Ch#83
“......What are you......!”
As the flustered Odellie freaked out, he merely removed the ring and placed it in her palm.
He had no intention of crossing the line, so he didn’t take it away.
As if the significance lay in severing the string from the start.
It was clearly a final warning.
“I’m telling you not to care about some dead person and to look at me.”
“......”
“Whatever he left behind, it’s none of my concern since he’s dead. Focus on me, right in front of you.”
“......”
“What is your goal, Duchess? To steal the Grand Duke title and usurp power? To heal my sickly body and deranged mind, making me unable to live without you? Or, unable to forget the dead man, do you plan to use me as his replacement?”
His voice was calm, but the emotion lurking within was not coldness—it was heat.
Like a flame slowly kindling, then erupting uncontrollably in an instant.
“Do whatever you want. If it’s to use me, I’ll gladly let you.”
“......”
“But do it in front of me.”
Rudvil brought his lips close to Odellie’s ear and whispered softly.
“Once you’re in my grasp, I won’t allow you to think of anyone else. If it’s to fill that emptiness in your heart, then empty everything and engrave my name—Rudvil—into it.”
Stroking the ring on her left ring finger slowly, he said.
“I hope that necklace never goes around your neck again.”
The wedding ring he had newly placed on her.
Forget the deceased now and let this replace it—that was the meaning.
Odellie flinched in fear without realizing it.
Because Rudvil seemed as if he might even kiss her.
Just like at the wedding.
Her heart tightened sharply.
But he quietly drew back without doing anything.
Before Odellie could even breathe a sigh of relief, Rudvil continued.
“Are you startled?”
He chuckled softly.
The sharp tension from moments ago had vanished as if it had never been.
“Shall I help you undress?”
“Pardon?”
At the sudden suggestion, Odellie jumped.
And looked down at her clothes.
She was still in the light purple dress from the banquet.
“......Why would I take this off?”
“It looks uncomfortable to sleep in.”
Realizing she’d asked a foolish question, she clamped her mouth shut.
Since she had a chemise underneath, it wouldn’t be that embarrassing even if she took off the frilly dress.
It wasn’t now, but soon the bold trend of chemise dresses would come into fashion anyway….
As Rudvil loosened his formal attire by unbuttoning it, he said.
“No need to be tense. As you said, we’re just going to sleep.”
His voice was low and calm, but laced with a suppressed amusement.
He seemed to find her unusually overreactive state entertaining.
“I wouldn’t touch you if you dislike it.”
......Then if she didn’t dislike it, if she permitted it, he would touch her?
No, what about Article 9?
Treat each other with all personal feelings completely excluded!
‘Huh?’
Odellie belatedly realized that the clause specified only ‘emotions,’ not prohibiting physical relations.
So...... she couldn’t block it with the clause.
Should she suggest rewriting the contract right now?
‘I should have specified it more clearly back then......’
This was why contracts needed to be reviewed twice, thrice….
As she mentally redrafted the contract in her head.
Rudvil sat at the edge of the bed, patting the spot beside him as if beckoning her over.
“Let me help.”
“No thanks. I can do it myself.”
Odellie turned her back to him warily.
But naturally, the dress was structured to be difficult to remove alone.
Even knowing that well, she stubbornly resisted while hyper-aware of him, which irritated her.
Rudvil eventually rose slowly without a word.
From bed to bed.
It was a short distance, but it felt strangely elongated, as if someone had stretched time.
Odellie sat still with her gaze lowered, but she instinctively shrugged her shoulders at his approaching presence from behind.
At that moment, he whispered very softly into her ear.
“Don’t be scared. I’m just helping without any ulterior motives.”
The moment his hand touched the thin ribbon tied at the back of her dress, she felt his fingertips tremble faintly.
A slow, careful motion to untie the knot.
It was so languid that the tension felt even more suffocating.
“Eek.”
Then, the hand trying to untie the ribbon ended up tightening the waist cord instead.
Odellie swallowed softly, and only then did Rudvil pause in embarrassment.
“......Ah, sorry.”
An unskilled Rudvil.
It hit her anew.
He wasn’t the man who had dressed and undressed Odellie hundreds, thousands of times.
He handled the dress as if touching a woman’s for the first time.
‘......He really had nothing to do with those Blue-Eyed Women.’
Not even a one-night dalliance.
She’d vaguely thought so, but now she was certain.
In that instant, enlightenment flashed through her.
‘Then the kiss on the wedding day was like that because...... it was actually his first time?’
“......”
It felt like a blow to the head.
To the amnesiac Rudvil, all of this was naturally his first time.
No matter how much he searched for the Blue-Eyed Woman or whatever...... what he felt was just a vague sensation, with no actual memories.
Somehow, Odellie felt even more foolish for being so tense.
“It’s your first time, isn’t it.”
“......Is that a complaint?”
No.
She was inwardly glad about it, yet troubled by that very fact.
Rudvil adjusted his posture, loosened the knot slightly with one hand, and this time untied the ribbon with improved movements.
Odellie remained utterly still.
The breaths, movements, and warmth of his fingertips felt over her shoulder.
No words were spoken, but her every sense screamed with information.
A while later, once her attire was lighter, the two lay down on the bed.
In the darkened room, Odellie kept her eyes closed in silence.
But Rudvil wouldn’t stay still.
“So......”
“......”
“What else have you lied to me about.”
“Pardon?”
“Back at the banquet hall. You said your body wasn’t weak. That you’re healthy as long as you don’t overexert your abilities. Do I have to hear from Gawin Cardell that you used to vomit blood frequently in the past?”
“......”
She hadn’t lied.
She’d just intentionally concealed it….
But bringing it up now would be like fanning the flames.
“It’s not that frequent.”
“‘Not that frequent’?”
Rudvil echoed her words with a hollow laugh.
Because that answer itself implied vomiting blood was a regular occurrence.
