The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

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What does that mean?

Gerard laughed along and nodded his head.

“It’s a pretty strong hypothesis.
I do not know where the story started, but it is certain that it began to spread on the second day of the New Year’s Celebration.
Now, who can bring up the story of the daughter of a country Baron, whom no one cares about?”

“Who is it? It must be Miss Liddell, my dear friend.”

Liddell was, indeed, a friend who never let him get bored.
Where in the world did she find Elliot Fidelia? No, since it was Baron Fidelia who held hands with Viscount Horace in the first place, there was a possibility that his daughter Elliot had visited Santella.

If Lena reacted to Kahel’s devilish powers and had her head cut off in the tower that day, it would have been Kahel’s mistake.
For Lena, she was not listed in the Baron’s family register, or in any paperwork, so she could be said to be a stranger to the Baron.

But Kahel did not kill her.
However, he was too lazy to go looking for the country Baron’s daughter, so the notice said that he had killed them all.

“She doesn’t understand this side’s favor.”

“That’s what I thought.
Had she known that Your Excellency had barely saved her life, she would have lived quietly, to dare to attack Your Excellency…….”

“It could be that Liddell is taking advantage of her.
What would a girl who had grown up like a princess in the countryside know?”

“Well, maybe it is.
Then, she became a little pitiful.”

Gerard only shrugged his shoulders, even though he said she was pitiful.

“My aunt is having a tea party before the last day of the New Year’s Celebration.
Then, it’s better to introduce Lena as a regular maid there.”

“Lady Santella’s expression must be worth seeing.”

“Well.
She’s not a friend who would collapse at such.
Perhaps, she would clap her hand saying it was a misunderstanding.”

 

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Gerard could quickly picture Liddell holding both hands and smiling softly, saying, ‘I’m so glad.’ The insidious lady had such an angelic face yet was a person who pursued terrible things.

“Oh, that’s a lot more realistic.
In any case, please inform the lady named Lena well in advance.
If it is discovered that she is taking care of Sir Kahel, it may be troublesome.”

“Don’t worry, you should give Luahalla the invitation.
I need to bring Luahalla to Aunt’s tea party to lighten up the mood.”

“The invitation? Am I a servant?”

“You’re going to stop by anyway.
Then, I’ll speed up on Lena’s joining.”

Gerard got a kick in the back every time Kahel, who values ​​efficiency, came out like this, but, as usual, he accepted the invitation.

While Gerard grumbled and left, Kahel thought about how Liddell would turn out at the tea party, and decided to find out more about Elliot Fidelia.
As usual, he would have called Lena and asked, but he didn’t want to tire Lena, who collapsed yesterday.
And fortunately, this Duke’s residence had two more who knew Elliot Fidelia.

‘Does Sid know better than Theo?’

Kahel stopped while trying to get an employee to bring Sid.
He wanted to make sure Sid was doing a good job.
Of course, this kind of confirmation was something the employee under Arder had to take care of, but Kahel, who could not forget the appearance of Sid flirting with Lena a while ago, decided to conduct an ‘unplanned check’ with a slightly twisted attitude and got up from his seat.
All he had to do was pretend he was going to check on his favorite horse, Nathan.

“You wore such thin clothes again…… ! You’ll catch a cold like this.”

“It’s okay.
It’s hot while working, so I’ll take off all my coats anyway.”

“When you’re with the other guys?”

Abbert, who was about to put an extra vest on Sid, who was only wearing a light shirt, asked Sid with a strange face, neither smiling nor angry.
Sid, who tried to shake him off and grab the rake, asked with a puzzled face,

“Other guys? Who? Are you talking about the Dawson brothers or Alfie?”

“Anyone.”

 

“Well.
Because I don’t work while caring about other people…… If it was hot, I would have taken it off.”

“Are you aware that you are a woman?”

Sid’s eyes quickly became furious at the word ‘woman’.

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“What else do you mean? Are you trying to ignore me because I am a woman?”

“It’s not like that…… ! Ha…….”

Abbert sighed, patting his chest in frustration.
In the meantime, he thought he’d gotten a lot closer to Sid, but Sid would quickly distance herself like this.
He was upset about it.
From the first time he saw her, he couldn’t even take his eyes off Sid, and it seemed to him that himself, the Dawsons, and Alfie were all tied together as the same ‘colleague’.

It was a thing of the past that other guys mistook Sid for a man and treated him like a man.
She came to the Duke’s residence, ate well and became healthy, and the withered face grew brighter.
Her body, which was barely dry, suddenly became like a resilient doe, and her hair, which had been crumbly like straw on the floor of the stable, gleamed with light gold in search of its original color.

The last time they went out to town for dinner together, how cute she was with her hair tipped back and pinned in.
Abbert had to gather all his patience to resist the urge to kiss Sid’s white forehead.

Because of that, there were also people who gradually turned their eyes to Sid.
Not knowing Sid’s true charm, they only paid attention to her appearance.
If Sid, who works in the stable, was wearing only one of her thin shirts, it was clear that there would be eyes imagining the inside of the shirt and staying on her.
Abbert didn’t like it.
Because he knew that it would hurt Sid’s self-esteem like that.

