24 - How to Survive as the Wife of a Monster Duke
How to Survive as a Monster Duke's Wife
Episode 24: "I see you're still choosing your question."
He smiled.
Illyin found his faint laughter a little, just a little, annoying.
He clearly knew what she was thinking and was asking anyway.
Aden reached out and swept back her hair.
His hand slipped into the strands that had fallen due to her bowed head.
His hand, tangled in the long, soft silver hair, caressed her ear.
He touched her soft earlobe a few times, then caressed her ear and the back of it.
Illyin flinched at the distinct sensation spreading from her ear throughout her body.
There was no room to question him.
"You always closed your eyes when you saw me."
Or turned your head away.
Aden followed the end of her gaze, which could now meet his freely.
Illyin couldn't completely avoid his gaze.
Come to think of it, he had said he could see me even in the dark.
That meant he had been watching me trying to avoid his gaze every night.
Illyin parted her lips slightly.
"...So that's why you came to Den."
'It's okay here.'
"It wasn't that it was okay here, it was just that Aden was okay."
Milo was the only one who ended up pitiful.
Illyin couldn't help but laugh as she thought of Essid's Merchant Leader, who had been embarrassed.
"You should treat your subordinates well."
Aden thought of the Delos people busily running around on the 7th floor not long ago.
"...I am treating them well."
If Milo had heard him, he would have cried and beat the ground.
Aden leaned over and collapsed her onto the bed.
The cloud-like cotton comforter enveloped her.
Small, he thought.
"But lying would be wrong, wouldn't it?"
He thought of the lie that had ended quickly thanks to Illyin's intelligence.
What would have happened if Illyin hadn't found out for a long time?
He was afraid of being caught, but he was even more afraid of that.
Could a relationship built on lies continue properly even after the lie was exposed?
If it was discovered at the point of no return, wouldn't Illyin be disappointed in me and leave?
"Ah,"
Illyin wanted to say yes.
But instead, she could only clench the comforter tightly.
"I gave you everything on our wedding night. So there's nothing I can use as punishment."
You said there was nothing an mistress shouldn't do.
Aden whispered as he poured over her.
I lied, so I deserve to be punished.
Aden chuckled softly.
He trapped Illyin between his arms, raised one hand, and took Illyin's hand.
"Instead, you've found my weakness,"
He brought Illyin's hand to his neck.
The throbbing of the fiercely beating artery was transmitted directly to Illyin's hand.
"Use me."
\\
Illyin, who held power in her soft hand, demanded two things of Aden that night.
"Then today, only up to here."
The first order was a very cruel one.
With her back against the bed, Illyin raised her index finger and blocked his lips.
Aden was the Winter Duke who ruled Biften, and above all, the owner of the strength to instantly cut off a Monster's head with a sword, but he stopped immediately at that small gesture.
As if he had touched a solid wall.
"Is this an eviction order?"
Illyin smiled at his words.
"No, instead, please stay with me until it gets light today."
I've never seen the sunrise with you before.
Illyin stroked his cheek.
After that, it was a truly wholesome night that even Chief Physician Bess would be satisfied with.
Illyin lay with her head on his lap and told him about her dream.
She had seen so many landscapes.
"The fields were endlessly wide. There were also huge cliffs..."
The landscape of Biften flowing from her mouth was unfamiliar yet familiar to Aden.
Thanks to his long combat experience, he could guess where the terrain she was talking about was.
He didn't know all of the Winter Territory, but there was no way he wouldn't know the major terrain.
But the landscape she was talking about was different from what he remembered.
Biften in his memory was naturally covered in snow.
On the other hand, what Illyin was talking about was a landscape so bright that it was hard to believe it was Biften.
Illyin had never been to the Winter Territory.
Aden said that seeing that landscape seemed to be an effect of the succession ceremony.
"Have you ever seen a landscape at the succession ceremony, Aden?"
But he had no choice but to shake his head at Illyin's question.
After thinking about it, he told her about a painting he had seen when he was young.
"To be exact, I don't know if it was a painting or an afterimage."
What he saw was a landscape that seemed to be painted entirely in yellow, as if there was nothing but yellow paint.
And that was only for a very short time.
"You've never had a long dream like me."
"It's a phenomenon I've never seen at a succession ceremony."
That's why I was so worried.
Aden sighed briefly.
When Illyin saw the worry on his face, she stroked his cheek with the back of her hand.
"And... I also had a nightmare."
Illyin, who had been talking about the landscape for a long time, only brought up the nightmare around four in the morning.
Aden listened quietly to her long dream story.
"I... I had a dream that I was leaving the Winter Territory."
It was a story that started cautiously at first.
Hesitating, she unfolded a little more of the story.
"I woke up in Arlen Fief... To be exact, I,"
Illyin hesitated as she looked at him.
"I had a dream that I was divorced from Aden and kicked out of Biften."
Aden briefly commented on the dream.
"That's a load of crap."
The reason he bothered to use such a vulgar and strong expression was to strongly assert that such a thing would never happen.
Illyin smiled.
"I know, I know now."
