Chapter 59

***

Nelia confessed, and the duke immediately crooked his eyebrows as if he was dumbfounded.

“I’m doing that to Nelia’s friend?”

“……Yes.”

Nelia’s answer made the duke release a forced laugh.

The duke asked Nelia after regaining his usual expression.

“Why did you think so?”

“I saw the paper from the duke’s desk that proves you were looking into Charlotte…….”

Nelia said weakly with her head hung down. The duke sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“About that…….”

As expected, the duke couldn’t explain right away.

Nelia’s eyes turned red. The bridge of his nose was numb and her throat was sore.

Although she has been able to hold back the tears well until just now, she couldn’t endure the overwhelming sorrow anymore this time.

“Why did Your Grace investigate Charlotte’s background…….”

Nelia eventually cried. Her words were cut off by a hiccuping noise.

“Nelia……..”

The duke rose from his seat and approached Nelia as he looked at her in surprise. And he slowly brought Nelia into his arms.

“Heuhu…….”

The duke’s chest was wet because of Nelia’s tears.

Even so, Nelia couldn’t stop crying. She kept weeping like a child who had lost her candy.

However, her tears stopped shortly after as the duke patted her.

As her weeping subsided, the duke carefully grabbed Nelia’s chin and lifted it slowly.

Nelia’s tearful face was revealed.

The duke’s eyes could be seen through her hazy vision.

After that, a tender touch brushed against her lips along with the soft smacking sound.

Nelia stopped crying for a moment. She couldn’t bring herself to do anything other than blinking dazedly.

“Nelia.”

The duke whispered in her ear.

“In fact, I’ve been running a background check on everyone around Nelia.”

Nelia took some time to comprehend the duke’s words.

Nelia’s weakly opened eyes became round.

“You’ve been……. investigating people around me?”

“I know you would be shocked. But…… I should know if there are suspicious people around Nelia.”

“Wh-why……..?”

She didn’t hang out with dangerous people. She didn’t do anything dangerous either.

‘Of course……. I know I’m involved with a dangerous person, but……’

The dangerous person was the person in front of her.

Nelia stared at the duke as if demanding an answer.

“Because as a precaution. If you get involved with me, strange people might adhere to you.”

The duke let out a small sigh.

“The same goes for Charlotte. Her encounter with Nelia was so sudden that I have to make sure she’s a trusty person.”

“Do you have someone to look into it……..?”

The duke grinned.

“As long as I have money. Nelia doesn’t need to know about that dark world. You only need to see beautiful and pure things.”

She didn’t want to know about the details either…….

Nelia seemed to have seen a glimpse of the dark side of the duke even if it was just for a moment.

And she soon realized one thing.

The fact that the duke definitely knew that she had no friends was also because he looked into my surroundings.

Nelia glared at the duke.

“Don’t look into people around me from now on……..”

“…….It’s necessary so Nelia would be safe.”

“Still, I don’t want it.”

Nelia said firmly, and the duke looked motionless at Nelia for a moment, and he eventually nodded.

“I’ll let it this time. It almost caused a ridiculous misunderstanding.”

A sullen answer came from Nelia.

“That’s right. When I think about how anxious I was because of that……”

Nelia was feeling very down, but the duke grinned.

A grin which made her anxious.

“Nelia, were you nervous that I might have feelings for someone else?”

“…….Pardon?”

Nelia asked with widened eyes, the duke took Nelia’s hand and kissed the back of it.

And he whispered in a faint voice.

“Nelia seems to be jealous…….”

Nelia hurriedly retracted her hand and gathered her hands in her crossing arms at the unfamiliar words, jealousy.

“Jealous, you say……..!”

“Then why were you feeling so down?”

Facing a difficult question, Nelia brought her upper body close to the back of the chair as if cowering from him. But as Nelia shifted farther away, the duke came even closer to her.

Then, the duke put his hands on both handles of the chair as if trapping Nelia in between.

Nelia’s eyes shifted around anxiously.

“That’s……..”

Nelia was unable to carry on with her words. She couldn’t manage to say anything.

As the duke said, she had no explanation about her feelings other than jealousy.

‘I……. I’m jealous?’

“Why do you look so flustered? It’s as if I asked a difficult question.”

Nelia’s heart was pounding loudly at the word ‘jealousy’ as well as the sight of the somehow alluring duke.

Nelia knew she was cornered by the way she looked in his eyes right now.

The duke, however, had no mercy over her. He leaned over and whispered in her ear.

“Tell me you were jealous.”

“……”

“I might die due to the heart attack right here, but I don’t think it would be a big deal to die because of Nelia’s jealousy.”

His tone was sly, but his eyes were somewhat ardent and desperate.

The appearance of the duke was merciless when he acted sweet like this.

Nelia unconsciously clenched her fist. She thought the duke would let her go only if she confessed her sincere feelings.

In the end, Nelia told the truth as if she was a sinner in front of the judge.

“I didn’t want you to…….”

She could feel her face heated up while spitting out those words.

This extremely shameful feeling might have been more of a shame that one supposedly showed when they confessed about their true feelings.

“Your Grace, when I think that you like someone else……. I don’t like it……..”

Before Nelia managed to finish her sentence, the duke kissed her.

The duke kissed him in a hurry as if devouring her. Nelia’s mind seemingly became hazy as her breathing quickened.

Nelia thought she might die due to lack of breath if he kept kissing her like that.

The duke took her lips very obsessively, as if he couldn’t afford to miss a single breath that escaped her mouth.

By the time she imagined that her mind was going to melt down, the duke detached his lips from her.

The duke gave a relaxed smile as she was gasping for breath.

“Nelia, did you doubt me?”

“……”

“I guess I didn’t express enough love to you all this time.”

