When The Cruel Villain Seduces Me - Chapter 121

Drawing the curtains meticulously before trying to put on the dress, she soon came across trouble.

 

‘What……?’

 

The straps on the back side of the dress were loose and she couldn’t tighten it. She thought that the strap had to be tightened to see if it fit around her waist.

 

Nelia looked back in the mirror, she arranged the string in their proper places and tried to tighten it on her own, but she couldn’t.

 

Instead, the strap was twisted everywhere.

 

“Uh… What should I do?”

 

Nelia spoke in a hushed voice at the person outside while holding the dress so that it wouldn’t slide down her body.

 

“Excuse me……”

 

“Yes?”

 

Fortunately, the store owner answered immediately.

 

“I think I need someone’s assistance to tie the strap.”

 

“I’m sorry for that! I stupidly forgot that the dress had straps.”

 

“It’s fine, can you call a female shopkeeper for me?”

 

After Nelia asked, she heard the store owner’s footsteps running around. However, he soon returned and spoke with a bewildered tone.

 

“Oh, gosh, our female employee is currently away. I think you’ll have to wait for a while.”

 

“It’s all right…… I’ll wait for her, let her in when she returns.”

 

Having said so, Nelia held the loose dress around her body properly.

 

No one would come in anyway, but she felt anxious to wear a loose dress while waiting for someone to come to help her.

 

However, contrary to the store owner’s words, someone came through the curtain shortly after.

 

When Nelia thought how rude the shopkeeper was as she came inside without saying anything first, she saw the one she faced and immediately shut her mouth.

 

“I’ll tie it for you.”

 

It was Duke Hart.

 

Nelia spoke in a hurry out of embarrassment.

 

“What would they think if you come in like this, Your Grace?!”

 

“You can’t just keep waiting for a female employee whom you don’t know when would come.”

 

The duke said so and turned Nelia around. He loosened the tangled straps on her back one by one with his long fingers.

 

It wasn’t as if they were doing anything bad, but she felt embarrassed because there were just them both in such a private room.

 

“What would the store owner think of us……”
“He’d think we’re special.”

 

The duke said while focusing his gaze on the straps. The way he was untangling it with his eyes downcast looked somehow sensual.

 

Nelia swallowed secretly.

 

The duke, who had finished untangling the tangled straps, put the string in their place and began to tighten them.

 

“Tell me if it’s too tight.”

 

The duke slowly applied force in it. Nelia felt her chest tightening slowly inside the increasingly tight dress.

 

Nelia exclaimed when the fabric of the dress finally clung to her waist.

 

“I think you can stop tightening it……!”

 

The duke smiled and released the force he was applying to the strap. Then, he tied a knot using the straps.

 

The dress hugged Nelia’s body in  a proper shape.

 

The dress was quite pretty despite the fact it was just a sample.

 

Nelia asked the duke.

 

“What do you think?”

 

“It suits you very well.”

 

The duke hugged Nelia’s shoulder from behind and dropped his head.

 

“It’s such a shame that we’re not in the mansion.”

 

Nelia’s face turned red like a ripe apple when she understood what the duke meant.

 

***

 

Even after leaving the boutique, Nelia couldn’t relieve the warmth on her cheeks for a while.

 

“Really……”

 

Treating the duke as a servant was a wrong idea in the first place.

 

Not just because she didn’t like being treated this way, she also made him embarrassed.

 

It was quite difficult to pretend to be limping.

 

Nelia decided to remove the bandage from her ankle tomorrow.

 

However the very next day, something unpredictable happened while the duke went to work at the imperial palace as she stayed alone in her room.

 

“Akh!”

 

Nelia fell in a terrible way in the bathroom followed by a thud.

 

Ouch, Nelia got up with a painful frown. However, she felt a sharp pain in her ankle.

 

That also happened to be the ankle which she told the duke was injured.

 

‘Oh, my God……’

 

Did heaven punish her for bothering a spiritual being such as the dragon?

