73 – Competitive Love
The sunlight streaming in through the window. The warmth you feel in your arms.
I hugged Shael even more warmly in my arms and turned her body.
“⋯⋯ Wake up.”
Then, a pleasant voice is heard. I opened my eyes and looked around.
“Shael?”
Shael is looking at me from my arms. That Sael woke up earlier than me.
It’s not easy to believe. Because Shael slept a lot.
“Let go of your arm.”
Shael lifted her arm. Who was she hugging first last night?
Still, I didn’t bother to bruise Shael. She only hugged Shael tighter.
After that, I lowered my eyes to appreciate Shael’s face, which must have been blushing.
“⋯.”
As expected, Shael’s face was red. I will be the same too.
I said to Shael.
“Are you going to hug me all night?”
“That is what I want to say.”
The subject that I embraced first, I am confident. So I told Shael.
“I need to get some more sleep.”
“Get up.”
Even at Sael’s words, I closed my eyes. It feels cozy. Because I was still hugging Shael.
“⋯⋯ Wake up.”
I didn’t respond to Sael’s order, which was mixed with irritation, and took a deep breath as if I was sleeping.
“I know you’re not sleeping…”
Yesterday, how did Shael act?
He let out a cute breathing sound.
To be honest, I feel like I’m losing face…
I also let out the unnatural and awkward breathing so that Shael could hear it.
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Even though it was embarrassing, the results were good. Because as soon as Shael heard her breathing, I could feel her stiffen.
He was probably thinking about what happened last night.
You must be wondering if I was awake.
She must have recognized that her own acting was clumsy.
“⋯⋯Me, Kiyo.”
I could tell from Sael’s trembling voice. She spent a long time hugging Shael pretending to sleep.
* * *
After spending time hugging Shael, it was her turn to eat. She completed a brief preparation with Shael.
After that, I left Sael’s room and walked around the Azbel family’s mansion.
Duke Jespen walks from across the hallway. He said as if he was happy.
“⋯⋯ Eran.”
Duke Jespen smiled and added,
“I heard that you spent the night in Shael’s room.”
“⋯.”
I had no choice but to remain silent. Although nothing happened…
She’s not even married yet and she spends the night with Shael.
Even for her fiancé, this was disrespectful.
However, Duke Jespen was rather smiling happily as if he liked it. Duke Jespen’s gaze stayed on Shael.
I also turned my head to Shael.
Shael’s face is more red than ever. Like, she’s making a face as if something embarrassing happened last night.
‘⋯⋯ Then it looks weird.’
Spending the night together in the same room, blushing her like that.
Maybe Shael is thinking about last night, she pretends to sleep and she hugs me ⋯⋯.
You will look different in the eyes of others.
So it’s obvious what Duke Jespen will think.
It was also a situation where there was no choice but to be suspicious of the situation from the start.
Duke Jespen turned his head. His gaze is now on me.
“⋯.”
Duke Jespen, who was about to say something, shut his mouth.
It was obvious what the words could not come out. It must be about Shael and my marriage.
It was clear that I stopped talking behind my back so that Shael and I wouldn’t feel burdened.
I’ve heard it a few times before, but…
That was probably only a half-hearted joke.
It’s different now. Now that Shael and I are expressing our passionate affection, we should seriously think about getting married.
‘It’s a marriage to Sael.’
You must be very happy. Daily life that is not much different from now will continue.
It will be decidedly different. This is a fact that can be seen when looking at Sael and I, who have changed after confirming our feelings for each other.
“Let me go first.”
While I was silent, Duke Jespen went first to Azbel Street’s restaurant. It gave Shael and me a little time to talk.
I immediately asked Shael.
“How do you feel about marriage?”
“⋯Marriage⋯⋯.”
Of course, it was Shael who was blushing. I gave her time to draw her conclusions.
Shael’s worried mouth opened.
“⋯⋯.”
Precisely, it only opened. Perhaps because of shame, Shael was unable to say anything.
“It’s not even crucian carp… Let’s stop puking and go eat.”
I threw a playful remark at Sael’s appearance, and headed to the Azbel family’s restaurant.
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As you enter the restaurant, you see Duke Jespen. And next to him sat Madame Enella.
As Sael and I sat across from each other, Duke Jespen said.
“I’m glad you seem to be okay.”
Duke Jespen said anxiously. Because I was the one who fainted for 15 days.
When I nodded her head to mean that I was fine, Duke Jespen said with a smile on her face.
“I was so worried that Shael wouldn’t even come home.”
I turned to Shael at the words of Duke Jespen.
Were the worries so great?
Even though she woke up after 15 days, Sael was right in front of her nose, so she expected it, but ⋯⋯.
