The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

What is that?

Abbert looked at her blankly for a moment at Sid’s answer who was holding back her embarrassment. Then he tilted his head and put his lips to Sid’s. Hiick, there was a sound of breathing swallowed.

Abbert touched Sid’s cheeks with both hands, touching them deeply, and Sid, who had stiffened, raised her hands hesitantly and squeezed his sleeves. It was a kiss that made her whole body tingle. And Abbert, who slowly opened his lips because of Sid, who couldn’t breathe properly, looked at Sid, gasping for breath, and smiled warmly.

But their sweet time must end there.

“Now, this is…… what the…….”

Suddenly, the two of them turned their heads in surprise at the sound of someone’s voice in the stable. There, Kahel, with a look of astonishment, was looking at them with wide-open eyes.

“Your, Your Excellency!”

Abbert inadvertently hid Sid behind him.

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

He didn’t know what to say other than he was sorry. Kissing at work may seem like negligence to the master, but in practice, there is no master who doesn’t know that many employees are dating in this huge workplace. Kahel wasn’t a tight-knit master either, so he thought Kahel would just warn him to be careful, but he seemed more surprised than expected.

“Your Excellency?”

“This…… Ha, really…… I don’t know what to say.”

Kahel was in a state where he didn’t know what to say in his own words. Sid likes men!

The guy who had been flirting with Lena not so long ago was kissing the male employee behind her back. Of course, he did not think loving the same gender was special because Kahel heard confessions of love regardless of gender. However, Lena seems to like Sid, and he had suspicions that Sid was only using Lena’s heart.

“Sid.”

 

Kahel called Sid coldly.

“There’s nothing wrong with Sid! I, I did it first!”

Abbert desperately tried to hide Sid. But Sid calmed Abbert and took a step forward. If she hides behind Abbert, only Abbert would be punished more, and it might have a bad effect on Lena as well.

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

She desperately hoped that it would end with a few hits. If she was to be kicked out, she hoped that only she would be kicked out. But the words that came out of Kahel’s mouth were unimaginable.

“Does Lena know that you like men?”

The inside of the stable was silent. There was a hint of jealousy in Kahel’s eyes, but Sid and Abbert could not understand the meaning of Kahel’s question.

“I’m, I’m sorry, sir, what does that mean?”

“Is there anything you don’t understand?”

“I …… like men…… Ah, well, if I have to describe it as ‘liking men’, yes, Lena knows it, too.”

“She knows?”

“Yes. However…… With that in mind, Lena too…… likes men…….”

Again, chaotic stillness filled the stables.

“Lena does not like me. That is a term used when a man likes a man, right?”

It was only when Kahel added awkwardly that Abbert fully understood the situation.

 

“Your Excellency. By the way, do you think Sid is a man?”

“What?”

“Sid is a woman. No, in every way you look at it, she is a woman, don’t you think?”

“That…… ?”

Sid bowed her head in embarrassment at the expression ‘that’, and Abbert’s eyes became fierce. And at that moment Kahel realized his own mistake and he hurriedly shut his mouth. No matter how low she was, the words that seemed to demean a woman’s appearance were very disrespectful.

“That, what is that?”

“Yes?”

“What I meant was, that, that thing on Nathan’s snout?”

Abbert’s and Sid’s suspicious eyes turned to Kahel’s horse behind them and Nathan’s snout bridge. Nathan, a black horse with a magnificent body, was so black that you couldn’t even see the eyes if you didn’t look closely, but there was a little straw on the snout.

“It’s straw…….”

“I see.”

Kahel manages to pretend it’s okay, and he walks up to Nathan and strokes the snout. He had always thought that he was a smart guy, but at that moment, surrounded by straw, he was no more than an intelligent creature.

“Well, I’m just here to check on Nathan’s condition. It’s not that I’m criticizing you for dating, but please refrain from going in places that are too conspicuous.”

“Oh, yes! We’re sorry.”

“And Sid, come to my office for a little while. I have a question for you regarding the Barony you were with before.”

“Yes, I understand, Your Excellency.”

Greeted by Sid and Abbert, Kahel calmly walked out of the stable. However, his mind was far from ‘calm’.

‘Sid was a woman! Oh my God, Sid was a woman!’

All the puzzles seemed to fit together now. Why did Lena eagerly defend Sid over and over again!

‘You must have thought of me as a piece of garbage since I mistreated the appearance of someone who was no different than her older sister…… !’

It was her mistake to say that they grew up together like ‘brothers’ and convinced him that Sid was a man. Lena may have made a mistake or misunderstood the meaning of the words, but he didn’t know why he was caught on by the word ‘brothers’ only once. Why was he so confident about Sid, with all the other possibilities open? His face was burning with embarrassment.

