The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

Troubling Dreams

At first he thought it was a coincidence, but when the third death came, Kahel suspected that it was the Santella family. Damien nevertheless said that it shouldn’t be so as the family of guardians, but from the fourth death he was forced to use his hand to protect the Queen’s relatives, the young girls.

There was no evidence that it was affiliated with the Santella family. It was just a feeling. Since they could not accuse the family of guardians solely by a heart feeling, the Luaves hastened the marriage of older relative girls instead. The marriage did not prevent them from becoming queen, but it would become difficult in many ways due to their entanglement with the husband’s family. Fortunately, none of the married were threatened with death.

“The fact that there is no successor would push Liddell as an alternative, an idea that a family of guardians would not have dared to imagine.”

Kahel smiled and shook his head. He had known for a long time that she had serious ambitions despite her flowery appearance, but he didn’t know that it would be the queen’s seat itself.

“The more problematic thing is that it probably won’t be something she’s been preparing for a year or two. Since when did she have a repulsion…….”

Now, Damien didn’t even consider the Santella to be a guardian either. For that reason, the truth that has been revealed recently was not unusual. It was for that reason that he was more concerned about the monsters that appear in Sharden every winter.

“Anyway, I will go back to the capital tomorrow.”

“Yes. Your mother has also improved a lot, so don’t worry about this place.”

Damien wanted to find out more about Lena, who hadn’t woken up the whole day that Evelyn improved, but he stopped because when he talked about Lena, Kahel’s complexion darkened. However, he could only guess that his son’s feelings for the maid have deepened.

 

“Kahel.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Sometimes, thinking too deeply can ruin things.”

“…….”

“When you achieve something really important, it’s good to put off complicated thoughts for a while. If you delay, you might miss it.”

“Has Father ever been like that?”

“Yes. When I met your mother.”

Damien’s eyes curved. The story of Damien and Evelyn was one of the most popular love stories in the social world. Damien, who fell in love with Evelyn, who was having a marriage conversation as if being sold to the royal family, used all sorts of tricks to win Evelyn while incurring a huge financial burden.

Everyone said that Damien Luave would do something he would regret because of his passion, but Damien’s love for Evelyn has never cooled down since then.

“Yes, I will keep it in mind.”

Kahel smiled a little bit at the end of his mouth, then went back to his own room and called Lena. Lena slept for a full day and when she woke up, she was very surprised that she had slept for a day and a half, but Kahel even mobilized the doctor, Hans, to reassure her. Fortunately, Lena was as healthy and bright as she was before she fell asleep. And when she heard the news that Evelyn’s health had improved, she was more happy than anyone else.

“Did you call, Your Excellency?”

Now, it was a voice that made him feel relieved every time he heard it.

“It may be sudden, but I have to go back to Ardennes tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? All right. But maybe…… Did something happen in the mansion…….”

“The mansion is fine. Her Majesty the Queen has ordered me to come to the palace.”

“Oh, I see. So, let’s pack our bags right now.”

Lena started packing Kahel’s luggage with the two maids who helped her. The life in Terra Luave’s castle was not uncomfortable, but she was a little excited about her return home, which was faster than expected because she was more comfortable in Ardennes’ mansion.

They didn’t have a lot of luggage when they came down, so packing was finished in three or four hours. When Lena, who had packed Kahel’s bags, also packed her own, snow started to fall outside the window. The wind wasn’t strong for her, so she looked at the snowflakes that gently fluttered. Lena, who was staring blankly at it, recalled the dream she had while she was sleeping.

She had many dreams because she slept for a long time. One of them was where her mother came. It was rare to dream of her mother, and that night she certainly dreamed of her mother. But no matter how much she tried to remember, the details of the dream could not come to mind.

‘I wish I could remember Mother’s face in more detail.’

After her mother died, she somehow couldn’t remember her mother’s face, but also what memories she had with her mother. There were a few things that came to mind, but all of the memories were not clear. It was hazy and dreamy, as if she remembered a dream. Lena always regretted that.

Lena’s cheeks reddened slightly as she followed the dream of her mother appearing. In fact, her most intense dream was not in which her mother appeared.

‘Why the hell did you have such a dream ….?’

She had a dream with Kahel. In her dream, Kahel patted Lena’s face, and he kissed Lena’s cheek with a very affectionate expression. She still remembered the feeling of his hand, the warm breath carefully pouring over her cheek, and the moist flesh of the lips that had been gently pressed against each other.

It wouldn’t have been so embarrassing if he had kissed her on the cheek only, but Kahel smiled low and he kissed Lena’s lips as well. The warm, moist lips met and his tongue slid into her mouth. It was something she had never experienced before, and she had no idea how it felt so vivid.

‘It’s because of Jessna! For telling me something weird.… .’

