The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

It’s the first time I’ve eaten something so delicious

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Kahel, who had been waiting for Lena again today, and waited until 3 o’clock before she came, didn’t show any sign of that at all, and took some of the papers and sat down at the tea table.

“Today, I brought the chef’s new menu, tea biscuits.
Would you like to try?”

It was Kahel who always said the tea biscuits were good, so Lena asked first.
The mille-feuille on a white plate looked delicious at first glance.
But Kahel shook his head slightly without looking at the tea food.
However, from Arder, who had already anticipated this situation, Lena had received an order.

“Ah…… I think it will be delicious…….”

Arder insisted on saying this one word as if she was talking to herself, and that she had to.
Lena said she could not understand the instructions, but she could not argue with the butler’s orders.

But, strangely enough, when she said that, Kahel’s gaze turned to the mille-feuille plate.
Then he allowed himself to be a benevolent master.

“Then you eat.”

And Arder even predicted this situation.

“Oh, no! I don’t know if it’s leftovers after you ate…… The lower ones cannot touch the food of the one they serve.”

Even as she recites the words Arder had told her, Lena was frankly nervous.
She was doing it because Arder told her not to worry and do what he tells her to do, but she wondered what would happen if the Duke was offended by such arrogant remarks.
But Kahel glanced at Lena, whose face had blushed, and seemed to ponder for a moment, then he said as if reluctantly.

“Then let’s taste it.”

She doesn’t know what made Kahel change his mind, but Lena, believing that it all happened because she followed the instructions of the butler, admired the butler’s greatness.
Then she quickly placed the chef’s masterpiece on the tea table.

It was a mille-feuille with plenty of cream with raspberries in between the crispy and soft-looking thin pie.
In particular, the chef put a lot of effort into making that cream.

Crunch.

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Kahel placed a bite-sized piece of the mile-feulle into his mouth without disturbing the shape.
It was a dessert he hadn’t eaten in a very long time.

He thought the cream filling between the pies was just fresh cream, but he could feel the flavor of salty and savory cheese, as if it was mixed with cream cheese, and he was amazed at the harmony of the sweet scent of vanilla bean and the sweet and sour taste of raspberry.

Plus, the pie in between the creams was great.
The taste that melts in his mouth while maintaining a moderately crispy texture without being soggy!

But Kahel quickly crushed his desire to be satisfied.
It reminded him of his mother, who couldn’t even eat sweet desserts because of her chronic illness…….

Kahel pushed the plate of mille-feuille towards Lena, from which he had taken a bite, when he suddenly came to the realization that she would find it difficult to eat this dessert while standing up.

“Sit there.”

“Yes?”

“I told you to sit on the chair there.”

She did not dare to ask, but he only looked at Lena’s mouth shape that was close to ‘why’, and Kahel smiled bitterly.

“How are you going to stand like that and eat mille-feuille? I’m sure it’ll spill all over the floor, and I don’t want to get my office dirty.”

“However…… I…… A maid…….”

“Yes, should I remind you that you are my maid, and that my orders are your top authority in this mansion?”

“Oh, no!”

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Lena quickly sat down on the chair.
However, she hesitated, unable to even raise her hand to the table, feeling a great deal of pressure that the mille-feuille approaching in front of her was almost the same size as before.

“Why? I ate it already, so if you’re uncomfortable with it, tell them to make another one.”

 

“Ah, no, it’s not …… ! I…… Can’t you just take one more bite? I can’t eat all of this by myself…….”

A thoroughly educated maid would not have said that it was delicious or eat the leftovers in front of the master in the first place.
But in fact, she’s been drooling since she pushed the cart.

Seeing Lena’s embarrassed appearance, Kahel replied, ”You take a bite first.” Lena gulped down and thought, ‘What do I do?’ And when Kahel told her to eat quickly, she gathered courage at his chin gesture and gently grabbed the silver fork.
Then she timidly cut the tip of the mille-feuille into small pieces and put it in her mouth.

“Ummmmmm……!”

She swears she didn’t mean to make any weird noises.
But it was so delicious that she unintentionally burst with exclamation.
The first sweet food she ever tasted was not only sweet, but also salty, sour, and savory, so it opened up a feast of flavors in her mouth.

In response to Lena’s reaction, Kahel couldn’t stop his laughter from bursting with a ‘pft!’ Her face blushed at his laugh, Lena gently pushed the fork back onto the plate and toward Kahel.
She meant to eat more quickly.

Kahel looked down at Lena’s fork, then he took the fork again with his hand and shoved it into his mouth after cutting into bite-size pieces of the mille-feuille as before.
Oddly, it felt more delicious than what he had eaten before.
And at that moment, when Lena realized something, she was shocked.