But at the same time as this shamefulness, it felt like something that had weighed heavily on his heart had disappeared. Sid isn’t Lena’s lover, she’s just her ‘sister’. And, as Kahel knows, Lena has never mentioned any other man.

He didn’t know why, but his steps were light.

Just as Kahel managed to clear his embarrassment and regain his composure, Sid, frozen in ice, came to his office. Abbert, who had followed Sid out of concern, was waiting downstairs.

However, the question Kahel asked Sid was unexpected.

“Miss Elliot?”

“The word ‘Miss’ is annoying. Isn’t she the daughter of a criminal who has been stripped of his title anyway?”

“You are right. Elliot, that bitch…… No, girl, if you ask who she is, I’d like to say that she is the devil.”

“The devil…….”

“Hoo…… If Your Excellency knew what Lena suffered for that damned woman Elliot, Your Excellency would agree with me.”

Kahel’s eyes widened at those words.

“Lena? Explain in detail what happened.”

Sid gulped the potion of purification given to her by Arder as if she was drinking a drink, then took another deep breath and began to enumerate the painful things to remember.

“…… Not only that. Wouldn’t she ridicule Lena, who was smarter than her, for stealing her jewelry out of nowhere, and intentionally getting Lena beaten? … Oh, and there was a time when Lena almost got burned as she fell over the firewood after she kicked Lena’s back, which was setting fire to the furnace. It looks like she was trying to mess up Lena’s face. What I have said is only a small part. All of these things happened throughout Lena’s eight years of living in the Barony. So what would I say if she wasn’t the devil?”

Sid vomited anger, telling Elliot’s evil deeds towards Lena. It was rather pleasant to see Kahel’s expression getting colder every minute, as if he had agreed to her story.

“That’s what happened…….”

After hearing Sid’s story, Kahel straightened his posture, pretending that he was okay again. The truth is, he wanted to grab Elliot Fidelia right now and tear her limbs to death.

“You must have suffered a lot, too?”

“I didn’t mind.”

“When Lena was about to get married to Viscount Delroins, she said she was caught and you were beaten while trying to help Lena escape.”

“If you were a sane person, of course you should help. How…… How can you think of selling a child of only eighteen to a pervert over fifty!”

Kahel nodded his head broadly. Sid, who was considered a thorn in his eye until a few hours ago, now feels very affectionate.

“It would be a pity for you and Lena, but it seems that Elliot Fidelia appeared in Ardennes without problems.”

“Yes? That damned woman? Did she surrender herself and come here to die?”

Sid’s eyes seemed to blaze with the green flames of hell. She suffered because she couldn’t save Lena from Elliot’s evil deeds, and it seems that those words were sincere.

“You already know that she can’t be that kind of person, don’t you? I think she will be used as a hand to attack me, but it seems that she is protected by someone with a lot of power.”

“She’s a damn lucky girl. It seems that the sins she has committed so far are enough to deserve punishment.”

“Anyway, thanks for letting me know about Elliot Fidelia. Oh, and one more. Do you know anything about Lena’s biological mother?”

“I don’t know much, but I’ve seen her. She was the most beautiful person in Kerouac.”

“Looking at Lena, I can predict that her mother must have been beautiful. I’m asking if there were other rumors.”

Sid wondered why Kahel was curious about Lena’s mother, but Kahel quickly added, as if he had noticed her thoughts.

“Because Lena doesn’t seem like the bloodline of things like Baron Fidelia’s family.”

Sid also agreed with that. She was told that Lena’s hair color was similar to that of the Baron, but Sid didn’t see it that way. How could the frivolous color of the baron’s hair compare to Lena’s deep, silky dark brown hair?

“There have been many rumors. She is said to be the daughter of a fallen noble, also called a witch, and there were even rumors that she was a prostitute of Ardennes, and that she was driven by her debts and came to Kerouac. But Lena’s mother never clarified a word about the rumors about herself. She laughed no matter what I asked. So I don’t know too well, but according to my memories of seeing her in person…… There was a feeling that it was difficult to treat her lightly.”

“Really?”

“And I think that was probably the case with other people as well. There were many men who were taken aback by her and the wives of the men were jealous of her, but she had never been harmed by anyone; even from the Baroness. I don’t know if they got tired of her because she was so pretty, or something…….”

Sid shrugged her shoulders, as if bragging about her own mother, but Kahel was convinced that Lena’s mother was definitely not an ordinary person. A beautiful appearance was nothing short of poison to those of low status and powerless. Even to her, it was like poison, how much more must it be to a commoner woman with a child?

But she wasn’t threatened at all? That was very unnatural. Especially in rural villages where security is poor.

‘I’ll have to look into Lena’s mother’s side for sure.’

Kahel was satisfied with getting the little clue and sent Sid back.