The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

A woman with many secrets

Laying Lena down on the bed in her room, Kahel looked down at Lena, who, unlike his mother, had peach-colored cheeks and exhaled even breath. If people didn’t respond to his devilish power, he wondered if he would be able to see other young girls as being so cute and lovable.

Kahel shook his head as he thought of the many young girls staring at him in the banquet hall. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t. Because Lena was a person with many special features besides not being possessed by the devilish power.

He didn’t want to see such a special and pretty person becoming skinny.

‘So to me, love or marriage, everything is a luxury.’

Kahel smiled bitterly and gently tucked the hair away from Lena’s cheek.

“Uhh.”

As if it was tickling, Lena turned her head away, whispering in her sleep a little. And she chewed her lips, rubbing her cheek gently against Kahel’s palm, who was still there, before she fell into a deep sleep again.

“Lena…….”

He couldn’t remove his hand, which had been shaped like Lena’s cheek, and Kahel frowned at the pain in his chest that had been whining from before.

‘You can’t be greedy. Don’t be greedy…….’

He was trying to calm his mind, but it wasn’t easy not to bite Lena’s cheek that touched his hand.

It was from the very next morning that the life of Terra Luave, which seemed to be filled with only pain and sorrow, began to change dramatically.

* * *

“Let’s summarize what we’ve been investigating.”

 

Herod, the head of the investigation team dispatched to Kerouac, gathered the investigation team in Baron Jenkins’s room, and decided to collect the information that had been scattered throughout the investigation.

“It is said that Eileen’s appearance was more of a dense beauty with waist-length silver hair, soft, white skin, purple eyes, and distinct facial features. She was about 165 cm tall and weighed about 45 kg, and she was slender.”

“Theo was right. Even those who hated her would admit that she was really beautiful, right?”

With those words, Theo shrugged his shoulders as if his aesthetics were finally recognized. No matter how many years pass, Eileen’s beautiful appearance will never be forgotten. It wasn’t because he had feelings for her or lust after her. It is simply because she was so beautiful that everyone had no choice but to recognize her.

However, there was another reason that everyone in the investigation team confirmed that fact once again.

“She seems to have had a lot of guys who flirted with her, but I don’t think any of them ever tried to do bad things toward her. That was a bit weird. The fact that everyone only made a widow with no one to protect her as a spectacle.”

“The same goes for the women. The woman, who poured all kinds of swears on her, said she never thought of harming her. I asked her why, and she said she wasn’t that bad of a person? She told of another woman whose husband had glanced at her and went to her and grabbed her by the hair.”

The investigators could not believe that a commoner woman who was said to be so beautiful lived peacefully without being threatened by anyone. Of course, based on Limon Faith doctrine and the ethics of this world, it is natural and right that there should be no physical threat to a single woman, but this world is not a place of angels, but a place of imperfect and lustful humans. And when people who lacked in many ways met someone who was weaker than them and even stimulated their carnal lust, the first thought that would come to mind should be to easily subdue them by force.

Besides, Kerouac was not very well-policed. Things got a little better when Baron Jenkins became the lord, but until now, there was no way to stop the late-night crimes. In such a place, Eileen took her young daughter and lived for ten years without a problem, which was quite unrealistic for the investigators with thick bones.

“It’s not the only thing that’s weird. Eileen apparently knew how to read and write fluently, not like a commoner. Here, I got a letter that was said to be written by her. Look at the handwriting. Is this commoner’s handwriting? I can’t believe it.”

Everyone’s eyes flew and stuck on the old paper spread out on the table. It had faded with age and was black with unknown stains here and there, but the smooth and skillful penmanship writing on it was recognizable enough.

Herod picked up the paper and examined it more closely. It must not have been written with a ruler underneath, but the lines of writing were straight, and the shape of the curved lines was very elegant and decorative. These handwriting could only be seen as having been educated by a professional intellectual.

“The weight is shifting towards the fact that Eileen was a nobleman.”

“And that’s not quite accurate.”

“Tell me.”

 

“Someone argued that Miss Lena was not the illegitimate child of Baron Fidelia.”

“Who?”

“The midwife who delivered Miss Lena herself.”

Again, everyone’s eyes turned to the speaker.

