If You Wish For A Married Couple’s Duties - Chapter 88

After returning to the castle, Leonhart did not even allow Dooha to walk out of the bedroom, citing her injured ankle as the reason.

“In any case, you’ve done everything that you had to do. Rest until the festival is over.”

“This sort of injury is nothing much, so why are you doing this?”

“It’s nothing much?”

Leonhart raised an eyebrow and grabbed her forearm.

“Ah!”

When Dooha screamed, the duke frowned like he knew this would happen.

“The wound that you’ve gotten at Tochern Castle hasn’t healed, and you didn’t even rest properly and you’ve gotten injured again.”

Leonhart urged her resolutely like he wouldn’t give in to her this time.

“If you don’t want to force me to lock Madam up, don’t get out of bed.”

He sighed as he looked at Dooha, who was looking at him with a dissatisfied expression.

When he got married, he thought that he’d have to worry about whether his wife was eating on time, but he’d never thought that he’d have to worry about whether she’d break a bone somewhere or get injured.

“We should keep our promise, to not create situations that’ll make the other worried.”

“…Alright.”

Dooha nodded even though dissatisfaction was written all over her face.

There’s no helping it, since it was something that she’d said.

“Good.”

Leonhart’s expression finally relaxed after hearing her answer.

Then, he pulled the blanket over Dooha, who was lying down, and began to pat her on the shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

“Hurry up and sleep.”

“I can’t sleep. And it’s morning right now.”

“There’s no one that can’t fall asleep after staying up the entire night.”

“Then, you’ve stayed up the entire night. Why aren’t you sleeping?”

Leonhart answered her question a beat late.

The reason was unknown.

“…I have something that I have to deal with right away.”

Actually, it didn’t matter if he settled them later.

It wouldn’t be too late to punish Paul and his gang after the carnival had ended, and they’ve roughly identified the criminals that dared to secretly distribute the Devil’s Nap.

Although there was something that remained on his mind, for the duke, it was a rare moment of relaxation.

But if he remained next to Dooha, he felt like he’d disturb her sleep.

Leonhart cracked a mischievous joke at Dooha, who seemed to be feeling regret for no reason in particular.

“Why, do you want to sleep with me?”

He was just teasing her, but it was relatively effective.

When Leonhart looked at his wife, whose face turned as red as a ripe apple, he was overcome with a strange feeling.

As he looked at the deep red flush creeping towards the back of her neck, he was reminded of the night they’d spent in the cave.

Whatever work he had on hand, let’s just put it off.

The duke thought that he was going crazy for a while, and began fiddling with Dooha’s hair for no reason.

“It was a joke.”

“…Don’t make such jokes.”

Dooha murmured back.

“I don’t know how to react.”

Did she forget the fact that they’d spent a night together?

Leonhart stared at her bashful appearance.

In order to avoid eye contact, she’d purposefully lowered her eyelids halfway, making her eyelashes twinkled.

To the point where he wanted to watch it up close.

“…Leonhart?”

Dooha stared dazedly at the Duke’s face, which drew so close to the tip of her nose.

His clear blue eyes reflected her face like a mirror,

Dooha was slightly flustered, but she didn’t turn her head away or avoid him.

“I was really just joking.”

Before she knew it, Leonhart climbed onto the bed and occupied the space above her.

“It’s troubling that you reacted like that.”

“What did I do…….”

“Yes, you didn’t do anything.”

Leonhart caressed Dooha’s lips, which were mildly displaying her dissatisfaction, with a knuckle.

“I just think that I’m quite weird.”

Just as Dooha was about to respond, Leonhart burrowed into her lips.

He moved softly, like he was melting a candy, but he soon became intense, like he would devour her in a bite.

A hot breath and sweet moan that were unidentified were exchanged between the tightly pressed lips.

As soon as the duke’s lips left hers, Dooha covered her lips with the back of her hand.

“…Didn’t you tell me to sleep.”

She looked resentfully at Leonhart.

“My sleepiness has vanished.”

“That’s great.”

Leonhart took off his shirt and tossed it onto the floor.

The well defined upper body, which seemed to be carved out of marble, shone brilliantly underneath the morning sunlight.

“I don’t intend to coax you to sleep either.”

“…Is this what it means to stay in bed quietly?”

At her words, Leonhart burst into laughter.

“Well, let’s just say that’s what it means.”

Dooha naturally circled her arms around the neck of the duke, who climbed in bed under the blanket.

“My ankle hurts though.”

“Then you should come up.”

“You want me to be on top?”

Dooha frowned like she’d imagined something terrible.

“I’m different from you, so I don’t think I can do it. You’re also different from me…”

“I don’t know what you’re imagining, but enough of that.”

Leonhart lifted her by the waist and placed her on top of him.

Dooha, whose back was leaning against his chest, looked puzzled.

“I can’t see your face like this, ahh…”

Dooha’s legs curled up at the sudden heavy feeling of being penetrated as she sank downwards.

Even if the kiss had relieved her tension, she didn’t expect that it’d enter so suddenly.

“Wait a minute, what are you doing…”

“Just stay put. Tell me if your ankle hurts.”