Jessna, whom she became close friends with at Terra Luave, often teased the innocent Lena and told her lewd stories in the name of ‘education’. It wasn’t as scary as the ‘bedroom etiquette’ she had been taught by Mrs. Marvin before, but she doesn’t know how startled she was to hear the tongue move when kissing. When she first heard it, she thought it was just filthy, but in her dreams it couldn’t be more dizzy and ecstatic.

‘I’m crazy. My neck will be cut off for thinking of such blasphemous thoughts!’

Of course, now she knew that Kahel wouldn’t cut her head off for thinking like this. But even with such forced thoughts, she had to stop this bizarre delusion. It was because the delusion continued to the more lewd act Jessna spoke of as her thoughts that stayed on the kiss as the tongue moved were growing bigger and bigger. This would never have been possible if it was in the past.

But Kahel grew sweeter with each passing day, and Lena sometimes pounded at his kindness without realizing it. Whether they were eating together, having a cup of tea, or when she stood next to him and watched him work, Lena realized how sweet and beautiful Kahel was.

He remembered Lena’s favorite food. He also remembered Lena’s favorite tea. He kept pace with Lena’s pace, and answered her pathetic questions kindly without ridiculing her. He sometimes scared her, but when he knew that Lena was scared, he tried to relieve the fear.

Lena was more touched by those acts than that of Kahel’s gift of amethyst hairpin, pearl earrings, or the sable coat. Because it was the kind of tenderness that Lena had never received before.

She had never expected anything from Barony Fidelia, and it was not the same with the affection she received from her mother, or Uncle Theo, or his family. It was a kindness that she had never felt in any human relationship she had ever formed, so even Lena couldn’t understand the kindness that Kahel showed.

But it would be her mistake to feel special. He must have been just giving her favor as a merciful master, but her heart reacted to it, creating such a terrible pounding.

‘You must forget it. Let’s have a quick meal and prepare the clothes His Excellency will wear tomorrow.’

Lena shook her head, scattering the delusions that had filled her head.

* * *

After dinner, Kahel opened the door to his room and met Lena, who was hanging the clothes for tomorrow.

“Ah, Your Excellency…… !”

Lena was a little startled by his sudden appearance, as she had been thinking about her dream in which Kahel appeared all evening to no avail. Without realizing it, her eyes moved to Kahel’s lips. He always had smooth and elastic lips, a manly yet strangely bizarre lip.

“Meal……?”

“Me? I had it earlier.”

Kahel nodded his head and sat down on the sofa. He pretended to rummage through the books on the table for nothing, but his gaze was shifting to Lena. He didn’t have time to be with Lena as much as he thought after coming to Terra Luave, so whenever he was with Lena, his mind was focused on Lena. Still, he didn’t feel like he had seen Lena enough, so he was a little dissatisfied.

He wanted to talk about something with Lena, but there’s nothing to talk about, and she’s almost finished organizing his clothes, so Kahel’s heart was impatient.

“Coming to Terra Luave and didn’t even get to see it properly.”

Kahel, who had never even thought of going around the estate because it was the cold season of snowing, said something he didn’t even mean to say.

“Your Excellency has been gone for a long time, so you must have been curious about the situation in the territory.”

“No, not me…… you.”

“What? Me?”

“If I had enough time, I was going to take you to the downtown area within the territory.”

At those words, the tips of Lena’s ears were dyed red again. Kahel was speaking as a merciful master, but to the current Lena, such kindness was quite fatal. Once she began to become conscious, she could not help but feel what she was feeling as before.

“It’s, it’s okay. Rather, it’s much more pleasing that Madam has become healthier.”

Lena deliberately changed the topic. She thought Kahel would be drawn to Evelyn’s story. As he had come to watch his mother’s deathbed. But that only aroused his deeper interest in Lena.

“That’s the thing…… Lena. Do you remember anything from the last meeting with Mother?”

 

“Meeting with…… Madam…… ?”

“I told you that you, who went in to chat with Mother that day, fell asleep holding Mother’s hand?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I dare…….”

“No, I am not scolding you. Do you remember how you fell asleep?”

At Kahel’s cautious question, Lena recalled that day for the first time. Come to think of it, she couldn’t remember how she fell asleep. She didn’t think she would have thought of sleeping next to the Madam after meeting for the first time.

“The Madam…… reached out her hand to me. I remember holding her hand and being surprised at how cold and thin it was. And…….”

Lena struggled to remember the time after she held Evelyn’s hand. But no matter what she did, she didn’t remember well after that.

“I’m sorry. I seem to have fallen asleep after that, but how did I even think of sleeping there…..”

Kahel beckoned Lena, who was struggling, to get closer to him. He then ordered her to sit next to him, trying to hold on to Lena’s wrist as she approached him. Now Lena does not refuse every single one of his nonsense orders.

Kahel wanted Lena to sit a little closer to him, but he held it in once again. And just as he was about to tell Lena that he wasn’t scolding her for falling asleep, Lena raised her head and said with a twinkle.