I Unintentionally Cured The Grand Duke’s Insomnia - Chapter 55

“Uh, how long have I been reading this…?”

Having already read four books, my throat had been completely sore. I glanced at him, coughing loudly with my increasingly husky voice. Cain’s eyes, who were rubbing his forehead as he listened to my voice as I was reading the book, slowly turned towards the last book — It was the book about the use of black magic and its reaction.

I took a deep breath as I glanced at the book his gaze was on.

People said that he was an obsessive maniac, though why was he being obsessed with books instead of the female lead…? I even wondered if there was a reading fanatic among Cain’s keywords I was not aware of in the original novel. No, by the way, is he not supposed to read by himself?

Why me—

Looking at the silver inscription on its black cover, I eventually reached out my hand as if I could not help it.

It is a sin to be weak… A sin.

“I see. I can read it, though how much voice will come out…!”

Cain stopped my hand that was reaching for the book without a word. As I gazed at him, narrowing my brows as if asking what he was doing, he opened his mouth with a playful smile.

“I don’t think you can see the letters very well anymore, so let’s stop reading for today.”

…Reading for today?

No, he is not saying that he is going to ask me to do this again, is he? While I just laughed in embarrassment, Cain got up from his seat as he pretended not to see my reaction.

“Do you want to go home, Adelia?”

As he asked that and smiled, it was only then did I see the full moon rising above my head. When I peered around the darkened surroundings, the sparkling emerald lake had already turned gray and was immersed in darkness. On the side of the lake, where there were only a few people, the sounds of owls hooting and grasshoppers were heard alternately.

I wiped my face dry while watching Cain reaching out to me, who was in front of him.

It was hard to believe that I was subjected to the hard work of reading a total of four books of fifty pages each for six hours after eating only a sandwich and drinking a bottle of milk…

 ﾟ· : * ✧ * :· ﾟ

“Young Lady, does your throat hurt a lot? Would you like some ginger tea?”

“…Yes. Please, Lily.”

Lily quickly ran out of the room in response to my answer with a hoarse throat. Seeing her leave, I tried to move my body up a little before laying back on the bed as I  grinded my teeth.

Cain Destro, you damn male lead…! So what if you have a really handsome face?

Huh? Yeah, he could only handle a sword well, and his skills were good! Hero of the Empire? That is funny… He was more like the villain of the empire, villain—!

The swear words that I vomited while slamming my fists on a soft pillow did not last long with my sore throat. As I was only making noises and groaning with my throat, sadness flooded in.

〈 “I want the Young Lady to read some of these books.” 〉

It was about a week ago that she had been reading the books that had been handed over without any countermeasures. It had been a week since I fell into a reading hell after a picnic that did not even seem like a picnic in Lake Beach. After that, for a whole week, I changed places and read to him fifty pages of books that were not any fun.

…Why are all the books that Cain has so uninteresting and thick?

“Young Lady, this is ginger tea. Please, be careful since it’s hot.”

“Thanks… Thank you, Lily.”

I sipped the ginger tea that Lily gave me as I cleared my throat, which was feeling quite sore again. The slightly sweet yet warm tea made my throat feel a little more at ease.

“Should I leave the window open?”

“Yes.”

The brilliant Lily rolled the curtains for her peaceful tea time. When the large window was opened, the warm sunlight poured into the room with the sound of chirping birds. I was satisfied with the relaxed atmosphere created by the gentle spring breeze and warm tea. As I glanced at the pale yellow tea, Cain’s face appeared on top of it.

With my pounding heart, I hurriedly drank the tea at once. My throat felt so hot, like it was going to burn.

“Haak— Ho, hot…”

“Oh, really!”

At the sight of me grunting as I wrapped my arms around my neck, Lily eventually ran over and poured me cold water. After drinking the cold water she gave me, I let out a sigh.

“I told the Young Lady that it was hot. How can you drink it all at once?”

“No, I was going to drink it slowly, although the face I didn’t want to think about keeps coming to mind.”

“Who is it?”

“….”

“I’m sure it’s the Grand Duke.”

At Lily’s remark, which brought out Cain as though it was natural, I stared at her in astonishment. However, she was just looking back at me, wondering what was wrong.

I asked Lily, struggling to contain the absurdity.

“Why, why the Grand Duke…?”