Chapter 211: A Fate to Avoid
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 211: A Fate to Avoid
I surrendered myself comfortably to the gentle pressure.
With my face pleasantly cool and my body warm, a wave of lethargy soon washed over me. Noticing my drowsiness, Loik whispered softly into my ear.
"Take a nap."
You must be tired from the ride.
I gave a small nod and soon drifted into a deep sleep.
The sound of soft, rhythmic breathing filled the air. A delicate chest rose and fell slowly within his embrace. Once Loik was certain Annette was fully asleep, he loosened his hold slightly and looked down at her pale face. Seeing her truly asleep brought him a sense of relief.
She hasn't been sleeping well lately.
Recently, Annette had been tossing and turning frequently in the night. Seeing her wake up every time he left for dawn training made him realize she wasn't falling into a deep sleep. In response, the personal physician, Hosen, had prescribed that making her body more fatigued would help her sleep better.
That quack.
Did he even realize how much work Annette did all day with that fragile body of hers? Besides, she was already being tormented by Loik for hours every night before bed. Still, seeing her fall asleep so quickly after a ride, perhaps the physician wasn't entirely wrong.
As she slept, Annette’s brow furrowed slightly.
Is she dreaming again?
Instead of smoothing her brow with his hand, Loik carefully pressed his lips against it. Seeing her long eyelashes flutter sent a surge of thirst through him. He wanted to press his lips against every inch of her body and savor her soft skin.
Loik bit his lip in frustration. Whether indoors or out, he was finding it increasingly difficult to restrain his beast-like urges.
— "I'm told I'm Loik's companion."
Annette had spoken those words tenderly, as if the imprint were some sweet brand of fate, but he knew better. That was the naive talk of someone who didn't realize how persistent and insidious a dragon's obsession could be. All day long, he could think of nothing but holding her and touching her. He was only desperately pretending to be normal for fear that she might grow tired of him.
Loik was certainly not normal.
She smells so good.
Just as he was about to pull her soft body closer to savor her sweet scent, the sound of a galloping horse echoed from the distance.
It was Norton.
Given that the knight usually avoided disturbing him when he was with Annette, something must have happened for him to seek them out here. Loik rose slowly, careful not to wake her. Norton, sensing the mood, stopped his horse a good distance away.
Loik strode toward him. He was just about to shoot a look that said he wouldn't let this slide if it wasn't important when Norton’s tense voice reached his ears.
"Duke Kyle has appeared."
The situation Loik had feared most had finally come to pass.
"It appears he used a subordinate's identification plaque."
Standing before the reporting Norton, Loik clenched his fists, struggling to remain calm. Instead of traveling by land like Marchioness Frais or the Saintess, Duke Kyle had crossed the border toward Rondoris and entered by ship. Inspections at the port were somewhat more lenient than passing through the main city walls.
"We would have missed him if we hadn't been keeping a close watch on the ducal house."
Loik already knew that the priest outside the walls had sent a letter to the Duke's residence. He had stationed several eyes there in case the Duke decided to act on the Saintess's behalf. Thanks to that, they were able to detect Duke Kyle entering Blenheim under a false identity.
Loik considered his options carefully. He could arrest Duke Kyle immediately for identity forgery. However, the man was a Duke of the Empire. He couldn't be punished or expelled from Blenheim like some common thug. Furthermore, the moment he was recognized, Loik would have no choice but to treat him with the respect due to a Duke.
Then Annette would find out.
That was absolutely out of the question.
Cold sweat ran down Loik's back. How hard had he worked, throwing himself at her, just to erase the Duke from Annette's memory? He could never allow the two of them to meet again.
Loik rubbed his brow irritably. "Where is he now?"
"We've confirmed he took a room at an inn near the port."
Should he take a few knights right now and quietly escort him out of the territory? If he moved quickly before Annette noticed...
"She'd hate it, wouldn't she?"
"The Consort, I mean."
Loik avoided Norton's gaze and asked tentatively, "She'd hate it if I kept the Duke's presence a secret, right?"
After a moment of thought, Norton offered the kind of answer Loik wanted to hear.
"It wouldn't be that you're intentionally keeping a secret, but rather that you simply didn't find it necessary to mention, would it not?"
