Her voice trembled like butterfly wings as she refused the kiss.
"...Why"
Desperation was evident in the Duke's voice as he asked back if the refusal could not be accepted.
'Why?'
It was natural.
Because the two of them are nothing more than fake lovers with a set time limit.
So, if you ask if she disliked it again, that wasn't the case. Actually, at some point, his heart started to be drawn to the Duke.
As Shioana hesitated, he let out a sigh and pulled her by the hand.
"I'm tired, so I guess I should go to sleep."
As the Duke, who had said it would be better to sleep, followed her, Shioana gave him a wary look.
"...Why are you coming here again?"
You have no idea how much she struggled to fall asleep last night because he was by jer side.
"Because I have severe insomnia."
"What does that have to do with me right now?"
He said something that was completely incomprehensible and led Shioana to the bed. As he wrapped his arms around her shoulders with both hands and wore a tense expression, the Duke stretched out and spoke.
"To me right now, you are nothing more than a cure for insomnia."
"So why did I... Your Excellency's insomnia..."
When Shioana grumbled, he closed his eyes first. As expected, he was someone with whom conversation was completely impossible.
Shioana spun around and lay down. The spot where she had been hit with the fan stung, but she had no energy to tend to the wound.
A weary breath escaped from Shioana's lips as she was immediately seized by drowsiness.
"It's not even surprising anymore."
It was clear she wasn't conscious of him at all. Otherwise, she wouldn't have fallen asleep so easily.
When he first reunited with Shioana, who was shabbily dressed, he felt somewhat confident. He thought he could win Shioana's favor instantly with the power and wealth of the Duke Bernhard family.
Since she was in a difficult situation, she might confess her love if he showed even a little kindness.
'Because she is the woman who sold me for money.'
However, as time passed, it was not she, but him, who became anxious. The beautiful dress, the gold, the luxurious mansion, and his good looks seemed completely invisible to Shioana.
"It didn't make me feel that bad, so I didn't get angry..."
Etienne was confused by Shioana's words that she didn't feel bad, even though he was also so displeased.
'What on earth is your real face?
Why does the image of the woman I loved seem to remain in a woman who bore and raised another man's child and is obsessed with money?
“I shouldn’t think about it any more.”
Etienne, snapping out of his thoughts, slowly untied the straps of the chemise she was wearing.
As the chemise slid down to her waist, Shioana's body was fully revealed in the moonlight. Her brown hair lay disheveled over her fair shoulders, round breasts, and slender waist.
"...Ha."
Etienne took his eyes off her body and opened the ointment jar. However, it was not easy to reach for her back.
‘This wound’
He could never forget Shioana from that day when she blocked the whip Eli was swinging. As he traced the hideous scar with his fingertips, Shioana let out a groan as if in pain.
He lifted his bloodshot eyes to stare at the ceiling, then dipped his finger generously in ointment and applied it to the new wound.
"This is a token of gratitude for the treatment you gave me in the past."
Muttering as if making an excuse, he put Shioana's chemise back on and fastened the ties. Cold sweat ran down his back from the tension. Leaning against the back of the bed, he was about to cover his eyes with one hand.
"...!"
Shioana, who had been lying at the edge, rolled over and wrapped her arms around his waist. As he looked down at her hand, stained with small cuts and deep ink marks, various emotions flashed through his indifferent eyes. It was a hand that was more than enough to simply hate, yet somehow, he felt a pang of concern for it.
'The beautiful hands that had not a single small scar...'
Now it was in such a mess that anyone would think it belonged to a worker. A small hand groped his stomach, and soon Shioana's cheek pressed tightly against his chest.
She could have gotten away with just a slight push while reaching out. It was just as he, looking annoyed, was about to pull Shioana's hand away.
Her shoulders trembled as if she were having a nightmare, and she desperately searched for someone.
"E, Etienne."
He had no idea how much he missed hearing his name called in her voice. But at the same time, nightmares from the past resurfaced, leaving him feeling terrible.
"...Ah."
A sigh escaped Etienne's lips as he pressed his hand tightly against his forehead.
After returning to Urcheka, he lived for a while, forgetting his name.
The people here called him only Duke Bernhard. He, too, deliberately tried not to think of his name. After all, the single person from the past who called him by his name was enough.
