The Duchess and the Devil - Chapter 25

Chapter 25

TRANSLATOR: Matindi
PROOFREADER: ThatSilver Sky
QUALITY CHECKER: Akane

WARNING: Nudity around the end of the chapter

“I have prepared dinner. Let us go to the dining room.”

Judith skillfully guided him in, and Vinsen, who was looking around the ducal residence as he walked behind her, opened his mouth.

“The Duke?”

“He is waiting in the dining room.”

If Derrick was a lower ranking person than Vinsen, having gone out to welcome him right away would have been proper, but since he was superior to Vinsen in ranking, he didn’t have to go out to meet him. Judith, who wanted to delay the meeting between the two as much as possible, came out to meet Vinsen alone.

Before Vinsen arrived, Judith was deeply concerned whether she should hide the truth about Derrick being a devil from him. There was nothing good that would come from hiding it, but be that as it may, there was nothing good that would come of disclosing it adamantly either. As long as she was determined to hide Derrick’s identity from the Emperor, it was better to be silent about it as much as possible. Because the fewer people who knew about the ‘secret’, the more value it would have.

It wasn’t that she was doubting Vinsen, but there were too many eyes and ears lingering around him to simply make a decision. The ducal family wasn’t letting out any kind of news after Derrick had come back to life. At present, the one closest to the Ducal house was the Marquis house of Lipis, who was related to them as in-laws.

Those who were crazy for gossip would fling themselves like starving hyenas if even just a little gap was seen. Not knowing in what way or how ‘information’ would leak out, Judith decided to keep her mouth shut for the time being. Honestly, she was uncertain whether her older brother would indeed believe her words, that a devil had entered the body of her dead husband.

Thinking about how the two would soon face each other, her feelings of anxiety suddenly rose up. Rather, she thought the time when she didn’t know Derrick’s identity was easier. For goodness’ sake, she hoped that the meeting with Vinsen would pass very quickly without any disturbance, like it had with the other two.

At last, they arrived at the dining room. Derrick, who was seated at the head of the table, spotted the two and slowly got up. Vinsen approached him first and extended his hand out for a handshake. Although he, a Marquis, should bow down due to their difference in social status, because of their relationship as brother-in-laws, some friendly expressions were permitted.

Derrick blankly looked down at his hand, then looked at Judith over Vinsen’s shoulder. Judith made eye gestures as if telling him to quickly accept his hand. Then, he reluctantly held Vinsen’s hand as she wanted.

“I have heard that you are unable to remember anything after waking up.”

“That’s how it is.”

“Is your body in good health now?”

“Fortunately.”

Derrick answered concisely, shrugging his shoulders. Judith quietly gazed at him.

Him talking down to others looked awfully natural. Perhaps he had quite a high position even among devils? Come to think of it, he must have said, what was it, pure blood lineage or some sort like that… But, she didn’t remember well. Of course, it was a topic that was not worth being recollected by Judith, who couldn’t learn about the world of devils just because she remembered that.

(T/N: Vinsen is talking to Derrick very formally, while Derrick is talking to him casually.)

She came to her senses and suggested the two sit down. Judith and Vinsen each took a seat in such a way that they were opposite of each other with Derrick, who sat at the head of the table, as the central figure.

The food prepared beforehand began to come out one by one. Bread with a roasted turkey dish sprinkled with spices; salad sprinkled with snow-like pure white cheese; and grilled trout in well-boiled down tomato sauce were spread. Other than those, the food that was placed on the dining table looked so delicious that it whetted her appetite that wasn’t there.

Vinsen, who chewed his food diligently, gulped it down and opened his mouth.

“By the way, the Duke has regained his health this much, but I couldn’t prepare a gift for him in time.”

At his voice, the couple’s gazes headed towards him at the same time.

Any more gifts weren’t needed. Even just those that were already piled up in the storage of the ducal residence were difficult to dispose of. It was at the moment when Judith was going to give him the answer in her mind, we have enough, while recollecting the gifts stacked up like a mountain. Vinsen’s gaze made eye contact with hers all of a sudden. With a look as though restraining her, Judith’s lips, which were moving slightly, came to a stop as they were.

“I anticipate that you have received various gifts from many people, so I want to give you a gift that is a little different.”

“A different gift?”

Derrick, who treated him even more respectfully than usual at the earnest request of Judith, showed considerable interest.

“That is to say, presents for the baby that will be born later, for example.”

At the words he added, Judith held her breath unknowingly.

Surely not, she didn’t expect that topic would be suddenly brought up at this point in time right now. Come to think of it, Vinsen was regarding the fact that Derrick was revived as an extremely great opportunity even during their meeting last time. He asked if she didn’t end up having the successor of the ducal family properly since he had come back to life.

The couple’s situation in bed was a confidential and cautious matter that other people wouldn’t be able to intrude in easily. What was worse was the fact that he referred to it in a place where the couple was there together; it would’ve been a different story if the topic was mentioned when it was only the two of them, him and his sister Judith. Judith unconsciously cleared her throat, feeling somehow ashamed.

Derrick, who had never once stopped slicing with his knife, stopped his hand for the first time and looked at Vinsen. An amusing look glimmered in his violet eyes.

“It’s fine.”

Derrick, who moistened his lips with the languid teasing of his tongue, smiled mischievously.

“Because as a matter of fact, we are doing our best to try to have a baby these days.”

