Chapter 28. A Man Whose Answer Is Predetermined

Elena rose while hugging the blanket and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. She had just woken up to find Rudfelix, who should have been beside her, missing.

“Alix?”

Elena’s voice, heavy with sleep, called out for Rudfelix.

“Sleep more.”

Elena squinted at the sound of his voice coming from nearby and looked around.

‘This was the carriage.’

That’s why Rudfelix was close by. She had fallen into a deep sleep, perhaps overwhelmed by accepting him, despite being in a carriage. Even now, though briefly awake, her body wanted to lie down again.

“What are you doing?”

When she cleared her throat because her voice wasn’t coming out well, the blanket slipped halfway down in reaction. Her clothes, thoroughly disheveled by Rudfelix’s hands, weren’t as warm as the blanket, so she groped for it. As she pulled the thick blanket up over her shoulders, warmth enveloped her entire body. Only then did Elena exhale softly.

The yellow light from the lamp attached to the carriage ceiling indicated it was night outside, shrouded in darkness.

But why wasn’t Rudfelix sleeping?

“I was looking at this.”

“Ah……”

After spending sweet moments with Elena, Rudfelix’s time had tightened again. Elena moved on her knees to his side. Then she rested her head on his shoulder and lowered her eyes. Though curious about what Rudfelix was looking at, her eyes kept trying to close, so she blinked several times.

The rolled-up paper, having endured a long time, was old but well-preserved without any tears.

“What can you see looking at it like that?”

It was the original document given by Count Ephraim. The original contract related to the “Grand Duke’s governance term of the Grand Duchy” had been entrusted to Count Ephraim’s ancestor for safekeeping. When the existence of the original became blurred over several generations, Count Ephraim mentioned it to Rudfelix and retrieved it from deep storage. They truly appreciated that he had kept it safe and handed it to Rudfelix. However, when they finally unfolded the original, there was nothing inside, making it unusable.

[I’ve deliberately hidden this original for fear it might fall into someone else’s hands.]

They had concealed the fact that it was the original and even obscured its contents, not knowing what dangers might exist.

[Only holy power exceeding that of a saintess can release the constraints placed on this original.]

This meant they needed to meet a saintess or the Minister of Ceremonies. For this reason, Rudfelix and Elena were heading to the Kingdom of Tristan, where the saintess resided, before the coronation.

Rudfelix put down the original and embraced Elena. As he lifted her onto his lap, she naturally found her position. Hugging the blanket, Elena rested her head against Rudfelix’s chest. As she listened to his heart beating slowly, her eyes closed involuntarily.

“Will you keep sleeping?”

“……I’m sleepy.”

Elena’s eyelashes fluttered, but she couldn’t open her eyes—it had already taken effort just to wake up. The area below her stomach still felt numb, as if it weren’t hers. She had somehow managed to crawl to Rudfelix, but she didn’t want to move any farther.

It seemed her body had reached its limit, despite melting languidly under Rudfelix’s touch, because his body had been too much for her.

“Alix.”

After calling his name, Elena closed her mouth again. She had just cleared her locked voice, but now it sounded different due to hoarseness.

“Let’s sleep together. We still have a long way to go.”

She tried to lift her head to look up at him, but Elena still couldn’t open her eyes.

Rudfelix touched her forehead. He felt a slight fever. Finding his hand cool, Elena rested her forehead against his palm with a small smile.

“That’s cool.”

Though he wanted to pleasantly accept Elena’s murmur, it was more important to prevent her fever from rising further. So Rudfelix opened the window connected to the driver’s seat.

“What is the matter?”

The knight driving the carriage, Sekar, asked.

“Find a place to stop nearby.”

“But this is a small village with houses clustered together, so there’s no inn.”

At Sekar’s report, Rudfelix held Elena tightly.

“Find a suitable house.”

When he mentioned a house where they could spend the night, Sekar poked his companion in the side to wake him. The two volunteers protecting the Grand Duke and his lover needed to divide the work themselves. Lupin, who had been dozing, was about to yawn but closed his mouth tightly after noticing Sekar’s expression.

