Left alone, Lariella stood blankly in the middle of the unfamiliar room. Then, belatedly realizing how embarrassing her attire was, she padded over to the large four-poster bed on one side of the room. She climbed onto it and lay down obediently, covering herself with the blanket up to her chest, waiting for the duke to arrive.

But the duke, whom she expected to come soon, showed no sign of appearing even after a long wait.

Lying quietly in the silent room with heightened tension, waiting for someone who might come at any moment, was harder than she had thought. The tension that had crept up from her toes eventually reached her throat, making her feel as nauseated as if she had been riding in a carriage all day.

Unable to bear the stuffiness any longer, Lariella threw off the blanket and got out of bed again.

Surely he wouldn’t be in his study even on a day like today.

Though she hoped not, she also wondered if he might be. Having stayed at Elmano Castle for three months due to wedding preparations, she had observed that the duke spent most of his day in his study.

Whenever she passed the garden in front of the study, Lariella could always see Duke Elmano sitting properly at his desk through the window. So it was reasonable to suspect that the duke, who hadn’t come yet, might still be sitting in his study.

Even if she couldn’t go check right away, she felt she needed to at least open the door and peek out to relieve her anxiety.

With that in mind, Lariella tiptoed toward the door. But just as she approached within a couple of steps, the door suddenly flung open without warning.

“Eek, you startled me!”

Lariella was so surprised that she blurted out an ungraceful scream before she could even straighten her hunched posture. If Mrs. Deshiri, who was in charge of etiquette lessons, had seen this, she would have scolded her, saying it was not behavior befitting a duchess who should be demure in all things. But now was not the time to worry about such matters.

Duke Elmano stood at the open door.

His towering height, pitch-black hair that seemed to absorb even light, pale blue eyes closer to gray, and a cool face as if wearing an ice mask—all were the same as usual. But his attire was nothing like his usual self.

The man who always wore a vest and jacket impeccably, with a cravat tightly wrapped up to his chin, was now wearing a short, loose nightgown under a long robe. The nightgown, which looked like a shirt, had its buttons undone halfway down his chest, revealing his masculine thick neck and robust chest at a glance.

At the sight of him, Lariella’s heart began to race wildly, making a loud thumping sound. It beat so fiercely that it seemed about to burst through her plump br*ast. She raised her right hand to press down on her left chest, which kept swelling and subsiding.

The duke widened his eyes, apparently surprised by encountering Lariella as soon as he opened the door. But that lasted only a moment; soon his face returned to its usual impassive expression, and he awakened the dazed Lariella with a low, dry voice.

“May I come in?”

“Ah…… I’m sorry. Please come in.”

Lariella, who had been blocking the doorway in a daze, hurriedly stepped aside. She quickly lowered her gaze, which had been staring rudely at the duke.

Soon came the sound of the door closing, and the duke’s shadow flickered in her downcast view.

The night was deep, and only the two of them were in this spacious room. The real wedding night had begun.

What will he do? Will he embrace me first? Or will he just pick me up and take me straight to bed?

But the duke’s shadow didn’t linger in front of Lariella and instead brushed past her. When the confused Lariella raised her head, the duke was already striding across the room toward the large bed.

Ah, perhaps he wants to start while lying on the bed. If I had known this, I would have stayed quietly in bed.

Lariella followed behind him. And while he removed his robe and turned off the lamp, she quickly climbed onto the bed and lay flat on her back, facing the ceiling.

A moment later, the bed tilted with a creak to one side. The duke had climbed onto the bed.

Will he kiss me now? Not those ceremonial kisses like when he escorted me and kissed the back of my hand, nor the formal one during the ceremony when his lips barely brushed mine, but a real kiss where tongues enter each other’s mouths.

Lariella squeezed her eyes shut as she felt his presence drawing closer. The corners of her tightly closed lips quivered involuntarily with tension and anticipation. Feeling his scent and breath right in front of her nose, Lariella clutched the blanket tightly.

Here it comes, here it comes…… ah!

Finally, his lips covered Lariella’s. The duke’s lips, pressed against hers, were warm despite his cold impression. And they were unbelievably soft.

“Haah……”

A tense moan escaped between Lariella’s plump lips. But that small sound never reached the duke’s lips and scattered into the air. The duke’s lips, which had been close for a moment, had already moved far away. The time his lips stayed on hers was as brief as when a large crow snatched a piece of meat from Mrs. Tara’s basket.

And soon the duke’s voice, not excited in the slightest, was heard from a short distance away.

“You must be tired, so let’s go to sleep now. Good night.”

It was an ordinary greeting no different from what they exchanged after dinner every evening. And then silence fell.

Lariella opened her closed eyes and looked up at the ceiling.

What just happened? Surely…… this can’t be the end? We haven’t even started yet? What about the tongues? The key? The wooden pestle that’s supposed to thrust mercilessly into the deep hole?

Lariella blinked her blank eyes for quite some time. But no matter how long she waited, that really was all.

When Lariella, unable to bear it any longer, turned her head toward where the duke was lying, all she could see in the dim darkness was his jet-black hair. So he was now lying with his back turned to her, neither facing her nor even lying straight up toward the ceiling.

Looking at his broad back that blocked her view completely, as if refusing to give her even the slightest opening, Lariella let out a deep sigh. But all that came back was the duke’s quiet, even breathing as he slept.

Lariella tossed and turned for a long time, unable to fall asleep.

She must have briefly dozed off at some point near dawn while staring at his motionless back. When she woke up, the bed beside her was already empty. If not for the dent in the pillow and the faint warmth that remained, she might have believed she had fallen asleep and woken up alone.

The room that came into the bleary-eyed Lariella’s view was no different from the previous night when she had been so excited before the wedding night. The only thing that had changed was Lariella’s complexion.

Her face, which usually sparkled enough to be called the ‘Sunshine of Polar,’ was now gloomy and clouded like a sky about to pour rain.