[TKOSINM] 157 – Treat Her Too Well

“…I’m going crazy.”

 In front of her, he tried to show his warm and friendly side as much as possible. There were several things about her that caught his attention, but above all, it was because her circumstances were similar to his, and she mirrored him somewhat, that he was drawn to her.

That was why he strived to show no sign of it all being a pretense.

Did I treat her too well?

He was of the opposite s3x, and furthermore, her husband. Was this not too defenseless of her? Did she even know what situation she was in?

Well, that is not something that Irene alone should worry about.

It was a matter of self-control.

...I should leave.

Irene wanted him to sleep comfortably in bed, but no matter how much he thought about it, it was impossible to sleep comfortably in this situation. Noel was about to get up with the intention of visiting his office for a while after taking a short walk at night, but he stiffened at the sound of Irene tossing and turning.

“Hmm…”

Noel looked at her cautiously, wondering if his movement had woken her.

“...”

Fortunately, she only shifted her body slightly, but did not seem to have woken.

However, because of that, Noel got the chance to see Irene’s sleeping face.

I have seen her sleep many times, but...

Just like in the carriage last time, he saw her sleeping right in front of him, but for some reason he could not take his eyes off her today.

“As you said, I cannot just keep going out every night.”

Noel laid back down again, giving up on attempting to get out of bed. He supported his head with one arm, and wordlessly stared at Irene’s peaceful face.

His gaze passed over every feature of her face. Then it lingered on her tightly closed eyes. He felt like at some point she would open her eyes and her gaze would encounter his.

But Irene, who was sleeping soundly, never opened her eyes to look at him.

Is it because I keep watching you sleep?

As the clock ticked deeper into the night, he too, seemed to gradually drowse. With Irene facing him, Noel slowly closed his eyes. Soon enough, his consciousness faded away. And it was his most comfortable sleep ever since he entered the Dukedom.

♔♔♔

Time flew by, and it had been two weeks since the day of the conference. Today was the day of departure for Kreisen, the Grand Duchy in the West. Thanks to this, the main entrance of the Grand Duke’s residence had been noisy since early morning. However, it was not just the preparations for departure that made all the fuss.

“Good morning! Your Grace! Thank you for hiring the Ram mercenaries. I know this is our first time officially meeting each other, but we somehow seem kind of familiar, no?  Haha!”

Celt, one of the mercenaries, told Noel.

“But honestly, who would have thought that the Duke would hire us?”

“...You sure do talk a lot.”

Upon saying that, Noel averted his gaze. But it was the Ram mercenaries that were truly perplexed. A request came, and it was a request from the Duke of Kristen. That was why they came, and the person who sent the request must be the leader of this guild, right? Still, was he really the notorious Duke?

Since his true identity was not revealed to anyone in the mercenary corps except for Tom -- his secretary and Irene’s special combat maid, Louiselle. None of the mercenaries thought that Noel was the rumoured Duke of Kristen, only that they knew he was nobility.

That was why he could somewhat understand the hidden meaning behind what Celt said earlier when he claimed to see Noel for the first time.

“Duchess. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

As Celt’s attention shifted to Irene, she replied awkwardly.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Has the whole group arrived yet?”

As if he wanted to end this awkward situation quickly, Noel looked around. Next to him, Tom reported, pointing out one by one.

“All the supplies have been packed on the carts, and we have identified a total of twenty-two people, including ten Ram mercenaries, ten soldiers of the Duchy, a special assistant sent by Mr. Mulliman of the Tower, and Louiselle, the Young Madame’s special maid. There would be no problem if we leave right away.”

“Well then, we shall be on our way.”

“Yes.”

While Tom rechecked the maintenance and arrangement one last time, Noel and Irene approached the Grand Duke, who had come to see them off. He looked very depressed, it was likely that he still blamed himself for having pushed the two into danger with his own hands.

“We will be back, grandfather.”

“We will be back.”

Noel and Irene stood side by side and greeted him together, the Great Kristen nodded at them.

“Alright…please take care of yourself.”

“We will.”

Noel calmly responded to the worried Grand Duke. For a minute, he looked at the Great Kristen silently, and then he added in a faint voice.

“…do not worry too much.”

“...Okay. Then, you two go ahead.”

“Yes.”

As the conversation ended, Noel headed to the carriage. Irene, who was walking beside him, suddenly stopped.

When Noel turned around to check on her, she told him to wait for a moment, then she went back to the Grand Duke.

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