better off than most Marquis families.”

The Marchioness of Ferney was from the Kingdom of Penco, an island nation across the sea. Judith had heard from Baroness Briggs that she was from a family that owned an enormous merchant company called the Lopree Merchant Company.

They were known as the upper class in the trade world, and it was said that they were so wealthy that even the King of the Penco Kingdom could not do anything carelessly. It was said that the daughter of such a family would marry the Marquis of Ferney, and the imperial social circles would be turned upside down.


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