Chapter 69
The next day, servants snooped cautiously in front of the bedroom where the Duke and Duchess were staying.
It was late in the morning, and the couple hadn’t gotten up, so the Murdens were worried.
The servants were going to wait for the Duke to get up, but they decided to knock even though they knew it was rude.
There was no sound inside.
“Duke? Duchess?”
The Earl of Murden and his wife had already gotten up and finished their meal with their children.
“Perhaps…?”
The servants were very worried.
Maybe there was an accident.
There was no reason why the busy Duke would wake up this late.
The servants knocked louder and then carefully opened the door.
“Duke?”
A tall man and a woman were lying in each other’s arms on the large bed.
The man had his shirt off.
“…!”
“Gasp!”
The servants quickly retreated when the Duke saw them and motioned for them to leave.
Not long after, Riv woke up.
“Lionel.”
Lionel, whose upper body was bare, was staring at her, his face veiled in shadows. His wide back caught most of the window’s light, only allowing a small ray to illuminate her face.
‘He has naughty eyes.’
He looked at Riv and smiled.
Riv blinked dumbly as the smile was unusual for him.
“Riv, are you awake?”
Lionel, Riv’s husband.
A man who drank until late last night and then slipped into bed with her.
It seemed that after he got into bed she struggled to take his clothes off, but what happened after that was a mystery.
‘Did you do it yourself? Or did we…?’
She was tired and sleepy, but she seemed to have accepted him.
She must have been with him, seeing that her body ached this morning.
“Did anyone come to wake us up?”
Lionel laughed softly.
“They did.”
“When?”
“Just a little while ago. I think they saw us.”
“What?”
Riv’s mind went blank.
Lionel replied casually.
“Why are you surprised? We are a couple after all. It hasn’t been just once or twice that we have slept together.”
She remembered having this conversation as well last night.
“Riv was very hot last night.”
“You must have made me that way.”
“The Duchess of Sentoren is a very bewitching woman. Of course, only to me.”
Lionel wrapped Riv’s body in his arms and trapped her under him.
She was pressed down by his weight and she could not escape.
“Lionel.”
“What?”
“Heavy.”
“Even if I’m heavy, I can’t help it. It’ll devastate me if you run away.”
The man looking down at Riv in the sunlight looked fresh and strong.
He seemed to have been reborn in the light.
There he was biting his lips again.
Lionel had a natural p*rverted temperament. Of course, his stamina exceeded Riv’s imagination.
“Riv.”
His bare upper body pressed Riv down.
Riv’s body also shone like a newborn baby in the sunlight.
“Riv, your skin is so beautiful.”
“So does Lionel’s.”
“What a joke.”
Riv and Lionel’s bodies were opposites.
There were countless scars on Lionel’s copper-colored body. His body was as strong as steel.
Riv’s body was so white and soft that it looked like she had no blood.
Lionel’s lips and rigid body descended towards her.
“Are we going to do it in the morning? The Earl of Murden and his wife will hear.”
“Hush.”
Lionel’s lips hurriedly covered hers.
She slapped him on the shoulder to rebel, then surrendered and hugged him by the neck.
As always, Riv couldn’t beat Lionel.
Her body melted with the pleasure he gave her.
She soon became one with him.
***
Two days passed by quickly.
During the afternoon of the third day, Lionel, Riv, the Earl of Murden couple and their children went to the lakeside for a picnic.
Riv was trying hard not to think about anything else.
Her death and resurrection, or the existence of the reaper who watched her.
The future of those she recently read.
She just wanted to enjoy this brief peace for now. She didn’t want to miss any opportunity to be happy just because she was anxious.
‘There are a lot of things I’ve never done in my life.’
It was the first time Riv had been married, made friends, went to a ball, and was loved by someone.
There were far more things that Riv had yet to do than things she had done.
“Riv? Riv?”
Riv’s thoughts were scattered.