“Please wait a moment.”

Sekar handed the reins to Lupin and jumped from the moving carriage. His figure entering the quiet village in the deep night was quickly swallowed by darkness.

***

Rudfelix gazed at Elena’s sleeping face by moonlight. He removed the hair stuck to her forehead and gently stroked her furrowed brow.

When he placed his finger on her forehead to check if she still had a fever, Elena felt ticklish. A faint smile appeared at her weak rebellion as she turned her head to avoid it in her sleep.

“Next time, I’ll be gentler.”

Don’t be in pain.

Thinking it was his fault, he lightly pressed her cheek. At that moment, Elena’s eyelids trembled, and she slowly opened her eyes. Her unfocused pupils remained still.

If not for her slightly rising and falling chest, she might have seemed like a doll. Rudfelix felt guilty seeing her pale face and bloodless lips. So he dropped his shoulders and watched her cautiously. Then Elena’s pupils slowly moved to look at Rudfelix.

“Alix……”

As her lips opened with difficulty to call Rudfelix, he lowered his head. It was an expression of sincerity, approaching closer to hear her small voice. In that moment, Elena saw him overlapping with the image of a dog with drooping ears. Finally, she breathed life into the puppy’s ear.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“I won’t.”

When Rudfelix immediately corrected himself, Elena burst into laughter that made her shoulders tremble. She had thought that as a Grand Duke and high nobleman, he would keep his word no matter what, but he changed it as easily as flipping his palm.

Elena looked around at the unfamiliar environment as she turned her head.

“Where are we?”

Looking at the ceiling, she realized it was neither the carriage nor the Grand Duke’s residence. It appeared to be an ordinary house, but she had no memory of coming here.

‘Alix must have brought me while I was sleeping.’

The blanket against her back was on a rough, hard bed, but unlike the carriage, it felt cozy.

“There’s only a small village, so I rented a room on our way.”

Rudfelix pulled the blanket brought from the carriage up to Elena’s neck.

“Sleep more.”

“Sleep with me.”

“I’m fine.”

Rudfelix seemed unwilling to sleep, not moving from his chair. Elena looked at the area beneath his waist.

The wooden chair creaked painfully at his slightest movement. Seeing his determination to nurse her until dawn, Elena closed her eyes.

Earlier, her body had felt heavy, but now she felt no pain even while lying down.

‘He doesn’t need to nurse me anymore……’

While such excessive protection felt burdensome, it also made her heart swell.

Elena moved her hips to the side and went to the corner of the bed. The narrow bed quickly met the wall. Looking up at Rudfelix from there, she saw him watching whatever she was doing.

“Sleep with me.”

They were the same words as before.

But this time, he didn’t refuse. The bed creaked at his heavy movement as he immediately came to Elena’s side. Then he put his arm under her head and held her body tightly.

“Don’t move.”

At Elena’s words, worried the bed might collapse, Rudfelix exhaled a regretful sigh. His deep breath came in so deeply that it tickled her hair, making Elena laugh incredulously.

“What did you think I meant by ‘don’t move’?”

“……Not to touch you.”

She had asked him to come up just to sleep, but he wanted to touch her?

Dumbfounded, she looked up at him to find a serious expression.

“We should sleep.”

“We will.”

“You said you’d be gentle.”

“I canceled that since it was a promise I couldn’t keep.”

“I was in pain earlier.”

“If you don’t like it, I won’t touch you.”

But why did he look so disappointed?

Elena found herself speechless first. Though all sorts of questions arose in her mind, she felt the answers would be predictable if spoken.

‘In the end, the answer is predetermined.’

He didn’t seem likely to back down until she said that answer. The deliberation of ‘should I or shouldn’t I’ was brief. The night was short, and if she wanted to get any sleep, Elena would have to yield here.

“I’ll let you touch me.”

As soon as Elena gave permission, Rudfelix’s hand slipped inside her clothes.

***

Though they had expected to leave immediately after spending the night, they unexpectedly received an invitation for breakfast. Elena, feeling much lighter, sat quietly at the table while a middle-aged woman moved busily.