IDIBC Chapter 20

The Rooster’s Crow

“Ah!”

I came to my senses and scanned the room one last time. Now it was my turn to frame my memories and lock them away properly in the exhibition hall deep within my heart.

As I stepped out of the room, he went so far as to lock the door with a click.

Petty as ever.

“Come in.”

The one who visited him at this late hour was Butler Freddy. I pressed myself flat against the door of the room I’d just exited, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Since the room was dark overall, I thought that if I did well, I might be able to hide in the shadows. But.

“What are you doing there?”

What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m desperately trying to protect my reputation. Ricardo, who didn’t care a whit about my reputation, hardened his face coldly and deliberately called me out.

“Come here.”

“Yes…”

In three or four steps, my figure was fully revealed under the moonlight. Freddy’s face naturally stiffened with surprise upon seeing me. It was obvious what he would think of a woman like me visiting a man’s room in the middle of the night.

The more this was the case, the more I held my head up straight. After all, wasn’t my goal an engagement with Ricardo anyway?

“I apologize, Young Master. I didn’t know you had a guest.”

“What is it at this hour?”

“I had two matters to report, but…”

When Ricardo stared at the butler who trailed off, he cleared his throat with a few coughs.

“One matter no longer needs to be mentioned.”

Ah, he came to report that I was missing. Ricardo seemed to have also realized what the butler had come to report.

“Then what’s the other one?”

Freddy glanced at me briefly before standing straight toward Ricardo again.

“It’s news that people from the Fennel family have arrived at the manor.”

‘What…? Did he just say Fennel…?’

I was so shocked the words didn’t burst out of my mouth. I immediately looked at Ricardo, but I couldn’t see his expression as he had his back to me.

“Show them in…”

Ricardo stopped speaking and tilted his head slightly toward me. I thought I glimpsed the corner of his mouth rising, but I couldn’t be certain.

“Their lodgings will be at Blue Hill.”

Hearing the name of the manor where my family would stay, my frozen mind returned. Although the Rochester family at the empire’s pinnacle wouldn’t play such a low-quality prank, I felt I could only believe they were here after seeing my family’s faces with my own eyes.

I immediately clutched my skirt in both hands to rush outside. I could just ask the knights standing guard where Blue Hill was.

“Lienne.”

But I couldn’t take more than a few steps. Called affectionately by name from behind, I had no choice but to stop in place. Only then did I remember that I had been about to leave without paying my respects to him.

“I shall take my leave now, Young Master.”

“No, not today.”

“What… do you mean by that?”

“You can’t meet them today.”

“Why… not?”

“Because I feel like it. Right?”

With an extremely petty expression, he strode toward where I was standing. Unless we were dancing, it wasn’t an appropriate distance for noble men and women to stand facing each other.

As he stood close to me, Freddy quietly left the bedroom, suppressing his presence.

Because of the man approaching so close, my head naturally tilted up. The focus of his slightly downcast eyes slowly turned toward me.

Ricardo apparently wanted to impose some sort of intimidation on me. Normally, it would have worked as he intended. In front of him with such a terrifying face, I wouldn’t have been able to even breathe deeply.

But I’m sorry to say, right now Ricardo could do anything and still make me smile. Given what I had done by barging in today, I had more than enough reason to accept this level of pettiness.

“That’s right.”

Rather than moving away from Ricardo, I leaned slightly toward him. And with a face full of gratitude, I smiled brightly.

“It’s all up to you, Young Master.”

At my sudden change in attitude, he burst into loud laughter. The unexpectedly heard laughter made my head spin. Listening to that refreshing sound, even his bedroom, which had felt cold enough to give me chills just moments ago, began to feel cozy.

“I know. You just said it with your own mouth a moment ago.”

“What did I say…?”

“That I could do whatever I wanted.”

“Ah…”

Of course, I had said that. But with a man in nothing but a flimsy robe over his magnificent naked body saying such things at close range, somehow my eyes and throat tingled.

“Of course, a woman licking my feet without a single thread on isn’t my taste…”

The words he’d just said were clear, so why did I get the feeling he was lying?

“But if necessary, well, changing my taste once wouldn’t be so bad.”

“If you see something that isn’t your taste, you might be a little—no, very displeased…”

“Since it’s something I haven’t experienced, it’s hard to say definitively that it’s not my taste.”