“Ah! That’s a fork I used……!”

Seeing Lena, who was surprised to the extent that her face turned white, Kahel said sarcastically.

“Before that, I used the fork first.”

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At those words, Lena seemed shocked again.
Seeing her eyes that he thought couldn’t get bigger grow again.

“For, forgive me! With what mind…… ! I’m sorry!”

“Don’t make a fuss.
It’s not like anyone is going to die.”

Kahel sucked a little cream on the fork.
His gaze was directed towards Lena, and the devilish energy swirling inside of him was completely released.
It was the first time he had ever felt this feeling.
He wants to completely subdue his opponent under his devilish spell…….

It was only for a moment, but he imagined that he sat Lena on his lap and put a lot of this cream on Lena’s lips and sucked it up.
If she crushes the raspberries with her tongue and he tastes the juice mixed with Lena’s saliva…… It’s probably the best dessert in the world.

As Kahel stared at her with terrifying eyes, Lena couldn’t help but roll her eyes to the left and right.
In the meantime, the plate of mille-feuille, which is now half eaten, was pushed in front of Lena.
Still, there was only one fork on the tea table.

He seems to ask her to eat, so she will eat it with gratitude, but she thinks the Duke is a strange person, and Lena hesitates as she grabs the fork.
If she had used the master’s fork, or pushed master to re-use the fork she had put in her mouth, with the former Baron Fidelia, she’d probably be beaten to death.

But she can’t believe he went over it lightly, saying ‘it’s not like anyone is dying.’ The reward and punishment standards for this mansion were too loose.
If she ends up being sold to another house with a lot of bad habits, she will probably be kicked out even if she has a letter of recommendation from the Duchy.
Meanwhile, the mille-feuille was so delicious.

“Umm, delici…….”

In Kahel’s eyes, he could only see Lena’s lips muttering delicious every time she put a piece of mille-feuille into her mouth.

“Is it that tasty?”

“Yes! It’s the first time I’ve eaten something so delicious!”

He heard her saying that a few times at dinner, but it seems that the most delicious food gets updated every time.
But this time, Kahel had no choice but to agree with Lena’s words.
Really, it’s so delicious…… the thing he ate for the first time.

“I should give the chef some prize.”

Kahel smiled as he looked at Lena, who nodded her head eagerly as if to agree with him.
He’s been refusing tea biscuits or dessert until now, but he didn’t feel bad about sharing dessert with Lena.
No, actually, he seemed to enjoy just watching Lena eat.

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* * *

Arder is greatly relieved to hear that, thanks to Lena, Kahel is starting to eat the tea biscuits, while he begins to ponder what to do if Lena’s existence becomes more than just a maid to Kahel.
Kahel and Lena didn’t seem to be conscious of it yet, but in Arder’s eyes, it was clear that Kahel was attached to Lena.

Of course, it was understandable.
He is the one who has never been able to accept others without questioning anyone’s favor.
Were there just one or two people who acted like they were innocent and changed terribly when the two of them were left alone?

But Lena was different.
Lena didn’t like Kahel.

Her demeanor, even when dealing with Kahel’s bare body, was surprising even when Arder looked at her from the side.
Even if not by his devilish nature, Kahel’s appearance was beautiful enough to make the young ladies sway.
But he did not shake Lena at all.
He was so moved by her demeanour that he almost cried.

Therefore, he never dreamed that he would have to worry about this because of her overly simple attitude.

‘What if Lena suddenly left one day…… ?’

Of course, Lena’s position was a little different from the usual maids.
Most of the maids who came to work at any Duchy were from nobles, and such maids were considered to have a connection with the Duchy, so they were popular brides in the noble society.
So, there were many cases where these noble maids quit their jobs after getting married.

But Lena, although she is an illegitimate child, is the daughter of a country nobleman who conspired against the duke.
It was a life that, according to the principle, would have had her head cut off in the tower, and in return for her life, was now a close maid.
However she hadn’t signed a life contract, so he would not be able to say that Lena couldn’t marry or leave the Duke because the Duke spared her life.
However…….

‘But it’s not that she can do without getting married forever…….’

If she had been an ordinary maid, she would have been able to stay in the Duchy by marrying the stable keeper’s son brought from Kerouac, but now that Kahel has made her the ‘close maid of the duke’, she now had to marry a semi-baron-level knight or a well-off commoner.

However, she could have said that she would quit her job if she married into a family without worrying about money and had children.
If she was going to focus on raising her children, it’s something he can’t stop.

The best way was for Lena to continue working as a maid after the marriage, but looking at Lena’s ‘too bland’ attitude now, it seemed difficult to be sure.

‘This is so…… Should I expect Lena to embrace an affection from His Excellency?’