When she turned towards the voice, she saw one of the Murden children wriggling and whining. The uneven ground by the lakeside seemed to have mad3 the child uncomfortable.
“Ummm.”
Sophia was busy watching the nanny who was taking care of the hyper children.
The nanny briefly approached to pick up baby food for the youngest child.
Only Riv and the child were sitting down.
There was not even a large baby basket in which the child could rest comfortably.
“Would you like to hold me?”
The child fluttered her limbs and asked for a hug.
As Riv took the child, she cradled her in her arms.
The whining child quickly grabbed Riv’s collar and clung to it.
Sophia, who had been watching her noisy children, apologized to Riv after seeing her youngest child.
“She’s a sleepy kid, but she doesn’t make trouble.”
Riv felt moved by the little child who was clinging to her.
She could feel warmth from that small body.
The feeling of being alive was intense.
‘Can I have a child? Just like this?’
At the moment when she felt like crying, the children’s nanny took her.
She ate baby food and then it was time for her to take a nap.
Sophia was playing with her other children as she walked over to Riv.
“Thank you for being so sweet to my youngest, Riv.”
“She’s a cute kid.”
“But soon she will be a troublemaker just like her brother and sister.”
The children ran around excitedly.
They were all muddy.
“Sigh, how do you wash them? It must be hard because the children are troublemakers even with their nanny.”
Sophia clicked her tongue.
“The youngest is very sleepy, so I’ll make sure she naps properly. Let’s have lunch together afterwards.”
“Okay.”
After Sophia left, the children ran to their father.
While Earl Murden played with his children, Riv admired the blissful scenery of the lake.
The image of Riv, the Duchess of Sentoren, was reflected on the water’s rippling surface.
‘So this is me.’
She looked happy, but also a bit anxious.
‘Am I broken?’
She pretended to be dignified, wearing an expensive summer dress, but what was inside her?
‘Who am I?’
The figure of the woman in the water was not visible for a moment amidst the intensifying ripples.
As the waters became quiet, Lionel’s figure was reflected behind her.
“Riv, what were you doing?”
“I was looking at the lake.”
It was a perfect day, except for her anxiety and ominous dreams.
Traveling, having picnics, and enjoying the beautiful lakeside with Lionel were her favorite things to do. The peaceful shade of trees, the intense sunlight and cool breeze in the shade.
The unique happy aura emitted by the people who lived here.
“Do you like this kind place?”
Riv nodded.
“I like city life, but it’s strange that I like a quiet country life.”
“If you live in the countryside, it will be uncomfortable and boring.”
“Really?”
Riv lightly stirred the lakeside water.
“It would be nice to experience it though. They said that the clothes and the food are different in the south too?”
“That’s true.”
Suddenly, the Earl of Murden joined the conversation.
“The food of the Mont Del region is fresh and full of flavor. The hot sun, the abundant sea, and the barren wilderness.”
Earl Murden licked his lips and talked about various seafood dishes.
They were unique dishes that Riv had never tasted.
Just then, Sophia returned.
They chatted over ham and cheese sandwiches, milk, sweets, and wine.
The conversation was lively, and Riv got along naturally with the Murden couple.
Riv was envious of Sophia.
She wished she could live with Lionel like the Countess did.
“…?”
Riv suddenly looked towards the mansion. She felt something ominous coming.
“Riv?”
“I-It’s nothing.”
Not long after, a servant came running from the Earl’s villa.
“Master, Duke! I think you should see this!”
“What is it?”
The two men read the letter that the servant brought and their expressions became serious. Riv and Sophia had a gut feeling that an emergency had occurred.
‘Did something happen in the Royal Palace?’
She thought that since the social season was over, they could just go down south and have a good time.
“André, what’s going on?”
Sophia urged her husband, but he did not answer right away.
Riv also stared intently at Lionel.
“It seems to be important.”
Sophia had the nanny take their children to the villa. Only after the children had disappeared did Lionel speak.
“An enemy has appeared on the northern border of the Ezul Plains.”