However, the idea of hiding something from Annette didn't sit well with Loik. He had never kept a secret from her to begin with. Hadn't he even bared the curse he'd hidden his whole life the very first time they met?
Ultimately, Loik set his jaw and spoke. "Leave him be."
Norton’s eyes widened. For the usually expressionless Norton, this was practically a look of pure horror.
"He's likely here because of the Saintess anyway."
The Saintess, who had been thoroughly humiliated at the opening ceremony, was still staying at the temple for some reason instead of returning to the capital. Since the Duke's goal was likely to meet her, he would probably head toward Pogen Temple.
The Captain of the Imperial Knights had entered the Grand Duke's territory under a false identity. Duke Kyle was taking a significant risk himself.
"Unless he's a fool, he won't do anything to draw attention. Let him take the Saintess and leave quietly."
He wouldn't bring up Kyle's name in front of Annette. This wasn't keeping a secret. It was simply something Loik didn't know about.
"I never received a report. Understood?"
Understanding the command, Norton swallowed hard. "I will station a few knights nearby instead."
Loik gave a small nod, signaling that Norton should handle that as he saw fit. Watching Norton depart, Loik quietly settled back down on the picnic mat. When Annette stirred slightly in her sleep, Loik quickly lay down beside her.
"Sleep more, Annette."
As he pulled her, blanket and all, into his firm arms, her small head burrowed into his chest.
I will never let anyone take Annette.
Patting the fluffy blanket, Loik’s eyes gleamed with a vivid, possessive light.
*
Early morning, at a small shopping district near Buskin Port.
The women who had just opened their shops were engaged in casual conversation.
"The weather is getting colder."
A woman draped in a shawl asked Mrs. Sully, who was sweeping. "Are you knitting scarves this year?"
"Where would I find the time for that? I'm too busy," Mrs. Sully replied, her face full of energy even so early in the morning.
Until last year, the flow of people to the port would cut off abruptly as soon as the weather turned cold, forcing her to knit scarves as a side job. Although the number of tourists had increased dramatically this year, she had assumed the customers would inevitably stop coming once the temperature dropped.
However, thanks to the hot spring hotel that had recently opened, the port was becoming more crowded by the day.
"If anything, I'm going to have to hire more staff."
The situation was the same for the other shops, and everyone’s face was bright with joy.
"Oh, by the way, I heard a new job order came into Couter?" one of the women asked. "Jenny said it was for making some kind of sleeves?"
Jenny was Mrs. Sully's daughter, who worked at the Couter boutique.
"Detachable sleeves," Mrs. Sully answered triumphantly, stopping her sweeping. "They're clothes designed so you can swap out just the sleeves."
"I heard about that from Mrs. Benet!" another woman said, clapping her hands. "She said it's very convenient because if the sleeves get dirty, you can just wash those."
"What would noble lords need to wash their own sleeves for?"
"Oh, that's for people like us. Noblewomen probably change them just to suit their mood."
"I'll have to take a good look at how those sleeves are attached."
"Even if I'm busy, I have to take the work Couter gives me."
Work from Couter was more than just a side job; it was a golden opportunity to experience the latest fashions of the high-born ladies.
"By the way, I heard Her Highness the Consort is coming to Couter today?" the women asked, their eyes sparkling.
"It was the Consort herself who came up with the idea for the detachable sleeves," Mrs. Sully informed them, as if sharing top-secret information.
"I should take a little stroll past the boutique later," someone said excitedly. "I might even get to see Her Highness."
It was hard to find anyone in the North who didn't like the Grand Duchess now, but the shopkeepers who ran the businesses admired her especially. The women were all chiming in, saying they would go too, when one of them, who was facing the main road, suddenly lowered her voice and turned serious.
"Three o'clock."
At those words, the women instinctively turned their heads while pretending to continue their conversation. Mrs. Sully, who had been sweeping, also shifted her body slightly.
A tall man dressed as a traveler was walking down the street. Although he wore a black hood pulled low, it didn't completely hide his face. Beneath his faintly visible cream-colored blond hair were sharp eyes and a straight nose. Even at a glance, he was a handsome man who exuded an air of nobility.
The women stole quick glances at the man, trying not to be obvious. Mrs. Sully, who had been watching him while sweeping the air, froze as the man began walking toward her.
A face so beautiful it could enchant anyone in an instant smiled at her.