His handsome smile was the same as usual, but hazy eyes and his heavy breathing indicated that he wasn’t in the relaxed state right now.

“I can’t help it. I think I have to tell you how much I love you so that you won’t doubt me ever again, Nelia.”

Then the duke picked Nelia up right away.

Nelia knew as they moved and she was being held in the duke’s arms.

That today, the night would be longer than usual.

***

The next morning.

“Ehem, Young Lady Nelia.”

Nelia gradually woke up at the voice coming from the other side of the door.

While Nelia blinked absentmindedly, a knock sounded from outside once more.

Knock, knock.

What’s that……. Who interfered with her lovely sleep? Nelia wanted to cover her ears from the noise that got her out of sleep.

“Excuse me……. I apologize, but there is Charlotte downstairs.”

What?

Nelia’s eyes perked up at the mention of Charlotte.

Oh my…….! She forgot that Charlotte was visiting the duke’s residence today.

Nelia got out of bed in a hurry, and the duke, who was sleeping with her, opened his eyes lightly as well.

“Nelia…….?”

“I forgot that Charlotte is supposed to come to the duke’s residence today!”

The duke followed suit. He frowned in a worn-out manner.

“Ha……. You’re not getting anywhere.”

She admitted the timing was bad, but she wasn’t sure the duke had the right to say that.

He had been tormenting her all night.

As usual, he was being too much yesterday. No wonder the duke overslept, because he always got up early.

Nelia sighed, tied her hair up tightly and wore what she had worn yesterday.

She wasn’t dressed to welcome guests, but this would do rather than keeping them waiting even more.

“I will go downstairs first!”

Nelia spoke to the duke and opened the door. Ton was standing in front of the door.

He usually kept a robotic expression on his face, but she felt like he was enduring some sense of embarrassment.

She didn’t blame him, though.

He saw the duke carrying her out of the dining room yesterday, so he would have known what happened after that.

“I took the liberty of telling you this because I thought I should let you know about your friend’s visit.”

“……Thank you for waking me up, Ton.”

Nelia tried to answer casually while controlling her embarrassed feelings.

When she arrived at the parlour led by Ton, Charlotte welcomed Nelia as she exuded bright energy like fully-blooming cherry blossoms.

“Nelia!”

“Charlot, how are you doing?”

Instead of answering, Charlotte stood up and hugged Nelia tightly. Her skinship was too excessive like last time.

Anyway, she was very happy to face Charlotte without having to feel confused with her feelings as the misunderstanding that the duke fell in love with Charlotte has been resolved.

Nelia slowly pulled Charlotte away. Right now, she could see Charlotte’s face properly.

Contrary to the last time she visited, Charlotte’s face was bright. Nelia noticed that something good must have happened to Charlotte.

Shortly after, the voice as bright as her face came out of Charlotte’s mouth.

“I’ve been doing well thanks to Nelia.”

“That’s a relief. Shall we sit down first and talk?”

Nelia led Charlotte to the sofa. It was difficult to keep standing because she was pushing herself too hard last night.

Charlotte, who didn’t notice Nelia’s state, spoke with an excited face as soon as they settled on the sofa.

“Nelia, I……. I caught the culprit who stole my money…….!”

“Ah, really?”

Charlotte nodded her head powerfully.

“It’s exactly like what Nelia said…….! I told the priest who shared the room that I actually had extra money and hid it under the mattress, and while I was away……. She was looking for it under the mattress.”

“Then did you catch her red-handed right away?”

“Yes…….! She finally confessed when people came into the room.”

Nelia was somehow really relieved to hear that although it wasn’t her problem.

If she hadn’t caught the culprit, Charlotte wouldn’t have known anything else that might get stolen again.

“This is all thanks to Nelia.”

Charlotte said in an excited voice.

“No, it’s because Charlotte can act well.”

Charlotte blushed in embarrassment upon Nelia’s compliment and took something which was out of their sight.

“I brought Nelia a gift of gratitude.”

She wondered if Charlotte had brought another acorn, but Charlotte put a pretty white box on the table.

“This is…….”

“It’s cake. I’m grateful for Nelia, and because I came empty-handed on my last visit.”

A cake…….?

She wondered how all the main characters in this novel know her taste so well.

Charlotte’s face, which was originally pretty, looked even prettier.

She wondered what kind of cake it was. Nelia watched the box with a pounding heart.

Charlotte opened the box, revealing a light brown cake.

The cake smelled savory and sweet.

“It’s a walnut cake. I bought it because I thought Nelia would like it.”

Walnut cake……?

Why did she think she (Nelia) would like walnut cake?

When Nelia was wondering, the door of the parlor opened, and the duke revealed himself.

He seemed different and neat, contrary to his appearance in the room earlier. It seemed that he washed up quickly before heading downstairs.

“I know you’re here to see Nelia, but as the owner of this mansion, I came downstairs because I thought I should greet you. Young Lady Charlotte.”

“Oh, yes……. Good morning, Your Grace.”

The duke smiled politely and turned to the cake Charlotte has bought.

“What’s that cake?”

“Charlotte brought this cake. She brought it as a gift for me.”

Nelia explained and the duke smirked.

“Oh, you seemed to have no idea about Nelia’s preference. Nelia doesn’t like nuts.”

Charlotte looked at Nelia with widened eyes.

“Is that true, Nelia?”

“No, I like it!”

Nelia denied it hastily, surprised at Charlotte’s slightly trembling eyes.

She stared at the duke.

If he had heard that Charlotte lost her money to a commoner last time, he would have known that she bought this cake with great sincerity, but why was he being so mean to her?

The duke shrugged when Nelia shot a dagger at him.

‘Ah……. Why did I foolishly think that His Grace fell in love with Charlotte?’