I must have bitten my lower lip tightly. When Ricardo’s hot fingers lightly touched it, my lips parted on their own.

“Don’t be scared. I’m a bit too tired to have new experiences right now.”

My eyes sparkled.

“Right. You do look very tired.”

“Yes, so you should quietly go back to your room.”

Ricardo stepped back and slowly closed and opened his eyes once. With that action, my gaze that had been tightly bound was released.

A long breath escaped me involuntarily.

“Yes, I’ll do that. If you’ll just answer one thing for me.”

“What now?”

He replied as he shuffled toward the bed.

“Everyone came, right? Lady Fennel, Sabrina, Jonathan too.”

When he reached the bed, Ricardo suddenly took off the robe he was wearing. I flinched in surprise and turned away from him. Still, I needed to hear the answer. Otherwise, I’d surely spend this long night wide awake.

“Well, is that all?”

I heard the sound of Ricardo flopping onto the bed. When I turned around, he was lying on the bed face down, staring intently at me with half-closed eyes.

It’s just a sleepy face, so why do I feel like I’m being seduced?

Ricardo’s little prank, his mischievous tone that no one but me would notice, his moist eyes looking at me so languidly as he lay on the bed like that.

“What, will you put me to sleep?”

Even his voice tinged with laughter, smiling faintly and making it unclear whether he was serious or joking—was it because it was exactly like when we were children?

Back then, I would sit by his bedside. And I would stroke his jet-black hair that slid softly between my fingers.

If he asked, “Well, shall I sing you a song?”, he would answer, “You really can’t sing, just read me a book.”

But no matter how much the current Ricardo feels completely familiar, I can’t give the same answer as back then.

“No, there’s no way you could sleep well with me here.”

“That’s not true…”

He mumbled in a half-asleep voice.

“It’s strange, when I look at you, I keep getting sleepy… and I keep getting hungry.”

With those words, he fell asleep, breathing evenly. Quite defenseless.

I felt an urge to approach and stroke his hair, but I shook my head to shake off that feeling too.

When I quietly opened the door and left, Freddy was waiting for me. When our eyes met, I smiled awkwardly.

“I’m sorry for disappearing without a word.”

“Not at all. As long as you’re safe.”

“This won’t happen again.”

He nodded slightly.

“The Young Master is…?”

“He’s asleep.”

“He must have been very tired. He hardly slept for four days.”

Now that there’s no war, the heirs of ducal families work mainly for the imperial family rather than family affairs. On top of that, he had to solve my family’s problems too, so he must have truly been busy.

Once Ricardo becomes duke, even the imperial family won’t be able to send him to the battlefield at will. Because family affairs take priority.

“He must have been busy.”

The fact that my family could be here now meant that Ricardo had already taken action even before I entered the ducal manor.

“Yes, he’s always busy. Would you like to see your family now?”

“No, the Young Master didn’t permit me to meet them today.”

“He probably just said that.”

“I know, but I want to listen to him. He must have gone through trouble because of me.”

“Understood. Then I’ll arrange for you to meet them tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, please take good care of my family.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Freddy walked away from me with quick steps to carry out Ricardo’s orders. I returned straight to my room.

I had many things I wanted to ask Ricardo.

When had he planned to bring the Fennel family here, what was the reason, how had those paintings I saw today come to his mind, and really… did he intend to get engaged to me?

However, I couldn’t ask a single thing.

Because I felt that no matter what answer I heard, I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

That night, I naturally couldn’t sleep deeply. Freddy kindly sent word through my personal maid that all my family members had safely settled into their lodgings. Even so, sleep wouldn’t come easily.

At dawn, when the sky became dim, I finally fell into a light sleep.

Cock-a-doodle-doo, co-co-co-cock-a-doodle-doo.

Was it because I’d heard the news that my family was at the manor? I dreamed of our home in Resotia. It was quite a gentle and warm dream, where even the crow of “co-co-co-co” echoed faintly, different from other chickens.

Co-co-co-cock-a-doodle-doo, cock-a-doodle-doo.

“Mm, mmm, our Coco must have laid an egg. But, let me sleep just a little more.”

At the familiar chicken crow I was hearing after so long, rather than waking from sleep, I fell into an even deeper dream.