Chapter 1 - Prologue
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***
The doctor was talking about how healthy and uneventful Lesche was, all that kind of talk. Seria looked at Lesche. He was looking at her with his arm raised on his elbow, his chin was resting on the back of his hand lightly. His other hand was still holding Seria’s hand as tightly as ever.
‘I’m glad he didn’t get hurt.’
‘Did I do something wrong?’
The hand that Seria had unconsciously tried to pull out grabbed hers tightly. Lesche. Not only did he not let go of her hand, but he gripped it tightly with all his strength. It wasn’t painful, but it was enough to leave a red mark on her hand. Seria shifted her gaze to Lesche.
“Lesche.”
Seria bent over and hugged Lesche.
‘I can’t help it.’
The doctor cleared his throat and hurriedly picked up his medical tools.
“Seria…?”
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
Most importantly, Seria was glad Lesche didn’t collapse. She felt Lesche’s hand slowly caress down her back.
***
“Grand Duchess?”
“Ah, yes. I must have dozed off.”
The servant smiled and brought Seria a towel. She said thank you and then nuzzled her face into the fluffy towel. Her arms and face were fine, but her legs felt a little more shaky from earlier.
‘It’s true that he’s strong.’
Earlier, Seria didn’t hold Lesche for very long. But when she tried to move away, Lesche pulled on both her arms. He immediately kissed her on the lips and made her sit on his lap. Only then did she realize that it was impossible to hug and move away from Lesche at will.
He finally let her go just before dinner….
Almost at the end of the meal when Linon came in, Lesche went up to the office. Knowing that he would be late, Seria went back to the bedroom alone without much thought.
“Would you like some tea?”
“No, thank you.”
After sending the servants out, Seria lay down on the bed but then sat up. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out what she had done wrong.
Earlier, in bed, she had asked Lesche in distress.
“Lesche.”
“…”
“Can I ask you if you have ever been in contact with Lina’s divine power?”
As a saint, Lina’s divine power was uniquely powerful. Why didn’t Lesche get affected by her power? Lina’s divine power might have acted beforehand.
‘I walked with trepidation thinking that I was on thin ice that was about to break, but I was confused when I found out that I was not on thin ice, but on solid stone…. But I was so sure that I was on a lake. A question filled my mind, ‘Did I take a wrong turn?’’
“Why would I be in contact with that Saintess?”
Of course, Lesche seemed to be very depressed.
“No, Lesche. It’s not a physical contact, it’s a contact of divine power. It’s divine power.”
“I’ve never done that. Were you thinking about that? Throughout the whole time?”
“No, of course not. I just remembered now.”
Seria was frustrated, but after seeing Lesche’s reaction, she realized she didn’t have good bed manners. That was right, after a long time of affairs, hugging him without clothes and talking about other people…. Seria tried to bring up an excuse, but it was useless.
Because Lesche was on top of her. He silently held her chin and attacked her lips, pushing his tongue in. At the same time, his thrusts were harder than usual, Seria couldn’t help but raise her back. The touch that tightly held her ankles was completely different from usual..
All other thoughts disappeared as tears trickled down her face. This was also why her legs were shaking. She couldn’t even afford to look away even though she knew that Lesche’s cloudy red eyes were fixed on her face.
“Seria.”
After almost finishing dinner, Lesche spoke before going up to the office.
“I just walked past the Saintess once, but my arms bled immediately.”
“…Blood?”
“There’s nothing else.”
Seria sat down in front of the small round table that she mostly used for writing simple letters, and dipped the pen in ink. Then she drew a large pentagon.
Five things were written on the vertex.
Lina.
Darkness.
Mies.
Lesche’s blood.
Revelation.
It was a labyrinthine feeling of knowing and not knowing. Just because she had a hypothesis didn’t mean she could immediately confirm it. While fiddling with the circlet, she wrote two letters. She wrote the letters with a good deal of painstaking effort. After calling the servant and handing them the letters, Seria quickly lay down in bed.
She fell asleep as if it was a dream.
***
“Your Highness.”
Lesche flipped through the document that Linon had given him. It contained details of the conversation between Seria and Mies.
“Bring this document to Seria tomorrow.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“What about Seria?”
“I heard from the maidservant earlier that she is sleeping.”
The thought of Seria made his blood rush to his thighs again and Lesche frowned weakly. It was true that the moment the name of the Saintess was mentioned by Seria in bed earlier, his mood hit rock bottom. He knew for a fact that it was not a frivolous name.
‘Even though I know it.’
Lesche rarely heard Seria talking about Kalis Haneton. Whether it was intentional or unintentional, she kept avoiding it. By the same token, Seria didn’t talk much about the Saintess either. It meant that her mind was tangled enough to bring up the subject of the Saintess while in bed with him.
People fell in love with the Saintess and lost their minds, but the person in question thought differently. The fact was that the Saintess was associated with Haneton of all people.
In retrospect, it was similar in Berg, since Seria’s immersion was mainly in Stern duties and the frozen lake. Lesche couldn’t help but be annoyed at Seria, as she kept looking at other things instead of him.
‘You’re always the same.’ Lesche mumbled.
