Duke, Is This Your First Time?

Elysia looked up at Iker, thinking she could eat after returning to her residence.

 ‘It’s almost lunchtime, I’ll go and eat later. You don’t need to worry about it, my lord.” 

“…… I see. Then I can’t help it.”

Elysia breathed a sigh of relief when Iker meekly dismissed the maidservant. 

Realizing that she had to get back to the Marquess’s mansion as soon as possible, she removed the covers and get out of bed. Then she just froze.

“What am I wearing now?”

The clothes only came to the middle of her thighs and they were very loose. And the buttons in the middle of the clothes……….

When Elysia’s eyes realized that she was wearing a men’s shirt, she was at a loss for words.  If it’s men’s clothes in this situation, there was only one…

Her gaze went to Iker and he replied nonchalantly.

“I can’t help it, your dress was stained badly.”

She had an idea what the stain was without having to ask. Elysia lifted the big sleeve.

“Well, these clothes are………?”

“I didn’t like the clothes, so I dressed you in my shirt. The only women’s clothes in the Duke’s mansion were the maids’ clothes.”

‘You should have just let me wear the maids’ clothes!’

Elysia held back the words that were about to come out of her mouth, since she was the one who had just committed the crime anyway.

But Iker’s next words took her by surprise.

“If you want, I can  call the designer, he can bring you some clothes to wear right away.”

A designer? Is this man serious now? Do you want to start rumors all over the place?

Elysia’s nerves were on edge as she looked at him.

“Are you crazy?”

She regretted immediately as she couldn’t overcome her personality, and the words came out of her mouth.

Naturally, she thought Iker would be angry. She told him that he was crazy for saying something so considerate, so he had every right to be angry. However, Iker’s reaction was different from what she expected. He replied slowly, still staring at her with a softness in his eyes.

“I’m not crazy yet, Marquess.”

“Oh….I’m sorry. If you call the designer, no matter how much you cover their mouths, the rumor will start ….”

“That’s true. I didn’t think about it.”

What? Is this man a Saint? Why isn’t he angry?

Puzzled, Elysia stared at the man in front of her as if he was a creature from another world.

It was strange that he listened to everything she said and didn’t even get angry when cursed him. He was so different from how she usually saw him.

Of course, even in the court, it was usually Elysia who spoke up, and the man in front of her was the one who listened quietly. But after that, his way of speaking was always to use logic that was hard to refute and turn the situation around.

Honestly, he could have done just that to annoy her in a case like the present. It was true that she had said too much.

However, with such a gentle reaction, it seemed that drug Helis’s side effect was not on her, but on the Duke.

‘That’s not what’s important.’

Shaking her head lightly, Elysia began to worry about how to quickly get this over with.

The biggest problem was that she had to get back to her residence without being found by anyone.

Since Duke Deimos was known as the most popular man in the empire, there were always paparazzi hiding around the duchy. There were probably some moles in the Duke’s mansion.

Normally, she wore my men proudly in front of the paparazzi to show them off to the second Prince, but now the situation was different.

If the fact was revealed that she, the head of the noble faction, came out of the residence of Duke Deimos, the head of the imperial faction, the morning after the banquet, there would be a lot of fuss.

The nobles who follow her may look the other way, but the Duke of Russet and his entourage wouldn’t keep quiet. The same would be for the second Prince.

So she had to return to her mansion in secret.

“You can’t wear a maid’s uniform. You can’t hide your hair, and they might find out. You’re still going with that?”

Elysia bit her lower lip and glanced at Iker. To be honest, there was a big discrepancy between the way he looked now and the way he looked as the head of the council.

In the court, he seemed brusque and cold-hearted, but now he seemed to at least listen to her wishes.

Elysia hesitated for a moment, and then called him.

“Your Excellency.”

“What’s the matter, Marquess?”

As expected, the gold eyes staring at her were strangely soft.

‘He can’t be like that just because we spent the night, right?’

There were many such men, men who, after they mixed their bodies, acted as if she was their own woman.

Elysia glanced at Iker with narrowed eyes, but inwardly chuckled, how could that be? The man in front of her was none other than the Duke of Deimos.

‘Then I think you acted uncomfortable when you couldn’t call me by my nickname earlier.’

Reassured by her own judgment, she opened her mouth with a shameless face.

“Can I possibly get the maids’ clothes that would fit me?”

“Maids’ clothes? Are you worried about going back to the Marquess’s mansion?”

‘Whoa, he’s quick at catching up.’