As Leonhart hugged her from behind, he slowly moved his pelvis up and down.

Dooha’s body also swayed up and down with each of his movements.

A large and hot hand dug through the gap in her nightgown and grabbed her fragile flesh.

“Ah, uh, ah…”

Outrageous moans kept coming out of her mouth.

Just like that, Dooha, who had been injected with excessive pleasure since early morning, lost consciousness as soon as the dalliance had ended.

In the arms of Leonhart, who fell asleep while hugging her tightly.

* * *

Dooha didn’t wake up until the sky was darkening in the evening.

The duke had to get up first because of his work.

“How amazing. Subjugating monsters, arresting criminals, your body definitely won’t be able to take it.”

Layla shouted as she changed the bandage that was wrapped around her master’s forearm.

“Is the Duke aware of this concept or not? Madam’s body hasn’t even healed yet, and it’s not like he’s an animal…!”

Dooha placed an index finger on her lips and tried to calm her down.

“Layla, calm down. Keep your voice down.”

“Does it look like I can calm down right now!”

Layla huffled like she was really furious.

“More than that, when had Madam given permission to the body of that guy, no, the Duke? I still haven’t forgotten that he rejected Madam on the wedding day!”

Oh, such a period of time existed.

Dooha recalled the wedding day, which was getting further away now.

So many things happened in this period of time that she’d completely forgotten about it.

‘How fascinating.’

At that time, she was obviously determined to humiliate the Duke and flatten his nose.

Was it that easy to change her mind?

“He’d only feel satisfied by spending the first night with someone that’s in pain…”

“Oh, it wasn’t our first night, so don’t worry.”

“…What?”

Layla’s head creaked like an ungreased cogwheel as she turned it around.

“Then, are you saying that you spent a night with the Duke before?”

“Ah.”

Only then did Dooha regret mentioning it, but her words has already entered Layla’s ears.

“At T, T—Tochern?”

Layla was shocked beyond belief when she heard Dooha’s words.

Luckily, she didn’t mention that they spent their first night in a cave.

“No, to think of doing that in such a dangerous place, wait…”

Layla pressed on her temples and tried to calm down.

She huffed momentarily, before asking in a sincerely worry-filled voice.

“So the Madam truly likes the Duke?”

“Yes.”

Perhaps she would have refused the duke if she wasn’t sure of her own feelings.

Although bodily contact still felt awkward, she didn’t hate it either.

“Leonhart and I feel the same way. So don’t worry too much, Layla.”

“Right now, I’m not worried!”

Dooha turned her head when she heard her handmaiden’s voice tremble all of a sudden.

“…Layla? Are you crying?”

“No, I’m not!”

Layla cried as she wiped the corner of her eyes.

“I was just worried that Madam would be unhappy with this marriage, but now I wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.”

An unhappy marriage, that wasn’t wrong.

It had obviously started in that manner.

Dooha looked downwards at the hands that were gripping the blanket.

She still saw a hand that was rough and calloused.

It wasn’t all that much different from when she’d left Bashal.

But unlike at that place, she could do a lot with these hands.

She could get rare medicinal herbs, defeat monsters, save someone’s life, punish the wicked, or check the body temperature of the man that was in her heart.

She’d given up on everything when she left Bashal, and thought that she had nothing, but that wasn’t the case.

Ever since she came to Esbaden, there were many more things in her grasp.

“Layla.”

Dooha raised her head and looked at her handmaiden.

There was a faint smile on the corners of her mouth.

“I think I’m a little happy.”

Those words were truly filled with sincerity.

* * *

The second day of the carnival passed by in the blink of an eye.

After rolling in bed with the Duke from morning, she spent her time listening to Layla’s nagging, and the day ended.

The next day.

Dooha vowed not to spend the last day of the carnival in vain and opened her eyes early in the morning.

Leonhart seemed busy preparing this and that, saying he’ll be heading to the Imperial capital soon.

Thanks to that, in order to escape the Duke’s eyes, Dooha went to the annex after leaving the bedroom.

“Dooha, does your ankle hurt a lot?”

Margaret welcomed Dooha, who hadn’t visited in a long time, happily, but a sad look appeared on her face.

She looked at the bandage that was wrapped around her ankle.

“I’m fine, I’m feeling much better.”

She couldn’t believe that a joint, which was perfectly fine after she fell off a cliff, would have a problem when she fell off a roof.

Although she was unable to summon the power of the wind because the incident happened in an instant, she found it ridiculous when she thought about it.

“That’s a huge relief, then. Recently, I didn’t even see Leonhart, so I was worried about both of you.”

Margaret spoke affectionately to Muffin, the cat in her arms.

“Right, Muffin? Muffin, you were also quite worried, right?”

Nyaaa—

The cat yawned after letting out a soulless cry.

Dooha frowned.

‘I still can’t believe it. The fact that that cat is the owner of the White Pagoda.’

But why did the owner of the White Pagoda have to turn into a cat and stick beside Margaret?

‘Don’t tell me it’s out of an impure purpose…’

Just as Dooha was harbouring a reasonable doubt, a sharp voice rang in her head.

— What’s this stupid lass talking about? Do you want to die?

* * *