"You can go to sleep now."
Lady Melissa said as she let out a yawn, even though she hadn't been sleeping most of the time, she would often yawn, not being able to control it or else tears would form in her eyes.
"It's fine."
Duke Gaston quietly replied, as Lady Melissa smacked his head, though she made sure to do it gently of course.
Duke Gaston, although he had been wary that Lady Melissa was going to do something to him, purposely being wary in the process, though he hadn't expected for her to smack his head.
His perfect hairline was now ruined, it had somehow miraculously survived the adventures they had in the forest and the kidnapping somehow, which by itself was already a miracle, yet one single smack in the head from Lady Melissa was enough for it to give up.
"Pfft-"
Lady Melissa said, almost laughing out loud, as she tried to suppress her laugh, though she failed miserably whilst doing so, laughing at Duke Gaston's hair, it looked completely horrible as if he had just woken up from bed.
Which was actually quite ironic considering that he was supposed to be sleeping just after she took over her shift, which was supposed to be now, but the man was too stubborn to allow her to do so.
"You need sleep, I can tell from your eyebags, and you didn't even react when I messed up your hair, it's obvious that you need sleep now, Gaston. I'll stand by and take care of this, and once you're done sleeping I'll wake you up."
Lady Melissa said, admittedly a little worried about Duke Gaston, she'd feel absolutely horrible if the man didn't even get to sleep a wink at all, whilst she had slept like a log the entire time when she was in his arms.
Though it was a pity when she woke up she was no longer in his arms anymore, though she couldn't really blame him for that one since- she was sure that his legs were probably cramped because of her.
"Fine, just wake me up if anything happens alright? If I don't wake up you have full permission to slap me or do any sort of actions that include violence in them in order to wake me up. Thanks, and good night."
Duke Gaston said, before he went deeper inside the cave, his back lying behind the wall, as Lady Melissa smiled to herself, seeing how cute and adorable the man was, and how kind he genuinely was.
The man was just so understanding, caring, sweet- he was her 'ideal man' if she was to ever have one, heck, he was even alright with the idea of entirely sleeping just so that she would be able to get enough rest.
Maybe her standards were too low, but considering the fact that most of the noblewoman's husbands were snobby and arrogant? She would consider her standards higher than any of them,
Lady Melissa was ready to stand watch on guard for the both of them for the next three hours or so, as she patiently stood watch, though she didn't guard right at the entrance of the cave, just in case there was someone from the place where she had been kidnapped looking for her or Duke Gaston for that matter.
Lady Melissa, watched Duke Gaston's sleeping figure, as his chest would rise and fall every time he would breathe, not even realizing that there was a smile on her face whilst she was watching him.
Unfortunately, though, Duke Gaston had soon woken up, meaning that Lady Melissa wasn't gonna be able to stare at him much longer, since it would certainly be at least a little embarrassing for her to do so.
"How long was I asleep for?"
Duke Gaston asked Lady Melissa, his voice ended up coming out as sleepy and dry though his voice was much deeper than usual, probably due to the fact that he hadn't drunk any water yet yesterday and today.
"You slept for around three hours."
Lady Melissa said, as Duke Gaston nodded his head, thanking Lady Melissa for her shift, as he stretched his hands whilst doing so.
"Alright so what now?"
Lady Melissa asked Duke Gaston, of course, already had a plan, but she wanted to know about his opinions, after all, this wasn't a one-man team sort of situation.
"Well-"
Duke Gaston said before he stopped himself, hearing footsteps.
Lady Melissa heard them too, as the both of them quickly went inside the cave, deciding to hide just in case this was someone who wanted to hurt them.
Lady Melissa let out a sigh of relief though, as she saw that it was just Justin, as well as a few of the other bodyguards.
"Is that you Lady Melissa?"
Clara asked, and although Lady Melissa wasn't as close as she was with Justin or Nathan to Clara, the girl seemed like she cared for Lady Melissa dearly, that or she cared for the money that Lady Melissa was giving her.
"It's alright, I don't sense any form of hostility or magic on them, though just in case, we should both probably keep our guards up."
Lady Melissa said as Duke Gaston nodded his head, as the both of them slowly exited from the cave.
Lady Melissa, although she was happy at the sight of her bodyguards- and the fact that someone had finally found the two of them, she was still a little concerned, after all, this could very much be Lady Camilia's henchmen, considering that she had even tricked Lady Melissa into believing that Duke Gaston was leading her back to the corridor when in reality, it was Lady Camilia all along.
At least Lady Melissa had assumed so, after all, she didn't sense any traces of magic on the current Duke Gaston, and based on how he acted around her, she genuinely believed that this was the real Duke Gaston, however, she made sure to still put her guard up, just in case.