 

She felt she was getting goosebumps on her arms.

 

Nelia quickly called Ton into the room and asked him to make an appointment for the doctor.

 

In the afternoon, the doctor visited the duke’s mansion. He examined Nelia’s ankle and made a diagnosis.

 

“It seems that you’ve sprained your ankle. It will be difficult for you to walk for a while.”

 

The doctor put a new bandage on Nelia’s ankle and left.

 

She was gloomy for the rest of the day.

 

“Did I really get punished by this?”

 

It must be because she was trying to order the duke around. She didn’t like how it turned out at all.

 

She thought that the room looked particularly dim today, perhaps because of the cloudy sky.

 

Perhaps, she felt that way even more because the duke was away at work. She was always attached to the duke, but she felt lonely because they were away for most of the time lately.

 

‘I said I wanted to rest in the mansion, but……’

 

Anyway.

 

Nelia decided to visit her parents at their house after a while because she didn’t want to be alone. She didn’t have a lot of friends to meet because of her small relations.

 

Ton approached Nelia with a quite perplexed expression when she was limping down the stairs.

 

“Do you want to go out, young Lady?”

 

“Yes, I’m going to go home for a bit.”

 

“It must be difficult to walk with those legs. I’ll go with you in case there’s another accident on the way.”

 

Nelia waved her hand.

 

“It’s fine. The carriage will take me right to the front of my house, anyway.”

 

“Even so……”

 

“My parents may feel uncomfortable if we go together, Ton.”

 

“Then I’ll wait outside.”

 

“I can’t let you do that because I will be the one feeling uncomfortable.”

 

Ton was quite stubborn about this. Of course she knew why he was so over-reacting. The duke wouldn’t let it slide if something happened to her.

 

However, it would be weird to follow her to her parents’ house, and it wasn’t just any place.

 

Nelia, who could barely brushed off his persistent tone, climbed into the carriage by herself.

 

It wasn’t raining, but when she looked at the sky filled with dark clouds, she thought a lot of things that used to bother the duke had disappeared now.

 

He’s no longer affected by the weather. The rain still hasn’t stopped pouring.

 

As Sigrid said, all the anger in his heart seemed to have disappeared.

 

Nelia leaned against the window of the carriage and thought about the duke.

 

She missed the duke, who must be at work today. Unfortunately, however, the duke said he would come back late today.

 

Does he have a lot of work that needs to be done lately?

 

‘However, the duke would already be back if I go home slowly after dinner.’

 

Nelia got out of the carriage with that in mind. And she walked to the front door she had been familiar with.

 

Lily and Sean welcomed Nelia with bright expressions despite her unexpected arrival.

 

“Nelia, why did you come without informing us first!”

 

“I just missed both of you.”

 

Nelia smiled helplessly while saying so.

 

‘It’s not like they’re my real parents anyway, but……?’

 

And the time they spent together wasn’t that long either.

 

Nevertheless, Nelia cherished both of them.

 

Since she had no family in her previous life, she used to be shocked at the way Lily and Sean took care of her and got worried for her, even though sometimes she felt it was weird, because she realized that was what parents’ love looked like.

 

Lily and Sean led Nelia in without further ado.

 

Nelia was welcomed by the same scenery.

 

She suddenly recalled the day when she entered Nelia’s body. She didn’t expect to go through all this. Particularly the part where she loved the duke.

 

‘Come to think of it, when will I confess to him……?’

 

She was fed up with putting up an act like she hurt her ankle to the duke, so when she was planning to confess her feelings to the duke, but at last she actually hurt her ankle……

 

“Why don’t you leave after dinner, Nelia?”

 

Nelia, who was thinking about the right time to confess with a deeply troubled expression, decided to put her worries aside when Sean talked to her.

 

“Yes, I was going to eat before leaving.”

 

“Yes, that’s a wise choice.”

 

Lily prepared dinner with the maid excitedly. The dinner was quite a feast.

