Special Extra Story 3. Vacation

It was a rare short vacation.

The northern region in winter appeared desolate at first glance, but when you looked deeper, it was a place overflowing with its own vitality. Alix gazed out the carriage window, immersed in emotion. Heavy snow began to fall from the ash-colored sky. In the distance, she could see children playing on sleds over the frozen lake.

After the twins were born, she had been extremely busy for a while. No matter how many people there were to help care for them, juggling the roles of mother and Grand Duchess was hectic work.

During that time, she had no choice but to push her role as a wife to the back burner, deliberately ignoring Lysander’s desperate looks. On top of that, after Victor and little Renie started walking, they came looking for their mother every day, so there was hardly any time for the couple alone.

Today was the first time they had finally managed to leave the children in the nanny’s hands, so after a long time, there were only the two of them in the carriage. Perhaps reminded of this fact, Lysander quietly pressed his body close.

“Alix.”

Along with the voice quietly calling her name, hungry purple eyes approached boldly. Soon their lips overlapped.

A soft touch lightly made contact. Lysander, who had been lightly kissing on her lips for a while like tickling with a feather, reached behind her shoulder and closed the carriage window.

With a thud, the moment the light streaming inside was blocked, the kiss became more intense and deeper.

Within gasping breaths, the movement of tongues became more intense as if trying to swallow her whole. His tongue penetrated every corner as if trying to conquer every mucous membrane in her mouth. Following the movement of their lips, a tickling sensation began to build up. Along with it, thirst bloomed.

The more their tongues intertwined and they tasted each other, the more they seemed to desperately crave something more intense, hotter, and more mixed. Alix embraced Lysander’s shoulders. As if responding, he came closer, and the moment he began to caress her back with his large hands—

“We have arrived, Your Grace!”

The coachman’s cheerful voice was heard. Alix startled and pulled her body away as if burned. A regretful gaze clung persistently to her shoulders as she hurriedly arranged her appearance and prepared to get out of the carriage.

The vacation spot was a villa in a region famous for hot springs. It was a small castle-type villa built for the Grand Duke’s family to use whenever they traveled for rest for generations. In the past, when relations between the Nicerion Grand Ducal family and the imperial family were good, imperial family members would sometimes borrow the villa for hot spring trips.

Lysander, the current Grand Duke, said this was his first visit. Thanks to this, the servants who were seeing the Grand Duke after a long time bowed their heads, not knowing what to do. Though there were only about four servants.

They had brought only one maid and one attendant each to enjoy their vacation intimately. Therefore, there were only the minimum number of people at this villa.

Guards weren’t really necessary either. How many knights in the world could defeat Grand Duke Lysander Nicerion?

Though it was a modest entourage for the procession of the northern region’s ruling couple, there seemed to be no problems. But problems arose after dinner.

“Kyaa, what should I do!”

At the shrill scream, Alix jumped up and soon understood the reason. The only maid Alix had brought had fallen down the stairs and sprained her leg.

The servants hurriedly brought a splint and ice pack for the ankle that was beginning to swell. Fortunately, it wasn’t broken, but the ligament was definitely stretched.

“The maid will need to rest for about three or four days.”

The old woman who was said to be the villa keeper’s mother efficiently tied the cloth and clicked her tongue.

“If you move carelessly, it will get worse.”

Fortunately, the old woman was knowledgeable about herbs, so first aid could be administered. However, the problem was that there was no woman to attend to the Grand Duchess. The only female help in the castle was the old woman and her ten-year-old granddaughter who ran errands. The villa keeper was at a loss.

“Shall I go find a woman to serve you?”

“From where?”

“If I go down to the village……”

Alix glanced out the window. The way the snow was falling heavily looked ominous. Snow had already piled up to knee height. Moreover, the sun had set long ago.

There was no need to go through the snow in the dead of night to the village, wake up the sleeping villagers, and find a girl to serve. Alix shook her head.

“No. I can live without a maid for one night.”

“I apologize, Your Highness the Grand Duchess.”

The maid bowed her head, not knowing what to do. Alix waved her hand.

