Chapter 58

Besides, 782 was this year. If so, it would mean that he wrote this document when they met at Tezeba.

What the hell was the young Duke trying to check?

Dahlia got down from the pedestal after tidying up the bookshelf before Amelie returned. Then she pulled out a map of the empire from the bottom shelf of the original bookshelf.

Just as she counted numbers in her head, the door to the study was thrown open, and Amelie chatted, looking refreshed.

“The master has arrived, young lady!”

“He’s late today.”

“It was the last day of the Sentinel Promotion Test. I think the Lord was watching until the end. Are you going to meet him?”

“… Shall we?”

Actually, she didn’t want to, but there was nothing wrong with showing an amicable relationship in front of the servants.

Dahlia took a step and snapped her fingers in Phone’s ear. Then, he flapped his wings and opened his eyes, chirping and tilting its head.

Dahlia gestured to the bird. Phone flew and sat on her head, settling down as if it were his nest.

She resigned to the familiar feeling that her hair was disheveled and followed Amelie out of the annex.

“There he comes.”

All the servants of the main house were already on their way to greet Jurgen. Wearing a sentinel uniform, he turned straight toward the outbuilding, not the main building.

After passing through a long corridor made up of dozens of pillars and roofs, he stopped in front of the entrance connected to the pool and raised his head.

Dahlia standing among tall and low shrubs that created an exotic atmosphere met his eyes. Amelie greeted the young master with great respect, but Dahlia couldn’t bow because Phone was sitting on her head.

“You arrived?”

She slightly bent her knees to say hello and waited for him to come with her hands clasped together.

But he stopped a few steps ahead, put his hand over his face, and his shoulders started to shake. He laughed out loud as if he couldn’t hold it in, and then he bent forward with a gut-busting laugh.

Everyone was shocked and speechless by the sight.

Jurgen of the Edelred family was the foremost model of impeccable nobility, elegance, and dignity. A man called a true aristocrat among nobles—who they dared not meet eyes with, even with their heads down—was now laughing without a speck of grace.

At that, the employees who were watching chuckled awkwardly, intending not to embarrass their lord, but on the contrary, Dahlia, who became the target, turned red.

“Sir Edelred, what are you doing now… .”

“My God, Dahlia. What are you doing? Phone.. ..Phone on your head—Pwhahaa!”

“Oh, I can’t help it. He doesn’t listen.”

“But still, there’s a bird on the Lady’s head… . a bird hahaha.”

Jurgen, who struggled to hold back his laughter, wiped away tears from his eyes, then stood up and strode towards them.

Then he opened his arms and embraced the embarrassed Dahlia.

“Ha, if you greet me like this, I won’t get tired of it even if I receive such a reception every day.”

Caught in his arms to the point of suffocating, she was at a loss for what to do with exceeding embarrassment. Although their relationship became quite close, it was too explicit of an expression of affection.

More than when they did strange things under the pretext of guiding— more and more… . It was an unfamiliar experience; her heart jumped and tickled.

The sound of his heart beating fast beyond his Sentinel uniform resonated clearly in her ears.

***

“What did you do today?”

It was clear that Edelred did not know the word shame. Dahlia glanced up at Jurgen, who had visited the bedroom after taking a bath, and pointed to the books she had brought.

“I went for a walk and read. There are so many things I don’t know. And… . A letter has arrived from Gerald. My father is coming to the capital soon.”

Perhaps he wasn’t even wearing underwear, but with each step, he took, his muscular, lean legs, like those of a stallion, were revealed through the gaps of his clingy robe. As her eyes climbed up, there were pronounced shadows below and above his ilium. His well-balanced rectus abdominis muscles and his wide chest with thick pectoralis major muscles moved lightly with each breath.

On the other hand, compared to his beastly body, his face was truly gorgeous. He might have been mistaken for a woman if it were not for his thick neck with an adams apple and his stately jaw.

As he approached, he took a sip of alcohol and ran his fingertips through the cover of the book she was looking at.

“If you have any questions, why not ask me?”

“Books are comfortable. You can check it and read it again.”

“But how long are you going to keep Phone on your head?”

“Oh, could you… . Could you take him off?”

He chuckled again as he stepped forward and grabbed Phone’s body insincerely. Then, not liking his rough touch, Phone fled, chirping in protest and flapping his wings as soon as he sat on the perch.

Dahlia then comfortably brushed her hair, relieved. After stroking Phone’s chin, Jurgen turned to her and narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Did you use mana on Phone?”