The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

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Flutter, flutter

Lena looked around and walked over to the bed, not knowing what she wanted, and Evelyn grabbed Lena’s hand as she approached her.
It was a task that consumed a lot of energy for her, but it didn’t matter.
If only she could show this girl her sincerity.

“My son…… grew up very, very lonely.
To others, it may look like someone who has everything, but because he is a child with so many wounds…… he doesn’t like having anyone by his side.
But he seems to like Miss Lena quite a bit.”

Lena’s cheeks turned red at those words.

“His Excellency is very generous and merciful.”

Even though he was her son, Evelyn knew that Kahel was by no means generous or merciful.
If Kahel looked that way to Lena, it meant that he had a really different attitude in front of Lena.
Evelyn’s hopes seemed to have grown a little brighter.
But just because she was greedy for nothing, doesn’t mean she could force Lena to do anything.
All she can do is pray for her with all her heart.

“I beg you.
Miss Lena…… please stay…… for a long, long time…… really long time…….next to Kahel.”

Surprised by her trembling voice, Lena put her other hand on top of Evelyn’s and nodded her head eagerly.

“Yes! Do not worry.
If His Excellency does not let me go, I will do my best to serve him forever.”

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“Ah…… Thank you, Miss Lena.
Thank you.”

Lena couldn’t understand why the Duchess had tears in her eyes for something Lena should be grateful for.
Then, all of a sudden, she remembered that Kahel had something called the devilish curse attached to him.
She kept forgetting because it didn’t make any sense to her, but seeing the Duchess’ fervent request, whose life was short, it was clear that the curse was the long agony of the people of this great family.

After hearing Lena’s reply, Evelyn felt at ease and soon fell asleep as if she had lost consciousness.
At first, Lena was so nervous that she thought something serious had happened, but only after seeing her chest rise and fall shallowly, she sighed in relief.
Now, she will wait until the Duchess is completely asleep, and then she will quietly go out.

‘Her hands are so cold…….’

Lena was startled by Evelyn’s hands, so cold and dry that she couldn’t believe it belonged to a human.
She wanted to melt this cold hand with her own hands.
Even though there were several hot pots with hot water in the blanket, her hands were so cold that it didn’t seem like they would get warm easily, but Lena held Evelyn’s hands tightly with her hands and closed her eyes.

‘I hope that even just this hand that I hold will be warm…….’

 

As she prayed, she focused on Evelyn’s hand she was holding.
But at that moment, her eyes brightened white, and her mind became hazy, and her whole body lost strength.
Lena struggled to regain her senses, until she collapsed onto the bed without releasing Evelyn’s hand.

‘Huh…… ? What’s wrong with me?’

She was dizzy, as she had once collapsed in Kahel’s arms.
She thought she was about to faint again, just like then, but her body couldn’t move, and her mind remained hazy.
Besides, she was awakened by a strange sensation she had never felt before.
It felt like her whole body was filled with particles of light.
She felt something heavy for it to be just light, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

At the border of her consciousness and unconscious, Lena became a little bird made of particles of light, and she imagined herself flowing into the Duchess’ body, riding the cold, withered hands.
She couldn’t tell if it was an imagination or a dream.

She flew through a cave-like space that stretched far away.
Behind her, a group of white lights followed.

It was cold and dark inside the cave.
It was as if a gentle wind was blowing from somewhere.
Occasionally something stuck to the wall of the cave glowed whitish, but even that was getting fainter.
Lena looked around and flew further inward.

The end of the strange cave was a large, empty space.
In the middle of a place where there was only darkness, very, very small embers were emitting the last light, sadly.
It seemed very dangerous to flutter recklessly as if it was going to turn off the ember at any moment.

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‘No! It’s going to turn off like that!’

Lena did not know what the embers were, and she instinctively wrapped around the small embers.
She widened her flapping wings and embraced the embers as if blocking the wind.
Then, miraculously, the small embers got a little brighter and then sparked a small spark.

Lena, who was proud of it, began to fill the darkened space with herself.
As the dark space gradually became brighter with white light particles, the remains of crumbling and damaged structures were visible everywhere.
One elaborately crafted tower had collapsed as if a huge dragon had broken it.

‘I have to fix that.’

Lena didn’t even know what it was, and she instinctively started rebuilding the tower that had collapsed.
The particles of light moved at her will, rebuilding the columns and walls scattered on the floor, and attaching the stairs one by one.
As they climbed up the spiral staircase along the wall of the round tower, the flame that had risen earlier sat at the top of the tower and started to burn with a brighter light.

‘Not yet.’

Lena looked around and found traces of a dry river beneath the tower.
The cracked river bed even smoked dust as if it had dried up for a long time.
She didn’t like it, Lena sprinkled white particles again, moistening the dry river bed.