Do you think that prediction is true? I feel sorry for Shael, but also grateful.
The only thing you can see is Shael’s hand gently placed on her table. Unbearably, I held Shael’s hand.
“⋯!”
Shael responds by shaking her body.
Duke Jespen and Lady Enella are watching us. Sends me a gaze with such a meaning.
Because Shael’s hand I was holding was on the table.
It meant that the overlapping Shael and my hands could be seen by Duke Jespen and Mrs. Enella.
Of course, it wasn’t that important to me. I proudly held Shael’s hand and grinned.
“⋯⋯ Hoo.”
What you hear is an exclamation from Duke Jespen. It was what he spat out while seeing Shael not rejecting my touch.
Duke Jespen, who was watching us with envy, also held the hand of Mrs. Enella next to us.
“⋯.”
Duke Jespen had a mischievous smile. As if feeling a sense of competition, he looks at Shael.
This time he put his hand on Madame Enella’s shoulder.
The distance between the two was so close that it could almost be said that they hugged each other.
Then he looks at me and Shael.
I said ‘You guys can’t do this?’. It felt as if those words were coming even though Duke Jespen didn’t open his mouth.
No matter how good Kim Seul is, it will not be easy to show affection in front of her daughter and her fiancé.
Madame Enella sighed and opened her mouth.
“⋯⋯Jespen.”
“⋯ Hmm.”
Despite Madame Enella’s words, Duke Jespen did not stop. He coughed and just looked at me and Shael.
Shael, who looked like his pride was hurt by Duke Jespen’s actions, began to move.
Exactly, he ordered me. Shael’s gaze. Even though her face is red, she makes a face as if asking me to do something.
You have understood Sael’s signal. I hugged Shael dearly.
“⋯!”
Duke Jespen surprised. It has to be. Even at that close distance, Sael didn’t reject me.
Duke Jespen, who made an expression as if he couldn’t lose, moved closer to Mrs. Enella, but…
Fortunately, Madame Enella stopped the situation.
Duke Jespen, who had been making an expression of regret, opened his mouth. Suddenly, his expression became serious.
“A letter came saying that my sister, who had left the empire, would return.”
“⋯?”
This is the first time I’ve heard of it. Even in the novel, I couldn’t read this situation.
There’s no way the story of the Azbel family will be dealt with in detail in the novel.
I listened to Duke Jespen’s words.
“Rayel Azbel. No, it must be Rayel Tarden now.”
“⋯⋯ Why do you look bad?”
I asked while looking at Duke Jespen’s expression. First of all, if it’s a family, it’s Duke Jespen who pours all his affection.
It would be normal if you were smiling enough to tear your mouth apart.
To think that he was making a troubled expression at the visit of his sister, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.
I was sure.
A person named Rayel Tarden is obviously not a normal person.
She turned her head to Sael, but Sael also tilted her head.
‘Hasn’t Sael also met recently?’
Then you can easily guess how eccentric Rayel is.
You said you left the empire for a long period of time, smiting your identity as a duke’s bloodline?
He must have had a unique way of thinking. After that, Shael and I questioned Duke Jespen to learn more about Rayel Tarden.
* * *
Duke Jespen and Mrs. Enella, who were having a conversation together, left the restaurant first. Me and Shael were still at the restaurant.
It was to give Sael a dessert. He took out a cookie and handed it to Shael.
Perhaps thinking that would be the start of a warm embrace, Shael ate the cookie with her face blushing.
“⋯?”
But I didn’t hug Shael. I want to hug Shael right now.
Sael also wanted to concede so that she could embrace me with her own strength.
Shael’s hand gently placed on her shoulder. The distance with Shael that gets closer little by little.
If you come a little closer now, it will be a perfect hug…
It wasn’t easy for Sael.
“⋯.”
Just a little bit more, if Sael could pluck up her courage, she would be fine.
I cheered for Shael in my heart. She said that she would be able to hug me confidently, leaving behind that shame.
“I can’t…”
Shael blurted out his backbiting. When Sael was thinking about how to endure the shame. It was then that I felt the popularity.
A woman’s voice was heard.
“Shael, this is frustrating.”
She immediately turned her head away. A woman with sky-blue hair and eyes that symbolizes the Azbel family comes into her eyes.
Rayel Tarden. She was a woman who perfectly matched the image of Rayel Tarden described by Duke Jespen.
After thinking for a moment, the woman opened her mouth.
“Then it will be taken away.”
Then she added with her mischievous smile.
“There are rumors that the Empire is changing the law to make breakups easier these days.”
Shael looks at her woman with a bewildered expression. It was the first meeting of two women who were in conflict with each other.