The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

As expected I’m……?

“I had a strange dream.”

“Dream……?”

“Yes. Actually, I had a lot of dreams while I was sleeping, and the first dream I had was…… It reminds me of Madam strangely.”

Kahel smiled lightly at the story of a dream.

“Yes, what kind of dream was it?”

“A dark cave…… It was a dream of me flying through a very cold and dark cave. A glimmer of light shone in the dark cave, and I rebuilt some ruins inside the cave, but I can’t remember why…… As I said, it seems like it was just a silly dream…….”

Earlier, the dream somehow reminded her of Evelyn, so she brought out her words, but when she explained it, it was a nonsensical dream. But Kahel didn’t slap Lena, he smiled softly and nodded his head.

“And what else did you dream? You said you had a lot of dreams?”

“Ummm…… Then I think I had a dream with my mother. There was definitely my mother, but I can’t remember exactly what I was dreaming about.”

 

“And what else?”

“I, I also had a dream with Baron and Baroness Fidelia and Miss Elliot.”

“Is it a nightmare?”

“No. It wasn’t. Just…… It was a dream that I watched them happily having a meal together. Oh, and by the way, Mrs. Marvin, Uncle Theo, and Sid also appeared. Perhaps, I had a dream when I was in Kerouac.”

Kahel asked Lena, half joking, because Lena’s profile was pretty as she pondered her dreams.

“Was there any dream of me?”

However, Lena was startled for a moment and her neck started to turn red.

“Lena?”

“No, no, no, there wasn’t!”

Anyone can see it’s a lie. If not for that, her face would not have turned red or stuttered like that. But Kahel didn’t ask what her dream was. If she had dreamed of Baron Fidelia and his wife, he was afraid that maybe she was dreaming of the time he killed them…….

“I see. But you had a lot of dreams, so you didn’t sleep well?”

“No. I slept and woke up feeling very refreshed.”

Lena smiled quickly, trying to erase the embarrassment she had been having. But she couldn’t look right into Kahel’s face. Because her dream came to life, it seemed as if she could only see Kahel’s lips.

Then, for a moment, she wondered if this could be something related to Kahel’s devilish power.

‘Maybe I…… was reacting to his devilish power……?’

She had clearly heard that the devilish power awakened the other person’s lust. And in the meantime, she wished Kahel would kiss her forehead or cheek, and she hungered to lean on his hand. It was clearly a physical desire, no matter how hard she tried to deny it.

But if Kahel noticed that, it was clear that he would no longer let her be his close maid. It was said that all the employees who had been possessed by Kahel’s devilish power had died. When she reached that point, her back shivered.

‘I can’t get caught!’

Her life was a life, but she was more afraid that she couldn’t stay by Kahel’s side any longer. When he found out that she had strange feelings for Kahel, the warmth he gave her would end there. In the past, she would not have wished so much for the tender affection of her master, but now she has come to yearn for Kahel’s kindness to the extent that she wonders if she was so greedy.

“Lena, if something hurts…….”

Kahel cares if Lena, who has suddenly hardened, may be feeling sick or remember her nightmares, he carelessly stroked her cheek with his finger. There, Lena was startled and pulled her body back. Kahel’s hand stiffened in mid-air.

“I, I guess I’ll have to go down and see if we got all the stuff we’re going to bring to Ardennes tomorrow. Is there anything else you would like me to do?”

Kahel slowly lowered his hand and smiled bitterly. She must have seen his cruel face in her dream. It was because he was reminded of that time when Lena was so terribly surprised.

“No. None.”

As Kahel gently pulled his hand and shifted his gaze to the book that he was rummaging through, Lena woke up feeling a strange regret, but she was happy. From now on, she really had to squeeze this heart and put it back as casually as before. Until then, it would have been better for Kahel to be less kind to her.

* * *

Kahel and Lena were awkward the whole time in the carriage returning from Terra Luave to Ardennes. Lena was nervous not to reveal her feelings, but the reason Kahel became awkward was that before leaving the castle, he overheard the maid, whom Lena had become quite acquainted with, saying goodbye to her.

“Go carefully, Lena. And please keep it a secret that I talked about the Duke’s curse…….”

“Don’t worry, Jess. It’s something Jess didn’t even know. I will keep it a secret.”

Kahel, who was going to look for Lena in the direction where Lena disappeared, heard the conversation and he stiffened. It was only then that he understood why Lena’s attitude had suddenly become awkward. Perhaps, one of the maids was careless with their mouth and Lena became aware of his devilish curse.

‘She would want to quit her position as my close maid right away.’

Maybe she felt betrayed by the Duchy, who had kept it a secret, and was afraid that she was under a strange curse.

However, Lena was less talkative than usual, tried not to look at his face, and when he touched her body even a little, she backed away, startled.

Kahel decided to be grateful for even this kind of response. Even if Lena said she hated him, he wasn’t confident he could take her away from his side. Aside from the fact that only she, who doesn’t react to his devilish power, can attend to him, when he can’t see Lena anymore, he is strangely anxious.

Once he realized that he wanted to have her, his monopoly and obsession was quickly filled, so much that he wondered how he had been living without knowing this feeling. It was enough to understand how those who were possessed by his own devilish power rushed to him.

In particular, when he saw Lena talking with the other knights, he had a hard time controlling his boiling stomach. He wanted to run right away and pick up Lena. He didn’t want to show Lena’s bright smile to others.

He couldn’t help but say that it was fortunate they had arrived in Ardennes before his anger was full. Otherwise, he might have punished some of the knights for his personal feelings.

“You have returned.”

Kahel was greeted politely by Arder and disembarked from the carriage. And as he was about to move, Arder came up to him and whispered in a low voice.

“The investigation team sent to Kerouac has returned.”

With things to deal in front of him, only then did Kahel organize his head, which had been stained with ugly feelings. It was more important to find out about Lena herself than his feelings for Lena. Somewhere in that thought, there was a small glimmer of hope that he could figure out a way to win Lena’s heart from the information the investigation team had brought, but Kahel believed that he was perfectly rational.

Trying to look away from the sight of Lena’s back carrying the luggage, he took his eyes away from her and headed to the room where the investigation team was waiting. It was the parlor of the guest room where Damien was staying.

“Yes, did you have any results?”

Kachel asked as he nodded his head lightly to the group that met him, stood up, and sat down at the head of the table. To that, Herod, the head of the investigation team, answered quietly.

“The biggest piece of information is, right before us, some people had already looked into Miss Lena and her mother.”

Kahel’s hand, which was about to bring the teacup to his mouth, stopped, and his sharp gaze turned to Herod’s side.

“Someone did the investigation first?”

“Yes. Is there any other force capable of uncovering Miss Lena’s existence?”

Kahel bit his molars tightly.

“Liddell…….”

Liddell could not forget the shame at the greenhouse tea party. Although she kept her distance from Lena, Liddell seemed to have noticed something about her.

“It’s a headache.”

A smart competitor was not only a person who doesn’t make life boring, but also a being who will be very concerned about weaknesses. No matter how well he hides his weaknesses, it’s hard to deceive competitors. However, if Liddell, who always showed her graceful appearance, is chasing after Lena, it would mean that her current situation is not very comfortable. Kahel let out a smirk.

“Well, that’s for me to figure out…… Let’s listen to the information you confirmed first.”

With Kahel’s permission, Herod calmly recited the information he had obtained from Kerouac. The other stories were something he had expected roughly, but the story of the coffin where the remains were lost made Kahel’s neck chill.

“Are there no signs of any remains?”

“Yes, that’s right. The clothes her body was wearing are still there, and there is no sign of rot. There was no smell at all. However, Theo said Miss Lena often visited after the coffin had been buried, so if someone had dug it up, she wouldn’t not have known about it. If the team ahead of us stole the remains, I wonder why they left only those clothes there.”

Kahel’s finger tapped the armrest on the sofa.

‘No way…… No, it’s too early to jump to conclusions. It is possible that the village men who admired her had stolen only the body on the night of the burial.’

Kahel calmed his mind as he cleared the thoughts that had flashed across his mind. He meticulously organized the information given by the investigation team in his head and asked as a greeting before leaving the place.

“You worked hard. Have you ever had any inconveniences?”

 

He asked, expecting an answer, ‘No,’ but Herod unexpectedly answered with a frown,

“Except for Baron Jenkins’s maid chief, there were no major inconveniences.”

“Maid chief? Why?”

“She was also the maid chief of Baron Fidelia, and she was a very rude and arrogant woman. In particular, she was very discriminating towards Theo as she considered Theo to be her subordinate. I did tell Baron Jenkins to crack down on her, but…….”

“Is the maid chief named ‘Mrs. Marvin’ by any chance?”

“Yes. How do you know?”

Kahel’s expression darkened. When he heard of Elliot’s misdeeds from Sid, it was the name of a woman who often appeared. The woman who beat and persecuted Lena on behalf of the Baroness or Elliot…… It is said that when she was young, she fell in love with Baron Fidelia and became a maid in the Baron’s castle, but she was jealous of Eileen, who was considered the Baron’s mistress, and said that she took her anger out on Lena.

“I’ll have to warn Baron Jenkins.”

Kahel dismissed the investigation team, saying it lightly. Herod returned to the Duchy’s knighthood, and Theo returned to the stable.

Returning to his office, where everything was neatly organized, Kahel looked out the window as the cold was fading away, immersed in his thoughts.