The Duchess and the Devil - Chapter 29.1

Chapter 29.1

TRANSLATOR: Matindi
PROOFREADER: Diana
QUALITY CHECKER: Akane

WARNING: Nudity

When Judith woke up, it was around the time when the abysmal night quickly passed and the cold dawn arrived. Clearly, she was in the bathroom just before she passed out, but upon opening her eyes, she found herself on the large bed inside the bedroom. The round moon that floated in the sky quietly penetrated the bedroom with a ray of moonlight.

“You’re awake.”

Judith, who was silently staring at the moonlight traversing the bed, felt a hand sweeping her hair back. As she carefully lifted up her head, she saw Derrick perched on the bed.

For whatever reason there may be, seeing his face that seemed to be refreshed, the scene of her blacking out was painted vividly in her mind. Even if it wasn’t necessarily that countenance, she immediately expected a sharp muscle pain weighing down throughout her body. Plus, he probably stuck to her tenaciously, holding onto her, who unfortunately fainted.

Judith was about to say something until she let out a small cough, her throat dry. Derrick brought a glass of water near her lips as he helped her up since she couldn’t raise her waist properly. She gulped down the water while leaning deeply towards him because she didn’t have any strength in her entire body. Only then did her throat become better from its parched state and she was able to open her mouth.

“What time is it right now?”

“It’s dawn. Sleep more.”

Judith vacantly gazed at him as he cautiously laid her back down. Come to think of it, right after their sexual affair ended, he would always sincerely look after her like this. There were even times when he personally washed her body that became dirty, and sometimes, when she woke up at dawn, he would personally put water or peeled fruits into her mouth. Only now did Judith, who hadn’t considered those as strange, hold a single doubt about him.

‘When on earth does this man sleep?’

During the spare moments she was awake, she was never able to see his sleeping figure, ever. Would it be possible that he slept after confirming she was asleep? However, the fact that he was awake with perfect timing whenever she woke up was too mysterious for something like that.

The sleepiness, which had prevailed over her just a little while ago, completely disappeared at the doubt that suddenly occurred to her. Golden eyes, where moonlight gathered, illuminated whilst harboring curiosity.

“You’re not going to sleep?”

One day, after saying that he thought he knew why it was addicting, Derrick smoked cigars every now and then. Whenever she saw that appearance of him smoking, Judith was unable to not recall her husband from the past. Derrick Vaisil also smoked often; however, he didn’t give off the relaxed and languid ambience as much as the devil that entered his body did at the moment. Whenever she saw him, the devil, smoking cigars, she would habitually feel danger considerably more than wickedness. He, who had been biting onto an unlit cigar in his mouth, stared down at Judith.

“I don’t sleep.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s no sleep for me.”

Judith’s eyes widened at the response he abruptly blurted out. ‘There’s no sleep for me,’ he said. It was an answer she didn’t even expect at all.

“By that, do you mean you don’t fall asleep?”

“That’s right. ‘Cause the notion of sleeping doesn’t exist to devils.”

In nights where the surroundings were imbued in silence — it was exactly the time when devils would be active in full swing. The act of differentiating night and day in the devildom was unnecessary in the first place. In their world, days where sunlight shone radiantly didn’t exist, only nights, which solely served as the guide of darkness, existed. Yet, unlike the human world where it would sink completely in stillness, the devil world would be at its most energetic then.

Derrick unconsciously burst into laughter at her bewildered expression, as she had no way of knowing that fact. He lightly rubbed Judith’s pure white cheeks with his fingers.

“So come on, sleep.”

“Why do you keep trying to put me to sleep?”

“Because my wife has to rest a little bit…”

Derrick slowly leaned his upper body towards her. His broad back obscured the moonlight, and his face dimmed in an instant. For a brief moment, Judith felt that, instead of Derrick, the devil itself seemed to be approaching her, because of the scarlet irises emitting light and gleaming at her.

“I’m going to devour you, my wife.”

His low-pitched voice complemented the moon’s halo in the night sky quite harmoniously. Soon afterward, he bit her desirable cheek.

“By the way.”

Judith opened her mouth, gazing at him pulling the blanket to cover her shoulder for her.

“You know you said that your mana comes back, when you eat my energy.”

“That is so.”

“Since we keep doing this these days, I’m asking…… Do you think this so-called ‘mana’ came back a little?”

These days, the two continuously engaged in relations. There was one reason why Derrick always lost his mind and pounced on her. It was certainly for the sake of recovering the mana that was said to be the source of power the devil had. The reason he endlessly coveted her was, ultimately, just work in order to get himself out of the body that he was confined in presently.

“It is indeed coming back, but it is to a very insignificant extent?”

“To what extent is that then?”

“Let’s say, for example, this body is a ‘jar,’ and you are indeed pouring into it with all your might, but because the jar has a crack at the bottom, it flows out every time it’s filled. That’s why I’m saying that it came back to some extent, but then it also disappeared into thin air.”

Judith frowned at the situation that was progressing differently than expected.

“Then isn’t it useless no matter how much you pour in it?”

“No, that’s not it. Because if you keep pouring into it for a while, in the end, the crack underneath will also be blocked.”

T/N: Man are you just blurting excuses? Just admit that you want to stay longer with her.
PR/N: he’s definitely making excuses. That is the most bull thing I have ever heard.
QC/N: What kind of logic/excuse is this? Once cracked, it’ll always be cracked and the jar will never be filled. Just say that you want to stay with her forever.

If it was just as he said, the crack would be covered and the jar would be gradually filled. Then, after it was filled, it would seem like Derrick would also return to the state he had before he lost his mana. He had indeed assessed around when that time would be, but as for her, she couldn’t see it. What was certain was the fact that once he recovers his body and leaves his body, her husband would only then become a dead person.