Elysia replied, complimenting the duke in her mind for immediately realizing her intentions.

“Yes, I thought the maid’s clothes were apparently hard to spot. You don’t want to be on the front page of the newspaper for getting involved with me, do you?”

“I don’t mind, but if you are worried about that, so be it.”

‘What? No, why doesn’t it matter? Are you taking your position into account?’

Elysia gulped down the words that he was crazy that once again running rampant. She wondered how this man could be like this, but one mistake was enough anyway.

“All right, then. Then the maids’ clothes……”

“But maids’ clothes are no good. I’ll lend you my clothes.”

“Your clothes, my lord?”

Elysia looked down at the shirt she was wearing and raised her arms. There was a height difference between him and her, and the cuffs were covering her hands completely.

“….This is what it’s like right now.”

Iker’s lips raised a little as she flapped the long cuffs with a negative expression.

“It’s a little big.”

“It’s not a little bit, it’s a lot.”

“Don’t worry, Marquess. One of my maids is a good seamstress, so if you’re worried about calling a designer, I’ll call her and tell her to try fitting my clothes to your body.”

No, just the maids’ clothes…………”

Before she could finish, Iker pulled the rope hanging beside the bed. 

‘Why did he suddenly move so fast like this!’

Elysia, who had been mouthing off without being able to stop herself, was completely speechless at the Duke’s words that came next as he looked back at her.

“So, how about some breakfast while they fix your clothes?”

***

Elysia looked at the maid preparing breakfast with a puzzled look.

She naturally assumed that she would be eating alone until a trolley loaded with food came in. However, when the food started to be placed on the table next to the window, there were two dishes in total.

One was a large portion and one was a small portion.

“Is Your Excellency going to eat with me?”

While she was perplexed, the maidservant who had arranged all the food bowed to her master and left the room.

“Sit down.”

Elysia stared blankly at Iker’s hand as he held it out in front of her.

How did she end up eating breakfast together at the house of the man she attacked?

Though troubled, Elsia could not ignore his favor and reached out her hand.

Her brow furrowed faintly the moment she took his hand. A throbbing pain surged through her lower abdomen.

‘There’s no way I’m okay after the deed like that yesterday. His wasn’t even a normal sized one.’

The side effects were scary, seeing how she still felt it even now.

Elysia thought that the human body was still mysterious, when she heard a low voice in her ear.

“Are you okay?”

Her body flinched at the heavy voice, which came from so close she could feel his breath. It seemed to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

Blaming her sensitive body for the lingering sensation, Elysia replied as calmly as she could.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“That’s good. Have a seat here.”

“Thank you.”

Elysia, sitting in the chair that Iker pulled out for her, looked at him walking to the seat opposite hers. Even though she knew the answer, she couldn’t give up hope and asked secretly.

“Excuse me, sir, but will you be eating with me?”

“Yes. Is it a burden?”

‘Yes, of course. It would be very burdensome.’

Suppressing the words from drifting off the tip of her tongue, Elysia had to adjust to her tone to some extent to match her opponent.

“It can’t be. It’s an honor to dine with Your Excellency.”

“I’m glad you said that. I don’t know what the symptoms will be after the side effects, and I told them to prepare something soft for now. I’m not sure if it will suit your taste.”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

“I will take it without reservation.”

At Iker’s gesture to start eating first, Elysia had no choice but to pick up a spoon.

‘I just need to eat a little, just a little.’

Elysia, who repeatedly vowed inside and took a spoon of soup blooming with warm steam and put it in her mouth, opened her eyes wide.

‘It’s delicious. It’s….’

She resented her taste buds for being able to taste under such pressure, but before she knew it, her spoon was once again full of soup.

Because of last night, her overworked body needed the calories, and her stomach ignored her will.

The soup was light and savory, and the bread was moist and soft. What about the salad? Why was the sauce on top of the fresh young vegetables so refreshing?

She thought that the head chef of the Camellia’s mansion was one of the best in the empire, but the chef of the Duke’s family was a cut above. She even wanted to recruit the Duke’s chef.

When she came to her senses, she had completely devoured the plate in front of her.

“You must have been really hungry. Would you like some of mine?”

Iker’s voice was calm as he spoke, alternately looking at his plate and at her, but there was laughter underneath.

‘D*mn it………….’

Elysia’s dark purple eyes lost its light and shook wildly. If she had a shovel in her hands, she would dig a hole in the ground and go in to hide.

Eventually, she raised her hands and buried her heated face.