Chapter 81
The water was warm enough to be a considered a little scalding, but Adele smiled softly as she felt her whole body melt down along with her fatigue. Noah watched her tenderly, her eyes closed with a relaxed expression on her face.
He walked toward a bush and plucked mint and wildflower leaves from the tree next to it.
“Why are you plucking those?”
Instead of answering, Noah deposited the leaves in the bathtub.
It was an aromatic mountain plant.
It didn’t take long before a pleasant smell came out. Adele slowly blinked her eyes, inhaling the fragrant scent.
Noah bent his knee, stirred the water in the bathtub for a bit using his arm, and stroked her arm. “My wife is so picky, so I needed to do something to satisfy her needs.”
“I’m not a picky person—”
“Did you know that maids talk about how difficult it is to take care of your bath?” He playfully raised an eyebrow.
Adele pouted her lips and asked, “Who said that?”
Noah kept on washing her hands, rubbing them.“Don’t ask the maids. They’ll find out I’m the one who told you.”
“Is it Lina?”
“Where should I wash you? Your back?”
“Don’t change the topic.”
Noah looked at her eyes and smiled, he suddenly splashed a bucket of water. As water sprayed on her face, Adele frowned and splashed water over him too. When their eyes met, the two burst into laughter at the same time. A breeze blew, and Adele’s shoulders that were outside of the water shivered.
“Cold?”
“No, I’m alright. But… aren’t you feeling cold?” Adele felt apologetic and caressed his skin that had goosebumps due to the cold.
“I do feel cold, I’m human too.” Noah didn’t let go of her hand and kissed the palm of her hand. “Are you feeling unwell somewhere, my duchess?”
At his words, Adele placed her other hand on his shoulder. It was very cold. There wasn’t anything to warm him from the cold.
She pulled him slightly. “…You should get in too.”
“What?”
“You might catch a cold.”
Noah was quite surprised, his eyes widened slightly and looked at her. Without hesitation, Noah entered the bathtub. Then he stared at her intently.
Her cheeks and neck were flushed due to heat of the water. Looking further down and Noah could see her voluptuous breasts slightly submerged in the water. The image of something being hidden, yet not exactly hidden was too tempting and caused his mind to wander into… inappropriate thoughts.
Feeling a bit hot from his intense gaze, Adele pulled out her hand and covered herself.
Unlike her body that would drive a man to go crazy, she was shy and avoided his eyes by looking at distant mountains instead.
Noah inhaled deeply. “Hoo, I’m going crazy.”
Adele had turned her head slightly and happened to see Noah violently ruffling his hair. She glanced at him warily, but soon she became absorbed by the man before her.
She had always seen his body at night or in the dark. It was the first time she had seen him naked in such a bright place.
Noah’s skin was taut, and she could see many visible veins on his body. He had a strong chest with a tapered waist, scars engraved here and there. His bulging arms were laden with sturdy muscles, and his hands were big and manly.
She knew how cruel that hand could be. She also that the thing between his legs could be so merciless to her as well.If it was any other day, he wouldn’t have remained still given the situation.
But today…
Adele’s light brown eyes met his golden eyes that was thick with desire. She agitatedly rambled out some words as she felt her insides getting hot.
“Uhm, is this an abandoned house? I don’t think we can keep staying here if it has an owner.”
“It’s the mountain keeper’s house. He went to the castle to give his report.”
It meant that this house would be empty for a while.
“In fact, my servant has already taken care of the report. He might’ve gone to look around the city with his wife.”
“Ah…”
Adele scanned the hut and tried to recall the face of that mountain keeper, but her memory of him was faint. All she knew was that he was the one who carried Enon when he injured his leg on the mountain. He worked as a servant until his older brother, who was a mountain keeper as well, died. Then…
He married his own sister-in-law, taking responsibility of her.
“It looks like he has a good relationship with his wife.”
“How did you know about that?” Adele was surprised that Noah, who had no interest in other people, said this so suddenly.
Noah didn’t really know she would be interested in this issue. He just randomly threw out some words to diffuse the awkward situation. But he still answered calmly, “He asked for jewels instead when I wanted to give him a bonus payment.”
“Ah…”
Expensive jewelry was something that commoners could not buy. But there were times that they saved money to buy it, mostly when a man wants to gift something to a woman they admired.