“It’s fine, Katrin. It’s not like you wanted to get hurt.”

“But……”

“Don’t say anything more, and just focus on resting today. Tomorrow I’ll send word to bring another maid.”

It was good that she spoke boldly. But who would have known? Preparing for a hot spring bath was a stronger opponent than expected.

Yes, she did well by herself up to removing makeup by soaking rose water on cloth. But it took a long time to take off the heavy clothes by herself. She needed to know which were hooks and which were buttons.

After struggling with the clothes for a while and finally escaping, Alix let out a deep sigh. In her previous life, she had done everything by herself — taking off clothes, bathing, doing laundry. She had become too accustomed to the maids’ touch. This is why habits are scary.

Shaking off her thoughts, Alix headed to the bath in a light bathrobe for bathing.

The enormous marble bathtub, large enough to easily accommodate five or six adults, was filled with hot water from the hot springs. It smelled good, as if fragrant oils had been dissolved in the water beforehand. Alix slowly immersed her body into the bathtub.

“Ah, this is nice.”

The fatigue that had accumulated on the way seemed to wash away. It was the moment she leaned her back against the marble edge. She heard the sound of the door opening with a creak.

“Shh, Alix.”

Alix, who had stiffened at the presence, quickly turned her head upon hearing the familiar voice.

“Lysander?”

The figure standing in the steam was Lysander in a light shirt. Alix, who had been calming her startled heart, hurriedly closed her robe.

“What’s the matter?”

“Since there’s no maid to attend to your bath,”

Lysander spoke slowly.

“I came to help instead.”

“What?”

Bewilderment dripped from her questioning voice. While she was just blinking, Lysander came much closer. Alix hurriedly shouted.

“It’s okay, I can do it myself!”

“You must be quite tired just from coming this far, and to relieve fatigue, you should bathe properly, shouldn’t you?”

He who had knelt beside the bathtub met Alix’s eyes.

“I have no other purpose. Please just let me help with the bath.”

She must have been enchanted by his amethyst eyes overflowing with sincerity. When she came to her senses, Lysander, who had somehow sat down, was washing Alix’s hair as she rested her head on the marble edge of the bathtub.

Long fingers penetrated between her abundant red-gold hair. She felt the touch gently pressing her scalp through her hair. Following the pressing touch, the worries that had sometimes given her headaches seemed to crumble away.

The large hands that had been gently caressing her earlobes beyond her scalp began to massage her nape and then her shoulders. Ahh. Alix let out a low m*an. The muscles that had been tensed without her knowing relaxed pleasantly. Though more clumsy than a professional’s touch, it was caring hands.

Alix’s eyes fell on her husband’s solid arms, broad shoulders, and firm jawline as he attended to her. The warm blood beginning to circulate was not only due to the warm spring water.

Though his sincere purple eyes held no hint of ulterior motives—what could she do? This time, the impure thoughts were on her side. Alix, her body soft like jelly, slowly blinked and sat up. Lysander asked quietly.

“Was it alright?”

“Very much so. I’d like to give you a reward.”

Alix, who smiled languidly, grabbed Lysander’s chin and pulled him in for a kiss.

“Ngh.”

Lysander moaned quietly. Not only the moist and warm kiss, but everything about Alix heightened his heat. No matter how much she wore a robe, her body’s curves were all visible through the thin cloth wet with water.

“Mm, then— as a reward.”

Alix deliberately pretended not to know and drew out her words, then smiled brightly.

“Shall we wash together?”

“Bathe…. together, you mean?”

Lysander’s eyes wavered. Though they had lived as a married couple for several years, they had never bathed together.

“I already washed and came……”

Toward him who was hesitating, Alix cupped water in her hands and splashed it on Lysander. In an instant, Lysander, who had become like a wet puppy, stared blankly at Alix.

“Now that you’re wet, you’ll have to wash again.”

Alix giggled and pulled Lysander in.

“Alix, this is too much.”

Though he said that, he obediently let himself be led in. Water overflowed over the marble bathtub. As if to replace the water Alix had displaced, she pulled Lysander deep into the bath water.

“I came purely to help with the bath.”

“I know.”