Sid was obviously an attractive person on the outside, but the way she worked in sweat showed her true charm.
It’s the job of a stable keeper whom everyone ignores because it’s smelly and lowly, but Sid always tried to be the ‘best’.
The twinkling lights from Sid, who loves and enjoys her job and works hard, was always dazzling, even when she was thin and unsightly.

She is such a wonderful and pretty woman, and he keeps taking care of her and now the feeling in his heart for Sid has grown more and more that it was sometimes hard to handle.

“Abbert?”

Sid, agitated by Abbert’s sigh, cautiously called out to him.
Although it was clear that Abbert had never looked down on her or ignored her, she kept her words sharp.
It wasn’t because she didn’t like him.
Rather, it was true that it happened because she was trying to hide her shaking heart from him as the days went by.

Abbert was mature, smart, and friendly.
Still, he was strict when it came to teaching.
At first, of course, she thought he was going to be territorial, but as the days went by, his sincere attitude broke down the walls of her heart, and from some point on, she unknowingly went to find out where he was.

It was not her dream to become a stable keeper, but Sid had been working hard to become the best.
And after she came to the Duke’s residence, she was working even harder because she wanted to look good to Abbert in addition to that goal.

However, recently, she wanted to look good to Abbert and she wanted to be recognized, and there are times when she wanted to monopolize him.
Especially every time she witnessed the pretty maids coming to him and returning with fruits and bread and stuff.
Abbert, who accepted all of their flirtations, was disgusted for nothing.

In fact, even before coming to the stable, a maid spoke to Abbert and touched Abbert’s forearm.
It was an obvious temptation.
But Abbert secretly folded his arms and avoided her hand, but he didn’t get angry and answered everything she asked.

And she was annoyed that he told her to dress well.
Who is to blame for whose conduct? Of course, she knew she was not in a relationship that allowed her to argue with him, but…….

“Perhaps…… Are you mad?”

She didn’t mean to upset him, though.
She just wanted him to know her disappointed heart.

“No…… I am not angry.”

“Lies.”

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“Because I’m not.”

“You can be honest.
Are you bothered that I followed you around and asked you to teach me how to work? Well…… It seems like I’ve learned everything now, so even if I go separately…….”

She hoped he denied it before she was finished, but Abbert didn’t say anything.
Sid was the one who got nervous.
She glanced at Abbert, and then she sneakily put on the vest he had given her.
But Abbert was silent as she put on the vest and cleaned up her appearance.
Sid was only chewing the words ‘I’m finished’ in her head.

“Sid.”

“Huh? Uh, uh.”

“Do you want to go out with me?”

“Huh? Oh no, I’m not saying that…… In case you are bothered…….”

“I never thought of you as annoying.
Never once.”

“That’s, well, thank you.”

“I never looked down on you as a woman, and I never taught you easy things on purpose.”

“Huh? That, what, thank you.”

“But at the same time, I never forgot that you were a woman.”

“What? You said you never looked down on me as a woman before?”

“Right.”

“What the hell does this mean?”

“To a man named Abbert, you were imprinted as a woman from the beginning.”

Abbert’s eyes that seemed to have been darkened, looked straight at Sid’s round eyes.
His calloused fingers gently brushed Sid’s unruly hair.
The finger that came down to her ear lightly touched the tip of Sid’s reddish ear, and Sid’s shoulder twitched.
Abbert’s hand slowly retreated at that sight.

“When you take off your coat because it was hot, your body temperature quickly drops and you’ll catch a cold.
Don’t get sick.”

Abbert took a step back from Sid, soothing his sad and aching heart.
He was greedy.
He wanted to hug Sid right now, but he didn’t want to inflict another scar on Sid, who was still very wounded.

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“See you later.”

Abbert greeted in a gloomy voice, turned around and headed for the entrance to the stable.
Then, Sid suddenly shouted from behind.

“I…… !”

It was an uncomfortably trembling voice.

“Sid?”

“Because I’m kind of stupid.”

“Stupid, why do you say that….?”

“If you don’t tell me straight, I won’t know.”

“…….”

“If you don’t tell me straight..
… forever…… I won’t know.”

Sid’s cheeks were dyed red as she was speaking as if protesting and fixed her gaze on the spot where Abbert was standing.
But Abbert didn’t say anything, and Sid’s gaze slowly turned to Abbert.

“The fact that to you, you, I was imprinted as a woman…… What does that mean?”

Abbert couldn’t take it any longer.
Sid, whose corners of the eyes were red, and probably squeezed out all her courage to speak out, was so adorable, he can’t believe it.

“I’m saying I love you, Sid.”

Her pretty green eyes shook at his confession, and the pale pink lips that were slightly dry in the cold wind opened slightly.
Abbert approached Sid again.

“I love you.”

The withered lips trembled at the confession that burst out like a nail once more, and then she barely answered.

“Me…… me too…….”

Me and Somnium: even Sid and Abbert who met so much later than Kahel and Lena had already confessed XD Kahel, learn something from your employees!