 

“Woah…… Is this how you eat lately?”

 

“Oh, look at her. Of course not. You came before we finished preparing the meal so I hurriedly prepared the rest with Dina.”

 

Nelia thought it was a good thing that she came home today.

 

It wasn’t because of the fancy dinner, but because she got to see Lily and Sean, who liked the idea of their daughter’s unexpected visit.

 

‘They can’t even see Leighton anymore……’

 

Lily and Sean also didn’t talk about Leighton first as if they’d given up on him, but the void of the missing son still remained in the air.

 

At that moment, Lily asked while putting the main dish, which was grilled salmon, on Nelia’s plate.

 

“Why do you suddenly visit home today? You didn’t even go to the imperial palace with the duke.”

 

“……I got a vacation. That’s why I came home today.”

 

“Vacation?”

 

“Yes, well…… Kind of a reward for myself.”

 

She has helped the duke find Sigrid’s heart, and she actually found it and even helped the duke to a great extent, so this vacation could be treated as a reward in a broad sense.

 

Nelia added when her parents blinked in confusion.

 

“I’m a little tired, too.”

 

Sean nodded.

 

“Right, you’ve been working nonstop beside the duke for quite some time, I think you’ve deserved this opportunity to take a proper rest.”

 

Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since I’ve worked for the duke by his side……

 

Nelia has no appetite today so she only played with the salmon on her plate, and Lily brought up another topic.

 

“Oh, by the way! Nelia, I forgot that I’ve good news for you.”

 

She didn’t know what her mother was going to say, but Lily looked a little overdramatic.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Sir Vanerger, the second son of the Marquis of the Altron, showed interest in you, Nelia.”

 

His appetite seemed to diminish at the unpleasant topic.

 

“he must have said he had interest after he saw me.”

 

Despite Nelia’s sour response, Lily continued in an excited voice as if she was the one who would get married to him.

 

“He said he saw you a few times at the imperial palace.”

 

No one ever talked to her first, so she never thought anyone was looking at her.

 

“What do you think? If you’re interested, I’ll try to set you up, Nelia.”

 

Nelia put down the fork she used to poke the salmon.

 

“I’m not really…….”

 

At that moment, the maid, Dina, entered the dining room at a brisk pace. She whispered to Lily.

 

She didn’t know what her mother heard from the maid, but Lily’s eyes were wide open the next moment.

 

“Is that true?”

 

Lily asked Dina as if confirming it. Dina nodded.

 

Sean asked Lily.

 

“What happened?”

 

After Dina stepped back, Lily jumped out of her seat.

 

“We have a visitor……!”

 

“Guest?”

 

“Yes, I was informed that the Duke of Hart has come for a visit!”

 

Nelia’s eyes widened at the customer’s identity.

 

Duke Hart?

 

Nelia wasn’t the only one who was surprised, but Sean also jumped out of his seat.

 

Sean wiped his hands with a napkin and quickly walked to the front door from the dining room. He was followed by Nelia and Lily.

 

The duke was really there. There was a bouquet of lilies in his hand.

 

Nelia couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

 

‘I had told him I’d come home late today…….!’

 

She never imagined that the duke would come to his house.

 

The duke smiled elegantly resembling the lilies in his hold, and handed the bouquet of flowers to Lily.

 

“I’m sorry I came here all of a sudden. This bouquet, though small, is a gift.”

 

She couldn’t hide her bright smile at the sight of white lilies that resembled the pureness of the lily itself.

 

“I’m sorry……”

 

“I thought all of you must have been surprised.”

 

Lily was as embarrassed as a young lady at the duke’s gentleman manner.

 

“Thank you, I’ll take care of it well.”

 

Sean belatedly greeted the duke.

 

“Welcome, Your Grace.”

 

“Nice to meet you, Count Benedict.”

 

Sean seemed perplexed again when the duke bowed politely.

 

Then, he asked the question that everyone had been wondering about.

 

“But then, what are you coming for……”

***