29. Bedroom

Casis leaned back in his chair at the dining room.

He had been staring at the lunch spread before him, so lavish that the table legs seemed to bend, for quite some time.

‘She does this every mealtime.’

The reasons for not being able to dine together varied each time.

One day she was sick. Another day she was full from snacks eaten during tea time.

His mouth turned bitter as he already anticipated what excuse she would use to refuse the meal today.

While the duke was waiting.

— Knock knock.

A knocking sound echoed through the dining room, seemingly from the maid who had been sent to Adeline.

When Casis permitted entry, the door opened and the maid entered with a bow.

“Your Grace, Lady Del says she will not dine. She says it would be troublesome if her dress doesn’t fit for tomorrow’s banquet.”

‘She’s made up another excuse today……’

Casis’s mouth corner rose sardonically.

Since the last dress fitting, Adeline had been busy avoiding him not only at mealtimes but everywhere.

Today too, the duke called for her knowing she wouldn’t join him. He could now read her mind clearly.

When he ordered ridiculous dresses, when he said he would present Adeline at a banquet where nobles would gather.

Now even her inevitably contorted expression whenever she accidentally encountered him told him everything.

Casis had thought that seeing her distressed might somewhat ease the feeling of betrayal that burned his heart.

‘……Not at all.’

Casis clutched the napkin in his hand as he recalled Adeline in the bedroom.

That night. Throughout the night, she had turned her back to him.

Only the occasional slight trembling of the bed revealed that she was sobbing.

Casis knew. He knew that his behavior wasn’t befitting a noble man.

But nothing he did eased his mind.

Neither tormenting that woman nor erasing the past where he was deceived improved his mood.

Rather, seeing her suffer made him feel sick inside.

Casis tormenting Adeline, humiliating her through others’ mouths—all of it was revenge against Adeline.

Though all of this was his own doing, everything trampled his feelings mercilessly as if he himself were being slashed.

‘How pathetic.’

It had already been a month since Casis returned to the ducal residence. Even after a month, he still felt awkward seeing himself in the mirror.

As if he were still living in that summer he spent with that woman.

How long had it been since he returned as Casis Mile Torpeo, not Mel.

‘What Adeline wants is Mel.’

Since visiting the gambling den, Casis increasingly disliked himself whenever he saw Adeline.

Especially when he saw affection mixed with despair in her gaze.

Knowing that gaze was directed at Mel, not himself, Casis had spoken thorny words to Adeline.

“Mel? I am Duke Torpeo. Not that Mel you tried to use.”

Whenever he saw Adeline in despair, he felt as if he too were sinking into despair.

Casis couldn’t shake the feeling that Mel, who had lived for just one season, dominated him more than Duke Torpeo, who had lived for decades.

So despite knowing she was obviously avoiding him, he accepted all her excuses.

Casis pretended to call for her at mealtimes while knowing she wouldn’t come,

And he hadn’t visited the bedroom for a long time, using the excuse of busy work.

He thought that keeping some distance might help him understand the reason for this unpleasant feeling.

But like parallel lines that never meet, her gaze toward him was always full of contempt, and that gaze endlessly sank Casis’s mood.

It felt exactly like sinking into the deep sea with weights tied to his ankles.

Perhaps because he was thinking of Adeline, Casis completely lost his appetite.

“The meal has grown cold, so I’ll have it reheated. Then……”

Just as the maid brought a trolley to collect the cold food.

Casis abruptly stood up.

“Your Grace?”

The maid’s eyes widened as she looked at the duke who had risen as if to leave the dining room before even starting his meal.

“I’m done with the meal.”

He placed the napkin he was holding back on the table.

Then he asked the maid who was looking at him in apparent confusion.

“What is Del’s schedule today?”

“Her evening schedule is clear for tomorrow’s banquet.”

They couldn’t continue like this forever.

“Tell her I’ll come to the bedroom tonight.”

⁕⁕⁕

The duke’s bedroom.

After finishing her bath, Adeline was in the midst of having her hair brushed.

Knock knock-

After a knock, the bedroom door opened, and a maid approached her.

“His Grace has sent word that he will visit the bedroom.”

The bedroom where Adeline was staying was the duke’s bedroom, and Adeline found it difficult to understand why Casis would say he was coming to visit.

She had always avoided mealtimes because she didn’t want to face him, so the maid’s message was hardly welcome.