But I was still anxious in the dream.
She whispered.
After that, the dream story continued.
Aden recalled the Arlen Fief that Milo had investigated.
Milo said that above all, it was strange that Illyin, who was the precious daughter of the Arlen family, didn't even have an exclusive Maid.
Aden gave her a light kiss every time she looked anxious while she was talking.
Then, as his touch gradually became more intimate, Illyin tapped his hand with a seemingly angry face.
"Bad hand."
Then he quietly moved away from her.
Still, the anxiety had faded a lot from Illyin's smiling face.
He was only allowed to stroke her cheeks, so he thought while secretly stroking the back of Illyin's head.
If it was revealed as a concrete nightmare, I can't even imagine what her time in Arlen Fief was like.
Biften is evaluated as a terrifying place where even Sunfolk can't approach.
And yet, coming here was less scary for her than staying in the Fief.
That meant that the time she had lived in Arlen Fief was that terrible.
"Illyin will not leave this place."
Never.
Aden kissed her forehead.
"Because I saw Aden's face?"
...I didn't even think about letting you go from the moment I asked.
Aden couldn't help but smile at her words.
A little later, he had to be scolded again as a 'bad hand'.
"I've been having Precognitive dreams since I was seven years old."
During the long night, he also heard the story he wanted to hear.
Knowing that he couldn't ask easily, Illyin started the story as if to soothe him.
"You don't have to say anything that's difficult to talk about."
Aden said cautiously, but Illyin smiled.
"I'm okay now."
Illyin's small heartbeat throbbed in him.
"I don't know why I have this ability. My mother did, my grandmother did, and I heard that everyone above them dreamed."
She couldn't explain the origin of the ability.
Instead, she told him something else.
What happened to her when she was seven years old.
"I saw my younger sibling die."
After that, what I saw in the dream with the Mobile always happened as it was.
Illyin whispered.
"My mother wanted to prevent Sid's death, but..."
When she was prevented from even approaching the terrace, she fell down the stairs.
Aden held her trembling hand tightly.
"I'm afraid of having bad dreams."
If I foresee it, I won't be able to stop it from happening.
"You must have been very scared when you saw the avalanche."
"Still... it was okay because I didn't see anyone get hurt then."
It was still okay.
Illyin buried her face in his arms.
"Don't get hurt, Den."
She shook her head gently as she hugged him tightly.
I don't want to see scary things.
In dreams, and in reality.
Aden, who was comforting her, had to hear the 'bad hand' sound for the third time.
Still, Illyin was smiling.
He wiped away her tears and became a 'bad hand' for the fourth time.
The tyrant, not the tyrant, Illyin tormented him like that all night.
He tried a small rebellion before leaving, but in the end, he fell to Illyin's hand.
The two of them spent a very quiet night like that.
\\
Fortunately, the succession ceremony was properly completed.
The elders of the three families were worried that the succession ceremony might have gone wrong because of the strange phenomenon, but Aden's Authority was intact.
The problem was the cause of the strange phenomenon.
Aden didn't care about the three elders asking him to show them that the Authority had been properly inherited.
Now that his power had returned properly, he didn't care whether they wailed at the thought that their shield might disappear.
'Your Highness, are you alright?'
Aden smiled bitterly as he recalled Lidan of Nose running up and asking.
What he was worried about was not the Duke who was inheriting the power, nor the priest who had collapsed on the spot, but Lidan himself.
It would be difficult to survive in Biften without the Lord's Authority.
Moreover, this year was an unusually cold winter with strong northwesterly winds.
He must have been anxious with the Yester race running wild.
'I had a long dream.'
Aden tapped the desk.
At night, Illyin said that the Precognitive dream ability was passed down through the maternal line.
Judging from how Earl Arlen reacted, it seemed that he did not know anything about dreams and married the Countess.
"There were many priests who were Sunfolk..."
He thought of Aegis's report.
The records that Aegis had found when Illyin did not wake up included stories about the Duchesses of all time who came from the Sunlands.
The only unique thing about Illyin compared to them was her Precognitive dream ability.
An ability with an unclear origin.
Aden spread out his hand.
The Lord's Authority is also an ability whose origin and how it came to be are unclear.
The abilities used by the Monsters, which do not exist in the Sunlands, are the same.
"Aegis."
"Yes."
Aegis, who was outside the room, responded immediately.
"Find out about Lady Arlen. Where she came from."
I wanted to ask Illyin, but then the purpose of the question would become too clear.
I couldn't touch her wounds because of curiosity.
He didn't ask any deeper questions at night either.
He just listened to what she had to say.
He wanted to ask several more times, but he kept his mouth shut.
Perhaps realizing that he was backing down, Illyin smiled lovingly.
'It's okay.'
Do you know what kind of expression you were making when you said that?
Aden closed his eyes.
Even if you say that with such a difficult expression, it's not convincing at all.
After Aegis left, Aden spread out his hand again.
His Authority, which had become more stable after receiving the succession ceremony, illuminated the surroundings of the mansion.
Today, the mansion will be warm.