"You have no right to utter that name right now."
Instead of pushing Shioana away, he sat up in bed and let out a fierce voice. Etienne, looking down at her curled up tightly, put on a robe.
He felt like he wouldn't be able to fall asleep tonight at all.
***
When Shioana was beaten badly by the Grand Madam yesterday, she thought she wouldn't even be able to straighten jer back this morning, but she felt more refreshed than she expected.
"Where did they go so early in the morning?"
Shioana sat up and looked around at the empty seat beside her. However, her curiosity about the Duke's whereabouts was short-lived as she soon became busy getting ready for work. Hurriedly getting dressed, she looked for Martha and Harriet first.
"Our Harriet has grown so much overnight."
As she held her nephew in her arms and smiled broadly, Martha glanced at Siona.
"What's wrong again, Martha?"
"You can't really believe everything in rumors, can you? Right, Miss?"
Seeing how she was hesitating, it was clear that she had heard about the secret relationship between her and the Duke.
"No. It's just similar to helping out for a moment."
"How could you say they look so alike? I saw through the window, and no matter how I looked at it, it seemed like him."
Shioana scolded Martha, who was still mistaking the Duke for someone else.
"You used to call him a hell bird."
At the mention of the title used in the past, the two people's faces were briefly lost in memories. Martha wiped her eyes, took Harriet into her arms, and changed the subject.
"You're on your way out of the office, right? And you're still the same, boss?"
As Raul started visiting often with food, Martha became less afraid of the boss.
"There is no bad person among those who share food."
She even seemed to secretly hope that Shioana and Raul would get along well.
"I can't believe how reliable he is. He even dotes on Young Master Harriet."
"Martha, stop it. Why would the boss like someone like me?"
"What's wrong with my young lady?"
"No."
Shioana gently hugged Martha, who was about to get very angry.
In the nanny's eyes, she will forever be Shioana Evgenia, the precious young lady of Regbell.
Everything went smoothly at work, except for the boss, who kept glancing at her.
"Boss, if you keep peeking like that, you'll have to pay."
When Shioana spoke curtly, Raul acted as if he were dumbfounded.
"Are you telling me to pay with this?"
"If you don't want to pay, you can just watch it."
Shioana, still focused on the documents, spoke stiffly.
"I tell you, my secretary is really thorough when it comes to calculations."
At her words, Raul pouted, and his thick eyebrows twitched.
His new secretary was a very mysterious figure. She possessed neither dazzling beauty nor immense wealth, nor did she even have a gentle personality.
'But why does it keep bothering me?'
Raul did not believe in love.
He grew up constantly watching his mother fall ill after being betrayed by Marquis Calix. His mother waited for Marquis Calix until the day she breathed her last from drug addiction.
'She loved a man who didn't even come to pay his respects in the end.'
Love was a useless emotion that made people sick.
Countless women swore after his wealth, but Raul did not let anyone get close to him. However, recently, he felt a strange emotion.
'Take care of yourself.'
It wasn't entirely bad that Shioana was worried about him. As they ate together at her house, his heart kept fluttering. Confused, Raul cleared his throat and spoke.
"They say there was a fight in the alley."
Finally, Shioana stopped what she was doing and looked at his face.
A single strand of brown hair, haphazardly twisted up, flowed past her ear, and a slender neck beneath her deep-looking blue eyes caught his gaze.
Raul imagined putting the finely crafted sapphire necklace from his safe around her neck.
"No, I was just wondering where the baby and Martha went."
Actually, since he had roughly looked into it, he knew exactly where Shioana was right now, but he wanted to hear it directly from her own mouth.
"I was planning to teach those guys a lesson..."
Duke Bernhard's men had already come, dragged him away, and punished him. The sight of him crossing into someone else's territory and exercising force was very displeasing.
"Duke Bernhard happened to pass by and helped me out. I plan to find a new house soon."
"R-right? You're looking for a new place to live, right?"
"Of course. That isn't where I belong."
At Shioana's firm words, Raul felt his anxiety vanish completely. He grinned widely and tapped his foot on the desk, while Shioana gathered the documents together and tied them with a string.
A peaceful afternoon was passing by.
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment