Chapter 40

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Chapter 40

As soon as we returned to the duke’s residence, we immediately prepared to go to Kren. I wanted to clean up the place as soon as possible to end this terrible connection with the Heines. So the next morning, we set off for Kren, and as soon as we arrived, I quickly started organizing everything.

First of all, we asked the employees and knights who were working in Kren if they were willing to work in the mansion at the capital, leaving only those who had to clean up until the end, and sent the rest to the capital first.

And I asked Logan, who had been the Einer family’s doctor in Kren for 10 years, and Philia, his disciple, if they would like to go with us. But Philia said she wanted to stay in Kren while Logan would go. I felt sad and regretful that she had not gone with us, but I could not force her. Strictly speaking, the Duchy’s doctor was Logan, and she was still his disciple.

As Philia did not follow, it became difficult to link Bleon and Philia. I was still willing to send Bleon to Philia if they liked each other. However, I had no intention of forcing the two of them together.

When I first woke up here, I was assuming that Bleon had no interest in Astell at all. So, believing in the power of the original story, I wanted to connect Bleon with Philia, the female lead. Because I firmly believed that was what was meant to be.

But now he likes me. He loved me so much that it felt so obvious. So I didn’t want to ignore his feelings. And although I didn’t like Bleon as much as he liked me, I also had feelings for him. Now I don’t want to deny it.

Although I was still hesitant because of the age difference, I couldn’t hide my trembling every time Bleon cared for me and loved me. I was too affected by him to say that it was only Astell’s heart that was giving me those feelings.

But affection was affection, and considering Bleon’s future, I thought that it would be better to give up on him with a good heart. I thought that Bleon would be more suited to someone else than me, someone who could love him without hurting him.

‘But if you keep saying you like me…’

I need to stop thinking nonsense. There was no need to be so sure and anxious about the future. If Bleon liked me, I could stay with him. However, if he or I later find someone else, we can just get a divorce when that time comes. It wasn’t difficult at all. If any one of us changes our mind, we can break up. It could be me or Bleon, and if possible, I hoped he would change his mind first and leave me.

‘I don’t have a lot of expectations, but…’

Looking at the words Bleon has said and the actions he’s done for me, I couldn’t imagine that his love would go away. He was so blind and devoted to me.

‘By the way, if I decided to accept Bleon, we should sleep together now, right?’

I previously had no intention of accepting him, so I always used excuses to avoid physical contact. But if we decided to live together now, it would not be right to avoid it. Although I was obligated to fulfill my role as Duchess, I also wondered if the pleasure I had felt in my dream was real.

It was so vivid and real that after waking up from the dream, my secret place was wet, and whenever I saw Bleon, I was reminded of every action he had done in my dream, and there were times when I secretly avoided his eyes.

‘Oh, I remembered it again.’

In particular, in the dream I had recently, every cell in my body was covered with pleasure, and it seemed like my mind would change even in the dream.

But really, what kind of dream is that?

If it’s part of Astell’s memory, the sunflowers shouldn’t come out yet, and Bleon’s face can’t be that mature… Sincerely speaking of an expression of my desire, I didn’t see Bleon in that way until I had such wild dreams. I was able to honestly say to myself that it was only because of the dream that I was a little curious.

So while I was thinking about my dream, Bleon came into the room. He had come back after finishing discussing things with the butler.

“Wife, I’m here.”

“Are you done?”

“Yes. I think we can leave now.”

My life here is finally over. The period I lived in Kren was not very long, but anyway, this was the place where Astell and Bleon lived for 10 years.

“It is over here now. Is it okay?”

“I don’t care where I am, as long as I’m with my wife.”

It was a heartwarming answer. Bleon always reassured me in this way.

“I’m broke now, is that okay? When I got married, I said this—that I have a lot of money, so I will protect the Duke.”

Looking up at Bleon, I asked, pretending to be embarrassed for nothing. Then Bleon strode over to me and kissed my forehead.

“Now I will protect you. Don’t worry about anything. And I know that the wife took back the Einer family estate.”

This really surprised me too. The fact that the Duke and Duchess of Einer died leaving only Bleon behind and their wealth was taken away by his relatives. As soon as Astell married Bleon, she devised a way to regain the lost lands one by one, and after that, over the next two years, she regained as much, if not all, according to the laws and procedures. I knew this too, so I was able to let go of Kren without any regrets.

“So that belongs to you, Wife.”

“No. It’s ours.”

When I said that it was ours, Bleon looked at me with warm eyes.

“Yes. It’s ours. Ours…”

As if he liked it, Bleon kept repeating the word ‘ours’ over and over again.

“Shall we go now?”

“Yes, Wife.”

There were no regrets at all. Just as Bleon said, as long as we were together, it didn’t matter where we were. So we brushed off everything and left Kren with a relieved heart and headed for the capital, Hares.

A very busy month had passed since we arrived in Hares. Although I entrusted the work to the butler, there were things I had to do on my own, so I was very busy. And I entrusted McCain with Bleon’s swordsmanship training, which started in earnest. I was worried that the two men didn’t like each other, but there was no one like McCain to improve Bleon’s skills.

I didn’t expect the same thing to happen as I had told the two men firmly, but I would often go to the training ground and watch Bleon train. The name may be watching, but it’s a kind of surveillance. Fortunately, my words worked well for them, and McCain taught Bleon in a strong and firm manner as a teacher, and Bleon was also seriously engaged in training.

And as the news that we had entered the capital spread through social circles, day by day invitations were flying in and piled up in the mansion. Even though we did not have the same authority as before, the Duchy of Einer has been one of the most prominent noble households since the founding of the empire. There were a lot of nobles who wanted to get to know the Duchy of Einer, and they wanted to invite me and Bleon to their party somehow.

But there was one person I had to meet first. It was the right thing to do to repay the kindness to the person who helped me. So last time she invited me, this time it was my turn to invite her. And today was the day that Leila was supposed to come. I went to meet Leila in front of the mansion just in time for her to come. Soon, a carriage stopped in front of the mansion, and the door opened, revealing a familiar figure.

“Leila. Welcome.”

“Astell!”

I approached her and clasped our hands together, greeting her with joy. Leila also smiled brightly as soon as she saw me and grabbed my hand. Now, the hot summer has passed and autumn is slowly coming to this place. Even in the daytime, a cool breeze enveloped us.

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