“What?”
Linon, who didn’t hear him properly, asked back.
Lesche sat at his desk at an angle and looked out the window. Despite Seria’s concern, Lesche’s mood almost melted away as soon as he kissed her again. When Seria called his name and grabbed his forearms, he felt a shiver run down his spine…
‘So much work, huh?’
Linon remained silenced by Lesche’s murmur. He wanted to ask if he had forgotten everything, if he didn’t remember what he had dealt with when His Master was consecrated, but he held back.
“Did you get a call from Ben?”
“Yes. And as you ordered, I sent four more knights to the green manor.”
Ben and Susan would be back in a couple of weeks.
Martha…
It would be nice for Martha to have some relief from that long-standing feeling of staying at the green manor on Alliot’s behalf. Thanks to the Grand Duchess, they caught the lech-like Mies, so it was good to take comfort in such things as well.
Lesche thought about Seria. Some words come to his mind right away.
“I like you too.”
It was a few days past. Yet Lesche couldn’t forget those words. That day when Seria said those words while crying on his chest, he felt like he was about to go crazy. So he covered his mouth and sighed.
On that day, his face unexpectedly turned red and he was embarrassed, which was not like him. He covered Seria’s eyes, but….
He didn’t know when the prophecy Seria mentioned would end, but it seemed like a good time to accept a little bit of the nosiness that Ben and Susan used so often a long time ago.
“I think it’d be nice to have a grand wedding in Berg territory for the Young Lady.”
****
Few days later.
Seria quietly stole a look at Lesche in the mirror of her dressing table.
Underneath Lesche’s silvery eyelashes, his red eyes were downcast. His eyes were fixed on Seria’s hair.
Most importantly, he had a comb in his hand.
“…….”
Lesche was combing Seria’s hair. At first, he was combing it too gently, and then she told him that he could make it a little harder, so he combed it properly.
She knew better than most that the man’s fingers were hard, but it was strange that the way he combed her hair felt so soft. The hand that was brushing her hair tickled like cotton wool. She was constantly conscious of the feeling of rubbing her neck and ears.
The sun was shining softly in the morning.
Seria couldn’t take her eyes off Lesche’s reflection in the vanity mirror. Lesche took the ribbon that he had been holding lightly between his lips and tied Seria’s hair up loosely. He seemed to be struggling for quite a while, and then he opened his mouth.
“It’s not as good as Susan did.”
Seria gasped and burst out laughing.
“I hope you don’t underestimate the skills of the Grand Duchess’s maid of honor.”
“I didn’t underestimate it.”
Lesche said, brushing Seria’s hair gently.
“Where did you learn this?”
“Ask the maids you sent out.”
It was only Lesche and Seria in the bedroom. Until fifteen minutes ago, there were three maids in the room. What was that stunned look on their faces when their master took away their jobs.
‘Of course, I’m sure they are having a good laugh out there. I laughed a little too.’
“Lesche, just because Susan is away, doesn’t mean you have to do this.”
“You don’t always let me touch your hair.” (Lesche)
“It’ll be ruined.” (Seria)
Lesche tilted his chin lightly. Then he asked a question that Seria hadn’t thought of.
“Then is it okay to touch it in bed?” (Lesche)
“…Why are you suddenly talking about the bed?” (Seria)
“You don’t say anything when I touch your hair in bed.” (Lesche)
Seria’s eyes widened. ‘Of course there was a reason I didn’t say anything. When I’m in bed with Lesche, I have no problem with him messing up my hair….’
“In bed, you are too…..” (Lesche)
“Too…. what?” (Seria)
“No.” (Lesche)
“Stop talking.” (Seria)
“I was talking to myself.” (Lesche)
“You were answering my words.” (Seria)
“Don’t you know you don’t have to answer?” (Seria)
In the end, Lesche laughed out loud. For a moment, Lesche kept looking at Seria’s hair and frowned weakly.
“I think I’d better go and get the maids.” (Lesche)
“Why? I like it.”(Seria)
Seria stood up from the vanity chair. She looked back and forth in the mirror and her hair looked really good. Lesche was very good with his hands. Seria chuckled and said, “Thank you,” and a smile was drawn on Lesche’s lips.
“If you’re not busy, let’s walk in the garden together. Are you busy?”
“I can’t be busy.”
The sunshine was good today. The capital, located in the south, got warm really quickly. Looking at the expansive garden, one could not help but be reminded of the wasteland-like garden of Berg’s castle.
Ben and Susan were also going to stop by the main castle in Berg territory, how vividly will they describe the empty garden?
‘I’m excited just thinking about it.’
‘Aren’t we supposed to go back to work instead of having a leisurely time like this?’
It was time to seriously think about it.
Lesche’s gaze went to the other side. Seria wondered what he was looking at, so she also turned her head and blinked.
Linon was running towards them.
“Are you looking for Lesche?”
“Grand Duchess!”
“You’re looking for me?”
Finally stopping in front of them, Linon gasped for air.
‘No, he’s suffering like that, no matter how much he ran… I’m not just talking about his weak body.’
“What’s the matter?” (Seria)