Judith couldn’t help but feel this was, how should it be put ― as though their confidential circumstances in bed were openly revealed. She couldn’t understand why they were talking about this kind of topic in the dining room without even changing their facial expressions at all.

It was always Derrick who behaved insidiously without the habit of concealing, so it was a given, then Judith peeked at Vinsen who sat opposite of her. At that moment, her fingertips curled, flinching.

His expression, which she expected to be at the very least a satisfied smile since this was something her brother wanted, was strange. He wasn’t smiling, but it didn’t mean he was frowning. It was a completely neutral expression as though his ‘feelings’ had been swept away like an ebbing tide.

“Older Brother?”

Judith, who felt a sense of incompatibility from the expression that couldn’t be easily seen from the usual Vinsen, unintentionally called out to him. Then Vinsen looked back at her, showing a faint smile as though he had always made that kind of expression. Judith at first thought she was mistaken and had seen wrong at that moment as the change happened so easily like a blink of an eye. However, his lack of expression was excessively embedded in her mind too vividly to have been an illusion.

Throughout the rest of the meal, Judith closely kept an eye on him. Nevertheless, since then, she wasn’t able to spot a questionable look like the one from a little while ago from Vinsen again, and the meal came to an end like that. It seemed like that was nothing peculiar, yet Judith felt an odd discomfort, as though mud was thickly smeared in her heart.

* * *

The bathroom before her was filled with steam that made things hard to see. This was because of Judith’s instructions to prepare the water a little warmer than usual to relieve her exhausted body.

Judith, who took off her burdensome dress under the help of the maids, carefully entered the bathtub. The feeling of fatigue that had accumulated altogether seemed to be vanishing by the warm temperature that was gradually enveloping her skin starting from her toes.

It might have been because she hadn’t gone out at all for the past several days recently, but she was worn out from today alone. No, if she considered it, she figured it was either because she hadn’t gone out for a long time or because of the people she happened to meet one after another today. What was clear was that it was a ‘day’ that exhausted her to the point she didn’t want to experience it ever again. To be honest, she thought that even a tea party where noblewomen gathered and laughed would be preferable to this.

The maids rubbed down her forearms and shoulders with their soft and delicate touches as though massaging them. Judith leaned her body against the bathtub, feeling her stiff body slowly being relieved of the fatigue.

Sitting dazedly, she naturally recollected and looked back on the things that happened today one by one.

Their meeting with the Emperor somehow went well. Although the story brought up when there were only the two of them, Derrick and her, was a little unpleasant, in the end, it looked as though he believed that he had this ‘memory loss thing’, seeing that he sent him off quietly.

‘But what in the world were they talking about? A woman, he said.’

She had regrets, I should have stayed longer in that place in one way or another if I knew this was going to happen. Even so, it was regrettable that it was rather about ‘something that had already passed’.

‘And Silvia Wirell…”

While the maids were washing her beautiful silver hair with great care, Judith gently touched the rose petals floating on the water.

Certainly, she was a woman who seemed to just pop out from inside Mother Nature. Not only her appearance, but also her ambience was fresh, and a youthful purity was heavily felt from her. It seemed that if Judith was a flower in a garden so resplendent that bees became entangled with her, Silvia was a pristinely elegant wildflower fluttering in the wind.

Judith looked down quietly.The deathly pale look on Silvia Wirell’s face, which still haunted her mind, flashed on the surface of the water that was swaying as though hitting a heaving sea, following her movement. As if making a meaningless gesture, she stirred lightly the inside of the water. Then, the haunting afterimage faintly dispersed.

Judith, who was absorbed in her thoughts, suddenly came back to her senses at the coolness that she abruptly felt. The hands, which were touching her without hesitation only just a little while ago, all of a sudden stopped. As soon as she turned her head, the maids who were assisting her with the bath were bowing their heads down while all their hands were held together. Judith, who looked around her surroundings at the bewildering atmosphere, soon spotted Derrick who leaned against the doorframe, wearing only a robe, and opened her eyes very wide.

Judith, who was mesmerized and had become absent-minded at his unexpected appearance, realized that she was in a so-called situation where she was naked, and hurriedly covered her body with her hands. However, if one excluded the roses floating on the surface of the water, the bath waters were transparent to the point it was drinkable and openly revealed her naked body.

Derrick quickly surveyed the maids quietly with his arms folded. As if they understood the meaning of his gaze at once, the maids hastily got out of the bathroom. The door was closed without even a single noise, and in an instant, only she and he remained in the bathroom.

“Why did you come here?”

“No matter how I wait, I don’t think you will come out.”

“I’ll go out after washing up soon. So…”

It was at that moment when she was about to ask him to go outside and wait for her. Derrick took off the robe he was wearing so loosely to the point his tanned skin was exposed. Judith’s eyes were unknowingly captivated by the man’s toned body revealed from under the robe that was sliding down smoothly.

While his broad shoulders were vast to the point it wasn’t enough for her to even wrap it with her two hands, his pectoral muscles were drawn with firm lines and extended from his shoulders, which were so thick and sturdy they conveyed strength just by looking alone. In addition, his forearms, which moved as he was taking off his robe, were subtly made up with muscles, and so even just a slight movement from them felt like designed art.

The man’s body was boasting flawless proportions without unnecessities, and was outstanding as if it had received plenty of love from the gods.