Particles of light were scattered over and over again over the river bed that was getting wet little by little.
Unlike the previous reconstruction, where nothing was lost, filling the river was a task that she had to give herself up entirely.
Lena’s body was getting smaller and smaller.

 

‘A little bit more……!’

Lena clenched her teeth.
She doesn’t know why she felt that way when she had no idea, but she gathered all her strength anyway.
It was quite an overwhelming task, but the dry river started to fill up again and swirled around the tower.
Although the amount was still insufficient, once the water started to flow, the water level would gradually increase.

‘Let’s go back now.’

Lena caught her heavy breath and came back through the cave again.
She was so much smaller than when she first came in that she had to fly for a long time.
The whitish light on the wall of the cave seemed brighter than before.
And when she finally realized that the warmth had begun to radiate from the bare hands clasped in hers, Lena lost her consciousness as she smiled contentedly.

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* * *

“Umm.
Well, Your Excellency.
The story seems to be getting too long.
I don’t think it would be very good for the Madam’s body.”

The doctor, who had been waiting for Lena for a long time, carefully opened his mouth.
He said that it had already been over 30 minutes since Lena entered.
Usually, the Duchess struggled to even have a 10-minute conversation, so 30 minutes was too long.

Kahel, too, had been nervous since before.
It was unlikely, he thought, that his mother would be able to withstand such a long conversation.

“Certainly, it is taking too long.
I will go in and bring the maid out.
When I come out, you go right in.”

Kahel lightly knocked on his mother’s door again.
But no sign was felt inside..

“Lena…… ?”

Even calling her Lena’s name was the same.
Then, Kahel hurriedly opened the door.
In the room still filled with the scent of medicinal herbs, only the sound of colorful, steady breathing could be heard.
His little rabbit was asleep, clutching his mother’s hand.

Seeing that, Kahel felt a pain in his chest for an unknown reason and yet burst into a smile.
Truly, he wondered how happy his mother would be if Lena were to be his wife…….
She was holding her hand tightly like that, how much more could it be if that cute child became his mother’s daughter-in-law? (54055)

But it was an absurd idea.
Lena was given a title, but she was still a maid from a commoner…….

‘Is this really an absurd imagination…?’

Suddenly, a rebellious thought came to mind.
For the glory of his family, he had always thought that he should unconditionally marry the upright daughter of a high-ranking nobleman.
But he also knew how dangerous it was for his partner, and he delayed marriage because he didn’t want to commit that crime.

But when he marries Lena, that problem disappears.
Of course, humans who like to gossip may ridicule the new Duchess’ origins, but Lena and him can live together like a normal couple.

Kahel breathed in at the sudden opening of new possibilities.

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Is it really possible for him to live like a normal person? Will Lena allow it? No, he has to give her all the good things in this world.
Then would she like him a little bit?

With that thought in mind, he approached Lena one step at a time, and Kahel realized one important fact about her as he suddenly saw his mother asleep, buried in a blanket.

‘Is there any guarantee that Lena won’t be like Mother when she has my child……?’

A ‘beep-‘ sounded in his head, and nothing came to mind.
He had been watching his mother’s hard life by her side.
He knew how pained his mother was, and how many nights his father, who had no choice but to watch it by her side, was sobbing.

As he imagined such a fresh and cute Lena lying down as if she was about to die at any moment with all the energy of her body being sucked out of her body, it felt like his chest was pounding and his heart was cracking and breaking.

‘No.
I can’t do that.
Never.’

Of course, having a child of his own did not mean that a possessor of monstrous magic like him would be born.
However, since it was Kahel with magical power that far surpassed that of the most powerful ancestor, there was a high probability that his child would also fall into an unusual category.
When such a child is born, the rest of the Luave family will be delighted, but will he be able to smile at himself, who has plunged his beloved wife into such a mess?

His pounding chest began to cool off.
At the same time, a despondent smile also flowed out.

‘What the hell are you thinking?’

Kahel shook his head lightly and gently picked up Lena who was asleep and held her.
His mother’s hand slipped out of Lena’s hand and fell onto the bed.
He didn’t even notice that her hand was colored differently than usual.

As he quietly walked out of the room holding Lena, the eyes of the doctor and caretaker waiting outside the door widened.

“Keep everything you see now to yourself, and keep an eye on Mother.”

“Ah yes!”

The doctor hurriedly nodded his head and hurried into the room with the caretaker who was holding the medicine and water bottle.
It seemed that the words to keep quiet were only for them, but all the maids, servants, and knights walking in and out of the hallway knew well that those words were also true for them, so they treated Kahel as he walked up the stairs holding Lena with the same attitude as usual.