CH 47

Chapter 47: Going to Bed

It seems that all the plumbing in the mansion has been renovated, so I’ll soak in a new bathtub.

The floral scent envelops my naked body as the perfumed oil is dripped on the ceramic with a cat-foot pattern.

“Hmm…”

“Madam, how is the temperature of the bath?”

Until the Exiled Duke’s Daughter,...

The maid in charge of the bath calls out to me.

“Yes, it’s just right.”

As she rubs my arm stretched out from the bathtub with a frothy cloth, she asks,

“Did you get a little sunburned?”

“Well, I went out a lot and didn’t use an umbrella, so I think my skin is rough.”

“Oh dear… I’ll take good care of you from now on.”

“Thank you, but only in moderation.”

I am a commoner now, so I cannot use money like water as I did when I was a Duke’s daughter, nor can I wear something so luxurious in terms of my status.

“What are you saying? There may be restrictions on clothes and jewelry based on status, but there are no restrictions on the beauty of the body.”

“Fufu, that’s right. Oh, but there may be restrictions on perfume. I learned that musk is not favored by the commoners.”

“Please leave such things to us. Either way, I think something with floral notes would suit Madam.”

After getting out of the bath, I am carefully dried all over.

“Where is my husband?”

“He has already gone to the bedroom.”

Hilka said. While another maid was wiping the moisture from my hair, she leaned towards me, and gently applied perfume with a thin brush to my waist.

And then I was dressed in a bright red nightgown.

“Isn’t it funny?”

I twirled lightly in front of the mirror.

“It’s wonderful.”

“Then good night.”

“I will pray for your success.”

…I doubt it!

When I entered the bedroom, in the dim room, Alex-sama was writing at a desk facing me.

Only around him was lit up by the white light of the magic stone lamp, rising out of the darkness.

“You are so enthusiastic.”

“Yeah, o-oh, Mina. Yeah. I just had an idea and thought I’d write about it.”

I took a bottle of distilled liquor from the wall, and prepared two glasses of watered down liquor.

I placed that on the side table next to the bed and peered into Alex-sama’s writing from behind.

It was a big design with a shape like a trumpet. It’s surely a magic element accumulation device.

Perhaps Alex-sama was very surprised to be peered into because he jumped, and with the momentum, Lex’s back of the head hit my chest and they fell onto the desk.

I feel like I heard a dull sound, “thud.”

“Are you okay? I’m sorry, I seem to have startled you.”

When I tried to look into Lex’s forehead, they leaned back again.

“N-No, I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t hurt!”

When I stepped away, he turned towards the desk, twisted his neck as they tried to put the pen in the inkwell and solidified with his hand on the paper, putting the pen back in the pen holder.

Then he put his hands on his forehead, with his elbows on the desk.

“No good. My brain cells won’t work from the shock.”

“Because you hit your forehead…”

“It’s a problem in the back of my head… Let’s go to bed.”

“Would you like to have a drink and chat for a little while?”

We sat side by side on the wide bed.

After lightly tapping the glass and savoring the aroma of the alcohol, I asked,

“Are you still not ready to embrace me?”

Lex swallowed.

“Wh-what…?”

“I am confident that I have won Lex’s affection,” I said as I crossed my legs. My white skin from my toes to my ankles reflects the light, shining from under my nightgown.

Lex quickly turned away.

“You can look at it any way you want.”

“It’s, um, not good.”

“Of course, I have learned the words and gestures of noble courtship, but I worry that Lex will think I’m being too forward or playful if I don’t speak directly.”

“Ugh,” groaned Lex.

“Do you still not have confidence in yourself?”

“…that’s right.”

“It’s a big difference from what it used to be, you know?”

“That’s because you took care of me when I was not taking care of myself.”

I see, so that’s where consciousness stops.

“Don’t you know that you’re even more wonderful now?”

I was faced with a look of surprise.

“What?”

I leaned in and gently stroked Lex’s cheek, trying to comfort him as he tried to avoid me.

“The meat has also become good. Although it’s still a bit skinny, it’s clearly getting thinner and you can see it in the cheeks, right?”

“…Ah.”

“Also, in those days if he let his guard down he would become hunchbacked, but now that’s gone. It must be because the results of the experiment have come out. You can see the confidence in your manners, words, and actions.

“…Experiments and research, that kind of thing.”

“Still not sure about women?”

“…Uh-huh.”

I’ll think about it for a while.

“Is it perhaps because your “gentleman’s symbol” is very small or something like that?”

“It’s not like that?!.”

“I only saw my younger brother’s when I was small, so you’re fine?”

“That’s why it’s different! …I was humiliated a few times during my student days. Even now women are a bit scary.”

I see. Upon listening a little, it seems that there were continuous experiences where he approached from the other side in a favorable manner, showed a behavior that she was interested in, went on a date, and then were rejected.

Well, I don’t know if Lex cared about his appearance at that time, but I think there is a half of aristocratic harassment of commoners mixed in.

“Let’s get used to it.”

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re trapped in the past. You have to get used to it for the future. For now, how about holding hands and sleeping today?”