“Please tell him I’m not feeling well and have gone to bed early.”

The upcoming banquet alone was giving her a headache.

Though Adeline had generally kept out of society, there was no telling what variables might cause someone to recognize her.

She truly wasn’t feeling well. Since entering the ducal residence, she hadn’t had a single day of peace.

While it was true that Adeline had deceived the amnesiac Casis, his attitude toward her was excessively rude and heartless.

‘Why won’t he just let me go?’

Adeline’s gray eyes darkened further, as if clouded by storm clouds.

Deep in thought, Adeline noticed the maid in the mirror. The maid who had delivered the duke’s message was still standing in place.

“He said he will come to the bedroom.”

Despite clearly delivering the message.

Adeline found it particularly difficult to control the emotions welling up inside her today.

How many times had the maids ignored Adeline’s circumstances?

The maids’ disrespect and subtle mockery normally didn’t affect Adeline. As a commoner Del, she had no way to stop the maids anyway.

But today she couldn’t bear it. Adeline fixed her gaze on the maid who was staring directly at her through the mirror.

“I said I’m sick and have gone to bed early, didn’t I?”

The maid momentarily flinched at Adeline’s irritable tone.

“I will convey that you are unwell.”

The maid’s flinching was brief. She immediately added:

“Shall I help you prepare?”

‘Ha.’

Adeline irritably put down her brush. The maid’s attitude was understandable. The duke saying he would visit the bedroom meant preparing for bed. A mistress had no right of refusal.

‘He hasn’t come for a while.’

The day after the dress fitting. Adeline had forcefully swallowed her rising tears when Casis visited the bedroom. She felt utterly miserable having to share a bed with Casis because she had nowhere else to go.

In the ducal residence, the only space Adeline was permitted to occupy at night was the duke’s bedroom.

The one fortunate thing was that since that day, Casis had not visited the bedroom even once.

With Casis not visiting the bedroom for a while, she could at least relax her tense mind during the nights.

‘I told him I’m not feeling well, so he won’t come, right?’

Casis never sought her out again despite any excuses at every mealtime. Adeline surrendered herself to the bed, believing Casis wouldn’t come.

But even in the deep hours of dawn, Adeline couldn’t easily fall asleep. Though she had made the excuse of not feeling well today, the day had come again when she had to worry about sharing a bed with him.

Her already throbbing head felt even more constricted.

In the silent stillness filled only with the sound of her tossing and turning.

Adeline was overcome with anxiety at the sound of footsteps approaching from afar.

As if sensing that anxiety, the bedroom door soon opened. Only one person would enter the bedroom without knocking—Casis.

‘Surely he hasn’t come to sleep with me?’

Adeline’s anxiety grew as the duke’s footsteps drew closer to her.

Adeline had no doubt that the duke had come for intimacy. After all, he had always made contact regardless of Adeline’s wishes, bringing her shame.

‘I told him I wasn’t feeling well.’

Since the duke had told her to fulfill her duties as a mistress, he would surely force her to share his bed.

Adeline was terrified of Casis. She also felt desperate about her situation where she would have to submit helplessly if he demanded it.

‘He’ll surely wake me up.’

Adeline deliberately continued to pretend to be asleep. She planned to resist as much as possible even if the duke tried to force her awake.

At that moment, she felt the mattress sink deeply.

Adeline unconsciously trembled with fear. But even after several minutes, nothing happened.

‘What is he planning?’

She had expected him to wake her up to satisfy his desires, but the duke sat at the edge of the bed without taking any action.

This time of inaction felt like an eternity to Adeline.

As time passed, Adeline’s anxiety only grew. She couldn’t control her trembling heart.

While Adeline was worried that he might hear her heartbeat, the bed slightly shifted again.

‘Just as I thought.’

Adeline believed the moment she desperately wanted to avoid had finally arrived. Adeline tightly closed her eyes.

But contrary to Adeline’s expectations, the duke’s footsteps gradually moved away from her.

— Click.

Eventually, she heard the bedroom door close again. Unable to believe the situation, Adeline opened her eyes and looked around the bedroom.

The dark bedroom was utterly silent, as if no one had ever been there.

Adeline found it difficult to understand why the duke had left without demanding anything from her.

‘Why did he just leave?’

Adeline curled up under the blanket.

The headache that had kept Adeline awake was long gone, but now she had no way to calm her unsettled mind.