I Slept with the Villain Holding My Hand (Web Novel) - Chapter 85

The two, who were hugging each other satisfactorily, left the annex coughing in a somehow heated atmosphere.

 

Even after returning to the mansion, the awkwardness between them continued.

 

‘How did we hold hands and kiss before?’

 

For a while, I felt like we couldn’t stay in one space at all.

 

As I walked a little further away, and reached a familiar place.

 

I didn’t visit Frederick much, but I stopped by this place every time I came.

 

Merria, who stopped walking in front of Reukis’ room, said,

 

“It’s because of the rain… But could you give me a guest room?”

 

“Why?” Reukis asked out of pure curiosity.

 

‘Why? What do you mean why?’

 

The history of visiting the Grand Duke’s residence was small enough to count, but it’s not enough to occupy the owner’s room every time.

 

First I took a nap, then for the second time I passed out, and even ran around in the rain like a crazy person today.

 

Still, I’m a Duke’s daughter, but I had no face anymore to show the employees of the Grand Duke.

 

‘And… I couldn’t even take a bath in Reukis’ room.’

 

Merria also had something called shame.

 

In this already awkward situation, I didn’t have the confidence to take off my clothes and wipe myself in the bathroom Reukis usually uses.

 

However, it was impossible to reveal all of this in front of him.

 

She awkwardly averted his gaze and blurred the end of her speech.

 

“I have a reputation…”

 

“All the people of the Grand Duke are tight-lipped people.”

 

Then Reukis immediately shook his head and answered.

 

Jane and Harriet looked thrilled at his trustworthy remarks.

 

Merria also acknowledged that point, but today was already the limit.

 

If I went further than this, I might not be able to overcome the shame and disappear into powder.

 

She quickly swept her arms down to break down the situation as soon as possible.

 

“I’m going to catch a cold at this rate.”

 

She was currently wrapped in Reukis’ clothes, but she decided to pretend as it was.

 

It was Reukis who eventually stepped down.

 

He told Harriet to guide Merria to the guest room.

 

“Lady Merria, please come this way.”

 

Harriet, who had been waiting next to him, walked hurriedly.

 

Merria and the attendant Jane followed in his footsteps.

 

“This is the room.”

 

Harriet stood in front of the door calmly.

 

“…”

 

At the destination they finally arrived, Merria tilted her head.

 

“Is this really a guest room?” Merria squinted and asked.

 

Reukis’ room was just around the corner even if I turned my head a little to the right.

 

Outside Merria’s sight, Reukis smiled broadly, cheering for Harriet’s move.

 

Encouraged by his master’s reaction, Harriet expressed affirmation without a single point of shame.

 

“It’s very rare for guests to come to our mansion, so this is the only room we have prepared now.”

 

“Ahh..”

 

Seriously, is this the only room prepared in the Grand Duke’s residence?

 

Even the annex that was not used often I had visited just now was neat.

 

Feeling suspicious, Merria suddenly turned her head.

 

She didn’t learn that he was like this, but Reukis’ reaction speed was beyond Merria’s imagination.

 

For that reason, when Merria checked Reukis’ face, it had already been equipped with innocence.

 

‘The guest room is right next to the Grand Duke’s bedroom…?’

 

I just turned a blind eye to it and had no other qualms.

 

This mansion must have been impatient and the employees must be anxious about Merria.

 

I didn’t expect them to make me stay in a room that seems to belong to the Grand Duchess.

 

There were only two options given to Merria now.

 

The Grand Duke’s room and the Grand Duchess’ room.

 

Princess Rackester, whose status soared overnight, tried to smile dryly struggling to hold back.

 

“Then here…”

 

Merria eventually chose the Grand Duchess’ bedroom.

 

Harriet opened the door with his mouth agape.

 

Merria entered the room first, followed by Jane heading to the bathroom.

 

Merria spoke to Reukis, who was standing still in front of the door blankly.

 

“Are you going to keep wearing those clothes?”

 

Only then did Reukis check his clothes.

 

The front of his clothes was wet and in the shape of Merria.

 

It was because he had just embraced the rain-soaked Merria until there was no space between them.

 

“Pfft…”

 

His figure was so bizarre and cute that Merria burst into laughter.

 

Reukis fiddled with Merria’s traces for no reason and looked elsewhere.

 

“Lady, the bathtub is full.”

 

Soon after, Jane, who finished preparing for Merria’s bath, came out of the bathroom.

 

After Merria nodded, she dragged Reukis. She personally escorted Reukis to the front of his door and smiled.

 

“You’re also going to catch a cold if you keep standing there. So hurry up and go to your room, wash up, and change clothes.”

 

Merria pushed him in his room without hesitation and gently waved her hand at him.

 

Thud~

 

When the door closed and Merria had disappeared behind it, Reukis was forced to take off his shirt.

 

In his room the bath was also ready.

 

Reukis entered the bathroom and washed his face with cold water to calm his unsettled heart.

 

When I think of what happened just now, even though her back looked hesitant, thinking that Merria was in the next room, my face heated up unknowingly.

 

In the end, Reukis finished bathing like a thunderbolt as if a knight that was attacked while taking a bath.

 

I just took a shower, but I already felt tired.

 

Reukis, who returned to the room powerless, was lost in thought.

 

He did not tell Merria, but he was somewhat shocked by what she said.

 

‘Didn’t she act as if she’s going to leave after saying something terrifying that she would send me to Shannon?’

 

I thought I’ve been expressing my feelings generously, all this time.

 

If it’s shocking to have treated me as a person who struggled over her power.

 

Nevertheless, the reason why I feel so sorry…

 

-‘It means that I started to like you.’

 

-‘I’m saying that… I started liking you.’

 

-‘I like you…’

 

-‘I like Reukis the best.’

 

It was because the joy of knowing her heart with certainty only today was strong enough to transcend all of it.

 

Reukis pressed down on his eyes with his hands to cool them down. It was ineffective because his hands were hotter, but he didn’t seem to care at all.

 

 

Reukis, who had been struggling with the joy for a while, jumped up.

 

Because the subject of his joy was so close, that it was a waste not to face it.

 

Reukis headed straight to the next room where Merria was.

 

Knock, knock~

 

“Merria.”

 

“Come in.”

 

In response to the obvious answer, Reukis hesitated.

 

When I was a child, my parents slept side by side in one bed, with me at the center as if I couldn’t sleep on my bed.

 

Most of those times were in my mother’s bedroom.

 

Daphne’s room was such a warm space.

 

Because of this, even after his parents died, Reukis occasionally stayed up the night here.

 

On a rainy night just like today, at dawn when I woke up from a nightmare, on my mother’s birthday, when I suddenly saw my father in the mirror.

 

The darkness of his childhood was contained here.

 

As if to soothe Reukis’ heart, Harriet did not change anything in Daphne’s room.

 

Neither the decorations by the window nor the clock that didn’t even miss by a second.

 

Entering the space that was once his mother’s room, Reukis felt something rising.

 

A bright light that contrasts with the dark sky outside the window, and Merria’s smile welcomes him in it.

 

It was the warmth I had been longing for for a long time.

 

At the time of Reukis that had stopped like that, Merria stepped closer.

 

‘If I hadn’t met Merria, I would have suffered alone here again.’

 

Reukis stopped in front of the door and glanced at the scenery for a moment.

 

Unlike his stiff gaze, the corners of his lips had no choice but to loosen to a smile.