“She is close to seventy, so I wonder if her memories are accurate, but she says that by the time Eileen came to Kerouac she was already pregnant, and five months after she arrived in Kerouac, she gave birth to Miss Lena. So, she can’t be Baron Fidelia’s child, but the Baron keeps coming and going to the house to see Eileen, so the Baroness takes over and sells it that way.”

“What do you think, Theo?”

“I don’t know when Eileen came into Kerouac or when she gave birth to Lena. However, I also didn’t think Lena was the Baron’s child. No matter how much she resembles her mother, most would have a trace of their father on their face. But Lena had no resemblance towards Baron Fidelia, not even the fingertips. The maids were spreading the word of the Baroness, and they said her hair was the same color, but to be honest, the Baron’s was a reddish-brown and Lena’s was a calm brown, and I couldn’t understand where they were the same.”

“Hmm…… If Miss Lena really isn’t the daughter of Baron Fidelia, then the scope of our investigation should be wider. But apart from all that, the more we dig, the more interesting it is.”

Everyone nodded at those words, but one of the investigators, who had been sitting on the edge, hesitated whether or not to say something, finally cleared his throat as if he had made up his mind.

“This…… It seems that a lot of personal emotions are mixed in this, so the credibility seems to be low…….”

“It doesn’t matter, so tell me.”

“Miss Lena. She says she’s never been harassed anywhere before she joined the Baron’s Castle. Rather, they said she was a very cute kid at the inn where she worked.”

“Oh, that’s right. Everyone loved Lena so much. They even added a penny or two to the cost of running errands.”

Theo brags about her like his own daughter. But it seems that wasn’t what the investigator wanted to say.

“Since Eileen died, a little…… something was a little weird.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t really have any credible information as most of it was the maids of the castle, but the moment Lena entered the castle as the maid, everyone hated her. I asked why a girl who was so cute before is so hated.”

“It’s probably the fault of the baroness or the chief maid.”

Herod chewed, remembering Mrs. Marvin, who had been annoying from the first day. Since then, she has only discriminated against Theo. She says things like cut down on the amount of food he eats, saying she doesn’t have any left, and only gives Theo an old blanket. Herod nearly exploded several times, but each time Theo stopped him. He said that it would be no good for the investigation team to stand out for nothing.

“So that’s why I asked. But some of them gave me some strange answers.”

“What did they say?”

“It wasn’t really like the Baroness or the maid chief, though it feels like Miss Lena’s image has completely changed. I didn’t mean that Miss Lena changed into anything or got cheeky, they said they noticed a strange sense of distance? They, themselves, said it was surprising.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Beats me.”

The investigator smiled and shrugged his shoulders. It didn’t really matter, but even he didn’t know why he was so concerned about their answers.

“Is there anything else besides that?”

“I have received Eileen’s immigration report and Lena’s birth certificate from the officials in charge of the migration, birth and death of Kerouac residents. I just wondered if it could be a reference.”

A few more yellow papers were placed on the table. Comparing it with the letter received from the villager, it proved it was Eileen’s handwriting.

“The migration paperwork was made on September 18th, Year Deacon 2. And Miss Lena’s birth registration was made on March 2nd, Year Deacon 3, and her birth date is February 15th.”

“I heard from Lena that she was born on February 15th.”

However, the date on the document is not necessarily accurate. As soon as she flowed into Kerouac, she probably wouldn’t have filed a relocation declaration right away. So after adding a couple of months of her undocumented residency, the papers couldn’t prove Lena’s father was not Baron Fidelia on paper.

However, they could confirm that Eileen’s former residence was Ardennes, the capital, and that she was 24 when she settled in Kerouac, and that as soon as she came here, she could afford to live in a small hut.

Herod, pausing through the papers, couldn’t shake the feeling that Eileen had written down her own information to the bare minimum. She did not write any information that could be left blank, and the essentials were also written down to the bare minimum. For example, in the part of her previous residence, only the name Ardennes was written, leaving the ward where she lived in blank. Her age was also blank with only the date of birth written. Her family relations were all blank.

‘She was definitely a woman with many secrets…….’

Seeing that many people remember her, she must have existed, but the more they followed her traces, the less information they had in their hands other than the memories of the people. She didn’t even have bones in her coffin.

Herod, who let out a bitter sigh, was about to put down the paperwork and suddenly spotted it.

He found two small straight lines in front of a writing of Eileen’s name found on the inn. She must have spelled her name wrong. The misspelled word before the name started with H instead of E.